Hey Guys! SORRY for such a late update, school has been getting to me. I trying to write as much as I can, but my schedule only allows me to write on weekends, which means infrequent updates, which sucks.

Thank you guys for all you amazing reviews! They really make my day and I love reading them!

I own nothing you recognize.

Harry's POV

I had not had a particularly good morning. With Mrs. Weasley's and Mrs. Black's screaming combined, a headache had already formed, not to mention the fact that the prickling of my scar every so often was adding to my misery. Let's just say that by the time I had gotten to the train station, I was in a very irritable mood.

I boarded the train with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, steam billowing in from the platform.

"Shall we look for a compartment?" I asked, trying not to let my words sound on edge.

Hermione fidgeted and glanced at Ron for a moment, before turning back to me.

"Umm, well you see Harry, Ron and I need to go to the Prefects carriage." She said, her words stumbling out, eyes barley meeting mine. She seemed to be bracing herself for something. I looked at Ron, but he had taken a sudden interest in his shoes.

"Okay, then. Uh… see you later," I replied awkwardly. "Lets go Ginny," I said, taking her hand and almost dragged her into the next carriage, looking for a compartment. I walked towards the last carriage, barely glancing at compartments to check if they were full.

In the last carriage, I looked into the first compartment, but the fourth year girls in there shooed me away. The next one was full of giddy first years. I didn't even bother opening the door.

The last compartment seemed to be filled with kids my age, so I opened the door forcefully. The kids inside looked shocked for a moment, all of them except Neville and a girl who was reading a magazine. Neville waved to us.

"Hey Harry, hey Ginny," he said.

"Hey Nev," Ginny said, returning the gesture.

'Hey Neville," I said, "Can we sit here?" I asked the boy closest to me, trying not to sound impatient.

"Sure, we've got space" he replied. As Ginny and I sat down next to each other, my eyes scanned over him.

He was wearing a uniform I didn't recognize, so I figured they weren't students I hadn't met yet. He resembled me quite closely, with messy black hair and green eyes, but when I looked closer, I noticed he was more tan, and sadly much more muscular than I was, not to mention the fact that he didn't wear glasses or have a scar.

The girl on my doppelgänger's right had dark hair as well and electric blue eyes, and she gave off a fierce attitude, while the boy on his left had curly dark brown hair and a mischievous smile. He was fiddling with some pieces of metal and tools, but I didn't question it.

"I'm Percy Jackson by the way," he said, interrupting my scan of the compartment. His eyes then started scanning over me in a similar way I had just done to him. When his eyes reached my scar I sighed. And here comes either the hate or admiration, I thought to myself as I watched his eyes widen.

"Well, you already know me," I said, sighing again, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter,"

The kids' reactions were not what I was expecting, to say the least. None of them gasped, or pointed, or started muttering. Some of them had a brief look of shock, but metal boy didn't even look up from what he was doing. The only one to react at all was a blond girl with a magazine.

"Well of course you are," she said in an airy tone. She pulled down her magazine to reveal grey-blue eyes. "I'm Luna Lovegood, fourth year Ravenclaw. Hello Ginny."

"Hey Luna," Ginny said.

The girl on my left had her eyes slightly narrowed at Luna, a look on her face that reminded me of Hermione when she's thinking.

"I've never seen you before, are you all new here?" I asked.

The girl shook her head and turned to me before sticking out her hand.

"Yeah, we're American exchange students from the Olympus Academy of Magic. I'm sorry we didn't introduce ourselves, I'm Annabeth Chase." She said.

I shook her hand back, noticing how strong she was. She had golden curls that were tied back, and storm grey eyes. They were interesting, calculating, but not cold.

The girl sitting on Ginny's other side held out her hand as well. She had a darker complexion that Annabeth, with choppy brown hair, but she was absolutely beautiful. Her eyes looked like galaxies inside of kaleidoscopes, ever-changing.

"I'm Piper McLean." She said as I shook her hand. I looked past her and Neville to a blond boy at the end of my seat. He had a small scar on his upper lip, but his eyes were the same electric blue as the eyes of the girl next to Percy.

"Jason Grace," he said with a nod.

I turned back to the girl on Percy's right.

"I'm Jason's sister, Thalia," she said, nodding in a similar fashion as her brother.

I looked to Metal Boy, who finally looked up. He had warm brown eyes that seemed to hold a fire within.

"Leo Valdez," he said with a cheeky smile, before immediately turning back to his work. I figured it wasn't personal, since the girl on his left was rolling her eyes. She had dark skin like chocolate, and a mane of curly hair. Her eyes were the color of gold.

"Sorry about him, I'm Hazel Levesque." She said, lightly nudging Leo in the side, effectively making him drop his tools. He sent her an annoyed look, though his smile gave him away.

The boy on Hazel's other side glanced at Leo before looking back at me. He was Asian, and his face held a youth-like quality, though his body was probably more muscular than Percy's.

"I'm Frank Zhang," he said.

I turned to the last person in the room, but I had a hard time making him out. He sunk so far into the corner of the compartment that it looked like he was part of the shadows. He had shaggy black hair and a pale complexion. When he looked at me, eyes were as black as night.

"Nico di Angelo," He said, his voice quiet but intimidating.

"Well, it's great to meet all of you," I said as I leaned back in my seat.

Percy was about to say something when the door opened again. Ron and Hermione were standing in the doorway.

"Finally, we found you Harry, we looked all over," Hermione said, relief in her voice. She looked around the compartment. "Oh, there's not much space in here, is it alright if we take these last two seats?" she asked Annabeth, pointing to the remaining seats next to Annabeth and Thaila.

Annabeth smiled.

"Of course," she said, gesturing for Hermione to sit next to her. Hermione graciously took the seat, unlike Ron who eyed Thalia before siting down. Thaila raised an eyebrow at Ron, but she didn't say anything.

Introductions went around again for Ron and Hermione's sake, before a hush came over the compartment. We sat there for a minute, until Hermione broke the silence.

"Since you're obviously not students at Hogwarts, what school are you from?" She asked curiously.

"We're American exchange students from the Olympus Academy of Magic." Annabeth said, a similar fashion to the way she had responded to me earlier.

"Oh, I've never heard of it before," said Hermione, a note of confusion in her voice. "I didn't know there was an exchange program either," She muttered after.

Percy shrugged.

"It's a small school," he replied nonchalantly. When it seemed like he wasn't going to say more, Annabeth took the reigns of the conversation.

"So what kinds of classes do you have at Hogwarts?" She asked, and Hermione's eyes lit up.

"Oh we have all kinds of classes!" Hermione squealed. "We have transfiguration, and potions, and charms, and…"

Hermione kept on talking, but the only people who seemed to be following were Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper, and Hazel and Piper were struggling to keep up. I rolled my eyes, and I could see that Percy and Thalia had followed my lead, while Leo had started to mouth the words 'Oh no'. I looked a Percy confused.

"Just wait for it," he said.

I looked back at Hermione just as she finished talking, to watch Annabeth reply in almost the exact same manner. I turned back to Percy to see that Leo was clinging onto his arm.

"We have two Annabeth's! That's too much smartness in one area! What are we going to do?!" Leo complained to Percy, and I had to fight the urge to snicker.

I watched on in amusement, not even trying to keep up with the conversation, and I found myself slightly surprised when it ended. Hermione turned back to the rest of the cabin.

"Can I hear more about your school?" she asked, looking around.

"What do you want to know," Jason asked, looking relieved that he could actually take part the conversation.

"Well, I noticed you all have different colored ties, and I was wondering if you get sorted into houses?" she replied.

"Houses?" Hazel said.

"At Hogwarts, each student gets sorted into one of four houses. Gryffindor, for the brave, Ravenclaw, for the wise, Hufflepuff, for the loyal, and Slytherin, for the cunning. Harry, Ron, Neville and I are fifth year Gryffindors, Ginny is a fourth year Gryffindor, and Luna is a fourth year Ravenclaw," Hermione explained, gesturing to the badges on our uniforms.

"I bet you go to Hufflepuff," Leo said, nudging Percy with a wrench.

"Why's that?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Leo glanced around like he let something slip.

"He's saying that kelp head over here would die if he had to if that's what's needed to help his friends," Thalia said as she shot a quick glare Leo, while jerking her thumb at Percy. I noticed her odd nickname for Percy, but decided it was better not to question it.

"But back to your question, yes, we do get sorted in a way. It more has to do with family than personal qualities though," Piper said, picking up the conversation.

"Than would I be right to assume that Hazel and Nico are related?" Hermione asked, and I noticed that Nico and Hazel were both wearing black ties.

"We're half siblings," Nico murmured from the corner. Ron made a funny face after hearing Nico talk, but he didn't say anything.

Hermione paused her onslaught of questions to register this information as she nodded.

"And what year will you guys be joining?" she asked.

"We're all fifteen, so will be joining fifth year," Percy responded, though the way he said fifteen sounded off.

Hermione seemed satisfied with that for now, so we sat in silence for a while, only the occasional sound of magazine pages turning or tools clanging disturbing us. Hazel and Frank were leaning on each other, asleep. Neville was examining his cactus.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and the quiet of our compartment was shattered with a door slamming open. A drawling voice came through the doorway.

"Potter," said Draco Malfoy

"Malfoy," I replied, gritting my teeth.

"I see your company hasn't gotten any better, hanging around with a bunch of scum," he scoffed as he scanned over the cabin.

He didn't have time to do much else, because both Thalia and Annabeth had stood up, both their wands at his neck. Percy looked just about ready to join them.

"I dare you say that again," Thalia said, her voice icy cold. Annabeth's analyzing eyes were locked onto Draco's own, making him whimper, though he impressively stood his ground. He didn't hold it for very long though.

"My father will here about this!" he said, before turning tail and fleeing the cabin.

"How pathetic," said Thalia as she watched him go. She took her seat again and stuffed her want up the sleeve of her robe. Frank and Hazel had managed to stay asleep through the whole ordeal, so we sat in a stony silence for the rest of the train ride.

As soon as we pulled into the station, I grabbed Ron and Hermione's wrists, hoping Ginny wouldn't follow us. I lead them to a carriage and made sure that no one else was nearby.

"Something is definitely off about those exchange students." I said.

"That Nico bloke has got to be a death eater," Ron said surely.

Hermione slapped his arm.

"While I can agree with you that they are definitely suspicious, you both shouldn't go making assumptions like that! Honestly Ronald, you only heard him talk once." Hermione scolded us. I rolled my eyes.

"Can we at least keep an eye on them Hermione?" I asked.

"Fine, but we should at least try to trust them until we get some real evidence." She said as she looked out the window, watching Hogwarts draw nearer as our carriage moved along.

I sighed. "Even if they are trust worthy," I said, "I have a feeling that this year is going to be even more hectic than we could ever imagine."

Hope you guys liked the chapter! Please review in the handy box below!

-TC