Chapter 4
Three doors at the front middle and back of the train sprung open and the students of Hogwarts stepped out in their black robes, looking around excitedly at the school before them.
"Bit pasty aren't they?" Trippe muttered and those close enough to hear him stifled laughs.
A tall, thin man, who looked a bit eccentric with his long hair and beard, exited last and Headmistress Grey rushed to shake his hand.
"Oh Albus I am so happy that you and your students could make it," She only rose to his shoulder but he cast warm eyes on her and ignored the hand shake, instead pulling her into a hug.
"Renee, my dear," he said with glinting eyes and a wide smile. "You look wonderful, and I must say, your students are looking quite formidable today. I do hope that my lot are up to the challenge." Headmistress Grey giggled slightly, giving her an aura of one much younger than she actually was.
"I thought I would never see it before," Nick muttered with a laugh. "Grey is actually flirting."
"Yes, with the underfed Santa Clause," Xander added and received a sharp elbow to the ribs from Emerson.
"Don't you know anything about Dumbledore?" she asked in response to his confused look. "The man is one of the greatest wizards to ever live."
"Who cares?" Trippe said plainly. "Look at those kids he brought with them, they're so squirrelly we won't even have to try to stomp them in the matches. I think they'll just curl into fetal positions and die." He was met with laughter from the group because the words he spoke were true, the Hogwarts students did seem a lot smaller and meeker than those from the other three schools. Not to mention that they were looking around as if it had been the first time that they had ever left their own campus.
"Well, it does seem to be a lot different from Hogwarts, doesn't it?" Ron said in awe as he gazed hungrily at the campus that lay in front of him.
Made completely out of brick, over a dozen large buildings filled the massive clearing. Each one was at least four stories high and had a sign in front of it that stated its name and the departments that were inside it. The entrance of each building was faced inwards to an expansive, cobble -stoned courtyard that was decorated with benches, statues and in the center, a huge fountain that spouted different colored waters from the mouth of each of the many heads of the stone hydra that sat in the center of it. Standing at least two stories high, it gave the effect of a rainbow and Ron half expected- half hoped- to find a large pot of gold at its feet. Surrounding the buildings were lush trees and grass, creating a pleasant lawn that sprung with wild flowers and scurrying animals.
"See the pitch anywhere?" George asked excitedly, looking around frantically.
"Suppose its somewhere in that direction," Fred said, motioning past the largest building- the sign in front of it saying "Hodgins Hall- Dining Hall and General Meeting Rooms."
"Supposed to be the biggest ameteur pitch in the world-"
"-Over a thousand seats-"
"-Working scoreboard and amplifying system-"
"-Just like the pros-"
"-Only better." The twins finished, faces flushed with enthusiasm. The Gryffindors seemed to have gained a new burst of energy from this information and the entire team started to crane their necks expectantly, hoping to catch site of such an amazing place to play.
"Bit more ragged looking than I expected," Draco Malfoy's drawling voice was unmistakable as he addressed the surrounding Slytherins. "I suppose it is all you can expect from filthy American's though. From what I've heard, everyone is a bit savage out here." He was speaking a little too loudly for his own good and the individuals from the Salem Institute and the West Coast Academy that were close enough to hear him shot him vicious glances and began whispering behind their hands.
"Well it will do no good to all stand out here," Headmistress Grey announced, her voice suddenly magnified across the courtyard. "Let us all adjourn to Hodgins Hall for a feast and some entertainment. If the Gryffindors would please join the Maniyakal house who will be hosting them this year, Slytherins, you will be with the Dragoneus house, Austrailia will be with their old friends the Ballistykin, and finally West Coast will be once again enjoying the company of the Sirytinius house."
The Hogwarts students looked somewhat confused, not knowing at all which groups they were supposed to be joining and instead decided to follow the mass group of students as they moved towards the building. Inside they were met with a huge hall that was at least double the size of the one they had at home. It was filled from wall to wall with groups of circular tables that seemed to be split into four different groups of various colors. Each group had a huge banner hovering it which bore the name of the house and a moving picture of its mascot. The first was a grouping of black tables that bore the name of the Maniyakal and a picture of a great manticore, clicking its pincers menacingly. The next was the blue Sirytinus house with their mascot a siren. Also was the green dragons of Dragoneus and finally the red basilisks of Ballistykin. Slightly unsure of themselves, the two houses of Hogwarts found the group that they had been assigned to and sat down among the chattering students.
"Hello my dear Brits!" Trippe said cheerily as the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione joined the table that held the Maniyakal first string quidditch team.
"Yanks!" Fred and George said together excitedly. "Pleasure to meet you!" they took turns shaking the hands around them.
"I'm Fred-,"
"And I'm George-,"
"These are our baby siblings-,"
"And their baby friends-,"
"Tell us now-,"
"How do you feel about joke shops-,"
"And mischief in general?"
Xander and Nick shot each other excited glances before launching into a discussion with the twins about business ventures and skiving snack boxes.
"Bridgett, where's Em?" Trippe asked of the chaser that sat across from him.
"Getting ready for the dance department presentation I suspect," The brunette said with a New York accent. "Oh stop that, she's been doing it since she was born," she scolded when he rolled his eyes.
"Don't know why, too good of a quidditch player to spend time on anything else," he muttered before turning to the Hogwarts boy next to him. "Hello there, I'm Trippe, seeker for the house team."
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter, seeker as well," he said, shaking Trippe's outstretched hand. For the first time in his life, nobody turned to him in shock when he said his name and Harry began to like America a whole lot more.
"Ready to miss the snitch?" Trippe asked excitedly and was shot a slight glare from Ron and Ginny.
"No, actually, I plan on catching it, every last one," Harry replied smoothly, obviously not as offended as his friends were by the jest.
"Ah, I wouldn't be so sure of that," Trippe smiled knowingly. "I personally myself have only missed six snitches in all of the games that I have played at this school, and the only reason why I have missed those is because of that girl right over there."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny turned to where he was pointing to Ryin, telling an animated story at the blue Sirytinius tables.
"Who is that?" Ron asked, craning to get a good look at her.
"Ryin Shea, seeker for West Coast Academy's purple team, admittedly the best seeker in the country. Hasn't missed a snitch in her entire career, mind you, her team is complete rubbish and hasn't won a match in over a decade, but she is an extraordinary player. Nasty temper as well."
"Exactly how nasty of one?" Ginny asked slowly.
"Let me put it this way," Bridgett said, joining the conversation. "If you have a chance of catching the snitch before she does Harry, I would try blocking your ribs."
"Or your nose," Trippe added and Harry swallowed hard.
"Why is there so much violence allowed out here?" Hermione asked snobbishly.
"Violence?" Xander asked, catching the tail end of the conversation. "There's no violence out here!"
"Maybe a few broken bones," A good looking blonde, male chaser named Alecks added.
"Perhaps a few well cast jinxes," the third, sharp faced Hispanic chaser, Isabella, continued.
"But not violence," Xander finished innocently
"Just good clean fun," Trippe flashed a toothy smile at the worried looking Gryffindors.
"Except when Emerson and I are involved," The other beater, a rather large black boy, named Mike said with a laugh that spread to the entire Maniyakal team, leaving the Gryffindors in nervous giggles. Ron looked like he was about to be sick.
"Where is this Emerson bloke we've heard so much about?" George asked curiously.
"Yeah, everyone's been telling us that he is somewhat of a monster on the field," Fred added.
"Emerson bloke?" Nick asked, exchanging amused glances with the rest of the team. He opened his mouth, as if to correct the twins' gender mistake but Xander interrupted him.
"Oh, you'll meet Emerson soon enough, a bit busy at the moment,"
"But will be around by the end of the night," Trippe said with a twinkle in his eye as he looked down at the empty chair on his left side. The twins nodded, not suspecting a thing.
Across the room, the Slytherins seemed to be having a much harder time at fitting in with the American students who looked at the haughty house with annoyance and disbelief.
"Well I'm currently riding a Nimbus 2001," Draco drawled on, believing that the sentence would impress the pretty Dragoneus keeper that was sitting next to him.
"Is that all you can handle?" she asked incredulously, one eyebrow arched. "You brits really are pussies." She was answered with gales of laughter from the table around her and Malfoy, as well as the rest of the Slytherin team turned pink. He was not able to respond, however because Headmistress Grey rose to her feet at the long, raised table that sat behind a the vast stage at the front of the hall.
"Welcome everyone to the Salem Institute of Magic!" she said with a broad smile. "I am so pleased that we will be sharing our campus with so many new faces this year and will be able to make ties with students of such wonderful schools. As many of you already know, each year we like to put together a small presentation to introduce ourselves before the opening feast. So without any further ado I would like to introduce the talented musicians of our Salem Orchestra and the lovely ladies of our dance department!"
She waved her wand and small clumps of blurred sparkles began gathering on the stage in front of her, they undulated and swirled, growing bigger and bigger until they burst, revealing an orchestra of nearly fifty people in it and a group of twelve girls wearing pointe shoes and short wispy black dresses. The students of Hogwarts let out gasps and sighs but those of the other schools smiled knowingly, having seen this before. The orchestra began with a cheerful waltz as the dancers stretched and spun gracefully to the music, there bodies lithely jumping across the stage. With a final long low note, the sparkled curtain appeared once again, misting across the performers. Somewhere near the back of the orchestra a voice called out, "1234!" and the orchestra burst into a fast song that Trippe noted sounded vaguely like "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix. The dancers, whose pointe shoes seemed to have disappeared, stood barefoot as they moved to the music impressively. Nick and Xander pointed out Emerson who stood near the back, pulling her leg well over her head into an impressive extension. After a huge finale including several very high jumps and the a feat of flexibility that made the Weasley twins wiggle their eyebrows, the groups vanished behind the sparkled mist once again and the hall broke into tumultuous applause, punctuated with hoots and hollers.
"Thank you! Thank you! What a wonderful display of the many talents that we have here at the Salem Institute!" Grey said clapping her hands together furiously. "Now, I would like you to enjoy the feast that we have prepared for you and take this time to get to know one another and truly enjoy yourselves. Quidditch team captains please remember that after the feast we will be meeting on the pitch to discuss the tournament. And now, we eat!" She clapped twice and from the high vaulted ceiling, came large dishes of mashed potatoes, pasta, meats, and any other food you could possible eat, floating gently to the tables amid gasps of awe from the visiting students.
"How'd it look?" Emerson asked breathlessly as she slid into the chair next to Trippe, once again clothed in black, pin striped robes.
"I love it when you guys do those bendy things," Xander said with a growl and the girls at the table shot him disgusted glances.
"Oh hello!" she said, suddenly realizing that their normal table was joined by the newcomers. "Enjoying America are you?"
"More so now," George Weasley said with a grin, extending his hand to hers. "I'm George Weasley, Gryffindor beater extraordinaire and this is my brother Fred," he took her hand and kissed it lightly. The others at the table exchanged glances and stifled sniggers. "We enjoyed your performance very much. Such grace, such beauty."
Emerson opened her mouth to introduce herself but was interrupted by Fred who was looking around. "Don't suppose that bloke Emerson has turned up yet has he? Would like to see just how apparently frightening this guy is." Emerson's brow furrowed and she shot a glance at her team who were shaking with laughter.
"Highly doubt he has really injured as many people as they say," George said. "Nothing that I couldn't handle," he flashed Emerson a grin and began flexing his muscles slightly. Ginny and Hermione looked slightly appalled.
"Actually, I think you can meet Emerson right now," Trippe offered.
"Oh really?" Harry asked excitedly. "Where is he at?"
"I'm Emerson," she said and twins coughed, Ron who had been taking a drink of his pumpkin juice spluttered and choked stupidly, Ginny dropped her fork and Hermione gave a satisfied smile.
"Well, um, Miss Emerson," Fred said with a smile, exchanging glances with George. "Glad to see that your reputation precedes you."
"What?" she asked, noticing that the twins were still exchanging glances with each other, trying to with hold laughter. "Do you think I'm incapable of being a beater because I'm not a blundering imbecile of a man?" They didn't respond.
"They really shouldn't second guess her," Mike said loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Last person who did that ended up not waking up for a week," Isabella added.
"Bludger to the head," he nodded.
"Weren't you dating him at the time?" Bridgette asked.
"Not after he woke up," Emerson said with a smirk.