Chapter 10: The Newcomers

"You're amazing, Hermione. Thank you." Harry said grinning as he joined his friend by the fireplace on Monday morning.

She regarded him with amusement. Raising an eyebrow, the girl asked:

"How should I understand this?"

"We're going to Hogsmeade next Saturday." the boy replied, smilingfrom ear to ear.

Hermione also smiled widely.

"Well, it's about time. I was starting to get tired of you two. Where do you plan to take her?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a wolf whistle. Turning around, he saw Ron standing at the bottom of the stairs to the boys' dormitory, grinning and winking at him. All blood drained from Harry's face.

"You got a new girlfriend, mate?" the Weasley asked as he sat on the sofa next to his friends. Judging from his smile, Harry guessed he hadn't figured out who he and Hermione were talking about. Therefore, disaster could still be averted.

"Yes." he confirmed, knowing that denying it would only cause his friend to grow suspicious.

"Not one from our experimental magic class, by any chance?" Ron continued the interrogation. Harry was starting to sweat now. This was too close for comfort. Unable to respond verbally, he simply nodded.

"And her name is?" the Weasley pressed on, slightly annoyed at his friend's silence. Harry desperately stared at Hermione, but no help came from her. Clearing his throat, he uttered:

"Luna Lovegood."

Ron eyed him with disbelief, while Hermione seemed irritated by his lie. However, this didn't really matter, as when he saw his friend didn't seem to be joking, Ron began musing out loud:

"Well, I guess she is really nice if you look past all the... you know."

Harry couldn't believe it. He was saved. Desperately clutching onto this straw, he tried to further convince Ron:

"Yes, she is nice indeed. She has lovely hair, and it turns out wrackspurts are real after all..."

"Don't be ridiculous Harry, you're not seeing Luna Lovegood." Hermione chimed in, mercilessly cutting the straw. Harry sent her a pleading glance that she disregarded. All hope was lost.

"I knew it! It was a joke, right? You aren't really going out with someone, right Harry?" Ron asked as he poured himself a cup of tea.

"He's seeing Ginny." Hermione stated just as Ron was bringing the teacup to his lips. Startled, he dropped it on the floor.

What followed wasn't quite the way Harry had imagined it. In his mind, Ron always threw a tantrum, as his friend usually did when he was angry, accused Harry of being a traitor and started casting spells like crazy, Harry usually ending somewhere in the hospital wing in the process.

However, apparently this shock was too big and Ron reacted in a totally unexpected way. Remaining calm, he repaired the tea cup and set it back on the table before looking quizzically at Hermione. The girl in turn looked towards the other boy.

"Sorry, Harry, he would have known sooner or later anyway."

Seeing no signs that any of this was a joke of some sort, Ron slowly turned his gaze towards Harry. The boy felt his presence as ostensibly as the one of a dementor.

Seeing that his friend didn't try to deny anything in any way, Ron gave off a sigh and leaned forward, holding his head in his hands.

"How long has this been going on?" he asked bitterly, the anger underlying in his voice starting to show.

"I only asked her out yesterday." Harry replied.

Ron sat back up and regarded his friend with a momentary confusion. Apparently he had been expecting Harry to say it had been going on for some time. If Harry had had his way, that's when his friend was actually going to learn about him meeting Ginny indeed. However, Hermione had thrown that option out of the window. Reminded of her betrayal, Harry shot her yet another accusing glance.

"Well then, it's very simple. You just tell her you changed your mind." the Weasley suggested as if it were the obvious answer.

Hermione regarded him with shock. Harry did his best not to gawk at his friend.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, starting to get a little angry himself.

"Ginny's too young to be seeing boys. I know she fancies you and all..." Ron explained.

"And I fancy her." Harry interrupted him, both terrified and thrilled to have uttered those words.

Ron's eyes snapped wide open. He furrowed his brows, as if to signal the coming storm.

"She's only fourteen!" he stated angrily.

"So? That doesn't stop half the school." Harry retorted.

"I was fourteen last year as well."

"Cho is one thing. Ginny...no, I won't let you do this." Ron shouted as he stood up.

"Why would I listen?" Harry retorted, jumping up as well. His reaction seemed to push the other boy over some invisible edge, distilling the Weasley's rage into cold hostility. The blood that had flooded into his face ebbed again and his face returned to normal, leaving his piercing glare as the only sign he was in some sort of conflict.

"A friend would listen." the Weasley remarked coldly.

"I guess this means you aren't my friend anymore, mate."

A moment of silence followed. Harry was just too shocked by what his friend had just said to answer in any way. Taking his silence for a sign of his friend conceding, Ron continued:

"It doesn't have to be like this. Tell her you won't go out..."

"I will." Harry replied, looking his friend in the eyes. There he saw only intense disapproval.

"You've made your choice then. Have a nice day." Ron spoke as he got up. He then picked up the teacup from the table and smashed it in the ground before he stormed out of the room.

"Thanks, Hermione." the remaining boy remarked with sarcasm that left behind a bitter aftertaste.

"Oh, come on, Harry, how could I know he would react like that? He can't be serious, can he?" the flabbergasted girl asked.

"I think he is." Harry replied, studying the pattern of the embers in the fireplace in an attempt to distract himself from his thoughts.

"But why would he care if you were going out with Ginny? He should be happy, if anything! You're his best friend, and she fancies you!"

"I guess it's a brother thing." her friend told her, thinking the situation over. He didn't exactly learn a lot about normal sibling relationships from his interactions with his bully cousin Dudley. However, he had spent enough time with the Weasleys to know that this was all about the "little sister" syndrome. Even though Ginny could go toe to toe with any of her brothers and come out on top, in their eyes she would always remain their baby sister, and that image didn't mix well with dating.

Harry had no doubts about how the rest of the family would react. Mrs. Weasley would probably be happy, Mr. Weasley would maybe act a bit odd, but go along with it, and Bill and Charlie could be made to see reason. The younger Weasleys would all surely react like Ron. Harry only hoped this fight wouldn't cost him his welcome at the Burrow.

"This is outrageous! It's Ginny's choice, not his! We'll see about that!" Hermione stated crossly as she got up. The girl encouragingly patted her friend on the shoulder before heading for the portrait hole.

Breakfast wasn't fun as usual without Ron to trade banter with and Hermione to scold the both of them. Both had sat away from their usual places at the middle of the table and were instead seated on the end near the teachers' table: Ron obviously to distance himself from Harry. Hermione, on the other hand, was desperately attempting to make him see reason, which was why she had also moved. She seemed to be unsuccessful so far.

"Good morning!" Ginny greeted cheerily as she sat down next to Harry.

"Morning." he replied glumly.

"Hey, why are you so down in the dumps today?" she asked, noticing his sunken face. That was when she noticed Ron at the end of the table.

"Oh. You told him." she said, putting two and two together.

"Well, Hermione did. Sorry."

"No, no, it's OK. He's your friend after all, and it's not that big of a secret." the girl smiled at him.

"I'm not really sure we're friends right now." Harry replied.

Ginny raised an eyebrow and looked down the table, studying her brother more carefully now. He was glaring daggers at them.

"So he didn't take the news well, I see." Ginny spoke, prompting Harry for more information.

"No. He kept saying we can't... you know, go out. That we shouldn't go to Hogsmeade. I got mad at him and he got mad at me and things just spiraled out of control. Sorry." he apologised again.

"Well, it's not up to him to decide what I should or shouldn't do." the girl replied before she looked back at her brother, shooting her own glare.

Luckily, the staring contest was interrupted by Professor Dumbledore, whose cough brought the attention of all students to him.

"Before we all dig in what I'm certain will be an excellent breakfast I have an important announcement to make. But first I'd like to thank you all for your enthusiastic participation in the exchange programme. I believe we got application letters from almost everybody who were eligible and quite a few who weren't. As a result, we now have the list of students who will spend the following year studying at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. I received word from Madam Maxime yesterday that her students were similarly eager. As a result, we've decided to move the starting date of the exchange to today."

Murmurs and whispers took over the hall for a few seconds before Dumbledore raised his hands again, asking for attention.

"Madam Maxime and her students will arrive a few minutes from now. I advise all chosen for the exchange to head back to their dormitories and pack their trunks, as they will be leaving tonight. Everybody else, please demonstrate Hogwarts' hospitality to our foreign guests. We'll start breakfast once they have joined us. Thank you."

As the headmaster sat back down, students started standing up from their tables and heading for the dormitories. However, the majority remained seated, awaiting the arrival of the French students. Harry briefly wondered who would tend to Madame Maxime's horses, now that Hagrid was away.

He didn't have time to ponder on it for too long, since merely five minutes after Dumbledore had spoken the French headmistress crossed the threshold of the Great Hall. The headmaster stood up, followed by the students and the rest of her staff.

Madame Maxime strolled between the tables, beaming at her colleague. For a brief moment Harry could swear she also looked at him, but he was probably imagining it.

"Dumblydorr." she purred as Dumbledore kissed her hand.

"Madame Maxime, welcome to Hogwarts once again. Please, take a seat." the headmaster invited her to the staff's table and sat back down, followed by the students and the teachers. Meanwhile, her students, who had followed after their headmistress, began scattering in the hall, looking for empty spots. The light blue hue of their uniforms was in stark contrast with the Hogwarts robes' black colour.

As Gryffindor had lots of exchange participants, many seats remained free for the Beauxbatons people. One girl sat on Ron's vacant spot right opposite Harry and Ginny. While she was looking for something in her bag, the two studied her appearance. The short, pale-skinned brunette had ditched her blue hat and wore her hair in a ponytail. Realising they were looking at her, the girl raised her head and studied them in turn, carefully taking into account their every feature. She showed no signs of noticing the scar.

"Cheryl Derriere. Nice to meet you." she smiled as she extended her hand. Harry and Ginny smiled back and shook her hand in turns, introducing themselves as well. At the mention of Harry's name her eyes darted towards his forehead and maybe this time she noticed something, but she didn't make a comment.

"Which year are you in? I'm in my fifth." she said.

"Oh, so is Harry. I'm still in my fourth." Ginny replied.

The French student threw Harry a compassionate glance.

"O.W.L.s , huh? I don't envy you. I think having exams in your fifth year is way too early, in Beauxbatons we only have them when we graduate. Anyway, good luck!"

"Thanks, but how do you know about that? O.W.L.s, I mean." the boy asked, slightly puzzled.

"Oh, my mum used to study here. She lived in Edinburgh before she met my dad and moved to France. "

"What do they do for a living? Your mum and dad, I mean." Ginny asked.

"Mum runs an owl shop back home in Calais. She's currently trying to get cats to coexist with the owls. Dad is my Astronomy teacher, he also came with me for the exchange. Look, there he is!" the girl said just before pointing at someone near the hall entrance. The two Hogwarts students turned around to look in the same direction as her.

The girl and her dad had a good overall resemblance, their eyes and hair being practically identical. However, there was some cruelty in the man's facial features that was not present in the girl's. They were sharp and angular, giving him the likeness of a bird of prey. This likeness was only increased by his sharp, pointy, upward curved goatee, which together with his crooked nose somewhat resembled a beak. The wizard turned to look at his daughter, but when he noticed Harry was looking at him, he shifted his attention to the boy. The Gryffindor seeker couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable under the penetrating stare, like the one of a falcon that has spotted a mouse.

Unwilling to discuss this person and hoping to possibly avoid contact with him, the boy turned back to Cheryl and changed the subject:

"So your mother is Scottish? Then you probably also got a letter from Hogwarts?"

"Indeed, I could have also studied here. Hogwarts is actually even a bit closer when going back home for the summer."

"So why aren't you studying here, then?" Ginny asked, befuddled.

Apparently she had touched upon a delicate subject, since Cheryl remained silent for a few moments. Harry was starting to think they'd get no answer whatsoever when she finally replied:

"My dad isn't really a fan of Hogwarts. He doesn't like the system here."

Harry and Ginny didn't say anything in response to that, as the plates had just filled up with food. They still kept up the conversation with Cheryl during the breakfast, but tried to avoid the subject of her father, as they could see she didn't feel comfortable talking about that.

Just as the breakfast was towards its end, the Hogwarts' owls flew in, carrying letters and packages for the students as usual. One package stood out from the rest though. It was a long, slender object, wrapped in brown paper and carried by three barn owls. Just as they were above Ginny, the birds dropped it on the table.

At first both she and Harry were really befuddled, but they soon recognised the distinctive shape and realised what must hide underneath the wrapping paper. They turned their heads and looked towards the teachers' table. Professor McGonagall was currently treating the three owls to some bacon. When she noticed her students were looking at her, she smiled at them and sent them a small wave.

Ginny beamed first at her, then at Harry. Then she got to unwrapping the package. She was caught off-guard when she saw what awaited her inside.

"A Nimbus 2001? You didn't tell me it was a Nimbus!" the girl exclaimed.

"It must have slipped my mind somehow." Harry responded, grinning.

Cheryl's eyes were glued on the Nimbus. She blinked several times, apparently not believing what she was seeing.

"Never flown one of these before." she remarked with an awed voice.

"Can I give it a test ride later? Please, I promise nothing will happen to it!"

Ginny smiled and nodded her approval. The French girl's eyes lit with even more excitement.

"Maybe we can also play a friendly game later?" she suggested.

"I also brought my broom from Beauxbatons. What position do you play?"

"Chaser."

"Seeker."

"Oh, a fellow Seeker! I'm looking forward to seeing who of us will catch the Snitch first." the exchange student told Harry, a trail of mischief in her voice.

"Speaking of that, are there any available positions on the teams here? I've been playing in one of the Beauxbatons teams since last year and I'd like to keep practicing. Also, I've heard that the greatest quidditch players all started here, so maybe I'll also pick up a few new tricks along the way."

"Aww, I'm sorry, you missed the Gryffindor trials by a pinch. I only got on the team yesterday." Ginny replied.

"But I think some of the other houses might still need more people in their teams. I've heard Ravenclaw needs a reserve Seeker."

"Actually, we can play the friendly game right now." Harry said as he checked his program. On the top of it, magical letters had appeared, written in Dumbledore's familiar swirly writing.

"As a celebration for the arrival of our French guests, I am excusing all Hogwarts students from their classes until noon. Feel free to mingle with our friends from Beauxbatons and spend your morning as you desire." the boy read out loud.

Both girls smiled as they heard this.

"Great, I'll go fetch my broom from the carriage then!" the French girl said as she stood up and rushed to the door. After telling Ginny to wait for him in the entrance hall, Harry also got up and went to get his Firebolt. He certainly had no desire to fly on a Cleansweep 5 again.

"No offense, Harry, but you're a very lousy Keeper." Ginny noted after they paused the game for a bit after he had missed yet another shot.

She had a point. Harry had thought that maybe he'd perform a little better on his own broom, but he still couldn't save more than one shot out of ten. Playing Keeper just wasn't meant for him, now he could say that for sure.

Still, even though he was no match for the girls (especially Ginny, who was fast as lightning on her new broom), the three of them were having a lot of fun. The only thing Harry regretted was that Ron wasn't here to play with them as well.

"Don't worry about it, I'm also terrible with any ball larger than a Snitch." Cheryl assured him, thinking of a wrong reason for his glumness.

"As a Beater, I can't protect even myself from bludgers, so my team is in for a tough game. When chasing, I just keep dropping the quaffle, but playing Keeper has got to be the worst. Nothing in common with the Seeker position whatsoever, so I'm usually a sitting duck against anyone with a marginal experience as a Chaser. No, my brother is the Keeper in our family. You two got any siblings?"

Harry shook his head.

"Six older brothers." Ginny said as she hovered next to them.

The French girl regarded her with amazement.

"Six? I could barely manage one, how do you deal with six?"

"Lots of patience. And a Bat Bogey Hex now and then." Ginny replied, smirking.

Cheryl broke out in laughter. When she calmed down, she begged the other girl:

"You should teach me that hex, please! My brother is sometimes a nightmare to deal with, so any sibling repellant will be more than welcome! Anyway, do any of your brothers play Quidditch as well? Maybe we can gather enough players for a real game?"

"Well, some of them graduated already, but two of them are Beaters and my youngest brother, Ron, is a Keeper."

At the mention of his former friend's name, Harry's mood sank even lower. Noticing the boy's frown, the French girl looked at him with confusion and asked:

"What's the matter? You don't like them?"

Harry gave Ginny a small nod. He didn't feel like explaining this himself.

"No, they're friends." the Weasley explained.

"He's even best friends with Ron, but they are angry at each other right now."

"Oh, I see. If it isn't too personal, may I ask why? I do have some experience with stubborn older brothers, so I might be able to help." Cheryl suggested.

Harry and Ginny exchanged awkward glances. They weren't sure if they should say anything, or what they should say if they did. Technically, they weren't going out yet, but Ron was acting like they were. The whole thing was really confusing and none of them felt like explaining it to the French girl. However, the glance exchange was all Cheryl needed to understand what was going on.

"Ah, as Dumas said, cherchez la femme." she spoke, smiling coyly at the two Hogwarts students. Harry could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Yes, from my experience brothers never react sensibly in this kind of situations. They just can't get it out of their heads that we're not their baby sisters anymore. Take mine for an example. When I first started going out with boys, he was insufferable for weeks, ambushing them near their common rooms and trying to scare them away from me. It took quite a lot of yelling from me and howlers from mum, but in the end he went along with it. Don't worry, give it a few weeks and your brother will come to the same conclusion as mine." the French girl assured Ginny.

Harry really hoped it would take less than a few weeks for Ron to see reason. He missed having his best friend by his side.

It was time for the afternoon classes. Ginny waved good-bye to Cheryl and Harry and left for her own classes. The French girl went with the Gryffindor Seeker, as she had decided to sign up with the Gryffindors for the exchange, so she would join his class.

"What do we have first?" the exchange student asked after the Weasley girl separated from them.

"Herbology. Right through here." Harry replied as he led the way. The corridors were more stuffed than usual, bustling with befuddled Beauxbatons who were trying to figure out their way to their first class at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the packed corridors turned out not to be the only obstacle Harry and Cheryl had to face on their way to Herbology.

"Have some on me, frog eater! Nice and fresh from the lake, enjoy!" Peeves taunted them as he jumped out of his ambush. Before any of the students could react, the poltergeist flipped the metal bucket he was carrying upside down, showering Cheryl with slimy green frog legs. Her shocked gasp was accompanied by the ghost's triumphant cackle.

"Mon Dieu!" the exchange student exclaimed. After she noticed Peeves hovering in the air, bent in half from laughing, her eyes narrowed, she furrowed her brows and aimed her wand at him.

"You will pay for that, branleur! Reducto!" she yelled furiously.

Her spell flew right through the poltergeist, instead blasting the wall behind him. The ghost's wheezing doubled in intensity. Noticing the rage he had induced in the French girl, Peeves smiled from ear to ear and blew a loud raspberry at her before flying away, looking for his next victim.

"By Medea, how can you tolerate ghosts behaving like that?" the irritated Cheryl asked Harry while trying to yank the frog legs out of her hair with questionable success.

"This fellow would have been kicked out of Beauxbatons faster than a Firebolt can fly!"

"Some people here share your opinion." Harry replied.

"However, Peeves tends to grow on you, even if he can be insufferable at times."

"I doubt that. Let's go, recess is almost over." the French girl said after she gave up on trying to get the last frog leg out of her hair, leaving it there as a weird fashion accessory.

Harry was glad he had Cheryl with him, as Ron's attitude towards him didn't show any improvements in Herbology. Despite all of Hermione's best efforts, the Weasley boy kept treating his former friend as a distant annoying relative he was forced to speak to occasionally. Harry had more than enough of that in Professor Sprout's class and by the end of it he felt like shoving the venomous tentacula sprout he and Cheryl had worked on down the Weasley's throat.

Needing some time to let off steam, Harry decided to sit away from Ron and Hermione, who was still relentlessly trying to reason with the Weasley, in their next class- History of Magic. In the first few minutes of the class, Cheryl shocked everyone by bringing out a piece of parchment from her bag and starting to take notes. Even Professor Binns, the Hogwarts ghost teaching the course, looked mildly surprised, which for him was the same as gawking. However, his surprise didn't change his monotonous, sleep-inducing tone and after a few minutes the French girl slowed down her writing until she eventually dropped her quill.

"How do you even manage to concentrate?" she asked Harry before noticing he hadn't even taken out parchment from his bag. Looking around, she soon realised this was true for everyone besides Hermione.

"I don't. No matter how hard you try, Binns just makes it impossible. I usually just use Hermione's notes in the end of the term." he noted.

"I can see why." the French girl said, trying to stifle a yawn.

History of Magic dragged on for what seemed like forever. However, fortunately even the most boring of classes come to an end eventually. Unfortunately, Harry and Cheryl slept right through it and neither Ron, nor Hermione noticed them.

About five minutes after the next class for the day had started, the exchange student woke up. After she got up and stretched, she took a look at her pocket watch.

"Merde!" she cursed.

"We slept through the start of Astronomy! Come, Harry, my father doesn't like it when students are late!"

The boy woke up and quickly got up, startled. The two of them left the room and sprinted up the stairs to the Astronomy tower, Harry leading the way again. However, despite their speed, they were really late for their class.

"Twenty minutes late, so twenty points taken from Gryffindor." an unfamiliar voice addressed Harry as he entered the classroom. Looking around, he saw Cheryl's father was standing in the centre of the roofless room, with squinted eyes and lips curled in a frown.

"Excuse me, sir." Harry apologised as he sat down on the floor, quickly unfolding his star chart as the rest of the students.

"Apology accepted." the professor hissed back at him.

"Hello dad...uhh, professor Derrriere." Cheryl greeted as she entered, interrupting the exchange between Harry and her father. Surprised, the adult wizard turned to his daughter. His frown flipped into a benevolent smile.

"You needn't have come, Cheryl." he assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I've been told by Professor Sinistra that her students are moving a bit more... slowly with the material than we do at Beauxbatons. I'm not going to teach anything tonight that you already don't know. You are free to go."

The girl nodded and gave her dad a hug. Afterwards, she left, giving Harry a wave as she descended through the trapdoor.

The boy waved back, but this turned out to be a mistake. Noticing their exchanged greetings, Professor Derriere frowned and stared at Harry again, disecting him with his glare. The boy had the feeling the wizard had gotten a very wrong impression of the relationship between him and Cheryl. He gulped as the teacher slowly walked over to him.

"Mister Late? I have a question for you. Name the moons of Saturn discovered by the Italian wizard Cassini."

Harry was caught off-guard. Meanwhile, Hermione's hand shot up.

"Ummm... Ganymede, Io, Europa and Callisto?" Harry blurted out, just before realising those were moons of Jupiter.

The French Professor smirked unpleasantly.

"Five points taken from Gryffindor. What is the difference between the apocentre and the pericentre?"

Hermione's hand was still up, but this time Harry had no idea what his new teacher was even talking about.

"I don't know sir."

"Another five. Final question: name the largest body in the Asteroid Belt."

"Ceres." Harry shot out, unsure how he even remembered that.

The professor's smile vanished from his face. Apparently, he had been looking forward to Harry failing again.

"Well, at least you were paying a minimal amount of attention during your classes. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, students, let me introduce myself. My name is Pierre Derriere, Professor of Astronomy in Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. I will be your Astronomy teacher for the duration of the exchange programme. Let me be honest with you: I was not looking forward to my stay here, since I am well aware of the laughable Astronomy curriculum at Hogwarts. Your system is outdated and inefficient, as your classmate kindly demonstrated for us." the professor looked at Harry again and spread his lips in a fake grimace.

"However," he continued. ", I still believe Astronomy is an important part of a young witch or wizard's education, contrarily to what many of you think. Therefore, I take upon myself the hopeless task to bring your education up to the level I have come to expect from my French students. We have a lot of catching up to do. Today, we will start by covering all of the first year material."

Astronomy suddenly became as bad as Potions. The professor didn't teach them anything but just kept shooting questions left and right, expecting the students to know the answer already. Since he was apparently asking questions from the French first year material, students got most of the questions wrong. Hermione even didn't raise her hand to answer some of the questions, which intimidated the rest of the Gryffindors. They had all come to expect that whatever happened, Hermione always knew the answer.

"Your education is subpar." the professor stated after the lesson had come to an end. He then proceeded to hand out each student an English copy of the French first year Astronomy book and asked everybody to read it before their next lesson or not to bother to come at all. He also assigned essays on topics from the book to some people he was especially displeased with. Unsurprisingly, Harry was among them.

"Snape would be proud." the Seeker told Ron after all students had left the room. Part of him was hoping that being united by a common plight would help Ron change his mind.

"I guess he would be." the other boy said with indifference before he rushed forward, leaving Harry alone.

A.N.: I am aware the story has been developing very slowly so far. However, now that the exchange began, all game pieces are finally in position. Things will start to get interesting in chapter 11 and chapter 12 is where a lot of things really kick off. Note: still not writing at a very fast pace, so sticking to the 1 chapter/month pace for now. Maybe once the story starts unfolding I'll also start writing a bit faster.