Disclaimer: In the Deathly Hollows, Harry learned about three artifacts of immense power. What would my story be without them? Thanks JKR.
With Ginny's insecurities put to rest at least temporarily, Harry found himself in her company heading to their next lesson; transfiguration. Ron and Hermione were already queued up at the door. "So you two are talking again?" Ron asked them when he saw the two of them holding hands.
"Yeah, I'd say so." Harry answered. Ginny smiled.
"It's about time." Hermione gave Ginny a curious glance and Ginny shook her head slightly; they'd talk later. Just then the door to the classroom opened and they filed inside. The room was set up similarly to the way McGonagall had kept it; rows of desks set up two by two in two columns. Harry took a seat and Ron and Hermione took the seats behind him. Ginny walked over to Miss. Wills and whispered something to her; Miss. Wills smiled and said something back. Ginny then came over and took a seat next to Harry.
"What was that all about?" Harry asked her curiously.
"Oh nothing; just girl stuff." Ginny replied as if it were nothing.
The Professor got up from her desk once everyone was seated and came around to the front. "Good afternoon class. My name is Miss. Wills and I will be your transfiguration Professor this year. I will try my best to make myself available to you if you need anything so please feel free to see me if you need to. Since there are so few transfiguration students at the N.E.W.T. level, all four houses are in this class." Miss. Wills leaned back and took a seat on the edge of her desk in a very relaxed manner. "Since I haven't had the pleasure of meeting most of you until now, I thought it would be fun to get to know each other. Our class is going to be cut short for the other schools' arrival anyway, so how about we start things off with no homework shall we?" she smiled.
The students were all smiling back appreciatively. She was likable and pretty; offered no homework and an easy day. What could be better?
"How about I go first?" she offered. "I am sure many of you are wondering who I am and how I got this job." Many students nodded their heads. Draco in particular seemed dazed by the new teacher. Harry also noticed Dean and Seamus drooling a bit. He pointed it out to Ginny and Ron who both chuckled.
"Alright then; my full name is Alexis Mercadia Wills and I was born and raised in the United States." she began.
"You're from the States?" Ron muttered. "Wow..."
"Indeed I am Mr. Weasley." Alexis replied. "I was born in the District of Columbia in the city of Washington which is now the capital of the United States."
Draco raised his hand, "Are you a pure blood Professor?"
Alexis sighed. "Honestly, I don't know Mr. Malfoy. My parents were murdered by a mysterious wizard when I was just a little girl. I grew up with my aunt and uncle who were both muggles. I may be muggle born, half or pure blood, but I honestly don't put much stock in it. One's blood is simply a product of genetic markers and has absolutely no relevance on one's ability."
Dean raised his hand next. He almost knocked his book onto the floor in his excitement. "Yes Mr. Thomas?" Alexis asked.
"If you were born in the United States, how did you come to be a teacher here in England?" he asked.
"I'm getting to that, don't worry." Alexis told him. "I attended Eaglecrest Academy in America and graduated top of my class. Eventually I became a teacher there. I taught there for the last few years until Professor McGonagall contacted my Headmistress and informed her of her issues with finding a teacher. Since the tournament was going on this year and the delegation from Eaglecrest would be here anyway, I was offered as a solution. There was a substitute for transfiguration that couldn't travel, and so here I am instead." Alexis explained.
"Are you married?" Seamus inquired after raising his hand.
Alexis chuckled. She was used to this. "No, not yet. I haven't met the man of my dreams just yet I'm afraid. I know he's out there somewhere though."
"What are your favorite things?" Draco asked.
"Well let me think a moment." she told Draco and put on an obviously fake show of contemplating what she likes. "I am partial to orchids and am fond of the color black. I enjoy music and spending time with my friends."
"Professor McGonagall told us that you attended a muggle university. Can you tell us about it?" Hermione asked.
"Of course! I attended Harvard University in the States and graduated with a degree in law. I originally wanted to use it to get into magical law but circumstances wouldn't allow for it back home so I became a teacher instead."
"Do you know any famous people?" Ginny asked her.
"Well, I know the Headmistress of Eaglecrest Academy. She's my best friend in fact. I also once dated Robert Scimico, the seeker of the California Condor's quidditch team, but that's about it." Alexis replied. "Alright, so now you know a little about me, now it's my turn."
The class continued through the students and Alexis learned things about them that would allow her to remember each of them. "Alright everyone, the bell just rang. Go back to your dorms and get straightened up. I will see you down in the hall." Miss. Wills said by way of dismissal.
--
As it had been the last time, students were lined up by house and year in front of the doors to the castle. There was a cool breeze blowing in the warm night allowing everyone a comfortable feeling. Last time it had been much colder since it was at the end of October. Miss. Wills had set up Gryffindor house with the same ability as McGonagall had in the past but with a casual ease. Harry got the sense that she thought of the students as peers and equals instead of children and underlings.
The sky was a clear dark blue when the first delegation came into sight. The giant flying carriage of the Beauxbatons Institute came into view as if out of a cloud and soared majestically towards them. The giant horses used to pull the carriage were just as large as Harry remembered them and they landed and came to a stop off near Hagrid's hut.
Madame Maxime exited the carriage first as Hagrid came down from the castle to greet her. He took her hand and kissed it before helping her down. A small troupe of students followed in her wake. Hagrid escorted the French delegation to the steps.
"Ah Minerva, so good to see you again." Maxime said in way of greeting.
"It's good to see you too Olympe. How was your trip?" McGonagall returned.
"Tolerable. I think I may be getting to old for all the excitement though. I am sorry to hear about what happened to Dumblydore. I only hope he is at peace." Maxime answered.
"Thank you, Olympe. Please, bring your students into the great hall. We will greet our other arrivals and be in shortly." McGonagall told her. She nodded and led her students inside.
"Hurry up Gabrielle!" Maxime snapped at one of the girls. Harry had thought he recognized her. It was Fleur's sister. She was obviously having the same affect Fleur had four years ago; half the boys were looking at her, smiling and waving to get her attention. Gabrielle had hung back to return those waves.
The next group to arrive was the delegation from the Durmstrang Institute. The lake which had been still began to bubble and churn until an old wooden ship rose up out of the lake and docked on the shore. A tall, scary looking man came ashore first followed by a small contingent of his students. As they approached, Harry took a good look at the Headmaster of Durmstrang. The last one had been a former death eater and had come off somewhat normal compared to this guy. He was very tall, easily over six feet and very muscular. His head was shaved bald and he wore what looked like a fang in his left ear. He wore a fur coat over his robes and Harry thought he saw the beginning of a tattoo on his arm.
"Master Maximoff." McGonagall greeted him.
"Greetings Minerva. I take it the other schools have arrived?" Maximoff asked.
"Madam Maxime is here, but we are still waiting on Alana." McGonagall told him.
"Very well then. I will go and join the others. Let me know when you are ready." Maximoff said curtly and marched his students past the Hogwarts staff and students.
As Maximoff passed, Harry got a very strange feeling in his chest. It was as if he should know something about Maximoff but he couldn't quite place it. Ron leaned over to him and muttered, "Guy could give you nightmares, eh?" Harry nodded in return.
They waited another few minutes before one of the Hufflepuff third years cried out and pointed off to the west. What appeared to be a mid-sized muggle jet plane was approaching Hogwarts. "But muggles can't find Hogwarts! And Muggle devices won't work here!" Hermione cried out. The plane came to the large grassy field off to the side of the castle and seemed to stop as if by magic, slowly lowering itself until it was settled firmly on the ground.
"Nothing like making an entrance." Seamus Finnegan whispered to Dean Thomas.
The door on the plane opened and a stairway magically glided down to the ground. A lovely woman dressed in a light blue wizard robe came down the stairs followed by her students. As they approached, Harry got a better look at her; the woman had long strawberry blonde hair and was wearing topaz earrings that were a slightly darker blue than the robe she wore. She also had on a necklace with a similar stone in it. Her manner and demeanor were similar to that of Miss. Wills; she seemed very friendly and likeable.
"It's great to see you again, Alana." McGonagall said and gave the other woman a hug.
"It's great to be seen, Minerva. I see that we are the last to arrive?" Alana asked as she gestured to the ship and carriage where Hagrid was tending to the flying horses.
"Only by a few minutes. Come, let's go ahead and get things started." McGonagall said. Alana's students had already filed into the school; Harry hadn't been able to see much of them since they had cloaks on with the hoods up. The Hogwarts students were led back into the great hall and they took their seats at their respective tables. Once the staff had been seated, McGonagall stood and addressed the room. "It is a great honor to have so many schools united in their beliefs and traditions. Today we invite our friends from other parts of the world to join us as we celebrate our camaraderie with the Tri-Wizard Tournament. May I first introduce Madam Maxime and her delegation from Beauxbaton Academy?"
The hall doors opened and Madame Maxime followed in her students wake. Gabrielle seemed to lead them as they danced into the room and performed some very impressive dance moves both between and on the tables. When they were done, they took a bow and took seats over at the Ravenclaw table. Everyone in the room was clapping, though the girls were doing so reluctantly; the boys easily made up for it though.
Harry and Ron were affected by all the girls dancing as much as any other boy; they were still staring after it had ended. Ginny and Hermione elbowed their respective men and brought them back to reality.
"No getting ideas." Ginny warned.
"The same goes for you, Ron." Hermione added. Both boys grinned sheepishly as they tried their best to avoid looking at the Ravenclaw table.
"Next, may I introduce Headmaster Maximoff and his ensemble from the Durmstrang Institute?" McGonagall announced.
The doors opened again and this time the Durmstrang students filed into the room. They all wore heavy fur coats and grim expressions. Harry wasn't surprised to see that all the students were male. The Durmstrangs lined up against the walls on either side of the room and then without any sign or prompt moved as one, turned on the spot, raised their wands and let loose a small fireworks display. When it was done they took a seat at the Slytherin table. Everyone clapped for the performance.
"Finally, may I introduce from America, Madam Valentine and the contingent from Eaglecrest Academy." McGonagall announced.
The doors opened for the final group and no one expected what they were about to see. The cloaked and hooded American students raced into the room in formation and jumped higher than would normally be possible. They did aerial leaps and various forms of acrobatics that would make a gymnast jealous. Harry looked over to the door and saw Madam Valentine standing there looking proudly at her students with three of them still standing with her. Only four of them were performing. The performance ended when all four of them did a backwards somersault off the ends of the tables and landed perfectly in front of the head table. During the landing one of their hoods had come down and Harry got a good look at them. "YOU!!!"
--
Harry's exclamation went unheard as the cheering and shouting was deafening. The girl from Diagon Alley stood there reveling in the praise for their performance and she too hadn't seemed to notice her hood fell. As soon as she did she pulled it back up, shrugged and followed her friends who all took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table. Madam Valentine and the remaining three students followed suit.
"Thank you all for your wonderful performances." McGonagall said to their guests. "As you are aware, the drawing for the Tri-Wizard Tournament will take place shortly. Decide long and hard if you wish to enter. The delegations will be staying in their respective accommodations but will be joining us for meals and may be about the castle. Please make sure you make every effort to make them feel welcome. Now, let us eat!"
Plates of food from all their native lands sprang up on the tables. Everything from pastries to hamburgers was available. Harry remembered some of the foods from the last tournament.
"Ron, Hermione!" Harry whispered fiercely and got their attention. "That girl whose hood came down, that's the girl from Diagon Alley!"
"Are you sure?" Ron whispered back.
"I thought she looked familiar..." Hermione noted. "Do you think?"
"I bet all of our mystery men and women are there. That's probably why they cloaked themselves." Harry told them.
"But why would they go through the trouble? And weren't they in America until today?" Ginny asked.
"Who knows... but something isn't right. I say we keep an eye on the Americans for a while." Harry said. The rest agreed.
Towards the end of the meal, one of the Americans approached from Ron and Hermione's side. Harry kept an eye on him as he moved closer and tried to see if it was one of the others they'd seen. As the American approached he threw back his hood to reveal a head of red hair and a face with freckles. If Harry didn't know any better he'd assume he was a Weasley.
"Hey Ron; long time no see." the American boy said.
Ron turned to look and looked up into the face of, "Dan?!" Ron jumped up and gave Dan a huge hug. Hermione and Harry looked totally baffled as Ron and Dan started talking about quidditch teams.
"Ginny?" Harry asked her. Ginny shrugged.
"I have no idea who he is." Ginny told them.
Ron continued to talk with Dan for a few minutes as the rest of them watched in awe. Dan looked much like Ron; they easily could have been brothers. Finally Dan looked to them as they stared at him and Ron slapped his forehead. "Sorry, Dan, this is my girlfriend Hermione, my best friend Harry, and my little sister Ginny."
"Little Ginevra? Seriously?" Dan looked over to Ginny curiously. She grew up quite a bit, hasn't she?" Dan said after giving Ginny a once over.
"Okay enough. Who are you?" Ginny demanded of Dan.
"What, you don't remember your cousin Daniel?" Dan asked innocently.
"Daniel?" she asked, trying to recall...
"Maybe this will jog your memory." Dan said and he and Ron did some ridiculous hand thing. Ginny's eyes widened.
"Oh my god... Dan!" Ginny exclaimed and almost leapt over the table to give him a hug.
"Well I guess that clears everything up." Harry said. Hermione chuckled.
"I'm so sorry! It never occurred to me..." Ginny apologized.
"It's okay wildfire. As long as you haven't forgotten me." Dan chuckled.
"Why do you and Bill always insist on calling me that?" Ginny demanded.
"Because you're a hot little number with a fiery temper of course." Dan replied. "Nice to meet you Harry; Hermione." Dan said and shook each of their hands in turn.
"So your Ron and Ginny's cousin?" Harry asked. "I didn't know they had a cousin."
"Didn't Ron's mom mention family in America before Bill and Fleur's wedding?" Hermione asked trying to recall.
"I don't remember." Harry admitted.
"Well there you go. I am very forgettable." Dan laughed as he messed up Ginny's hair.
"Hey! Stop that!" Ginny told him.
"I'd listen to her Dan. Ginny is the queen of the bat bogey hex. It is quite possibly the least pleasant hex ever invented." Ron told him.
"No kidding. Jess uses it on me all the time." Dan replied.
"Jess?" Ron asked.
"My girlfriend. She's still eating." Dan told him as he looked off towards the rest of the Eaglecrest members.
"Why all the hoods and cloaks?" Harry asked as casually as he could.
"Oh these?" Dan asked, holding up the cloak. "These were Nick's idea. Thought being in costume would make the performance a bit better. Ask us not to take them off until tomorrow."
"Okay. Do you know the blond girl whose hood came off during the performance?" Harry asked.
At this Dan hesitated. He obviously knew something was up. Hermione caught it too.
"You know her, don't you?" Hermione pressed.
"Of course I do. Everyone that came this year is a friend of mine. Anyway, I better get back to Jessica. See you in the morning everyone." Dan headed back to his friends without looking back. Something was definitely up.
--
Harry and Ginny met with Ron and Hermione in their common room after the feast was over. It was getting late, but Harry's room was just down the hall and he had let Ginny borrow his cloak before meeting so she could get back to the dorm if necessary. "So how are you so friendly with your cousin?" Harry asked Ron.
"Dan? We are pen pals. Well, it's been a while, but we used to write to each other when we were kids. I haven't heard from him since school started. He's actually Ginny's age if I remember right." Ron explained.
"Dan used to work with me and the twins to pull pranks when we were younger." Ginny explained. "He's the only relative we know that is our age."
"Alright. What else do you know about him?" Harry asked them.
"Wait a second; you don't honestly think Dan has anything to do with what's been going on!" Ron exclaimed.
"Actually, I do." Harry said with a straight face.
"And I agree with Harry. When we asked about the blond girl he shied off and went back to his classmates. Something isn't right." Hermione added.
"Maybe he was just worried about his girlfriend. We do that sometimes you know." Ron defended, including himself with his cousin.
"Ron, if Dan was coming to Hogwarts, why didn't he write you? I remember Dan as being very talkative. Why wouldn't he have let us know?" Ginny asked haltingly. She wanted to trust Dan too, but...
"You're against him too? He's your cousin!" Ron raged at Ginny.
"So what!? I haven't seen or heard from him since I was a little girl. There are lots of people with relatives that go bad. How do you know he isn't one?!" Ginny shouted back.
"ENOUGH!" Harry yelled. "Arguing about this isn't helping us any."
"We can assume that if the blond girl is in the American group that the other three we saw are. If your cousin is in their company, we have to assume he is in on whatever is going on. Maybe we should go see McGonagall and talk to her about it." Hermione suggested.
"I don't mind getting McGonagall involved if we have something to give her, but we can't right now. We all saw various people that might be in the American party do things outside of Hogwarts that in theory were helpful to us. We'd sound crazy." Harry said.
"I know Dan isn't involved."Ron insisted stubbornly.
"Whether he is or not isn't the issue right now." Hermione said in exasperation. "Daniel said that they were going to wear the cloaks until tomorrow. I say we see if they are all there for breakfast tomorrow morning. If they are, we confront them about it." Hermione suggested reasonably.
"I won't be a part of getting Dan in trouble. He's family." Ron insisted. "You can count me out." and Ron got up and stormed up his staircase.
--
The following morning Ginny met with Hermione and Harry in his room. "Ron refuses to come down to breakfast." Hermione told them sadly. "He won't even talk to me." Hermione looked like she hadn't slept at all; her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.
"Didn't you sleep at all?" Ginny asked before Harry beat her to it. Hermione shook her head. She looked on the verge of tears. "That git. When I get my hands on him..." Ginny grumbled.
"Enough Gin. We all have to deal with our own issues. When we figure out what is going on everything will be back to normal." Harry said. He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. He remembered how regardless of the facts, Ron took ages to speak to him again when he was upset about the Tri-Wizard Tournament four years ago. It took Harry going up against a Hungarian Horntail to finally make him see reason.
The three of them headed down to the great hall for breakfast and ran into Neville as they were about to enter. "Hey guys!" Neville greeted them. "Hey Neville." Ginny said. "How's the food?"
"Great as always." Neville replied. Hannah Abbott was just coming out of the great hall. Neville saw her and got a resigned look on his face. "I got to go. See you guys!" Neville said and followed Hannah back into the castle.
"I wonder what that was all about." Harry mused out loud.
"What ever it is, it's none of our business." Hermione scolded and they entered the great hall and went to their table. As they'd hoped, the Americans were still eating. Madam Valentine was talking with Madam Maxime and Dan was talking to... "Ron!" Hermione whispered as she caught her breath.
Ron had beaten them down to the great hall and was sitting next to his cousin and laughing up a storm. Another American student, a very pretty girl with long brown hair and wearing a bit too much jewelry was sitting next to Dan and holding his arm. Her robe was a pretty pink color. Harry assumed she was Jessica, Dan's girlfriend.
Another student, a fair skinned raven haired beauty was sitting nearby reading a book. Her hair went down to her lower back and she had a bit of a pointed nose. She seemed to be immersed in her reading, her black robe carelessly left open revealing blue jeans and a yellow tee. Next to her was the blond girl from Diagon Alley. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a light blue tee-shirt with matching earrings. The other three American students were not present.
Harry led Ginny and Hermione over to the table and the girls took a seat in their usual spot. Harry continued on to the end of the table and took a seat next to the blond girl.
"Hello again." Harry said to her. The girl looked up at him and smiled.
"Ah I remember you. You're the boy from the joke shop." she replied in that musical voice of hers. It was the voice you would expect from a famous singer.
"I'm also the boy from the bank." Harry pointed out. He figured the direct approach was the best bet.
"Of course. You did quite a good job there. I read all about it in the papers." the girl told him.
"So you admit you were there?" Harry asked calmly. "Just who are you?"
"Why wouldn't I admit the obvious?" the girl returned. "I'm Crystal. Your Harry Potter right? Nicholas told me a lot about you." Crystal answered.
"Yes I am. Who is Nicholas?" Harry asked.
"So full of questions aren't you? Sadly, I am not able to tell you at the moment. Maybe eventually you'll know." Crystal told him. She looked at the clock and frowned. "I need to be going. We have lessons soon and I need to finish up an essay. If you will excuse me..." Crystal asked and got up to leave. Harry was tempted to reach out and stop her but refrained. Madam Valentine was also getting up and it wouldn't do to make a scene.
Harry returned to Hermione and Ginny and told them what Crystal had said. "So, she admitted to being there? But if she was in Diagon Alley, how did she come in on the plane from America?" Ginny mused.
"Good question. Maybe she apparated?" Harry suggested.
Hermione shook her head. "Impossible. Apparation has limits. There is no way you could apparate clear to Diagon Alley from America. You'd kill yourself trying." Hermione explained.
"How about by floo?" Ginny suggested.
"International floo requires a lot of work and is done solely through the ministry. It's not something Kingsley would have authorized I believe." Hermione replied.
"Well then, do you have any bright ideas?" Ginny asked waspishly.
"Not really. I am just explaining why the usual methods won't work. It's doubtful she used a broom. That isn't the sort of trip one makes casually. Let me think on it." Hermione told them.
--
As the week went on, things grew steadily worse. Ron refused to talk to Hermione, Harry or Ginny at all and continued to sit with the Americans; namely Dan and Jess. Hermione became little more than a tear-stained zombie due to lack of sleep and her emotional vertigo. It became so bad that by Thursday Harry and Ginny had to take her to see Madam Pomfrey and force a dreamless sleep potion down her throat.
Harry was not successful in getting any more of their questions answered either. Crystal as well as the other three students never seemed to be in the great hall when he was. He managed to occasionally catch a glimpse of Crystal through a window but was never in a place to try and get her to talk. He did manage to see a boy speaking to Crystal once; he had short blond spiky hair. Harry assumed that he was the boy that had driven the Granger's home from the ministry.
Classes were getting more difficult as the week went on. Cho Chang had assigned a particularly hard banishing charm to learn and Miss. Wills had given them the arduous task of transfiguring their desks into various difficult forms. Hermione had no problems with either subject and to Harry's surprise neither did Ginny. She breezed through them as easily as Hermione.
Potions had them working on antidotes for various other potions and they were forced to take the potion they made the cure for to see if the cure worked. At one point, Harry had steam coming out of his ears. The potion was a simple one and so was the cure, but with everything going on Harry bungled it magnificently. Ginny managed to pass easily, but it was at this point that Hermione began to show signs of her illness a bit more and fainted. Ginny and Harry had found out about her lack of sleep at that point and had taken her to the hospital wing.
Defense against the dark arts proved to be a... unique experience. When they filed in and took their seats, the room suddenly became pitch black and many of the students began to scream as a maniacal laugh came through the total darkness. Flashes of dim green light and distant screams pierced the darkness in the distance and the sound of people toppling over as the green light hit them filled the room.
Harry had gotten to his feet and tried to determine where the green light was coming from. Tracing two green flashes to a common point he launched a stunner in that direction and suddenly the light was back again. Standing where his stunner had gone was Tobias Shaw. Harry glanced around and saw that Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco and a few others had stood and had their wands out.
"Well done, Mr. Potter. I assume you managed to determine my location from the flashes of light?" Tobias said slowly.
"Yeah." Harry replied.
"Excellent job. Twenty points to Gryffindor for passing my little... experiment. Another fifteen points for those Gryffindors standing and ready to fight. Five points to Slytherin, ten points to Ravenclaw and ten points to Hufflepuff for the same." Tobias said in his deep creepy voice. He was dressed in a black suit with tails under his open black wizard robe. His earrings today were little skeletons that jingled as he moved and instead of the usual wizard hat he wore a flat top instead of a cone.
"What was the big idea? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" one of the sitting Hufflepuffs complained.
"That was precisely the point. Dark wizards will give you no warning when they strike and they will use every advantage. You must remain calm when faced with the unknown and respond accordingly. Now, I wish to catch up on what you've learned."
Needless to say, it was a lesson they would all remember.
--
Author's Corner:
This chapter and the last chapter were actually supposed to be one chapter. It ran a bit long though so I split it up into two smaller ones. Not normally something I like to do… but you do what you must I suppose.
How do you like the contest rules so far? Any guesses as to what may happen? What do you think of the new teachers? The delegations? Any feedback about the Americans?
So Harry and Ginny are back together. We learned a bit about Miss. Wills, and it seems Ginny may know even more than we do. I wonder how it will all turn out. Stick with me and find out!
Edit: It seems I made a bit of a goof in a previous chapter and will need to go and fix it. Tobias Shaw was meant to be introduced as the defense against the dark arts teacher, not muggle studies. Since muggle studies are never a significant class in the series, I decided to leave the teacher for it in the background as a temporary fix. Please keep that in mind. Thank you.
Reviews are appreciated immensely!