Authors Note: This chapter will be mostly to get to know the five characters who are to be introduced to Hogwarts.

Chapter 2: The Five

16 years later

01st March 2019, Lyceum International School, Sri Lanka, Earth - 36

The first of the five young wizards, Bineth Senivirathne's blue sedan pulled up next to Gate A. The prefect to be (he was still on probation) walked inside the school looking all the world like a properly civilized young man. His black hair was combed neatly and his dark brown eyes glinted in the morning sun. He was tall and slim. Athletic but not overly muscular in appearance. He was 4 minutes early so he had nothing to worry about and strolled off leisurely to sign morning attendance.

3 minutes 40 seconds later

The next member of the five; Kumaran Madhuharan, also a prefect on probation, put his considerable athletic skills on display to the school as he dashed in through Gate D like a man being chased by a pack of hungry lions. He covered the 150m to his destination in about 19 seconds. The head prefect, having just gotten ready to draw a red line to signify the late comers, paused to look at Madhuharan. His black hair was a rat's nest from the wind. His dark brown eyes droopy from sleepiness. He was dripping with sweat all over his tall and muscular body. His shirt was untucked and his badge looked like it had seen better days. He earned a disapproving look from the head prefect as he signed as the last one before the red line was drawn.

15 seconds later

The naturally born wizard of the five, Hansana Perera, strolled into school leisurely through Gate A. He had met a friend on the way and he was chatting away. The black eyed, black haired boy walked in slowly and headed on towards his class; 11 Science A. He was short and plump. He had a rather chubby face and at least 3 chins. He wasn't someone you'd ever catch running anywhere. He made his way up the staircase insulting the stairs several times.

10 seconds later

In what was an unusual occurrence a blue defender pulled up next to Gate A and the next young witch, Niketha Semalee, got out and slowly walked into school rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She rarely made an appearance at school this early but today she had been left with no choice. She had dark brown eyes and long black hair. She had a petite, beautiful figure drawing the attention of more than a few boys with her looks as she trudged up the stairs slowly to her class nodding greetings to the friends she met on the way.

2 minutes later

The black Toyota Aqua of the last wizard to arrive pulled up near Gate A. Rakindu Wijeyaratne jumped out of the car and in a single fluid moment pulled out his bag, an exceptionally large wheeled bag the size of an average hand luggage, and dashed into school with a nod to the security guard at the gate. He proceeded to tear up the stairs 3 at a time. His black hair which his mother had attempted to comb was messed up in seconds. His strikingly dark jet black eyes were lined with red due to lack of sleep. He was not exactly athletic by any description with a noticeable stomach but his muscular legs and the speed at which he charged up lugging 16kg of bag suggested otherwise. He wasn't very tall but stood at around average height. As he thundered up the stairs like a rampaging bull he dodged around the other children with an agility that shouldn't have been possible for his size.

20 minutes later

Positively drenched in sweat but full of energy and in high spirits, Rakindu jumped the last 4 steps from the 5th floor to the 4th floor his monstrous bag hitting the ground with a "THUNK" that rattled the entire floor. He was quite happy having ended his table tennis practice session with a perfectly executed forehand smash that had flown just a couple of millimeters above the net. As he turned into the corridor that led to his class, 11 Science B, he saw his longtime friend Niketha chatting away with her friends in 11 Science E. The fact that the bell, which signaled that everybody should be inside their respective classes, had already rung was being blatantly ignored by everyone. Only the primary kids actually went inside the class at that bell.

He flashed a quick smile at her and said," Hi!"

"Hi! Is this the time you're coming to school?" she asked turning away from her friends for a moment. Her friends continued their discussion.

"No!" he declared and then proceeded to explain," we had table tennis practices in the morning. We have a tournament this Sunday."

"Oh!" she said," Good luck then."

"Thanks! Gotta go though! Bye!"

"Bye!" she replied with a smile.

He continued in the direction of his class. As he arrived at his class he nodded a quick 'Good Morning' to one of his classmates, Nathaniel, who was standing by the side of the doorway of the class like he was on guard duty staring at something in the distance.

He walked into class hoping to take the shortcut to his place over the teacher's chair but found that their teacher for the first period Sir Sujeewa had already arrived. He plastered a fake smile onto his face and muttered a good morning followed by a Latin curse under his breath. Then he proceeded to maneuver his massive bag through the maze of desks. Reaching his desk, he shoved it under the desk with enough force to slam the desk against the wall it was next to. After that he inspected the desk and the chair for crow droppings and finding some on his chair, discretely switched it with someone else's before sitting down on the desk. He took out his water battle and had a sip before getting up and heading towards Nathaniel.

Nathaniel was still peeking around the doorway staring at something or someone down in the corridor like a crocodile watching for an unsuspecting fish to eat.

"What or who are you looking at?" asked Rakindu. Nathaniel faltered for a minute and then gave one of his manic laughs that made him sound like an escapee from an insane asylum. He followed it up by showing all 32 teeth in a massive smile.

"Nothing, I was just…" he stammered trailing off.

Rakindu brushed off the obvious attempt at hiding something and asked," Shouldn't we be going back into class? I mean the bell already rang and the teachers already here. In 5 minutes school is going to start so we better get back and take our books out before that."

"Okay, let's go sit down then," said Nathaniel. He turned around then slapped Rakindu on the back, obviously meaning it to be a friendly pat, but not knowing his own power he delivered a painful slap that emitted a loud "CRACK". Rakindu fortunately for him had an unusually high pain tolerance and barely felt anything. He agreed and just to let out some steam proceeded to punch the class room wall at full speed. Not something most people can pull off without breaking a knuckle or screaming in pain but Rakindu's powerful shot had the entire wall shaking and Rakindu continued waking to his seat humming a tune without showing the slightest hint of pain.

Two minutes before the bell was about to ring the most recent addition to Rakindu's circle of friends arrived at the doorway. His name was Ayden. He did a quick scan of the class before spotting the empty seat next to Rakindu after which he walked towards the seat slowly and plonked himself down putting his bag under the chair.

"Hi!" he said," I bought some of that powder that turns people black."

"What!" Rakindu exclaimed. In reply Ayden, took out a blue polythene bag full of black powder. He put some water on the table from his massive 2 liter bottle and put some powder in it. Instantly it turned purple then slowly turned brown.

"Oh! Potassium Permanganate," remembered Rakindu, who had the reaction burned into his memory from an experiment they had done at the lab the previous week. Due to some unfortunate maneuvers his lab coat now had spots of brown all over the place." That stuff doesn't wash off easily. You better not be planning to throw that at someone."

"Oh no! I'm putting this stuff in someone's bottle," replied Ayden complete with a maniacal grin for maximum evil villain effect. Rakindu just shook his head with an 'I can't believe you just said that' look on his face. Then the bell rang signaling the start of lessons. This started the mad dash back to class and the class filled up quickly.

Rakindu turned towards the teacher and joined his classmates in the valiant battle to stay awake as Sir Sujeewa droned on in his usual flat monotone that was devoid of emotion. The lesson continued till a quarter past eight. As soon as the bell rang the entire class breathed a huge sigh of relief. Sir Sujeewa proceeded to great the class and leave.

Their class teacher then walked in.

Those who had fallen asleep were quickly shaken awake and they all managed to chorus a 'Goooooood Mooooorning Teeeacher' dragging out perhaps a bit too long for an A/L class. The teacher didn't comment but sat down and began to mark attendance.

Ayden meanwhile took out his bag of powder and started turning things brown. The last page of his Math book became the first victim. After that was done he remembered that he hadn't had breakfast yet and took out his lunchbox to eat. He glanced around the class to make sure that no one would try to steal any food.

Rakindu joined him in keeping an eye on the back of the class where the pack of hyenas disguised as 11th graders hung out.

A few minutes later at a half past eight Ms. Gayathri left and Sir Sujeewa walked back into the class to a half-hearted good morning to begin his second period.

Rakindu is his usual speed proceeded to destroy all the sums (this was the math period) he gave while he was still explaining the first one to the class. He then glanced back at Bineth who was sitting behind him, about halfway through the sums while simultaneously maintaining a conversation with Senith, the boy sitting beside him, who had yet to finish the first sum.

Rakindu slid his chair back a bit to talk to them.

"Wow, still only halfway?" he asked Bineth.

"Not all of us are walking calculators."

"I'm not a walking calculator. I just….. Math is my thing you know. I just…yeah. I can't explain it. The answers just come."

"Like I said… walking calculator."

"Baaa….Hmm.. When do you two get officially sworn in as the newest slaves of Lyceum?"

"Not sure." Senith meanwhile gave Rakindu the evil eye for him referring to prefects as slaves.

Rakindu turned back to his work while Bineth proceeded to argue with Sineth about the best strategy to win Clash Royale.

Then they all joined in the class' collective sigh of relief and enthusiastic "Thaaaaaank yoooooooou, sir," as Sir Sujeewa walked out this time not the return till the next day.

Ms. Gayathri, who was their Physics teacher, walked in next.

In the neighboring class, Niketha and her friends were busy grabbing practical books to go to the Physics lab, with their previous period having ended a bit late they had to work fast to make up time. The rest of their class quickly followed them as their Physics Teacher who was also their Class Teacher, Sir Dayananda, had a very short fuse and would erupt very easily like a piece of Sodium in sulfuric acid.

It was too late however as he began screaming the moment the first person walked in. He started to name the contents of an entire zoo before lecturing them in the benefits of being early to class. 10 minutes of ranting later he barked at them to begin their practicals and the entire class scrambled to get to their practical stations. As they busied themselves with staring at pendulums the students in 11 Science B were groaning at getting a quiz.

Meanwhile in 11 Science D, Madhuharan was mentally debating the pros and cons of bunking the Kandyan dancing period which they had just after their break.

The seconds were being counted down to recess which was at ten twenty five. The pleasant 'Diiin Dooon Diiing Doong' rang and the classrooms erupted in chaos. The teachers knowing it was a pointless battle wrapped up their lessons and fled to the refuge of the staff room.

Bineth, who had already eaten during morning attendance, walked out the class with fellow prefects Senith and Rahul. They were headed for their duty points. Madhuharan did a very accurate imitation of a starving lion and inhaled his sandwiches before running off like a fighter jet. Niketha was walking back from the lab at a sedate pace.

Rakindu; head swimming with Ms Ama's, their Chemistry Teacher, latest lecture on how their class was the worst class she'd ever taught, was stuffing books into his cavernous bag. While he was taking out his lunch box, Hansana was fishing something else out of his bag.

Rakindu discovering he had sandwiches again, punched the wall in displeasure causing it to shake. (He really hated sandwiches) He muttered a Greek curse before he proceeded to eat it as fast as he could without looking like an animal. Washing the whole thing down with water, he proceeded in the direction of the toilet.

Rakindu came out of the bathroom and was on his way back to his class when he ran into Hansana in the corridor. Hansana thrust something in his face and his brain went into panic mode as it registered a centipede. Then before he could scream, his brain's detailed analysis reached his mind and it had noted the following things. Hansana was afraid of centipedes. Centipedes could not bend into the shape of such an elaborate S. No one in Hansana's class was screaming. He realized it was a fake rubber one.

"I thought you were afraid of centipedes?" he asked smiling.

"Not this one," replied a disappointed Hansana.

"You should go scare Lakshika. I'm not going to fall for that thing or that snake thing you have somewhere in your bag."

Hansana smirked," I'll get you someday. I have to go scare people know."

Rakindu nodded and went back to class and had a drink of water from his bag. He then considered his options for the interval. He was about to settle down to read the book stashed in his bag Time Riders #6: The City of Shadows, when his instinct flared. His chest got unnaturally warm and he got a thought that he should go talk to Dulnath, another of his friends. This was a typical occurrence for him by that point so unlike most people he put his book aside and immediately went in the direction of Dulnath's class.

Bineth was patrolling the second floor corridor in the A building keeping a sharp eye out for anyone running or starting a fight. Nothing had happened so far. Everyone was behaving for once. He really hoped one of his friends would come by. It was dreadfully boring to be standing here alone. He was going to have to catch Hansana at least afterschool.

Madhuharan meanwhile had even less to do. He just had to prevent fights. So an extremely bored Madhuharan stared wistfully at a food vendor outside the school wishing his mother had given him some money to buy extra food. Despite having already eaten he was still hungry. He glanced at his watch. He had to stand there for at least another fifteen minutes. Not for the first time he regretted being chosen as prefect. He really wished he hadn't applied or at least made more of an effort to make his friend, Rakindu, apply. Rakindu was all for keeping free time free and know Madhuharan was stuck down here alone while Rakindu was upstairs probably talking with Dulnath about some science nonsense.

Hansana meanwhile was having fun making unsuspecting people scream with his rubber centipede. He wandered towards 11 Science E to find more of his friends (victims). He decide he would save the rubber snake for later. He didn't want people to catch on to his tricks too fast.

Rakindu was on his way to Dulnath's class when he spotted his best friend leaning on the railing looking down at the playground. She was leaning down sticking her head out perhaps a bit more than was advisable considering the bulls that tended to rampage down the corridors.

"You keep doing that, you're going to fall."

"No, I'm not," was Niketha's reply still peering down and waving at somebody. Rakindu just shook his head and leaned against the railing next to her, his eyes automatically doing a quick scan of the playground to see who she was waving at. His eyes did not register a likely target. Instead he saw a large amount of crows gathered on a tree and focused on that.

"So did you even look at the Further Math homework?"

She shook her head.

"As expected". She laughed in reply.

"I'll try to finish up with that P2 book and give it back by Monday or at least Tuesday."

At that point she finally turned away from the playground as Rakindu also turned towards her. They both smiled at each other for a moment as their eyes met. After a couple of seconds she replied.

"Oh! That's fine! You just take your time, I'll be doing it on Wednesday just before the class anyway."

"Hmm.. I can't exactly argue because I do the same thing a lot. It is sometimes nice to do it early though. Anyway, so what are planning to do this weekend?"

"I've got some classes on Saturday but Sunday I'll just be sitting around maybe doing homework or more like I should be doing homework but I'll just do the Monday stuff then get too lazy to do the rest. What are you going to do?"

"Oh I have way too many classes on Saturday as usual though luckily I'll get to play a bit with my neighbors. And Sunday's the tournament so I'm gonna be busy this weekend. On the bright side, Monday is a holiday."

"Oh yeah! We still have classes though."

"Yeah but that's good or I wouldn't be able to see that wonderful smile of yours on that day, would I?" She smiled in reply.

"Hmm….so where were you going?"

"Ohh.. I was going to go find Dulnath but I'm definitely staying here now. I could do without a ten minute lecture on Fluid Dynamics or Quantum Tunneling or whatever other thing that encyclopedia has managed to dig up. Talking with you is so much better."

"Really!" she said laughing," I do know Dulnath goe overboard sometimes but don't you like science stuff too?"

"I do. But not to that extent. I kinda have to change into this other nerd guy to talk to him. Even Haran or Bineth they all represent one part of me in a way. The guy who plays cricket, the guy who cracks jokes. If you take my friends each one is a version of me, a part of my personality. You're like the only friend that I am truly myself with. I don't have to be one of my personalities formed into a fake person."

"Well you're my best friend too. I mean how long has it been now."

"Thirteen years and fifty four days. I keep count."

"Hmm you really love numbers don't you? Speaking of that what university were you thinking of going to?"

"I'm not too sure. I'll end up wherever my parent's send me, I guess. What about you?"

"Same story probably. I barely know what I'm even going to do." Their talk on universities stretched till the end of the break.

"Well I should probably go now," said Rakindu," the bell already rang. Ms Ama kills anyone who gets late."

"Oh yeah, I should get back too."

"Okay! I'll see you either afterschool or on Monday. I'll do my best with the book."

"Okay! Good luck in your tournament again. Hope you win!"

"Well! Participation works too. Bye!" She laughed and waved as she made her way into her class.

On the way back in Nathaniel slapped him on the back saying," Get in!" as if he was the security guard. Rakindu walked into class and sat down with a sigh digging out his chemistry book.

Madhuharan and Bineth were busy herding everyone back to class. Madhuharan finishing up his duty and charged up the stairs like a bull on a rampage charging into class within a couple of minutes.

Bineth meanwhile came along chatting with his friends walking at a more civilized pace.

"So anything interesting happen?" he asked the other too.

"Same boring nonsense," replied a very bored looking Rahul. Senith just gave one of his 'I'm depressed enough to jump off this building' looks and the other two got the message.

"Hmm…. So to more interesting topics which level are you guys in…" and they chatted about Shadow Fight the rest of the way before they found themselves at the entrance to the class and walked in after excusing themselves.

Madhuharan, having decided that skipping the dancing period as a prefect and getting caught would not be healthy for him, dragged himself to the dancing room cursing the management for making it compulsory to A/L students. He arrived in the dancing room ten minutes later. When the rest of the class trooped in the period was half gone. Then the dancing began. Rather than the gracefulness and beauty of the Kandyan Dance the class ended up emulating a pack of elephants on a rampage. After a half an hour of torture the class made its way back.

Meanwhile, Niketha and her class mates had math. Their teacher, Sir Jaliya was a diminutive man who sounded like a mouse but a good teacher nonetheless. They all managed to stay awake during his period which was a testament to how good he was.

Hansana meanwhile was busy absorbing all the knowledge in his Biology period. He may be a bit of a prankster during the break but the subjects he had a passion for he could absorb like a sponge and right now he was soaking in every word that was being uttered even as some of his classmates were more concerned with goofing off and disturbing the teacher.

After that period, the sixth for the day, ended there was a mad scramble in 11 Science B to get to the Physics Lab. Nathaniel as usual was the first to get ready and practically dragged Rakindu out of the class before he managed to disengage himself muttering something about a forgotten pen. He took the moment to talk to Bineth and Ayden about the practical. Then he joined Nathaniel in dashing out of the class in the direction of the Physics lab. They got the first row and began their work before the rest of the class had even managed to arrive.

Once Bineth and his friends settled in the second row the usual procedure began with the two rows collaborating on the practical.

"Right wait did you get that graph to go straight?" asked Rakindu.

"Nope, I got anomalous points man. This looks pretty weird," replied Bineth.

"Me too. I don't know how Nathaniel got his to be so accurate. This freaking fan is severely messing with the pendulum swing."

"Yeah. Why can't the school get an AC so we can do the practical accurately without melting in this Sun?"

"Well I kinda still got a perfect graph you know."

"WHAT?" exclaimed not just Bineth but Rahul and Senith too.

"I used magic," he replied winking," You know deeeductive reasoning. Or draw the graph straight then adjust accordingly."

"Oh! The old fashioned way. I should probably do that," replied Bineth laughing," Magic it is!"

They both laughed and got to finishing off their work.

The seconds ticked by and soon they found themselves frantically putting the final touches as the bell rang signaling the end of school. Bineth excused himself to go for duties. Rakindu began the long process of stuffing his five different pencil cases and books back into his massive bag. In the other classes Hansana and Niketha were also packing while Madhuharan excused himself to go do his duties.

Niketha walked toward the reception area where her vehicle would be arriving at Gate A. She stood in her usual spot occasionally waving to a friend or talking to someone who stopped to talk to her.

Madhuharan on duty in the ground floor staircase waited patiently for Rakindu to arrive. He knew Rakindu would also be among the last people to leave the school because Rakindu made sure the class was clean and checked for the things most people didn't bother with even though it wasn't his duty. Madhuharan personally didn't see the point but he respected his friend's view all the same.

Bineth meanwhile spotted Hansana and made an early escape from his duty point.

"So, couldn't even talk to you today" he began.

"Yeah, your new prefect thing is keeping you busy."

"Yeah I mean it's not too terrible. Plus wearing this badge feels amazing. But that's not important. How were lessons?"

"Good. Also I got a lot of people with the centipede except Rakindu and Asiru."

"Hmm.. takes a lot to fool Asiru and a whole lot to scare Rakindu."

"So how's Clash Royale going?"

"Pretty good as long as my mother doesn't confiscate the phone now that the semester exam is like two weeks away. Practical test is like next week and she is freaking out as usual."

"Parents…..," he said and they exchanged a look," Yeah my mother is the same but since I study a lot too she's letting it slide for now."

They continued talking till they had reached Gate B where Bineth waved goodbye to go get into his waiting car. Hansana's mother arrived not long after and he too left.

Madhuharan meanwhile was rewarded for his patience as the familiar thundering sound of Rakindu's bag reached his ears. Sure enough right at the end of the tsunami of people pouring out of the staircase he emerged, sweaty and swinging around his massive bag with a carelessness that suggested he was actually carrying a cushion. Once Rakindu nodded to him and walked past him, Madhuharan ran off to tell his fellow prefects he had to leave and charged after Rakindu. He caught up to him just as they both reached the ground floor.

"Hi," said Madhuharan.

"Hello! Didn't see you today but I knew you were present. How's you prefect thing going now?"

"Very boring actually. I'm starting to wish that they won't chose me to continue past the probationary period. I just really hate doing this now."

"I warned you it was going to be boring and you lose all the free time. I'm planning to see if I can start up the Science v Commerce cricket tournament again and I'll have to do it without…..." He spotted Niketha standing in her spot. "Bye!" he said as they passed Niketha who smiled and waved. He turned back to Madhuharan.

"Yeah. Hopefully next term if they reject me I can join. I'm not that good at cricket anyway."

"Oh come on! Everyone starts somewhere. Plus you're doing the things I taught you really well. You can be good if you just practice more."

"But I can never bowl as fast as you can or hit the fast bowlers for six like you do."

"That's 'cause I've been doing this for much longer. You learnt the proper bowling technique like a month ago. I was taught that when I was three years old. As for batting let's just say my neighbor plays for his school team and his speed makes Iman look like he's bowling in slow motion. So I get good practice."

"Whatever. So did you start studying? I'm already doing papers now."

"You know me. I don't do studies. I just remember it. It's just...uhh I can't explain. My brain is weird."

"It is very useful though."

They continued on talking of the upcoming exams until they both also exited the school from Gate D.

Niketha spotted her vehicle and also made her way out.

Watching from far above via the satellite quality cameras mounted to the bottom of the Timeship Tachyon, Harry smiled. Their experiment had worked out really well. Only minor changes to the timeline and all of them were harmless things. The children had matured very well into characters that could make the kind of impact he was hoping for. Time for them to go to Hogwarts. He called Vankous and told him to cast the array of spells that would make that possible. The spells would also stop the other Asian Magic schools from registering the five of them. These five were destined for Hogwarts. Harry Potter was going to have to be influenced and a certain Voldy was going to be facing a far bigger threat in this timeline. Harry gritted his teeth as he thought of that monster. It was a pity he couldn't personally turn him into confetti. That or grind him into a sausage and feed him to his snake. This time though there would be less bloodshed on the side of the good guys. Harry smiled again. The plan so far looked like it would work. There was one thing he had to do then he had to leave Earth 36 and deal with an Alkogian invasion in Frosia 45. The Timeship vanished in the usual swirl of blue and green light.

The skies of Sri Lanka roared with thunder acknowledging what was about to happen. The country's ambient magic had sensed change. Wheels that had been set in motion were about to gain speed. The five would soon be detected by Hogwarts.

Authors Note: This is still Pre-Hogwarts so if you're waiting for that bear with me. I'll try to update fairly regularly. Reviews are greatly appreciated.