American Witch: Third Year at Last!
A/N: I decided to add the "Third Year at Last!" part this time, since I'd been forgetting…
Um…let's see…anything else to say here?
Well, if anybody reviewed, which I find extremely doubtful…THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
You know, I've been writing for a year now…Oh…scary-scary…
And I still haven't come up with any good fics…Such a pathetic person. Yep. That's me.
Disclaimer: I've found a way to shorten this! Yay! J.K Rowling owns all recognizable things, and I own all unrecognizable things. There. Done.
-Hermione2
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Chapter 3: The Welcoming Feast
After about two more weeks, it was September 1st. When Kara woke up, she grinned happily. She was going back to Hogwarts today!
She got out of bed, dressed, and then went down to have some breakfast as fast as she could. Her mother had rebelled and not gotten up, so her dad was the only one up. He made some pancakes for her, which was not a normal occurrence. Kara guessed he was trying to be nice on her last day at home. She savored them as long as she could.
Eventually, she was ready to go. She double-checked all her things, made sure Lilac (her owl) was safely in her cage, and finally started dragging her trunk down the stairs. It was heavy…
2 lightyears later (or so it seemed with a trunk that heavy), Kara got outside and left her dad with the trunk, while she raced upstairs to get Lilac. When she got to her room, she took one last look around, wishing for a second that she didn't have to leave, and grabbed Lilac's cage. Her desire to go back to Hogwarts had overruled her minor homesickness. Then, she ran downstairs, and Lilac hooted irritably as her cage bounced up and down in Kara's hands.
Getting back outside, Kara ran over to the curb, where she'd set her trunk, and set Lilac down beside it. Then, she stuck out her hand and the Knight Bus appeared. Her dad helped her heave the trunk onto the bus, and then Kara carried Lilac in.
"How much for going to London?" she asked the driver.
"From here?" he asked uncertainly.
Kara nodded impatiently, getting worried that the price would be high.
"Er…that'll be a Galleon and a Sickle."
Kara stared with wide eyes for a second, then rummaged around in her trunk. "Wait a second…" Wow. That was a lot for a bus. Of course, they did have to go across an ocean. That counted toward the cost, probably.
She finally found a Galleon, and she'd had a few Sickles in her pocket. Kara paid the requested money, and then sat down on one of the beds along the sides of the bus.
BANG, and they were going along a different road.
"Oh, Miss Floyr! We're in Oklahoma!" the driver yelled, and a witch left the bus, clutching her bags and looking a little glad to leave.
BANG!! Virginia. That was a big jump…
"Right. Your turn now," the driver muttered to Kara. And…BANG!
"And we're in England!" the driver announced. Kara felt like she'd left a part of herself back in the United States and it was still catching up.
"What part of London?"
"King's Cross."
"Righty, then."
BANG! A little bit after that, Kara had gotten off the bus and was taking her things to Platform 9 and 3/4.
Kara and her father reached the barrier. "Bye Dad! See you at Christmas!" Kara waved, then ran forward to the barrier and disappeared through.
And there was the Hogwarts Express. The train she'd been wishing to see all summer. Kara immediately got a delighted expression on her face, then heaved her trunk onto the train with a bit of difficulty. Going back onto the platform, she looked around for one of her friends.
From behind her, she heard someone call her name, and spun around. Elena was standing a short distance away. "Hi," Kara called, fighting her way through the crowd.
She reached Elena, and said, "How was your summer? It must have been better than mine. I was about to die from boredom!"
"Hi, Kara!" Elena said happily. "I couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts this summer. All I did was go to the beach." Elena lived in California, right on the coast.
"Better than me! That might seem really boring to you, but I don't go to the beach unless I'm on vacation!"
"Kara, Elena!"
We turned around. "The life of the party has come to the platform," Kara said in an announcer voice.
"Hi, 'Manda!" Elena greeted Amanda with as much enthusiasm as with Kara.
"You know…" Kara said, looking at her watch, "The train's about to go. We should find some seats."
"Yeah," Amanda agreed. "But you have to help me get my trunk on…."
"How much do I get paid?" Kara asked eagerly. Elena laughed.
After they had gotten on the train, and Amanda had grudgingly paid Kara 3 Knuts ("3 Knuts?!? What am I, to deserve so little? Chopped liver???"), they started looking for seats, and found some at the very end of the train.
Sitting down, Kara said, "Have any of you seen Kira and them yet?"
"No," Amanda and Elena said at the same time.
"Right. Neither have I. Do you think there'll be anything to do on this train besides eat?"
"Probably not."
"We'd better kidnap the lady with the food, then…"
The train started moving, and they looked idly out the window as it left the platform.
A few seconds later, their compartment door slid open, and a pale-faced girl none of them recognized stuck her head in slowly. "Eh…mind if I sit in here? Only seats left."
"Sure," Amanda replied, almost at once.
The girl, who was short and had curly blond hair and blue eyes, walked in.
"What year are you in?" Kara asked. "I don't think I've seen you around."
"Third year Gryffindor. Arena Warren," the girl said, holding out a hand. For a Gryffindor, she seemed to be pretty quiet.
"Oh! Me and Elena here," Kara said, pointing at Elena, "are in Ravenclaw. 'Manda's in Hufflepuff. We're all in third year too."
"Wait…you're the ones who were new last year, right?"
"Yep," Kara said, feeling a bit impatient. Was that all people cared about? She didn't like thinking about the fact that even Hogwarts had been late in noticing that she had any magic. It made her feel stupid, somehow. Like she couldn't even make strange things happen and be on time about it.
"Oh," Arena said. "I was wondering whether I was ever going to meet any of you, since we're all the same age. Maybe we'll have classes together this year."
"Maybe," Kara said shortly, still feeling resentful that being one of "the new ones" was the only thing that identified her.
Arena seemed to notice Kara's tone, and glanced at her in confusion. Kara suddenly looked at it from Arena's side. The girl probably didn't even know why she was mad. Without knowing it, the look in her eyes softened just a tiny bit.
"Well," Arena said. "I think the introductions are pretty much taken care of, so I'll just find a seat." She didn't have to look long, since they were the only ones in the compartment, so she sat down almost immediately.
Kara thought she should probably make up for being rude, so she said, hesitantly smiling, a few seconds later, "So…What new classes are you taking this year?"
Arena looked up, startled. She probably hadn't expected Kara to talk to her. "Er…Divination and Muggle Studies."
"Oh. I'm taking Divination too! Wonder if we'll be in the same class…So, you're not Muggle-born?"
"No…."
"Oh. I am. We're kind of the wizard blood range here," Kara laughed. "I'm Muggle-born…"
"I'm half-blood," Amanda interrupted, "and Elena's pure-blood. Honestly, Kara, you've remarked on that so many times, I can do it by heart."
"Of course, it's not that hard to remember," Elena said, "but you do say it a lot. How about you leave, Arena, before she bores you to death?" Elena suggested, letting out a small laugh.
Kara scowled, and said, jokingly, "Oh, come on, I wanted to bore her to death…Why don't you ever let me kill people from boredom?"
Arena was just watching them with a slightly wary look on her face.
"R--Right…."
***
By the end of the train ride, Arena was acquainted with them, but cautious. She seemed to think that they were a tiny bit insane. Well, looks can be deceiving…but maybe they were, a tiny bit…
When they got out of the train, it was dark outside, and they saw a lantern bobbing above the heads of the crowd. "Firs' years over 'ere! Over here, firs' years!"
"I'd bet my cloak…and that's valuable at the moment, 'cause it's cold," Kara added, "that that's Rubeus Hagrid, not Bill Weasley! I wonder why he wasn't here last year."
"I heard Hagrid was off doing things for Dumbledore…I think Bill Weasley was substituing for Hagrid, doing his jobs around Hogwarts," Elena said, thinking. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was it."
"Oh."
***
As they got out of the coach that had transported the three of them to Hogwarts, Kara looked up. The castle rose high above them. She felt a surge of excitement to be there again, and almost ran up the front steps.
Elena was right next to her. "Alohomora!" She tapped the lock on the double doors.
"IT'S OPEN, YOU STUPID *censored*!"
Elena said sweetly to the doors, "Why, thank you for telling me. Accio!" A bag appeared in her hand, and she opened it, dumping termites on the doors.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Enjoy your termites!" Smiling, she opened the door and went through.
"Greenweld, 5 points off Ravenclaw for vandalism!" It was Professor Bradley, a rather disagreeable woman who was the teacher for History of Magic.
"But Professor Bradley, shouldn't the doors get 5 points off for insulting me?" Elena asked with an innocent face.
"Whatever. Doors, 5 points off for--" Bradley stopped and reddened as she realized she was taking points off the doors, which weren't in any real house anyway.
"GREENWELD!!!!"
"Yes, Professor Brad?"
"DON'T CALL ME BRAD!!!!! IT'S BRADLEY!!!"
"Okay…" Professor Bradley sighed with relief. "…Professor Brad."
"IT'S BRADLEY!!!!!!"
"Right. Bye!" Elena said, going toward the Great Hall, with her long black hair fluttering behind her. Clearly, she'd been doing some planning over the summer.
Kara and Amanda went past Professor Bradley into the Great Hall. Amanda went to sit at the Hufflepuff table.
Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, Kara said, "Isn't it a bit early to be doing that, 'Lena? Ravenclaw's got -5 points!"
"Oh, well. You can always earn them back in classes. You're a genius, after all…"
A couple seconds later, practically every student in Hogwarts came into the Great Hall and sat at their tables.
"Hi Kira, Andrea, Stephanie…" Kara said, as the three girls mentioned sat down across from them.
"Hi," Kira said. "D'you think they allow swimming in the lake here?"
"Um…why?"
"She's gotten obsessed with swimming over break," said Andrea, a girl with black hair that was nearly always in a ponytail. "Stephanie has too. Poor me!"
"I'm sorry," Kara said sympathetically. It was a habit, whenever anyone talked about something happening that was not to their advantage. It didn't matter whether it was her fault or not.
Elena said to Kira, "Well, no idea if they allow swimming…But do you really want to? There's the giant squid, and the grindylows, and other things…"
"Right," Kira said, sighing. "Maybe I should just settle for Quidditch…"
"Yes," Andrea said. "Please just settle for Quidditch."
Before Kira could answer, the first years came in, and Professor Bradley placed the Sorting Hat on a stool.
"Let's just hope it was able to think of a song this year," Kara whispered.
Elena laughed softly.
The hat sang,
Oh, you may not think I'm pretty
But don't judge on what you see--
"You sang that one in 1991!" someone yelled.
"Well, at least it's a song…" the Sorting Hat grumbled. And it went on to finish the song.
I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me!
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat and I can cap them all!
There's nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be.
You might belong in Hufflepuff
Where dwell the just and loyal.
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil.
You might belong in Gryffindor
Where dwell the brave at heart.
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart.
Or perhaps in Ravenclaw
If you've a ready mind.
Where those of wit and learning
Will always find their kind.
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends.
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on, don't be afraid
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!
(A/N: And that is J.K. Rowling's, quite obviously. Don't sue me. Anyway, I'm broke. You wouldn't get much.)
The Hall, er…didn't burst into applause after the Sorting Hat finished.
Professor Bradley cleared her throat: "Ndersonyay, Atenay." She looked horrified. "Iay myay peakingsay niay Igpay Atinlay! HOHAY IDDAY HISTAY?!?!?!? ETENTIONDAY!!!!!!!"
A teacher stepped up. "Anyone want a translation?" Most of the hall nodded. "Right. She said, 'Anderson, Nate.' That was the first student to be Sorted, by the way… Then she said, 'I am speaking Pig Latin! WHO DID THIS?!?!?!? DETENTION!!!!!!!' "
Most of the hall laughed hysterically.
Elena was just grinning.
"Did you do that?" Kara asked, while gasping with laughter.
Elena said, "Now why would I do that?" But she was grinning while she said it.
"Good one!" Kara yelled, then continued laughing.
Professor Bradley was looking very bad-tempered, and started going around the tables, shrieking, "ETENTIONDAY!!!!!! (DETENTION!!!!)" at random students. This just made the students laugh even harder, because she was still speaking in Pig Latin, and purple bubbles had begun to blossom out of her mouth with every word she spoke. Elena was looking very puzzled, but had begun laughing hard.
"Did you do the bubbles too?" Kara asked incredulously.
"No…Can't think who did. Looks like I'm not the only one who hates Brad…"
A few people at the Hufflepuff table, including Amanda, were rolling on the ground, shrieking their heads off with laughter. "Maybe it was them," Elena suggested.
"ETENTIONDAY, REENWELDGAY!!!!!!!!!!" Professor Bradley shrieked at Elena, not minding the six purple bubbles coming out of her mouth, and then continued on to the people rolling on the ground at the Hufflepuff table. Elena was laughing hysterically while pounding the table and leaning on it for support. People were starting to stare at her, and also at the people from the Hufflepuff table.
"Okay," said the teacher who had translated, yelling over the laughing, and laughing a little herself. "Anderson, Nate!"
A small boy had to be dragged from the line, laughing, to try on the hat.
"GRYFFINDOR!!!!" the hat yelled a few seconds later, and the boy made his way toward the Gryffindor table. The laughing began to subside a bit, because everyone was running out of breath.
"Andrews, Andrew!" A couple people laughed again at the name.
"HUFFLEPUFF!!!!"
"Church, Andrew!"
"SLYTHERIN!!!!!!"
The laughing stopped around the D's, except for the Hufflepuffs and Elena, who were still gasping for breath and being taken by random bouts of laughter. They stopped laughing entirely somewhere around the F's. Professor Bradley had left the hall sometime before the laughing stopped, probably because it had gotten her so embarrassed.
"Finn, Fiona!" A girl with short red hair went to try on the hat.
"RAVENCLAW!!!!!" She ran over to the Ravenclaw table, looking happy. Kara gave her a thumbs-up.
The line crawled on to the L's.
"I'm getting hungry…" Kara grumbled.
"Just think about Professor Brad…" Elena said, with a dreamy look on her face. "Purple bubbles coming out of her mouth, saying, 'Etentionday'…Me and those Hufflepuffs could do great things…"
Kara stifled a snort of laughter.
"What, it's true!" Elena said indignantly.
"No, I was just thinking about Professor…Brad," Kara choked out, silently laughing.
"Luane, Diane!"
"Hm…her name rhymes," Kara said idly.
"GRYFFINDOR!!!!!!!!"
Then, to the M's…
"McAlmon, Brian!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!!!!!"
The T's…
"Tiers, Charlotte!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!!!!"
And then, the last girl was,
"Wilson, Sophie!" Everyone was waiting for the hat to sort her, eager to get the feast.
"RAVENCLAW!!!!!!!"
The whole hall exploded with cheers, and a few people said, "Now, let's get some food!" Sophie Wilson looked downcast, probably because she just found out that was why they were cheering, and they weren't cheering for her.
Albus Dumbledore stood up. "Dig in." He sat back down.
"Amen!" a person yelled, as the plates filled with food.
Kara piled as much onto her plate as it could hold, and started eating happily.
And she ate…and she ate…and she ate…
"Kara," Elena asked in disbelief, "are you going to be stopping anytime soon?"
"Nope, I can still get in quite a bit," Kara said mildly, shoveling yet more food into her mouth.
At the Ravenclaw table, Kara, the new first year Sophie Wilson, and Jason, a boy in her year, were the only ones left eating.
Pausing for a second, Kara said to Sophie, "Good job! Keep it up!", chose not to say anything to Jason, and kept eating. They were having a sort of silent contest on who could keep eating the longest.
Soon, almost all of the students in the Great Hall were watching them in awe as they continued eating. A couple of people were even placing bets.
"The first year can't keep it up for long…I'll bet you a Galleon the girl in third wins," someone said. Kara grinned and kept eating.
"Oh, come on, the first year's still going really fast! She's going to win, no contest!" Kara frowned and tried to eat faster. "And a Galleon? What a low-class bet. Bet 10 Galleons or nothing," other person said.
"Fine!" the first person said. And they shook hands on it.
A lot of people were betting on Jason, and Kara was slowly gaining more supporters, from what she heard while eating. Sophie got the odd one here and there, but most people were in denial that a first year could keep it up this long.
"How do you do that?" Andrea said weakly after a few minutes, staring.
"What can I say?" Kara said cheerily, pausing for a second. "I have a bottomless stomach!"
"Yes, you've shown that," Kira said.
Suddenly, Jason gave up. He slowly slipped off his chair, unable to eat any more.
"The third year boy's out," someone called. "Give me my money!" Similar messages were repeated throughout the hall. Grumbling, a large amount of people were forced to give up their money.
Kara and the first year were still eating--more slowly maybe, but still eating.
In about 10 minutes, they were both sagging in their chairs and trying not to slip off them from being so full, like Jason.
Kara was eating almost mechanically, and she was starting to scare herself, besides. Sophie was looking incredulous that she'd kept it up this long.
Suddenly, Kara thought of something, and thought, "I wish Sophie Wilson had gotten this idea too, but I think I'll get off okay anyway."
Then, she stood up and said, "I give up. I want room for desert." Then, she noticed that Sophie Wilson had said it in exact unison! She stared at the girl.
People stared for a minute, stunned that they'd given up at the exact same time. Then, a few started laughing.
"YES!!!!!!!!!!!!" a voice yelled. "I BET ALL OF YOU THAT THEY WOULD TIE!!!!!!! HAND OVER YOUR MONEY!!!!!!" As people went up to the source of the voice, grumbling, Kara looked over to see who it was.
It was Professor Dumbledore. Kara sank back into her chair, laughing, and then fell off it, still laughing. It was only by very lucky chance that she didn't crack her head on the floor. Desserts (ice cream, etc…) appeared while she was doing this.
When she'd managed to compose herself and she'd finished her small dessert, she went in search of Sophie. She found the girl signing autographs, with a permanent grin on her face. Kara was immediately surrounded too. She gave a few first and second years her autograph, writing her name with a flourish, and continued to sign various papers while talking to Sophie.
"That was freakin' good!" she said enthusiastically. "I haven't had that much fun in ages!"
"Thanks!" Sophie was about 3 or 4 inches shorter than Kara, being a first year, and had dark red hair that fell to her waist; she'd had it up while eating, but had let it down sometime after. She had light blue eyes, which were a nice contrast with her hair. "You were good too," she said, brushing her bangs out of her eyes as she bent down to sign something.
"Well, if you ever need some help finding your way around or anything, I'm there…most likely lost as well," Kara said, then waved as she left. "See you!"
***
While going up to the Ravenclaw common room, Kara was so tired from eating and everything that she was trying not to fall asleep on the floor…and the rest were just tired. Finally, she got to the fifth floor and the picture of the woman and her horse.
Yawning, Kara said, "Okay, what's the password, lady? I'm in Ravenclaw."
"You know I can't tell you that," she said, looking offended.
"Please?"
"How'd you know that?" she asked in a disbelieving way as the picture made a clicking sound.
"That was the password?"
"Yes!"
"…I'm just special that way," Kara said, smiling smugly and pushing the picture aside.
Then, she stumbled up to the 3rd Year girl's dorms and collapsed into a bed. The rest talked for a while, but finally Kara got exasperated, because she wanted to sleep, and shut them up with a Silencing Charm. They all glared at her the rest of the night. She didn't really care though, because she'd fallen asleep almost immediately after.
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A/N: Yay! I'm done with that chapter! That was hard to finish. I got a small case of writer's block in the middle of the chapter. But that's over now. So, if the middle of the chapter's really bad, sorry, I had writer's block.
There is a reason that I put Arena and Sophie in there, but Sophie doesn't even get important until at least next year. But I really liked her, so I decided to introduce her this year. The eating contest was pretty much pointless except to introduce Sophie, and I am sorry for my lack of good writing skills…
Okay, no more to say here, except that I hope my next chapter will take less time, so bye! And if you've happened to stop by and read this….please review! *puppy dog eyes* Flames will be used to set Voldemort's house on fire, so he can run out screaming, "Mommy! Mommy!" We'll all love to see that, won't we? ^_^
~*Hermione2
