The train station was crowded and noisy. It had reached record-breaking tempratures (stupid muggles keep screwing with the planet) and even in September the heat was unbearable. Carla glanced at the watch on her white-gloved hand as she climbed out of her stepmother's BMW. "Great. We've got exactly two minutes before the train leaves."

"Well who's fault is that? I'm not the one who takes two hours to get dressed." was the reply from her stepmother (who, by the way, was decidedly un-evil).

"Well I'm not the one who waits till the last minute to pack!" Carla said indignantly, with a glare at her halfsister Linda. Linda stuck out her tongue.

"Can we just go, please?" said their stepbrother, Jacob.

"Yes! Go! I don't want to have to drive you all the way there!" said Carla's stepmother irrateably, as she began helping them to load their trunks onto trolleys. After a moment of struggling with their heavy luggage, they were off. Carla waved to her stepmother one last time before stepping into the false barrier leading to platform nine and three quaters.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had just sat down and begun catching up from the holidays, when the compartment door slid open. A thin black girl dressed in in a sparkling powder blue mini dress, high heels, and a sweater despite the heat, asked them if they didn't mind her joining them. Her face was heavily made up in powder blue lipstick and eyeshadow, and large silver hoops hung from her ears. On her hands were dainty white gloves, and she was dragging three trunks behind her. She flashed Harry a shining smile. "Okay, so I was running, trying to catch the train and the guy outside is just closing the door, right? So I shout at him to wait, and he just sort of looks at me, and looks at his watch and then gives me this really dirty look kind of like the one those librarians give you when you have an overdue book, you know that look? Well, anyways, he eventually let me on, but I couldn't find any place to sit. Till now, that is. I'm sorry, i'm going on and on aren't I? I do that when I'm nervous, which is a lot. So I'm Carla. Who are you?"

"uh, I'm Ron." said Ron.

"Hermione Granger." said Hermione.

They left harry for last, like they always did. He was the grand finalle. He hated when they did that. "Harry Potter" he said relunctantly.

"Really?" gasped Carla. here it comes, thought Harry. She was going to stare and ask to see his scar or something. But to his great surprise, all Carla said was "Wow, I have a freind who's brother's name is Harry Potter, too! How weird is that?"

"Weird" Harry agreed, feeling releived.

After that there was a sort of akward silence. Eventually Hermione cleared her throat. "So, Carla, where are you from?" (as if it wasn't obvious from her accent)

"The U.S. I'm only here because Bush is president."

"Oh," said Hermione.

"Just kidding. See, I got expelled from my old school cause I almost killed this dude who I swear was trying to like rape me or something and then my mom was all 'you never needed that silly old school anyways, now I'm sending you to the best damn school in the world. Hogwarts!' and here I am. And now I'm rambling again so I'm going to shut up now. So what's with this thing I hear about houses at Hogwarts? My stepfamily was going on about a hat."

"Yeah, there is a hat," said Harry. Carla stared at him. "It sings, too." She laughed, and he grinned. "See, you put it on your head and it tells you what house you should be in."

Here Ron jumped in. "Basically, Griffindor is for if you're cool, Slitheryn is if you're a prat, Ravenclaw is for if Harry has a crush on you, Hufflepuff-" he had to stop because Hermione had thrown her shoe at him.

"What he means," Hermione said, facing Carla, "Is the Sorting Hat decides what your dominating characteristics are, and sorts you accordingly. Griffindor for the brave, Slitheryn for the crafty Machiavellists, Ravenclaw for the smart, Hufflepuff for the loyal and dilligent."

Carla nodded. "I'm guessing that Ron's in Griffindor and Hermione's in Ravenclaw...."

"Actually," said Hermoine proudly, "We're all Griffindors."

"Cool. I bet I am, too. Gee, I love singing hats."

They spent the rest of the train ride becoming fast freinds. It turned out that they didn't have Quidditch in America, so Ron and Harry spent the better part of the day explaining to Carla the finer points of the game, while Hermione (having retreived her shoe) buried her nose in her books. Harry was very grateful for Carla's presence. It meant there was no mention of Voldemort, Cedric Diggory, or the events of Last Year.

When they finally arrived at the school that evening, it seemed to have grown hotter as they traveled north into Scotland, and hotter as the sun went down. The uniform robes were uncomfortable, and many students had tried and failed to roll up the billowing sleeves.

They lost Carla in the crowd to get through the entrance, but she found them as they were sitting down.

"Dudes!" she said excitedly, "Guess who's a Griffindor!"

They all clapped, and so did Fred and George, who were sitting nearby, and giving Carla appraising looks.

"And look who I met in McGonagell's office!" She pulled a tall, good-looking, asian girl up next to her. "It's Kwan! Yay! She's new, too. She's in Hufflepuff, but we love her anyways. Kwan, this is Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

Kwan beamed and waved politely, then slipped off to sit with her own house. Carla settled down next to Harry, and started introducing herself to everyone around her. Across from her was a girl Harry didn't recognize. She was small and pale, with jet-black hair and black lipstick.

"Hello," Carla said to the girl, "My name's Carla Anderson, what's yours?"

"I'm Lillith Malfoy." They stared at her. "That's right," she snapped, "A Malfoy in Griffindor. Do you have a problem with that?"

Just then, the hall fell silent as the first years lined up to be sorted, and the Hat began its yearly song. After the sorting, Dumbledore stood up for his speech.

"Welcome, welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts. This year, due to recent developements, there will be some additional security measures taken around the castle. A full list should have been mailed to you with your list of supplies. Also, I would like to start the feast by honoring the memory of our dear freind, Cedric Diggory. And now, without furthur ado, let us eat."

With these last words, food appeared all along the tables. Everyone dug in, except Harry. Why did Dumbledore have to bring up Last Year? Harry just wanted to put it all behind him.

"This is really good! I thought British food was supposed to suck. You guys must have some really good cooks here."

"Don't kid yourself." said Hermione grimly. "They're houselves. Slaves."

Carla stared at her. "You're kidding." Hermione shook her head. "That's still legal here?"

"It's not in America?" Ron asked, surprised.

"Nope," said Hermione. "They're civilized."

Ron rolled his eyes, and turned to Carla. "She's been doing this Spew thing to free houselves."

"Yeah!" Carla whooped. "Power to tha people!" she stood up and punched the air. Harry pulled her down as people stared. "Sorry." she said, and continued eating. Hermione smiled triumphantly at Ron.

"I'm telling you, they like it!" cried Ron.

"That's what they said about African slaves," said Carla, waving her fork at him.

Ron changed the subject. "What do you guys think about all the new rules?"

"Did you guys get a form saying you couldn't go to hogsmeade anymore?" asked Harry.

They all shook their heads. "That's just the third and fourth years, isn't it?" said Hermione.

Harry sighed. "And me, apparently."

There were groans and dark looks all around. Carla didn't get it. "Why just you?" she asked, "Did they screw up in the mail or something?"

"Didn't you hear?" Ron said, "About You-Know-Who?"

"Who?"

"The Dark Lord. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You-Know-Who!"

"No, I don't know who." Carla was starting to get annoyed.

"He means Voldemort." clarified Harry.

Carla covered her ears and hissed. "You're very stupid," she said flatly, taking her hands away from her ears. "You have to drown out the name. Like this. V-ldemort." She stomped her foot as she said it. "That's how we Jews do it. Some americans knock on wood, or just say Volmort."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "And I'm the stupid one."

"If you say his name outloud, you threaten him. Now he's going to come after you."

Everyone burst into hysterics at this. "What?" she said furiously, "It's true! That's what happened to my Aunt Gracie!"

"I'm Harry Potter," said Harry, still laughing. "Voldemort has been after me since I was a baby! He tried to kill me then, and in my first year, and then again last year-"

"Wait... You're The Harry Potter?"

He nodded.

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

"I did! You said 'who are you', I said 'I'm Harry Potter'. How much clearer can you get?"

"Well, there are lots of people named Harry Potter, OK? It's a very common name!" By now she was laughing herself. "So, what was this about V-ldemort?" (again, she stomped her foot)

Everyone stopped laughing. Harry's face grew dark. "He's back," said Hermione.

Carla's eyes widened. "Ooohh. Now I get it. They're worried he'll come for Harry... that's why they're protecting the school."

Ron clapped. "Brilliant, Holmes."

"Oh, shut up."

By this time they had finished their meals, and the food on their plates disappeared to make room for the dessert. There was a long pause in the conversation, as they all helped themselves to whatever they could get their hands on. After a while, Ron asked Hermione very politely how Krum was doing. She blushed bright red. Before she could answer, Lillith Malfoy cut in.

"You know Viktor Krum?"

Hermione nodded, going even redder.

"I know him, too. I used to go out with him, actually."

Hermione dropped her spoon with a clatter. "You what?"

"Well, we are both from Durmstrang. How do you know him?"

"He's my boyfriend."

Ron choked on his pudding. "Your what?"

"My boyfriend, not that it's any of your business."

"None of my business? Really, Hermione."

"Really, Ron."

"So, do these two have a history, or what?" Carla inquired over Ron and Hermione's bickering.

Harry shook his head. "They're just naturally this way."

"Sounds like fun."

"Oh, it is."

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A/N: Do you like it? This is just the introductory chapter, so it's going to get more interesting. There'll be some HDM and some Starry Child later on. I'll do a couple more chapters, and see how many reveiws I get before I go on, because I'm also working on another story at the moment. Read and Review!