Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. This goes for the rest of the chapters too, although I really don't see why I am even bothering with a disclaimer since this IS fanfiction.net and I'm in the Harry Potter fanfiction section and if I was claiming it as my own I would be rather stupid. But anyway, on with the show..
A/N: This story starts off weird/pathetic, and I think it will get a LOT weirder as it continues (and more random) so read with care!
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Harry and Ron were already sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express when Hermione entered the carriage, rather flushed and looking slightly apprehensive.
"Nobody's been in here looking for me, have they?" She asked, looking around, but found only the two of them sitting there.
"Hermione, the school year hasn't even started yet. Now, we know you're a prefect, but you're not in THAT much demand." Ron teased. Harry thought that this was probably not the right way to go about getting her in a good mood, but he decided not to say anything.
"You look worried. What's wrong?" Ron rather over-emphasized his concern, making the matter sound a little more dire than it really was.
Hermione sighed. It wasn't anything big. Really. "It's just that I was meant to meet someone in front of the platform, and they didn't show up. Nothing much."
Ron snorted. Typical Hermione; over-dramatising everything. Harry tactfully didn't point out that it had been Ron who acted like she was going into cardiac arrest when she looked a little stressed.
"So, who is this, person you were waiting for, eh Hermione?" Said Ron, elbowing her in the side and giving her a wink.
Hermione opened her mouth to say, but she never got to start her sentence, because at that moment a loud squeal came from the doorway.
"Hermes!" Ron instantly looked out of the window, expecting his brother Percy's owl to be hovering there with a message, but instead the sound came from a petite blonde girl who ran to Hermione and engulfed her in a hug. Harry and Ron sat there, open-mouthed, as she and Hermione giggled at each other for several minutes. Harry noticed that she was probably the best of all of them at dressing in muggle-style. She had on a striped skirt in pastel pinks, a pink tee, and pink sunglasses were perched atop her glossy hair. It didn't look too bad to Harry, but when Ron whispered, "She looks like a stick of rock," he had to agree.
When the giggles had finally subsided, the bouncy blonde approached Harry and Ron.
"I'm Maria," she smiled, "and you must be Harry!" she gave him a gigantic hug, while Ron muttered to himself. Ron had always been secretly (and not-so-secretly) jealous of Harry's fame.
"And Ron!" Maria gathered Ron up into an even bigger hug than she had Harry, and winked at Hermione over he shoulder. No time like the present to start mending a few hurt egos.
As they all sat down again, Maria began to tell them the story of her, and Hermione's, childhood. It turned out they were both muggle-born, and had only found out they were witches when they turned 11. Before that, though, Maria's family had moved to New Zealand, leaving their only means of communication letters and email. Ron's face had distorted slightly at the mention of email, but since he hardly knew how to work a telephone, it was no use trying to explain.
"So, I got shipped off to The Institute, and Hermes here got sent to Hogwarts. We only found out when we each got owls one morning explaining to the other what was going on. Talk about a coincidence!" Maria was talking animatedly, and at a rate of about a hundred words a minute. And Harry had thought Seamus talked fast! Her accent was weird too – harsh, and all her vowels sounded like u's. Harry hoped all New Zealander's didn't talk like that – what a country!
The train slowed to a halt, and the group of friends hopped into a carriage to ride up to Hogwarts.
"I've got only one question," said Ron, "why Hermes?"
Maria and Hermione laughed, and Hermione tapped the side of her nose knowingly, an infuriating habit that she had obviously picked up from someone's grandmother.
*
"A few announcements before the sorting begins, I am afraid," spoke Dumbledore, as Harry, Ron and Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the sorting to hurry up so they could eat.
"Some of you will notice, that we do not only have first years to be sorted tonight," he continued, and all heads turned to see the first years walk into the great hall, with Maria's shiny blonde head sticking up out of the middle. Some people started laughing, since she was about a head taller than even the tallest one of them, but she took it all in her stride and smiled as they approached the sorting hat.
"We have an exchange student from Aotearoa Institute in New Zealand," said Dumbledore, "Miss Maria Drake, who will have the privilege of being sorted first this year."
Maria stepped up to the stool to scattered applause and put the sorting hat on her head. A few seconds later, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" to the entire hall, and she was free to go and sit next to Hermione and Ron.
Half an hour later, the sorting ceremony was finished, and the Gryffindor table had five giggling, nervous first years squished onto the end of it. Dumbledore clapped his hands, after the usual warnings (Don't go into the forest, one of the corridors in the school is off limits and beware of the moving staircases because they might just lead you to that corridor and find a three headed dog behind it. Well, something like that anyway), and the feast began.
Ron, Hermione, Harry and Maria all stuffed themselves, then stuffed themselves again with dessert. Sleepily, Ron, Harry and Maria staggered up to Gryffindor Tower, leaving Hermione to lead the first years and tell them the password. As soon as their heads hit their pillows, they were far away in dreamland…
*
At breakfast the next morning, there was an announcement. In the middle of the teacher's table sat Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic, in place of Dumbledore.
"Good morning, boys and girls," Fudge attempted to silence the chatter as people filed in and out of the great hall. Breakfast was NOT the best time to do this, "I regret to announce that *ahem* Professor Dumbledore has had to leave the school for a while." This elicited a groan from the general student body.
"But, never fear, for I am here in his place, and if you have any troubles, any at all, don't be scared to come to me with them."
Ron and Harry laughed so hard into their porridge at this announcement that they almost splattered everyone around them with the gluggy mess.
"So, what do we have first?" Asked Harry, changing the subject.
"What do we have first every first day of school?" Answered Hermione.
"Potions with the Slytherins then, I guess," Groaned Ron, as he dragged Harry back up to the tower to get their books. Maria and Hermione stayed a little longer at the table, before heading down to the dungeons for Potions. They got to class early, and grabbed a seat at the back, as far from Snape as possible. Hermione pointed out everyone as they walked in the door.
"That's Pansy Parkinson, yeah over there with the blonde hair. And here comes Seamus Finnigan – you remember. Oh and Neville Longbottom of course, Hey Neville! Coming in now, that's Millicent Bulstrode," at this name Maria burst out in a fit of giggles.
"You mean the girl with the CAT?" She giggled, referring to Hermione's not-so-nice incident with the polyjuice potion in her second year.
"Shut up," she elbowed her friend in the stomach "I knew I should never have told you about that. Oh and here comes Malfoy," She was trying to change the subject, but it only half worked.
"THAT'S Malfoy! Woah, well, I certainly understand why you 'hate' him Hermes," she noted sarcastically, "but honestly, he's quite hot." At that moment, Ron and Harry walked into the dungeon, and managed to catch the last three words of Maria's sentence. After that they followed her gaze, and their jaws simultaneously dropped to the ground.
"Look Maria, I know you're new to Hogwarts and all, but can you be THAT blind? It's Malfoy!" Ron spat, not exactly caring that the whole class could hear what he was saying.
"Ron, calm," Maria began to placate the fuming Ron, but decided against it, "I know you're jealous. Just because you like Malfoy…" she teased, watching the purple creep up his neck.
"WHAT!?!" Shouted Ron, not knowing whether to laugh or punch the girl who was standing in front of him.
"Yes yes, I know all about your little 'potion' to get closer to Malfoy in second year. Not the best of plans, but still…" She calmly turned to her books, while Ron was left staring at her, mouth still hanging open.
"Come on Ron, it was just a joke," she said, pulling his arm so he would sit down before Snape came in.
After the early-morning escapades, the day went rather well for Harry, Ron, Maria and Hermione, and by the end of the day three of them were lounging in armchairs by the fire. One good thing about being a sixth year was that you could bully first years into giving up their seats so easily. But, not like any of the three fine, upstanding sixth years to be found in these armchairs would have done that.
Maria was on the other side of the common room, telling a story to some of the first years who were still up. They crowded around her, while she told them the exciting and adventurous tale of 'The girl who didn't live' and her untimely end. Harry was just wondering exactly what was so odd about the story, when Professor McGonagall entered the common room and came to a halt in front of the fire.
"Mr. Fudge would like to see you in his office now, Miss Granger, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley," she looked over at Maria, "and you too Miss Drake. Come with me, now." She stalked out of the room, with the four teenagers in tow. What exactly was going on? Was there something sinister about Dumbledore's disappearance? Questions were running through their heads faster than cheetahs on speed as they wound through the corridors of Hogwarts behind the billowing black robes of Professor McGonagall.
A/N: This story starts off weird/pathetic, and I think it will get a LOT weirder as it continues (and more random) so read with care!
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Harry and Ron were already sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express when Hermione entered the carriage, rather flushed and looking slightly apprehensive.
"Nobody's been in here looking for me, have they?" She asked, looking around, but found only the two of them sitting there.
"Hermione, the school year hasn't even started yet. Now, we know you're a prefect, but you're not in THAT much demand." Ron teased. Harry thought that this was probably not the right way to go about getting her in a good mood, but he decided not to say anything.
"You look worried. What's wrong?" Ron rather over-emphasized his concern, making the matter sound a little more dire than it really was.
Hermione sighed. It wasn't anything big. Really. "It's just that I was meant to meet someone in front of the platform, and they didn't show up. Nothing much."
Ron snorted. Typical Hermione; over-dramatising everything. Harry tactfully didn't point out that it had been Ron who acted like she was going into cardiac arrest when she looked a little stressed.
"So, who is this, person you were waiting for, eh Hermione?" Said Ron, elbowing her in the side and giving her a wink.
Hermione opened her mouth to say, but she never got to start her sentence, because at that moment a loud squeal came from the doorway.
"Hermes!" Ron instantly looked out of the window, expecting his brother Percy's owl to be hovering there with a message, but instead the sound came from a petite blonde girl who ran to Hermione and engulfed her in a hug. Harry and Ron sat there, open-mouthed, as she and Hermione giggled at each other for several minutes. Harry noticed that she was probably the best of all of them at dressing in muggle-style. She had on a striped skirt in pastel pinks, a pink tee, and pink sunglasses were perched atop her glossy hair. It didn't look too bad to Harry, but when Ron whispered, "She looks like a stick of rock," he had to agree.
When the giggles had finally subsided, the bouncy blonde approached Harry and Ron.
"I'm Maria," she smiled, "and you must be Harry!" she gave him a gigantic hug, while Ron muttered to himself. Ron had always been secretly (and not-so-secretly) jealous of Harry's fame.
"And Ron!" Maria gathered Ron up into an even bigger hug than she had Harry, and winked at Hermione over he shoulder. No time like the present to start mending a few hurt egos.
As they all sat down again, Maria began to tell them the story of her, and Hermione's, childhood. It turned out they were both muggle-born, and had only found out they were witches when they turned 11. Before that, though, Maria's family had moved to New Zealand, leaving their only means of communication letters and email. Ron's face had distorted slightly at the mention of email, but since he hardly knew how to work a telephone, it was no use trying to explain.
"So, I got shipped off to The Institute, and Hermes here got sent to Hogwarts. We only found out when we each got owls one morning explaining to the other what was going on. Talk about a coincidence!" Maria was talking animatedly, and at a rate of about a hundred words a minute. And Harry had thought Seamus talked fast! Her accent was weird too – harsh, and all her vowels sounded like u's. Harry hoped all New Zealander's didn't talk like that – what a country!
The train slowed to a halt, and the group of friends hopped into a carriage to ride up to Hogwarts.
"I've got only one question," said Ron, "why Hermes?"
Maria and Hermione laughed, and Hermione tapped the side of her nose knowingly, an infuriating habit that she had obviously picked up from someone's grandmother.
*
"A few announcements before the sorting begins, I am afraid," spoke Dumbledore, as Harry, Ron and Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the sorting to hurry up so they could eat.
"Some of you will notice, that we do not only have first years to be sorted tonight," he continued, and all heads turned to see the first years walk into the great hall, with Maria's shiny blonde head sticking up out of the middle. Some people started laughing, since she was about a head taller than even the tallest one of them, but she took it all in her stride and smiled as they approached the sorting hat.
"We have an exchange student from Aotearoa Institute in New Zealand," said Dumbledore, "Miss Maria Drake, who will have the privilege of being sorted first this year."
Maria stepped up to the stool to scattered applause and put the sorting hat on her head. A few seconds later, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" to the entire hall, and she was free to go and sit next to Hermione and Ron.
Half an hour later, the sorting ceremony was finished, and the Gryffindor table had five giggling, nervous first years squished onto the end of it. Dumbledore clapped his hands, after the usual warnings (Don't go into the forest, one of the corridors in the school is off limits and beware of the moving staircases because they might just lead you to that corridor and find a three headed dog behind it. Well, something like that anyway), and the feast began.
Ron, Hermione, Harry and Maria all stuffed themselves, then stuffed themselves again with dessert. Sleepily, Ron, Harry and Maria staggered up to Gryffindor Tower, leaving Hermione to lead the first years and tell them the password. As soon as their heads hit their pillows, they were far away in dreamland…
*
At breakfast the next morning, there was an announcement. In the middle of the teacher's table sat Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic, in place of Dumbledore.
"Good morning, boys and girls," Fudge attempted to silence the chatter as people filed in and out of the great hall. Breakfast was NOT the best time to do this, "I regret to announce that *ahem* Professor Dumbledore has had to leave the school for a while." This elicited a groan from the general student body.
"But, never fear, for I am here in his place, and if you have any troubles, any at all, don't be scared to come to me with them."
Ron and Harry laughed so hard into their porridge at this announcement that they almost splattered everyone around them with the gluggy mess.
"So, what do we have first?" Asked Harry, changing the subject.
"What do we have first every first day of school?" Answered Hermione.
"Potions with the Slytherins then, I guess," Groaned Ron, as he dragged Harry back up to the tower to get their books. Maria and Hermione stayed a little longer at the table, before heading down to the dungeons for Potions. They got to class early, and grabbed a seat at the back, as far from Snape as possible. Hermione pointed out everyone as they walked in the door.
"That's Pansy Parkinson, yeah over there with the blonde hair. And here comes Seamus Finnigan – you remember. Oh and Neville Longbottom of course, Hey Neville! Coming in now, that's Millicent Bulstrode," at this name Maria burst out in a fit of giggles.
"You mean the girl with the CAT?" She giggled, referring to Hermione's not-so-nice incident with the polyjuice potion in her second year.
"Shut up," she elbowed her friend in the stomach "I knew I should never have told you about that. Oh and here comes Malfoy," She was trying to change the subject, but it only half worked.
"THAT'S Malfoy! Woah, well, I certainly understand why you 'hate' him Hermes," she noted sarcastically, "but honestly, he's quite hot." At that moment, Ron and Harry walked into the dungeon, and managed to catch the last three words of Maria's sentence. After that they followed her gaze, and their jaws simultaneously dropped to the ground.
"Look Maria, I know you're new to Hogwarts and all, but can you be THAT blind? It's Malfoy!" Ron spat, not exactly caring that the whole class could hear what he was saying.
"Ron, calm," Maria began to placate the fuming Ron, but decided against it, "I know you're jealous. Just because you like Malfoy…" she teased, watching the purple creep up his neck.
"WHAT!?!" Shouted Ron, not knowing whether to laugh or punch the girl who was standing in front of him.
"Yes yes, I know all about your little 'potion' to get closer to Malfoy in second year. Not the best of plans, but still…" She calmly turned to her books, while Ron was left staring at her, mouth still hanging open.
"Come on Ron, it was just a joke," she said, pulling his arm so he would sit down before Snape came in.
After the early-morning escapades, the day went rather well for Harry, Ron, Maria and Hermione, and by the end of the day three of them were lounging in armchairs by the fire. One good thing about being a sixth year was that you could bully first years into giving up their seats so easily. But, not like any of the three fine, upstanding sixth years to be found in these armchairs would have done that.
Maria was on the other side of the common room, telling a story to some of the first years who were still up. They crowded around her, while she told them the exciting and adventurous tale of 'The girl who didn't live' and her untimely end. Harry was just wondering exactly what was so odd about the story, when Professor McGonagall entered the common room and came to a halt in front of the fire.
"Mr. Fudge would like to see you in his office now, Miss Granger, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley," she looked over at Maria, "and you too Miss Drake. Come with me, now." She stalked out of the room, with the four teenagers in tow. What exactly was going on? Was there something sinister about Dumbledore's disappearance? Questions were running through their heads faster than cheetahs on speed as they wound through the corridors of Hogwarts behind the billowing black robes of Professor McGonagall.