Hogwarts and Shankspell

By: CNJ

PG-13

4: The Magical Sites of America

Harry:

The next couple of days were an amazing array of so many different foods and cultures that it was like seeing a kaleidoscope and fall leaves rolled in one. We went to Yorkshire that first night of spring break and it was very similar to Hogsmeade. There was even a place similar to the Shrieking Shack in Yorkshire. I grinned as I looked down at a grassy patch around the dilapidated building, remembering how back in our third year, I'd sneaked over to the Shrieking Shack and had pelted Draco Malfoy with mud balls. Malfoy had been the biggest pain in the arse and had gotten worse until he was expelled just last month for assaulting aurors and Hogwarts security guards. For a while, I drifted apart from our rather large group and had wandered here by myself. It felt good to not be so afraid to go places alone. For many months, in fact for my fifth and sixth years, I'd been afraid to go anywhere far alone since the death eaters and Voldemort had been a big threat. Now, thank Merlin, most of Voldemort's followers are in Azkaban and Voldemort himself was reduced to ashes last November. I wandered around a bit more, then met up with the group again in a sweet shop much like Honeydukes. The streets were wider here and there were more store clusters that were malls. Ron, Ginny, Cheria, and Hermione had bags by their feet. I had a bag of my own with two denim robes in it.
"I could really get a taste for American clothing," I sat. With us sat several Americans, mostly Hudsons and Libertrars along with one Grenswith.
"Hello!" Two other voices chimed into our conversation.
"Hi..." Nora waved. Beside our table were two short people who looked around our age. They had small rather skinny bodies, pointed ears, and large heads.
"Join us..." Harvey Lang, a merman invited. They found chairs and we moved over and made room for them. "Remember the British students we told you about? Here they are..." Harvey and Nora introduced us. They were leprechauns who went to an academy in upstate New York, but were on spring break too.
"Hello..." my friends and I greeted. I'd heard of leprechauns and read about them, but had never met them. The leprechauns were Merla and Youslover. They were so cute! They had dark brown rather rakish hair and big brown eyes. Most people, especially in the muggle world think of leprechauns as always being Irish and having red hair, but we know now it's not an accurate portrayal. Leprechauns come from all over Europe, but many of them come from Italy, Scandinavia, England, and Russia as well as Ireland. They also can have any color hair that humans have. Hermione says she's met Italian Leprechauns before. We had a good time talking until around late that afternoon when we had to head back.

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Not only did I meet my first leprechauns, but I also tasted all kinds of foods I'd never tasted before, including some kind of meat tucked in a shell called a taco, a flat pie called a pizza, and something that looked like a Frankfurter, but ended up tasting like rubbery meat. I also had soy milk...but that was gross, so I swore that off. Most of the food was swell and I imagined the States had food from a thousand different countries. We also saw a historical display of the Grenner War, which took place between sorcerkills and magical people in 1912. It was mostly a memorial tombstone that resembled a long wall with names on it. We also heard that in the magical community in Massachusetts, there was a huge memorial to honor all those who'd died in the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600's. Not many muggles know this, but at the time, over ten thousand witches and wizard had been killed by ignorant people, mostly muggles who felt threatened by magic. Millions of American witches and wizards make a special pilgrimage up there every year. I made a mental note to one day make a trip up there.
The weather was damper and warmer here and by the end of day two on the town, I was feeling rather gritty and my eyes stung some.
"I think it's the salty air," Hermione told me when I rubbed my eyes again as we headed back to Shankspell at the end of the day. "New York is closer to sea level and on the coast, so it's more humid and salty here. I've been noticing a gritty feeling all over me too."
"It makes sense," I pushed my glasses back up my nose. My hair felt a bit damp as well.
"Ben told me that it gets really hot in the summer," Ron added. "He says the summer is when you really feel the saltiness and humidity."
"I can imagine..." I was having a great time, so actually, the damp grittiness didn't bother me as much as it might have in another circumstance.
"As soon as we get upstairs, I'm going to wash my hair," Cheria told us.
"Me too," Ron put in. "Mine's getting oily just being in this air."
"Who's ready to see muggle sites tomorrow?" Barbara Maroni and Nora Sanchez asked.
"Meeeee!" all of us crowed.
"Hey, can we see the Statue of Liberty?" I asked.
"Yep, that's one of the first things we'll see," Nora told us. "I think the teachers will be joining us then.
"To keep us magical folks out of trouble with the muggles," Brinmirth joked and we all got a good laugh at that as we headed in.


Next chapter will be the muggle sites, esp. the Statue of Liberty! Stay tuned for more!