Storyline (c) 2003 inTOtheSKY, all Chimeral characters are my own and should not be copied without permission. All other characters belong to JK Rowling ;D Feel free to e-mail me at spirit@eluding.org

Ch2



It wasn't until the next week during dinner that an announcement was made by Dumbledore for silence in the Great Hall. Ron looked knowingly over at Harry, who met his eyes at the same time: The new students were here.

A sudden flash of blinding light erupted from the center of the room, throwing several students off balance and onto the floor. Harry squinted, trying to discern what appeared to be a series of figures in the middle of the light. A second later, the light faded, and all that remained in the middle of the Great Hall was a cluster of students and who appeared to be a Professor from their school, all of which were clothed in red and black.

"Ah, Professor Remora!" Dumbledore stood, extending his hands in greeting. "So good to see you."

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Albus." The young man replied. Harry noticed a few female students across the room beginning to flush madly as they gazed upon the handsome Chimeral Professor as if he were a god.

"Students, I'd like you to welcome Professor remora and our new exchange students from Chimeral Wizarding School!" Dumbledore announced, bringing his hands together to lead the applause. Shortly afterwards, the students and their teacher were led to a separate table to sit at, and food magically appeared, as usual, upon everyone's plates.

Harry noticed that there were five boys and five girls selected from Chimeral, all of whom appeared to be very comfortable and sociable amongst one another. Of the girls, three appeared to be of an Asian background, as was the same with the boys. Harry noted that one of the female students had an extreme likeness to Cho Chang, and an immediate feeling of curiosity sprang up inside of him. Yet he said nothing, and keeping his thoughts to himself, turned back to his plate.

After dinner was over, Harry and Ron were headed out of the Great Hall when a voice called out to them. Turning, the two friends were greeted by three of the Chimeral students, who were, to Harry's discomfort, all eyeing the lightning-bolt scar upon his forehead.

"Hey." One of the students called out again. Harry and Ron exchanged handshakes with the student, smiles on their faces.

"Name's Roger, Roger Tseng." The student who had called out to them said. "I just gotta ask...are you Harry Potter?"

"Er...yeah." Harry replied. He never liked this part of introductions, especially when people took the time to stare at his scar.

"Wow..." The students chorused together in awe. Reddening, Harry took the chance to introduce Ron.

"This is my friend, Ron Weasley."

"Oh, nice to meet you." A different student spoke up. "You can call me Eric...this is a nice school you've got here."

"Thanks." Ron replied. "I can't say the same for Chimeral, since I've never been there, but...yeah."

"D'you play Quidditch, then?" Harry asked.

"What kind of question is that? Of course we do!" Roger exclaimed, his sunburned dark hair shiny in the candlelight. "Couldn't live without it!"

"Roger and I play on our house team." Eric said. "Roger's captain and plays Seeker for us."

"Then you two must be pretty good then." Ron replied.

"Listen, our house is playing against Ravenclaw in a few weeks - you want to come watch?" Harry asked. "It's bound to be an excellent match; Ravenclaw's always been tough competition."

"Sounds fun." Roger nodded. "Sure. I'll get the others to come too."

"Great!" Harry grinned.

It was then that the third student decided to speak.

"You play Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, right?" The girl asked.

"Right." Harry replied, suddenly eye to eye with the girl who resembled Cho.

"Oh. Then you must have played against my sister...Cho Chang." The girl said. "She's told me a lot about you."

"Really?" Harry replied, wondering what Cho could have mentioned about him to her sister. "Does she still talk about me?"

"Oh, no." The girl replied bluntly. "All she does is go on and on about Michael Corner."

"Wait.... if Cho's your sister, how come you two don't go to the same school?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Oh. Because our parents don't live together, that's why." Cho's sister replied simply. Flipping her long black hair over her shoulder, she changed the subject abruptly. "So, you're both in Gryffindor?"

"Yeah." Harry replied. "You guys have houses too, right?"

"Something like that." Roger said. "Except we have three houses instead of four."

"So what year are you all in?" Ron asked.

"Eric and I are both in our sixth years, but Wei here is only on her fifth..." Reaching over, Roger ruffled the hair of his shorter classmate in a friendly manner, causing her to kick him in the shin in fury.

It was then that Professor Remora called for the Chimeral students to come together. Roger turned to Harry while Eric and Wei left.

"Maybe we'll meet up some other time, then?"

"Yeah, maybe." Harry nodded.

"Nice meeting you." Ron added.

"Alright. See you later!" Roger waved as he walked off to join his fellow students. After he'd left, Ron and Harry were left alone with their own thoughts.

"That Wei looks a lot like Cho." Ron shook his head. "They're almost twins!"

"Right, except that Wei is a lot tougher than her sister." Harry replied, reflecting on his relationship with Cho last year.

"Roger and Eric seem pretty decent." Ron said. "I wonder how the Quidditch teams at Chimeral are...d'you reckon they'll let Chimeral students play in our tournament?"

"I dunno, Ron." Harry replied as they continued walking out of the Great Hall. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

An owl came with a letter for Ron and Harry the next morning at breakfast, and after opening the envelope eagerly, both boys bent over the sheet of parchment, reading what their friend had to say:

Dearest Ron and Harry,

I am writing to you both from what must be the loveliest dormitory in the world. I've only arrived at Chimeral a few hours ago, but I miss you both very much. When I took a look in the card you gave me, the two of you were getting acquainted to some Chimeral students. I hope you find some new friends among them.

The school itself is very beautiful. It's a large, manor-like structure many stories high, with balconies and turrets, and the grounds are wide and spacious. Like Hogwarts, Chimeral's location is concealed by magic, and to any Muggle, the school would appear to be a simple abandoned cottage in the middle of a field.

The students are divided into three houses - Areamich, Ruatnell, and Kilisar. The Hogwarts students were placed through a sorting and I was placed in Ruatnell - supposedly the equivalent of Ravenclaw. Areamich is for the brave and trustworthy, and Kilisar is pretty much the same as Slytherin. Fortunately, none of the Hogwarts students were sorted into Kilisar...and we were given a friendly welcome by the staff and students.

I hope to hear from you both soon! While Chimeral may be an excellent school, I don't think I'd be able to enjoy it to the fullest without a letter from you two!

Sincerely,

Hermione

P.S. Thanks ever so much, Ron! You're the best!

"Sounds like she's having fun." Ron commented, placing the letter down.

"Yeah." Harry smiled, wondering what Hermione was doing at the moment.

"We'd better be headed off to class, then." Ron sighed, folding the letter up. "D'you want to keep this or shall I?"

"You keep it." Harry replied, knowing it was what his friend wanted. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he stood. "Let's get headed to Transfiguration then."

- -

Professor McGonagall was in the middle of scribbling out what appeared to be a letter at her desk when Harry and Ron entered the classroom, and so the two friends talked amongst themselves while they waited for the lesson to begin.

"Harry! Ron!" A voice called out from behind. Turning, the two friends spotted Roger a few seats away. "Glad to see we have a class together already!"

A pretty Chinese girl with bright streaks in her dark hair entered the room then, and spotting Roger, waved at him in a cheerful manner.

"Melody, come down here! I want you to meet some friends of mine!" Roger beckoned to his classmate. As Melody made her way down the hallway, Harry felt somewhat pleased that Roger already considered Ron and himself as friends. Students from Chimeral appeared to be very friendly, and Harry began to look forward to meeting more of them.

"Hey, nice to meet you!" Melody smiled, clutching her books to her side. At that moment, a Chimeral student called out to her, and she called for him to join her. Harry and Ron were then greeted by a sleepy looking boy with sandy colored hair and amazingly clear blue eyes.

"This is Alex...he constantly falls asleep in class, but don't let that bother you." Melody laughed musically. Alex gave a tired little smile to both Ron and Harry, then ambled back to his seat.

At that moment, the double doors flew open with a bang, and the sound of loud, raucous laughter echoed throughout the classroom. Professor McGonagall looked up from her work, and Harry stood from his seat to get a better look at who was entering. Ron did the same, as did many of the other students around the room.

"And then she just stood there with her mouth open...you should have seen it!" A voice unknown to Harry chortled with high volume. "She was soaked...and the stuff's permanent unless you know the counter curse...so she couldn't get it off no matter how hard she tried...she was practically groveling at my feet for it!"

Harry noticed Roger tighten his grasp on his wand, and across the room, Alex reached for his own wand. Ron gave a slight snort of dislike, while Melody narrowed her eyes.

A tall, sturdy boy strode in, revealing himself as the one who had been speaking. Yet despite his good looks, the boy's dark green eyes glimmered maliciously, and Harry noticed Draco laughing along close alongside the newcomer.

"You're disgusting, Jonathan." Melody spoke up from where she stood. "How could you go around telling everyone what you did to her?"

"I'll do what I want to do, all right?" Jonathan snapped. "You had better watch that mouth of yours too, Melody, before I do the same thing to you as I did to your friend."

"Ooh, I'm scared." Melody retorted. "The only reason you were able to curse her in the first place was because your wand was broken and she was in the middle of a wizards duel with you! You called out a disarming spell and ended up cursing her..." She shook her head. "You're really pathetic, Jon, you know that?"

"Everything coming out of your mouth is a load of garbage, Melody. Everyone knows that." Jonathan replied coolly. Turning, he made his way down the aisle and seated himself, leaning back in his chair and placing his feet upon the tabletop. Draco appeared to be impressed with Jonathan and sat next to him, and the two immediately engaged themselves in a heated conversation.

"So. How did someone like him pass get chosen to be a part of the student exchange?" Ron grumbled.

"I guess they wanted a variety...most of us were surprised too." Melody replied.

"Are there anymore like Jonathan among you?" Ron asked, obviously annoyed by the fact that there were people like Draco at other schools. "Please say no."

"Well...yes." Melody said reluctantly.

"Great. Wonderful." Ron threw his head back to look at the ceiling. "More of them. I don't think I can take more than one Malfoy at once."

"Her name's Lillian Westfront." Melody pronounced the student's name with extreme distaste. "She's pretty I guess...but not nice at all, and very artificial around boys she likes. A lot of us suspect that she wasn't born with good looks...in fact, it's a fact that her mother specializes in transforming ugly wizards and witches into unbelievably beautiful new people...Westfront's Beauty Parlor for the Extremely Ugly, its called."

"Make sure to remind me to give her number to Umbridge." Harry muttered, remembering the horrid Professor from the Ministry of Magic last year. "That toad face of hers needs a real make-over."

"Looks like class is going to start soon..." Melody noticed McGonagall getting up from her spot behind the desk. "See you later." As she scurried off to take her seat, Harry threw a quick glance behind Ron to meet the eyes of Draco, who smirked and whispered something to Jonathan. When they both began laughing, Harry had the urge to reach for his wand again when McGonagall called the class to attention. While Harry usually enjoyed Transfiguration, he found it especially difficult this time around to gather enough concentration to turn his sparrow into a rat.

- -

After meeting up with two more Chimeral students - Eric and the plump and pleasant Tess McKenzie - in Herbology, Harry and Ron headed off to Care of Magical Creatures, the last class of the day. Harry looked forward to the class because it didn't involve much work and was always very interesting. Many of the students were already waiting for class to begin once he and Ron set foot upon the grounds, and Harry figured that he'd meet the rest of the students from Chimeral here.

"That group over there must be from Chimeral." Ron pointed out at a cluster of people. Harry followed his friend's gaze to spot three students: two girls and a boy. One of the girls had a head overflowing with beautiful golden locks, and Harry immediately guessed that this girl was the Lillian Westfront Melody had talked so malevolently about.

"So anyway, I took a look at that Draco Malfoy who's supposed to be the most popular Slytherin amongst the sixth-years..." Lillian said brashly, curling a long strand of hair around a finger. "He gave me a look over too; guess he liked what he saw because he came over to talk to me...not that I'm surprised at all...hey, are you listening to me?" The blonde tapped the dark haired girl in front of her impatiently.

"Y-yeah, sure I'm listening to you..." The dark haired girl replied, obviously distracted by the animal which Hagrid, the instructor for Care of Magical Creatures, was producing from the woods.

"Well, anyway, we talked for a bit, but all he would talk about was boring stuff...mostly about Quidditch, his father, pureblood nonsense...he boasted a lot too, which got a bit too much on my nerves, but y'know, I thought he was pretty cute so I played along for a while...when I finally thought he was going to ask me out he just kind of broke off mid-sentence, gave me this weird look and walked off. What a loser, seriously."

The dark haired girl nodded slightly, her eyes still focused upon the Hagrid. "Right..."

Harry decided to take the moment to introduce himself, and strode forward to say hello. The boy who stood beside the dark haired girl turned at the sound of Harry's footsteps. He had a large, honest smile, which he expressed when he greeted Harry.

"So you're Harry Potter!" The boy stepped forward. "I've always wanted to meet you. Name's Henry, Henry Hsiang...I never thought I'd get the chance to meet you in person!"

The girl beside him looked away from Hagrid's direction in time to say hello. She did not seem to expect to meet Harry, and only thought it was one of her own friends. When she discovered, to her surprise, that Harry wasn't who she thought he was, she blushed horribly and appeared very flustered.

"I-I'm sorry...I thought y-you were someone else..." She turned away in distress.

"You gotta excuse my sister here." Henry shook his head. "She's been expecting her boyfriend to meet up with her all day...you wouldn't happen to know Terry Boot, would you?"

"Sounds familiar..." Harry replied, wrinkling his brow in thought. "Was he supposed to meet her a while ago?"

"Yeah...she's been bugging me about it all day..." Henry exhaled, appearing tired. "If you see him around, tell him Paige is looking for him, all right?"

"Sure." Harry nodded. "Enjoy your classes so far?"

"Most of 'em, yeah." Henry replied. "I liked Charms class the best though...the professor taught us a spell we hadn't learned at Chimeral yet...real fun, it was."

Lillian took a moment from examining her nails to give Harry a look. The moment she laid eyes upon his scar, she broke into a wide-eyed grin, revealing two rows of dazzling pearly whites.

"Oh my word! You're Harry Potter?" She cried ecstatically in a sickeningly sweet manner. "I've read so much about you!"

"Er…thanks." Harry muttered. Lillian wasn't much like Malfoy; she was only very annoying. He was saved from further conversation with her when Hagrid emerged from the forest, clutching something between his heavily gloved hands. The students began to gather closer to get a better look at the animal, but Hagrid quickly shooed them away, saying the creature he held was highly venomous.

"This here is a Runespoor." The half giant announced to his class. "Yeh can find 'em in their native country of Burkina Faso, down in Africa. Now if yeh look closely, yeh can see that the Runespoors' got three heads - the left head is the one that decides what the Runespoor does, the middle is the dreamer, and the right looks over the other two to make sure they're doin' their jobs right. Always watch out fer the right head…its fangs are very venomous." He looked around at the students. "Now, there are some gloves over at that table over there. If yeh'll split up and line up here, I'll show yeh how to handle the Runespoor…then yeh can take 'em and make drawings of 'em."

Harry automatically turned to Ron, while Lillian grasped onto Henry's arm. Paige appeared unsure of what to do when Neville wandered up to her and asked if she needed a partner. Grateful for someone to work with, Paige smiled and walked off with him.

"I've always kept a Runespoor for a pet, so this stuff is easy for me." Draco announced loudly to Pansy Parkinson, whom he had chosen for his partner. She clapped her hands together eagerly and gave him an extremely adoring grin, which looked so disgusting that Harry had to look away, feeling sick to his stomach. Nearby, Lillian was screeching her head off at the thought of handling a snake, while Henry tried his best to quell his partner's horror.

"This thing is amazing!" Ron exclaimed as he stroked the Runespoor's back.

"Watch out for the right head." Harry warned as he sketched out the snake.

"Lookit Neville, Harry. He looks like a natural, handling the thing." Ron commented, looking past their table to Neville and Paige's direction. Neville had gently held down all three heads and appeared to be explaining the parts to Paige.

"Guess he's been studying." Harry replied, looking up from his drawing. It was then that Paige happened to glance in their direction, and gave them a small smile. She was very pretty when she smiled, Harry decided, and was attractive as well. He thought back to what Henry had said about Terry Boot - the name sounded so familiar, but Harry could not remember where he'd heard it.

Seeing that Paige had returned to her work, Harry returned to his own, only to see that Ron was having a bit of trouble with the Runespoor, as two of the heads had begun to attack one.

Class ended shortly afterwards, and Harry and Ron were on their way to the Gryffindor common room when Ron suddenly remembered that there was Quidditch practice. In a wild panic, both boys turned on their heels and frantically dashed down the hallway. When they reached the practice field, panting and clutching their sides from fatigue, most of the team was already up in the air, flying. Their Quidditch captain, Angelina Johnson, turned upon them the minute they approached the sidelines.

"You made the whole team wait for you, do you realize that?" She snapped angrily. "So while we were standing around like a bunch of idiots, Slytherin took the chance to sneak onto the field and start their own practice, even though I signed us up for it!" She looked extremely angry and about to explode. "Now hurry up and get changed, the both of you!" Fuming, she turned and took off into the air.

"Well that was lovely…" Harry grumbled as he followed Ron off the field. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he spotted the scarlet and ebony robes of some Chimeral students, and turning his head, Harry was pleased to see Roger and his friends headed towards the sidelines. Harry was about to stop and say hello when Ron called for him to hurry up.