*DISCLAIMER*: I do not own any of the original HP characters...I only own MY characters that I have made up.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think of my fic so far!! credit goes to corinofthesoul for plot inspiration.

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::: Exchange Students :::

---CHAPTER THREE---

There was a light beaming down from the sky and it was coming closer and closer towards her and the engine sound grew louder and louder. Alisha started to scream but all the world around her seemed to be frozen by some spell. Even the leaves were not rustling and the wind stopped and there was total silence except for the long droning of an engine. Alisha shut her eyes as the object with the engine sound came just a few feet away from her.

Then the sound stopped.

Alisha slowly opened her eyes and gasped when she saw a very shiny motorcycle with a large giant sitting on it. There were two smaller motorcycles trailing behind it with no apparent string attached...as if they were being dragged along by some magic.

" 'ello, Alisha! It's very nice to see you. I see yer frigh'ened by this 'ere motorcycle of mine...I agree, it's a beauty, ain't it?" said the giant. "Oh yeh, I almost forgot," he said chuckling to himself. "Me name's Hagrid." Hagrid held out his gigantic hand for Alisha to shake and as she did, she thought all of her bones in her hands would be crushed.

"So...um...how does...how do you...?" Alisha asked tentatively pointing at the motorcycles.

"Ah, well you see, Dumbledore's put a very powerful spell on these motorcyles 'ere and that's wha' makes 'em fly. Jus' hop on one of these back here and we should be off to find Mary," he said motioning to one of the two motorcycles that were behind the one he was on.

Alisha slowly advanced towards the motorcycle. She chose the green one for some reason...she put her hand on the handle but then said, "Oh!! I almost forgot my suitcase! It's um...rather big so how are we going to take it? I shouldn't have packed so many things..." she muttered.

"Not to worry, not to worry!!! Remember that I come from a magical world where almost anything is possible. Let's see here...," Hagrid said as he pulled out a small velvet pouch from the inside pocket of his leather coat. "Three pinches should do it," he said putting three pinches of some pink powdery stuff onto Alisha's suitcase. The suitcase immediately floated.

"Oh....wow...that's so awesome," Alisha said in awe as she mounted her motorcycle. "I am SO gonna get used to this..." she thought to herself.

"Alright then, are you all set?" Hagrid called back to Alisha who was putting on her helmet.

"Yup!"

"Off we gooooooo!!!" Hagrid yelled and Alisha felt the motorcycle being picked off its wheels and into the starlit sky.

"So then, I know now how you make things fly, but how did you freeze time?" Alisha said, or rather yelled because the mixture of the roaring engines and the stinging wind was hard to start a conversation in.

"A time-turner, of course! Dumbledore's own!" Hagrid boomed back.

"Who's Dumbledore?"

"Why, he's the grea'est wizard that's ever lived! Cheerful fellow, and very kind and considerate if yeh ask me. He's the Headmaster of Hogwarts," Hagrid answered.

Alisha tried not to look down because they were very high up by now and Alisha had a mortal fear of heights which did not help at all. Soon, the two of them scudded down onto the pavement on their roaring bikes and saw a girl sitting on a curbside reading something. She heard the inevitable sound of motorcycles coming towards her and almost screamed but just stood there with her eyes wide open when she recognized Alisha.

"Hey!" Alisha waved. "Mary, this is Hagrid, Hagrid this is my friend Mary."

Hagrid held out his mammoth of a hand as Mary tentatively held her out and almost howled in pain as the giant shook her hand.

"Umm..nice to meet you Hagrid," Mary said massaging her fingers.

"I's a pleasure! Now I think we ought to be on our way to 'ogwarts then? Jus' hop on to the 'bike we have for ya beside Alisha!" he boomed.

When all of them were seated on their motorcycles and were ready, Hagrid turned the time-turner that was in his hand and all three of them were in a kind of time-warp. Colors were flying past them and Mary felt her stomach churn and Alisha shut her eyes.

THUD!

Alisha opened her eyes to see that they were in some sort of forest and looked around. It was around noontime and the sun was shining brightly in the sky.

Mary let out a gasp. They were walking toward a huge castle that was lit inside by slowly flickering candles. Alisha and Mary looked at each other in amazement but silently followed their guide to the castle, hauling their luggage with them.

"Well, here we are! Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Hagrid said as they entered the Great Hall. "I hope you two are hungry, because lunchtime in the Great Hall is always a feast!" he said patting his stomach.

They entered into the Great Hall and was amazed yet again. Four very, very, very long tables were in the middle of the Hall and the place was buzzing with laughter, shouts, whispers, and singing. There were students everywhere sitting at the tables eating what looked like a magnificent feast as Hagrid had said. At the front part of the hall was another long table which was apparently used for the teachers. Mary and Alisha tried to absorb everything but couldn't and they almost fainted at the sight of so many people so happy in one place.

When the door shut behind them, almost the whole entire Hall fell to a hush, except for a few whispers here and there.

Alisha and Mary slowly followed Hagrid to the long table at the front of the hall, rolling their luggage with them. Almost every student's eyes were fixed on the two of them and tracked them even as they sat down at a table with about 6 other students at it.

Mary and Alisha noticed their names were placed on this particular table with the United States flag imprinted on a sign. They observed the six other student's name tags and saw that they were all from different countries. Eloise D'Armilly and Jacques Pierre were from France, Jane Gosworth and Katrina Heathrow were from South Africa, and Soo Choi and Jing Tzao were from China.

They saw an elderly man that was seated at the largest chair of the long teachers' table stand up. He hd a silver beard with half-moon glasses, and a very ancient and wise look about him. They guessed that this was Dumbledore, the headmaster.

"Settle down, please, settle down," he said. The whole hall fell silent. "We have with us today six very special guests from all over the world. They are exchange students to Hogwarts and I expect all of you to show your best behavior to them. They will be staying with us for a year and I hope they enjoy the time they spend here," he added as he looked towards the Exchange Students' table and smiled warmly. "In honor of their coming, I have prepared the Sorting Hat ceremony to be held right here and right now. Please give them all a warm welcome!"

There was a thunderous amount of clapping and whooping in the Great Hall. The Sorting Hat was brought out on a three-legged stool and the exchange students lined up to be sorted.

"Er...I wonder what we're doing...." Mary whispered to Alisha who was equally confused.

"Eloise D'Armilly," called out a female teacher who read from a piece of parchment. She motioned for Eloise to sit on the stool. Eloise shyly sat down and felt the Sorting Hat placed on her head.

"RAVENCLAW!" the Sorting Hat boomed, scaring the death out of all the exchange students. There was a boom of approval from the Ravenclaw table as the Head Girl showed Eloise to their table.

Mary and Alisha looked at each other nervously as the line began to become shorter.

"Mary Bower," said the woman.

Mary sat down and was almost on the verge of vomiting because she was so nervous. The moment the hat touched her head it cried out, "SLYTHERIN!!!" and caused her to jump. Again, there was a thunderous amount of applause from the Slytherin table and the Head Girl showed her to the table. She sat down and was greeted by high fives and she just shyly smiled and turned back to the Sorting Hat, fidgetingly waiting for Alisha's turn.

"Alisha Robertson," read the woman off of her list.

Alisha slowly approached the stool, and finally sat down. She felt sweat rolling down her face and was extremely embarassed. Never in her life had so many eyes been fixed on HER. She felt the tension grow in the room...she wanted the floor to swallow her up...she felt like she was going to be sick...she...

"GRYFFINDOR!!" the hat said even before it touched Alisha's head. Alisha did not jump like Mary had, but rather hopped up from the stool and almost ran to the Gryffindor table with her face as red as the Gryffindor ties. There was of course the usual thunderous clapping and hollering as the table welcomed her into their house.

Then, by magic, food appeared on the tables. Not just food, but magnificent, wonderful, unimaginable foods of all kinds. Soon enough, all the students were busy concentrating on their food and almost forgot the special ceremony that had happened...which relieved both Mary and Alisha, of course.

Mary was eating her food when she caught Alisha's eye with the corner of hers. She got up, and went over to sit with Alisha.

"Oh my gosh, this is so great isn't it??" Mary asked.

"Yeah, it would be if I almost didn't pee in my pants when that hat shouted." Alisha replied.

"Hmmm...there's this wonderful guy at my table and he's so gorgeous!" Mary said giggling.

"See! I told you there were handsome guys in England!" Alisha said smirking.

Soon the two friends began a cheery conversation of what they had gone through so far.

Then, suddenly, Mary let out a scream as something slimy hit her in the head. Alisha followed suit when she noticed someone had done something horrible to her!

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