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

A/N: Read this whole chapter for pivotal information please!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

::: Exchange Students :::

---CHAPTER FIVE---

The next day Alisha woke up refreshed. She was so tired the night before that she had fallen asleep without getting any of her things out of her suitcase. Trinkerbell was gazing out of the window.

"Breakfast is ready, Alisha!" called Penelope. "Come down and eat with us!"

"Alright, I'll be down there in a minute," called Alisha. She quickly got dressed in her new school outfit which she liked very much, called Trinkerbell to her and quickly went down to the Great Hall. She was glad she had made friends on her first day which seemed so unlikely the day before.

She hurried down the stairs and into the Great Hall which was already filled with students enjoying the morning together. She was glad when the whole room didn't fall silent when she entered and scanned the crowd to find her friend Mary, whom she eagerly wished to see. Then she spotted Mary at a table....sitting alone? No, it can't be! Alisha said. But it was true. Mary was sitting alone at a table, not touching her food looking very down. Alisha at once felt her heart sink and rushed over to her.

"Mary, what's wrong!" she cried, putting her arm around her friend.

"Besides being humiliated again by the entire Slytherin House? Oh, nothing much," she said poking at her scrambled eggs. "I HATE this place, Alisha, and I want to go home," she said her eyes getting teary.

"No, we're not going home. Come on, you can sit with me, I've met so many wonderful people in Gryffindor."

"Lucky you." Mary said.

"Oh Mary, come ON, it's not the end of the world!" she said finally pulling Mary out of her seat. The two friends walked over to the Gryffindor tables.

"So, I met this wonderful guy named Harry Parter or something like that and he is GORGEOUS!" Alisha said giggling.

"Oh." Mary said. "Just make sure he's not some sinister guy seeking to rip your guts open. Because that's what happened to me when I thought someone was gorgeous."

"That guy in Slytherin? The one you said was gorgeous??"

"Yes...he called me some word I didn't know. But it must've been a pretty dirty word because the whole room fell silent. and what's MORE, he's the same guy who pulled those tricks on us yesterday."

"Malfoy!" Alisha gasped. "But...he's...he LOOKED nice!" she said in confusion. "Wow, what a waste of hottness," she said tutting.

Mary smiled and then burst out laughing. Soon they were chatting animatedly about OTHER guys including Alisha's newfound "Harry".

"Hey, girls!" said Ron sitting down with Harry.

"Hey guys! Meet my friend, Mary. She's from America too. Mary, this is Ron and...*Harry*..." she said trying not to smile. Mary gave her a nudge with her elbow. Ron picked up this signal and grinned at Harry who turned a violent pink. Alisha coughed, "And...this...is Hermione. Hermione?"

"Oh! Hey Mary! Sorry, I'm trying to...finish...this...paper...I'm...writing...for...McGonagall...," Hermione said, writing on her parchment with the sound of her quill scratching as she spoke.

"Aha..." said Mary.

"Don't mind 'Mione, she always has to be just perfect." Ron said teasingly.

Mary laughed, "Oh, kind of like Alisha, right? Looks like you've found yourself a match, Alisha!...um...Alisha?"

Alisha was concentrating on Draco who was seated at the Slytherin table.

"Oh, do you like Draco the Git too?" said Ron jokingly.

"No...it's just that it was so cruel what he did to us yesterday."

"Don't worry, I've heard Dumbledore's sent his father a lengthy note about it," said Harry.

"But I wonder WHY he did it....people just don't do things like that out of the blue you know?" said Mary.

"Malfoy does." said Hermione, rolling up her parchment. She got up from her seat and the four friends did so too.

~*~

Alisha looked at her schedule. Today was a Friday which meant Double Potions, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and History. She looked at the subjects and smiled. "This is gonna be a good year," she thought to herself, walking down the corridors trying to find her way. She was looking at the location of Potions when she bumped into someone which caused all her books to fly into all directions.

"Oh, sorry!" she said, picking up her books.

"That's okay," said a familiar voice that bent down beside her picking up her books with her.

They both looked up at the same time.

"Oh it's you Alisha!" Harry said laughing. "So sorry, I was doing some, er..."last minute" corrections on my paper."

Alisha laughed, "Could you help me find Potions?"

"Oh yeah, that's where I'm going, just follow me. Here, I'll carry your books for you." he said.

"Oh all right," Alisha blushed, Trinkerbell tagging along behind the two.

"Today is Double Potions which means we have class with the Slytherins." Harry said in a not-so-enthusiastic voice. "But you can see Mary and that's about the only good thing about this class. Trust me. You'll hate it..." he said opening the dungeon doors for Alisha.

Alisha shivered because this room was cooler than the rest of the castle and was also dimly lit by a few flickering candles here and there.

She spotted Mary sitting in a corner and took her books from Harry, thanking him quietly and rushed over to Mary who gave her a smirk.

"Ooh-la-la, I see someone is having a good time so far," Mary said.

"Hehe, shutup."

"So have you named your cat yet?" Mary asked.

"Yup. Trinkerbell."

"Aww that's so cute! I named mine Belldandy." Mary said placing her trinker on the table and playing with her.

Potions passed by slowly, with Snape's monotonous voice ringing out throughout the whole classroom. By the end of class he had taken 60 points from Gryffindor and 10 from Slytherin. The students were more than glad when they were dismissed from class.

The rest of the day flowed by slowly and Alisha soon discoverred to her delight that Harry was in all of her classes and Hermione and Ron were almost in all of her classes. Mary was only in two of her classes - Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.

After lunch, Alisha was walking with Mary while carrying Trinkerbell in her arms when Harry stopped her in the corridor outside the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Soooo, um...tomorrow is Saturday...." he said.

"...annnd...?" Alisha said not helping but to smile.

"And we're going to Hogsmeade and I was wondering if you would like to come with me, Ron and Hermione. Oh, and Mary is more than welcome to come."

"That would be great!!" Alisha said.

"Okay then let's meet in the Three Broomsticks at noon?"

"At noon it is," Alisha said watching Harry go into the Common Room.

She felt a few nudges and then realized that Hermione and Mary were right next to her.

"Wow, before you know it, you two will have snogging sessions in the broom closests!" Hermione said grinning.

"Snogging...sessions?" Mary asked.

"Snogging means kissing in English," Hermione explained. "And the broom closets are the most convenient for snogging!"

Alisha blushed and quickly went into the Common Room with Mary and Hermione following her.

The three of them saw the couches beside the fireplace empty and decided to sit there. Trinkerbell and Belldandy were playing with their newly bought balls of yarn in front of the fire.

"You know, Alisha, Harry is quite popular." said Hermione.

"Really?"

"Well...actually he's more famous than popular. ... He's known for surviving numerous attacks from ....You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who?" said Mary.

"I don't want to say his name...but I'll write it..." Hermione said and handed Mary a piece of parchment.

"Lord...Voldemort?" Mary asked.

"SHHHH!! NOT SO LOUD!!!!!!!!!!" Hermione said. "He's the darkest wizard in the magical world...he seeks to murder people and flees from death. Harry is known for surviving numerous attacks by You-Know-Who, including one from when he was a baby which is why he's so famous, and one from just last year when something very strange happened..." Hermione's face turned dark. "But...I really don't want to talk about it. It's not a subject we talk about much...you see, Harry lost his Godfather last year...his only live relative he knows of. His parents died trying to protect him from You-Know- Who..I feel so bad for him."

"That's horrible!" Mary and Alisha said.

"Yeah....the only person he really looks up to now is Dumbledore...the only wizard You-Know-Who ever feared."

Mary and Alisha remained silent, soaking all of this in.

"But anyway, like I said, it's not a subject we talk about much anymore. Let's get back to the subject...So, Mary, do YOU have you eye on anyone in particular?" asked Hermione smirking at Mary.

"Well....not...really..." Mary said uncomfortably.

"Oh come ON Mary!! Tell us pleeeeeeaaase!"

"No one....."

"Liar!"

"Seriously."

"Mary, your eyes are twitching. you're lying when your eyes twitch." said Alisha.

"Tell us, we won't laugh!"

"Okay FINE." said Mary. "I like........Draco Malfoy." she said quietly.

* * * * * * *

An interesting twist to the plot! YAY!!!! We love twists to plots, don't we?

REVIEW!!!!