Rocking-Horse People, Rebels, and Redcoats
"Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties
over all states, commonwealths and other territories.
An American Responds: We have given your declaration all the consideration it deserves. It has some interesting points: Like spelling and pronunciation: We'll do what we darn well please, or we'll stop exporting Levis jeans to your younger generation. "
1 Chapter One: Back in Black
"Oh well, looks like its not here, too bad, can we go HOME now?"
"Not funny, did we check the other platform? I could have sworn it was 9…"
"We checked that platform, and the one next to it, and if you want to ask for directions again, you're doing it this time."
"Did you get the eye roll?"
"And the muttering, I can't STAND the muttering…"
"Makes you feel like you're five years old."
"Do you think if we just spoke Spanish it would throw 'em off?"
"Nope, America must leave a stink on your clothes, these folks can smell us out, like police dogs… mmmm police dogs, hot dogs, I'm hungry."
"Good luck finding something around here, do you like fish and chips?…. My thoughts exactly, didn't you bring some food?"
"Tried to bring. You try getting apples past customs. Said it couldn't be let in, apparently we would bring in disease."
"What was supposed to be carrying disease, the apples or us?"
"Judging from the agent's expression, both I imagine."
"Yup, definitely sounds like a place I want to spend the next eight months in."
"You are not helping."
"Well, didn't you write it down?"
"Yes, but it washed off."
"You wrote it on your hand? Lucy!"
"I wasn't going to wash it, but that customs agent made me feel dirty, I HAD to!"
"Well I guess you really aren't going now."
"I'm going, just look for kids."
"Oh, yeah, right."
"Kids with trunks you idiot. Kids with trunks and big owls are better-"
"Got one."
"Where?"
"I don't know, I swear they were there, and then they weren't… can we go HOME now, this place is giving me the creeps."
"WHERE did you see them Diego?"
"Over there," Diego waved his hand at platform 10. Lucy pushed her trunk in that direction.
But when she got there, there were no signs of kids or trunks.
Diego sighed and moved towards the barrier and out of the way of traffic.
"Come on Luce," he said crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall, "Give it up and come on ho-"
In the next moment Diego disappeared. Lucy grinned and clapped her hands, pushing the trunk through the barrier and coming out the other side.
Diego was standing there, sputtering. "What was that?"
Lucy laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, Diego, how nice of you to find the train for me!" She waved her hand at the shining engine standing to their right.
Diego shook his head. "That's not right, barriers like that shouldn't be standing around so that any fool who leans against it can fall through."
Lucy shrugged and bent down to refasten a clasp on her trunk. "Normal people probably aren't affected. I bet when you touched it, your mind just automatically tried to ground, and that was enough to pull you through the barrier."
He shrugged, "You're the one who wants to be here."
"I HAVE to be here. And you HAVE to go to Egypt, we discussed this already. Five times."
"I still think you're making a mistake. Don't you remember how much you wanted to come home last year?"
"Diego, there isn't any home left to go to."
The talk dark haired chicano pretended to pout. "There's me."
Lucy smiled and gave him a hug, "And you are going to Egypt and the Sahara. Espiritu is going to be safe as long as our protections hold, and I need to be here. Now hurry up or I am going to miss my train."
The boy sighed, ran his hand through his hair, and picked up her trunk. "Where to?"
Lucy grinned and pointed towards the nearest door. Diego hauled the trunk up and Lucy held open the door to the nearest empty compartment. When her things were settled, they went back out to the platform.
"Last chance to get out of this."
"Very funny. Stay out of trouble, and don't miss your flight home."
He pretended to scratch his head and think. "You know, maybe gating at the airport might be a faster way to do it."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, and have a group of twenty people try to burn you at the stake."
He grinned devilishly, "That was kinda fun…"
"My favorite jeans got singed by angry Hungarians and the smoke left my eyes bloodshot for a week, it was NOT fun Diego. Promise me you'll get on the plane."
"Fine fine, have it your way." His gaze softened and he picked her up in a bone crushing hug. "Take care of yourself chica, and I'll see you at Christmas."
"Remember, you promised to send me a Thanksgiving meal, I don't care what continent I'm on, I want turkey and stuffing, creamed onions, and good old fashioned canned cranberry sauce, and none of that fancy home-made stuff, cranberry sauce tastes better when you can still see the rings from the can."
"I promise."
The train's whistle blew and students started to pile on. Diego picked her up and set her in the doorway, walking backwards all the way to the barrier and stepping through without ever taking his eyes off her.
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The jet lag had left Lucy feeling groggy and out of it, but on the whole the flight had been a better option than trying to gate to King's Cross. Lucy had only ever been there once, at the end of last year, and the odds she would make the right connection were slim to none. She wanted to see Hermione and the others, but she figured they had plenty of catching up of their own to get done first, she could see them at school.
As it was, despite what she had said to Diego, Lucy was having a few second thoughts. Last year had been her first at Hogwarts, her real school was the Espiritu Institute, located in the deserts of western New Mexico. It had certainly come as quite a shock to everyone THERE when her mentor and guardian, Professor Antolin de La Vega, had decided to send her to Hogwarts that year rather than Egypt, or India, where most other post intermediate students spent their mandatory sabbatical years.
She had hated it for a long time, and probably would have gone crazy without Faustas, a tierra guardian from Espiritu in the form of a red shouldered hawk. Faustas wasn't much of a comforter, more like someone who wouldn't let her feel sorry for herself for more than was necessary.
But Faustas was gone, she reminded herself, and so was Espiritu, and now she was really on her own. The thought made her feel very tired.
So she dragged herself back to her still empty compartment and curled up on the seat, dropping off into a peaceful slumber.
That was interrupted a few moments later by the door being opened and a small sound of surprise.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here."
Lucy looked up to see a small girl with straight blond hair plaited in pigtails and neat even blond bangs standing in the doorway wearing a smart blue dress, a trunk almost bigger than herself next to her.
Lucy dragged herself into a sitting position and beckoned for her to come in.
"Need a seat?"
The girl nodded. Lucy got up and helped her stow her trunk, then gestured for her to take the seat across from her. The child was so small her feet almost didn't touch the floor, she was like a pixie.
"First year?"
A nod.
Lucy grinned, "Listen, I'm Lucy, Lucy Montero, sixth year, well sort of anyway. And you are?"
"Marguerite Ducasse."
"French?"
The girl played with the hem of her dress. "I was, I mean, I am. My parents, they are the French ambassadors to the English Ministry of Magic. We used to live in Paris, my brother went to Beuxbatons, so do my friends, but when Andre graduated last year, they took up the position again. They had been ambassadors before, when Andre was little, but they moved back to France when I was born and Andre started school there."
Lucy nodded, "Do you miss home?"
Marguerite nodded, "I miss our dog, we weren't allowed to bring him to England, he was a Great Dane, when I was little Andre used to put me on his back and I pretended he was a horse."
Lucy smiled, "What was his name?"
"Charlotte."
"Really?"
Marguerite actually laughed, "Well how was I supposed to know how to tell boy dogs and girl dogs apart? I was four!"
Lucy laughed with her.
"Andre always called him Charlie anyway."
Lucy could sense she really loved her brother, she spoke about him like Lucy spoke about Diego, and she was about to ask her about him when there came another knock on the compartment door.
It opened to reveal a gangly boy with a young, anxious face and messy black curls who had a pronounced lipstick mark on his cheek where his mother had apparently kissed him goodbye.
"Is there any room in here?" His eyes begged for an affirmative, and Lucy nodded. The boy stepped aside to reveal a trunk with clothes sticking out under the lid, which he dragged inside and collapsed on top of as Lucy closed the door.
"It refuses to stay shut, burst open on the platform already, I'm sure the whole station is still littered with my underwear." He groaned and opened the lid, shoving the unruly mess into a more compact form. Lucy and Marguerite got up and helped him, Marguerite produced some Spell-o tape from her trunk and together they secured the lid shut.
"That ought to do it," Lucy collapsed onto her seat and the stranger dropped down next to Marguerite.
"I'm Lucy Montero, by the way, and this is Marguerite Ducasse."
The boy held out his hand, "Chester P. Parker. PLEASE call me Parker, please." Lucy stifled a chuckle and nodded while the tiny French girl giggled outright.
"So, Parker, what year are you?"
"First."
"So am I," Marguerite piped up happily.
"What about you?" He turned towards Lucy.
"I'll be in sixth. Where are you from?"
"Harrogate, in Yorkshire, anyway its up north. But neither of you sounds like you're from anywhere around here."
"Well, actually, Marguerite here is technically a local…"
Marguerite went on to explain about her parents jobs and moving around a bit, and at Lucy's prompting, the fierce and mighty Charlotte.
"So what about you? I mean, I didn't think they let Americans in."
Lucy sighed, "Well, I guess they never expressly forbid it. Maybe it was simply that no American in their right mind really wanted 'in' in the first place."
The boy raised his eyebrow, "Fair enough, never thought of it that way. So what are you doing here?"
Lucy shrugged, "Oh, that's easy Chester, I'm insane."
She had to stick out her tongue to convince him that she was kidding, then the boy cracked a smile.
"Seriously though, I don't know if either of you is familiar with what an airplane is, but I'm a suffering from some serious jet lag, and the only known cure is sleep. So you two go on ahead and get acquainted, I'm going to just drop off for a few minutes."
The two first years looked at each other and shrugged, then spent the rest of the ride talking about Quidditch and what house they wanted to be in, while Lucy slept on completely oblivious.
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She was awakened by a nasty rapping going up and down the car on compartment doors.
"Hogwarts! Hogwarts in ten minutes! Get yer robes on! Have yer papers ready!" It was impossible to think until the gravel like voice moved into the next car.
"Papers?" Chester looked confused, "What papers?"
"These," Lucy groaned, pulling a thick stack of bright orange, neon blue, florescent yellow, and screaming lime green papers out of her pack. She had received the letter earlier in the summer informing her of the latest security measures being imposed by the Ministry. Any students with citizenship in nations outside of Great Britain had to obtain the required registration papers, in triplicate, to be filed with the appropriate people, she had no idea who they were, and had to report to a Ministry official immediately upon arriving in Hogsmeade. Lucy had no idea what good tracking them all was going to do, after all, it seemed to her the most dangerous people were already in the country. Nevertheless, she had triple checked that every i had been dotted and t had been crossed before she got on the plane.
"What are they?" Chester looked at them in wonder. There was no way to hide the papers, they practically glowed.
"They are a royal pain, that's what. Marguerite, do you have them to?" She noticed the girl staring uncomfortably at her satchel. She nodded.
Lucy gave her a grin. "Good, I didn't want to have to go through all the red tape by myself." That earned her a grin, and she and the two newbies began to change into their robes. Lucy was eternally grateful that the patterns for Espiritu robes had not been destroyed during the attack. She had managed, with a lot of help from Ariana, the seamstress who worked next to the gas station, to make several sets of all black robes, still in the Espiritu style, but enough like Hogwarts robes that she shouldn't cause a stir, and no one but her need know she was still wearing the uniform of her real school.
By the time they were finished and the trunks repacked, the train had stopped and people were starting to disembark. Lucy opened the compartment door and grinned over her shoulder at the younger two.
"Well, here we go, again!"
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As they exited into the hustle and bustle, Chester P. Parker followed another nervous looking boy off towards where Hagrid was calling all the first years. Lucy squeezed Marguerite's shoulder and they set off to the right, where a tall bald man with a severe face and a crooked nose was calling ,
"Form a line! All international students, form a line, have your papers ready and in order! Yellow, orange, blue, then green, form a line!"
"That sounds like us Marguerite, come on." She pulled the little girl through the crowd and stepped in line behind a chattering pair of irritated Italians and just before a whole pack of very vocal Australians. It seemed she wasn't the only one who found the new papers to be a royal pain.
When they finally got to the head of the line they had to produce each of the papers, one by one, for inspection. 'Inspection' involved the ministry official muttering something and tapping the papers with his wand, after which they glowed, and combined with the already bright colors, the effect was hard to look at. Evidently that was all he wanted, and he was satisfied, when he tapped the papers again they stopped glowing and a heavy gold seal appeared under the spot where his wand had been on each one.
"Sign this," he shoved a piece of blessedly normal white parchment and a couple of quills at them.
"What is it?" Lucy eyed the paper suspiciously.
"Just a contract giving the ministry full power to deport you if we deem necessary."
"What?"
"Just sign it."
"Wait a second, I mean, why should-"
"Are we going to have a problem already Miss Montero?"
Lucy turned around to see Professor McGonagall standing with her arms crossed, apparently not entirely happy to see her.
"No sir- ma'am," Lucy grimaced, read over the contract quickly again, finding what she wanted, signed it and handed it back. Marguerite, apparently trusting the older, if slightly odder girl, did the same.
The girls collected their papers and with a wave the minister dismissed them and turned to check the Australians.
"Wait," Lucy said, "Don't you need to see ID? I mean, I'm 16, don't you want to see ID?"
"No."
"Please, can't I at least SHOW you the ID?"
"Lucy…."
"Yes'm." Lucy sighed and left the table.
"Where do we go now?" Marguerite asked, looking around.
"To the carriages I guess- wait! No, no no no. You have to go to the boats, where's Hagrid? Come on!"
She dragged the girl by the arm towards the lake, sighing with relief when she saw the little fleet was still at the dock.
"Hagrid! I've got another one for you, hold up a minute!" They came flying down the walkway and Lucy practically thrust the small girl into his arms.
"Lucy? Well, well, didn't expect ta see ya here."
"I'm like a bad penny, I always turn up. Anyway, this is Marguerite Ducasse."
Hagrid smiled down at the younger girl. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Marguerite. Don' worry, even if I hadn't a had ye on my list here, this young feller refused to get into a boat until someone made sure ye found yer way over here." He gestured to Chester P. Parker standing on the dock behind him, who blushed and shrugged.
"Had ta get yer papers checked, huh? Bloody foolish business, an idiot that Fudge… well now listen ta me talk. Yer gonna miss yer carriage Lucy, don' worry, we'll take care a the little miss here, go on."
Marguerite and Parker got into a boat and waved as Lucy gave them a wink and dashed back up to the carriages, sprinting the last couple of yards and swinging up into the very last one, plopping herself down on the seat across from a pair of startled Slytherins who stared at her and continued to do so for the entire ride to the castle.
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Lucy was relieved that for the first time she entered the hall and no one stared. It was nice not to be a novelty, and in her black robes she looked just like any other student, only a pointed look from Professor McGonagall gave the least sign that anyone noticed her robes were not exactly Hogwarts design.
She had been in the last carriage, so the hall was practically full as she and the few stragglers made their way to the tables. She blew a kiss at the Slytherin boys she had ridden up with, who promptly were given probing looks by their house mates, which made her chuckle inwardly as she found an empty spot near the end of the Gryffindor table and sat down. She thought she could make out a bunch of the sixth years towards the other end, but at that moment the first years were being brought in and no one was paying the least amount of attention to her.
Lucy had never seen a sorting before, so she was absolutely enthralled, and smiled with fond remembrance at how happy she had been to find something that could talk in your head. They had been having quite an interesting conversation before Professor McGonagall had chastised them. The first years really did look tiny, and to her surprise it seemed that tiny Marguerite was the one calming Parker this time, as well as a girl with short dark hair next to her.
In the next few moments Gryffindor got its first first year of the year, Belle Bedford, and immediately following Slytherin go it's second first year, after 'Armstrong, Alison,' with 'Bedford, Brady.' Belle hadn't yet walked toward the Gryffindor table, poor thing had obviously been expecting her brother to be put in the same house, and she looked positively stricken at being separated from him. The boy, an inch taller than his twin sister, gave her a smile and wink, and personally walked her over to the Gryffindor table.
"Don't get into too much trouble without me," he teased.
"Oh, right, this from the person who set fire to Grandmama's living room."
"Don't pretend you weren't there. I'll see you soon."
The auburn haired boy gave his sister a hug before heading across the hall to the Slytherin table, where he was met with handshakes and smiles.
Makes a person wonder… Lucy thought, but she looked up as "Ducasse, Marguerite," was announced.
Marguerite practically had to hop to get on the stool, the hat covering her head completely, but she didn't look scared. A few seconds later she was placed in Ravenclaw, and Lucy felt a tinge of disappointment that she hadn't been made a Gryffindor.
The rest of the sorting went as usual, or as she supposed was usual. Belle Brady finally found her tongue and wouldn't stop asking questions, so Lucy almost missed the grimace on Parker's face as "Parker, Chester," was read out loud.
"Poor Parker, " she smiled. Chester ended up in Hufflepuff, which, Lucy thought, was rather a nice fit for the caring little boy, although, like Marguerite, she wished he was with her instead. She had taken an immediate liking to the pair, and promised herself that despite the house separation, she would look after them all the same.
After "Zigmund, Zachariah," was made a Slytherin, and the end of Gryffindor table as well as every other was crammed with small children with wide eyes, the hat was taken away and Dumbledore stood.
"Welcome to another year. I would like to inspire you all with these few words, strabler, bismintide, whelquoin. Enjoy your meal."
Puzzling stares ended as food appeared and they all dug in. Lucy, who had either been eating hospital food, or worse, her own cooking, all summer, was particularly grateful. It seemed no time at all before they were all stuffed beyond capacity, and the headmaster got up again.
"And now, before we retire, the school song!" This was met with equal amounts of cheers and groans. "Everyone pick yourself a tune and here we go!"
Hermione had tried to teach Lucy last year, but she followed the glowing gold words on the ceiling, singing the school anthem to the 'God Bless America' and thoroughly enjoying herself every minute of the time. She then set off with the mob to find the Gryffindor common room, and, more importantly, her bed.
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"The password this year is 'fewmets'" Hermione said clearly outside the portrait hole as she ushered the first years inside. There were groans and shouts of, 'that's a horrible password!' and 'let's make it 'Slytherin's play Quidditch like drunken gnomes!'', but she ignored them, and Lucy gave her a wink as she passed her on her way inside.
She headed straight for her room, and was greeted by a shriek from Lavender and a painful hug from Parvati.
"What are you doing here?"
"We didn't think you were coming back!"
"I seem to be getting a lot of that lately."
In the next second the door burst open and Hermione gave her a less painful, but not less joyful greeting of her own.
"You look great." They said at the same time.
"We visited my mother's friends in Greece for a month."
"I spent five weeks doing repairs in the punishing sun, but at least we both got great tans."
"By the way, how did the," Hermione looked at Parvati and Lavender, "the OTHER job go?"
"It went. Nothing miraculous, but it was good."
Hermione nodded. "Neville didn't look any different, I was afraid maybe you couldn't do anything after all."
Lucy shook her head. "No, I could do some stuff, but in any case, Neville's tougher than he looks in that department." She kept her voice low, than smacked herself in the head. "I forgot! I meant to ask him about his August visit! They don't exactly know how to use the ordinary mail service, so they were gonna give Neville my paycheck and the end of the month reports, if I don't deposit that soon I think I'll be cursed by goblins… I'll be right back!"
She dashed out of the room and down the stairs, then up the boys stairs, bursting into one room only to realize it was the wrong one, the guys were in sixth year now, and like the girls, had rooms higher in the tower. She apologized to the startled fifth years and ran up to the next door and knocked.
Seamus answered the door.
He looked at her, blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared at her again.
"Lucy?"
Hmmm, she thought, I guess Hermione never got in touch with him….
"Um, surprise?"
Seamus's face broke into an ear to ear grin as he let out an "Ha!", picked her up and swung her around.
"I can't believe it! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried, but you were being such a goose about hiding on the last day I couldn't find you. And Hermione tried to write you, but you weren't at home!"
He set her down and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I didn't make it very easy to find me." Her held her out at arms distance and then hugged her again. "God its good to see you."
Lucy hugged him back. "Same here."
Up until the last week or so of school, Lucy's future at Hogwarts seemed non-existent. Due to certain events, the Circle of Western Mages, with which Espiritu had been affiliated, had withdrawn their support of sending Lucy to an Eastern school. Without that scholarship and without Espiritu, she would never be able to afford the tuition. It had not been until out of the blue Dumbledore informed her she could pay for her tuition and supplies through a work study program with the Ministry that coming back for sixth year had become a possibility.
"Seamus? What's the yelling? What's going on?" Harry's voice came from inside.
"I need to see Neville," she answered the question before he asked it, and he raised his eyebrows and opened the door.
Harry, Ron, Dean, and Neville looked up from their unpacking. Dean waved with one hand while searching through his trunk with the other, Neville stopped folding his shirts and grinned, Harry stepped over the pile of clothes and started to walk towards her, and Ron just rolled his eyes to the ceiling and muttered, 'here we go again.'
Harry gave her a quick hug and Lucy gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good to see you again Lucy."
Lucy smiled, "Good to see you too Harry, have a nice summer?"
Harry grimaced, "Not exactly the word I would use to describe it. The last three weeks were good though." He added hastily at Ron's look.
"And how about you Mr. Weasley? Have a nice holiday?"
"Yes, thank you. And you? Spend a good deal of time stirring up minature tornados or giving other people's brothers convenient candy-coated torture devices did you?" If it hadn't been for the smile in his eyes Lucy would really have believe he was mad at her. But she had something of an uneasy truce with Ron, and so long as Harry and Hermione stayed healthy and hearty, it should remain a truce.
"Oh, I didn't get to do so much of that as I would have liked, but I managed to amuse myself. Hey Neville, did they give-"
Neville held up a large flat package wrapped in parchment and string. "Grandmother triple checked to remember that I brought it. There's a couple of letters in their two from some of the staff, they just have questions about the methods and stuff I think, nothing that needs urgent replies." He went to toss it but Lucy quickly reached out and took it, knowing with Neville it might go out the window.
"Thanks." With that she left the room winking at Seamus as she headed back down the stairs. "See you in class."
Seamus grinned and shook his head. "This is going to be an interesting year."
Lucy returned to her room and began to unpack, tossing clothes onto the bed and sending shoes flying. As she shook out a sweather, something heavy flew out and landed on the floor next to Hermione's bed with a clang. Hermione stooped down and picked up the flat piece of metal, staring at Lucy.
"Lucy, what is this?"
Lucy looked up, then her eyes grew wide and she grinned. "Oh that! I completely forgot!"
She extended her hand toward Hermione and the plate flew out of her grasp an into Lucy's. She fumbled about for her wand, and tapped it on the gray metal back, muttering "affixirimus", she then stood at the end of her bed and used her mind to raise the plate, turn it over, and send it flying to the wall above the nightstand, where it touched and affixed itself to instantly. Hermione squinted a bit, and then smiled.
It was a yellow license plate that read BIG B, with a small Indian sun separating the "Big" from the "B", underneath which could be read "New Mexico USA", and under that, in italic letters, "Land of Enchantment."
Hermione, Lavender and Parvati waited for an explanation, Lucy was digging around for her wallet.
"Here, look!"
She held out a card with her picture on it, Lavender and Parvati looked blankly, Hermione smiled. "It's a drivers license you two, it means she can drive a car… oh never mind. Congratulations Lucy."
Lucy grinned, "I only had to take the test twice!"
"So why do you have that?" Hermione indicated the license plate hanging on the wall.
Lucy grinned, walking over to the plate and running her fingers over the raised letters.
"This, " she said reverently, "is all that is left of Big Bertha."
"Who's Big Bertha."
Lucy dropped her mock seriousness and grinned devilishly. "Was Big Bertha. And she was Carlos Rimerez's 1979 pick up truck!"
"Lucy…what did you do?"
Lucy grinned, "We crashed it in the desert near the Arizona/ New Mexico State Border."
"We?"
"Yeah, me, Diego, and Carlos's little brother Eddie, well not so little, he's 19…."
"Wasn't he mad?"
"Hell, he taught me to drive. I think deep down he was kinda proud. Anyway, he was planning on getting a new one before the end of the summer, or he never would have let us take it. Besides, I've never hitchhiked before, getting home was kind of fun…."
"Hold on, Diego's alive? And why were you in Arizona?"
Lucy grinned. "Yes, he's alive, that's kinda a long story, and Eddie enlisted last spring and was being sent off to basic training the next week, so we thought we'd take a little road trip. We fully intended to turn around if we hit the Mexican border or the Pacific Ocean."
Hermione shook her head as she climbed into bed. "Well, I hope you got all of that out of your system over the summer Lucy. I was kind of hoping for a nice quiet year."
Lucy snorted as she grabbed a small blue velvet bag and began tossing handfuls of what appeared to be nothing into the air above her bed. "Hermione, from what I've hear, with you and your friends there is no such thing as a nice quiet year."
She didn't hear Hermione's reply as she shut her curtains and laid down on top of her covers, her hands folded behind her head, and stared at the multitudes of tiny stars that twinkled down at her from the ceiling.
***Me talking. So, I didn't plan on starting this so soon, I was going to let the thing rest, and despite the really nice people who wanted to hear about Lucy's next year at Hogwarts, I was kind of intimidated by the multitudes of people who seem to really HATE Americans, and I mean hate when I say it. And, you know, at a time when the Texas Guard is patrolling the airport with really big rifles and I can't bring a nail file on an airplane, I really didn't think I ought to spend my time posting something that, despite the few people who write nice constructive things, was only going to get me nasty messages that I have to get taken off based not on how I write, but on the nationality of my character. I have enough to worry about as it is, thank you very much.
I think the flame that broke the camel's back, so to speak, wasn't for my story at all, it was not a flame, but a review I read complementing one of those "How to kill a Mary Sue" list of evil things, (and I did agree with most of the stuff in the piece itself, teeheehee), however, the comment: "Why are there always American axchange students coming to England? We finally have something of our own and Americans are still tyring to get in on it! (sorry if you're american)" (I left in the spelling errors and the blatant un-capitalizing of American , they amused me, although I know I do that all the time, sorry!)
Um, yeah, where to start on that one… So, this er, fine upstanding authoress, a Miss Mambo-Bambo I believe, seems to be implying that, since Hogwarts is set in England, Americans have no right to "get in on it," now that either means we writers have no right to be writing about a school in England, because we all know that Hogwarts is real and that only the British authors who have been there have the knowledge required to write about it accurately, or she is suggesting that because Hogwarts is a British school, American students have no business coming there, but French, Australian, Italian, basically anyone but Americans are welcome and they will run and get the Sorting Hat right away! So basically it is a choice between Americans being ill qualified to write about a book because the author and setting are British, or simple cut and dry bigotry. My we are an enlightened bunch.
So, I think we can rule out the first hypothesis (I'm a bio major, can't help it), since, unless some of these British authors are in serious need of therapy, none have them have come any closer to Hogwarts than those of us across the pond. (Although we can still envy them their affinity to Ozzy Osborne, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.) And as for the second hyphothesis, out and out bigotry, well there seems to be an overabundance of that lately, in every country including my own, and I guess all we can do is wait and pray. And, to be honest, it still surprises me how much writing an American character is criticized, since one of the cardinal rules of writing is 'write what you know.' Well, obviously an American is going to know a damn sight more about writing a kid from the Bronx or New Jersey than they would about someone from Dorset or Manchester. The shouldn't feel pressured to handicap themselves just so they can fit in the tired and true model of what some people find appealing.
So, since this is almost a page long, but I can do that since this is my own story and writing it once is easier than e-mailing it to the dozens of people who like to Yankee-bash, I'd better wrap it up. So in short, to anyone, and particularly my American brethren, write whatever the hell you want. Write a bad fic, I mean a really, really bad fic, and make the character the American long lost sister of Harry whom Draco is madly in love with and turns Snape into a puppy dog for all I care, if YOU enjoy, then do it. More often then not no one reviews these things anyway. I know that I write Lucy Montero and Diego Alvarez, Maggie O'Rourke and Aidan Murphy for me, and just for me. I like 'em. Sometimes I want to smack 'em, but I like 'em. So go ahead, despite what some people may want us to think, over here at least its still a free country. Don't let the man get you down.***
"Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties
over all states, commonwealths and other territories.
An American Responds: We have given your declaration all the consideration it deserves. It has some interesting points: Like spelling and pronunciation: We'll do what we darn well please, or we'll stop exporting Levis jeans to your younger generation. "
1 Chapter One: Back in Black
"Oh well, looks like its not here, too bad, can we go HOME now?"
"Not funny, did we check the other platform? I could have sworn it was 9…"
"We checked that platform, and the one next to it, and if you want to ask for directions again, you're doing it this time."
"Did you get the eye roll?"
"And the muttering, I can't STAND the muttering…"
"Makes you feel like you're five years old."
"Do you think if we just spoke Spanish it would throw 'em off?"
"Nope, America must leave a stink on your clothes, these folks can smell us out, like police dogs… mmmm police dogs, hot dogs, I'm hungry."
"Good luck finding something around here, do you like fish and chips?…. My thoughts exactly, didn't you bring some food?"
"Tried to bring. You try getting apples past customs. Said it couldn't be let in, apparently we would bring in disease."
"What was supposed to be carrying disease, the apples or us?"
"Judging from the agent's expression, both I imagine."
"Yup, definitely sounds like a place I want to spend the next eight months in."
"You are not helping."
"Well, didn't you write it down?"
"Yes, but it washed off."
"You wrote it on your hand? Lucy!"
"I wasn't going to wash it, but that customs agent made me feel dirty, I HAD to!"
"Well I guess you really aren't going now."
"I'm going, just look for kids."
"Oh, yeah, right."
"Kids with trunks you idiot. Kids with trunks and big owls are better-"
"Got one."
"Where?"
"I don't know, I swear they were there, and then they weren't… can we go HOME now, this place is giving me the creeps."
"WHERE did you see them Diego?"
"Over there," Diego waved his hand at platform 10. Lucy pushed her trunk in that direction.
But when she got there, there were no signs of kids or trunks.
Diego sighed and moved towards the barrier and out of the way of traffic.
"Come on Luce," he said crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall, "Give it up and come on ho-"
In the next moment Diego disappeared. Lucy grinned and clapped her hands, pushing the trunk through the barrier and coming out the other side.
Diego was standing there, sputtering. "What was that?"
Lucy laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, Diego, how nice of you to find the train for me!" She waved her hand at the shining engine standing to their right.
Diego shook his head. "That's not right, barriers like that shouldn't be standing around so that any fool who leans against it can fall through."
Lucy shrugged and bent down to refasten a clasp on her trunk. "Normal people probably aren't affected. I bet when you touched it, your mind just automatically tried to ground, and that was enough to pull you through the barrier."
He shrugged, "You're the one who wants to be here."
"I HAVE to be here. And you HAVE to go to Egypt, we discussed this already. Five times."
"I still think you're making a mistake. Don't you remember how much you wanted to come home last year?"
"Diego, there isn't any home left to go to."
The talk dark haired chicano pretended to pout. "There's me."
Lucy smiled and gave him a hug, "And you are going to Egypt and the Sahara. Espiritu is going to be safe as long as our protections hold, and I need to be here. Now hurry up or I am going to miss my train."
The boy sighed, ran his hand through his hair, and picked up her trunk. "Where to?"
Lucy grinned and pointed towards the nearest door. Diego hauled the trunk up and Lucy held open the door to the nearest empty compartment. When her things were settled, they went back out to the platform.
"Last chance to get out of this."
"Very funny. Stay out of trouble, and don't miss your flight home."
He pretended to scratch his head and think. "You know, maybe gating at the airport might be a faster way to do it."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, and have a group of twenty people try to burn you at the stake."
He grinned devilishly, "That was kinda fun…"
"My favorite jeans got singed by angry Hungarians and the smoke left my eyes bloodshot for a week, it was NOT fun Diego. Promise me you'll get on the plane."
"Fine fine, have it your way." His gaze softened and he picked her up in a bone crushing hug. "Take care of yourself chica, and I'll see you at Christmas."
"Remember, you promised to send me a Thanksgiving meal, I don't care what continent I'm on, I want turkey and stuffing, creamed onions, and good old fashioned canned cranberry sauce, and none of that fancy home-made stuff, cranberry sauce tastes better when you can still see the rings from the can."
"I promise."
The train's whistle blew and students started to pile on. Diego picked her up and set her in the doorway, walking backwards all the way to the barrier and stepping through without ever taking his eyes off her.
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The jet lag had left Lucy feeling groggy and out of it, but on the whole the flight had been a better option than trying to gate to King's Cross. Lucy had only ever been there once, at the end of last year, and the odds she would make the right connection were slim to none. She wanted to see Hermione and the others, but she figured they had plenty of catching up of their own to get done first, she could see them at school.
As it was, despite what she had said to Diego, Lucy was having a few second thoughts. Last year had been her first at Hogwarts, her real school was the Espiritu Institute, located in the deserts of western New Mexico. It had certainly come as quite a shock to everyone THERE when her mentor and guardian, Professor Antolin de La Vega, had decided to send her to Hogwarts that year rather than Egypt, or India, where most other post intermediate students spent their mandatory sabbatical years.
She had hated it for a long time, and probably would have gone crazy without Faustas, a tierra guardian from Espiritu in the form of a red shouldered hawk. Faustas wasn't much of a comforter, more like someone who wouldn't let her feel sorry for herself for more than was necessary.
But Faustas was gone, she reminded herself, and so was Espiritu, and now she was really on her own. The thought made her feel very tired.
So she dragged herself back to her still empty compartment and curled up on the seat, dropping off into a peaceful slumber.
That was interrupted a few moments later by the door being opened and a small sound of surprise.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here."
Lucy looked up to see a small girl with straight blond hair plaited in pigtails and neat even blond bangs standing in the doorway wearing a smart blue dress, a trunk almost bigger than herself next to her.
Lucy dragged herself into a sitting position and beckoned for her to come in.
"Need a seat?"
The girl nodded. Lucy got up and helped her stow her trunk, then gestured for her to take the seat across from her. The child was so small her feet almost didn't touch the floor, she was like a pixie.
"First year?"
A nod.
Lucy grinned, "Listen, I'm Lucy, Lucy Montero, sixth year, well sort of anyway. And you are?"
"Marguerite Ducasse."
"French?"
The girl played with the hem of her dress. "I was, I mean, I am. My parents, they are the French ambassadors to the English Ministry of Magic. We used to live in Paris, my brother went to Beuxbatons, so do my friends, but when Andre graduated last year, they took up the position again. They had been ambassadors before, when Andre was little, but they moved back to France when I was born and Andre started school there."
Lucy nodded, "Do you miss home?"
Marguerite nodded, "I miss our dog, we weren't allowed to bring him to England, he was a Great Dane, when I was little Andre used to put me on his back and I pretended he was a horse."
Lucy smiled, "What was his name?"
"Charlotte."
"Really?"
Marguerite actually laughed, "Well how was I supposed to know how to tell boy dogs and girl dogs apart? I was four!"
Lucy laughed with her.
"Andre always called him Charlie anyway."
Lucy could sense she really loved her brother, she spoke about him like Lucy spoke about Diego, and she was about to ask her about him when there came another knock on the compartment door.
It opened to reveal a gangly boy with a young, anxious face and messy black curls who had a pronounced lipstick mark on his cheek where his mother had apparently kissed him goodbye.
"Is there any room in here?" His eyes begged for an affirmative, and Lucy nodded. The boy stepped aside to reveal a trunk with clothes sticking out under the lid, which he dragged inside and collapsed on top of as Lucy closed the door.
"It refuses to stay shut, burst open on the platform already, I'm sure the whole station is still littered with my underwear." He groaned and opened the lid, shoving the unruly mess into a more compact form. Lucy and Marguerite got up and helped him, Marguerite produced some Spell-o tape from her trunk and together they secured the lid shut.
"That ought to do it," Lucy collapsed onto her seat and the stranger dropped down next to Marguerite.
"I'm Lucy Montero, by the way, and this is Marguerite Ducasse."
The boy held out his hand, "Chester P. Parker. PLEASE call me Parker, please." Lucy stifled a chuckle and nodded while the tiny French girl giggled outright.
"So, Parker, what year are you?"
"First."
"So am I," Marguerite piped up happily.
"What about you?" He turned towards Lucy.
"I'll be in sixth. Where are you from?"
"Harrogate, in Yorkshire, anyway its up north. But neither of you sounds like you're from anywhere around here."
"Well, actually, Marguerite here is technically a local…"
Marguerite went on to explain about her parents jobs and moving around a bit, and at Lucy's prompting, the fierce and mighty Charlotte.
"So what about you? I mean, I didn't think they let Americans in."
Lucy sighed, "Well, I guess they never expressly forbid it. Maybe it was simply that no American in their right mind really wanted 'in' in the first place."
The boy raised his eyebrow, "Fair enough, never thought of it that way. So what are you doing here?"
Lucy shrugged, "Oh, that's easy Chester, I'm insane."
She had to stick out her tongue to convince him that she was kidding, then the boy cracked a smile.
"Seriously though, I don't know if either of you is familiar with what an airplane is, but I'm a suffering from some serious jet lag, and the only known cure is sleep. So you two go on ahead and get acquainted, I'm going to just drop off for a few minutes."
The two first years looked at each other and shrugged, then spent the rest of the ride talking about Quidditch and what house they wanted to be in, while Lucy slept on completely oblivious.
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She was awakened by a nasty rapping going up and down the car on compartment doors.
"Hogwarts! Hogwarts in ten minutes! Get yer robes on! Have yer papers ready!" It was impossible to think until the gravel like voice moved into the next car.
"Papers?" Chester looked confused, "What papers?"
"These," Lucy groaned, pulling a thick stack of bright orange, neon blue, florescent yellow, and screaming lime green papers out of her pack. She had received the letter earlier in the summer informing her of the latest security measures being imposed by the Ministry. Any students with citizenship in nations outside of Great Britain had to obtain the required registration papers, in triplicate, to be filed with the appropriate people, she had no idea who they were, and had to report to a Ministry official immediately upon arriving in Hogsmeade. Lucy had no idea what good tracking them all was going to do, after all, it seemed to her the most dangerous people were already in the country. Nevertheless, she had triple checked that every i had been dotted and t had been crossed before she got on the plane.
"What are they?" Chester looked at them in wonder. There was no way to hide the papers, they practically glowed.
"They are a royal pain, that's what. Marguerite, do you have them to?" She noticed the girl staring uncomfortably at her satchel. She nodded.
Lucy gave her a grin. "Good, I didn't want to have to go through all the red tape by myself." That earned her a grin, and she and the two newbies began to change into their robes. Lucy was eternally grateful that the patterns for Espiritu robes had not been destroyed during the attack. She had managed, with a lot of help from Ariana, the seamstress who worked next to the gas station, to make several sets of all black robes, still in the Espiritu style, but enough like Hogwarts robes that she shouldn't cause a stir, and no one but her need know she was still wearing the uniform of her real school.
By the time they were finished and the trunks repacked, the train had stopped and people were starting to disembark. Lucy opened the compartment door and grinned over her shoulder at the younger two.
"Well, here we go, again!"
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As they exited into the hustle and bustle, Chester P. Parker followed another nervous looking boy off towards where Hagrid was calling all the first years. Lucy squeezed Marguerite's shoulder and they set off to the right, where a tall bald man with a severe face and a crooked nose was calling ,
"Form a line! All international students, form a line, have your papers ready and in order! Yellow, orange, blue, then green, form a line!"
"That sounds like us Marguerite, come on." She pulled the little girl through the crowd and stepped in line behind a chattering pair of irritated Italians and just before a whole pack of very vocal Australians. It seemed she wasn't the only one who found the new papers to be a royal pain.
When they finally got to the head of the line they had to produce each of the papers, one by one, for inspection. 'Inspection' involved the ministry official muttering something and tapping the papers with his wand, after which they glowed, and combined with the already bright colors, the effect was hard to look at. Evidently that was all he wanted, and he was satisfied, when he tapped the papers again they stopped glowing and a heavy gold seal appeared under the spot where his wand had been on each one.
"Sign this," he shoved a piece of blessedly normal white parchment and a couple of quills at them.
"What is it?" Lucy eyed the paper suspiciously.
"Just a contract giving the ministry full power to deport you if we deem necessary."
"What?"
"Just sign it."
"Wait a second, I mean, why should-"
"Are we going to have a problem already Miss Montero?"
Lucy turned around to see Professor McGonagall standing with her arms crossed, apparently not entirely happy to see her.
"No sir- ma'am," Lucy grimaced, read over the contract quickly again, finding what she wanted, signed it and handed it back. Marguerite, apparently trusting the older, if slightly odder girl, did the same.
The girls collected their papers and with a wave the minister dismissed them and turned to check the Australians.
"Wait," Lucy said, "Don't you need to see ID? I mean, I'm 16, don't you want to see ID?"
"No."
"Please, can't I at least SHOW you the ID?"
"Lucy…."
"Yes'm." Lucy sighed and left the table.
"Where do we go now?" Marguerite asked, looking around.
"To the carriages I guess- wait! No, no no no. You have to go to the boats, where's Hagrid? Come on!"
She dragged the girl by the arm towards the lake, sighing with relief when she saw the little fleet was still at the dock.
"Hagrid! I've got another one for you, hold up a minute!" They came flying down the walkway and Lucy practically thrust the small girl into his arms.
"Lucy? Well, well, didn't expect ta see ya here."
"I'm like a bad penny, I always turn up. Anyway, this is Marguerite Ducasse."
Hagrid smiled down at the younger girl. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Marguerite. Don' worry, even if I hadn't a had ye on my list here, this young feller refused to get into a boat until someone made sure ye found yer way over here." He gestured to Chester P. Parker standing on the dock behind him, who blushed and shrugged.
"Had ta get yer papers checked, huh? Bloody foolish business, an idiot that Fudge… well now listen ta me talk. Yer gonna miss yer carriage Lucy, don' worry, we'll take care a the little miss here, go on."
Marguerite and Parker got into a boat and waved as Lucy gave them a wink and dashed back up to the carriages, sprinting the last couple of yards and swinging up into the very last one, plopping herself down on the seat across from a pair of startled Slytherins who stared at her and continued to do so for the entire ride to the castle.
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Lucy was relieved that for the first time she entered the hall and no one stared. It was nice not to be a novelty, and in her black robes she looked just like any other student, only a pointed look from Professor McGonagall gave the least sign that anyone noticed her robes were not exactly Hogwarts design.
She had been in the last carriage, so the hall was practically full as she and the few stragglers made their way to the tables. She blew a kiss at the Slytherin boys she had ridden up with, who promptly were given probing looks by their house mates, which made her chuckle inwardly as she found an empty spot near the end of the Gryffindor table and sat down. She thought she could make out a bunch of the sixth years towards the other end, but at that moment the first years were being brought in and no one was paying the least amount of attention to her.
Lucy had never seen a sorting before, so she was absolutely enthralled, and smiled with fond remembrance at how happy she had been to find something that could talk in your head. They had been having quite an interesting conversation before Professor McGonagall had chastised them. The first years really did look tiny, and to her surprise it seemed that tiny Marguerite was the one calming Parker this time, as well as a girl with short dark hair next to her.
In the next few moments Gryffindor got its first first year of the year, Belle Bedford, and immediately following Slytherin go it's second first year, after 'Armstrong, Alison,' with 'Bedford, Brady.' Belle hadn't yet walked toward the Gryffindor table, poor thing had obviously been expecting her brother to be put in the same house, and she looked positively stricken at being separated from him. The boy, an inch taller than his twin sister, gave her a smile and wink, and personally walked her over to the Gryffindor table.
"Don't get into too much trouble without me," he teased.
"Oh, right, this from the person who set fire to Grandmama's living room."
"Don't pretend you weren't there. I'll see you soon."
The auburn haired boy gave his sister a hug before heading across the hall to the Slytherin table, where he was met with handshakes and smiles.
Makes a person wonder… Lucy thought, but she looked up as "Ducasse, Marguerite," was announced.
Marguerite practically had to hop to get on the stool, the hat covering her head completely, but she didn't look scared. A few seconds later she was placed in Ravenclaw, and Lucy felt a tinge of disappointment that she hadn't been made a Gryffindor.
The rest of the sorting went as usual, or as she supposed was usual. Belle Brady finally found her tongue and wouldn't stop asking questions, so Lucy almost missed the grimace on Parker's face as "Parker, Chester," was read out loud.
"Poor Parker, " she smiled. Chester ended up in Hufflepuff, which, Lucy thought, was rather a nice fit for the caring little boy, although, like Marguerite, she wished he was with her instead. She had taken an immediate liking to the pair, and promised herself that despite the house separation, she would look after them all the same.
After "Zigmund, Zachariah," was made a Slytherin, and the end of Gryffindor table as well as every other was crammed with small children with wide eyes, the hat was taken away and Dumbledore stood.
"Welcome to another year. I would like to inspire you all with these few words, strabler, bismintide, whelquoin. Enjoy your meal."
Puzzling stares ended as food appeared and they all dug in. Lucy, who had either been eating hospital food, or worse, her own cooking, all summer, was particularly grateful. It seemed no time at all before they were all stuffed beyond capacity, and the headmaster got up again.
"And now, before we retire, the school song!" This was met with equal amounts of cheers and groans. "Everyone pick yourself a tune and here we go!"
Hermione had tried to teach Lucy last year, but she followed the glowing gold words on the ceiling, singing the school anthem to the 'God Bless America' and thoroughly enjoying herself every minute of the time. She then set off with the mob to find the Gryffindor common room, and, more importantly, her bed.
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"The password this year is 'fewmets'" Hermione said clearly outside the portrait hole as she ushered the first years inside. There were groans and shouts of, 'that's a horrible password!' and 'let's make it 'Slytherin's play Quidditch like drunken gnomes!'', but she ignored them, and Lucy gave her a wink as she passed her on her way inside.
She headed straight for her room, and was greeted by a shriek from Lavender and a painful hug from Parvati.
"What are you doing here?"
"We didn't think you were coming back!"
"I seem to be getting a lot of that lately."
In the next second the door burst open and Hermione gave her a less painful, but not less joyful greeting of her own.
"You look great." They said at the same time.
"We visited my mother's friends in Greece for a month."
"I spent five weeks doing repairs in the punishing sun, but at least we both got great tans."
"By the way, how did the," Hermione looked at Parvati and Lavender, "the OTHER job go?"
"It went. Nothing miraculous, but it was good."
Hermione nodded. "Neville didn't look any different, I was afraid maybe you couldn't do anything after all."
Lucy shook her head. "No, I could do some stuff, but in any case, Neville's tougher than he looks in that department." She kept her voice low, than smacked herself in the head. "I forgot! I meant to ask him about his August visit! They don't exactly know how to use the ordinary mail service, so they were gonna give Neville my paycheck and the end of the month reports, if I don't deposit that soon I think I'll be cursed by goblins… I'll be right back!"
She dashed out of the room and down the stairs, then up the boys stairs, bursting into one room only to realize it was the wrong one, the guys were in sixth year now, and like the girls, had rooms higher in the tower. She apologized to the startled fifth years and ran up to the next door and knocked.
Seamus answered the door.
He looked at her, blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared at her again.
"Lucy?"
Hmmm, she thought, I guess Hermione never got in touch with him….
"Um, surprise?"
Seamus's face broke into an ear to ear grin as he let out an "Ha!", picked her up and swung her around.
"I can't believe it! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried, but you were being such a goose about hiding on the last day I couldn't find you. And Hermione tried to write you, but you weren't at home!"
He set her down and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I didn't make it very easy to find me." Her held her out at arms distance and then hugged her again. "God its good to see you."
Lucy hugged him back. "Same here."
Up until the last week or so of school, Lucy's future at Hogwarts seemed non-existent. Due to certain events, the Circle of Western Mages, with which Espiritu had been affiliated, had withdrawn their support of sending Lucy to an Eastern school. Without that scholarship and without Espiritu, she would never be able to afford the tuition. It had not been until out of the blue Dumbledore informed her she could pay for her tuition and supplies through a work study program with the Ministry that coming back for sixth year had become a possibility.
"Seamus? What's the yelling? What's going on?" Harry's voice came from inside.
"I need to see Neville," she answered the question before he asked it, and he raised his eyebrows and opened the door.
Harry, Ron, Dean, and Neville looked up from their unpacking. Dean waved with one hand while searching through his trunk with the other, Neville stopped folding his shirts and grinned, Harry stepped over the pile of clothes and started to walk towards her, and Ron just rolled his eyes to the ceiling and muttered, 'here we go again.'
Harry gave her a quick hug and Lucy gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good to see you again Lucy."
Lucy smiled, "Good to see you too Harry, have a nice summer?"
Harry grimaced, "Not exactly the word I would use to describe it. The last three weeks were good though." He added hastily at Ron's look.
"And how about you Mr. Weasley? Have a nice holiday?"
"Yes, thank you. And you? Spend a good deal of time stirring up minature tornados or giving other people's brothers convenient candy-coated torture devices did you?" If it hadn't been for the smile in his eyes Lucy would really have believe he was mad at her. But she had something of an uneasy truce with Ron, and so long as Harry and Hermione stayed healthy and hearty, it should remain a truce.
"Oh, I didn't get to do so much of that as I would have liked, but I managed to amuse myself. Hey Neville, did they give-"
Neville held up a large flat package wrapped in parchment and string. "Grandmother triple checked to remember that I brought it. There's a couple of letters in their two from some of the staff, they just have questions about the methods and stuff I think, nothing that needs urgent replies." He went to toss it but Lucy quickly reached out and took it, knowing with Neville it might go out the window.
"Thanks." With that she left the room winking at Seamus as she headed back down the stairs. "See you in class."
Seamus grinned and shook his head. "This is going to be an interesting year."
Lucy returned to her room and began to unpack, tossing clothes onto the bed and sending shoes flying. As she shook out a sweather, something heavy flew out and landed on the floor next to Hermione's bed with a clang. Hermione stooped down and picked up the flat piece of metal, staring at Lucy.
"Lucy, what is this?"
Lucy looked up, then her eyes grew wide and she grinned. "Oh that! I completely forgot!"
She extended her hand toward Hermione and the plate flew out of her grasp an into Lucy's. She fumbled about for her wand, and tapped it on the gray metal back, muttering "affixirimus", she then stood at the end of her bed and used her mind to raise the plate, turn it over, and send it flying to the wall above the nightstand, where it touched and affixed itself to instantly. Hermione squinted a bit, and then smiled.
It was a yellow license plate that read BIG B, with a small Indian sun separating the "Big" from the "B", underneath which could be read "New Mexico USA", and under that, in italic letters, "Land of Enchantment."
Hermione, Lavender and Parvati waited for an explanation, Lucy was digging around for her wallet.
"Here, look!"
She held out a card with her picture on it, Lavender and Parvati looked blankly, Hermione smiled. "It's a drivers license you two, it means she can drive a car… oh never mind. Congratulations Lucy."
Lucy grinned, "I only had to take the test twice!"
"So why do you have that?" Hermione indicated the license plate hanging on the wall.
Lucy grinned, walking over to the plate and running her fingers over the raised letters.
"This, " she said reverently, "is all that is left of Big Bertha."
"Who's Big Bertha."
Lucy dropped her mock seriousness and grinned devilishly. "Was Big Bertha. And she was Carlos Rimerez's 1979 pick up truck!"
"Lucy…what did you do?"
Lucy grinned, "We crashed it in the desert near the Arizona/ New Mexico State Border."
"We?"
"Yeah, me, Diego, and Carlos's little brother Eddie, well not so little, he's 19…."
"Wasn't he mad?"
"Hell, he taught me to drive. I think deep down he was kinda proud. Anyway, he was planning on getting a new one before the end of the summer, or he never would have let us take it. Besides, I've never hitchhiked before, getting home was kind of fun…."
"Hold on, Diego's alive? And why were you in Arizona?"
Lucy grinned. "Yes, he's alive, that's kinda a long story, and Eddie enlisted last spring and was being sent off to basic training the next week, so we thought we'd take a little road trip. We fully intended to turn around if we hit the Mexican border or the Pacific Ocean."
Hermione shook her head as she climbed into bed. "Well, I hope you got all of that out of your system over the summer Lucy. I was kind of hoping for a nice quiet year."
Lucy snorted as she grabbed a small blue velvet bag and began tossing handfuls of what appeared to be nothing into the air above her bed. "Hermione, from what I've hear, with you and your friends there is no such thing as a nice quiet year."
She didn't hear Hermione's reply as she shut her curtains and laid down on top of her covers, her hands folded behind her head, and stared at the multitudes of tiny stars that twinkled down at her from the ceiling.
***Me talking. So, I didn't plan on starting this so soon, I was going to let the thing rest, and despite the really nice people who wanted to hear about Lucy's next year at Hogwarts, I was kind of intimidated by the multitudes of people who seem to really HATE Americans, and I mean hate when I say it. And, you know, at a time when the Texas Guard is patrolling the airport with really big rifles and I can't bring a nail file on an airplane, I really didn't think I ought to spend my time posting something that, despite the few people who write nice constructive things, was only going to get me nasty messages that I have to get taken off based not on how I write, but on the nationality of my character. I have enough to worry about as it is, thank you very much.
I think the flame that broke the camel's back, so to speak, wasn't for my story at all, it was not a flame, but a review I read complementing one of those "How to kill a Mary Sue" list of evil things, (and I did agree with most of the stuff in the piece itself, teeheehee), however, the comment: "Why are there always American axchange students coming to England? We finally have something of our own and Americans are still tyring to get in on it! (sorry if you're american)" (I left in the spelling errors and the blatant un-capitalizing of American , they amused me, although I know I do that all the time, sorry!)
Um, yeah, where to start on that one… So, this er, fine upstanding authoress, a Miss Mambo-Bambo I believe, seems to be implying that, since Hogwarts is set in England, Americans have no right to "get in on it," now that either means we writers have no right to be writing about a school in England, because we all know that Hogwarts is real and that only the British authors who have been there have the knowledge required to write about it accurately, or she is suggesting that because Hogwarts is a British school, American students have no business coming there, but French, Australian, Italian, basically anyone but Americans are welcome and they will run and get the Sorting Hat right away! So basically it is a choice between Americans being ill qualified to write about a book because the author and setting are British, or simple cut and dry bigotry. My we are an enlightened bunch.
So, I think we can rule out the first hypothesis (I'm a bio major, can't help it), since, unless some of these British authors are in serious need of therapy, none have them have come any closer to Hogwarts than those of us across the pond. (Although we can still envy them their affinity to Ozzy Osborne, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.) And as for the second hyphothesis, out and out bigotry, well there seems to be an overabundance of that lately, in every country including my own, and I guess all we can do is wait and pray. And, to be honest, it still surprises me how much writing an American character is criticized, since one of the cardinal rules of writing is 'write what you know.' Well, obviously an American is going to know a damn sight more about writing a kid from the Bronx or New Jersey than they would about someone from Dorset or Manchester. The shouldn't feel pressured to handicap themselves just so they can fit in the tired and true model of what some people find appealing.
So, since this is almost a page long, but I can do that since this is my own story and writing it once is easier than e-mailing it to the dozens of people who like to Yankee-bash, I'd better wrap it up. So in short, to anyone, and particularly my American brethren, write whatever the hell you want. Write a bad fic, I mean a really, really bad fic, and make the character the American long lost sister of Harry whom Draco is madly in love with and turns Snape into a puppy dog for all I care, if YOU enjoy, then do it. More often then not no one reviews these things anyway. I know that I write Lucy Montero and Diego Alvarez, Maggie O'Rourke and Aidan Murphy for me, and just for me. I like 'em. Sometimes I want to smack 'em, but I like 'em. So go ahead, despite what some people may want us to think, over here at least its still a free country. Don't let the man get you down.***