Chapter 16
The second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh years all proceeded out of the Great Hall. As Ginny got up to leave, Harry kissed her again. Dumbledore then continued.
"And this year, we will be assigning one sixth year student to each first year student, as kind of like a big brother/big sister program. I will now read the list. The sixth year's name will be read first, followed by the first years. You will then both stand up, go into the hallway, and find out a little bit about each other. It is a requirement that you must spend at least five hours a week with your partner. Your hours may start today if you like."
"Also, if you spend more than the required five hours with your buddy, you can earn a form of extra credit in either Potions, Herbology, or Transfiguration. 6th years may also use this towards Divination or Muggle Studies. You will also have to do an end of the year project, which will be explained later. The main purpose of this system is to encourage friendly relationships between the older and younger students. The first years sometimes have a bit of a difficulty adapting to being away from their parents, and this may help a bit too. I will now read the list."
"The Slytherins paired with another Slytherin are:"
"Mourag McDougle and Avery Nott"
"Blaise Zabini and Mason Farnsworth"
"Theodore Nott and Jared Bailey"
"Vincent Crabbe and Fernando Greensburg"
"Gregory Goyle and Donald Parkinson"
(At this, Harry laughed. Crabbe and Goyle hanging out with first years?)
"Veronica Snyder and Gina Ralston"
"Pansy Parkinson and Olivia Pigsnout"
"Daphne Greengrass and Nichole Tanner"
"Tracey Davis and Penelope Matson"
"Millicent Bulstrode and Katrina Jones"
After each of these pairings, the sixth year and the first year stood up and walked into the hallway outside of the Great Hall.
"Now for the Hufflepuffs paired with a Hufflepuff," Dumbledore announced
"Orion Moon and Joseph Perkins"
"Ernie Macmillan and Jeremy Rhode"
"Wayne Hopkins and Zachary Detwiler"
"Justin Finch-Fletchley and Phillip Dunham"
"Chelsea Daniels and Samantha O'Nally"
"Sally-Anne Perks and Kayla Thompson"
"Megan Jones and Katrina Jambo"
"Susan Bones and Hannah Williamson"
"Hannah Abbot and Ashley Doughty"
Soon, all of the Hufflepuff sixth and first years were out in the hallway too, with the exception of Bert Rollins, who was to be paired with someone outside of his house.
"Now, for all the Ravenclaws paired with a Ravenclaw," announced Dumbledore.
"Lisa Turpin and Rachel Haines"
"Su Li and Rebecca Ackerly"
"Padma Patil and Madison White"
"Kevin Entwhistle and Harvey Lewis"
"Stephen Cornfoot and Ray Tomes"
"Anthony Goldstein and Michael Roy"
"Michael Corner and Anthony Kramer"
('Hmmm...' Harry thought to himself. 'Interesting- Anthony is paired with a Michael and Michael is paired with an Anthony... What a coincidence')
"Mandy Brocklehurst and Melina Rutherford"
All of the Ravenclaws were soon out of the Hall and into the hallway.
"Now, for two special pairings" said Professor Dumbledore. "Neville Longbottom and Bert Rollins, and Hermione Granger and Jessica Zabini are the only pairs that come from different houses. Neville and Hermione are from Gryffindor, Bert is from Hufflepuff, and Jessica is from Ravenclaw."
"And now the Gryffindors paired with a Gryffindor" Dumbledore said as Neville and Bert, and Hermione and Jessica left the hall.
"Seamus Finnigan and Nathan Merino"
"Dean Thomas and Jett Hallison"
"Lavender Brown and Allyson Vera"
"Angel Rose and Morgan Day"
"Draco Malfoy and Kaden Saunders"
"Ronald Weasley and Matthew Johnson"
"Devon (A/N: This is a unisex name, but this Devon is a girl) Robinson and Jake Kettleburn are also a pair that is special. They are the only pair with a girl in sixth year and boy in first year."
This left three, and only three people still seated. One was Harry Potter, and the other two were first year Gryffindors, Liana Celeste and Skyler Moon, who was not really related to Orion Moon, a sixth year, even though they shared the same last name.
Dumbledore walked over to the three of them.
"There was one more first year than sixth years, so one sixth year had to be paired up with two first years. I thought you were the best person Harry, and I thought you would get along best with Liana and Skyler."
"It's okay Albus," Harry sent a message telepathically to Dumbledore. Dumbledore had insisted that Harry call him Albus over the summer, and it stuck.
"I was just talking to these girls and they seem pretty cool" Harry said with a smile in the direction of Sky and Liana.
"Yeah, Professor, Harry's awesome!" Liana said.
"But," Albus said, "Since you are at a disadvantage still, you may use the Room of Requirement when you meet."
"And I think you will find that everything that you need is there" Albus answered back to Harry through the mind-link.
"Liana? Sky? There's a room I want to show you before we go back to the common room."
"Okay Harry!" Sky said enthusiastically.
He led them to the Room of Requirement, and arrived at the wall where the door would appear.
'I wish I had a common room type room around with a pensieve.' Harry thought.
When the door appeared, the two young girls gasped.
"That's awesome!" squealed Liana.
Skyler nodded, and then added, "I agree!"
"Lets go in!" Liana said.
"Sure," Harry said as he twisted the doorknob.
The two girls gasped again when the door opened. The room was decorated in light blue and light purple, and closely resembled the Gryffindor common room, but with these two colors instead of scarlet and gold.
"Come here," Harry said to the girls, as he led them over to the pensieve.
When they reached the pensive, Harry pulled out his wand, held it to his head and extracted a silver stream of shiny liquid, and placed it into the pensieve.
"Touch this silvery stuff." Harry instructed them. "That silvery stuff is my memory from a little bit ago about a funny thing that happened in the Great Hall this summer. I thought you might like to see it."
Liana and Sky did as they were instructed, and touched the silvery liquid in the basin. Harry followed. They were sent into his memory, and Peeves suddenly burst through the Great Hall and began singing.
The girls began to giggle.
When the memory was over, they were transported out of the penseive, and back into the room of requirement.
"Liana?" Harry asked.
"Oh, Harry- call me Ana. Everyone else does."
"Okay, but why didn't you tell me before?"
"It was funny," Ana said, bursting into a fit of giggles.
"First years..." Harry muttered under his breath.
"Show us another memory!" Skyler exclaimed.
"Yeah- another one!" Ana persisted.
"Okay... I'll show you my memory of my birthday party."
Harry then proceeded to show them the memory of his birthday party, and his gifts, and Peeves bursting in and throwing water balloons everywhere- not to mention his wacky song.
When this memory was over, and with a whirl of colors, they appeared back in the Room of Requirement.
"It feels like I have known you forever, Harry" Skyler claimed.
"Me too," Liana agreed.
"The funny thing is, I feel the same way." Harry said. "I don't know why, but you guys feel like- I don't know- the little sisters I never had. Tell me more about yourselves."
"Okay," Liana said. "My parents are both magical, and I moved to England from America last year. I have a younger half-sister named Kaylee, and a younger half-brother named Josh. Kaylee is four and Joshie is two and a half. And I have a younger stepsister too. My parents got divorced when I was six. And my mom's new husband Ryan had a kid from his previous marriage. That would be my stepsister, Laura. She's turning ten in two weeks. She's pretty nice, but kind of spoiled. That's all in my mom's marriage. In my dad's new marriage, I have a younger half-brother named Kevin- he's three. And I also have another stepbrother. He's Kaden Saunders. His mom is my stepmom; Saunders is his dad's name. He's my age, and he got sorted into Gryffindor too. Did you know that I knew him? I don't think you did. And then I have an owl named Aphrodite. She was the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty. That's why I named her that. Oh, and you know Ally- umm... I mean Allyson Vera. She got into Gryffindor too. She is my cousin. My mom's sister is her mother. My mom's sister's name is Leah- my mom's name is Evelyn. But anyway, her dad's last name is Vera- Logan Vera... We are best friends. She comes over to my house a lot. And I have another cousin in first year- my dad's sister got married to a guy named Bryan Johnson- my dad's sister is named Caroline, and my dad is named Charles, but anyway, Matthew Johnson- but we call him Matt- is my cousin too. He got sorted into Gryffindor also..."
"So Angelina Johnson is your cousin too?" Harry interrupted.
"Yeah- how do you know Angelina?"
"She was on the Quidditch team when I was- until last year actually. She's a great chaser."
"What is Quibbitch?" Sky asked.
"It is a wizarding sport played on broomsticks. There are seven members per team- a seeker, a keeper, two beaters, and three chasers..."
Harry went on to explain the rules of Quidditch to Skyler, who seemed fascinated at the thought of riding around on a broom.
"Hey Ana?" Harry asked, and then whispered something into her ear.
"Yeah!" The first year squealed.
"Come on Sky!" Ana exclaimed as she grabbed her fellow first-year's arm and began dragging her across the room.
"You'll love this Sky, you really will!" Ana continued.
"And since you have never played before..." she went on.
"Ana!" Harry exclaimed, busting out with laughter. "You can't keep a secret, can you?"
"Yes I can!" Ana exclaimed, outraged. "Just not well."
As they walked out on the Quidditch Pitch, Skyler began humming something, which then resulted in her singing it.
"Be kind to your web-footed friends,
For a duck may be somebody's mother,
Be kind to your friends in the swamp
Where the weather is always damp,
You may think that this is the end.
Well, it is!"
"What kind of song is that?" Harry asked.
"Sounds like a muggle song to me," Ana said.
"It is." Skyler added.
"What does it mean?" Harry asked. "It's kind of confusing."
"Oh, its just a song that they teach you when you are little so that you are nice to other people."
"Then... why are you singing it?"
"I dunno- it just kinda popped into my head."
By this time, they had reached the middle of the pitch. Ana started pointing at things, and explaining what they were. Harry just sat back and took it all in. In fact, he was so deep into thought that he didn't realize the black-cloaked man sneak up behind him.
A/N: Sorry to leave it there! But if you want to know what will happen next, I am afraid that you will have to click that lovely review button down in the lower left hand corner of your screen and let me know what you think. Review!
Also, If you have any ideas on where you think this story should be going, let me know in your review because I want to see what you would like to see this plot turn into, even though I already have a pretty good idea. Let me know what yours are by pressing the review button!
And- I need suggestions on Lily's baby- girl or boy? And names??? Help- I need your suggestions.
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