Chapter 8: Arrival of the foriegner
They began to walk up the front steps and into the Great Hall taking seats next to Dean, Sean, and Neville at the Gryffindor table.
Sean leaned in and began to talk frantically, "Did you hear? There's supposed to be a new girl here, from America."
"There's always new girls at Hogwarts, that's nothing new," Hermione said. "No, she's not a first year, she's seventeen, a seventh year!" he answered excitedly. "Where's Hagrid?" Hermione asked going off the subject. Harry suddenly remembered the he had sent him on his birthday. "He's not going to be here until the last three moths of the year," he answered, that must be the substitute," he said pointing to the teachers table were a man, or the better term would be, boy that looked only a year or two older than Harry sat in conversation with Professor Flitwick. He had messy straw colored hair which covered deep blue eyes. "He looks no older than us!" Hermione exclaimed
Though there was no more to be said since when Dumbledore stood up for silence. The murmur that had filled the Great Hall died down. "I have a short announcement before we start the sorting ceremony," he began, "We will be having a transfer student from America with us," Once again a great murmur went through the room. "She will be starting her 7th year here, so I'm sure we will all do our best to make her feel comfortable," he said peering over his half moon spectacles at Malfoy and his goonies. "So if Willow O'Conner, would please come up to be sorted," A tall girl began to nervously approach the front, her short, dark red hair blowing behind her, and her luminous emerald green eyes focused firmly on the stool which the Sorting Hat patiently sat. When she passed the Gryffindor table, a stabbing pain shot thru Harry's scar.
Harry clutched his scar and flinched. The pain started to fade away as the girl got further away.
"Are you alright Harry?" asked Hermione.
Harry nodded his head. Frequent scar flare ups were common ever since Voldemort came back.
The girl finally reached it and Professor McGonagall and she placed the hat on her head as she sat.
In Willows Head
Willow who had been waiting patiently in the back of the hall was startled to hear her name called. Here it goes, she thought as she began to walk towards the front. Her mouth was dry and her palms were sweaty. She felt as though she had no control over her legs which felt like gelatin that would give way at any moment, they just kept moving forward. She tried to stay focused on the stool, trying not to pay attention to the hundreds of eyes upon her.
It seemed like an eternity for her reach the front. When she got there, she sat on the stool. The woman, whom she assumed was a professor, placed a old, patched hat on her head. So, your whole blood line comes from Ireland? inquired the hat. You can talk! thought Willow nearly falling off the chair. You find that a surprise? It asked. Well, yes, yes, it comes as a great shock, She answered trying to grab the sides of the chair but her hands kept slipping since they were so sweaty. Let me search your head. What house should you be in? It asked itself, Oh my, it gasped,.you hold a power, a power which no other wizard could match, not even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! This power goes through ancient times and back again Willow had no idea what it was talking about, but before she could ask it yelled, Gryffindor!
A roar of applause erupted through the hall as she approached the table and went up to a girl her age with bushy brown hair, and warm brown eyes and a boy with jet black hair and bright green eyes that stood out behind his round, wire glasses.
Back in Harry's Head
"Mind if I sit here?" Willow asked shyly pointing at the seat next to Hermione with her thick American accent. "Of course not," Hermione said scooting over to give her more room. "I'm Hermione, and this is my friend Harry," she said introducing themselves, "could hang around with us, if you like," she asked, nervous at what she would say. "Ok," she answered looking simply delighted to already have friends.
Suddenly another shot of pain went thru Harry's scar. "Harry, are you sure your alright?" Hermione asked again. He looked at her thru tears of pain. "I'm fine!" he said rudely thru gritted teeth.
Hermione, looking slightly hurt, turned back to the ceremony. When the pain finally dimmed, the sorting ceremony was over and Dumbledore started to make another announcement, "We will be having a few balls this year," Harry's stomach did a somersault, he remembered his forth year and the ball, the girl he wanted to go most with, Cho Chang, had already gotten a date, Cedric Diggory, he felt even worse thinking about Cedric. He couldn't help but feel responsible for Cedric's death. This year was going to be different, he was going to ask Hermione before anyone else could come and sweep her off her feet.
He was snapped back into reality when Dumbledore started to speak over the excited buzzing, "our first one will be in three weeks, September 22nd. It will be our welcome back party, not ball, but party. And, yes, there will be dancing, all years, so I suggest, if you wish, that you all find dates soon. There will be more information to come. Oh, and I'd like to introduce your new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Thomas Clason," he finished, though his last words were drowned out by applause. No doubt everyone was happy to possibly have a normal class with creatures that were actually magical, not things that had rows of teeth that, if annoyed or made eye contact with, attacked and ate them.
"Let the feast begin!" he boomed, and instantly the plates were filled with mouth watering foods of all sorts, from stuffed goose to rice pudding. "What the-," Willow said with surprise, "how'd that happen?"
"You came from a muggle family didn't you? I did," Hermione said. "What's a muggle?" she asked poking the goose nervously with the fork. "Non magic people," Harry answered taking a bite of potatoes. "Oh, well, I wouldn't really know, my parents were killed when I was young, I don't really remember them," she said quietly, looking down at her plate and playing with a pea. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Hermione apologetically. "Its ok," Willow said quickly. "My parents died when I was young too, I know how you feel," Harry said with a slight smile which she returned.
"Hello!" boomed Nearly Headless Nick coming from under the table through Willow's plate, making her drop her fork in surprise. "I am Sir Nicholas, the ghost of Gryffindor House. Welcome to Gryffindor, Miss O'Connor!"
Willow simply nodded and Nick glided off to meet the first years.
After the feast, they started up to the Gryffindor Common room. Both Harry and Hermione found it amusing to watch Willow jump every time a painting would move or talk.
"Password?" asked the portrait of the fat lady after they finally reached the common room, which made Willow jump. "Dragon breath," said Hermione and they all walked into the deserted common room.
In Willow's Head
When Willow walked and looked around in awe. Slowly she walked over to the red squishy arm chairs by the blazing fire. "Mr. Harry Potter, sir!" came a squeal from the chair as a bizarrely dressed, short creature, with bat like ears, and green eyes as large as tennis balls, jumped onto the back of the chair. "Dobby, I haven't seen you in a while," Harry said. Willow felt as if she was going faint of shock. Hermione saw the look on her face and walked over to her, "That's Dobby, he's a house elf," she said. "I think I've read about those," Willow answered. "Oh just what we need, another Hermione, always reading about something somewhere," said Harry overhearing their conversation.
"Who's is Mr. Harry Potter's friend?" asked Dobby referring to Willow. "That's our new friend Willow," he answered. "Nice to meet you Miss," Dobby said shaking her hand vigorously. "Nice to meet you too, Dobby," she said smiling. Dobby went slightly pink and smiled back sheepishly as he took his hat in his hands and began to wring it nervously.
"Dobby must be going back to the kitchens, Miss, Dobby will see you later," he said opening the portrait hole. He was still waving back at Willow as he jumped out of the portrait and into the hall.
"Gosh, Willow," said Hermione with her hands on her hips, "You've only been here for a few hours and someone already has a crush on you!"
"Shut up," Willow said throwing a pillow from the couch at her. Just then Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville walked through the portrait. "What's up with Dobby? He was raving on about being in love," said Ron to Harry. Willow gave Hermione a look when she began to snort with laughter. Just then is when the four boys noticed Willow sitting on the couch. Ron ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his robes before he walked over and sat on the couch next to her, closely followed by the others. "I'm Ron," he said trying to act as cool as possible. "Ignore that geek," said Seamus pushing Ron off the couch. "I'm Sean."
"And I'm going to bed," Willow said. "I'd better go with her, she might accidentally go into the boys dorm," said Hermione climbing the stairs after her. " 'Night, guys," they both called from the top of the stairs and walked into the girls dorm.
"How do you get so many boys to take to you like that?" asked Hermione amazed. "I don't know," she said taking a seat on the bed near her trunk, "I personally don't like it."
"Do you a boyfriend back home or something," Hermione asked curiously. "No, all the boys back home were kinda weird." she answered. Her eyes suddenly lit up, "So, Hermione," she said, "who do you have you eyes on for the party thingy," she asked. Hermione suddenly went red, "No one," she answered quickly. "Come on, you obviously like Harry," she said rolling her eyes.
"No I don't," she said going even pinker. Willow raised her eyes to Hermione and a mischievous smile crept across her face. "Is it that obvious?" Hermione finally asked taking a seat on her own bed. "Well, ya. You can tell by the way you look at him," she answered. "I like him a whole lot, and I really hope he asks me," Hermione said biting her bottom lip, "but don't tell him that."
"I won't," said Willow, "We'd better go to bed, we have classes tomorrow," Willow said just as the other seventh year girls walked in.
She pulled back her curtains and quickly dressed into her pjs. " 'Night, Hermione," she yawned crawling under the covers, and she fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.
They began to walk up the front steps and into the Great Hall taking seats next to Dean, Sean, and Neville at the Gryffindor table.
Sean leaned in and began to talk frantically, "Did you hear? There's supposed to be a new girl here, from America."
"There's always new girls at Hogwarts, that's nothing new," Hermione said. "No, she's not a first year, she's seventeen, a seventh year!" he answered excitedly. "Where's Hagrid?" Hermione asked going off the subject. Harry suddenly remembered the he had sent him on his birthday. "He's not going to be here until the last three moths of the year," he answered, that must be the substitute," he said pointing to the teachers table were a man, or the better term would be, boy that looked only a year or two older than Harry sat in conversation with Professor Flitwick. He had messy straw colored hair which covered deep blue eyes. "He looks no older than us!" Hermione exclaimed
Though there was no more to be said since when Dumbledore stood up for silence. The murmur that had filled the Great Hall died down. "I have a short announcement before we start the sorting ceremony," he began, "We will be having a transfer student from America with us," Once again a great murmur went through the room. "She will be starting her 7th year here, so I'm sure we will all do our best to make her feel comfortable," he said peering over his half moon spectacles at Malfoy and his goonies. "So if Willow O'Conner, would please come up to be sorted," A tall girl began to nervously approach the front, her short, dark red hair blowing behind her, and her luminous emerald green eyes focused firmly on the stool which the Sorting Hat patiently sat. When she passed the Gryffindor table, a stabbing pain shot thru Harry's scar.
Harry clutched his scar and flinched. The pain started to fade away as the girl got further away.
"Are you alright Harry?" asked Hermione.
Harry nodded his head. Frequent scar flare ups were common ever since Voldemort came back.
The girl finally reached it and Professor McGonagall and she placed the hat on her head as she sat.
In Willows Head
Willow who had been waiting patiently in the back of the hall was startled to hear her name called. Here it goes, she thought as she began to walk towards the front. Her mouth was dry and her palms were sweaty. She felt as though she had no control over her legs which felt like gelatin that would give way at any moment, they just kept moving forward. She tried to stay focused on the stool, trying not to pay attention to the hundreds of eyes upon her.
It seemed like an eternity for her reach the front. When she got there, she sat on the stool. The woman, whom she assumed was a professor, placed a old, patched hat on her head. So, your whole blood line comes from Ireland? inquired the hat. You can talk! thought Willow nearly falling off the chair. You find that a surprise? It asked. Well, yes, yes, it comes as a great shock, She answered trying to grab the sides of the chair but her hands kept slipping since they were so sweaty. Let me search your head. What house should you be in? It asked itself, Oh my, it gasped,.you hold a power, a power which no other wizard could match, not even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! This power goes through ancient times and back again Willow had no idea what it was talking about, but before she could ask it yelled, Gryffindor!
A roar of applause erupted through the hall as she approached the table and went up to a girl her age with bushy brown hair, and warm brown eyes and a boy with jet black hair and bright green eyes that stood out behind his round, wire glasses.
Back in Harry's Head
"Mind if I sit here?" Willow asked shyly pointing at the seat next to Hermione with her thick American accent. "Of course not," Hermione said scooting over to give her more room. "I'm Hermione, and this is my friend Harry," she said introducing themselves, "could hang around with us, if you like," she asked, nervous at what she would say. "Ok," she answered looking simply delighted to already have friends.
Suddenly another shot of pain went thru Harry's scar. "Harry, are you sure your alright?" Hermione asked again. He looked at her thru tears of pain. "I'm fine!" he said rudely thru gritted teeth.
Hermione, looking slightly hurt, turned back to the ceremony. When the pain finally dimmed, the sorting ceremony was over and Dumbledore started to make another announcement, "We will be having a few balls this year," Harry's stomach did a somersault, he remembered his forth year and the ball, the girl he wanted to go most with, Cho Chang, had already gotten a date, Cedric Diggory, he felt even worse thinking about Cedric. He couldn't help but feel responsible for Cedric's death. This year was going to be different, he was going to ask Hermione before anyone else could come and sweep her off her feet.
He was snapped back into reality when Dumbledore started to speak over the excited buzzing, "our first one will be in three weeks, September 22nd. It will be our welcome back party, not ball, but party. And, yes, there will be dancing, all years, so I suggest, if you wish, that you all find dates soon. There will be more information to come. Oh, and I'd like to introduce your new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Thomas Clason," he finished, though his last words were drowned out by applause. No doubt everyone was happy to possibly have a normal class with creatures that were actually magical, not things that had rows of teeth that, if annoyed or made eye contact with, attacked and ate them.
"Let the feast begin!" he boomed, and instantly the plates were filled with mouth watering foods of all sorts, from stuffed goose to rice pudding. "What the-," Willow said with surprise, "how'd that happen?"
"You came from a muggle family didn't you? I did," Hermione said. "What's a muggle?" she asked poking the goose nervously with the fork. "Non magic people," Harry answered taking a bite of potatoes. "Oh, well, I wouldn't really know, my parents were killed when I was young, I don't really remember them," she said quietly, looking down at her plate and playing with a pea. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Hermione apologetically. "Its ok," Willow said quickly. "My parents died when I was young too, I know how you feel," Harry said with a slight smile which she returned.
"Hello!" boomed Nearly Headless Nick coming from under the table through Willow's plate, making her drop her fork in surprise. "I am Sir Nicholas, the ghost of Gryffindor House. Welcome to Gryffindor, Miss O'Connor!"
Willow simply nodded and Nick glided off to meet the first years.
After the feast, they started up to the Gryffindor Common room. Both Harry and Hermione found it amusing to watch Willow jump every time a painting would move or talk.
"Password?" asked the portrait of the fat lady after they finally reached the common room, which made Willow jump. "Dragon breath," said Hermione and they all walked into the deserted common room.
In Willow's Head
When Willow walked and looked around in awe. Slowly she walked over to the red squishy arm chairs by the blazing fire. "Mr. Harry Potter, sir!" came a squeal from the chair as a bizarrely dressed, short creature, with bat like ears, and green eyes as large as tennis balls, jumped onto the back of the chair. "Dobby, I haven't seen you in a while," Harry said. Willow felt as if she was going faint of shock. Hermione saw the look on her face and walked over to her, "That's Dobby, he's a house elf," she said. "I think I've read about those," Willow answered. "Oh just what we need, another Hermione, always reading about something somewhere," said Harry overhearing their conversation.
"Who's is Mr. Harry Potter's friend?" asked Dobby referring to Willow. "That's our new friend Willow," he answered. "Nice to meet you Miss," Dobby said shaking her hand vigorously. "Nice to meet you too, Dobby," she said smiling. Dobby went slightly pink and smiled back sheepishly as he took his hat in his hands and began to wring it nervously.
"Dobby must be going back to the kitchens, Miss, Dobby will see you later," he said opening the portrait hole. He was still waving back at Willow as he jumped out of the portrait and into the hall.
"Gosh, Willow," said Hermione with her hands on her hips, "You've only been here for a few hours and someone already has a crush on you!"
"Shut up," Willow said throwing a pillow from the couch at her. Just then Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville walked through the portrait. "What's up with Dobby? He was raving on about being in love," said Ron to Harry. Willow gave Hermione a look when she began to snort with laughter. Just then is when the four boys noticed Willow sitting on the couch. Ron ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his robes before he walked over and sat on the couch next to her, closely followed by the others. "I'm Ron," he said trying to act as cool as possible. "Ignore that geek," said Seamus pushing Ron off the couch. "I'm Sean."
"And I'm going to bed," Willow said. "I'd better go with her, she might accidentally go into the boys dorm," said Hermione climbing the stairs after her. " 'Night, guys," they both called from the top of the stairs and walked into the girls dorm.
"How do you get so many boys to take to you like that?" asked Hermione amazed. "I don't know," she said taking a seat on the bed near her trunk, "I personally don't like it."
"Do you a boyfriend back home or something," Hermione asked curiously. "No, all the boys back home were kinda weird." she answered. Her eyes suddenly lit up, "So, Hermione," she said, "who do you have you eyes on for the party thingy," she asked. Hermione suddenly went red, "No one," she answered quickly. "Come on, you obviously like Harry," she said rolling her eyes.
"No I don't," she said going even pinker. Willow raised her eyes to Hermione and a mischievous smile crept across her face. "Is it that obvious?" Hermione finally asked taking a seat on her own bed. "Well, ya. You can tell by the way you look at him," she answered. "I like him a whole lot, and I really hope he asks me," Hermione said biting her bottom lip, "but don't tell him that."
"I won't," said Willow, "We'd better go to bed, we have classes tomorrow," Willow said just as the other seventh year girls walked in.
She pulled back her curtains and quickly dressed into her pjs. " 'Night, Hermione," she yawned crawling under the covers, and she fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.