Chapter 8: The New Girl

The next morning, everyone dragged themselves out of bed very early. Harry and Ron quickly dressed and packed up their school things.

"Hurry up, we're leaving in fifteen minutes!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked up the stairs.

"Wish we had packed up yesterday," said Harry gloomily as they picked up the pace of their packing. They were done in about five minutes, and then it took another five minutes to get all their things downstairs, as there was much traffic going up and down. They just had enough time to stuff some breakfast into their mouths when they were off. Fred, George, Bill, and Fleur had come along to see them off at the train station and to help with luggage if anyone needed it. They left the house and took the Knight Bus to King's Cross Station. Bill ran off to get them trolleys, and everyone quickly loaded everything onto them. They rushed off to platforms nine and ten, and faced the barrier between them. Mrs. Weasley looked at the clock. They had twenty minutes.

"We've made good time," she said breathlessly. "Ron and Harry, you two go first."

They walked up to the barrier and leaned back into it. They slid through and came out in Platform 93/4, then hurried to the scarlet steam engine, the Hogwarts Express. They found an empty compartment near the middle of the train and, after their luggage was loaded, they stepped back onto the platform to say goodbye.

After they said all their good-byes, they went back to their compartment, Ginny now with them.

"Where's Hermione?" said Harry in an annoyed voice.

"She's in the Prefect's car," Ginny said quickly. Ron gasped and ran off to join her, muttering, "I completely forgot about that."

Harry and Ginny laughed. They spent the time waiting for Ron and Hermione by playing Exploding Snap and snacking on treats that Harry had bought from the witch with the cart. The rain was still pounding on the windows, and Harry was very glad he was inside the train.

Later on Ron came back, but not Hermione. No one asked about where she was. Since Ron hadn't eaten anything all day but the small breakfast in the morning, he quickly devoured 6 Chocolate Frogs.

"Ron, that's so disgusting," Ginny said.

"Don't care," said Ron, starting on a Cauldron Cake. The compartment door slid open.

"Excuse me, but have any of you seen Hermione Granger?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

"I think she's telling off some fourth years for letting off some dungbombs in their compartment," said Ron, looking up. He was the last to notice what the person who had spoken looked like.

She was a girl about their age, with long, long, dark hair and semi-dark skin, and she was wearing that strange garment of animal hide. It was, unmistakably, the girl from Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Will she come back here? Can I wait with you?" asked the girl.

"Sure," Harry said quickly. The girl stepped inside, closing the door behind her, and sat down in one of the seats. She had dark eyes and high cheekbones. She had a very pretty figure and seemed, as Harry had guessed, to be Native American. Ron was staring at her.

"What's your name?" asked Ginny.

"Naomi."

"I'm Ginny Weasley, this is my brother, Ron, and this is Harry Potter."

"Oh! You're Hermione's friends! She talks about you a lot."

"Does she? Are you a friend of hers, too?"

"Yes," she said, nodding. Harry noticed that she was watching him with great interest, but her eyes were not on his scar, like most people's were when they first met him. He had also noted that she recognized his name not as 'the famous Harry Potter', but as 'Hermione's friends'.

"You were staying in headquarters, weren't you?" asked Harry.

She looked quite surprised. "How did you know? They all insisted on keeping it all hushed up."

"We were listening to the meeting about you, but we left after you went in," said Harry. "You mean Hermione didn't tell you?"

Naomi shook her head. "No. Why were you listening to the Order's meetings?"

Harry smiled. "Well, Mrs. Weasley told Tonks that it was an emergency meeting, so we thought we'd go see what the emergency was. We used Fred and George's Extendable Ears."

"Oh. They make all sorts of stuff like that, don't they?"

"Yeah-" the compartment door slid open again, cutting off the rest of Harry's sentence. It was Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Who's your new friend, Potter?" Malfoy asked coldly.

Naomi jumped up. "You!"she cried. "You go to Hogwarts? Oh this is going to be awful, I have to go the same school with you!"

Malfoy looked taken aback. "...Have we met?" he asked slowly.

Naomi's eyes flashed. "Not formally," she snapped. Her wand was out and she was holding it very tightly.

"Oh, yes, I remember you. You're that little savage girl who tried to-"

Her wand shot up to point at Malfoy's heart. "Get out of my sight," she said. "Go."

Malfoy smirked and pulled out his own wand, pointing it at her. "Give me your best shot."

"Expelliarmus! Relashio!" Naomi acted so fast that Malfoy had no time to block the spells. His wand flew out of his hand and sparks flew out of Naomi's wand towards him. He staggered back into the wall of the compartment and looked fearfully at the wand. "Never," she said dangerously, "say that again." She tossed his wand back to him and said in a disgusted tone, "I'll tell you once more to get-out-of-my-sight!"

Naomi was still marking Malfoy with her wand as he got up and scampered out of the compartment, a very baffled-looking Crabbe and Goyle following him. Naomi sat back down, breathing very hard and looking furious.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, gaping at her.

"He and his worthless father-"

The door slid open again, and Hermione entered. She looked a bit surprised to see Naomi. "Oh, you've already met," she said, sounding delighted. "Naomi, what's wrong? You look really mad about something..."

"Malfoy came in here-" Harry began, but Hermione seemed to know where it was going.

"Oh," she said, looking nervously at Naomi. "So you met him, did you?"

"I 'met' him about three years ago," she was still fuming, but seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Well, you should know that he's a Prefect, so he might make things difficult for you-"

"Oh, don't worry, he's already done that," she snapped. Hermione began to tell about how mean Malfoy was at school, which didn't seem to cheer Naomi up much. But when Hermione told about the various times he had been paid back, she seemed to brighten up, and she even laughed. When Naomi was told about the time the imposter Moody had turned Malfoy into a white ferret and bounced him around the entrance hall, she had tears of laughter streaming down her face, as well as all the others. It was still a highly amusing memory.

After that the train ride was much more enjoyable. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny told Naomi all about Hogwarts and the people and teachers there. Harry brought up the D.A. but trailed off when he realized that he didn't know if he'd be allowed to continue it this year.

"Do you think we'll be able to do the D.A?" he asked nervously.

"I'm sure Dumbledore will let us," said Ron slowly. "What do you think, Ginny?"

"No idea. Hermione?"

"I think he will, but I can't be positive."

"What's the D.A.?" asked Naomi, who had been watching curiously.

Harry launched into explanation about Professor Umbridge, and how they had formed the D.A.

"Ooh, I'd love to join!" she said when he had finished. "I'd do anything to help defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters!"

Ron and Ginny flinched at the name. Harry, however, was mildly surprised that she had used it. He looked at Hermione and determined that she had already known that Naomi used the name 'Voldemort'.

"Oh, don't be so stupid, you too," said Hermione impatiently. Naomi giggled.

"Harry and Ron, get out, we need to change into our robes," said Ginny quickly.

"Fine, then," said Ron. As he got up he grabbed three more Pumpkin Pasties.

Harry and Ron waited outside the compartment, then they switched places with the girls so they could change. Harry noticed how different Naomi looked with her Hogwarts robes on.

When the train pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade Station, they all began crowding towards the carriages that would take them up to the castle, trying to get to one as soon as possible so that they wouldn't get too wet. Harry looked eagerly around to see Hagrid, and when he spotted him he heard the familiar shout of "Firs' years this way! Over here, firs' years!"

"Hey, Hagrid!" he shouted.

"Hullo, Harry!" Hagrid shouted back. "See yeh in the Great Hall!"

"That was Hagrid," Harry explained to Naomi as they climbed into one of the carriages pulled by Threstals.

"Oh, is he a friend of yours, too?" Naomi was staring at the Threstals.

"Yeah, he is, but I'll tell you more about him when we get inside the carriage," he prompted, giving her a slight push to make her go in.

"Sor-ry," she said, climbing in. "You're not too patient, are you?"

"Nope, not really," said Harry with a grin.

As they rattled up to path towards the castle, Naomi seemed very preoccupied, staring out the window.

"You okay?" Ginny asked after a while.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Why do you use Threstals to pull the carriages? I'm just wondering."

"Oh, you can see them, huh? Well, I really don't know why...I guess it's because Hagrid has the only trained herd in Britain, so he has to use them for something, doesn't he?" said Harry.

"Yeah...I guess...It's just that I think they sort of remind you of whoever's death you saw, you know? It's just kind of...depressing."

"I can relate." Harry said grimly.

When they reached the school and got out of the carriage, Naomi gasped. She was staring up at the massive Hogwarts castle, a look of awe on her face.

They hurried up to the large oak front doors and into the entrance hall, all very wet and cold. Naomi was staring around, looking highly interested. The crowd of students began making their way into the Great Hall. Harry had barely taken two steps toward the doors to the Hall when Professor McGonagall's voice rang out over the students.

"Naomi Smith, if you would come here, please!"

Naomi turned and made her way over to Professor McGonagall, looking back at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny as she left.

Harry followed the rest of the students into the Great Hall, wondering what McGonagall wanted with Naomi.

After they had all been seated at their house tables, the nervous-looking first years came into the Hall. They seemed very intimidated about the fact that every eye in the Hall was on them. Professor McGonagall instructed them to line up facing the four house tables, then placed a three-legged stool in front of them. On the stool she put down an old, tattered wizard's hat. It had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor himself, and it sorted all new students into their houses. Everyone stared at the Sorting Hat, and a rip near the brim opened like a mouth and it began to sing:

One year ago in this Great Hall

I gave a warning to you all

I said that you would surely be

Stronger together, you must agree

But you wouldn't listen to a hat

Now, I must tell you about that

I have seen more than you know

When chaos started years ago

Differences caused this school to split

Into four, and I must admit

That at the time it seemed so smart,

Breaking into four different parts.

Their problems were, for then, at rest

But Slytherin had to protest

He started a foolish mission

Also, that hateful tradition

Of blood being dirty or pure

So Muggle-borns had to endure

Such taunts and discrimination

That was passed through generations

Then Tom Riddle came to this school

And in a way he was a fool

He chose to judge by 'type of blood'

But his own blood was partly 'mud'

He rose (or rather, fell, to some)

To eventually become

The Dark Lord who was feared by all

Then one night he met his downfall

In a Muggle-born's little child

To whom most of the world then smiled

But later on most of you chose

To not believe our young hero

You helped to make it seem that he,

The boy who made the Dark Lord flee,

Had finally lost his mind

You were being so truly blind

But now you see that he was true

To his word all the long way through

So now this year I'll say it once more

And this time you cannot ignore

The Sorting Hat, for he knows best

What things will be put to the test

In times to come, stick with your friends

The true ones till the very end

Beware of snakes who tell you lies

And sneak about in full disguise

You know who you can truly trust

So stick with them, you really must.

There was rather scattered applause at this, just as there had been last year, and the Slytherins did not clap at all. They all looked rather annoyed at the words of the Sorting Hat. Harry turned to speak to Ron and Hermione and was shocked to see Naomi sitting next to him.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Where did you come from?" hissed Harry. "Don't you have to be sorted or something?"

"Yeah, Professor McGonagall had me sorted just now...she thought it would be better not to have me sorted in front of the whole school. I think they don't want people asking too many questions," she said quickly.

Harry was about to ask why everyone was trying to keep her attendance at Hogwarts so quiet, but the Sorting began just as he opened his mouth. Professor McGonagall called the first years forward one at a time, and they came forward, put the hat on their heads, and waited to be sorted. All the tables applauded as new students were added to their houses. When it was over, Dumbledore stood up to make announcements.

"Welcome, once again, to Hogwarts! And to our new students, welcome for the first time! I know you are all hungry, but I'm afraid I have a few notices to give out before we begin our feast. First, I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, whom I'm sure most of you remember from two years ago. Please welcome Ms. Fleur Delacour!"

Fleur walked into the Hall from a side chamber, smiling at all of the students and looking just as beautiful as she always did. There was a lot of applause and cheering for her, mostly from the boys, but also because most of the people in the hall recognized her. She took her place at the staff table and looked around at the house tables.

"Next," continued Dumbledore, "I have great pleasure in informing you ahead of time that we will be having two balls during the school term." A babble of voices broke out at this, but Harry felt his heart sink. He hadn't like the Yule Ball one bit in his fourth year, and he didn't think the balls this year would be much better.

Dumbledore spoke loudly over the rumble of voices, and silence was quickly restored as he continued. "One will take place on December the twenty-third. The other will be towards the end of the year, but we have not yet set an exact date. Now, please enjoy the feast!"

Naomi looked quite shocked as all of the plates magically filled themselves with food. Harry laughed a little and told her that she should get used to this. Ron already had his plate overflowing with food and was stuffing his mouth full with it. Naomi and Hermione looked completely revolted at this behavior, but Harry thought Ron had the right idea. He, too, began loading his plate.

Naomi seemed to not recognize most of the food. She kept asking what the various dishes were. Ron finally asked her why she didn't know what the food was. Harry thought it was a rather rude question, but Naomi didn't seem to care. She answered simply, "We don't have food like this where I come from."

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked, wondering for the first time.

Naomi just smiled mischievously at him and took a sip of Pumpkin Juice.

After the feast they made their way up to Gryffindor Tower. Naomi didn't know the way, and she stayed very close to Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry. She also seemed intrigued by the castle and was always looking around and commenting on various things. She seemed to especially like how they had to take hidden doors and stairwells to get to the tower. When they finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry and Ginny turned to Ron and Hermione. "What's the new password?" asked Harry.

"Feathery Fwoopers," said Hermione clearly. The portrait swung forward to reveal a crawlspace in the wall. One by one, they climbed through it, emerging in the Gryffindor Common room.

Naomi said happily, "This seems comfortable. Is this where you do your homework and stuff?"

"Yup," said Ron. He yawned hugely and said, "But now it's time for bed. I'm so tired, what about you?"

"Yeah, let's get to bed," Harry agreed quickly. "Tomorrow you'll have your first classes. We'll show you around," he added to Naomi. She smiled.

"Thanks."

"Come on, our dormitories are this way, said Hermione, and she started towards the girl's staircase, with Ginny following her.

"Goodnight," said Naomi, and she followed Hermione to the girl's dormitories.

Harry and Ron proceeded up to the boy's dormitories, where they changed into their pajamas and got into bed. Harry was very tired, but he answered Ron's question of, "I've never met a girl like Naomi before, have you?"

"No." And he dropped off to sleep.

××××

Harry had another unusual dream that night. He was walking down one of the Hogwarts corridors when he heard someone scream. He panicked, thinking that someone was in trouble and needed help, and began running to the place where he thought the noise had come from. He heard another scream and just as he rounded the corner he saw it. About halfway down the hall, someone was laying, crumpled, on the floor, and someone else was standing above them, wand raised. Harry got a few feet closer when he realized that the person on the floor was Naomi. He ran down the hall, wand raised, and shouted, "Stupefy!" Naomi's attacker fell to the floor. Harry ran over to Naomi and looked at her. She was unconscious, but it did not seem that she had been stunned by magic, so there was nothing he could do for her at the moment. He turned to the person who had attacked her. It was Malfoy. Harry felt rage pumping through his veins as he raised his wand to the still form of him on the ground. He wanted to hurt Malfoy worse than the state he was in now. He was just thinking of what curse to use when he noticed a very strange thing happening to Malfoy. He was slowly changing, like someone who had been taking Polyjuice Potion, but had run out of time. Harry watched as the sleek, blond hair was replaced by messy, black hair. The face changed and so did the rest of him, until Harry was looking at-

Himself.