Author's Note: Took me a few days to write this one, though I think my timing wasn't too bad. I'm going to try to start and finish Chapter 4 before I leave (On December 26th) but I can't make any promises cause I also have to finish my book. ;) On another note, after the chapter I've made comments to all of my reviews because all reviews deserve much 3! :D
Chapter 3
"Harry, how did you win that contest with a paper on werewolves?" Malfoy called from somewhere behind Harry between classes.
Harry turned around to face him, an insult about to roll off the tip of his tongue when he heard a soft-spoken, yet dominant voice from over his shoulder say, "Because Mr. Potter's paper was extremely long and well-written and it even had information that I did not know."
Harry turned back to the way he was originally walking to see Albus Dumbledore smiling in the face of a glaring Malfoy. Harry had to laugh to himself; seeing Malfoy with his feathers ruffled never ceased to amuse him.
"Ready to leave tomorrow, Harry?" The white-bearded old Headmaster smiled fondly at him.
"I suppose," Harry replied. "I just need to gather my owl tonight from the owlry."
Dumbledore nodded. "We will depart fairly early tomorrow. Should I send a wake up call?"
"Yes, please," Harry nodded. He and the old wizard parted ways, and the green-eyed teen completed his journey to Transfiguration. He took his seat beside Ron and behind Hermione, who was turned around in her chair.
"Why do you look so down, Harry?" Hermione asked, concern in her voice.
"I never really wanted to go. All those people I don't know. I wonder if they know about me and Voldemort," Harry half though out loud sadly.
"It'll only be for two months. Less than that really. Then you'll never have to see those people again," Ron said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. But you two better keep your eyes open for Hedwig because I'll probably send letters every week," Harry stated as though no one could make him change that plan.
That night was Halloween at Hogwarts. The ceiling was dark like the night sky, a full moon visible. Bats occasionally flew across and the sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze and a wolf's howl completed the spooky atmosphere. The four house tables were filled with plates, platters, and bowls, all over-flowing with candy, cakes, and punch.
Everyone ate, laughing, and talked before walking back to their dormitories, holding their full bellies. Harry had absolutely no problem going straight to sleep.
"Rise and shine!" A familiar voice came in Harry's ear, hands shaking him awake.
Harry opened one eye and looked into a pair of large ones between long, pointy ears. "Of all people in this castle, Dumbledore sends you to wake me up, Dobby?"
"Dobby wanted to say goodbye to Mister Harry Potter before he leaves, sir," Dobby sounded slightly hurt.
"Alright, but could you do me a favor and go to the owlry and get Hedwig? I forgot to do it last night," Harry requested groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Of course!" The house elf exclaimed, running out of the room.
Harry got up and changed into his robed before double-checking his luggage to make sure nothing was forgotten. Dobby returned with a befuddled Hedwig in her cage and helped Harry get his things downstairs.
Dumbledore and Flitwick stood waiting in the courtyard for Harry. Flitwick performed the same float-and-follow charm on Harry's belongings as had been casted on Dominick's. Finally, the student and headmaster began their journey to America. Dumbledore told Harry that they would be meeting the Salem Headmaster and the other student in Maine, and it would be a short flight from there.
The trip over the Atlantic was a good seven house, but Harry spend a lot of the time trying to think of things to do in his spare time incase he did not make any friends at Salem. When he got bored of that subject, he did flips and spirals through the air since he did, after all, love to fly. After a while of watching him, the old headmaster began doing flips and spirals also, the two of them balleting through the air gracefully, yet lacking control at the same time.
They arrived at the meeting place, an owl post hidden from muggles. They saw a middle-aged wizard leaning on his broom and a young black-haired teen doing the same but with a book in his hand.
"Good morning!" Headmaster Whittaker called, running up to shake hands with Dumbledore, then Harry. "You must be Harry. I'm Isaiah Whittaker, the headmaster of the Salem Institute of Magic. Its wonderful to meet you."
All four strangers politely exchanged greetings with each other before parting ways. Harry went with Whittaker and Dominick went with Dumbledore.
The rest of the trip for Harry was indeed short. The Institute came into view through the clouds and between the trees. It was definitely not as grand as Hogwarts, but Harry was still very excited.
They landed in the courtyard to be greeted by a pretty girl around Harry's age; she was definitely a student. Her hair was short and curly, brown trinkled with blonde, bringing out her eyes--one blue and one violet.
"This is my daughter, Evelynn," Headmaster Whittaker said. "She is the President of the Student Body, and I asked her to show you around and help you in all ways possible. The Headmaster nodded and went inside the building.
"Hi," Evelynn said. "What's your name?"
"Harry Potter," He replied, half expecting her to freak out and begin yelling about "The Harry Potter".
She did not though, only replied, "Oh. As my dad said, my name is Evelynn or Evie. I'll show you your dorm room, give you a tore of the school, and you can rest and unpack today. Tomorrow during first class, you and I will go to the library and I'll answer any questions you have about the school. Kay?"
"Sounds good," Harry grinned at her, but not in a flirtatious way, despite the fact the he though she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Maybe that grin was a little too obviously not flirtatious.
Harry followed Evelynn through the courtyard toward one of the stone and brick buildings. Once inside, they went up several flights of red-carpeted stairs. Finally, they left the stairwell on the fifth floor and entered a hallway. At the door, the hallway went both left and right. At both ends, another hallway branched out away from them, shaping the corridor like a block-letter 'u' and forming access to four rows of doors. Evelynn turned to the right, then to the left down the long hallway.
Harry could not help but notice the way Evelynn walked; it was much more seductive than that of modest English girls. He became hypnotized by the sway of her hip under her red robes that he almost walked into her when she stopped in front of a door with a large silver number 512 on it.
"This is your room," Evelynn opened the door and smiled at him. "Your roommate's name is Stephen, but he's likely asleep."
Harry stepped into the room and looked around. There were two large wooden loft beds on opposite sides of the room, both made out of a deep red mood--cherry, no doubt. Both beds faced the door and at the foot of each, a ladder ran up the height. Under both beds, there was a desk of the same cherry wood, and beside stood miniature bookshelves, no taller than the desks themselves. Coupled with the desks were large, black armchairs that looked particularly comfortable. The floor donned a dark gray carpet and the walls were pained a crimson red. The ceiling was exceptionally interesting though: It was dark blue and had white stars painted on it, some forming constellations. One the opposite wall between the two between the two beds was a large window with black curtains, and under it sat a table with two matching chairs.
Harry grinned and spotted that the desk on the right side was littered with parchment and books, and a loud snore came from the bunk. Thus, he assumed the left side of the room was his. He walked over, set his trunk in the corner, and turned in a circle to take in all the details of the room.
"Do you like it?" Evie asked hopefully, stepping up in front of him.
"I love it. It's brilliant," Harry moved his green eyes from the ceiling down to her. "Thank you. Could you give me a tour of the whole place now?"
"Sure," Evelynn replied, smiling happily at his excitement.
The pair worked their way back down the building with Evie describing everything. "This is the second floor. Through that door is just one big room, filled with chairs, sofas, and tables. After class and before dinner, everyone comes here to hang out with their friends."
"Kind of like the common room back at Hogwarts," Harry commented, peeking through the door at the empty room. "Only, we do our homework in the common room there too."
"I think it would be difficult to concentrate with five hundred other people talking," Evie giggled.
"Are the students not broken down into houses like Hogwarts?" Harry asked as if that would be the most sensible thing to do.
"Father considered it, but he doesn't think that it would be a good idea since there are so few students here as opposed to Hogwarts," Evie explained.
They descended the last flight of stairs. "This is the cafeteria where we have lunch and dinner. There are several lines, and you can pretty much just go get what you want. Salad, hamburgers, pizza, sloppy Joes, spaghetti, hot dogs."
Harry stared at her blankly for a moment. "I may need to have you explain American food to me later," He chuckled.
The curly-haired girl giggled and Harry added, more serious," What about breakfast?"
"House elves bring breakfast to your room. On Mondays, leave a piece of parchment on your table with your room number and what you want for the week," Evie elaborated on some breakfast meals that sounded more normal to him.
The passed by the courtyard through one of the glass hallways toward the other building. Evelynn showed him where the library and each class room was inside the larger of the two buildings.
Finally, after that tour, Harry returned to his room to unpack, regretfully leaving Evelynn. When he arrived in his new dorm room, however, his new roommate was awake.
"Hey there," He greeted Harry. "I'm Stephen." They shook hands and talked while Harry unpacked. Harry liked Stephen. He was a very down-to-earth person and comical individual. Stephen also had a cat named Bubbles, which Harry didn't mind, nor did Hedwig because Bubbles was much too lazy to bother her.
Stephen told Harry the story of how Bubbles got her name. Harry hadn't laughed so hard since Ron got his hand stuck in the couch of the Gryffindor Common Room a few weeks before.
Apparently, in his first year, Stephen found Bubbles as a little gray kitten behind the school. She kept blowing bubbles out of her nose and he thought she'd eaten soap out of the trash. Stephen almost drown the poor kitten trying to get the soap out of her nose before taking her to Nurse Elayna who said she had a cold. The gray tabby had been his ever since.
The rest of the day was just as fun and eventful. At lunch, Harry sat with Stephen and his friends. He saw Evelynn and waved to her; she smiled and returned the gesture but did not come over to talk or ask him to join her.
After lunch, everyone went to the Big Room and all of Stephen's friends took the time to ask Harry questions. Other people also came over just to greet him and inquire their thoughts.
By the time dinner came around, Harry was bushed, mostly because of the time difference, but partly because of the excitement the day had held. As much as he missed his friends and Hogwarts, his home, he was having a ton of fun. In fact, as soon as dinner was over, Harry went up to his room, climbed into his loft and went straight to sleep.
The next morning, Harry prepared his bag for second through fourth period classes since he had been excused from first for his sake. He also finished his breakfast and headed to the library before anyone else on the floor even left their beds.
The black-haired boy was amazed to find that he was not in the library long before Evelynn showed up. "I didn't expect you to be down here so early this morning," She said.
"I figured I would be here a while too. How come you came down so early?" Harry asked casually.
"I come here to think a lot," She said. "It's peaceful."
"What do you think about?" He asked, hoping she would not think he was prying.
"Lots of stuff," She replied. It seemed easy to talk to him. Besides, he'd be gone in a few months. What did he care what she said after he was gone? "I wonder what would have happened if my mom never disappeared. She's been gone since I was five. Would this school be here? ...I'm sorry, rattling on about myself. Tell me about your family."
"My family?" Harry wondered if they even knew about the incident with Voldemort here. "Umm... My parents were both killed. Murdered by Voldemort. Did they never teach you about the Dark Arts here?"
Evelynn's eyes got big. "You're Ha--Oh my god. Harry. Yes, we know about the Dark Lord, but I never put two and two together with your name. I'm so sorry."
"Its all right. You didn't offend me or anything. What happened to your mother?" He asked, not wanting to think about his own.
"No one knows. She was a muggle and my father a wizard, so no one known which community is responsible. I guess I turned out alright with just my dad. But, oh, I'm blabbing. You don't have either!" Evelynn said emotion-filled and on the brink of tears.
"Its okay. I try not to let it bother me anymore," Harry said, hugging her. Their embrace lasted a long time as they talked, but to Harry, it seemed like seconds. He didn't want to let go.
The two talked and talked, finding it easy to confide in the other. They apparently lost track of the time because just as the dinner bell rang from the large old grandfather clock, Evelynn's father came into the library looking none too happy.
"Where were you two? You missed classes all day!" He scolded.
"We were talking. I guess we lost track of the time. I'm sorry, Daddy," Evelynn said sincerely.
But Harry was not sorry. Not one bit.
Reviewer's Notes:
Pandora's Fallen: Thanks sis! :D
Sum1: Sorry about the Chapter 2 problem! It wasn't your computer, mine was doing to too. It was like that for like, two days so I deleted the chapter and uploaded it again and it works fine now. I'm glad you like it. :)
Luckyfiddler: Thank you. :D
HP-Scriptor/Lisa: That's kind of interesting! I actually used something I read in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to form the name; just a small detail I paid attention to. Page 82, it says "The Salem Witch's Institute". Well, I didn't want it to be an all-girl's school, so I switched it up a bit. ;) The RPG does sound cool though, but I'm not sure I really have the time to play. I did look at the website also.
Aerieia: Well, if you're not hooked, I'm sorry. The only thing I can say is keep reading. :p Unless, of course, you're the type that only reads the porn-filled fanfics, in which case, just pass mine up because that doesn't float my boat. :p
Shadow of The Black Abyss: I'm glad you enjoyed it, but don't worry, I'm switching the point of view between schools in every chapter. And don't worry, Harry will be plenty powerful in the end. :D
Lucifer's Garden: Katie, Katie, Katie. Tsk tsk. In all honesty, I can't stand that Draco-goodie-goodie crap. He's an ass, damnit! And an ass he shall be kept. :p And is updating the same day ASAP enough for you? :p