You know.. this might have to be my longest chapter ever… I will see if I can do more of them like this.
REMEMBER: I do not own any of these characters except Yana and Jean-Claude. I want to, but I don't.
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"Come on Harry… move your feet, that's it, come on…. Pick up the pace a bit, your too slow, I almost had you there."
The clanging of metal was starting to hurt Harry's ears and was making him careless, which was not a good idea when you were sparing using swords. He could hardly hear her over the noise. But that's what you get for wanting to spar in the main hall where the sound resonated.
Harry quickened his pace and was matching her blow for blow, when she almost gave him a hair-cut below the neck.
Harry quickly ducked, but was too slow on getting his balance again, and soon he was flat on his back, with her sword aimed at his neck.
"Sigh. I know…I know… I was too slow and need to work on my foot work." He droned.
That was the twelfth time in a row she had beaten him at fencing. When Harry was sparring with anybody else, he would most likely come out on top, but Yana was just too good. But then again, she was oldest, and had a lot of free time to practise.
"Of course, but that was a pretty good one this time. You never know….. Next time you might even come close to beating me."
"Yeah… like that will ever happen." Harry acted undignified, and pouted.
Yana shook her head as if to say "baby".
Coming to a silent agreement, Harry and Yana packed up their things, which included two shattered swords each, and headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat and a shower before Harry had animagus training.
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Now let me bring you up to speed here. Harry Potter had gone missing a while ago. The last anyone had seen of him was that he was going to a detention with Snape. (A.N/ Shock …Horror….. bet you thought of that already. And if you didn't ….. Then you are a sick puppy.) And had never returned. Obviously, every one placed the blame on Professor Snape seeing as he was the last person to see Harry. Well that was until there was a live appearance of Harry Potter at Hogsmeade. He was just out for a bit of fun... you know, burning down buildings, declaring his allegiance to the dark lord, killing people… you know… that sort of thing. The daily prophet was acting as if Christmas and Easter had come early that year. Every day on the front page, there would be a new story on Harry Potter and about how he blew up a muggle shopping complex, or killed a wizarding family. Each with its own picture of Harry burning or destroying something. Even Ron and Hermione were starting to think that the prophet was true and that Harry had gone over to you know who. Everybody was buying into it…Well almost everybody. There weren't many, but there were people who still believed that Harry didn't do any of that. And only four people knew the truth about it all.
The truth was that Harry being Harry decided after his detention, that he would go out for a walk in the forbidden forest to clear his head about Sirius dieing.
It just so happened that an unwanted visitor decided to for a walk in the forbidden forest. Naturally, the two collided with each other. The beast had thoughts of making Harry a light midnight snack. And Harry being Harry, he forgot his wand up in his dorm room.
The beast was in no hurry in killing Harry, and was toying with him. Harry was being knocked from tree trunk to tree trunk by the animal.
Harry let out yells of pain when his shoulder was dislocated, and also when he felt a few ribs crack. And if it wasn't enough, the continual bashing around had caused one of the ribs to puncture his left lung.
He was on the brink of unconsciousness and death. His glasses had been knocked off long ago.
Obviously someone or something had cared enough that they lunged at the animal not caring about their own safety. What seemed like 20 minutes, the animal fled off into the shadows from whence it came. The person then rushed over to him. The last thing harry saw before giving up to the darkness, was a blurred figure popping his shoulder back into place.
Because Harry was unconscious, and would be for sometime until the vampire essence healed the ribs and his other injuries, the vampire took Harry to the rest of the clan which consisted of the ever elusive Jean Claude, and surprise …surprise…One Severus Snape.
"So Harry… what have you chosen to be your Animagus form?" enquired Yana.
Harry had clearly just come out of the shower. His White hair was slightly dripping, and his plait that went down to the middle of his back looked quite threadbare. Bits of hair that wouldn't go into the plait, were wetly hanging around his facial features, that weren't hidden beneath his glasses, as he did not need them anymore. His emerald green eyes looked even more striking because of his hair colour.
"I'm not all that sure… I'm gonna let the spell choose for me."
"But then you fun the risk of being a Stag or Black Dog." Yana knew that those animals could be Harry's form. She also knew that if either of them were chosen, it would bring back painful memories
"That's a risk I am willing to take."
They both sat down on the floor to do some calming exercises before Yana did the spell.
The process is simple enough. The caster and the receiver sit cross-legged on the floor in a circle created in a mixture of salt and sand. The caster waits until they can sense the raw magical energy around the two of them, and channels it towards the receiver, while telling the raw energy what to do… in this case- to show what animal harry could be.
"Ready?"
"Ready." Harry cracked his knuckles which got him a slap from Yana and a good telling off about how she hates that noise.
"Now remember Harry," added Yana." The fist time it's going to hurt like your being poked with a million needles at once all over your body."
Harry braced himself for the inevitable pain, and Yana yelled out "Release the beast!!"
Yana was right; it did feel like there were needles poking into his body all at once. Harry tried not to scream out in pain, but in the end he couldn't suppress it any more. Harry felt his body change shape. He could feel that he was growing fur all over his body. As quickly as the pain had come, it died away, and Harry felt normal again.
He tried to stand up, but he ended up on all fours. He was a Kelpie, Cattle-dog cross bred. His coat was different shades of brown, tan and caramel. As usual he had his trademark emerald green eyes.
"Nice…VERY nice."
Yana then changed herself, into a white Siberian tiger. She sat down, and watched the young pup play around for a while, then decided that they could have some fun, and give Severus a shock.
Severus was putting the finishing touches on his latest batch concoction, when he heard the door open a little bit. He acted as if he didn't know that the door was open, and continued with his work, but all the time expecting someone to pop up from behind him, in an attempt to scare him. But Severus Snape was never, and I mean never scared of anything.
Yana was older than Severus, and had more experience in stalking someone, and being extremely quiet, that she was able to get right up and close to the back of him without his knowledge. And accomplished feat in itself.
"severussss." Whispered Yana, before quickly going back into the shadows, leaving a bewildered Snape, wondering if he was working too hard, and needed to lie down for a while.
He felt something move underneath the table, and brush against his legs. He quickly pushed his chair out, and looked underneath, to see what looked like an 8 month pup with a variety of tan, brown and caramel coloured coat.
"Hello, there… Harry."
Harry changed back, and got up off the floor.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Your animagus form lets you keep your green eyes. Was that you who whispered into my ear a moment ago?"
"No. I was underneath you the whole time."
Severus being one to always find the answer to something began to search the entire potions room in search for who ever it was who snuck up behind him. But Yana had thought that it might come to that, and was waiting patiently for Sev to open the door.
"Took ya long enough."
"One of these days Yana…."
"Yeh …yeh …yeh what ever." Yana had never listened to Sev before, and she wasn't about to start now.
The rest of the day for Harry was devoted to himself. Most of the time he ran around the huge mansion they all lived in (in animagus form because it was more fun), and explored all the rooms, but never once even thinking about going into either Jean Claude's or Yana's. They would kill him if they ever found out. He even spooked one of the 3 house elves so much that tippy as she was called, ran and went to Yana to tell her that there was a loose dog in the house. That got Harry in big trouble for running around in animagus form in the house. It was only in human form that you could run like a mad person in doors, otherwise it was out side.
The next couple of days went in a blur.
Harry and Yana both thought that today would be a perfect day to just go out someplace and be themselves.
At first, Harry thought the whole thing exciting because he didn't have all that many excuses to get out of the house, but now he thought it quite suspicious that they were taking a train at London station, and that the day was the 1st of September.
"I see that you have caught on at last there Harry." Smirked Yana, which was quite scary as it looked like a Malfoy kind of smirk.
"So this is what you meant about a late birthday present."
"Now, because of Harry Potter's allegiance to the Dark Lord, Your name is Will Louis, and I am Samantha Mirabello. We don't know each other. We just met each other going to the same carriage."
Harry merely nodded, and they nonchalantly crossed the border into platform 9 ¾.
It was just how Harry remembered it. He unconsciously looked for the messes of red hair amongst the crowed, but was dragged off by Yana who wanted to get an empty compartment.
It was quiet in the compartment. Yana was already writing another one of her stories that would be sent off to a muggle friend, who would post it up on this web-site. If Harry remembered correctly, it was called fanfiction. Yana's storied were always about how the main character goes through so much heart break, death and turmoil, then in the end the main character is killed, leaving the evil to conquer the Earth.
"What's the story about this time Yana?" asked Harry, though he already knew the answer to the question.
"It's actually different this time…a Humourous story."
"That's just scary. Yana with a sense of humour… a must see horror film."
That earned Harry a slap upside the back of his head.
Other than that, the ride was a peaceful one. When the trolley lady arrived at their compartment, they got a mug of coffee each.
About halfway through their mugs, the door opened and their stood Hermione, Ginny, and Ron.
"Um do you guys mind if we sit in here?"
Yana shook her head, and Harry motioned for them to come in.
"You to must be the new students. I'm Hermione Granger; this here is Ginny Weasley and her older brother Ron Weasley."
"Hi I'm Will Louis, and this here is Sam Mirabello."
"Why do you have a boy's name?" asked Ron through suppressed giggles.
"My parents aren't into the gender based names thing. What do you think, it's a nick name. My full name is Samantha but call me that and you are dead."
"I'm sensing that you are from over-seas, judging by your accent." Quickly interrupted Hermione. She didn't overly want Ron's butt kicked. All that yet anyway.
"I'm a true blue Aussie through and through." Announced Yana with a very heavy Australian accent. The type that movie producers would get. (A/N: I hate those things!!! They make the Australian culture a joke!!!!!)
"I've heard that the position of D.A.D.A has never been full for more than a year. Is it true?"
"Unfortunately yes. This year, I'm afraid will probably be as bad as the last. Last year, we had this evil professor, who wouldn't let anyone to practical D.A.D.A. and this year, the headmaster has left us in the care of a vampire."
"A WHAT!?!?!?!" Yelled Harry, with a convincing shocked expression from Yana.
"A vampire."
"Well, whoever or whatever they are, I am sure that the headmaster must know, and have full confidence in them, even if they aren't among the living."
They kept on with the conversation, expressing each others thoughts and trying to sway everyone else to believe their point of view.
No one noticed the lights flicker, but certainly noticed that something was wrong when the lights went out, the train abruptly stopped and everyone landed in a pile on the floor.
"Hermione?"
"I know Ron."
"know what?" Harry's breath could be seen as vapour when he spoke. It was like de´ ja vu. Dementors.
The windows iced over suddenly and looked as if they would break if you touched them.
"now this is just silly. LUMOS!" Announced Yana. She for one was fed up with being in a heap on the floor in complete darkness.
The compartment door slowly opened as the room got about 20 degrees colder. In the doorway stood two hooded figures wrapped in flowing rags that were supposed to be cloaks. Yana's wand flickered out, as one of them stuck its head in, followed by its arms and the rest of it.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" A silver otter appeared out of Hermione's wand, and charged at the dementor, who backed away from the doorway. The second and first dementor left the compartment and the train soon started again.
A loud crack turned all heads towards Yana who was dividing a large chocolate bar into pieces.
"how do you know about chocolate and Dementors?"
"we learnt that in my third year."
"who's up for a game of chess?" suggested Ron.
"I'm game." Smiled Yana.
Yana set up the chess board, and the game began with Ron as white.
"knight to E8."smilled Ron. "check."
Yana thought for a moment before making her move. "bishop to F5." She laughed a little bit." I do believe, that is check mate."
Hermione was lost for words. Even she could not beat Ron at chess. No one could…except for Ginny, and that was only once, when fred (A/N: or was it George?) swapped two pieces around when Ron had to use the bathroom.
"we'd better get changed." Ron and harry were shoved out of the compartment while the girls changed into their robes, and vice versa for the boys.
"what subjects will you two be doing?"
"I'm doing D.A.D.A, care of magical creatures, Transfiguration, potions and divination." Recited Harry.
"I shall be doing Potions, D.A.D.A, Transfiguration, care of magical creatures, Muggle studies and ancient runes."
The train stopped at Hogsmeade station. Ron, Ginny and Hermione waved good bye to Harry and Yana as they went with the first years to go across the lake in the boats.
The trio boarded a carriage that was already occupied with the head boy and girl, Neville and Luna. It was a quiet ride that year, no one talked at all.
Neville and Luna had been going out since halfway through 6th year. When Harry supposedly swore his allegiance to the dark lord, they were among the few who thought the whole thing a set up by Voldermort.(which it was) they were also the only ones who openly said that it wasn't true. They suffered a lot of ridicule from lots of people, including Ron, Hermione and Ginny. but surprisingly, professor Snape was one of the few who didn't give Neville and Luna a hard(A/N :er) time. They were still fighting about it. Neville and Luna had thought logically about it(A/N: which is surprising coming from Luna.) if it really was Harry, why would he kill the closest thing he had to a father? Remus had been at Hogsmeade that day. He had tried to reason with the Polyjuice Harry, but all it got him was 6 feet under.
Yana and Harry were among the first to climb aboard the boats. It seemed as though the others were a tiny bit apprehensive about crossing a large lake with only a rickety piece of wood keeping you afloat.
Vampire hearing is more sensitive than humans. They can pick up a persons heart beat from a mile away, Harry's hearing could pick up Yana's breathing. Harry could never hear Yana breathe.
"everything o.k.?"
"yeah. I'm just not all that comfortable around lage bodies of water, in which I could drown in. that's all." She gave a weak smile to Harry, who was shocked. He had always thought Yana to not be afraid of anything. She was such a private person, that he didn't know anything about her, including her real name. she had changed her name to Yana after she turned. Even Jean-Claude didn't know her real name.
they made it over the lake, where they were handed over to professor McGonagall, who gave the same speech she gave every year.
"welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you must be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will become like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend your free time in the house common room.
The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will loose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
The doors opened and everyone was lead into the Great hall.
Mc Gonnagoll placed the hat on its stool, and everyone hushed to hear this year's song.
"Long ago, when I was new
Four founders made this magical school.
There was Gryffindor the brave and courageous,
Slytherin, shifty and cunning
There was Ravenclaw the smart and inquisitive,
Hufflepuff, honest and shy
They made this school with four houses,
Each wanting in them, their traits
So it became my duty,
To sort out who is who.
So try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be
I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me."
The hall broke out into applause, wondering who each year, the hat sang a different song.
"Elise bate"
"HUFFLEPUFF"
Peter Carren."
"RAVENCLAW"
There were many names to be called out so Harry sort of zoned out, that is until Yana shoved him in the back because he didn't hear his false name being called.
He sat on the stool, ans the hat was placed on his head, which covered his eyes. The hat didn't talk to him this time, it just hoed and hummed for a while.
"GRYFFINDOR"
"Sam Mirabello"
"So we meet again , Sam is it? I see that you have brought along a friend this time….. What? No Jean-Claude? Oh well, he is after all a pain in the butt."
Yana suppressed a giggle as the hat made up its mind.
"GRYFFINDOR"
soon after Yana, the hat had finished and was taken down.
"As always, there are start of term messages, but now is not the time…… Dig in."
The plates were filled with food, the jugs with pumpkin juice, and soon the banging of cutlery and chatter filled the air.
Harry dug in straight away, but Yana just stared at Ron, who was already on his 8th chicken wing.
"What's wrong Sam? Not hungry?"
"No… its just that I'm not used to seeing people eating meat. Vegetarian."
"Now that we have had our fill of delicious food and drink, a notice to the new students, and a reminder to some of the old, the forbidden forest is after all forbidden. Hence the name."
"Hogwarts doesn't usually accept exchange students, please welcome to 7th year Sam Mirabello, and Will Louis."
"Last, but not least, our staff has changed around a bit. Please welcome as our potions professor, professor Banks, and let us welcome, to his new position as D.A.D.A professor, professor Snape."
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so what to you think???? Read and review…