Hey! Here's the deal. I know a whole new wizarding school, and everything new here anyway, sounds weird. Sorry about that. Anyways, on to the story. This is chapter 3!

Title: The Future is Waiting

Chapter 3: Portal to Bridgework, South Phoenix

After finishing their shopping for school things, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to the Leaky Cauldron. Later, Ginny arrived accompanied by Mr. Weasley. Mr. Weasley, however, left right away, saying that he had a lot of work to do. When night fell, Ginny and Hermione went to their room, while Harry and Ron went to theirs.

"Hey, Ron," Harry called out in the dark. He was lying on his bed, and the lamps were already put out. Ron was lying in the bed opposite his.

"Yeah?" Ron replied.

"You – you remember what you said earlier?"

"Said about what?"

"Earlier – when I asked who Rose Ashworth was – you – you said she was my soulmate – "

"Oh – That. I was just joking. No need to get offended and all – "

"No. I meant, what made you say that? What did Hermione mean? She said you shouldn't believe that – something."

"Well, there's this rumor that went around before. Since you were of the same age, and you both survived You-Know-Who, they say that you were, well, meant for each other."

"What?"

"I know it sounds rubbish. I mean, I don't really believe it anyway. I told you I was just joking earlier. But that's what they say."

"How can they say that? I mean, are there prophecies about that?"

"I dunno. But I really think it's just a rumor, y'know."

"…"

"Hey, you're starting to sound like you really want to meet Ashworth. Don't tell me you've fallen in love with her even before you met her?" Ron laughed.

"Shut up."

"Well, good night. We're gonna have a long journey tomorrow. Blimey, I didn't think I'd see Asia while I was at Hogwarts."

"Is their magic different from ours?"

"I don't think so. I mean, the school where we're going is a lot like Hogwarts, right? Maybe just a little different. Maybe they have native magic or that kind of stuff."

After a few minutes, Harry heard Ron snore. He was already asleep. Harry, however, lay awake in bed, thinking things over. Ron was right. He, Harry, really wanted to meet Rose Ashworth, but not because he had fallen in love with her. He wanted to meet her because he wanted to ask her a lot of things. He wanted to know how Ashworth found out about her parents' death, how she accepted it. He wanted to know what Ashworth now feels about Voldemort. He wanted to know, more than anything else, how she survived Voldemort, how she survived death.

Hermione shook Harry and Ron awake the next day, while Ginny arranged their unpacked things.

"Thanks, Ginny," Ron muttered as he went past her out of the room.

"Next time, pack your trunks a week before," she replied grumpily.

After the four of them had a hurried breakfast at the dining area of the Leaky Cauldron, they rode a cab to the train station. Harry did not need to help this time with Muggle money, Hermione was with them.

"I thought we weren't going back to Hogwarts? Why're we riding the school train?" Ron said as they leaned towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Harry, too, thought that there must be some mistake in Dumbledore's orders.

"Do use your common sense. The Hogwarts Express is a magical train, Ron." Hermione answered when they went through. Platform nine and three-quarters came into view. Hogwarts students were indeed everywhere, but every face looked just as puzzled.

"So, do you mean we're going to another continent by train, Hermione?" Ginny asked as she hurried alongside them.

"Well, technically, yes."

"How?" Harry asked.

"I think, we're going to go through a portal."

"A portal?" Ron said. "The whole train's gonna go through a portal? But that's dangerous!"

"Why?" Harry faced Ron.

"Well, the train's too big, isn't it? It might go off balance while going through the portal or something. People might fall out. Then they'd be lost in between different worlds forever!"

"The school train is held by strong magic so no one should fall out of it, Ron," Hermione said, shooting an irritated look at Ron. Seeing Harry's blank look, she continued. "Harry, a portal is a passageway, of course. It's a restricted way of travelling, and is only allowed by the Ministry of Magic in times of grave need, such as this. It has many uses. Some use it to travel between different times, to the past or to the future. Others use it to go to very far places, like what we're going to do," she said as they climbed the train. "It is very dangerous, but if your magic is really powerful, you won't have a hard time. And since the Hogwarts Express is probably bound by Dumbledore's magic, it'll be powerful enough to protect the whole train I expect," Harry nodded as she finished.

"Ginny! Over here!" A fifth year girl called Ginny as they passed her compartment. Ginny said goodbye to them and joined her fellow fifth years, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to find a compartment of their own. Down the corridor, they saw Malfoy, with Crabbe and Goyle as always, waiting for them.

"What're you doing here?" Ron blurted out when they came face to face.

"Ron, the weren't sent to Azkaban, so they should be here. They're not You-Know-Who's supporters. They're not – what do they call themselves? Oh, they're not Death Eaters," Hermione said to Ron, though obviously pointing her words to infuriate Malfoy. "Well, not yet," she looked nastily at Malfoy.

"You'll find yourself in great danger one of these days, Granger, if you don't keep that bushy head filled with dirty Muggle blood down," Malfoy said quietly.

"What're you gonna do? Any trick up your sleeve, Malfoy?" Harry sneered.

"Oh, I'd like to see him try," Hermione said, smiling just as nastily and proceeding down the corridor.

Soon, they found an empty compartment where they settled themselves. The food trolley, from which they bought their food, went by not long after.

"Harry, is there something bothering you?" Hermione said, peering at Harry's face. He had been quiet in their journey, drowned in his thoughts, so that Hermione noticed.

"What? Oh,"

"What's the matter?" Ron asked.

"There's something I haven't told you."

"Is it about – " Hermione lowered her voice. "You-Know-Who?"

"Well, no."

"What is it then?"

"There's this thing I've been dreaming about all summer – No, it's not related to Vol – You-Know-Who, I think."

So, Harry related the dream to them, about the preset sequence of events, of the actions he always did, and about Claire, the girl he met. When he'd finally finished, he waited for Ron and Hermione to comment, but neither of them gave a reasonable explanation for his mysterious dream.

"I don't know, Harry. I don't understand either," Hermione said, staring at Harry blankly.

"I never thought I see the day when you did not have an answer to a question, Hermione," Ron said.

"It's just – eerie. I mean, if Claire is a real living being, and she's dreaming about it too, how could you explain meeting a person in your dreams? That kind of things are usual with ghosts, but – "

"Ghosts?" Ron asked.

"Well, when a dead person wants to tell a living one something, they can enter the living's dream and talk there. But the dead people who do that are those who do not choose to remain, those who disappear, unlike Nearly Headless Nick or Peeves,"

At Hermione's words, the thought of Sirius' death bloomed afresh in Harry's mind. But he didn't feel too bad about it now. He had complete faith that Sirius was watching him from somewhere, however cheesy it may sound. Ron, however, discussed further.

"Then, maybe that Claire's a ghost, Harry."

"No. She told me she was alive."

Just then, a voice spoke all around the train, magically magnified. The voice was somewhat wheezy, but still powerful anyway.

Students, please stay put in your own compartments. We are about to enter the portal. It will be announced when we have passed through. Thank you and good day.

"Here we go," Hermione muttered.

In seconds, a blinding flash of light engulfed the surroundings, and then it tamed down. The train looked completely normal again, except that the outside of the windows did not show what it usually did. The green fields and little towns that they always saw on their way to Hogwarts were gone. They were replaced by swirls of color all around, ocean blue, lime green, pink, blinding white, orange.

"Whoah! Cool!" Ron said as the three of them stared outside their compartment window. Then, the door slid open, and in came Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Neville Longbottom.

"Cool, huh?" Dean said as he sat beside Hermione.

"You three! Didn't you here? We have to stay in our compartments! What were you playing at, walking around while we're in this portal?" Hermione scolded.

"Easy, Hermione. The train's going in smoothly anyway, so it's alright," Seamus replied.

"Why's there color everywhere?" Harry asked.

"You see the swirling colors there?" Neville said. "They're encircling small balls of light. Each ball of light presents a different time or place. It's where you go through when you get in and out."

"Wow, Neville. I didn't know that," Ron said, staring at Neville in amazement.

"Well, Gran told me when she found out that we're going through a portal," Neville replied, blushing slightly at the praise.

"So that explains why there was light all over earlier!" Dean said.

The next minutes went with the five boys chatting about Bridgework, the school where they were supposed to go, while Hermione was, as usual, subdued in a thick book Harry could not read the title of.

"What if we get out of the wrong end? What if we end up in Africa or something?" Neville said after some time.

"Those driving the train should know. I mean, if the Ministry's allowed them to use a portal, they should be able enough, shouldn't they?" Ron said.

Students are to get off the train soon after it exits the portal. Please prepare yourselves. Thank you and have a nice day.

The wheezy voice went once more. Dean, Neville, and Seamus decided to stay in the compartment for the rest of the journey. After another flash of white light, the train soon slowed down, and then stopped. They got off the train and looked around.

"Platform seven, Bridgework, South Phoenix," Ron read off a sign hanging above. Looking around, Harry saw that it was a station that belonged to the magical world only. It was a busy station, with witches and wizards everywhere. Opposite the platform from which they got off was platform eight, which had an elegant black train parked next to it and a sign above saying "Castlerest, East Dragon." Turning to a ticket booth in one corner of the station, Harry saw that they were at Gods' Central Station.

"We got on the portal on the Hogwarts track, and got off at their track! Cool!" Dean said behind Harry.

"First years here, please!" a small boy wearing black robes yelled from the other corner of the station.

"Hogwarts fifth years to here! Follow me!" a taller boy said beside him.

"Sixth years here, please!" Harry heard, so he, Ron, and Hermione went towards the boy who called. Up close, he saw that the boy was around the same build as Ron, but had brown hair and darkest brown eyes, and was wearing robes that looked like those they wore at Hogwarts. He even had a house patch on his.

The crowd of sixth years pushed on each other so that the first ones who got there were pushed to the front. Harry came face to face with the boy and saw that the patch bore the Bridgework logo. The boy smiled good-naturedly at him, and then spoke to the crowd.

"Hogwarts sixth years here! I am Student Head Simon Archer, but you can just call me Head Archer," the boy shouted through the noise of the busy station to make himself heard. A few of the Hogwarts students sniggered at "Head Archer," but the rest remained breathless, waiting for what will happen next. "I will be your guide while you are at Bridgework Academy of Eastern Magic, and I will tell you about all you need, and want, to know. Please feel free to approach me, which I'm sure you will be able to do, for we will be spending a long time together. Follow me to Bridgework premises, where I shall introduce you to our fellow sixth year students from Bridgework, and them to you. Let us move along."

Archer turned and led them to a great oak door, which opened to a small grass-strewn path that wound its way up to big grilled iron gates. When they arrived at the front of the gates, the grills opened by themselves and let the guests in. Inside was a wide grass field, smooth and green and, Harry thought, was as large as a city itself, and farther beyond was a handsome castle, somewhat appeared like Hogwarts, but yet different. Harry had the feeling that it seemed different due to the fact that he did not know what was inside, and also maybe it was held by a different magic.

Finally, Archer turned to them again and spoke. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Sixth Year Students, welcome to Bridgework Academy of Eastern Magic."