Flight of theImagination
Chapter Three
Harry stacked his trunk on top of the other to be packed away to the Gryffindor dormitory during the beginning-of-the-year feast.
He joined Hermione and Ron onto the main lobby of the school and was glad to see it had not changed much at all, apart from the welcoming decorations.
"Alright, firs' years this way! Come on!" Hagrid's voice entered the lobby and Harry turned to greet him.
"Great summer, 'arry?" He greeted, his shaggy beard dangling as he talked.
The first years exclaimed at the size of Hagrid and a lot of them turned when they heard the name 'Harry Potter'.
Hermione pulled Harry aside for the line of first years to pass for the sorting. "The first years are so little!" She exclaimed.
"A bunch of gits, if you asked me…" Ron said as he took his seat at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the food to arrive. He greeted Seamus Finnigan, who sat a few seat away from him on the other side of the long table.
Harry and Hermione, who was scowling at what Ron had said, sat down beside him and started watching the first years as well waiting for the sorting to be done with and the feast to begin. It had been sometime before they had eaten. The food trolley seemed to have come earlier than usual, and it had charged more than usual, not that it had been a problem for Harry.
The sorting hat had finished its song and the audience exploded with applause. At last, Professor McGonagall arrived on the stage with her piece of parchment, sorting from names, 'Andrews, Jason' to 'York, Hudson'.
The last person was done in the sorting, and the applause exploded so loudly that Harry thought his ears would drop to the ground.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and tapped on his wineglass. The hall fell silent and Harry suddenly felt that this wouldn't be the exact speech the headmaster always made.
"Welcome all, to another wonderful year at Hogwarts!" He said, his hands rose in the air. "I welcome you all and may you have a great year! Before I ask you to dig in for our delicious feast, I will have to introduce a few of our new appointed administrators for the school." He said, clearing his throat.
"I have also instructed a few changes to the school due to some obvious reasons. You all may have heard that the dark lord, Voldemort, has returned; this is a true fact, and it has been proven by one of our students that sits among us, no matter what you have been told by others who do not believe it." There had been a shudder as Dumbledore said 'Voldemort'.
"You may or may not believe me, but I highly advise you to follow these rules. Nevertheless, while you stay here on Hogwarts ground, I warn you not to sneak out of school boundaries. These changes in the school are for the newcomers as well as the students that have stayed here before." Dumbledore seemed to look at Harry's way, but they couldn't tell if he really was or not, he was too far away.
But Harry felt a sense of gratitude towards Dumbledore for not saying his name to the crowd, he didn't want any attention this year, and he hoped there wouldn't be anything intense for the year, which was obviously not going to happen, since Voldemort was still on the loose doing who-knows-what…
From the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Malfoy making weird, demented faces at Dumbledore and he felt himself fume with anger.
"And now, I am pleased to announce to you the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Moody. Some of you may be bewildered by the fact that Professor Moody introduction, seeing how he was a few years ago, but none of you ever knew the real Professor Alastor Moody. It has been a long story and I shall not be wasting time explaining it. Furthermore, I shall also like to introduce a new officer for the halls. She has traveled a great deal around the world and knows more of the other parts of the land than most of us. I have appointed her as the protector of Hogwarts. I am pleased to introduce to you, Blayde Song."
He ended his speech for a moment, the bewildered crowd looked at each other for a moment. Behind him, the other Professor's looked at each other in confusion, clearly wondering where Blayde Song was.
"Strange, I thought she was sitting right behind me moments ago…" Dumbledore said cheerily.
"Really now, Dumbledore, is it truly necessary for you to introduce me?"
The voice made everyone lift up their heads to find Blayde Song perched at one of the many windowsills of the dinning hall, where the flags flowed through the soft air currents.
"My apologies, Mistress Song." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes as he bowed.
"And you know that I would like to be called by my proper name. I'm Bree, everyone. Please just call me Bree. Blayde would be more of a codename for me…" Blayde, or Bree sighed and jumped from the windowsill, a few students gasped, others shouted.
The long tails of her jacket flew behind her like wings as she landed perfectly in front of them on one knee. The metal clanking of her sword were heard and the students stared at her.
She looked no more that eighteen or seventeen to Harry, who sat only a few feet in front of her. She obviously took no notice of anyone, however. Her mid-length hair was in an odd, highlighting color that seemed too natural. Her eyes were glimmering in the light like an eagle and it told everyone it would be best not to get on her bad side, even if she was smiling. She wore a blue ribbon in her hair to tie back the sides of her hair from getting into her eyes.
But what caught most people's eyes the first time they glanced at her wasn't her pale, radiant face, nor was it her tough, delinquent look. It was her jacket that caught the attention.
It was black with silver letterings on the sleeves, the front and the back.
Harry had to tilt his head to read the tiny words below the huge Chinese characters, 'Sixth Squad Suicide Team' and 'Sixth Generation of the Eastern Alliance of Asia'. It made sense, seeing how she was Asian, right?
As Bree walked past them, they heard the jingling her sword made as it collided with its sheath. Her cape-like coat flew after her and the metallic blue outline of a swallow on the back of the coat caught Harry eyes. 'Legend of the Blue Clad Swallow' was written on her coat in the same silver embroidery on her sleeves and front.
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, who shrugged at him.
Bree's boots made pure, hollow sounds on the ground as she walked towards the headmaster in her high-heels. As Harry saw, they were made of Dragon Leather and were as black as coal.
"Well, dig in." Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eye remaining cheery.
The food glimmered again as it always did, and Harry felt his stomach flip, not feeling the mood to eat at all. Beside him, Ron grabbed for food and started chewing on the roasted chicken hungrily.
"Ron," Hermione said, startled, frowning.
Harry watched as the others ate, not touching much of the food he had gotten himself.
"Harry," Hermione started after seeing him playing with his food. "Eat."
"Oh, let him breathe, Hermione. You act like my mother sometimes…" Ron said.
Hermione scowled and returned to talking to Ginny, who sat between Neville and, to Ron's disbelief, Dean Thomas. Ron was in a dull mood for the rest of the dinner.
The hall was loud with chattering; even the professors were talking loudly and clanking their wine glasses.
"Hey, Harry?"
Harry looked up from his constant dull playing with his food and was surprised that it was Seamus. "Yeah?"
"Well, I just wanted to apologize, you know…for last year… when you and I had that row…"
"Oh, it's alright." Harry replied. "I was a bit temperamental, wasn't I?"
Seamus chuckled and the two begun talking again. Seamus looked up and glanced at Bree. "I hear she came from America …I bet she was trained as a ninja since she was born." Seamus Finnigan said.
Harry looked up. "Ninjas?" He laughed nervously. "You're kidding, right? There are really ninjas?"
Seamus nodded. "Yeah, I bet you. I hear she's a cousin of Cho Chang."
"Really?" Harry turned to look at Bree again. "What an unusual name, though." He stated aloud.
Seamus shrugged.
Harry looked at Bree for a moment. She did look as pretty as Cho, perhaps even more radiant.
Blayde was talking with Dumbledore, waving her hands around in careless motions as she talked. She turned and Harry had to squint to read the words on the other side of the coat that he didn't see: 'The Blue Swallow has arrived' and 'Leader of the Sixth Squad Eastern Alliance since 1789'.
"The Blue Swallow?" He asked.
"Yeah, they have title, dunno why, but they do…kind of childish, if you ask me…" Seamus said.
"Since 1789…" Harry mumbled.
"Perhaps it's a family heirloom?" Ron replied this time, he was reading the coat as well. "It says, 'Member of the Kanji Tribe of Asia, China'…what's that?"
"Dunno, go ask." Seamus said, returning to his conversation with Parvati Patil, who gave Harry a look of anger.
Harry felt a cold pierce inside, Parvati had been mad with him ever since the Yule Ball two years ago, and it made him regret that he hadn't been more polite and kinder to her.
"Shame, really." Ron was saying. "You think she even knows magic?"
"Huh?" Harry realized Ron was talking about Bree and looked at her. "Dunno."
Bree turned around, laughing at a joke Dumbledore made and stepped down the small steps of the upper platform where the staff sat.
"Later, Moody, Dumbledore." She said, tossing aside her hand as a gesture of departure.
In some ways, Harry could tell that this girl wouldn't really give a damn what kind of creature offended the school, as long as she could use her sword. But then again, she might not even care about it at all. It made him wonder what kind of person she really was.
Bree started down the walkway to the entrance door but stopped at the Ravenclaw table and gently laid her arm on Cho's head. She took a seat next to her cousin, who sat right behind Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"You still aren't hung up on Cho, are you?" Ron asked as he watched Cho greet Bree.
"Nah, it was time to move on…" Harry admitted, laughing uneasily.
Cho wasn't very significant in Harry's heart anymore, he had even forgotten about her over the summer. They had gone out once and it turned out disastrous. But now, thinking about it, Harry thought that perhaps it was his fault, even though he had no feelings for her anymore.
"'Sup?" Bree's voice filled his ears.
"Bree, you never told me you would be coming…I knew it was awkward when you arrived at the house, but I never expected…why didn't you tell me? I would've helped you…"
"Cho, Cho, Cho…" Bree said in a singing voice, chuckling. "If I told you, that wouldn't be fun, now would it?" She laughed. Cho laughed with her, introducing her to her circle of friends.
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron sat behind them talking about the summer holidays. "Do you reckon you could stay with us this time?" Ron asked. "I mean, your aunt and uncle aren't doing anything to you, are they?"
Harry laughed. "They won't even talk to me…ever since Moody threatened them, they're afraid if they do anything to me that I don't like, they'll get turned into bat droppings or something…"
"So do you think you can stay with us?"
Harry hesitated, and then told Ron why he had to return to Number Four, Privet Drive every year, and about the prophecy Lord Voldemort tried to take.
"No way," Ron said in disbelief.
The dining hall was loud and nearly deafening with the chatting and shouting of excitement.
Finally, Dumbledore stood and Harry found himself walking to the Gryffindor commons with Neville and Ginny since Ron and Hermione had to direct the first-years to the commons and explain the school rules.
"Ron, I told you not to call them midgets!" Hermione scowled as they made their way up the stairs.
"Oh, right. Sorry," Ron replied, hi3 ears slightly pink. "But they look like it…"
"Ron!"
Harry soon found himself at the portrait of the Fat Lady, following Ginny through the opening.
The commons hadn't changed much; Harry remembered all the time he had stayed there, waiting for Sirius' head to pop out in the fire at night. He smiled to himself at the thought of the good times, a sad smile.