Author's Note: I haven't update in a really long time! I'm so sorry! :: Hits herself ::
ArkMage: Thanks for telling me about Dean. I thought he was a Muggle-born, and I always made him one in my stories, but then I realized that I didn't actually remember any actual scenes from the books where he ever mentioned being a Muggle-born. Keep on reviewing :)
Bewitched Angel: Yay! I'm happy again! Thanks for your reviews! Keep 'em up and review my other stories, too, if you have time, please!
Alenor: Exactly. It's more fun when they have no time to adjust :) Keep on reviewing!
AdepressedSpooty: Thanks for your review! I read your story about Hermione cutting herself; it was INTENSE but it definitely kept me reading!
Angil10: Hmmm... We'll see what happens to Hermione... Keep up your reviews!
GiGiFanFic: I'll try and continue updating as much as I can, but I have a lot of stories and a lot of work. But I'll try as hard as I can to keep it up! Meanwhile check out some of my other stories :) Thanks! Keep up the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, or celebrities/TV shows/movies that I mention. But I own the American characters and the schools they attend.
000
Chapter Three Smells Like Teen SpiritThe subway doors opened up for Harry to step out onto the grimy platform, Ally and Isaac close behind. They led him up a flight of stairs and through a turnstile to exit the subway station. It had taken him a few minutes while they were entering the station nearby Ally and Isaac's apartment before he actually got the hang of what he was doing. He tried to imagine Ron, probably never having ever been on even the London Underground in his life, trying to get through a subway turnstile and attempting to swipe a "Metrocard" through that thin little opening.
Stop thinking about Ron, you idiot! He cursed himself. Every time he thought of his old best friend and the fact that he wasn't going to see him for a very long time he got extremely upset with Hermione and whoever even thought up this program, and he wanted to hit something. Badly.
They ascended another flight of steps and entered the cheery sunlight of the September morning. They were on a somewhat narrow street with large, looming buildings on every side of them. Behind him, Harry saw a large, broad intersection containing several huge, important-looking buildings. Ally and Isaac continued up the street, the bright sun peering over the buildings and spilling lightly through the branches and leaves of the few trees on the street.
"Do you have Starbucks in England?" Isaac wondered, gesturing to a place with large glass windows on their left.
Harry glanced inside to see a long line of people at a wooden counter and several small, round tables at the other end. He didn't know if there were any in England, he certainly hadn't seen them. (A/N: Is there Starbucks in the UK?) He shrugged in response to Isaac's question. "I've never seen it before."
Isaac nodded. "It's a restaurant chain that sells really bad coffee and mocha-chocha-latte-chino-blah-blahs," he explained.
"Huh?"
"It's a chain of restaurants that sells lots of gross coffee, to put it simply," Isaac finished.
Harry nodded. For some reason, his stomach seemed to have sprouted a gazillion butterflies that were all flying wildly about inside of him. He didn't know why, but he was nervous as hell to start at this new school.
They reached an ominous building that looked like a smaller version of Hogwarts that had been dropped awkwardly in the middle of a New York City street. Parkers School was written in gold lettering above the door. Harry swallowed as they climbed slowly up the steps to enter the building. It felt like he was climbing a gargantuan mountain just to get inside the stupid building. They finally entered it, Harry discovering nothing more than an extremely crowded hallway that had the looks of a slightly more elegant medieval torture chamber. Isaac and Ally made their way deftly through the throng of students and excited parents, around a corner and down a hall until they reached two large doors. They entered and Harry found himself in a high-ceilinged, modern room with a woman sitting at a desk to his left, and two offices with open doors straight ahead.
"This is the Upper School Office," Isaac informed him before turning to the woman at the desk. "This is Harry Potter, the English exchange student. I was told to bring him here-"
He was cut off by a woman with huge hips and a fake smile plastered on her face, greeting the small group with open arms. "Harry Potter!" she cried, holding out a hand for him to shake firmly. "I'm so delighted to meet you! My name is Mrs. Freeman. You're the first of our exchange students to arrive. Welcome to Parkers."
"Thank you," Harry said politely, massaging his hand to try and regain some bloodflow in it.
"So, how long have you been in New York for?" she questioned.
"Only about twenty-four hours," he said.
She gasped forcedly. "You must be so jet-lagged," she inferred.
Harry shrugged. "A bit." He was, but it only felt like it was the early afternoon to him right now, so the worst of it hadn't quite hit him yet.
Mrs. Freeman then proceeded to tell him boring things about the school, not letting him go until she had explained- at great length- that he was to find out his homeroom and then go to the required room. When he, Ally, and Isaac did finally get to escape, he opened the door to find himself almost face-to-face with Parvati.
"Parvati!" he cried, a little bit more loudly than he had intended.
"Harry!" she said at the same time.
He stepped outside so he was next to her. "It's so amazing to see another wizard here. You don't understand," he mumbled, just quietly enough for only her to hear.
"I know," she said. She had the worst night sleep in a long time the night before, and she was not getting used to the Muggle life at all. Seeing Harry was almost like seeing Santa Claus.
000
For Ron, the experience was slightly different. Andrew and Cassie had decided on taking the schoolbus, claiming that it was much simpler than to take any form of public transportation. When they finally reached the school, Ron was dumbstruck at the sight of it. It was a broad building surrounded by huge, green rolling fields and lush forests.
"Are we still in the city?" Ron questioned dubiously.
Andrew nodded and Ron's jaw dropped.
"Whoa," he breathed. He followed Cassie and Andrew out of the bus and into the building. He, too, was led to the Upper School Office, but Dean was already in there when he arrived. Seeing his old friend almost brought Ron to tears of relief that he wouldn't be going through this unbelievably intimidating semester on his own. Ron was then introduced to the head of the Upper School, Mr. Velazquez. After the annoying introductions and small talk, they were sent off to find there homerooms. Ron was somewhat relieved to discover that he and Dean had thoughtfully been put into the same homeroom. Leo and Andrew were in their homerooms as well, because, as the group had just been informed, Dean and Ron would have most of their classes with their "brothers" so they could get to know the school quickly and hopefully make friends more easily.
Their homeroom was a large room that was filled with sinks, glasses, and other odd glass and metal contraptions. Ron was very confused. Andrew and Cassie had spent a great deal of time teaching him about American culture, but they mentioned nothing about glass-and-metal rooms.
"What are all these things?" Ron questioned quietly to Andrew.
Andrew looked a bit surprised. "Don't you guys have Science class?" he inquired.
Ron shook his head, confused.
"Well this is all Science equipment for Science class," Andrew explained. "Whenever we have it, I'll make sure that I'm your partner."
Ron nodded thankfully.
As Ron pondered the lives of Muggles, Dean tried to hit it off with the ladies straight away. He sat on his side of the room, happy that Leo was an absolute girl magnet. Once they gravitated toward him they'd notice that there was a mysterious new student from England and immediately take interest in the wizard. Although, they obviously didn't know he was a wizard.
"So you're from England?" a girl with a nice rack and giant eyes to match the size. "That's so cool! I've never been to England."
"You should go sometime," Dean responded.
"I've been to England," another girl, who had nicely pale skin and fluffy hair informed the group. "I've gone to London, like, eight times." She shrugged. "It's okay."
Dean didn't like this girl. Suddenly someone else caught his eye. It was a girl toward the side of the group who was standing so quietly Dean barely even noticed her. She looked like a freaking Victoria's Secret model or something who had just popped out of a photo shoot. Except plus clothes. She had tan skin and dark hair and eyes that glittered like emeralds in their sockets. It was love at first sight. For Dean, at least.
Suddenly his gaze was inturrupted as a loud teacher entered the room and commanded them to sit down. She ended up sitting behind him- he didn't know where- so he couldn't turn around and gaze at her from afar every second without arousing lots of suspision.
000
The day was uneventful for the four East Coast-ers, aside from the thousands of people flooding toward them to learn about the English exchange students.
Dean, Leo, Milo, and Anna returned home a little after noon that day, and Dean instinctively followed Leo into the kitchen. Noticing no one else was there, Leo took this opportunity to give Dean a little bit of information.
"I saw you eyeing Dawn this morning," Leo observed.
"Huh?" Dean questioned, clueless.
"Dawn. Tall, looks like some sort of amazing Brazilian Victoria's Secret model who happens to not be Gisele Bundchen," Leo nudged Dean's memory.
"Gisele Bundchen?" Dean was still very in the dark.
"Very famous and hot supermodel. You have a crush on her."
"Okay."
"Anyway, that girl you were staring at, her name is Dawn," Leo said. "I would normally tell you to go for it. In fact, I would tell you to go for it with anyone in the grade except for Dawn."
Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Did you see that guy that you're red-head friend was with?"
Dean nodded.
"His name is Andrew, and he and Dawn just broke up this summer. From what I heard, neither of them are taking it very well, and I wouldn't really risk messing with the star of the football team's ex, if I were you," Leo said.
"He plays football? Cool!" Dean exclaimed.
"American football."
"Oh."
Clearly, that "how-to-not-get-yourself-killed" lesson went straight over Dean's potion-filled wizard head. This will be fun.
000
A/N: Yay! I finally finished! It's been, what? Forever since I've updated and I feel REALLY bad. But please review, and if I get a lot I'll be very persuaded to update more frequently! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I might edit it a bit later because it felt kind of... limp... Anyway, if you review I'll give you eight tubs of Phish Food!