Chapter One
"A strange thing will happen to you, Wendy. Beware," A wispy, eerie female voice replied. "Foes you have come across in the past will come back to haunt you, along with new ones. Help will come to protect you, but be warned."
Wendy Punkle awoke in a cold sweat with a start. Whoa, what a weird dream. Who was that person?
Wendy felt the hairs on her skin. They were all prickly. She looked out the window into the night. From the looks of it, it was probably almost 5 o' clock in the morning. The weather was the same as it always was; a hot day. Wendy sighed. The weather in Southern California pretty much never changed.
If it's so hot today, then why I do I feel so cold? She thought.
"I'm not gonna get anymore sleep today," she muttered. She looked at all her other fellow schoolmates in her dorm room, sleeping. She groaned. Might as well get some of Silklyton's homework done, she groused. She picked up her schoolbag from underneath her bed and brought it with her to her house's meeting room.
Wendy sat down at one of the tables and opened up her schoolbag and took out a quill and parchment along with her textbook for her Potions class.
"Hmmm...What happens when you mix belladonna with frostwood?" Wendy thought aloud. She sighed. She had no clue. Silklyton was her Potions teacher and Wendy was her least favorite student. Wendy always tried hard to study in that class, but for some reason, she was always failing it.
Skip the essay, she thought. It's due in two weeks, anyway.
Wendy yawned and put the potions textbook away. Without even thinking,she fell asleep on her textbook before she could even put it away.
Hours Later...
"Wendy...Wendy...get up! We're gonna be late!"
Wendy had been dreaming again. Only this time, she heard a strange male's voice. She could see a face, but the face was blurry. The voice suddenly began to sound more...female. The face wasn't so blurry anymore. Wendy opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep with her head on the table, drool covering it.
The face belonged to Kenlee Watley, Wendy's best friend. Kenlee glanced at her friend. "Whoa, what happened to you?" she asked, frowning.
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I came in here to work on Silklyton's stupid essay and I fell asleep."
"Did you get it done?" Kenlee asked.
"I guess. I was in the middle of writing about how poisonous belladonna is, but then, I think I fell asleep."
Kenlee's gray eyes sparkled with laughter. "You bet you fell asleep. There's drool all over this table! Gross!" she exclaimed. She took out her wand and muttered "Scourgify!"
The disgusting pool of Wendy's drool disappeared. "Thanks," she muttered. She stood up. "I guess I'd better get ready!" she exclaimed. She pointed at her clothes with her finger. In a flash of red light, she was dressed in a red ensample, consisting of a red tank, shorts and flip flops.
"Wow. I wish I could do that," Kenlee replied, shaking her head. "You don't even need your wand for everything! That's a gift!"
Wendy blushed. "I never really thought of it being a gift," she replied, tucking her wand in the back pocket of her jeans.
"Hello! There are not too many witches and wizards in the world who can do wandless magic. The only ones I know who can do it are you and your aunts. That's so cool!"
"Thanks. Okay, will you come on now? We're so gonna be late!"
On the way towards the door, Kenlee stopped suddenly in front of the house's bulletin board. "Look! Our school is gonna have some exchange students from England coming here next week! Isn't that cool?"
Wendy shook her head. "The last thing I want to do is show somebody I don't know around. But only if it's a cute boy, then I'll make an exception."
Kenlee rolled her eyes and shook her head, her red hair moving. "You're so shallow sometimes," she said. "I agree with you with the cute boy thing, but right now, the only thing I'm hoping for is some kind of brainiac to help me pass Morphing class! Trendkiborg is a tough teacher!"
"You can say that again. I'm doing fairly well in her class. Just last week, I finally got a good grade for morphing a rat into a pickle!" Wendy agreed.
Kenlee laughed. On the way into the Grand Meeting Hall for breakfast, a girl with blonde plaits and bespeckled glasses made her way through the long corridors. "Wendy! Kenlee! I'm glad ya here! I have so much ta' tell y'all! Did y'all read the Quill today?" she asked breathlessly.
Kenlee and Wendy looked at each other, then back to the girl. The girl's name was Cassie Jean Mays, a witch from Arkansas. Cassie Jean was the only hillbilly in the entire school, which made her a prime target for making fun of. Cassie Jean came from a pureblood family, but she was still the laughingstock of some of the kids in the school for being the poorest. Cassie Jean hadn't made many friends, but Wendy and Kenlee felt sorry for her and accepted her into their little clique. In the end, the both ending up liking Cassie Jean, despite her heavy Southern accent and patched clothes.
"What's up, Cassie Jean?" Wendy asked.
The girls stepped into the Grand Meeting Hall and sat down at their table. Cassie Jean set the newspaper she was reading on the table and pointed to an article with her finger. "Look! Some British kids are comin' ta Eizzelbell next week. According to ta' paper, a famous boy in the wizardin' world from there is also comin' here." She paused to read the names of the students. "Let's see...from Hufflepuff: Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Zacharias Smith. From Ravenclaw: Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Ernie McMillian and Luna Lovegood. From Slytherin: Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and Gregory Goyle. And from Gryffindor: Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter." Cassie Jean quickly scanned the article. "Hmmm...The famous boy's name is Harry Potter. His maw and paw got killed by a Lord Volde-whatever. His maw and paw got killed when he was just a little young'un. Gosh, that's sad."
"He's cute, even with glasses. I wouldn't mind hooking up with him," Kenlee replied, looking at the moving picture of Harry Potter in the paper.
"Don't ya think he's handsome-lookin', Wendy?" Cassie Jean asked dreamily.
"Well...I guess he is kinda cute..Why are they coming here, though?" Wendy asked.
"It says here that the school wants to understand different societies and cultures. They're interested in learning about the American wizarding schools and Hogwarts chose our school. The headmaster is also good friends with Principal Mort," Kenlee said.
At that moment, a dark figured loomed over the three girls. "What are you losers reading?" A girl drawled.
Wendy, Kenlee and Cassie Jean turned around to stare at Victoria Saltle, a spoiled rich brat from Scorpi, a house in Eizzelbell where just about every witch or wizard was bad.
"None of your business," Kenlee said, smiling sweetly at Victoria.
Victoria snatched the paper from Cassie Jean. "Hmmm...British kids? That boy is pretty good-looking, but my family has already read up on him. He's responsible for the near-demise of Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort wants to get rid of all Muggles, half-bloods and Muggle-borns, you know. Which I think is a great plan. If he comes to America, can you imagine the chaos?" she asked, smiling.
Wendy glared at Victoria. "Why don't you just crawl back in the hole you came from?" she asked angrily.
Victoria flipped her long brown hair to the right. "What would you know, Punkle? You're a little half-blood yourself. So is this Potter kid. As far as I'm concerned, you should be living in a hole! You, your little mudblood friend and your peasant blood traitor!"
And with that, she turned on her heel, laughing as she went to join her fellow Scorpis at the Scorpi table.
"Ignore her. She doesn't know what's she talking about," Kenlee replied, her face red with anger. Kenlee came from a Muggle family and didn't particularly like being called a mudblood.
Cassie Jean's face was redder than Kenlee's. "I ain't no blood traitor! Just 'cause I'm friends wit' a half blood an' a Muggle-born, don't make me a blood traitor!"
"Of course it doesn't. Victoria is just ignorant," Kenlee said.
Wendy stared at her plate of scrambled eggs. "Is it just me, or am I just not in the mood to eat?" she asked.
Kenlee pushed the plate towards her. "You better eat. You'll need all the energy you can get for Silklyton's class!"
"We have her next?" Wendy asked in disbelieve.
Kenlee nodded.
"Agh! I hate her classes! She always makes me nervous!"
"Wen, eat. It'll mak-"
At that moment, Trendkiborg, the head of Wendy's house, Beaittle, tapped her glass. Trendkiborg was a teacher from Germany. She had a head of salt and pepper hair and wore glasses on her nose. She was the Morphing teacher at the school.
"May I have your attention, please?" She asked. "I have an announcement to make. First off, the principal Mort, is out on business and has left me in charge. Second, I know you have read the Quill today. I'm afraid they've made some mistakes about the kids from Britain. They are not coming next week. It seems they had some different arrangements. They will coming here right now and will joining us for breakfast in fifteen minutes. Hogwarts is a very special school. When they get here, let's show them just how special Eizzelbell can be as well. Thank you."
After she sat down, the Grand Meeting Hall began to bustle with excited chatter.
"He's comin'! He's comin'!" Cassie Jean exclaimed excitedly, referring to Harry Potter.
Wendy rolled her eyes. "He's probably a jerk," she said.
"How do you know? You've never met him," Cassie Jean said.
"The Quill just mentioned him as 'a hero of the wizarding world'. He probably has thousands of gold trophies that he brags about after he saved the world," she said. "I hate show-offs."
Cassie Jean glared at Wendy, but didn't say anything else. And that suited Wendy fine.