Chapter Three
The class leader of Scorpi, Leigh Marley, escorted the sixteen kids from Hogwarts into the Grand Meeting Hall. Wendy quickly scanned all of them. She saw a blonde-haired kid with his hair slicked back. He's kinda hot, Wendy thought. Her eyes moved over past the fat kid over to the kid with the dark hair. Another cute kid. She saw a girl with a face that reminded her of her aunt Fanny's old pug, Fartybean. The girl had her arm linked with the blonde-haired boy. Damn. He's taken. I'd like to ask him about his taste in girls.
She looked at the chubby-faced girl and the girl with glasses along with two other boys. Cute, but not as hot as the blonde boy.
She saw a dark-haired beautiful Asian girl talking to a girl with curly brown hair. And a girl with dirty blond hair with butterbeer caps around her neck and a tall boy with a pompous look about him.
Moving on, her eyes passed two red-headed kids, a girl with bushy brown hair and the boy with glasses and dark hair. That's him. The hero.
There was something on his forehead that sort of intrigued her. She couldn't tell what it was from sitting too far, but it caught her interest.
Trendkiborg clapped her hands in delight. "Welcome to Eizzelbell. So glad you could come! How did you come?"
"We came by Floo powder. A few of us made some mistakes, but we all managed to make it here alright," the girl with the bushy hair said told her matter-of-factly.
Trendkiborg frowned a little. "Oh...well...how has California treated you so far?"
"Is this Los Angeles?" the girl with the butterbeer caps asked dazedly.
"Yes, it is. How do you like it?"
"Well, I've seen a lot of blonde bimbos here, just as I thought we would," the boy with red hair and freckles piped up. The girl with the bushy hair groaned.
Trendkiborg looked a little surprised. "Uh, well, this is California. There are a lot of blonde girls here."
Wendy scowled. Is that what they think of us? That we're bimbos?
Meanwhile, Trendkiborg was shaking hands with all the Hogwarts students. "I'm Martetta Trendkiborg, the Morphing teacher at Eizzelbell. Make yourselves comfortable and you'll fit in just fine. You see, we have houses at our school. Everyone is placed in one. I'm pretty sure you all are in one?"
"Yes, we are. There's Hufflepuff, Grffiydor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Gryffindors are brave, Ravenclaws are clever, Slytherins are cunning and Hufflepuffs are pretty much above average," the bushy-haired girl replied, again matter-of-factly.
"I...see. Well, at our school, we have a similar system. First, there's Scorpi. Those are for the intelligently sly students. Scorpi, sadly, only have pureblood witches and wizards in their house. Then we have Eaglei. That house is for the sharp and intelligenly witty students. Beattle is for the tough, ready-to-learn students. And last, there's Leadio. That house is for people of all types of people of all colors and creams...and bloodlines. But as a school, we all have a mission. And that is to complete and graduate, knowing you learned everything you need to know when you're out in the real world. And that is what Eizzelbell is all about!" Trendkiborg smiled and then clapped her hands.
"Well...come on, everybody! We're just going to get you sorted to your proper temporaily house and then you can eat and mingle. Why don't just introduce yourselves briefly and then we can get started."
"It would be nice if Harry Potter was in our house," Wendy heard Jennifer Golden, a girl from Eaglei, replied wistfully.
"Yeah! Did you see his picture in the paper? He's so completely gorgeous!" Jennifer's friend, Lacey Courtman said.
"There aren't too many boys in California here with black hair. Mostly all of them are blonde, complete stoners and play Quidditch."
The two girls kept comparing Harry Potter to other guys. Wendy wanted to gag.
"Beattle!" Trendkiborg exclaimed happily to the girl with the bushy hair. Wendy watched as she made her way over to their table. She looked at all of the Beattle students shyly. A few of the Beattle girls were snickering and pointing at her hair. She finally stopped to where Kenley, Cassie Jean and Wendy were sitting.
"Hi...Is it okay if I sit here?" the girl asked meekly.
"Sure. Have a seat. We won't laugh at you," Kenlee said, scooting over to make room for the girl.
"Thanks. I was afraid no one would let me sit down," the girl said, sitting between Kenlee and Cassie Jean.
She smiled briefly. "I'm Hermione Granger. It's really nice to meet all of you."
"I'm Kenlee Watley. It's great to meet you. You like Eizzelbell so far?"
"I think it's a really nice school. I like the decor of the place - very...um...California-y."
Eizzelbell was made to look extremely like any other normal California school. The outside of the school was painted white and the inside was black and yellow. There were courtyards outside with palm trees and right outside was a beach. Plenty of space to sunbath or swim on breaks. That was Wendy's favorite part about the school - being on the beach.
"No one wears uniforms here?" Hermione asked, a little amazed.
The boys were wearing T-shirts and shorts with no shoes. Girls were wearing tank tops, shorts or skirts. Some had shoes. Others didn't.
"No, we don't. We're allowed to wear our own things as long as it's not revealing or tight," Wendy replied.
"Oh...I'm sorry, I didn't ask you for your name. Your name is?"
"I'm Wendy Punkle. And this is our other best friend. Her name is Cassie Jean Mays," Wendy said, pointing to Cassie Jean, who was suddenly shy.
"Nice to meet all of you...oooh! Here come my other best friends right now," Hermione said.
When the four others arrived, Hermione quickly introduced them (Jennifer and Lacey glared at Wendy, Kenlee and Cassie Jean with envy). "Guys, meet Wendy, Kenlee and Cassie Jean. They're the three girls from Beattle. Girls, this is Ronald Weasley and his younger sister Ginny. And my other friend Harry Potter."
Wendy thought Cassie Jean would fall out of her chair. She only managed to squeak a hello.
"See any nice bimbos around?" Wendy asked Ron.
Ron blushed. "Well, I don't know too much about California. I only know what I've been told."
Kenlee laughed. "Humph. Well, don't believe everything you hear. I'm blonde, but I'm not a bimbo."
"California is a really cool place to live. Beaches, palm trees, oceans..." Wendy replied.
"You're making it boring, Wendy. There's surfing, parties, cute guys, all the trendiest wizarding shops and for the boys, all the girls are here," Kenlee said.
Ron's eyes widened. "Well, count me in for the girls...but what's surfing?"
"It's a sport. Muggles surf, too. You surf on a board in the ocean on a really, really big wave. The waves are incredibly big. They carry you around. It's awesome. But wizarding surfing has you flying and doing swirls and loops and all kinds of cool stunts. It's incredible! I'm a surfer myself." Kenlee looked proud.
Ginny looked excited. "That sounds brilliant!" she exclaimed.
"What about Quidditch?" Ron asked.
"We do that, too. Eizzelbell does that every other time. But surfing is much bigger."
Ron lost interest. "Oh," he said. "I'd rather play Quidditch."
Meanwhile, Cassie Jean was blushing furiously. Ron took notice. "Wow. You blush redder than I do!"
Cassie Jean looked surprised. "Uh, yeah. I hate when I blush. I look like a tamata!"
"A what?"
"A tomato," Kenlee translated. "Cassie Jean's from Arkansas. The people there have really thick country accents."
"Ooooh, I know! We have a sister-in-law who's from France. You should hear what she sounds like!" Ginny exclaimed.
As the students talked, Wendy and Harry were looking at each other, never saying a word. Wendy didn't know why he was looking at her like that, but it gave her chills. She couldn't help but look at something...something on his face. His forehead. It resembled a lightening bolt.
And as she looked at it, she heard that strange female voice in her head again. They're coming. They're coming.
It was the same voice from her dream. But before Wendy could think anymore about it, Kenlee was talking to Harry about the lightening bolt on his head.
"This really powerful wizard killed my parents when I was a baby. Then when he tried to kill me, his spell backfired and it gave me this scar. He's still trying to kill me."
Kenlee looked mournful. "Gosh. I'm sorry," she said. "Wendy had a similar thing, you know. When she was a kid, this powerful warlock tried to kill her. Now she's been dubbed 'The Greatest Witch,'" Kenlee boasted.
Harry looked surprised. "Really? How do you feel about it?" he asked.
Wendy shrugged. "People think I'm a hero, but I don't really feel like one," she said.
"Me, too. People gave me a title, too. I'm called 'The Boy Who Lived' back home. But I still think I'm an ordinary kid."
Wendy couldn't help but smile at Harry. "Wow. I guess we have something in common," she said.
Harry nodded. His eyes twinkled a little. "Yeah. I guess we do."