Summary
A new year starts and Harry heads back to school for Year Seven with his friends. Little do they know the surprise that awaits them upon their return to Hogwarts. Five new students have suddenly appeared at the magical school. Curiosity and questions arise. Who are these kids? Why have they all come at the same time? And wherever they were…why did they leave?
Chapter One
Rain and wind whipped against the train as it rumbled its way towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The driver, a thin and wizened old man with wispy white hair and veined hands, blinked like an owl as he stared out of the window to where the light ahead was cutting through the darkness. It was then, as a bolt of lighting cracked the sky in half, that he spotted a figure, shrouded and shadowy, standing on the tracks. Panicking he threw himself against the hand-brake, pulling with all his might as the wheels screeched against the tracks and threw sparks in their effort to stop.
He didn't look up again until the whole train drew to a shaking halt, and he looked up cautiously, scared that he would find only a bruised and battered body lying on the tracks.
Instead he saw nothing.
His head swiveled side to side in an effort to find the figure in the darkness. But it was useless. The shadow had disappeared as swiftly and silently as it had appeared.
The door to the compartment slid open and a plump old woman with a pleasant face smiled at them.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked them kindly.
Ron nearly drooled at the sight of so many sweets and Harry sighed, plunging his hand deep into his pocket. Harry stood up to collect the sweets, plopping them down onto a seat just as the lights flickered and the train lurched to a stop. Hermione, caught off guard, went flying onto the floor. She heard an 'oof' as she landed on something warm and breathing.
The lights flicked on again and he met a pair of very green eyes.
"Hermione," Harry said after a long moment, "mind getting off?"
"Oh," she gasped and leapt up, her face flaming as she helped him to his feet, "sorry."
"No problem," he dusted himself off and glanced out the window as the train picked up speed again, "what do you think that was about?"
" I don't know, but we're going to find out." Hermione said decisively, turning away from where she too had been staring out the window.
It was just as she turned away that Harry saw it, as lightened cracked across the sky again…a figure almost too fast to see, flitting through the trees. But in the next moment it was gone. Shaking his head as if to clear it he turned back to his friends.
"We're going to do what?" Ron asked stupidly, a chocolate frog leg dangling out of his mouth.
A door clicked closed nearby just as she stepped out into the hall and her head whipped around. Normally she wouldn't think anything of it, but her eyes glimpsed the lights dancing of a puddle of water near the door to the next section of the train. She took a step closer just as she felt Harry come up behind her.
"What's the matter?" he asked as she took another step closer and bent down to inspect the water.
"There shouldn't be any water in here, there's no leak on the ceiling…see?" She said back.
Sure enough as he turned his head and looked at the ceiling, there was no crack across it or drips of water coming down. He looked back at her, eyes narrowed in suspicion, and she nodded her head towards where the puddle lead to the door. He nodded back at her just as Ron stepped out.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked warily as he saw them heading towards the door, "Guys? The driver is that way" he pointed to the opposite end of the train "that's what you meant by 'finding out' right? Asking the driver? Come on guys!" he continued as they ignored him, heading towards the door, "I really don't feel like going on another life-threatening adventure right now. I usually save that until we get to school. Guys? Bloody hell!" throwing his hands up into the air in surrender he followed them, shoulders drooping.
Sparks from a broken light shot off as soon as they opened the door to another compartment. Looking around they saw a single set of bags neatly placed in the baggage hold. It was then that they noticed everything was soaking wet.
"Why's everything all wet?" Hermione asked as Harry struggled to get a closer look at the compartment. Just then they feel a cold and crisp breeze passing over them, making Hermione shiver. She thought this was particularly odd, because it had been quite humid when they were at King's Cross and the temperature could not have possibly dropped that quick.
Ron pushed past them and said bluntly, "Look," he pointed to the open window on the other side of the room, "All it is, is the window." He shut it with a grunt and turned back toward them, "can we go now?"
"It's much too wet to have been just that one window…" Hermione said.
"And what, may I ask, are you doing in my car?" a deep, cold, and almost fearsome voice said from behind.
Hermione screamed and spun around, frightened by the sudden company.
"Well?" asked the voice, from within the shadows of the dark hall.
"Who in the bloody hell are you?" Ron asked, his fear apparent in his voice.
"I'll answer your questions after you answer mine." Replied the voice coolly.
The gender of the voice was undistinguishable as Harry tried not to let his fear show in his face.
Hermione suddenly stepped forward and said boldly, "We were going to ask the driver why he stopped the train so suddenly and we noticed that this car was pitch black, so we came over and decided to look around a bit."
"Ah, and what have your curious little minds found?" the voice asked almost mockingly.
"Why is your car so wet? And why did you have the window open?"
"Well, you answered your first question with the second, as for the window being open. I'm a touch claustrophobic, can't stand being in an area without a window open."
The owner of the voice then stepped forward into the moonlit hall and gave a toothy smile that Hermione could tell was forced. The girl was surprisingly beautiful despite her uncomfortable presence. Her jet black hair was cut short and well groomed, the pale skin that was consistent throughout her face and arms intensified her cerulean blue eyes. She wore dark jeans with a dark blue t-shirt and her nails were painted black.
Harry and Ron looked at the girl in awe as she walked forward closer to them. She stopped in front of Harry. "And who mightyou be?" She asked as she stepped even closer to Harry. Lifting a flawless hand, she grazed his cheek with one perfectly manicured, jet black, finger nail. As Harry opened his mouth to answer she gave a small disbelieving gasp and said "Is it?..." She lifted the hand that was on his cheek and brushed away the hair that was covering Harry's scar, "Yes, you're Harry Potter. I've heard a lot about you, but I was never told how handsome you were." She shot a flirtatious smile at Harry, he suddenly felt as if his legs would give out any moment.
"Well we're glad to see that everything's alright." Said Hermione hastily as she quickly pushed Harry out of the compartment and pulled Ron behind her. "What did you say your name was?" She turned and asked right before stepping through the door to the next car.
"I didn't," said the girl coolly as she smirked and closed the door to her compartment.
"Well isn't she little miss sunshine." Hermione snorted.
On the way back to their compartment the train lurched again and a crash echoed from the roof. Someone slid open their compartment door just then, looked between Hermione's suspicious eyes and where the crash had cracked off the roof, and held his hands up in surrender.
"Hey it wasn't me." He said hastily before apparently forgetting what he had come out for and stepping back inside.
She looked up and down the hall again as she slid the door to their compartment closed, almost sliding it onto Crookshanks' tail as he bolted out with a yowl.
"That's weird." Harry finally snapped out of his trance as the cat nearly ripped off the skin on his foot in his desperation to get out.
"Not really," came a feminine voice from the corner, "cats hate me."
Hermione nearly jumped again and then clenched her hands into fists, growling, "Will people please stop doing that?"
The girl sitting on the seat closest to the window grinned at her but, unlike the smile of the other girl, this one was genuine and didn't seem a bit forced. This girl was pretty as well, with dirty blond, straight hair the fell to her shoulders, a stubborn chin, and golden yellow eyes flecked with green. In stark contrast to the other girl, her jeans were light blue and her shirt was a creamy white, but her face was pale and she looked a bit under the weather.
She pulled her face into a frown as they kept standing there, "Do you mind me being here? If you do, I can see if I can find another empty compartment. I'm sure there's one in the next car…"
"No!" Hermione interrupted, grimly remembering the girl in the next car. "We don't mind you staying here." She continued reassuringly as she took a seat beside the girl, who smiled at her and offered her hand.
"I'm Sarah." She said by way of introduction as Hermione shook her hand. The boys introduced themselves to her and she grinned at them, her eyes flicking up once to the hair that covered Harry's scar.
"I don't remember seeing you around." Harry remarked as he offered her a chocolate frog.
She took it, replying with, "Well you wouldn't have seen me around, I just moved here to England from America."
"That's cool!" Ron said excitedly and then, upon finding out she was an Ireland fan, spent a good twenty minutes debating the finer points of Quidditch with her.
Sarah glanced towards where the rain was running trails down the glass window and frowned. She leaned towards the window a little, blinked, then leaned towards it again before turning back to them, her brow wrinkled in confusion.
"Why are the lights in the next car out?"
Ron shrugged indifferently and reached across Sarah to get another chocolate frog, she handed him one and his hand brushed against the cuff of her sleeve. He drew back and stared at where his hand was dripping for a minute before looking up at her, failing to catch her eye as she turned back to stare out at the other car again, before wiping his hand dry on his shirt and screwing up his eyes in thought.
Hermione glanced at the boys, who clearly weren't saying anything, before launching into the tale of their encounter in the other car.
"You remember when the train stopped right?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Well we were going to go ask the driver what was going on when I noticed that all the lights in the next car were out. We went to go see what was wrong when we came across this compartment, it was almost completely dark, like the rest of the car, except for the light coming from a single open window. We saw luggage in there so we knew someone must have been in there, but we didn't know who. The room was soaked. Ron had suggested that the rain must've done it, but I didn't think that was possible, because that single open window couldn't have possibly gotten the compartment as filthy as it was, and even if it did, who would leave a window open while it's raining when all their stuff is inside and could get wet? Another weird thing was, even though it's really warm outside, we felt a really cold breeze when we went into the room."
Sarah nodded in agreement as Hermione continued.
"We were about to leave when a girl started talking to us from the shadows…she was really creepy."
"Aw, come on Hermione." Ron said in disagreement, "She wasn'tthat creepy. Besides, did you see the way she looked at me?" He let out a sigh of adoration and looked out the window dreamily.
"…But Ron, she didn't look at you." Hermione said.
"Yeah." Harry said. "She was looking at me the whole time."
"Was not! She didn't take her eyes off me for a second!"
"Wait a minute!" Sarah interrupted. "This girl…was she creepy, in like, a really creepy way?"
"Uh…yeah…" Hermione said.
"Was not!" Ron said. "She was amazing! And she was gazing into my eyes the whole time."
"She was looking atme eyes the whole time! Weren't you even watching?" Harry yelled at Ron.
"I think I know who she is." Sarah said. "Ron, Harry, can you two tell me what she looked like?"
"I can!" Ron said. "Her hair was as black as the midnight sky, her eyes were like shining sapphires in an ocean of white-"
"Yup that's her." Sarah interrupted.
"Who?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione chimed at once.
"I'm not sure what her name is, but I've met her before. Come on." Sarah got up and walked out of the car.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed Sarah to the car where the girl was sitting and looking out the window in a still perfectly dark room. Sarah banged on the door of the compartment and the girl looked up. She saw Sarah and her eyes glinted with hate.
She slid open the door and spat, "What doyou want?"
"What did you do to them?" Sarah yelled as she pointed at Harry and Ron who looked just like a couple of mindless zombies.
The girl put a hand on her heart and gave a fake hurt expression. "Why, whatever makes you thinkI did something?"
Just then Ron said in a distant voice, "Will you marry me?" and Harry added in, "Yeah, me too?"
"…Ha! That would do it, huh?" the girl asked.
"Yeah, that would do it." Sarah said angrily.
"Fine." The girl sighed and snapped her fingers. Harry and Ron all of a sudden looked really confused. "What the…?" Harry said. "What happened, I remember meeting Sarah and then everything from then on is a blur…"
"Infatuation Charm." The girl said with a smirk. "One of my favorites." She smiled at Harry and he smiled back.
"Oh no! Not again!" Sarah said. "Don't even think about it…uh….what's your name anyway?"
"Adelle. Adelle Rosaria." She said
"So is that how you get boys Adelle?" Hermione burst out, fuming red.
"What?" Adelle asked.
"You put them under Infatuation Charms and Enchantments, and do what you please with them?"
Adelle simply laughed at Hermione's outburst. "If you want Harry so bad, you should've just said so, I would have gladly backed off."
Hermione turned blood red in less than a second as everyone turned to her. "That's ridiculous!" she said trying to cover up her true feelings. She looked away from everyone trying to convince herself that she wasn't the center of attention.
"Oh!" Adelle said pretending to look shocked. "You mean…he didn't know?"
Hermione looked up into Adelle's eyes and suddenly felt depressed and depleted. What is wrong with me she thought, How could I think he'd ever want to be with me? How could I even imagine that. Suddenly Adelle started towards Hermione.
"What is wrong with you?" she said. "What made you think you ever had a chance with him!" Adelle's eyes were turning dark, much darker than any eyes Hermione had ever seen, it was as if they had stolen the midnight sky and were concealing it for themselves.
Hermione began to back away as Adelle advanced closer and closer. She hit the wall on the other side of the car and sunk to the ground, she began to sob uncontrollably.
Sarah ran forward and pinned Adelle to the wall by the neck with a single hand. Suspended in the air without anyway to breathe, it seemed as though Adelle couldn't do anything, but all of a sudden she put her hands on Sarah's shoulders and in one blast of powerful magic sent her careening into the other wall.
Sarah got up and charged toward Adelle, not fully understanding how Adelle had done what she just managed to do. All of a sudden a tall, girl in all muggle clothes, with slightly curled light brown hair, stepped in front of Sarah and held out one hand in a signal of halt. Sarah suddenly dug her heels into the ground in an effort to stop and fell to the ground on her backside. She looked up at the tall girl then back at Adelle and with a glare that would have unnerved any other enemy, got up and went over to see if Hermione was okay. But when she got to the other side of the car, all she saw was Hermione's back as she ran toward the front of the train, her sobs still audible throughout the hall.
Harry got up and was about to follow her when the tall girl held out a hand and said in a soft and commanding voice, "No, let her alone for now. She needs to calm down." Harry nodded and motioned Ron and Sarah to return to their own car.
They all sit down and try to work out what happened in their own minds, giving up, Ron finally said aloud, "Okay what the hell was that? And why was Hermione crying?"
"Do you think…" The words caught in Harry's throat, he didn't want to sound hopeful, in case what Adelle had said wasn't true, but he had to know. "That…Hermione really fancies me?"
"I dunno," Ron replied. "I mean, she did turn awfully red when Adelle suggested it."
"But…why was she crying, do you think that maybe she doesn't want to fancy me?" Harry asked.
"Who knows." Ron said clearly wanting to change the subject. He turned to Sarah and asked, "So what house do you want to be put in?"
"Uh…what do you mean by 'house'?"
"The school is separated into four different houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff." Harry said glad to get his thoughts off Hermione. "Ron and I are in Gryffindor. The house your in depends on what kind of personality you have, and what kind of person you are."
"Okay…" said Sarah, still a little confused.
"You'll see when we get to the feast. Are you going to be sorted with the first years?"
"No, well I'm not going to. I was given a test to see what year they would put me in. I passed for 7, which I was going into anyway."
"You're the same as us." Ron said.
"Mmhmm," Sarah said with a smile.
After a brief moment of silence the tall girl from Adelle's compartment appeared at the door. "Can I have a word with you all?" she asked in the soft yet firm voice that reminded Harry of Dumbledore.
"Sure," said Sarah.
"My name is Kaylee I am a new student at Hogwarts," She said to Harry and Ron, while shaking their hands. "I already know Sarah. Sabrina and I have managed to calm Hermione down somewhat, but she's still really upset. You guys can't talk about what happened with Adelle, or she may start crying again."
"Why was she crying?" Harry asked. "Adelle only asked her if I knew that she fancied me, then she just…" Harry trailed off and something clicked in his head. "Never broke eye contact…" he whispered to himself, to Kaylee he asked "Can she do Legilimens?"
"After tonight, I have my suspicions." Kaylee replied.
"What did she do to Hermione?" Harry yelled as he stood.
"I'm not sure." Kaylee replied truthfully. "Honestly I was trying to stay away from the subject."
"Well if you won't tell me than Adelle will!" Harry began to storm out of the room only to be stopped by Kaylee.
"Harry, don't." She said putting out a hand.
"Why not?" Harry shouted.
"Because if shecando Legilimens, then you're going to be in serious trouble."
"I don't care! I want to know what she did to Hermione!"
"So do I, but getting yourself turned into a practice dummy for a person that knows Legilimens won't help us!" Kaylee yelled.
Harry sat down stubbornly, knowing defeat.
"And who's Sabrina?" Ron asked. Just then a girl with thin dirty-blonde hair came up behind Kaylee and said, "Hey!"
Kaylee jumped and said, "Ron, this is Sabrina."
Sabrina beamed and said "How y'all doin'?"
After a collective 'Okay' Sabrina went back to the compartment she, Kaylee, and some other girl shared. "Hermione will be coming back shortly, and remember, No Talking About What Happen Earlier!" Everyone gave a collective nod and Kaylee left.
Just like Kaylee said Hermione came back about ten minutes later, looking much better.
"Hey Hermione!" Sarah greeted her. "Would you mind explain the whole 'house' situation to me? I asked the boys to do it, but now I'm even more confused than I was before."
Hermione laughed and was relieved that the topic of conversation wasn't something that had to do with her or Harry.
"Well, there are four house Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin." She began to explain.
"Yeah I got that. But they said that your house is chosen by what type of personality you have and what kind of person you are. So what do you like take a test or something? And how are they sure you won't lie?"
"No it's not a written test, you put on the Sorting Hat. It's an enchanted wizard's hat that can look into your mind and decide what house you belong in."
"Ohhh," Sarah said. "And what are the personalities for each house?"
"Well that all goes back over a thousand years ago to the founders of Hogwarts. There was Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor, and Salazar Slytherin. Gryffindor said he'd teach only the bravest witches and wizards, Ravenclaw said she'd only teach those with the sharpest minds, Salazar said he'd only teach the wizards with the purest blood, and Hufflepuff said she'd teach anyone that want to learn the arts of witchcraft and wizardry. Together they founded Hogwarts and since then their houses have held only those that it's founder would've thought fit for them to teach."
"So basically, if your brave you'll be put in Gryffindor, if your smart you'll be in Ravenclaw if you're a pure blood you'll be put in Slytherin, and everyone else goes to Hufflepuff?"
"Well, yes, but there are also other things that will contradict the decision." Hermione continued. "For example Slytherins are very prejudice towards anyone who isn't a pure blooded wizard. So if your brave, but you have that deep rooted hate for muggle born witches or wizards, then you'll be put in Slytherin."
"That makes sense."
"I bet Adelle will be put in Slytherin!" Said Ron not realized what he'd just said.
There was a silence and then Hermione added, "Ihope she is," and smiled. Conversation was light and enjoyable for the rest of the ride. Then, they all arrived in Hogsmead and got ready for another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.