Chapter One - A Way to Begin
Disclaimer - I do not own any of JK Rowling's charcters, places, etc. The rest unrecognizable as JK Rowlings are mine or real.
For Boone and Red
"Sarah get a grip! You're starting to freak me out."
"But I have a good reason! We're going to Hogwarts! To London! No more drab America!" Sarah exclaimed, punching the air. Leslie rolled her eyes while Gianna and Sarah did a victory dance in the middle of the airport. The three young women were indeed off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were transferring over from one of the American magic schools, Stonewell, as part of the foreign exchange student program. They were to take place of three other girls in their year that would in turn go to Stonewell.
Sarah turned to the glum Leslie, "Aren't you excited?"
"No."
"I forgot you have to leave your boyfriend Hunter behind." The trio burst into laughter at the old joke. All of a sudden Gianna turned sharply to the right pulling Leslie and Sarah with her.
"Wha-"
"This way," Gianna interrupted Sarah as they entered gate 17. "London here we come!"
9 hours and 34 Oreos later Sarah, Leslie, and Gianna departed the plane in London. They claimed their trunks and left the airport to the rainy streets.
"Which way to the Leaky Cauldron?"
Leslie turned to Sarah, "Why don't you look at the map?"
"I've got it. We need to go right and keep heading straight until we see it." Gianna said pointing right; she then started to walk in that direction. Leslie and Sarah exchanged glances, then opened the door of a cab in front of them.
"Where to ladies?" The cab driver asked, glancing in the rear view mirror at the giggling teens.
"Just-drive-straight!" Sarah said between laughs. The cab driver nodded and the car pulled away from the airport.
"Bloody hell!" The driver slammed the brakes throwing Sarah and Leslie forward. "Who does this girl think she is?"
Extricating herself from the floor Leslie looked around the cad driver's head. "Red! She's with us." Sarah looked up, pushing the hair out of her eyes to see Gianna standing in the middle of the street. She came around the side of the taxi and hopped in.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Tom the bartender told the girls as they stepped through the archway into Diagon Alley. "Flourish and Blotts is straight ahead on the left, you can't miss it."
"Thanks Tom!" Leslie shouted back as they were jostled into the large crowd. The streets were full of young witches and wizards with their parents collecting the needed items for school. The girls weaved through the crowd, pointing out random shops to each other and comparing it to their own "Diagon Alley" in America.
"Oh look – the Magical Menagerie. We must stop here!" Sarah headed into the store with Leslie and Gianna following.
"Just make it quick, we need to meet our host in ten minutes."
"Don't worry Leslie it won't take long."
In America witches and wizards did not use owls for mail, instead they used toasters. In coming to England the girls were excited to finally purchase their own owls. The shop was dark and cramped from floor to ceiling with cages full of all sorts of different animals. The trio made their way over to the owls, looking over each one and reading the cards attached to each cage detailing how well each owl could carry mail.
"This one's really nice Sarah." Leslie was pointing to a large barn owl.
Sarah shook her head, "I want something small, like this little guy!" A small round ball with eyes that covered his whole head peered at the girls from behind a book on owls Sarah reached out and the tiny owl hopped onto her finger. She stroked its head as the small animal chirped happily. Turning Sarah saw Gianna holding a cage of a silvery white owl with black specks, and Leslie holding a small black owl with grey stripes. They paid for their new mail carriers then left to meet their hosts.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ginny Weasley." The girls found themselves standing in front of a girl with wavy brown hair and another girl with bright red hair and freckles. "We went ahead and got all of your books you'll need at they are already at the burrow were we'll be staying. Is there anything else you need before we leave?" The girls shook their heads. "All right then, let's go." They headed down the street and entered a shop labeled Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"They have the best joke stuff, plus the owners are my older brothers." Ginny told Leslie as they walked in.
"If it isn't our dearest sister!"
"I'd have to say we're the 'deer'est ones Fred!" The group looked up to see two large deer heads mounted on the wall addressing them.
"George you indeed are right!" The heads dissolved into laughter, "Talking deer heads, 25 galleons a pair!" Fred and George appeared behind them, "You must be the foreign exchange students."
"Tell me, how does our merchandise compare with Americas?" Asked George as he draped his arm around Gianna and lead her off to chat with Fred following eagerly.
Ginny rolled her eyes but looked happy to see her twin brothers, "I'll go rescue her."
Sarah shook her head, "Don't worry about her, she'll be fine."
Ginny didn't look convinced. "Whatever you say. There's a fireplace in the back we can use to floo." Ginny led them into a back room and within the flames they arrived at the burrow (Hermione apparated with the trunks). Leslie and Sarah stepped out of the large fireplace in the kitchen taking in the unusual home.
"Look at this clock!" Leslie exclaimed, her eyes following the two hands labeled Fred and George from work to traveling to home. Fred apparated right behind Leslie, scaring her. Gianna then came out of the fireplace, followed by George.
"I'll show you your room." Ginny said, eyeing Fred and George's odd expressions. Sarah, Leslie, and Gianna followed her upstairs into Percy's old room. It was small with three camp beds squashed into it. "It's not much but you'll only be here two nights plus those beds are comfy. We'll be outside." With that Ginny followed Hermione back down the stairs.
Leslie walked to the door, closed it, and for safety put a silencing charm on the room. "Red, what's going on between you and George?" Gianna pulled her trunk onto a camp bed and pulled out her school books. Leslie glanced at Sarah then sat down next to her. "I know you heard me."
"Don't deny it Gianna, you had a 'connection' with him." Sarah closed the book on the smiling Gianna's lap. Both Leslie and Sarah stared at Gianna, waiting for a reply. Yet Gianna continued smiling, ignoring the other girls. Leslie let out an exasperated sigh while Sarah stood up and looked out the window.
"Quidditch!" Grabbing her broom Sarah raced out the bedroom door.
Leslie shook her head, "What a freak." She grabbed her broom as well though and turned to Gianna, "You coming?"
Gianna reached for her broom, "I guess."
"Shoot it!" Ginny yelled at Sarah who was flying towards a goal. Sarah threw the ball (a soccer ball acting as the quaffle) and it flew over Gianna's head before she could react. The girls had gone outside to find Fred, George, Ginny, Harry and Ron trying to play quidditch with unmatched teams. So Sarah joined Ron, Ginny, and George on the Scalawags team and Leslie and Gianna joined Harry and Fred to make the Carpetbaggers. Having only a soccer ball and one bludger they decided for each team to have two chasers, one beater and one keeper. Gianna retrieved the soccer ball and threw it to Harry who in turn passed it to Fred. Ron, the keeper for the Scalawags, flew back and forth in front of the two trees (acting as goalposts) trying to guess which way Fred was going to shoot. Fred faked to the right and shot loft making the goal.
"The scores even!" Yelled Hermione from the ground where she kept score. "80 to 80!" Ron fetched the ball and waited for Ginny or Sarah to become open. For minutes the players struggled to make any headway. Then a bludger hit by Leslie found Ginny's broom, knocking her to the ground. Ginny's scream distracted Harry letting Sarah fly around him to catch Ron's pass. Three blurs passed Leslie as Sarah, followed closely by Fred then Harry, raced towards the other end. Ginny, having recovered, followed closely behind. It seemed that all of Harry and Fred's attention was on Sarah that they had forgotten about Ginny. As Fred went to steal the ball Sarah dropped it, and for a moment all went still as every eye watched the ball drop. Then Ginny was there catching the ball and the game was back in motion. Ginny launched the ball, but a bludger hit again by Leslie distracted her and Gianna easily saved the ball. She threw it back into play and Harry took it, streaking back towards the other end. Sarah shot after him trying to get close enough to steal the ball. She reached out but at that moment Harry passed it to Fred. Ginny attempted to steal it but the ball was again passed to Harry.
"George!" Ginny's voice rang out across the field, "Get your head in the game!" George, who had been previously chatting with Gianna, took his bat and hit the bludger towards the other end of the field. Meanwhile Sarah intercepted the ball as Harry attempted to pass and she was now rapidly flying back towards the Carpetbagger's goal. Sarah passed it to Ginny who tried to shoot but was blocked by Harry. Ginny flew back and passed the ball to Sarah who almost collided with Fred forcing Sarah to rollover on her broom. She went right, was about to shoot but faked it to Ginny. Immediately Ginny shot, catching Gianna off guard. Reacting quickly Gianna flipped forward off her broom, caught the ball and landed back on her broom. The Carpetbaggers erupted into cheers but the game hadn't been won yet. Gianna hurled the ball to Fred who dodged Ginny and passed it to Harry. Sarah caught the ball but was bumped by a bludger and dropped it. Harry seized the ball, and flew towards the Scalawags goal where Ron was waiting.
"Ron, watch out!" Fred yelled, "There's a spider right above your head!"
Ron shook his head and kept his eyes on Harry, "I'm not falling for that."
"No, there really is a spider there." Ron hesitated, and Harry took that moment to shoot. He tried to reach out but Ron was too late.
"GOAL! Carpetbaggers win 90-80!" The carpetbaggers cheered and took a victory lap around the field.
Sarah landed on the ground next to Ron, shaking her head. "What I want to know is how they managed to beat us when we have the two real chasers on our team." Ginny shrugged and trudged inside.
"There'll be no living with them after this. Both Harry and Fred got goals past me." Ron hung his head and sighed, "I don't think Harry will let me be keeper again this year."
Hermione came over and put her arms around Ron. "You know that's not true Ron."
Sarah nodded in agreement, "Yea, and you could always ask Gianna for some tips, She's been playing since she could ride a broom."
End of chapter one
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