Hey Peoples! Thanks to all of my reviewers and thanks especially to Lizzy101 for beta-reading this, even though she sometimes takes forever! LOL! JJK! If any of you are confused as to what year Aureole is being sorted into, it is the sixth year. As for anything else, it should come out in this chapter, that is all so please R&R!

So long and thanks for all the fish!

flyingthoroughbred

Aureole had to walk to the end of the train before she could find a compartment that was empty. She sat down next to the window and stared at the scenery whizzing by. She was soon deep in thought.

'Am I going to make new friends here?' she thought, finally getting a little worried about her new school, 'If everyone in my class is like that tall, gangly, carrot-top then I don't think that I am going to be very welcome. What if they have some hazing ritual for newcomers or something, like the colleges in the States! What am I going to have to do before they will even look at me without whispering?'

'What are you getting so worked up over?' the rational part of her brain asked her, 'I'm sure that the top wizarding school in the world won't have hazing rituals. That is sooo muggle-like.'

'I know, but I can't help but worry,' her troubled side told her.

'Stop that!' her rational part responded, 'You're going to make yourself throw-up! Just think of this as another adventure, a place to reinvent yourself after the embarrassing incident at your old school! You can create for yourself a whole new identity! Just think of the possibilities!'

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted her thoughts, "May I sit here? All of the other compartments are full."

Aureole turned to see the owner of the voice. It was a petite female with bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and creamy skin, and she was dressed in an olive green t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and brown, suede clogs.

"Sure, no problem," Aureole answered, motioning to the seat across from her, "No one else is sitting in here. I'm Aureole Porticolus by the way."

"I'm Hermione Granger," the girl answered, "Aureole…that's an English name, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Aura answered, "My mom's English and my dad's American. She got to pick my name. She's really into Old English names. Something about how romantic they sound."

"Well, that explains it," Hermione answered laughingly, "My mum's the same way. If my dad hadn't named me I would've been something like Magdalene."

"I don't really like being called Aureole, so would you please call me Aura?" Aura asked.

"Sure, Aura. Plus, it's a lot easier to pronounce. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take me to pronounce it correctly," Hermione joked, "Hey! Is that Rebel Angels?" she added after noticing the book on Aura's lap.

"Yeah! I didn't think anyone here would know it."

"I've wanted to get that for months! There's a waiting list three miles long! How'd you get it?"

"My mom's best friend is a publisher, and she gave it to me as a sort of housewarming gift."

"You are so lucky! How is it so far? Is there any more mention of that gypsy guy, what's his name?"

"I don't remember, but not yet, but I'm only on the second chapter. If you read this kind of book you must like Tamora Pierce."

"Yeah! She's one of my favorite authors!"

"I know! Mine too!"

The girls continued on like this for about an hour until two boys walked into the cabin.

"There you two are!" Hermione proclaimed.

Aura looked over at the two boys who had just entered the cabin. One of them was the tall, gangly, carrot-topped boy, whose mother had kindly shown her where the platform was, and how to get onto it. 'What is his name? Why can't I remember his name?' she thought to herself, 'Raymond? No. Roald? No. Ronald? Close. Ron! That's it!'

"Ron, Harry," Hermione said, "This is Aureole Porticolus. She's starting at Hogwarts in our year. She's umm…. Are you muggle born, half-blood, or pure blood?"

"Oh," Aura said, a little embarrassed, "I'm a half-blood; my grandmother was a witch, but my father was a squib and he married a muggle. I guess magic somewhat skipped a generation in my family. Sorry I forgot to mention that before."

"That's alright. Anyway, Ron, Harry, this Aureole Porticolus; Aureole, this is Harry and Ron." Hermione replied indicating both of the boys.

"Hi," Ron said, waving slightly and sitting down next to Hermione.

"Hey," the boy called Harry said, still standing.

Aura looked at him. He had messy black hair that seemed to resist his efforts to smooth it when he ran his hand through it. He had bright green eyes that sparkled with an internal light, but yet showed so much pain, suffering, and loss that she wanted to cry. He was tall: even taller than Aura, by only about an inch. He had a mediumish build and was extremely muscled. As she appraised him, she realized that he was doing the same to her. Blushing she said, "I keep telling Hermione to call me Aura, but she refuses to listen to me."

"That's because you have such a beautiful name!" Hermione said, "Harry, why are you still standing? Sit down! She's not going to bite just because she talks funny."

Harry blushed and sat down next to Aura.

"What do you mean I talk funny? I think it's everyone in this country who talks funny, not me!" she said jokingly.

"Oh whatever!"

"So…Aura. Where did you live before?" Harry asked.

"I lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the States," she answered, "And I went to Aradia School of Magic. It's in Minneapolis."

"Oh! I've heard of that! It's supposed to be the second best school in the world," Hermione squealed. "Only second to Hogwarts itself."

"Speaking of Hogwarts, when will we arrive?" Aura asked Harry.

"In about ten minutes," he answered, "You two better go and get changed."

"Okay," Aura said, grabbing her school robes, as she was pulled after Hermione.

Harry stared after Aura. 'She seems nice,' he thought 'And intelligent and witty and not worried about anything.'

'Don't forget gorgeous!' his gutter-mind yelled at him, 'She's got legs that go on a mile! And those curves!'

'Shut up! I don't even know her that well,' his rational mind told his gutter-mind, 'I shouldn't be thinking thoughts like that!' Ron's voice broke him out of his trance.

"Harry? Harry!" Ron was yelling at him, "What's with you? You've been staring after them for like three minutes!"

"Huh?" Harry said, "Oh. I guess it's just nice for Hermione to have a friend that's a girl."

"Uh-huh," Ron replied, "And it definitely helps matters when her new best friend is hot!"

"Yeah, I guess," Harry mumbled, his thoughts still on Aureole. "Wait a minute," he said, suddenly confused, "Aren't you dating Hermione?"

"Yeah," Ron said as though his best friend were the stupidest person in the world.

"Then why did you just say that about Aureole!" Harry demanded.

"Wow," Ron stated, leaning back against his seat and changing the subject, "You're starting to like her, aren't you?"

"What!" Harry exclaimed, "No! Why would you think that?"

"Because you are acting exactly like me when I first started falling for Hermione."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"NO I'M NOT!"

"Okay! Okay! Fine, you're not!" Ron replied to Harry's sudden outburst, stifling a laugh. When Ron laughed, Harry leapt on him and wrestled him to the ground.

Hermione pulled Aura down the corridor and into the bathrooms at the other end of the train, and promptly pushed her down on the sofa.

"Do you like him?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Like who?" Aura asked, confused.

"Harry, of course!"

"How am I supposed to like him? I don't even know him!"

"Yes, but you think he's cute right?" Hermione persisted.

"Well, yeah. He is really hot," Aura said cautiously, not knowing how much she could trust her new friend.

"Hah! I knew it!" Hermione screeched, bouncing up and down on the sofa.

"Don't tell him! Okay?" Aura said, suddenly worried that Hermione would tell.

"Fine. But if you don't find that you like him, then you are losing a very good man," Hermione answered.

"Right. I will get to know him and I will tell you when I make my decision, okay? Can we get changed now?" Aura told Hermione. They both got changed and headed back to the compartment. They arrived just in time to gather their stuff.

Aura was reaching for Eira's cage when the train screeched to a halt and she was thrown backwards, straight into Harry. They landed with a thump on the floor. Somehow, Aura had twisted around and was now lying on top of Harry. She looked into his sparkling green eyes and once again was overcome with the amount of hurt, pain, and sorrow they showed for a sixteen year-old boy. Yet she saw something else too, love, intelligence, wit, and strength.

Harry was standing behind Aura waiting for his turn to grab Hedwig's cage when the train suddenly stopped and he was thrown backwards, Aura with him. They landed on the floor with a thud and somehow, she had managed to twist around so that she was lying on top of him, her face only two inches from his. He looked into her eyes and thought that it was like looking into a deep, complex forest. There were so many things there: love, hate, anxiety, nervousness, passion, intelligence, wit and yet there was also something else he thought was odd: a need for secrecy and …fear. It was like she had some deep, dark secret that she needed to keep hidden from the world, a secret so terrible that she could never share it with anyone. And that fear. It wasn't just your ordinary, I'm-scared-I'm-going-to-lose-House-Points fear; it was the deep, angst-ridden kind where you are deeply and mortally afraid. This took him aback. 'Why would she feel that?' he thought. He didn't have time to look any further though, because she quickly broke eye contact and got up. He also got up. Ron and Hermione were both standing there, looking at them with pleased looks on their faces. He noticed that Aureole had gotten her snowy owl down and that they were all waiting for him to get Hedwig so they could start getting off of the train. He reached up and got Hedwig off of the shelf and they exited the train.

After she saw the softness in his eyes, she noticed that he was looking into hers also. It was fine for a while; she actually liked that they were staring into each other's eyes, but then, all of a sudden, she felt violated, like he had just penetrated into her innermost soul. 'What is he doing?' she thought. 'Oh no! He's found out!' she thought, horrified and embarrassed, but more horrified. She quickly got off of him and grabbed Eira's cage off of the shelf. Hermione and Ron were looking at them with pleased looks on their faces. Hermione caught her eye as Harry reached for his snowy owl's cage. Her look seemed to say, "I told you so!" but Aura ignored it. When Harry had grabbed his owl's cage, they all left the compartment and exited the train.

So? How was it? Please R&R!

flyingthoroughbred