IMPORTANT!
Yes, I DO include pretty much all the original characters (the trio, Neville, Draco, Snape, etc.) from the books, they just come later in the story. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny even come in the very next chapter. This is just like an introduction for the transfers/new characters that I'm introducing. Please don't let the characters draw you away from the story. That said, please read and review so I can writer more. )
Author's Note: This is a story I'm working very hard on right now - Please read/review with comments/suggestions/no "flames." The title comes from the Cure's infamous song "Just Like Heaven."
Disclaimer: I don't own HP Characters. These are works of JK Rowling. I also don't own "Just Like Heaven" and/or the Cure.
Chapter One -The Bird Hatches
I gulped and looked at my best friend since seventh grade, Violet Marieson. She was nervous too, because she hid her tan but blushing face under her dark hair.
"This is it," I said. We held our breath and stepped through the brick wall.
It wasn't like we were scared of stepping through the wall because we thought we'd hurt ourselves - oh no, that wasn't the case at all. We were nervous because we didn't know what the other side of the wall looked like. We didn't know what the people on that other side of the wall looked like or acted like. All we knew is, we were nervous and new and "stupid Americans."
And now, we were on the other side.
I opened my eyes and saw people bustling about, kids and parents alike crying, and saw owls in cages, hooting to be set free.
"It looks normal..." murmured Violet, furrowing her brow. I laughed, and I had to admit, it did. I felt a little bit better. "Look. There's the R.O.W. lady." She pointed swiftly to a tall woman with long brown who was dressed in a dark brown robe with a R.O.W patch on it. we headed over.
"You do it..." Violet whispered to me. She was the shyest kid I had ever known. Once you got to know her, she was hilarious and friendly though. I nodded at her.
"Hello, ma'am," I said to woman, slightly bowing my head in respect. "We're part of the R.O.W. Program."
"Good, good," said the lady, and she clapped in delight and looked at a notepad and quill floating next to her. "What country?"
"America," I said, smiling. I hope she didn't hate us for that.
She merely nodded and smiled. "What school?"
"Bloodridge Academy."
The quill skidded across the page, writing, "America, Bloodridge Academy: "
"Full names?" she asked, looking at me, and then Violet.
"Juliet Nicole Season." I looked down. My name was odd. My parents, who'd died when I was three, were very "quirky." They thought it would be "nice" if I was named Juliet and I met a "nice boy" named Romeo. They had named my brother Tybalt. They were Shakespeare freaks, of course. And a weird surname like "Season" didn't help or stop the teasing I'd been through as a child.
I looked at Violet. She cringed and said quietly, "Violet Rachel Simmons."
"Yes, yes. I remember you being on the R.O.W. list. What year?"
"Fourth, and she's fifth," I said. She nodded and stepped back, to reveal an open door to a part of the train. Violet and I stepped inside.
We were greeted by a very stern looking woman wearing very traditional pointed witch hat. She stood next to a stool with another pointed hat on it. The hat smiled at us, and I could hear Violet squeal in shock next to me. Her parents were Muggles, so she sometimes jumped at the plainest of things.
"Hello, R.O.W. students," said the woman, smiling a little bit. "I am Proffessor McGonagall. I am a very important part of staff at Hogwarts, and I am here to sort you into the appropriate houses. I hear you were both in the same house at your last school?"
I nodded. "Yes. We were both in the Indigo House."
"Ah. Alice Indigo?"
"Yes, she was the founder of that House, one of the founders of Bloodridge."
McGonagall nodded. "She was friend of Albu- nevermind." She looked away. "That may not be the case here. How were you sorted at Bloodridge?"
"We put our names in a goblet, and the piece of paper with our names on it had the names of our new house on the other side."
"Well here, we try on a hat. The Sorting Hat." She held up the hat and it grinned at us. "You first," she said, looking at me. I stepped forward and she put it on.
The head smelled old, but not foul. I heard it whispering and murmuring to itself. The sound echoed in my ears. "Extemely loyal, you'd make a great Hufflepuff. Yes, very kind and forgiving... but ah, I see great intelligence, perhaps Ravenclaw? No, too warm for Ravenclaw. Very sly! Cunning, sneaky - Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin.. no. Brave. Very, very brave. Outstanding bravery, in fact, therefore - GRYFFINDOR, Proffessor!"
I took the hat off and placed it on the stool and stepped back. Gryffindor - Godric Gryffindor? I'd read about him in my old History book. His sword was said to have been the only one capable of hurting You-Know-Who.
Violet placed the hat on as McGonagall scribbled down "Season, Juliet - Gryffindor," on a sheet of parchment. I heard the hat mumble. "Very shy... but even more, very sly! Extremely confident and cunning - You'd make a wonderful Slytherin, you know? Great things could happen. No? Too reserved and quiet and shy, I suppose? Yes. Perhaps... Hufflepuff! You are a loyal friend... No, not out-there enough. Not Gryffindor, really - not Gryffindor... very smart. Ravenclaw!"
Violet placed the hat down, looked at me in a shocked matter, then frowned, as if to say "We're in seperate houses. Oh, no..."
I nodded and shrugged. Hopefully we'd still have classes together, and we would see each other in the hallways.
McGonagall wrote down her name and house and lead us into another compartment, very large, where four other people sat. Three boys, one girl.
Violet and I sat down on one of the bench-seats and I nodded at the others.
"Hello..." murmured Violet, blushing. Yes, as I have said - She's very shy.
"Americans?" asked a boy with dark brown hair and green eyes. "Your accent. Very faint... American."
I nodded. "Yeah. Russian?" I asked.
"Yes, from Madery's Institution in Russia." He stood up to shake my hand, and I noticed he was very tall - at least six foot five inches. I stood up and accepted his hand, and instead of shaking, he held it up and kissed it. I smiled, and he did the same to Violet, and by then, her face was strawberry-red. He looked at a dirty-blond haired boy with blue eyes. "This is my friend - James. He's third year, also from my school. I am Vlaine, seventh year."
"I'm Juliet, fourth year, and this is my friend Violet," - (more blushing) - "fifth year." He sat down, and the girl stood up, and ironically, she was very short, probably around four foot eight. She had very long black hair then went past her waist, and small almond-shaped bright brown eyes.
"Heylo. I am Sakura." The name and accent told me she was Japanese. "I was a third year at Miwaku in Japan." She sat down and a black-and-yellow-haired, brown-eyed boy around five foot eight inches stood up and shook my hand.
"Nozomu, sixth year, from Miwaku," he said, and he nodded and sat back down.
I sat down and there was an awkward silence, broken by Vlaine. He looked at me. "M'lady, what house were you and your companion sorted into?"
"Gryffindor for me. She got into Ravenclaw."
"Hufflepuff," he said and smiled at me.
"Slytherin," said James, and he nodded.
"Slytherin," whispered Sakura, looking at James.
"Ravenclaw," said Nozomu, looking at Violet, and of course, she blushed again.
Vlaine laughed. "Oh, only Gryffindor." I shrugged. He grinned at me. "Good, of course. I wanted to get into Gryffindor- my heroes were in that very house."
I grinned back at him; "I'll be your new hero, of course." He laughed and began to talk to James.
The compartment began to bustle with conversation and laughter as the train started.
"How are you doing so far, Violet?" I asked, nudging her arm with my elbow.
She cringed a bit but then finally smiled. "I'm okay. Just nervous."
"I bet everyone else is, too," I said. "I mean - who knows what these students will think of us, Vee? It's not like they know about the R.O.W. Project."
She looked at me. "Yeah. I remember. Headmistress Sedna said that it was top secret... Then what do you think we're supposed to tell these kids, then? That we just decided to transfer, despite all the things that had been happening? The R.O.W. is going to change the Wizarding World forever."
I sighed and nodded. "I know, I know... It's going to be awkward, it's going to be difficult. We don't know what lies ahead of us, but we know that we should do our jobs - follow our missions. And our mission is all the same, I think."
"Hatch?" asked Violet.
"Yes," I said. Of course, only R.O.W members could probably know what we meant - We were supposed to use codes when we talked about R.O.W.
"Well, you know..." she murmured, but then she looked towards the doorway, which was now open.
A blond boy and girl stood there, both tall, skinny, and rather elegant - but ice cold, too.
"Hello, fellow transfers," said the girl, grinning. Her icyness was lost; she seemed hyper and childish now. Everyone else looked around while mumruring welcomes - They seemed to have noticed it as well. "I'm Isabelle, a third year Gryfinndor." She was tall for her age, very much so - around five seven or five eight. She looked at least seventeen. "South Africa, Marmalade Academy."
Everyone had heard about Marmalade - It was a new school, twenty or so years old, and the four founders were killed by Death Eaters. Some people believed that someone just took over and the school went back to normal. However, most of Europe and North America believed that the school trained Death Eaters.
"John," said the boy, who was around five foot ten. "Her older brother, fifth year Gryffindor."
Two more Gryffindors?
I suppose that Marmalade students would be Gryffindors - being a Death Eater required bravery, since it was illegal and the tasks were fatally dangerous... but from what I had head, Gryffindor was for the warm of heart as well. So why had they been chosen? When they had walked in, it felt like I was freezing to death under their cold glares. Sly - They had all of a sudden turned kind. So why not Slytherin?
"Hello," said Nozomu, scooting over to make room. He seemed to warm up to them pretty fast - almost trusting them. Maybe even literally trusting them. The rest of us still seemed cold towards her.
Isabelle sat next to Nozomu, and John next to Isabelle. The room grew quiet. The way they acted - They couldn't be part of the R.O.W. Program. And if they were - They obviously did not have enough training.
"Are you going to hatch?" asked Violet, finally speaking up. Peculiar, I know - but it all sounded fine to us R.O.W. transfers.
"What?" asked John, raising an eyebrow.
"You're not hatching?" asked Vlaine, staring at the John and Isabelle.
Isabelle shook her head. "We're not birds..." She looked confused.
"Then what metamorphosis type are you being put through?" asked Sakura, as if almost telling them, "You're a fake."
"Well, I'm human, so I get older..." murmured John.
We dropped the questions and there was dead silence until we reached Hogsmaede and then the school.