Author's Note (added 7/5): This chapter has been partially rewritten to help ease confusion. I've also rewritten the last part of the last chapter. I hope this helps. Let me know if it doesn't. Thank you.
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Chapter 5
A Strange New World
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The students were then rushed back into the courtyard, where the sun was dipping below the horizon and a strange chill bit the evening air.
Harry held onto both Hermione and Ron as they were swept near a large golden fountain. Four large tablets had been erected in front of each dormitory, listing names. As soon as a student discovered their name and they found another person to share a room with in that particular building, a gold thread would easily connect the names.
Harry found himself smiling as he saw that both him and Ron were listed on the large board of House of Summoning. As soon as they both agreed that neither one would even want to bunk with anyone else, their names were connected by a golden thread and they joined the growing queue on the steps waiting for the rest of the students to pair off.
Hermione burst through the crowd a few seconds later, a tall redheaded girl in tow. "House of Summoning?" she asked breathlessly.
Ron nodded as he sat on the stairs, wrapping his arms around his knees. Harry leaned against one of the posts holding the grand balcony above them. Hermione turned toward the taller girl. "This is Aura. She's the girl I was recommended to pair up with, so we decided to room together anyway. Aura, this is Ron and Harry. I knew them both from Hogwarts."
"Hello," the girl said, her voice accented, tipping her pale face to both Harry and Ron. Her eyes lit up with interest when she saw the lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead. "You're... him?"
"I guess," Harry said, looking confused as Aura took another step forward, her tumble of curls falling over her shoulders as she stared openly at his scar. He always felt uncomfortable when people stared at it, but for some reason, he was getting the chills when Aura did.
"Harry Potter?" she asked softly, a smile lighting up freckled lips. "It's quite the pleasure to meet you. I thought you were a myth!"
Another group of students were joining them, led by Draco Malfoy. Both of his former thugs, Crabbe and Goyle, were in tow, guffawing stupidly as Malfoy was taunting a group of girls at the base of the stairs. Aura stepped past the stumbling group and greeted the group of girls cheerfully.
"She seems... nice..." Harry said, looking after her.
Hermione shrugged. "I really didn't feel like rooming with either of the Patil twins and I did get a rather lengthy biography on Aura. So, why not?"
"You certainly thought this thing through," Ron said, his own eyes on Aura as she greeted two girls in particular. One had bright red hair somewhat like his own. The other was darker and more exotic, with pale skin and very dark hair.
The doors opened and the students returned to the Great Hall. All of the faculty were lined up, standing behind their ornate chairs, waiting patiently for the students to file in. Although four long tables were lined up, Harry was under the impression they didn't have to follow House rules. He, Ron and Hermione took the table on the far left. As soon as every seat was filled, Professor McGonagall returned with a tall, elderly Wizard by her side.
"I am pleased to introduce you to your new Headmaster," she said kindly. "This is Professor Veylan from the Russian Ministry. He has consented to administer this University for the year. If any of you have any questions or concerns, they should all be addressed to him. I shall let him speak first." She stepped aside and clapped her hands together. The students quickly followed suit.
"Welcome, welcome!" came a feeble and weak, accented voice. "I am pleased to be named as Headmaster of the first International University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England. Before we begin a new year, we have our Welcome Feast. You have all been paired up and your room assignments and class schedules will be handed out to you before you leave this room tonight. All of your belongings will have been transferred to your new room. Feel free to move about the Campus, but be warned, there is a midnight curfew. There are four members from different International ministries that have been asked to serve as live-in advisors per Dormitory. And now, the feast will begin."
The students who weren't used to the Hogwarts style gasped as food and china suddenly appeared on the tables. It was much different than Hogwarts, Harry decided as he noted several different dishes. Aura, who had dragged her friends over to sit near Hermione, had only dished out scallops and a pilaf onto her plate before settling in. Deciding he wanted to try a bit of everything, Harry ladeled curry onto his plate.
Loud bits of conversation began to break out, led by the girl sitting across from Aura and next to Ron. "I, for one, cannot wait to check out this campus," she said, her Irish accent coming through strongly. "Willow," she said, turning to the girl sitting on the other side of her, "do you want to check it out with me?"
"Sure," the girl named Willow said, swallowing a bit of chicken. "It could be fun."
Dinner ended quickly and the students rose as one entity and marched from one building and out into the courtyard. Night had fallen and thousands of stars sparkled overhead. Most of the students walked toward their dormitories. Harry, Ron and Hermione stopped in front of House of Summoning when they noticed Aura along with the two girls she'd sat with at dinner moving into the courtyard and the fountain.
After making certain their things were in their room, Harry and Ron met with Hermione and the three returned to the main building. Instead of walking straight into the Great Hall, they took one of the two large golden staircases arching upwards towards a second balcony. Once there, they found themselves in a long golden hallway, paved with small classrooms. Walking toward the back of the building, they noted there was a tower at the very end, stretching up towards the sky. Large lecture halls were several floors below, behind the Great Hall. There were several large greenhouses and gardens to the left of the tower. And, in the distance, a great golden stadium sat on the peninsula.
After making their way back to House of Summoning, they noticed that one of the Professors had been waiting. "There was a meeting called nearly ten minutes ago," she said, ushering them forward. "On now, come on!"
Once they reached the main room, which resembled their old common room, they sat on the floor and listened as a harried-looking woman approached them. "Welcome to House of Summoning. I am Professor Greta Punti, your new Herbology and Horticulture instructor. I am also the Head of the House of Summoning dormitories. These two men and two women behind me are the new hall directors that will act as Prefects of sorts to make certain you all follow House of Summoning rules. You have all received your new schedules. When you return to your rooms now, you will find campus maps. Classes start at eight, so plan accordingly. The lower levels of the grand tower is where the library is located. I recommend you all start a tour there tomorrow. Now, I highly recommend you go to bed and have a pleasant night."
Harry yawned and turned to Ron, who was stretching. He stood up and extended his hand to Hermione, pulling her to her feet. As she stood up, she noted Aura sitting on one of the leather sofas, another redhead sitting at her side. "I'm on the seventh floor," she said with a sigh as she bustled forward. "I'm going to bed. Have a good night."
They watched as she joined Aura and the other girl and they all swept away.
Ron and Harry made their way to the fourth floor and their small dormitory room again. Once inside, Ron locked the door and switched on the light. Harry removed his wand from his robes and undressed quickly, pulling on his bedclothes. Lifting the schedule he'd tucked inside his pocket, he examined it more closely. "What's your earliest lesson tomorrow?" he asked sleepily.
Ron emerged from his half of the room pulling a shirt over his head. "I think it's a Potions lecture at nine," Ron said, taking his own schedule he'd set on top of his bed and staring at it. "And Practical Defense at eleven."
"Sounds like a good morning," Harry said, folding the paper and laying down, resting his face on his pillow. Ron walked over and switched the lights off before returning to his own bed.
"Could be worse," Ron said sleepily as he climbed into bed. "At least there's no Snape."
And that was worth an entire week free from nightmares alone.
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Willow woke up early the next morning. She quickly dressed, not wanting to wake up Padma Patil, her roommate. Padma was still laying in bed, her pillow covering her head.
Grabbing a new bookbag, she stuffed in a few textbooks and collected both the map and her schedule. After one last, hurried look around, she left, locking the door behind her.
She was one of the first people to walk into the Great Hall, which was a surprise, since it was after seven. She wasn't surprised to see that Keira was already there. Willow joined her, reaching for a plate and a bowl of fruit.
"Good morning!" Keira said brightly as she ate a bit of porridge. "Sleep well?"
"It's amazing how much more comfortable those beds are than my own at home," Willow said with a slight frown as she tipped a bit of vanilla creme onto her fruit before turning back to Keira.
"They are quite comfortable," Keira agreed, reaching for a pot of hot water and pouring herself a mug of tea. "I was just amazed I got any sleep. My roommate seems to be a bit of a party girl." Her eyes suddenly lit up as she remembered something. "Speaking of which, I ran into our old friend Malfoy last night. It seems he has a first name."
"I thought it was just one of names that's so short it sticks," Willow replied with a shrug as she accepted a mug from Keira. "Like Madonna. Or Cher."
Keira's eyebrows knitted as she attempted to figure out who they were. "In any case, Pansy poured herself into bed around three and apparently the girls on the floor were throwing a bit of a party."
"It makes me almost sad that I'm in House of Summoning and not in House of Conjuration," Willow teased as she began eating her breakfast. "It's nearly seven thirty... you'd think that some students would be up and at it now, but not really, I guess."
"I don't even have any lectures until nine," Keira said, quickly checking her schedule. "Potions, yeah."
"I'm almost tempted to see what Potions is like," Willow said, swallowing her fruit and reaching for her mug. "That and Introductory Transfiguration at eleven."
"I have Practical Defense at eleven," Keira replied, setting her schedule aside. Glancing up, her eyes brightened when she noticed Aura walking in, her bookbag bouncing on her shoulder. "Mornin' Aura!"
"Hello you two," she said cheerfully, sitting next to Willow. "Are you as excited as I am about this?"
"Certainly," Willow said, pushing the grapes around on her plate. She and Keira exchanged a slight smile. Aura continued rambling as she pulled out the Potions text and began to look through it. By the time eight o'clock rolled around, the Great Hall was crowded with students. Aura's roommate, Hermione, joined them with two boys, whom she introduced quickly as Harry and Ron. Soon, four other boys and two other girls joined Hermione's party and Willow decided she'd had enough.
Rising, Keira and Willow made their way toward the lecture halls, taking in the great beauty of the golden hallways lined with moving portraits. Willow was startled at first, but it was slightly neat to see them. Once they'd reached their lecture hall, they entered it.
It filled up slowly within the next forty minutes. By nine, every seat was full. There were exactly two hundred students in this single hall.
Their new instructor, Professor Crieux, walked across the small stage and stood at the podium. But he wasn't alone. A second Professor walked in behind him. He was tall and wore long black robes, which billowed as he strode out across the wooden floor. He turned to the class and scowled.
Professor Crieux quickly introduced him in his heavy Hungarian accent. "I wish to introduce you to Severus Snape, Professor of Potions at Hogwarts. He will be assisting me throughout the semester in teaching you the very latest in Potions and Antidotes."
Professor Snape was sneering now, his dark eyes sweeping over the large class.
"Now, if you'll remove your textbooks, 'Potions and Antidotes of the Modern Age' and turn to Chapter 1, we shall begin lecture. Please be sure you've read..."
As he continued, Harry began to tune him out. He was stunned that Snape had shown up. He was still standing next to the podium, his lip curling in distate as he focused on familiar faces in the sea of students. Professor Linden Crieux was already lecturing on the essentials of Potions creating. He noted that some of the students were staring at them with completely blank looks on their faces. He spotted two near the front. One had short red hair and a friendly, open face. She appeared to be copying down every word Crieux was saying. The girl next to her had dark hair that hung in her face. She, too, was copying notes, occasionally glancing at the notes of the girl sitting next to her.
After nearly forty minutes of introduction, Professor Crieux stopped speaking and turned to Professor Snape. He started speaking about the levels of creating Potions. In the middle row, Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously as Snape continued talking even as the bell above them tolled. Finally, after five minutes of students trying to catch his attention by shoving books in their bags, he dismissed them, but not before telling them to select a book from their reading list and read it before next class.
Ron groaned next to him as they trudged out of class. "A whole book? Maybe Hermione's more into that, but the thought of reading an entire book..."
From what Harry could hear of the other students, they thought the same way.
Practical Defense was next. As they made their way to another room on one of the lower levels, Hermione was staring at her book list, attempting to decide which book to read first. "I think perhaps reading Levels of Potion Development: A Guide to Advanced Potions would be suitable," she decided, sticking her list back in her bag. She bit her lip and stared at a large, illuminating clock above them. "We have nearly a half hour. I'm going to run to the library and get it."
Ron and Harry looked at each other and grinned. This was their Hermione speaking.
As soon as she left them, the two sat outside their classroom and stared at the very large textbook for Potions. They were soon joined by the girl that had been introduced to them as Keira. With her was Pavrati Patil and Lavender Brown. All three of them were discussing Advanced Potions and giggling madly as they sat on a bench outside the classroom.
"Hey Harry! Hey Ron!"
Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, their former fellow Gryffindors, had arrived. Both Harry and Ron greeted the three as they joined them. Out of the three, only Neville had been in their Potions class.
The past two years had been kind to Neville. His round, friendly face was the same, but his demeanor had changed. He was still has forgetful as ever - in fact, he showed up to Potions at least five minutes after the first bell - but he stood straighter. His eyes were more direct and focused. And he seemed more confident.
"I can't wait to see what this class is about," Dean said enthusiastically as he sat down across from Ron. "I wish Lupin was teaching it," he added, looking slightly put out. "I wonder who this new guy is."
"He wasn't introduced at dinner," Seamus added, looking confused. "I know, because although all the seats were filled, no one was named as Practical Defense instructor."
"As long as it isn't Snape," Harry said, shaking his head. "It was bad enough he had to show up for Potions."
"He... teached Potions?" Seamus asked, his eyes wide.
Neville nodded. "Apparently he's just a guest speaker."
"That won't ever turn out well," Ron scowled. "Can you just imagine him taking that class over? All of us would fail."
Harry chuckled dryly. "Too bad he still has Hogwarts to worry about."
"Too bad," Seamus agreed.
"How about a game of Exploding Snap?" Ron asked suddenly, pushing the Potions text aside. The boys all agreed and they'd soon settled into a good game.
On the bench, Keira was sitting alone, as both Parvati and Lavender had moved on to another group of giggling girls. She watched them, almost pensively, before turning to look at five boys involved in a game on the floor. She laughed inwardly. They weren't playing poker, at least, the game she knew anyway. This appeared to be a stranger game and when the cards exploded, she gasped, bringing a hand to her throat.
"Where is your shadow?"
The cold voice had announced the arrival of Draco Malfoy and his usual crowd of friends. Keira's roommate, Pansy Parkinson, held onto Draco's hand, her slightly pug face full of smug delight. Keira longed to punch it out of her, but held back. "Who are you talking about?" she asked, trying to sound as though she hadn't the faintest idea.
"Little Red," Draco said, his eyes narrowing.
"Willow?" Keira gasped in surprise. "You know, you could actually use her name."
Draco shrugged, his attention already diverted to the five males, who were already gathering their things. The door to the classroom had opened. Draco charged forward, ignoring Keira and running smack into Hermione, who'd been running from the Library, her arms full of books. When they collided, the books scattered everywhere. Pansy shrieked with laughter and kicked a few of them toward the opposite end of the hallway. Hermione appeared calm, instead of flustered and walked over, picking them up one at a time.
Abandoning her own bag, Keira retreated down the hall and collected the last two books, returning them to Hermione. The shorter girl seemed almost touched as she accepted them with a mild, "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Keira said, collecting her bag and following her into Practical Defense.
Across campus, in a tiny classroom on one of the upper levels, Willow stepped inside her Introductory Magics class. There were maybe twenty other students and a very grumpy looking man in long, black robes. He waved her in and magically sealed the door behind her with his wand. "Right on time," he said, waiting for Willow to sit down before he charged into his lecture.
"I'm Percy Weasley and I'll be your instructor for Introduction to Magic." As he continued babbling, Willow's gaze searched the room. Even though there were maybe twenty other students, they were all paying rapt attention to the young Professor. "I will now call roll," came his sharp voice. Willow glanced up and saw that his eyes held disapproval. She blinked as he started calling names, a small smile on his face as though he were dying to reach hers.
As soon as he called her name, she put up a timid hand and called, "Here." He didn't do anything of the sort except stare at her with sullen eyes before he finished calling roll. Once he set the parchment aside, he asked them to take out their textbooks, turned around, and lifted his wand. The chalkboard was suddenly filled with instructions and their first assignment. Willow pulled out her new homework planner and quickly jotted down the assignments before turning to the text. He had asked they read the Introduction in silence and she wanted to do so without managing to piss him off again.
After spending the first twenty minutes of class reading the Introduction, Professor Weasley stepped over again and this time, he had another agenda. "Now, you know a bit about what the class will be about. It's your turn, now. I would like each of you to tell us a little bit about yourselves. You can tell us your name, where you're from and your experiences with magic."
Willow winced. This was his form of torture, for sure. As soon as the shy-looking boy next to her sat down, Willow found herself rising on watery legs. "Hi, I'm Willow Rosenberg." She paused. "I'm from Sunnydale, California. My experience with magic has been limited. I've used it to help my friends out and the biggest thing I've ever done with it is to restore someone's soul." She sat down again. She didn't look up until Professor Weasley let them go.
"Miss Rosenberg, could I have a word?" he asked, sorting through a stack of parchment and miscellaneous folders on his desk. He appeared to be slightly concerned and gestured at his chair for her to sit in. She sat, crossing her legs.
"You seem to be the only American in my class," he said, finally finding a folder he was looking for and opening it. "This is actually the transcript your high school was nice enough to send over. From what I can tell, you have had no magical experience."
"I'm a wicca, self-taught," Willow defended herself. "I may have only done a few things..."
"You restored someone's soul," Percy argued, turning to her. "And I have a letter here from Delores Umbridge saying that she was delighted you were coming to this school. I have no right to interfere in your life, but I know what it's like to be pulled away from anything you know."
"You don't know it like I do," Willow said, keeping her voice calm, although inside she was burning. It wasn't anger and it really wasn't humiliation either. It was something else. Agitation maybe, or irrateness.
He glanced at her and set her file aside. "I just want you to know that if you have any problems in my class, you're more than welcome to ask for any help. Any of the Professors are here to help. Most of the students in this class have had Magic before. You have not. If you need any help, again--"
"--I'll come and talk to you," Willow said quickly, grabbing her bag and standing up. "Thank you. I need to go now." The bell above them had rung.
"You probably want to get down to lunch," he said, glancing at her again. "Remember..."
"Yeah, yeah," Willow said, twirling a finger nonchalantly in the air. "I get it. Thanks, Professor Weasley."
As she walked out of the room, Percy stared after her. "Please," he called after her, "call me Percy."
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Chapter 6 - Practical Defense.
Author's Note (7/5):
For those of you who said that Willow was written wrong, I hope this changes your mind. The only reason she was put in as a shaky person was because I wanted to show how far she was from home. It's harder here for her because she doesn't know anyone and she's only started being friends with others. I don't know how to really say it. Not to mention the fact she probably feels a little inadequate at listening to others talk about their magical talents. I don't know.
I hope this was better. I promise I'll definitely try and make it better from here on out. Although I changed the names of the Houses again, I'll be using both versions, because one is a dubbed name of another. This is how my college actually sorted its students and since I really don't know of the British way, well... hell.