Chapter 2
Dear Ginny,
Guess what! According to my professor, sixteen students from your school get to come to mine! Hopefully you get in with that number; it would be so amazing to finally meet you. Sorry this letter's so short, and lacking in the detail department, but my mum just got back from the marketplace with more Muggle things (I swear, she's obsessed) and she's going to make me help her take them apart. Sounds like your father, doesn't it?
Another reason I'm a little sketchy on the details is that I'm actually not allowed to tell you everything my headmistress told my friends and me. I think it has something to do with your older brother though, Ronald I think his name was. Anyway… until I write next time. Farewell!
Neferemu Sitbastet (Emma)
The half goddess smiled at her handiwork and shifted her right hand into the paw of a lynx before pressing it into the ink and stamping it onto the front of the envelope, as she always did, and placed her letter into it. She sealed the back with blue wax and pressed the symbol of Bastet into it."Neferemu!" her mother called from the kitchen. "Come help your On in the kitchen my little Emu!"
Emma laughed slightly as she walked over to her raven's cage and took out the black bird.
"Midnight, I need you to take this to Ginny Weasley, she's at Hogwarts now so be quick about it." Emma instructed her raven, who ruffled her feathers in response.
Emma held out her arm and let Midnight jump onto it. She took the letter into her beak and spread her wings, disappearing in a ball of fire.
"Coming On!" Emma called, rushing down the stairs with one last look at her penpal's photo on her desk.
Hogwarts…It was around eight o'clock at night at the school, classes had started that day and, as usual, Hermione was the only one out of the trio who hadn't gotten homework that night.
Ginny was looking through a book on Egypt that she had taken out of the library that day in the Common room, even though she should have been working on her homework. Harry was there too, working on his homework; Ron and Hermione were at a perfects meeting for some reason.
The redhead's thoughts were broken, however, by a crash behind the couch she was sitting on.
"That bird just appeared in front of my face!" Lavender shrieked.
She was pointing to a black raven with a letter in its beak, as it was perched on the back of a chair. Ginny stifled a laugh as she held out her arm and whistled. Midnight flapped her wings and soon landed on the witch's arm, dropping the letter into her lap.
Ginny was about to open it when Ron and Hermione came bursting into the Common Room. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten about the raven and went back to what they were doing beforehand.
"Guess what?" Hermione said, taking a seat opposite from Harry as Ron sat beside her.
"What?" Harry asked, happy to get a break from his homework.
"All the perfects in the school get to be exchange students. For two weeks!" Ron said, trying to keep his excitement to himself.
Harry looked crestfallen, but he tried to cover it up with a fake smile. "That's great, where're you going?"
"I'll tell you in a few seconds," Hermione said, waving off his question. "I've got to tell you something else. Everyone gets to bring along one friend, so Ron's going to bring you, and I'm going to bring Ginny."
At the sound of her name, Ginny walked over to the trio with the raven perched onto her shoulder. "Where are we going?"
Ron ignored his little sister's question and narrowed his eyes at the letter in her hand. "Who's that from, Ginny?"
"None of your business." Came the reply as Ginny took the seat beside Harry and opened up the letter.
Her brown eyes scanned over the letter quickly, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped.
"What's wrong, Gin?" Hermione asked, seeing the look on the young girl's face.
"What school are we going to?" Ginny asked, not taking her eyes off the letter.
"Nile's Edge Boarding School for the Gifted, why?" Ron replied, looking at his little sister with narrowed eyes.
Ginny's eyes, if possible, went even wider as she emitted a shrill squeal and clapped her hands together a few times.
"That's the same school Emma goes to!" She stated happily.
Ginny looked up to Midnight, who was getting ready to take off. The others watched in amazement as the raven spread her wings and disappeared in a ball of fire.
"Who's Emma and where'd the bloody bird go?" Ron asked, looking at the spot on Ginny's shoulder with wide eyes where the bird had been seconds before.
Ginny just smiled and took something else out of the envelope. It was a photo of six people, three guys were at the back of the picture with strange looking outfits on and three girls were in the front in even stranger outfits.
"You three had better study up on your Arabic and Ancient Egyptian history." Ginny stated as she made her way towards the girl's dormitories. "Because half the population of the school are gods and goddesses in training."
Not even looking back to see their reactions, the young witch walked up the stairs with her book, letter and picture in hand.
………………Ginny had somehow succeeded to avoid the trio's questions for the next few days, but on Thursday, Hermione had accomplished her mission and cornered her in the library.
"Who is Emma and how'd you manage to meet her?" Hermione demanded, getting straight to the point.
"I really don't see what the big deal is with me having a penpal in Egypt." Ginny replied, looking through the bookshelves.
"Then what is the big deal in telling me?" Hermione questioned.
Ginny sighed as she took a thick book off of the shelf and sat down at the table behind her.
"Well, first off, Emma isn't her real name. It's Neferemu."
Ginny glanced over at Hermione, who had taken the seat opposite her, and laughed at her expression.
"Neferemu means Beautiful Cat in Ancient Egyptian, she told me."
"But why is her name Ancient Egyptian?" Ron asked as he and Harry came out from behind the shelf and sat down.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Because her mother is Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess. Nile's Edge is a school for gods, goddesses, wizards, witches and officers in training." The trio's eyes opened wide. "Emma contacted me during the first year through a crystal ball, we've been penpals ever since."
"Hold on a second, how did you do that in your first year?" Harry asked, confused.
Ginny didn't answer him as she opened up the book in front of her; it was an entire book on Nile's Edge.
"The school was opened even before Mr. Ollivander's shop opened. It has four houses, just like ours. When are we going anyway?"
Hermione's eyes went wide as she realized something. "What day is it today?"
"Thursday," Harry replied slowly.
Both Ron and Hermione looked at each other.
"Bloody hell, we're leaving tomorrow morning!" Ron stated.
The group of four quickly left the library, after Ginny checked out the book of course, and headed up to their dormitories to pack.
Friday Morning, Nile's Edge…Isis looked over the four students in front of her, one perfect from each house.
"So, you want us to use our magic to get to Hogwarts, then use our magic again to get them to the train station before it leaves Cairo?" Wosret questioned.
He had on his school uniform on, consisting of loose blue pants and a white robe, with Sekhmet's symbol on the back, a small golden hoop hanging from his right ear and, like everyone in the school, he had a pair of sturdy brown leather sandals on.
Ramses, a pure blooded god-in-training, sneered at Wosret. He too had on his school uniform; similar to Wosret's, only he had a bright red pleated kilt and a robe with a green dragon on the back.
A small girl with a simple green, spaghetti-strap dress on and grey robes with the symbol of the goddess Ma'at, looked at the two with a slightly worried look in her dark blue eyes.
"Don't look so worried, Shakira." Isis assured the young girl. "You're not going to be the only girl there."
The goddess motioned over to the determined looking girl, with a purple dress and black robes, which had the symbol of Thoth on them.
"Now, each of you are going to be responsible for a house. Wosret, make sure that you give these to those from the Gryffindor." Isis instructed, handing her grandson a set of four tickets. "These allow the holder, and their things, to teleport along with you. Ramses, these are for Slytherin. Shakira, for Hufflepuff and Cala, for Ravenclaw."
Once the perfects had the tickets, Isis took symbol from each house out of a drawer in her desk.
"These are the teleporters, also known as portkeys. I've already enchanted them to take you to two places, Hogwarts first, then the train station." The goddess stated, handing out the symbols of the houses to each perfect. "Just hold onto them and say where you're going. Go now, Dumbledore in expecting you."
Wosret, being the only one brave enough to try it first, took a deep breath and held tightly onto the symbol of Sekhmet. "Hogwarts."
With a puff of blue smoke, he disappeared.
"Well, I guess it's safe enough to try out." Ramses stated with a small smirk.
Hogwarts…A few minutes prior to Wosret trying out the symbol, Dumbledore had been explaining to the entire student body what was going to happen over the next two weeks.
As he was telling them of the houses, he waved his hand over to the front and right of him, he said one word. "Sekhmet."
With a puff of blue smoke, Wosret appeared. He was in a slight daze from teleporting, but he quickly shook it off as he stood straight, his arms pressed behind him.
Seconds later, Ramses, Cala and Shakira appeared beside him, with Dumbledore introducing each of them beforehand. Hermione looked at each of them with a curious eye.
"'Mione, we're leaving now." Ron stated, shaking his friend slightly.
Hermione snapped out of her daze and quickly stood up, along with sixteen other students throughout the hall.
"Good luck, and represent us well." Dumbledore said before sitting down once more.
The four from Nile's Edge followed the others out of the room and to the front doors, where everyone's luggage was.
"Who're you?" Draco asked, glaring at Wosret.
"Wosret, of the Sekhmet house." The Egyptian replied, taking out the tickets. "I take it you're going to be a part of the Set house."
Before Draco could say anything, Ramses appeared.
"You from Slytherin?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the group of four in dark green robes. "You look like you're from the Ma'at house."
Wosret rolled his eyes and looked over the crowed, most of which already had their tickets in hand, save for one group of four.
"Are you four from Gryffindor?" Wosret questioned, walking over to them.
"Yes, I'm Hermione Granger, this is Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and his sister, Ginny."
Wosret shook each of their hands in return before handing them their tickets.
"What are these for?" Ginny asked, looking over the blue piece of paper in her hand.
Wosret smirked and held the symbol in his hand. "Just hold onto your luggage and close your eyes."
The four looked at each other strangely before taking their luggage in hand.
"Cairo, the Nile dock." Wosret commanded, once everything was in order in his group.
Blue smoke consumed the ticket holders and the five soon disappeared from the front door of Hogwarts, and appeared on cobblestone dock. Hermione, whose vision was restored first, was in awe at the sight before her.
"Wow," she whispered with her mouth open slightly.
In front of them all was a large dock, then a wide strip of water, then another dock. But it was what was docked at the moment that caused her awe. For in front of them all was a three story high, sandy brown coloured yacht with many different witches, wizards, G.I.T's and O.I.T's.