XIV

Culture Shock

Severus was not by nature a very absent minded man; and perhaps had Jennifer not been so far behind in her work, he would have recalled that there was something important he had to discuss with her, despite the voices in the back of his head arguing about what the best way to stir the cauldron in front of him was.

But even without stopping for lunch, the two of them were hard pressed to have it all done in time and were still cleaning up when the sound of a train horn blew in the distance. Jennifer immediately dropped to the floor, blowing her hair out of her face.

"I'm done. No, I mean it, I'm really done. I don't think I'm going tonight, Severus…"

"Oh, no, you don't. I can't let you get out of it now, you promised," Severus said, pulling her back to her feet. "Wash up and straighten your hair, and let's head to the Hall. You'll regret it if you don't go," he said, using his wand to put the finishing touches on the room.

"Oh, honestly, Severus, it's just another Sorting. I'm so tired I don't even care about the nightmares anymore. Can't you just tell me about what happens in the morning?"

"No, I'm afraid not. There are already things I probably should have told you already, but you'll be finding out soon enough…no, none of that, there will be time enough to fish my mind later, not that you could hear anything above the noise that's in it now. Go get ready, or I'll drag you to the Great Hall as you are," Severus threatened in a tone that let Jennifer know he was quite serious.

Of course, part of him regretted not having the opportunity to tell her sooner, but it was far too late for that now. For above he knew that the first of the coaches were about to arrive, and at the boat docks first years were getting settled into place…including his young new ward.

Fortuna Conejo might as well have been on an entirely different planet let alone a different country, for after stepping out of the airplane, she found herself being ushered into a flying car.

"Now, don't worry," said a cheerful elderly man, who in Lucky's opinion could have easily fit into the social worker category as far as looks. "This is my new improved version. See? It's an actual Honda."

A spark of both pride and mischief was in his eyes, but before Lucky could figure out something nice to say instead of what she was really thinking, the car started with a jolt. At an alarming speed, they turned a corner and then suddenly went straight up at an angle like a rocket! Lucky got knocked back into her seat, feeling her face pressed backwards until the car finally righted itself over the clouds and Lucky began to cuss fervently under her breath in surprise.

"Sorry? I'm afraid I don't know um…whatever it is you're speaking, so you'll just have to stick to English. I suppose I should have brought Alex along…Snape's eldest daughter, you'll get along well with her, I imagine, but I'm afraid there's no time to stop and chat with her. I have to get you to the train," Arthur explained.

"Train?" Lucky echoed nervously.

"The Hogwarts Express, of course. I would take you all the way out there myself, but the Headmaster was quite explicit…just as well, I suppose. He probably doesn't want your ties with him to become too well known too soon, and I must admit the Minister of Magic would probably have my hide if he knew I actually got this thing working again. You see, there's this silliness with Muggles putting computers in fuel injectors these days that doesn't quite gel with….ah yes, I was afraid of that. Do you hear it?"

"Hear what?" Lucky asked quickly.

"The magic not gelling. I think we're going to be in for a rough landing," he admitted as green ooze began coming out from under the hood. Lucky immediately reached for her seatbelt, growing even more nervous when Arthur did the same.

The car began to shake violently, and despite Arthur's best efforts to ease the car down, it began to nosedive like a bird struck by shot. He began shouting instructions out to her, but she couldn't really hear it over her own screaming as they fell out of the clouds and straight towards the station as if they were going to bomb it. Arthur jerked the wheel to the right to try and straighten it onto the tracks and Lucky closed her eyes, bracing herself for impact. It seemed to take forever…in fact, she was sure they should have hit the tracks by now…she was so disoriented that she was not quite prepared for the point they finally did crash. The sound of bending metal was all around her, and she was quite sure that she would never make it to Hogwarts. But then the noise stopped, and the rumbling eased, and she timidly opened an eye to find a bag in her face.

Arthur pushed his airbag down to look at her.

"All right?" he said, helping her with hers. "No bones broken? Not a scratch? I'm so glad I reinforced the frame with a charm or two, although a bit of luck never hurts. And see where we are! Well, at least I know there's no way possible you're going to miss the train."

Lucky looked out the window to see how his optimism played out in reality, and when she did, she couldn't help but let out a groan, for they had literally landed on the baggage car of the Hogwarts Express. Excited handlers were even now shouting up at them while hundreds of eyes were staring openly at her as she got out.

"Madre de Dios! I think I was safer living in New York," Lucky murmured to herself, prying her suitcase loose.

"It's all right, we're perfectly fine…the car's a bit totaled, but, well, it's health that matters. Now, I'll have these dents ironed out on the coach, don't you worry," Arthur called down to the crowd. Just then, a dark girl in her late teens and wearing Slytherin robes suddenly rose up on her broom stick, looking over the situation with speculative black eyes before shaking her head.

"You're lucky my father dropped me off early. He would have been spitting fireballs, you know…"

"Yes, it is fortunate…ah, thank you, Mary, would you see the young lady down while I see to things up here? Ah, Cedric! Thank you," he said to the lanky brown-haired boy grabbing the bags. "This is Lucky Conejo, from New York…this is Mary Malfoy and Cedric Potter, Head Students at the school."

"You're a long way from home," Mary commented as the girl tried to figure out how to get on behind her. "I'd put your weight on your thigh, if I were you. Come on, it's not all that far to the ground."

"The ground would be a welcome place right now," Lucky said and Mary grinned at her then floated them down.

"That was wild! I've never seen anything like that before!" a young red-haired girl said. "Granddad really flipped out this time, didn't he, Tim?"

"Wait until Grandma hears," an older red-haired boy said.

"Well, that car didn't last long, did it?" said another with brown hair but very similar facial features. "We told him not to mess with those computerized engine contraptions. Old people never listen."

"Just who are you, anyhow?" the red-haired boy asked.

"This is Conejo, from New York," Mary said, touching her arm. "These are more Weasleys, and they're just as balmy as their grandfather."

"Hey!" they protested as a group.

"Uh oh, look sharp, Auror Snape is here. Called by the train engineers, I imagine," the brown-haired boy said, glancing through the crowd. Lucky didn't know what an Auror was, but looked intently out for Severus, hoping he would rescue her from all of this, or at least take her home. But as it turned out, it was indeed Aurelius who was coming towards them, gaping at the car for a long time before shaking his head and shouting at Arthur to get down and talk.

"Don't worry," Cedric said in Lucky's ear. "Snapes and Weasleys have been friends for years. In fact, Arthur helped take care of them when they were young…Auror Snape isn't likely to take him in or anything."

"Take him in?"

"For altering a Muggle invention, of course," Cedric said, watching as Arthur climbed down to talk to Aurelius. "Come on, let's go over, just in case. I can get my Dad to intervene if necessary," he added, pulling Lucky along with him. Mary quickly followed along, and the Weasleys as well, ready to stand up for their grandfather if needed. Another young boy in first year robes was standing next to Aurelius, watching curiously as the others approached.

"I am sorry, Rel, but time was of the essence," Arthur explained. "Her plane was delayed…I'm sure you know how unreliable those Muggle things are, although fascinating too…Just how do they manage to fly without…"

"Now, let's not get off the subject. So her plane was late? Who's this 'her' you refer to?" Aurelius asked.

"Well, Lucky, of course, who else? He had to get back to the school, so I volunteered to pick her…"

"Wait wait, who does 'he' refer to?" Aurelius interrupted, getting impatient.

"Well, your father, who else? Half a moment, didn't he tell you he's taken on a ward?" Arthur asked with a frown.

"A ward?" Aurelius said in surprise.

"A ward?" Echoed Cedric, Mary and the Weasleys.

"A ward? Why that dirty…" Aurelius put out a hand and pushed the boy standing beside him back behind him, cutting off his sentence.

"So that Lucky could come to school at Hogwarts, your father became her legal guardian. He's been working at it nearly all week, from what he told me, so I just assumed he would have told you, or at least Jennifer would have mentioned…" Arthur said, then realization hit them both at the same time. "Ah."

"I'll get in touch with Andrew about it so he knows what to expect," Aurelius said.

"Hey, don't worry, Jackie and I are good friends from New York. She'll be glad to see me!" Lucky protested.

"I'm sure she will be, Lucky, but that's not exactly the problem. Truth Seekers don't like not knowing things. Trust me, I know," Aurelius said dryly. "You had better move that car so the train can get out of here on time. In the meanwhile, it seems I have an Oracle reporter to waylay," he said, glancing up at the reporter standing near the support beam.

"Well, that's lovely. Now, you run along with your friends, there you are. You see? Everything turned out all right. Perhaps you really are Lucky!" Arthur winked, then headed over to talk to the conductor.

"Then why don't I feel it right now?" Lucky murmured.

"Let's get you settled on the train, your bags are already on it…er…in it, rather. And you Weasleys should probably have been on it ten minutes ago," Cedric frowned at them.

"We were afraid that another car would come out of the blue and land on us, crushing us all to death," the brown-haired boy said.

"Well, that'd be one less headache for me, then, wouldn't it, Reggie?" Cedric said as they walked.

"One less Chaser too," he reminded him. But Lucky noticed the boy who had been with Aurelius was hanging back, looking over at where the Auror was as if a bit lost.

"'Ey, you, chico, what you waiting for? Written invitation?" Lucky asked him.

"Who, me?" the boy said, looking back around. "Well, I suppose I had better get on too, shouldn't I?"

"Unless you prefer to walk," Cedric said, standing near the train and making a movement as if ushering them in. "What's your name then, anyhow? I caught hers."

"Bill Kingfisher," the boy said timidly.

"In you go then, Kingfisher," Cedric said, "And you too, Miss Have-to-Make-an-Entrance Ward of the Headmaster." Lucky smiled sheepishly at him before stepping up behind Bill, the Weasleys following in turn still laughing about what had just happened. Cedric shook his head and gazed over at Mary, who shared the same expression with him before they headed to the Prefect car.