Chapter Two
The bell rang and the class jumped up and practically ran to the door, hoping not to get any homework. But their teacher was too quick for them. "Homework!" he shouted, jumping to the door and standing in front of it, "Page five hundred forty on my desk Thursday! You are dismissed," he added in a nicer tone.
"And we almost got away with it, too," Hope sighed.
"There's always next week, I suppose," replied Jordi.
Jordi and Hope were best friends. Jordi had creamy, almost white blonde hair, blue eyes, and was a little short in height. Hope had dark hair, forest-green eyes, and a major crush on, in her opinion, the most gorgeous guy in school. Both were sixteen, roommates, and had a knack for getting into trouble.
"Hey, what about those foreign exchange students?" Hope asked, casting a glance up and down the hall for any new faces.
"Yeah, the ones from the UK? Weren't they supposed to come today?"
They had been over this a million times.
"I wonder if they're guys?" Jordi wondered aloud.
"I hope so," said Hope. "And that they're hot."
"Do they speak English?"
"Duh, they're from the UK, not France!"
"Well, I hope we get French boys next, because the only French words I know are ooh la la, and oui oui!" said Jordi with a giggle.
"I wonder if they'll be in our house?" said Hope.
The housing system at their school involved three dorms, or houses, that went by the names Elkhart, Spence, and Phelps. Jordi and Hope were in the Elkhart house. The houses weren't competitive, they were just for boarding and class organizational purposes.
"Maybe we'll get the chance to be their guides!" sighed Jordi.
"True, that would rock, but we mustn't get our hopes up!"
Jordi snorted.
"What?" asked Hope.
"I still can't et over the fact of how funny it is when you say things like that, Hope!"
"Oh, shut up," she sighed. "We'd better hurry, we'll be late to Chem."
Jordi groaned. "Can't we skip for once?"
"That would be fun, but not today. We've got that huge lab today that's worth a quarter of our grade."
"I hate Burns," muttered Jordi angrily. Mr. Burns taught their chemistry class, and they hated him, along with the class itself. Burns was always grouchy, the material was so hart to grasp, and the most annoying people were in their class. Leslie and Chloe, two cheerleaders, stuck up, loud, stupid, and on Jordi's and Hope's hit list. (A/N: Nothing against cheerleaders, these two are just annoying antagonists)
"Excuse me," said a male voice. Both girls turned around, and Hope's face went instantly pale, then a deep plum just as fast.
Carter Sands was standing in front of them, and a slightly annoyed look was on his face. His blonde hair fell into his brown eyes at just the perfect angle, making him look extra handsome.
"Could you please move? You're clogging the hall."
Hope dropped her books. Carter rolled his eyes as he stepped over the pile of books and walked away.
"Can you believe it?" said Hope excitedly. "He talked to me!"
"I don't know what the big deal is," said Jordi, bending down to help Hope pick up her books. He just asked you to move. And he didn't even help you pick up your stuff!"
"So?" replied Hope.
"You know, Hope?" said Jordi, rolling her eyes. "It's times like these you don't live up to your name."
"Oh, shut up," said Hope, standing up and starting to walk again.
Unfortunately, she ran into something quite solid that made her drop her books again.
.o.
Harry and Ron stood outside the Headmaster's office, quite clueless on what to do, and how they had gotten there in the first place.
"Harry," said Ron slowly. "Where are we?"
Harry slowly looked around. He'd never seen this place before in his life. He felt extremely stupid and a little scared as he replied "I don't know." Instinctively, he reached for his wand.
But all he felt was the soft fabric of his pocket. "MY wand!" he cried. "It's gone!"
Ron dug through his pockets as well. "Mine's gone too!"
"Brilliant," groaned Harry. What had he gotten them into? The last time he'd lost his wand, the situation had been just as bad, if not worse.
"Can't we do nonverbal spells without a wand?" asked Ron desperately. "I've seen Dad do it sometimes."
Harry tried to concentrate on making a nearby picture zoom off a wall, but nothing happened.
"I can't do it!" he cried. He and Ron exchanged glances.
"Harry? How did we get here?"
Harry shifted his feet guiltily. But before he could even think of an answer, the door in front of them flew open, and out stepped a woman in a fancy work suit.
"Foreign students?" she asked. "You're late. Please come in, the Headmaster is waiting for you." And she grabbed their arms and pulled them into the office, and through another door.
A man with shoulder length white hair pulled back into a low ponytail sat behind a large and magnificent desk. Pictures were hung all over the walls, and in one corner of the room was a fireplace. A large window behind the desk revealed large, flat, brilliantly green lawns and woods off in the distance.
The man clapped his hands together and greeted the extremely confused boys. "Welcome! I am Headmaster Spence –" he leaned forward and shook their hands, and the boys mumbled things like "Nice to meet you" and "Hello".
" - and welcome to Appleby Academy!"
The man spoke with a clear American accent, so they were definitely far from home.
"I trust you have enjoyed your travel to New York?"
Harry and Ron nodded automatically.
"Excellent. Now, you'll need your information about Appleby." He cleared his throat, as if to show the importance of what he was about to tell them. "Appleby has always taken great pride of the welfare of this school and its occupants. We take only the top students of their grade –" the boys immediately thought of Hermione – "and by the looks of your grade reports… my, my, you two could be the next Albert Einsteins!"
"Who?" Ron blurted out. Harry threw him a warning look, but Headmaster Spence just laughed. "And the boy has a sense of humor! 'Who's Einstein'… Did you hear him, Helga?" The secretary gave a quick and merry chuckle. Harry played along, and with a swift kick from Harry, Ron gave a loud, false laugh as well.
"Anyway," continued Spence, "I won't pretend the rules at shis school are unimportant. Absolutely no one is allowed out of their house after eleven PM. The kitchen closes at nine PM and opens at six AM. The library hours are six AM to ten-thirty PM. You'll never have the same class two days in a row. Here are your schedules, and a map." He slid the papers forward to them. "And your house is Elkhart. Shame, really," he added. My own house was Spence, obviously. My great-great-great grandfather founded it. But Elkhart is a good house. And while you spend your time here at Appleby, your house is sort of like your family. You'll have all of your classes with your house, you'll share a dormitory with the people of your house, and share a common room with them. If you are interested in sports, tryouts are coming up."
He paused, looking at the boys, taking in their appearance. He seemed particularily interested in Harry's scar, for he looked at that the longest.
"That's an interesting scar, Mr. –"
"Potter, sir, Harry Potter."
"Yes, Mr. Potter. How did you come by such an injury?"
Harry hesitated at answering this question. This man had to be a muggle, and if he told him, he would risk the exposure of his and Ron's world, and he would be expelled from Hogwarts for sure – not that it mattered right now, anyway.
"A car accident, sir," replied Harry, remembering what the Dursleys told him over five years ago.
"Interesting," said Spence, scratching his eyebrow. "And your name is?" he asked, turning to Ron.
"Ron Weasley," Ron replied in a confused manner.
Their new headmaster smiled. "Welcome to Appleby Academy."
.o.
"I can't believe this," said Ron as they stepped out of the office a minute later. "It's like they knew we were coming!"
"Yeah," said Harry slowly. "It's like they were expecting us…" Harry shook his head, as if to clear it. "No matter now, we've got to learn how to survive here. What class have we got?"
"Uh," said Ron, pulling out his schedule. "Chemistry with Bur – OW!" he shouted, for something quite solid had run into him and dropped books on his foot.
.o.
Sorry if there are typos, I just had to type this up real fast. Need… sleep…
And thanks for the reviews for last chapter!... could you do it again?