Chapter Twenty-One

Walking down the corridors, Christina traced the wall with her finger when someone she recognized stepped out into the hallway.

"'Scuse me, do you know where to get to the Great Hall?" he asked.

"...Skyler?"

"Christina? Oh, my God!" They ran up to each other and hugged. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

"Wait a minute! You're a Witch?"

"YES! I thought you went to Boarding School?" Skyler scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Boarding School, not exactly. I'm a pureblood. I went toa Wizarding School in the States."

"No way!"

"Way."

"That's crazy! You got transferred, huh?"

"Yeah, I didn't expect to see you here, though!"

"This is great! Come on, I'll show you to the Great Hall."

"I need to get Sorted. What time is it right now?" Skyler asked as he picked at his blond spikes.

"Um... eleven forty-three. Why?"

"I'm getting Sorted at lunch time. What house are you in, Chris?"

"Me? I'm in Gryffindor."

"Sounds like a good house. Do I have to do anything in particular to get Sorted?" Christina thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"You just have to put on a hat. Oh, Oliver!" Oliver turned around and waved, then continued talking to Marcus.

"Who's that?" Skyler asked with his hands in his pockets.

"Professor Oliver Wood. Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. That one is Professor Marcus Flint, the Flying Instructor. Let's go say hi."

"G'Afternoon, Chris," Oliver greeted. Marcus smiled and nodded his head toward her.

"Who's your friend?"

"Oliver, Marcus, this is Skyler..." Christina slowed down with something dawning on her. "Skyler Diggory..."

"Pleasure to meet you," Skyler said and shook the two Professor's hands. They looked at Skyler sideways.

"You don't happen to know a Cedric Diggory, do you, Skyler?" Marcus asked as he took his hand back. Skyler thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Sorry, no."

"Oh... okay, and how do you know Miss Garner here?"

"We dated when we were thirteen," Skyler replied. Oliver tensed. "We're just friends now, but we've known each other ever since I can remember." Oliver loosened.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting hungry." The four of them made their way to the Great Hall. Oliver let Christina walk with Skyler in front of him and Marcus.

"May I have your attention, students? Thank you. Skyler Diggory, will you come up to the stool, please?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly. Nervously, Skyler stood up from the Gryffindor Table and walked to the old tattered hat and the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on Skyler's blond hair and everything was deathly silent.

"Hmm... definately not Slytherin. Possibly Ravenclaw, you are smart, but you are loyal. Perhaps Hufflepuff? Diggory... he was a Hufflepuff, his mother was a Gryffindor and his father was a Ravenclaw... you have plenty of courage... determined... right. HUF... GRYFFINDOR!"

Gryffindor cheered loudly and Oliver laughed to himself as he saw Skyler get pelted by girls.

"Reminds me of myself when I was his age," Oliver said to Marcus. He also laughed.

"So... you don't know a Cedric?" Harry asked Skyler in the Common Room. Skyler shook his head.

"Why is everyone asking me that?"

"Because Cedric used to go to this school. Diggory isn't exactly a common last name," Ginny said. Skyler shrugged.

"Sorry, I don't know anyone by the name of Cedric. What's he look like?" Oliver, Marcus, Ginny, Jacob,Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at each other.

"You," they all said in unison.

"Had the same turquoise eyes," Ginny said.

"He had the same blond hair," Hermione checked.

"He had the same everything," Ron finished.

"Exactly. It's like you're a copy of the Diggsman himself," Marcus said and leaned back on the red-and-gold armchair. "Except for the fact that you are a Gryffindor."

"Maybe it's the Doppleganger thing," Skyler suggested.

"The what?" Oliver asked, confused.

"The Doppleganger effect. It's just a thesis about something. It's said that everyone in the world has an exact twin," Christina said.

"It's a possibility," Skyler took over. "But no one has ever proved it to be true."

"Well, Icky-Red-Shit, what do you think?" Oliver asked with a sly smile. Marcus scowled.

"Stop calling me that! Anyway, it seems pretty understandable, but then again not."

"Right..."

"You can't be him, though, it's thoroughly impossible," Marcus finished.

"How is it impossible?" Skyler asked.

"Because Diggs passed away two years ago," Oliver replied quietly. Skyler made an 'O' with his mouth but remained silent. "Poor guy was only seventeen." There was a moment of silence, which Ron broke.

"I'm hungry."

"You're an arse bandit, Ron," Oliver muttered.

"...What the hell's an arse bandit?" Marcus asked in between laughs. Skyler and Jacoblaughed out loud.

"It means you're gay. I have a Scottish uncle," Skyler translated.

"That's right," Oliver said with a smile. "Ron's also a bint." Skyler and Jacoblaughed even harder as the others looked confused. "And boggin'." Tears streamed downthe two boy'sfaces.

"He... he just... hahahahhahha! He just... said that you're... a cow... or a bitch... and you're filthy and dirty..." Skyler started rolling on the floor and Oliver failed to hide his laughter and fell down on the rug beside Jacob.

"Skyler... you're one happy guy." Skyler sat up and nodded his head while wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "This is great. We can talk about things these fuck wits can't know about."

"I'm not a fuck wit!" Harry cried indignantly. Oliver and Skyler just laughed as Jacob started to cough.

"It's not what you think it is, Potter," Jacob hiccoughed. Their laughter slowly died down.

"That's great," Marcus said unenthousiastically.

"Ah, go hit the fartsack," Skyler said, then, to the confused look on everybody but Oliver'sand Jacob'sface, he added, "I mean go to bed. Man, you're all fuck wits." Oliver burst out laughing again and he and Skyler rolled around the hearthrug. It took about five seconds for Jacob to join them.

"Ah, the Berry's," Oliver laughed.

"Yeah. Fuckin' brilliant," Skyler said with a smile. "Anyone care to show me where my room is?"

"Yeah, I'll show you," Jacob said and stood up. "You're sharing a room with an arse wipe named Colin Creevy. He's not really that bad, but he can get annoying. He's not even a fag and he's the leader of the Harry Potter Fan Club." Everyone laughed.

"Alright, I'm going to bed. Nice meeting you, Skyler," Oliver said and stood up. "Nice, Chris. Night, everyone."

"Night, Oliver," Christina said. Oliver smirked and went up to his room with Jacob and Skyler behind him.