AN

For the first time, we have Author notes at the start. This is because during this chapter, there will be music two times and music is really hard to address in written form. To get around this, here are the two songs that are playing. I will mark the scenes when it happens. Both are from youtube, just add these to your standard youtube link.

*1: /watch?v=jfgKdOlO_E4 (from second 20)

*2: /watch?v=458REFZ2VKM

The month of September drew close, as the trees began turning yellow, red and brown and the sun hung lower on the sky. Autumn was approaching in large steps and with it came cold wind to Hogwarts. The last couple of weeks had been quite stressful for Harry and his friends. The teachers were adamant that they should use the time before their guests arrived, so every day was filled with demanding classes and a lot of work.

Much to the student's surprise, Professor Snape seemed to have a sudden change in attitude after the first week. While he was still firm and scowled a lot at them, he never was downright nasty, even helped the more lost students, much to Neville's relief. It seemed like someone had pulled on Snape's leash quite hard and the students were happy. Well, the students minus the Slytherins, since Snape's blatant favouritism seemed to have stopped, too. Still, he gave them absurd amounts of homework.

All the other teachers seemed to have a competition who could give the most and longest homework, with maybe the exception of Professor Flamel. The old lady seemed rather content with just talking with them, asking questions and trying her hardest to make them think for themselves.

Professor Cambridge had worked with them for the entire month, so they understood how the Ministry worked. In this, they noticed that the system was more divided than they thought. While yes, the Minister was elected by the Wizengamot, it was a vote where only order of Merlin members and the heads of the departments were allowed to vote on, this meant old families didn't hold on to both ends of power. It had been interesting and somewhat placated Hermione, even though she was put out that the normal citizen had no direct say in these sort of things.

Professor Moody had actually cast the Imperius curse on them, trying to get them to throw it off. The class had been very disturbed by this, but the professor said it was allowed in a controlled environment and it was to help them fight those curses. It still seemed weird but none of them was thrilled at the prospect of arguing with the paranoid old Auror. Also, he really seemed to know what he was talking about, which was with the exception of Remus a big step up in the case of DADA professors so far. None of them thrown it off yet, Harry had been the only one so far to come close but it wasn't his own achievement alone. Dawn's emotions had clashed hard with the curse and made it easier for him to fight it but still, he had jumped onto the table when told. Other students were also showing promise, Daphne, Hermione, Dean and Hannah had been the ones that got furthest. Professor Moody didn't make them write essays but he was adamant that they practice on their own and he noticed when they didn't do it.

Sadly all the constant work cut the free time short, something that Harry noticed with Cho quite a bit. They had spent maybe about three hours in the entire month together, besides maybe five minutes here and there. Still, these moments were more precious due to this, something Harry liked a lot. They had spent half an hour just last week, walking around the Black Lake, just talking to each other. Harry had been really happy, they had so much in common. Their main focus was, of course, Quidditch, since both of them were passionate flyers. Cho was a Puddlemore fan, while Harry, in loyalty to Ron, was a Cannons fan and they had playful banter arguing about it.

They had flown together too. Just fun flying not competitive at all. In fact, this was a really happy memory, because Dawn had stuck her head out of the pouch and chirped the entire time, loving the speed and the wind around her. Not old enough to fly herself, she still loved being in the air and darting around high above the ground on Harry's chest.

Thinking about it Harry raised his hand and stroked the feathers on her belly. Dawn chirped happily hopping a little on his shoulder. She was finally old and strong enough to not be carried around in a pouch but could sit on his shoulder, her legs able to compensate for his movements. Harry still kept the pouch with him, since the little bird still napped a lot of the time but when this wasn't the case Dawn preferred to be out in the open, where everyone could see her wonderful plumage. Her pride was almost as big as her love for cuddling. Right now a cold wind was ruffling her feathers, not that it would bother a bird of fire really. In fact, Harry was sweating a little bit on his right shoulder and ear, since the warmth she was radiating was creeping through his thick cloak.

With Hermione to his right and Ron to his left, they were standing in front of the castle main gate, joined by the entire staff and student body. Professor McGonagall was walking down the entire line of students, checking that they all were presentable. She stopped for a moment in front of the three.

"Mr Weasley, straighten your cloak for Merlin's sake." She stated before she turned her eyes to Harry in a stern glare. "See that she behaves Lord Peverell, would you?" Professor McGonagall didn't need to tell him who she was talking about. Harry nodded and brushed through Dawn's feathers for a moment. His nod was returned by the stern teacher, who gave him a very faint smile. She had explained once at the start of term what she expected in Dawn's behaviour during class and while the small bird was a bundle of energy, the stern aura of his head of house seemed to keep her in control. For a moment Professor McGonagall broke her stern facade and reached out, brushing her fingers over Dawn's small head, getting a chirp in return.

"Miss Brown take that ridiculous thing out of your hair." She said walking on. Lavender, in the line behind Harry, stared venomously at her while she took out a butterfly hair clip. The professor finished her inspection and took her place on Professor Dumbledore's right, he had Fawkes on his shoulder too, which surprised Harry. The phoenix spent most of his time in the headmaster's office but for once he accompanied his oldest friend.

It was a cold and clear evening. Harry glanced up to the sky for a moment. It was a full moon. Somewhere far away Remus was in his wolf form right now, after a painful transformation, feeling once again the pain and the misery of his condition. Yet at least he wasn't alone anymore. Padfoot had told Harry a few hours ago he would keep his friend company and would take care of him. Harry smiled thinking about his godfather. Sirius had been everything and more Harry had ever hoped for. It was such a comforting thing to know there was someone who would look out for you. It was just amazing. He even got mad at Harry when he had gotten a bad mark in transfiguration two weeks ago. Someone cared about his marks! This was something that had never happened to him before and while he felt bad for disappointing Sirius, that his godfather cared this much about him made his chest fill with warm and fuzzy feelings.

Ron nudged him from the side, whispering.

"Which way do you think they will come? With the Express?" He asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so."

Harry frowned. "Why, what would they use instead? A broom?"

Again Hermione answered, still staring out into the night. "Not if they come this far. Maybe Portkey." That could be about right. Harry was about to answer when a cold voice hissed at them a few metres down.

"Silence!" Snape admonished them. While he was much nicer, he was still Snape and none of them wanted to wake his wrath upon them. So they ducked their heads and got quiet quickly. The cold wind kept blowing and nothing happened. It ruffled the trees in the dark forbidden forest but other than that nothing was actually happening. For ten minutes they were standing there, with nothing happening what so ever. The student body turned a little unnerved, while people started rubbing their cold hands or stomped in place to warm their feet. Two times more, once Professor McGonagall and once Professor Snape called them to order when Professor Dumbledore raised his arm pointing out into the darkness.

"Ah yes, I think that would be our first guests."

All their eyes followed the long stretched out finger of their headmaster into the dark of the night. All were looking at what the professor was pointing at. Then the first ones saw what he meant. Inside the forbidden forest something was moving. The tops of trees deep on the inside were swaying back and forth and shaking. Something large was making its way through the dark depths of the forest, pushing trees to the side. Then a large shape emerged from the dark shadows and the sound of large stomping feet echoed over the grounds.

"A giant!" Some girl from Ravenclaws sixth year called out a little panicked while pointing at the form.

Colin Creevey shook his head and called out his own observation. "It's a house!"

Colin was pretty close. Up the slope came a large building. Several roofs were placed over each other like a stacked cake and four enormous bird legs made of some metal were carrying the entire structure. The walls seemed white with large dark wooden beams supporting them. On the highest peak was a banner waving, it seemed light pink with a white crest on it that looked like a blossom.

It was a walking pagoda!

A hundred meters from the castle the building came to a full stop and the legs arranged themselves before they kneeled down lowering the building with surprisingly little noise. For a moment it was quiet, then the doors opened, illuminating two silhouettes. Both of them moved out in a quickly almost running. One was carrying some large pole the other nothing. Both of them walked down the stairs that had formed from the base of the pagoda and took up position on either side. Then with a sudden burst of light, the pagoda was lit in a bright glow, making the students of Hogwarts shriek and cover their eyes. A few students called out in surprise and it took them a few moments to recover. Both silhouettes turned out to be two young Japanese teenagers. The one with the pole was revealed as a boy carrying a large banner. The same banner that was at the top of the pagoda, again light pink and a flower on it. The other silhouette was a girl. Both wore what appeared to be traditional Japanese clothing, kimonos. Both of their clothing was silver. They stared at each other, not showing any form of emotion for a short moment.

The girl raised something from her robes and first Harry thought it was her wand but the raised her hand more and it was revealed to be a flute, which she placed at her lips and started playing. *1 The soft and quiet music was flowing from her, while thin and nimble fingers were dancing on the wooden object. She swayed her body back and forth while playing and it was a mesmerizing show. Her long black hair was flowing freely from her shoulders way down over her hips almost to the ground

"That's beautiful." whispered Hermione next to Harry, making him nod in agreement. He almost missed the other people that came down the stairs. A really old man, with a long white beard and strangely long eyebrows on an otherwise a bald head, was leaning heavily on a cane. His clothes were golden and had tiny Japanese characters on it. The hem was sliding over the ground behind him while being held up by a boy. To his left and right were two other adults also in golden kimonos a man and a woman. Behind them were walking in straight lines and straight backs about forty or fifty teenagers all of them in traditional Japanese clothing but the colours varied. Red, blue, grey, green all the colours of the rainbow, with the exception of white and gold. The boy with the banner fell in line with the front row and walked with them. They stared strictly upfront while the students of Hogwarts were gaping at them, some more reserved, like Daphne Greengrass or Cho Chang, while others were more obvious, including Ron and Draco.

The entourage slowly made their way up the hill, obviously at the pace of the old man at the front. The girl with the flute played a little bit longer and then when the last of her comrades had passed her she stopped with one last beautiful note and then followed the others.

Professor Dumbledore stepped out of their own lines and walked a few meters to reach the old man. While his students and the two adults showed no emotion, the old man raised his eyes from the ground and when he saw Albus a bright smile appeared on his face, revealing quite a few missing teeth.

"Albus-kun! Ogenkidesuka?" The old man asked reaching out with a shaking hand. His voice was thin and had a happy undertone in it. Dumbledore smiled and took the frail limp of his old friend. He shook it slightly, careful not to hurt the man to whom the time hadn't been as nice. He smiled himself brightly.

"Takeda, old friend. I hope your journey was without trouble?" He asked and the old man laughed a faint laugh, shaking his head.

"Everything went exactly as I thought it would Albus-kun." The man smiled slyly and winked at the taller headmaster. Albus nodded, then he gestured to the main gate.

"Please step inside, it's cold out here." The headmaster offered, to which Takeda nodded. He just walked on, while a white blur swooped down from the pagoda roof. The white raven landed on the old man's shoulder, which the man didn't seem to mind. The students of Hogwarts parted, making room in their middle for the Japanese to pass through toward the stone stairs leading to the main entrance. Slowly the delegation moved inside, watched by their hosts.

Dean spoke up. "You think that will stay there?" He pointed at the pagoda, where just now the lights died off, engulfing Hogwarts again in darkness.

Harry shrugged. "Possibly. It's open space so why not?" He argued, getting a few nods from all sides. Harry picked Dawn up from his shoulder and set her on his hands. For one he could nuzzle her this way, but more importantly, Harry thought to himself with only a little shame, her warmth returned some life into his fingers. It got quiet again and the school grounds were lying

there peaceful, yet the presence of the pagoda was a little alien. Due to the bright moonlight, it was pretty well lit and they all searched the forest for a signal of the second school. None was to be seen and most students shivered in the cold again trampling their feet. No movement was in the trees just the wind.

It took for over ten minutes for something to happen but suddenly in the back of the crowd people called out in surprise. Harry turned his head and then he saw an enormous shadow crawling over the student body, like a beast that would swallow them. Raising his gaze upwards he saw a large something was drifting slowly over the towers of Hogwarts, blocking out the moon. All students flinched when loud horns were blown.

"What's that? Another house?" Someone called out, but he was wrong.

"It's a ship. An...airship." Dean Thomas corrected and he was right. The large ship turned in the air and they could hear faint calls of gruff voices from high up. Suddenly some crack was being heard and all the sudden a new music was echoing over the grounds.*2 Drums and horns were playing bombastic and loud, a strong rhythm that emanated power and strength. It sounded like a military march. The ship and it really was a ship that was hanging on balloons lowered itself from the sky. More voices called out and when the ship was near the ground about the same distance as the pagoda, lines were thrown overboard. Some people were jumping overboard too, sliding down the lines. It was hard to see in the dark but they seemed small when they landed and pulled on the ropes, securing the entire structure. Large hammers were brought forth and with enormous nails, the ropes were placed in the ground. With a loud thump, the ship landed finally, while the students of Hogwarts gaped. While it looked like a ship, it was a weird one. It was made completely out of metal. There were cannons on both sides and more on deck. Some people were running around securing the load and more. The front of the ship was a massive face with a long beard, reminding Harry a little bit of the statue of Salazar Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets. In the centre of the face, where the mouth was, slim stairs slid out of the ship, touching the ground. Then the door opened revealing the outlines of a person that seemed a little short. In fact, whoever it was, he wasn't taller than a goblin. But what he hadn't in height was made up in width. The person stepped out on the stairs, about as wide as high and again lights were turned on, blinding the students. The person on the stairs was revealed as a dwarf, wearing a suit of armour under a coat. He had a long white beard, with loads of golden trinkets and jewels in it. One of his eyes was covered in an eyepatch and a golden pipe was sticking out of his mouth. He puffed it once, then nodded and called into the ship. His voice sounded like stone sliding over stone, rumbling and deep. The dwarf descended the stairs and stepped aside, calling to the ones that had secured the ship, now revealed as dwarfs too, but with a helmet that covered their faces. The visors were formed like dwarfish faces. The dwarves seemed to ignore the students and teachers, talking to each other in a rumbling sound. Ron couldn't miss the similarity of their armours with that Neill Armstrong man Professor Burbage had shown them, just these looked a lot more stable made out of metal and leather.

Finally, humans emerged from the ship. At the front was once again a boy with a banner. This time it was a white banner with a yellow and black cross over it, similar to the banners of the Teutonic Knightly Order. Only where normally a black eagle was in the middle, this banner had a black two-headed dragon. The boy was blond and tall, with broad shoulders and blue eyes. He had a smile on his face and wore surprisingly normal muggle clothes. No cloak or robe, but jeans and a fur-lined coat.

Following him was a tall woman with deep red hair, a coat that looked really fashionable, dark navy blue and white gloves. She held her head high while she descended the stairs, one hand on the handrail, her eyes focused on the headmaster. This woman seemed stern, a lot like Professor McGonagall but she seemed to be somewhere between thirty and forty.

To Harry's and the other students surprise only four other teenagers were walking down the ramp, each of them looking really individual, with no school uniform what so ever. The first was a brown-haired girl, that looked rather short, even shorter than Harry, while she seemed to be older than him. Behind her came a long-haired boy. His black hair hung down the sides of his face and he seemed to be nodding slowly and steady. The muggle-borns in the Hogwarts student body couldn't miss the large yellow words printed on his clothes. Star Wars. The purebloods were mostly confused by it. Since when were the stars at war with each other or who would be there to fight really?

The last two came down together. One was a tall blond girl with quite a body. Her long blond hair was in a ponytail and she wore green clothing, also fit for cold weather. But while the other teenager was watching the castle in an interested and agreeing manner, her eyes were focused on the person next to her.

The boy was tall but thin, like a tree without leaves, looking unhealthy. His face was gaunt, deep rings were under his eyes, that looked out into the world in a tired and a little sad manner. Only he wore no coat just a t-shirt with a simple logo on it. A sword with two bat or dragon wings on each side. A short beard was on his chin and he had very short hair, it was shaved short onto his skull and his complexion was pale. The most noticeable feature of him was that his left arm ended just under his elbow. But to Harry's surprise and to the surprise of a few other students they had seen him before.

Ashbringer was whispered through the student body. He was the winner of this year's duelling tournament, whose victory Harry had watched over a month back. The teenager looked as sick as before and while the girl next to him didn't prop him up, she still seemed to worry about him, her hand hovering over his right forearm.

The tall red-haired woman walked up to Dumbledore in a serious manner, pulling off one of her white gloves. The tall blond guy with the flag marched behind her, yet his face still showed a wide smile.

The headmaster opened his arms invitingly.

"Vice-headmistress Greif! Welcome welcome, I hope your journey as well?" The stern-looking woman nodded to the question and shook the headmaster's hand.

"Yes, thank you very much, Mr Dumbledore. The Albus Dumbledore University offers its thanks for the invitation." Professor Dumbledore winced at the name. He disliked the fact that things were named after him and had left this fact out at his announcement earlier this month. Mrs Greif seemed not to notice or care as she continued. "Please allow me to introduce Grimnir Grungnison, our captain." She waved over to the side, where now the dwarf that first had stepped out of the airship walked up. The students trailed behind, not forming lines or anything. The dwarf took a drag from his pipe, eyeing up Dumbledore. His single-eyed squinted a little.

"So ya are the lad that finished Grindelwald ey?" He grumbled out staring up to Dumbledore. The headmaster looked a little startled for a moment before he nodded.

"That is correct Master Grungnison an honour to meet you. I met your father once I think."

Grungnison nodded once gruff and then took Dumbledore's hand with a grumble. Professor Dumbledore seemed a little uncertain but then stepped to the side.

"Please, come inside." He offered and held out his arm for Mrs Greif. The red-haired woman nodded and took the offered arm, walking through the students, the German teenager trailing behind. The loud music from the ship died down slowly and the lights were dimmed.

Following their headmaster, Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly walked ahead of the student body. Harry had placed Dawn on his shoulder and the bird was chirping interested.

When they made there was into the Great Hall, they noticed some changes. For one there was a second small table next to the head table, with a few shorter chairs, probably for the dwarfs. Four new chairs had been placed at the teacher's table and behind it, a large Hogwarts banner had been hung. In front of the table were small stands, one one of these was already the Mahoutokoro banner placed. The blond guy walked up and placed their own banner next to it. Then he stepped back, looking around a little. Professor Dumbledore smiled and pointed at the tables.

"Maybe our dear German friends would like to sit with our lions, over here." The teenagers shrugged and moved to the appointed table. Dumbledore turned to the old Japanese man that was standing in front of the head table.

"Takeda, my friend please sit next to me. I'm sure your students will do well at the Ravenclaw table." He pointed at another and one of the other adults of the Mahoutokoro delegation barked a short command. Dumbledore smiled at the vice-headmistress of the German school, who was looking around with interest.

"Mrs Greif of course, please would you like to sit next to me as well?" Getting a nod himself, the three moved up to Dumbledore's usual place. That was the signal for the Hogwarts students to swarm into the hall.

Harry, Ron and Hermione got the seats next to the blond tall boy that had carried the banner. He nodded at them in greeting but before they could talk, Professor Dumbledore tapped his wand against his goblet, quieting the Hall. He rose to his feet smiling around.

"Hello, hello and welcome to our dear guests from Japan and Germany. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I hope all of you will have a good time here." Short applause rose.

"Now before we begin with the feast, I would like to honour our guest with the school song. Please, students, help me in-"

Professor Dumbledore was cut off when Fawkes sitting on the backrest of his throne spread his wings, causing a powerful gust of wind. Dumbeldore's was startled only a little bit but nodded at his old friend and Fawkes opened his beak. The phoenix started singing, a soft and melancholy song, that was flowing with emotion. The hall quieted totally when the waves of the song washed over them. The hearts and minds of all present were filled with a warm feeling of home and memories long lost under thick layers of time. Then the song got even richer, as Ember, sitting on Professor Flamels shoulder opened her beak too and sang as well. It was so intense and wonderful display.

Harry felt a ruffling on his shoulder and wasn't surprised when his own little Dawn joined in on what could be called her parents song. The three phoenixes sang together, each with its own unique voice and sound. It was heartbreakingly beautiful and some felt tears rise to their eyes. Professor Dumbledore smiled and sat down listening to the amazing creatures, knowing to respect when magic showed its will. He looked over this sea of young souls, sitting there together, unified for a moment at least.

After two minutes Fawkes let the song slowly die, while Ember and Dawn took his lead. Harry felt the small bird tumble a little on his shoulder and was just able to catch her before she fell onto the table. She was completely exhausted, looking at him with her golden deep eyes, tired but he felt her pride through the bond. For a moment, while the song was still echoing through the room but then the clapping started and after a few moments roaring applause was filling the large hall. Dumbledore himself clapped with a bright smile on his face. After a moment he rose to his feet smiling.

"I was going say we would sing, but while Hogwarts is a fine institution, we can't hold a candle to the performance of three phoenixes. I will tell you more about the Tournament, but first, let me say these two words.

"Dig in!" And with a wave of his hand, food appeared on all the tables.

AN

Finally, the new schools are here and I will hope you like them. I want to really broaden the magical world. I hope you didn't mind the music links, but I think it is far too hard to describe music with words, so yeah this had to suffice. I have a really clear view of what the schools are about and why.

For the German school, they will be close to muggles and dwarfs as you could see and their history is tied to the holy roman empire and the Teutonic Knight Order. There is a German wizarding story called Krabat but I'm not sure if I will use it. As for why it is called Albus Dumbledore university, that is because in Germany it is quite common to name schools after prominent persons and Dumbledore is a huge hero in this wizarding Germany. More on that later. Their airship came to me when I saw the movie The three musketeers. The film is meh, but the ship was cool so I took it.

The dwarfs are inspired by Warhammer. Their behaviour and style are taken from there. If you want to know what the Dwarfs armours look like search Kharadron Overlords artwork with google.

The Japanese school will be inspired by traditional Japanese society. Yes, I know shaking hands isn't common over in Japan but that is kind of the point Dumbledore does it wrong. Also, they will have elemental components in their teaching. Their pagoda was inspired by Baba Yaga's hut.

I have so many ideas but I can't tell you too much right now. What do you think? Do you like the new schools? I am always a little worried about moving away from the source material too much. It should still be HP not "Here is my story where I threw in every edgy thing I think is cool.". I hope it doesn't go too overboard.

Next chapter: The feast and new friends.