Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds

by Sokai

Every story has a beginning, and this one isn't any different. 'Certain' letters addressed from a 'certain' school are arriving to two sets of 'certain' girls . . . while a 'certain' fated hero collects his thoughts within preparation for his final year at said 'certain school. . . .'

4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Destined Arrival and the Cruel Irony

By: Sokai

Disclaimer: To be short and frank, I do not nor will I (sadly) ever own the great workings of Harry Potter, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, or W.I.T.C.H. I'm not that talented. I am, however, talented enough to manage to concoct this chaotic fanfic combining all three worlds, and manage to make it all look good/easy, owning the storyline and any new spells or attacks I might create (although, clearly having been inspired by said series/book). So, alas, I dare you not to enjoy this undoubtedly bumpy ride alongside me! Ha! Okay, okay; I'll shut up now, especially since this wasn't short OR frank. HeHe Still . . . enjoy reading (AND leaving massive reviews!).

Note: Okay, so um . . . what to say about this chapter. Hmm . . . nothing much, except I don't really know if I like it yet. I'll have to read it again and see. LoL But I am very sorry that it's been so long before I'd finally posted this, especially since I'd first started writing this back in June! Woo! And that's beginning of June, too. Pfft LoL

Oh, yeah. For some reason, quite a few of you have been e-mailing me, asking me about the titles to each chapter, and why they are as they are. Well, it's simple, really: I always like to relate the names of my chapters or "episodes" to my stories to what's in store inside it, as clearly, I am sure most every author of/for/about anything do the same. Anyhow, the "universal" inquiry was referring to chapter two's title . . . "all" of you were asking, "Yeah, I GET that it relates to the chapters' content, BUT! What does a "Magical Run In" have to do with what you wrote?" Well, lemme tell you, so's no one else will have to e-me about that again. LoL It's a double meaning, as in: 1) "Magical Run In," meaning the girls went to Diagon Alley for the first time, and that's also the first time they were truly immersed into the world of magic . . . well, wizard magic, anyhow. HeHe And as they went to D.A., they'd "run into" many a magical occurrences, etc. Get me? HeHe And then, 2) "Magical Run In," meaning that our "Chosen One" literally "ran into" that mysterious young woman at the shop, it was "magical" (clearly LoL . . . sidebar: wow, I really DO like to use quotations a lot when I write, huh? Hey, Joshie! You were right! LoL) for 'em because he's (clearly again LoL) attracted to her . . . but does she fancy him back? Hmm . . . and will he ever see her again? Gasp . . . who knows LoL (and yea yea: "But he's dating and fancies Ginny! No!" Right; whatever LoL I thought that was cute, me self, but Ginny kind of strikes me as "loose" to be honest, now, which of course, turns me off, so . . . no LoL THIS girl that "my" Harry fancies is far better, trust me LoL NO flames, please, all you Ginny lovers, and/or GinnyXHarry lovers . . . Pfft LoL) So, no more queries about that now, huh? HeHe Though, thank you for expressing enough interest to even bother to go as far as e-ing me, rather than just leaving a review or something (now, what's THIS title referring to? Heck if I know LoL). HeHe

And, finally, quite a few of you have also brought to my attention, in e-mail again, of how while you "loved/love" everything thus far, and thought it was all "very well detailed/well written/true to personalities," you thought that the scenes, or rather, the time the girls spent with good ol' Hagrid was vastly lacking. You also expressed to me how if it would be at all possible for me to write them spending more time with him. Well, two things on that: 1) I did the "small amount of time" with him bit on purpose, you understand, because clearly, even without knowing the full plot to my story, there's a specific, "destined" reason why all of them are going to Hogwarts, and clearly Hagrid would know at least SOMETHING, however minute, about it. However, wouldn't YOU, if you were the girls and in their newfound position, try to ask a million and one questions about it to 'em, as they already tried to in chapter two anyhow? Exaccccccccccctly. So yes, again, I did that on purpose, the limited time they were all together, Hagrid and the girls. I know, I'm so bad (but then, would you bother to continue reading this most likely really long story if I'd made things easier on your curious appetite? HeHe). LoL And, 2) You're in luck, despite all that, because in THIS particular chapter, I give the girls a bit of "down time" before they have to rush off to the school and stuff, and during said time they WILL get to speak with Hagrid and get a few questions answered . . . yay . . . ? HeHe Plus, I also didn't want to just barrel straight into the chapter's plot/"point" without first giving you, the reader, a chance to further get to know each character and perhaps whatever "personal demons" she might have, you know (which is also why I've made this a Harry p.o.v. heavy chapter, since a lot of you were also "complaining" how I didn't spend a lot or enough time on the Harry crew and what's going on with them . . . although, to be honest, SINCE I'm assuming the majority of you readers' motivation for bothering with my story at ALL IS for the Harry aspect, I'd figured I'd be allowed leeway on the deets for them, and focus more on the girls, who're "new" to the "Harry World," y'know? But, yeah, no worries! This is ONLY the third chapter! There's FAR more adventure and mishaps in store, with plenty of time to get inside everyone's head on a personal level. HeHe)? And . . . cough . . . I love reading/writing long chapters/"episodes," myself, so that's also another good excuse to do so . . . cough . . . HeHe

--IMPORTANT: Before I get reviews from new or "old/steady" readers about my story, telling me that this/that hasn't happened, or so n so's dead or left or WHATEVER (although, sadly, I already have, at least moreso for the W.I.T.C.H. world), please . . . again, this whole story's merely INSPIRED by each series and the book. I'm not necessarily following the original plotline, although I will/have/am/like to keep as up to date or "true" to its original plot. So, if I write in good ol' Dumbledore into the story, or something else that doesn't "comply" with the "Harry World" or the W.I.T.C.H./Sailormoon world, relaxxxxxxxxx. LoL I'd started writing and concocting this whole bit well before book 6 came out for Harry Potter. Even if I hadn't, what you're reading in this story, well, think of it as an "alternate world/reality" and a replacement for what's really going down. So in MY "world," year 6 didn't necessarily go down as we all now know it had, and clearly the original/"true" year 7 will not occur, since . . . well, THIS year 7's taking its place. LoL Get me? HeHe (Plus, sadly, my "intellect" on the W.I.T.C.H. front is, without denial, vastly inferior compared to the millions of hardcore fans who've gotten the chance to crack open the books and read 'em well before the animated series came out . . . which is how I even learned of its existence to begin with. SO! Please don't bother pointing out to me that I made Will or Taranee, for example, say/do this when they normally wouldn't or they say/do this instead, 'cuz yeah. LoL For one who's only known about the series since this past December, I'd say I'm not doing half bad with this fic where they're concerned, huh? HeHe And for the Sailormoon part, don't EVEN try to contest me with that, 'cuz me and Sailormoon-tachi go WAYYYYYYYYY back, so there LoL)

Also, all you RonXHermione fans . . . be WARNED. Mwa ha ha . . . You'll see HeHe (again, NO flames or else I shall hunt you down and set your soul aflame with the very flame(s) you'd offered up onto me . . . so there. Grr . . . hiss . . . spit LoL But yea, y'know I love ya! HeHe) --

Need to give some credits where it's due in this chapter, so here we go! LoL

Credit(s): While this chapter is a product of my very own and very talented imagination, two things I must give credit to:

1) The character Desmona Korë is inspired by my acquaintance-turned-new friend, "Ishi," taking some of her personality and incorporating it into Desmona. So yeah, while I made up her last name and everything else about her (like appearance and her "mini-plot," etc . . . although the obsession, which is a vast understatement LoL, she'll develop for Prof. Snape is ALLLLLL Ishi, since she loves him so for real LoL Just a heads up on that . . . HeHe), Ishi provided me with the first name and the house she wanted to be placed in.

2) The Sorting Hat Ceremony scene involves a very new, very unique, foreshadowing and interesting song the hat will sing. The poem/song was written by my very talented poet of a best bud, V-chan, a.k.a. "Janier Talign" (whose works are all on that fiction press site. So, thanks again, hun, for the help, and hopefully you'll like the rest of the scene when you read that part. HeHe)

This chapter was created/written in June 2005.

When Will had first awoken the next morning, she'd thought for a brief moment that everything -- the owl post, the journey to Diagon Alley with her friends, and meeting that friendly giant and those very nice Japanese girls -- had been nothing more than a dream.

However, when she had risen from her bed and looked around to find herself sharing a musty old bedroom that was not her known (although, never having allowed her messy room to become quite as dirty to date thus far), with a snoring blonde who was not Cornelia, fast asleep in the bed next to hers, all doubts of every event that had occurred the day before having been real instantly evaporated from within the red head's mind.

Stretching, Will walked over to the window closer to Minako's bed and gazed out. The sun was barely beginning to rise to light the new day, and there were already several people down below, steadily busy beginning another day's work.

"Mmm . . . no more autographs, please . . ."

Will turned around to see her roommate rolling onto her back, murmuring in her sleep in Japanese, hair and a cheshire cat like grin splayed across her face.

Smiling lightly, Will moved back over to her own bed and lay back down, deciding she should try and get a bit more sleep as today would be a big and very eventful day for her, also doubting anyone else was up just yet.

"Oh . . . Ohayou gozaimasu, Will-san -- er, I mean, good morning, Will. It's so dark out . . . have I overslept again straight into the evening?" Minako suddenly groaned out just as Will had closed her eyes and gotten comfortable again.

Well, so much for trying to sleep some more, Will thought to herself as she reopened her light brown eyes and looked over at her new friend, smiling.

"No, Minako; you're okay. You've actually woken up really early -- I think even before the others, too."

"Oh, good! I would hate to think that I would be the only one left behind and not be able to go to Hoggles Warts," Minako yawned out, sitting up in her bed.

Will giggled lightly.

"That's Hogwarts, Minako. And, if you knew of any spells already, you could've probably just used one to send yourself there."

"Perhaps, although personally I could have gotten there in another . . . 'manner . . .'" Minako mysteriously reasoned, trailing off and immediately flashing her new friend a cheesy smile after realizing her fumble.

"That is, I meant like, take a bus or something!"

Phew, nice save, Mina-chan, she thought to herself as the red head merely smiled back in confusion.

The others, especially Rei, would have definitely had Minako's hide if she'd accidentally let slip that the five of them were more magical than their American friends realized.

However, unbeknownst to Minako or her fellow senshi, Will and the other four girls would have been the only ones to truly understand better than anyone else attending Hogwarts this year, being in relatively the same magical predicament.

"So . . . yesterday was definitely a rollercoaster ride, huh, Minako?" asked Will, stretching again after a few moments silence.

Minako nodded, grinning.

"Tell me about it! Oh, and just call me Mina, Will -- I don't mind. Anyhow, I love my new robes! It's like now I'm really playing the part of a witch! Er, that is, now I feel like an even bigger witch than I always have my entire life!" Minako quickly covered, still unsure whether or not to let it be known to Will and her friends that before two months ago, she had never even heard of Hogwarts, let alone was aware that beings such as witches and wizards indeed existed in the world.

Will. however, did not seem phased by the motion, and only smiled politely as the blonde continued on.

"About the only thing that is going to take some getting used to are my books and wand -- that is, only because the books are new, and my new wand's completely different from my old one I used to wield . . ."

Well, that wasn't really a lie, Minako thought to herself, running an idle hand through her slightly messy hair.

I mean, this wand is a whole lot different than my old henshin wand, after all. And those books look like I'll probably need a tutor just to make it through one week successfully, let alone the entire year.

Will nodded once more in concurrence, although for different reasons unknown to her Japanese friend. She, like Minako, was also concerned about whether or not she'd be able to exercise her own wand and effectively cast each spell offered in each book she'd purchased.

". . . Yeah, I know what you mean. What did that Ollivander guy say again? That 'no two wands are the same, and it chooses the wizard?'"

"Right. And if it's true, then my brand new 'nine and a half inches long, swishy, made of maple and nice for charm work' wand will hopefully serve me well, as he said," finished Minako, pulling out her wand from underneath her pillow where she'd apparently kept it during the night, and examined it as she had the previous day upon purchasing it.

Yesterday had most definitely been a strange one for the young woman who had always been the living embodiment of love her entire life up until recently.

Minako wondered a bit more if there really would be a difference in the wands each girl had gotten, or if it was just some sort of ploy to make every customer feel special and significant.

For instance, why is that that I didn't get the same wand as that Cornelia girl? I like unicorns, too, she silently contemplated while remembering the other blonde's wand of unicorn hair and pinewood, nine inches, before beginning to mentally rack down the rest of the new wands her fellow classmates inherited.

If Minako recalled correctly, Taranee's wand had been one made of ebony, unicorn hair, seven and a half inches, while Rei's turned out to be a yew, dragon heartstring, eight and a half inches make.

Meanwhile, both Irma and Makoto landed rather bendy, ten inch wands; however, while Irma's had also been made with unicorn hair as well as willow, good for transfiguration, Makoto's was also made of dragon heartstring much like Rei's, and of rosewood.

Finally, both Ami and Hay Lin's wand had been declared to be very good for defensive spells: Ami's had been structured to encompass unicorn hair, beechwood, six and a half inches, while Hay Lin was constructed of yew and holly, dragonheart string, six inches.

Surprisingly, however, as it had turned out, and peculiarly so, only Usagi's and Will's wands were made of phoenix feathers out of the entire group.

In fact, both girls' wands had been declared to be the most unusual combination of wands Mr. Ollivander had ever sold, he'd stated, and also one of the most powerful:

"Besides one other set, that is," he'd curiously remarked.

Will took ownership to a dragon heartstring, unicorn hair and phoenix feather, eleven inches model, while Usagi sported one made of phoenix feather, sakura, twelve inches, and with a hint of ground moon dust. That aspect to her wand had bore no surprise to Minako and her friends (although it had been a bit of a shock to Mr. Ollivander, as apparently no other wizard had ever been powerful enough to possess such a wand -- Usagi's, nor Will's), nor the fact that her Princess would be the one to don the strongest wand of them all.

However, the reasons behind Will having obtained such an omnipotent wand to use at her disposal were currently unmindful to the young woman with sunlit hair, although feeling for some strange reason that perhaps one day soon she would become aware of them.

While both girls continued to silently reflect upon the past day's events, there came an abrupt knocking upon their closed door.

"Hey, Will! Minako! Are you guys up yet?" Cornelia called out as quietly as she could from on the other side of it.

"Well, if they weren't before, they are now, Cornelia, thanks to you and your brand new pet owl," Taranee's voice sounded sleepily in turn, making reference to the faint but growing screeching of an owl assumingly right outside with them.

Smirking, Will took it upon herself to answer the door, while her roommate rose from her bed to begin tying her infamous red ribbon back into her long golden hair.

"I guess no one else could really sleep, either," Minako commented, smiling lightly as Cornelia and Taranee came barreling into the room.

"Well, I honestly tried to, Minako, but Cornelia's owl you gave to her did a pretty good job of making sure neither of us could get a fair amount of it," Taranee explained, glaring lightly at first towards the tiny snowy owl now gazing about her new surroundings, then flinched drastically once the bird began to flap its wings excessively in protest as it had been for the past few hours, and ever since first entering the Earth Guardian's custody.

"Yeah, really! I need my beauty sleep! Listen, Minako -- ow! That was my finger, you pesky, little menace -- I really appreciate your giving your owl to me yesterday, b-but -- if you do that one more time -- I don't really think she likes me very much," Cornelia exhaled in exasperation, trying her best to maintain her hold upon the cage without getting any more of her fingers bitten at.

"She seemed to really enjoy your company all those twenty minutes before having discovered that your cat from back home had somehow managed to stow away inside of your luggage without your knowing . . . maybe I could look after him for you while we're at Hogwarts, and then that way you could take Ivory back."

Minako and Will both giggled lightly as the other blonde continued to wrestle with the restless owl inside of her cage, while a small white cat with sleepy blue eyes suddenly and silently emerged from underneath his owner's bed.

Reaching down, Minako carefully scooped up the faintly purring feline before sitting back down on the bed, and began lightly stroking its fur.

"Thanks for the offer, Cornelia, but Artemis here can be a little fussy at times, and hard to handle -- he'd probably be worse than . . . what'd you name her? Ivory? Yeah, Ivory.

Anyway, Artemis would most likely give you a hard time just as much, if not more," she commented, smirking in amusement as the once content feline now flashed her a very indignant look, the caged owl following suit.

"And besides, we're not allowed to bring more than one animal to school with us -- just a cat, owl or toad, that letter said. I'm sure you two will grow close eventually."

Trying very hard not to come off as rude or ungrateful to her new friend's gracious gesture, Cornelia smiled weakly and nodded in response.

This screeching nightmare will be the death of me . . . or, my good night sleeps, anyway, she thought tiredly to herself while setting down the animal's cage, the two of them sharing a look of regrettable defeat.

"So, who else got a pet anyway? I'd lost count," Will inquired, moving over on her bed to make room for Taranee while Cornelia stood at the doorway, arms folded.

"Well, Hay Lin, Rei and Ami all got owls: two boys and a girl. Hay Lin's is a barn owl whom she named Gàn, because its plumage hues reminds her of the color of sunset; Ami named her burrowing owl Mazu, after a celestial-like woman she'd met in her dreams once a long time ago, she'd told us; and Rei ended up with the great horned owl Usagi had purchased and named him Yuuichirou, for reasons she refused to reveal . . .

I guess both yours and Usagi's cat, Luna, think alike, Minako, since she managed to come along as well," Taranee began, adjusting her noncorrrective glasses in a curious manner as she gazed at the alabaster colored feline with its mysterious looking crescent moon shaped scar upon its forehead, very much like the one Usagi's ebony cat donned right above her light brown eyes in the same place.

Taranee wondered if it really was just a scar, as her new friends had hastily explained to them, or if it might be something else . . . what, she wasn't exactly sure of at the moment . . .

Before she could continue on with her pondering, Cornelia broke through them when she let out a tired yawn before going on for her.

". . . And then both Irma and Taranee here opted to get cats: a male with all black fur save his white chest; which was the reason, I think, Irma decided to name it Tuxedo -- Tux, for short.

I definitely think Taranee's gray cutie, Nibbles, was a match made in heaven for her, though," she joked, smirking in amusement at the raven haired young woman.

"Why's that, Cornelia?" Minako asked as she let Artemis jump down to floor and up onto the window sill, gazing down curiously at the busy, hard working crowd below.

"Well, because poor little Nibbles, as her name entails, keeps nibbling on everything she can get her paws on. She seems to have a bit of a nervous habit about her -- just like her 'Mommy," giggled Cornelia, winking at the lightly scowling Fire Guardian as the others smiled.

"Yes, well, anyway, finally, Makoto chose to get a Pacific Tree Frog she named Yuri, after her favorite type of flower, she told us; plus, she said it'd be a cute joke, because it's a frog who likes sitting and jumping on lily pads -- well, in addition to climbing trees, of course -- and that's also her name."

"Well, I wonder if Makoto would be interested in taking a picture of Yuri for me, so I can send it back home to my little sister -- they do share the same name and look so much alike," Cornelia smirked, watching as Will reached over to her nightstand, opening her lucky shoe box that she'd promptly punctured holes in after purchasing her current prized possession, a Northern Red-Legged male frog, sleeping soundly inside.

I have no idea how I'm ever going to explain him to Mom when I get back, Will thought musingly while gently cupping the large amphibian in between her hands and removed it from its makeshift, temporary home.

"Ugh, Will! Do you have to bring it out now? It's lucky I haven't eaten breakfast yet," reeled Cornelia, her face instantly contorted into a look of disgust.

Will merely shrugged, gently stroking her new pet's back with a finger while securely holding it with her hand, smiling softly.

"Well, what? Speaking of breakfast, I suspect it'll be served pretty soon, and we wouldn't want poor ol' cutsie-wootsie Cobalt to starve, now would we?" she mused, blushing lightly at her intense display of affection she'd already developed for the young toad.

"And besides, maybe he and Yuri might get along once they meet -- froggies gotta stick together, right?"

Minako and Taranee lightly giggled while the red head continued to play with the reddish brown toad, Cornelia wrinkling her nose in further disdain.

"So, why'd you name him 'Cobalt,' if I may ask, Will?" Minako inquired, wondering at how such a creature would end up with a such a peculiar name -- especially since the animal was far from being even a shade remotely close to blue.

Instantly the Keeper of the Heart of Candracar's eyes clouded over as her mind traveled back to the past . . . to a point in time she was hoping to forget and hadn't realized that in by giving her new amphibian friend the curious name she had, it would only ensure her a constant reminder of its existence.

Sensing that she had perhaps touched a sensitive subject, Minako stammered for the right thing to say until Taranee stepped in, rescuing her.

". . . It's kind of a . . . long story, Minako . . . a very long, and touchy story that neither Will nor any of us would really like to get into right now," she explained as best she could without completely alienating the Japanese girl or making the red head feel any worse than she knew she already was, a sad apologetic smile forced upon her face.

". . . Or ever, really . . ." Will suddenly murmured a bit tonelessly, yet at the same time vehemently, a bit uncharacteristic of her.

Cornelia immediately moved over to hers and Minako's side and extended a comforting hand to the both of them as Will promptly put the namesake of her obvious pain and troubled past back into the shoebox and onto the nightstand.

"Listen, Minako . . . it's not your fault for asking a perfectly normal question, and I'm sorry . . . we're sorry it's most likely made you feel uncomfortable, as well as the 'odd man out' for having done so, and receiving this reaction as a more or less answer.

But, trust us when we say that it's nothing personal towards you, all right?" Cornelia reassurred the confused girl, smiling softly at her before turning her attention over to her friend of three years, ironically only one year more than the current topic's happening.

Sometimes it was so hard to believe it'd only been that long that it had all happened to the poor girl sitting before Cornelia, although she was quite certain that for her it felt more like it had happened just yesterday.

However, Cornelia would never know it, since Will seemed to hide it so well, going about her life with such a positive and happy outlook all the time, but she knew it was tormenting the honey eyed young woman deep inside as she made every effort to forget about it and that it had happened to her.

Clearly though, judging by her choice in names to give her new toad, it was obvious to everyone in the room, save Minako, that Will was doing anything but.

Cornelia smiled warmly up at her former leader, lightly squeezing her hand in comfort.

". . . Will, Taranee and I completely understand that you don't want to ever speak of what happened to you --"

"-- No, you're right, Cornelia; I don't . . ." Will interrupted solidly in the same hollow voice from a few moments before, void of all emotion, her usually warm and bright brown eyes now hard and reflecting the unspoken, unexpressed anguish and betrayal over the two year old incident.

"Right . . . but what I'm trying to say is, if ever you eventually do feel ready to talk about it, you know we'll all be there for you . . . who knows, maybe even Minako and the others if you let them . . ." Cornelia finished, looking over at Taranee, and then at Minako, who gave her an appreciative smile for the incorporation of her concern for her new friend, as well as her assistance and comfort to be offered at a later date up on the matter.

Slowly nodding in understanding, Will opened her mouth to respond when there came another knock upon their bedroom door, a familiar voice leaking through.

"'Heyyy, you guyyys! Ahaha!'" Irma, said in her best "The Goonies" imitation she could muster before dropping the act and continuing,

"It's time for wakey, wakey, eggs-n-bakey!"

"Shh! Irma! Be quiet! You're gonna wake up the other guests staying here!" Hay Lin could be heard scolding next to her.

"Your point? It's six o'clock in the morning! Carpé Diem, baby! Carpé Diem!"

Seizing this interrupted opportunity to quickly change the subject, beginning to become uncomfortable that she had managed to find herself the center of attention for the past several minutes (something that never really did bode well for her, good or bad), Will immediately scrambled to the door, preparing to open it and let her two other friends inside, never feeling more thankful in her life to hear their playful banterings.

"G'morning, you guys; sleep well?" Will greeted, her normally cheerful mood automatically and instantly returning as she rested her eyes upon the two girls in the doorway.

"That we did, though it was kind of hard at times, because of Irma's snoring --"

"-- And Hay Lin's constant 'Is it sunrise, yet?' inquiry every hour; I swear, I've never seen anyone so excited before about going to school," Irma countered, smirking as her best friend stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Sounds like no one really got her best night's sleep then," Taranee marveled.

"Especially not with my nightmare of a pet -- er, with all due respect, Minako," Cornelia commented, glaring at Ivory, who had been uncharacteristically cooperative and quiet the entire time.

"Oooh, is this your owl, Cornelia? I'd gone to bed before I got to meet her -- she's so gorgeous! Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" Hay Lin cooed, stepping inside the bedroom to gently stroke the bird's feathers through the cage, who gently nipped her finger affectionately and puffed out its chest proudly as she did so.

Cornelia was tempted to spout out,

"Then, by all means! Take this demonic pigeon off my hands, especially since you two seem to be so chummy!"

just then; however, she promptly held it back out of respect for her Japanese friend, who smiled warmly at her right then.

Clapping her hands to grab everyone's attention, Irma smiled a toothy grin as she tipped an imaginary hat towards them all, sticking a thumb into the waist of her pajama pants.

"Well, then! Let's all git along, little doggies! Soup's on, and baby needs some eats!"

"Does she always act like this when first waking up?" Minako asked curiously as she and the other three girls watched the hyper Hispanic girl race down the hall and down the nearest flight of stairs to the dining area for breakfast.

"Mmm . . . pretty much, but that's Irma for you; if she didn't act this way, I'd start to worry," Will said, grinning in amusement as the trio walked out of the room, with Artemis quickly sneaking out in tow, not wishing to miss out on the morning meal.

"And such is the enigma that is Irma Lair: 'Who can explain it? Who can tell you why? Fools give you reasons; wise men never try!'" sang Cornelia, reciting an old song she'd learned back in the days of elementary school, while the others began to giggle uncontrollably, their laughter sounding throughout and carrying down the long hallway as they made their way down it, preparing to head to their first of many meals together.

YYYYYYYY

So far, the new life as a "witch" had been very eventful for Kino Makoto -- every task done or sight seen since first arriving in Diagon Alley (heck, since having met the friendly giant the previous night) had been simply mind boggling, yet exciting all at once.

Even eating breakfast but an hour ago had been an event in itself. On more than one occasion had Makoto forgotten to finish eating her breakfast of a bagel and yogurt, as a magically levitated tea kettle kept circling by the table, nudging its occupants as if to offer up more of its contents to them.

That hadn't been the only strange happening to occur, nor the only normally immobile kitchen appliance to have seemed to acquired a mind of its own around them. Chairs kept on pulling themselves out for guests or customers, while spoons, knives, and forks all performed their intended functions of stirring, slicing, or impaling.

Perhaps the strangest sight was when Hagrid, who'd decided to join them for breakfast and later be a bit of a guide for some sight-seeing before having to leave for Hogwarts, had oddly settled on pea soup as his meal.

It was not the fact that he had chosen such a dish traditionally eaten for lunch or dinner, it was the fact that it appeared very much so that the soup was actually trying to eat Hagrid right back.

Every time the giant had lifted up his spoon to venture a taste, the green substance tried to follow suit right back, making the usually easy task a very tiresome game of cat and mouse.

"Y'know, I'm always warned by Tom not ter bother with it and if I must ter eat it before it eats me, but I just can' help it -- 'tis a very good and tasty dish, it is," was Hagrid's exasperated explanation of bothering to put up with such a feat.

It was after breakfast and after a more thorough tour of Diagon Alley -- purchasing neat little candy dishes and intricate little do-dads along the way -- with little more than as an hour left before leaving for Hogwarts that Makoto and her fellow schoolmates had decided to proverbally (and literally, if they had to or even could, what with his great girth) corner the friendly massive man for more, detailed answers to the same questions that had been painstakingly burning a hole through their tongues for the absolute longest.

Choosing to wait until the pub had become less crowded and with only a few customers and guests eating Sunday brunch, it had been Makoto this time to initiate what would become a barrage of questions as the eleven of them gathered around a table in the far corner.

"Hagrid, clearly when Will had tried to ask you this yesterday, you did not want to completely answer; however, I am -- we are asking that you please do so now," Makoto had stated to the giant, who had by then become increasingly tense as he'd wondered why the girls had all insisted they skip an ice cream break from shopping and head back to the Leaky Cauldron early.

"We're just gonna put all the cards on the the table, here, Hagrid. After spending a solid day and a quarter with one another, we've obviously gotten the chance to get to know each other a little better.

And, well, it's pretty much unanimous that none of us knew diddly about Hogwarts before now. So, again we ask: what are we doing here?" Irma had queried in a half serious, half playful manner while the others had all nodded their heads in recognized concurrence.

Makoto remembered Hagrid's face had then uncharacteristically darkened a bit before it instantly cleared into a tight, apprehensive resolve.

". . . Now what yeh have ter understand about that is . . . well, how ter say this . . . this year, Hogwarts is playing host ter the new 'Inter-Wizard Exchange Program' tha's recently been encouraged by the ministry, and yeh lot got yer letters because of it," he'd began to explain.

"'Inter-Wizard Exchange Program?' You mean like when you go study abroad?" Taranee had wondered, while she and the others tried to wrap their minds around the concept.

"Well, would you look at that; apparently you were right on with the lie you told our parents about going to Hogwarts, Hay Lin," Irma had smirked, winking at the blushing oriental.

"Tha's exactly what it is, Taranee," Hagrid had responded, not missing a beat as he continued on in his explanation and choosing to bypass Irma's decorative comment.

"Now, please lemme finish before yeh lot go an' start asking me a boat load of questions I can' keep up with. Now, where was I . . . oh, yeah! Y'see, the new exchange program is designed ter offer young witches and wizards from all over the world ter come and get the opportunity ter study new kinds of spells in a new environment or setting, or old spells they'd already learned but with an obvious new professor an' different perspective.

Experiencing and doing all of this will help ter give students from different cultures the chance ter immerse themselves within 'new' settings that'll help better them for situations in the real world after they leave school -- y'know, taking them out of their comfort zone ter make 'em a stronger, more prepared individual.

Now, before yeh even ask, as I now see it written all o'er yeh faces, yeh were also invited ter experience this due ter the very same reason all other Muggle borns have been accepted ter Hogwarts since its opening: because of yer ability ter use magic. Some of the greatest witches and wizards of our time were Muggle born, y'know -- take Hermione Granger! T'ain't no brighter witch attending that school than she, I'd wager. But yeh'll know more about her once yeh all eventually meet.

Anyway, the program also doesn't discriminate against age or experience, either. So, yeh can be a twenty-two year old wizard who only knows magic at a first year student level and partake in the program wherever it's being held that year -- which, again, happens to be at Hogwarts. Only major rule is that if yeh happen ter be older than seventeen yeh clearly can't reside within the castle -- charming alternative accommodations for those who do stay on, although most would prefer ter Apparate back home once the day is through instead, anyway.

Anyhow, no worries for yeh girls about this whole thing! What with private, speedy lessons yeh'll be taking every evening and every other weekend alongside yer regular lessons ter help catch yeh up, yeh'll all be strong witches, yet! An' Dumbledore wouldn't have hand selected you, himself, if he didn't truly believe yeh had great potential within yeh ter succeed, despite yer lack of proper training.

Now, then! I trust at last, there are no more questions about why yer here, yes?"

Judging by everyone's facial expresion, there were (especially about whether or not Hagrid had meant their ability to use magic in regards to Makoto and her friends' senshi alteregos), however, they did not venture anymore questions as Hagrid's expression had grown rather pensive (and although he had struck them as extremely friendly, they did not want to chance an outburst or two from all of the distrustful inquiry -- he had been thus far, after all, their new and first friend made within this strange new world), and the time to gather up their belongings to leave for school had at last finally descended upon them.

And so there Makoto now stood with the other nine girls, outside the entrance to King's Cross train station, about to enter to board the train that would take them to Hogwarts.

"Now, then! D'yeh all still have the envelopes I'd given ter yeh this morning at breakfast? Inside is each of yer tickets that'll let yeh board the Hogwarts Express," Hagrid explained, as he watched his "charges" for the past day pull out and open up their tiny envelopes to reveal their tickets.

Makoto looked down at her own and instantly had to perform a double take as she saw that it read:

Platform nine and three-quarters.

She hadn't the opportunity to travel around the world a lot up until now, and so could be mistaken in her assumption; however, of all the cities and few countries she'd had the opportunity to travel to by way of plane, boat -- or in this case, train -- none had had the very peculiar platform of nine and three-quarters. Or, anything with any other fraction involved, for that matter. In fact, as far as Makoto was concerned, no such platform to date was in existence. So, surely . . .

"Hey, Hagrid -- this can't be right. My ticket says, 'Nine and three-quarters;' that's not possible. I mean, is that a typo, or something?" Makoto heard Hay Lin wonder aloud, beating her to the punch before she could ask the very same thing as her mind released her from her silent pondering.

Hagrid merely smiled knowingly as he continued on.

"Now, it's very important tha' yeh stick ter yer ticket; train leaves at exactly eleven o'clock, so yeh'd better hurry or else yeh'll miss it. I've got a few last minute errands before I head over ter Hogwarts me self, so sorry I can' come inside with yeh. However, I'm sure yeh'll find everything all right. Just remember ter stick ter those tickets, and yeh'll be just fine. I will see yeh lot at the station at Hogwarts when the train pulls in; g'luck!"

As the decade of women watched Hagrid once again left them to their own devies, all still a bit perplexed by their tickets, Makoto was the first to speak, clearing her throat while running a hand through her brunette tresses which now were currently flowing upon her strong shoulders and free from its traditional green orbed beret that helped keep it in a ponytail.

"Well . . . I guess we'd better just do what he says and get a move on, everyone . . ."

Taking the helm of the eccentric and multi-ethnic gaggle of females, Makoto was the first to pass through the station's entrance, immediately beginning to fixate her emerald colored jems upon each and every platform sign inside that might reflect hers and her fellow classmates' peculiar ticket face.

"Hey, we're in luck! We're getting close to platforms nine and ten, so logically nine and three-quarters should be in between or nearby somewhere," Hay Lin gushed excitedly, Gàn mimicing her sentiments in suit by letting out a series of enthusiastic hoots from within his cage.

"Thank, God! Because this luggage was only about to give me a hernia," muttered Cornelia, wiping a few beads that were just beginning to glisten above her perfectly shaped golden eyebrows as her light blue eyes rested upon the platform signs of nine and ten and expecting to see a sign for platform nine and three-quarters . . . however, there was nothing.

There was a platform eight, nine, ten, and an eleven from where the girls now all gathered, but not their desired platform number. Makoto began to feel desperately frantic as she gazed at her watch and saw that it read only several more minutes until the time Hagrid said their train would depart . . . with or without them.

"Well, now what are we supposed to --" began Minako with exasperation before a familiar string of words wafting from behind immediately silenced her.

"Daddy, it's almost eleven! The Hogwarts Express will leave without me! Why couldn't you have just Apparated us here instead?"

Turning around, all ten sets of ears perking up with renewed hope, Minako and the others looked to see a little girl with bouncy brown curls and green eyes who appeared to be between the ages of nine to eleven, carrying behind her almost the same kinds of luggage the rest of them were. A very stressed look played about her small face as she and her father, whose visage also reflected extreme duress, hurriedly rushed ahead.

"Because you know my magic doesn't work as up to speed as normal whenever I have a cold, Rebecca. Now, please! We're almost there, with four minutes to spare!"

Locking eyes with one another before taking action, Makoto nudged Ami from behind.

"You're the most quick on your toes when it comes to things like this, Ami-chan; just ask them where the platform is before we miss the train too!" she urged hastily in Japanese, already lightly pushing the blue haired girl forward.

"Oh! Um, really? If you're sure then, Mako-chan . . ." Ami blushed, nervously clearing her throat as she quickly placed herself in the young girl and her father's direct path.

"P-please excuse my rudeness, sir, but my friends and I are a bit lost. You see, we are ironically heading to the same platform you and your daughter are . . . only its whereabouts has managed to completely slip our minds. It's been a while, you understand, as we normally would . . . Apparate with our parents, ourselves," the Mercurian Princess hurriedly explained, cheeks flushed with apologetic embarrassment.

Groaning slightly before letting out a loud sneeze straight into the sleeve of his coat, the sickly man eyed the shy intellect a bit wearily before clearing his throat.

"You'll have to excuse my rudeness, young lady, as I am trying to get my daughter onto the train before it leaves without her, but while I don't know why you lot have forgotten where the platform is, I don't rightly care at the moment. Perhaps your minds have been partially Obliviated, or something . . . anyhow! Just follow us, and quickly now before you all miss the train," the man begrudgingly responded, shaking his head while waving his hand to signal the group of girls to follow he and his jittery daughter.

"Because yeah, that wasn't extremely rude; hope not everyone will be like him," Cornelia scoffed, regrettably picking up her luggage once more and began lugging it behind her.

"He's sick though, Cornelia; the last place he should be is in a busy train station rushing to get his daughter onto the train on time. It was very generous of him to bother to help us at all," Usagi defended soothingly, offering up a warm smile as she politely reached out and helped the other blonde with some of her luggage.

When the man and his daughter suddenly stopped walking once approaching a brick wall, all eyebrows raised in confusion as they all stopped.

"Now, just blaze straight on through, all of you; I have to make sure my daughter has everything she needs before sending her along after you," the man instructed shortly, sneezing roughly again into his sleeve before turning his attention to his perturbed daughter who looked as though she wanted to do anything but wait to allow her father to ensure she'd brought everything she was supposed to.

"Maybe he's more sick than we thought, Usagi," Irma commented softly after hearing this, staring at the wall before them blankly that appeared solid.

Looking up at the station's clock to see that it read two minutes until eleven, Makoto quickly replied while beginning to charge towards the wall,

"Doesn't matter, Irma! We have to gooo!"

Closing her eyes and expecting to feel a sharp impact with the wall, Makoto was surprised when she'd suddenly heard the sound of a train engine, never feeling a harsh crash from her heated sprint.

Opening her eyes slowly, she looked around her to see a scarlet steam engine waiting next to a platform surrounded with people. There was a sign overhead that said Hogwarts Express, and when she looked behind her, Makoto saw an archway with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters written on it.

They had made it.

"C'mon . . . let's try to find an empty compartment that could fit us all, or is at least close by to us . . ." Makoto lightly suggested after the rest of her friends appeared and gathered around her, suddenly feeling out of place for the first time since arriving, maneuvering through the busy crowd and climbing aboard the train.

True, she always had a level head on her shoulders and could get the things that needed to be done as they needed to be; however, deep down Makoto was still as coy and shy as the delicate flowers she took esteemed pride in cultivating back home in Japan.

After several minutes of walking through the train, coming closer to the very back (which seemed a lot quieter, signifying to them that there should indeed be an empty compartment or two left), a voice called out from behind.

"Oh! Excuse me, but aren't you the girls my friend and I had run into yesterday in Diagon Alley?"

Turning around, Makoto's green eyes locked with a pair of brown jems belonging to a young girl with relatively tamed, long brown hair that appeared -- in Makoto's opinion -- to have once took on a slightly bushy nature at one point.

"Oh, hey! I remember you! You're the girl I saw at that wand shop!" Hay Lin grinned, extending her hand out in offering to the girl.

Another girl with cornflower hair and dreamy, half lidded blue eyes suddenly appeared from behind the girl as she spoke again.

"That's right! My name is Hermione Granger, in case you'd forgotten . . . Hay Lin, correct? You all must be the rest of the exchange students I'd not had the pleasure of meeting at the time. I hope -- Oh! Luna! You gave me a fright! Didn't know you were here! Not sure if you remember her, Usagi, but everyone, this is my friend, Luna Lovegood; she's a year younger than us."

"Oh . . . n-no . . . I remember her . . . h-hello, again . . . Luna," Usagi nervously replied, smiling crookedly while subconsciously side-stepping to obscure the curious girl's vision of her by standing behind Cornelia, who was taller.

"Hey! Your name's Luna! Neat! Usagi's cat's named Luna, too!" Minako friendly submitted into the conversation, obliviously taking in the human Luna's suddenly intrigued expression as she locked eyes with the Moon Princess with a sort of dazed look.

"You don't say? I should like to meet your cat at a later date, Usagi . . . I imagine we'll get along . . . just fine . . ." Luna whispered dreamily, slowly blinking her eyes at Usagi as if for added effect.

Smiling weakly, not at all understanding what just went on, Will took it upon herself to make the formal intros for she and the rest of friends, Usagi's cheeks suddenly flushed with embarrassment as she continued to cower behind the blonde girl.

"How've things been for you thus far? Find everything to your liking?" Hermione asked after the pleasantries were out of the way.

"Everything's been just great, thanks, Hermione; we were actually about to go claim a few empty compartments for our own right before you showed up," Rei revealed, smiling softly at her apparent new friend.

Hermione blushed gently in apology.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Rei! I was wondering why all of you were together like this, myself, and thought that might've been it, but I was just too excited to meet you all at last that my manners had completely flown out of the window!

Please, proceed! And if not all of you can find room, a few of you are more than welcome to come share mine and my friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter's compartment with us. Either way, I do hope you stop in to say hello, if nothing else; we're four compartments down that way. C'mon, Luna; let's let them get settled in."

As they watched Hermione and Luna leave, Usagi let out a breath of relief before releasing herself from Cornelia's involuntarily protective shelter.

"Oh, wow . . . those girls we really nice, but I'm not really sure that that Luna girl likes me much . . . that's how she was with me when I'd first met them both back at Madam Malkin's . . ."

". . . Something tells me that it's the opposite sentiment, Usagi," Rei smirked mysteriously while leading the way to the back to find their vacant compartments.

YYYYYYYY

There Harry sat, alone inside of his shared compartment with Ron and Neville, who were all currently scattered about the train, the Hogwarts Express, doing their own thing. Hermione had opted suddenly at the last minute to share a compartment with Luna and Ginny (having gotten quite close with both girls over the past few years and summer), which suited Harry just fine as he was happy one of his best friends had branched out and made more girl friends.

A small simper formed upon Harry's face as he tired to picture a tomboy version of Hermione, due to mainly having had guy friends up until recently. The visual didn't last very long, as Harry could never see his best friend doing something like climbing trees recklessly or catching frogs in muddy ponds, as he himself used to when he was younger.

No, Hermione Granger struck him as more of the delicate flower, or even a Venus Fly Trap type: innocent and gentle looking on the outside, but with a stong quick wit and tongue on the inside.

Though, it was not to say that she was barbaric; on the contrary, Hermione, was quite possibly one of the most caring, sweetest, prettiest, and not to mention smartest girls he knew to date.

Harry imagined if he'd just randomly met her on the street and hadn't known her for as long as he had, then he could quite possibly see himself dating her . . . that is, if two very important factors didn't plague his mind: Hermione had always secretly had her eyes on someone else and vice versa; and Harry currently had his own eye on someone else . . . someone he was admittedly becoming very worried he'd never see again . . .

Harry supposed it was just as well that he had currently been left alone by his mates for the time being, as they would both undoubtedly ask what was the matter that could cause such a deep scowl to form upon his usually neutral features that he could now see being reflected against the window while the train at last began to pull out of the station.

It wasn't as though he could not talk to his friends about the matters of the heart (Harry eternally preferred to speak of such things over anything having to do with Lord Voldemort in a heartbeat); it was merely that he did not wish to as of yet, because it would only make him feel all the more forlorn about it.

"Would someone please tell me why of all the times to have forgotten my name -- something just about the entire Wizarding World knows of by now -- it had to have been when I'd met a possible . . . new girlfriend?" Harry bitterly exhaled to himself in deep melancholy, as his mind began to yet again reminsce about his crossing paths with the alluring young woman yesterday afternoon.

Harry began to replay every move; every gesture; every word and breath she had taken; how fragile, yet strong-minded she was perceived to be by him (which was strange in itself to Harry, for he had felt as though he had known that young woman all of his life, still feeling extremely connected to her somehow and in some way).

For a moment, Harry thought that that was the reason why she seemed forever on his mind, whether taking the foreground or back; however, he knew that if nothing else, that was only part of the reason. He also knew, that if he never saw her again or never learned anything else about her, her heavenly face would forever be etched within his mind for many a time to come.

"Well, enough dwelling on depressing matters that I can't change no matter how much I might wish for it to," sighed Harry, running a strong hand through his untamed, jet black hair and continued to gaze out the window, the outside scenery becoming an increasingly fast blur.

"What's that about being depressed, mate? The Creevey Brothers didn't come in here, harassing you for yet another photo shoot, did they?"

Harry abruptly turned his head to gaze upon Ron, a smirk upon his face and a book within his hand as he walked into the compartment, having referred to the overly excited Muggle-born and fellow Gryffindor housemates Harry often found himself at the mercy of a bombardment of photographs or eager fan-like inqueries.

Harry felt his cheeks faintly begin to grow hot in mixed surprise and embarrassment that the taller boy had managed to arrive unheard by him during his relatively silent reverie, however thankful that he had apparently not been privy to all of it upon his arrival.

"No, not yet, Ron; the day's still pretty early, though," he offered in turn, smiling softly at his best friend before resting his eyes upon the small, sky blue colored book clutched firmly within his hands, happy of its prescence so that it could be used to swiftly change the subject.

"Anyway, what's with the book? Gonna try to get a headstart on this year's studies, are you?"

Ron's eyes widened in disgusted shock as he immediately recoiled away from Harry, as though he'd suddenly transfigured himself into an open flame that was dangerously close to singing his skin clear off.

"Are you daft? Have I suddenly grown long, formerly bushy brown hair -- not to mention other assets and features I'll not get into -- without my knowing?

No, way, mate; this isn't even mine. I'd found it on the floor outside in the hall, and was about to turn it in to the conductor, when I'd thought I'd pop in and see how you were."

Harry smiled sincerely at his friend about the comical reference to Hermione and the thoughtfulness. He could always count on him to uplift his spirits whenever things became too serious or uncomfortable.

Besides Hermione, Harry thoroughly considered Ron to be his family, thankful to have met him and had his support through every unfortunate event that has happened to male protagonist since having first learned he was a Wizard.

"Well, I thank you for the concern, Ron; I'm fine though, really. Although, I was about to come looking for you guys -- thought you'd forgotten me."

"Who, us? Never! No, there's just a lot of traffic because of all the people on board. There's definitely a lot more than usual, more than ever, I think, mate. I wonder what's going on?"

Before either boy could carry on in their dual conversation, the door to their compartment suddenly slid open.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I was told by Hermione Granger that she'd be in here, but I guess I'd counted down from my compartment wrong. Excuse me," a young African American woman with a unique hairstyle of raven colored hair, and caramel colored eyes twinkling curiously behind a pair of round glasses sheepishly apologized, about to close the door.

"Oh, no! It's all right! Actually, Hermione was going to share this one with us originally, but at the last minute she'd decided to share with our other two friends, Luna and Ginny. Did you need her for something?" Harry explained, smiling politely up at the slightly blushing girl.

"Ah! So you know Hermione and Luna, as well? Well, my friends and I had run into her when we'd first gotten on the train, and she's offered to share her compartment with any one of us if ours ran out of room to accommodate everyone . . ." the girl replied, trailing off when she'd noticed Ron gazing at her in a sort of funny way, it seemed to Harry.

Both Ron's and the girl's cheeks immediately flushed a dark crimson upon meeting each other's gaze for the first time before Harry cleared his throat, smirking knowingly.

"Well, if she doesn't have anymore space inside hers, you're more than welcome to share our compartment, Miss . . ."

"Oh! I'm sorry! My name's Taranee Cook; very nice to meet you . . . and your friend . . ." the girl named Taranee trailed off, her blush growing redder as she managed to at last tear her eyes away from the red haired boy.

Harry stood from his seat and offered up his hand in greeting to Taranee, who took it in turn.

"It's very nice to meet you, Taranee; my name is Harry Potter, and this is my best friend, Ron Weasley. I don't think I've ever seen you around before."

"Y-yeah! I think I'd remember your face if I'd seen it before . . . er, I mean that I've never seen you before, either," Ron stammered, speaking for the first time since the new girl's arrival.

Harry and Taranee both watched as Ron's face steadily began to resemble a tomato before the girl responded, smiling in embarrassment.

"Oh, well, that's because this is my first year -- er, time, here. Yeah, see, my friends and I are all exchange students -- I believe your friend, Hermione knew about that somehow."

Ron's eyebrows raised with interest, as he immediately stood from his seat as well, smoothing down his hair and suddenly trying to take on an appearance of extreme importance.

"Oh! W-well, actually, our Hermione only knew about you lot because I told her. Well, I didn't tell her -- my little sister, Ginny,did, but that's only because she saw our dad before I had that day and --"

"-- What Ron's trying to say is, his father, Mr. Arthur Weasley, works for the Ministry of Magic, and I suppose talk of your attending Hogwarts this year was passed around while he was present, because he ended up telling us about it. Sounds like you and your friends are pretty popular," cleared Harry, moving back to his seat, but not before offering up the empty spot next to him to Taranee, who smiled appreciatively before claiming it.

"Thank you. No, I wouldn't say that . . . I imagine your father also told you about the probably hundreds of other exchange students who will be coming to Hogwarts this year, right?"

Both Harry and Ron merely shook their heads slowly in confused response.

Taranee's brow furrowed lightly.

"Well, there's --"

The door once again slid open just then, cutting off the mocha-skinned girl's explanation and ushering in the very person she'd been looking for only moments before, along with several other visitors behind her whom Harry and Ron did not recognize.

"Oh! Taranee! There you are! Will and the others were looking for you and when they couldn't find you, they came to my compartment. I see you'd met Ron and Harry at least," said Hermione as she entered the compartment and stood next to Harry.

Taranee nodded and blushed, feeling a bit guilty for having worried her friends.

"Yes, I have, Hermione; I'd run into them both when I was looking for your compartment, miscounted and accidentally opened this one instead."

"Yeah, but it was no trouble on our part though; we enjoyed entertaining Taranee until you came to find her," murmured Ron a bit dreamily, causing a small smirk to form upon Harry's face and a few small giggles to emit from Taranee's apparent friends; while a coy glance from Ron made Taranee once again blush and caused Hermione (who now took notice of the exchange) to immediately frown at the sight.

"Hmm . . . Yes, well, anyway, now we've found you, and so you can share mine or their compartment, Taranee. Let's g --"

"-- Oh! You found my diary! Thank you!"

One of the girls, a petite, shy looking young woman with short blue hair and eyes suddenly maneuvered her way into the increasingly crowded compartment and politely took the forgotten blue book from out of Ron's hand, accidentally brushing her own against it in the process.

"Diary? I didn't know you kept a diary, Ami -- that's more of an Usagi or Minako thing," a girl with long black hair standing outside of the doorway mused, cocking her head to the side thoughtfully.

The girl apparently known as Ami blushed lightly as she looked up at Ron and locked eyes for the first time before responding, Ron's throat becoming dry and feeling as though something rather large was stuck inside of it.

"Well . . . I don't normally keep one, Rei . . . but, I thought I would to chronicle my experience here this year . . . so it's more like a 'Travel Log' than anything else . . . I already know what I'm gonna write about first . . ." she trailed off, smiling shyly at the red haired boy with slightly hidden implication, making him clear his throat gruffly while both Hermione as well as Taranee folded their arms at the same time, both lightly scowling.

Sensing a bit of discomfort forming within the room, Harry cleared his own throat to gain their attention.

"Um, well, it's nice to meet all of you -- any friend of Taranee's is a friend of mine. You've already met our friend, Hermione, clearly, and this is Ron Weasley . . ."

"And this is Harry Potter, the star of the show, but I'm sure you've all heard a lot about him already," Ron suddenly joked, coming back to his senses if only for the time being.

Harry's face instantly grew hot upon hearing his friend's jestful introduction of him to the girls standing before him, and felt even more bothered once a response had been hashed from one of them, a girl with short light brown hair and green eyes.

"Are we supposed to know who that is? Sounds like the name of a children's book or something," she murmured lightly under her breath to the red head standing next to her.

"Irma! Shh! Sorry about that -- Irma Lair, here, can be quite the jokester at times. Anyway, this is Rei Hino; the one with the journal is Ami Mizuno; and I'm Will Vandom."

Harry smiled politely at the girls, now feeling actually more relieved than offended by Irma's comment of not knowing who he was.

So, there are people within the Wizarding World who've never heard of me, after all, he thought with slight bemusement.

"Will? What kind of name is that for a girl? You're sure your mother didn't get confused by the sight of you when you were born?" a shrewd voice sounded from behind Will in the doorway, everyone parting to reveal a young woman with short, black hair, extremely dark eyes that resembled an eerie black hole and a sneering grin smeared proudly across her pale face.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all let out simultaneous annoyed groans at the sight of her.

"Actually, my full name happens to Wilhelmina -- Will, for short -- so, no, she didn't get confused when naming me . . . although, I'm not really sure of the kind of reaction she'd have had if she saw you . . ." Will flatly remarked, returning the cold glare she was now receiving by the coarse girl.

"Why, you insolent, little --"

"-- Oh, why don't you go take a long walk off an extremely short pier, Pansy Parkinson, and shove off, already? Shouldn't you be busy off somewhere hanging on every word Malfoy says as you always are, like a faithful little dog?" chided Hermione, stepping out into the corridor to meet the now blushing girl apparently named Pansy, who immediately forgot about Will and turned her attention to the smirking young woman before her.

"Well, at the very least my prescence is acknowledged and appreciated by Draco -- at least I haven't spent the past six years wishing beyond hope that the one I've been pining away for will finally notice me.

Talk about wasted energy; holding out for someone who will never be yours. But, no worries, though -- I'm sure one of the goblins at Gringotts might take a shot at you -- what with you resembling them so much and all. Filthy, little Mudblood!" countered a vindicated Pansy vehemently, letting out an icy, boisterous chortle as she abruptly turned on her heel and carried on down the corridor and out of sight, leaving a mortified Hermione in her wake.

Harry moved to his friend's side at once and wrapped a comforting arm around her, regrettably watching her face become extremely flushed and contorted into a mixture of disbelief, rage, and hopeless dispair.

Harry was probably the only one amongst the entire group (besides obviously Hermione herself, of course) to truly understand the hurtful, insinuating remarks made by Pansy, and so he knew how embarrassed she must have felt right then; especially being in the presence of the one who mattered the most but whom she wanted there the least at the moment.

"You all right, Hermione? Forget about her; Parkinson is just a stupid pratt who doesn't know a thing and always needs a group to religiously follow to feel worthwhile," comforted Harry, lightly squeezing her shoulder and rubbing it.

"Y-yeah, Hermione; don't listen to her. You're . . . all right," offered Ron from behind suddenly, not quite knowing what else to say, feeling inadequate as a friend that that was all he could contribute; however, not having been able to understand what had just transpired, Ron honestly could not think of anything more to say.

Sucking in her breath sharply, as though Ron's words were laced with an undetected poison of some sort that had just graced her lips and caused more pain than comfort, Hermione's face forceably relaxed into a neutral expression before speaking.

". . . Thank you, Harry; Ron. I don't pay attention to anything Pansy Parkinson says about everything . . . Now, if you'll excuse me, Luna and Ginny are expecting my return. Taranee, if you or anyone else has no place to sit, you're welcome to join us as I've said. I'll see you later Harry . . . Ron."

"T-thanks for sticking up for me, Hermione!" Will hurriedly called after her as she, Harry, and everyone else watched in bewildered confusion while Hermione left them behind.

"Um . . . will she be all right?" asked Ami with concern, clutching her journal to her chest.

Harry slowly nodded.

". . . Yeah, Ami; Hermione's very strong, and so it takes a lot to get to her . . ."

Unless it has to do with matters of the heart, he thought to himself sympathetically.

Rei's formerly calm resolve darkened suddenly as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Who does that girl think she is, anyway? I at least know of one person I won't care to ever associate with while here," she said.

"Trust me, Rei -- there's only about a house full of nasty gits like Parkinson you won't want to associate with," forecasted Ron, sitting back down onto his seat, a deep scowl mimicing Rei's forming upon his face.

Taking a seat next to him, a small blush rouging her cheeks in the process, Taranee carefully asked,

". . . So . . . what was that word she called Hermione . . . 'Mudblood?' What is that?"

Harry sighed lightly, returning to his spot across from the ebony haired girl while the others tried to fit back into the compartment so as not to continue to block the corridor path.

"Well . . . 'Mudblood' isn't exactly something one would hear in civilized conversation . . . it's what those are prejudiced within the Wizarding World call people born to Muggle parents but can use magic . . . like Hermione. But, that feat has not stopped her from becoming one of the smartest and most talented witch in our year, so far . . ."

"Oh. Well, then Hermione's not alone in that, because my friends and I are Mudbloods as well," Irma revealed in comfort, wrapping an arm around Will whose eyes widened in shocked embarrassment.

"Irma! What're you --" she began.

"-- What? We are, though, Will . . . when you think about it," interrupted Irma, murmuring the last bit so that only the two of them could hear.

Ron looked from the two girls to Taranee, then lastly at Ami.

"You are? All of you?"

Ami blushed.

"Well . . . in a way, Ron, yes, we are as well . . ."

"Then . . . how come you didn't know what the word meant? I mean, not to say you've been called it a lot or anything where you're from -- which I wouldn't wish upon, of course -- but --"

"-- W-well, it's like you said, Harry; it's not something you hear a lot in respectable conversation, and where we're from no one's ever uttered the word," covered Will, satisfied with her response as it was not entirely a lie.

Stretching, Ron extended his long, skinny legs before him while resting his hands behind his head, smiling.

"Well, you're pretty lucky then, Will; I'd love to visit where you guys are all from one day -- sounds like the witches and wizards who live there are pretty friendly," he commented, allowing his bright brown eyes to linger a moment upon Ami before settling them upon Taranee, his friendly smile turning into a lopsided, goofy grin.

Unable to take any more subtle, although vastly increasing flirting between his best friend and the two new young women who did not seem to mind the sentiments in the slightest, Harry stood from his seat for what felt like the umpteenth time that morning and walked towards the door.

"Yes, well, if you guys won't miss me, I think I'm going to see if I can't find the lady with the food trolley for a snack before lunch, and maybe see where Neville's disappeared off to. Catch you lot later; Ron, have fun," smirked Harry, winking at his friend implicatively and watched him blush before leaving everyone and walking down the corridor.

Alone at last, he thought to himself idly while stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, stopping a few doors down from his compartment to gaze out the window to intake the countryside whizzing past him in a heated blur as the train trudged on down the tracks.

Harry did enjoy having met the new students Hermione and Ginny had both been talking about non- stop for the remainder of the summer, finding them to be every bit as friendly and down to earth as Hermione had reported them to be when she'd crossed paths with a few of them back in Diagon Alley.

However, for whatever reason, he found himself yearning immensely to spend the remainder of the train ride by his lonesome, where he could be free to sort out his conglomeration of thoughts and perhaps even enjoy the last time he would get to experience a few moments of calm solitude, as he knew that once he'd arrived at Hogwarts he would never have another chance like it to be by himself (as he was quite sure his friends would all stop at nothing to make certain to remain at his side for protection and comfort, and ensure he would always be entertained and distracted from his perhaps periless destiny that continued to creep closer upon him as each day passed).

While Harry continued to stand by the window, gazing outside and watching the fleeting scenery go by faster, almost mimicing the minute safety and peace of mind he would be allowed to harbor for the time being, his mind couldn't help but wander to one of the two major issues he had no desire to reflect upon at the moment.

And since he knew he would undoubtedly think about the first issue, Lord Voldemort and his closing in on him every day while at Hogwarts, as he had during his vacation, Harry did not entirely mind once again dwelling upon the irreversible matter he'd had only been reflecting upon just moments before Ron had come into their compartment and interupted him . . . although, a part of him truly wished he could forget it had ever happened, as now he once again felt dreadfully depressed.

Seeing Ron immersing him in joyful conversation with the two young women he clearly now fancied, being able to learn their names and now at this very moment spend time with them as he undoubtedly would try to later on once they arrived at Hogwarts, made Harry feel an utter disheartening of dispair, jealousy and regret that he could not have been as lucky.

I've been attracted to other girls before, thought Harry, running a cool hand through his unkept black locks before leaning his head against the windowpane and closing his shimmering mature green eyes.

So why is it that this girl, this one girl I will never have another opportunity to ever lay eyes upon again has managed to get under my skin so much?

Why can't I get her out of my mind no matter what I do, especially now, with my life moving ever closer to possible doom and so should be thinking about how to avoid such a thing from happening, instead of whom I might like to date?

He knew absolutely nothing about her -- not even her first name -- and yet in the mere minutes they had shared together, Harry felt as though he'd learned an entire lifetime's worth of information about the young Egyptian woman.

Every thought spent and every breath taken by the boy who lived inflicted him with a pining anguish deep within as he continued to wonder about his mystery woman . . .

His woman.

With his luck, Harry knew he would never get to meet her again and so would never get the cherished opportunity to make her as such; however, he still found he very much liked the sound of it within his mind.

His woman.

Hearing laughter carrying down the hall and wafting through his ears from an unknown compartment suddenly opening and releasing two second year girls from within, arousing his attention, Harry immediately opened his eyes and teared himself away from the spot at the window, hurriedly continuing down the corridor in pursuit of the food trolley.

There is no point in thinking about this anymore, Harry! If you insist on fancying someone this year, then why not try doing so on someone whom you'll actually see again, like maybe one of those exchange students as Hermione suggested -- Ron already seems to. He has the right idea; he hasn't fallen for any 'phantom' women, mentally scolded Harry to himself, at last spotting the lady with the trolley, getting his money ready as he gradually closed the distance between them while still walking.

From this moment on, I will no longer think about that girl anymore -- that's a promise!

YYYYYYYYY

Cornelia Hale could not recall how or when she'd suddenly passed out after boarding the Hogwarts Express and getting settled in her shared compartment with Hay Lin, Usagi, Minako (both of whom Cornelia found she truly liked the most, thus far, amongst her new Japanese friends -- Usagi, due to her having always been so extremely friendly very much like Hay Lin, and seeming to carry an unbridled warmth about her that the Earth Guardian could not help but find enormously inviting to be around; and Minako, because of their increasingly shared interests such as clothing, music and boys. Both, however, were in direct competition with her where beauty was concerned -- not that Cornelia minded, of course. Although, the more she thought about it, all five young women from Japan were very stunning in her own right, causing the grounded young woman to feel a mixture of admirable jealousy and perhaps even inadequateness); however, she certainly knew why.

The lack of sleep her newfound "friend," Ivory, had allowed the blonde beauty the previous night had left Cornelia feeling drained and irritable that morning, and so it was no wonder that she would have ended up falling straight to sleep as soon as she'd managed to get comfortable while on board.

However, upon waking up to find that she'd just about slept the entire train ride to her new school away, the sky long since becoming dark and speckled with bright, twinkling stars, Cornelia was rather surprised that she'd been able to do so at all.

Truth be known, and admittedly so, the Guardian of Earth had been rather reluctant in attending Hogwarts, feeling a bit skeptic about the entire prospect of there actually being a school of magic within the same world she lived in (instead of on some other plane of existence that openly embraced magic) that taught it to people her age and younger. The concept had simply been too far fetched for someone as mature and level headed as she.

Still, the idea nonetheless very much intrigued the Gaian Defender, beyond the reasons taken at face value by her friends, that she only agreed to going so that she could watch over them as the eldest sister figure, and also to perhaps meet a couple new male interests.

Cornelia knew she would, of course, look out for her fellow guardians, as they've been through so much together in the past three years and were like family to her now; she also did not doubt that she would find at least a few or so male students at Hogwarts to be attractive or her type.

However, Cornelia's primary reason to attending the magical school was so that she could hopefully squelch the perpetual feeling of confused loneliness she often felt while living through each day back home in Heatherfield (which was, of course, something Irma would most likely joke around with if she knew, and would consider it ironic to the highest degree, as Cornelia was one of, if not the most, popular girls at their school and admired by girls, guys -- friend and even foe alike).

And so therefore, Cornelia was in never short supply of friends, or even dates for the weekends; yet, while being immersed in all of that on a daily basis, the blonde still could not help but to feel alone.

Excluding her Guardian friends, she didn't honestly believe her other friends truly understood or accepted her; she knew that deep down they were only hanging around her and being nice to keep her on their side, an everlasting living, breathing ticket to their own form of popularity and attention.

A part of her was even certain they knew that she was aware of this but neither party clearly never cared enough to speak up about it. It was a continued symbiotic relationship between Cornelia and her schoolmates, one that was working for the time being.

As for the casual dating, it was just that; nothing more and nothing less. All of the random guys Cornelia had dated were only after their fifteen minutes of fame and glory, infatuated with merely a long desired shadow and thought, and never bothered to truly get to know the girl on the inside. Therefore, it was no surprise that no serious feelings or connections had ever been forged between said men and Cornelia -- which, all in all, suited her just fine.

Although, it was during her most loneliest of times when Cornelia would reflect upon the happy times she would share with both her best friend, Queen Elyon Brown, and ex-Rebel Leader as well as her ex-boyfriend, Caleb (both of whom resided within the world of Meridian where Elyon ruled and where Cornelia would frequently visit in an attempt to protect it alongside her friends).

Cornelia thought that of all of the people she had met in her entire seventeen years of existence, those two understood, recognized, and embraced the true her, the girl she was still trying to become.

With Elyon (whom she had known for twelve years before finding out Cornelia was the new Earth Guardian, and had been endowed with magical powers in the process to help protect and defend the mystical plane Elyon turned out to have originated from and was the sole, true heir to monarch), Cornelia always felt at home whenever around her, that no words need be spoken between them to just "get the message," so to speak.

And even now, three years later, after having learned of their true identities from one another, did their tight and solid bond ever waver; there were absolutely no secrets left between them to date as a result.

As for Caleb, even though their dating relationship (one truly filled with every emotion under the sun, and something made out of a fairy tale) had ended, their closeness nor their strong friendship had not. The sinewy, couragous and thoughtful Meridian native often would remind Cornelia of Elyon in a lot of ways, as he too always seemed to understand what was on her mind or what she wanted to convey quite often before she did. Theirs was a very supportive, nurturing and understanding relationship (very much like how their dating relationship had been), to which she was grateful for every day.

However, now that Caleb had been appointed Queen Elyon's royal advisor as well as head of the palace's security, and Elyon was increasingly busy with preparations for her Coming of Age ball to commerate her upcoming eighteenth birthday (as stated in the last letter her majesty had mystically sent to her best friend several months ago), contact between the three of them had decrased significantly, causing the blonde to feel all the more alone.

Which is why Cornelia secretly hoped that in by attending Hogwarts, she would finally part with that sentiment and feel at home, without having to constantly hide the fact that she was more or less a magical being to her soon to be new classmates, who could also use magic, as she perpetually was forced to back home with her regular schoolmates.

At last, Cornelia Hale would get a chance to breathe.

And speaking of breathing, Cornelia hadn't realized she'd been holding in her breath since having woken up from her much needed nap and beginning her deep reverie, and so promptly let it out after returning back to reality.

Stretching tiredly, although feeling far more refreshed, Cornelia slowly began to sit right upright in her seat, however found that was deeming difficult as she'd felt something warm and slightly heavy weighing down her middle.

"Mamo-chan . . . of course I'll marry you," Cornelia could hear the now familiar voice of Usagi murmur sleepily from behind her, guessing that it was she who was currently resting soundly upon her.

Smiling softly to herself, Cornelia carefully sat erect in her spot, gently lifting the dumpling hairstyled girl off of her and softly rested her towards the other side of their shared seat.

"Apparently I wasn't the only one who couldn't keep my eyes open," Cornelia whispered to herself thoughtfully, smiling fondly at the now curled up young woman who resembled an innocent little child while slumbering. She looked across from her to see that Minako was sound asleep as well, idly uttering a few broken lyrics to random American songs Cornelia had heard of before and also several Japanese ones she had not.

Even in her sleep she dreams of being an idol; 'hold fast to dreams,' Minako, thought Cornelia, mentally and briefly quoting one of her favorite Langston Hughes poems she'd read back in the eighth grade.

"Oh! Corni! You're finally awake! Good! You totally missed the great view of the countryside on the way, though! Wish we could've pulled over or something so I could have taken snap shots of it for my project -- but I'm sure once we get to the school I'll find even greater scenery!

Speaking of, Ginny -- she's one of Hermione's friends I'd met a while ago -- just told me that we'll be there in about fifteen minutes or so, so you'd better change into your robes! I'm going back up to the front, where Makoto's playing this really neat game of chess called Wizards' Chess, against a couple of third year students; the pieces actually move by themselves and even attack the opposing side!"

Characterizing the very energetic and fast paced element she utilized at her disposal, Hay Lin had suddenly appeared in the doorway of the compartment, dressed in her school uniform, and quickly whizzed on by, leaving a partially confused Corneali behind and startled both Usagi and Minako awake in the process.

"What the --! Oh, wow, I had the craziest dream! I was in the middle of taking a math test at school, and I had no idea how to do any of the questions," mumbled a groggy Usagi, who slowly sat up the same time Minako did, half of both girls' hair matted down against one side of their cheek where a bit of drool had formed during their slumber.

They look alike, sound alike, and now apparently sleep alike, mused Cornelia silently while gazing upon both girls with amused eyes.

"But you never know the answers to your math tests, Usagi-chan -- that's the reality of your dream. Get it? Reality of your dream? You know, because it was a dream and you didn't know the answers, but in reality also, you never know it, either and -- oh, never mind . . . I should talk anyway," Minako sleepily remarked, looking at her best friend's blank, tired stare and recognizing that she clearly did not grasp the joke's concept.

"Anyway, g'morning, Cornelia -- we there yet?"

Cornelia smiled politely at her two new friends before shaking her head, standing from her seat to go lock the door.

"It's evening now, Mina, and no, not yet; Hay Lin just said that we'll be there in about ten minutes or so, so we'd better hurry with sprucing up and change into our uniforms."

Usagi suddenly squealed with unbridled excitement, reaching under her seat for her suitcase.

"Oooh, I'm so excited! I can't believe I'd managed to fall asleep straight through most of the train ride!"

"Well, I can believe it; remember? Bus, car, and train rides always makes you sleepy -- and me as well, actually . . . though, to be fair, I did wake up seven hours earlier than I'm used to this morning," commented a yawning Minako, referring to waking up at her usual time of noon as she had every day that summer up until now.

The trio of blondes had finished their grooming and changed into their school uniforms just as the Hogwarts Express slowed down to a complete stop.

Unlocking the door, smoothing out her hair and robes as a quick after thought, Cornelia stepped out into the increasingly crowded corridor, now beginning to flood with an anxious, nervous sea of students. She stretched her neck as far as she could to aid in her search in spotting any of her friends, gripping firmly onto the two Japanese girls now on either side of her.

In her search, Cornelia instead found a familiar sight within the towering grizzly man several feet before her as the three of them walked off the train and into the cool night air.

"Firs' years o'er here, please! Firs' years! Come with me! Rest of yeh follow the path straight down as always, while students participating in the Inter-Wizard Exchange Program, turn yer attention to Professor Flitwick who'll take yeh all to Hogwarts in his own special way. Firs' years here! Hurry along, now!"

Well, at least that eliminates the confusion I was starting to feel about what to do next, thought Cornelia in relief, as she gently felt her hands being squeezed by both girls currently latching onto them.

"Cornelia, look -- there's Makoto and the others. Let's go over there before we lose them," Usagi nervously whispered in her ear, clinging onto her arm with her other hand, not wishing to be separated from her until they'd reached their friends.

Merely nodding in response, Cornelia expectantly led the way towards their group of waiting friends, who, having now spotted them, began to flag them down in further guidance.

When at last the three had successfully maneuvered through the torrent of students, Cornelia, Usagi, and Minako now saw what they could not from their previous distance -- their friends were joined by another group consisted of three boys and three girls.

"Glad you made it over here okay! Anyway, Harry and his friends wanted to see us off before going on ahead -- plus, I don't think some of you got to meet everyone yet. This is Ron Weasley, and his sister Ginerva, or Ginny Weasley; Luna Lovegood; Neville Longbottom; Hermione Granger; and of course, as I'd just said, Harry Potter," introduced Will, she and everyone else now wearing their school uniforms as well.

"Mary Dotter? Isn't that a girl's name?" blurted out Minako, scratching her head and letting out a tired yawn, while her friends all sweat dropped in astonished perplexity and Usagi once again slightly hid behind the two taller women just as Luna began to gaze at her once more.

Cornelia watched as the boy to whom she was referring blushed in great embarrassment before responding.

"Um . . . actually, that's Harry Potter . . . I'm sure you've probably heard of my name before . . ."

"Oh! Harry Potter! That makes much more sense! I'm sorry about that; still a bit sleepy! But, nope! Never heard of you! But it's still very nice to meet you -- all of you, in fact.

My name is Aino Minako, or Mina for short. This is my best bud, Tsukino Usagi; and our new friend, Cornelia Hale," said Minako, smiling apologetically at the boy in the glasses with a curious looking lightning scar upon his forehead, who returned the gesture with an honestly surprised expression upon his face, as if he did not expect to hear that his name didn't ring a bell for the young woman.

Cornelia felt someone watching her, and as her blue eyes politely traveled from new person to person she hadn't the chance to meet earlier that day, they abruptly stopped and locked with a pair of kind, gentle hazel orbs belonging to the young man called Neville.

Cornelia felt her cheeks grow hot gently with discomfort as she briefly caught him staring, causing him to then quickly look down towards the ground once he'd realized she'd noticed.

Shaking her head lightly, she suddenly began to feel uncomfortable in his prescence and so began walking ahead slowly, knowing it would make her come off as rude by doing so but not caring at said moment.

"Well, it was great meeting you all -- I'm sure I'll see you inside later on. Better hurry and catch up with everyone else before it's too late! C'mon, you guys!"

Cornelia could hear faint, confused and perhaps even unappreciative murmurs wafting from the group she'd abruptly left behind as she made her way towards an elderly tiny, little man standing upon a stack of conveniently placed books, and was surrounded by a large, unique conglomeration of students, all waiting with mixed emotion for him to do or at least say something.

Feeling her friends gather around her, Cornelia ignored the expectant glances from them and folded her arms across her chest as the tiny man began to speak.

"Is everyone here? All one hundred of you? Yes! Well, hello, and welcome to Hogwarts! My name is Professor Filius Flitwick, professor of the Charms class you might choose to take during your stay here this year.

Now, I am, of course, unaware of how your shcools welcome you each year; however, here at Hogwarts, there is a unique and special way each year arrives at the castle.

For instance, as you can see over there, our Professor Rubeus Hagrid is loading the first years into the boats to take them across the lake," Professor Flitwick explained, gesturing a small hand over to his right to reveal a very large gaggle of pertrified looking first year students being ushered into several moonlit boats by Hagrid several yards away.

Sort of romantic; technically, we should be over there since we're first year students, ourselves, thought Cornelia before returning her attention to the seemingly friendly man before her.

"So, clearly, you all will have a very special and very enchanting way to arrive to the castle, as well! First, though, I must ask that you all form two separate, straight lines accordingly, for those who might be allergic to chocolate and those who are not."

Not bothering to ask questions, the exchange students all did as they were told, a long line forming for those with chocolate allergies, while an even longer line formed for those in the clear.

Pausing a moment, clearly waiting until every year student had all gone, leaving them by themselves, Professor Flitwick's eyes twinkled with excitement as he pulled a wand from the inside of his robes and caused two silver platters on either side of him to appear.

"All right! Now, before you have settled into the Great Hall and the new first years have been appropriately sorted, I thought the very best way for you to be able to take in your first sights of the castle would be from a bird's eye view! And, so . . ."

Cornelia and the others all watched as Professor Flitwick gently waved his wand once more, causing the covers over the platters to levitate briefly before settling down to the ground.

Being near the front of the line, Cornelia could see that the platter on the right was filled with little white candies in the shape of dove wings, while the platter on the left where she was, held the same treat, only chocolate in color.

Professor Flitwick let out a triumphant, excited sort of squeal.

"Aren't they just darling? I made them myself, with a little help from the Weasley Twins, Fred and George, who I'm sure you'll meet some time soon. Took a while, though, to get it just right without any sort of backfiring malfunction or repercussion."

"What . . . are they?" Conrelia heard Taranee ask a bit wearily from several people behind her.

"Why, they're for you, of course! 'Flitwick's Fleeting Winged-Back Droppers!' These are more or less prototypes, but if all goes well tonight then boxes beyond boxes will be on every shelf in Weasley Wizarding Wheezes! Have to have a retirement plan, after all, and always fancied doing something fun with all of the neat charm spells I've acquired over the years.

Anyhow! You needn't worry, because they are perfectly harmless! Tried out a couple myself earlier today. The brown ones are chocolate flavored, while the white ones are, sad to say, for now, parchment flavored, as we weren't entirely sure what flavor we could use that wouldn't cause any of you to swell up from allergies, and parchment was our best bet. However, once everything's settled, I'll create different flavors, of course!"

Cornelia lightly frowned, suddenly suspicious.

"But . . . what do they do, Professor . . . um --"

"-- Flitwick, my dear! And why not you all just grab a piece and find out for yourself? Those with the parchment flavored ones need not worry; they dissolve quite fast the instant you drop them on your tongue -- hence the name."

Hesitating a moment, Cornelia stepped forward in her chocolate line to take a piece, and waited until she saw someone else put it into their mouth first before she did.

Suddenly, though not surprisingly, Hay Lin was the first among them to do so. She let out a tiny giggle as she felt the chocolate candy instantly dissolve upon touching her tongue just as the tiny man had said.

"Oooh! That tickles! And tastes really good! But, I --"

Hay Lin's words were lost to her as a sudden, growing itchy and hot sensation overwhelmed her upper back between her shoulder blades, causing her to gingerly wrap her arms tightly around her stomach and hunch over.

Cornelia, and needless to say everyone else immediately regretted having eaten their own treats as the now seemingly ailing asian girl had and took in the sight momentarily before starting to feel the same sensations she was.

Falling down to her knees, Cornelia let out a tiny, struggled groan as she suddenly felt something bony rip through the back of her robes and spread themselves out. And just as soon as the bothersome discomfort had begun, it had stopped, leaving a doubled over Cornelia to try to grasp what had just transpired.

Before she could, however, an excited, amazed squeal sliced through the air.

"Oooh! No way! We have wings? Guys, we have wings! This is so cool!"

Cracking open one eye, slowly rising to her feet, Cornelia opened the other to see that indeed Hay Lin and every other student present now adorned large, broad, and beautifully majestic white dove wings that lightly shimmered in the moonlight. Even Professor Flitwick had a pair of his own, although slightly smaller in size to better accommodate his meager starture.

Slowly turning her golden head, Cornelia's eyes widened gently as she took in the sight of her own pair of gorgeous wings gently ruffling in the evening breeze behind her.

"Aren't they wonderful? I had always wanted to come up with an efficient potion that would effectively allow you to grow wings for a certain amount of time! And what with me being a professor of charms and teaching such things as how to properly levitate inanimate objects and all, you can imagine how frustrating it became for me when I could never find the right combonation of ingredients that would allow a person to fly all their own.

But then, when I'd idly passed mention of it to the Weasley Twins several months ago after running into them in Diagon Alley, they informed me of one of their products they were trying to create that kept backfiring because they would always end up manifesting wings as a result! And well, the rest is history!"

Definitely not the pair I'm used to, and are a whole lot heavier, but they are pretty breathtaking, marveled Cornelia, gently caressing her new plummage with one hand before lightly flapping them.

Professor Flitwick gazed down at the pocket watch draped around his neck and gasped.

"Oh, dear! We'd better hurry or else we'll be late! Now, I've enchanted your candies in particular so that they will basically fly on their own as sort of an 'emergency mechanism'-- in case some of you were worried you'd plunge into the lake below while flying over it, and since I'm quite certain none of you have ever had wings to fly before. It's quite simple, really, though; just bend your knees like so, kick off from the ground, and --"

In that instant, both sets of girls -- the Guardians of the Veil, and the quintet of Japanese girls they'd befriended -- quickly rose into the air with much ease, each face calm and collected as though they'd all done it before.

"Splendid! Well done! I see we have a group of quick studies in our midst! In that case, everyone please do as they have done and kick off from thr ground -- the wings will do the rest, trust me."

Cornelia and her friends all shared knowing glances at one another, while Usagi and her friends mysteriously did the same, smirking thoughtfully as they all remained easily aloft, waiting until everyone else was airborne alongside them.

Once they were, Professor Flitwick began to fly ahead, calling over his shoulder,

"Follow me, please! Just clear your mind of any stressing thought and let yourself goooo!"

Giggling, Hay Lin spread out her arms on either side of her and easily followed the tiny man, leading the group of students hesitantly but steadily beginning to follow suit.

After several minutes of flying over a great black lake, Cornelia could make out a medieval looking castle, great in size with several towers and turrets perched high atop a mountain.

"Now, that's the perfect sight for my project!" said Hay Lin, flying ahead as Usagi appeared at Cornelia's side and lightly squeezed her arm.

"It's so breathtaking . . . isn't it, Cornelia?"

She looks like an heavenly angel, at peace and as though in her comfort zone, thought Cornelia with mixed admiration and jealousy, as she nodded in response and smiled, momentarily wishing to feel as free as the smaller girl seemed to at that moment.

However, looking around her at the sight of fellow students flying a bit wobbly, unlike the grace she and her both sets of friends were, Cornelia couldn't help but feel relaxed and a bit at home just then.

Back in Heatherfield, if she ever tried to embrace the "other side" of herself in public to her friends from school or with her family, she was quite certain they'd lock her up and throw away the key.

But here, she was not the only one who had some kind of magical gift, and could openly express that magical side of herself without fear of ridicule.

Well, maybe not the fact that I'm a Guardian of the Veil just yet, but at least I'm surrounded by other magical beings, she pondered as an after thought, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as they approached the front gates to the school.

"Now, to land, all you have to do is --" Professor Flitwick began, just as once again all ten girls executed his instructions perfectly and settled gently down to the soft ground beneath them, earning stares of respect and resentment from the rest of the students as they were more or less upstaged on not even the first official day of class once more.

"Oh! Splendid! Splendid! I have a right mind to use each of your faces to put on the boxes for the different flavors I'm going to create!

Now, please, just do what these talented young ladies have already demonstarted and 'let go --' that is, imagine yourself being on the ground again and then of course, you will be."

"But, what about --" began Irma, who had landed next to Cornelia as everyone else began to slowly land around the two themselves, however silenced herself as each of their wings suddenly vanished from their backs with a sparkling effect and their robes having magically repaired themselves.

Professor Flitwick's nose wrinkled in amusement.

"Yet another ingenius effect to my product. Now, if you'll follow me quickly, I will lead you all inside to the Great Hall, where your sorting hat ceremony will soon begin. Single file, this time, please."

"Oh, yeah! This is it!" gushed Hay Lin, getting in front of Cornelia and in back of Taranee, practically bouncing off the proverbial walls in utter excitement.

Cornelia suddenly felt nervous for the very first time since she'd been on this somewhat crazy adventure, swallowing hard and smiling weakly to the back of her friend's glossy black head, and exhaled slowly.

Yeah, this is it . . .

YYYYYYYYYYY

Professor Albus Dumbledore, an elderly man wearing purple colored robes with flowing silver hair, beard and mustache, a crooked nose, and half-moon glasses slowly rose to his feet from his spot in the center of the High Table where the staff of Hogwarts traditionally placed themselves during every meal within the Great Hall.

His twinkling, kind eyes slowly scanned the sea of students, new and old alike all seated at the four, house designated long tables of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin before him prior to speaking.

"Welcome! Welcome, indeed, all of you to a brand new, very hopeful year at Hogwarts! I know that all of you are just itching to blaze straight on through the glorious feast that is awaiting us, however first I must share with you a few words of business!

First, I would like to congratulate each and every first year student who have just finished being sorted into their new houses; I need not express to the rest of you how your house is like your family, and how important it is that you take the time to welcome your new fellow housemates with open arms.

Now, then! In related news, this year Hogwarts is playing host to the new Inter-Wizard Exchange Program the ministry has agreed to begin this year, in attempts to promote unity and positive attitudes within the Wizarding community during such a trying and unfortunate time. And without further adieu, let us welcome those participating in the program, now!"

Harry sat in his usual spot towards the front of his and his friends' house table of Gryffindor, listening intently to the news his headmaster had bestowed upon them all.

"So, that's why the train was bloody cramped this year!" said Ron, registering the relation, as he lightly began to drum his fingers upon the top of the table, seated next to Harry and Hermione, who had succeeded in feeling a lot better from her earlier unfortunate mishap with the unpleasant Pansy Parkinson.

"And why those girls we met didn't understand why we were so surprised to meet and have them here this year," Ginny remarked across from him, scratching her head thoughtfully.

"I guess Dad either didn't know about this, himself, or wanted to keep it as a surprise for us when we got here."

Hermione stretched idly, turning her body around to face the large, double doors in anticipation, a small frown growing upon her face.

"Hmm. Yes, well, I'm quite sure someone will enjoy sharing this school with hundreds of foreign exchange witches this term."

Harry rolled his eyes, as he followed her example and faced the door, hoping no one would offer a remark to his friend's comment and undoubtedly begin the first of many debates to be held at that table that year.

Just then, the doors to the Great Hall slowly swung open, revealing a very large gathering of witches and wizards of different ages, sizes and ethnicities, looking about their surroundings with genuine interest.

Harry saw his Transfiguration professor, Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall, black-haired witch with a considerably stern face in emerald-green robes leading the way as she quickly began to canter down the hall and closer towards them.

As the students got closer, Harry could spot the girls he and his friends had met on the train and thought to be the only exchange students they would have this year, and waved politely at them.

They look petrified; I remember when I was in the very same boat six years back, he thought in slight amusement while he and the rest of the already seated students once again turned their attention to the mysterious, extremely battered and dirty pointed wizard's hat promptly placed upon a four-legged stool in front of them all.

"This better not take long; I'm starving," muttered Ron in slight irritation next to him.

Harry lightly nudged his side abruptly to silence him and inhaled slowly, the hat beginning to twitch as it had several moments earlier before sorting the first years, and the familiar rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth and began to speak, startling some of the foreign students.

"Ahh, look at this! More students for the one and only Sorting Hat to sort accordingly! Splendid! Splendid, indeed! Alas, I cannot and will not do such a thing until I have shared with you all my song!"

"Oh, bloody hell; the damned hat just sang its tedious song once already, and sucked away about five minutes of my life in the process . . ." groaned Ron before receiving a sharp blow to the back of his head by Ginny.

Harry lightly grinned at both Ginny's physical reprimanding of her older brother's rudeness, as well as his comment.

He had to admit that while he was not as hungry as his best friend currently was and always seemed to be, Harry didn't think he had enough energy to sit through another session of the hat's long and drawn out song, let alone another sorting ceremony.

Stifling a tired yawn, Harry slowly blinked his green eyes as the hat began to sing its song he knew the words to all too well by now and so permitted himself a few minutes to not pay as much or close attention:

"In times of old when I was new

And Hogwarts barely started

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted:

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning,

To make the world's best magic school

And pass along their learning.

Yet something dark would soon transpire

And by the hours grew

That force today still is dire

For what it seeks to do.

An eye set somewhere holds the key

And yet its sight is lost

For virtue, great the powers be

For vice, all hope is cost.

Should the titan rest its grip

Upon this blinded eye

From all bindings life will slip

And death will never die.

The poison from this evil rogue

Will drain the world of light

For in its fist the earth shall shake

And shatter for its might.

Valor now need seek the key

The relic now adrift

Hurry now for you shall see

The lines will surely shift.

And now the Sorting Hat is here

And you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

Because that's what I'm for,

But this year I'll go even further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned indeed I am to split you

I worry still it's wrong,

Though I must fulfill my duty

And must quarter every year

I wonder still whether sorting

May not bring the end at last I fear.

Oh, know the perils still, and continue to read the signs

The warning history still does show,

For our Hogwarts is indeed in danger

From external, deadly foes

Unite we must while still inside her

Or we'll surely crumble from within

I have told you, I have warned you . . .

LET THE SORTING NOW BEGIN!"

". . . That wasn't the song it sang before for the first years, you guys . . . was it supposed to do that?" Ginny asked in surprised worry from behind Harry; hers, Hermione's, Neville's, and even Ron's eyes widened in bewilderment.

"I . . . have no idea, Ginny. Oh, such an eerie song, that. Now I have goosebumps from it," said Hermione, wrapping her arms around herself in comfort as others around them began to react the same way at the sorting hat's new song and its cryptic and alarming message held within it.

Harry had forgotten to blink for a few moments as he stared straight ahead at the befuddled exchange students, trying to imagine what each of them were now thinking after hearing such a tune about the place that would be their home for the next year and supposed to keep them as safe as possible.

The whole hall hesitated greatly before breaking into weak applause as the hat finished its song, bowing solumnly to each table before becoming immobile once again.

Professor McGonagall had apparently been just as effected by the surprise turn of events, as she remained planted in her spot a few moments before shaking her head as if to jostle away her daze, and at last stepped forward.

In her hands was a rather long roll of parchment that she held a bit too firmly within her grasp, her knuckles turning chalk white as a result that even Harry could see from where he sat.

". . . N-now, when I call your name, you will please put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she started a bit hoarsely before beginning to read off the long list of names written on the parchment.

One by one, each foreign student took his or her place upon the stool and awaited to be sorted into one of the four houses, accordingly.

"Aino, Minako!"

Harry watched as the familiar blonde he'd just met with her bright red ribbon tied securely within her long hair nervously approach the stool, seeming to murmur a few prayers or some sort under her breath as she did so.

Lifting up the hat, Minako sat down, put it on and awaited her fate, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Hmm . . . what a tremendous amount of courage held within this one," said the talking hat lightly against her ear.

"Very selfless and kindhearted, as well, with a very loving nature . . . not to mention cunning, a great, almost ancient-like wisdom held within you alongside impeccable leadership skills . . . quite a difficult decision, as you would thrive well in all four houses, I'd wager . . . quite a difficult decision, indeed . . . but, no. No, I think you would do best in . . . RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat, breaking through the hall's tension and momentarily relaxing everyone as the Ravenclaw table erupted into cheerful applause, regaining their formerly happy attitudes as they welcomed the blonde beauty to their table.

The hall settled down immediately to allow Professor McGonagall to continue on with the list.

"Beaudoin, Megan!"

A young woman with brown hair and hazel eyes slowly approached the stool, and like Minako had moments before, sat down upon it and put on the hat.

"GRYFFINDOR!" exclaimed the hat without hesitation, and sent Megan off to Harry's table where he and his fellow Gryffindors greeted their first Gryffindor amongst the foreign students enthusiastically as she approached and sat down.

"Cadet, Darrelle!"

All eyes locked upon a tall, Haitian American young woman with chin length black hair with natural chocolate tinted hues, as she made her way up to the stool and followed the example of the two girls before her, heart beating fast and breathing shallow.

"Without a doubt in my mind for this one -- GRYFFINDOR!"

Darrelle scooted off the stool and hurriedly crossed the way to join her new housemates of Gryffindor as more applause echoed throughout the hall.

"Cook, Taranee!"

Harry felt Ron shift in his seat next to him and immediately straightened his posture, his attention now at full peak.

"Eager, much there, mate?" teased Harry knowingly, causing a small but growing blush to form upon his friend's freckled face as he let out a nervous cough.

"W-what was that? No, of course not! I, uh, I just can't see, is all, and don't want to miss Taranee being sorted."

"Yeah, I'll bet you don't," muttered Hermione, narrowing her eyes at the tall young man before turning her attention to the young African American girl in the distance and lightly glared at her.

". . . What an extremely sharp mind you have, with a very passionate nature about you, almost like fire . . . not bad with the bravery, either, no, and pretty quick on your toes, as well . . . hmm . . . yet another difficult decision. I know! RAVENCLAW!"

Harry could have sworn he could hear Ron's heart unmistakenly sink straight down into the pit of his stomach with dissapointment as he immediately slumped over in his seat, helplessly watching the table of Ravenclaw cheer excitedly for their newest addition and make a place for her.

"Sorry about that, mate," he offered in quiet comfort, patting his back.

Ron ventured no comment in return as he continued to stare across the way at the Ravenclaw table and at the now beaming said individual.

Harry thought he saw a small simper graze Hermione's lips next to him in the corner of his eye, but quickly dismissed the notion as the next individual was called up to be sorted.

"Foley, Terry!"

A young Canadian man, seemingly even taller than Ron, with brown hair and a small, nervous frown upon his face pensively walked up to the stool and slowly placed the hat upon his head.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Harry felt himself automatically begin to frown himself at the announcement of the first Slytherin to be sorted among the new exchange students, allowing his eyes to follow Terry to the smug, self righteous occupants of the Slytherin table and watched his arch nemesis, Draco Malfoy, greet him by roughly patting him square across the back as he sat down next to him.

"Hale, Cornelia!"

This time it was Neville's turn to sit at attention within his seat across from Harry as they heard the blonde girl's name being called, sucking in his breath.

Cornelia played with a few strands of her golden hair nervously and bit down on her pink glossed lip, as the hat began its comtemplation of where to place her.

"Quite a very interesting and unique bunch of new students we have this year, indeed! Yet another with innumerable talents and could easily be placed into every house and thrive no matter what . . . hmm . . . immense courage and maturity, and very nurturing and grounded . . . a bright mind, as well, oh yes . . . I detect an inner desire to branch out and flourish like a sheltered plant, however . . . hmm . . . very difficult . . . But, I'd say . . . GRYFFINDOR!"

Neville was the first to applaude enthusiastically, letting out a happy cheer as he and the other Gryffindors watched the seemingly relieved and more relaxed young woman stride over towards them and took a seat several seats down from Harry.

He watched a moment as she settled into her seat and smiled politely at her new housemates, including Harry whom she saw watching her, before quickly looking down at the table top and frowned lightly once she'd noticed Neville gazing at her with glazed over eyes.

Strange, that one, thought Harry, shaking his head as he offered a sympathetic smile at his confused friend.

"Hino, Rei!"

Yet another familiar face to Harry sauntered up to the stool and hat, as the raven haired maiden reflected a cool and collected exterior and waited for the hat to make its verdict.

"I must say this particular sorting ceremony has been most satisfactory for me! Yes, indeed! So many vivacious individuals to sort! And this one, this one has a very fiery and mature spirit about her . . . sharp as a tack, and immensely brave . . . hmm . . .so difficult! Difficult, difficult, difficult! Better be . . . GRYFFINDOR!"

Wow, so many new Gryffindors this year, reflected Harry as he began to clap once again, smiling warmly at Rei as she passed and took a seat next to Cornelia, who winked at her in welcome.

"Kino, Makoto!"

The tall, emerald-eyed brunette walked confidently to the stool and sat, a small smile gracing her rosy lips while she waited.

"Ah! Couragous strength! Endless amounts of it! And extremely gentle, caring and loyal, you are! Very much so, indeed, with an electrified personality . . . hmm . . . but where to put you? Oh, yes! Definitely . . . HUFFLEPUFF!"

At last, the table of kind Hufflepuffs were able to welcome a new addition to their house, breaking into happy applause as Makoto made her way over to the sea of unfamiliar faces, her smile taking on a slightly sad one momentarily.

"Korë, Desmona!"

A girl with brown eyes and medium length chocolate brown french braided hair stepped forward and sat upon the stool. Before the hat had been placed upon her head, Harry could see a curious looking white streak running straight down the middle of her hair. He began to ponder what it could be when the hat interrupted his thoughts and shouted,

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Desmona half walked and half jogged over to the same table Makoto had just joined seconds before and shyly sat down next to her.

"Lair, Irma!"

Harry, Ron, and Neville all let out amused laughs as they watched the young Hispanic woman make her way up to the stool and turned to wink and point at no one in particular, grinning a jestful smile at the large crowd in front of her before sitting.

"Oh, my god -- I so don't know her," Harry heard a mortified Cornelia groan out from behind him before the hat spoke.

"I see we have a jokester in our midsts . . . a very playful personality, you have, yes, with a knack for causing mischief . . . but, you are not limited to one form, no. No, not at all -- just like a raging river or calm ocean surface. I can also sense a serious side held deep within somewhere, as well, with valor, loyalty, and compassion for others . . . hmm . . . in that case, then . . . GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry's hands began to feel numb from all of the clapping he'd subjected them to during the course of the eventful evening thus far, plastering yet another friendly smile automatically upon his face, as he and his friends watched Irma approach and take a seat next to Neville, who smiled warmly at her in welcoming.

"I think both Fred and George would take a quick shining to this one, the way she apparently likes to joke around as well," mused Ron, smirking at the thought of his two older brothers fighting one another in an attempt to earn the female comedian's attention.

"Lin, Hay!"

Harry suddenly found himself in good spirits as he watched the jolly Chinese American young girl stroll up to the stool with a bright smile plastered clear across her visage, her snake like black pigtails bouncing gaily behind her.

"So full of life and cheerful, this one is! So energetic and animated, like a gentle summer wind . . . Let's put you in . . . HUFFLEPUFF!"

Have to admit it would've been nice to have someone who's cheerful twenty-four-seven in our house to help keep me upbeat on 'down days,' thought Harry, smiling warmly across the way at the joyful girl as she skipped down the steps and headed over to the waiting Hufflepuffs and sat on the other side of Makoto.

"Mizuno, Ami!"

Harry wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a faint muttering of "Oh, please, oh please" emitting from Ron under his breath as they both watched the petite blue haired girl sit upon the stool and put on the hat.

"Hmm . . . such a vast intellect you possess, with an even greater thirst that expands an ocean's surface worth to accumulate more . . . shy indeed you may be, brave and loyal you are all the more . . . hmm . . . difficult, difficult . . ."

"No, not difficult! Just say 'Gryffindor,' already! 'Gry-ffin-dor . . .'" pressed Ron in a heated whisper, causing Hermione to let out a rather loud exasperated scoff.

"No, no. Let's place you in . . . RAVENCLAW!" ruled the hat, causing excited cheers to escape from the students at the table of Ravenclaw and even Hermione, while a quiet, mortified moan leaked through the corners of the red head's lips.

Two blows in one sitting, thought Harry sadly on behalf of his best friend, watching Ami take a seat at her new table.

"Perez, Lauren Elizabeth!"

A cute, sophisticated looking Mexican American girl with brown eyes smiled apprehensively as she maneueved through the diminishing crowd of still waiting students and sat upon the stool, tucking a few loose strands of her brown hair behind her ear.

"Oh, yes! Very simple choice indeed with this one! Go and be a . . . GRYFFINDOR!"

"I'm liking this decision a lot, indeed," Harry could hear his other friend, Seamus Finnigan murmur a few seats down from him enthusiastically while clapping happily, rising from his seat to offer up his spot to the pretty young woman.

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Harry turned his attention back to the front just as Professor McGonagall called out a new name.

"Phillips, Samantha!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat almost in the same breath as the elderly woman, the medium height young girl with light freckles, angular glasses, and wavy, medium length brown hair quickly and shyly moved over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down.

"Schuler, Meghan!"

"Oh . . . quite an imaginative and creative mind you have . . . almost dark in some ways . . . but a strong mind, nonetheless. Better be . . . RAVENCLAW!"

The table of Ravenclaw exploded into cheers of welcome as Harry watched Ron, who sadly watched Taranee gaze at the newcomer to her house and slid over to offer her a seat next to her.

"Strumpf, Dena!"

"RAVENCLAW!" declared the hat for an attractive girl with soft brown hair and eyes, who gently smiled at her new housemates before sitting down at the table.

Harry, although becoming a bit more interested in the ceremony at this point, was beginning to feel dreadfully starved and sleepy, and sunk gingerly into his seat and closed his eyes right when Professor McGonagall called out,

"Tomoe, Hotaru!"

"Hota-chan!"

Startled by the sudden, surprised outburst made by Rei near him, Harry immediately opened his eyes and looked ahead to see what was so alarming by yet another name being addressed.

Time came to a standstill for Harry, his heart skipping a beat while his breathing instantly became shallow. He didn't understand why Rei was so surprised to see her, but Harry certainly knew why he now was.

For right there, only several feet away from him and not a world apart as he'd been dreading, stood Harry's mystery girl from Diagon Alley.

She was an even greater vision of loveliness now, it seemed to Harry, as she coyly tossed several strands of her sea of ebony hair with faint lavender streaks over her shoulder before properly sitting down upon the waiting stool.

Harry could not recall ever feeling so uplifted and truly happy in his entire life as he did that very moment, gazing up at the Egyptian beauty with half lidded, awe filled eyes while waiting anxiously for the sorting hat to reveal her (not to mention, his, as well) fate.

". . . okay, mate? Harry? Harry! You with us, back here on Earth?" Harry tuned in late to hear Ron teasing him, time returning back to normal.

"Huh? Wha --"

"-- One minute you're about to conk out, and the next you're looking like ol' Loon -- er, Luna, with a dreamy, sleepy look upon your face. Have a thing for that girl up there or something?"

Harry did not bother to respond to his friend's playful inquiry, as all of his attention was now bored into the hat and its decision in where to place the girl now known to him as the beautiful name of Hotaru.

"Hmm . . . quite possibly the most perplexing decision I'll have to make with you, indeed . . . quite the mysterious and mesmerizing individual you are . . . with many different sides to your personality . . . strong, yet fragile . . . loyal, yet apprehensive . . . kindhearted, yet with an extremely dark and troubled past, one you are apparently not aware of but will begin to work through during your stay here . . ."

Harry listened intently to the hat's dissection of the breathtaking young woman seated upon the stool, desperately wishing it would just get on with its decision and hopefully say "Gryffindor!" already.

Hotaru began to shift uncomfortably in her seat as the hat continued on, her beautifully shaped brows lightly furrowing and causing her delicate, flawless features to darken momentarily in the process.

As if that was a trigger, the sorting hat suddenly shouted, and regrettably so for Harry,

"SLYTHERIN!"

If the sharp pain currently jetting straight through his heart at that moment after hearing the hat's verdict hadn't occurred, Harry would have honestly believed that it had stopped and he had died.

Slytherin? Of all of the houses to be placed in, it had to be Slytherin? The one house of the four Gryffindor was most competitive with and Slytherin despised the most, it seemed?

It all felt like a very cruel dream to Harry -- no, a nightmare. An extremely cruel, extremely ironic nightmare that he wished more than ever to break free from at that very moment.

Harry's heart turned to ice as he helplessly watched Hotaru take a seat next to Malfoy, who eagerly offered up one of his cronies, Goyle's spot in the process and gave it to her.

Too depressed and angry to no longer pay attention, Harry turned back around in his seat and faced his back towards both the stool and sorting hat that a very surprised Usagi Tsukino now sat upon, as well as the Slytherin table he found himself despising even more than he had already.

The rest of the ceremony, announcement of new and returning professors, and feast was a numbing blur for Harry as he barely touched his food and missed out on the last two new additions of both Usagi and Will Vandom to the Gryffindor house.

Don't know why I'm at all surprised, he thought bitterly to himself as he hurriedly excused himself from the table and avoided all eye contact or questions from friend and foe alike, and began to make his way up to Gryffindor tower once the feast had finally ended.

I'm the living example that Murphy's Law works within this harsh world: every, single bloody time I am miraculously allowed a brief moment of some form of happiness, it always gets immediately ripped from my hands by some unforeseen and miserable event.

She's in Slytherin, now? Fine. I don't care. Let Malfoy have her. Can't be very nice at all as I'd thought if she was put in there to begin with, anyhow.

Harry tiredly climbed the staircase up to the boys' dormitory after giving the Fat Lady on the wall outside Gryffindor tower the new password, and slid underneath the covers without even bothering to change.

Turning off the light, setting his glasses down upon his night stand, Harry let out a sleepy, exhausted yawn before having one final, embittered thought, sleep beginning to claim him.

This was all just some stupid mistake . . . and Hotaru Tomoe is an even bigger mistake.

--End of Chapter Three

(A.N. YES! SCORE! I am FREE! I have FINISHED! It is DONE! No more! You horrid, HORRID little -- pfft, understatement to that LoL -- chapter! I hate you! You've ruined my life, and stole all of my friends! Sorry . . . venting LoL This chapter took forever to finish, as you can clearly tell from its extreme length. So, I'm just extremely happy it's over! LoL Now, V-chan, Pan, and Ishi can all get off my back about taking forever to post it -- even though I DID take 10 years to do so LoL -- and the pressure can be put off me . . . that is, until you all finish reading this and leave me reviews of how much it sucked and I need to up my game; OR, how much you LOVED it and I need to update again like, tomorrow LoL Either way, I'm "screwed" LoL But, yes! There you have it! Chapter three in all its "glory." with the girls now sorted and "officially" immersed into Harry's world and "home turf." And we've got V-chan's gloriously glorious new sorting hat song she's been itching to have unveiled forever on me, which was fun to insert. TELL me you didn't think her poem/song for the sorting hat didn't rock, I DARE you HeHe Sorry if the ceremony took forever to get through and you started to get anxious like poor ol' hungry Ron, LoL, but I wanted to give better "insight" to each girl being sorted -- and yes, there are other guys besides that one Terry Slytherin dude who got sorted too; I just didn't "highlight" them, is all LoL -- and stuff. Like, I did purposely make the hat say things, descriptive words about their personality that also "revealed" their power (I.E. Rei's sorting comments of she having a FIERY spirit, etc. Yes, I know; cheesy, but pfft LoL). And the random people, negating Desmona were just friends of mine I decided to put into the story. So, you all know who you are, and you're welcome or I'm sorry for having done so. LoL Um . . . what else. Oh! Right, and if it got confusing again between the breaks -- you know, the "YYYYY's" you see -- and stuff, sorry again for that. I wanted to make it a mainly Harry p.o.v. chapter, but some parts -- like the girls going to the castle, for example -- I couldn't honestly keep in his p.o.v. because it just wouldn't make sense or allow the girls' feelings to be conveyed as well, etc. And speaking of the way they arrived to the castle, my friend Kristen, who got to read that part as I was writing it, couldn't stop gushing about it. LoL "That's REALLY creative! Even right down to creating the cool name to Flitwick's new product, too! Sweet! Now, I want to try some," was her compliment to it. LoL Well, at least I can say ONE person thus far enjoyed that scene. LoL I just did wings because both ends have experience with it -- and before Sailormoon people are all, "But, only Usagi had wings," I modeled them after the manga versions of them, as they all had wings, themselves -- and also it's a great way TO get a beautiful first view of the castle by flying there. Well, I thought, anyway. LoL Um . . . I think that's it! I'd address all of the new reviews I've gotten, but since I'm not sure we're allowed to anymore, after I'd gotten that e-mail about that from some chick here, I'm just gonna say THANKS A LOT, EVERYONE WHO'S REVIEWED THUS FAR, AND PLEASE TO BE RECEIVING MUCH, MUCH MORE IN THE FUTURE! HeHe I'll check you all later for chapter four, which I've become to write but might not be up for a while, sorry . . . Mwa!

Oh, crap. PS! LoL I know someone's gonna be like, "Poor Minako; she can never get any words/phrases right" on me. I'm sorry! But like I said for my Totally Spies fic on here, I think it's cute whenever she messes up on words and stuff. HeHe Plus, my friend Stacy, after reading this before I posted it here, was on the floor, "dying," when I made both Minako and Irma be like, "Who the hell's Harry Potter?" basically, because she'd mentioned once in passing how cute/funny it'd be if the girls were like that with him and it surprised or embarrassed him. LoL Plus, I personally thought the "children's book" comment was a nice touch. HeHe Anyway, PLEASE, no flames about the apparent new pairings, because I already "Warned" you before you read this that something like that would happen. Also, no flames about where I placed each girl, either. Also, I KNOW SOMEONE'S gonna leave me a review or e-mail about how Hota-chan's NOT Egyptian and is Japanese . . . yes. I know this. LoL But, ah -- there's the rub, my friends. Cliffhanger for you to think about while waiting for my next chapter. HeHe Right! Think that's it, but if I missed anything else, just e-me about it instead of adding it in the review, pleasie HeHe)