Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the PJO/HP franchises.

Just to be clear: I post whenever possible. And...that usually happens late at night, probably going to be around 1-3 times a week. Maybe more. We'll see.

Harry's P.O.V.

I, like everyone else, had gaped when the 13 pegasi had been spotted. They were flying in a near-straight line, with a black-haired boy leading the way. He seemed to saying things at points, and that seemed to be what was keeping the pegasi in formation.

Until the landing.

It'd all seemed fine right until they landed and chaos emerged. I watched as one fell into the lake and another ended up on their teacher's back, which the centaur did not look pleased about.

Hermione poked me."They're kind of clumsy and unorganized, aren't they?" she whispered.

"Oh go easy on them Hermione, they probably just had such a long trip they're exhausted. look at the one climbing out of the water, he looks almost dead."" I pointed out. It was true. The dark-haired, dark-eyed boy that seemed to be no more then 14 looked ready to collapse. He was leaning on a taller blond boy for support. The boy who'd been in the center was busy bringing back the rouge Pegasi.

"Hey look, Dumbledore's greeting the centaur. Must be that headmaster he told us about. Kind of odd seeing one in a shirt though.." Ron motioned.

"Blimey, you're right! Maybe that's how they dress in America?" I asked, watching the exchanges between the two.

We watched as the centaur requested one of the girls to led the others to a campsite in-

"The Forbidden Forest? Merlin's pants, Dumbledore wasn't joking when he said they lived crazy lives!" Ron yelped.

Hermione frowned. "Maybe it's because their teacher is a centaur." But she didn't look convinced.

"Whatever. Let's go back inside and get good seats at the Gryffindor table, Dumbledore ded mention that each of the schools was gonna do something, and I'm starving." Ron started walking back to the castle, something many of the other Hogwarts students were doing. Hermione and I followed him.

{short intermission because why not}

"...And now, please welcome...the lovely ladies of Beauxbatons!" Dumbledore's voice rang through the Great Hall as girls in blue swarmed through the doors and started flirting and showing off. All tof us boys seemed entranced by their loveliness, and Hermione had to shake both Ron and I when they'd finished their act so we could watch the next school's entrance.

"Let us welcome...the Handsome Sons of Durnstrang!" Several male teenagers entered, carrying staffs. I noticed Ron's eyes followed none but Vikror Krum, the renowned Quidditch player. On the other hand, Hermione was muttering about how they were ruining the floor.

"And last but not least, the elite students of New World Academy!"

I pivoted to watch as the door opened for the third time and the students of New World Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardary entered. Instead of their earlier attire that looked much like riding gear, they were wearing different clothing. They still wore colored tunics with what I could only guess was their school emblem on the left side over the chest, the boys wearing pants and the girls wearing skirts, but now instead of cloaks they wore robes over their tunics, each one had his or her robes end exactly at the knees. The robes, in addition to the school crest, had an image on the back. I noticed that 9 of the students wore orange tunics while the other 4 wore purple and wondered what the difference way. Perhaps House divisions or status?

My musing were stopped when 10 of the students, at the sharp command of one of the girls, suddenly ran into a formation of sorts, spreading out throughout the Great Hall. Another sharp command and a girl with curly hair and the boy who'd fallen into the lake, one standing between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables and the other standing between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables, drew their wands and up out of the ground came-wait, were those bones and jewels?-forming an archway.

The girl said something again and two more students, one with light hair and the one that the centaur had called Thalia, both stepped forward, raising their wands and summoning what looked suspiciously like lightning into the bone-and-jewel structure, one strike every half a minute or so. As each addition was made, another command was spoken. The boy who'd been leading the pegasi was creating what looked like a revolving water,fall another boy was making sunlight float through the water to create rainbows.

Hermione poked me again. "Listen, she's not saying anything in English, it's all in another language." she hissed. I listened for a while, and found she was right. But how could that be? Didn't Americans also speak English?

A form began to stir in the fog and the duo calling down lightning lowered their wands, as did the ones forming the structure. All four looked exhausted but pleased. Then the form emerged and the headmaster of New World Academy, Professor Brunner, stepped out. Two girls, both looking even more exquisite then the Beauxbaton girls, if that was even possible, walked on either side of him. One had her hair obviously chopped off and the other...well, I couldn't even begin to describe her. As they walked through the waterfall and archway, a large eagle flew over them, circled the Great Hall, and landed, turning into yet another student. An Animagus? He was really young though...

"New World Academy, salute!" The girl called out in English for the first time. All activity stopped as the students saluted the centaur, even the two girls accompanying him. The centaur walked on, alone, through the arch and towards the platform, where he greeted Dumbldore and the other Heads before turning to the students and nodding to the girl.

"New World Academy, dismissed!" she yelled. All 13, including the girl, stopped saluting, quickly dismantled the arch, and took seats at the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.

"Blimey Harry, they're good!" Ron grinned at me. "That's really advanced magic if they can do that!" He was stopped short as three of the students, the one who'd made the waterfall, the one that'd been controlling the bones, and the one that'd been calling the commands sat down across from us.

"Hi, hope you don't mind if we sit here?" the first boy asked. I shrugged-he wasn't opposed at all. "No problem! That was awesome what you did!" Hermione smiled widely.

The girl chuckled. "Thanks. I'm Reyna, by the way. These two are Seaweed Brain and Death Breath."

"She means Percy and Nico." the second boy sighed.

Hermione smiled. "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Hermione and these are my friends Ron and Harry." We waved awkwardly. I was surprised when the trio didn't start staring at me at the mention of my name.

The chatter died down as Dumbledore stood up again. "Thank you to all three schools for showing us your skills. And now, Hogwarts students, please rise!" Dumbledore lifted his arms, all us Hogwarts students stood up, and we began to sing "Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, in the usual fashion (as in, singing to whatever tune the person wished). I sang along cheerfully to my favorite folktune, before looking around to see what the other schools thought.

It was priceless. Across from me, Percy had his mouth wide open and Reyna was obviously trying to smile and look polite. Nico wasn't even trying, he just covered his ears the whole time. The other visiting students did similar things. One blond boy at the Hufflepuff table looked like he was praying or something.

The song ended some time later, with Fred and George once again singing the words to the slow tune of a funeral march. The other schools clapped politely, although it was evident many detested the spectacle. One of the New World students had run out of the Great Hall halfway through.

"And now, for the feast!" Dumbledore cried out and plates of food appeared on the tables.

Ron immediately dove into his food, Hermione chiding him for manners. I laughed and was about to eat himself when I looked up and noticed the trio across from us weren't touching their food or drinks at all. "Um...are you guys alright?" Iasked.

Percy shifted awkwardly. "Um...yeah...we just have this thing we have to do before we're allowed to eat anything..You guys go ahead."

Hermione blinked. "I've never heard of needing to do anything special before a meal. Is it part of American customs or just your school?"

"Um, yeah, I guess you could say that.." Percy trailed off. What did he mean by that?

Hermione was about to ask more when a curly-haired boy came over with what looked like a pan of fire. Without blinking an eye, Percy, Nico, and Reyna stood up, picked up their plates, scrapped some into the fire (at this point, Ron was hyperventilating at their waste of food), muttered something, and sat back down again.

"And that is our custom. We don't always have to do it but if there's a fire...then yeah. Otherwise meals end up tasting like trash." Reyna explained before digging into her plate. Her companions followed suit.

Ron, Hermione, and I exchanged glances. What kind of magic-or-curse-did these Americans use or have?