Austin stumbled as his feet hit the ground, shaking the rising feeling nausea away he glanced at Hazel and Damien who hadn't been so lucky in their landings. The two of them quickly regrouped with Austin and Mcgonnagal, "This way you three." Mcgonnagal said directing them towards a large hall, following her, Austin, Damien, and Hazel walked next to each other. Noticing that she looked a little green Austin asked her, "You okay?" She weakly nodded, "Just a little sick from the trip, first time taking Floo powder anywhere." Austin nodded understanding what she meant, having taken several trips by floo he had eventually gotten used to the feeling but the strong urge to throw up the last meal you had was never something you couldn't fully shake off.
He asked the same to Damien who merely shrugged and said that it wasn't' as bad as he thought it would be. McGonagall lead them through a giant hall with numerous witches, wizards, and magical items moving about, 'Were those paper airplanes?' Austin thought to himself as they stopped in front of three people who seemed to be deep in conversation or rather in a very intense argument. "Cornelius please listen to reason, you must move the dementors from Azkaban." the man on the left said, he had a long white beard, and wore brightly colored robes, Austin thought he looked like the No-majs' interpretation of Merlin or Santa Claus. The man on the right huffed in frustration, "I've said it once and I'll say it again Albus there is no reason for me to move the dementors away from Azkaban and plus if I did it would require sending more aurors to cover for them and Amelia is already on me saying how short we are on Aurors." He was rather short and pudgy, he had in hands a green bowler hat and was wearing a pinstriped suit with matching overcoat, which both Austin and Hazel seemed to think was a bit painful on the eyes.
However, the two of them were rather tame to what the women, if you could really describe her as one was wearing. If she was to be described in two words, they would've been pink and toadlike. Her beady eyes fell on the four of them and she quickly coughed bringing the attention of the other two towards McGonnagal and the three Americans, "Ah! You must be the transfer students, welcome to England." the man with the bowler hat said enthusiastically shaking each of their hands."My name is Cornelius Fudge, the current Minister Magic." The woman in the pink was introduced as the Undersecretary for Minister Fudge as Dolores Umbridge. The grandfatherly looking figure was the last to introduce himself, "My name is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts." Austin shook his hand and, having had received some formal training in greeting politicians by his father had been voted as the representative for the group. "Headmaster Dumbledore, Minister Fudge on behalf of Ilvermorny and MCUSA we thank you for this opportunity, we hope that we live to your expectations." The Minister chuckled and patted Austin's shoulder, "Think nothing of it, my boy, it's our pleasure. Now if you excuse me I have a ministry run." Dumbledore nodded as well, "I also have some last minute things to finish up getting ready for the start of term, I leave you in my Deputy Headmistress' capable hands. Minerva, they have everything they need?" He asked. Professor McGonagall nodded, "Everythings already been supplied and is in at their rooms I was going to take them there after this." Dumbledore nodded, "Excellent, well I shall see you back at Hogwarts." The Minister and Undersecretary Umbridge also said their goodbyes and went their own separate way somewhere into the ministry. Professor McGonagall turned to face them, "Follow me you three, it would be unfortunate if any of you got lost in the ministry."
They were led into the atrium where numerous ministry employees went every which way as they went about their jobs, the sound of multiple Floo systems being activated as people walked out of them was off to the Austins left, and in the middle of the atrium was a fountain which had several larger than life-sized gold statues in its center. The tallest of the statues was a wizard who was pointing his wand straight into the air, four more gold statues surrounded the wizard, a witch, a goblin, a centaur, and a house-elf with the last three all looking up with awe and adoration at the two wizards, shots of water shot at random intervals in various places on the statues. A plaque was placed at the base of the statues which read 'The Fountain of Magical Brethren' along with a sentence saying that all the proceedings from the fountain went to St. Mungos for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Hazel glanced at the fountain and frowned slightly when she noticed the statues, "That's awfully prideful of themselves." she said, Austin shrugged "My dad did say that the British Wizarding World was pretty backward in some of its thinking." the two of them quickly caught back up with the Damien and McGonagall, Austin continued while they walked, "You saw how whats-his-face reacted to Damien telling him how they were barely any purebloods left, there's obviously something here that is going to be different, for better or worse." Hazel nodded and the group eventually ended up at a place called the Leaky Cauldron run by an old wizard named Tom who to the three of them seemed nice enough. "Ah Professor McGonagall, how are you, your usual?" he asked, "No thank you, Tom, I'm here on Hogwarts business, dropping off the new transfer students to their rooms." Tom smiled and nodded "Of course, of course." he looked at the three of them, "So you're the lucky three eh? I certainly hope your year would be comfortable, and if I can be in any assistance to you just let old Tom know." The three of them thanked him as he handed them their room keys. "Rooms 11, and 12 just up the staircase."
As soon as Austin and his friends arrived in front of their rooms McGonagall spoke to them before she left, "Your books and materials have already been supplied as well as your robes, however, we ask that you arrive in your Ilvermorny robes as a sort of welcoming ceremony will take place before you are sorted into your houses for the year." She handed the three of them each a ticket which had the number nine and three-quarters on it "I'll send someone to meet you at Kings Cross, to help get you on board the Hogwarts express. And let me officially welcome to you England till we meet again at Hogwarts." the three also said their goodbyes and the three of them went into their rooms, 11 for the boys and 12 for Hazel. Room 11 had a comfortable bed, with Oak furniture and a fireplace a couple of feet from the bed along with a mirror that stood next to the fireplace. Damien sighed and flopped on the bed.
"Is there a magical equivalent of jet lag cause I'm feeling it," he said.
"Portkey lag?" Austin suggested with a laugh but he understood what Damien meant, no matter how many times Austin traveled whether by normal or magical means he was never able to deal well with sudden changes in time zones. "Scoot over, you're not the only whos tired and you're hogging most of the damn bed." Damien groaned and made room for Austin to lie down on. Without even having the energy to get underneath the covers Austin and Damien soon fell asleep. By the time Austin woke up, the sun had already begun to set, a fire was burning in the fireplace, encasing in the room in a warm homey feeling that reminded Austin of a mountain lodge his uncle owned that his family would occasionally visit. Getting up from the bed he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and slipped on his shoes and explored the room. Walking up to the mirror he gazed at his reflection. He had bags underneath his eyes and his hair had once again fallen back into his messy bedhead, "You should probably cut it if you find so hard to manage." a raspy voice said, Austin turned around frantically attempting to search for the source of the voice. "Behind you, you foolish boy." Austin turned back around the. The voice had been coming from… the mirror? "I'm sorry?" Austin asked perplexed, the mirror replied "If your hair is looking like that you'd be better off cutting some of it." the mirror replied. Austin shouldn't have been surprised about the fact that magic talking mirrors existed but magic still continued to surprise him. He brushed his hand through his hair which didn't really help but he decided it was good enough. "Well, Mr. Mirror thanks for the advice but I think this controlled mess suits me." The mirror muttered a reply that Austin chose to ignore, he glanced at his reflection again when he heard muffled music through the wall.
"Well, I'm just a poor boy though my stories seldom told I have squandered my resistance, for a pocket full of mumbles such are promises."
Austin walked out into the hall where music became slightly louder, the music was coming from Hazel's room so, he knocked on the door.
"All lies and yet, still the man he is what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."
The door opened to reveal Hazel in a T-shirt and sweats, "Hey Austin, what's up?" she asked as she motioned for him to come inside, "Heard some music through the wall I got curious." He said sitting in one of the chairs.
"It didn't wake you did? I thought I put up silencing charms," she asked, Austin shook his head, "Nah I was already up when I heard it, How'd you get a radio working with all the magical interference?" Hazel smiled and twirled her wand in her fingers, "Nothing a little arithmancy and spellcraft couldn't fix. I just tuned it to a random station and this started playing. Never heard the song but it's good in a sort of sad, angsty way."
"In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade, and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down and cut him till, in his anger and his shame, he cried out, I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains."
The song had progressed past the second verse while they were talking and they focused on the last stanza, they sat in a comfortable silence as the song ended. "It's alright but not really type," Austin said stretching his arms out in front of him, Hazel smirked, "Well then Mr. Bauer what exactly is 'your type'?"
Austin smiled before putting on a fake posh British accent, "Please was my father, Austin suffice." the two of them laughed, Austin relaxed in the chair before continuing, "I'd say I'm more into rock, one group called The Pillows, pretty good group, although I suppose they're more alternative than anything else." he yawned before continuing "So we got three days before we leave for the school what are we gonna do?" The rest of the night was spent in discussion. It was eventually decided that they'd just hang around Diagon Alley, the two of them spent a few more minutes talking before they said goodnight and Austin went back to his room.
-Three Days Later-
"Austin! Austin! Wake up!" Austin groggily got up and looked around, "Whaa?" he grunted still half asleep Hazel was in his room, a girl was in his room, normally this wouldn't have been a problem, as his sister had often barged into his room to annoy/hangout so he had been used to things like this. However, Hazel wasn't his sister so that, meant that a girl who wasn't his sister was now in his room, and here he was just in his boxers. Austin's eyes widened and he quickly flung the bed covers over himself, "Hazel what the fuck!" he yelled, Hazel ignored him and quickly tossed him a pair of jeans and a t-shirt "Hurry up we overslept, we're going to miss the train!" Austin still hid most of his body under the blankets even when the jeans and the shirt hit him, he slowly peeked from out the blanket to see that Hazel was still in his room glaring at, "Ok but can you get out of my room so I could change?" Hazel rolled her eyes before heading to the door, "Damien and I are already waiting downstairs, don't take too long!" with that she walked out while closing the door. Jumping out of bed Damien put on the shirt which had an Ilvermorny crest on the left breast and quickly slipped into his pants.
Looking around he saw the mess the room was in, his clothes lay everywhere on the floor, and his school books also lay scattered throughout the room. It would've taken too long to manually clean everything up so he reached into his backpack and pulled out a slip of parchment with Japanese writing. Holding it up in front of him he began to say the incantation, "Oh spirits of the East heed your masters, arise from your slumber." He turned the side with the writing away from and then threw down the parchment with a shout of "Order!" to finish completing the spell. Once the paper hit the ground it erupted into a cloud of smoke, the cloud soon dissipated and where there had once been smoke now there was a girl kneeling in front of Austin.
"How may I be of service to you, Master Austin?" she asked still kneeling. She wore a Japanese style kimono and had platinum blonde waist length hair, on her waist she had a katana strapped to her side on a scabbard and she would've passed for human except for two things. The first was that she had two fox ears protruding from her head and a white bushy leaf-shaped tail behind her, she was a shikigami, or a familiar used most commonly by eastern magic practitioners but had been gifted to Austin by his master before they left Japan, "Yui, I overslept and I'm about to miss a really important train and I don't have time to clean up all this," he said gesturing to the entire room, "Could help me clean up?" Yui stood up nodded but no before sighing with a sigh, "You know master, while I am a servent familiar my main purpose is for your protection, not being your personal maid." Austin turned around after shoving a few of his clothes into his trunk, "I promise to scratch your ears when we get to the traiiin," He said in a sing-song voice, and with that Yui quickly got to work using magic to fix the bed and the numerous messes he had made throughout the room. "All has been done as you requested, master." Yui said with a slight bow, "Be careful master, we're in a strange and unfamiliar place, who knows what dangers lurk around the corner."
"I don't have anything to worry about I got a kickass defensive familiar watching my back, and I have my wand, and everything Sensei taught me while in Japan." He replied as he brandished his wand and placed a levitation charm on his trunk.
"And, what of your staff?" Yui asked,
"Don't worry I have it shrunken right her-" he stopped as he patted his side to feel that his staff, also a gift from his master was missing. "Nonononono, where'd it go, I could've sworn I had…" he stopped rambling when Yui handed it to him from where it was lying underneath the bed. Austin smiled and took it gratefully, "Thanks Yui, don't know where'd I be without you." the silver fox spirit merely shrugged and said, "Probably the hostage of some kidnapper looking for a ransom, like that one time during the New Year celebrations in Tokyo, or that one time you almost died trying to play hero, or that -"
"Point taken Yui." Austin said with a laugh, he heard the doorknob to his room and turn and Yui suddenly disappeared with a "puff" before anyone could see her. "You done yet?" Hazel asked him. Austin slung his backpack on his back, made sure his wand was in its holster. And triple checked his staff was where it was supposed to be before pushing the trunk towards the door.
"Yup, just double checking everything."
-Meanwhile at 9 ¾ -
Harry sighed as along with the other members of the Order of the Phoenix moved the three of them along towards the Hogwarts Express. It had been a hectic last few weeks of summer, what with the Dementor attack, and the following hearing, Harry was just glad that he was finally back on his way to Hogwarts, " what about the transfer students, we were supposed to meet up with?" Hermione asked, "They might not know how to get onto the platform." Mrs. Weasley thought for a moment before answering, "Hermione go back outside and see if you can find them, take Harry with you, Alstor go with them in case something happens." Harry thought that taking someone as paranoid as Mad-Eye Moody would not have been good for making a good first impression but before he could say anything Hermione grabbed his hand and they were followed by Moody back onto Kings Cross, they quickly looked around to see if any Muggles had seen them walk out of a wall and as soon as they were in the clear began scanning the crowds to see if they could find the three Americans.
Which turned out to be easier than Harry thought as they very quickly heard two very distinctly American voices arguing in the middle of the station. The sources of the voices were two teenagers one boy and a girl both appeared to be what looked like a very heated argument. "If you hadn't taken so long they might've still been here and not on a train that possibly already left for Hogwarts!" the girl said to a boy with brown hair. The boy huffed, "I said we shouldn't have had that much butterbeer but noooo, 'Live a little,' 'what's the worse that could happen?' Well well done Ms. McLean we don't know where to go and our guide off and disappeared."
The two of them kept arguing while the third a much younger boy probably around 12 stayed silent and looked slightly embarrassed for the two of them.
"Are Americans always this noisy?" Hermione asked Harry, and as Harry had never met any Americans he simply shrugged. "
"Well come on you two," Moody said walking towards the three of them, "Let's give them a proper British welcome."
-Back with our American Trio-
Austin growled and was about to say something when he noticed three people walking towards them, the first one was a man that caused Austin to jump back in shock, Hazel seeing his reaction looked back confused and also jumped back when she saw him. The man had a wooden leg. And a scarred face that was missing a noise. The second was a girl with brown bushy hair and brown eyes, Austin's first thought when seeing her was, 'She's pretty cute.' he quickly shook that thought out his mind and then looked at the third and last person to walk up to them. He had brown hair and round glasses and shocking green eyes, however, what drew Austin's attention was the lightning-shaped scar on the boy's forehead, it took his brain a minute to figure what that meant, "boy with a lightning scar on his head. Where have I heard of someone like that before?" he asked himself.
"Well, the only person with something like that is Harry Potter." His brain replied.
"Nah what are the odds that Harry Potter, the only person known to have survived the Killing Curse, be one of the people to meet us." He argued back.
"Well unless you know anyone else with a scar shaped like a lightning bolt." his brain said and it finally clicked, "Oh my God you're Harry Potter!" Austin said, Hazel and Damien eyes quickly went towards the brown haired boy and then up to his scar to see if it was really him, He smiled nervously and the scarred man said in a growling voice, "It seems your reputation proceeds you Eh potter?" the brown haired girl introduced herself, I'm Hermione Granger, I'm a fifth year at Hogwarts." the three Americans introduced themselves as well as the man who was called Alastor Moody.
Hermione spoke up again, "if you're looking for platform 9 ¾ follow us." the six of them soon arrived that a wall that led to the platform, "So what now?" Damien asked, Hermione, smiled and simply said watch what Harry does. The three of them turned to watch him. Harry simply walked up to the wall, leaned against like he was about to relax and then suddenly disappeared. "What the hell just happened?" Hazel asked blinking, Hermione smiled and said," Just walk towards the wall and you'll end up on the Platform." Austin looked apprehensively at the wall, "Not sure I want to." he said. Hermione rolled her eyes, "Don't worry it only looks like you'll hit the wall but trust me you'll pass right on through. Here watch me." She decided to take it at a jog and soon was also absorbed by the wall. Damien sighed and decided to run at the wall which he then passed through, and soon it was just Hazel, Austin, and Moody. Austin looked at Hazel and asked jokingly "Hold my hand?" Hazel simply rolled her eyes and shoved him into the barrier.
Austin luckily managed not to fall over and make a complete fool out of himself and soon found himself in front of a grand red and black train that reminded him those trains that they used during the Blitz to ship children off away from the cities in the 40s. On each of the train cars, it read, "Hogwarts Express." Hermione called them over. "Don't worry about your belongings they'll get on the train safely. "Thanks for the help." Hazel said gratefully, "probably would've missed the train if you hadn't run into us." Hermione smiled and went to say something, but a whistle sounded and the students still on the platform started to hurry onto the train.
"Quick, Quick" said Mrs. Weasley distractedly, hugging them, even the American trio, at random and hitting Harry twice. "Write… Be good… Pleasure meeting you three… If you've forgotten anything, we'll send it on… On to the train, now, hurry…"
A black dog that was with Harry, whom Austin had just presumed to be a regular dog, reared on its hind legs and placed its front paws on his shoulders, Harry was quickly shoved onto the train by Mrs. Weasley as she hissed "For heaven's sake, act more like a dog, Sirius!" Austin was slightly confused as to why this Sirius was in his animagus form to see him off, but thought nothing of it as he followed Ginny in with Hazel, and Damien in tow.
"See you!" he heard Harry call out of an open window was the train began to chug out of the station, he heard Hermione say something about, someone not coming with them to the station and Ron brushing it off. The Twins had business to conduct with one of their friends, Lee, which just left him, Hazel, Damien, and the Golden Trio along with Ginny.
"Shall we go and find a compartment then?" Harry asked. Ron and Hermione gave Harry an apologetic look
"Er." said Ron.
"We're- well – Ron and I are supposed to go to the prefect carriage," Hermione said awkwardly and Ron wasn't even looking at Harry as he had become interested on something that seemed to be stuck in the fingernails of his left hand.
"Oh," Said Harry. "Right. Fine."
"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," Hermione said quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."
"Fine," said Harry, "Well, I – I might see you later then, and plus it's not like I'll be alone I've got our new friends." He smirked, "Oh and Ginny." Who proceeded to glare at him jokingly. With that Ron and Hermione dragged their trunks, and their pets with them to the end of the train, Harry felt an odd sense of loss with what this being the first time travelling on the Hogwarts Express without Ron.
Ginny turned and started walking down the corridors mentioning something about finding a place to save them seats, and the four of them quickly followed her. Austin found it especially odd that most of the people that saw them seemed to stare at them, well mostly Harry with great interest, even pointing him out to their neighbors. Of course their attention was quickly focused on the three students they'd never seen before and the stares and pointing quickly came onto Austin and his crew.
They hit the last carriage they ran into a rather large boy, who was struggling with his trunk in one hand, and a struggling toad in the other.
"Hey man you want any help with that?" Austin asked the boy as he continued to watch the boy, The muttered something about him having it covered and it all being ok. Austin however, was having none of it stepped towards the boy and took the truck out of his hand.
"I'm Austin by the way." He introduced himself to the boy.
"Neville Longbottom," the boy panted and caught his breath, "Thanks by the way." Austin nodded.
Neville then saw Harry and Ginny and mentioned that there was nowhere to sit with everywhere else being full. Austin glanced into the compartment behind Neville and saw that there was a lone girl sitting in it reading a magazine. Ginny also peeked in to look.
"What are you talking about?" said Ginny, "There's only Loony Lovegood in here-" They all heard Neville mutter something about not wanting to disturb anyone, which made Ginny laugh. "Don't be silly," Ginny said "She's alright." With that she slid the door open and dragged her trunk inside, the other five followed her in.
Ginny asked if it was ok to sit in the compartment, but Austin wasn't paying attention. He was more focused on the rather unique appearance of the girl, and he could see why Neville tried to skip this compartment. Luna had straggly waist-length, dirt blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and her eyes were set in a way that gave her a look of permanent surprise. Although the strangest things about her was the fact that she had a necklace of bottlebeer caps, her wand in her left ear and the magazine she was reading before they had entered was being read upside. It was quite understandable that just by looking at her "Loony" would be a good way to describe her, though living in Boston for two years, Austin and Hazel had certainly seen weirder.
Luna nodded and they all sat down after stowing theyre trunks in the luggage racks, along with Hedwig's cage. She seemed not to blink as much as normal humans. Most of her staring was at Harry, who had sat across from her and looked increasingly uncomfortable with every passing second. Luckily Ginny decided to save him by asking her if she had a good summer.
"Yes," Luna said dreamily, without taking her eyes off Harry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," She added
"I know I am," Harry said.
This caused Neville to chuckle and brought Luna's attention to him. "
"And I don't know who you are." In that same that same dreamy voice. Neville tried to get out of introducing himself which lead to Ginny introducing him to the girl, "Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" said Luna in a singsong voice. She then turned her pale eyes onto Austin who had sat next to her, "Who might you be?" she asked him.
Austin suddenly understood why Harry and Neville felt so uncomfortable, Luna's eyes seemed to bore right through Austin and left him feeling exposed, in fact he almost threw up his Occlumency shields up due to how deep her stare went into him.
"I'm Austin, Austin Bauer. Pleasure to meet you Luna." He gave her an uneasy smile. Luna didn't say anything merely nodded and then raised her upside-down magazine to hide her face, Austin looked at the others and merely shrugged while Hazel, and Ginny suppressed a giggle.
Conversations quickly turned to things such as what life was like in America or its reverse question how life was like in England, they eventually landed on the topic of what Neville had received for his birthday, which was a plant that kind of looked like a cactus except of spines it had boils.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia." Neville said proudly. They all stared at, cept Luna who was still behind the Magazine, honestly Austin didn't even know if she was reading it or just holding it. The weird plant seemed to pulsate, which made it seem like some type of messed up internal organ, at least according to Damien.
"It's super rare," Neville said while beaming at the plant "I don't know if the greenhouses at Hogwarts even have one. I can't wait to show Professor Sprout. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."
Hazel looked closer at the plant, she looked skeptical that the plant was even worth anything, with it all looking stunted.
"Don't see why you'd want to breed it?" she said, lightly prodding it with her finger which caused the plant to pulsate slightly faster for a few seconds, "Does it even do anything?"
Neville nodded enthusiastically, "Loads of stuff! It's got this defensive mechanism- here hold Trevor for me…" He handed the toad to Harry and took a quill from his bag. Luna popped her eyes over the top of the magazine to watch, Neville stabbed the plant with the tip of his quill which caused the plant to spew green liquid all over the room much to the disgust of everyone inside. Luckily for some, mostly Luna and Austin who respectively used a their magazine and a quick shield charm escaped the green liquid however they could not escape the smell of rancid manure which it created.
Ginny quickly got rid of the liquid with a quick Scourgify and they soon started talking about other things, 'What a way to start off the year, and I'm not even at Hogwarts yet.' Austin thought he a gazed out the window to see Gray clouds forming in the sky. 'Can't wait to see what happens next.'
I'm still alive! Apologies for not updating any sooner and this update only being a correction to chapter 2 after I noticed that I completely miffed this part I decided to rewrite the end and I ended up slightly making this chapter longer, oh well. Next chapter should be up either tomorrow or Monday but that's if work lets me, after all I belong to the whims of the Army so we'll see what happens. I promise I won't abandon this story or any of my other stories. I am thankful for you support, what little story this story has so far and I hope to keep that support, this yours truly signing off until next time!
Phoenixthefirebird