-5-

Black Magic Bar

They strolled down Bourbon street. No longer distracted by the Hermione-Clary-Lesbian predicament, he could take in the sights which was good because there was certainly a lot to take in. People swaying and dancing about, jazz music playing and people passed out on the ground. They picked their way through the crowds of spitting and squawking drunks. Eventually something caught Harry's eye. It was, well, it was the Leakey Cauldron in New Orleans. It was the Leakey Cauldron.

Naturally, it was not actually the Leakey Cauldron but it's American equivalent, Black Magic Bar. Once they got closer to it (seeing it, Harry had grabbed Ron and trampled a stream of people to get to it. He rushed through the doors and immediately realized it was not what he had thought. Inside was a kaleidoscope of colors and textures. Velvet, fur, mirrors, smoke and music. Tall, dark women in turbans drank steaming liquids out of tiny glasses and short, pasty men huddled in the corner in American 1940's get-ups. There was a jumping and twirling mass of bodies in the center of the room and jazz music swept him up and carried him to the dance floor. He and Ron began to boogey until they collapsed. They crawled to the bar and without even having to ask the were served tiny glasses of a green liquid. Without knowing what to do with them, they looked around. People were downing them in one gulp and so they did the same, 6 times. Fifteen minutes later they were across the room from each other laughing and scanning the crowd with blurry eyes. Somehow Harry ended up in the loo. The dirty mirrors and urinals swirled around him. He splashed water on his face and shook himself. Something was up but his mind was so fuzzy... he stepped into a bathroom stall and stuck a finger down his throat. A fountain of green liquid came up. After several minutes his head was a lot clearer and he realized he needed to find Ron. He exited the loo and ran into a pretty blond girl. "Sorry" He mumbled. She looked at him, stared into his eyes.

"Here have another." She pushed another vial of green liquid towards him.

"No thank you." She frowned and tried again "No thanks! I have to go." She glared at him.

"Oh but you can't go. You have to stay." Why were her eyes so green? She smiled and she had very sharp teeth. He reached for his wand but it wasn't there. Shit. She took a step towards him and he did something he'd never done before, he punched her. She swayed, hissed and then fell to the floor. Everyone in the room stopped talking and turned to look at him. He spotted Ron, he was passed out in a corner holding both of their wands, across the room from him. Shit shit shit shit shit. A hundred green eyes and sharp white teeth suddenly shone around him. They began to surround him with those odd smiles. Then, there was screeching of tires that could be heard from outside, over the music. The crowd continued to circle around him but their attention was diverted when the door to the club slammed open and shut. It was Hermione and who Harry could only assume was Clary. Their wands were out. The crowd shifted their attention back and forth between the girls and Harry. When they were focused on the ladies at the door, Harry seized his opportunity and sprinted towards Ron. He scooped up his wand and yelled "Evigilate!" (a wake up spell). Ron shot up like his toes had been shot at and looked around.

"Wus goin on?"

"No time to talk, everyone in here is trying to kill us."

"Usual Friday night then."

In an explosion of sound and color the demons lunged at them and the girls and they each shot stunning spells. Everything was green and red for a moment, like christmas. When the sparkles settled it was 40 down, 10 to go. More stunning spells and everything was quiet.

-6-

Meeting Clary

After a lot of confusion and reprimands, it was understood that Harry and Ron had been lured into a trap. The club was actually called Venus Fly Trap and it was where Demons (a magical species that had been exiled from Europe to America in the 1300s) went to drink and wait for dinner to walk in, thinking it was a wizard club. The Demons prey on a wizard's magic but to do so they have to take the whole wizard. So Harry and Ron all but walked straight into the monster's mouths. Had Harry not sobered up and Hermione not saved the day, Harry and Ron would have remained there in a drunken, fuzzy haze for several more days, marinating, before they were ripped apart and gobbled up.

"The Wizards Bureau of Protection should do something about places like that!" Hermione huffed. Clary laughed "They let a lot of things fly under the radar." Awkward silence… Harry studied Clary. She was a wide, smooth girl. She had long rose-blond hair. He'd really never seen anyone like her at Hogwarts. She turned and saw him looking at her, her eyes were the lightest and brightest green eyes he'd ever seen. He looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring. Ron was trudging along in a stupor but every time Hermione and Clary touched or got too close he flinched a bit. The girls were whispering to each other, thinking they ought to let Harry and Ron sleep. Harry felt very awkward, especially after his outburst. Would Hermione think Harry liked her? No, of course not, because it wasn't true... was it? No. He cut that thought off right there. Where were they going? It was almost daylight and they were walking down Bourbon street.

"Where are we going?"

"Wizard Student Housing!" Hermione sounded very excited "It's amazing it's-"

"Hermione" Clary interrupted "You can't, you've got to let them see it."

"Right, right, sorry." Harry was flabbergasted, she interrupted Hermione and she complied.

So Harry just kept walking, ready for anything. He looked at Ron who still appeared to be in a trance. "Is Ron going to be alright?" Clary answered "Oh yeah, he'll be fine, he just needs some hot sauce and some sleep."

"Hot sauce?"

"It's a sauce made with spicy peppers. It's a Louisiana staple and for some reason it helps purge your system of the cloudiness you get from bein' around the demons for so long. That's part of why it's so popular now, New Orleans was founded by witches. It's like eating chocolate after bein' attacked by those things y'all have in Europe... Dementors?"

"Clary and I have been teaching each other about American and British creatures."

"Cool..."

"We're getting close to the dorms. We have to go this way."

They had reached a square, fenced in by cast iron fencing. It was occupied by a huge statue of a man on a horse. They turned and walked along the square, entering at what appeared to be the front. The sun was rising and there was a low fog that made everything look softer, nothing like the sharp, cold fog that warned of dement ors. They walked past the statue and approached a magnificent white building which, to Harry's surprise, was labelled by a sign that read St. Louis Cathedral. "We're living in a church?" what could be more American than that? Clary laughed.

"No, silly." Hermione chastised with annoyance. Blegh, Harry wanted to barf, they were so... cute. Clary led them into the church and stopped to let them look around

"This is St. Louis Cathedral. It was built in 1793 and established as the official living quarters of Marie Laveu University in 1914. The college was started by Babette Laveau the same year. Jesus she sounded just like Hermione in Hogwarts. "So where do we sleep?"

"If you just follow me I'll show you the trick to getting into the dorms." She took three strides forward, right to the edge of the aisle. She took out a key and twisted it in the air like she was unlocking a door and around it, a grand door of meticulously carved wood appeared. She pushed it open and the rows of pews, which they had been surrounded by just a moment ago, were gone. Harry had gotten used to surprising things over the years but at this, he nearly fell over. Through the door they went into what was now the Cathedral walls but no pews, altars, candles or anything that was there before. "You'll each get your own keys after you've gone through freshman orientation." "Clary's a junior" What the bloody hell did that mean? "That means she's two years older and above us" Harry rolled his eyes. "So how can me and Ron get some sleep?" "I'll show you to your dorms, Hermione and I signed you in when we got here. That was of course before we realized where you were..." "If it hadn't been for Clary I would never have found you two, it was all thanks to her city smarts." "Well bully for her." "Harry!" "Sorry, sorry, I'm just tired, can we please get to the beds?" "Fine! Clary, I think I better take them, I need to rest up and clean off a bit too... I'll see you in a bit." When they thought Harry and Ron weren't looking they exchanged a quick kiss. Hermione gave Harry a dirty look and marched off. She led them to the back of the Cathedral and turned to the left corner. There, she led them up a staircase that was lit with windows of all colors, yellow, purple, blue, red, green and on and on it went, colors Harry couldn't even identify. At the top of the staircase they walked down a narrow hall. It seemed like they'd passed at least a hundred doors when, finally, they stopped. Room 9 3/4. "What's this?" "When I found out they had it, I requested it especially for you." She was frowning. "Thanks Hermione" "Yes, whatever. Go get some sleep, clean up. Oh! I almost forgot!" She pulled two boxes out of her bag and handed them to Harry. "What's this?" God he sounded like a broken record "Mobile phones! You've got to have one in America" He'd certainly seen them and heard of them but he'd never thought of owning one... "Alright, stay here, only leave to clean up in the bathroom, I'll come and get you around noon." They said their goodbyes, Ron was still too out of it to know what was going on. Harry pulled him into their room and without even taking stock of their new home, they each passed out on their respective beds.

-7-

Madame Laveu

Harry felt something shake him but he ignored it. Again. Still, he ignored it. He was so tired. It happened a third time and this time he had to open his eyes, just for a second to see what it was. Hermione was looking down at him with her bright brown eyes. "Harry! Wake up! You were supposed to get up on your own!" He suddenly remembered where he was. He sat up and looked around. He was finally noticing his new room. It was all white paint and brown wood. His bed was gray and white. Hot, noontime sunlight was streaming in through the window but the room felt pleasantly cool. Ron was still asleep. Harry sat and and rubbed his eyes.

"We've got to help Ron. Did you bring any of that stuff she was talking about?"

"Oh, yes. Here" She handed him a small glass bottle with a red and green label.

"Ron!" He didn't budge. Harry slapped him. Nothing. Finally Harry took the thick, red liquid and let it dribble onto his cheeck and dribble into his mouth. He began to stir. Suddenly, he shot wide open and he sat up. He smacked his lips and yelled out.

"Hot!"

"What's wrong?"

"HOT!"

"What?"

"Water!"

"Oh he needs water! Aguamenti!" She shot water from her wand into his mouth and all over his face. They are stood in silence for a moment.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" They began recounting what had occurred in the last 24 hours ending with the need for hot sauce when dealing with demon-induced fogginess. He was crabby about it but he perked up when Hermione said lunch.

"But, before we go anywhere you two have go to clean up and change clothes. When you leave your room you'll turn left to get to the bathroom. I'll be back in an hour and then we'll get some lunch."

Hermione left them.

"You ready mate?" Ron nudged Harry.

"For what?" "It's gonna be like the first day of Hogwarts again, you're still the boy who lived. You're the boy who lived three times and defeat Voldemort. You're the chosen one again, nobody here knows you so they're all gonna be freaking out when they see you." Shit, Ron was right. Whatever, he couldn't think about that just now. They sidled off the the bathrooms. Some lovely blondes were walking out when Ron and Harry approached. "Excuse me" They turned to him "Where's the men's bathrooms?" They giggled "There aren't any, it's co-ed" "Come again?" Ron sounded like an idiot, god. "Boy and girls together" Oh boy "Alright, thanks" Ron and Harry turned to look at each other, grinning like fools. They quickly learned the downside to this as they entered the bathrooms. They found themselves surrounded by tall, muscular men, Cedric Diggory, Dean Thomas types. They both struggled to retain some modesty as they struggled out of their considerably unfashionable clothes. And, no baths, only showers. Everything was new here. Harry was in and out of the shower in 10 minutes (Ron took suspiciously long showers) and he called to Ron that he was heading back to the dormitory without him. He snuck down the hallway, not wanting anyone to see his towel turban. When he closed the door and turned around he was face to face with a woman. She was wearing a real turban and long, deep purple robes.

"Er... who are you?"

"I, am Marie Laveu."

Harry was confused for a moment. Marie Laveu University…

"Marie Laveau University?"

"Yes I am the school's namesake" She had an odd accent almost french but with a drall.

"I am also the headmistress. I thought I would come and greet you."

"Oh, well, thank you. Er… Miss-"

"Madame"

"Madame Laveu. If you don't mind my asking, do you greet all your students this way?" She chuckled throatily. "No… but… you are not all students Mr. Potter. You are the chosen one."

"So… is there something you need or you just wanted to drop in and say hi?" She narrowed her eyes. "No, that's all. Just welcoming a student I believe has a bright future here at my University."

"Thank you."

"I suppose I ought to leave you to get ready for orientation."

"I suppose."

"Well, good luck. I'm sure we'll meet again soon." and with that she left the room. Harry sat on his bed. She'd given him a very odd feeling. He was starting to get a headache. He shook himself. Ron came in and Harry thought about telling him the whole story, but for some reason he decided not to. He and Ron got dressed while discussing the events of the past 24 hours and their hopes of greater success with American women.

"If Hermione can get American girls so can we!" They laughed and stepped out into the hallway all but running into Hermione.

"Let's go, we only have an hour to get something to eat."

"Why?"

"We have orientation in an hour and a half!"

"Orientation?"

"It's where we meet the rest of our class."

"Perfect!" Harry and Ron winked at each other.

-8-

Orientation

Harry and Ron gorged themselves on the local food and were a bit sick when they arrived at campus. It was their first time on campus. It was very different than Hogwarts. Instead of a castle it was lots of smaller buildings and a lot more people. Everyone was in muggle clothes and there were coffee shops and small stores on campus as well. This was not Hogwarts at all. Clary led them to a big lawn. Harry couldn't believe the sight, at least 2,000 people stood around chatting in small groups or yelling across large ones. Hermione turned to Ron and Harry "I'm gonna head that way" (she pointed towards a group of girls wearing glasses and carrying heavy books) "You two ought to move about and meet people." And with that she took Clary's hand and lead her to the crowd of girls. Harry and Ron looked at each other in shock. Harry wondered if all those years, what really kept Hermione around, was her sexual tension with Ron? Dammit, why did they have to date and ruin everything?! Whatever. Harry was turning a new leaf this year, he and Ron were going to make new friends and date new women and it was going to be great! "Let's go Ron, we've got people to meet" " And babes to shag." Ron sang.

They spent their first 15 minutes getting up the courage to penetrate this crowd of strangers but eventually they edged their way into the mess of people.

As soon as they entered the crowd they were overwhelmed. They began to just walk through, looking at all the people. Then, he saw him. It couldn't be! Oh but it could… you see Harry, Ron and Hermione were not the only ones who had skipped that last year at Hogwarts. Lo and behold, Harry was looking into the eyes of someone he would have never expected to see in America…