DISCLAIMER: I don't own HP or anything related.
Journey to NZ.
Blurb …
Mrs Weasley decides that everyone needs a break. So when things reach breaking point, they decide to go on holiday-to the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand.
But after an incident on the local mountain, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny find themselves landed in a local muggle school, in an attempt to blend in until their holidays over.
Will the Weasley's blend in? Will Ron ever work a cell phone? And how will Ron and Ginny react when Harry and Hermione have to kiss for drama class?
AU: Just pretend that the whole H/G thing didn't happen in HBP. Harry never fell for her, and Ginny still broke up with Dean as usual. Apart from that, everything's the same.
CHAPTER FOUR: A day in the life of a muggle.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Ginny! Can your four come in here for a moment please?" Mrs Weasley called, later on that night.
They had all been forced into hiding inside the hotel, and Harry, Ron, hermione and Ginny, had been playing exploding snap for the past hour.
"Yeah mum?" Ron asked as they walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table with Mr and Mrs Weasley.
"Well, after that death eater attack, things are getting kind of serious." Mr Weasley said. "After that, Voldemort by no doubt knows you are here Harry, and well, we're going to have to keep a low profile for a while."
"So we can't go to the buried village?" Hermione asked, sounding faintly disappointed.
"I'm afraid so Hermione." Mrs Weasley said. "But-well, we have some news. Well, here the school year is a bit different than ours-they are halfway through term 3 and well-if you four are seen outside school, the police will be involved, thinking you're skiving off lessons, and we can't afford to make a fuss."
"What are you saying-" Ginny began, but Mrs Weasley cut her off.
"We've decided to enrol you into a muggle school."
Harry thought his jaw had dropped open.
"WHAT?" Ron yelled, standing up.
"Mum! We can't go to a muggle school!" Ginny said in outrage "We don't know anything to do with muggles!"
"It's not all bad, you know." Hermione said thoughtfully. "I went to a muggle primary school before I went to Hogwarts, and I thought it was fun!"
"But you were raised by muggles!" Ron said "Obviously it's going to be fine for you, but-"
"Enough!" Mrs Weasley yelled, and they all fell silent. "Look, you start next Monday at a local high school, I think it'd called-" Mrs Weasley looked down at a pamphlet "Riley Jane High School."
"Now, Ron, Harry, hermione." Mr Weasley continued "You three will be in something called "Year 13"."
"And Ginny-you'll be in Year 12." Mrs Weasley finished
"I want to be in Year 13!" Ginny said in outrage.
"They go by age Ginny; you can't do anything about it really." Mrs Weasley said, sounding as though she didn't really want to send them to a muggle school, but had no choice.
"Fine." Ginny said, and sat down in a huff.
"Look, we don't really want to send you away." Mr Weasley said "But we have no choice. We've got to blend in until our holidays over. Then we can get back to England. But for now-you have to blend in and be inconspicuous. In other words-you have to enrol in a muggle school."
"But why muggle?" Ron said. "I mean, why not enrol us in a magic school or something?"
"A few reasons." Mrs Weasley said. "One-the nearest is 6 hours away. Two-the death eaters are looking for you- a magic school is the first place they'll look. And three-I said so!"
"Think of it this way, Ronald!" Came Fred's voice, and he and George came in with huge grins. "You get to enjoy the life of a muggle!"
"Well said!" Mr Weasley said enthusiastically. "Well, it's Saturday today, so we have tomorrow to get you uniforms and books and all you need for Monday."
Ron groaned and the four left the kitchen and collapsed onto the sofa.
"So much for a peaceful holiday." Ron said "The plan coming here was bad enough."
They spent the entire next day, looking out for death eaters, and getting all their school things for the following day.
"How could someone ever wear these?!" Ginny said, plucking at her school jumper, which was a navy blue and several sizes too big for her, even though it was and extra extra small.
"I have no idea." Hermione sad, agreeing. "At least Hogwarts robes fit."
On Monday, Mrs Weasley woke them up at 7 in the morning.
"Come on! School starts at 8:40 am!" She hollered through Harry and Ron's bedroom door, and Harry, feeling that today was not going to be good, got out of bed and began to put on his new uniform.
Harry had only ever been to a muggle primary school back before he even knew he was a wizard, and then he hated it. It was mostly because of Dudley's gang, but maybe this time it would be different-he had friends this time.
"Come on Ron!" Harry called, when Ron still hadn't gotten out of bed.
"Eh, 5 more min …" His voice trailed away, so Harry pulled out his wand and sent Ron's bed covers flying away into the air.
"Harry!" Ron groaned "Ok, ok, I'm up!"
It took almost an hour to get ready. Harry and Ron laughed themselves stupid at hermione and Ginny in their new uniform, which was made up of a navy skirt, a navy polarfleece, and a navy shirt, all miles too big for them. They were also wearing "Roman sandals" which the uniform lady had recommended.
"Yeah, well you two don't look much better." Ginny said grumpily. It was true-all their clothes were too big.
"We look like drowned rats!" Hermione said on the bus to the school, full of people, talking and all wearing the same uniform as them, only some were wearing a sly blue shirt instead of navy-Harry had no idea why. "Also-please be sure not to mention anything about the wizarding world." Hermione looked exasperated "Because knowing you Ron, you're likely to strike up a conversation about Quidditch, get a load of funny looks, and walk away, saying "What's wrong with these people?"."
"Am not!" Ron said, but Hermione couldn't retaliate, as the bus has stoped inside the school grounds, and the doors had opened upon the strangest sight ever.
People. Lots of people. Thousands even! All wearing the same uniform as them, though still, some in a sky blue skirt, instead of Navy.
"Where did your mum say to go?" Harry asked Ron.
"The "Front office"." Ron replied.
"I suggest we try there." Ginny said, pointing to an entrance to the main building in front of them, with a sign over head, saying "Riley Jane high school".
Mr and Mrs Weasley were waiting for them inside foyer with a young blond woman.
"Hello! I'm Mrs Sadie. I am the principle here at R.J.H.S." She said, smiling warmly.
"Principle?" Ginny hissed to Hermione.
"Headmistress!" Hermione hissed back.
"Oh." Ginny said.
"Now I am here to take you to your knew classes, form class starts any time now-"
All of a sudden, a horrible screeching echoed through the entire school. Harry covered his ears and so did Ron, hermione and Ginny. Mr and Mrs Weasley also flinched.
"What in the name of Merlin was that?" Ron said once the screeching and subsided.
"That was the bell." Mrs Sadie said and the four of them looked at her in disbelief. "Form class is starting."
Sure enough, they could hear thousands of footsteps all walking into various directions, to different areas of the school. Soon, it was quiet.
"Well now, I'm going to take you three to your class, while my deputy principal-" she waved at a man who had just arrived. "Will take this young lady to her class."
Mrs Sadie nodded at Ginny and the man led her away. Ginny looked helplessly back at the remaining three. Harry felt rather sorry for her.
"Now if you were to come with me-" Mrs Sadie beckoned them out of the foyer.
Mr and Mrs Weasley came forward.
"Remember-inconspicuous." Mr Weasley hissed, while Mrs Weasley looked on the verge of tears.
"Bye now-be good!" Mrs Weasley said and they both waved as Mrs Sadie led them out of the foyer and outside to where there was a concrete walkway/courtyard, with the bus bay in front of them, a sort of lunch canteen thing to their left, and to their right, a path leading them around the corner and to who knew what.
"Now over there's the library." Mrs Sadie was saying "And over there is the student reception."
Harry was only half listening. Mrs Sadie led them all the way through different buildings, until Harry was sure they were going to get lost, and entered a building labelled "C Block."
"This is the maths block." Mrs Sadie said. "In here is where you will take your Maths lessons and in here." Mrs Sadie pushed open a door that was full of chattering students. "Is your form class."
"Hello there!" said a woman with brown wavy hair and a prominent chin "These I take it are the new students?"
"Yes Nancy." Said Mrs Sadie. She shoved them forward. "This here is Miss Lyra. She will be your form teacher and maths teacher."
"Yes." Miss Lyra said and beckoned them inside, while half the students turned to watch, while the other half continued to talk. "I can take it from here."
Mrs Sadie left, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione with Miss Lyra. Harry was beginning to feel really nervous.
"Now these are your timetables." Miss Lyra said and handed them a timetable each, full of some markings Harry didn't have a clue what they said. "And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask."
She smiled and left Harry, Ron and Hermione, to sit down at a desk with three empty chairs around it.
"This place is so strange." Ron muttered, looking around at the class room, ignoring the looks of other students, craning their necks to look at them. "And what on earth does this mean?" He gestured towards his timetable.
"I actually don't know." Hermione said, looking down at her own timetable. "I just hope Ginny's ok."
"Yeah." Harry agreed. But then, something caught his eye. A girl with mousey brown hair pulled back into a pony tail and talking with a girl with blond hair.
The girl looked round and caught Harry's eye, and Harry recognised her as the girl from the luge-the one who knew what she was doing.
The girl grinned and walked over to them and sat down opposite them.
"Hello! I didn't know you were new! Remember me? I was at the luge that day the explosion happened?"
"Oh, hi!" Ron said, looking confused as he didn't see her sit down.
"I'm Jordan." The girl said, "What are your names?"
"I'm Harry." Harry said, nodding at the girl to show that he remembered her.
"Ron." Ron said, glancing over at the wall, which was covered in maths equations.
"And I'm Hermione." Hermione said, sounding like she had done this many times before.
"Hermione?" Jordan said thoughtfully. "That's a cool name!"
"Uh … thanks?" Hermione said, looking as if she didn't know whether his were a compliment or not.
"Any who, what you've got first up?" Jordan asked, and without even consulting her own timetable, she added "We have options first thing on a Monday, and I've got Digi-com, so maybe you guys do to?"
Harry didn't have a clue as to what she was saying.
"Er, digi-com?" He asked, while Ron looked completely stumped, and Hermione was looking as if she was making a hard decision.
"Oh-it's what we call Digital communications. It's a class where you get to make your own movies and stuff. It's pretty cool, but the video camera broke last Wednesday, so my group has been mucking around since then."
"Huh?" Ron muttered in Harry's ear.
"You got me." Harry muttered back.
"Well, me and Ron have "Dram"-what's that?" Hermione asked briskly, holding her timetable forward.
"Oh-that's drama. Oh! You guys are lucky! You've got Mr Puckle! He's the best teacher. I'm in the other drama class." Jordan exclaimed excitedly.
"What do you do in Drama?" Ron asked, while Hermione elbowed him in the side.
"Don't you know?" Jordan asked, "It's just plays and costumes and pretty much mucking around. Lots of people do it to get out of working, but when you actually do the work-it's pretty fun! I did it last year with Rachel-" Jordan gestured over to the other girl Harry met on the chair lift back at the gondola with multicoloured hair. "And doing it again this year. I've got it with Miss Vienna. She's nice, but a bit too into the subject."
"Do you honestly understand a word this girls saying?" Ron asked quietly as Jordan called out hello to her friend.
"Uh-no." Harry admitted.
"I don't remember this at my old primary school." Hermione said, looking down at her timetable again.
"-and we did scenes from our favourite book of our choosing! So I chose my favourite book, Maximum Ride, so here's me and Rachel prancing around in angel wings-"
The horrible screeching noise that was the bell rang through the classroom and everyone stood up. Echoes of people moving could be heard all around them, above them, across the hall …
"Oh, well, I've gotta go-have fun at Drama!" Jordan called, as she got pushed through the crowd and out the door.
"Well … any idea where Drama is?" Hermione asked.
"Not a clue." Ron said.
"Well, I have "Fren". Which I'm afraid to say I have no idea what it means." Harry said, looking at his timetable, and realising that he had no clue as to where any of his classroom's were.
"I think that's French, Harry." Hermione said. "But as to where it is, I have no idea."
"Need some help?"
The three of them turned and saw a boy their age looking at them. He was pretty good looking, with curly brown hair and blue eyes that reminded Harry of Dumbledore.
"Um … yeah, we're a little lost." Harry admitted and bravely stepped forwards and out of the mad rush of people.
"No problem." He said. "I'm Matt. I heard you've got Drama. I do to! I can show you where to go?" Harry noticed Matt eyeing Hermione with interest, while Ron was consulting his timetable up side down.
"That would be very nice, thank you." Hermione said in relief. She turned to Ron and grabbed his arm saying, "We're going this way!"
"Hope you find 'Fren' class, mate!" Ron called as Hermione dragged him away after Matt and Hermione waved goodbye.
Harry waved back and started hopelessly around him. Nearly everyone had disappeared into a classroom now, and he was among the few who were running into the library, or a stray building.
"Need help?"
Harry spun round, to see Rachel, Jordan's friend from the gondola. She was laughing a little and Harry saw a French textbook in her arms.
"Please!" Harry asked desperately. "I need to find my French class-"
"Don't worry; you'll have it with me." Rachel said, and began to lead him to a block, labelled "B Block." "We're up in B10."
"B10?" Harry asked as they entered the doors and began to climb stairs.
"In the B Block and in classroom 10." Rachel explained as they found themselves in a small corridor up the top, showing three doors-classrooms 10, 11 and 12. "This is our classroom here-"
She pointed to a door with a flag on it; the colours blue, white and red and people around discussed the latest homework.
Harry glanced around nervously, and that's when he spotted her-a girl with long red hair and freckles-
"Ginny!"
Ginny turned and smiled with relief when she saw him.
"Oh thank god, Harry!" She exclaimed and she hurried forwards. "This place is so strange. Apparently, I have "Information management" and I have no idea what that's supposed to be, and I had to ask a year 9 for directions!"
"What's a year 9?" Harry asked.
"Apparently, the youngest students in the school." Ginny said as a teacher with short grey hair bustled up the stars and unlocked the French class. "But I don't know what to do and when I get to meet up with you and Ron and hermione!"
"Break has to be sometime." Harry said while his class began to file inside the classroom. "Meet outside this block, and I'll be with Ron and hermione-"
"Harry!" Rachel called "Are you coming, or what?"
"Got to go." Harry said. "Be strong soldier!" Harry added clapping a hand on Ginny's shoulder and laughing. Ginny laughed with him and entered her own class, while Harry hurried after Rachel.
"So …" Rachel asked. "That your girlfriend?"
Harry missed his chair and fell onto the floor with shock.
"What!? No!" Harry said, picking himself up and sitting down. "She's my best friend's sister and a good friend-nothing more!"
"I see …" Rachel said with a sly smile and turned to face "Madam Dupont" who was talking in fluent gibberish. (Well, at least that's what it sounded like)
One hour and many misunderstandings later, the screeching bell rang again and the teacher bid them goodbye. Harry got up and followed Rachel back down the stairs and outside again.
"So you're in what class?" Rachel asked.
"Uh …" Harry honestly didn't know.
"Let me see your timetable?" Harry handed it over and Rachel looked at it for a second.
"Oh! You're in 13LN-my class. We've got maths, come on-"
Rachel led him all the way back to his form class, where he met up with Ron and hermione again.
"Drama was so much fun mate!" Ron exclaimed excitedly when he became in earshot and sat down next to a huffy looking Hermione. "We played this game called "Clumps" where the teacher calls out a number and you have to get into groups of that number and all the people left over are out, and I won mate!"
"Nice one." Harry said, smiling and snickering at Hermione's expression. "What's up with you?"
"Oh she just hate's not being the best at something." Ron explained as Miss Lyra came bouncing into the room. "She got out after 3 numbers!"
"Shut up." was Hermione answer as Miss Lyra called silence.
"Ok, now today we are carrying on with parabolas, and Anna, you and Tara can carry on with your maths mate. Everybody turn to page 64 in your text books and follow what I say-"
"Come again?" Harry muttered. He had no idea what they were meant to be doing.
"I honestly don't know." Hermione muttered. "We only learnt how to add and subtract at primary."
They spent the next hour muttering to each other at the back of the class and playing hang man on a piece of spare parchment Ron found in his pocket, only Hermione refused to touch it, saying "It could have been anywhere, knowing you!"
When the bell rang again, Harry led them back to B Block for Ginny, and she soon came from "T block" covered in sawdust.
"I just had wood work." She explained while coughing through the dust. "Do you know how hard it is to make a table without magic?"
They sat down under a large tree on the grass, in front of the astro turf where people were playing tennis.
"This place is totally weird, you know?" Ron said after 15 minutes of silence. "Like in Maths, I heard these two girls talking, and it was about some band, and I listened to what everyone was talking about and no one was talking about Quidditch!"
"Maybe that's because they've never heard to Quidditch, dear brother." Ginny replied, laughing with Hermione.
"What's wrong with these people?" Ron exclaimed, while Harry turned to Ginny.
"Hey you know that girl I was with during French?" Harry asked and waited until Ginny replied "Yeah." "Well the first thing she asks me, I whether you were my girlfriend."
Harry felt a little embarrassed voicing it out loud, but felt he had to say it to get off him-it had been occupying his brain all day so far.
"Oh yeah, my new friend Eleanor asked that too!" Ginny said and Harry felt a little better.
"You know, that's just what Matt asked me and Ron!" Hermione said, and the four looked at each other and laughed.
"Again-what's wrong with these people?" Ron asked once they had controlled themselves. "Maybe guys and girls aren't just "Friends" here in god old NZ."
"Maybe so." Harry agreed, but on the whole, he saw quite a few guys and girls hanging out together around them. If it was common here, then why did they keep asking them?
"I don't know, maybe It's just the way muggles' minds work?" Ginny asked, as a group of girls walked past and looked strangely at Ginny.
"Be careful who you call muggles." Harry warned. "Those girls were eyeing you suspiciously."
"Who?" Ginny turned around and saw the group of at least 6 girls stalking off. "Oh-them. Yeah, they're in my form class. Apparently, they're what people call the "Plastics". I honestly don't have a clue what that's supposed to mean, but they aren't very nice."
"Watch out for them, because I don't think they want to be friends." Harry warned, as they stood about 12 feet away from them, watching Ginny's head and whispering among themselves.
"Ah, what can they do?" Ginny said "If they pull any tricks on me, I'll just get you guys to hex them."
They all laughed again as the screeching bell ran again, signalling start of period 3. Harry, Ron and Hermione bid Ginny goodbye, when they realised, they had no idea where "Engl" was.
"Uh …" was all Ron could say.
Overall, the first day at a foreign muggle school did not go well. Ron accidentally yelled "Quidditch Fowl!" when he fell asleep in English and Ginny reported that the "Plastics" were not pleased with Ginny, though she had no idea why.
"So how was life with the muggles?" Fred asked mockingly that night in the hotel.
"Shut up." Ron answered.
"Well, tomorrow, you three need to actually need to try and work." Mrs Weasley said.
"We were working!" Ron said in outrage.
"I likely story Ronald Weasley." Mrs Weasley answered. "I know exactly what you would have been like."
"Jeez." Ron said later that night while he and Harry lay awake in their beds. "How is it that mum's know everything?"
"Dunno." Harry replied.
A/N: Hurrah! Next chapter for anyone who happens to be reading, but not reviewing. Thankyou to Fizzing-Whizbee-nz for being the only person to have reviewed. I really appriciated it.
Anywho, now Riley Jane is based on my school, as are the uniforms (The thing about them being too big-yeah, that's sadley true. my jersey is a extra extra small, and it's 10 sizes too big).
And yeah, the name "Lyra" is also from my other story "Amber Potter" (Another story with no reviews -sob) as is the name "Vienna". I needed names, and this was up first.
And i know that Puckle was going to be Hermione's last name before JKRowling even wrote the HP books. I needed another name, so i chose that.
And so you all know, this will end in H/G R/Hr, as that's just me. Just warning you.
I hope you liked this chapter, and i'll post the next chapter when i get another review.
Reviews are appriciated. Really-they are!
Bye!