Professor McGonagall escorted them to the Gryffindor tower. As expected the common room was empty.
"I have managed to find trunks for you, you should find them along with your beds in the dorms" began McGonagall. "They should give the impression that you have actually arrived with some luggage... Goodnight."
Chapter 4
Arnaud and Fred climbed up to the top of the tower, past their usual room to the very top dorm. There they found seven four-poster beds; shoes, posters, books, clothes, and other assorted items surrounded five of the beds, the other two looked newly made and had trunks at the foot. After claiming their beds (involving a short fight in which Arnaud called dibs as the oldest) their attention turned to the others."Which bed do you reckon is Harry Potters?" asked Fred to whom Harry was a massive hero.
"I'm not sure," replied Arnaud, "but I bet this one is Uncle Ron's." He indicated a bed over which a Chudley Cannons poster hung.
"And this one is probably Uncle Neville's," said Fred indicating another, "who else was in their dorm?" They looked around and found an Irish flag over one bed.
"Ah that would be Seamus Finnigan, you know, the father of that third year Cormack."
"Yeah, and who else?"
"I don't know."
"Oh I bet this is Harry's," said Fred, "see this is his Firebolt" he picked up a broom from next to a bed.
"Put that down!" said Arnaud,
"Why?" said Fred, "This is so cool." He began to look through Harry's possessions.
"Don't do that," said Arnaud, "put it down, you can't go poking around in Harry Potter's stuff."
"Okay, okay, but don't think I don't see you looking in Ron's trunk." There was a loud thump as the lid of Ron's trunk snapped shut, Arnaud stepped back guiltily,
"He's family."
Fred put the broom back and stepped away from Harry's bed,
"So how about we go down stairs and see that the twins don't mess up our old room?" he said.
"Not really our old room" replied Arnaud, "and I reckon they'll be up here soon, Harry and Ron and Neville will be back in a minute."
"Yeah" agreed Fred sitting on his bed, "Harry Potter. I mean Harry Potter! We're going to be living with Harry Potter!"
"I know," said Arnaud, "but I don't know how we're going to get through the next few weeks without someone getting suspicious, I think Harry will be getting rather paranoid by now and Aunt Hermione doesn't miss much."
----
Harry almost ran into Ron as he followed him into the dorm,"Hey-" he started to protest but stopped when he saw why Ron had. The room had been rearranged to accommodate two extra four-poster beds, on each of which sat a boy of about Harry's age; they jumped up when Ron and Harry entered.
"Hi" said the first guy, a tall sandy-haired boy.
"Who are you?" blurted out Ron,
"I'm Francis and that's Angus," said the second guy, a shorter dark-skinned boy, pushing forward and extending his hand.
"What are you doing here?" questioned Ron ignoring the hand.
"We're your new roomies," said Francis, he was looking at Harry in a now familiar way, which told Harry that he knew who he was.
"There was a, uh, situation," said Angus shooting Francis a withering look, "our aunt though it best we come to Hogwarts so we'll be in sixth year with you."
"Your aunt?" questioned Harry.
"Aunt Minerva," said Angus, "Minerva McGonagall."
"Professor McGonagall's your aunt!" exclaimed Ron.
"Yes, well not directly, I think there's a great in there somewhere."
Francis was still looking at Harry in a way that was making him uncomfortable.
"I'm Harry Potter," said Harry, "and this is Ron Weasley. Welcome to Hogwarts, and now if you'll excuse us there's someplace we have to be." They backed out of the room and headed downstairs
"We have to find Hermione, now!"
Before they reached the common room they came across a pair of identical black boys whose eyes widened when they saw Harry and Ron.
"Hi I'm Edward," said one.
"I'm Eric," said the other, "You must be Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."
"Ah, yeah," said Harry, "welcome to Hogwarts." He made a move to pass them but one spoke up,
"Did you meet Angus and Frankie?"
"Yeah we did, now we have to be somewhere, will you excuse us."
"Sure, nice to meet you."
----
"Wow!" said Fred, "Harry Potter!" he fell backwards onto his bed, "and how young does Uncle Ron look!""Yeah, he looks like Zeb. And doesn't Petunia look just like Harry, I don't know how they haven't noticed it by now"
"If they haven't"
"Well it gives us hope that we can go undiscovered."
Just then there was a loud knock on the door, before they could answer it Ted and Patrick burst in.
"Guess who we just met!"
----
When Harry and Ron reached the common room they found that there were more new people. Four boys and a girl of about thirteen years old where sitting in a corner looking apprehensively at the people around them who were looking curiously back; two slightly older, and one younger girls were talking to a couple of fourth years."Blimey!" said Ron, "How many of them are there?"
Harry spotted Parvati Patil coming down the stairs from the girls' dorms,
"Hey Parvati" he asked her, "is Hermione up there?"
"No" she replied, "Hey are these new people?"
"Yeah, do you have any new girls in your dorm?"
"No"
"Oh, we have two new guys"
"Ooh!" squealed Parvati and turned and rushed back up the stairs. Harry looked at Ron and shrugged
"Girls"
But Ron wasn't listening, he had just spied Lavender Brown returning from dinner, he rushed over to her without so much as a goodbye.
----
Fred, Arnaud, Ted and Pat were discussing Harry Potter's Quidditch ability when a small squeak alerted them to the fact that they were not alone."Who are you?" asked a nervous looking boy standing in the doorway,
"I'm Frankie, this is Angus, and those are my little brothers Ed & Ric." Freddie answered his uncle, "we're nephews of Professor McGonagall, we're new here, Angus and I are sixth years, and those two are in fifth."
The scene was repeated a couple minutes later when Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas entered the room.
"So do you play Quidditch?" asked Dean, Freddie began to answer when a large yawn interrupted the conversation, it was echoed by another.
"Sorry" said Ted, "we love Quidditch, we do, Ric and I are Beaters, but I'm very tired right now."
"Me too" said Pat, the adrenaline and excitement was wearing off and all four boys were beginning to feel bone tired.
"It was a long journey," said Arnaud. Ted and Pat excused themselves and went back downstairs to their own dorm; shortly afterwards Arnaud and Fred also drew the curtains around their respective beds.
----
Harry hurried out through the portrait hole and to the library where as expected he found Hermione at her favourite table pouring over a book."Decided to do your charms homework after all," she said in way of greeting, "well I'm not helping you but this is the book you'll need so you can use it after I've finished."
"Oh never mind that" said Harry, "we've been invaded"
Hermione looked momentarily alarmed before seeing his face,
"What is Hogwarts policy on transfer students?" asked Harry
"Transfer students?" echoed Hermione, "Hogwarts doesn't admit transfer students. Everyone who shows magic ability before their eleventh birthday will automatically gain a place at Hogwarts, not all accept of course and some attend other smaller institutions, muggle schools, or are tutored at home, but once they refuse they won't be admitted again, unless in very exceptional circumstances. Other countries have their own schools. As far as I can tell there never has been a transfer student in the history of Hogwarts, until Petunia, and I still haven't figured that out. Why do you ask?"
"We have two new boys in our dorm," replied Harry, "and we met more of them."
Hermione had a look of extreme curiosity on her face,
"How many?" she asked
"Twelve that I saw but there could be more; don't worry, there aren't any in your dorm, I asked Parvati."
"Hmm. You said there were two in your dorm, what did they say to you?"
"They said that Professor McGonagall was their aunt, and that she had though it best that they come here after there was a situation," supplied Harry.
"What kind of situation do you think? Do you think it could have something to do with you-know-who?" asked Hermione, "Has your scar been hurting?"
"No more than usual"
"Well" said Hermione snapping her book shut, "I think I'll take this back to the common room. I will reread 'Hogwarts: A History' for any mention of transfer students, although I'm sure there is nothing there. First let's ask Madam Pince if there are any other resources about the history of Hogwarts, and then you can go and talk to your new room mates and see if you can find out anything more."
----
When they returned to the Gryffindor common room they found it strangely empty; the group from the corner were gone, Ron was siting alone in a chair by the fire, Hermione headed to a table at the opposite side of the room."What did Hermione say?" asked Ron as Harry approached him.
"To go talk to them to find out anything else" replied Harry and Ron joined him as he headed to the dorm; when they entered they found the room quiet with the curtains drawn around the beds.
"So much for that then" whispered Ron, and there was nothing for them to do but go to bed.
From J.K.Rowling Official Site, if anyone has any more info on transfer students please let me know