Harry's POV

"Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long, thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair." There was a hint of pride in his voice. "And we've got all our books'-he pointed at a large bag under his chair. "What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted two."

At that moment, Harry noticed that Hermione had not one, but three, bulging bags in the chair next to her. He pointed to them, "What's all that, Hermione?" he asked curiously. "I'm taking more subjects than you, aren't I" Hermione said. Then she began listing off the names of the new subjects that she was taking. When she said, "Muggle Studies," Ron interrupted with a roll of his eyes, "What are you doing Muggle Studies for? You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"

"But It'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," Hermione said earnestly

Ron sniggered while Harry remarked in an innocent tone, "Are you planning to eat and sleep at all this year, Hermione?"

Just then, a shrill shriek interrupted their conversation and something collided with Harry, nearly knocking him over. The thing-or person-who had nearly pushed the black-haired boy over was a very pretty Asian girl about his age, with deep blue eyes and purplish-black hair. "Aiya!" The girl exclaimed in surprise. "I'm so sorry, ha. This man accidentally pushed me over and I knocked into you! 真是对不起![translation: I'm so sorry!]" Before Harry-or Ron or Hermione, for that matter-could reply, they all heard a soft sigh that came from behind the Asian girl. "Ai yo, I can't even leave you alone for one second, you get into trouble! And now we're lost!"

The speaker was an Asian boy with queer red eyes and dark brown hair, who was slightly taller than the Asian girl- about five feet. "I'm very sorry for the trouble my sister caused," he said formally, speaking to the golden trio. Wait- he was the girl's brother? But they bore no resemblance! Before Harry could think more about this, the girl complained, "But I didn't even do, anything!" The boy ignored her and asked. "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself? What're your names?" His voice was very quiet but audible enough for Harry to hear it clearly without having to strain his ears.

Harry shook his head, "I'm fine," he said. "I'm Harry Potter."

He had expected the twins to gasp or starts asking to see his scar or something like that, but the two didn't even blink in surprise. For once, Harry was glad to meet someone who didn't know who he was, or at least just didn't care about the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' stuff. "Ron Weasley," Ron introduced himself, his tone a little surprised. He apparently had noticed that the twins hadn't reacted to Harry's name. "Hermione Granger," Hermione introduced herself, speaking slowly, pronouncing every syllable.

"Hi, I'm-" Here, the boy said something in a language unknown to Harry. It was pronounced as, 'Leen Lay Un'. "I'm sorry, could you repeated that again?" Harry asked. "In English," Ron added, "Please." "My name is Lim Lei En. The name I said just now was my name in Chinese. Me and my twin, Lim Jia Qing, are part of this foreign exchange program thingamajiggy," the boy said. Harry somehow found himself being aware of the boy's grammatical error. "Er, hi, I'm Lim Jia Qing. My chinese name is pronounced as-" she said something in chinese that sounded like 'Leen Jee-ah Ceeng' -"if you wanted to know," The Asian girl said, smiling. Both the twins had an unfamiliar accent- not british, not american, not french.

Hermione spoke up. "If I may, I'd like to ask you where you are from. I can't seem to place your accent." So she had noticed to! The twins were very curious. "We're from Singa-" Jia Qing began, then suddenly cut short. "Oh, look! I see France-is-"Harry noted the slight pause between the 'France' and the 'is'-"over there!" She grabbed her brother's shoulders, spun him around and pointed to a very handsome blonde boy with chin-length hair in a completely blue outfit. He was twirling a rose and, by the looks of it, flirting with girls.

Jia Qing grabbed Lei En and pushed him towards the boy with the rose, shouting, "Bye!" to the trio.

Ron was the first to recover from the siblings' abrupt leave. " Blimey, that's one weird girl," he muttered, breaking the 'silence'. Harry shrugged. "A foreign exchange program? Hermione, does that book of yours say anything about hosting foreign exchange programs?" he asked, referring to the book Hogwarts, A History Hermione usually referred to. "No, it doesn't," Hermione said abruptly, her face blank.

Harry shrugged.


Timeskip~ While you're waiting, have one of Iggy's scones-just kiddng!- and enjoy a special advertisment presented by yours truly:

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Hetalia. If I did I would be twice as awesome as Prussia.


It's Still Harry's POV!

The noise coming from the compartment next to the Golden Trio's was unbearable. The conversation going on there was also unintelligible. The only words Harry could make out were, "I'M THE HERO!", "Get off me, Frog!", "Kolkolkolkol", and "Calm down ~aru!" which all made no sense. Suddenly, a voice cut into the noise. "Calm down lah! You're disturbing the other people!"

Harry recognized the owner of the voice- Lim Jia Qing, the Asian girl he met a day ago. If Jia Qing was in the compartment next to the golden trio's that meant the rest of the foriegn exchange students were there too. Harry rubbed his temple- all the noise had made his head hurt. "Gosh, the foreign students are being awfully loud," Ron noted. "It's a wonder why Professor Lupin didn't wake up." Harry glanced at the man, Hogwart's new professor, who shared the compartment with the golden trio. Sure enough, he was still sleeping. How he could sleep through the noise was unknown.

Suddenly, Harry heard a loud, thunk! and a flurry of Chinese curses, which came from three different people. A few seconds after that, the door to Harry's compartment slid open and revealed three Asian people- Jia Qing, Lei En, and another girl who had a black ponytail and hazel eyes. "All the shouting made my head hurt ~aru," the new girl said, rubbing her head. "Ah! Hi Harry, Hermione, Ron!" Jia Qing's eyes lit up in recognition. "Is it okay if we share this compartment with you?" Lei En asked, leaning against the compartment door's frame. Harry nodded. "Try not to wake him up," he said, nodding towards Lupin.

"Thank you ~aru," the new girl said, bowing. Harry noticed that all three of them were wearing muggle clothing. The new girl's sleeves were incredibly long. She was also backpacking a basket woven out of bamboo. Inside the basket was a panda. A real, live panda! Harry tried to keep his jaw from falling open and succeded, but barely. "This is my elder brother, Wang Yao," Lei En gestured to the girl. Wait-brother? But the new person looked like a girl! Harry's green eyes bulged and t was all he could do to stop himself from gaping. The foreign exchange students were all so.. well.. foreign!

The three Asians took a seat. Lei En sat next to Harry while Jia Qing and Wang-or Yao, whatever his name was-sat in the opposite row, next to Lupin, who was still sleeping.

Just then, the plump witch with the food trolley came over to their compartment. "D'you think we should wake him up?" Ron asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. "He looks like he could do with some food." Hermione approached Lupin cautiously. "Er-Profesor? Excuse me- Professor?"

The sleeping man didn't move.

"Don't worry, dear," said the witch as she handed Harry a large stack of Cauldron Cakes. "If he's hungry when he wakes up, I'll be up front with the driver." Jia Qing bought one of each type of food, Lei En bought a few Chocolate Frogs and Yao got a Cauldron Cake. "I suppose he is asleep?" Ron saud quietly, as the witch sld the compartment door closed. "I mean- he hasn't died, has he?" Jia Qing snorted, chomping down on her Cauldron Cake. "No, no, he's breathing," Hermione whispered, taking the cake Harry passed to her and takng a bite out of it as well.

He wasn't very good company, but Lupin's presence in their compartment proved to be useful. Mid-afternoon, jut as it had started to rain, blurring the rolling hills outside the window, the golden trio and the Asians heard footsteps in the corridor again, and the compartment door slid open, revealing Draco Malfoy and his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Greogory Goyle. "Well, look who it is," drawled Malfoy, ignoring the Asians. "Potty and Weasel."

Jia Qing's eyes lit up excitedly. "Weasel? Where? " she asked, here eyes shining. Yao, the feminine boy, was sleeping as deeply as Lupin, his head resting on the girl's-his younger sister, apparently-shoulder. Malfoy ignored her as Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. "I heard your father finall got hs hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," Malfoy said. "Did your mother die of shock?" he smirked.

Jia Qing's eyes turned from excited to murderous. Lei En was also glaring at Malfoy, having immediately marked him as an unpleasant person. Harry was so furious that he hadn't notice Ron standing up so quickly that he knocked Crookshank's, Hermione's new cat's, basket on the floor. Lupin gave a snort, but he was still asleep. So was Yao, hugging his bamboo basket which was placed on his lap. "Who's that?" Malfoy asked, taking an automatic step backwards as he spotted Lupin.

"New teacher," said Harry, who had also gotten to his feet in case he needed to hold Ron back. "What were you saying, Malfoy?" The blonde boy's eyes narrowed- he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teaher's nose. Before he could retreat, he was startled when a queer noise came from the compartment next to the golden trio's. It sounded like, "Kolkolkolkolkol..."

At this sound, Yao woke up, his hazel eyes sleepy. "What is Ivan doing now ~aru? I'd better go check ~aru... 再见,弟弟,妹妹。" [translation: Good bye, younger brother, younger sister.]

"C'mon," Malfoy muttered resetfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared. Yao followed them out, yawning a bit.

"I'm not going to take any rubbish from Malfoy this year," Ron said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and-" "Ron!" hissed Hermione when the red-headed boy made a violent gesture in midair. She pointed to Lupin, "Be careful!"

But Lupin was still fast asleep.

A voice broke through the awed silence. "Well, if you're gonna crack his head open, do you mind if I join you?" Jia Qing said almost lazily. Lei En reahed over and popped her nose. "No way are you going to do that," he said warningly. "Or I'll crack your head open." This statement didn't have the intended effect, since Jia Qing just chuckled softly.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet furthur noth; the windows were now a solid, shimmering grey, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridor over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared, and the foreign exchang students in the next compartment quarrelled, but still, Professor Lupin slept. "We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Lupin at the now completely black window. The words had hardly left his mouth when the train started to slow down. "Brilliant. I'm starving, I want to get to the feast..." he said, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside.

"We can't be there yet," Hermione said, checking her watch.

"So why're we stopping?"

There was a sudden stab of pain in Harry's right arm- Lei En's nails were digging into his skin and the Asian boy loked pale. "Something's wrong!" he hissed in a strangely scarey voice. After he said this, the train stopped with a jolt and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged in total darkness. Harry heard a scream full of fear- Jia Qing! She was afraid of the dark? "L-Lei En!" she screamed again. "Jia Qing, now's not the time to go crazy!" Harry heard Lei En yell.

"What's going on?" Ron's voice sounded from behind Harry.

"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!" This was Hermione.

"D'you think we've broken down?" Harry asked, his heart pounding and blood rushing to his face.

"Dunno.."

There was a sqeaking sound and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out. "There's something moving out there," he said. "I think People are coming aboard..." The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully on Harry's legs. "Sorry! D'you kow what's going on? Ouch! Sorry-"

"Hello, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Nevlle up by his cloak just as Jia Qing let out another shriek. "Sing! Shh!" Lei En yelled at his sister. 'Sing? Was that Jia Qing's nickname?' Harry wondered as Neville asked, "Harry, is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea! Sit down-"

There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain- Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks. "I'm going to go ask the driver whats going on," came Hermione's voice. Harry felt her pass him, heard the door slide open again and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain, accompanied by another wail from Jia Qing that sent shivers up Harry's spine.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come in and sit down-"

"Not here! I'm here!" Harry said hurriedly.

"Ouch!" said Neville.

"Hang in there, Sing!" Lei En yelled at the same time.

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.

Professor Lupin had woken up at last. Harry could hear movements in the corner. None of them spoke, except Jia Qing, who screamed again, but that didn't count as speaking. There was a sift, crackling noise and a shivering light filled the compartment. Lupin appeared to be holdng a hanful of flames. They illuminated his tired grey face, but his eyes looked alert and wary. "Stay where you are," he said in the same, hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire helf out in front of him.

But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flame in the Lupn's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face ws completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry's eyes darted downwards and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking and scabbed, like somthing dead that had decayed in water..

And when the thing in the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, there were two dull thunks as the Asian siblings both fell to the floor, twitching violently. Harry could only see their blurry silouhette and was trying to see more when an intense cold swept over them all, and Harry felt his breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, inside his very heart...

Harry's eyes rolled up in his head. He couldn't see. He was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downwards, the roaring growing louder...


Cliffhanger! Not! I hope you like this chapter!

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