So, we have a story I care about! Awesome!

I hope you guys care, too.

Thanks to: Favrite of Chaos, Sheenio, The Crazy Evil Akatsuki Neko, pokeon, QueenMeStar, Mood-chan, and Shrimps of Mass Destruction.

Disclaimer: This story only gets one. See last chapter.

Claimer: Ditto.

So, in this chapter, we've skipped to the train ride.

"And here I thought I wouldn't ever have to ride this train again," Ron muttered resentfully.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Hush, Ron."

Harry knew for a fact that she wouldn't—couldn't, actually, stay mad at Ron for long, so he didn't worry about it too much. Their squabbles could be irritating, but at least they weren't long-lasting anymore.

"The train ride's not even that bad," Luna remarked, looking over her magazine, "The Quibbler". "It's the snarkles I'd be worried about…"

"Of course. Snarkles are on everyone's list of things to be concerned about."

"Of course they are, Ron! What else do they have to be worried about?" Ginny asked. She smiled at Harry from across the compartment. He flushed slightly, and returned the grin.

"N.E.W.T.s!" Hermione cried. "We should all be terrified about N.E.W.T.s!"

"Hermione, don't be so worried. You know you'll do the best in…this year, even if you have been gone a year. It doesn't matter," Harry reassured her.

"Which brings us back to the question of 'Why are we here?'" Ron yelled.

"Pray tell, dear brother, how?"

"I dunno…I just want to know why."

"Because, we need to complete our schooling. Obviously. What are you going to do with your life if you don't?"

He shrugged.

Harry laughed, and his eyes turned out into the hallway. A rather large group of teens were walking by. One of them, hanging near the back, turned his green eyes, rimmed with lack of sleep, into the compartment, skirting them over the group, and pausing on Harry. He nodded in acknowledgement, and his messy red hair fluttered over his forehead, which drew Harry's attention to the red symbol above his left temple. It was obviously an Asian symbol, but whether it was Chinese or Japanese, or even Korean, Harry didn't know. It wasn't like he studied Asian writing systems. (A/N: although, it's pretty obviously not Korean, their words/letters whatever they're called, generally have a circle in there somewhere.)

Then the group was gone.

Ginny had also noticed the group. "I've never seen them before…"

"I haven't either," Hermione admitted. "Although, I suppose we could have just never had any classes with them."

"We should have at least seen them at the feast," Harry pointed out. "And I certainly would have remembered the red-headed boy."

"What do you think, Ron?"

Ron didn't answer, for he had fallen asleep. Hermione shook her head in frustration.

Luna looked up. "Don't ask me…I was reading about defense against snarkles…" her eyes returned to the magazine, which she happened to be holding upside down.

"It's going to be so lonely without some of the kids from our year…"

"But look at the bright side! Malfoy won't be there!"

Ron, who had for some reason unknown to us all, woken up, pointed out into the hall, and said, "Speak of the devil…"

It seemed that our heroes could not, in fact, escape the clutches of Draco Malfoy, son of Mr. Weasley's arch-enemy in the Ministry, Lucius Malfoy.

"Never mind…"

Draco, everyone's favorite super villain, did not deign to look into the compartment, refusing to acknowledge their presence, choosing instead to remain their "superior," in his own words.

"Oh, look everyone, the Ferret is choosing to be pompous," Harry remarked dryly, recalling the time that Crouch, pretending to be Moody, had transformed the weaselish boy into a type of rodent. Ah, good times, good times…

After a few giggles, everyone resigned themselves to their own activities, and the train ride passed by without incident.

But, alas, we can not simply go to the castle without discussing the happenings of our other group of heroes, or rather, ninjas from Konoha and Suna.

We go now to do so.

They found that the only compartment they could all fit into, yes, all seven of them, was in the back, and occupied already by a girl, sitting in the corner with her head bent over a book.

And this is where we introduce our newest character, Meg Ryder.

Her raven colored hair fell down to the small of her back. It wasn't quite straight, but it wasn't curly, either—it was in the middle, wavy, one could call it. More like she didn't do anything with it except wash and brush it. She wore blue jeans, no shoes, which were in front of her chair, and sat criss-cross applesauce, Indian style, or cross-legged, however you wish to define it. She wore a black hoodie, which had Nirvana(1) written across it, perhaps she was American. (Although later we discover that she is not, in fact, American in any sense.)

As the group filed into the compartment, she looked up slowly. She had surprisingly warm brown eyes that contrasted strangely with her black hair and pale skin.

When they all merely stood there, she spoke. "You can sit down. I don't bite."

Naruto, who was of course, the most outgoing in the group, grinned and plopped down across from her. He held out a hand and said, "Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

She smiled, and took his hand, shaking it. "Meg Ryder."

Sakura sat down next to Naruto and said, "I'm Sakura Haruno." As the group introduced themselves, the found they didn't like the way their names rolled off their tongues…it seemed so backwards and barbaric. Nevertheless, they spoke this way. They had to fit in.

"Gaara Subaku." He sat next to her, as no one else had, and it was the only seat. Meg briefly glanced at the zany hair colors, such as pink and indigo. Of course, there were normal colors as well, like blonde and brown.

She found one boy's hairstyle, the one who had introduced himself as Shikamaru, a little odd. It appeared to be the leaves of a pineapple, preparing to leap from his head. Not a little odd, actually, very strange…Then there was the girl who looked like the American cartoonist Walt Disney's creation, Minnie Mouse. Tenten Ryuga. (A/N: She needed a last name for the mission. So now she is Ryuga.) The two buns on her head weren't particularly abnormal, but at the same time…

Even as Meg made these observations, she dismissed them as foolish. What did it matter that they liked strange hairstyles…and tattooing their foreheads? Two of the group had tattoos on their foreheads—Gaara Subaku and Neji Hyuga. The Hyuga's tattoo was an X with two lines on either side, whereas Subaku's was a symbol. Japanese, she noticed.

None of this really perturbed her in any manner, and she returned to reading her book, deciding she didn't particularly care about this group of people, or what they chose to do and talk about.

A couple minutes later, Subaku spoke. But she didn't understand what he said, he spoke in another language.

She decided to mind her own business and pretend she hadn't heard. If only more people did that, these days.

Meanwhile, Gaara was informing everyone that he had found Harry and his group of friends, and that they were a couple of compartments up. Everyone was quite pleased by this development, and happily chatted…in Japanese. It wouldn't have been good to let the girl, Meg, hear, no matter how pleasant she seemed.

It wouldn't have been good…not at all…

And now, dear readers, we may embark on our thestral ride up to the castle. Now we find ourselves torn…shall we ride with Harry and his friends, or the ninjas and Meg?

I think, at least that we shall begin with Meg and the ninjas.

"Weird horses," Naruto remarked, and the rest of the ninjas nodded in agreement.

"Thestrals," Meg informed him, "They're called thestrals. They're only visible to people who've seen death…"

"Can you see them?" Naruto, nosy as usual, asked.

Her head turned slowly to look at him. She nodded, and her head swiveled back to the carriage. She seemed to glide over to the carriage, and wordlessly, they followed. They all sat down, and the thestrals took them up to the castle.

Upon arrival, Professor McGonagall waved them over, with the exception of Meg, who continued to the Great Hall, her robes billowing slightly.

"Hello, Harry," She said coolly as she brushed by the black-haired boy.

"Meg."

She sat down a couple of seats from him, and looked up at the teachers. Surprisingly, all the seats, save McGonagall's, were filled. Madame Hooch patiently stood by a stool, holding a scroll and the sorting hat. Then, the doors were thrust open, and all the new first years entered the room. She also noticed that the seven older teens who had ridden the train with her walking with them. There was another boy as well, who couldn't be a first year, but he hung back, as though he didn't want to be noticed, especially by the other older students. His hair was even stranger—it resembled a chicken's butt, she thought. Or perhaps a cockatoo, if one wished to be pleasant.

Professor McGonagall was leading them all, and rushed up to her seat behind the table. She sat, and then nodded at Madame Hooch.

As she explained what the sorting ceremony was, Meg zoned out. Then she called the first name, and a shaking boy walked up to the stool, sat down, and the hat was placed on his head.

"Hufflepuff!"

Elder, Susana…

"Ravenclaw!"

Georgio, Lucy…

"Slytherin!"

Haruno, Sakura…

At this point, Meg began to pay attention. Previously, she had thought they were already sorted, and she simply hadn't known them before.

"Gryffindor!"

Like all the other Gryffindors, Meg leapt up and cheered.

Hyuga Hinata…

"Gryffindor!"

Hyuga Neji…

"Ravenclaw!"

The murmur that had begun when Sakura had been called increased now. People were confused. Why were these older students here and being sorted?

McGonagall stood. "Silence, please."

The murmurs died down, and she sat down.

Ignoramus, Don…

"Hufflepuff!"

Jordan, Laila…

"Ravenclaw!"

Nara, Shikamaru…

"Ravenclaw!"

Another older guy was sorted. Things were getting more interesting by the moment.

Ryuga, Tenten…

"Ravenclaw!"

Subaku, Gaara…

"Gryffindor!"

The redhead came and sat down next to her. She gave him a small smile, and he returned one. Sort of. Except his face seemed unable to hold the expression, and lapsed right as he was bringing the corners of his mouth back, resulting in an uncomfortable grimace.

Uchiha, Sasuke…

Before the boy with the gravity-defying hair could even get to the stool, there was a loud outburst.

"WHAT! TEME? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Meg wasn't quite sure what 'Teme' meant, but it didn't sound very nice.

Sasuke put his head down, and walked faster to the stool.

The hat was placed on his head, and took no time in yelling "Slytherin!" Because, after all, it's the natural order of things for him to be in Slytherin.

Uzumaki, Naruto…

Forgetting his outburst briefly, and the reason, Naruto rushed up and sat on the stool, expectantly waiting for his house.

"Gryffindor!"

What is it with…er…hyper people and Gryffindor?

At the end of sorting, McGonagall stood up and briefly addressed everyone…the usual. Stay out of the Forrest, Filch will confiscate these items…blah, blah, blah.

Then she mentioned the teachers. Meg listened with interest, and found Professor Haku particularly interesting, considering he appeared to be a girl, but was quite obviously a boy. Well, perhaps not obvious. It was to her, though, perhaps because she tended to see, underneath the underneath…so to speak.

"You may have noticed the new students. This is part of an exchange program we are participating in with another school, one in Asia. There English isn't very good, so don't expect them to understand everything you say about the magical world. If they seem surprised by anything you do, magically that is, don't be rude about it. Their curriculum is quite a bit different than ours, and they will know things you don't, and vice versa. (And that was a run-on sentence, I believe) Understood? Good. Enjoy your feast!"

She sat down, and bowls of food appeared.

An interesting start to a new year…Meg thought to herself, before taking the mashed potatoes.

(1) Previously, this said 'Three Days Grace' but after a friend informed me that 3DG wasn't around in '99, i had to change it. (apparently, that's when this story takes place, according to Rowling.)

Alright! Hopefully that was long enough.

I'm not quite sure why I was writing like 'and now dear readers…' It was just how I was feeling…so… yeah.

Hope you enjoyed! And if you did...or didn't...REVIEW!

And just so you know, I sacrificed time I could have spent watching the newest episode of Naruto to write this. And this is the ep. where Gaara comes back to life! ARGH!

Me's out!

GaaraRoxmySox