A/N: So sorry this took so long! I'd origionally planned to put this up at the beginning of the week, but a rather bad case of food poisoning ruined that. I hope this can satisfy everyone for a couple more days. Hopefully another chapter will be up on maybe Monday or Tuesday, granted I have no control over my life right now! And the chapters will be just a tad shorter for the time being.
Thankyou again to everyone who reviewed, and all those wonderful people who put this on alert and added it to their favourites! Please REVIEW, they make me squel with giddy happiness and ensure that I do whatever is in my power to get the next chapter up a.s.a.p.
Chapter Three-- Arriving In Style
Mere Swiner was positively seething as she read the copy of The Daily Prophet that her cousin, Lonah, had sent her from Britain. It detailed the attack that had occurred on Durmstrang just a few days earlier. It was blown out of proportion, she knew, but still she was pissed off. Her amber eyes snapped up as someone walked into the kitchen, yawning. "Harry…"
Harry blinked away the last signs of sleep and focused on his friend, confidante and almost sister with a surprising intensity. "Bon jour, Mere."
She frowned at a slightly visible bruise on his neck. "Is that a hickey?"
Emerald eyes blinked slowly before a hand flew up to cover the mark. "Um…if I say 'no' can we pretend it's not there? Mum'll kill me."
"Perhaps. But do you care to explain this?" She held the Prophet out to him and watched as he sat down and began to read it.
Attack on European Wizarding School!
Several days ago, the Ministry received word that He Who Must Not Be Named launched an attack against Durmstrang, a Wizarding school in Bulgaria. By the time officials arrived to review and aid the school, the Dark Lord's forces were retreating, having been pushed back by the sixth and seventh year students.
Although the Minister has placed a censorship on the reality of the attack, this reporter believes that her avid readers would prefer truth to the skeletal facts that have been reported in so far.
Approximately seventy Death Eaters arrived on the school's grounds, via portkey, during a time of day in which most students are participating in outside classes or activities. They then proceeded to attempt to maim and terrorise the students. The reasons behind this attack are unknown, as You Know Who has shown little interest in any Wizarding colonies outside of the United Kingdom.
When it appeared that all was lost, the experienced sixth and seventh years, using a variety of both light and borderline dark curses and spells, were able to repel the Death Eaters long enough for the younger years to return to safety within the winding corridors of the school.
Cornelius Fudge, our Minister for Magic, had only this to say: "After reviewing the battle field, the Auror Department has come to the conclusion that the school is no longer habitable. We will be aiding our comrades in their time of need."
The Bulgarian Minister for Magic, Christof Krum, said this in reply: "We will not need Britain's aid. It is not that we are not thankful for the offer, but the Guild Council has kindly offered their assistance in beginning the planning and reconstruction of Durmstrang."
The Guild Council consists of twenty-one pairs of voted members from each of the Guild's: Wichards, Mages, Healers, Masters, Spies, Assassins, Angels, Demons, Courtesans, Werefolk and Vampires. They have, in the past, given aid in times of war and strife. However, until now they have shown little interest in this, the second war against He Who Must Not Be Name, arguably the most powerful Dark Lord in the past century.
When the battle at Durmstrang had ended, Healers and Mages appeared, immediately setting to work in aiding the injured. If it were not for the Healers, it is most likely that several fatalities would have occurred. The Mages are currently helping to clear the rubble and collect personal affects of the students.
It has been revealed that it could take approximately one year to rebuild Durmstrang.
For now the first, second, third and fourth year students will be residing at Beauxbatons in France until the school is once more inhabitable. There have been talks between Minister Fudge, Albus Dumbledore and Minister Krum about allowing the fifth, sixth and seventh years to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Our thoughts go out to those families affected by the attack
By Rita Skeeter
Harry raised an eyebrow as he read over the article. The journalist had sensationalised the 'attack' making it sound more dangerous than it had been. In actuality, the danger had been for the Death Eaters who had been warned that if they seriously injured anyone they would be facing some rather painful consequences. Harry himself had been careful to not let them see him, more than one had seen him wandering around Tom's various residences.
He raised emerald eyes to meet Mere's and shrugged. "So? What are you so hyped up about?" He chucked the paper onto the table and stood up, going to the fridge and pouring them each a glass of orange juice. "She exaggerated, sure, but it isn't going to bother many people."
Mere glared at him. "Did you look at the photo?"
"No. Why?"
She sighed, picking the paper up and pointing to a small, but clear photo. "It's you."
"What?" he grabbed it back and peered closely at it. There, amidst dozens of other seventh years, was him. His eyes were blazing and as his picture self moved, the faint outline of a pair of shimmering wings could be glimpsed. "No one's going to look that closely…"
"But you're not sure, are you?"
"No, I'm not."
"Well," she said as she stood up and stretched. "We don't have all that much time to worry about it. Though I do wish you would control that little impulse of yours." As she turned to leave, she called back over her shoulder, "oh, and don't forget, we leave today!"
Harry glared at her retreating back. "It's not impulse! It's magic!"
"That's what they all say!"
HPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLV
Hermione Granger nervously clasped her hands together and straightened her shoulders. To be honest, this was the most nerve-wracking thing she had ever had to do. And Daniel Potter certainly wasn't helping things.
"Why couldn't they just portkey here? It's not that hard is it? Nooo."
Daniel was probably the most obnoxious, whiny and idiotic human being she had ever met, and would probably ever meet. He had flaming red hair that rivalled the Weasley clan, pale skin and harsh hazel eyes. His voice was even harsher, since he rarely gave any compliments to anyone unless what they had done was good for him in some way. Which meant that, as a Ravenclaw and a muggle born, she was someone he picked on constantly.
"Hey, Granger!"
Although, she had to admit, her skin was thicker because of him.
"What, Potter?"
"When are they getting here?"
She rolled her eyes and chose to look back over the lake instead of answering. They were expecting them to arrive by boat like they had for the Triwizard Tournament. When she had read the article in the Prophet, her heart had immediately gone out to them. The horror they must have felt at facing those Death Eaters. And the older students had simply stepped in and held them back. She was curious, though, as to why the Guild Council refused to aid Britain.
"They'll get here soon, I expect son. After all, we are kind enough to give them a home for the year."
And that would be James Potter. In her mind the father was almost as bad as the son. Although, to be honest, James was probably the reason Daniel was so arrogant.
"Truly. So why shouldn't they speed up already?"
Shaking her head, Hermione glanced over the students who were hanging around the lake, hoping to catch the first glimpse of the Durmstrang ship. As she did, her eyes caught sight of something odd in the sky. A dark shape, moving rather haphazardly had her thinking that maybe the Weasley family owl, Errol, had been sent with a letter. Or maybe even a Howler.
But as it got closer, it got bigger and she soon realised that it wasn't an owl, but something large and being pulled by something else. Several minutes passed and still, it didn't seem to be any closer, yet it continued to enlarge. Curious, she turned to Albus Dumbledore. "Headmaster, what is that?" She pointed up into the sky, causing the pale blue eyes to follow her line of sight.
"Ah, my dear girl, I believe that may be them." He sounded delighted, but inwardly, Dumbledore was fuming. The Headmaster had assured him they would arrive the same as the Triwizard, as the boat was large enough to carry the three years worth of students that would be arriving. However, it seemed he had been lied to. Well, he could wait until later to rectify this situation.
The students began to crowd around and Hermione huffed. "Potter, help me set up a perimeter."
"And why would I want to do that, Granger?" Daniel sneered at her, his hazel eyes coldly glaring down at her.
Hermione frowned, before turning and forcing her way through the throngs of students. Raising her wand and bringing it down with a swift, sharp motion, a shimmering blue line appeared before the students. Several tried to move forward but found that they were refused that movement by an invisible force. Daniel looked positively livid as the Professors thanked her and rewarded ten points to Ravenclaw for her quick and concise method of insuring student safety.
There was a sudden shrieking noise and Hermione looked up to see what appeared to be a flying horse hovering above the school gates.
"Anyone ever 'eard of droppin' the damn wards!"
Dumbledore waved his wand and the horse flew inside followed by three more. The four flew low over the heads of the students who gasped out loud. The purebloods, however, stood shocked still with wide eyes. The horses themselves, or more correctly, pegasi, were gliding around the castle, several flashes of magic seen. Hermione could only assume that they were checking for something, though what she couldn't fathom.
When they reached the students again, they set themselves down just in front of the barrier that had been raised. One reached out with a gloved hand and pressed it against the invisible wall of magic. "It's good. Who cast it?" The voice had a slight Scottish lilt to it, causing the words to roll elegantly off their tongue.
"I did." Hermione spoke softly, biting her lip in nervousness.
She was given a small smile, brilliant emerald eyes dancing with silent laughter. "Wards aren't something taught at this school…"
"I showed her!"
The emerald eyes shifted and the teen's body froze instantly. "Potter."
Daniel stuck his chin out defiantly. "That's right. Daniel Potter to be exact."
An eyebrow rose in a surprisingly sarcastic expression. "Really, now? The famous Boy Who Lived graces us with his presence? My, should I be bowing and scraping now?"
Daniel's faces began to go red and James stepped forward, opening his mouth only to be cut off as a gigantic carriage entered the school grounds. It was being pulled by a team of twenty pegasi, their wings beating furiously as they turned in a large circle over the gathered students. The emerald-eyed teen immediately wheeled his horse around, the wings snapping open and it launched itself into the air.
Hermione frowned. The sound of the wings opening was distinctly similar to metal sliding along metal. As she looked closer to the three still on the ground, she noticed a faint glimmer to their bodies. Whispering an incantation, she flicked her wand towards her face. Instantly her eyesight became filled with colourful wisps. The aura of magic was almost blinding, particularly the wall she had used to keep the students back. But she forced herself to look closely at the beautiful equine creatures before her. She was right about the metal sound; it appeared as if there was a powerful glamour hiding what they really looked like. The wings, bar the flight feathers, were covered in thin silver armour. The rest of the bodies, except their legs, were coated in the same armour. Raising her wand she ended the spell and blinked a few times.
Looking up she saw that the large black carriage was still moving in a slow circle above them. On the back of each of the twenty pegasi, was a hooded and cloaked figure, directing each animal separately. Flying around it was approximately seven other riders; three broke off and flew to the front line of the carriage pullers, saying something she couldn't hear. But it was fairly obvious when the carriage stopped circling and climbed several metres into the air before hovering.
The remaining four flew incredibly close, grabbing onto ropes that unfurled from the rear of the carriage. They then attached it to what looked like a metallic loop sticking out of nothing on the chests of the horses. Knowing that they had armour, Hermione reasoned that this 'loop' was obviously attached to that. When they had finished, those four rose above the carriage, while it began a fast descent towards the ground. As the first pair hit the ground they immediately trotted forwards to be followed by the second.
The four at the rear, however, began to beat their wings hard, effectively keeping the carriage from crashing to the ground. But when the fifth pair landed, the carriage jolted and dropped a full metre. The emerald-eyed teen suddenly reappeared, he moved his hand and a coil of chain links appeared, dropping to the roof and fastening itself. He then followed the same process as the other four and connected it to the front of his steed.
Hermione watched avidly as the carriage was lowered to the ground, the ropes and chains dropping and vanishing from sight. The five riders, landed lightly on the ground. The door to the black carriage had a beautiful image of a Pegasus on the door, engraved in gold. It wasn't what one would expect from Durmstrang, but then again, no one had expected the real, solid, pegasi either.
Dumbledore stepped forward and waved his wand carelessly at the shield before him. When the magic simply flared and stubbornly remained, he turned to Hermione and frowned. "Miss Granger, if you may?"
Hermione blushed and flicked her wand; the magic was sucked into the ground and absorbed by Hogwarts. "Sorry."
"Never mind, my dear girl." He turned back and smiled brightly as the carriage door swung open and the Durmstrang students exited, preceded by a middle aged man with scruffy light brown hair and kind amber eyes. Beside him was a beautiful witch with long auburn locks and jade eyes the exact same shape as the emerald-eyed rider.
Hermione wondered if Dumbledore even noticed any of this.
"Welcome, to Hogwarts!"
A girl with honey blonde hair and sharp amber eyes snorted. "He makes it sound soo amazing!"
The students near her smothered their laughs behind their hands. Dumbledore frowned and addressed the adults. "That is not a way students should talk to their hosts. But, nevertheless, I hope your journey wasn't too tiresome?"
The amber-eyed man frowned at Dumbledore while the witch whispered something to him. "The journey was fine, Albus. I'm afraid our students are still on the defensive after the attack."
"It's fine, fine. All in good fun I'm sure. Well, we had best get your students settled in their new dorm. I believe we have a meeting scheduled?"
This time it was the witch who frowned. She turned and said something to the other wizard, who nodded, before making her way to where the riders still sat on the pegasi. She walked up to the emerald-eyed teen and said in a clear voice designed to be heard. "Please settle them in, then meet me in the Headmasters office. I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction."
The teen nodded, steering his Pegasus over to where the others were unhitching the rest from the carriage.
The Hogwarts students parted as the adults led the Durmstrang students into the school. They were curious as to the cloaks they all wore, gold writing sat around the hood but they couldn't catch the words.
Hermione watched them go, snorting at the way Daniel stuck his nose in the air and followed his father. Sighing with the realisation that she would need to attend this 'meeting', she consoled herself with the knowledge that the new dorm was on the opposite side of the school and the new students would probably cause a ruckus on the way.
"Your ward was pretty impressive."
She jumped and turned to see the emerald-eyed teen again. He was holding the reigns of his Pegasus loosely in one hand. His head was cocked to the side and his eyes felt like they were boring into her soul. "Thankyou. My name is Hermione Granger. I'm the Head Girl, so feel free to ask me for help. Potter is hopeless. He only got it because of Dumbledore."
He laughed, a rich musical sound that had her sighing inwardly. He must be a real Casanova at his school. "Oh, I don't doubt that for a minute. Fame has a funny way of going to people's heads." He smiled and stuck his hand out. "Harry Evans by the way."
"A pleasure, Harry." She frowned then. "I can call you that, right?"
"Of course. I'm not picky about that."
She smiled at him before something caught her interest. "Evans you said? I remember seeing a Lily Evans in one of the yearbooks. Is she a relative?"
He reached up and patted the Pegasus. For the first time she noticed that it was a deep grey colour. "My mother actually."
"Oh. Was she the red haired witch?"
"Yeah." He laughed softly. "She's our Charms teacher. Demanded that if the Headmaster got to come then she was coming so we could keep up with our own curriculum."
"Is it so different from ours?"
"It is, yeah. For one, the particular ward spell you used is taught as a sixth year spell. We have more diverse classes for the upper years than you guys do. Probably because most of it isn't illegal in Bulgaria."
"Oh…"
He looked at her curiously. "You're a muggle born aren't you?"
Hermione frowned, a flutter of worry settling in her chest. "Why?"
"No reason. Most muggle borns aren't as magically adept as you are. Don't worry, it's a compliment. Blood purity is fairly null and void when it comes to me." He looked behind him at his fellow students. "I have to go. These guys get pretty testy after awhile and the flight was rather odd. I'll see you later…Hermione?"
"Hermione. Bye, Harry."
Hermione turned and walked back into the school. She couldn't help but think that, somehow, this year was going to be interesting. After all, if James Potter's ex-wife and her son turned up…she wondered if Lily Evans was married to the amber eyed Headmaster.
A/N: For all those people curious as to how Harry became an Assassin, and want to know more on his younger years, I'm currently writing a whole chapter to explain those things. BUT. It is in chapter ten cringes, which I realise is a far few chapters away, but patience is a virtue! As for how Tom and Harry met, that won't be for a few chapters after that one. But there will be a bit more interaction between the two in the next few chapters! If you have any questions, please feel free to review and ask them. It's the little button on the left under this. ;-p