Sorry that the last chapter was so short! Yes, by my standards, it's a bit short. Never mind, this chapter will be a good, healthy 3,000-words-chapter! Enjoy! UwU
Singa's POV
"Welcome!" Dumbledore, the headmaster, announced. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
"Thank you!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Singa saw a few first-years looking a bit surprised, some even laughing. She shrugged- the headmaster's words were quite amusing. There were some mutters about him being mad, and Singa- if she wasn't Singa, she would have laughed out loud. Him, the headmaster, mad? Surely a man whose mind was not in a healthy condition should not (and would not) be teaching at a school?
But Singa could hardly laugh. She was sure the headmaster was a bit made, yes, but not insane. How could she tell? She had spent her whole life living with insane people- heck, she was brought up by an insane person! And yes, she would admit, that she herself was insane. But not so much that she would harm innocent people intentionally- that was Allen, and Luciano.
She looked at all the food that had magically appeared in front of her. Sighing, she picked up a fork, only to accidentally bump into something. Or someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Matthew, I didn't realize you were sitting next to me," she said hesitantly to the empty space of air next to her. His response was a very soft sigh of forgiveness. She smiled a bit at the empty space of air which was Matthew, and started eating. She had no problem with British food- she had grown up with Oliver.
If one looked at her now, one could hardly say she was insane.
But she was. It was useless to deny that. Her simply being there was endangering everyone. But Arthur, Oliver's first player, had asked her to, and Arthur was a friend of Alfred's and Alfred was Singa's friend. If she had said 'no' to Arthur, she might offend or anger Alfred, and she'd rather die than do that.
Wow. No wonder she was put in Hufflepuff.
Speaking of Alfred, she heard his voice calling to her. "SINGAAAAAAAA! DON'T EAT THE BRITISH FOOD!"
Harry, the boy who lived's POV
The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious. He was just getting started on the bacon when he heard a faint gasp from beside him. It came from Alfred, the boy with the cowlick.
"This-this is british food!" Harry heard a faint whisper. "THIS IS BRITISH FOOD!" Alfred howled, jumping up and looking around wildly. Suddenly, something seemed to catch his eye. "SINGAAAAAAA! DON'T EAT THE BRITISH FOOD!" he yelled to the pretty blonde Asian (Harry figure that one of her parents had been European- no way would a normal Asian have yellow hair).
Harry realized that Alfred was now backing away from the table, as if the food was contaminated with a contagious disease.
"Wait- I thought her name was Phoenix?" Ron said confusedly, his mouth nearly full.
"My dear Singa, how do you survive the horrid british cooking?" Francis called from the Ravenclaw table, pretending to faint. Vladimir smiled, his fang flashing. Something about him told Harry that Vladimir was not really a vampire, but Harry was still uneasy.
"I am not your 'dear Singa'!" the blonde girl shouted at the Ravenclaw, her dark red eyes flashing. To Harry's horror, her eyes seemed to be changing color. From maroon, it was slowly getting brighter and brighter red.
Suddenly, the Gryffindor table shook as someone slammed it. "YOU BLOODY GIT, MY FOOD IS NOT BAD!" Arthur yelled in an equally loud voice. He was about to continue when Oliver, the cheerful-looking strawberry blonde, marched over to him and shouted, "Swear jar!", his arm snapping out. Arthur froze, then reluctantly dug into his pocket and placed a pound on Oliver's hand. Oliver grinned and walked back to the Slytherin table, cheerful again.
Wait, what?
There was a moment of silence, everyone in the hall staring at Oliver and his twin (Harry figured they had to be twins as their last names were the same. Plus, they looked alike.) Everyone, except Phoenix, the blonde Asian girl, who continued to eat normally. "Ollie," she said in a bored voice, "Arthur, you're making everyone stare."
At that, everyone in the hall resumed eating whatever they were eating before Alfred's outburst.
"That does look good," a ghost wearing a ruff said sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak. Alfred had recovered from the 'horrid british food' and was hesitantly trying some potatoes. "Why don't ya have some?" Alfred asked loudly, not bothering to turn around.
"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of the Gryffindor tower."
At the word 'ghost', Alfred visibly paled. "Whaddaya mean, 'Gho-" he had turned around and caught sight of Sir Nicholas and had promptly fainted. Harry, Ron and Sir Nicholas pain no attention to him and resumed their conversation which led to the discovery that Nick was nearly Headless. After they had all finished eating, the plates cleared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The whole hall fell silent.
"Ahem- just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered, I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.
"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quiddich trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.
"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy Weasley.
"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore.
"It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere- the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."
"And, finally, this year, we have eight-um, nine transfer students, all in first year, nearly all from different countries! First, we have Mr Arthur and his twin Oliver from the United Kingdom!" Arthur, still scowling, stood up and Oliver did as well, smiling cheerfully. It was creepy how opposite they were.
"Next, we have Mr Alfred Jones from the New World, America!"
Alfred grinned, standing up and waving. "That's me!" he shouted, "I'm the hero!"
"We also have Mr Jones' twin brother, Matthew Williams, all the way from Canada!"
This time, Harry looked at the Hufflepuff table. He could see, but barely see, the outline of the near-invisible Canadian who was, to Harry's surprise, clutching a polar bear.
"Next, we have Mr Lukas Bondevik, from Norway!"
The emotionless boy from the train stood up, not saying a word, while people capped him.
"And his cousin, Emil Steilsson, all the way from the island of Iceland!"
Emil was the silver-haired boy who wasn't exactly smiling, but wasn't scowling either.
"Next, also from an island, is Phoenix Lim Jia Qing, from Singapore!"
The blonde girl stood up, slightly slouching, her eyes back to a dull red color.
"From France, we had Francis Bonnefoy!"
Francis, who had chin-length gold hair, stood up, smirking, while blowing kisses to some of the older girls. It was probably common in his country- Harry knew that the french way of greeting people was to put kiss both of their cheeks one time each.
"We are also proud to host Mr Tino Vainamoinen, who comes from Finland!"
The happy-looking Finn stood up, smiling brightly to everyone.
"And lastly, from Romania-"
"Charlie works there!" Ron hissed
"-Is Vladimir Lupei!"
The cheerful vampire-like boy stood up, waving, his one fang curling on his lip. A few first-years exclaimed in surprise, but most of the older students grinned and leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the Romanian.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.
Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long gold ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
Everyone finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who had clapped loudest. "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime, off you trot!"
The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy to even be surprised that the people in the portraits whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy lead them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much further they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.
A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step towards them they started throwing themselves at him. Harry heard a soft whimper come from someone- no doubt Alfred.
"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first-years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves- show yourself."
A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"
There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks. Alfred screamed, "IGGY! GHOST!" and hid behind the thick-browed eleven-year-old boy. A lot of people stared at him and he answered defensively, "I'm not scared of it! I-I'm protecting Iggy from behind! The Hero doesn't get scared!"
"Oooooh!" Peeves said with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" he swooped suddenly at them and they all ducked. Alfred screamed again. "DON'T WORRY ARTIE! I'LL PROTECT YOU FROM BEHIND!"
"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" Percy barked.
Peeves stuck his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed. "You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. "Password?"
"Dude, Heroes don't need passwords!" Alfred said loudly, his face still pale.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it-Neville needed a leg up-and found themselves in the Gryffindor Common Room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs. Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase-they were obviously in one of the towers-they found their beds at last; six four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had been brought up.
"Oooooh... Po-Feliks would so totally like this," Alfred said sassily, laughing. "I wonder what's Sve is going to think when he finds that I'm not at home," Tino, the femnine boy, muttered to himself, just loud enough for Harry to hear. "Or Den, for that matter... Oh, why couldn't it be Liechtenstein?" The last part was so soft that Harry could only barely hear it, was the part which confused Harry the most. Wasn't Liechtenstein a country?
Maybe he was imagining things- after all, he was so tired he could have just dropped onto his bed and fell asleep- and he did. He fell asleep as soon as his head it the pillow.
Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrel's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully-and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it-then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold-there was a burst if green light and Harry woke, sweating a shaking.
He rolled over and fell asleep again, and, when he woke the next day, he couldn't remember the dream at all.
~Timetravel back to the night, at Dumbledore's office~
Dumbledora the Explora's POV
"P-professor, I am s-sorry if I am b-bothering y-you, it is s-so late at n-night," stuttered Quirrel, who was chewing his lip. He was pale and sweating nervously, and kept wringing his hands.
"Yes?" Albus Dumbledore asked gently, beckoning for the stammering man to enter his office. "What is it that you want to speak with me about, so late at night?"
Quirrel seemed to pale even more as he took a seat, his trembling hands clutching Dumbledore's office's table. The poor man looked seriously terrified, as if someone had repeatedly given him a great shock. His face was paler than a ghosts by now, his eyes wide with fear and nervousness. He gripped the table so hard his knuckles turned white and his cheeks were drained of blood. "I-I just n-needed to t-tell you..." he began in a whispery, trembling voice, his eyes darting about the headmaster's office.
"Yes?" Albus prompted. Whatever had caused the poor man to be in such a state? "Is it about the transfers? I've already told Minerva about it."
*flashback time!*
"Albus, why are we suddenly having transfers in Hogwarts? It has never happened before!" Minerva McGonagall cried, finally confronting him.
"Ah, Minerva, about that," Albus stroked his white beard. "I actually have no clue about whatever is going on."
"That's impossible! You know everything that is going on within the school, everything!"
"Minerva, the Minister of Magic has told me that eight transfers were coming to our school, and that only. I am just as clueless as you. The only thing I know is that the Kirklands have a high position in both the muggle Ministry and the Ministry of Magic. That is all."
"This is outrageous! If they are working with You-Know-Who-"
"Voldemort, Minerva. Say the name, since the fear of the name only increases the fear of the person himself. And how could they possibly be working for Voldemort? He is now reduced to nothing. Yes, one day, he will rise again, but right now, he remains in hiding."
Minerva sighed, "Very well."
"But I would like you to know, Minerva, that it was not my idea to allow these transfers into my school. For now, I want you to keep an eye out for them."
*flashback ends*
Quirrel nodded, his face a little paler than before (was that even possible?). "I-It is about t-the t-transfers, s-sir. About Mis-mister L-lupei," he shuddered when he said the Romanian's name, his eyes wide and full of fear. Dumbledore narrowed his eyes. What was going on? How could a mere child frighten Quirrel?
"Y-you know I-I had g-gone to R-romania before, d-did you?"
Dumbledore nodded carefully. He couldn't see where the turban-wearing teacher was going. He was utterly confused. It pained him to admit it, but he was.
"Th-that boy... H-he was the v-vampire I-I had m-met there... It was h-him, only o-older!" Quirrel managed to squeak out.
Dumbledore nodded, his eyes narrowing into slits as he ushered the frightened man out.
He would have to keep an eye on the transfers too.
Oh, snap, what's going to happen now?
Please review! The fact I only got one review (I worship you, reviewer) is making me
kinda sad, like no one is liking my fanfic QAQ.
This chapter was mainly focused on Harry, because Why Not. Oh, and yes, Singa is insane- aren't all the 2P!s insane?
If you want any pairings, please tell me.
And again, Please review!
(EDIT: Thanks to MIMI JONES for correcting me! ^^)