On with the story!

Noise flooded up from the common room into the fourth year girls dormitory. The duo went down stairs to be greeted by the sounds of loudly talking boys and obnoxiously giggling girls. The room was packed. Hermione was standing on tip toes trying to see over the heads of some sixth year boys in hopes of finding Ron and Harry.

"There are the guys." She pointed to the couch closest to a window overlooking the lake. The girls made their way through the sea of never ending people. When they made it to Ron and Harry, Allie noticed that they were deep in discussion with a few other people. There was a red haired girl with freckles who looked to be about a year young than her and a set of twins with the same traits.

They MUST be related to Ron .

On the ground by the girl's feet were two more boys. The group's discussion was getting heated. Allie could hear the tone in their voices starting to rise. She and Hermione still had no idea what was getting this bunch all worked up until...

"What are you talking abut Harry!" One of the boys on the floor flew up his hands in frustration. "An Acromantula could totally take out a Basilisk! It's got eight legs and a Basilisk has none!" Voices from all boys involved came crashing together as they started to debate the issue more. The red headed girl rolled her eyes.

Boys...

"Actually, the Basilisk is the only thing that frightens an Acromantula so I'm pretty sure it couldn't take one out. And the number of legs a creature has doesn't really say how powerful they are." The voices came to a halt and the boys they belonged to stared at Allie. They were hanging on every word she said.

"Ha! Thank you! That's what I have been trying to tell them since we left the Great Hall but they wouldn't listen." Harry stuck his tongue out at the boys on the floor. They grunted in response.

The boy with brown hair was still not convinced, Allie could tell. He was not admitting defeat that easily. "Yeah but having eight legs helps them to run away faster. You can't kill what you can't catch." He looked at Allie with a look of triumph on his face.

Tough guy huh? You wanna play that way. Fine, bring it.

The others in the group looked at Allie, eager for a response. She narrowed her eyes.

"OK. So you have a pair of roller blades and I have a car. You following me?" The boy furrowed his eyebrows wondering where she was going with this.

"Yeah I think so."

"OK. Let's say you stole my purse and start roller blading away with your amazing eight wheels. Well I'm coming after you in my car that only has four wheels, half of the wheels that you have. Chances are I'm gonna catch your butt in about three seconds flat."

The boy's mouth was open. He tried to find a comeback but all that came out were stutters before he gave up. Everyone laughed. The red headed twins got up and walked over to stand on either side of Allie, pushing Hermione out of the way in the process. They each placed a arm around her. One at her neck and one wrapped around her waist.

"That was brilliant" They both said in unison. Allie look up at each twin and gave them a smirk. They stood at least a head taller than her. They seemed like a fun pair.

"Thanks."

"Down boys. Leave her alone." Hermione said. She took Allie's hand and led her to stand in front of the group. "Allie let me introduce you to everyone. This is Ginny." She pointed to the girl seated on the couch. She waved her hello. "Dean and Seamus" She motioned to the boys on the floor. Hermione rolled her eyes in the general direction of the twins, "And these two fine gentlemen are.."

Hermione was cut off by one of the twins stepping in front of her and extending his hand toward Allie. "I am Fred Weasley and this is my brother George." Allie took his hand intending to shake it, instead Fred swept into a bow and kissed her knuckles. "Lovely to meet you."

Allie shook her head. It would take a lot to to keep up with these two but she knew it was a challenge she was willing to except. Harry stood up from the couch. "OK Casanova that's enough. Let the poor girl relax on her first night." He put his hand on Allie's shoulder and led her to the couch. Harry sat down between Ron and Allie, and Allie sat next to Ginny. Fred and George gave each other a look before sitting down on the floor leaning against the coffee table to face everyone. Hermione sighed before joining them.

"So Allie, love" the boy Hermione identified as Dean said, "What part of American are you from?"

"I was born in Washington state but I spent most of my life living in Chicago." Everyone wanted to know what Chicago was like. So Allie spent the better part of half an hour telling them about the Sears Tower which then led into having to explain the concept of skyscrapers to those who grew up in the wizarding world. After a while she thought they started to understand.

"What do your parents think of having you so far away?" Dean asked her another question. "If I left the continent to go to school my mum would freak out." Allie gave him a small smile.

"Actually my parents died when I was a baby" the faces of Allie's eight companions all held some degree of shock and sympathy. Allie turned to look and Harry. He was staring into her eyes with such intensity that Allie had to look away.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Dean muttered.

"It's alright. You didn't know. It was a long time ago." Allie's voice was sweet and gentle. She didn't want them to feel sorry for her. She didn't need them to feel sorry for her. She never let the death of her parents make her weak. She missed them every day of her life but she couldn't let that affect her.

"You know.." Allie turned to see that the voice speaking belonged to Ron. "Harry's parents died when he was a baby, too." Harry sat there unmoved. It was common knowledge how and why Harry's parents were dead.

"I'm sorry for your loss" Allie placed a hand on Harry's knee. He nodded in response. Allie moved her hand and tried to think of a change of subject.

"So how about that Triwizard Tournament? Sucks that you have to be seventeen to enter, huh?" She questioned.

The voices of all eight Gryffindors started to overlap. The tension was broken and they were back to acting like teenagers with nothing better to discuss then the ridiculousness of authority.

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