Mallina stood with Arthur in front of a red and black train on platform 9 3/4.
"And you are positive you didn't leave anything behind?" Arthur questioned for the third time since arriving at the station. "Positive." was the reply.
"Are you sure? You have your wand?" At this, Mallina reached into her coat and pulled out her wand, twirling it between her fingers.
"Yep."
"Good. Good. Then, I'll see you at Hogwarts."
"Don't get yourself into trouble before I get there. I can't save your hide if I'm stuck on a train." Mallina grew serious.
"Since when have I ever needed saving?" England chuckled. Mallina frowned.
"I'm serious, Arthur." She was perhaps overly worried about her friend, but with all of the problems he was having lately she couldn't help it.
"...I know. But you don't need to worry about me. I've been through many things, I'm sure I can handle whatever Hogwarts might have in store." Arthur put a hand on her shoulder. "Now go on. You'll miss the train if you keep fussing over me."
It was funny, because it was Arthur who was doing the majority of the 'fussing'. Mallina cracked a smile, "Alright. See you, Mother hen." She gave him a half hug and lugged her bags onto the Hogwarts Express.
Mallina passed many compartments. Some were full, others only had a few students in them. None appealed to her. After being alone for the majority of her life, you would think that she would enjoy the company many others. Solitude. That was what she had. Something she had, and now something she didn't get enough of, especially with being part of the Kingdom of Denmark. That was why she came to a stop at a compartment with only one child sitting inside. The blonde girl was quiet, fully immersed in a tabloid magazine - The Quibbler.
"You can come in if you like," the girl looked up, "they won't hurt you." They being the three pixie-like creatures Mallina now saw floating around the blonde's head.
/
If Harry Potter looked back from the future wondering what his worst summer was, it would be the one just past. For starters, the Daily Prophet was making a fool of both him and Dumbledore because the Ministry refused to believe that Voldemort was back. Really, he should have seen it coming. Fudge didn't believe him when he said that Sirius Black was innocent, why would he believe him now? Harry was also forced to go to a hearing, usually meant for criminals, because it was the only alternative to being expelled from Hogwarts. Once again, it all lead back to the ministry looking for any way to discredit him and Dumbledore.
Nobody, not even his friends, understood what he was going through. Sirius was the exception. Harry had little time to actually spend time with his godfather while at number 12 Grimmauld Place, as there was always some sort of meeting going that school was starting, all the chances of really speaking to Sirius were gone until Christmas came around.
Harry made his way down the aisles of the Hogwarts Express, closely followed by Neville. The two of them were at one point accompanied by Hermione, Ron and Ginny, but the youngest Weasley was called away by some friends, while Ron and Hermione had to go to the Prefects car.
Eventually, Harry came upon a compartment with only two people occupying it. A girl with long, dirty blonde hair sat on one seat. She was holding an upside down magazine, her wide eyes scanning the pages. Now and then, her hand would reposition her wand that was tucked behind her ear. On the seat across from her sat a boy with dark brown, almost black hair that was slightly longer than average.
"Uh..could we sit here?" Harry asked.
The boy in the compartment looked to the strange blonde girl for approval. She nodded.
"Hello, Harry Potter," the girl smiled, "I'm Luna Lovegood."
The boy looked Harry up and down, "I'm Mallina. It's good to meet you." So that explained the hair. Mallina was a girl. She continued, turning to Neville, "And who are you?"
"I'm nobody," Neville said quickly.
Mallina raised an eyebrow, "Nobody compared to Harry Potter?"
Neville turned red. Harry would have felt bad for him, but with so much on his plate and his already terrible mood, his care was nullified. He snorted, We can go ahead and switch places then.
"Well, where I'm from, the name 'Harry Potter' means next to nothing. He, in my opinion, is just another of the many people to walk this earth. So what's your name?" Mallina shot a glare in Harry's direction when he said this, as if he read his thoughts.
"I-my name is Neville Longbottom."
"Well, it's good to meet you, Neville."
"Where are y-you from, Mallina?" Neville asked.
"Well, I was born in Greenland, even though my dad is from Denmark."
"Wouldn't that mean you would go to a school that's closer to where you live?" Harry muttered. He didn't dislike Mallina yet, but his poor mood came through his voice. It didn't help that he didn't appreciate Mallina calling him out on his attitude.
"Actually, I go to Dumstrang. I'm only going to Hogwarts while I'm in the care of my godfather."
This sparked Harry's interest. "Why are you in your godfather's care?"
Mallina shrugged. "My parents are in the process of getting a divorce. I can't really blame them. It wasn't working out."
Harry frowned. He thought that Mallina might be in a similar situation as him.
At some point, Hermione and Ron came to the compartment and introductions started again. Hermione was quite excited at the prospect of Hogwarts hosting a foreign exchange student, even though Mallina really wasn't one. As conversations carried on, Harry couldn't help but notice Luna's magazine. Inside was an article about Sirius.
'Sirius Black is really the innocent singer, Stubby Boardman of the Hobgoblins'
Harry moved on to another article, quickly realising that the magazine was probably trash.
'Personified Countries: your nation could be you next door neighbor.' He had to laugh at this one.
"What's so funny, Harry?" Mallina asked, leaning over to read the article.
"It's a complete load of rubbish. There's no such thing as anthropomorphic countries or Krumple-horned snorkacks or anything of that sort that the Quibbler talks about." Hermione eyed the magazine in disdain.
Luna made a face, "Excuse me, but my father is the editor." She snatched the magazine away. Harry could have sworn that he saw Mallina let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, I can't say whether a country could be personified, but Krumple-horned snorkacks are actually quite common in Greenland, although we call them differently.
Hermione was about ready to protest when Luna cut her off. "Have you actually seen them?" Her wide eyes were practically sparkling.
"A few times- I've actually seen a lot of weird things. For instance, my half brother, Al, is friends with an alien life form, or that's what he says it is. I personally think it's a swamp monster. And Al's twin, Mattie, has a pet polar bear that has this uncanny ability to speak, although it only ever asks who anyone is, at least when I'm around." Mallina smiled as he spoke of these things.
"Oh, and did you know that if you leave a Russian Father Frost doll out for 25 days after the Epiphany, it comes to life? My friend Ivan had warned me about it, but I decided to test it out to see if he was telling the truth. Odin, that was terrifying."
With that, Mallina and Luna got to talking about the oddest of things. Needless to say, it was a long ride to Hogwarts.
/
Dumbledore watched Arthur as he spoke with McGonagall. Perhaps he was overreacting. Kirkland seemed like any normal wizard. Perhaps Mallina was just surprised at Dumbledore's mentioning of dark wizards (after all, didn't she go to Dumstrang?). Still, better to be safe than sorry. The old man noticed that Severus was speaking with Kirkland as well, and was reminded of his conversation with the black robed professor from the other day.
"All that I was able to gather is that Kirkland may be sick." Severus reported to him one night.
"Sick? With what?'
"I'm not sure. He only asked that I do not mention his ailment to anyone at Hogwarts, Headmaster. His charge seemed to know what was wrong with him. Would you like for me to confront her about it?"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "You spoke with him?"
Severus nodded, "Briefly. I went to ask if he was alright. Kirkland had sent Mallina ahead of him and ducked into an alleyway. He was clutching his heart as if it were in a great amount of pain. Then, a rather disgusting scene to witness- he purged his insides of his lifeblood. Not a great deal of it, but enough that he was very pale afterwards."
But observing Kirkland now, he looked perfectly healthy. What was wrong with him?
/
Greenland stood with the first years, waiting for the sorting ceremony to start. Arthur had explained to her how it worked. A sentient wizard hat was going to be placed on her head. From there, it would read her mind and choose what house she belonged in. She had to admit, the idea of it was a tad disturbing.
One introduction and a song later, the sorting began. By the time the hat got to the 'K's' in the alphabet, there were seven new Ravenclaws, four Hufflepuffs, three Slytherins and five Gryffindors. At last, the stern witch finally called her name.
"Køhler, Mallina"
Mallina walked to the front of the Great Hall and wasted no time in putting on the headpiece. If everyone was watching her, she didn't notice. She was more preoccupied with the fact that there was a foreign voice speaking in her head.
'Calm yourself, Greenland. You have nothing to fear.'
'I'm not sure fear is the word that I would use. I'm horrified.' Mallina thought back to the hat. She didn't bother questioning how it knew what she was, as it was quite clear that is had read her thoughts to obtain that information.
'You know, this is the second time a nation has come to Hogwarts- you don't have to worry. Your secret is safe with me. Scotland sent his young brother here soon after the school was completed."
Greenland tilted her head. 'You mean England? England went to school here?'
'Yes. You would actually do quite well in his old house- Slytherin, that is. But you need to be in the same house as Harry Potter, don't you? Or, at least one where you won't become enemies.'
The sorting hat took a moment to ponder. While it did, Mallina's gaze traveled the Great Hall. Each house had its fingers crossed, figuratively speaking. If only they could have this strange new student as a member of their own house! Mallina's eyes landed on the Ravenclaw table. Almost instantly, she spotted Luna Lovegood, sitting on her own, away from the other students. They made eye contact, and the blonde waved. Greenland gave her a small smile. It was unfortunate that she couldn't be in a house with Luna. She was such a sweet girl. Unfortunately, Greenland's priority was to make sure that the Boy Who Lived continued living now that Voldemort was back.
"Gryffindor!" The Sorting Hat's voice rang out through the Great Hall. Greenland did her best to ignore the look of disappointment that formed on Luna's face.
/
England waited patiently as Dumbledore began his start-of-term speech.
"We have two new changes in staff this year. For Defense Against the Dark Arts, we have Dolores Umbridge. I needn't remind you, but be sure to make her feel welcome."
There was a smattering of half-hearted applause.
"This year, we are doing something new. History of Magic and Muggle Studies are being combined. I have found that they are very close in topic, and due to budget cuts we cannot afford to hire teachers for both as individual classes. Now before all of you complain about how two dreadfully boring subjects will now be even more so, I should tell you that Professor Binns will not be teaching the class, as his spirit has finally decided to move on. I would like to introduce your Historical Studies professor, Arthur Kirkland."
England stood, the children in the halls clapping enthusiastically. It was wonderful that they were finally rid of their ghostly professor.
"As for Professor Hagrid," Dumbledore continued as England sat back in his chair, "I am sorry to say that he is on temporary leave, due to an extended honeymoon. Until his return, his post shall be filled by Professor Grubbly-Plank."
After dinner, England found himself being acquainted with the rest of the teachers in the staff lounge. Many of the professors were wary of him. No doubt Dumbledore had mentioned his rather abrupt and last minute appointment. He was a stranger with no available background information. Was he good? Evil? England could feel the eyes in the room silently judging him. However, the staff must have decided that between speaking with him or Umbridge, he was the lesser of two evils.
"Hello there," A very short wizard greeted with an outstretched hand that England shook gratefully. "I'm Professor Flitwick, but please call me Filius. I teach Charms class."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Filius. You heard already, but I'm Arthur Kirkland."
England was introduced to the others who were presently in the room; Minerva, Pomona, Severus and Poppy. To everyone's surprise, he was already acquainted with the potions professor. "We ran into each other in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago," he explained. He was then formally introduced to Dolores Umbridge.
"So, Arthur Kirkland. I can't say that I've heard of you." Her voice was high and saccharine. It didn't match her short, squat figure. The hideous amount of pink she adorned did nothing to help, and only made her look more fake and vomit inducing.
"Well, I'm not from a large or very important family. I have a common name, not a great one. But, I've certainly heard of you, Dolores. You work for the ministry, if I'm correct? You're Fudge's undersecretary."
Umbridge's smile grew at the mention of her status in the government. "That is correct. You'll do well to remember that. There will be many changes coming to this school. I wouldn't get used to anything if I were you."
England went to bed that night feeling very disturbed and with a sudden distaste for the colour pink.
Classes began the next morning at the hour of eight o'clock. To England's dismay, he woke late and was forced to forgo breakfast, having only enough time to bathe and dress himself before heading off to teach. Thankfully, the only students in the class were three Gryffindors.
"Good Morning." England greeted as he walked to his desk.
The two boys (Harry Potter and a redhead), muttered something that sounded like a good morning. With two sharp looks at her friends, the bushy haired girl smiled back at England. "Good Morning, Professor…"
"Kirkland."
As students began to pile into the room, the island nation noticed that his class not only consisted of Gryffindors and Slytherins, but Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well. Although England couldn't recall there ever being a class that included all four houses, he supposed it was part of the change in the scheduling that his new class caused.
Two of the last students to arrive were Mallina and a blonde girl. England then took role and began.
"Good morning, class!" He smiled to the students. With a quick glance over the room, he noticed that, save for a few students, most were sitting with their respective houses. He would have to change that.
The class replied with mumbled good mornings and groans.
"Yes, yes. You're all still asleep and not looking forward to this class, however, I can assure you this will be nothing like the old classes you had with Professor Binns. To start out, I want you all to sit with someone who is not from your house."
The moment the words left his lips, the class was in a frenzy. How could he suggest such a thing?
One Slytherin spoke his thoughts on the matter, "There's no chance in hell that I'm sitting with those mudbloods from Gryffindor or Hufflepuff." The rest of the boy's house muttered in agreement. The noise level skyrocketed.
England leaned against his desk, crossing his arms. There was no way he was going to let his class be this misbehaved. Eventually the students noticed his silence and dangerous expression and began to quiet down.
"I have to say, when I was hired for this job, teaching five-year-olds was not in the job description." He said finally, standing upright. "Seeing as your maturity levels are not high enough to handle something as simple as changing your seating, I'll have to do it for you. Mr. Mr. Malfoy, I would like you both to sit with Miss Norwood."
He proceeded to mix around the rest of his students, making sure they were sitting by someone of an alternate house. He left Harry and Mallina for last. As chance would have it, there were not enough students from alternate houses, and so they were conveniently the only two students from the same house sitting next to each other. By the time he was finished with this game of musical chairs, he was receiving glares from the majority of the class.
"Now that we have the seating situation taken care of, I want you to tell me what you've learned of history thus far."
A few tentative looks passed around the class before Hermione raised her hand.
"Goblin Rebellions, sir."
England nodded approvingly. "Yes, Miss Granger. Anything else?"
Hermione bit her lip. "That's...about all Professor Binns has taught us."
That was actually not surprising. Although England was never taught by Professor Binns himself, he had heard many stories being in the school so far about how the ghostly professor was a dead awful teacher, pun intended.
"What about outside of class? How much history have you learned? Magical or muggle?" England asked. He received no answer. He sighed. "Alright then. We have some work to do, don't we? Let's see…" He pulled up a chalkboard and began writing on it.
"For your class, we'll cover the middle ages, Holy Roman Empire, all the way up to World War Two. Along the way, we'll be taking note of how magical and muggle history correspond and influence each other."
"Why would we need to learn about muggle history? If I wanted to learn about them I would have just taken a muggle studies class," Malfoy spoke up from behind.
England turned to face the class.
"First of all, there is no muggles studies class anymore, if you were paying any attention at all to the headmaster's speech last night. Secondly, history is history no matter who makes it. Imagine waking up one morning to find that all of your memories were gone. There would be nothing to tell you who you are as a person. The same goes for history. It tells us of our past achievements, and of out mistakes.
"Magical history, in reality, is only one side of the coin. Magical and muggle history have a very yin/yang relationship. For example, during the time of the Catholic reformation, Christianity blended with old beliefs, which later lead to the witch hunts."
The class stared at England with a sort of awe. Clearly none of them expected their new professor to be competent or even have a passion for what he was talking about. Even Malfoy seemed somewhat surprised for a brief moment, before he rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat. England had to suppress a prideful smirk. With that he began to go in depth, explaining everything he experienced from the middle ages. He successfully held the class' attention until the bell rang. It may have been his imagination, but some of the students even seemed hesitant to leave. Perhaps this teaching gig would be easier than he originally thought. Not that he would get too cocky…
He watched as the students began to file out of the classroom and listened to some of their comments about the new class.
"That was absolutely amazing!" Miss Granger exclaimed to Weasley and Potter. Weasley humoured her, rolling his eyes slightly. Potter seemed preoccupied with other things and barely mumbled a reply to Granger.
Another student caught England's eye. Mallina was rushing to catch up with Potter and his friends. She briefly glanced at England, giving him a thumbs up.
/
"Hey, Harry, wait up!"
Harry turned to see Mallina running to catch up with him and his friends. He paused, sighing heavily.
"What did you all think of Professor Kirkland's class? Pretty interesting, right?" she asked.
Ron shrugged. "It was alright, I guess. Better than Binns."
Hermione huffed. "I for one loved the class. Professor Kirkland was so enthusiastic about the topics he covered. That's a rare thing for any Professor to be able to do."
Mallina nodded. "I think it's going to be my favourite class. Oh! Speaking of classes, I have Defense Against the Dark Arts next. Could any of you show me where that is?"
Harry recalled his schedule. The three of them had that class next, too.
"We were just on our way there. You can come with us." Hermione offered.
Mallina smiled. "Thanks."
As they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry found that it looked...normal. Every professor in the years before had added their own personality to the classroom. Now it seemed plain and almost empty in comparison. Well, plain except for the severely pink and toady woman standing at the front of the room. Umbridge.
"Good afternoon class!" she said sweetly as everyone had arrived. The class replied unenthusiastically. Umbridge chided the class for their lack of enthusiasm.
"Now, everyone put your wands away and take your quills out," she said. Taking out her own wand, she waved it at the blackboard and the words "Defense Against the Dark Arts, A Return to Basic Principles" appeared.
"Given your fragmented lessons, the Ministry has seen fit to establish a new and improved curriculum. We will be following a structured, theory centered course from now on."
And the class only went downhill from there. At some point, Harry ended up in an argument with the woman after she refused to acknowledge the existence of Voldemort. As a result, he now had detention with her starting the next evening for a week. Great.
As the week progressed, Harry found another thing to dampen his mood: Mallina somehow had every single one of her classes with him. It wasn't so much that he disliked her, but her constant presence rubbed him the wrong way. If she wasn't trying to hang out with him and his friends, she was somewhere within close proximity. She didn't seem to be trying to make other friends, either, the only other people Harry saw her with being Luna on occasion, and frequently with Professor Kirkland. Harry brought this up to Ron and Hermione one night in the common room.
"You probably shouldn't worry, Harry. She might just like you," Hermione proposed. "As for the classes, it is a bit weird, but it's just a coincidence."
"I don't know about that. Maybe she wants to become friends with the Boy-who-lived, and tell all of her Durmstrang friends about it," Ron said.
"I honestly doubt that's it. She's such a nice girl." Hermione frowned.
"Whatever it is, it's starting to get a little weird." Harry said.
"Have you ever thought that you might be overreacting a little bit..? I think you should give her a chance," Hermione said, finishing the conversation just in time for Mallina to walk into the common room, looking grim. Harry expected her to sit down with them, but she walked right past them, heading for the dormitories.
"Hey, you alright?" Ron asked.
Mallina stopped and gave them a half smile. "Yeah. Everything's good." She turned and went up the stairs. Harry had a suspicion that everything was not "good."
/
Greenland huffed irritably as she sat down on her bed, kicking off her shoes. England could be infuriatingly stubborn sometimes. Earlier that evening, Greenland had caught him right after another fit of his. She tried to help, but he dismissed her, telling her to just focus on Harry Potter. Damn it. Next thing, England would probably end up doing something stupid and making things worse for himself. The seizures could return. If only there was something that Greenland could do.
