Sorry about the wait. I have now learned to never eat tofu nuggets at the computer again. (No, I'm not vegetarian, they just taste better) The crumbs got stuck in the keyboard and I had to buy a new one. But, then again, if you actually read stuff this bad then it probably doesn't matter anyways.

THANK YOU, 741852AuthorNicolaStarlaLili(You have a VERY annoying name) and Saphire Moon Maiden, for reviewing! Oh, and I suppose also the Hisokist, but his review sucked. EVERYONE, LAUGH AT THE STUPID HISOKIST! (hahahahahaha!) Thank you.

Ze Disclaimanator(Yes, even I know how bad that was): I don't own +Anima or Harry Potter. Hah, bet you thought I did, didn't you?

Now, without further ado, another chapter from the deep recesses of my twisted, diseased mind.

4

Sand and Sunsets

After the sorting Dumbledore stepped up to the podium, an oddly fitting mischievous look in his eyes. He cleared his throat, though it was too quiet for anyone to hear from the distance, before speaking in an old, however clear voice that oddly made you want to listen to it.

'I hope that all our new students enjoy the school year, however before we start I'd like to say a few words. Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment and Tweak! Thank you,' he said, returning to his seat at the head of the staff table. All of the new students looked at him oddly while a few chuckles emanated from the older students. Cooro cocked his head to the side, confused.

'I don't get it,' said Cooro, furrowing his eyebrows.

'I don't think you're supposed to,' said Ron.

An older kid, oddly with the same startlingly bright red hair as Ron said, grinning, 'He does that every year. Some of us think he's mad and personally we agree but then again, it's okay to be a little mad, don't you think?' The group looked over at him, surprised at his remarkable resemblance to Ron, but not nearly as surprised as they were when they noticed the identical twin sitting next to him.

'Err... I don't mean to be nosy, but are you three related?' asked Husky, looking between them and Ron.

'Yup. Guess you met our brother Ronny here. This here's Fred...' the one to the left started before the other one butted in.

'No I'm not, I'm George. You're Fred!' the right one exclaimed.

'Just ignore them, they do this every time,' said Ron, just before a huge banquet appeared right in front of their eyes. All of the new students were shocked, not at just the sudden appearance but at the food itself. There was everything from turkey to lobster and fine French breads. At groups of the older students even fine wine appeared on the table. The whole thing was elaborately laid out with a deep red and bright gold cloth laid across the table with silk napkins and silver cutlery. The type of food seemed to vary according to the particular area of the table, seemingly to whatever the closest people like most. Right in front of Cooro was a finely decorated tower of apple pie and apple crisp and a glass of apple juice. Around the whole thing were several surprisingly red apples, as well as some gold or green ones too. Cooro just sat there in shock, while the people around him were nearly as shocked at the complete lack of variety near him.

'Yay!' yelled Cooro, literally jumping out of his seat in joy, his arms in the air as he was about to jump a second time, but was stopped by Husky who grabbed his cloak and pulled him back into his chair.

'Idiot...' said Husky, looking back over to what was right in front of him. While Cooro had a rather obvious taste for apples, Husky's was, however much as he did like eating it, a bit insulting. It was the food of only the richest of nobles and highest royalty. There was nothing that could ever be eaten by anyone who ever had any less status than Husky did, rare caviar, specially prepared fine lobster and several other things that seemed to just have an aura of being high-class. A few people noticed it, but most were too surprised by Cooro's to notice.

'Man, you're family must be filthy rich,' said Fred/George.

'Yeah, supposedly this thing brings the best tasting things you've ever eaten before,' said George/Fred.

'I've never heard of any "Herenus's" before. They one of those reclusive eccentric families?' asked Fred/George, raising an eyebrow. Husky's eye twitched at the name.

Not wishing to have to explain himself clearly, he said, 'No, they're a bit... well-known where I come from. I'm not rich, that's just my "family,"' he said, putting just the slightest sharpness on the word 'family,' something that normally wouldn't have been noticed by anyone who wasn't listening for it. However, someone was, as Hermione was eavesdropping, trying to learn a bit more about these strange foreign children. She made a mental note to go to the library and look the name up. George and Fred just shrugged, before glancing over at Cooro, who looked like he was in heaven.

'Cor, He really likes his apples, doesn't he?' said George/Fred, not really asking it as a question but more a statement of fact.

'Yes, he's always been a bit excessive when it came to them,' said Nana.

'A bit?' said Husky, smirking. 'More like addicted.'

The six and the Weasly twins conversed for a while longer after they had finished eating, mostly about each other. Quite a few people were coming over to Harry for rather pointless reasons, such as an autograph or just to see him at all. Harry was quite embarrassed at all the unwanted attention, and after making it adamantly clear several times that he wanted to be left alone the large gathering finally left, though many people still whispered and pointed at him. Both Husky and, though he didn't know it, Hermione were getting extremely suspicious of certain people. Eventually Husky gave in and asked, 'How come Harry's so famous?' Everyone who was close enough to hear the comment looked at him as if he was insane.

'Ah. You're from that mysteriously reclusive country, right?' asked Hermione. 'I suppose you didn't bother to look up anything on where you were going, did you?' she huffed, a little smugly. She continued on in, though it wasn't in actuality, what Husky thought was a 'know-it-all' voice. 'In the wizarding world there is a mass-murderer known as You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He tried to take over the wizarding world but when he tried to kill Harry as a baby for the only in history the killing curse rebounded off him, hitting You-Know-Who and killing him, leaving Harry with a scar on his forehead.'

Husky's mouth formed the 'ah' sound, but soon closed when he furrowed his brow, and asked, 'Why must he not be named?'

'Saying his name doesn't do anything, it's just because everyone is scared of him,' responded Hermione. Husky frowned at this.

'If that's true, than what is his name?' he asked.

'He calls himself Lord Voldemort,' said Hermione. Immediately at the mention of the name several of the closer young wizards shivered or looked at Hermione with squinted eyes. Husky and Nana just sat there, a bit shocked, though Cooro was too absorbed with his apples to have heard. Eventually though they all finished their respective breakfasts.

After the whole house had finished eating, during which the group conversed on various things such as new broomsticks and other things, mostly pranks by Fred and George, a tall, red-headed boy who Ron said was both a prefect of Gryffindor as well as his brother Percy, called out for the first years of his house to follow him. The majority of the youngest students got up to follow him, while a few seemed not to have noticed though quickly got out of their seats once they noticed what was happening and also followed him out a door to the left of the great hall. They went down many passageways, in which about half of the new students, supposedly at least half muggle, gaped at the moving paintings or other strange magical artefacts lining the halls. After a while of walking including some moving stairs that surprised most off the students, they came to the large painting that blocked the way to Gryffindor.

To the surprise of the majority of the group, the painting talked. 'Ah, the school year is starting already? Well, I suppose I should have been expecting it, what with all the teachers scurrying through... oh well. Password?'

'Caput Draconis,' stated Percy. The painting smiled and swung out into the Gryffindor common rooms. Percy walked through and the other students followed, a few amazed at the extremely well-designed elegance of the common rooms. Once the group had completely entered the room Percy walked in front to face them.

'The girls rooms are on the left and the boys are on the right. Everyone will be sharing a room with three other students. Each of you has an assigned room and a note is left on every bed stating the person in that room and also having a schedule for your classes for the rest of the year. I suggest you don't lose it. None of your rooms are at the back, those are for the older students,' said Percy. 'First find your room. After that, today will be a free day for you to do whatever you want, be it exploring the castle grounds or finding out your new teachers. Now, go find your room.' The group immediately split up with children scurrying everywhere up the stairs to the left and right.

Eventually after much disorganized movement and pushing all of the new students found their respective quarters. Cooro, Husky, Ron and Harry, to their surprise, all shared the same room. After they found their belongings already put away they picked up their schedules off their beds, put on their new robes and set off to meet up with Senri.

The sand follows only the worthy, and the worthy follow only the poor.
The Land of the Dead looks over the forest, and the King sheds a tear to the wings of the Sheppard.
Be not of the fire, for only the dead are forgiving.
Only the dead.

'AH HA HA! This is it! John, John! Get over here! I've found it! I've found it!'

'Whoa, watch it! Don't touch it, do you have any idea what kind of old magics could be in that thing?'

'Aw, come on, John. We finally found it! Seventeen years! Seventeen years. Seventeen years...' he slumped to the ground, breathing hard.

'George? George! What's wrong?' yelled John, rushing over. George was lying on his side breathing heavily. The stone tablet started to glow faintly.

'Unh... damnit, John... get away...' the glow brightened, now distinguishing an obvious blue color. George grabbed John by the arms and started dragging him away.

'No way in hell! We got into this together, we'll get out of it together.' The glow brightened then shone in a brilliant flash of light blue, engulfing the entire cave.

A slight disturbance would have been noticed in the sand up top if anyone had been there to notice it. If someone had been, however, then they would have also noticed something quite strange.

As it was, the only audience was a single, solitary sand beetle. It raised its head momentarily, wondering if this new figure was a threat. The figure stood in place for a few seconds, turning its head this way and that, examining the surroundings. Eventually, not finding anything else, it noticed the small beetle, and bent down to it. It smiled and picked up the beetle softly, being careful not to hurt it. It smoothed its finger across the beetles shell.

'I always liked beetles...'

'Wow...' said Harry. Cooro was, for once, quiet. The seven were sitting on the edge of an outcropping of rock over the lake. The sun was just setting, as the seven had spent most of the day simply chatting and exploring the grounds. The soft red and purple glow of the sunset glanced of the lake, making it shine lightly. No creatures were making a sound and the water and trees were still, creating the perfect image of serenity.

'It's so... peaceful,' said Nana.

'Um, guys? I know it looks nice and all, but could we back up a bit?' said Ron, looking nervously down over the edge. 'I can't swim.'

'Ron, you're not going to fall over the edge. These rocks aren't even slippery. The chances of you falling over are one n a million,' said Hermione.

'I don't care! What if I'm exactly the millionth person who came here? I don't care what you're doing, I'm moving back,' said Ron, getting up. He stepped forward to walk back and slipped on a patch of moss growing through the cracks.

'Ron!' they all yelled rushing to reach his hand as he hit his head and fell over the edge. Husky quickly tore off his robes and jumped into the water.

Ron was drowning. As his vision faded and he slowly fell into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was quite surprising.

A mermaid? thought Ron.

Harry and Hermione's eyes widened as they saw a second of their friends fall down into the water, this time in an elegant dive. 'Husky!' yelled Harry.

'Don't worry, Husky's okay,' said Cooro.

'Ron should be okay too, hopefully...' said Nana. Harry and Hermione stared at them, shocked.

'How can you be so uncaring? They might die!' yelled Harry, furious at them.

'Ron...' said Senri. Everyone turned to look where he had his gaze fixed to see Ron being pulled out of the water by Husky, in the apparent body of a mermaid.

'What the...' started Harry, not being able to find the words for the situation. Hermione glared at Cooro and Nana.

'I think you have some explaining to do,' she said. Husky turned back into a human and began dragging Ron's body up the hill.

'Look, they can explain things afterwards. Right now we have to get Ron to the hospital,' said Harry. Hermione huffed in annoyance but followed them down to help Husky.

'It was a mermaid!' yelled Ron, now getting extremely annoyed.

'No it wasn't. It was Husky,' said Nana. Husky himself was sitting on a chair near a window, trying to avoid getting pulled into the conversation at all.

'Right, I suppose he just transformed into a mermaid!' said Ron, now sitting up on the side of the hospital bed.

'Um... sort of?' said Cooro, not really sure how to answer. At that moment Madam Pomfry rushed into the room carrying a tray with a small, blue potion on it.

'That was quite a nasty bump you had there, you should be lying down. You're exhausted, and you need rest,' she said, laying down the tray on a side table. 'I've patched you up, so at the moment you're fine.' She picked up the small potion and handed it to him. 'Here, drink,' she said. Ron stared at the bottle sceptically, wondering what kind of potion would help someone who was only tired.

'Oh, don't be so suspicious. It's just for energy,' she said. Ron mentally slapped himself for not realizing the obvious. 'You can leave after taking this. I've looked you over, and you're fine, but be more careful if you can't swim.' Ron picked up the bottle and looked at it for a moment, before gulping it all down quickly. Surprisingly enough, it tasted of raspberries.

'Right, I'll be off then. I suggest you go to your quarters, you were supposed to be there five minutes ago. I've given you special permission to get in, but next time keep an eye on the time,' said Madame Pomfry before picking up the empty bottle and tray and leaving the room.

'Right. You lot have got some explaining to do,' said Harry. He pointed at Husky. 'How did he turn into a mermaid?'

'Oh, we're +anima,' said Cooro. Husky slapped his forehead at Cooro's complete openness.

'What?' said Ron.

'+Anima.'

'What?'

'+Anima.'

'Wha...' began Ron, before he was cut off by Harry. 'What's a +anima?'

'Oh, we have animal spirits in us,' said Cooro. 'Husky's a fish.' Harry, Ron and Hermione just stared at him, while Husky slapped himself again.

'Well, why didn't you tell us earlier?!' yelled Harry.

'What, did you think we'd think you were freaks or something?' said Hermione.

'I thought we were friends!' said Ron. At this Cooro looked like he was going to cry and rushed out of the room. Senri began glaring at Ron before leaving to follow Cooro.

'You just had to, didn't you?' yelled Nana.

'Well how was I supposed to know he'd run off crying?' said Ron.

'To Cooro his friends are the only things that matter! They're the only thing he has!' said Husky, now next to the bedside. 'His friends are his family!' At this Ron started looking suitably guilty, feeling sorry for Cooro.

Husky left the room to follow after Cooro.

'We're not talking to you until you apologize!' said Nana, also exiting the room leaving Ron in an extremely awkward position with his other two also glaring at him.

'Today is not my day...'

Well, that was awful. You know, those of you with half a brain would have realized by now that if you don't tell someone what they're doing wrong then they'll never write anything better, thus you will be stuck reading stories as bad as mine! Those of you with less than half a brain would have realized that just now while reading this sentence. I shudder to think what those of you without a brain would do. So you see, what I've realized is that by using this logic less than 2% of you have half a brain. I don't want to hear what I'm doing right, that's usless! Tell me what sucks, and I will forever be gratefull. I like insults, and so does the plot bunny. The more you insult him, the better he is, so please, have fun insult my style of writing all you want. Man, I just wasted a whole minute writing to people who don't care. Oh well.