DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 44

Standing at the entrance to the King's cross station was a large, motely group of individuals, comprising of the Potters minus James, the Weasley's and looking rather out of place, the Malfoy's, who had made it a point to stand at quite a noticeable distance from the crowd of red heads. They were all waiting for the two teachers from 'Beauxbatons' to come and pick up Harry and Draco and then drop off the rest of the kids in the train to Hogwarts .

James had been unable to come due to the frantic state at the Ministry, though he had given his two boys a short lecture the last night about, courage and the willingness to deal with change. His two sons were going to be facing several new and difficult challenges this year.

Darren, as soon as he entered Hogwarts would be whisked away by the Headmaster and be told about his training that year. James's stomach clenched at the very thought of his son being exposed to such a devastating news and hoped reverently that Dumbledore had the sense to make sure that at least either he or lily were present when he dropped the bomb.

On the other hand Harry the introverted half, who was travelling to a place far away from family had been acting very stoically about the change, not revealing to anyone what he was really feeling. James had had a very disconcerting thought that the boy had made up his mind to go for this exchange program against all odds, a long time ago. Now he wanted to desperately shake his son up to elicit some kind of ordinary reaction out him, rather than this strange, passive, non-committal acceptance.

Darren had taken the news that Harry would not be going to Hogwarts this year rather badly, and had not spoken to him for quite some time. Even now he kept his distance and barely looked at him.

Lily stood leaning on Molly taking support from the older woman, "So it has begun" she thought sadly, watching her family slowly gravitate away from one another and scatter in different directions. Completely oblivious about how wrong she was and what exactly it was that Harry had chosen to do in the name of family.

Suddenly two people materialized not far away from the group and watching them come closer they gave a loud, collective gasp.

They saw the most beautiful woman with glowing olive toned skin and long black waist length hair swaying gently behind her, as she walked slowly and languorously towards them with a small dimpled smile on her face. She was wearing a rather tight, black jumpsuit with long dangling earrings, causing quite a stir amongst the passing muggles as they tried to stand on their toes to catch another glimpse of her.

Completely in contrast with her, her companion, an equally tall and well-built man, walked with a disinterested slouch beside the goddess, looking like he had just been dragged out of bed rather unwillingly, sporting an unsightly stubble with terribly rumpled clothes, morosely watching them through clear blue eyes as if blaming them for having dragged him out his early in the morning.

'Fantastic!' Lily thought dryly, appraising the woman in front of her'A Half Veela surrounded by a large group of hormonal pubescent boys. Not, exactly her choice for an ideal teacher.

Molly had turned to look at Arthur and saw him standing with his mouth partially open "Close your mouth dear, I don't exactly think you're setting a very good example for your sons" she said waspishly, finding every single one of her sons almost drooling mindlessly behind her.

"Good morning!" the gorgeous apparition said in a voice dripping heavily with a French accent. Proffering her hand towards Lily she said "I am Miss Venus Reynalds, and this with me is Fletcher Garret" pointing at the rather churlish looking man "We are teachers at the Beauxbatons School of Magic" she smiled effortlessly lying through her teeth and causing Ron to stumble and turn red with embarrassment. She then turned to a rather skeptic looking Narcissa who had raised an eyebrow at the manicured hand being offered to her and a perfectly expressionless Lucius and greeted them in the same manner completely un-phased by their less than welcome attitudes.

Spotting Harry and Draco in the crowd she shook their hands as well and asked them if they were ready to leave, Lily, who had had her hand on Harry's shoulder, tightened her grasp on him imperceptibly and let go after a moment. Narcissa, braving her husband's scorn, pulled Draco into a tight hug and whispered something in his ear causing him to nod and smile.

Harry had been about to pick up his backpack, on which an 'undetectable extension' charm had been placed to hold all of his stuff, (without the books and other supplies which they would be receiving at school), when Fred came to stand in front of him and said gravely and dramatically while clasping Harry's two hands to his chest, surprising the boy with the suddenness of the gesture and said "Harry, if you wish to trade places with me, now is the time to do it" while glancing in what appeared to be a horrible attempt at appearing wolfish to the unperturbed Miss Reynalds!

A loud guffaw could be heard from Ginny who said "Way to go Fred! Way to unashamedly declare that your head is deeply and irrevocably embedded in the gutter. Not embarrassing for you at all!"

George came forward and nudged his brother out of the way saying "Yeah Fred, Ginny's right. Way to embarrass yourself, especially since if there is going to be any trade off I'm the one Harry will choose." There was a loud resounding thwack! as Mrs Wealesy's hand connected with the side of the son's head.

Harry smiled for the first time that day and felt the tension ease away while Draco rolled his eyes rather exaggeratedly at the Weasley twins, smirking at Ron's ugly hang dog look.

As Harry and Draco turned to wish their families good bye, Darren who had been sullenly standing a little away from everyone barely even noticing the new teachers, came running over to his brother and pulled him into a rough hug whispering "Keep in touch" into his ear and pushed him away.

Harry smiled and pressed a note and a single chocolate frog into his hand as a peace offering. The note Darren found out later on the train read 'I am sorry for not having told you about it sooner as I didn't know how to bring it up to you. Enjoy Hogwarts and Hogsmaede for the both of us this year and I promise to write and keep in touch, stay safe - Harry.'

Waving at their rather forlorn looking families, the two boys and their teachers walked away to a more secluded area so that they could use a port key to reach their destination.

"Ready?" asked Miss Reynalds, dropping the French accent suddenly, speaking in perfect English which shocked the boys and pulled out a galleon. Asking them all to hold on tightly to the coin, she cried "The cliff" and they disappeared from the spot they had been standing on without leaving any traces of having been there at all.

Stumbling slightly and holding onto each other so as not to fall over, Harry and Draco found themselves gasping and staring at the most magnificent sight they had ever laid their eyes on, in their whole entire lives!