CHAPTER 26: WELCOME TO HOGWARTS
America never would have guessed he would be so happy to go back to school after Christmas break. Sure, it wasn't like he was bouncing off the walls with joy, but usually he would have needed to be dragged kicking and screaming back to school after a holiday. Not this time, though. It was really great to see the other nations again, but all the paperwork was even worse than homework, and life at Hogwarts was blissfully normal compared to the shenanigans the nations of the world got up to. Oh, God, he was starting to sound like England.
America was looking forward to seeing the Golden Trio again most of all. So when he went into the Entrance Hall to find Harry and Ron already there, he was thrilled. "DUUUUUUUDES WAZZZUUUUP?!" The two of them barely had time to acknowledge America's presence before he'd run over and pulled the two into a bear hug. "I TOTALLY MISSED YOU GUYS! THANKS FOR THE PRESENTS, BTDUBS!"
"Erm… th-that's great, Alfred," Harry gasped.
"I think… my lungs are… caving…" wheezed Ron.
"Oh. Whoopsie." America released them. "Sorry, dudes. Sometimes I forget that I have the strength befitting the hero."
Harry and Ron gasped for breath, clutching their sides. Harry nodded at the space beside America. "Nice… to see you… Matthew."
"Huh?!" America whirled around and saw Canada seemingly materialize out of thin air. "How long have you been there, Mattie?!"
"I've been here this whole time…" murmured Canada, but he didn't seem really offended. He was used to it by this point. "Anyway, it's good to see you two again, eh." He looked around the hall. "Where's Hermione?"
Harry' and Ron's expressions changed immediately. "Er… in the hospital wing," said Ron.
"We were just on our way to visit her," said Harry. "You two should come along. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."
America's eyes widened. "What?! Dudes, what happened?! Is she okay?!"
"If she's in the hospital wing, I doubt she's completely okay, eh," said Canada drily.
"We'll explain on the way," said Harry, and the four of them began making their way to the hospital wing. "You two remember our plan with the Polyjuice Potion, right?"
America nodded. "Yeah, the Mission Impossible mask potion. Did you guys pull it off? Did Malfoy get expelled? Because if so, we need to have a party! Like, right now!"
"Hold your horses, Alfred," said Ron. "Malfoy said he didn't do it. And we were disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, so if he was going to tell anyone, it would have been us. And his father wasn't the one who opened the Chamber last time, so we're back to square one."
America pouted. "Aw, man! I was looking forward to being able to beat his face in without getting in trouble."
"You still haven't explained why Hermione's in the hospital wing, eh," said Canada.
"I was getting to it," said Ron. "Hermione was going to disguise herself as Millicent Bulstrode, since she already had a strand of her hair from Duelling Club. But it turns out that strand of hair wasn't from Bulstrode. It was from her cat."
Canada gasped. "But the Polyjuice Potion is only meant for human use! If you tried to use it with animal hair… Oh, God, what happened to her?"
"It's fine, it's nothing too bad," said Harry quickly to appease Canada, who looked like he was about to have a panic attack. "She's able to walk and talk and everything, she just… well, you'll see for yourself. We're here." Indeed, they had arrived at the hospital wing.
America threw the door open. "HEERRRMMMIIIOOOONNNEEEE! HARRY AND RON TOLD US ABOUT THE FAILURE OF MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MASK! ARE YOU OKAY?!"
Hermione had pulled the covers over her face and let out a noise that sounded oddly like a meow. "Would you please be quiet?" she growled. "My hearing's much more sensitive than usual." She let the covers fall and reveal her face. Her fur-covered, feline face.
America's jaw must have landed somewhere in the dungeons. "Oh. My. God." He recovered quickly. "Dude, my friend Heracles would be so jealous of you right now, you don't even know."
He ran over to her and flicked one of her ears. It twitched, and Hermione gave him a sour look. "Don't do that! And why would he be jealous of me? I've been stuck like this since Christmas, and Madam Pomfrey says it could very well take weeks for me to return to normal."
America sat in one of the nearby chairs. "Heracles really, really, really likes cats. I have literally never seen him without at least one cat nearby. He's actually said that when he dies, he wants to be reborn as a cat."
"It could have been worse," murmured Canada. "I was imagining… you really don't want to know what I was imagining, eh. I'm just glad you're all right."
"If you can call this all right." Hermione smiled at them both. "It is good to see you two again, though. I just wish it were under better circumstances."
"Don't worry about it, I've met people in waaaay worse situations," reassured America. "It's too bad you guys weren't able to solve the whole Chamber of Secrets thing. It sounds like we're back to square one, huh."
"Well, at least we got Malfoy to blab about where his family keeps all the things they don't want the Ministry to find," said Ron. "I wrote Dad about it. Hopefully that will knock Malfoy down a peg."
"Yeah, hopefully…" America rested his chin in his hands. "So what's the plan now, dudes?"
The Golden Trio stared at him. "Er… plan?" said Ron.
"Yeah!" America looked around at the three of them. "You know, for catching the Heir of Slytherin or finding the Chamber of Secrets or whatever it is you're planning to do?"
"Er… well… we don't really have one," said Harry.
America stared at him. "WHAT?! You fail once, and you're just giving up?! C'mon, that's not like you guys! We're the heroes! We're supposed to keep on trying until we succeed! Or until we all get killed, but even then I'll make sure we all die heroically!"
"I don't think that's a very good incentive, eh," said Canada.
"No, it isn't, but I get his point," meowed Hermione. "What would you have us do, Alfred? We have no idea who the Heir of Slytherin is, or where the Chamber of Secrets is, or what the monster within it is."
"Well… yeah, I guess you have a point there," admitted America. His stomach rumbled. "Dudes, I'm hungry. Do you think dinner's ready yet?"
Harry checked his watch. "It should be. I'm pretty hungry, too. See you later, Hermione." The four boys got up and went to the Great Hall, talking about food. America was still disappointed by the lack of hamburgers, but the food at Hogwarts was surprisingly good considering it was British, and therefore irrevocably tainted.
He was just chowing down on some roast beef when the doors of the Great Hall suddenly banged open. "ZE AWESOME GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT HAS ARRIVED! FEEL FREE TO BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! Seriously, go on. Do it."
A/N: Yes, it was inevitable. Prussia has entered the building. BOW DOWN BEFORE ZE AWESOMENESS! Also, have a hug, everyone. \(^-^)/ Now for Q&A! To Berlin: Probably Italy's. I can just imagine how happy and fun it would be. PASTA EVERYWHERE~! To SoulxMakaLover37: I think I'm running out of ideas for Kuma names. I might just start opening a dictionary at random and using whatever word I land on. Nope, never jumped in an elevator. Hmm... tough question. Maybe I'd ask Germany for advice on drawing manga-style, since he seemed good at it. All I can draw are really simple chibis. And I'd probably choose... the kitchen and its legion of house-elves to do my bidding. Aww, thanks! To TheChibitalian: 1) I'd probably choose magic and England's cooking. I'm not actually that into Italian food, to be honest, but I really like roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and biscuits and such, so it would probably work out well for me. 2) Don't worry, he'll chill in ice cream... MY ice cream... forever and ever and ever... hehehehehehe... I googled German Sparkle Party, but judging from the thumbnail for the video that was the first thing to pop up I was too afraid to actually click on anything. NEXT CHAPTER: Canada gets to deal with the Bad Touch Trio. See you all next time!