There's an authors note at the bottom in reference to this chapter…I can't say it up here otherwise it'd be a spoiler for the whole chapter! :X

I'm publishing 28 right after this! I've been writing lately, but writing ahead. I've written out a few of the key scenes for this story already, also some Deleted Scenes have been started. :]

Thanks for the reviews, Kankananime123, PintoNess, Madmad237, Weasleytwinslover87, JulesDragonlady, and Sarah Liz B! :]

A review would be most appreciated. ;]

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!

CHAPTER 27

As always, halfway through the ride Audrey and Lily left to find Severus. In the last two years they had decided that they'd spend half of the train ride with their Gryffindor friends and the other half with Severus. Maksim, the fourth year who spoke Russian with Audrey from time to time joined them as well.

From the time they made their way off the train, all the way through the carriage rides, and all the way into the school, all they heard was talk about changes at Hogwarts.

"Honestly, it's probably just a change in staff." Severus said, slightly annoyed with all of the students chattering around it.

"I don't know, Severus." Lily replied, in thought. "We've had a new DADA teacher every year and they never mentioned it in the letter before."

"Ooh! Maybe they're resorting for giggles!" Audrey chimed in, spinning around for no reason. She was happy to return to Hogwarts, Severus raised an eyebrow. "And then Severus could be a Gryffindor and stop hanging around those soon-to-be-Death-Eaters!"

"Not all of Slytherin house-" Severus began but the girls shot him a look that said it all.

"Alright, alright. You've made your point." Severus said, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

The crowd finally started moving into the great hall and the three said their quick good byes and headed off to their house tables. They would catch up in the library and in the courtyards, as they always did.

"Why do you even bother with that git?" James asked the two as they sat down on either side of him.

Bad idea.

Both Audrey and Lily elbowed James simultaneously.

"Ow!"

Lily added in an extra elbow, she was still holding a slight grudge about their prank.

After a particularly long Sorting Hat song, which Sirius let out a loud snore for humor, and the Sorting, the Headmaster took to his podium for announcements.

"Welcome! To those of you who have been here before, welcome back for another exciting and new year at Hogwarts. For those of you who haven't been here, welcome!…"

Sirius mouthed 'Blah…Blah…Blah…' to his friends as the Headmaster went over the general stuff, curfew, safety, etc.

"And now, as I'm sure you're all wondering…"

Everyone instantly perked up, listening intently. Dumbledore looked amused.

"Hogwarts will be different this year from our usual routines…" He said, now pacing on the platform. "We will be hosting two schools this year."

Everyone's mouths dropped.

"What schools do you think they'll be?" Marlene whispered.

"Salem?" Peter suggested. "I've got a cousin in the States."

"Maybe the Brazilian Wizards Institute?" James said.

"This year at Hogwarts will be all about international magical relations, and so I have invited the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic-"

Audrey, Lily, and Marlene looked across at the Hufflepuff table where Sarah sat. They grinned at each other and she gave them a thumbs up.

"and the Durmstrang Institute to join us this year."

Lily and Marlene gave Audrey nudges, grinning and giggling.

Sirius exchanged a look with James and they both groaned in frustration.

I groaned because I'd be around the git that stole Audrey from me all year, James groaned because he'd have to put up with my complaining about it.

"Your classes will not only be mixed by houses this year, but by schools, you may not have some of the same teachers you would normally have. That is what inter-magical relations is all about, new experiences, and a strong sense of community among us all. There will be several activities planned on the weekends, fourth years and above will be allowed to attend a Yule Ball we are holding over Christmas break this year."

"Oooh! A ball!" Marlene chirped. "That'll be fun."

"I can't wait to go dress shopping." Audrey grinned.

"Our guests should be arriving soon, and as you can see, we've extended the house tables. The dormitories have been enlarged as well, they will not be sorted, but they will chose which houses they want to stay in. While they are here, in their first few weeks, I ask that you be on your best behavior and help your fellow witches and wizards."

Outside of the great hall, there was the din of chatter and the Headmaster walked off of the podium and made his way to the large oak doors of the Great Hall. He opened them, and all of the students turned to see a flurry of teenagers. A majority of boys wore ushanka and the typical brown Durmstrang uniform, which resembled a soilder's. Sven and Karl had always told Audrey about how much they hated the uniforms.

"Why are they wearing those furry hats?" Peter whispered. "It's September!"

Beauxbatons had come in first, and Audrey spotted her cousins, Hans and Peter easily, they looked like their typical selves. They looked around the Hogwarts student body, surveying them. They could give Sirius and James a run for their galleons. As the Beauxbatons students began to disperse and look for houses to sit with, Audrey called them.

"Petro! Hans!" Audrey called, her cousins turned, waved, and made their way to Gryffindor table.

"Zdravstvujtye Audrina!" Hans grinned, sitting across from his cousin and next to Marlene. "Who are your beautiful friends here?" He motioned at Marlene and Lily who were giggling.

"Obviously not interested in you, Hans." Petro replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, these are my cousins. Hans and Petro." Audrey said, pointing at each, respectively.

They all looked similar, they had the same brown eyes and pale complexions. Though Hans had light brown hair, and Petro had dark hair, but not quite as dark as Audrey's. I wouldn't have thought they were cousins until she'd mentioned it. I think I was so on edge about seeing Karl that I simply forgot that she had cousins.

"That's Lily, Marlene, Remus, Peter, James, and Sirius." Audrey said, pointing to her friends respectively.

"We share a name, yes?" Petro turned to Peter. Peter grinned and nodded, they high fived.

"That is going to be so confusing this year." James tutted.

"Not really." Audrey shrugged, pointing at Peter. "He's Pee-ter, and he's Pet-ro." She pointed at her cousin.

"Not too difficult, James." Marlene agreed.

"Where's Chantal?" Audrey asked, looking at her cousins.

"BLONDIE!" Hans yelled. About forty different girls from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons turned around.

"VEELA BLONDIE!" Petro clarified, Chantal came skipping over.

"Audreeeeeeey!" She squealed excitedly, running over and hugging her. "We're going to be school mates this year!"

Marlene nudged Peter to stop drooling over Chantal as she sat down in between Hans and Petro.

Audrey looked over at the Hufflepuff table and saw Sarah sitting next to a boy with light blonde and blue eyes. They were grinning and laughing.

"Guuuys! Look!" Audrey squealed, pointing over to the Hufflepuff table.

"Aww! Puffer!" Sirius cooed.

"So what year are you guys in?" James asked, conversationally, turning to Chantal, Petro, and Hans.

"Fourth." Chantal replied, holding up four fingers.
"Fifth." said Petro.
"Sixth." Hans grinned.

"Ah, so you won't be dorming on our level then." Sirius said sadly, he had a feeling they were similar to him and James. He could just tell.

"No." Hans sighed. "But we'll be around." He wore a mischievous grin.

Having those four together would prove to be incredibly interesting…

"Audrey, what are the dance facilities like?" Chantal asked, her eyes flickering around the room, looking for boys of course.

"They're quite spacious, Chantal. We should be fine accommodating more dancers." She said, nudging her.

The Durmstrang boys came in next, they were very stiff and uniform, but were allowed to break off and join tables.

Sven had spotted Audrey instantly and Karl followed him as the two walked over. Sirius watched a huge smile spread across Audrey's face and his heart sank. He recognized Karl right away once he took off his hat, and without hesitation he scooped Audrey into his arms and kissed her.

I thought I was going to explode. James, Remus, and Peter made a bet to see how long it'd be that I could handle this.

"So is it safe to assume that that's your boyfriend?" Lily teased as Audrey and Karl broke away from each other and sat down. Audrey blushed and Karl grinned.

"Karl, this is Lily, Marlene, Remus, Peter, James, and Sirius." Audrey said, pointing at her friends, respectively.

I noticed Sirius and James wearing identical looks of suspicion as they shook Karl's hand.

"Is there a problem?" Karl laughed, looking at the two.

"Audrey's like our sister, mate." James began.
"And if you hurt her, you won't live to see your seventeenth birthday." Sirius glared.

"Alright, gents. I promise I will not hurt Audrey." Karl said evenly, grinning.

"Plus, our grandfather has given poor Karl enough talks to last him for the next seventy years." Petro piped in.
"And so have we." Hans said, crossing his arms and giving Karl a mean look. They stared at each other for a few seconds then burst into laughter.

"And this is my best friend, Sven." Audrey said, noticing he had already introduced himself to Chantal, and seemed to be hitting it off wonderfully. She went through the process of introducing everyone again and then the feast had appeared.

"So why didn't you tell me when you wrote me last week?" Audrey nudged Karl by bumping his shoulder slightly. He grinned sheepishly.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. Sven almost spoiled it though." Karl replied, shooting Sven a dirty look.

"I'm sorry. I just thought Audrey should know she'd be spending a lot of time with us this year. I'm quite excited for it, really." He said while chewing on some bread. "You do realize, Karl, that we'll be spending the entire year together?"

"Of course I realize that, Sven." Karl said flatly, rolling his eyes.

"So.." James began, casually looking at the two. "What year are you guys in?"

"Fifth." said Karl.
"Fourth." said Sven.

Sirius and James high fived under the table, grateful they wouldn't have to deal with Karl in their dorms.

"Ah, you'll be dorming with us, Sven." Remus said politely.

"Da, though I've heard some things about you four." He said, giving them an interesting look.

"Oh really?" Sirius wore a Cheshire grin. "What types of things?"

"You're pranksters, like those two." He said, nodding his head over to Hans and Petro who were talking to Marlene and Lily.

"You've heard correctly." James grinned. "What has Audrey told you?"

Sven scooted in closer to them, away from Karl and Audrey. "Audrey told me of your shenanigans when she was with you four a few weeks back…Karl wasn't pleased upon first reading it."

The four boys exchanged grins. "Did she tell you what provoked it?"

"Yes." Sven laughed. "She send us photos. Quite good physical impersonations of you all."

"What do you mean that Karl wasn't pleased upon first reading it? Is he alright with it now?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh...let's just say, you're lucky Audrey likes you guys enough to tell him that it was harmless and that you didn't see anything. Karl is usually very calm, but in a situation like that he would have hexed you into the next year." Sven said, laughing slightly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back and talk to Audrey's pretty veela friend over there."

"Good luck, mate." Sirius said, patting him on the back as he got up and moved down towards Chantal.

After another hour of everyone blabbering on at the feast, it was finally time for bed. The hallways were always crowded after feasts, but this was ridiculous.

"It's going to take us an hour to get to the common room." Sirius groaned, hitting his head on a wall in between two portraits.

"Watch it, Black!" One of the portraits hissed, everyone laughed.

"Sorry, sir." Sirius replied.

"How far is your common room?" Karl asked.

"It's on the seventh floor." Sirius replied. "The others are in the dungeons-" 'Where you belong.' Sirius thought to himself. "Slytherin has dungeon style, Hufflepuff's right near the kitchens, an ideal spot, and Ravenclaw is in the east wing, on the sixth or seventh floor."

"Too bad you were not Hufflepuff, Audrey." Sven bumped her hip. "I enjoy midnight snacks."

Audrey snorted, playfully shoving him away as the approached the portrait hole.

Alright, so you may or may not have noticed that Audrey's cousin's name has been changed from Peter to Petro. They're the same name, I just figured it'd be easier seeing as we're going to have two Peters now. :P