Chapter 4: The one where he smiles, and she laughs.

Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

Chapter Three

Harry's POV

I'm not funny. Ask anybody. Ron's the funny one, even when he doesn't try to be. Yet every time this girl laughed, a part of me swelled. I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm not close to a lot of girls. I mean all I really have is Hermione, and she's different from other girls. This must be the longest conversation I've ever had with a non-Hermione, non-Ginny girl since...ever.

But then again, something made me think this girl was different. What was even weirder than this unusually comfortable banter we had going on, is not once did she refer to me as Harry Potter, and I know she noticed the scar because she called me Scarhead earlier. This was definitely weird, having a conversation with a stranger and them not constantly staring at my forehead.

This made me think this girl was a muggle, but that's impossible, Hermione said muggles can't see Hogwarts. Maybe she was foreign; she does have a different accent. Maybe her dad or something was also in that meeting, and she tagged along. But wait that doesn't explain why -

"My brothers took me camping once", her voice cut through my thoughts. I didn't realise that I had followed her to the nook; I was so engrossed in my thoughts. I was vaguely aware that we were very close, my body situated next to her propped up legs on the nook. I could feel her warmth.

Luckily my side was to her; otherwise, she would see the deep flush I could feel rising up my neck. I heard her chuckle and turned around a little and raised an eyebrow at her, hoping she couldn't see my blush.

What the hell…I don't blush! She was sprouting something about the CIA, this girl was random. But wait, that was a muggle thing, wasn't it? Is she a muggle…but that's impossible right. I mean she's here, in Hogwarts. I realised I was quiet for too long, so I made a vague reference about the trees in the Amazon. Gosh that was such a lame thing to do, I was speaking about trees. But this seemed something of a joke for her.

She got this small smile; it was small but big enough to cause a dimple on her left cheek. She started telling a story, hands gesturing and this light in her eyes, and all my previous thoughts were gone.

I was completely taken in. I didn't let my confusion show as her story revealed that what she was doing was unintentional magic. Was this girl a witch who just didn't know it? Because that's what it sounded like, but that's impossible, even if she was muggle born, Hogwarts would have sent her a letter right? But then her accent, she wasn't British…but still, my letter found me even on an uninhabitable rock in the middle of nowhere.

I was unconsciously asking her appropriate questions whilst still contemplating, but I quickly became more interested in what she was saying rather than thinking. She actually jumped off the tree, she must be mental.

From the way she spoke it sounded like all she had in life were her brothers. I listened to her go on but didn't want to interrupt to ask her what she was doing here, because she definitely wasn't here because of that meeting Mr Weasley had gone to. I caught the end of her last sentence though, and it distracted me again.

The way her voice faded away as she said, "That's what I thought…" angered me just a little bit. Here was this girl with two family members in her life that probably broke the bank to take her on her dream vacation, and she doubts them. I mean, just the other day I would have wished for a brother to complain to about my scar hurting.

She didn't know how good she had it, so I turned around and let her know, "There's no guessing about it. There's only one reason you jumped, and one only, you knew one of your brothers would catch you or break your fall."

She didn't say anything to this and just continued staring at me, as if she was seeing something in my eyes that frightened her a bit. I tried to lessen the intensity of my stare, just so as not to scare her that much, but I don't think I was successful as her stare just continued. I only broke contact when I saw her face move towards mine….

Hermione's POV

The girl that was sitting next to Harry moved her face to the side and made eye contact with me. She had big eyes, and for a moment was struck by how pretty she was, but she didn't dress like Lavender and Parvati, so that was a good sign.

What was she doing there with Harry though, it almost looked like Ron and I had interrupted something. But that was impossible, I'm pretty sure Harry would have mentioned knowing this girl…as she stood, I got a good look at her and saw what could only be a cell phone in her pocket, and I'm sure that was a T-shirt of a muggle rock band I saw an advertisement of once. Judging by fact that she carried that phone in here along with that iPod, the earphones sticking out the top of her tee, she can't be a muggle born witch because any muggle born witch knows electronic equipment doesn't work here.

When I was done with the summary, I fingered the wand in my pocket, taking it out; around the same time Harry turned and stood. I don't know why he was surprised to see us seeing as he was the one that was supposed to find food and get back. Leaving me behind with a hungry, and therefore very annoying, (oh when is he not though?), Ron. As if on cue, his recently deep voice cut in,

"Mate, where's the grub, I thought you were going to find the kitchens, I'm starving. You know I can't think on an empty stomach and thinking of passwords is draining business." I couldn't let that one go to waste,

"Honestly Ronald, then what's your excuse for not being able to think when satiated." I heard a laugh after that, a hearty and feminine one. I wasn't used to ever getting a laugh out of anything I said. It's not that Harry is stupid and doesn't get the joke, but it's usually that he doesn't want to spur the argument on, which is unfair because he always laughs at Ron's jokes at my expense. But then again Ron is needier than I am. Goodness Hermione, you're getting completely side-tracked; luckily, all that happened whilst I was distracted was Ron finally realising there was a stranger here. It did take him enough time.

"You're not food. Harry, I tell you to bring food and you bring back a girl!"

"Well at least you've got your priorities straight. You're right about this one, nothing but burgers on the mind." She said this to me, and I wanted to smile. For once somebody was taking my side. But as usual my analytical mind was on over drive. I already processed that she was definitely foreign by the accent. Sounded a bit RP but you can tell there was a slight difference. Probably from the States, but she didn't have any regional American accent I could recognize either. Her voice was airy, and she did enunciate well. Aha, maybe an American that was private schooled. I know there are a lot of British private schools over there. Godric, then this was definitely trouble.

She was an American muggle, who somehow managed to enter Hogwarts! It's impossible to get here just by chance, you'd have to use the floo like we had, and you would need permission, or you'd have to take the train and I know it only runs during term, or you'd have to fly here and land outside the boundaries and come in through the gates, and how did she get passed the gates, you can't exactly waltz in. And well the last choice is impossible because she is too young to be able to apparate, and plus she would have had to land in Hogsmeade and make the deliberate trip from there to here.

My final thought had me raise and point my wand at her, how can Harry be so stupid. Some random girl, who we've never seen before in our lives, who definitely has magic in her because she's standing right here in Hogwarts, dressed as a muggle, just happens to find the most sought after (for all the wrong reasons) boy in the Wizarding World.

She's probably some renegade death eater's child whose parents were put away because of you-know-who and had to flee to America for the past few years and now is out to exact her revenge on the Boy Who lived; or something just as ominous. Anyway, I am not waiting to find out, stupefy now and think later I say.

Just as Harry and Ron turned to look at me, and the girl cocked her eyebrow at my wand as if to say, "not that again", I made the wand movements and started to say the word, but the word didn't come from my mouth, and the spell did not leave my wand. And I saw her surprised expression has she crumpled into a heap onto the floor, Harry diving forward to catch her on her way down.

Len's POV

Li was definitely going spare. And I was a very close second. This was unusual for me but after seeing the look on Ky's face, so broken and hurt, even I could realise the seriousness of the situation. We must have run up and down this castle about five times in the past hour, but we still couldn't find her. It didn't help that opening the same doors seem to lead to different corridors and the staircases moved whilst you were on it.

If I wasn't preoccupied with finding Ky before she got herself hurt, I would have stayed behind to tinker with the mechanics behind it.

From what I had mapped out of the castle from all the times we ran up and down, we should be on the third floor. And then it hit me, the staircases. I interrupted what must have been Li's thousandth 'fuck',

"The staircases! Knowing Ky, she's going up and down them like crazy, you know how those things fascinate her." Well, moving staircases fascinated me too but I wasn't about to point it out. I was hoping for relief at pinpointing her location, instead I found dread on Li's face.

"Fuck! She probably did go there. What if she didn't know the staircases move? What if she was so upset crying, that she didn't notice the one she was about to step on was about to change. Fuck, what if she fell all the way down! Do you know how many damn floors this damn castle has! Oh Shit! Her falling makes me think of that time in the Amazon, you remember how she ended up on the top of that damn Kapok tree. What if she 'poofs' herself onto the top of this fucking castle. What if right now she's hanging off one of these fucking turrets?"

I could tell that Linus was two seconds away from a nervous breakdown. Firstly, he's sworn more times today than he has in his whole life cumulatively, his previous record being ten and that was also concerning the Amazon. Now I think he owes the swear jar like a hundred bucks. Ky would go bonkers when she hears.

I mean it's not like we ever used the thing, except on Linus and only when he said words like namby pamby, nifty and balderdash. Oh, and every single time he called Nessie by some romantic nickname; sweetheart, baby and honey all included. Of course, he tried to make us pay up for calling Nessie…well Nessie, but it made no difference, Ky took all the money and bought ice cream with it anyway.

My chest suddenly tugged…where the hell was she? It's almost dark and I haven't seen a soul in ages. Well not counting that ghost, but we were used to that sort of thing, and we did our usual just ignore and walk away stunt. I did want to stop and ask her if she saw Ky, but Li said it was no use, the thing was crying nonstop…crying…Ky…

"And what's worse, I've been getting this weird feeling ever since I entered the castle. Like this warm creepy sensation. I thought it went away but I guess I just zoned it out with this panic."

That scared me a little because I also had the same feeling, but I thought it was stress, or my powers trying to search for Ky. I just wanted to get Ky and get home.

Just as I was about to turn and tell Li I had the same sensation, the weird statue gargoyle things that I barely noticed behind me jumped aside to reveal the entrance to a spiral staircase and a red-haired kid, well guy, he must be just a few years younger than me, with black horned rim glasses, stepped out.

I don't know whether it was the fact that the guy came out of a secret passageway so therefore is up to some shady business, or that he was wearing what looked like a cape or cloak or something, or that the 'search' that I still had on for Ky sent a tingle through my spine, meaning she was close.

Li obviously had the same thought, and in the next second we raised our hands, way before the guy could get whatever was in his pocket and flung our hands to the left, where the body hit with a resounding crash.

Please review,

Kalina