Doxology of Dragons

*~Doxology of Dragons~*

~*The Unnamed*~

Fencing.

The art of swordsmanship.

Draco had learned it from his father, who loved the sport as well.

As a child Draco had been rushed into a chamber where they would practice from morning to noon. His father took no pity in mistakes, but that was the way Draco pictured a child should be taught, to learn that mistakes are a sign of weakness.

By the age of 12, Draco could out-do any of his servants and even his father had been thrown to the ground by his sword.

Today it was different. Fencing had grown to be a part of him. Influenced at such a small age Draco loved the feel of a sword in his hand, the sound it made when it slashed through the air.

He was at home, in Malfoy Manor, so he was comfortable to do whatever he pleased. He sought out one of his servants. This one in particular had to be poor Benny, the man who brought him his clothes everyday. Benny, not knowing much about fencing, but enough to defend himself, was all that Draco needed.

Draco lanced all his weight on his right foot and with his left hand plunged his sword forward, only to be blocked by Benny, which made Draco very mad and he swung his sword in an upward position so that Benny's sword made a loud scraping noise.

This was what Draco lived for, the excitement that comes from fencing, the adrenaline that cannot be produced by anything else, unless your being chased by winged boars.

Soon enough Benny's sword was on the ground where Draco had his foot on it. He smiled, his evil grin. The one that makes the hair in the back of your neck curl, and makes you think how much fun he is really having.

Draco said to him, seeing Benny standing in front of him, Draco's sword pointed at his chin, a look of dread on his face, "Nobody can beat a Malfoy, especially this one."

"Wanna bet?"

A voice, a female voice, was speaking, but there was no one in the room except Draco and Benny.

"It must be a poltergeist. I will get some servants to banish it from your room sir," said Benny in a tiny voice.

"No. If it's a poltergeist I will get rid of it myself," said Draco, remembering suddenly how much he hated Peeves and his stupid pranks. "As you say master," answered Benny.

As Benny left Draco began to feel very uncomfortable in the room. He realized that whatever was inside was something more than a poltergeist.

"Who are you, and what do you want?!" screamed Draco unable to know if the thing could hear him or not.

"It's not important who I am, I came here for a challenge," answered the disembodied voice.

"A challenge? I never challenged anyone!" answered Draco, frowning.

"Oh, 'Nobody can beat a Malfoy, especially this one,' sounded like a pretty stupid thing to say, especially when girls like me exist in the world."

"Girls. Like you. What would that be?" replied Draco a snicker in his eye.

"Not afraid of pestering fools like you," the voice said harshly. There was a sense of threat and laughter in her voice, like an animal enjoying a kill.

"Step into the light," spoke Draco. He had an uneasy churning in the pit of his stomach.

No woman had done this to him before. They were not feelings of love or compassion but of, suspense and anxiety. Things that would make a normal person break into a sweat, but not Draco. Draco was like no other boy.

He was pale as moonlight, with silver blond hair that was too fine to touch. He was tall and never blushed. The very sight of him made you have a certain respect for him. True he was cold, but he did enjoy every minute of it.

His parents weren't loving, but growing up in those circumstances made him grow used to it. He loved the idea of ordering people around, and whenever there was an opportunity to make one of his servants miserable he would take it.

Despite that, everybody in Malfoy Manor cared for him like he were their own son. They saw how Narcissa and Lucius showed so little affection towards him so when he was small they took his tantrums and his dirty tricks all to make him a bit happier. When his parents were away, which was most of the time, they tried to make him as happy as possible.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Draco was not his ability to love evil or his wonderful hair, but his eyes. Draco had eyes of an eagle, pale as the bottom of the ocean. He had gray eyes that in the right light would shine a beautiful shade of silver. If somebody were to look into those eyes they would find a lot of the coldness that Draco so very much enjoyed. It would be very hard to find something that would be close to warmth in them.

But that was the way Draco liked them, to inspire fear in whoever looked at them.

"Will you accept my challenge?" asked the voice with no trace of a whisper so that Draco could only imagine where she was hiding.

"Yes, but step into the light," he answered back growing a bit impatient.

"Very well, then."

A robed figure stepped into the light, her facial features were hidden by shadows that came from nothing but you could very well tell that it was a woman. Her slender figure was tall, almost, or maybe even, the same height as he. Her eyes glowed from out of the dark shadows, making them noticeable. They were a deep hazel and had gold sparks. If Draco hadn't known better he would have thought them to be yellow. Her hair was the most stunning thing that Draco had seen. It was long, up to her waist, and shone of silver every time a ray of light hit it's beautiful exterior.

But perhaps the most beautiful thing about it was that it was midnight black.

Draco had always thought that no one could ever surpass the color of Harry Potter's hair which was the color of black soot. But this woman, or girl, had surpassed the boundaries of black completely.

This black had no depth or meaning. It never ended. Perhaps that is why her hair was so straight and shone silver.

So black it shines silver, Draco thought.

"I will not show my face," said the girl.

"In fencing it is wrong to not show your face. It is offensive," replied Draco, lying, but deeply wanting to see her face. "Besides, what are you worrying about, you will never beat a Malfoy, especially if you are a woman."

Draco had said this to be cruel, and by seeing the shifting of her feet he had accomplished it.

Maybe she will be a worthy candidate for me to fence.

"You have given me an opportunity to kill you, you do realize that. Never mess with the pride of a woman. Especially this one. If I can take that sword out of your hand in three moves, will you listen to me?" she retorted, a sense of anger in her voice.

"I would do anything for a swordsman who can disarm me in three moves."

Something told him that this was the wrong thing to say.

They both shouted at the same time: 'ON GUARD!!!!!'

The girl lanced forward-one, she lifted her leg off the ground and brought it up to kick his hand and make him let go of the sword -two, and caught his saber in an outstanding stance-three.

He didn't even notice that her other leg went behind his ankle and tripped him, even though he was standing stark still.

Draco had tried to block her, but she was all too fast, like a lighting bolt of energy.

But above that he was stunned.

How did she do that? God! She knocked me on the floor!

Her foot was on his chest, her sword, which was shining in the light, appeared to have a tiny bird on it. Something like a raven or a hawk.

Draco couldn't believe this. Was she... was she laughing? She was laughing!

All of a sudden the laughter stopped and she leaned forward, a huge grin on her face.

She was going to kiss him...

Thump! Draco fell out of his bed.

The pain was what woke Draco Malfoy up. As he sat up, he noticed that he was lying on the floor of his bedroom with his leg bent under him at an angle that he didn't think was normal.

Draco disentangled himself from his bed sheets and stood up, trying to remember the dream he had just woken up from. Memories danced on the tip of his mind but even as he reached out to bring them closer they disappeared, leaving only the ever-so-soft memory of sweet laughter. Draco sighed and started getting ready to meet his mother and father in Diagon Alley. Maybe it'll take my mind off the dream, he thought. But it didn't.

As Draco finished dressing, he noticed that he was he putting his shoe on the wrong foot. All he could think about was the dream until a servant knocked on his door and told him that everyone was waiting for him at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Fine," he told the servant, as he left the room, still thinking of the dream and the strange lingering fact that the girl in his dream had spoken with an American accent.

***

Leaning out the window of her grandmother's sick room in their estate in Queens, Hawk Vela pulled a few leaves out the tree's branch before bringing in the door of the window and latching it shut.

"I really wish you would use your magic for simple things like closing a window, dear, you are a witch after all," Hawk heard her grandmother say from across the room. Plucking at the leaves and letting their sweet smell fill the air before her, Hawk allowed herself a tiny smile before turning to face her grandmother.

"Oh come on Old Mother," she teased, walking across the room to stand next to her grandmother. "Why use something so big for such a small task?" Hawk said reasonably, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder with her hand.

"Hmmm," her grandmother said disapprovingly.

This time Hawk smiled outright. She loved seeing her grandmother angry. Hawk thought it was funny to see such an old woman mad. Whenever Old Mother was angry, her hazel eyes-which were so much like Hawk's- would flash gold. She would miss Old Mother greatly when she left to Britain.

Despite the smile, Hawk's grandmother saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Come here child," Old Mother said, beckoning Hawk closer. As Hawk came over to her bed Old Mother surveyed her grandchild. Black, baggy pants, a black sleeveless T-shirt with a picture of Gizmo (from Gremlins) on it and lots of black rubber bracelets. There was no trace of makeup on Hawk's face and there had never been-and Old Mother seriously doubted that there would ever be. But Hawk's skin was beautiful and unblemished. You could tell by the color of it that Hawk was not White. She was in fact, just as her father and her grandmother were, Mexican. Having been born there, Hawk's skin got the full frontal attack of the Southern North American sun.

Hawk sighed, "Old Mother, I don't know what to do," she said as she sat on the side of the bed. "I mean I know that Papí really loves me and would go crazy if I weren't with him, but I really love it here in New York and I don't want to leave all my friends, my home, you. I just don't know what to do." Hawk looked down at her hands folded in her lap.

"Well dear, while it's true it would break my son's heart to part with you, your father won't make you do anything you don't want to. But I will tell you now, you'll love Britain, really, it's fabulous. I lived there for a while as a child and I really enjoyed it. And Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is such a fine school. You'll learn a lot of things, a lot more than you can learn in that Froglet place here. Besides, you're leaving tomorrow, it's the first day of school for you, I don't think you have much of a choice." Old Mother's voice was rough with old age and her thick Spanish accent broke through, even though she had been able to hide it for years.

"But I will feel better if you came with us Old Mother," Hawk said, trying hard not to whine.

"I know child but like I told your father, I don't want to die in some foreign country, when I can die in my bed in my home," Old Mother said, taking one of Hawk's hands and squeezing it.

Hawk squeezed back, "Old Mother, don't talk like that. You're not going to die."

"I am not immortal child, and I already am sick. Add that to my age and it's a wonder I didn't die years ago," Old Mother said with a harsh laugh.

Hawk stared, horrified that her grandmother would talk like that.

Old Mother saw the look on Hawk's face and pulled Hawk closer so that she was lying on the bed beside her.

"Child, everyone dies, sooner or later. If you expect it, it comes as less of a shock when you do die."

Seeing that the look was still on Hawk's face, Old Mother continued, "But I just because I'm not here doesn't mean I'm gone, or that I don't still love you. I will always love you, even in the after life and I will haunt you after death to prove it to you."

Hawk smiled and put her head on Old Mother's shoulder, "I'm so tired," she said, closing her eyes and hoping Old Mother would catch the hint.

She did.

Old Mother started humming a melody, softly, then a little louder. When Hawk joined in, Old Mother started singing, letting Hawk keep the tempo.

For such an old woman, Old Mother had an amazing voice. The words lifted through the air and hung there, giving Old Mother the appearance of being 50 years younger, her heavy Spanish accent just making the words all the prettier and more relaxing to Hawk.

Don't lose your way

with each passing day

You've come so far

Don't throw it away

Live believing

dreams are for weaving

wonders are waiting to start

Live your story

faith hope and glory

hold to the truth in your heart

If we hold on

together

I know our dreams

will never die

dreams see us through to forever

were clouds roll by

for you and I

Souls in the wind must

learn how to bend

Seek out a star

hold on to the end

Valley mountain

there is a fountain

washes our tears all away

worlds are swaying

someone is praying

please let us come home and stay...

Adriana Vela looked down at her shoulder and saw Hawk with her eyes closed, breathing steadily.

Old Mother put her head on top of Hawk's and closed her eyes, too.

She was asleep before she knew it but, unlike her granddaughter, she never woke up.

***

"Ron!! What are you doing!! That's the wrong entrance, you idiot!!" said Hermione, exasperated of the long walk, pushing her trolley which in fact, had always been a bit heavier than Harry's or Ron's because of the extra few thousand books she carried along with her.

"What? Are you telling me that the 9 3/4 Platform that I have been coming on for 6 years is wrong!!!!"

"Ron?"

"What Hermione, you want a piece of this?"

"Ron?"

"Come on Hermione, BRING IT ON!"

"Ron!"

"WHAT!"

"YOU ARE ON THE WRONG PLATFORM!!!" screamed Harry, he was tired of hearing Hermione and Ron have their yearly school year fight every single September first.

"Oh, all right, then," said Ron a look of complete ignorance on his face. "Well, we best be boarding the train then," he said happily, not looking at either of them and going through the correct barrier.

Harry heard Hermione mumble, "Honestly..." and Ginny laugh as Harry walked through the barrier after Ron.

Harry, Ginny and Hermione boarded the train and went to the back where they usually sat and found Ron there waiting for them.

The train started moving and they all got up and leaned out the window.

"BYE MRS. WEASLEY!!"

"BYE MUM! LOVE YOU!"

"THANKS A LOT, MRS. WEASLEY!!!"

"SO LONG, SUCKERS!!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny looked over at Ron with a look of complete amazement.

Ron shrugged, "What? Fred and George are gone, someone has to keep up the good work."

The three of them burst out laughing.

At that time Dean Thomas walked in with a very peculiar look on his face, because the four of them were all now hysterically laughing.

"Hey Gin, want to come with us? We have an empty seat and-"

"Yeah, sure I'll go, see you later, guys!"

With that both Ginny and Dean left together and shut the door.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment and said nothing. Then Ron broke the silence.

"What was that?"

"She didn't even hesitate," said Hermione, looking at the door as if that would bring Ginny back.

Then Ron looked at Harry.

"What did you do to make her leave like that?"

"I didn't do anything! What are you talking about? Why would it be me that would make her go away like that?"

"Oh, come Harry, like you don't know!" Hermione said laughing at the fact that Harry could be so dim.

"Quiet, Hermione," Harry said, blushing slightly and turning away.

"I really don't want to be having this conversation about my baby sister so, if you would kindly change the subject, I would really appreciate it," Ron said looking at both of them with an expression of pleading in his eyes.

"All right, all right," said Hermione and Harry looked thankfully at Ron-obviously he didn't want to have this conversation about Ron's baby sister, either.

"Oh, you know what!" Hermione practically shouted, scaring Harry and Ron.

"No, but I've got an idea we're about to find out," Ron said. By the look on his face he didn't want to have this conversation, either.

Hermione ignored the look and his comment and turned to Harry.

"We're going to have a new student this year!"

Harry shrugged, "What's the big deal, we get tons of new students every year?"

"But are those new students from half way across the world?!" Hermione asked in a hushed voice that was supposed to make them interested in the information she had.

It didn't work for Ron. He started playing with Hedwig, succeeding in his ploy to annoy Hermione.

Shaking her head she turned back to Harry.

"Across the world? What is she, I mean, you know, where is she from?"

Hermione seemed to be having a great time relaying the information to someone who actually listened to her; her cheeks were slightly flushed and she was talking a little faster than usual.

"She is from America, and she just moved here yesterday, she is going to be at Hogwarts until the end of her education, or until her dad moves again."

"Why did she come here?" Harry asked.

"Her dad has some Muggle job that makes them move a lot. She's been all over the world and now she is coming over here. I'm so excited, I can't wait to meet her and ask her all the questions I have about the different places in the world-"

"Hermione, just don't scare her away, okay?" Harry said and from across the compartment. They heard Ron snigger.

"Shut up both of you," Hermione said, getting up, looking at her watch and then taking her robes from her trunk.

"I suggest you two start changing, we'll be there soon."

And with that she marched out of the compartment and slammed the door.

"D'ya think we made her mad?" Ron asked in a tiny voice.

Harry shrugged, "If we did, I didn't have anything to do with it, I wasn't trying to be mean, you were the one who laughed."

"Oh, yeah sure blame it on me, right?" Ron said, throwing Harry his cloak.

Before they knew it, they were at Hogsmeade station and getting off the train into the carriages that would take them to Hogwarts, and closer to the new year that awaited them.

***

Hawk was nervous.

She paced back and forth in Professor McGonagall's office.

The professor had told her that she would wait until everyone had sat down and the first years had tried on the Sorting Hat, then she would go out and Professor Dumbledore would tell the school who she was and where she came from and then it would be her trn to try on the Sorting Hat.

Hawk had no idea what the Sorting Hat was but she didn't like it already.

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, offering Hawk no consolation whatsoever and Hawk got the impression that she was secretly laughing at her.

And that didn't help at all. Hawk was so nervous that she felt like she wanted to throw up.

If she felt like this now , how would she feel when she had to go out in front of all those people?..

***

Harry, sitting at the Gryffindor table, looked around the great Hall.

It was decorated as usual and everything looked normal, except that Professor Dumbledore wasn't sitting at the teachers table.

The doors opened and a long line of tiny first years walked in with Professor McGonagall behind them.

She walked up to the head of the line and put down a stool and the Sorting Hat.

The hat exploded into song the way it did every year and the students went forward to sit on the stool and try it on.

"Where's the American girl?" Harry asked Hermione who was sitting on the left of him.

"I don't know," Hermione said with a shrug.

The last child had tried on the hat, but Professor McGonagall didn't take the stool or hat away.

"This is it!" Hermione was pulling on the sleeve of Harry's robe and jumping slightly up and down in her chair.

The doors to the Great Hall opened again and Professor Dumbledore walked up to the Sorting Hat. He cleared his throat and the few people who were whispering to each other quieted.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore began, his voice loud and clear in the silence. "I'm pleased to announce that this year we have a new student who will be spending the rest of her learning years with us. Her name is Eva Maris Vela and she is coming to us from America. I hope that you will make her feel at home. Miss Vela, please, come in."

***

She wasn't going to make it through this. She was going to faint, to scream, to run away. She couldn't do it, she couldn't.

"Miss Vela, please, come in." Hawk heard Dumbledore's disembodied voice float through the big doors in front of her.

There's no way out now, a tiny voice in the back of Hawks mind told her. Just go, it won't be that bad.

How much you want to bet? she asked the voice in her head.

"So this is insanity," Hawk whispered to herself.

And since she was already insane, she went through the doors to what the teachers had called the Great Hall.

If she weren't literally scared thoughtless, she would have noticed the long rows of elegant maple wood tables. The enchanted ceiling that reflected the outside sky, and the hundreds of candles floating in mid-air. However, she did notice that Professor Dumbledore was standing next to a stool with an old patched wizards hat sitting on it.

"Come here, Miss Vela," Dumbledore said softly enough so that only she could hear him. "Don't be afraid," and the twinkle in his eyes reassured her somehow.

Professor Dumbledore picked up the old hat and Hawk, who was not yet to the stool, tripped and quickly regained her footing, shouting "I'm okay!!!"

She stumbled the rest of the way to the stool and when she got there she was shaking slightly.

Dumbledore leaned forward a little. "Don't worry, just put the hat on and everything will be all right," he said with a smile.

He's laughing at me, too, Hawk thought. Damn British!

She sat down and took the hat out of Professor Dumbledore's hands. Then, with a deep breath, she placed it on her head.

The rim of the hat came down over her eyes, so that all she could see was darkness.

Ah, man, Hawk whined to herself. She hated being the center of attention.

"It's really not that bad", said and old British voice in her head, making her jump. "I've been the center of attention for years and I love it!"

The first thought to come into Hawk's mind was; yeah, you would. It wasn't much of a defense, but when she was scared, Hawk was sarcastic.

"Yes, I would. If you've been on a shelf for more than a hundred years, taken down only once a year, you would enjoy the attention, too!! It's not an exciting life being a hat," the voice said digintly.

Hawk suddenly realized that the hat was talking in her head and could read her thoughts. This should have made her jump again, but she had seen weirder things in her old school, Froglet.

"I should put you in Slytherin for that," the hat told her.

Hawk shook her head slightly. Her grandmother had told her about Slytherin and she had decided that she did not want to be in that House.

Nononononono, Hawk thought vigorously.

"Ha, you should be in Slytherin, anyway, but you remind me of another boy six years ago, so you belong with him in GRYFFINDOR!!!!!"

Hawk knew that the last word was shouted to all the people in the Great Hall because everyone started clapping and she heard screams and whistles come form one corner of the vast room.

The hat was lifted off of Hawk's head and Professor Dumbledore helped her off of the stool and pointed to a table in the corner of the Hall.

Hawk had to assume that he meant for her to sit there.

As Hawk walked to the table, she felt hundreds of pairs of eyes on her.

When she got to the table she sat in the only seat that was open, next to three girls who seemed to be in a heated discussion about something and a boy with sandy colored hair and freckles across the bridge of his nose.

"Hi," Hawk said nervously to the boy on her right. The girls seemed too into their discussion to be bothered, but Hawk didn't want to look like an idiot just sitting there.

"Hallo," the boy answered back, staring at her in amazement.

"Um..." said Hawk with anticipation she didn't know the name of the person that was sitting next to her, especially since everyone looked so much alike in tall black wizard hats.

"Seamus," he said with a smile.

"Are you hungry, you must be, after all they must starve you in America, without kidney pie!" said one of the girls breaking off from the conversation for half a second.

"Kidney Pie?" said Hawk who was having a hard time mentally picturing a raw cow's kidney inside of a pie.

"Of course, England has the best food in the world!, pass the frog legs please," said Seamus.

I highly doubt that, thought Hawk to herself, as new platters began to pop and disappear. Each seemed to look more peculiar than the one before-especially one that looked like a bowl of green snot swimming with mushrooms, but turned out to be pea soup.

Well, since she had to stay here she might as well start getting used to the food. Hawk picked up the silver tray that had appeared a minute ago, but what she saw there made her scream out loud.

"FOOD! FINALLY REAL FOOD!" Hawk's hunger seemed to have suddenly tripled in the last three seconds and she began to devour the hot-dogs, pizza, hamburgers, French fries, chocolate malts and many other American goods. She suddenly noticed that people started to look at her so she slowed down her pace and reached out to refill her cup of soda.

Katie Bell who was sitting next to her shook her long hair to straighten her pony tail.

"Hi, I'm Katie, I heard your proclamation of food and I couldn't help but laugh."

"Oh it's just that I'm not used to English food," said Hawk with embarrassment. It was true. All this food seemed alien to her, in America you don't eat Shepard's Pie regularly.

"Don't worry you'll get used to it by the end of this year," said Katie with an optimistic smile which made Hawk feel a little bit more welcome. "Hey, meet my friend Angelina."

"Hi, how do you like Hogwarts so far? And what's your Quidditch position?" she asked.

Angelina was a girl around 17,dark, Hawk could tell she was tall and had a very fit body which meant that she constantly exercised.

"Hogwarts is really interesting, there's a lot to see, and I don't have a Quidditch position." Even in America Quidditch was very popular, but Hawk, who had longed to play, just couldn't do it.

"WHAT, you don't play Quidditch?" she asked amazed

"The truth is that I can't even stay on the broom long enough without falling off. I don't seem to have a lot of equilibrium," said Hawk, a sort of laugh in her voice.

At this Katie and Angelina burst out laughing.

"Don't worry. . at least you can walk on two . . feet, right?" They said this through desperate attempts to stop laughing.

"Actually I'm still working on that."

The night continued in this sort of conversation until finally the plates began to disappear back into the kitchens.

Just then, Dumbledore started talking and everyone quieted down.

Hawk tried to listen, but she was distracted by the Great Hall. It was really pretty.

She let her gaze wander over the other tables in the Hall. She was lucky that she hadn't 'dressed up' as her father had suggested that morning before she left.

Hawk was wearing her usual black outfit, that consisted of (usually) a pair of black, baggy pants and a plain black shirt with her long black jacket-which her grandmother called a trench coat even though it wasn't. But, to make her dad happy, that morning she had put on a casual black button-up T-shirt and a black skirt with black fish-net pantyhose and her 'frankenstien boots'-or so her dad called them-that came up to the middle of her shin, had three buckles each, and had a two inch bottom that she wore most of the time. Everyone else seemed to be wearing a black cloak, so she didn't stand out too much.

A flash of silver caught her attention and her eyes fell on someone who did stand out.

A boy of 16 or 17 sat at a table between two ugly boys of the same age. He had the blondest hair Hawk had ever seen. In fact, if she hadn't known better, she would have said it was white. His pale skin stood out against the black of his robes. But if Hawk had to choose something about him that she loved right then and there, it would have been his eyes.

They were the silver of moonlight reflected on water and seemed to be alive with a spark of light. They were mesmerizing.

Hawk never thought it was possible, but she couldn't take her eye's off of him, and it wasn't just because of his hair or even his eyes, it was because he was hot. He was, Hawk thought, the most gorgeous boy she had ever seen.

Hawk smiled a little. Maybe this year won't be that bad after all, Hawk thought raising an eyebrow, her smile turning into a grin

Professor Dumbledore sat up and said "Ladies, gentlemen and ghosts. . ."

Ghosts? What ghosts? She hadn't seen a ghost since she came, so she looked up and down the table and she indeed see a ghost who had a huge ruffle around his neck. To Hawk this wasn't the first time she saw a ghost and it didn't scare her. She also noticed that each house had it's own ghost and that the Slytherin's ghost in particular made even Hawk wince a tiny bit.

". . .it is time to go, now that our bellies are full. Please make Miss Hawk Vela feel at home since she is our guest. Goodnight!" With those last words Hawk's face went a bit red since she hated being the center of attention, although at times it was pretty good to be noticed by everyone. Since the moment that Hawk had seen Dumbledore, those eyes had given her a great impression; they seemed to have a strange knowledge behind them that only he knew, they seemed to inspire a sort of calmness even at the worst of times, everything would be all right of Dumbledore was there.

"Come on we'll take you to the Gryffindor common room," Katie said as the three of them sat-up.

The three of them walked through the large crowd up the marble staircase, and turned several times to the right, the walls were lit only by flame torches which made Hawk think, Haven't these people heard of electricity? They had very large impressive paintings of people who Hawk did not recognize everywhere.

She suddenly noticed that the crowd began to separate into four groups and each went their separate ways. The boy with the incredibly fair hair moved between the ugly looking large boulders into the mass of people who were turning to their left. She couldn't help but stare as they kept walking, but for a second, the boy turned around and locked his eyes on hers for the briefest, longest second in the world. His eyes were cold. They pierced right through her. There are no words to describe what Hawk felt except that her heart stopped for a second and her stomach plummeted to her feet. He turned his back and continued walking into the crowd.

Angelina noticed Hawk and said, " Those are the Slytherin's. Their common room is said to be in the dungeons. They are the worst people that you could ever hang out with."

"Yeah, we don't recommend it," agreed Katie.

Hawk remembered what her grandmother had said about the Slytherin's and from here Hawk thought they didn't look like very happy people.

The last turn was a left one and they suddenly stopped in front of a large painting of a very fat lady in a pink dress.

"Why did we stop here?"

"This is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, you need a password to get in."

"Oh," Hawk said, even though she had no clue what they were talking about. The lady in the pink dress began to scoff and move. Hawk could tell that she was growing impatient. The people waiting in the crowd were beginning to grow hasty.

"Where is the Prefect?"

"Why are they so late?"

"This makes me wish we had Percy back!"

Hawk heard these comments all over from shouting people. What in the world is a prefect? she thought to herself.

Finally a tall 17 year old in black robes, glasses, blond hair, long goggling arms and a shiny silver badge on his chest with a capital "P" came running through the crowd.

"Sorry, excuse me, pardon me, make way, make way," he said as the walked through them. "Sorry I'm so late the new Gryffindor password is Piña-espaza," then he cast about. "Oh and by the way", he looked at Hawk, "welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you enjoy your stay." With that he walked quickly away, before she could even say thanks.

"There must be something going on, their not usually this busy," commented Angelina as they said Piñaespaza and walked through the portrait hole.

Hawk had never in her life seen a more relaxing place to be. There was a large fire in the center of the room, huge windows with long drapes and broad leather chairs that Hawk imagined were comfortable enough to sleep in. I think I'll have to go and study somewhere else because in here I'll fall asleep, she thought to herself.

They climbed the staircase upwards. "The boys sleep in that dormitory over there," Katie said pointing to a door on the left side when the stairs split up.

They made their way into the girl's dormitory, where, as soon as the door was closed, all the girls huddled around her and began shouting questions to Hawk who was shocked.

"Hawk, Hawk! What do they do over there in America? Is it true that they hit you in schools and lock you up?" asked one girl.

"Wha- no!- what?" Hawk said, appalled.

"Oooh Hawk, your hair is sooo pretty, isn't it Parvati!" said a girl with brown hair.

"Oh Lavender you are soo right! Lets make ours like hers tomorrow!" shouted the other one who was obviously Parvati.

More girls started joining in the shouting of questions.

"Is New York really that bad? Are there any cute guys over there?"

"I think that we need to CURL your hair! Now that would look FABULOUS!!!!"

Hawk had never hated anyone but these people were beginning to get on Hawk's nerves. The crowd of girls around her made her very frustrated, the noise was unbearable- she couldn't take it anymore. She was about to open her mouth when a girl about 16 years old with bushy brown hair came into the circle of shouting girls.

"All right! That's enough! We all have to wake up very early tomorrow we have a lot to cover in the first day of school, and you Parvati take an extra-long time applying all that make-up!" She had a high sense of order in her voice.

"You'll have that bed over in that corner," shouted Parvati to Hawk from the other side of the room.

"Which corner?" Hawk wondered out loud. The room was circular. The walls were pink with yellow flowers and the beds were a disgusting yellow-pink color.

"Don't ask," said the girl with the bushy hair, laughter in her voice.

She and Hawk walked over to the left where two four-poster beds were side by side.

"Thanks-

"Don't mention it. If I was in your position I would've had gone crazy, too. Besides I thought that they were going to turn you into some sort of pretty version of Frankenstein with their 'beauty tools'. By the way my name is Hermione." She said this all in a very quick voice. "From now on just hang out with me and I'll show you everything you need to know about Hogwarts."

"Thanks I would appreciate having a friend here."

"We should go to sleep. We're going to wake up early tomorrow so we better get some rest."

"Wait! Why is your bedspread purple?" Hawk had noticed that compared to all the other beds Hermione's was the only one who had a purple bedspread rather than a pink one.

"Pink is not exactly my favorite color, so I used a Colroicius Charm to change it at my will. I can also change it back to it's original color whenever I want."

"Finally a decent person! Can you teach me that Colroicius Charm?"

"Sure, hold out your wand to your bedspread, think really hard on the color that you want and say Colroicius!"

" Let me get my wand" Hawk took her trunk opened it and began shifting it's contents looking for her wand, until she finally pulled it out and looked at it for a brief moment.

Hawk had remembered the first time her hand had touched the surface of the wand, it's smooth polished wood felt very familiar to her touch. Her grandmother and father had been there to accompany her. Her grandma always said that getting your wand is one of the most unforgettable experiences in your life. The look of triumph on her grandmother's face when the man announced the wand to be 12 and a half inches Dragon Heart String, Hawk will never forget. There was another face that Hawk could not forget, too, and that was of her father. He seemed to be a little disappointed and the rest of the evening he spent it talking to her grandmother. Hawk remembered that he didn't talk to her grandma the following day. She shook the memories away from her head.

"All right, Colroicius!"

The bedspread changed from the yellow-pink to deep black, the symbol of a dragon on the front.

"Wow! I had never tried to do designs on the bedspread before, but you really nailed it!" Hermione looked impressed.

"That's much better. We need to go to sleep now or we won't get up tomorrow."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight," but Hawk stayed up, she hadn't meant to make that Dragon on her cover, but her grandmother had told her that strange things would happen. Where was she when she needed her the most? Why did she have to die! I don't want to be here! I want things to change! Oh grandma I miss you so much!

As the lights faded out, Hawk could hear Lavender and Parvati plan out how they were going to fix hawk's hair the next morning.

And in the darkened dormitory, Hawk fell asleep to nightmares of curling irons and hair spray.

***

As the sun rose it's light swept into the Slytherin's boy's dormitory. The usual cursing of the boy's began very early in the morning, all complaining on how early it was to get up.

"Bloody hell it's so early. I want to go back to sleep," shouted Crabbe.

Draco arose from his bed his hair in a mess. Although it never tangled, it still had the reluctancy to shuffle when he slept. He also wasn't very happy about waking up early in the morning, especially when the night before he had not had an ounce of sleep.

Last night had been horrible. As soon as he saw the exchange student during the feast, he dropped the goblet from which he had been drinking. Hawk Vela looked exactly like the challenger in his dream. Although he could barley see the dream-girl's face, her hair and eyes were those of which were unforgettable. And those eyes matched perfectly with Hawk Vela's. He had proved it on the way back to the dormitory when he had felt her gaze on him. Draco knew that he had inspired a sense of shock because her face had all color drained from it, he loved it when he could intimidate people but he hated when people intimidated him. Very few people did that, the only known person who could do that is his father. But now, in his dream this person had inspired such an awkward feeling, a feeling of domination.

He stood up shook his head, gathered his robes and headed to the showers, not letting that clumsy girl who can't even get to the Sorting Hat's stool upright intrude his thoughts any longer.

***

In the next chapter, Hawk goes to school (and basically makes an a** out of herself) What the hell is a Marine Macyrost? What is up with Draco and his freaky dreams? Does Hawk REALLY let Parvati and Lavender touch her hair? Where is our fav. trio? OH and Hawk breaks lots of things!!!

Again: PLEASE REVIEW (flames accepted)

If you want anybody in particular to end up together, please tell us when you review, we really need it!(We've been having some controversy amongst ourselves about who should be together)

And since she did it to me, I get to do it to her in the end. I want to thank my bestest buddy (Double) for helping me through everything and for always being there for me, even when my computer crashed and burned with most of the story on it and we had to start all over!!! And also for being with me the day we bought ten dollars worth of junk food just to finish up the first chapter!! *Love you ; p*

Double: * I love u 2*