Fate and Fatality

Harry was still staring up at the table where the student heads were sitting when Ron tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see what the problem was when he saw the food piled in front of him. Ron was already filling his plate up. Harry took his and did the same.

There was roast turkey and roast beef, cold as well as hot, with gravy on the side to pour over it. There were mashed potatoes and boiled potatoes and baked potatoes. There was steak and lamb, cooked perfectly according to the consumer's taste. There were also twelve different kinds of salad, including two types of pasta salad. All looked incredibly fresh. There was a huge dish spaghetti and meatballs, which filled the air with a saucy aroma. There were buttered noodles, egg noodles, and different kinds of rice, all steaming hot. There was also seafood, including shrimp and crab, arranged on silver platters in decorative ways. Different kinds of bread filled baskets. The bread was still warm from the oven, and steam rose from it.

Harry filled his plate with a small amount of each to decide his favorites. The lamb met with his and Ron's approval immediately. Not used to eating seafood, he was tentative to taste the crab, but found it to his liking. The bread was delicious. The potatoes were full of flavor and began to fill his hungry stomach immediately. He didn't have salad, not feeling that it was necessary to waste time on what Uncle Vernon had called "rabbit food."

After his hunger began to ebb, he got a chance to listen to the conversation around him. Three American wizards next to him were discussing something called "Quad." From what Harry gathered, it was somewhat like Quidditch. He suddenly realized that Zeke was sitting one table over, at what he thought to be East House. He looked for Cammy, but saw that she wasn't there. He looked about the hall, when suddenly he realized that she was at the table directly behind them, South House, perhaps. She sat right near Hermione, and they had turned around to face one another, disregarding the food. They were discussing the latest muggle fashions in Paris. Harry heard Cammy's squeal of excitement from where he was sitting.

"Oh! I just love the fashions that muggles come up with, don't you, 'Mione?"

Harry almost expected Hermione to disagree, perhaps to laugh loftily and say that books were her life. But Hermione simply laughed and nodded vigorously.

"I simply could not agree with you more!"

Harry was surprised. Since when did Hermione do the girl thing? Ron, who appeared to be listening in on the conversation as well, broke in.

"That's my 'Mione. She's had her nose in those trashy magazines all summer, and she's been trying to get me interested, too. As if..." He spoke the last two words with an American accent, and, although it sounded a bit forced, the girls laughed appreciatively. Harry suddenly felt detached. He realized with a pang of sadness that, although he loved Hermione, he knew so little about her, so much less than he thought he had known.

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Harry leaned back in his chair. He had finished eating, but all around him, plates were still half full of food. Beside him, Ron was finished as well. Ron leaned towards Harry.

"Did you hear about the Quidditch game between England and Transylvania over the holiday?"

Harry grinned. He hadn't attended the game, but he had read about it in the paper.

"I heard that the two seekers ended up on the ground tangled up in each others robes from their fist fight over the snitch."

"That was wild! But did you hear about that crazy old Transylvanian wizard that got so mad that the score was tied near the end that he tried to get the game called off? It rained frogs over the stadium for three days before anyone could get it to stop!"

Harry laughed. He'd heard about the frogs. The Witch's Weekly interviewed one of the wizards in charge of the disassembling of the stadium and pitch. Harry and Sirius had laughed over the article when they first read it. The frog-storm, as the paper had called it, hadn't been enough to get the game cancelled, but it had annoyed many of the wizards and witches in charge of cleanup.

"I heard the frogs were up to their necks by the time they got it to stop..." Ron laughed.

Harry felt for a moment that everything was back to normal. He almost felt that they were back in Hogwarts. At the thought of Hogwarts, Harry stopped laughing.

"What?" Ron sat back up, looking slightly confused.

"I just thought of something. Did you ever find out why we aren't going to Hogwarts this year? I mean, it would have to be something big to close the school..."

Ron appeared less worried than Harry felt.

"It's probably nothing, Harry. Professor Trelawney probably predicted the giant squid coming out of the lake and eating the school or something stupid. Dumbledore would never want to risk his students, especially since..."

Ron didn't need to finish his sentence. Harry knew what he would say. Since Voldemort had come back into power, since most of the wizarding population feared the worst, and soon. Nothing tremendously exciting or disturbing had been heard about Voldemort in a few months, perhaps seven. Still, Harry felt that Dumbledore must have had a better reason to close the school than Professor Trelawney's crazy visions of a killer squid. Killer squid. The idea made Harry smile. The squid in the lake was so lazy; Harry felt that it must have an extremely dull life. I mean, how much fun could a squid possibly have living in a lake full of crazy merpeople, red kappas, and sometimes the ghost of an extremely barmy girl?

I take that back... Harry, thought, smiling. Sounds completely interesting...

He turned towards Ron and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the hall went silent again. He turned and saw that Professor Crimshai was standing again. Harry kept one eye on the staff table, and looked around the room. The one thing that struck him odd was the mix of color in their robes. The colors ranged from black to the brightest Barbie pink, and everything in between.

Harry realized that Professor Crimshai was speaking. He turned his attention to her again.

"Before we turn the new students over to their student leaders, let me remind all students of the basic rules of Donovan. First of all, no student is permitted outside of his or her respective towers after 11:30 PM. And with that, no student are permitted in any tower but their own, no exceptions. Our last rule is very simple. We ask that when you are out on the grounds that you do not go past the tree line to the north. The boundary is very clearly marked. A muggle town was recently built there, and we don't need to have any... incidents. If any of you have any questions, please see your student heads. I bid you all goodnight!"

As she sat, the students began to stand slowly, none of them leaving yet. Harry's attention was drawn to the woman on Crimshai's right, a pink-faced woman who had a kindly smile. Like Crimshai, she was young, but what caught Harry's attention was the baby she held in her arms, no more than a few months old. Somehow, Harry thought a baby was out of place, perhaps because none of his teachers at Hogwarts had their children at the castle. Not that many of them had young children, or any at all...

Harry shuddered as he thought of Professor McGonagall and Snape. The thought of them having children was quite scary, really. As Harry looked for the woman again, he saw her handing the baby to someone else. Harry blinked. She was handing the baby to Morgan West.

Perhaps she's the sister... Harry thought, slightly confused. He didn't have too much time to think. Ron was tugging at the collar of his robe. They were following the other West House students out into the entrance hall. He caught sight of Vivian, and followed her. Ron and Hermione followed him, holding hands. As Harry turned to wait for them, he caught sight of Draco. He was in the back, walking next to Morgan, who still held the baby in her arms. Draco smiled at Morgan and said something that made her laugh. Harry was amazed. He had never seen Draco smile genuinely before. It made a large change in his appearance. He looked almost normal. Almost.

"Harry, hurry up..." Ron was calling from somewhere ahead of him. Harry followed him. As he did, he noticed that the students were separating into four groups. Each group went down one of the four corridors. Harry and the rest of the West House students passed under the tapestry of Tharsis, who smiled down at them from her watery scene.

As they did, Harry saw a very long corridor in front of them. The castle must have an enlargement charm placed on the inside. There was no way that all of this would fit in the building that was viewed from outside. Especially not if all corridors were this way.

Well, Harry thought gratefully, At least I'm not likely to get lost...