Crossing Pathways: The Exchange Student Program

"Wow, this is something else!" Ramona whistled as she stepped through the post between Platforms 9 and 10. "Sure, we have the same hidden-platform scenario at the Sun Tran bus station in Tucson, but it´s nothing like this! It´s a train! Rock on!" She gazed in wonder at the large, crimson steam engine that smoked cheerily away on the rails. Turning back to Hermione, she asked, "So where do we go now?"

"We get on the train, of course!" Hermione replied with a slight roll of her eyes. "I´m a prefect, so I could sit up there in the first car, but since I was assigned to make sure you get to Hogwarts safe and sound, I´ll sit in one of the other cars with you."

"You don´t mind?" Ramona was a bit worried. "I don´t want to trouble you or anything..."

"Oh, no, it´s no trouble at all!" the brown-haired girl replied with a grin. "I really don´t know many of the prefects. Besides, I want to hear all about what it´s like in America!"

"Well, uh, okay!" Ramona was relieved. "So, which car should we go on?"

"Let´s try the third one down. I have a couple of friends who usually sit in that car with me. Come on!" The girl hurried down to the edge of the platform. Grabbing her bulky luggage, Ramona followed along as quickly as she could, while still trying to take everything around her. Hermione, who had already made it inside the train to a compartment, suddenly noticed that Ramona was not behind her. She quickly jumped back out of the train, and helped Ramona with her things. Ramona was most grateful, and handed Hermione her backpack and a small rectangular animal cage.

"What´s in there?" Hermione asked her.

"Oh, that´s my gecko, Geico. I got him as a going-away present from my friend Calvin."

"Geico, that´s an, uh, interesting name..." Hermione seemed confused.

"Yeah, I know. Don´t ask me where Calvin came up with it! He´s just kind of weird that way." Ramona smiled at the memory of her friend. "Geico means a lot to me since that´s the "mascot" of my house back at Rintorditos- Geckostone. He´s just a little remembrance of home. Do you want to pet him?"

"Uh, sure, why not?" Hermione said. Ramona took Geico out of his cage, and gently placed him in the other girl´s hand. Hermione found his pinkish-gray skin cool and slightly bumpy to the touch, and expressed her observations to Ramona.

"Yeah, he´s really great, isn´t he?!" she responded, smiling, as she put him back into his cage. "Oh, and I don´t believe I´ve been introduced to this beauty here," she continued, pointing to the large auburn colored cat.

"This is Crookshanks. Say hello to Ramona, Crookshanks!" Hermione said as Ramona bent down to stroke his soft, sleek coat.

"Oh, is that your house crest on your necklace?" Hermione pointed to the purple, black, and white pendant hanging on a thin silver chain around her neck.

"Yeah. That´s from my other best friend, Casey." She involuntarily reached up to finger the pendant, and a wistful look replaced her smile. "Gosh, I miss home."

"I bet," Hermione softly. Both girls were silent for a moment. "But speaking of best friends," she added, her voice brightening and at normal pitch, "I´d like you to meet mine." With a wave of her arm, Hermione motioned Ramona to step into a compartment, and Hermione followed behind.

"Hey, guys, guess what? We´ve got an exchange student here at Hogwarts with us this term! Ramona Garcia, meet Ron Weasley and-"

"Harry!" Ramona´s look was of utter shock.

"Ramona?" Harry said at the same time.

"What, you two know each other?" Hermione seemed confused.

"Actually, I just met him this morning. Harry helped me find the right bus stop for the train station," Ramona told her as they sat down on the extremely comfortable cushioned seats across from the boys.

"Oh, I see..." Hermione replied.

"So you have no idea who Harry is?" Ron spoke up for the first time, eyeing her as one would a strange, alien creature.

"Um, not off the top of my head..." Ramona was slightly embarrassed. "Should I?"

"He´s only the most famous boy wizard in all of Great Britain, maybe even the world!" Ron said with great admiration.

"Ron, you don´t have to-" Harry tried to cut in, his face turning beet red. But Ron was on a roll.

"You mean to say that you´ve never heard of Harry Potter!?! The only person ever known to survive Avada Kedavra?"

"Ron, shut up!" Hermione broke in, annoyed. "Haven´t you already embarrassed Harry enough?!" Ron simply rolled his eyes at her.

"Harry Potter..." Ramona was deep in thought. "We don´t study European Magic History until this year at my school... though come to think of it, you might have been mentioned in my Current Wizarding Events class... but then, Instructor Jennings usually puts me to sleep in that class... Sorry," she said with an apologetic look.

"Oh, don´t be," Harry broke in. "It´s actually quite a relief to finally meet someone who doesn´t know everything about me. Being in the spotlight isn´t exactly my cup of tea."

"Don´t worry," she replied with a smile. "Celebrities don´t faze me... unless they´re some of my favorite music artists."

"I like to listen to music on occasion when I´m with my parents," Hermione said, interested. Who do you like? U2? Dave Matthews Band? Celine Dion? Madonna?"

"No, not at all!" Ramona shook her head vigorously. "I get so fed up with all the modern music; it´s so canned and unimaginative. No, I´m into oldies. And when I say oldies, I´m mostly talking about obscure groups that most people have never heard of. Groups like Earth, Wind and Fire, Kansas, the Association, and so on."

"You´re right, I haven´t heard of any of those groups."

"Hey, no biggie. Like I said, I hardly know anyone else who has, either. Except some of my teachers." She shuddered slightly. "It´s somewhat scary to think that I like the same music as people my parents´ age!" She laughed. "Oh, well... as everyone always says, I´m no typical teenager!" She turned to Ron and Harry, and asked, "How about you guys? Are you into music at all?"

Before the boys could answer, though, the snack trolley rolled by and the friendly witch vendor asked, "Treats anyone?"

"All right! European candy!" Ramona exclaimed happily, almost shouting. "My friend Calvin´s dad came here once on a business trip, and he brought back a bunch of different things that he said were excellent!" she explained to the three friends, slightly amused at her outburst. Ramona turned to the vendor. "I´ll take one of everything!" she said excitedly as she dug around in the front pouch of her knapsack, from which she finally pulled out several gold Galleons.

After the others made their purchases (in smaller quantities, of course), they eagerly began snacking, which was interrupted frequently with questions and comments from Ramona.

"Are these jellybeans? Rock on!" Ramona eagerly dug into a small package of brightly colored beans. She selected a red and green flecked one and popped it into her mouth.

"Hey, you might want to be careful with those!" Ron warned. "Those are Bertie Bott´s Every-Flavor Beans! And when they say every flavor, they mean every flavor!"

"Oh," Ramona said, swallowing. "Then that would explain why that jellybean just tasted just like the hot salsa fresca my mom makes." She smiled. "Mmm! Actually, after the initial shock of finding it in a candy, it's pretty good! Though I still think I like my Jelly Bellies better..."

Ron stared at her. "Well, whatever..."

But Ramona's attention had already turned to the Chocolate Frogs. "Rock on! These are positively awesome!"

"'Rock on'?" Hermione repeated. "Is that some sort of American saying?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. A few Muggle friends of mine use it. But since I'm into music as much as I am, 'rock on' just seems an appropriate catchphrase for me."

"Ah, I see" she replied.

"These frogs are SO cool! Remind me to buy some on the way home for my friend Calvin; he'd really like them!"

"You don't have Chocolate Frogs in America?" Harry asked, slightly surprised.

"Not that I know of," Ramona said. "But they remind me a lot of Triple Fruit Gum, in that you get a card of a famous witch or wizard with it." She suddenly reached over and began searching through her backpack. After a moment or two, she pulled out a large plastic grocery sack completely stuffed to the bursting point with quite a few different varieties of sweets. "Don´t ever tell my mother that I´ve got this much sugar in my possession, but do you want to try some American candy?" she asked. The three nodded eagerly, and she gave each of them a generous handful of candies in different shapes and sizes, all with colorful wrappers.

Ron seemed to enjoy the Triple Fruit Gum best, not only because of the famous wizard cards (most of whom were American- people he had never heard of before, and whom he found quite interesting), but because as he chewed a piece of it, the flavor changed three times into different fruits, and when he blew bubbles, they turned into the fruit flavor that the gum currently was. The candy of choice for Hermione was the Mintoids, a small garden of tiny, living candy mint plants inside a tin that fit in her hand perfectly. And Harry, being a lover of Muggle Mars bars, was delighted with the Orbiting Orbs- each package contained two different chocolate planets (each will a different filling, such as caramel, peanut, and nougat), and when one collected all nine plus the sun, they would spin in the air, just like the real planets. Ramona, however, stuck to her Muggle jellybeans, and she also continued to sample the foreign candies she had purchased.

For a while they munched in silence. Ramona pulled out her CD player, attached a couple of small speakers into the headphone jack, and plugged in her Dave Grusin CD. The cabin was filled with the upbeat, yet not too loud notes of the `70s jazz music. Ramona´s gaze kept turning to the window, where she gazed in awe at the intensity of the countryside. A million shades of green blanketed the hills, from the deep emeralds of the thick, starry moss covering the oldest trees to the pale mint colors of the weeds growing freely across the brilliant bottle green grass. Wildflowers of every imaginable hue carpeted the open meadows, and thick spots of ancient oaks and elms were interspaced like patchwork on a quilt. A deep, blue creek cut a chasm through the middle of the land, rippling away into the hills and out of sight. Though Ramona loved the rugged beauty of the Sonoran desert, she knew she would never again be able to look upon her homeland again in the same way. "Wow!" she whispered.

"Hey, how do you make that work without Muggle power? What do you call it- leceticity?" Ron asked after a few minutes.

"Electricity," Hermione corrected, rolling her eyes.

"Elementary, my dear Ron," Ramona quipped in her best imitation of a British accent (which really wasn´t very impressive). "It´s called batteries." She unsnapped the small opening on the back of the CD player, and showed him the two small coppery-colored cylinders inside.

"Wicked!" he exclaimed, obviously impressed. "You should meet my dad; he absolutely loves Muggle stuff!"

"So are you Muggle-born?" Hermione inquired.

 "No, actually, I´m what you might call a `first-generation´; that is, both my parents were Muggle-born, but I´m not."

"But if you´re not Muggle-born, then why were you taking the bus this morning?" Harry wondered.

"Well, see, I took the bus because I got here in a airplane."

"So why not just use Floo powder or a portkey to get here?" Ron asked.

"Well, actually," Ramona said, slightly embarrassed. "I don´t much care for Floo powder, and well, I thought taking the plane would be fun. And even though it was also very long and tiring, it was! Now I know what you´re going to say," she added quickly. "Why do things the Muggle way- it´s so much more complicated? Well, I´ll tell you why. I´m completely enthralled with Muggle culture." And I just plain don´t trust much of anything that´s magic, she thought, but did not say aloud. She went on to explain all about how she had discovered and fallen in love with Muggle culture through the influence of her non-magic relatives.

"But that doesn´t mean that I don´t like being a wizard at times," she added, finishing her story. "It´s just that I´m, well, kind of caught between worlds. I guess that´s why my mom and dad decided to sign me up for the exchange program; they figure if I´m away from my usual distractions, in a completely new place, then I´ll `get my priorities´ straight, as mom always says."

"So what´s your old school like?" Hermione asked. "I bet they´re a lot different from those here in Europe."

"Well, I guess some things are different. But the basic idea of the school is the same. There are four houses: Geckostone, Wingsdown, Erelynne, and Canindor, and each one has their distinctive mascot and colors. Wingsdown is a sage green and gold hawk, Erelynners a cerulean blue and silver jackrabbit, Canindor a rust red and copper coyote, and Geckostone (my house) is a violet purple and white gecko." She held up her locket necklace, showing the boys the Geckostone crest before continuing. "Some people consider Erelynne to be the `dummy house´, but they´re really just about the nicest people in the school."

"Sounds like Hufflepuff here Hogwarts," Harry remarked.

"And nobody really wants to be in Canindor, either- well, except Canindors. They´re really a pretty mean bunch."

"Slytherin!" the other three all said in unison.

"So do you have any friends there?" Ron asked.

"Oh, yeah, of course! I get along with most everyone in my house, and I´ve got acquaintances in the other houses too (well, except for Canindor). But my best friends are Casey Robbins and Calvin Anderson. Here, let me show you their pictures." Pulling her wallet out of her backpack, she took out two photographs. In the first one, they saw a very short but very cute girl. Her hair was cropped short, and it was the color of coffee with lots of cream added. She wore a white polo shirt with the Geckostone crest on a pocket on the upper left-hand side, a purple, black, and white plaid pleated skirt that fell just above her knees, shiny black Mary Jane shoes, and white knee socks. Her violet-colored eyes shone brightly as she waved excitedly back at them.

"That´s Casey," Ramona said. "She is absolutely the sweetest girl in the whole world, even if she does have her `blonde´ moments. And this is Calvin," she said, as she showed them the other picture. It was of a friendly-looking boy of average height who had lots of curly, strawberry-blonde hair and freckles from head to toe. He also wore a polo shirt similar to Casey´s (only purple), sharply creased black trousers, and black penny loafers. He also smiled and waved, though just a bit less enthusiastically than the other girl. Though he was not what one would call `handsome´, exactly, he was still quite nice looking- friendly and genuine, with a bit of mischief thrown in for good measure.

"My guess is that Casey, Calvin, and I are quite a bit like you three- we take most of the same classes together, do homework, eat meals, and so on. I don´t know what I´d do at school if it wasn´t for them! Especially in Current Events! This one time, when Instructor Jennings was lecturing about-"

But Ramona didn´t get a chance to tell them what he had been lecturing about, as she was rather rudely interrupted.

"Hey, you stupid gits, we´re going to be arriving at Hogwarts within the hour, and you had better be changed into school robes by then!" an annoying voice drawled from just outside the doorway. As the figure stepped forward, the three Hogwarts veterans groaned.

"Oh, bugger off, Malfoy," Ron told him, irritated.

"That´s Prefect Malfoy to you, Weasley," he replied with a sneer.

"Oh, wow!" Ramona interjected, a star-struck look and dreamy on her face. "Oh, wow! That profile, those eyes, and that body! Rock on!" She sighed happily. "You look just like-"

"Ramona, you don´t know what a big-" Hermione tried to say, but Ramona continued with- "You look exactly like-"

A "I-love-how-the-ladies-can´t-resist-me" look appeared on Draco´s face, much to the disgust of Harry and Ron.

"A scrawny, greasy-haired, beady-eyed, whiny-voiced, double-crossing, traitorous, thick-skulled, intelligence-lacking, demon rat boy!" As she finished, a wide grin spread across Ramona´s face. Harry, Ron, and Hermione burst out laughing.

The smirk on Draco´s face disappeared. But after a moment, he seemed to have regained his composure somewhat, and replied, "Just what I would expect from stupid American trash." He spat out the word with great distaste. "And you´re really one to talk- honestly, even the Mudblood here looks like a beauty queen compared to you."

"Oh, how kind of you! Thank Rat Boy for the compliment, Hermione." Ramona turned back to Draco. "Alas, it is true. Some of us have the beauty, some the brains, and then of course there are always those who just get gypped all the way around. But then, I wouldn´t have to tell you about that, would I? Seems to me that you already have that one covered." She flashed him another infuriatingly smile.

Draco glared at the other three, still laughing, and said, "Well, looks like you wusses have found a perfect addition to your little group."

"Now, why don´t you go back in your little hole and try to grow a human head or something," Ramona said in an extremely syrupy sweet, condescending voice, as she stood up and pushed Malfoy back into the corridor. "Bye-bye now!" To everyone´s great relief, Malfoy turned on his heel and left. As soon as he was gone, Ramona joined the others in laughing.

"How you managed to keep a straight face, I´ll never know!" Harry remarked, chuckling.

"Ramona, about what he said about your looks-"

"Hey, don´t worry about it! I don´t. Hey, I know I´m less than glamorous, and I´m darn proud of it, too! Just do like I said and take it for a compliment. My guess is that you don´t get many out of him."

"Say, how did you know that Malfoy was a sodding idiot? Are you a Diviner or something?"

"Yeah, right!" Ramona replied with a laugh. " I absolutely hate divination! If I´m doing magic, I want it to be something real, something solid! But you don´t have to be a Diviner- sometimes you just know when a person is a jerk."

"Well, I hate to say it," Harry broke in, "But that weasel´s got a point. We probably should change into our robes." He and Ron both already had their robes in their hands, and they left. "We´ll be back."

"Right," Hermione said. "Ramona, Professor Dumbledore had me purchase your robes and uniform for you. Let me just get them out of my knapsack."

"Yeah, Dr. Daniels said you were going to do that. Thanks a lot," Ramona told her.

"No problem," she replied as she handed Ramona a pile of clothes. "Here, I´ll show you where the lavs are."

"Lavs?"

"Um, I think you call them `restrooms´ in America."

"Oh, right." The girls headed down the corridor.

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Before long, the boys returned.

"So what do you think of Ramona, Harry?" Ron asked his friend.

"Well, she´s different, that´s for sure!" He chuckled.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "She´s totally unlike Hermione, but she´s really cool. I mean, anybody who has the nerve to insult Malfoy like that is great in my book. So d´you suppose she´ll be sorted into Gryffindor?"

"Hard to say. I kind of hope so, but then, you never can tell with the Sorting Hat. But somehow I figure that between her love of Muggle culture and hatred of prats like Malfoy, she´ll probably not be a Slytherin."

"Yeah!"

"So Ron," Harry said, turning to his favorite topic of conversation, "How have all the Quidditch teams been doing this summer?"

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Once they had changed into their uniforms, Hermione and Ramona sat on vanity stools in front of the mirror, brushing their hair. Ramona offered to French braid Hermione´s- "it might help hold in some of the frizziness"- and Hermione had agreed.

"Isn´t there a charm that plaits hair for you?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yeah- it´s trillium plexus- but I don´t like, er, I mean, I prefer to do it by hand. I can keep the plaits tighter and smoother."

"Oh, OK." They were silent for a few moments while Ramona continued braiding.

"Gosh, these uniforms sure are heavy!" Ramona remarked, looking down at her attire. She wore a crisp white blouse, a striped necktie, a charcoal gray sweater vest, a knee-length wool skirt of the same color (though she would have much preferred to wear pants, Hermione said that all the girls wore skirts), as well as thick white knee socks, and black leather penny loafers with thick rubber soles.

"True, but it does get pretty cold here. You´ll be grateful for them soon enough," Hermione told her.

"Yeah," Ramona replied. "I believe it! I´m just not used to this humidity or coolness- it´s like an eternal monsoon season, except colder."

"Monsoon?"

"That´s the summer rainy season we get back home in the desert. The storms come up all of the sudden, pour really hard for a few minutes, and then go away until the next day or so."

"Oh."

"By the way, Hermione," Ramona said. "Is there something wrong with my uniform? See, your tie is red and gold, and mine´s multicolored. And your crest is different from mine."

"Your uniform and robe are just generic Hogwarts ones, but they´re charmed such that after you´ve been sorted, they´ll change to the colors of whatever house you end up in," Hermione told her.

"I see. How do they do the sorting here?"

"We have a Sorting Hat. You just put it on, and it talks to you for a moment or two, and then it calls out the name of the house you´re supposed to be in."

"Cool," Ramona answered. "Back at Rintorditos, there´s this wand that was placed under a bunch of complicated spells by the four founders of the school, and you have to go up to the platform where it´s held, and wave it. Sparks will fly out from the end, and the colors of those sparks will match with one of the four houses. You´re then put into whatever house that was."

"Ah, I see."

"There- it´s finished!" Hermione turned her head to the side, and the girls looked up into the mirror to view Ramona´s work. A thick plait of tightly-pulled, cinnamon-colored hair fell down from the crown of her head to just below her shoulder blades. A few frizzy hairs stuck out here and there, but the majority of the hair behaved, lying neatly in the braid.

"Wow!" Hermione exclaimed. "That looks incredibly good!"

"Yeah, not bad at all!" Ramona replied, examining the plait closely. "Maybe next time we´ll try two plaits instead of just one." She quickly reached up and began re-weaving her own hair in a regular braid. In a matter of moments, she was done. "Okay, I think we´re all set to go," she said, gathering up the pile of her regular clothes. "Oh, do you do any cosmetic charms?"

"Me? No, not at all!" Hermione said.

"Good," she replied with a smile. "Me neither." With that, Ramona and Hermione headed out of the restroom and back down the corridor to their compartment, where they found Harry and Ron engaged in a lively conversation about sports. By now the sky had grown dark, and the train was getting very close to the school. Each of the four students quickly gathered up their belongings and returned them to their proper bags. Ramona´s CD had long since finished, so she put the player safely away deep within her backpack. No sooner had they finished then the train stopped. Ramona looked out the window and stared in wonder at the huge, looming stone castle that lay on the other side of a large, dark (and probably very deep, she thought) lake. Wow, she thought in amazement. That is simply incredible!!! Butterflies began fluttering in her stomach, and she tried somewhat unsuccessfully to push them away.

Students began pouring out of the compartments on the train into the night air. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ramona followed suit.

"Well," Ramona said, as she stepped down off the car onto the ground, smiling a half-nervous, half-excited smile, "here we go!"