Hermione Granger And The City of Sorrowful Angels

It was the first day of the spring semester when a seagull flew into the main hall of Hogwart's and delivered a letter.

The recipient of the letter, one Miss Hermione Granger, of a small town in Oxfordshire, with parents who were entirely Muggle and also entirely dentists, who had been smugly reminding her classmates that, due to a special dispensation, she had completed her NEWTs in the first semester and had this entire period to continue further study, looked at the seagull and the finely folded envelope in front of her, and frowned.

Harry and Ron stared at the bird. "I've never seen a seagull deliver mail," Harry said.

"Seagulls are used for long-distance deliveries primarily from the United States," Hermione said as she carefully picked up the letter.

"Do you know anyone in the States?" Ron asked, looking at the bird suspiciously. The bird looked back at him, then bent down to nibble at his chips. "Gerroff!" Ron shouted.

Hermione shook her head, thinking. "No...I don't think so..." She flipped it over and looked at the bright aquamarine wax seal in the middle. "Is that a mermaid?"

"Looks like a blob of wax to me," Ron said, picking through his chips to find a seagull-nibble-free one.

Hermione frowned, and gently opened up the letter. It appeared blank, at first, then, as the light shone upon the paper, a fine precise handwriting began to scroll across in shimmering blue ink.

Dear Miss Granger,

It is with great honor that I write to you. Each year, the wizarding school of Santo Domingo de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles Llorosos, located in Los Angeles, California, chooses one student from the many other wizarding schools in the world to join our highly selective class.

Based on the recommendations of your professors, we congratulate you on winning this year's placement. If you are willing, you can complete your final year at Santo Domingo's, learning from our challenging professors, researching in our outstanding libraries and laboratories, or socializing with our students.

Your room, board, and transportation would all be paid by the school, and we can assure your family that a semester at Santo Domingo's not only gives a child the best magical education she or he could wish for, but a cultural education unlike no other.

Please send your reply via this seagull within a week of receiving this letter. We are waiting for you to join Santo Domingo's class of 1998.

Sincerely,
Anabella Delgadillo
Principal of Santo Domingo
Los Angeles, California

Ron and Harry, stopped reading over Hermione's shoulder, and looked at each other in horror. "Los Angeles?" they said in unison.

Hermione re-folded the letter thoughtfully. "It would be interesting..."

"Hermione, you're not seriously considering it!" Harry panicked.

Hermione turned around to face both of them. "And why shouldn't I? I've finished my NEWTs, and both of you should be too busy studying to spend time hanging out with me... it might be nice to see how other wizarding schools teach."

"B-b-but..." Ron stammered.

"I'll need to discuss it with my parents, and with the professors -- I promised Professor Vector that I would help her with the Arithmancy project she's working on...and I think Flitwick was hoping I would assist with the first years...and..." she trailed off. She shrugged. "It's worth considering."