Unlocking Secrets

    For the rest of the terribly long train ride, the terrific trio discussed what Hermione had done over the summer. That had been she had gone to a Muggle family reunion, and battled the curious questions many family members tended to ask. Oh, and of course, she read a few more highly useful and interesting books. Another thing she told them, well showed them, was her shiny silver Prefect badge.

    "Congratulations," Harry offered her, opening the package to a Chocolate Frog.

    "Not like we didn’t expect it of course," Ron grinned, reaching for a Pumpkin pasty.

    "Thanks. We must be getting close," Hermione declared looking out the windows watching the wait slowly dim. Not even ten minutes later the trained stopped and all aboard started to scramble out. Everyone trying to get out at once Harry was bumped into the small girl that had been in the corridor opposite of them.

    "Sorry," Harry apologized looking at the girl, the, er, extremely pretty girl, he noticed.

    "Oh, it’s no big catastrophe or anything, don’t worry about it," she said in her American toned voice. With one last look out of her aquamarine eyes at him she began to make her way down to the corridor’s door, with her friends, Harry’s eyes still following her.

    When he finally turned back to Hermione and Ron they were exchanging knowing grins as Harry tried to play it off like he wasn’t looking at that girl. Their feet bounded on the ground and headed to a carriage that would take them up to the school that they’d been attending since the tender age of eleven.

    Entering the Great Hall they looked at the floating candles and the familiar four tables that resided in the immense hall. They all trodded over to the familiar faces at the Gryffindor table.

    "Harry! Ron!" Seamus Finnigan exclaimed in a thick Irish accent.

    "Oy, Seamus, Dean," Ron replied as he sat by Seamus, Harry, and Hermione sitting across from them.

    "How’s the summer been?" Dean Thomas, Seamus’s best friend, asked, "Hope it took your minds off of the year before and it’s events."

    "Yeah," Harry replied half-heartedly. Voldemort’s rise had been on his mind almost constantly. He couldn’t shake the feeling that when Voldemort decided to let free his wrath it would be quite a bit more terrifying than many of the first Voldemort attack survivors claimed it was.

    Just then the first years all clambered into the Great Hall; Professor McGonagall leading them. Harry noticed that there were a group of older students also standing at the beginning of the hall.

    Albus Dumbledore began with an opening, "Welcome, first years, newcomers, and all of the upper year students. I’m hoping for another grand year at Hogwarts this year. Speaking of which, there is something a little different this year, some of you may have heard, or may have noticed by a few of the passengers on the bus," he paused for a second looking at the group of older students, then looking back at the crowd.

    "We this year at Hogwarts will be welcoming third through sixth years from two of our sister schools, they are learning under Hogwarts for the purpose for our students to get to befriend students from other nationalities and schools. The same purpose that last year’s Triwizard Tournament held. The Varas Mágicas Cruzadas Institution of Brazil has sent us five of their top students and The Salem Witches’ and Warlocks’ Academy of the United States has sent us ten of their students. I would like to begin this year’s sorting with these our guests."

    Ron sighed from the table, "This means double the wait for the feast."

    "Oh, honestly Ron, don’t you think it’ll be fascinating to meet new students?" Hermione gasped exasperated.

    "Not really, I mean we had Beauxbatons and Durmstrang here last year. So it’s not a great deal about Salem and Vara whatever it’s," Ron answered while Hermione tutted and shook her head. Harry didn’t really mind the students though.

    McGonagall started with the Brazilian students, Sixth year "Ramirez, Marco," was the first to be sorted and surprisingly went to Slytherin. Followed by a girl, "Perabo, Pilar," whom joined Marco at Slytherin. One of the others was sorted into Hufflepuff, the next into Ravenclaw. The last of the Brazilian students, "Andujar, Hugo," became a Gryffindor. Applause came after each.

    Ron drummed his fingers dully on the table, "I have no idea why Dad didn’t just go ahead and tell us this." Harry nodded, but turned around when he heard Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil gushing over "Carter, Dylan," the ‘gorgeous’ blonde, sixth year American boy that would be the first from Salem to be sorted. The hat yelled out, "Gryffindor," and Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus thought Lavender and Parvati would erupt with happiness. Harry noted that Seamus was getting a bit jealous actually.

    "Roberts, Tavia" also a sixth year became a Gryffindor as well. The tall blonde girl that had been in the compartment beside Hermione, Harry, and Ron’s was next. A fifth year, she placed the hat on her head and became a Ravenclaw. The boy that had been in the compartment with her went next, "Lowe, Elijah," became a Ravenclaw as well. The pretty girl that Harry had bumped into was next. "Lowe, Olivia," it took a minute but the hat called out Gryffindor. Harry for some reason felt very happy about this.

    "This seat being saved?" Olivia Lowe asked Hermione as she walked up to the table during the cheers.

    "Oh, no, not at all," Hermione smiled at the newcomer. I mean after all, she had read Hogwarts, a History. Olivia took her seat beside Hermione. Parvati was now flirting with Dylan who waved at Olivia when she joined the table.

    "You and Elijah are you twins or cousins?" Hermione stated to Olivia.

    "Ah twins, he’s older by about five minutes, but he always likes to point that out," she smirked, "So who are you?"

    "Hermione Granger," she answered, "And this is Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Harry Potter. The girls down at the end are Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown."

    Shock came over her face for a brief second when she heard the name ‘Harry Potter’, but then she said, "Nice to meet you all," and turned back to watch the Sorting.

    Several other students were sorted, "Malone, Clarke," another boy Parvati and Lavender goggled over became a Slytherin, alongside "Calloway, Mallory." "Li, Raelyn" and "O’Hara, William" both became Hufflepuffs.

    The all the first years had to be sorted. "Baker, Lydia," "Fischer, Russell," and "Taft, Zander," were a few of the student’s names that Harry remembered being sorted into Gryffindor. "Chang, Kei," whom looked very much like Cho Chang, Harry guessed it was her sister, joined the Ravenclaw table. Cho gave Kei a hug and started introducing her to all of Cho’s friends. This made Harry positive that Cho and Kei were sisters. Harry wondered how Cho was doing. The loss of Cedric must have been…painful to say the least.

    Harry looked to his side to see Olivia looking at the Ravenclaw table too. She was looking at her brother and her friend. They were looking back and kept switching their eyes from one to another. Harry had the strangest feeling they were communicating somehow, but how could they? They weren’t even speaking.

    "Now that the Sorting Ceremony is over," Albus Dumbledore declared, "I have to tell the first years and transfers that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden. And last, Jizzwit."

    Food appeared on the golden plates near them, shocking many of the first years and transfer students. Starting to eat himself, Harry looked around the table. Ginny and Colin Creevey were in deep conversation with the Brazilian Gryffindor Hugo. Parvati was still swooning over Dylan, but Lavender was talking to Seamus, Dean, and Neville. Ron was digging into his food. Hermione was eating hers all prim and proper as usual. George, Fred, and Lee were talking- well joking- with Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Tavia Roberts. They were talking about how they had better find a good Keeper soon and decide who was going to be the new captain.

    "Well, I wonder what’s going to happen at Hogwarts this year," Ron stated finishing off a dinner roll.

    "What do you mean by that?" Olivia asked looking at Ron, Hermione, and Harry with question marks in her eyes.

    "Oh, nothing really, except that something seems to happen strange or the such happens at Hogwarts each year," Ron replied back nonchalantly as one could possibly be about the subject.

    "Hmm, I see," she replied, thankfully to Harry, she didn’t ask what type of things happened. She thought a few more seconds, "You don’t have Quodpod in England do you?"

    "No, mostly Quidditch over here," Harry replied, he had read Quidditch Through the Ages, he knew that Quodpod was particularly favored in America, and Quidditch was just starting to get more popular over there, though it had been played for centuries.

    "Right," she smiled, "You three on the team?"

    "Oh, only Harry," Hermione said, "though I’ve heard the Gryffindor Keeper position is open now that Oliver’s gone. I’m not one for Quidditch myself, maybe you or Ron should go out for it."

    Olivia shrugged, "I’m horrible at being Keeper. Good luck to you though if you try out," she directed towards Ron. Ron gave her a nod of thanks then she turned to Harry, "What position do you play?"

    "Seeker," he replied, the way she looked at him gave Harry a weird feeling in his stomach.

    "Oh," she smiled, "interesting. Prefect?"

    "Yeah," Hermione replied proudly, "So what’s Salem Witches’ and Wizards’ Academy like?"

    "Well for short we call it Salem or Salem W &WA. Well we only have three houses. Dollanganger, Marlowe, and Landry. You can read more about it in Wizarding Schools of the Americas. There are only three in North America. One for each country, but anyway, it’s not as big as Hogwarts. There aren’t as many American witches and wizards as there are British ones. Well on percentages at least. It dates back to the 1700s and it’s in the woods. We have ghosts, fairies, and wood nymphs that came from Europe that stay there. We don’t have a castle. We have a huge mansion and three slightly smaller manors are the Houses or Dorms as we call them."

    "Fascinating," Hermione said intrigued by the new information. Ron and Harry grinned while looking at Hermione. Hermione and Olivia were becoming deeply involved in conversation about wizarding schools.

    Ron turned to Harry, "What did I tell you? They’d make great friends."

    Harry chuckled and nodded, "Well, spotted."

    "Look at Draco, that slimy git," Ron directed, looking over at the Slytherin table himself. Harry looked and saw him conversing with a pretty Brazilian girl.

    "Feel pretty sorry for the girl, even if she is a Slytherin," Harry commented, to show his agreement Ron nodded. As if Draco could sense eyes on him, he turned his cold grey eyes over to the Gryffindor table. A coy grin lit on us face when Draco exchanged looks with Harry. Harry rolled his green eyes and looked over at Hermione and Olivia. "It’s getting late, I figure we should get back up to the Common Room."

    "Yeah, let’s go," Ron replied standing up alongside Hermione.

    "Do you want to go with us?" Hermione asked Olivia.

    "Sure," she replied standing up and joining the three on their way up to the Gryffindor Common Room. On there way up she kept wondering if they knew and if she should tell them, no it‘s secret, she told herself.

    "What’s the password?" Harry asked stopping in front of the picture with the fat lady in the pink dress.

    "Fred says it’s ‘pixie wings’," Ron replied.

    "Right you are," the picture exclaimed as all four of them dashed in the common room. Hermione and Olivia went left, and Harry and Ron went right into their dormitories.

    "Been an interesting day hasn’t it?" Ron asked changing into his blue plaid pajamas, looking over at Harry who was doing the same.

    "Sure has," Harry replied lying on his bed. Ron grinned at him knowingly.

    "What?" Harry asked.

    "Oh, nothing," Ron replied, "night Harry."