Srry I haven't updated in so long, I kind of had a writers block and stuff, so sorry.
***Harry, Hermione, Ron, and others***
"The Hogwarts Express will be arriving in Hogsmede in 5 minutes time. Please change into your school robes now if you have not done so already." The voice echoed through all the compartments, quickly creating movement as students rushed to pull on their robes and get ready for the start of term feast. Hermione sighed as she was ushered out of her compartment along with the rest of the girls so that all of the boys could change. Her, Ginny, and Luna (whose nose was in the latest edition of "The Quibbler") waited patiently for the guys to change as they surveyed their surroundings (well except Luna who was still reading her magazine). Not surprisingly they weren't the only ones in the corridor waiting outside compartment doors. Both guys and girls were talking, leaned up against the corridor walls, as they sped closer and closer to their destination.
Hermiones' thoughts however were not on her surroundings, but on the new students who would be staying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.
Will the rest of school accept them? How will they act? Will I be able to treat them like normal people? How can I deal with working with Draco? When did he get so hot?
She blinked twice before comprehending the thought.
Not hot! Bad Hermione! Bad thoughts, he's your worst enemy, insulting you since you first came to Hogwarts. He calls you mudblood at any chance he gets.
Hermione smiled at her thoughts.
Doesn't stop him from being hot.
The compartment door opened before Hermione could protest her last thought, announcing that they could come back in. Harry asked her a question before she could go any further into the subject and the last 5 minutes were spent in deep conversation about Lord Voldemort and his return. They stayed mostly off the subject of the death of Sirius, which had occurred that previous year, but felt free to discuss what they believed Lord Voldemort was up to currently. Hermione decided to withhold the information she had about the new students who would be arriving during the feast.
The train whistle pierced through their conversation as the train screeched to a halt at Hogsmede Station. They piled out of their compartments and snatched a ride on one of the horseless carriages. Except for the second time in her life Hermione saw a Thestral. She, like the rest of her companions, went up to pet the animal because they felt compelled to give the creature thanks for aiding them in the journey that they took last term. With that task accomplished she climbed into the carriage with the others. The journey took less than 3 minutes and for the most part everybody was silent. Rain was pouring outside and so they could barely see 3 feet outside their windows. Hermione wondered briefly how the mutants were going to get to Hogwarts.
They made their way to the entrance hall and got soaked in the process. The first change she noticed as she entered the hall was a fifth hourglass with clear stones in it. Many took notice of it but continued onto the great hall where they were faced with 5 long tables. Some stopped in confusion but all eventually proceeded to their normal table but gave the new table one or two curious glances. It was decorated in black and white, but other than the colors it looked like any of the other house tables. It had been placed next to the Gryffindor table with one side near the stonewall. As soon as everybody was seated at their appropriate tables Dumbledore stood up and addressed the large group of students.
"Now I understand that many of you are wondering what a fifth table is doing in the great hall, but it does have a good reason. We shall be harboring a group of students, much like yourselves here at Hogwarts. They are a group of muggles that each have a special ability. One young woman has the gift of telekinesis, a young man can control the element of ice. I ask you not to fear any of them fore they are not hostile in any way. While here they shall be guests at Hogwarts fore they are also on the run from Lord Voldemort who desires them for their special abilities. They shall be in attendance to some of your classes so be kind and considerate to these new students. They will be arriving shortly so in the meantime we will be sorting the first years."
The great hall was silent with shock. No one said a word about the subject, simply stared dumbfounded up at Professor Dumbledore. Eyes were wide, mouths hanging open as the doors near the Slytherin table opened up and the first years lined up at the front of the hall. As "Bradley, Heather" was sorted into Ravenclaw their were only a few applause, and even those were scattered. Around the hall people were finally coming out of their stupor and applauding as new students joined them at their tables.
***With Amaris and Co***
So take the photographs and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
As Good Riddance by Green Day finished up, a voice rang clearly through everybody's minds.
:I'm glad you are all enjoying the trip. However I'm going to have to ask you to sit down because we are going to land in a minute. Jubilee if you would stop the light show and Amaris if you could stop the music it would be most appreciated. Everybody please take your seats now.: Grumbling Amaris complied, walking up to the front of the Blackbird and grabbing her MP3 player. People were still talking pretty loudly as they took their seats at the back of the plane. Amaris, Kitty, and Tivona all took seats near the exit door looking out the window to see the first glimpse of the castle that they were supposed to be living at for the next year. Amaris gripped tightly to the armrests as the jet made it's landing. She had never quite been comfortable with landing in the Blackbird, it had always slightly scared her. It might have had to do with that vision about the Vertical Drop-off and watching this guy plummet to his death over and over again (thankfully she had told the Professor And everything had worked out. She closed her eyes slightly as they thudded to a halt on the rain-soaked grounds of Hogwarts. They fluttered open again as people rose to their feet and started grabbing their bags from the floor around them. Amaris ignored her bags and made a beeline toward Jean.
"Hey Jean!" Amaris called out to her friend.
"Oh, her Amaris. What do you want?" Her tone was not accusing, simply curious.
"I was wondering, since it's pouring out there if you might want to give us a mental shield to avoid everyone getting soaked. It might make a good impression on the Hogwarts professors, but you don't have to." She added that last bit to give Jean good incentive to put up the rain shield.
"Good idea, I think I will." Nodding in thanks, Amaris made her way back to her seat to grab her things.
"Students, leave your belongings here. Someone will pick them up and bring them to your quarters during the feast. Now if you would please follow me, we will all be able to get some food." The stern voice of Professor McGonagall would definitely be considered commanding as it instructed the new students on what to do. They all complied willingly because no one wanted to carry their luggage any sort of distance in this weather.
Professor McGonagall opened up the door and stepped out, expecting rain and finding that there was none at all. She looked up to find an invisible barrier keeping rain from getting at her or any of the students or professors on their journey to the castle.
"Thank you Jean." A voice called from the back of the group. Many people echoed this sentiment and she caught a red head to her right grinning with pride. The group made its way up the slopping lawns of the grounds. They made their way past the lake and into the entrance hall. Professor Mcgonagall made them stop there and she and the Hogwarts professors continued through the great big wooden doors at the opposite side of the hall. Amaris caught a glimpse of a long table of people staring at the front of the great hall; all of the kids had their backs turned to the oak doors.
"Amaris, what do you think of this place so far?" Kitty asked coming from behind her.
"I dunno, it's kind of big and has the air of a 'come here and you shall be cursed forever' building, but then again it is magical. It kind of balances out. Did you see the lake?" When kitty nodded Amaris continued with her idea. "And the fact that the castle is right up against the lake? And there are windows on that side of the castle? Do you see what I'm getting at now?" Slowly a grin spread across Kitty's face.
"Totally. Shall we begin preparations tomorrow with Tivona?"
"For sure." The rest of their conversation was cut short by the doors of the great hall were opening. Professor Lupin gestured for them to follow him and everybody did. Amaris and Kitty continued their conversation virtually ignoring the hundreds of people staring at them.
They made their way past all of the other tables and found themselves sitting at the far end of the hall. The table adjacent to theirs held a group of students dressed in the black robes like everyone else. The only difference was that they had a red badge on theirs. Like most of the students in the hall they were staring as the mutants past their table. Amaris, Kitty, and Tivona all sat together with their backs facing the red badge students. They had conveniently placed themselves at the very end of the table nearest the other end of the hall from where they entered. The staff table was only about 25 feet away and they could easily see the Professor from their seats. Jubilee, Bobby, and Rogue sat across from them staring at the empty plates and goblets with wide starving eyes (they hadn't eaten at all on the way there). Amaris and her friends weren't really concerned about the food or plates, they were planning the best way to introduce the school to the real them.
"Like, do you get it Tivona? Will you check with the animals and stuff for us?" Kitty asked her excitedly.
"Yup, I totally get it. I'll check right now, and besides it will be a good way to practice my abilities because they're not much use in battle." With that said she closed her eyes and spread out her senses. Her mind left her body and started off towards the direction of the lake. She explored for types of water life and found some immediately, and the first thing that she found scared her senseless-at least at first. A giant Squid. They kept a giant squid in their lake. That was so fucking COOL!!!!! Forgetting completely what she had originally intended to do she quickly struck up an amiable conversation with it.
: Hi!: She exclaimed at him her excitement pushing away the thought of being afraid
: Hello miss. Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?: She had to admit he was really polite and intelligent for an animal.
: No, I don't mind at all. I'm Tivona, and I'm a mutant who will be staying at the school for a while. I'm not quite sure how long, but I do know we're here because some wizard named Voldy something or other wants us captured. By the way, you're really polite.: She said being her usual upfront self.
: Oh. I'm glad I'll have someone to talk to after all these years. Hagrid is really nice, but he barely has any telepathic abilities, and Mr. Filch only has the ability to talk to his cat Mrs. Norris. I hope you will be able to talk another time. May I ask what you wanted to do here in the first place?:
: Oh yeah… I kind of wanted to know if…: Quickly she explained their situation and he immediately replied with an affirmative; their plan was still on. She bid farewell to the giant squid and retreated back to her body in the great hall. She opened her eyes to see her plate still empty, though she didn't care. She turned to face both Amaris and Kitty and trying to repress the excitement-but failing miserably she practically shouted in their ears
"Oh my god! They've got a giant squid in their lake! And he's intelligent!!!!!!! I am happy!!!" These words caused eyebrows to rise on Amaris's and Kitty's faces. They were obviously confused. Tivona calmed down and added in a softer tone that, "It's on.". This caused the reaction of Kitty pumping her fist and Amaris giving a small yell of triumph. Now everyone across the great hall was giving them odd looks
"What are you three-" Bobby was cut off mid sentence as a man with a really long white beard stood up to address them all.
"I welcome you all to the halls of Hogwarts. Now I know you are all very hungry so let me make this speech quick so you may dig in. For the guests that will be staying at this school over the next school year, I welcome you and hope you have an excellent school year. To everyone, I must inform you that the Forbidden Forest is off-grounds to all students. Also, there is a list of illegal items available in dungeon 5. Now, eat up!"
Suddenly the dishes in front of them filled with food and Amaris, Tivona, and Kitty were made aware of the fact that they were starving. They made quick work of the food in front of them and were continuing their discussion of there plan speaking in quiet hushed tones. When others around them were finished, they moved their conversation about the man who had forced them to move so quickly out of their long time mansion.
"He can't be all that bad considering the fact that we've never heard of him." Said Bobby.
"But we had never heard of the wizarding world before now, and so I have no problem in believing that he is pretty bad." Put in Kitty.
"But the question is, is he Magneto bad or just bad bad?" Spoke Amaris.
"What's his name?" They all stared at Tivona in disbelieve. Amaris was inches away from hitting her in the back of the head when she stopped a surprised look over her face.
"You know what guys, I don't remember his name either." It dawned on everyone else that they also had forgotten what his name was. "Well since no one knows, we might as well ask the locals." When they gave Amaris strange looks she gestured toward the people behind her.
"You can ask them, Amaris." Rogue said.
"Scardy cats." She replied before poking the girl behind her who was currently talking amiably to the boy next to her. The girl looked up, her brown hair moving into her face before she brushed it behind her ear absentmindedly and raising both eyes in question. At least there's no fear in those eyes thought Amaris to herself.
***Hermione and CO. POV***
After the first years took a seat, everyone broke into chatter about the news Dumbledore had just given them. They were in a discussion about whether a not they really had the powers they claimed to have when the doors of the Great Hall opened and let in Professor McGonagall and Professor Lupin. They were followed by a large group of students numbering in roughly the 120's. They were led over to the table behind them and were looking around at everyone with wide eyes and surprise. Some of them pointed to the floating candles above all of the tables. A group of girls sat behind them and were speaking in hushed tones.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry gave them curious glances before continuing there conversation on the next step Voldemort would take to further his goal of creating chaos. Hermione was occupied most of the time with the fact that she would have to lead the Mutants around with Malfoy. Of all the people I had to be paired up with it had to be Malfoy! Why couldn't it be someone harmless like Ernie? She thought to herself.
Suddenly a small yell of triumph was heard from behind her and she quickly spun around to see the three girls that were sitting behind her smiling excitedly about something. The boy across from them was about to ask them what they were up to before Dumbledore standing up at the far end of the hall interrupted him. After Dumbledore said his speech he sat down and the great hall started to chow down on the platters that had appeared in front of them. Hermione smiled at the surprised gasps that could be heard behind them. She remembered how the Durmstrang students had been equally impressed with this magic back in their fourth year.
"Do you guys want to start the Defense club again?" Said Ron who was seated next to her.
"What?"
"Do you guys want to start the Defense club again? Geesh Hermione, you're out of it."
"Sorry Ron I was just thinking about my prefect duties. I got stuck with Malfoy as a partner to lead a group of the mutants. We're going to have to work a lot together and you know that prat hates our guts. I can't believe I have to work with him." Hermione said, and felt her temper rising.
"WHAT!?!?" Was the only answer she got from both Harry and Ron.
"Yeah, it sucks." She replied. Ron was opening his mouth to reply but Hermione felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to raise a questioning eyebrow at a young girl behind her.
The girl looked no older then 15 with blond curly hair framing her face. She had a small nose and brilliant blue eyes that sparkled with the light reflected off of the floating candles. Her lips were small like her nose but were full and a light pink color. Hermione wondered briefly what her power was but knew that if it was dangerous to the people around her, she would not be here. She saw Ron tense up with a little bit of fear and surprise but relaxed when logical fact pushed through his initial thoughts.
"Hi!" Spoke the girl smiling widely at them before continuing. "I'm Amaris, and I was wondering what you could tell me about the guy who is after us, starting with his name 'cause I've forgotten it already." Hermione was a bit taken aback by her forwardness but replied with the best of her ability.
"No one really speaks his name, and if they talk of him they call him 'He-who-must-not-be named'. He is after to take over the world and rid it off all non-pureblood wizards. No one really knows where he lives, or what he looks like-"
"I do!" Amaris told them with a smile.
"What!?" Cried Ron.
"He's pale and has got an upturned nose, and he resembles a snake." She leaned in to them conspiratorially and whispered "He's Creepy!" She accompanied this thought with a shudder.
"When did you see him?" Hermione asked confused.
"In the Vision I had last night. See my mutation gives me the ability to see the present of the future when I go to sleep. I can't really control when it happens, so sometimes I'll be in the middle of one of my classes then suddenly fall asleep and have a Vision. It's really annoying because whenever I have one I sweat a lot and if a teacher catches me snoozing during class I get detention. They get really mad when they can't wake me up, either that or they become hysterical. It's quite amusing listening to the story's that my friend tell me after I wake up. Like the one time I had a vision during English- Mr. Farley is really strict so when he yelled at me while I was having a Vision, then when he couldn't wake me up he started screaming and running around in circles. He even pulled the fire alarm in his panic. By the second ring I had gotten out of the Vision and was able to calm him down. Eventually the Professor had to talk to him and wipe his mind clean of the incident so that he wouldn't suspect that I was a mutant, because if that happened there would be riots and fires and stuff resulting in my death. Enough of me rambling about something totally and completely pointless, I want to know more about that guy, and why he's after us. Since no one has offered a name for him yet and He-who-must-not-be-named is way to long to say in a conversation I'm going to call him Fluffy." Amaris said this quickly as she responded to the question.
"Fluffy?" Echoed Ron.
"Is there an echo in this room?" Was Amaris's response.
"You're going to call the most evil wizard ever Fluffy?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yeah. Is there something wrong with that?"
"No not really… The idea is kind of strange. I guess if he ever found out that you would be on his 'To Kill' list."
"And I'm not already?"
"No, you and your friends are simply on his 'Get On My Side Or Kill' list." Ron answered.
"Not much difference in my opinion. Anyways, can you tell me much on Fluffy? Like just basic facts and stuff."
"Well, his real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He attended Hogwarts about 50 years ago and while here he opened the Chamber of Secrets. Opening it resulted in the death of one of the pupils at Hogwarts. He placed the blame on Hagrid and got him expelled. Thankfully Harry and Ron were able to get that sorted out in our second year when the Chamber had been opened again. In his latter years at Hogwarts he was-"
"Who's Harry?"
"I am." Harry spoke for the first time in the entire conversation from his seat on the opposite side of the table.
"It speaks." Joked Amaris with a smile and a small giggle, Harry returned the gesture with a small smile of his own.
"Anyways, Fluffy as you have dubbed him started being called Lord Voldemort-" A shudder was repressed from Ron "-and he started to gain supporters. He slowly rose in power, creating an army of Deatheaters and-"
"The gothic like people that are like slaves to Fluffy, right? They dress all in black with masks and stuff and look as if they worship the Devil and stuff, right?"
"Yes." Harry answered her.
"Freaky."
"If I may continue?" When Amaris gave a nod Hermione continued her speech. "They gained power and started killing non magic folk and torturing wizards and stuff until 16 years ago when they were disbanded due to their leaders supposed death. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was not dead, just lacking a body, which he gained back in our 4th year. However, everyone wanted so badly to keep the hesitant peace we had achieved that the Minister refused to believe the truth. Then at the end of our fifth year, just last spring, the wizarding world finally came to realize the fact that 'Fluffy' was not dead and he was gaining power. So now everyone is panicking and there is an attack at least every week so-" Hermione was interrupted yet again as Amaris spoke, this time her voice was barely over a whisper and she only spoke 3 words.
"Oh… Shit… Vision." Then she collapsed on one of her friends as her body started to convulse and beads of sweat rolled down her face.
***Amaris's Vision***
Fluffy sat in a room, dark eyes glaring at the fire. A smaller man quivered in the corner a faint glow coming from one of his hands, which was pure white. There were two small cracks and two men appeared in the room dressed in dark robes with dark masks on. They crawled to Fluffy who had stood up as soon as they had appeared and kissed his feet before crawling away and standing up.
"The mission failed milord. They already knew ahead of time and were gone before we arrived. They left much in their haste, but none of it was usable for our needs. We spent long hours searching, but we found nothing." One man spoke, his head bowed.
"What is this Luscious? You say we have a spy in our midst? You just figured it out? CRUCIO!" Fluffy let the curse fly and after several seconds of the spell's fury directed on Luscious, he released him. "I know of our spy, the spy from Dumbledore, his loyal employee and his end will be met this morning. Give me our arm." Luscious extended the arm fully toward his lord and master and his arm shook slightly with fear. Fluffy pulled back the robe to reveal a skull shaped tattoo. As he pressed a single finger down onto it he gave a cruel cold laugh, it burned red and Luscious let out a yell of pain.
***End Vision***
***Amaris's POV***
I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach that this was very bad news. Tivona looked down at me from my place on her lap and I gave a smile.
"That was awful. Do you know how disgusted I feel right now? My second vision today and I have yet to take a bath. I feel so-" I gave a shudder "-blah." Tivona cracked a smile and I sat up wiping the sweat from my brow. I grabbed the goblet in front of me and let it's cool contents slide down my throat. I placed it down and smiled and the indignant look Kitty was giving me- it had been her drink. I turned to Hermione and her friends who had been and still were staring at me.
"Sorry for the scare, that's basically what happens every time I have a Vision in my waking hours. Normally they come when I'm sleeping. They're easier to deal with then, though the Professor must not appreciate being awoken at ungodly hours. I must leave now to talk to the Professor because it was about Fluffy again. I applaud his ability to get into my Visions twice in a row. Aurevoir mes amis!" I gave a little wave and made my way u to the front of the hall where Professor was having a conversation with Dumbledore.
Many of the eyes in the hall were on me as I sidled up and tapped the Professor on the shoulder. He looked up, noticing my sweat soaked T-shirt, and gave a deep frown.
"Sorry to interrupt you Professor, however I had another Vision about our dear friend Fluffy." At this point Dumbledore who had an eyebrow raised interrupted me in question at the name I had given to the bad guy. Damn, what was his name again?
"Fluffy? Who may I ask is that?"
"The evil dude, what's his name…Voldeparty or something like that." I ignored the looks I was getting up and down the staff table and continued with the description of the Vision. "Anyways, Fluffy was sitting on a chair positively glaring at the fireplace when there were these two crack sounds like the ones you hear when you play a really old record and there is a scratch on the record. Two men appeared, although only one of them spoke. Both wore black robes and masks and kissed Fluffy's feet before standing up and addressing him. The guy who spoke said something about taking over the mansion and how nobody was there and there was a traitor in the ranks of the deatheaters. Fluffy was all like 'No duh!' and then he said something like 'Croutons' and the deatheater –Luscious- writhed on the ground in pain for a couple seconds and then stopped. Then Fluffy was all like 'I know, quit pointing out the obvious. We'll get that traitor Severus at the meeting this morning' Then he grabbed Luscious's arm and touched this skull tattoo on his arm and I burned red. Then he did a perfect evil laugh and I was released from the vision. That's about it." Dumbledore sat there staring at me in surprise.
"You mean to tell me you saw the future?" He asked in amazement.
"Yeah, but only part of this mornings future. The Death dudes spend today looking for us at our mutants and they look through all of our folders and rooms and crap." At this point the late night and early morning were finally catching up on me and I had bent over and rested both my arms on the staff table and gave a large yawn.
"Amaris, may I take a look at the Vision?" The professor asked me. I nodded as my eyes closed and relaxed my mind. I felt him enter my mind but paid him no mind as he got to the Vision. Within minutes he had exited my mind and nodded. I smiled and turned to go back to the table. Half a step away, Dumbledore called me back.
"Amaris, tell me what your first Vision was about." I turned around again and related my story to him before turning for a third time and walking down to our table.
Kitty was having an argument with Bobby about what the weirdest thing that had ever happened to them since becoming a mutant. Kitty said it was the first time that she used her powers and fell through her bedroom floor into the garage and Bobby said it was the first time he used his powers to fight Magneto. It was a heated discussion and caught the attention of everyone around them.
It was ended when Dumbledore announced it was time to retire to our rooms.
"Amaris, can you gather everybody up so that Malfoy and I can show you your new rooms? Tell them to meet in the room outside this one." I nodded before rounding up my friends and directing them into the next room. We stood there slightly apprehensive as Hermione and a boy with slicked back blond hair who I could only assume was the kid called 'Malfoy'.
Odd name for somebody, his parents must be whacko"Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Hermione Granger and this here is Draco Malfoy. We will be showing you your rooms shortly, and tomorrow morning we will be interviewing you along with the two other prefects to decide what classes we should put you in so you can get a good feel for what you are up against when it comes to the wizarding world. WE will try to place you in classes that pertain to your abilities. Now if you would please follow me." She led us up the stairs and through the long winding corridors. I tried to keep track of where we were going, but within minutes I was turned around completely and simply followed and didn't think about where we were going.
Fin
Uggg
That took forever and I'm soo sorry.
Thanx for everyone that reviewed.
Devastation