The exchange students by Aurora Borealis

Summary: Students from Hogwarts(guess who!) are exchanged to students from a school in Norway. They have to be in Norway from after Christmas to the end of the Summer term.

Disclaimer: Harry and co. belongs to J.K. Rowling. I don't make any money out of this, so there isn't much point in suing me.(snickers at the angry lawyers)

A/N: We are in Harry, Ron and Hermione's fifth year at Hogwarts: they are about 15. This is my Harry Potter-world, so if you don't find any mention about Voldemort rising to power, don't hang on it. But I don't know yet.

This is my first fanfic, so bear with me.

I'm from Norway, so don't think you know things about Norway better than me(if you can't prove you're from Norway yourself). If you didn't know, I'll inform you that English is not the native language in Norway, so bear with me if I write bad English. I'm sorry if my vocabulary is bad or not "in".

You'll notice that there is a Norwegian girl playing a big role in this story. That's me. No, not everybody in Norway is blonde, and no, there is NOT polar bears in Norway(the audience "boos" and is ready to go home).

If there are any words, names, etc. you wonder what means, please send me a mail or write it in your review.

OK, on with the story. Oh, and please review, 'cause I won't continue the story(at least not lay it out on Fanfiction.net) if I don't get 10 positive reviews. I don't like flames, but if you don't like my story and have a reasonable reason(heh heh, I liked that) for it, feel free to tell me in review.

Right. The story(the few people who is left in the hall wake up with a start and looks up at the babbling person on the stage).

The Great Hall was as merry as ever the first day at Hogwarts. Students who had not seen each other for two months chatted loudly. The Sorting had just been done, Dumbledore had welcomed the students and had his little speech to the first years. The feast had begun. Just then, Dumbledore got an owl. He read the note, talked a little to the teachers and stood up.

"Ahem," he said. No response. Sighing, he took out his wand and said: "Sonorus." Instantly, his voice was magnified. "Ahem," he said again. Everybody went silent. Smiling, he said: "Quietus." With normal voice, he continued: "I would like to have a few words more. This year, there is to be an Exchange project between the schools of wizardry around the world. I have been talking to the Headmasters of two schools, and just got the answer back now. We are going to exchange three students from every House with twelve of their students. Two Houses go Norway, the other two go to France. There will be a competition on who will get to be an exchange student. Only fifth years can compete." Fred and George, who had lighted up at the mention of the chance to do mischief a place where no one knew them well enough to blame them, sank back.

"Damn," George said. Fred nodded in agreement.

"More information will be given in the first class tomorrow morning," Dumbledore concluded.

"What do you say?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron. "Shall we go for it?" "Why? Would it be all that fun to go to another, foreign school?" Harry asked. "What if we have to go to that school in France, where Fleur came from!" Ron lighted up. Hermione frowned. "Let's hope not. But think... We could get away from Malfoy! Surely he wouldn't want to go!" At that statement Harry and Ron sounded almost eager to get to a foreign country. Anything to get away from Draco Malfoy.(A/N: OK, that was mean to Draco, but that was how they thought about him just then – maybe they'll change their opinion, maybe not. Don't flame me for it.)

***

It was the first lesson in school that year. Harry and the others walked down towards the dungeons.

"Why does our first lesson in school always happen to be double Potions with the Slytherins?" Ron complained. The others nodded in agreement as they sat down in their usual seats. Snape came in.

"Today," Snape said, "we are going to brew a potion called the 'Hot Toddy'-potion." Hermione, Harry and some other Muggle-borns tried hard not to laugh. Snape's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward. "Do you find that funny?" he asked coldly. More cold than usual, that is. No one dared answer. "We will do this in pairs. I will do the selecting," he added as Harry and Ron instinctely moved toward each other. He sat Hermione up with Pansy Parkinson, to both's disgust, Neville with Crabbe(Neville shook with fear), Ron with a Slytherin boy he didn't know(and didn't care) the name of, and Harry with Malfoy. Both shot killing glares at each other. Lavender Brown ended up with a smirking Goyle.

As they were putting their ingredients up on the table, a polite knock was heard from the door. Snape opened.

"Excuse me," Professor MacGonagall said, "but I have the information sheets about the Exchange project here. If I could hand them out...?" Snape nodded coldly. He didn't seem too happy about it. MacGonagall went around every table to give the students the papers.

"Aren't you going to take one, Malfoy?" Harry asked coldly.

"No," Draco answered, equally coldly. "Why should I? It is just a boring exchange trip anyway. To..." he looked at the paper, "Norway, of all places. Now where the hell is that? Not that I care."

"Well, that's fine, then," Harry said. "Then I'll have you of my back for almost a year."

"Do you think you can win, Potter? That would be the day."

"Well, you are even afraid of trying."

"Watch your mouth, Potter," Draco sneered. "Or else, I might.."

"What? What would you do? Send Crabbe and Goyle at me? You are even to chicken to fight me yourself." At those words, Draco lunged at Harry, knocking down the table in the process.

"POTTER!" Snape shouted. "What do you think you are doing?!" He strode down and pulled Harry and Draco apart.

"It was he who just jumped at me!" Harry protested.

"What a stupid lie! Twenty points from Gryffindor! You should learn to control your temper, Potter!"

"But-"

"No buts! Five points from Gryffindor!"

Harry sighed. There was no way you could make reason to Snape. Especially if you was in the Gryffindor House and was named Harry Potter. Out of the corner of his eye Harry spotted Draco smirking at him. Oh, well', Harry thought. At least now I know that Malfoy won't be one of the Exchange students.

***

In the break before lunch Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried to the Gryffindor Tower to read the pamphlets about the Exchange Project.

"All-world project … students live in the other school from January and out the school year, blah blah blah…" Harry mumbled going through the pamphlet.

"We know all that! Where does it say anything about how we sign up for it?" Ron said irritated, waving around with the pamphlet.

"Am I the only one with brains around here?" Hermione said resigned, sticking the pamphlet up in their faces. "Look on the backside, you morons."

"Oh," Harry said.

"Right," Ron said turning his pamphlet. Scanning over it, he looked more and more stricken. His mouth popped open.

"Now what? Have you forgotten how to read?" Hermione was in a foul mood.

"Knock it off, Herm. Look at what they call a competition."

Hermione read:

THE EXCHANGE STUDENT COMPETITION

Hermione looked up. "Okay," she said. "A writing competition. So let's start writing." Ron and Harry groaned.

Harry was sitting in the Common Room in Gryffindor Tower, trying to write a response for the Exchange Competition. The date was 30^th of October.

Harry sighed and bit his lip, frowning at the parchment in front of him. He added a few sentences about how he would get first hand experience in how wizards from other places in the world lived. Harry handed the note to Hermione.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It'll do," she said. "Honestly, Harry, if you had started a little sooner, you wouldn't have had to just scribble something down in the last minute. That counts for you too, Ron."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ron said absentmindedly, having almost the identical expression as Harry as he looked down at his parchment. Scribbling a final sentence to it, he stood up. "Shall we go hand them in, then?" he asked the others. They followed him out the Portrait Hole.

***

The Exchange Project had been the main topic all over the school those two months. The only ones who didn't seem to care one bit were the Slytherins. Now it was November the 1^st.

"How are they going to get exchange students from the Slytherins if any of them want to be one?" Harry mused as he, Ron and Hermione went to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Maybe they just pick some at random," Ron suggested. Harry and Hermione looked at him in horror. "What?! I was just kidding! Honestly!"

"But what if they do?" Hermione said. "How else are they going to get three Slytherins?"

"Hey, they could ask Professor Trelawney," Harry said.

"Yeah, she would probably say the names of someone who are not even in Slytherin."

Dumbledore stood up. All the students fell silent – except the Slytherins, of course.

"Ahem," Dumbledore said. The Slytherins looked up at him and fell reluctantly silent. "As I think you all know, the time for the winners of the Exchange Students Competition is know to be announced. The students will get more information later. First: Hufflepuff." After Dumbledore had read up the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students, he held up a hand to stop the cheering."We must continue," Dumbledore said. "Now: Gryffindor. (All the fifth years by the Gryffindor table focused entirely on him.) Hermione Granger. (Hermione got a very broad grin over her face, while Harry and Ron slapped her on the back.) Harry Potter. (The same scene erupted, only that Hermione and Harry had switched roles.) And… Ronald Weasley." Everybody on the Gryffindor table smiled and congratulated Ron, Harry and Hermione. Ron looked confused.

"But I only wrote seven lines," he said.

"Maybe the stuff in it was so good, they overlooked it," Hermione said.

"Um… I wrote that I and Harry-"

"Harry and I," Hermione said automatically.

"-wouldn't get in trouble with Malfoy," Ron said glumly, ignoring Hermione's interruption.

"That explains it."

"Thanks a lot."

"Well," Harry grinned. "It ended up with us after all. Again."

"QUIET!" Dumbledore said. He said it very calmly, but everybody heard him anyway. "There is one table left. Now. Since none of the Slytherins competed," Dumbledore gave the Slytherin table a hard look, "we have to take a draw." He waved his wand, and a bowl with some notes in it appeared. "The first one: Pansy Parkinson. (Pansy changed colour to white, to red, to deep, deep, angry red.) (Fornavn) Crabbe. (Crabbe just looked up from his dessert and grunted stupidly.) And… Draco Malfoy."

"WHAT?!?!!!" Draco, Harry, and Ron exclaimed at the same time. Dumbledore overheard them. Pansy didn't look all that angry anymore.

"Don't get all worked up," Hermione said. "Maybe we won't be on the same-"

"Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw will og to Germany, Gryffindor and Slytherin will og to Norway. That will be all for today. Thank you." With that, Dumbledore sat down again and continued eating his dinner.

Out in the hallway Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. They knew what the others were thinking. We wanted to get away from Malfoy, not be with him for over half a year in some Ice Country.

Life couldn't get any worse.

***

A/N: So, what do you think? Should I continue? Did it suck? Please review, I won't write any more of it on Fanfiction.net if I don't get any more than 10 reviews.