Chapter Three

"Oh, God, I'm sorry!" Hope cried, her face reddening as she bent down to pick up her books.

"Aaah…" moaned Ron as he tried to grab his foot and bend down to help the girl pick up her books – heavy books.

"I'm so sorry –"

"Totally fine –"

"It's been a clumsy, weird day –"

"You have NO idea –"

They looked up at each other, and Hope's face got even redder than Ron's hair, if possible. They both cleared their throats awkwardly, and Ron gave her the books.

"I really am sorry!" she cried.

"It's fine," said Ron, trying to smile.

"Are you guys the new students?" Jordi asked, as if trying to break the awkward and uncomfortable moment.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Really?" said Jordi and Hope at the same time, Jordi a little more enthusiastically.

"What house are you in?"

"Erm…" said Harry, pulling out his schedule. "Elkhart."

Jordi let out a small squeal. "So are we! So that means you're in all our classes, and in our dorm – the boys' side at least – do you guys need a guide?"

"Really? That would be fantastic!" said Harry, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, I guess it's off to Burn's class for Chemistry!"

"Chemistry?" said Harry and Ron together as they followed the two girls, Hope trying to hide her face.

"So it's like Potions, right?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head out of shame.

"Potions? Where did you guys come from, a Wizarding School?"

Harry gave a nervous, and what he hoped was a convincing laugh. "No, just trying to make a joke…"

"Oh, don't worry, it was still funny," said Jordi. "What are your names, by the way?"

"I'm Harry Potter, and this is Ron Weasley."

"Those are nice names – very British. I'm Jordi Rogers, and this is Hope Danes."

"Hello," said Harry.

"Nice to meet you," mumbled Hope and Ron together.

"Well, here's Burn's class!" said Jordi in what she hoped was a bright voice.

Harry and Ron felt as though there was a spotlight on them as they entered the room just as the bell rang. Jordi and Hope quickly led them to two empty seats by where they sat in the room. As soon as they sat down, Burns slammed the door.

"Good morning," he said coldly. The room was always chilly, but for more than the temperature. "Before we get down to business, I see we have two new students with us. Would they please stand up?"

Harry, Ron, Hope, and Jordi all shot each other looks as the boys slowly stood up. Leslie and Chloe eyed them like they would to an ice cream sundae.

"Your names?" asked Burns sharply.

"Harry Potter."

"Ron Weasley."

"British lads?" said Burns in quite an accurate U.K. accent. They nodded. "Here are your books." Harry and Ron walked up to his desk to retrieve them. "I trust that you both are up to date on your information about this science?"

"Aaah…"

"Well…"

"Yes, sir, they are," said Hope, quite unexpectedly. Harry, Ron, Jordi, and half the class turned to look at her.

"Miss Danes! I believe I was addressing Potter and Weasley."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I – we – were just talking about it outside. You see, we're – Jordi and I –" Jordi threw her a look. She didn't want to be dragged into this too. "We're their student guides, and they're dealing with electrons, just like we are now," Hope finished.

Burns scanned over the four faces, and the boys felt like they were under Moody's magical eye.

"Very well," he said finally, and they all breathed again. "You may sit down." Harry and Ron quickly moved back to their seats, Harry behind Jordi and Ron behind Hope. "Thanks," Ron muttered in her ear.

"It's the least I could do, you know, for the whole book incident."

"Now, today, as most of you know, you're doing a lab. Now, this is not just ANY lab, this one is worth twenty-five percent of your grade. So I highly recommend doing this extremely accurately. Here are your instructions –" he pointed to a pile of papers, "- and you know where to find your goggles and keys. You may begin."

The class jumped up to get their equipment.

"Oh, Potter, Weasley, you can work by Rogers and Danes, if you wish."

"Come on," said Jordi, handing a pair of goggles to both Harry and Ron as Hope grabbed the key to their lab drawer and their instructions.

"What do we need to do, Hope?" Jordi asked.

"Uh…" started Hope, staring at the paper. Harry and Ron stared at the equipment on their lab table. There was a very long glass thermometer, two beakers, one extremely large, the other two hundred fifty milliliters. There was also a bottle of something labeled HCl. Out of curiosity, Ron put his finger into the beaker. But his fingertips were barely an inch from the liquid danger when Hope jumped.

"Ron!" she hissed, grabbing his hand and pulling it out. "That is Hydrochloric Acid!"

"Huh?"

"Hydrochloric Acid! It'll burn your skin off!" she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, right…" he said, hoping he sounded convincing. "Sorry – I didn't see the label…"

Hope looked convinced enough, Ron thought as she turned to the directions again.

"Um, Hope?" said Jordi after a minute. "Could Ron have his hand back?"

"Oh, my bad," said Hope, drawing back and turning pink. For some reason, he didn't want her to.

"Hmm…" said Hope. "Well, we fill this beaker with the water," she indicated the large one, "first to two fifty milliliters, and then add two fifty each time until we get to a thousand, taking the mass of the beaker each time. Could someone fill this one up to two fifty and dump it into the huge one?"

She held up the smaller beaker. Ron and Jordi both reached for the beaker at the exact same time, and it was knocked out of Hope's hand. It fell to the floor, the glass dancing around their feet.

Well, breaking something was certainly a good way to get someone's attention, thought Harry. Actually, more than someone – the whole class looked over. Burns just shook his head.

"You're new," he said. "Just get another out of the cabinet, and clean up the mess."

Jordi nodded and walked very quickly to the cabinet, head down.

Ron immediately bent down to help Hope and Harry pick up the pieces. "I'm so sorry," he muttered. "I – I don't know what's wrong with me today." He glanced more at Harry when he said this, and Harry raised his eyebrows as if to say "You have NO idea".

"It's fine, don't worry about it," said Hope. "You're in a new school, it doesn't surprise me that you're nervous, and it's a whole new country that you're in, too. Even Burns understands, which never hap – OUCH!"

"What is going on over there?" cried Burns, standing up to see their lab table.

"Sorry, sir, I just – cut my hand –" Hope said, wincing.

Ron and Harry peered at her hand, just as Jordi came over with the new beaker.

"Oh, Hope, it looks like there's still some glass lodged in your hand," said Jordi, stroking Hope's hair to comfort her.

"Ow," she said weakly, starting to look woozy, the blood pouring from her palm.

"Oh, geez," sighed Burns. "Miss Danes, are you alright?" Hope shook her head, eyes welling up with tears. Fine – Weasley, right? – You take her to the nurse. Maybe you'll learn how to navigate around the school a little more. Rogers and Potter, you can clean up this mess. And please be careful."

Ron took Hope's arm that was attatched to her uninjured hand to help her up.

"C'mon, it'll be alright," Ron said softly. Hope sniffled. Ron's hand automatically reached for his wand before he remembered that it wasn't there anymore. So instead, he decided to comfort her with words, since spells wouldn't work, as she led the way to the hospital wing – er, 'nurse's office'.

"I'm sorry this had to happen , it's all my fault –"

"No, it's fine, it's not that big of a deal –"

"I cut your hand open!"

"Worse things have happened to me – I guess this is payback for dropping those books on your foot…"

"We're off to a great start, aren't we?" said Ron, slowing down.

Hope sighed, giving a small laugh. "Yeah."

"Want to start over?"

Hope nodded.

Ron held out his hand "I'm Ron Weasley."

"Pleased to meet you, Ron. I'm Hope Danes."

And they shook hands.

.o.

Sorry about the long wait for an update… its been a rough few weeks for me. Can I have chapter dedications? Well, I am. To John… my favorite Texan in all the world.