"Avada kedavra!"

There was a crack of green light that bolted across the room. Penny's head snapped towards the direction of the light, praying it would hit a wall. Her eyes widened as she saw a tuft of black hair drop to the ground. The girl the hair belonged to was running around a crumbled column. The spell had missed her.

Penny turned, wand in hand, towards the original caster, but the Death Eater simply vanished in a black wave of smoke. As she started to run after him, the ground below her shook. Hogwarts was being destroyed and she needed to get out of there.

"Hurry! Hurry!" A ghost appeared behind her, wailing her hands in the air. "Outside! Outside! They're out in front!"

Penny wheeled around and dashed towards the front doors. The front corridor had a huge gaping hole in the top of it. Stones were still trickling down from it. She almost ran right past a large pile of rubble. Almost. Before she did, she noticed a long streak of red that trailed out. Not blood, but hair.

Fearing the worst, Penny flicked her wand, pulling the rubble up into the air and tossed it to the side. Underneath lay not her sister as she feared, but a rat with strands of red hair thrown about it. It was a trap! She spun around, hoping to catch whoever it was before they got her, but no one was there.

"Hurry! Hurry!" The ghost was behind her again, edging her towards the door.

Penny turned to go towards the front when she saw her sister on the other side of the hallway. Smiling to herself, she started to run towards her best friend. As Penny opened her mouth to shout out her sisters name, she heard a voice from behind her. That all too familiar crack of green light whizzed past her ear and down the hallway to where her sister stood.

Penny woke up with a scream stuck in her throat. Her body was covered in sweat. She clutched her heart, breathing hard as she tried to push the nightmare away from her mind. When would it end? The war was over months ago, and she still couldn't stop dreaming about it. Dreaming about her sister...

She pushed the covers back and jumped out of bed. Going back to sleep would only bring the nightmare back and she couldn't dare think of that now. Not when she was going to start a new school. A new school in a different country. A new school in a different world, it seemed like. A muggle school. Penny frowned. The idea of going to a muggle school wasn't hers and she didn't like the idea. But with Hogwarts closed until the renovations were complete, and the fact that she probably couldn't ever go back there with the memories she had, there weren't very many other choices.

At least, those were the reasons she told herself. The real reason wasn't something she could handle yet. With Voldemort dead, the war was over. That's what everyone said. So why did her dad disappear a week later? And why were there strange Death Eater marks left around her old town? And why did her neighbor's daughter end up dead on the sidewalk? Being a half-blood, Penny couldn't dare to think of the implications everything had. She was sticking with the thought that Hogwarts was closed and this was the next place on the list to be.

Pushing the thoughts and memories away, she got ready for her first day at school.

The hallways were narrow and crowded with kids. Metal lockers slammed and rubber shoes squeaked on the floors. There was nothing floating in the air above her head, no pranks spells being cast and nothing magical looking in this school that had been built all too recently. No ghosts, no uniforms, nothing that felt natural. It didn't feel like home. It felt more like a modern dungeon.

In order to fit in, her mother had bought her a few new outfits. They weren't as stylish as some of the kids looked, but at least she wasn't wearing a sweater vest or anything. American movies had taught her that much at least. Not wanting to stand out, she'd worn a simple pair of dark jeans and a grey t-shirt. Her mother had put her long red hair back into a plain ponytail. Hopefully she'd drop down to being invisible. That was the magic of muggle American schools after all, wasn't it? The ability not to stand out, not to be noticed? That's what Penny needed right now. That was the whole point of being in hiding.

As the first bell rang, the hallways started to clear. It was much easier for her to find her way towards her first class this way. Penny marched along the halls until she found the first circled door on her stationary map. Math. Penny groaned to herself and pushed opened the door.

The classroom was loud and unruly. She was shocked to see how kids were behaving. If she'd acted like that back at Hogwarts, she'd probably gotten Umbridge style detention! Swallowing her shock, she walked over towards the teachers desk and cleared her throat.

"Yes?" The teacher, a fat balding man with pale eyes, looked up at her with distaste. "Just sit down already, will you?"

"I-I have to get this signed." Penny held out the paper she received from the front office. She guessed American's didn't trust their student to show up to class on the first day. Or didn't trust them to find the classes. It would be easier if the maps were magical.

The teacher groaned and snatched the paper out of her hand. After he scribbled something illegible onto the sheet, he shoved it back into her hands then grunted for her to leave. Penny bit her lip and turned to face the classroom.

The kids were starting to settle down and sit in the desks. Penny wasn't sure where to sit. There weren't many options available. She saw 3 desks that were open. Not wanting to make a scene, she darted for the closest one and sat down, keeping her eyes fixed on the desk in front of her. According to a scratched in scribble on the desk, Mr. Denots was a dweeb. Penny pulled out her class schedule to find out that her new Math teacher was in fact Mr. Denots. What the heck was a dweeb?

The class was incredibly difficult for her. Penny barely managed to stay up with the teacher. She'd never had any advanced mathematics before, and the only things she really knew were what her mother tried to teach her as they were fleeing England. Not much of it stuck with her. As the class ending bell rang, Penny let out a sigh of relief. She gathered her notes and shoved them into her bag, praying she'd somehow be able to pass the class.

"You're new, right?"

Penny's head snapped up as a voice came from in front of her desk. A tall boy with dark hair and eyes was clutching a bag over his shoulder and looking down at her. She swallowed. So much for being invisible from the start.

"Yeah." She nodded, trying to put on an American accent. "Penny Jensen."

"Oh, well hey. I'm Finn Hudson." He held out his hand.

Penny looked at his hand for a second. Making friends was a bad idea. Still, being a bitch might be worse. She took his hand and shook it for half a second before letting go.

"So, uh," Finn glanced around the room, which was quickly emptying. "Can I help show you around or something?"

Penny suppressed a sigh. She had to admit, a guide would be nice. And maybe having one simple friend wouldn't hurt. After all, it's not like this Finn was a Death Eater spy or anything, he was just trying to help out the new kid.

"Sure." Penny said, getting to her feet.

"Cool." Finn smiled. "Do you need to go to your locker or anything?"

"No." Penny didn't even know where her locker was. Her bag had all her books and one giant notebook to write everything she could inside it. Muggles were so inefficient.

"Are you sure?" Finn raised an eyebrow as Penny struggled to put her overweight book bag on.

"I'm fine." Penny grunted, adjusting the bag. She took the horrible map out of her pocket and unfolded it. "It looks like I have English next." At least it was a subject she actually knew.

"Ah." He looked slightly disappointed. "Ok, come on."

This is my very first fanfiction. I know doing a crossover isn't the smartest thing for your first one, but I had the idea and decided to just go with it. I've always wanted to write one, so I figured I should stop wanting and just do it. I know Artie wasn't really in this chapter that much, but he's in later ones. Anyway, any comments or feedback would be great. Thanks!