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 Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:41 pm
The year is 2028.
It’s been almost thirty years since the defeat of who was once known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but now those who were afraid to speak of him now can call him Voldemort. No one has anything to fear.
The peace that many witches and wizards fought and died for has been filled with hope and promise. Though many of its influential people are gone, the Wizarding World is prospering.
The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is opening its doors today to a new batch of students and a plethora of returning ones. This year should be no different than the past thirty. Or will it?
---
The Great Hall glowed peacefully, its benches and tables filled with the soft light of the floating candles above. Dumbledore’s golden owl podium remained, only it wasn’t a bearded wizard who stood behind it these days, but a tall and stern-looking witch with tightly pulled back hair.
Professor McGonagall was currently sitting in her chair at the center of the professor’s table. Around her were many familiar faces: Filius Flitwick, the extremely short Charms teacher; Horace Slughorn, the rotund and impressionable Potions master; and Rubeus Hagrid, the enormous yet gentle Gamekepper and Care of Magical Creatures professor.
The new faces weren’t so new, but older. Neville Longbottom replaced Professor Sprout as the new Herbology professor and had been given the position of Gryffindor head of house; Hannah Abbot was the new head of Hufflepuff house and taught Muggle Studies; Teddy Lupin, Remus and Tonk’s metamorphmagus son was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
The only two that were missing from the table currently were Hannah and Teddy. The rest of the professors were chatting amongst themselves. The stray conversations quickly dulled, however, when one small conversation was brought to the forefront due to the mention of one name.
“It’s safe to assume that you’ve heard the rumors, Minerva? That some of Tom’s followers have come out of hiding?”
“Merely rumors, Horace,” McGonagall said in her shrewd tone. She waved her hand in the air to further accentuate her doubt.
Neville nodded quickly, brown hair mussed slightly by his enthusiasm. “It’s not like any of them could get by without any of his orders to follow, after all,” he said. “Not the brightest patch of witches and wizards, for sure.” He grinned, his pride shining through his normally submissive personality. McGonagall smiled softly, a rare expression. She liked Neville. It had been odd for some time, working with him and seeing him as an equal instead of a pupil. But he took to the role of professor well. There was no one better to take up the mantle of head of her house in her opinion.
Flitwick and Hagrid both adjusted their attention to the conversation and nodded. “He’s righ’,” Hagrid said, his beard almost hiding the soft smile.
McGonagall was about to tell the rest of the professors that she was going to finish preparations for the students to arrive, but was interrupted by a loud slam. The five professors turned their heads sharply to the front of the Great Hall, expecting something large to be in the doorway – the force of the heavy doors seemed to have been opened by something with a substantial size – but was greeted by a silvery dog that was rushing towards them.
“Ron’s Patronus!” Neville said as the Jack Russell Terrier ran toward them, though no one needed telling.
"Not much time, but... The Cloak... Stolen... Out of Gringotts.... Word the stone... keeping guards on the tomb... Hallows... gotta go-" And with a puff of silvery mist, it evaporated.
The teachers all stared at the spot where it had been moments before, a mixture of panic and worry written on their faces. Finally, after what seemed like minutes but could only have been a second or two, McGonagall rose to her feet.
“We need to prepare for the students’ arrival.” The others stood, looking shaken. Her unspoken “we’ll deal with this later” hung in the air as she departed quickly, emerald robes billowing around her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:39 am
......King's Cross Station shined with a gleam that matched that of a cinder block. Hundreds of people scurried about in the station, catching dozens of trains to dozens of places. The people ranged from women pulling along their whiny children, to men with briefcases frantically looking down at their watches, to two young boys with owls, carrying a trunk emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest--
Aiden did a double-take, and followed the boys. It was just him, as his mother had to be at work, and he figured, at sixteen, he should be able to simply board a train. He glanced back at the letter in his hand. "Platform Nine and Three Quarters" it read. He looked around, and seemingly while he was glancing down at the parchment, the boys just... disappeared! He grunted in frusturation. This happened twice. The second time, he got distracted by someone yelling, and again, the kids were gone! Maybe this was all some elaborate joke, and he really never did get into Hogwarts. He tapped his fingers against his pocket, feeling his wand. Even though it was against wizard law, if he needed it, he always kept it on him. Scarlett, his pet cat meowed from her carrier. "Hush now" He said, tapping on it. "You'll be out soon"
Again, he spotted a student. The girl looked about his age, maybe a year or so younger. He kept his eyes on her. Promising himself that he wouldn't get distracted by anything. He watched as she slowed down near the barrier of Platforms 9 and 10. She looked over her shoulders, and started to walk into the wall. Aiden gasped, as she disappeared into it. He grinned. Clever.
Aiden followed the girl, and too, disappeared through the wall. He looked down at his stuff. Everything had made it. Not that he was surprised. He was definitely used to magic, just not everything Hogwarts had to throw at him. Everywhere was a little different. He nodded, and looked at the train. There it was, the Hogwarts Express. He'd smiled, as other wizards and witches all stood around him. At least it wasn't a joke. He was really going. He looked around, at everyone saying goodbye, and sighed. Too bad his mom couldn't be there. It'd be a while before he saw her again. He lugged his stuff onto the train, and found an open compartment, passing a couple of full ones. A few students about his age stared at him with weird looks. Of course, they all knew each other and everyonein their year, they must notice a new kid at school. He put his stuff in his compartment, and shut the door, before finally letting Scarlett out of her carrier. She purred and sat on his lap, while he kicked his feet up, and smiled.
"Hogwarts, eh? I wonder how this year will go?" He said aloud. Mostly to himself, but a little bit to Scarlett
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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:40 pm
Blonde hair hanging partially in his face, Neil adjusted his trunk on the trolley before looking up at the station. He was sitting on a bench near the back, the back of his head resting of brick as he leaned back and watched the people go by. Numerous faces were familiar but took no notice of him, too busy saying goodbye to their family before hurrying onto the train.
Wait, the train was here. Right. Might want to get on boarding it.
He stood quickly and felt whiskers tickle his neck. Neil’s rat, Checkers, was often outside of his small cage and loved to relax at the nape of Neil’s neck, buried in his hair. Checkers walked along his shoulders from time to time as well, watching the world through his small beady eyes.
Neil shoved the trolley forward hard, getting it rolling over the brick. His mom had seen him off and said goodbye, but she had had only two minutes to be to work and had had to apparate quickly away. Neil didn’t mind; he knew his mother was busy and would have stayed longer if she could.
Neil cajoled his belongings onto the train then hunted for an open compartment, Checkers sticking his nose out from between pieces of Neil’s hair. He found none, but after a minute he found one that was inhabited by only one person. He was older, looking to be a seventh year, but Neil had never seen him before. That alone was enough to spur Neil into entering the compartment.
“This seat taken?” Neil asked the brunette boy with a polite smile. He hovered for a moment before sitting, assuming the best. If the boy was expecting company, which Neil doubted – normally people rushed to say that the compartment was saved before you could even get a word out – he could ask Neil to leave.
Checkers was clinging to the end of Neil’s shoulder now, nose twitching as he eyed the boy’s cat. Checkers never been around a cat before and was insatiably curious. Neil tapped the rat’s head gently in a ‘be polite’ gesture before turning back to the other teen.
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:05 pm
Aiden put his stuff up in a compartment, and Scarlett jumped into his lap. He stroked her fur, while he watched people outside his doors. Some of them didn't even take note of him. Probably used to seeing people they didn't really know. I mean, not everyone knew everyone at Hogwarts, right? It was the ones that looked about his age. The seventh years who gshot him weird looks. He smiled at a few,some returned it, some didn't. He noticed a slight trend, too. If the kids were in robes, anyway.
The ones in Green, the Slytherins, he read, and the Blues, the Ravenclaws, didn't seem to care too much about the smiles. The Yellows, Huffelpuffs, if he remembered correctly, and the Gryffindors in Red all smiled back. He thumbed through Hogwarts, A History, a little, over the summer, and it seemed like that was pretty normal a reaction for them.
Aiden looked at Scarlett, wondering which House he was going to be put in. The Headmistress never said how they'd do that. Hm.. He looked up from Scarlett to see a blonde boy, about his age standing in the doorway. Before he could tell the boy he could come in, he sat down across from Aiden. He had a rat on his shoulder, who eyed Scarlett. Aiden looked down, and put his hand on his cat. He wasn't sure how she would react.
Once the boy was sitting for a second, Aiden opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped, crinkled his nose, and made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. "Nah, it's not taken" he said to the boy.
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:19 pm
Neil was glad to hear the seat was available, seeing as he was quite comfortable and didn't feel like searching for another compartment. Normally he'd sit with his best friend Kurt Evans, but he had had to leave at the end of his sixth year at Hogwarts due to his mother falling gravely ill. She lives at St. Mungos now, and he practically did too. The thought brought Neil's mood down substantially.
Neil's brain caught up with his ears and he realized the teen across from him had a very peculiar accent. He'd only heard it in movies that he'd been shown by his muggle father; American movies. Was he really from America? How peculiar.
Curiosity now replaced depression, and Neil cocked his head slightly to the side and looked the teen over. Dark hair and green eyes, combined with a tall and rather pale physique. He looked like he fit it, which was lucky, Neil supposed.
"Did you just transfer from America today?" Neil asked, before he processed what he just said. "Ah, I mean, not to be nosy or anything. I don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said, shrugging, though he was clearly interested. Checkers, meanwhile, had no interest in the conversation and had climbed down Neil's shoulder to the floor, where he was now peering up at the cat, clearly trying to figure out how to get up to her level.
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:12 pm
Aiden was glad the boy came into his compartment. When he went to Salem, he had friends, of course, but most of the time he kept to himself. Maybe this would be a good time to be a new person. Make a friend, come out of his shell a little. His mind started to wander for a second, onto Quidditch, would he get a chance on the team? Would be make the team? To his house again, wonder what it would be? And even to classes. He hoped they had the same classes here as they did at Salem.
Aiden looked at the boy for a few seconds, he'd only said a sentence or two, the boy caught it pretty quick. Aiden let out a short chuckle. T. "Yeah, actually, I am" He said. "My Mom took a job in London, we had to move here. They offered to let me stay at Salem for my last year, but I wasn't too attached to the place. I was pretty excited to go to a school with.... such a history...."
He looked at the ground. Scarlett was on the floor, and she jumped up to the boy's seat. She kept staring up at the rat, not as prey, but Aiden thought maybe she just wanted to play. He knew a girl at Salem who had a pet rat, and Scarlett loved it to pieces, she loved to chase it all over their dormitory area, so he wasn't worried. . . Just because he wasn't, didn't mean the boy wasn't. He laughed nervously, and swept up his cat into his arms. "She's okay, really. she wouldn't hurt him"
"I'm Aiden by the way." He said with an awkward smile, and extended his hand.
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:13 pm
Neil nodded as the American boy spoke of his short history. Neil had never had to experience a move that had become necessary because of a career change, so he couldn't empathize completely. He could not, however, imagine transferring to a school that wasn't Hogwarts. The idea made him frown.
"I'm sorry you had to leave your school, though I can assure you you'll love Hogwarts. I can't say anything about the American wizarding school, as I know next to nothing about it, but Hogwarts is amazing," he said frankly. He wasn't being smug or proud - he merely had pride for his school. He loved it there.
He watched, along with the other boy, as their respective pets tried to interact. When the curious cat was swept into the other's arms and a hasty apology was made, Neil laughed it off. "Well that's good. I'd rather Checkers not get devoured. But I know if he were nervous, he would have scampered off by now. You can let her go - i'm sure they'll play nice," he said with a grin. "And I'm Neil," he added, taking the other's hand and shaking it firmly.
"Nice to meet you."
(( I have no idea where to go from here. /shot ))
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:24 pm
It's not like Aiden had never made friends before, it was just... not easy for him. He'd been glad that Neil picked his room though, at least he knew someone now. It made being here feel less... empty. He let Scarlett go again, and watched as she did play with the rat nicely, around the room, jumping from the floor to the seat, and softly batting at it. Aiden laughed, and looked up at Neil, who was also watching the pets.
As the train ride went on, the boys chatted. About Hogwarts. Neil seemed to really love it there. Aiden talked a little about Salem. Honestly, after hearing so much about Hogwarts, he was glad to have left Salem. He also realized that the wizarding world here was much more out-of-touch with the Muggle world, when the snack cart came by and had no idea what a Snickers Bar was.
After the Train, a Boat Ride, and a Short, Thestral-drawn carriage ride (much to Aiden's pleasure, he loved Magical Creatures of all types) He could finally see the school. It was a huge, beautiful school, twice, three times as big as Salem. He had a feeling he would be forgetting all about his old school soon. He marched with the other students into the Great Hall, where he looked around, kind of confused. He had no idea where to go! He and Neil had talked about what house he would be in, but Neil never mentioned how he would find out. He watched as Neil walked over to the table full of Gryffindors. They all said hello to him, and he chatted with a few of them. Aiden felt lonely again. He stood awkwardly with the First Years, in the back of the crowd, leaning against a wall.
"Ah, I don't mean to make a spectacle, but.." said the Headmistress, in her long, green robes. "Aiden Conklin, yes?" She asked, looking over to Aiden. He nodded. "If you would, please" She gestured up the chair. He was going to be sorted. Right there. "Most students" she started "Stay with their school throughout their entire schooling, but Mr. Conklin has come to Hogwarts this year from America" McGonnagal said. "And he too has to be sorted, so," She looked to the first years. "Not to deliberately go out of order, but, we're going to sort Mr. Conklin first"
Aiden widened his eyes, and sat on the stool by the Headmistress. "What's this?" said the hat she placed on his head. A few students chuckled, as, in their entire life, they'd only seen 11 year olds on that stool, and here he was, a good 6 years older than the rest of them, sitting under the hat. "Age before beauty, is it?" The hat said to him, and curved what Aiden could only figure would have been a smirk. "Oh..." "Or... Brains before beauty?" The hat said. "Looks like you have a new classmate, Ravenclaw!"
The hall cheered, and Aiden glanced over at the Gryffindor table. He would have liked being in Neil's house, seeing as he knew Neil. But surely, he would make friends in his class. He wondered how well Ravenclaws and Gryffindors got along. Neil never said anything negative about them, anyway. Neil make a quick frown at Aiden, and Aiden took his seat at the Ravenclaw table, with a few claps on his back and welcomes.
((I know it seemed rushed, all of it, but I'd like to push things along, Aniu/if anyone else wants to jump in, go ahead and skip to whenever you want. *nod*))
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