Chapter Text
Harry and Ginny were left to find a carriage on their own after Ron and Hermione left for their meeting with the other prefects. The air was tense with the events of last year. It made Harry feel fidgety and out of place as they walked down the aisles of the train.
Eventually, they ran into Neville Longbottom, in the very last carriage.
“Hi, Harry,” he panted, struggling to pull his luggage in one hand while the other was struggling to keep a good grip on his toad, Trevor. “Hi, Ginny, everywhere’s full… I can’t find a seat.”
“That one’s mostly empty,” Ginny said, peering into the compartment behind Neville. “Just Loony Lovegood and two others.”
Neville mumbled something about not wanting to bother anyone.
“Don’t be silly,” Ginny said, laughing. “Luna’s all right, and the other two are sleeping.”
Ginny opened the door to the compartment, greeting Luna and asking if they could sit with her to which Luna looked up and nodded.
Ginny and Neville both sat beside Luna, leaving Harry to awkwardly sit across from them and beside the sleeping pair; a blonde girl and a kid with messy black hair like Harry’s.
An hour passed, with the food trolley coming by already, before Ron and Hermione came in.
Ron accidentally slammed the door to the compartment shut when they came in, the bang waking the new kids instantly.
Both of the new kids were lean with slight muscle, with the guy having sharp features and was clearly taller than the girl, who had a serious disposition. They both looked older than Harry and the other fifth years, which made the fact that they were new, strange.
Before Harry could strike up a conversation with his friends, Ginny acknowledged the new kids, turning their attention onto them.
“What are your names?” Ginny asked the new kids.
“I’m Percy, and this is Annabeth,” the boy replied. He had a noticeable American accent.
“It’s nice to meet you two! I’m Ginny, and this is Loon—er, Luna, Neville, Hermione, my brother Ron, and Harry Potter.” Ginny said, gesturing at everyone as she said their names.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Ron asked.
“Yeah, we’re not. Me and some of my friends were chosen to be part of an exchange program.” Percy responded.
Hermione’s eyes lit up and she noticeably became more interested. “Oh yeah! Ron and I heard about this from the prefects! Are you from Ilvermony?”
“No,” Percy said. “I’m from New York.”
“She’s talking about States, Seaweed Brain. She’s talking about America’s magic school.” Annabeth chimed in, affectionately.
“Ohhh. Well, where we’re from is more of a secret. I was told that we were just discovered by your principal—I mean, headmaster, recently.”
“If Dumbledore didn’t know about the place, it must have been near impossible to find.” Harry said.
“It is,” Annabeth replied, looking at Harry with eyes as gray as storm clouds. “We’re very careful so that we’re not discovered.”
“What’s the curriculum like at your school?” Hermione asked. She’s always curious and was interested to know about how other places teach magic.
“It’s not a school,” Percy answered. “It’s a summer camp. Most of us go to normal school throughout the year, but some stay year round.”
“I hope you can catch up, mate.” Ron said, equal parts sympathetic and jealous. “Hogwarts is difficult enough already, but if you’re only learning in the summer then it’ll be ten times as hard.”
“What subjects does your camp cover?” Hermione rephrased her question.
“We don’t have subjects,” Percy said, shocking everyone in the room, sans Annabeth. “We do things like a camp. So archery, capture the flag, and other things like that, but kicked up a notch.“
“Don’t you need to learn magic?” Ginny questioned.
“We didn’t focus on it,” Annabeth said. “We mostly do practical stuff, since it’s more dangerous for people like us in America. Some of us use magic more though, like Percy.”
“What about your wands?” Neville spoke up.
“We don’t normally use wands, so we just got them a week ago for the program.” Percy responded.
“So you learned wandless magic then?” Harry asked. Magic without wands was something only the greatest wizards were able to accomplish, which made the fact that Percy was able to do it, and talk about it so nonchalantly, surprising.
“That must be why so many of you can’t do magic.” Hermione added.
“That’s probably it,” Percy chuckled. “And yeah, I don’t use a wand for magic. Most of us just used weapons when there was danger.”
“Were you in danger a lot?” Hermione questioned, concerned.
“Oh, no! The camp is very safe, but you know how magical beasts can be.” Annabeth said as though she were correcting Percy.
“Did you run into any Nargles?” Luna piped up.
Annabeth’s answer was dead serious. “No, not yet.”
“So… what kind of weapons did you use?” Ginny asked, starting the conversation back up. “Did you use swords, knives or what?”
“It’s different for everyone, we all got to choose our weapons.” Percy said, sharing a glance with Annabeth before answering.
“What do you have?” Ginny asked enthusiastically.
“A sword”
“That’s so cool!”
Before they could continue talking, the cabin door was opened by a tall, blonde kid who was dragging a brooding and pale boy behind him. “Hi Annabeth, Percy.”
“Hey Will, I thought you two were sitting with Reyna, Frank, and Hazel?” Percy asked.
“We were, but I got restless, so we decided to go on a walk.” Will was smiling with an amused glint in his eyes. “And Nico got into a fight.”
“I did not!” Nico protested. “That jerk was bothering us, I just got him to knock it off!”
“Yeah, by knocking him off his feet.” Will added.
Ginny laughed at that, Ron did too but he hid it better, behind a cough.
“It’s not funny,” Nico said, scowling.
Ginny calmed herself down, face as red as her hair. “I’m sorry—I just can’t believe— who did you kick anyways?”
“Some idiot named ‘Draco Malfoy’” Nico said, doing an impression of Malfoy from underneath the door frame. There was only enough room for eight people to sit per cabin, so he and Will stayed standing.
“You knocked Malfoy over?” Ginny laughed. Nearly everyone in the cabin started cackling, with those who didn’t suppressing wide grins and snickers. “How did he react?”
“He said his father would hear about it,” Will said, unwrapping a chocolate bar and giving it to Nico, to calm him down.
“My father will most definitely hear about this!” Malfoy said as he walked past the group. “And you will be sorry, di Angelo!”
“Nico, you can’t go around making enemies on the first day!” Percy lightly chastised him. “Hazel and Jason told you to play nice.”
“You’d better listen to your friend,” Malfoy sneered.
“Yeah, yeah, or else your daddy will make Nico say sorry, right?” Percy said, with little tolerance towards Draco’s behavior.
Malfoy sputtered, his face turning red with either anger or embarrassment—Harry couldn’t tell which it was. “You must be new here, who do you think you are to talk to me that way?”
“You didn’t know about the transfer students, Malfoy?” Ron said, pleased to know that they knew something Draco didn’t.
“Of course I did, but I didn’t think they’d be so stupid as to start fights with me. Especially since I have the power to punish them,” he gestured to his prefect badge before leaving in a huff of anger.
“You were the one who started it,” Nico muttered with pointed words.
“What a jerk. Who was that guy, anyway?” Percy asked the wizards.
“Malfoy,” Harry replied. “He’s a big prat and a bully, especially to anyone who isn’t a pureblood.”
“A pureblood?” Percy said, confused.
“You don’t know what a pureblood is?” Hermione asked, shocked.
“It’s someone who has completely magical parents,” said Ron. “I’m guessing you were raised by muggles then?”
“What’s a muggle?” Nico asked.
“A non-magical person,” Ginny explained. “You don’t call them that?”
“No,” Nico said. “They’re just… normal people. So I’d say that my mom was normal, and my father isn’t.”
“So you’re half-blood?” Harry asked.
Nico tensed. “What?”
“It’s when you have a parent with magic blood and a non magical parent.”
“Yeah, we’re all half-bloods,” Annabeth said, answering for the other three boys.
“All four of you?” Ron asked rhetorically. “Bloody hell, what are the odds of that?”
“It’s more common than you’d think.” Annabeth responded.
“What houses are you all hoping to get into?” Hermione shifted the conversation, abruptly.
“Houses?” Will questioned.
“Yeah, there are four houses that each represent different qualities,” Hermione said. “All of us—except for Luna—are in Gryffindor, which stands for the brave and daring. Then Hufflepuff for the loyal and hardworking, Ravenclaw for the wise and creative, and Slytherin for the cunning and ambitious. They also have different house colours; red, yellow, blue, and green.”
“You’ll probably be in Hufflepuff, Percy.” Nico said. “Same with you, Will. You work too hard to be put anywhere else.” Will rolled his eyes good naturedly.
“I can see that,” Annabeth agreed. “What about me?”
“You’re the wisest out of all of us Annabeth, so you have to be a Ravenclaw.” Percy said, putting his arm around her shoulder.
The group continued to talk with each other, joking around and talking about what Hogwarts is like for the rest of the train ride, Harry’s spirits were slightly lifted by the American’s contagious laughter.