Chapter 1 ~ Arrival

Hermione's over-hearing and the new girl...

“ Harry !” Hermione called out from the other side of the yard. She was running in the shadows of the corridor and came out into the sunlight, and stopped next to her two best friends. She bent forward, trying to catch her fence.

“ What is it ?” Ronald rolled his eyes seeing her distressed face, looking more or less annoyed at the disruption in the conversation.

“ I just over heard professor Dumbledore and miss Umbridge arguing. They were talking about security.”

“ What do you mean security ? Umbridge thinks there’s no point in using wands since there is no dark wizard, so why would she want security ?” Harry seemed on the edge. He must have had a bad morning, she thought.

“ I know Harry. It was Dumbledore who was saying he would put in place security for the students. She said he was ‘just plain superstitious’. He said that he won’t take a risk.”

“ She’s practically got the whole school in her hand,” Ron muttered half to himself.

“ Exactly !” Hermione raised her eyebrows and suddenly looked very grave. “ She has convinced the prime minister that Dumbledore is trying to overthrow him, and that the security he is trying to use is to stop the Ministry of Magic from entering the school, limit their access.” Harry shook his head at her words.

“ They’re just foolish.”

“ No, Harry, not foolish. Corrupted.” Something somewhat dark clouded the sun an instant.

“ Who is corrupted, miss Granger ?” a deep and rich voice sounded behind them. Hermione looked up and saw Snape in his black cloak. He looked pale, like a corpse, and a glare was constantly on his face, piercing right through her. She was baffled and to give herself time to think, the threw back her hair and twisted it between her fingers for luck.

“ The business men, in the moldu world professor.” She looked uncomfortable with her lie. Snape raised an eyebrow questioningly, highly doubting the truth of what she said.

“ Well off you go to class,” he said severely. He moved away without looking behind, his black cloak floating on the air behind him. The three turned away, frowning and went to defence against the dark arts lesson, the most…boring of all, with miss Umbridge sitting doing nothing in her pink clothes at the front of the classroom.

 

During this while, Luna Lovegood was waiting at the gate of Hogwarts for someone it seemed. She seemed dazzled by the view of the forest and trees. She was barefooted, not necessarily for the reason that she liked it, but more because some folks enjoyed stealing her belongings the year long and to give them back, most of the time, on the last day. The path was dry, so it wasn’t too disagreeable, except when there were little pebbles. The wind ran through her bright blond hair and rustled them from root to tip. Then appeared Hagrid on his motorcycle, and he was not alone : a slim figure was behind him with long black hair. The machine did not land softly, and created such an outburst of energy that Luna had to lean forward to keep from falling backwards. She smiled as Hagrid gruffly removed his big glasses.

“ Hello Hagrid,” she said, and stepped forward to greet the second figure. “ Hello Andresa.” The slim figure was a girl who looked only slightly older than Luna. Her face had obviously been exposed to much sun (compared to Luna’s) and her eyes were a sparkling green. She sprung forward and gave Luna a hug.

“ It’s been a long time, hasn’t it ?” the girl said in a soft voice. “ I nearly feel embarrassed to be here again,” she added. Luna shook her head and patted her hand.

“ Don’t worry, no one bites here.”

“ Are you certain ? Serpentars never were gentle. Are you certain that Malefoy is gone ?”

“ No, Andresa, Draco isn’t gone. He’ll be here a while too.” That brought the conversation to an end. Luna helped to carry a bag, and Andresa took the other one and put it over her shoulder as easily as if it were a small handbag, whereas it was nearly as big a suitcase. Hagrid had already disappeared. It was strange how a man so huge could walk away without being noticed. Andresa looked at the castle.

“ This is going to be an eerie year,” she said.

“ You bet. They already took my shoes and socks,” Luna smiled slyly.

 

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor lounge, studying their rather interesting courses when Luna entered with a stranger. All three looked up in unison, and Hermione nearly squinted at the new girl.

“ Hi,” they all three said, to Luna.

“ Hi guys,” she said in her soft voice and then put a hand on the dark haired girl’s shoulder. “ This is Andresa. She’s Gryffindor and will be with us from now on. Missed out on a couple of years.” The girls seemed to redden if only slightly.

“ Hello,” she said very quietly and met Harry’s eyes, and followed Luna toward the dormitories. That eye contact had been for barely a second and yet it burned Harry, the brilliance of her eyes. They nearly looked like a cat’s, so green and sharp, aware of everything they seemed. He shrugged the thought off.

“ I didn’t know we were aloud to come a month late.”

“ It happens Hermione, come on,” Ron raised his eyebrows, obviously not giving the fact much importance. She didn’t look convinced though.

“ I’ve never seen her in my life,” she added, looking down the hall as though the girl was still there.

“ Maybe it’s your security,” Ron mumbled, not even thinking about his words.

“ Her ? Security ? Did you see how she blushed ?” Hermione was shocked by Ron’s supposition.

“ Hey guys ! Luna said that she had missed out on school years, that’s all,” Harry said as persuasively as he could. He himself, however, was not certain at all.

Reviews

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Really good indeed,

I'm interested in who this girl is...

Well off to the next chapter