Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Harry Potter and the Five Transfer Students ❯ Train ride and sorting ( Chapter 3 )

Title: Harry Potter and the Five Transfer Students (maybe I should hold a naming contest!)

Author: Alexis - mezzomonkey@earthlink.net

Pairings: Ron+Hermione, 1+2, 3+4, 5+Meilan, perhaps others

Rating: let's just say R to play things safe, yes?

Warnings: hmm…crossover, AU, shounen ai/yaoi, het, potential bad language, some degree of violence, fangirly Japanese, corny jokes, sap, angst of the romantic nature, magic

Archive: At FFN and MediaMiner under LexaRose, and if anyone else wants me, just ask!

Disclaimer: Don't own the GWing boys, don't own Harry Potter…I'm just playing for fun!

Notes: This story is AU for the Gundam Wing boys (sorry, no time travel or mechas here, unfortunately!)

~*~*~*~*~

Harry woke the next morning without any prodding from Mrs. Weasley, the new students he met yesterday making him eager for the new school year. There were other things, of course, that he wasn't looking forward to dealing with though. The next mysterious Defense against the Dark Arts professor for one; Malfoy and the other brainless gits in Slytherin for another.

After what happened at the end of last year in the Department of Mysteries, things were sure to be tense, especially between those whose families were confirmed as Death Eaters and the members of the impromptu Dumbledore's Army.

Probably the best thing that did come out of all that mess was Fudge getting sacked for his incompetence, and Arthur Weasley being appointed interim Minister of Magic. He was basically a shoo-in for the official post; it was just waiting for an actual election, which would be held next month.

Looking over at Ron, who was sound asleep and snoring about as loud as one of Uncle Vernon's power drills, Harry puzzled over how to wake up his best friend. Over the summer, they had gotten into the habit of thinking up funny ways to wake the one who slept later. Harry was luckily the one who normally woke up first, so he had a lot of practice, and this may be the last time he'd get to indulge in this bit of silliness for a while.

With a mischievous grin, Harry crept over to Ron's bed, and whispered in his ear, "Ron, the Chudley Cannons are disbanding to all become ballerina dancers."

The red-haired Gryffindor was out of bed like a shot, screaming all sorts of obscenities until he noticed Harry rocking back and forth on the floor, shaking with laughter. "That's not funny, Harry! You never joke around with a man's Quidditch team! It's just not right!" Harry was still laughing when Ron stomped off to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Twenty minutes later found the boys and their belongings downstairs with everyone else, and waiting impatiently for Duo to finish getting ready. Just as Quatre was about to go back up and fetch him, the braided wizard ran down the stairs hauling his trunk. He had a small kitten clinging to him, almost totally blending in with his black clothing, except for the unblinking golden eyes. They were calmly taking in everything as if this were an everyday occurrence with her owner, which it may well be.

"Man, you guys would not believe the argument I had with my mirror this morning over my hair. Apparently it's rather old-fashioned, and it was berating me on its length, saying it's improper for a man to wear his hair so long. Bah! Going on about how "in his day, boys looked like boys". Do I really look like a girl?"

After they all stopped laughing, which earned them black looks from Duo, they all reassured him that yes he did look like a boy, and no, he should not chop all that hair off. But by that time, they all had to pile into the cabs that had been hailed for them over on Charing Cross Road, so that they could make it to the train station on time.

After showing the new students how to get through the barrier onto platform 9 ¾, they had to physically restrain Duo from running back and forth between the two in fascination. ("Wow, there's nothing cool like that in Salem, too much witch lore around, so nobody hides as much as in other places.") Hermione and Ron made their way to meet up with the other prefects, and Harry guided his three new friends to find an empty compartment.

Finally finding a compartment towards the back of the train, Harry sat down, with Quatre quickly sitting beside the British boy. Quatre, you angelic-looking devil, I don't know whether to kill you or kiss you. These contradictory thoughts were running through Duo's head as he took a seat by the window so as to observe their journey to his new school. He was hyper-aware of the object of his - affection? attraction? obsession? - sitting next to him, almost too close for comfort.

"It's so green, and…sunny. I thought it was supposed to rain a lot in England? That's what I always heard."

Harry laughed at the confusion apparent in Duo's voice. "It does rain a lot, but not so much in the summer. Just wait, you'll get plenty of rain. That's what keeps everything so green."

Quatre smiled, excited. "I love this, it's so different from what I'm used to. The arid heat and sand as far as you can possibly see. I really am happy to be coming to Hogwarts; it's nice to get away from home."

Heero nodded. "It will be a good experience; I am quite intrigued with discovering the differences in teaching styles. I've heard many good things about Professor Vector from my old Arithmancy professor, Dr. J."

"As far as I've know, he's quite good. Hermione raves about him constantly; I do believe it's her favorite class. You'll more than likely end up in the same section as her, depending on what house you get sorted into."

"Sorted," Quatre mused. "How do they go about doing that? What are the different houses like?"

"Well, if you've heard any horror stories about wrestling a troll, or some other rubbish, just ignore it. You just have to put on the Sorting Hat, and it will tell you where you belong."

"So there's some freaky talking hat that looks into your head and tells you where you're supposed to live?" Duo was looking quite skeptical at this point.

"It really works out quite nicely. I've questioned my placement, because of some things that happened my second year, but it was right."

"What house are you in," inquired Heero.

"Well, there are four houses, named after the four founders of the school. I'm in Gryffindor, and so are Ron and Hermione. It's said that those who are brave and daring end up there. I guess that's right; at least, we've had enough messes thrown at us that we had to get through. Then there's Ravenclaw, the most scholarly usually end up there. Well, except for Hermione, but then again, she's more of an exception. Hufflepuff is full of kind and very loyal people. Then there's Slytherin. That boy you met in Flourish and Blotts, Malfoy, he's from Slytherin house. It's been proven to produce a lot of Dark witches and wizards. Voldemort was the last heir of Salazar Slytherin."

At the mention of the Dark Lord's name, Quatre shivered visibly, Heero snorted, and Duo laughed. "Well, no wonder Malfoy's such a prick. If he's from that house, it's like he was predestined to be that way. Hope I don't end up getting placed there, that would just suck." Heero and Quatre nodded in agreement with that statement.

Just then, the witch with the sweets trolley came by, and each of the boys purchased some snacks. Duo especially got an assortment of Cauldron Cakes, Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, and Licorice Wands.

Suddenly the door opened, and a rather spacey-looking blonde walked in, seemingly by accident. "Hey there, Luna, how was your summer?"

"It was quite wonderful, thank you. Father and I did quite a lot of traveling, you know. Who are your friends, Harry? Are they growing first years larger now?"

This caused Harry, Duo and Quatre to laugh, whereas Heero just cocked one eyebrow at the insinuation that he was a very large 11 year-old. The ever-friendly Quatre cut in. "My name is Quatre Raberba Winner; I'm a transfer student from Saudi Arabia."

Duo then stood and took her hand, bowing deeply over it. "Duo Maxwell, transfer student and damn Yankee, all rolled into a delightful braided bundle."

Heero inclined his head, "Heero Yuy, Japan."

Luna just smiled at everyone. "Luna Lovegood. Welcome to Hogwarts. It's quite good that you've already met Harry, and I would assume also Ronald and Hermione as well. But I must be off, I was looking for Neville when I popped in to say hello. See you later!" And with that, Luna was gone, wandering in the same dreamy state as she came in with.

Duo resumed his seat next to Heero, and groaned. "We're going to have to change into robes soon, aren't we?"

Harry nodded, "The Hogwarts uniforms aren't that bad though, I rather like them."

"Yes, but we were requested to show up in the traditional robes of our former schools for tonight only. We might as well get this over with." Quatre looked particularly hesitant to be wearing his old school robes, which made Harry very curious as to what they looked like.

The three transfers grabbed bundles of clothing and made their way to the bathroom so they could each take their turns changing. Duo went in first, and came out wearing a black outfit, which was very old-fashioned looking, reminiscent of the clothing worn by Puritan settlers in the early 17th century. The only thing breaking the monotony was a splash of white at the collar of the outfit. Heero was next, and he had changed into a green and black robe that was much like a traditional kimono. Finally it was Quatre's turn, who then emerged wearing robes of pale pink with a matching ghutra [1] covering most of his blonde locks.

He scowled at his two friends, who were wearing almost identical smirks. "It wasn't exactly my idea to make this uniform pink! I don't know what they were thinking! Besides, it's not like either of yours are at the height of haute couture either."

The trio made their way back to the compartment they shared with Harry, where Ron and Hermione were also waiting for them, all three of them already in their Hogwarts robes. After glaring at Ron and Harry for snickering, Hermione said, "The train should be pulling in any moment now. Since you're transfers and not first years, you'll be taking the carriages with us, instead of the boats across the lake."

Ron patted Quatre on the shoulder sympathetically. "Well, mate, I bet you're looking forward to having a different uniform, aren't you?"

Heero grunted. "I think we all are. It's one thing to wear these things when everyone else is, it's quite another to wear it when everyone else is dressed rather normally."

Duo nodded in agreement. "So after we get sorted, they give us the ties and whatnot for our house, right? I am so sick of looking like a freaky Pilgrim. At least they didn't make us wear some ugly shoes with buckles." Duo then indicated the big clunky black boots he was wearing. "At least my footwear had some style!"

"At least you don't look like a girl! I'm the only boy, I have twenty-nine sisters, and I ended up wearing something that makes me look just like all of them!"

Everyone goggled at Quatre. "Twenty-nine sisters? You're joking, right?" Hermione almost looked like she was in pain.

"I'm afraid not," replied Quatre. "And I'm the only one who is a wizard in the family, so that was yet another thing for my father to disapprove of. He was constantly threatening to disown me, and probably would have if it wasn't for my oldest sister, Iria. She's the one who convinced him that by having a wizard as CEO of Winner Enterprises, it would open up the business to a new market."

The train stopped, ending their line of discussion. The six of them filed out with the rest of the students, first years being taken away by Hagrid after bestowing a wink on his favorite trio of Gryffindors. Harry, Ron and Hermione led their three new friends towards the line of carriages when Duo suddenly paused with a gasp. The rest of the group looked back at him, confused as to why he stopped.

"Thestrals," he said in a stricken voice.

Harry immediately went over to him. "You see them too?"

This acknowledgement caused Duo to throw his arms around Harry in relief. "Thank God I'm not the only one. I was the only one at my last school who could see them." Harry's cheeks flushed slightly at the impromptu hug.

The other four looked on, grim-faced, wondering why Duo reacted so strongly. Whoever's death he had witnessed must have been very traumatic for him to have been thrown so off-kilter. Duo and Harry then rejoined the group, Duo with a grin on his face that was just a bit too wide to be genuine.

"Well, come on! Let's go! Don't you want to find out what house you're in? And I'm starved; a couple of Chocolate Frogs and whatnot is just not enough to tide me over." He then grabbed Quatre and Heero's hands and dragged them into one of the carriages. The three Gryffindors just looked at each other and shrugged, before getting into a carriage themselves.

~*~*~*~*~

By the time they reached the staircase outside the Great Hall, Duo was back to his normal self again. Harry, Hermione and Ron left them with Professor McGonagall and the other students who were waiting to be sorted. It was then that they noticed who must have been the other two transfer students. One had black hair that brushed his shoulders and black eyes accented by wire-framed glasses. He was wearing white robes with a Mandarin collar and traditional knot-buttons running down the front. The other student was a few inches taller than the rest of them, and had emerald green eyes, but one of them was obscured by a fall of long cinnamon bangs. Clad in blue robes that were thinner than what the rest of the Hogwarts students were wearing, it was obvious he was from a warmer place than Scotland.

Duo elbowed Quatre, trying to hold in his laughter after noticing his friend staring at the tall transfer student. He then whispered, "See something you like?" This caused the Arabian's cheeks to get pinker than his robes. Duo then looked over at Heero and smiled, nodding his head at Quatre. "Looks like we may get to witness a budding romance," he told the other boy conspiratorially.

Professor McGonagall then cleared her throat to get the attention of the other students. "We're going to go into the hall, and you'll be sorted. Transfer students; you will be going first, and then the first years will follow. Now come with me."

The Transfiguration professor led the way to the front of the Great Hall, where they saw an old beat up hat sitting on a stool. Suddenly the hat started to sing.

Another year

Has passed us by

Here's a new one,

Let's give it a try

New friends you'll make

Old friends you'll lose

It all depends

On what you choose

Five are added to our number

Welcome them with a friendly face

But where do they belong?

I'll put them in their place

Of daring deeds

Brave and bold

Gryffindor is where

You're part of the fold

Clever and bookish

With lots of smarts

Go to Ravenclaw

To fill your parts

If you re friends

Loyal and true

Then Hufflepuff is

The place for you

Now if you're sly and

Cunning like all the rest

Slytherin is where

You fit in the best

I'm a Sorting Hat; I'll do what I know best

Gryffindor or Slytherin, Houses of great

Of smarts and loyalty, these traits will tell

Just put me on and I'll show you your fate

"Now when I call your name, you will come up here and I shall place the sorting hat on your head," said McGonagall. "Trowa Barton of Beauxbatons!"

The student dressed in blue robes, now revealed to be Trowa came up and sat down on the stool, and had the hat placed onto his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table broke out into cheers, and Ernie Macmillan made room for him at the table, smiling rather pompously as Ernie was prone to do.

"Chang Wufei of Hua Ch'uan [2]!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Wufei made his way to the Ravenclaw table, immediately spotting an Asian girl and sitting beside her.

"Duo Maxwell of the SalemWitches' Institute!"

Duo grinned at Quatre and Heero and walked rather jauntily over to the stool, curious about where he'd be sorted. He took a bit longer than the others, and it almost looked like he was arguing with the hat when it finally made its decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The trio immediately stood and cheered, welcoming Duo over to their table. Duo grinned widely, waving at everyone at the table before plopping down next to Harry.

"Quatre Raberba Winner of Madhdhab Ghaib!"

There was a nervous look on the blonde Arab's face until the hat finally called out, "HUFFLEPUFF!" He then smiled brilliantly, excited at the prospect of getting to know the other transfer student better.

"Heero Yuy of Gakkou no Houou!"

The hat had barely touched his head when it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" He made no show of excitement over it, just went over to the Gryffindor table and sat on the other side of Duo. The only acknowledgement he gave that showed he was pleased was a small smile to Duo upon sitting down, and he was rewarded by a brilliant smile from the beautiful boy beside him.

~*~*~*~*~

"Welcome, everyone! Now that the Sorting has finished, I have a few start of term notices. As you now know, we have welcomed five transfer students from all around the world, they will all be in their sixth year here at Hogwarts, and I trust you all will make them feel welcome. We are also welcoming two new professors. First, our new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Treize Khushrenada." Dumbledore then indicated an elegant-looking man dressed in bright blue robes with ginger-colored hair and a winning smile. "Also, we welcome Zechs Merquise as the new professor of Muggle Studies." The gentleman now standing had long platinum blonde hair and ice blue eyes and was dressed in crimson robes. "First years, as well as our older students, will remember that the Forbidden Forest is considered out of bounds. Now that such business has been taken care of, let the feast begin!"

The food then appeared in the golden bowls and platters, and at each table there were traditional foods from each of the transfer students' homes, something to make them more comfortable in a new place.

"Wicked awesome," exclaimed Duo, before grabbing the tureen of New England clam chowder. Heero, on the other hand, spied a platter of spicy tekka maki [3] rolls, and he snagged a few with the set of chopsticks he was pleased to find beside his plate.

Over at the Hufflepuff table Quatre was listening absently to Ernie Macmillan ramble while trying to catch the transfer from Beauxbatons' eye. And I thought that Duo talked a lot! He then reached for the fatayer [4], which happened to be next to the bœuf bourguignon [5], and brushed his fingers against Trowa's. The blonde flushed and stammered out an apology, withdrawing his hand from the platter he had reached for. Suddenly there was a plate of food in front of his face, and he looked up into the emerald eyes of Trowa, and smiled. "Thank you," he said, taking the fatayer from the handsome boy.

"You're welcome," the French boy replied in a quiet voice. The pair went back to eating; stealing cautious glances at each other when they thought no one else was looking.

Surrounded by his fellow Ravenclaw's, Wufei was happy to find one of his favorite dishes, cha xiao bao [6], and promptly selected a few for his plate. He then turned when the girl seated next to him started to speak.

"Hello, I'm Cho Chang. I was wondering where in China your family is from?"

Wufei nodded, acknowledging the girl with the same family name as him. "My family is from the Guangdong province, living in the city of Chaozhou. Do you still have family in China?"

The smile on Cho's face widened. "My parents left China when they were just married, but I believe they were from the Guangdong province as well. Wouldn't it be funny if it ended up that we were related?"

"It is certainly a possibility, and it would be a pleasant surprise to find members of the esteemed Dragon clan here in Britain. I am glad to have been placed in the same house as you."

Cho thought that his formality was funny, but attributed to the stricter societal mores of the Chinese. "I will write to them tomorrow to find out just where they're from. It would be nice to have family here, especially family I never met before!"

~*~*~*~*~

Harry, in an effort to avoid the crowds, as well as the first years', got the password from Ron, and gestured to Heero and Duo to follow him. "I've got the password; I'll show you how to get to our tower. It's a little confusing at first, but you get used to it." The two new boys followed him out of the hall, eager to explore their new surroundings.

Harry pointed out the changing staircases, showed them which stairs they needed to jump over, lest they get stuck in them, and introduced them to Sir Cadogan and his rather fat pony. ("Fair damsel, I shall save thee from that scurvy knave!") They finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, where Harry gave the password, "Glumbumble." [7]

Stepping through the portrait hole, the two new Gryffindors looked around the common room, getting a feel for their new home. Duo promptly flopped down on one of the overstuffed couches, and grinned. "This is great! I still can't believe we lucked out and got in the same house as you guys! We are gonna have some fun this year."

Heero also sat down on the other end of the couch, whereas Harry stretched out on the floor, leaning back against the couch between his two new friends. "Yeah, it's cool, I'm glad that some of you ended up in here with us." Harry then shot Duo a significant look and a grin, which caused Duo to glance at Heero and blush. "But," Harry continued, "I don't know whether I want to have Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, or if I want to put it off as much as possible."

Heero and Duo exchanged a confused look, before Heero spoke up. "Why? Something wrong with Defense classes?"

Just then the portrait hole opened, revealing Ron and Hermione looking rather frazzled, with a bunch of overly excited first years. Ron immediately collapsed in the opposite couch and sighed. "Thank bloody hell we're rid of the midgets. Didn't know if I could take another moment of that mess!"

Hermione just scowled at Ron, and refrained from reminding him for about the thousandth time not to refer to the younger students as 'midgets'. "So what are we talking about?" She sat down next to Ron, and they both blushed, but steadfastly ignored each other.

Duo scratched the back of his head. "Defense classes, and why Harry is not looking forward to them."

Ron immediately groaned. "I know what you mean, that guy makes me think we have another Lockhart in our midst! Hermione, please promise us you're not going to fall in love with another empty-headed teacher with a pretty face."

Hermione immediately thwapped Ron upside the head. "I was not in love with Professor Lockhart, I merely thought him handsome!"

At this point Duo cut in, whining slightly. "Hello? New students here who have no idea what you're talking about! Mind enlightening us?"

The three Gryffindors looked contrite. "Sorry mate," replied Ron. "Didn't realize you didn't know about our track record with Defense teachers. We haven't had one for more than a year since we started."

Harry nodded. "First year there was Quirrell. He was a stuttering mess that had Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head. He ended up turning into a pile of ash. Second year was the brainless git, Lockhart. You know that guy that wrote a mess of books about how he got rid of all these monsters? Turns out he doesn't know how to do any of that, and when his memory charm backfired on him he lost all his memories and can't get them back. Third year was great, there was Professor Lupin. Really knows his stuff, but had to leave 'because he's a werewolf. Fourth year had 'Mad Eye' Moody, and he was really cool, but he ended up being the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. using a Polyjuice Potion. Then last year there was this evil cow of a woman, Umbridge, who was from the Ministry of Magic, and she was causing all kinds of trouble because of Fudge's paranoia, and them not wanting to admit that Voldemort's back. So now we have this Khushrenada guy. He'll probably be a total mess too, just because of the odds."

"Well, that sucks," Duo put ever so bluntly. "But hey, I bet it'll be funny to see the damage on this one."

Hermione, in her endeavor for academic excellence, shooed them all out of the common room and to bed, since classes started in the morning. The sixth years went up to their respective dormitories and went to sleep, anticipating what they would face in this new year at Hogwarts.

~*~*~*~*~

[1] ghutra - Arabic headdress thing (remember when Quatre goes to back to the Maganacs to get Sandrock? That scarf-type-thing he was wearing!)

[2] Hua Ch'uan - name of a Chinese star, means "Transforming Authority" (I know, it's corny, but I was having difficulty!)

[3] spicy tekka maki - spicy tuna rolls; it's sushi, and one of my boyfriend's favorites!

[4] fatayer - pastry pockets filled with spinach, meat, or cheese

[5] bœuf bourguignon - a beef dish with a Burgundy wine sauce (very yummy)

[6] cha xiao bao - roast pork dumpling; I made Wufei from the Guangdong province, that equals Cantonese cooking (instead of Hunan, Szechuan, etc.)

[7] glumbumble - a fuzzy insect that produces a fluid that causes melancholy (www.hp-lexicon.org)