"Gryffindor first-years!" Rose called over the hubbub which filled the hall.
"And W-SWAP students," Oliver added helpfully. Rose thought he just liked using the acronym, but it was nice to have him fulfilling his role as the second-oldest male Gryffindor prefect. It was funny to think that there was now only one set of prefects older than them - their time at Hogwarts really had flown. Though it wasn't over yet, she reminded herself.
"Please follow us to the Gryffindor common room and your dorms." When the group had eventually congregated in a messy lump in front of Oliver and Rose, with the seventh-year prefects Darcy Snowcatcher and Emmeline Yasnovic herding the stragglers into a semblance of a line, she turned and began walking up the staircase to the common room. Over the other side of the room she saw Scorpius rolling his eyes at the young students following behind her.
They're so small! He demonstrated by holding his fingers a few inches apart.
She shook her head disdainfully, though couldn't help smiling slightly.
Exactly the same size as we were.
He huffed.
Well, I'm sure you were. I was never that short. Rose laughed, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face as she shook it free, and continued leading the pack up the stairs. After all, the faster she got there, the sooner she'd find out which international students would be in her dorm.
**********
"Phew, those first-years are sure tiring! I could - Petra!" Rose exclaimed as she stepped into her dorm, which she noticed had been magically enlarged to accommodate for two new beds. One of them sat the tall, elegant greek sixth-year girl and Rose rushed to greet her.
"I'm so glad to be in your home!" Rose could hear the grin in the girl's voice as they embraced.
"... You mean my house? Gryffindor?" She asked after a second, trying to decode Petra's statement.
"Yes, your house! I must remember this," the other girl said as she sat back to look at Rose.
"And Rose, this is Jade Lewis," Rhea tapped Rose's shoulder and motioned to the other new girl in their dorm. She was about Rose's height, had medium-length light brown hair and large green eyes. Her skin was so much more tanned than Rose's own pale complexion that she had a hard time believing what she knew from the girl's other features - that Jade and herself were likely of extremely similar ethnicity.
"Hey, Rose," she waved, grinning. "I'm from Australia."
"Oh! I met your Minister for Magic at the World Cup," Rose recalled the outgoing ministry official.
"Alana Scratchfield? I have to admit, she's pretty cool," Jade winked.
"You know her?"
"Not personally, but I've met her - she visits Yingarna sometimes," the Australian explained.
"That's your school right?" Maddie asked as she slid down to a sitting position on the floor, leaning against her grand four-poster bed.
"Yeah."
"You guys have to tell us about your schools!" Annie cheered. "I mean, you've seen ours and we can tell you about it, but yours sound so cool," she looked expectantly between Petra and Jade.
"I have to admit, I'd hardly heard of any of the schools in this program," Rose added.
"Well, Yingarna is a name for the Rainbow Serpent - or Opaleye dragon - in our local Indigenous people's language," Jade started. "It's pretty funny, though - your school motto, Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus, right?" The others nodded and Rose marvelled at her new roommate's high observation skills. Just her type of girl. "Well, I'm not entirely sure but I think it means 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon' - is that right?" Everyone looked to Rose and she nodded. Why was it that no one else in this school knew latin? "Our school motto is Mela digulum da Yingarna, which means 'We tickle the dragon' in one of the Indigenous languages." The room was silent for a second, and then everyone started laughing.
"That's - so weird!" Lizzie exclaimed between giggles.
"I had no idea why it was our motto until now," Jade admitted.
"And now you've found out that your founders were just poking fun at ours!" Annie collapsed into another laughing fit.
"So, our school is this huge rock structure in the middle of the desert," Jade continued.
"Not Uluru?" Rose asked.
"No, we'd never use the Indigenous people's sacred sites like some of the settlers," the Australian girl sounded slightly bitter, but then shook herself off and kept going. "It's right next to this huge magical lake, and we're allowed to swim in it between classes when it's over 35 degrees."
"35 degrees?" Rhea looked horrified.
"Yeah, it's like that most days during summer. Though we're on our summer holidays for most of that so we don't get to do it too often," Jade shrugs. "Anyway, enough about my school - what's it like in Greece, Petra?" The focus of the group shifted to the sun-kissed Mediterranean girl.
"Uh, well, Hecate Academy is named after Hecate, who is the Greek goddess of magic," she began. "Our school, uh, it's in the sky," she said hesitantly, as if trying to find the right words.
"In the sky?" Annie gaped.
"Yes, but hidden by magic," Petra explained. "It is over the Olympus mountain, but the muggles can't see." Everyone was spellbound by the idea of a floating school. "We have no lake, but lots of - I'm sorry, I don't know this word," she fiddled with something in her pocket for a second. "Like a lion and eagle?"
"A Griffin," Rose supplied.
"Yes! It's very funny, your houses," Petra smiled. "We have six also. But yours - the red lion and blue eagle, and your house is called Gryffindor! I find this funny." Again Rose was surprised by the perceptiveness of her two new roommates - interesting how a different perspective could be so refreshing.
"I'd never thought of it like that," Maddie laughed. "It's so true, though."
"Yeah, I mean Ravenclaw's symbol should really be a raven, but it's an eagle? So weird," Lizzie shook her head.
"I have one important question for you guys," Jade leaned forward so that she was resting her chin on her hands. "You have Quidditch, right?"
"You bet," Rhea grinned. "You a Quidditch nut?" Jade smiled guiltily.
"Who isn't?" Rose and her friends exchanged glances.
"Let's just say it varies here," Annie replied for them.
"What about you, Petra?" The Australian asked the Greek girl.
"I like to watch, yes," she shrugged. "Playing, not so much."
"Anyway, Jade, you should meet Rose's cousins," Rhea suggested. "You'll be among friends there."
"You have family here?"
"Boy, do I," Rose rolled her eyes. "My brother, Hugo, is in fifth year now, with my cousin Lily. Her brother, James is in seventh year - he's the Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor," she added.
"And Al is in our year. They're all Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's kids. Then there's Dominique and Louis, Bill and Fleur's kids who are in sixth and fourth year, and then Fred and Roxy are in fifth year, and Lucy and Molly are younger than us." Rose finished reciting.
"Wait, if you're Rose Weasley, and your uncle is Harry, then he must be - " Jade exclaimed but was cut off by Petra.
"Harry Potter?" Rose smiled tiredly.
"Yeah, he's my uncle. He's pretty cool."
"And you're going to introduce me to James and Albus Potter?" Jade asked wondrously.
"If you like - they're my cousins, after all," she nodded. At least this was a change from having everyone know who she was.
"I bet they're amazing Quidditch players - people always said that Harry Potter could have played for England," Jade's eyes were glazed and she was gazing dreamily off into the distance.
"You don't have a crush on my cousins already, do you?" Rose joked.
"No, of course not! I barely know them anyway, and I only really like people I know ... " Jade trailed off, blushing.
"Now this is something I have to hear," Rhea and Maddie's eyes widened in synchrony. "If you don't mind sharing, of course?" Jade bit her lip.
"I do kind of like this one guy," she said nervously.
"Yeah?" Annie leaned forward now, eager to be in on the gossip.
"We're - well, kind of friends, I guess," the Australian shrugged. "We know each other. Anyway, he came here with me, and I was hoping I might get to know him a bit better on the trip, but now we're in different houses ... "
"Oh Merlin, that's so romantic," Maddie gushed.
"It doesn't matter what house he's in, we know people everywhere," Rhea reassured her. "And I have to say, we're a pretty good matchmaking service. Rose knows," she said, winking at Rose.
"My boyfriend, Scorpius," Rose explained. "He's one of Al's friends, you'll probably see him tomorrow."
"Okay, Jade, details!" Her friends steered the conversation back in the right direction.
"His name's Alex - Alex Romilly, and he's tall and has really soft-looking blonde hair and blue eyes and he's a Chaser on our house Quidditch team, and he might be signed to the Thundelarra Thunderers when he finishes school," she blurted out. "Basically, he's one of the really popular guys at school, and I'm just, well, me." Sometime throughout the conversation the girls had congregated around the fireplace which stood in the middle of the room. Rhea scooted over to Jade and put an arm around her shoulder.
"Well, how about we introduce you to James and Al, and if you still have your eye on Alex we'll help get him to notice you?" She suggested, and Rose's friends - plus Petra - nodded in agreement.
"You just might want to leave out the fact that she's Australian," Annie reminded Rhea. "After all, neither of them are really over that loss in the World Cup."
"Th - thank you," Jade stuttered. "This is so nice of you - the popular girls at my group would never do this for someone," she admitted.
"Are we popular?" Lizzie asked, puzzled.
"Damn straight we are," Annie grinned.
"I don't know about Australia, but in England you don't have to be pretty and mean to be popular," Maddie nudged Petra.
"I mean, Rose is the biggest nerd in the school and she's the epitome of cool," Rhea laughed.
"Hey," Rose said, not really meaning it - after all, it was true.
"So, friends?" Annie asked.
"Definitely," the rest of them agreed.
"Now, we'd better get ready for bed before Professor Longbottom turns our light off," Rhea reminded them, and the girls all stood up and began rummaging through their trunks, which had been delivered by the house elves.
"I'll just be a sec - I've got a small project I want to work on a little before bed," Rose told them as she pulled Professor Dumbledore's notes and her Potions equipment out from under her robes. Maybe if she was quick, she could get the recklessness potion done before lights out.
***********
"That - that looks right," Rose said as she leaned away from her simmering cauldron.
"The Gryffindor potion, right?" Maddie asked as she passed her friend on the way out of the bathroom. Rose had explained the project to her friends as she was working on the potion, and Petra had pointed out that each of the four potions seemed to be targeted at the four Hogwarts houses: recklessness for the headstrong Gryffindors, pride for the all-knowing Ravenclaws, ambition for the enterprising Slytherins, and ignorance for the positive Hufflepuffs.
"Yeah - now I just need to test it," she looked around eagerly for a subject to feed some of her potion to.
She'd found the base potion first, adding Dittany (for healing), ashwinder egg (used in love potions - Rose had used it for unity) and unicorn horn (used in the antidote to common poisons) to Professor Dumbledore's solution of dragon's blood (for cleansing), bicorn horn, fluxweed and knotgrass (all from the Polyjuice potion, for the joining of two personalities). Then she'd used mandrake root (for dispetrification) in addition to the three Dumbledore had already collected: gillyweed (for breathing), runespoor egg (to increase mental agility) and snake Ganga (used in the wide-eye potion). After much consultation of Serverus Snape's old potions textbook and some trial and error, she'd come up with a satisfactory recipe which had resulted in the red-tinged potion which swirled before her.
"I'll do it," Jade called out from beside her bed, where she was still looking for her toothbrush in her huge trunk. "I have to ask you guys though, how likely is it that Rose's experiments end in explosions?" Everyone laughed and Lizzie replied,
"Oh, only about ten percent."
"That's comforting."
"It's better than Lizzie's record, though - about every second project of hers explodes in some way or another," Rose grinned at her friend, recalling an incident last school year involving the dorm room fire, which was currently burning gently in the centre of the room.
"Well, let's go then," Jade walked over to Rose and held out her hand for a sample. Rose pulled a vial out of her robes, which had been discarded on her bed once she had changed into her pyjamas whilst waiting for the potion to simmer, and filled it with the transparent scarlet liquid.
"I'm not sure how strong it is, so don't drink too much," she advised the Australian girl.
"Hmm, smells interesting," Jade sniffed the potion, her nose wrinkling. "Like rust, and wood." She then tipped her head back and sipped from the vial.
"How do you feel?" Rose watched her new friend intently. Jade closed her eyes for a second, then blinked them open.
"I - woah," she touched her fingers to her temples. "It's like my mind's rearranging itself!"
"Is it painful?"
"No ... But you have an antidote, just in case, right?" Rose swallowed nervously.
"I have a few spells - but you don't need them, do you?"
"I - not yet," Jade gulped and Maddie rounded on Rose.
"You haven't already poisoned our exchange student, have you Rose?" She said jokingly, but her eyes were wider than usual.
"I don't think so," Rose bit her lip. "From what I think, it's supposed to act similarly to the Polyjuice Potion, which makes you feel gross for a bit until you change into the person you're trying to imitate," she glanced over to Jade, who seemed to be experiencing a little discomfort, though not severe. "After that she should be fine." I hope, Rose added in her head.
"Rose," Jade called softly. "It's - it's stopped." Rose jumped to her feet and stood in front of the Australian girl, staring into her eyes.
"Do you feel any different?" All eyes were on the two of them now.
"Not really," Jade admitted.
"Ask her something," Annie suggested. "Something risky." Rose wracked her brains for the right question, but Lizzie beat her to it.
"How about we go down to the kitchens for a midnight snack?" The prankster asked, and Jade visibly flinched.
"No, I - I don't think that's a good idea," she frowned. "I mean, usually I'd say yes, but ... " Rose looked thoughtful.
"Do you feel any different now?" She probed.
"Yeah, actually," Jade shifted from one foot to another. "I have to say, normally I'm not a stickler for the rules, but now just the thought of doing something that's not allowed makes me nervous." This certainly was interesting.
"Are you thinking differently?" Rhea gave her input.
"All I can think about is what would happen if we got caught - usually I just concentrate on the good stuff, like the food, or seeing - um," she paused.
"Seeing?" Maddie prompted.
"You sure you didn't put Veritaserum in there, Rose?" Jade smiled wanly as Rose shook her head. "I guess I just feel comfortable around you guys - normally I wouldn't tell anyone this, but here goes." Rose felt a rush of warmth to know that Jade trusted them. Maybe this global cooperation thing wouldn't be so difficult after all.
"Sometimes I sneak out at night to watch my house Quidditch team train," she blushed.
"You don't play?" Rhea asked. "I thought you said you loved Quidditch." Jade shook her head.
"I do play - I'm in some out of school teams," she explained. Rose was interested to find that Australians had more sporting opportunities than they did in England.
"But?" Petra was interested in Jade's lack of position in the house team as well.
"I - well, I tried out once for Chaser, but Alex was on the team," her red cheeks flushed even more. "I got so nervous that I could barely catch the Quaffle when he threw it to me, and now everyone thinks I'm super clumsy." Everyone nodded in sympathy.
"Hey, I know," Maddie piped up. "You should try out for the Gryffindor team!" Rose's eyes widened as she took in the perfect plan.
"Yeah, you should! James is the only Chaser now, because the other two were in seventh year last year, and our keeper is playing for England now, so he won't be back," Rose recalled Sam Wood's amazing performance at the World Cup - they would definitely miss him.
"So you play Chaser, usually?" Lizzie said.
"Well, yes - but am I allowed to try out?" Jade asked.
"Why not? The program's supposed to be about learning about new cultures, and this seems like a pretty good way to do that," Rhea pointed out. The girls grinned and then scrambled into bed as footsteps echoed down the hallway outside. There was a small 'click' as Professor Longbottom turned the lights out with his wand, and once they could no longer hear him walking along the girls resumed their conversation.
"Okay," Jade whispered. "I'll do it." Rose grinned, even though no one could see her.
"That means it's a pretty good decision," she said. "If you're willing to go along with it under the effects of the potion, it must be sensible." She hadn't really had time to comprehend that the potion had worked, but now she was absolutely overjoyed. She was one step closer to completing one of Professor Dumbledore's projects!
"Do you know how long it lasts, Rose?" That was a good question.
"If it's like the Polyjuice Potion, maybe about an hour," she guessed. "Either way, it should be gone by the time you wake up." The girls sat in silence for a few seconds.
"So, that's me over - what about you, Petra?" Jade turned the attention away from herself. "Anything the amazing Rose Weasley can help you with?" Rose frowned.
"You know about - " Rose began.
"- most of the Memory-Wipe plot, yeah," Jade said matter-of-factly. "I wouldn't be surprised if most of the other W-SWAP students know who you are."
"We didn't know Harry Potter is your uncle," Petra added. "That was cool." Rose wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or proud - she just hoped the whispering about her wouldn't start up in the halls again.
"Anyway, Petra - what about you?" Rose redirected the conversation.
"I have already what I was wishing," the Greek girl said with a smile in her voice. "I found six friends." The warmth of their friendship seemed to spread throughout the room.
"Well, if you need anything, we're here." Annie rolled over in her bed to a more comfortable position.
"That is why I love my friends," Petra said and followed the others as they pulled their curtains around their bed.
"Well, goodnight," Rhea called out. "See you in the morning."
"Goodnight," they chorused back. Rose couldn't wait for the night to be over - the next day of classes was going to be awesome.