A sudden ringing sounds in the Hogwarts kitchens, drawing the attention of hundreds of house-elves. Then, Lyra turns off the alarm clock. “Hi guys! I thought I’d mention, since us Equestrians reopened the gate too late to catch the Hogwarts Express, we’re coming on a separate train we’re providing ourselves. Thing is, it won’t be stopping- the Friendship Express will be blowing through the station at full speed, during which we’ll teleport everyone out of it. Do you want to hop in after people’s luggage, or would you rather we pulled it out for you?”
“We’ll get it!” the elves all call excitedly.
The Hogwarts Express draws to a halt.
Ginny Weasley steps out of it. Back when she got on the train, she’d gone with her brothers, Fred and George; they’d helped her get her luggage onto the train. She’d almost missed the train; as usual, her family was very late getting to the station… though rather later than usual today.
Once the train was moving, she’d started searching the train for Harry. Even though she’d blushed as red as the setting sun when he’d dumped all the Lockhart books he’d been given for free into her cauldron and said she could have them. She hadn’t meant to blush like that, of course- she just couldn’t help it. The thing is, she wants to be his friend. Not like romantic friend; she refuses to let herself think of that.
She’s not very successful. Every time she sees him, that… stuff pops into her mind, alongside how he might react if he were to realize what she was thinking. Combine the two and so far, she doesn’t think she’s looked at him once without turning cherry red. And of course, she’s afraid to try to talk to him while her mind is polluted by such things- his possible reactions to that are among her worst fears.
Receiving a random gift from him had sent her mind wondering if maybe he liked her in a romantic way. Which is obviously not true, since he didn’t blush. In any case, she rather suspects that’s the reddest she’s ever been.
So she’d searched the train for him, concentrating on Hogwarts. Her theory being that if her mind was sufficiently occupied by Hogwarts when she saw him, she wouldn’t think those thoughts at all, and would feel comfortable introducing herself to him.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t found him. What she’d found instead was a pack of upper-year probably-Slytherins that had started poking at her for being a Weasley.
She’d been rather amazed when a single second-year girl had chased off all four sixth-years with a simple glare- but Hermione hadn’t come to take her to Harry, or even to protect her from ridicule. No, she’d come to ask her if she wanted to teach Charms with someone named Mi Amore Cadenza. It had been explained that she’d study directly under Professor Flitwick, the school’s Charms professor, before passing on what she learned to a class of her own- alongside Cadenza, so she- and Cadenza, of course- don’t miss anything.
So she’d said yes. After all, why would Harry make friends with her specifically if she didn’t stand out from the crowd?
Fortunately, Hermione had continued on before her mind went down that route, turning her face tomato red once again. It was probably a prank anyways.
Then the sixth-years had reappeared, poked fun at her, and told her that nobody would be interested in her if she blushed so much.
She’d run away after that. Found an empty compartment- probably the only one on the train- at the back of the train, and hunkered down in it to cry for the rest of the trip.
But now, she’s standing on the station platform. She takes a deep breath. She’s ready. Ready to talk to Harry. Ready to start Hogwarts. Ready for anything-
She hears the rapid thudding the train made while it was moving quickly, coming from down the tracks. Behind the train.
She looks.
There’s another train, racing to slam into the back of the Hogwarts Express.
And- there’s someone on it! Standing on the front of the engine, waving merilly at her, is a girl with white and light blue hair!
She lets out a gasp, stumbling backwards- and starts to turn to tell someone when she crashes into someone instead. “Ow-!” she yelps, before pulling herself off of whoever it was- sounded like a boy- and blushing like a bucket of red paint. “Sorry, I-!”
She stops, blushing even darker. She’s glad it’s dark out, it won’t be as visible.
It’s Harry.
He smiles, and looks past her, at the coming train; she looks back at it too. He waves.
Then the coming train does the impossible. Right at the same time as the whistle starts playing a song, the train seems to turn up to go right over the top of the Hogwarts Express.
She stares, forcing herself to concentrate on it and not Harry, standing two feet away from her.
… it doesn’t seem to end. There’s so many engines, thundering past overtop the Hogwarts Express- flying right over it, to land on the other side.
Then the engines finally end- and she sees some somewhat strange-looking cars… before her view of it is blocked, because the station is suddenly packed, thanks to all the people appearing in flashes of light.
Then-
“Firs’ years, Firs’ years, over here,” someone yells over the crowd. “Firs’ years!”
She sees the man calling to her. Rather helps that everyone on this side of the station is only as tall as she is; it’s a huge man, holding a lantern high and waving to everyone with his other hand.
She looks behind her; Harry is gone.
She lets out a breath, and starts working her way towards the gigantic man, and the large crowd gathering just off the station.
… Funny, she could have sworn Hogwarts doesn’t normally have this many students.
Ginny knows this is way over the forty or so students Hogwarts is supposed to get each year. For one, there had been a veritable army of boats waiting to cross the lake; for two, she’s counted at least eighty different people in the group, at which point she’d lost count.
For three, they’ve just lined up to be sorted. She hadn’t expected it to be a matter of trying on a hat- and neither had she expected the hat to sing.
Nor for it to sing with instrumental backup.
Nor for everyone- including, to her immense surprise, herself- to start singing along with it, despite not knowing the lyrics. She does think it was amusing to watch the hat practically dancing as it sung.
As for what that three actually was, that scroll that Professor McGonagall is holding is huge.
Oh, four: Looking out across the house tables, it’s a sea of black right about her own height, with the occasional spike of older, upper-year students. Did Hogwarts get a crazy huge number of students last year as well or something?
Professor McGonagall drops the bottom of the scroll on the floor. It hits with a crash that makes the dishes rattle all across the room. The Professor grins, though, and calls the first name on the list.
She suddenly understands why all those muggle-stuff-looking-thing-wearing first years had insisted upon lining up in alphabetic order before Professor McGonagall returned to get them. She shifts forwards with the rest of the line as the girl at the very front of the line trots up to the hat.
One.
Two.
Three. Things seem to be speeding up.
She’s walking constantly now. The hat’s also almost constantly shouting.
Oh, there’s music. All instrumental-
No! The names- and houses- are the lyrics!
Nobody’s singing along, though.
She’s tempted to try, but she has no clue what’s coming until it actually hits.
And even with the crazy fast speed they’re going, it still takes a few hours to reach her.
She sits down at a random spot at the Gryffindor table, once she gets sorted.
Then… The rest of the night seems to go by in a blur. She knows she sang the school song along with everyone else, despite not knowing the lyrics or ever having heard it before. She knows she ate dinner. She knows the girl next to her muttered something about a third floor corridor. She knows the password to get into the Gryffindor common room. And… she knows she’s very tired, and falling asleep on her bed.
Ginny scowls at the ceiling. She remembers getting sorted, and then… nothing. Save a couple faint snippets of the evening.
That’s never happened before.
She’s always had good memory. Especially towards the end of the day- almost like getting tired improves her memory, instead of hurting it.
So why…?
She shakes herself, and gets out of bed. Whatever else it is, it’s breakfast time right now. She’ll tell her diary about the memory lapse later.
She stares at her schedule. The one Professor McGonagall just handed her. She’d glanced down it to see what’s first.
Right off the bat, she’s got Charms with Professor Flitwick this morning.
And, she notices, that’s the only class on her schedule with only one teacher. Potions, this evening, has two- Zecora and Zesty Gourmand.
She’s not sure if ‘Teaching Charms with Mi Amore Cadenza’ tomorrow morning counts as a class.
But if nothing else, she’s absolutely certain that Hermione’s question on the train was not a prank.
She is kinda curious about Defense Against the Dark Arts with Shining Armor and Spitfire tomorrow afternoon, though.
Someone sits next to her. She’s pretty sure it’s not Harry, so she ignores them.
“Hey Ginny! How’re ya doing?”
She looks up at that; they obviously don’t want to leave her staring at her schedule.
… It’s the white-and-light-blue-haired girl that was riding the front of that train. “Um, hi?” she offers.
The girl chuckles, and offers her a hand. “Hello! My name’s Lyra Heartstrings, and I’m the one coordinating all our Gryffindor student instructors. You going to be okay tomorrow?”
She blinks. “Um… what?”
The girl shrugs, and gestures up at the staff table. “Hogwarts hasn’t gotten any additional teachers since last year, save Lockhart- but this year makes a total student body of just over twenty-six thousand students. That’s why we’ve tapped the best and brightest minds there are across both years with very large numbers to learn it first, then pass it on. You going to be okay doing that tomorrow?”
She blinks. “Uh…” She looks at her schedule, then back up. “Does it matter?”
Lyra rolls her eyes. “Of course it does. Are you worried about it at all?”
“Um…” She looks at her schedule again. Is she worried about teaching Charms?
… No, no she’s not. Not nearly as much as she’s worried about what will happen when Harry finds out she’s going to be teaching a class. She blushes furiously. “N-No, I’m fine.”
“Okay.” Lyra smiles amusedly- drat, she saw the blush! “If ever you are worried, know that you can come talk to me anytime, okay?”
“Um, okay?” she asks confusedly.
The girl smiles. “I can usually be found around the Gryffindor common room, unless I’m in class or something- but our schedule times match up pretty well, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”
She stares at the table as Lyra gets up to find someone else. Hopefully, I don’t forget the lesson.
She sits down to lunch. She’d been amazed by how easy the lesson was- and how quickly both she and all the other students picked everything up. Her very first day, and she’d successfully floated that feather!
What’s more, she remembers the lesson. She prays silently to herself that she doesn’t forget it later, and starts getting her food, very carefully not thinking about Harry, who just sat down not two seats away, on the other side of Hermione, who sat next to her.
He doesn’t let her ignore him, though, shortly saying something that draws her attention. “That Lockhart is a disaster,” he complains to Hermione.
Hermione seems to get defensive. “What- what makes you say that, Harry? He’s an amazing wizard!”
Harry snorts. “Not nearly as amazing as you,” he answers shortly, before shaking his head. Ginny does wonder where he got that hair. “After a quiz that only you- or perhaps Twilight- would have passed, he turned a cage of cornish pixies loose on the class.”
Hermione raises an eyebrow. “He was just trying to give you some hands-on experience, that’s all.”
He laughs. “Mighta worked if he’d told us what to do before opening the cage- or if the spell he tried to use actually did anything. It was ‘Pesky Pixie Pestronomy’, as I recall.”
A girl across the table- Lyra- looks up. “Pesky Pixie Pestronomy?” She shakes her head. “That’s not a real spell- only sounds like one. Not even the beginnings of a matrix there.”
Harry nods. “Then when the bell rang, he practically fled, and asked us to get the rest of them back in the cage.”
Hermione winces.
Harry shrugs. “Between me and Rarity, though, we had all of them back in the cage and the room fixed back up in just thirty seconds.” He chuckles. “Had most the rest of the class staring at us.” He scowls again. “And I most certainly do not want to unleash pixies on my class. You know of any good materials for us to go off of?”
Hermione scowls at the table. “Well… Lockhart’s books are not on the list…” She sighs, and names a few books. “Oh, and Princess Luna agrees.”
“Even though I’m pretty sure she hasn’t had a class with him yet?”
Lyra nods. “She’s got his afternoon session after lunch- but just look at him. What kind of soldier wins Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile award five times in a row?”
Harry blinks. So does Ginny.
Lyra shakes her head. “Not one that’s any good, usually. And in my experience, not one that’s ever been in any kind of action, either. Honestly, I’m not surprised his classes turned out to be sub-par.” She sighs. “I had hoped, though. Oh well.”
“But-!” Hermione begins. “Look at all the stuff he’s done!” She pulls out one of her Lockhart books to show Lyra.
Lyra smiles. “You know I haven’t had the chance to read any of them yet, right?”
Ginny blinks. “What-?”
Hermione rolls her eyes. “Well, he’s-!”
“I have, however,” Lyra interrupts, “had time to hand a stack of them to Twilight last night and ask for a summary this morning.”
“Uh… wouldn’t she have slept all night?”
Lyra lets out a snort of laughter. “You clearly don’t know Twilight like I do,” she answers.
“Well of course,” Hermione huffs, folding her arms. “I don’t live in Equestria, and you never let us visit.”
Lyra blushes. “I am sorry about that. In any case, Twilight?” She turns to face the neighboring Ravenclaw table.
A girl with a paired pink-and-purple stripe down her dark blue hair twists to face. “Yes, Lyra?”
“What was the answer you gave me this morning?”
“Oh, you mean the summary of Lockhart’s books?”
Lyra nods. “Hermione’s curious.”
“Oh.” The girl rises from her seat, stepping over to sit next to Lyra, then she looks at Hermione. “Lockhart… is an idiot.”
Hermione gasps. “What-! But-!”
“If you read carefully, which I did three times over last night, there’s inconsistencies in his work. For example, in Voyages with Vampires, he spent a day sparring with a vampire on the ship Merlin’s Halo, right?”
Hermione nods.
“And in Travels with Trolls, he spent a day hiding out in the back of a troll-filled cave, waiting for them to fall asleep.”
She nods again.
The two books land on the table in front of Hermione, next to each other and open to very specific pages. “Read between the lines. Find the points where days are mentioned.”
“Um…” Hermione starts scanning the books.
“What is it?” Ginny asks.
Twilight grins. “They happened on the very same day,” she states. “It’s at the very end of the timeline of Voyages with Vampires, and one of the first events- chronologically- in Travels with Trolls, but they both specify the exact same date. And that’s not the only issue like that.” She glances up at him. “Does he look like a swordfighter? In Voyages with Vampires, he fought numerous vampires- which, by the way, are vicious fighters- with a sword. In Holidays with Hags- which happens two years after that- a sword landed in his possession but he chose not to use it because he didn’t know how yet.
“In short, his adventures are obviously fake. His knowledge might not be, but his adventures obviously are.” She scowls at the books as Hermione meekly returns them, face cherry red. “It’s an insult to true adventurers like me and my friends.” She glances up at Hermione. “Speaking of which, I ought to make you a copy of my Friendship Journals sometime… though, you absolutely cannot share them verbatim, okay?”
Hermione nods. “Okay.”
It’s at that point that what she’d heard fully processes in Ginny’s mind.
Harry is teaching too!
Which means she doesn’t need to worry about him reacting outlandishly- either romantically or negatively- when he finds out about her class! She blushes, but lets out a small sigh of relief all the same.
As Twilight gets up to return to her table, Hermione isn’t done talking. “Anyways, Lyra- you never explained why you sealed the Gate.”
“Rrright,” Lyra scowls. “Um… Yeah… I don’t think it’d be a good idea to talk about that here. I’ll explain it to you two tonight, in… oh, a corner of the common room ought to do, with enough privacy spells.” She glances sideways at Harry. “Have Draco stop by and I can explain it to him at the same time.” She looks at Ginny. “Sorry, it’s more than a little secret.”
Ginny squeaks, blushing furiously. Had her curiosity for just about anything related to Harry been that evident?