Yes, I've started writing another story, when I promised myself I wouldn't until I'd gotten some work done on The Ties That Bind… But que sera, sera, as the saying goes.
Hermione noticed them first, of course.
They stood in a group near the entrance to the Great Hall, five boys and one girl. There was also a large wolf-like creature with them, as well as some sort of lizard and a large bird of prey.
"Harry, Ron," Hermione hissed, catching the attention of all the Gryffindors in her immediate vicinity. "Look over there."
The entire group obliged, craning their necks to see.
"Bloody hell!" One of the Weasely twins murmured, awestruck. "That's a kyree!"
"What's a kyree?" A newly-sorted first-year whispered, somehow sensing that whatever a kyree was, its presence warranted reverence.
"Kyree are magical constructs," Hermione said matter-of-factly for benefit of anyone else who happened to be lost. "They're part wolf and part African plains cat, and their natural habitat is dense forests in northern Japan. They're rarer than unicorns, and one deigning to be seen by so many humans is practically unheard of."
"Wow..." The first year said, his eyes still on the shaggy silver beast. "I wonder what it's doing here?"
"Your attention, please!" Professor Dumbledore called from the Head Table, and the excited conversations around the room ground to a halt. "Before we begin, I would like to welcome a few very special people to our school. Some of you may have already noticed them," He gestured towards the mysterious group across the Hall, and the entire student body turned as one in the direction he indicated.
As if in response to some silent cue, the group began walking down the center aisle amid much whispering. It wasn't just the fact that the group was new that drew comments, either, nor was it the animals.
In the lead was a small boy with a chestnut braid that fell almost to his knees and large, inviting violet eyes. He was dressed entirely in black, from his baseball cap to his boots. The bird of prey was perched calmly on his shoulder.
Next came another brunette, this one with bangs swept over one emerald eye in a unique style. He was dressed simply in brown boots, faded jeans, and a loose windbreaker zipped halfway up his dark shirt.
The only girl in the group kept a firm grip on the second brunette's arm, her black eyes round and frightened in her pale face. A waterfall of grayish-brown waves spilled down the back of her faded green dress to her elbows.
Half the female population of Hogwarts fell in love with the blond. He had a soft, kind face dominated by gentle aqua eyes and framed by wisps of straight, sunbleached hair. He wore khakis, a pink cotton shirt, and a purple vest, and looked damned good in the ensemble, too.
Behind the blond was a mean-looking boy with dark, slanted eyes and dark hair pulled into a low ponytail. He had well-defined muscles under his golden-tanned skin, and was dressed in the loose clothes of a martial artist. On his shoulder sat a miniature dragon, glowing golden in the candlelight. It moved restlessly, swinging its head this way and that, as if unused to being around so many humans at once.
Bringing up the rear was yet another brunette, this one with messy dark chocolate hair and hard, suspicious blue eyes. His clothing of choice consisted of dark blue jeans, a dark shirt, a black leather trench coat, and a pair of dark glasses pushed on top of his head. The kyree paced next to him, its wise ice blue eyes taking in everything.
When the six reached the Head Table, they ranged themselves behind the Headmaster, turning to face the Hall in a loose semi-circle.
"As some of you may know, there was talk last year of a foreign exchange program here at Hogwarts, much like those employed in muggle schools.
"Magic academies in other countries have agreed to, shall we say, a trial run, and these five gentlemen will be joining our third years in their round of lessons." Dumbledore paused a moment to let the rush of whispers die down before continuing. "They will be Sorted like any other student, and they will be assigned homework just like the rest of you, although you may find them to be ahead of you in some subjects and behind in others. They will be subject to a few special rules, but that's only to be expected in a situation like this."
The brunette with the bird leaned over and whispered something to the brunette next to him, who blushed and immediately launched into a coughing fit.
"Perhaps you would like to be Sorted first, Mr. Maxwell?" The Headmaster suggested mildly, turning to look at the first brunette.
"Well, Professor, if you really want me to, I will, but don't you think Trowa should go first? I mean, B comes before M, even if he is trying to hack up a lung."
"American," Hermione noted with some distaste. "Americans are almost as arrogant as Malfoy."
The dark-haired martial artist hissed something too low for the students to catch, and the American sighed theatrically.
"If you insist, Fei," He said, walking over to Professor McGonagall and the Sorting Hat.
The rim of the hat didn't even touch his head before it called out 'Gryffindor!'
"Woot!" The boy shouted, standing up. Careful not to disturb his bird, he hurried to the Gryffindor table and took a seat not far from Harry and the gang.
"Hi!" He said excitedly, transferring his falcon to the back of his chair.
The second brunette, having recovered from his coughing fit, went next. After a few minutes of thoughtful silence, the Sorting Hat directed him to the Ravenclaw table. The girl went with him.
The boy with the lizard was quickly sent to Slytherin, where he sat sullenly, glaring at anyone who attempted conversation.
Another long wait, and the blond was put in Hufflepuff, leaving only the boy with the kyree.
He moved towards the stool, scanning the room as he went; his eyes lingered on the Gryffindor table, especially the area around Harry and the American. He paused to whisper something to Professor McGonagall, who shook her head and whispered back before putting the Sorting Hat on the boy's head.
The Hat remained silent for a moment before grumbling, "Pushy, pushy, pushy. It's where you belong anyway. Gryffindor!"
The boy took the Hat off, dropped it on the stool, and stalked to an empty seat next to the twins; the kyree followed sedately, lying down behind the boy's chair.
"I hope you will all make our guests feel most welcome," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile. "Now please, stay away from the Forbidden Forest and enjoy your meal." With that, he sat down, and the traditional feast appeared on the tables.
"If you don't mind my asking, sir," Hermione said, turning to her newest housemate, "how is it that you acquired a kyree? I was led to believe that they had little use at all for humans."
"Then you've been led to believe the wrong thing." The boy snapped without looking up. After a moment, he sighed and put his fork down. "Kero says to apologize for snapping and to tell you that I didn't acquire her, she chose me."
"Is her name Kero, then?" One of the twins asked, twisting around in his seat so that he faced the kyree. "Would you like a plate, ma'am?"
"She says thank you for the offer, but she's full right now," The boy relayed, a strange accent becoming apparent the more he spoke. "My name is Heero. Heero Yuy. You would be a Weasely, ne?"
"Yup. The name's Fred." Fred replied, grinning. "This here's my twin, George, that's our little brother Ron, that's his girlfriend, Hermione-"
"She is not my girlfriend!" Ron interrupted.
"Fred!" Hermione shouted at the same time.
"- that's our little sister Ginny, Justin, Alicia, Lee, and that right there's the famous Harry Potter. Don't know who the git with the bird is."
"Hey!" The American protested, surging to his feet. "I am not a git, and Draco most certainly is not just a bird!"
"I never said Malfoy was a bird." Fred said, blinking. "Said your bird was a bird. What's your name?"
"Duo. Duo Maxwell. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie. Who's Malfoy?"
"The twit in Slytherin trying to talk to his new housemate." Ron supplied helpfully, pointing with his fork. "You might want to steer clear of him."
"Why?" Duo asked curiously. "Is he mean? Is he stupid? Will he make me wanna kick his ass?"
"Probably all three," Harry said. "Depends on your temperament. All Slytherins are like that."
"O-okay..." Duo said dubiously, returning his attention to the mountain of food on his plate. "If you say so..."
Across the Great Hall, Draco Malfoy was currently the most frustrated he'd been in a long time. No one with half a brain would dare ignore him, Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy legacy, as if he were an annoying child; especially an Asian nobody with the stunning good luck to be Sorted into Slytherin.
Yet there was an Asian nobody right across the table doing just that, feeding his miniature dragon and ignoring everyone around him.
Giving up on conversation, Draco looked around to see how the other strangers had settled in so far, and was glad to see he wasn't the only one getting the cold shoulder.
At the Ravenclaw table, the brunette with the unabang spoke only to the girl with him; he limited interaction with the students to glares whenever someone so much as looked at him.
One of Gryffindor's additions sat silently, the conversation swirling around him like river water around a boulder, while the other boy chatted animatedly with Potter and his set.
And as for the blond... well, not a single girl in Hufflepuff wasn't staring at him. At least he had the good grace to blush a little, considering the attention he was getting.
A sudden angry hiss called Draco's attention back to his own table, where the tiny gold dragon mantled its wings at a female Slytherin nearby, radiating fury.
"What are you, onna? Stupid?" The Asian boy demanded, trying to soothe the dragonet. "Don't you know never to interrupt an animal while it's feeding? You're lucky she didn't tear your hand off!"
"But..." The girl protested, cradling one of her hands in her lap. "I-"
"You what? Fire lizards are not domestic animals, onna! And queens are especially hostile!"
"Queen?" Draco asked before he could stop himself.
"Yes, queen." The boy spat, looking disgusted. "Don't you people know anything? Nataku is a gold, and therefore a queen! She's the pride of her clan, and she won't stand for a mere human female to touch her!"
"I...I'm sorry," The girl apologized softly. "I didn't realize..."
"Onna," the boy said, and Draco got the impression that 'onna' was not a polite term, "I couldn't care less what you did or did not realize. Now leave me alone." And with that, he turned back to his dinner, pointedly ignoring everyone around him.
I have changed the storyline of Harry Potter a little. Instead of just beating MoldyWort up at the end of book 1, Harry killed him. Tom Riddle was likewise dispatched, and there is no more powerful evil wizard out to get Harry. That's why people feel secure enough to do the whole student exchange thing. I'm going to skip certain scenes from the book, since I don't want to re-write them when everyone already knows what happens. Instead, I'll leave a note, or allude to it later.
And just a bit of a warning here: it may be a while between updates on this, because I have about ten other stories that I want to update first, like Death's Image, The Ties That Bind, Tangled Bonds, Voices, and so on and so forth. So don't throw a fit if I don't update this story every other day.