I hated England.

It's cold, it's always overcast and raining, and it was just so dreary. Everything was so blank… The buildings, the people, it's all so plain and grey.

So, no matter what my Mother may tell our relatives and everybody else she encounters, moving from sunny Los Angeles to the heart of dreary old England was anything but a 'mutual family decision.' If anything in this situation were left to me, I'd be sitting on my ass in the lovely sun tanning up outside of my house back in America. In fact, it would be that way if it were left to anybody else in my family except for my Mother.

As it is, this dream is crushed as I make my way through Kings Cross Station in Britain with my little brother, Sam, trying to find Platform 9¾. Obscure platform number? Yes. Why? Because it doesn't seem to exist.

This is exactly what I don't need right now; my first day at this new school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (I hope it's less uptight and official than it sounds), and we're going to miss the bloody train.

With a frustrated growl, I came to a halt and glared around the station. Sam seemed to notice my growing impatience and took charge of the situation. That was my Sammy; despite the small age difference, my little brother and I were incredibly close.

"Excuse me, sir?" Sam called to a passing man in uniform, and he turned around to look at us with a friendly smile. "Do you know where platform 9¾ is?"

His face immediately fell to a scowl. "Is that a joke?"

Sam glanced at me, frowning, saying "Um, no, I have my ticket right here…" and he began to dig in his pocket for it.

The man glared at Sam and snapped, "It doesn't exist, okay?"

He turned around then and began to stalk away from us, muttering as he went "Every year one of you snot nosed little brats asks me that stupid question…"

...What the fuck? I thought people in this country were meant to be hospitable.

Immediately, Sam looked up at me, confused. "Bree, what do we do…?"

This would be a lot easier if it wasn't just Sam and I left here to find our way around. I mean, we're in a completely foreign place, and to be honest it's really confusing trying to find my way around England. Unfortunately, my older brother, Toby, isn't coming to England for another three weeks while he sorts things out transferring his work at the Wizarding Hospital, and Dad is under so much stress trying to fix everything up at the Ministry. He works as an Auror and is working heavily overtime trying to catch up on his work after the move. Mom was a really good event planner and her name had already spread throughout town, so she was already too busy to see us off.

So here we are. Fun, fun, fun.

We stood in the middle of the Platform with our large trunks and my black cat, Felix, being shoved out of the way by people in a hurry, and being completely ignored by everyone around us.

Have you ever felt so invisible in a crowd of people that you doubted anyone would even so much as blink if you collapsed right then and there, dead? I hated that feeling. Sam didn't seem to mind too much, he's always been the more private of the two of us. But right now, I was starting to stress out, and Bree Montero doesn't stress… ever.

I bit my lip and stared around the platform, trying to find anybody who stood out as a wizard against all these muggles… and that was when I saw someone run through a wall.

There was a whole family of red heads waiting together and in pairs, they took the wall between platforms 9 and 10 at a run and instead of colliding with the wall, they ran right on through.

Of course the platform's hidden. Stupid, Bree, how could you not have picked up on this?

By now the red headed family had all disappeared, so I guess it's time to try out my theory. Without saying anything, I took off at a run towards the brick wall and prayed that I wouldn't hit the damn wall too hard.

Thankfully, I didn't hit the wall, and when I stared up at the sign that read 'Platform 9¾' above me, I could help the small victory air punch I did. Within seconds, Sam had joined me, and he was breathing a lot heavier.

Sam needs to stop stressing so much; it's not good for his heart, the poor sucker.

We eventually found a place to put our trunks on the train, and I blew a kiss to Felix as I left my fat cat with the other animals. That was around the time I lost Sam, when he disappeared into a large group of people around his age (thirteen). I let him go then and wandered onto the train and into a compartment by myself, flopping down beside the window and watching parents hug their children goodbye for the year, wishing them well and some with children that looked like first years were even tearing up. This one woman had massive amounts of mascara running down her face and looked like she belonged in a horror movie, and I couldn't help but laugh a bit.

The compartment door suddenly slid open and a girl with tanned skin and dark brown hair looked at me in surprise. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you- we'll just find somewhere else-"

"No, its fine," I told her, smiling. "Come on in."

She gave me the most enthusiastic smile I think I've ever seen and opened the door all the way, wandering in and sitting across from me. A girl with light blonde hair and a boy with dark skin and dreadlocks followed her in, each smiling at me.

"I haven't seen you around before," the brunette girl stated, staring at my curiously. As she spoke, the train let off a high pitched whistle and we began to move.

I smiled at her. "I'm new this year, just moved from America. I'm Bree Montero."

She grinned back. She seemed to be the confident one of the group. "I'm Katie Bell. That's Lee Jordan and Alicia Spinnet."

"Are you from Walden Institution of Magic?" Alicia asked suddenly. She had a light, careful voice, and she seemed very shy.

"Yeah, I am," I answered, and she nodded, seeming impressed by me all of a sudden.

Lee extended his hand and leant across the aisle towards me. "Well, Breezy, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you!"

As I shook his hand, Katie rolled her eyes. "He's only saying that because of your boobs. Just a heads up."

I couldn't help but laugh as Lee shrugged apologetically, "Thanks for the warning."

"You'll be sharing a room with me this year," Alicia said, smiling at me shyly. "Dumbledore added it to my letter."

"No fair, I want the new kid!" Katie groaned out.

"So you're in Gryffindor then!" Lee said, seeming pleased.

"I don't actually know what that means…"

His grin fell. "Don't you know about the four houses?"

"Nobody told me about them, no." Nobody told me about anything, really.

Katie took charge once again. "Well, we have four houses here. Ravenclaw, for the intelligent; Hufflepuff, for the patient; Slytherin, for the ones that nobody likes nor cares about; and Gryffindor, for the brave, smart, devilishly handsome, all around perfect students."

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows. "So you're in Slytherin, then?"

She raised hers right back. "So your wish is to start at a new school with no friends, then?"

I couldn't help but laugh. I was really taking a liking to Katie Bell.

"Well, we do have houses at our school and they sound the same, but they have different names. I suppose I'm in Gryffindor over here then."

"Oh! Yay!" To show her enthusiasm, Katie clapped.

Throughout the long train ride, I got to know the three other occupants of the compartment. Alicia's such a sweetheart, very caring and true to my original prediction, she's a bit shy. Lee's hilarious and so overly sexual in everything he says and does. Katie's insane, there's no better way to put it. She's loud, she has the most enthusiastic laugh I've ever heard, and at one stage of the journey, she sang to me. I already adored all three of them.

All three of them were very interested in America and to be perfectly honest, I can't blame them. If I grew up in England, I'd want to hear about other places too. Even now it's raining even harder than I've seen it during my time so far in this country. Not only that, but it was starting to fog up more and more the further we got into the journey. I could barely see the ground below us when I looked outside the window.

It was creepy, like a scene out of one of those really corny horror movies James always forces me to watch with him when we're together.

Lee leant around Katie and stared out the window at the stormy sky. "Bit dark and gloomy out there. Bit scary. Mind, if any of you ladies is feeling a bit frightened my hands are here to hold and- OW! KATIE!"

Katie looked at him innocently, taking her hand away from where she had hit him in the arm. "Sorry, I was aiming to hold your hand and I missed. Clumsy me!"

Lee shot her a glare and Alicia spoke up quickly to diffuse the tension. "So what do you think is happening this year?"

"Um, school, war with the Slytherins, quidditch… the usual, I'm assuming." Katie replied, shrugging.

Alicia shook her head. "No, haven't you heard? Something's happening at the school this year. Something big."

Lee nodded along. "Yeah, I heard someone talking about it at the Quidditch World Cup. It has something to do with some foreign wizards, I think."

"But you don't know what it is?" I asked, and they all shook their heads, shrugging. Hm.

For the rest of the train ride we all talked about anything that came to mind, and I was starting to think that Hogwarts wasn't actually going to be such a bad place. I already fit in well with these people.

We changed into our robes and immediately after the train began to slow down. Katie scowled as she stared out of the window and muttered, "My hair's gonna go all frizzy in this stupid rain…"

"You look super sexy even with frizzy hair, Bell, trust me!" Lee told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her down the corridor with him.

The four of us stood in the doorway for a moment staring out into what was quickly turning into a gale. Sighing, I grabbed the hood from the back of my robes and pulled it over my head, shielding my long blonde hair from sight. The other three did the same and then we took off at a run, heads bowed away from the rain, out onto the train platform.

I'll probably never get used to this English weather.

I had grabbed onto Katie's sleeve so I didn't lose sight of her and end up completely lost in this downpour. Despite the hood covering my head, I knew it was pointless. Seconds out in the rain and I was absolutely soaking wet.

Following Katie up the road, I eventually looked up when she stopped running. There was a large black carriage in front of us, pulled by magic. Much to Alicia's displeasure, Katie pushed a few second years out of the way of a carriage and dived into it, with Lee, Alicia and I following after her.

"Katie, you can't do that! That's so irresponsible!" Alicia scolded, but Katie was too busy moaning about her soaking wet hair to listen to her.

The carriage began to move as soon as we closed the door. I leant against the window to get my first view of Hogwarts. It was a vague outline through the rain but it looked huge, and I must say I was impressed by it.

Letting out a relieved sigh as we entered the school, I immediately threw my hood down and looked up at the school, grinning and glad to be out of the rain. However, that was when I was hit in the face by a water bomb.

Once again, my view of Hogwarts got more negative.

"PEEVES!" Katie screeched. "NOT COOL!"

A little blue man was floating above us, cackling with a basket full of water bombs. In response, he threw another water bomb down at Katie. She struggled to get out of the way, slipped in a puddle of water from the first lot of bombs, grabbed onto Lee's shoulder to try and stay upright, and ended up pulling him down into a heap on the floor with her.

I could help but laugh at the situation, until Lee glared up at me, reached out, and pulled me down onto the soaking wet floor too.

Alicia had already made a break for a large hall where everyone seemed to be congregating, and the three of us on the ground, soaking wet and spluttering, stumbled our way after her.

When we reached the dry room, we immediately stood up straight again. They seemed to have led me into the Great Hall. There were four long tables which I assumed belonged to each of the four houses, and a table at the front for the teachers. There were hundreds of candles floating in the air above us and as I looked up at the sky, I saw that it was reflecting the storm outside. It would've been beautiful on a fine night.

From beside me, Lee shook his dreadlocks out like a dog, hitting everybody close by him, and making Katie laugh loudly at him.

We were some of the last to enter the Hall apparently, because it was already very full. Katie and Lee strode off to the far side of the Hall and I followed behind them, not really knowing what else to do, and we sat down somewhere near the end of the table. I saw Sam a few seats down from me with a black haired boy with glasses, a redhead, and a girl with bushy brown hair. I grinned at him and waved, and he waved back.

Alicia had spotted some of their friends further down the table; two identical redheaded boys and a beautiful girl with dark skin and darker hair. She smiled over at them.

"So now what do we do?" I asked Katie.

"We wait for McGonagall to bring in the first years for the sorting. They get here by boat across the Black Lake." Katie answered. Hm, what a charming and friendly name for a lake that first years have to cross.

"I wouldn't much fancy doing that in this weather!" Lee said. "Man, I'm starving. They better hurry up."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Katie cried, turning to me. She put on a professional voice, a bit like a tour guide, and started speaking again. "This, my dear Bree, is our Great Hall. We gather here for all meals of the day. This is the Gryffindor table, so you can only sit here. Then there's Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff, and then there's finally Slytherin. We all have House Ghosts. Ours is Nearly Headless Nick. He's the one whose head is constantly hanging off his neck, and if you need anything and you see him, feel free to ask."

"He's a nice enough bloke, but the Nearly Headless thing puts off most people," Lee added.

"Yeah, it's a shame, really."

Well, that's new. We don't have any Nearly Headless ghosts. I wonder what happened with this guy's death. Be an interesting story to tell at parties.

The doors of the Great Hall opened then, and Professor McGonagall strode in. I knew her because she'd come to my house over the summer to kind of welcome me to England and give me everything for my time at Hogwarts. She was very serious but I liked her. She seemed to genuinely care about us.

Behind her strode the first years, and I felt sorry for them. Compared to these kids, I was barely even wet at all. They walked up to the front of the room behind Professor McGonagall, shaking with a mixture of nerves and the cold. One boy was draped in something huge and dark brown. He was very tiny and when he reached the front, he turned around and scanned our table. He seemed to find someone he knew and mouthed "I fell in the lake" with a thumbs up. He seemed delighted.

Lee snorted from beside me, shaking his head. "There's always one little weirdo."

In front of them now was a very old, patched hat. He appeared to be the Hogwarts sorting hat, and for a moment, we all just stared at it. Then, it opened it's mouth and began to sing.

"A thousand years ago or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

They hatched a daring plan

To educate young sorcerers

Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

Formed their own house, for each

Did value different virtues

In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power hungry Slytherin

Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide

Their favorites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

Ill have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!"

The hat fell silent again and the room rang with applause.

"The hat's song is always one of my favorite things about the New Year," Alicia said thoughtfully. Lee sniggered and muttered something to Katie about how his favorite part of the year was when somebody named Neville did something ridiculous.

The sorting went horrible slowly because by this stage I was starving. The two redheaded boys I had seen down the row before made it a bit more interesting, hissing at every Slytherin who was sorted.

Finally, the sorting ended, and I waited impatiently as the Headmaster stood up. "I have only two words for you. Tuck in."

Immediately, the golden plates around us filled with food and the goblets filled with drinks. I was impressed. The food at Walden was always fantastic, but this stuff looked mouthwatering. I immediately grabbed huge spoonfuls of whatever was closest to me and began to eat.

A few minutes in and my hunger had disappeared somewhat, so I slowed my eating. It was also because I realized that because I don't know these people that well, they wouldn't be accustomed to how much of a stomach for good food I really had. Turning to my three new friends, I said "Well, update me with the teachers, would you?"

Katie and Lee scanned the table. "That's Professor Dumbledore right in the middle, he's the Headmaster." Katie told me, and I nodded. Dumbledore seemed to have sensed his name being said and looked over at us, winking, before his eyes kept scanning the hall over his half moon spectacles.

He looked so old and wise, and damn was that an impressive beard.

They started explaining all the teachers, pointing at them as they went across the table.

"The small one is Professor Flitwick. He's the charms teacher and takes the choir. He's absolutely lovely, genuinely cares about your studies, you know? He's Head of Ravenclaw House." Katie told me.

Lee joined in next. "Then there's Professor Sprout, she's the Herbology teacher, obviously, by all the dirt on her. She's also Head of Hufflepuff House. Nice enough lady, but cares more about you giving her plants indigestion than she cares about the plants eating you, so watch out for that."

"She also probably could have bothered to clean off the dirt for dinner, but whatever," Katie said, shrugging. "Professor Sinistra is next to her; she's the head of Astronomy. Don't mess with her; she's scary enough to make you regret it. And don't bitch at the stars; she doesn't think it's as funny as we do."

They both paused slightly, sighing in unison. "And then… there's Professor Snape."

"Greasy haired bloody git," Lee snarled.

I was confused. "What's wrong with him?"

Lee scoffed. "Apart from everything?"

Alicia chimed in now. "He isn't actually a horrible man."

"How can you say that?" Katie demanded. "He is the devil!"

"He's the Potions Professor and he's Head of Slytherin House. Now, as if we needed any more reason to hate him, he's horrible to everybody not in Slytherin. He get's enjoyment out of taunting students and making them fail his classes." Lee said.

Alicia scoffed. "Lee, it isn't the Professor's fault that you're failing potions."

"Yes it is!" Lee snapped at her. "He's a horrible human being in every single way and that's all you need to know about him."

"Don't do anything to piss him off. Don't mess up in class, don't back chat, don't even look at him funny. Okay?" Katie warned. "He's scary."

Oh. Potions is my worst class. So, I'm already not going to get along too well with the mean teacher. Great. Really great.

"Then there's McGonagall. She's strict, but everybody likes her. She's Head of Gryffindor House." Lee continued on down the line. He was about to continue when Professor Dumbledore stood up and everybody immediately fell silent.

"So! Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention while I give out a few notices."

Dumbledore started off by saying something about the caretaker, and Lee immediately grabbed my attention by groaning. "We forgot about Filch! Right, seediest bloke I've ever met. He's the caretaker, and I swear to Merlin he has some weird sexual tension going on with his cat…"

Katie snorted. "And he hates you."

Lee turned away, nodding. "That too."

I turned my attention back to Dumbledore. "…also my painful duty to inform you all that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Katie, Lee and Alicia all suddenly looked absolutely horrified. Damn, that's harsh.

"This will be due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teacher's time and energy- but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

There was a deafening rumble of thunder, and the doors of the Great Hall flew open.

A man stood in the doorway, leaning on a long staff and covered by a long black travelling cloak. Every person turned as one to look at the man, and he was suddenly illuminated by a bright flash of lightning. He lowered his hood, shook out his dark hair, and began to make his way to the teachers table, a dull clunk echoing around the Hall on his every other step. With every clunk, Alicia seemed to wince.

Merlin, what an entrance. I should've done something like that. Nobody's going to forget that in a hurry.

The man reached Dumbledore and there was another flash of lightning. Oooh, not pretty! Every inch of skin on his face seemed to be scarred, and a large chunk of his nose was missing. He also had a large, circular mechanical eye, vivid blue, and as his other green eye stared at Dumbledore, the blue one spun around without stopping.

Alicia looked terrified of the newcomer. He shook the headmasters hand and then went and sat down at the staff table, pulling a plate of sausages immediately towards him and digging in with enthusiasm.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore said into the silence, "Professor Moody."

"He's so creepy…" Katie breathed.

Dumbledore cleared his throat again. "As I was saying, Hogwarts is to have the honor of hosting a legendary event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you all that this year, Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament."

I gasped, as did several other people. A voice from down the row gasped out "You're joking!"

Nearly everyone laughed, including Professor Dumbledore.

"No, I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar-"

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly, and the headmaster broke off. I had to say, I really liked Dumbledore already. There were noticeable differences about Walden and Hogwarts; Walden was a lot more modern, whereas Hogwarts seemed to not have changed in the slightest since it was discovered. The teachers at Walden were, for lack of a better term, pretty cool people. A lot of them were young and they taught us well because we all felt like friends… All except for our Headmaster; Professor Zira. I mean, I try and see the best in everyone, but there's no other way to put it; Zira is a total bitch. I actually think Dumbledore would've fit in better at Walden, if I'm honest.

"The Triwizard Tournament!" Lee murmured to us as the headmaster briefly explained what the Tournament was… as if anyone wouldn't know. He seemed to be in awe.

"But didn't they stop the Tournament because of the large number of entrants that end up dead…?" Alicia asked disapprovingly.

I didn't hear Lee's reply because one of Dumbledore's sentences stood out to me.

"The Heads of Beauxbatons, Dumstrang and Walden will be arriving shortly with their short-listed contenders in October-" I just about stopped breathing at this statement, and hand flying up to cover my mouth as Katie looked at me in concern, "-and from each school a single student is selected to compete. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete…" Dumbledore paused for a moment, before continuing, "Eternal glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do that the student must face three tasks… Three extremely dangerous tasks. Let me be very clear now: these contests are not for the faint hearted. If chosen you stand alone. Now, eager though I know some of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of participating schools along with the Ministry of Magic have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year, Only students who are of age- that is to say, seventeen years or older- will be allowed to put their names down for consideration..." Nobody seemed to like this very much. Can't say I was too fond of the idea either, but what can you do? Walden's coming here, so nothing else really matters to me at this point. "We find this measure necessary given that the tournament tasks will be very difficult and it is very unlikely that a student under their sixth or seventh year would be able to cope with them. I will personally be-" I didn't hear the rest of Dumbledore's sentence because I was too busy trying not to laugh at the look of utter fury on Lee's face as he muttered "I'm getting into that Tournament, I don't care what it fucking takes!"

Dumbledore told us that Beauxbatons, Dumstrang and Walden would be arriving in October and remaining with us for most of the year, and then he dismissed us. I stuck close to Katie so I wouldn't get lost, but she seemed to be in too unhappy a mood to notice much.

"Eternal glory!" Lee said in admiration. "I deserve eternal glory!"

"I'll be seventeen soon enough, I deserve a shot," Katie sulked, frowning.

I was excited, and I couldn't hide it. Walden was coming here! I'd been dreading the transition here for weeks; now I didn't need to.

Katie, Lee and Alicia led me through the school, and I was already confused with it. It was huge and dark, with creepy moving suits of armor and dark shadows everywhere I looked. Plus, the staircases actually moved, and I wasn't going to get used to that too quickly. I was going to get lost so much in this school…

Eventually we reached the seventh floor and a huge portrait of a very large lady, in a large ugly pink dress and staring at a glass she was twirling between her hands.

They led me into the common room and I couldn't help but smile. Everything was red and cold, with comfy looking couches around a fireplace in one corner, bookcases everywhere, tables, chess sets, and large windows along one wall with a brilliant view of the outside. It was homey, and so much more lovely than the rest of the castle. I loved it.

Alicia shook her head at Lee and Katie as they flopped down onto the couches, still complaining about not being allowed in the tournament, and motioned up the staircase.

"You're sharing with me; I'll show you." She said, but Katie let out a loud wail and reached out to grab my arm and crying out "I'LL MISS YOU!"

Laughing, I followed the blonde up one of the staircases and into a room. There were five four poster beds around the room, with a door leading to a small bathroom on one side, and our trunks already at the food of each bed.

Hogwarts was old fashioned, dark, and gloomy (and it was in England so that automatically made it worse), but as Alicia smiled at me sweetly and told me that if I needed anything, she was two beds over from me, and I lay down to bed that night with the knowledge that in October, some of my friends were bound to be here with me… I thought that maybe Hogwarts wasn't going to be as horrible as I originally thought.