Harry Potter and the Sorceress Queen

Chapter 8-Manxwell Academy

January came and went in a state of flurry. Harry had never been busier in his life. But he bore it cheerfully, trying to think of February 17th, which was he date of their departure to Holland. Cho's bright smile gave him encouragement when he was struggling with lessons, and ironically, it helped him too when Malfoy threw him jealous looks in Potions or Care of Magical Creatures.

Hermione was in a very good mood lately, for she had gotten special permission from Dumbledore to go to Holland, according to the fact that she had the best grades in her year for four times in a row. (A/N: I think this isn't a good excuse but I just had to let Hermione go!) In her free time, Hermione had been poring over books on Manxwell Academy of Magic and Holland's culture and history. She was getting along pretty well with Ron now. Afraid that Professor McGonagall might cancel his opportunity to Holland if his grades were too bad. Ron studied hard whenever he had time off from Quidditch and extra lessons.

When the first ray of sunlight of February 17th broke from the clouds and shone on the grass on Hogwarts grounds, Harry and Ron were up and pulled on their robes. Harry had packed his Firebolt and his other luggage into the bag Professor Jenna gave him. Magically, the original weight of the luggage had decreased, and Harry felt as if he had no luggage at all. Fred and George accosted him in the common room, and asked him if he could fit a box of their joke inventions into the bag too.

"How d' you think we're going?" Ron asked, as they made unsuccessful efforts to eat a lot during breakfast.

"Well, last time Beauxbatons arrived by flying carriages, and Durmstrang had their ship......" Hermione was looking for Professor McGonagall to appear to take them to their means of transportation.

"Hope it's something warm." Harry had been freezing from his Quidditch training in the cold, icy winter air in the previous weeks.

After breakfast, Professor McGonagall promptly came down to the Gryffindor table with Cho (Reserve Seeker) and Roger Davies (Reserve Keeper) following her. Cho smiled at Harry, Ron and Hermione while Professor McGonagall requested the Gryffindor team to go down to the grounds, and Harry grinned back, half wishing she would come over with them instead of walking with Roger Davies.

Three magnificent hot-air balloons were resting peacefully near the castle gates. The balloons were painted with various colors that flashed and shimmered. But there's only three balloons, thought Harry, seeing the baskets below. There must be at least sixteen people going, seven Quidditch players with a reserve player each, and Hermione and a teacher to take them.

Almost the whole school had gathered on the grounds to see them off, and there was a great deal of whispering and chattering. People were looking at the Holland representatives and pointing at the hot-air balloons. Professor McGonagall led them over to a space where Dumbledore was standing.

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, his light blue eyes twinkling as he smiled at the excited students. "I am sure all of you are eager to depart for your trip to Holland. I think, it is needless to say I hope that you will extend courtesy before your foreign hosts. Please remember you are representing Hogwarts and do not do anything that may bring shame on the school. I sincerely wish you all a pleasant journey." Harry saw Dumbledore's eyes flicker on his face for a moment at the last words.

"Harry, Ron, come with me," Professor Jenna's voice sounded beside him. She also beckoned to the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. They followed her to the hot-air balloons. Harry saw Professor McGonagall striding ahead of them. Hermione, Cho, Angelina, Alicia and Katie walked after her.

Jenna opened a door on the basket, and the boys trooped in. It was like an ordinary hot-air balloon basket. Although the six people had enough room to stand and walk, Harry wondered where they were going to eat and sleep. Jenna smiled and waved to Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch, who both were aboard on the other two balloons.

"Ready? Okay, we're going to take off!" Jenna pointed her wand upwards to the inner side of the balloon, and green flames shot out of her wand, disappearing inside the balloon. (A/N: Well, I don't know anything about hot-air balloons, so I just let magic do the job)

Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch did the same, and the three hot-air balloons rose slowly into the air. The rest of the school on the ground applauded, waved, cheered at their representatives. Soon the balloons disappeared out of sight.

Harry had been in the air on his broomstick, but the hot-air balloons were rising above the clouds, reaching a height he had never experienced before. He didn't feel very cold, there was a peculiar warm atmosphere surrounding them. He reached out a hand to catch a wisp of a white cloud passing, and immediately drew back when the cold air outside stung him. Ron was staring below on the fluffy clouds, speechless. Professor Jenna came over.

"Harry, Ron, would you like to see the cabin?"

"What?"

Jenna walked to the middle of the basket. She knelt down and lifted open a wooden trapdoor. Harry and Ron lowered themselves inside, using a small ladder. When they got inside the cabin, Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

They were in a large spacious room, the size of a normal classroom. A cracking, roaring fire was blazing in a big handsome fireplace. Several large squashy armchairs were grouped around a round table carved from black-walnut. Fred, George and Lee Jordan were sitting in three of the chairs, having an exuberant game of Exploding Snap. They invited Harry and Ron to join them, but the two were curious to explore the rest of the "cabin".

Jenna showed them through a number of doors of the first room. There was a bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms, all furnished comfortably as the living room.

"These hot-air balloons were provided by the Department of International Magical Cooperation," said Jenna, smiling at them. "We've got three days to reach Holland, so we need lots of things to sustain us."

"Imagine Percy's face if he saw these," Ron sniggered, apparently very pleased at the thought.

They had a fantastic time on the hot-air balloon. The living room was always lively with Fred and George's games and jokes, and at mealtimes, Jenna kept them rooted on their seats as she told them more of her traveling adventures. And they often climbed up to the deck to watch clouds pass, or the sea below. Once they sighted a huge airplane flying past. Jenna consoled their fears, saying there was magic around the balloons to prevent them from hitting anything, falling overboard and keep them invisible. Harry enjoyed the nights best, the sky was beautiful like a velvety coat with stars sparkling like diamonds embedded on it. Sometimes he would see Cho and Hermione waving at him, not far off in their own balloon. The boys wished to sleep on the deck, as it was much more fun to lie down with the balloon above you and the starry sky beyond, but there wasn't enough space, so they took turns. Jenna didn't mind, she was extremely lenient with them, and never bothered what they did unless it was really dangerous, and often joined in their games.

On the evening of the third day, Harry and his "balloon-mates" all left the cabin to see what Manxwell Academy of Magic looked like.

"There it is!" said Jenna, pointing down to the sea.

Harry and the others peered down and saw a long stretch of land on the sea. Jenna was pointing at an island at the end of the stretch of land. The island was almost covered with a large, black mass, which was the castle of the Manxwell Academy of Magic.

The balloons began to descend slowly onto the ground. Harry got a better view of the Manxwell Academy now. It was a huge mansion with a flat roof, and a large piece of green stretched on its three sides and widened in the back, which turned out to be the Quidditch field. The balloons landed on the lawn in front of the school, near a fountain situated right in front of the big entrance double doors. Only, the fountain was completely frozen according to the weather, but it was still beautiful with icicles hanging down.

A rather short, bald wizard in navy blue robes was standing outside with several wizards and witches behind him on the stone steps leading to the double doors.

Harry and the others disembarked and followed Professor McGonagall to the short, bald wizard in front. They looked around the surroundings excitedly, but there was nothing much to see apart from the wide lawn. The winter prevented a more colorful outdoor environment.

"Welcome to Manxwell Academy," spoke the short, bald wizard, a smile spreading over his face. "Minerva, I trust to find you well?"

"Fine, Professor Moozen," answered Professor McGonagall tersely. She indicated toward the group behind her. "Professor Jenna, Hooch, and our students."

"Ah...yes. Please let me take you inside...you all must be worn out and freezing." Moozen led the way but the rest of the wizards and witches behind parted to let the Hogwarts guests enter first.

They walked through a large white entrance hall. Paintings hung on the walls, and the people inside them were looking at the visitors with great interest. Some of them were whispering when they saw Harry. The end of the hall was another door, which was also very big. Moozen grasped the handle and pulled.

Harry and the others found themselves entering an enormous chamber. It was at least two stories high, for they were stepping down a white marble staircase which had two other stairways leading to a second floor. Large crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, with hundreds of candles flickering on them. Like Hogwarts, four long tables with students wearing navy blue robes were sitting on either side of the tables. They broke into applause when the Hogwarts students entered.

Fifteen Manxwell students were standing at the foot of the white marble staircase in two rows. Moozen and the teachers passed them and went down the space between the four tables, going up to the staff table.

The standing Manxwell students walked up to the Hogwarts students, each evidently searching for a particular student. Harry found himself shaking hands with a tall handsome boy with longish golden brown hair and gray eyes.

"I'm Gustave Wiecher," said the tall boy, grinning in a friendly way. "I've known you since I was five. Never thought I'd really see you someday." Harry didn't know what to say so he just smiled back politely. He saw that the others all had a ''receptionist'' with them. A plain but nice girl with long brown braids and wearing spectacles greeted Ron. Hermione's was a rather stunning girl that resembled a veela.

Gustave led Harry to a table. Ron and the girl with brown braids sat down across them. Hermione took a seat with the veela girl next to Ron. Harry looked around to see where Cho was; she was sitting at another table with a good looking guy on her left and Alicia to her right. He felt slightly annoyed when he saw she was chatting animatedly with her companion.

The tables were empty except for bowls of flowers for decoration. When all of the teachers and students were seated, food started to appear on glass plates. Harry noticed a number of foreign dishes.

"What's this?" he asked Gustave, indicating a plate of creamy meatballs.

"Bitterballen," Gustave replied. "Better eat them while they're hot, and you can dip them in mustard to eat with."

Harry had fun tasting the Dutch food, which proved to be quite delicious. He had herring with chopped onions, mussels cooked by steaming them on fresh vegetables in white wine, Dutch french fries served with mayonnaise and pea soup, full of vegetables and bacon, sausages, which really warmed him up.

"Which year are you in, Harry?" asked the girl with brown braids, who had introduced herself as Anatje Laurens. "I see you don't have your number stitched on your uniform." Harry noticed that the Anatje speaking had a string of numbers on her robe: V5024. Later Harry learned that the V stood for Vuren, which meant fire in Dutch, one of the four houses of Manxwell Academy. The four houses were named from the four elementals: Air, Earth, Water and Fire. The 5 coming next meant that she was in the fifth year. The rest merely meant she was registered number 24 when she came to Manxwell. Gustave was also a Vuren fifth year.

Hermione suddenly let out a gasp of surprise. "What's the matter?" asked Ron from his meal of Stampot, a winter dish of mashed potatoes and vegetables. "Not trying to start spew again?" Hermione ignored his words, and pointed to the teacher's table. "I can't believe it!" she whispered.

Ron's jaw dropped when he looked up, for a person with a large nose and thick black eyebrows was sitting at the teacher's table.

"KRUM? What's he doing here?"

"He's coming to judge the match, don't you know?" said Gustave, slightly surprised. Anatje Laurens added, "He's now acting as a temporary flying instructor here. He's really amazing, they say he's the star of last year's Quidditch World Cup!"

"Yeah..." Ron was staring at Krum with a look of displeasure. Harry was somewhat surprised and he began to feel a bit apprehensive. Hermione was deliberately avoiding Ron's eyes.

Moozen had now got up. "Good evening to you all-particularly-our guests from Hogwarts. We are pleased and honored to have you here, and hope you will find Manxwell Academy a welcome place to stay." His voice boomed to the corners in the end of the chamber, in order to let everyone in the dining chamber hear what he had to say. It was rather comical for a short, bald wizard like him addressing the school solemnly.

"During your stay, you will be assigned to different classes according to your age. On weekends, you may visit the Dome of Enchantments, which will make your stay more enjoyable. However, make sure you go accompanied by a teacher. I remember when I was a boy......" He launched into a nostalgic talk of his childhood. The school listened in impatient silence.

What's the Dome of Enchantments?" whispered Harry.

"Man, it's a place you'd never want to leave," replied Gustave, winking.

"...... and on the 20th of March, the Quidditch match between Hogwarts and Manxwell shall take place. I am pleased that Mr. Viktor Krum has come a long way from Bulgaria to judge this match......"

Finally, he finished. There was a loud clapping, which was given because the school were relieved Moozen had finally ended his speech.

The students were now getting up and leaving for their bedchambers. Harry wondered where they were going to sleep. Professor Jenna came hurrying toward them.

"Harry, Ron, we're going back to the balloons. Hermione, Professor McGonagall's there is waiting for you."

"What?" said Ron incredulously. "But it's freezing outside!" He apparently had forgotten in last year, the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students did not sleep in the castle.

"I know, Ron," said Jenna sympathetically. "But Manxwell Academy could not offer more than ten places, and it's unfair if some of our students sleep inside and others don't. Besides, we only have a short distance to walk to our balloons. I promise it'll be warm and comfy in the cabin."

Harry, Ron and Hermione said good night to Gustave and Anatje and followed their teachers back through the entrance hall and outside. Harry walked ahead of Ron and Hermione. His two best friends weren't quarreling because they were now in the foreign school, but they weren't speaking to each other either. Cho caught up with them.

"Harry! Guess what?" She was looking pretty excited.

"Er...?"

"I've just known who's playing Seeker in Manxwell's team. His name is Randolf Vandyke, and he's really nice so I don't think..."

"The one sitting next to you?" Harry cut her off with a sudden burst that came out of him unexpectedly.

"Yeah...how'd you know?"

"Cho, can't you see? He's jeeeeeeealous..." Fred suddenly appeared somewhere behind them, grinning.

"Own up your love for her, young Harry," added George, smirking.

Harry turned as red as a beetroot, but Cho whirled around and faced the twins. "Shut up, Fred, or I'll tell everyone you and Angelina kissing in the broom shed and George..."

"Cho..." Angelina growled threateningly, her face scarlet, made a playful grab to her. Cho giggled and ran away, out of the entrance doors.

Harry watched Cho disappear out of the door, feeling rather stupid with himself.