Unmasked

The blasting of Hermione’s alarm tore Harry abruptly from sleep, causing him to tumble out of bed, narrowly missing smacking his head off the wall. Staring at the celling, blinking repeatedly, a blurry figure leaned over him, pale hair hanging in his face.

“Harry?”

“This is the floor.”

Draco barked a laugh, drawing the attention of the other three people in the room. Ron wandered over, held a hand out to Harry and pulled him his feet. “Nice one, mate. How’d that feel?”

“Peachy, thanks,” he replied, fumbling for his glasses before being handed them by Draco. “Merlin, Hermione, what was that? A nuke alarm?”

She chuckled at him from where she crouched beside her bed, pulling clothes from bags. “Wakes you up, doesn’t it?”

“Wakes you up? I was ready to duck and cover!”

She snorted. “And now you’re up and ready to go, so I’d say that it worked. Can’t be late on our first day, now can we.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Where are you going?”

“With Pansy. She’s going to shower and I’m going to change. You three can change here.”

“What if I have to pee?” Ron protested.

Pansy nudged him on her way out. “Wait.”

“Wait,” he muttered mockingly. Harry chuckled.

As Pansy and Hermione made their way to the door, two girls appeared in the doorway, rubbing their eyes. “What the fuck is going on?” Alana asked with a yawn.

“Oh not much, just your cousin scaring the shit out of me.”

Alana blinked, but said nothing. Nova turned to her. “Didn’t you have an 8am this morning?”

Alana thought about that for a moment before looking mildly annoyed. “Shit. Oh well, I’ll make it for my 9am.” Then she turned and shuffled back out of the room.

Nova chuckled. “Well. Good morning! See you guys soon!” With that she turned and headed for the downstairs bathroom to get ready.

With Hermione and Pansy following Nova out, the three boys dug through their bags for something to wear. Harry and Ron chatted idly, wondering just how chaotic this day would get. While Ron pulled the orange NASA shirt over his head, he glanced over Harry’s shoulder, smiling sadly. Harry raised his brows, then turned his head to find what Ron looked at.

Draco sat on his bed, fully dressed and ready, fidgeting. After buttoning his jeans, Harry crossed to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. Silver eyes met his and he smiled weakly at Harry, who smiled back. “You’ll be fine, Draco. I promise.”

“I know. I think.”

Ron chuckled. “You’ll never be without one of us for the first few days, don’t worry.”

“What if they know?”

“They won’t.”

“But what if they do? What if I’m acting strangely? How do I explain that? I don’t know anything about interacting with muggles!”

“Just tell them you’ve been homeschooled,” offered Hermione, walking back into the room as she placed a scrunchie over the bun on the top of her head. “They won’t kow what you’ve been exposed to.”

“But wouldn’t homeschooled kids still have access to phones?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, but tell them the truth. You had very controlling parents and weren’t allowed out, weren’t allowed internet access… That’s all you have to do if they question you. Some things could also just be a Canadian thing, too, that we don’t even have in England. They’ll be understanding, right Nova?”

They all turned to Nova, who skidded by in sock feat. “Yeah!” Then she leaned over the banister, cupping her hands over her mouth. “ALANA!”

“What?” Came her distant shout.

“Can you drive us to school?”

“No! Fuck you!”

“Why not,” Nova whined.

“Because I have to get to school! Walk!”

“Stop bickering you two,” Mr. Granger shouted, his voice echoing up the stairwell.

Nova frowned with a sigh. “You guys almost ready to go?”

“Yeah,” replied Hermione, glancing at Ron stumbling as he tried to put on his socks. “Pansy will be ready in a second, she’s just doing her hair.”

Nova nodded. “Right. Come down when you’re ready.”

Hermione nodded, then turned back to the three boys. “Ready for your first day!”

“Yeah!” Harry cheered. “It’ll be kinda fun.”

Ron side-eyed him with a laugh. “I’m not really excited for school, but for meeting people!

“You sound more like your dad every day, Ronald.”

“Shut up, ‘Mione.”

She smiled, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. “Come on, Pan—Oh. Hi, Pansy.”

“What was that?” Pansy asked, quirking her head innocently. Hermione cringed and Pansy laughed. “I’m ready, just let me grab my bag.”

The five of them jogged down the stairs a moment later, Harry nearly faceplanting as his sock feet carried him a little to far. Ron steadied him, eyeing him as Nova shoved cliff bars at the rest of them.

“What’s this?” Pansy asked, turning it over in her hands.

Nova eyed Ron already biting into his as she spoke. “It’s a clif bar. Like a protein bar, you can eat it as a small breakfast or whatever.”

Pansy shrugged, laughing at Hermione walking past her, hands full w the bar in her mouth. “You good there, Hermione?”

“Hmm?”

“I said are you good?”

Hermione glanced down at the objects in her hands, settling for tucking one under her arm and removing the bar. “Yeah. Just don’t have enough hands. I’d use magic but I’d look strange walking down the street with floating bags, wouldn’t I?”

“But you’re not even carrying those ones, they’re the boys’ gym clothes, right?”

“You know what I mean.”

She raised a brow, but said nothing. As Leah approached and reached for her winter jacket, the rest of them did, too. Coats, boots, gloves, hats, scarves—all of it. Ron glanced up at Nova. “Is all of this really necessary?”

“Yes.”

“How cold is it?”

“Minus twenty-five, and we’re walking, so bundle up.”

Ron’s jaw dropped as he watched her for a moment, and then he resigned himself to looking like a marshmallow. Harry snickered at him. “You look stupid.”

Ron pulled a face to mock him. “Shut up, Harry.”

“Nah.”

“Alright,” called Nova, pushing the door open, allowing a burst of cold air into the house. “Let’s go or we’ll be late.”

The group filed out of the house and down the driveway to the side-walk. Walking at the front with Leah, Nova turned to talk to them over her shoulder. “So, as far as I can tell, we all have homeroom together, so I can help you all get there. But after that, you’ll have to find your way because I have different classes.”

“What time is our lunch break?” Harry asked.

“We have the first lunch, so it will be at eleven. “

“Sweet.”

“Now, I’m gunna warn you. Don’t mess with the art teacher because she can and will give you detention. Angry lady with a silver bun… don’t go near her. And the ninth graders have an awful habit of walking four across the hallway, which are not big enough for that, so don’t be shy to gently push them out of the way.”

“Gently?” Leah snorted.

“Shut up. I nudged him.”

“He fell and spilled his books everywhere!”

“Yeah, well, it was like the thousandth time I told the same kid not to do that.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “Cafeteria line gets long at lunch fast, so be quick if you want food while there’s still time to eat it.”

“Some teachers don’t check your homework so take advantage of that if your other teachers do.”

“I think that’s it, really,” Leah said, twisting her mouth as she thought.

“Yeah, I think so.” She smiled back at them over her shoulder. “You’ll do fine! Trust me, you’re exchange students, they’ll love you.”

“Really?” Ron asked.

“Of course! Exchange students are typically really popular.”

“Wicked.”

“That’s the school there,” said Leah, pointing up ahead. “See where that bus is turning?”

Harry’s eyes widened. “That’s huge!”

“It’s not that big.”

“It is big.”

“Schools in Toronto are two or three times the size,” she laughed. Harry’s eyes only windened further.

The group quieted as they drew closer to the school, students crossing the road around them and congregating with their friends. A moving blur of colour and laughter, they were soon surrounded and engulfed by it. It swallowed them whole, the students around them barely noticing their presence.

As they approached the front doors, the five Hogwarts students glanced around them at the building. Red bricks, cream coloured overhang, a black notice board with red text flitting across it… Very new to the three purebloods, but not so much to Harry and Hermione. They filed behind Nova and Leah through the doors, Ron holding it open for a girl behind him.

“Thank you,” she chimed, giving him a smile. He only nodded, smiling back.

“How do you know where your first class is if you don’t have your timetable, Nova?”

She glanced at Hermione, tugging off her hat. “We have to go to Gym 1 and find our names alphabetically. It tells us our homeroom for the semester and then our teachers will give us our timetables from there.”

Hermione nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Wait,” said Harry,” did you say Gym 1?”

“I did. The second gym was a recent addition, along with A wing.”

Harry stared at the ground intensely. Ron laughed at him.

It didn’t take long for Nova and Leah to find their names, Leah splitting off right after to her own homeroom. “We’re in A112,” said Nova, motioning for them to follow her. “Come on.”

Squeezing through the throngs of laughing chattering students, Nova lead them around the corner and down the hall, stopping at a room near the end of the hall. A young man with short, light-brown hair and a kind smile grinned at her. He nodded his head to her. “Miss Granger. Happy to see you back in my class.”

“Happy to be back in your class,” she chuckled. “Um, these are the new exchange students. I’m sure you were informed about their arrival.”

“Yes, yes,” he said, looking them over. “Welcome to Canada. How was your flight?”

“Long,” groaned Pansy.

He smiled, digging through a pile of notecards in his hands. “Nova, here is your locker number and combination.” He handed her a card, and then looked up at the rest of them. “What are your last names?”

Hermione cleared her throat. “Granger, Potter, Weasley, Malfoy, and Parkinson, sir.”

“Oh, you don’t have to call me sir. Mr. Lewis is fine.” He searched through the pile, handing out the cards as he found them. “And… Parkinson. Here you go.” He turned to Hermione then, glancing between her and Nova. “I’m guessing you’re related.”

Hermione nodded. “We’re cousins.”

“Ah. Well, welcome, all of you. You’ve got a few minutes so go put your stuff away and come back. Your lockers should be right here.”

Nova nodded. “Thanks, Mr. Lewis.” She turned to the group, nodding in the direction they needed to go. “Our lockers are right here, thank God.”

“What are the sets of numbers for?” Pansy hissed, keeping her head down as if she were being watched.

“That’s the combination for your lock.”

“Ever heard of a key?”

Nova rolled her eyes. Just turn the lock to those numbers in order and pull down.”

She looked at the paper skeptically. “Okay…”

As Harry helped Pansy and Ron open their locks, Nova began speaking to a group of three girls that had approached her. Harry glanced at them over her shoulder, as did Hermione. The girl in the middle, tall and blonde with round glasses, watching them watching her. “Nova, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Nova chuckled, pushing some of her chocolate-coloured hair over her shoulder, turning to stand flat against the lockers. “Guys, this is my best friend Natalie. And this is Evelyn and Chloe.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hermione said with a nod. “I’m Hermione, Nova’s cousin.”

“Oh, you’re British!”

Nova rolled her eyes at Evelyn, then looked at the three girls. “Yes, they’re all from England. All five of them. Now that that’s settled, Hermione’ friends are Harry, Ron, Pansy, and Draco.”

“Pansy, that’s such a pretty name,” whispered Chloe.

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Pansy said, startled.

“Draco is a cool name, too!” Evelyn said.

Draco rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks.”

“It sounds like it means something…” Natalie squinted at the floor. “Is it Latin?”

Draco nodded, a smile growing on his face. “Yeah! Yeah, it means dragon.”

She grinned. “Cool.”

Overhead, a bell rang, causing a few students in the vicinity to groan. Nova glanced back at the group, then to Natalie. “What’s your first period?”

“Comm. Tech. You?”

“English.”

She cringed. “With who?”

“Lewis.”

“Ah, that’s not too bad then. See you at lunch, Nova.” As she started walking past, Evelyn and Chloe following, she called back, “It was nice to meet you guys!”

After a chorus of ‘you toos’, they followed Nova into the classroom to the far side. The desks were set up in pairs, four columns spanning the room, facing the whiteboard and SMARTboard at the front of the room. The ledge along the whiteboard held various books and markers, posters adorned the walls, many holding Shakespeare quotes, and on the teachers desk, on top of his lamp, sat a fake but realistic looking raven. Harry raised his brows but said nothing, turning down the aisle to the desks directly facing the desk.

Nova pulled Hermione to sit down with her at the first pair, Ron and Pansy sat in the next pair, and then Harry and Draco at the final pair against the back wall. They sit in the plastic chairs, setting a binder each down on the desk. While Harry seems comfortable, eager even, Draco watches him out of the corner of his eye, chewing his bottom lip.

With the ringing of the second bell, a crackle sounded over the PA system, a woman’s voice beginning the morning spiel. “Good morning Fairmount Heights. Today is Monday, January fifth and it is week one. We’d like to acknowledge that our school is settled on the traditional territory of the Mississauga-Anishinabeg First Nations. Please stand for O Canada and a moment of silence.”

In confusion, Draco followed Harry’s lead as he stood up silently with the other students. Some clasped their hands behind their backs or in front of them, others stood with their hands at their sides, heads up in silence. Some sang along with the anthem while others just listened. When the vocals switched to French, Pansy and Ron both furrowed their brows, no longer able to tell what was being said. Not that Harry and Hermione did, either.

The song came to an end and the students stood silently, staring at their desks or their feet, and then the PA came back on. “Please be seated. Welcome to the second semester, we hope you all had a good holiday and a successful exam season. Now for today’s announcements…” She trailed off, the flipping of a page echoing in the background, and the students in the room waiting in anticipation. “The junior girls’ volleyball team will meet today in gym one after school. The Improv drop-in will resume tomorrow after school. Musical audition sign-ups will begin next week, with more information to come in the coming days. And just a reminder to bring in your donations for Soap for Hope, as our campaign will still be running for a few more weeks. That’s all for today, have a good day everyone!”

As the hum of the PA shut off, everyone’s attention turned to Mr. Lewis, who stood from his desk. “Good morning, everyone! Welcome back! First thing’s first, I’d like to welcome our new exchange students. Would you like to introduce yourselves or would you like me to?”

“You can,” said Hermione, looking back at the others, who nodded.

He nodded back, taking his clipboard from his desk. “Let’s all welcome Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, would you prefer Ron?”

“Please.”

“Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and Pansy Parkinson.”

“That’s a lot of exchange students for one year,” stated a girl on the other side of the room.

“Yes, Maddie,” said Lewis, “It is. However, they’re a part of a new program that’s being tried for this year, taking multiple students from the same school. These five are from a boarding school in England, and I expect you all to welcome them as warmly as I have seen with other exchange students in the past.”

“And Hermione happens to be my cousin,” interjected Nova, “so don’t mess with them or you’ll have to deal with me.”

The class chuckled, grinning at Nova, who smiled back. She pointed at a boy a few seats away, chuckling as he wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m serious Kyle, don’t do it. I’ll kick you.”

“Try me, Nova.”

Mr. Lewis rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, let me do attendance and we will get straight into it. Well, after I hand out your course outlines, of course.” The class groaned collectively. “I know, it’s no fun for me either but it has to be done.”

While Lewis searched for his pen, the same girl as before asked a question. “What are we starting with this semester? I heard last semester’s class started with Grapes of Wrath.”

“No, no,” he said, scowling at the papers on his desk. “We will be starting with Hamlet. Ah, here it is. Now, for today’s attendance question… What did you do over your Christmas break?”

Harry smiled from the back of the room, glancing around at the other students. This was sure going to be interesting.