Chapter 5- Welcome to Hogwarts
Professor James Potter fidgeted nervously as he and the rest of the Hogwarts population waited for the foreign delegates to arrive. They had been waiting for a little under an hour and he was starting to get a cramp from standing for a long period of time.

James glanced at his daughter, who was whispering quietly to the youngest Weasley child. She didn't seem to mind waiting for the guests to arrive, it actually seemed as if she was excited and their perpetual lateness merely added a layer to their mysterious effect.

He caught a few words, considering how close he stood to his daughter.

Cute boy... I wonder... going to be coming... can't wait... new people... foreign boys...

James grimaced as he tuned out the girls' chattering. He did not want to hear about those things, especially if it was his little girl talking about it.

He glanced at his wife and she seemed to as excited as their daughter, waiting impatiently for the arrival of Hogwarts' rival schools. He glanced at her features and smiled a bit dreamily but the sight of her flat belly caused a stab of disappointment to gnaw at the pit of his stomach. He knew that Lily can never get pregnant again; the medi-witch clearly stated that it will be quite a risk for her to conceive again, due to unknown circumstances. And really, as much as he wanted another child, he refused to risk the life of his beloved wife for something that didn't even have a 50 amount of a success rate.

He caught sight of Ron Weasley and his two twin brothers' blabbering about something noisily. But then again, that doesn't stop him from wishing for a son of his own...

A loud gasp that came from his daughter brought him back from his musings, and he turned sharply to ask if something was wrong. But her gaze wasn't on him but instead up at the dark starry sky.

James followed her gaze and couldn't stifle a gasp himself. Flying, or rather stomping across the sky was the largest, most magnificent herd of horses he has even seen. The glittering silver steeds pulled two gigantic carriages behind them as a youth pulled at the reigns.

The students of Hogwarts automatically made way for the carriages to land. And they did, a lot more gracefully than James could ever imagine. The blonde youth jumped down from his post and hurried to the door of the first carriage. He knocked loudly and deliberately and the golden doors of the carriage swung open, nearly taking the boy's head with it. At the same time the other carriage opened and 30 or so thinly dressed teenagers stepped out. A large hand, as big as Hagrid's, came out of the first door and took the boy's offered hand, and out came a handsome looking, albeit huge, woman.

"Madame Maxime, how wonderful it is to see you again!"

Dumbledore exclaimed cheerfully, bringing Madame Maxime's large hand to a gentlemanly kiss.

"Dumble' dorr, it iz a plezure to zee you again az well." the gigantic lady replied courteously, "But vere is Karkarov?"

"Ah, he has yet to arrive."

"Oh?" Madame Maxime raised a manicure eyebrow, "But it iz already very late, are you sure he vill-"

Just then the lake rippled and a huge pirate like ship rose from its depths. The flag was of the Bulgarian quidditch team. There were shrieks and squeals as quite a number of people got splashed as it ported.

A man with a weak chin, dressed extravagantly in expensive robes strode down the ship. A group of teenagers followed him out of the ship, shedding their heavy winter clothes along the way.

"Dumbledore!" he greeted jovially, "fantastic, to zee you again!"

"Igor!" Dumbledore greeted just as cheerfully, "I could say the same thing to you, old friend."

But James didn't pay attention to the two headmasters. He was staring at a young black-haired boy who was standing next to the quidditch star, Victor Krum. Surprisingly enough, Krum wasn't the center of attention; it was the boy, who was being thumped on the back by numerous of the Bulgarian students.

"Vell then Malvoy, you are officially vourteen yearz old. How do you veel, birthday boy?"

The name Malfoy caught his attention.

"Lily, Lily," he whispered hurriedly to his wife, "weren't the Malfoy brats fourteen?"

"James," she frowned disapprovingly, "you shouldn't call them brats. You haven't even met them yet. But to answer your question, yes they are fourteen."

"I don't even want to meet them, but it looks like I don't have much of a choice. There's a Malfoy with the Bulgarians, and if there's one, then his brother must be close. I've heard rumours that those two are almost never apart."

"Rumours James?" Lily tutted, "You shouldn't trust those. Besides, I only see one platinum blond among them."

"The other one isn't blond. He has dark-hair, the same shade as mine; he's the one in the middle of it all."

Lily leaned against him to get a better look. "Hmm, he's a handsome boy." she said offhandedly, ignoring the look her husband gave her, she continued, "I wonder what Gem would think about him. I mean, he's a quidditch star isn't he? He won the championship with his brother and that Krum fellow. I'm sure the girls would be swarming him once they figure out who he is."

"Lily!"

"What?" she frowned, "I'm just telling you that he might look good with next to Gem."

"Gem's thirteen! Besides, he's a Malfoy!"

"Exactly!" Lily exclaimed, "He's a Malfoy and yet, he doesn't look evil, just like you proclaim him to be. Just because he was able to accomplish what you wanted for Gem, doesn't mean he's not a good person. He's just more talented in some aspects, that's all. And it would do both you and Lucius good if those two ever get together. At least then you'll see that all this prejudice you spout out is completely rubbish."

"Malfoy's are evil." James replied stubbornly.

"Whatever you say James."

"Did you see Krum? He so totally dreamy."
"How 'bout the cutie beside him? Look at those eyes; they're so bright and entrancing."

"No way! His brother is way cuter, I love his blond hair, it looks so soft."

The whispers were getting really annoying and those stupid girls just won't shut up. Ever since he stepped in the Great Hall, he was bombarded with loud whispers telling him about how gorgeous his eyes are or how dashing his brother looked or how Krum's weird walk was just sooo adorable. It was driving him mad.

"Cool down, act like a Malfoy." his brother whispered against ear, "remember, their all just cockroaches waiting for our leftovers. Don't let their insistent nudging drive you over the edge."

Aphri took a deep breath and exhaled quite loudly. A girl with bushy brown hair glared at him for acting so rude but he paid her no mind.

"Right," he murmured, "father would be ashamed if he looked at me now." He straightened his shoulder and stared proudly ahead. "I'm not going to disappoint him."

"That's it Aph, just like that."

Their group approached the green and silver table and the two brothers took their seats beside each other, likewise Krum sat at Aphrazeil's other side.

"Drakky! Aphri-baby! Long time no see!"

They both winced at the embarrassing pet names from their childhood and futilely tried to ignore the rest of the table who were unsuccessfully muffling their laughter. Both of them glanced at the direction the voice came from and were pleasantly surprise to find Pansy waving at them enthusiastically. Next to her Theo waved as well, though in a more reserved manner.

The blonde girl, although still with a pug's nose grew up more beautiful than they both expected. Her hair fell in gentle waves across her shoulders and her figure drastically improved.

It was a pity that she was still stuck on Draco.

"Drakky!" she squealed again as she jumped the blond. "Drakky darling, I missed you!" she began smothering the boy's face with wet sloppy kisses.

Theo came up just behind her and raised a hand in greeting. "Hey," he smiled, "good to see you again."

Aphri smiled in return. "Hey Theo." Then he looked questioningly around for his other friends.

"Blaise isn't here right now, he's got a headache. He's down in the dorms." Theo explained, "and Vince and Greg, well they're in the infirmary, couldn't stop barfing."

"Ah."

"Cut it out Pansy!"

"But Drakky, I missed you! It's been so long since we last saw each other!"

"We saw each other last summer!"

"That's still too long for me!"

"Stop being such a girl!"

"I am a girl!"

Aphri chuckled as he heard Pansy scream at his brother for even thinking of insinuating that she was a boy. He glanced at Theo, to see him chuckling as well. He smiled as he saw Pansy chewing his brother to pieces while Draco futilely tried to defend himself, raising his hands in front of him as if it would protect him from the vicious onslaught of shrieks.

Draco glanced over Pansy's shoulder and shot him a pleading look. He grinned and waved back.

It's great to be finally back home.

Written by:
Akira

Next out will either be the next chapter of this story or the continuation of Hunter. Wait for it.