You're Not the Only One

Chapter 1: A New Life

Brianne Lecktor walked off the Hogwarts express, nervously looking around her. She stood alone in the crowd, her reddish brown hair pulled back in a loose bun, a few loose strands which framed her face. Brianne stuck her hands in the front pocket of her grey hoodie to keep her warm in the light sprinkle of rain that was falling from the sky. All strangers, she thought. She did not know one face in the crowd. How was she expected to make any friends here? She thought about her friends back in Connecticut and longed to be back home. Wizards in Britain just didn't seem the same as the ones in the States. It was supposed to be her 6th year in school, only a couple more years left of school, and she had to spend it away from her friends. She knew her aunt was just trying to get rid of her. Brianne was raised by her aunt, whom she never got along with. Her aunt was only 21 years old when she was to take care of Brianne, and therefore, she wasn't home a lot of the time. Most nights, Brianne would be home with the babysitter at night until the early hours of the morning, when she would come back stumbling, with a strong smell of vodka on her breath. She changed boyfriends every now and then. When Brianne turned 11 and discovered she was a wizard and was to live at the wizarding school every year, she was thrilled, and met her best friends at Connecticut's Blackcat Wizarding School. Finally when Brianne was 14, her aunt got engaged, and married by the time Brianne was 15. She never liked her new uncle though, and she tried to stay away from them as much as she could. Brianne liked being at school, but she still couldn't seem to get away from her aunt as much as she liked. The school demanded that all students were to visit home once a week, and it was maditory they all go home on school holidays. Much of the time she would try to stay with a friend, but somehow, she always found herself back home with her aunt. She missed her friends from Blackcat terribly, yet it was a good thing to be an ocean away from her aunt and creepy new uncle. Brianne got on the boats with the first years, as transfer students also had to be introduced to Hogwarts and sorted into their houses, and in the distance, she could see the lights coming from a beautiful castle.

Brianne was in awe as she stepped into the castle. She looked up and all around her admiring the beauty of the building. In Connecticut, their wizarding school looked more like a small college campus rather than a castle. There was nothing fancy about her old school at all. She couldn't wait to send an owl to her friends at home telling them all about Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall stood before the new students and greeted them. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she began. "I understand that some of you are first year students, and some of you are transfer students. We hope you enjoy your experience here at Hogwarts, the finest wizarding school in the world. Your headmaster, as most of you know, is Albus Dumbledore. When we enter the Great Hall, you will be sorted into one of four Houses: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffinfor. Follow me, everyone." Brianne and the rest of the new Hogwarts students followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall, where many students were already seated. She stood impatiently in the group of students as the Sorting Hat sang its song about the school and the about what each house stood for. From what Brianne gathered, it seemed Hufflepuff was about loyalty and kindness, Ravenclaw was for the brainiacs, as she refered to them back home, Gryffindor stood for bravery, and Slytherin was for the sly and cunning. Brianne stood there and thought about where she belonged as one by one, each student took a turn with the Sorting Hat. I guess I'm kind of loyal, she thought. But Hufflepuff seems to be the wimpy house, and I don't consider myself wimpy, she decided. Then she decided she wasn't really a bookworm, so Ravenclaw was out. The Slytherins seemed like jerks, as she could tell by the glares some of them were giving the Gryffindors during the sorting. As Brianne got lost in her thoughts, feeling very old among the 11 years olds that surrounded her, Professor McGonagall called out her name. "Brianne Lecktor," she said. She began to shake, nervous of where the hat would put her. This was going to decide who her friends were for the rest of her school life, and she didn't have much time left. She wanted it to be good. "Hmmm," pondered the Sorting Hat. "Very tough indeed. I see you have a lot of talent. Grades don't interest you very much, but it seems your experience as a child has given you the morals you have today. Not afraid to stand up for what is right, I can see that. GRYFFINDOR!" Brianne sighed heavily in relief. She was hoping that was where she would go. She couldn't see herself fitting in with the other Houses. Brianne got up from the stool and headed for the Gryffindor table, where her new House-mates were cheering for her. She took a seat at the middle of the long table. Her eyes wandered around the table, looking at who her new friends might be. Then she came across a boy around her age, with a pair of round glasses and a scar on his forehead. She knew exactly who it was. Brianne had learned about him at her school back home, about the boy who had defeated You Know Who. She never realized he was also a Gryffindor. She didn't even know that he went to Hogwarts! No doubt about it, she was very sure that sitting across from her, two seats down was Harry Potter!

She tried to gather her breath as best as she could. This was a celebrity! She didn't want to treat him that way though. This was a boy that would be a fellow student--more than that, a House-mate. Brianne wanted to befriend him rather than treat him like so many other wizards do. Looking over at him, Brianne realized there had to be more to him than a scar that was given to him by the darkest wizard known to be alive. He looks so sad, Brianne thought. She sat there quietly, studying the students around her. "Hello!" said the red-haired wizard sitting across from her. "I'm Ron Weasley," he introduced, reaching his hand out to shake hands. The bushy-haired girl next to him also reached out her hand and introduced herself. "I'm Hermione Granger. Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor! And by the way, Ron and I are both prefects, so if you ever need to ask us anything, don't hesitate!"

"Thanks," Brianne responded. Then, the boy with the scar, hidden by black, messy hair reached out to shake hands with Brianne. "I'm Harry Potter," he said. "Brianne Lecktor," she said, placing her small hand into his. Her heart was beating out of her chest. She could feel her face turn red as she let go of Harry. "Good to meet you," she said. "All of you!"

"You look a bit old for a first year," Harry said.

"Well, I'm actually not a first year," Brianne corrected him. "I'm a 6th year. I came here from the States."

"That explains the accent!" Ron commented.

"If you noticed her accent, then why did both of you assume she was a first year?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes at how oblivious her two best friends were. Brianne just laughed. "It's okay, you guys. I probably would have made the same mistake," she assured. She met some other Gryffindors during the rest of the sorting, including Ron's younger sister Ginny, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Thomas. When the Sorting Hat finished sorting the new students to their houses, a man with long silver hair, and a silvery beard stood up to speak. "I would like to welcome you all to Hogwarts, whether this may be your sixth or seventh year with us, or if this is your first year here. I would like to introduce to you, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Ridgemore. I would like to remind you all that the forest is out of bounds and forbidden to all students. No students are allowed out of their common rooms after 9pm, and don't forget, all the third years must hand in your permission slips to your House Heads in order to visit Hogsmeade on weekends. Also, another note, we will be having Quidditch try-outs next Friday. Now, without any further adeau, let's eat!" With the wave of his hands, food appeared on the tables in front of their eyes.

After dinner, Brianne and the rest of the Gryffindors followed Hermione and Ron up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. They stood impatiently outside the fat lady painting and waiting for their prefects to give them the new password. "The password this year is Crimson Pheonix," Hermione said loudly. "Don't forget the password, and remember to be careful of the staircases, because they change every now and then." Ron then faced the painting and said Crimson Pheonix, and all of the Gryffindors walked through the painting. The fire was glowing at the hearth when Brianne entered. It felt warm and cozy in the common room. The first thing she wanted to do was curl up on one of the big red chairs that faced the fire. She headed over and sunk into the soft seat. She looked around, studying the students. Many students were talking about Quidditch try-outs and how excited they were for their first weekend at Hogsmeade. Brianne was so glad that her aunt signed the form for her. In the corner, Hermione and Ron were arguing with eachother, for no reason apparent to Brianne. Harry was standing near them, but seemed very irritated by their constant screaming at each other. He looked over at Brianne and walked over to her, letting Hermione and Ron fight on their own. "So, how do you like it here so far?" Harry asked Brianne.

"I like it so far. The castle is beautiful and this room is so nice. I think I'll get used to it. I just miss my friends from home."

"Must be kind of lonely being in a place where you don't know anyone."

"Yeah, that's for sure. It's nice to be away from my aunt though."

"You live with your aunt?" Harry asked, surprised. Brianne nodded. "I actually live with my aunt and uncle, too," said Harry. "They're dreadful!"

"Mine, too," Brianne responded quietly. Harry saw the awkward look on her face and decided to change the subject. "So, do you think you'll be trying out for Quidditch?"

"I don't know. Quidditch really isn't very popular where I come from, so I've never really played before."

"Oh, wow. You'd probably like it. Fun game, a little rough though."

"Well, back home we used to play this game called Beatball--its kind of like baseball on broomsticks."

"Really? How do you play?"

"Well, it's a lot like baseball--you have four posts: First, Second, Third and Home. There are players defending each post, plus a pitcher in the middle and two air-fielders, and a shortstop between the second and third post. I always played third post, but I was a lot better known for my hitting."

"Hitting?" he asked with a curious smile.

"Well, you go up in front of the post, where behind you a player is ready to catch the ball, and you have a beater bat to hit the beatball. It's a lot like a softball, but when you fly around posts, it chases you (if one of the players doesn't catch it first) and taps you on the shoulder if you're not safe at a post."

"Oh, I see. You'd probably be a good beater. We need some, actually, for our Quidditch team."

"Really? It sounds like I could do it. How do you play?"

"Well you have seven players. Three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker." Brianne looked at Harry, completely clueless to what he was saying. She had no idea what those positions meant. He saw the look on her face, smiled, and continued. "There are four balls that you use in play. The first important one to know is the quaffle, where is about the size of a soccer ball. That's used by the chasers to make scores in the three hoops that each keeper defends. A quaffle through the hoop is ten points each. There are two bludgers, which the beaters use small bats to aim at the other teams players. You don't want to get hit by one of those! I've been in the hospital wing a couple of times thanks to one of them bloody bludgers!" Brianne laughed as Harry continued. "And then the seeker, which I play, tries to catch the golden snitch. It's hard to see and moves very quickly. When the seeker gets the snitch, the team scores 150 points and they win the game."

"Oh, okay," Brianne said. "I guess I would be a good beater, since I can hit pretty well. I turn into a different person when I'm playing sports. If I get to aim that bludger at players, I could definitely have a lot of fun with that!" They both laughed at her statement. "Well, we better head off to bed. It's getting late. See you tomorrow at breakfast?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, definitely," she said. Harry began to walk towards the boys dormitory, when Brianne felt an impulse to call after him. "Oh, another thing," she said. He turned around and met her eyes. "I just wanted to say... thanks for making me feel at home here. I'm really glad to have met you and your friends." Harry smiled at her and said, "No problem. Glad I could help." He turned around and headed up the stairs to the boys dormitory. Brianne stretched her arms in the air, slid out of her comfy chair, and went up to the girls dormitory, where Hermione and Ginny were also heading. She stopped Hermione as they were going up the stairs to ask her where she would be staying. "Oh, you'll actually be in my room, along with Parvati and Lavendar. Ginny's right next door with some other fifth years," she said.

"Oh, okay, thanks," Brianne said. She followed Hermione to their room and saw her stuff was already there beside her bed. She changed quickly into her pajamas and crawled into her bed, drifting off into a deep sleep.