THE MORNING AFTER

I'm back! Finding some of my other stories outdated, and having changed my style drastically, I thought it better to start with a NEW story (yet again). So here it is. My pride and joy. A strange group of friends, in the strangest place in the world… Hogwarts.
I am not sure about years and dates etcetera, so I've taken some liberty at this area. Please don't stone me! Leave a review if you wanna… no… let me rephrase that: leave a review period! All CONSTRUCTIVE critism (how do you spell that anyways?) is greatly appreciated.

PROLOGUE

Sybil was a strange girl. Everyone knew that, ever since the first time she entered the train. No one needed to ask or glance at her a second time to know what she was about. Wearing so much jewellery that her back arched slightly under the weight, her glasses so strong that her eyes seemed twice as big as they actually were (or so everyone hoped) and that ever-constant dreamy expression on her face.

Besides, telling one of the most popular boys in school – Sirius Black – that she'd seen his death and that he would not survive the year, was not a very wise decision either.

A year later, as she entered the train a second time, everyone ignored her. Not wishing to hear their own death sentence (even though they knew it was false, considering Black was still alive and kicking, so to speak), and not wishing to hurt their image either.

Only two others greeted her: Gilderoy Lockhart and Rita Skeeter.
Gilderoy looked handsome as ever, with his shiny, blond hair and his unnaturally white teeth. Sybil's heart stopped for about two seconds, and those two seconds were more than enough for Gilderoy to leave.

Rita greeted her a few hours later, as she opened the compartment-door, glancing around to see if no one saw her and whispered urgently: "And? Did you see anything yet?"

"Rita," Sybil said in a tired voice. "My All-Seeing Eye is resting at the moment. Ask me again tomorrow."

Rita's nose wrinkled and Sybil knew all to well what that meant, so she mentally braced herself for the yelling and screaming that was about to set off.

But for some strange reason, nothing happened. Silence reigned the nearly-empty-compartment and on the corner of Rita's mouth there even appeared… No, it couldn't be! Yes, it was true, true indeed. It was a smile.

Not a very friendly one, but a smile nonetheless.

"Not so All-Seeing than, eh?" Skeeter said in a nasty voice. "Well then. I'll see you tomorrow."

The young blond took out a mirror to check her make-up, than opened the door slightly as to see if there was anyone in the hallway. Than she swiftly left.

And that was the life of Trelawney. She sighed heavily. The weight of her gift pressed heavily on her shoulders. She felt so sorry for herself, that she nearly cried. Thankfully she managed to stop herself for such a thing occurred.

Gilderoy very much enjoyed the admirable sighs that ran through the crowd as he squirmed his way through it. Well… at least half of the crowd sighed admirably. All the guys looked at him with looks of utter disgust, before turning their backs on him.

Well Gilderoy be damned if he would let himself be put off by such ugly trolls! If they couldn't handle his sheer beauty, his beaming personality and not to forget – his fabulous hair cut (he swiftly checked his reflection in the window to see if the wind hadn't messed it up), than so be it.

All the girls didn't seem to mind and that was more than good enough for him.

He smiled his famous smile once more, as he bowed dramatically when entering the train. "Bye, mommy dearest, I shall miss you with all my heart." Girls loved sensitive guys, he knew that. He waved, smiled once more and than decided to find an empty compartment and of course, the wonderful Sybil Trelawney. He needed to know if she saw any good fortune coming his way this year.

A beautiful girlfriend perhaps.

He spotted her swiftly, as she silently entered the train. The strange air about her as always, and she seemed to have expanded her jewellery collection. The poor thing, she looked worse than last year, and that said something.

He waited a moment until she caught his eyes and he shortly nodded his head in a form of a greeting, accompanied by his smile. God, his cheeks started to hurt. However, his smile gave the wanted effect. Trelawney turned into a ripe tomato, and she was so confused that she didn't find it in her heart to speak up, giving him the opportunity to walk away before she did. He wanted to talk to her, no doubt. But no longer than was necessary and especially NOT in front of a large crowd.

"Melinda," he said in a honey-sweet voice as he saw the pretty brunette entering a compartment. "Mind if I join you?"

She giggled furiously in reply, and Gilderoy decided to take this as a yes.

"You would not believe how much I have missed you this summer, Melinda," he said. Not at all.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. This wasn't good. She ran as fast as she could, just five minutes to eleven. Just five minutes… she still had to push that bloody trunk into the train which would take up at least half of those five minutes but she still needed for to reach the wanted platform… or less? Of course she could help herself a little, what would it hurt! She'd done it before, and never received any note that she wasn't allowed to use witchcraft outside of school. No, no… that was not a good start of the year. Finally she reached the barrier, she pushed herself to run just a little faster (if that was possible) and mere seconds later she was there. Platform nine-and-three-quarters.

She sighed with relief, but didn't stop to let it sink in.

She ran towards the first door she could find, heaved her trunk of the trolley but immediately dropped it on the floor when she realized how damned heavy it was. Fine. Were there any strong and handsome guys around? Where was that bloody Gilderoy when you needed him! OK… a little bit of magic couldn't hurt. After all, technically school had started today, so she was allowed to use magic, more or less. And she doubted if anyone would mind if she did. With these strange times and all, this weird guy trying to take over the world, no one really minded if you used a teeny tiny bit of magic.

Swiftly muttering a spell and hovering her trunk into the train, she managed to jump on it just when it started to leave the station.

Next time she'd leave on time, most certainly she would! It was just her damned mother that got in the way again. She'd been ready to leave at nine o'clock sharp, so that she'd be there on time, but than her mother did not get out of bed until ten.

She just hoped that her friends had left her a seat, otherwise she'd be forced to sit with one of the geeks again and she really did not want to do that to her reputation. She was already frowned upon for occasionally socializing with Sybil Trelawney! But that was pure out of necessity. After all: she needed to know the news before it actually happened, otherwise she might be too late by reporting it.

Yes, miss Trelawney was the best resource for the gossips of everyone in the entire school. She knew the name of every single student that currently studied at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and everyone knew hers as well.

She was infamous. She was the girl everyone loved to hate. And she loved to be the one that everyone loved to hate.

Life was truly marvellous.

She found her friends soon enough and luckily they had been nice enough to safe her a seat. As she sat down and finally allowed herself to relax, she swiftly began to plan what her moves should be. The first few days were always the most crucial ones. People had changed over summer, they had experienced things and probably lots of stuff had been going on that she did not know about yet!

Second of all; she needed to find out which person was most interesting to the public. Who was her next big victim that everyone was dying to hear about?

Third of all: She needed to visit Trelawney. ASAP.