My Life in Hogwarts - Takes Place During the Fifth Book

Flopping down onto her best friend's bed, Brianna Trotti grinned and said, "This is going to be our year." Raising an eyebrow on what was an almost every-year occurrence, Kylee Keiser and Leslie Emerson, who was present at the pre-Hogwarts sleepover as well, shot questioning glances at each other. Kylee finally settled on a drawn-out, "Really?" directed at Brianna, smirking a little bit at the 17 year old that still had such childish and whimsical ideas.

"Yes, really!" Brianna imitated the draw in that last word, smiling broadly at Leslie and Kylee, before glancing over at Brittany, who was curled up writing on Kylee's beanbag chair. "I've decided that we will stand out this year! We'll join our house's Quidditch team, or join the gobstones club, or (I hope) one of us will become head girl!" It was a rare occasion where the girls had STILL not gotten their Hogwarts letters. They left tomorrow! Thank goodness both Brianna's and Kylee's moms worked at the Ministry of Magic, or the whole gang wouldn't have the needed supplies!

"I sincerely hope we get our letters before we leave, because the suspense is KILLING me. Who's head boy, and who's head girl? UGH!" Brittany looked up and smiled at Brianna.

"Bri, we all know who's becoming head girl. It's the head boy I'm confused about..." Everyone fell silent at Brittany's statement, all of them wondering the same thing: Who WILL be head boy? They all knew who it WOULDN'T be, and that's either one of the Weasley twins, but you never know...

Brianna had many ideas and had written them all down, and was explaining all of them to the others before they all heard a tap on the window. It was an owl! Brianna ran to the window, praying that it was their Hogwarts letters (or so she later said, she really just hoped it was hers) but it was just a letter from Caleb Johnson and Alex Ray, who were having the same type of sleepover at Caleb's house a block away.

Caleb wanted to know if he, Alex, and Sebastian Brock could come over and hang out with them. Kylee ran up to ask her mom, but by the time she came down with a 'yes', Brianna had already scrawled the same answer on the original correspondence and was sending Caleb's estranged owl, Zander, back out the window. The girls were in Kylee's basement, and her basement had a window that opened and shut above ground level just barely, so the boys came over immediately after Brianna had sent back Zander and hopped through the window onto the beanbag chair, which Brittany had smartly moved over to the area underneath it.

Brianna explained to them what she had already explained to the girls, and her explanation was met with the same drawn out "Really?" from Caleb and Sebastian. Brianna was getting really annoyed with their skepticism. They all groaned when Brianna took out the graphs.

Caleb, Alex, and Sebastian went back to Caleb's house a few hours later, shortly after which the girls fell asleep listening to Brianna explain the years game plan. Brianna fell asleep eventually, once she realized she no longer had an audience. They all woke to the same tap, tap, tap on the basement window, and Brianna was already grabbing the letters (!) from the owl by the time anyone else took notice. Anyone who was even still HALF asleep was completely awake by the time she squealed at her Hogwarts letter.

When Brianna had opened it, a head girl pin fell out! Kylee looked up and muttered 'great, Bri' before mumbling a not-so-nice word and rolling back over, trying to scavenge back SOME shut eye before...

"GIRLS! GET UP! BIG, BIG DAY!" Her mom was downstairs. Kylee got up without hesitation; her mom was scary when aggravated, and that was the LAST thing she wanted today. The others girls grumbled and tried to locate their trunks so they could find their 'first day back/train ride' clothes. They were all neatly laid on top of their trunks, either curtesy of Brianna's 'everything must be perfect on the first day' attitude, or Kylee's mother's perfectionist ways.

They were all changed and ready in 5 minutes, probably because every few seconds Kylee's mom would point to her watch and give the girl's a death glare, and they would hurry up just a little bit more. Brianna wrote a quick letter to Caleb, expressing that although she was sorry if she woke him, but they SHOULD be up by now, and also agreeing one last time where they were meeting at the platform so they could all find a compartment together.

She took her owl, Hazel, out of her cage and tied the envelope to her leg. After nibbling on her finger, Hazel flew over to the window and patiently waited for Brianna to open it. Then she flew off towards Caleb's house. Brianna turned back towards the room and made one final check of her trunk, and then (ignoring the girl's objections) checked their trunks as well to make sure no one had forgotten anything. Then grinning widely, she said,

"Off the Hogwarts!"

The boys met with the girls near the sign at the platforms entrance that read '9 3/4' , and begun to walk towards the train. They said their goodbyes, said some hello's, and finally boarded the Hogwarts Express. Kylee took a deep breath and grabbed hold of Brittany's trunk as well, as she had gone off to track down the snack trolley early, and Brianna smiled. Leslie took at her notebook and jotted down a drawing idea (Hogwarts Express, see Collin Creevy for pictures) while Caleb and the guys just started moving forward to find a compartment.

They all ended up in the far back, but they were pretty compact, no one had any space. It got worse when Brittany came back from her snack cart endeavor. She offered to leave, but Brianna got up and said she'd see everyone in the common room. They were all in the same year and in Gryffindor, and they all had the same classes. She'd see them later.

She tried going to the compartment on the opposite side of the hall, and she ended up staying there. She wasn't friends with these people, but at least she KNEW them. Some other seventh year Gryffindor's occupied the apartment, and she'd only have to stay there until 11:30, when all prefects and the head boy and girl had to meet in the prefect's carriage. She already had her whole schedule for prefects planned, as a list of patrol areas and the prefect's names had come with the badge in her letter. It didn't say the head boy's name, which was odd... Maybe he had been last minute, too...

The people in the carriage were obviously planning something against school rules, but so far, Brianna didn't have any reason to stop them. Not like she really needed a reason, after all, Fred and George Weasley were always looking or finding trouble, along with their sidekicks, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinet, Katie Bell, and Lee Jorden. Brianna finally decided to just sit and wait them out, they'd have to say something incriminating EVENTUALLY. But they knew her, she was the prefect that caught them using the secret passage behind the one-eyed witch statue. They weren't going to say anything incriminating with her around.

For a minute, Brianna considered joining them on whatever it was they were doing. It looked like they were having fun, planning whatever it is they were planning. But then she remembered: I'm head girl now, I can't do that type of stuff anymore; even though she never did it before, either.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, Brianna glanced down at her watch. It was 11:28! She was going to be late! Brianna grabbed her cloak and her trunk and left, not noticing that a particular red-head was rushing to that very same meeting from the very same carriage.

"I wonder what Bri's doing right now." Sebastian laughed at Leslie's question.

"Oh, she's probably still making last minute preparations to that diagram of her's that's going to slow the flow of rule-breaking in a 'school based society'." Everyone except Leslie laughed, who was looking at them all questioningly. She was so surprised that they all just made fun of one of their best friends like that. Sebastian looked at her quizzical expression and said, "Come on, you know it's true. Laugh a little!" Leslie just shook her head.

"I really don't think you should be laughing at her like that. There's plenty of things I could say at laugh at behind ALL of your backs, but would I do it? No, it's WRONG. Caleb, if someone said that, I could just as easily say 'oh, he's probably attempting to draw a picture he'll expect us to praise later,' or Sebastian? I could say, 'he's probably still looking at computer parts he'll never have but he'll brag about anyway'. Don't make fun of her for actually DOING something she's GOOD at! At least she's not expecting praise or envy for what she has or doesn't have!"

Everyone stared a little at her outburst; Leslie was usually just as quiet as Brittany. They guessed she had a right to be upset, they were all kind of jerks about it. They all mumbled, 'yeah... yeah, you're right, Les.' Leslie nodded and looked back down at her sketchbook, which currently hand a rough drawing of all her friends around her... Except in this reality, Brianna was there, too.

Brianna made it to the prefect's carriage (she knew exactly where it was, as she had been going there every day back for two years now) just as the other prefects were starting to fill in. Professor McGonagall motioned for her to come sit on her right, and Brianna made the logical assumption that the left seat was for the head boy.

A boy Brianna did NOT expect to be here was Fred Weasley. Was he in trouble? Was that why he was here? Obviously NOT, as the Professor motioned for him to sit on her left. Was this the trouble seat she was sitting in? Because there was NO way that Fred Weasley was the head boy, she would've noticed his...

WHAT?! Brianna just then saw it, the very badge pinned haphazardly on his chest. Brianna was astonished, what on EARTH was the Headmaster thinking? Professor McGonagall stood up and began by telling the prefects who the heads were. Brianna waited patiently for her Fred-Weasley-is-head-boy-notion to be proven wrong, to learn that he had either created or stolen the head boy pin, but the Professor said this:

"Our head girl this year is Brianna Trotti, and our head boy is-" Brianna leaned forward a little bit, "Fredrick Weasley." Brianna's heart stopped. Why on EARTH would they let HIM be head boy? Professor McGonagall continued her little speech without noticing her head girl had nearly fainted, and had looked over at Fred with a suspicious glint in her eye. He seemed to be really enjoying this, which is what SHE should be doing. Brianna sighed and forced herself to pay attention until the Professor cued them to stand and state their speeches and pass out the prefect assignments.

Brianna immediately stood up and clearly stated, "Hullo, I'm Brianna Trotti. I'm your head girl this year, and I have all of your prefect assignments and partners already prepared for you. Please come up when I call your name. Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ronald Weasley," At this Fred grabbed the paper Brianna was about to hand to Ron and looked at it.

"Well, ickle Ronnikins, looks like you're paired with me at least once a week! That should be some quality brother-bonding time." Fred's smile LOOKED innocent enough, but Ron looked absolutely horrified. Then he glanced at Brianna, his look saying 'why, oh WHY, would you do this to me?' Brianna coughed and resumed her way down the list as if nothing had happened. That's how a head girl should be, after all. Kind yet stern, professional yet still a child, and fun yet rule-abiding.

Fred smirked at her when all the prefects had left to patrol the train, holding out his arm as if to lace it with hers. Brianna merely glanced at it in her peripheral vision before starting towards the door. They were the last ones in the carriage and needed to get going and set an example, yet Fred seemed to have other ideas. He grabbed her at the elbow and smiled again. Brianna raised an eyebrow.

"Yes? What is it, Fred, we have to get going-" "Come on, now that we're practically partners you don't have to be so cold!" Brianna tilted her head to the side. "I'm not being cold, I'm being responsible. You know, I heard in my compartment earlier that a few students had smuggled in dungbombs. Fred scratched his head, and then said,

"Wait, you were in MY compartment-" But Brianna was already halfway out the door, on her way to the compartment which probably housed more than a hundred dungbombs along with the other half of the Weasley twins and their almost-equally famous friends.

Let's just say Brianna was very aggravated with Fred by the time they actually GOT to the school.

Fred was very confused when he saw Brianna meet up with her friends at the table. It was like she transformed into a different person. He was about to walk up to her and see if her attitude stayed the same when George saw him and motioned him over. Family, and especially George, always comes first. He would see her later during patrol anyways.

Brianna finally found her friends and greeted them, asking them how their ride was. They all seemed a little more than embarrassed, and didn't exaggerate as much as they usually did, so Brianna knew something was wrong instantly.

"What's wrong? What happened? You guys?" They all glanced at her sheepishly. Brittany (surprisingly) was the first to speak up. "Well, it's just... Some things were said, and... It just made us uncomfortable. Can we not talk about it?" Brianna didn't pressure them anymore, and they were normal after that. Everyone (especially Kylee, and you'll learn more about why later) was really shocked when they learned who the head boy was. You'd think a house elf was dancing naked in front of the lot of them. Kylee looked over at Brianna and grinned, whispering (as they were seated next to each other) "I'm questioning you later."

Brianna gulped and glanced over at Fred and his friends, who were once again mulling over that notebook and bag. Brianna desperately wanted to go over there and peek into it, and then question him about the (predictable) contents, but she knew that she just wanted an excuse to go over there.

Sometimes, Brianna loved Fred Weasley too much for her own good.