We are on our way to Hogwarts! Yay! Okay, lots of surprises! That's all. Please Read and Review! Happy reading!
Chapter 5: Hogwarts, Here We Come!
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Briana woke up extra early to get ready to go to King's Cross. She paced around her room, tidying things up, until she heard someone stirring around outside her door. She opened the door and saw Barnabie right in front of her room.
"Miss is awake! Miss must come down now and have breakfast!" Barnabie pulled her downstairs. The smell of eggs and sausages greeted Briana.
"Good morning, darling, you are up very early," said Mrs. Turningcoat.
"Where's Uncle Albus?" asked Briana, helping herself to some food.
"He left early to get to Hogwarts. He won't be coming with us, as you know. But he did get us a ministry car to take us to King's Cross."
"Is Barnabie coming with us?" said Briana through a mouthful of toast and eggs.
"Please, don't talk with your mouth full, Annie. No, he's not. Imagine the horror on muggles' faces if they see a house-elf walking about in the station."
"But Barnabie wishes Miss luck when she gets to Hogwarts," he gave Briana hug.
"Eat up, darling, you have a long journey ahead of you," said Mrs. Turningcoat, adding more amounts of bacon on her plate.
The car came around in front of the Summer House. The driver loaded Briana's things, except Artemis's cage, which will be riding at the backseat with Briana, in the trunk. With a hug and a wave good-bye to Barnabie, Mrs. Turningcoat and Briana were off to King's Cross. It was a long drive from the Summer House to the King's Cross Station. When they got there, the driver was kind enough to push Briana's trolley up to Platform 9 ¾.
"All right, Annie, all you have to do is go through the barrier. If you're nervous, just run towards it and keep running until you get to the other side," said Mrs. Turningcoat. Briana took a deep breath and began to walk towards the barrier. She thought of running and did. Slowly, the barrier materialized and Hogwarts Express appeared right in front of her. It was already filled with children and their parents. Some children were running around.
"See, I told you it's easy, Mrs. Turning-Mrs. Turningcoat?" Briana turned around and saw that Mrs. Turningcoat was no longer there. She went around to find her. She bumped into a girl.
"Oof, sorry," she said. The girl was pretty but looked a bit snotty. She gave a swift look at Briana's baggy pants, sweatshirt, and Wisbourne Wasps fisherman's hat. She looked like she had something under her nose as she did so.
"It's, er, all right," replied the girl, giving Briana another look. Briana was about to say something when she thought better and continued to look for Mrs. Turningcoat. She found her talking to two strangers, one man and another woman.
"Mrs. Turningcoat?" called Briana.
"Oh, Annie, there you are. Well, Ramona, Larry, this is Briana Sullivan. Annie, this is the Longbottoms. Their son, Frank, is going to Hogwarts too."
"Frank is one his second year," said Mrs. Longbottom. "Now, speaking of him, where is he, Larry?"
"Probably around with his friends, Mona. You don't need to worry about him," said Mr. Longbottom. Suddenly, a boy with a round face and light brown hair came into view.
"Mum, Dad, I'm all set," said the boy. "I'm packed and everything."
"Oh, that's good. Have a good term, dear. Don't forget to send us an owl when you get there. Well, we ought to be going now, Georgina. Briana, it's nice meeting you. Bye, dear, and behave," said Mrs. Longbottom, kissing Frank on the cheek. Frank turned to Briana and said,
"You need help with those? I see they are quite heavy."
"Er, I guess," said Briana. And with Frank and Mrs. Turningcoat's help, Briana found an empty compartment and put her things in it. Briana thanked him. The whistle blew and so he rushed back to his compartment, half bidding good-bye to Mrs. Turningcoat and half bidding luck to Briana.
"Oh, and I'll see you at Hogwarts, Briana. Good Luck!" Briana kissed Mrs. Turningcoat good-bye. She began to cry.
"Oh, dear, send me an owl when you get there. Oh, my Annie, growing up." She was in hysterics. This made Briana uncomfortable. As the train begins to move, Briana stood next to the window and yelled,
"Bye, Mrs. Turningcoat! I'll see you in the summer! Bye!" she watched Mrs. Turningcoat as the train rounded around the corner. As she looked back, she had already disappeared. Briana sat back on the chair and pulled out her sketchbook. Since the train was moving so fast that she couldn't sketch anything outside. So she just sketched the compartment. Then she heard a knock on the compartment door. She got up to open it. There stood a dark-red headed girl with her things standing next to her. She seemed out of breath. But she spoke with a kind voice.
"Hi, all of the compartments of that end are full. Can I stay here since you are the only one here?"
"Sure, here, let me help you," said Briana. With both girls struggling, they finally got the redheaded girl's things in the compartment.
"Thank you," said the girl as she sat down across Briana. Briana was staring at her, for she couldn't help it, the girl was interesting. "What?"
Briana snapped out of her daze and said, "Nothing, nothing. It's just-are you starting Hogwarts too?" The girl nodded.
"Yeah, you?"
"Yup," nodded Briana. She stared at the girl again. "What's your name?"
"Lillian Emily Evans. But you can call me Lily," said the girl. "You? What's your name?"
Briana beamed, "My name is Briana Amelia Dumbledore Sullivan. You can call me Annie."
The girl named Lily laughed. Briana was confused. Lily stopped laughing and said, "Sorry, it's just-it's just that you are very proud of your name, aren't you?"
Briana blushed. "Well, yeah, isn't everybody?"
"Well, not my sister, Petunia. She hates the name. I think it suits her quite well. Well, you meet her, you would know what I mean." Lily stared at Briana. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
Briana looked out the window, "No, I don't have any. I'm the only child."
"Oh," Lily was now very amused by Briana, as Briana was much amused of her. "Are you-are you of wizarding family?"
"Yeah, generations upon generations of wizards and witches in my family. Hmmm…Evans is your last name, right? I have never heard of a wizarding family named Evans."
"That's because I'm not from a wizarding family," muttered Lily, looking away.
"Oh, so you're a muggle-born, then?"
"Huh? Er, I guess if that's what you call people who are not really from any magical families."
"Yeah, but it's not like it's a bad thing, no. My dad always said that just as long as you can do magic, it doesn't really matter where you come from, magic or not magic background."
"What does your father do?" asked Lily. Briana remained silent.
"He died just a few months ago. He used to campaigned to better muggle relationships."
"Oh, I'm sorry. That must be really horrible. But you still have your mother, right?" asked Lily with great concern.
"She's dead too. She died with my father."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I did not know." She did look like it.
Briana smiled, "It's okay. Hey, you didn't kill them, right? So it's no problem." There was an awkward pause. Lily broke the silence by saying,
"You know how to draw?" she asked looking at Briana drawing.
"Yeah, do you wanna see?" She handed Lily her sketchbook. Lily looked through it.
"Wow, these are really beautiful. I wish I can draw as good as you. I can't even draw a straight line!" said Lily. She stopped on a drawing of Hogwarts. "Is this Hogwarts? It's really beautiful."
"Yeah, I stayed there during the summer."
"You stayed there? Why did you stay there?"
"Yeah, my uncle, is, er-I don't know if I should tell you this. I mean it's a bit much like showing off."
"It's all right. Is the headmaster your grandfather? I heard he's really old," said Lily.
"Er, not really. More like on the lines of uncle. I stayed there because my mum and dad were on vacation, and, er, you know the rest."
"Oh, must be really nice having a magical family. I mean you probably know a lot of magic all ready. I bet I would be at the bottom of our classes. I don't know any kind of magic," said Lily, starting to get very gloomy (it rhymes!).
"Don't say that. There are a lot of people who come from muggle parentage that do just fine in Hogwarts. I'm sure you'll do just fine," said Briana cheerfully. This made Lily feel better. They talked about more things as the hour progress. As noon came close, a knock came from the compartment door. Lily got up to open it. There appeared three boys around their age standing in front of their compartment.
"Can I help you?" asked Lily to the three boys. The one in the middle, with glasses and dark, untidy hair spoke in a business-like tone.
"We are looking for our friend. His name is Peter Pettigrew. Do you know him? We lost him around here," the boy was tall and skinny. Briana gave them an annoyed look.
"We don't know any Peter Pettigrew. Now you can leave," said Briana. The boy was taken aback. But this time it wasn't him who spoke, it was his taller friend, who looked like him except without the glasses and had tidier hair.
"Why, miss, you didn't have to be so crabby. We are looking for our friend whom we had lost. We are quite sorry if we disturbed you in any way possible," he said this in an innocent tone that fooled anyone except Briana. She opened her mouth to speak but Lily interrupted her.
"It's all right. I hope you find your friend-" Briana spotted the third boy. He looked rather familiar. Indeed, he was the boy she met at Hogwarts. Ugh, what was his name?
"Hey! I know you! I met you before!" exclaimed Briana getting up next to Lily. "Er, Remus, right? Remus Lupin!" The boy with the light brown hair looked surprised. He wasn't the only one. The other two boys looked surprised too and so was Lily.
"Er, yeah, and you're Briana Sullivan, right?" said Remus Lupin, quietly.
"Did you say 'Sullivan'?" asked the boy with glasses. "Are you related to those people who died in that muggle thing, what are they called again, Sirius?"
"Airplanes, my dear James," grinned the boy named Sirius. He knew that his friend wasn't really good at telling muggle things apart. Lily glanced at Briana.
"Yeah, they're my parents," smiled Briana. The boy looked embarrassed.
"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's probably really hard for you," he stammered. Briana laughed. He looked at her strangely. She desisted.
"Sorry, it's just you're probably the millionth person who said that to me. If we hadn't been introduced yet, my name is Briana Sullivan, and this is Lily Evans," she said pointing to her and then Lily.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Sirius Alexander Black. I am at your service," the taller boy said, bowing. Lily and Briana looked at each other.
"My name is James Potter. You can call me James," said the boy with glasses.
"I guess you all know who I am already," said Remus. They all laughed.
"Hey, do you two mind if we can go inside your compartment? In case our friend, Peter, comes looking for us," said Sirius, there was a strange gleam in his eyes.
"Wait, wouldn't your friend look for you in your own compartment?" asked Briana, her eyes narrowed. But Sirius ignored her.
"Who wants to play Exploding Snap?" he exclaimed. "Got a deck right here."
"I'm sorry. What did you just say?" asked Lily.
"Do…you…wanna…play…Exploding…Snap?" he said very slowly. Lily rolled her eyes.
"I meant that I don't know how to play Exploding Snap. What is it? " She said irritably.
"Oh, that's right, you don't know what it is," said Briana. "It's a wizarding card game. It literally explodes while you play."
"You aren't from a wizarding family?" asked Remus lightly. Out of all of the boys, he seemed the nicest.
"No, are you all from wizarding families?" asked Lily. They all nodded. Briana showed Lily how to play Exploding Snap and they all played it. The lunch cart pulled around their corner and Briana, who was extremely hungry, brought almost everything on the cart. Lily helped her put bring them back to the compartment.
"Wow, hungry, are we, Briana?" asked James.
"Yes, extremely, and, oh yeah, call me Annie," she said unwrapping a Chocolate Frog. She looked up. Sirius had already taken a pumpkin pasty. "What makes you think that's yours?"
"Er, like this," he took a big bite out of the pasty. Briana gave him an angry look. "What, do you want it back?"
She gave him one last severe look and went back to her sketches. Remus was having a deep conversation with Lily. James was playing Exploding Snap with Sirius. Just then the compartment door opened and a round-faced, chubby boy was standing there.
"There you guys are. I have been looking all over for you three!" exclaimed the boy.
"Well, we were here, Peter," said James. He glanced at Briana and Lily, who look quite surprised. "Er, Peter, that's Briana and Lily. They were kind enough to let us stay here," he added, pointing at the wrong people.
"Actually, I'm Briana and that's Lily. You can call me Annie," smiled Briana. Lily was looking out the window.
"I reckon we would be there soon. So what subjects are you looking forward to?" she asked everyone.
"Transfiguration!" said James and Sirius together.
"I don't know. Charms or Defense Against the Dark Arts would be something I would be looking forward to," said Remus.
"Potions would be my favorite! I want to mix potions. I know a few already," said Briana.
"Are you from wizarding families, Peter?" asked Lily curiously.
"Well, I'm not. Dad's a muggle and mum is a witch," said Peter.
Everything outside became darker. The boys said goodbye to the girls as they went back to their compartment to change into their Hogwarts robes. Suddenly the train came to a stop. A voice came from nowhere told them to leave their things in the train as they were to be carried to the castle later. Briana felt butterflies in her stomach. This is it, she thought, everything begins right here. She looked at Lily, who was very pale and quiet. They both went out of the train and to the Hogsmeade Station.
Okay, very exciting. The Sorting Hat is next. Learn what the Sorting Hat said to everyone. And, oh, yeah, meet the next two characters in the next chapter! Please leave a review.
