Life, Love, Loss

A/n: I'm working on it!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Brielle O'Toole and Professor Jade Clarke. (Coming soon)

A spray of salt water splashed across Brielle's face as she watched her home disappear. The fairly large tugboat, named "Serenity" was taking Brielle to England. Her tiny white cottage disappeared as Brielle waved goodbye to her home. Instead of succumbing to her already growing homesickness, Brielle entered the cabin of the boat, where she'd be staying overnight until she reached England.

Stomp. Brielle smiled as she walked into the stable-type room where her horse was being kept. It was quite obvious that Sousa Success did not like the boat.

"Sousa. It'll be better soon, I promise. Until then, just sleep. Lie down if you want, your stall is big enough." Brielle told the mare gently. The horse looked at her trustingly but stayed awake. "Okay. Fine then. Stay awake. But I promise, you'll feel much better if you rest. Accio letter!" She cried suddenly, making her horse start. "Sorry girl."

The piece of thick, yellowing parchment flew across the cabin and into Brielle's hand. She took out the list of supplies and opened her trunk.

"Okay. Dress Robes. check. pointed hat. check. black robes. check." On she went, down the list, right to, "animal, check." Her "Animal" was now chewing thoughtfully on Brielle's red hair. "Sousa! Let go of that, silly girl. Goodnight."



The next morning Brielle unloaded her things onto the street of Diagon Alley. Her trunks were being sent to her room above the Leaky Cauldron. She leapt deftly onto Sousa's bare back. She meandered about the street not speaking. Then she heard an accent not unlike her own.

"DEAN! DEAN! What's going on, buddy?" A blonde haired boy was running across the street towards a black boy who was sitting on a picnic table with a couple of girls.

"Seamus, old boy, what're you doing here?" The two were laughing and joking like brothers. Brielle reined Sousa to a stop beside their table.

"Excuse me. You wouldn't know the way to Flourish and Blots, would you? I'm Brielle, by the way, Brielle O'Toole."

"Yeah. Yeah, F 'n' B's is over there." Said Dean vaguely, pointing towards the woods.

"There is a shop in the forest?" Brielle asked doubtfully.

"Oh, oh, sorry, I'll walk you over there, shall I?" Asked Dean. "I'm Dean Thomas, this is Seamus Finnigan," He pointed at the blonde boy, "That's Lavender Brown," he said as he jerked a thumb at the pretty blonde beside him, then to a Chinese girl, "There's Cho Chang, and that's Parvati Patil."

The girls smirked at Brielle's wind blown tresses.

"Oh, that's okay, Dean. I'm sure I'll find it. Come on, Sousa." The girl said to the horse, throwing the three girls a fake smile. As she retreated she heard the 3 girls giggling.



Once Brielle was out of earshot, Lavender turned to her 2 friends and said,

"Can you believe her? The way she so openly flirted with Dean. And that accent! She must be Irish!! And her horse. Okay so her horse was pretty, but where's it going to stay at Hogwarts?"

"Lavender, calm down. She's new, and she's obviously not one of us. Dean is and always will be wrapped around your little finger. Give it a rest. At least she's not going after George. Things could be worse, you know." Said Cho exasperatedly.



It was with a written agreement by Professor Albus Dumbledore that allowed Brielle to keep Sousa at Hogwarts. They'd even added a stall to the end compartment of the train for the horse to stay in during the 6-hour journey to Hogwarts. Brielle had spent the better part of her week in Diagon Alley exploring. She had bought all of her things on her first day there. On her fourth day there, today, two new shops opened. It was very nice, as that day was also Brielle's birthday. One was a clothing shop, called Scream. It targeted teenaged girls, and Brielle found a few items that she liked. Her bags that she brought back to her room held 3 ball gowns, as her list had asked for, a few tank tops, multiple tee shirts, and jeans. Smaller bags held two or three makeup items. The other store, called Mare, was a horse shop that fit every horsewoman's need. Brielle seldom bought things for her horse, but she found herself carrying home 3 boxes from Mare. One, the heaviest, held a new saddle. The second carried winter, spring, and summer sheets, and the third held a new bridle. She knew that she was being spoiled, but after all, it was her 15th birthday.

The following day Brielle suited her mare up with the new tack and took their usual walk around Diagon Alley. As she walked past the picnic table where she had met Dean and Seamus, she noticed that it's new occupant looked familiar.

"George? Fred? From Beaters Training Camp?" She asked hesitantly.

"Brielle! Brielle O'Toole!! Wow, has it been a long time!" Exclaimed George.

"I'm surprised you remember me, it's been four years."

"Remember you? How could I forget, that prank we pulled on Hecht was PRICELESS. I'll never forget it." Said Fred excitedly. Brielle swung off of Sousa's back gracefully, and gave her old friends a hug. "So, are you starting at Hogwarts, then?" he asked hopefully. Brielle nodded.

"They had to close down A.S.O.M., it was crumbling. I'm the only one from the whole school coming to Hogwarts. Everyone else is off to Beauxbaton. I'll be a 6th year with you two, and Dumbledore told me I'd be in Gryffindor. I tried on the Sorting Hat via a crystal ball. it was weird." Brielle and the twins talked for about a half of an hour, babbling on about their lives. They stopped talking when six others showed up behind the table.

"Oy! Fred! George! Mum wants you over by Ollivanders, something about an explosion!"

"Why hello, Ron, Good to see you, too. This is Brielle, by the way." Said Fred in a feigned innocent voice. Ron went red as he noticed Brielle.

"H-Hi. I'm Ron. That there's Harry Potter, you know him, Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and-"

"And yet another Weasley. You must be Ginny." Said Brielle, laughing good-naturedly.

The pistons hissed and the train pulled out of the terminal. Brielle was on her way to Hogwarts.

A/N: End of Chapter 1!! Please r/r, tell me what you think!!