((We're getting there guys I promise. Short chapter is short, but I thought it ended in a good place.))
The next morning Josephine woke up with a very large stomach ache and immensely heavy eyelids. Rolling herself out of bed, her toes winced at the cold wooden floor, crying out for the warmth of her quilt. She struggled to get dressed, wanting nothing more than to curl back into her blanket and read the book she had fallen asleep with. Pulling on her uniform, she was grateful for sweater vests, because the gaps between her shirt buttons were far too wide to be normal. As she slipped on her shoes and scrunched her socks around her ankles, she heard a thunder of footsteps from the boy's dormitory echoing down their staircase and up the girls. Her fingers running through her hair to tame it, she headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The bag her father gave her before she boarded the train dug into her shoulder, the dark leather bending under the weight of her books, parchment and quills. Josephine sat down at the end of a table, watching the clouds roll by over head as she sipped a cup of tea and picked at a plate of eggs. A loud and cheerful voice called out a good morning behind her, and she turned to look at the person she knew to be its owner. The broad shouldered Ravenclaw was making his way down his table, talking happily to people as he passed. Waving her hand to catch his attention, she caught his eye and smiled. Her cousin quickly rushed over to sit with her at her table, throwing his long legs over the bench to straddle it next to her.
Paxton Lefay was a very large boy, his bone structure seemingly set wider than a normal person. His nose was extremely crooked; having been broken and re-set so many times it just remained bent. "Mornin'!" He said cheerfully, green eyes twinkling under dirty blonde curls. She smiled, turning herself to face him. "I tried to find you last night, but I didn't see you anywhere." Though she was so overwhelmed last night it was a miracle she found her own feet. Paxton grinned down at her, chipped teeth gleaming. "I was..uh…preoccupied." he responded, rocking back and forth. Josephine's eyes rolled so extravagantly it was almost painful. Paxton was always after the tail of some poor student, thinking he was in love every other week. "Well hopefully you're not preoccupied when the time comes that I need help desperately!" She threw the back of her hand to her forehead for emphasis, causing him to snicker. "You'll be alright. Now, you've seen me, you're not in mortal danger, and I have to go try and find the book I need for first period, I've seemed to have misplaced it." And with that the sixth year scurried off, grabbing a piece of toast and leaving her alone again.
Soon enough the entire school has jammed themselves into the hall, and the room roared with the sounds of excited voices. As the heads of house passed out their school schedules, Josephine felt someone sit on either side of her, leaning in to look at her classes. "Ghoul studies?" asked a voice to her left. "Ancient runes?" That one came from her right. "Why choose those?" Looking to either side of her Josephine found the twins looking back at her with curious looks. "I thought they sounded interesting." She said simply, folding her schedule and placing it into her bag. "I studied Ancient Runes before, it seemed like an easy choice…" she finished, her voice trailing off as she became unsure of herself. Her chest turned hot under her tie, red splotches probably appearing from embarrassment. They both shrugged, reaching for food and filling a plate each.
"Are these prats bothering you?" Josephine looked up towards the dark haired girl that was now seated across from her. "No, not at all." Her voice was quieter than it was when talking to her cousin, her excitement dying down. "Good, tell me if they do, I need a reason to not feel bad for out flying them." She said, grinning. One of them threw a berry at her, ducking out of the way when she threw one back. "Oi, calm down Angelina. She's met us before, her name's Josephine. "The girl who she was assuming was called Angeline looked at her for confirmation, which she gave with a nod as she took a drink of her juice. "Yeah, she was even in my lap on the train!" Sputtering on her drink, Josephine gave him a shocked look. They both just grinned, chuckling at the juice on her chin. "I fell!" she said, loudly enough to make people turn their head. "We know. " they said together. Angelina rolled her eyes, getting up from the table. "Well I'm going to meet Alicia in the common room. Good luck." With a small smile and a glance at the twins, she walked off, hair flowing behind her.
Josephine glanced at the two boys on either side of her, wondering why they were there. The looked her age, the must have people they'd rather spend their morning around. They seemed outgoing and charming enough to attract many friend, girlfriends even. But perhaps they just wanted to talk to her because she was new; they had shown interest on the train after all. Or she thought they did at least, they remembered her name.
Suddenly remembering their names, she wondered if there was any way to tell them apart. "Which one is which?" she asked, turning to look at both of them in turn. "Which one is which what?" They exclaimed at the same time. "What?" Her brain tried to keep up with their comment. "You said it." They replied. Shaking her head with a smile, she asked which one was Fred and which on was George. "We won't tell." One said. "But you can guess." Said the other. "What if I can't?" Josephine asked, quirking an eyebrow with a sudden spike in confidence. "Then you'll never know." Pursing her lips, she looked at the both of them, analyzing them for anything that wasn't completely identical. After a minute of observation she concluded that there was a difference, she just couldn't pick out what it exactly was. As she looked them over they watched her, trying not to laugh as one made a face at the other when her back was turned. Shaking her head, she went back to her breakfast. "I'll tell you when I figure it out." She said, pushing her eggs into a pile and placing some toast with jam on the plate. The one on the right leaned on the table. "And when, exactly, will that be?". She smiled a bit. "I'll let you know."
Later in the day Josephine found herself sitting in her first class at Hogwarts, Ghoul Studies. As much as she enjoyed the school, she was sure she would enjoy the weekends more. Her curiosity was itching to explore the castle, maybe pulling small pranks on the girls in her dormitory. Josephine liked to prank others, mostly her father. It was never anything big, and most of the time it didn't work. But she found it highly entertaining and liked the planning that went into it. It was completely out of line for a girl of "her upraising" as her past professors had so often told her, but she decided that was exactly the reason why she liked it.
Soon enough into the first lecture, she found herself bored by subjects that she'd covered before, and started to absentmindedly sketch on the corner of her parchment. First a flower, then a bear, a tree, a broomstick, all simple things to keep her mind busy and awake while the professor droned on. "At least I only have two classes today." She thought, swirling her quill in circles on the parchment. Lost in her thoughts she didn't realize the class had ended until the girl next to her bumped her chair as she got up. Quickly standing up and packing up her things, Josephine headed down the corridor back towards the Great Hall for lunch, her stomach grumbling unhappily as she stopped to peer at the forest through a window, spying two red-headed boys being chased away from it by a scraggly looking man and a cat, the sound of laughter floating up from below.