A/N: Alright so I'm posting this update today just to kind of get things rolling with this story. I had a lot of people read this yesterday, so thank you for that! Enjoy :)
Her eyes looked absolutely petrified. Brittany could not help the smirk that appeared on her face. The Pierce women have been standing at platform 9 ¾ for close to 15 minutes now.
"We haven't got all day Em." Brittany teased.
"Piss off, will you?" The smaller girl snapped.
"Emily Charlotte!" Evelyn warned with a narrow glare.
"Eh, sorry." Emily mumbled.
Brittany chuckled before leaning down to Emily's ear over her shoulder.
"The train is going to leave without us, what then?" She whispered; clicking her tongue.
Emily's grip tightened around the handle of her cart until her knuckles turned white, yet she didn't move an inch.
"Have it your way then, but I refuse to miss this train because of you." Brittany gripped onto her cart and moved in front of her sister.
"Wait!" Emily pleaded. "I'll do it." She sighed heavily. "I'll go."
Brittany smiled cheekily at the younger version of herself.
"Just run straight down the center and don't slow your pace for one second, got me?" Brittany instructed.
Emily nodded furiously.
"On the count of three then?" Brittany encouraged.
Emily bit her lip and readied herself.
"One," Brittany chanted. "Two," She squinted, now feeling all of her younger sisters nerves. "Three!"
With that Emily squealed and took off, successfully clearing the platform and vanishing off to the other side.
"Well done Britty," Evelyn cheered. "I thought she'd never muster the courage."
"Well we can't have that, can we?" Brittany giggled.
"Alright, off you go." Evelyn patted Brittany on the back. "Your sister will be waiting."
"You're not gonna see her off to the train?" Brittany questioned.
"Please understand Britty, I miss you so much when you're off to school. Emily was always there to help ease the pain of losing you for so many months. Now with you both gone, I'll be torn to bits. I won't know what to do with myself. I don't want her to see me fall apart, it's her first year. She shouldn't need to worry about dear ol' mum."
Brittany saw her mother's obvious confliction with herself. Of course she understood where she was coming from, so she decided to step up this time.
"Don't worry mum, I've got it from here. " Brittany smiled bravely for both of them.
Evelyn looked at her daughter with much pride before taking her in her embrace and running her fingers through her eldest daughters golden locks.
"I'll see you come Christmas Britty, take care of our Emily." She whispered to her daughter before kissing her quickly on her temple and turning on her heels to head in the opposite direction, trying desperately to disguise her anguish.
Brittany looked on until her mother was out of sight before turning to dash through the platform portal and meet her sister.
Once through to the other side Brittany could hear her name being beckoned.
"Brittany over here!" The voice called.
Brittany looked to find the source and spotted her friend Tina barreling toward her with her trunk cart.
"Who's that?" Emily's voice came from behind Brittany.
"A good friend of mine from school." Brittany smiled at her pal. "Tina!" Brittany called back to her, waving her friend over.
Tina waddled her way closer to the pair of Pierce girls, stopping just in front of them.
"You never write." Tina pouted.
"Brittany writing?" Emily scoffed. "Hah! That's rich."
Brittany rolled her eyes at her sister.
"Tina, this is my sister Emily." Brittany mumbled, bored. "Emily this is Tina."
"Pleased to meet you Emily." Tina smiled brightly.
"Pleasure." Emily responded flatly.
Brittany glared at her sister before turning to Tina.
"Come on, we should probably start boarding." Brittany pushed her cart down to the last car of the train while the other two girls followed close behind.
After the girl's got sorted they were luckily able to find an empty cabin on the train. They settled in for their journey a begun to talk amongst themselves.
"So tell me Emily, are you frightened to learn where you'll be sorted?" Tina inquired.
Emily scoffed.
"Frightened?" Emily rolled her eyes. "No way, why on earth would I let something so simple scare me?"
"Well I only mean because there's the chance you could always be separated from your sister." Tina explained.
Brittany and Emily both shared knowing glances before bursting into a fit of giggles.
"This one here doesn't mind if she's separated from me." Brittany reached up and ruffled Emily's hair, much to her sister's displeasure. "Probably be relieved actually."
Emily swatted her sister's hand away.
"I'm used to spending this time away from Brittany anyway, won't be much of a change for me." Emily shrugged.
"I'd bet almost anything she's not one for Hufflepuff." A huskier voice came from the right of the girls, causing each of their heads to snap toward the owner of the deeper tone.
"Sam!" Brittany exclaimed, hopping up on her toes and stretching to hug her best friend.
"Hey Britt." Sam smiled into Brittany's hair, holding her in a tight embrace. He looked up from her shoulder and saw Brittany's miniature twin sitting next to Tina. He pulled from Brittany's hug and waved to his fellow classmate.
"Hey Tina." Sam smiled warmly, Tina offered a small wave to the boy.
Sam then turned his attention to the tiny blonde.
"Hey you." He walked up to the Emily and squeezed her shoulder. "No hug from the Sam man? I haven't seen you in a month!"
Emily almost choked.
Sam was Brittany's absolute best friend, his family has been close with the Pierces for ages, since before Brittany and Emily's father passed. This summer he had to go away to Romania for the month leading up to school on a holiday with his family. The blonde teen had no idea that while he was away, Emily and Poppy had stayed behind completely fawning over him and how much he's grown. The two crazed eleven year olds were trying to wrangle in all of their new raging hormones but at the end of the day, they were obsessed.
"Em?" Sam questioned, breaking Emily out of her slight daze. "Are you alright?"
Emily went to speak before the cabin door was sliding open once again.
"Emily, there you are I've been looking for you every-"Poppy walked in just as Sam was turning around to see who their new guest was. She froze. "Sam!" Poppy squeaked; instantly cupping her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. Did that sound come out of me?
"Hey Pops!" Sam ran his fingers through his hair and grinned cheekily at the girl.
"Uh hi." Poppy said in a rather clipped tone, scooting passed the boy and walking to her friend. "Look Emily, its Sam." She pointed her thumb back at the boy, clenching her jaw.
"Yeah, I got that much Poppy, thank you." Emily rolled her eyes sarcastically.
Tina and Brittany both shared knowing looks before Sam cleared his throat.
"Okay well, I just came in to say hi ladies." Sam opened the door to the cabin and turned back to the four girls. "Good luck at the sorting ceremony tonight Em, I'll be crossing my fingers." Just as he said that he held his crossed fingers up to show Emily that he meant it literally and then slipped out into the hallway of the train with one last smile.
When the cabin door shut the two younger girls exhaled deeply.
"Wow, could you two be any more obvious?" Brittany chuckled.
"Sam! Sam! Hey look its Sam!" Tina mocked.
Emily and Poppy both rolled their eyes in unison.
"Oh shut it, both of you." Emily buried her face in her hands.
"Oh my, he sure is dreamy isn't he?" Poppy couldn't help herself. "I mean did you see his hair? It's certainly grown hm?" She poked Emily's side.
Both of the older girls erupted in laughter.
"Not now Poppy!" Emily hissed, turning a bright shade of red.
It was clearly not helping because now both Brittany and Tina were near tears.
"Piss off, both of you." Emily crossed her arms over her chest and moved to sit on the bench opposite of the group.
Poppy immediately followed her friend and plopped in the spot next to her.
"Em, what if we don't get sorted into the same houses?" Poppy asked nervously, fidgeting with her fingers. "I'm not sure that can handle seven years apart from you." The girl frowned.
Feeling embarrassed Emily looked up to make sure the two older girls weren't listening. Seeing the coast was clear she took Poppy's left hand in her own.
"P, we need to be prepared for that being a reality." Emily squeezed Poppy's hand and frowned. "But we'll always see each other I'm sure of it." Emily looked up to Poppy to gauge her reaction.
Poppy smiled weakly and nodded.
The girls both laid their heads back and sat in silence for the remainder of their journey thinking about all the possibilities if they were to actually be separated.
All of the students shuffled in excitedly to the Grand Hall of Hogwarts, people could be found greeting old classmates, meeting new teachers, and eyeing the grand feast in front of them.
Brittany turned from the conversation she was currently involved in when she felt a tug on her robe. She found the wide eyes of her younger sister gazing back at her with widely.
"Em?" Brittany furrowed her brow down at her sister.
"I'm not nervous I swear." Emily bit her lip and looked down at her own foot scuffing the floor.
"Of course not." Brittany rested her hand on her sister's shoulder comfortingly. "But if you were, I'd tell you not to dwell any, because you are an incredible girl that's destined for incredible things. So regardless of where you're sorted, it's all a part of the big plan. Get me?" Brittany ducked her head to catch her sister's gaze.
Emily looked up to her sister gratefully and smiled; nodding weakly.
"Now then, let's find Poppy and get you two to the front of the hall, they should be calling for the first years any moment." Brittany shuffled her sister through the crowd in attempt to find the tiny blondes best friend.
At that exact moment the clinking of glass could be heard, and all of the loud chatter hushed to silence.
"Ah, see?" Brittany whispered to her sister. "It's time."
A tall woman at the forefront of the hall stood and continued to tap her silver spoon to her glass until all eyes were focused on her. Seemingly pleased that she had everyone's attention she nodded to herself and spoke up in surprisingly loud yet crystal clear tone.
"If all of the first year students could please make their way to the front of the hall and the rest of you please take your seats in your respected house tables, we can get started."
A few minutes were allowed for everyone to find their places before the woman spoke again.
"Welcome students to another wonderful year to come at Hogwarts." The woman's lips stretched into a forced smile.
All students cut into a round of applause.
"I trust you all had an eventful break," She looked around at all the students silently nodding and smiling. "Splendid, for those who don't know my name, I am Professor Sylvester, and I am the headmaster here at Hogwarts."
Brittany rolled her eyes, who wouldn't know who she was?
"Now before our welcoming feast begins we have a task to attend to." Headmaster then looked down to the rosy cheek and bug eyed first years in front of her. "Well then, are you ready?" She nodded at the students who quickly nodded back furiously to avoid any further gaze from their headmaster.
"Let's get on with it then." Professor Sylvester made her way around the table and back to her seat, placing her hand on the shoulder of the young blonde professor sitting next to her. The professor just simply smiled and nodded before making her way to the front of the students, list in hand.
"Students, my name is Professor Holiday." She introduced. "Head of Ravenclaw."
The students all greeted Professor Holiday in chorus.
"I'll be conducting the sorting for the evening. So please, once I've called your name, make your way up, have a seat and we'll move forward from there."
Brittany started to nibble her nails nervously, her sister could deny it all she wanted but Brittany knew the truth. Emily was terrified of the unknown, and Brittany was terrified for her. She had become lost in her own thoughts when she heard the name.
"Poppy White."
Brittany's head snapped up and watched as the girl made her way nervously up the marble stairs taking a seat on the stool to the right of Professor Holiday.
The sorting hat was placed atop her head before grunting and immediately spouting out "Hufflepuff!"
Brittany could see Poppy inwardly squealing with giddiness.
One down. Brittany thought to herself. She watched as another 15 students were called to be sorted, her eyes glazing over, the process being tedious as ever.
"Emily Pierce!"
Brittany blinked a few times and bit her lip.
"Come on Em." She whispered under her breath.
Emily's decent to the awaiting sorting hat was a quick one. Clearly ready to know her fate, she wasted little time hopping up on the stool, and the hat was placed on her head.
"Intelligent." The hat groaned. "Driven" It continued.
Brittany smiled. All things true thus far, this was going well.
"Ah but there's a darkness about you isn't there?" The hat spoke on.
This made Brittany frown. Darkness? Emily?
"There's a fire there and," The sorting had stopped and furrowed his brow. "Is that resentment I sense?"
Brittany was gritting her teeth at this point, this hat had become quite crass. She took in her sister's facial expression. Why didn't Emily seem as surprised by all of these statements as Brittany had?
"Hmm," The sorting hat continued to ponder. "You're quite complex Ms. Pierce, better be.."
Brittany gulped rather loudly.
"Slytherin!"
A sharp gasp could be heard cutting through the room.
"Slytherin?" Poppy choked a few feet down from Brittany.
Blue met blue while the two Pierce girl's wide eyes connected with each other. Emily then nodded silently and worried her bottom lip, hopping off the stool and making her way to her awaiting house table, which had just erupted in applause as she made her way down the marble stairs.
Brittany pursed her lips, still trying to take in the words the sorting hat had used so mercilessly.
Resentment? Darkness? Fire?
The older blonde was simply stunned.
A/N: Want another chapter TODAY, to see Santana make another appearance? Let me know ;). Your feedback keeps me writing, so please whatever input you have, I wanna hear it :)