The first of September; the first day of Hogwarts. Everyone was wide awake and at the train station by 10:50am. The Malfoy's and Brightsman's traveled to King's Cross together, gathering at the wall between platforms nine and ten to say goodbye to their children. Briana said her goodbyes to Narcissa, while Draco did the same with Perseus and Anais. Afterward, Draco spoke to his mother alone who did her fair share of crying in worry for her son. Anais significantly surprised her daughter by acting extremely motherly all day, such as making sure Briana had everything, fixing part of Briana's hair, and even telling her to be careful while she was away.
Giving her parents one last hug, Briana joined Draco as the two of them ran at the wall between platforms nine and ten. Once on the other side, they were greeted with a sea of people scrambling to board the Hogwarts Express. White steam emitted from the train's chimney as a conductor yelled for everyone to get on board. There were two minutes left before eleven o'clock, when the train was supposed to deport from King's Cross.
Draco lead Briana onto the Hogwarts Express and down several corridors. Tons of students were running to join their friends in their own compartments, while Draco was searching for an empty one. The two of them walked far back onto the train before they were successful in finding a compartment of their own. Draco hoisted his briefcase onto the rack above the seats as Briana sat down watching him.
Since the night he became a Death Eater (a thought both of them still shuddered about) Draco had matured even more. Briana hadn't seen all that much of him, and when she did, it was difficult for her to bring the old Draco out to laugh and have fun. For instance, today the teenager was clad in an all black suit and tie, lugging that briefcase of his. She was worried that she was losing her best friend again, but in a different and much scarier fashion.
Briana herself was wearing a rather simple outfit; a black skirt, beige sweater and ballet flats with her hair in a french braid up-do.
[ cgi/set?id=70336810 ]
Draco and Briana both stared out the train window as it began to start chugging out of Kings Cross, gaining speed every second. Briana suddenly turned to him and asked, "Have you been alright lately?"
He glanced at her before looking out the window again, simply nodding. She sighed in concern as she made herself more comfortable by putting her bare legs onto the soft cushion beside her and leaning her head against the cold window. Briana watched Draco as he continued to look sadly out at the London country side. Suddenly, a rather old and plump witch threw back the compartment door, pushing a trolley full of various sweets and baked goods.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?", she asked them kindly.
Briana stole a quick glance at Draco, who was ignoring the Trolley witch. Briana answered her though, "I'd like two of everything, please."
The witch looked surprised, then smiled widely as she used her wand to send two of everything floating onto the seat beside Briana. Draco looked at his friend, flabbergasted, watching her take out 13 sickles and handing them all to the smiling witch who left. They could hear her yelling "anything from the trolley" until she got so far down the train, the words were inaudible. Briana laid out the various sweets next to her on the seat, admiring the chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, licorice wands, Drooble's best blowing gum, Bertie Bott's every flavour beans, pumpkin pasties and more.
"Why did you buy all this?", Draco asked her curiously.
"Remember on Easter Sundays when we would lay out all the candy we got and eat it together?"
"Yes?"
"I'd like to relive the glory days," she told him, half-joking.
"'The glory days'?", he chuckled as he joined her on her side of the compartment. "You consider those the glory days?"
"Yes! Back when we were sweet and innocent children who only cared about candies."
"Alright, so what are we stuffing our faces with first?"
Briana smiled; she had a feeling this would get Draco to loosen up. "Licorice wands are my favorite, so here you go." She handed him one before removing her own from its packaging.
They continued to devour every one of the candies, until all the colorful boxes were empty and on the floor except for their pumpkin pasties. Briana thought she would explode if she ate anymore, but her best friend persuaded her into eating the pastie anyway. When the pastry was completely demolished, Briana threw her head back from stomach pains.
"Why did you force me to eat that? You're so evil," she groaned.
"No, this is evil," he leaned toward her slowly, reaching his arms out. He suddenly began to tickle her mercilessly as she began to scream and laugh at the same time.
"Stop! Stop or I'll throw up on you!", Briana warned him between laughs, which he considered before ceasing the tickles.
Without a warning, three light knocks came from the glass compartment door. The two of them turned their heads to see Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, of all people, looking curiously at Briana and Draco sitting on the floor. It was an odd sight for the Gryffindor's to see Malfoy laughing with a girl, candy wrappers littering the compartment seats.
"Erm, Malfoy, we've been sent to retrieve you for the Prefect's meeting," Hermione told them softly.
"You'd have to talk to Mr. Solomon about that actually, he's taken my spot. So you can run along now," he explained to them.
They left without needing any further explanation, after getting a smile from Briana, who then turned to Draco, "Why'd you give up your prefect duties?"
"Figured I'd be too busy with... other things. And I'd have to either give up being a Prefect or being Quidditch Captain, which wasn't about to happen."
"Ah, I see. So Chuck's taking your place? Speaking of Chuck, why aren't we sitting with the others?"
He shrugged, "Well I have you now."
Briana smiled, then the pair of them disposed of all the trash.
It began to grow a bit less sunny outside as the Hogwarts Express continued chugging along towards Hogwarts. Briana had convinced Draco to aid her with the Magical Symbols Game in the Daily Prophet, but he proved to be of little help. Just when she gave up on trying any longer, the compartment door was slid violently open by their other friends. The pair looked up to see Blaise, Alex, Letha, and Kaylee standing in the doorway.
"Hi guys!", Briana said excitedly.
"No! So you just decided to go off on your own, and NOT try to find us at all?", Kaylee asked them with her arms crossed.
"His idea," Briana was quick to throw Draco under the bus.
"I'm not even really mad, just a bit confused," Kaylee smiled as she took a seat next to her, then whispered, "But seeing you two alone in here together, it all makes sense."
"Oh shut it!", Briana's cheeks turned light pink for a second as the others joined them in the compartment.
The six of them engaged in each of their own conversations, sometimes piping up a topic interesting enough for all them to talk about. Alex kept looking at Draco, then Briana, then sending Draco a suggestive look, which intrigued Draco but he knew not to ask about it while Briana was still 2 feet away from the two of them. After a little while, Chuck came into the compartment as well, making quite a grand entrance.
"No need to worry any longer, chumps! The party has arrived!", he hollered at them.
"The party needs to pipe down a bit before I treat it like a garden gnome!", Kaylee warned him.
He smiled cheekily at her, then squished himself onto the seat between Kaylee and Briana. Chuck was already in his school robes, with a green and silver Prefect badge gleaming on the front of them. Briana made a comment about how he looked in the uniform before she pulled the two books she bought for the two of them out of her bag.
"Here are the books I got us to read!", she gave one of each to him. She had bought a novel titled The Commitments by Roddy Doyle, and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.
"Brilliant! Why these two?", he asked her, inspecting the books with great interest.
"Well, The Commitments is supposed to be a funny read, and if we like it, there's two more novels in the series. As for the other one, well it's obviously all about magical herbs and whatnot, which will help you in both Potions and Herbology; your two worst subjects. I've read most of this book myself, but it's a good review. I was thinking we could read it at the same pace and whenever you come across something you don't fully understand, you could ask me for clarification, given Herbology and Potions are my best subjects."
"Bloody hell, Briana. You sounded like Granger," Blaise suddenly noted.
"Who is she? If I sound like her, we'd probably hit it off rather well."
"No, she's the mudblood who's always with Potter and Weasley," he told her.
"Granger's the one who came to fetch me for the Prefect meeting," Draco clarified.
"Oh," was all Briana said before returning to her conversation with Chuck.
"Sounds fantastic, thank you," he told her. He put the two books into his own bag as he pulled out another and extended it to Briana. It was a copy of A History of Magic; a notably large book that was used as the textbook for History of Magic classes at Hogwarts, all seven years of education.
"I already have this book, Chuck," she told him.
"Ah, but get this: I have two copies of this baby. I've read the entire thing twice. The one I'm giving you has all my notes, tips and even a couple of corrections. You mentioned History of Magic was your worst class, so I figured it would come in handy to you," he explained with a smile prominent on his face.
"Really?! You truly are brilliant you know, it's amazing," Briana looked impressed as she leafed through the pages with Chuck's neat hand-writing all over them.
"Oh stop," he playfully hit her.
All at once, the compartment door was thrown open for the third time that train ride to reveal a third-year girl who seemed to be out of breath. She looked scared out of her mind, which she was, staring at the sixth year Slytherin's in front of her. (Plus Letha, the only Ravenclaw in the group.)
"I-I'm supposed to d-deliver these to some of y-you," the girl stumbled. She read the names on the rolled up pieces of parchment in her hands. "B-Blaise Zabini, Letha T-Taylor, Briana... Brightsman, and Alex Whittaker."
Confused and intrigued, the four of them each took their scrolls. The girl ran away quickly as Chuck called after her, "What about meeeee?!"
"What is it?", Draco demanded, trying to get a look over Blaise's shoulder as he unrolled his parchment.
"An invitation," Alex said as he read his quickly.
"It says, 'Miss Taylor, I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C. Sincerely, Professor H. E. F. Slughorn'," Letha read hers out loud.
"Well what's he want you lot for?", Kaylee asked, a tiny bit offended that she didn't receive an invitation.
"No idea," Blaise answered. "Let's go so we can find out."
The others nodded, then the four of them were all on their way to compartment C. The corridors of the train were packed with students for whatever reason, but they parted like the Red Sea when they saw a group of older Slytherin's making their way through. When they finally reached the compartment, the group could see that they were certainly not the only one's invited by the new Professor for lunch.
"Ah! Miss Taylor, Miss Brightsman! So lovely to have you two ladies! And you two must be Mister Zabini and Mister Whittaker, yes? Please, have a seat," he gestured for them to all sit down next to each other in the only four remaining seats.
"Now, since we're all here, I believe some introductions are in order! I'll just give you all some friendly introductions so we're all well acquainted, starting with myself of course. I'm Professor Slughorn, your new Potions teacher! Assuming all of you received an OWL in Potions, that is," he laughed at his own, dry joke before saying his piece on everyone else he had invited.
"This is Harry Potter of course, the boy-who-lived, no doubt you all know him well enough to write an essay! Neville Longbottom just across from him, son of Frank and Alice Longbottom; two of the greatest Aurors I've had the privilege of making the acquaintance of. Here's Ginny Weasley, an very talented witch she is, being able to conjure some of the most difficult charms and I hear she's a very talented Quidditch player. This young chap here is Cormac McLaggen, who's exceedingly charming and well-rounded. That's Marcus Belby, nephew of Damocles Belby who is no doubt the ingenious creator of the Wolfsbane Potion! This fine young lady is Hermione Granger, no doubt the brightest witch of her year, and probably even years beyond. She's that brilliant, she is!
"Here's Letha Taylor, exceptionally bright witch, receiving OWL's on every subject this past year; not to mention her mother is one of the most celebrated fashion designers in our country. Just to her left is Blaise Zabini, who I've heard nothing but greatness about. His mother is also well-known in our world. This lovely young lady is Briana Brightsman, a most remarkable girl. She's never failed a single Potions assignment, which only makes sense, seeing that her father Perseus Brightsman is the author of one of the most celebrated Potion textbooks of our century. Miss Brightsman is also a most talented dancer. I hear she's only ever gotten first and second place in every competition she enters, and she is a 9-time national title-holder! And last but definitely not least is Alex Whittaker. Not only is he one the most talked-about students in Hogwarts, but the boy's quite a traveler! He's been to every continent in the world except for Antarctica! His great-grandmother also happens to be the inventor of those delicious Fizzy Wizzy candies."
Horace Slughorn finished with a smile as the students all realized why they were there; each of them possessed either great talent, great connections, or in some cases both. The old man gave a wave of his wand, making food appear on the table in front of them. He began to pass around a plate full of roasted pheasants, each student taking one in turn before he then began to pass down a basket of buttered rolls. When the pies began to be passed out, Briana almost gagged. She was still rather full from the pile of candy she had eaten earlier, but she didn't want to be rude and took small portions of food, placing them on her plate.
As everyone began to eat their lunch, Slughorn began to hold brief interviews with each of the students. Briana kept getting stares from Cormac throughout the meal, and she noticed him giving the same looks to Hermione Granger. The afternoon wore on with Horace telling stories about the famous and illustrious witches and wizards he had taught, all of whom had been delighted to join what he referred to as the "Slug Club" at Hogwarts. Finally, the train emerged from a long misty stretch into a beautiful red, purple and blue sunset, as Slughorn looked around.
"Good gracious, it's beginning to grow dark already! I didn't notice that they'd lit the lamps already! You'd all best go change into your school robes now!", he shooed them away, sending a few of them particularly wide and genuine smiles.
All of the students seemed to be glad that they were dismissed, leaving the compartment rather quickly. Alex, Blaise, Briana and Letha joined their friends in the compartment once more. Chuck, Draco and Kaylee were all curious to hear what they had to say.
"Well? What was that about?", Chuck asked expectantly.
"Slughorn has some sort of club at Hogwarts that we've all been considered to be a part of. My mother was in it back in the day, and she says that if you've been accepted, you receive another invitation to his first dinner party at the school, and continue to attend his meetings from then on," Letha explained.
"Just trying to kiss up to well-connected and talented people," Blaise added. "Not that he managed to find very many. I mean, he invited Belby from Raveclaw, and that Weasley girl. And of course Potter was there."
"Why wasn't I invited?", Draco queried.
"I wouldn't bank on an invitation," Blaise told him. "I don't think Slughorn's interested in Death Eater families."
"What about Briana?", Kaylee asked. "And don't try to tell me your parents aren't Death Eaters; Letha and I have been able to figure out as much."
"Well her parents are secretive about it of course, nobody knows, other than the other Death Eaters, so naturally Slughorn doesn't know," Draco explained.
"I hear his parties are ones to marvel at, so while his taste in club members may not be exactly up to par, I'm excited to attend the meetings anyway," Letha stated.
"Yes, well we should go change into our uniforms now. I believe we'll be arriving to school soon," Briana grabbed her bag as Kaylee and Letha did the same, then the three girls left the compartment.
Not long after the girls had left, Chuck turned around in his seat to confront Draco about something he deemed very important. "I KNOW!", Chuck shouted, pointing at his friend incriminatory.
"Know what?!", Draco asked in a confused manner.
"I know! Blaise told Alex, and Alex told me! I KNOW, MALFOY!"
Draco glanced at Blaise dangerously, thinking he had told them about him being made into a Death Eater, "What is it that you know?!"
"We all know about Briana," Chuck said her name as if he was using You-Know-Who's real name.
Hearing this, Draco relaxed for a minute, but then freaked out a little bit again when he realized what this was about, "What about Briana?!"
"That you fancy her," Blaise smirked at him. "I told them everything you told me, mate."
"See, this is why I have trust issues," Draco sent Blaise a look.
"Oh, like we couldn't tell anyways! You stare at the poor girl as if she's a cake you'd like sink your teeth into!", Chuck exclaimed.
"I do not... And why is she a 'poor girl' exactly?!"
"Let's face it Draco," Chuck began. "You've only had two legitimate relationships, yeah? And both of those went down in shambles. That's why you've basically been a man whore like Blaise and I for the past two years."
"Yeah, I mean, do you just want to get it in or do you genuinely fancy her, like you want to take her on dates and all that?", Blaise asked her.
"I want to get it in with her," Chuck mumbled, though it didn't go unnoticed as both Alex and Draco hit him at the same time.
But then Chuck clarified himself, "Okay, well I DID want to get it in with her, I think we all did. But now that you fancy her like THAT, we've all had a change of heart, you could say."
"It's true," Blaise nodded.
Draco sighed, "You guys are making this a bigger deal than it actually is-"
"Um, no, it's a huge deal! Draco Malfoy actually has feelings for someone other than himself, and you're trying to say it's no big deal," Chuck exclaimed.
"It isn't a big deal because nothing's going to happen from it. So I fancy her, that doesn't mean she fancies me. Even if she did, there's no guarantee that we'd be more than friends, because if something bad happens, maybe we won't even be friends anymore."
"Oh come off it, this is Briana we're talking about here! I personally think she's waiting for you to take her on a date," Blaise stated firmly.
"And since when are you afraid of taking a risk, anyway?", Alex asked him.
Draco contemplated what his friends were telling him. If he told Briana he had feelings for her, three things could happen: one, she could have feelings for him too and they'd go from there; two, she could be confused and they'd stay as friends for at least a while; or three, she could be disgusted and want nothing to do with him anymore. But Draco wasn't even sure how strong his feelings for Briana were at this point. He knew the feelings were there, but were they just a phase? He didn't have the answer, and only time could give it to him.
"Well, I'm not going to do anything about it. It's too confusing right now," he told them truthfully.
"Ugh! I have to wait? Can I tell Briana? Maybe she'd make a move," Chuck said.
"No! Don't tell her anything!"
"Can I play match-maker? I'll be ninja-like and subtly drop hints on her. Maybe I can get her to tell me that she fancies you too," Chuck's mind was spinning with numerous possibilities.
"You won't do a thing about it, Solomon. Draco has to do it all by himself and I, for one, am very curious to see how this will all play out," Blaise stated, sending Draco a look of interest.
"Fine, fine, whatever you say. Either way, I can see it now; Draco and Briana: from best friends to soul mates. You know, in my mind you guys make a good couple," Chuck put a hand on Draco's shoulder.
"Can we not talk about this anymore?", Draco asked, scratching the back of his head. "It's a bit odd to hear you say that sort of thing."
"Why?"
"Because it's so much different than the current way I live."
"So are you afraid of change? Things change, Draco," Blaise said seriously.
"Of course I'm afraid of change, it's a completely new idea in my mind, and that's not something I believe I'm ready for."
Alex looked at Draco, "You can judge your love for someone by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea."
Blaise, Chuck and Draco all turned to stare at Alex, rather surprised to hear such blunt and wise words escape from his mouth. After they thought about what he said, they in turn stared at Draco who still looked rather confused. Alex's words made so much sense to him, but everything was still flying over his head. It was all too much to think about, not to mention he had bigger problems on his hands. Who had time to think about love when they were supposed to murder one of the most famous Wizards in the world? Who had time to act on feelings when they were supposed to mend a Vanishing Cabinet? Draco decided he would try his best to push the thoughts out of his mind until the world was a bit less chaotic around him. With all this set in his brain, Draco wasn't sure what to say anymore, but his friends looked especially expectant to receive some sort of speech from him. Thankfully though, Briana, Kaylee, and Letha all came back from the restroom in their school uniforms.
"...just saying it wouldn't suck to have her in Ravenclaw with me," Letha was saying as the three girls entered the compartment and took their seats.
"And I'm just saying I would love to have her in Slytherin with ME," Kaylee retaliated.
"What are you guys doing?", Blaise asked them, squinting his eyes.
"We were initially discussing whether I'm more likely to be sorted into Ravenclaw or Slytherin," Briana told him. "But then they started arguing about which of them needs me more."
"Well come on, I don't really have any female friends in Slytherin."
"I don't have that many friends, either gender, in Ravenclaw! All of YOU GUYS are in Slytherin!"
"Hey, hey, hey, for all you two know, she could be sorted into Hufflepuff," Chuck said, which caused Kaylee and Blaise to scoff at the same time. "And Briana, no offense, but if that happens, I won't be able to talk to you in public anymore."
Briana rolled her eyes, "Thanks, but the probability of me being a Hufflepuff isn't even measurable."
"We'll find out what house you're in soon enough, I can see the castle now. We're only five minutes away," Alex pointed out.
"Ravenclaaaaaaawww," Letha sang, smiling at Briana and Kaylee mischievously.
"SLYTHERIN!", Kaylee shouted, causing Briana to laugh as the two other girls joined in her laughter.
The boys stared around at each other before they started laughing lightly too, though Draco seemed to be distracted by something. The gigantic Hogwarts castle got closer and closer until the train halted to a stop at Hogsmeade Station. The group of seven all began to stand up and gather their belongings; however, as everyone else was walking out of the compartment door, Draco remained seated as if he had no intentions of leaving the busy train. Briana and Chuck both stopped in the doorway, turning around to look at him with confused and suspicious expressions on their faces.
"Go ahead. I just want to check something," he told them blankly.
Chuck and Briana glanced at each other before nodding at Draco, then joining the others on the platform. The sky was dark, but the stars scattered throughout it were bright, illuminating the dirt paths leading to the school grounds. Briana's friends led her to the Black Lake were all the first-years were climbing into boats in groups of four. Telling her they'd see her soon, the six of them left her to get on a carriage. Briana slowly and carefully stepped into one of the small boats with three small boys who stared at her as if she were a mountain troll. They said things like "Aren't you too old to be a first year?", and after she explained the ordeal to them three separate times, they understood and left her alone. The boats finally reached the other side of the dark, creepy, Black Lake and the first years gathered outside the doors of the enchanting castle.
Briana was enjoying the beautiful views and sights in front of her as they walked through Hogwarts. Meanwhile, Draco was teaching Harry Potter a lesson on eavesdropping.