Prologue Part 4
First year came and went. Brielle was sorted into Gryffindor, much to her surprise. Arianna was soon to join her at the Gryffindor table, though her sorting caused the Slytherins to break out in murmurs. Marcus's trollish face hardened into a dangerous glare as he watched his sister join the Gryffindor table, but Arianna was unconcerned. "My whole family have been in Slytherin," she had said with a grin. " Just wait until you hear the Howler I'm sure to get tomorrow morning."
She was soon followed by Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, the two girls they had met on the train. The four had hit it off instantly, and Angelina especially wasted no time in explaining everything about the various inner workings of "Quidditch", which was the favorite (and only, it seemed) sport of the wizarding world. Angelina and Alicia had even tried to get Brielle to learn to ride a broom, so they could all try out for the team in second year. Unfortunately, Brielle hadn't taken to broom riding at all, vanquishing Angelina's grand dreams of the trio's international Quidditch superstardom.
"Don't worry too much about the whole Quidditch thing," Arianna had reassured her from the side of her hospital wing bed; Angelina had convinced Brielle to have another go at broom-riding and Brielle had promptly fallen flat on her face. "I'm not too good at flying either. That's another difference between me and the rest of my family; most of them played for the Slytherin team when they were in school. It's my brother's second year on the team; he's a chaser. But the last time I tried to fly I ended up flying into a tree branch. Not my finest hour."
Other than her flying class, which she was absolutely flunking, classes were good as well. Charms was easily her best subject. The incantations and wand movements came naturally to her, and Flitwick often found himself awarding twenty to thirty points to Gryffindor in one class period. She also enjoyed Potions, and while Snape had yet to award her a single house point, he didn’t take any away from her either. Charlie Weasley, a sixth-year Gryffindor prefect whom Brielle had taken a liking to, said this was a good sign.
Her worst subject had to have been Astronomy. Despite her best efforts, Brielle just couldn't seem to grasp the concept. She couldn't differentiate between the myriad of stars and constellations, and the fact that classes were at midnight didn't help matters.
For the most part, she got along pretty well with her classmates. She could make friendly conversation with most of them, and Kenneth Towler would show her whichever animal he'd rescued whenever they talked. Other than her fellow Gryffindor girls, she was also friends with Cedric Diggory, even despite their house difference. Cedric had also attempted to explain Quidditch to her, but the whole thing still confused her. They still hung out whenever they could, often in the library while the two tried to talk Alicia through an assignment she struggled with. Cedric was a pretty mellow guy, which contrasted nicely with the boundless energy of her housemates.
Like she said, she got along pretty well with her classmates. Except. For. Three.
George Weasley. Lee Jordan. And Fred Weasley. Each house had its good and bad qualities, and it seemed the trio were perfect representations of Gryffindor house's worst. Cocky and arrogant, the three had an affinity for making trouble Brielle couldn't understand. Even the worst troublemakers back in Auradon weren't as bad as they were, and they at least didn't flaunt their misdoings. One day in Potions, the trio somehow managed to blow up Fred's Wiggenweld Potion, causing Gryffindor to lose all of the points Brielle had earned them by successfully turning a match into a needle. Another day all of Gryffindor house woke up to find everything in the common room had been glued to the table.
It's not like they're untalented, Brielle found herself thinking frustratedly, as a sticking charm of that degree would take serious skill. But academically, it seems they just don't care.
Worst still, they seemed to have something out for her. Brielle didn't think it was a coincidence that Fred's Wiggenweld Potion blew up just as she was walking by his desk to get more lionfish spines, or that the sticking charm on a stack of books that had been glued to the ceiling came undone just as she walked under it. And each time something like that happened, she would look over at the trio to see George and Lee snickering and Fred with a stupid smirk on his face.
In fact, Fred always had a stupid smirk on his face. Well, almost always. The only exception was when he was around Cedric, who he seemed to loathe for absolutely no reason. Oftentimes, Brielle would be casually hanging out with Cedric, only to glance over at the mischievous trio and find Fred glaring while George and Lee whispered mutinously amongst themselves.
Brielle just couldn't figure out how Charlie Weasley, the intelligent sixth-year prefect and Quidditch captain, with whom she could engage in many intellectual conversations about dragons and their fascinating properties, or Percy Weasley, the third-year who often helped her with her History of Magic homework, could be the older siblings of such a horrid pair of twins. It didn't seem they could understand it either, as Brielle would often hear one of them telling of the pair from the boy's dormitory (sound carried rather well in Gryffindor tower).
Despite this, Brielle loved Hogwarts. She loved the classes, the people (most people), and the way the moving portraits seemed to be extra nice to her. Actually, the last part was kind of strange. When she first walked through the halls, nearly all of the portraits and even the ghosts did an inexplicable double-take at her. Afterward, they always seemed to be oddly gracious towards her, pointing her towards her classes and telling her the (completely incorrect) time or date if she asked for it. Brielle noticed each portrait gave a specific, unwavering time. The ballerinas in the painting near the Grand Staircase seemed convinced it was 3:48 PM on Friday, March 26, 1875, despite neighboring Anne Boleyn's insistence that it was actually 11:13 AM on October 17, 1534. Her friends thought this was strange, especially since none of the portraits would talk to any of them. Well, Sir Cadogan would, but no one was sure if he was unstable and unhelpful on purpose or if that was just how he was.
Brielle passed all her exams with flying colors, even Astronomy, much to her surprise. Brielle supposed the many library study sessions with Cedric, who could always be relied on to talk her through a star chart or help her differentiate between Jupiter's many moons. She also didn't expect to do well in History of Magic, but she surprisingly got everything right on that one. Well, Percy Weasley had always been more than happy to explain the various inner workings of the Gargoyle Strike of 1911 or the Soap Blizzard of 1378, though Brielle was pretty sure this was more because he wanted to sound smart, rather than through pure altruism.
But happy as she was with her exam results, as the year came to a close fear loomed in the back of her mind (it could also occasionally be felt in the pits of her stomach). She was going back home soon, and having stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas and Easter, she hadn't seen her family in nearly ten months. How would they feel now, with it being impossible to deny her magic? Would they ignore her for the whole summer, as they had back in August? Would neither of them decide to address the elephant in the room, and pretend Brielle had just been at Auradon Prep with her brother all the time? As she stepped off the Hogwarts Express and waved goodbye to her newfound friends, these were the questions that filled her mind.