Marie sighed and checked her watch. And then remembered that she didn’t have one. But she didn’t need to know the time to know that Bridget was late. Lily came into the carriage, looking a bit disgruntled. Her hair was disheveled and she had the look of a cat that had its tail stepped on.
“Did you find Bridget yet?” she asked. She was genuinely worried; it wasn’t like her to not show up.
Lily shook her head. “Nope. I did however, get knocked down by these two complete idiots!” She collapsed onto a seat and began rummaging through her leather bag for her knitting needles.“I mean, who do they think they are? They run me over, ask if I’ve seen you two then dash off without so much as a thank you! Honestly, I hope I’m in a different house than them!” She shook her head huffily and began counting stitches before throwing the bundle of yarn aside and glaring at it. “And I have no idea why my mother gave me knitting needles for a present! Do I honestly look like a knitting sort of person? I mean-”
Marie and Claire giggled; once Lily got in a rant, she stayed that way for hours.
“Miss me, ladies?” Bridget leaned against the doorway to the compartment. Lily’s mouth dropped and her eye started twitching.
“YOU.” She pointed an accusatory at the people in the doorway.
“Yes, darling, it’s me. Remember? Best friend, resident tofu slinger?” Bridget said, a bit confused.
“Not you! Those two!” She motioned at the two dark haired boys.
“Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I’d like to introduce you to Sirius Black,” the one standing directly behind Bridget nodded his head and smiled, “James Potter,” the one with the glasses gave an even broader grin.
“Remus Lupin,” the tall, sandy-haired boy out in the hall gave a small wave. “And Peter Pettigrew. Guys, these are my best friends, Marie Healey, Claire Collins, Alice Walters and Lily Evans.” Each girl gave a small wave in return.
“Wait,” Lily was growing more and more confused. “You know these people?”
“Yeah! They were the ones who helped me find you guys. There a problem or something?” Bridget shoved her own glasses back up onto her nose and swept her bangs out of her face.
Lily slouched down in her seat and said huffily, “No. Nothing.”
“Oh, okay then.” She suddenly brightened. “Why don’t we all sit together? We can squeeze.”
“Yeah!” Sirius bounded into the compartment and plopped himself down on one of the seats. “I’m famished! He sat down next to Alice and held out his hand. “The one and only Sirius Black at your service, ma’am.” He winked and turned to Bridget. “Whaddya got?”
“Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, you name it, I got it. Daddy was feeling a bit guilty of making his baby girl go all the way to Switzerland, so I got a bit of pocket money.” She smiled wickedly and pulled sweets out of her pockets and tossed them into the middle of a vacant seat.
“Ahh! Gimme!” Sirius whined and reached for a Pumpkin Pasty.
Marie snatched it away. “No way am I letting you eat all that sugar.” She stood up and began grabbing sweets and stuffing them in the rubbish bin. The can ate up the sweets immediately, sparing nothing. After it was done, it started coughing up wrappers that Sirius picked up with a dazed expression on his face.
“She did not just do that.” He blinked several times before stating, “You’re insane.”
“Marie, you feeling alright?” Bridget waved a hand in front of Marie’s face. “We’ve been waiting for years to be able to chock down on chocolate on our way to Hogwarts and you don’t want any. What’s the matter? Are you feeling alright?”
“We swore off sweets this summer while you were gone, Bee.” Claire said apologetically, nervously twisting her sweater in her lap. “Marie told us about this new de-toxic lifestyle and it sounded kind of cool.”
“Sorry.” Lily looked determinedly at the floor.
“Well, I’m not. All that sugar’s bad for you.” Marie said stubbornly.
“You’ve been getting sort of chubby lately Bridget.”
Bridget felt as if Marie had punched her in the gut. “Okay, that’s it then. I can take a hint. I’m leaving. You guys in?” she asked the other four. She looked fiercely at the girls and decided that she didn’t feel so nasty about leaving them after all. Marie was holding a Muggle Tupperware full of tofu in her hands and Lily was looking a bit warily at her bag of carrot sticks behind Marie’s glowering back.
“Enjoy your food.” She said smirking, before Marie slammed the door shut in her face. She took a deep breath. She hated fighting with her friends and she could already feel the tears creep up on her.
“Peter, I hate to break it to you, but dolphins aren’t fish.” James was shaking his head as he helped lug the trunk down the corridor.
“They are too!” Peter protested. “They can swim! That means they’re fish.”
“I can swim,” Sirius reminded him, “and I’m not fish.”
“But you live on land. That’s different.” Peter said. “Believe me, I read it in a book somewhere.”
“But that makes no sense! I can swim as well as a dolphin. Well, okay, not as well, but that doesn’t count 'cause I don’t have flippers.”
“You live on land!”
“I can swim!”
“YOU LIVE ON LAND!” Peter shouted.
Sirius shook his head sadly. “You, my friend, are a piece of work.”
A couple hours later the five were sitting in their compartment. Peter was reading The Daily Prophet to which he claimed that he was an avid subscriber. Remus, James, and Sirius were all betting Chocolate Frogs on various topics such as: whether or not James could hit Marie with a glob of pepper-flavoured Bertie Botts Beans that they had mashed up to look like tofu (he missed; he hit Lily’s hair instead and had to run for his life), who would win the next game of Exploding Snap, and how long would it take before Bridget broke down and took her nose out of her bloody book to have a good cry.
James reached for some Pumpkin Pasties and tossed them on the pile.
He leaned forward and whispered inaudibly to everyone but Sirius, “Subtract another thirty minutes from my bet.”
Sirius shrugged and secretly scribbled it on the back of a Licorice Wand wrapper.
The cards suddenly exploded and left James coughing dust and smoke as Sirius rounded up the cards for another round.
“You okay, Bridget?” Sirius asked. She had been sitting in a corner by the window determinedly keeping her eyes on her book, ignoring and declining all his insane requests.
“Yeah.” She put down her book and popped the cap off a water bottle. She inhaled then took a deep swig.
“Okay, then when you want to tell us what’s bothering you then-” Sirius said slyly returning his gaze to the cards in his hands.
Bridget blurted, “It’s Marie.”
“That was fast,” Sirius said in an undertone to James. James snorted and gave his cards to Sirius and raked in all of the sweets onto his lap.
“I have no idea what has gotten into her! I mean, she has Lily eating veggies! And Lily is the most fierce, loyal, outspoken carnivore I know! You guys would love her! And Claire, Claire is usually so smart and realistic! She doesn’t think about the group sticking together that much; she usually picks the right choice!” She was absolutely fuming now. She was gesturing wildly with her hands, splashing water everywhere.
“Alice Walters is one of the most hilarious people you’ll ever meet! She’s always tripping over her feet, or helping someone else up off the ground; she’s sweet and kind and thoughtful. This whole tofu thing is so confusing!” Bridget took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with Marie. We’ve all been best friends since we could talk. I don’t know why she’s choosing to act like this. I don’t know if it’s jealousy, or maybe she feels like I’m ignoring them, but it’s not fair! Papa always has to drag us off for one event or another and-” She took another shuddery breath. “I feel like I’m being a bad friend, I don’t know what I did wrong. It’s just not fair! And the worst part is, is that I feel bad for abandoning them just because you guys have already been great friends to me and I feel guilty about liking you guys more than them now and-”
Sirius shook her shoulders. “Relax. You’ve guys have got history together. And nothing can erase that. Marie was just being a (Sirius swore here) things will get better. Believe me.”
“How the hell do you know?” Bridget asked. She slumped against James’ shoulder and he patted her head sympathetically.
“He’s Sirius Black. That means he’s a best friend, psychic, and therapist, all in one.” James said simply.
“If your friends have half a brain all put together, they’ll realize that Marie is being petty and jealous because, as it was just announced in the paper yesterday, the McGuire family’s old Wizarding Stock on the World Wide Gringotts Bank, WWGB, has just fallen five points forcing the Healey family’s stock points to hit an all time low, making them the sixth most profitable company in England and forty-third in the world.”
Remus put down his hand of cards and asked, “What are you talking about? We don’t talk WWGB-whatever that is-speak, Peter.”
Peter explained, “Mr. McGuire-in a completely brilliant financial move- demolished one of his smaller companies put the entire stock up for sale. The prices went up in record timing and finally sold out to the Healey family. However, as soon as they bought the company, prices plummeted dramatically.” He shook his head in regret. “People don’t trust the Healey brand anymore. Mr. McGuire then sold all his remaining stock off to the WWGB Goblin Committee- or the WWGBGC for short- and pulled out quickly just as the market nearly crashed. But don’t worry, it’s back up again. That all happened this summer; nearly destroyed the economy at first, but then it came back stronger than ever. Everyone else came out richer except for the Healey family who sold and ran, right after the stock went down, and just before the stock went up.” Peter snapped The Daily Prophet taut and disappeared behind the headlines.
“Wow, okay! Great, thanks Peter! I still don’t understand anything you just said, but I’m guessing that Bridget’s richer than Marie!” Sirius clapped his hands together. “So now you know why your friend Marie is having a bit of trouble coughing up whatever hairball she’s swallowed.”
“Still doesn’t solve much, does it though. I have no idea how to approach this.” Bridget moaned.
“Ignore it. Ignore the fact that your father just nearly bankrupted the Healeys and just pretend like it didn’t happen. Convince her that you know why she was mad at you. When you hug and make-up just say, ‘Aw, Marie, I’m so sorry that you all felt abandoned over the summer’ and that sort of stuff. Believe me, you’ll both feel better for it, and you’ll get sufficient payback.”
“Actually, I think now we have to give the shrink title to Dr. Lupin over here,” James said, nudging Remus in the side.
Bridget broke into a grin and suffocated Remus in a hug. “Thank you so much!” She pulled back and then grabbed the cards off the table. “Marie won’t know what hit her. Now, as an apology for being so sluggish, I believe I owe you some games of Exploding Snap?” She shuffled and bridged the cards in mid-air.
“I’m in!” Peter said quickly, and tossed his newspaper aside.
“There’s the brave Bridget that we’ve known for all of three hours,” Remus said grinning from ear to ear.
“And we already like you,” said James punching her on the shoulder.
“Aw, same here you softies.” She said laughing. She truly felt as at home with them as she did with Lily, Marie, Alice and Claire. Actually it felt better.
Maybe that’s what my old friendship needed all along. New friends.
An hour later, Marie poked her head in and said stiffly, “We’re arriving in another half hour. Bridget, come with me.”
Bridget felt her blood begin to boil. Marie had crossed the line; no one was going to order her around today.
“No. You’re being a bitch and right now, I’m sick and tired of your attitude. You’ve been nothing but mean for the five minutes I’ve been able to spend with you, and those five minutes have been enough. You, Alice, Lily, and Claire and all those other guys can do whatever the hell you want. I’m staying here.” She put her hands on her hips. If Marie wanted a fight, she could come and get it.
“Yeah, right. With all these boys?” Marie scoffed. “C’mon, just come with me and we’ll work it out.”
Bridget took out her and wand and pointed it at Marie. She was royally pissed now and no matter what it took, she was going to remind her that Bridget Lisa McGuire wasn’t someone Marie could step on; making-up and apologizing could wait until later.
“No. Now get out before I hex you to the next century.”
“You don’t even know how to make tea with that thing.” Marie scoffed.
“Newsflash, I’m not a Pure-blood for nothing. And as Daddy’s little girl,”
She glared at Marie to make sure she got the threat; “I’ve learned a few nasty little tricks.”
Marie just huffed and stormed out of the compartment.
“Well done. I hope you don’t plan on talking to her ever again, but good job.” Sirius said, mildly impressed. “You looked just like my cousin Bellatrix if she had ever been a decent person, wore glasses, and was a skinny looking grasshopper.”
Bridget shot a death glare at him. “It’s not funny! What if I’m Sorted into Slytherin because of that?”
“It’s a just a joke! Don’t kill me woman!” He mock pleaded and threw himself at her knees. He gave her a wounded puppy look and said, “I’m too handsome to die.”
Remus snorted into his robes as he pulled them over his head. “Please kill him. His ego’s big enough.”
James, Bridget, and Peter started laughing as the train slowed to a stop at the station.
Whoa. Remus was in complete shock. His mum and dad had told him about Hogwarts, but he had never imagined that it would be like this.
Ghosts floated around, more kids in pointy black hats that he had seen in his entire life, and he had just witnessed a hat sing a song about the next seven years of his life.
Right now, ‘Whoa’ pretty much summed up everything.
They had made it okay across the lake. It was silently agreed on that Bridget would ride with James and Sirius, protecting and distracting her from the death glares that came from a select few girls. They had waited nervously in the hall, until Professor McGonagall had come out to take them inside and introduce them to the Sorting Hat.
The Sorting started out with this kid called Avery-something, who the Hat promptly whisked away into Slytherin. Was it just Remus’ imagination, or was the Sorting going faster now?
The first boy tripped up to the stool and dropped the Hat on his head.
“Axel, Dwight!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Beale, Allison!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Belairia, Porscha!”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Black, Narcissa!”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Black, Sirius!”
Sirius walked up to the Hat and eyed it warily. Remus could tell that he was doubtful of letting a Hat decide his future to say the least. He lifted it up and with an exaggerated sigh, shoved it on his head.
“GRYFFINDOR!” The Hat announced. Sirius took off the Hat and after smirking at the bewildered Slytherin table, proudly stalked off to Gryffindor, where he was slapped on the back by some older students he had encountered on the train.
“Bolton, Todd!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Christian, Adrian!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Connor, Clive!”
A tired, sickly looking boy with a rash on his skin limped up to the Hat and tried it on.
“Doesn’t look like he’ll last long.” Remus muttered to James.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Collins, Claire!”
Bridget’s friend from the train walked up to the Hat, stumbling on the hem of her robe several times on the way there. She took the Hat from McGonagall then placed it tentatively on her head.
“RAVENCLAW!”
Claire looked relieved as she handed back the Hat and walked to the Ravenclaw table. Remus glanced at Marie. She looked ready to hack the Hat to pieces and feed it to the Giant Squid.
“Dawn, Rae!”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Eiffel, Devin!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
Remus watched the Hat sort Lily Evans and Fern Freeman into Gryffindor, Holly Freeze and Cara Fuller into Hufflepuff and Jack Hausen into Ravenclaw, when he heard:
“Healey, Marie!”
She sauntered up to the Hat and shoved it on.
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Like we didn’t see that one coming,” James whispered in Remus’ ear eliciting a snort from Remus.
“Healey, Morgan!”
A girl who looked sickeningly like Marie sauntered up the Hat and tried it on.
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Howard, Jill!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Jaxley, Taryn!”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Jerome, Miles!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Karl, Brendan!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Kelpie, Amy!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Lestrange, Rodolphus!”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Lien, Cassie!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Lien, Tom!”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Lupin, Remus!”
Remus gulped and walked nervously up to the Hat. All rationale left his thoughts. What if he wasn’t accepted? What if the Hat told him he couldn’t go to Hogwarts because he was a werewolf?
Let’s get this over with, he thought and closed his eyes tightly as he dropped the Hat onto his head.
It had barely been there five seconds when the Hat screamed:
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Remus was stunned happy. The Hat hadn’t even said anything to him! He grinned and passed the Hat off to Bridget who was looking a little green around the gills.
She shoved the Hat onto her head with a ‘You-win-some-you-lose-some’ expression.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Remus applauded with Sirius, Lily, and two girls named Rae Dawn and Fern Freeman, along with the rest of the Gryffindor House as Bridget sprinted down to where Sirius and Remus sat.
“Pettigrew, Peter!”
Peter stumbled eagerly up to the Hat and crammed it on.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Potter, James!”
James walked up, put the Hat on and sat on the stool and tightly gripped the edges. Remus couldn’t help but envy him; he had to admit that only James could make a totally nerve-wracking experience look totally cool.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
He handed it to Evan Rosier (who the Hat Sorted into Slytherin) and ran to where they were sitting.
“Snape, Severus!”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“He looks a bit twisted,” Bridget muttered in an undertone to those at the table. There was only one way to describe Snape- greasy. He had long greasy hair, a big, greasy nose and his robes were a bit frayed around the edges.
Lily scrunched up her face and picked a chunk of Bertie Botts she had
found in one curl from her hair. “Ew, yeah.”
Bridget turned to face her. “Ew, what? Your hair or that Snake?”
“SHH!” Remus quickly cut off Bridget and patted a distressed Lily comfortingly on her shoulder.
“Tern, Wesley!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Trails, Quinn!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Traung, Zsa Zsa!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Traverse, Liam!”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Walters, Alice!”
The girl who had been with Marie, Lily, and Claire on the train walked nervously up to the Hat.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Lily cheered while Bridget, still a bit put off at the girls, sat back and half-heartedly clapped.
Finally, when McGonagall called the last name, (“Yi, Courtney!” Ravenclaw) Dumbledore stood up to talk.
“I am sure you are all ready to pass out from starvation, so as always I have only two words for you: dig in.” Dumbledore clapped his hands once, than sat down.
Food appeared on the table and the newly sorted first years gasped with delight. Delicious, mouth-watering treats and entrées were quickly dished out onto plates and consumed.
After the feast Professor Dumbledore gave out announcements and sent them off to bed.
While stumbling along after the Prefects, Bridget yawned deeply. “I am so screwed.”
“Why?” Sirius was walking beside her, looking as wide-awake as he probably did at three in the afternoon instead of at eleven at night.
“Um, Bridget, can we talk to you?” Lily tapped her on her shoulder.
“Yeah, listen I’m sorry.” Bridget said quickly. She had decided long ago that she was better at fighting than apologizing and while this was uncomfortable for her, she had decided to get it over with quickly and as soon as possible.
“We’re sorry too. Friends?” Alice asked hopefully.
“You always are, and always were.” She pulled them in for a quick hug.
“Now who’s going to help poor me get around the castle?”
“Yeah, what’s with that? A little spoiled there, McGuire!” James said and nudged Bridget in the side. “We’re not here to wait on you hand and foot you know.”
“Well then I hope that you don’t mind seeing me ever again. I’m going to get lost in the castle and in three months time you’ll probably see my body wasting away in some dungeon…” Bridget moaned.
“Can’t find your way out of a paper bag, eh?” Remus asked. “No worries, I can’t either.”
“More like she can’t find her way out with a map, compass and three neon signs saying, “THIS WAY”. She’s absolutely hopeless. Her maid helps her find the breakfast hall in that mausoleum she calls a home. I don’t even live there and I know my way around better than she does.” Lily said.
“Okay! Okay! I think that we’ve all illustrated how the wrong way Hitachi’s came to be!” Bridget snapped. “I can’t help it!” She said
pleadingly.
The Prefect turned another corner and Peter groaned. “How much further is it? I’m ready to pass out!”
Clive Connor, the boy in front of him stopped and Peter accidentally knocked into him, knocking Clive down. “Oh, I’m sorry! You okay?” Peter pulled him to his feet.
“Yeah, fine. Hey! We’re here. Look’s like there’s a line though.” He said, unnecessarily pointing out this random fact. “Hey, do you guys mind if I sleep on the floor?” Clive asked. He absently scratched his arm.
Sirius cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “Um, why?”
“I’ve got a bad back, and it’s usually better if I kip on the floor. Sorry if you guys think that it’s strange or anything, but…”
“Wha-”
“Hey! No problem.” Remus cut in front of Sirius and stepped on his foot.
“Yeah, um, do you have a sleeping bag or how are you going to do this?”
“Sleeping bag. I can’t wait to get out of this place though! It’s so depressing.” Clive changed the topic quickly and stepped through the portrait hole. However, if he had been hoping that the rest of the Gryffindor boys would support him in this, he was sorely mistaken.
“You can’t wait? Well, hope you didn’t get your hopes up, because you’ve got another full seven years ahead of school, you know.” James said. He stepped through the portrait hole and waited for Sirius to come in after him.
“Yeah, but mum said that as soon as dad released custody, she’d take me on her safari in Africa.” Clive said, his eyes shining with excitement.
Sirius shrugged. “Cool.”
As soon as the last person got into the common room, the Prefect made introductions and showed them where their rooms were. Remus, Peter, Sirius and James all raced towards their new dormitory.
“I call that one!” Remus yelled.
“I got this one!” Sirius jumped up onto the bed closest to the window.
“I call this one!” James yelled.
“Sweet! Ha ha! I guess I lucked out then!” Peter joked.
“Um, you got the one near the door, Pete.” James pointed out.
“Yeah, but look who you’re sleeping next to.” Peter smirked and pointed to the sleeping bag situated between James and Sirius’ beds.
Unbeknownst to them, Clive had already set up his sleeping space on the floor.
“Aww, man!” Sirius groaned and flopped down defeated.
James groaned, “It’s gonna be a looonngg night.”
“If you want to live, you’ll pass over the coffee.” Bridget glared at a bunch of seventh years sitting next to them; she wasn’t sure if it was her bedraggled state or her evil glare that made them give up the coffee jug, milk, sugar, cream and donuts without a fight.
Her first night at Hogwarts had just passed, and Bridget was already convinced that the Gryffindor girls were all eventually going to kill each other.
First, they had fought over the good bed by the window. Or as they put it, “diplomatically discussed territorial issues.” Territorial issues my ass.
Then came the gossip, the whispers, and the giggles, the late night trips to the bathroom to wash off a face mask or to re-braid hair. Then, just when Bridget thought that things could not possibly get any worse, the light had flipped on and Dawn Rae screamed at Fern Freeman to shut up and to stay away from Sirius Black and how come Fern thought she could be so dam special, because wasn’t it obvious that Sirius liked her?
Then Lily and Alice had joined in the brawl, complaining about beauty sleep, something about it being three o’clock in the morning and cats.
After that, it had taken Bridget about ten minutes to get out of bed, stare each girl down until they were sitting quietly on their beds and give a small lecture on how there was a time for everything, and how now was a time for sleeping, not fighting. She then falsely informed them that Sirius probably didn’t even know that they were alive, and that all his attention was focused on Marie Healey.
She had then picked Bisou up off the floor and pulled her in for a cuddle. Needless to say, the angry whispers that punctured the night were music to Bridget’s ears and she quickly fell asleep.
But apparently, like some members of the Insomniacs Club like to say, sleep is for the weak. Fern, Dawn, Lily and Alice were up at the crack of
dawn, primping and preparing for an exciting day of- oh boy! Lessons!
It wasn’t until eight thirty when they had all left the room, giggling and chatting, when Bridget had dragged herself out of bed, dragged a brush through her hair and rolled out the door, looking like a train wreck. Then, as Bisou had been running excitedly by her ankles in the common room, she had tripped over the Corgi and landed face down right in front of the boy’s staircase. And to make matters worse, Sirius had chosen that precise moment to go down to breakfast and had tripped right over her.
“What a great way to start the day,” he had groaned.
“Rough night?” Bridget had asked as she rolled over.
“Yep.”
“Me too.”