The Third Orphan

Chapter 8

 Briella woke up the next morning and was momentarily disoriented by the unfamiliar blue curtains hanging around her. But in a moment the confusion left her and the awful events of the night before crashed back down upon her. Briella got up and pulled back the curtains. The other girls in the room were already up and dressed in clean robes. Briella suddenly became very conscious of her clothes, rumpled from being slept on all night. She tried to retreat back to her bed to change when Emma called her name.

"Briella, you look awful!" Emma exclaimed, demonstrating an eleven year old's lack of tact. The tone of her voice became gentler, "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah," said Briella, fighting back the tears that rose unbidden to her eyes. "I'm gonna go change." In five minutes Briella had put on fresh robes and brushed her hair, now prepared for her first day at Hogwarts. She then returned to the center of the dormitory to meet her roommates. The three girls introduced themselves as Charlotte, Yuliana, and Holly. The five girls set out for breakfast together and Briella felt her heart lighten. Soon she would see Alyssa!

Finding Great Hall, however, proved a much more difficult task than they had expected. After a good ten minutes of wandering the girls were hopelessly lost. Just as they were beginning to despair of ever finding the Great Hall they ran across a strange little man floating in midair. "Excuse me," said Emma politely. "Do you know the way to Great Hall? We're lost, you see."

"Ickle firsties can't find their way around?" said the man with an unkind cackle. "Well Peeves is always happy to help. To the end of that hallway and to the left!" He gave another cackle and flew off.

The girls looked at each other, not quite trusting the odd man's directions, but having no other ideas chose to follow the route he had pointed out. Soon the were heading down a long hallway. To the left was a flight of stairs that headed downwards. Remembering the number of stairs they had had to ascend the night before, the girls headed down the stairs eagerly, stomachs growling in anticipation. The stairs seemed to go on without end, however, and the air grew increasingly colder.

"Do you think this is the right way?" Charlotte asked as she drew her cloak tighter around her.

"Don't know," replied Briella. "Look, I think I see the bottom!" Sure enough, ahead of them the stairs ended and the floor leveled out. Reaching the bottom, the girls looked around but there was nothing that looked even vaguely familiar. The walls were dank and grey, lacking moving portraits and decorated only with the occasional sconce for a torch. Dreading a trip back up the stairs, the girls chose to move forwards.

The hallway soon split into two separate passages. "I don't think this is the right way," said Charlotte finally as they stood staring at the two passageways.

"I guess not," agreed Briella. The girls sighed and turned back, dreading the ascent back up the stairs. It took a good half an hour for the five girls to finally find the Great Hall, and by then breakfast had ended. "There you are girls!" cried Professor Flitwick, rushing towards them. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Here are your schedules," he added, looking flustered. "You don't want to be late for your first day of classes!"

Briella absentmindedly nodded in agreement as she searched the emptying room for Alyssa. However she did not sight her twin anywhere. Disappointed, she looked down at her schedule. She had first block potions with Hufflepuff. Hopefully she would be able to see Alyssa there.

The girls arrived late to potions and nearly all the tables were full. There was a seat open at the same table as Alyssa, but before she could sit down there Holly took it and began talking animatedly to one of the other girls sitting there who she was apparently friends with. With a final glance at Alyssa, who was looking down at her text book, Briella sat down at the only empty table with the other three girls from her dormitory.