The Third Orphan

Chapter 13

Briella lay in her bed that night, mulling over the events of her first full day at Hogwarts. Overall she had mixed feelings about her day. It had been much more eventful and emotional than she could have ever predicted and she needed time to absorb it all.

She heard Yuliana let out a soft snore from the bed beside her and smiled a little. When the two had met together after class Yuliana had apologised profusely and Briella had forgiven her. It was far too early in the year to make an enemy. Unfortunately they had dallied too long, and by the time they arrived at the Great Hall for dinner Briella had already missed Alyssa.

Briella couldn't believe her bad luck. How was it possible for her to go the entire day without being able to talk to her sister? Sure, the school was huge and crowded, but there had been overlapping times in their schedule and surely it would have possible to meet each other at some point. Briella let out a heavy breath of frustration. Tomorrow she would meet success.

And the day hadn't been all bad had it? She and Emma were becoming good friends, and with the exception of transfiguration she had liked all her classes and teachers. Except perhaps for Professor Potter. Well, she didn't dislike him, but she found him to be a little disconcerting. She couldn't quite shake the feeling of his eyes on her.

Briella's eyelids grew heavy. She nestled further down into her covers, exhaustion beginning to overtake her scattered thoughts. She was nearly asleep when she heard a voice, hardly a whisper.

"Briella," the voice murmured, and Briella jerked awake. She sat up quickly and pulled back the curtains surrounding her bed. For a moment she thought she saw a vague shadow, but then it was gone, a mere trick of the light. She struggled to see in the dim room, but there was nothing. Trying to put the voice down to an overactive imagination, Briella lay back down.

Her heart pounding heavily in her ears, but as she nestled back into the warmth of the quilts her breathing slowed and heartbeat faded. 'It was nothing,' she convinced herself, and fell asleep.

Briella awoke to a bright light glaring in her face. A shadow fell over her as Emma's face appeared in her range of vision. Briella groaned and turned over, trying to block out the light with her pillow.

"Come one!" Emma exclaimed. "I've been trying to let you sleep but it's almost time for breakfast."

Briella jumped up, sure that she would not miss Alyssa at this meal. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she muttered as she rushed to get dressed as quickly as possible. Ten minutes later she stood impatiently, tapping her foot as she waited for the rest of her roommates who were agonizingly slow at getting dressed. "If you guys aren't ready in two minutes I'm gonna leave," she complained.

"And get lost?" asked Charlotte. "You have to wait for us."

"I can find my way," replied Briella haughtily.

"Like you did after potion?"

Briella felt her face turn red. "I was distracted by the statue!"

Charlotte laughed teasingly. "The statue we stopped at for all of ten seconds? If we hadn't come back to find you you would have been wandering the corridors for hours."

"No I wouldn't have!" exclaimed Briella defensively.

"Whatever you say..." replied Charlotte.

Briella huffed but didn't leave. She might have been good at magic, but directions weren't really her strong point.

Ten minutes later the small group of first years were rushing down the corridor after an irate Briella. The Ravenclaw tower was furthest from the Great Hall, and after a few wrong turns the girls had wasted much more time than Briella would have liked. As they neared the doors Briella saw Alyssa just exiting the Great Hall. For the shortest second their eyes met, and Briella was about to call out a greeting when Alyssa broke eye contact and turned to speak to a blonde girl walking beside her.

Briella began to rush to catch up to her sister, but Alyssa pulled the blonde into a side corridor, and by the time Briella reached the opening they had disappeared. Briella felt tears rise to her eyes. Why hadn't Alyssa rushed forward to greet her? Surely she wanted to talk to Briella as much as Briella wanted to talk to her.

Briella felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Emma looking at her sympathetically.

"Come on Briella, let's go eat," Emma said.

In a daze, Briella meekly complied, turning to enter the clamour of the Great Hall.

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Another short crappy chapter. Sorry guys. I promise it'll get better soon. I'm beginning to figure out where it's all going. This is unedited so don't judge.

So I think I'm going to post a new story soon. It's going to be a dystopia and the title will probably either be "Agape" (pronounced ah-gah-pee) or "Doulos." I'm pretty excited about it since fanfiction really isn't my thing and the only reason I'm still writing this is for the few of you out there who I know really like it. So don't worry, I won't be stopping this. Thank you all for the support!