Hogwarts Preview

Arthur

The compartment door slides open, startling Everett. He lurches backwards, hitting his head against Danyal's suitcase. "What the fu-oh, Tory. What do you want?" He looks up at his older sister, who's invited herself in by now, and rolls his eyes in an exasperated fashion. Her brown locks are tied up in a bun, her new head girl badge proudly pinned to her chest. She has two now: head girl and quidditch captain. We know she's only here because the prefect compartments are boring.

"Compartments are full, so I thought I'd come and sit with my favourite brother!" She smiles, showing off her well-set pearly white teeth.

"Nah, you're not my sister. You can piss right off to Durmstrang, you prat." He cracks a wry smile. There's something about his sister that brings the usually awkward and shy Everett out of his little shell.

"C'mon, plenty of room in here. Don't begrduge a damsel in distress, Everett." I smile at the brunette, patting the seat next to me and feigning a courteous bow. She looks horrified, unsure whether or not I'm joking. I can tell Everett wants to punch me right in the teeth, but he knows that I am joking. Probably.

"Aw, six years here and you'd think little Victoria would have made some friends by now. Marie not tagging along with you?" He exaggerates a pout. They both know how to get on eachother's nerves.

"I do have friends." She spits back coldly, a certain venom emanating from her voice. She's almost hurt.

"Danyal's brother DOES NOT COUNT," Everett nods in the direction of the tall, olive-skinned boy sitting opposite me and raises his voice dramatically at the end so as to drown out Victoria's protests. Danyal doesn't even look up, though the ends of his lips curl up into an almost-smile.

"Why doesn't AJ count?" She places her hands on her hips and raises her eyebrows.

"Just because you snogged him in th-"

"Wait, YOU snogged my brother?" Danyal, who's been enjoying a game of exploding snap with himself this whole, now finally looks up and joins the conversation. I'm still spectating the show, slowly shoving another handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in my mouth.

Everett takes the opportunity to taunt his older sister more, still smiling to himself. "Oh, yeah! They were tonguing and all, and just as Strange and I walked in they-"

"Okay, Everett! He gets it."

An awkward silence falls upon the compartment, as Victoria takes a seat beside me. Us three boys still find kissing to be a precarious topic, especially me. I know, grow up. "Er, Everett?" A little voice cuts the awkward silence in half. Standing at the door is his younger sister, Beatrice. She's joined by Sultana, Danyal's sister. Both of them are first years. They've met every year for the past four years on the platform. All of our families are well acquanted already. 

Everett smiles warmly - a stark contrast to the reaction he gave Victoria. With Everett and Victoria being closer in age, they have a more competitive and almost aggressive relationship, whereas he's more more protective and caring of his younger sister. "Let me guess Bea, you want to sit here too?" His voice is soft and quieter like it usually is this time, not taunting. Beatrice nods back timidly.

"Go on then. It'll be a tight fit at this rate. Come on in and our gracious cook over her, Danyal, will provide you with a selection of our esteemed delicacies." He adds in an over-the-top host voice, as Beatrice and Sultana join us. Danyal throws the new group a few chocolate frogs. Beatrice catches them effortlessly, almost like time slowed down for her. Infamous Bertrand family reflexes on display. 

"THAT FREAKING LITTLE GIRL HAS INCREDIBLE REFLEXES! FUTURE HUFFLEPUFF SEEKER, I TELL YOU! IT MUST RUN IN THE FAMILY!" A new voice shrieks, startling all of us. It can only belong to one person...

Everett lurches back again, caught by  for the second time. This time his head hits Danyal's trunk harder and he groans in pain, rubbing the back of his head. "Merlin's balls! What on Earth have you got in there?"

AJ - the owner of the unmistakably loud voice and Danyal's older brother - whirls around the corner and flashes a charming smile. "It's solid wood, you spoon. Of course it's gonna hurt."

"Welcome to the Bertrand reside-" Victoria starts, with a smile.

I scoff and interrupt. "Eh, we're not Bertrands and we're here."

"Strength in numbers," Victoria shrugs, gesturing towards Beatrice and Everett.

Danyal looks genuinely angry about this. "I don't care, it's the bloody Shafiq residence." He looks stern, Sultana nods in agreement.

I join in, less angrily and more jokingly. "No, it bloody well isn't. It's the Brannagh resi-"

Danyal's choking on his own laughter. He snorts. "Brannagh is perhaps the silliest name-"

Now it's become personal. "No, you just cannot-"

"I don't give a toss, it's the Shafiq residence."

Soon our squabbling becomes indecipherable. Victoria is rolling her eyes, while Sultana and Beatrice are giggling at our antics.

"Who got head boy, Tory?" I ask, once the squabbling subsides.

She shuffles uncomfortably in her seat and shrugs, exchanging confused glances with Danyal. Weird.

"Probably David Thewick," I offer. "Never seen someone more perfect...for the role that is! But I mean, jheeze, that guy…" My gaze drifts off, as I pretend to daydream about David Thewick. Anyone who doesn't know me would think I have a crush on Thewick based on everyone's reaction. Truthfully, he is the most perfect candidate for the role.

Everyone looks at me, but I ignore the stares. I'm practically gushing over David Thewick like a fan girl, but I doesn't care. "Trust me, it's not him." Everett laughs. "I just saw him earlier, bloke seemed really angry from what I could tell. He was waving his wand around and muttering stuff like 'undeserving little bastard, he's gonna get a piece of my mind.' Didn't even have the courtesy to say hi."

Victoria shuffles uncomfortably in her seat again, while Danyal's supressing laughter. I must've missed something. Danyal grins widely. It's his turn to taunt his brother now. "Yeah, probably because it's my brother."

The compartment falls into complete silence again but it's immediate this time, as the occupants looks around at each other confused. I'm not buying the joke. Everett looks genuinely concerned about the absurdity of AJ being head boy, he looks like he's trying to work it out in his head. He wasn't even a prefect. Then we all throw our heads back and explode with laughter. It's a genuine, raucous laughter. Sure, he's likable but head boy? It doesn't really suit him, not that any sort of responsibility does - heck, he's Hogwarts resident prankster. I wouldn't even trust him as a prefect. He's unusually quiet. He merely sighs and slumps back into a seat, raising the collars of his jacket to cover the sides of his face. He's going to quickly realize that everyone will laugh when they found out. Well, maybe not David Thewick.

"Miss me?" A tall and handsome blonde pokes his head around the corner. He has a prefect badge pinned to his chest.

"Well, well, if it isn't Hogwarts' golden boy himself!" Danyal grins at the sight of our friend.

I roll my eyes. "What is it with you prefects and coming round here?"

Ebeneezer invites himself and shrugs. "Boring, we have to go back in a bit though. Meeting's going to start." He sits down on the floor, since it's the last spot remaining, and crosses his hands over his knees. "Aye, aye captain." Ebeneezer salutes Victoria, who flashes her seeker a smile.

The compartment door slides open. Again. Charlie Lewiston, a tall red head squeezes in. He's AJ's best friend. Marie, Victoria's best friend, is behind him and they're joined by Lewis and Bonnie.

"How big do you guys think this is?" I groan, moving into the corner to make room. There's more seventh years than there are us now. Six of them, and four of us now that Ebeneezer is here. Plus the two first years here.

The compartment is more than packed by now, there's no space left on the seats. AJ and Danyal's giant heights aren't helping the situation. We play exploding snap to determine who'd sit on the floor, as the Hogwarts Express chugs along. Beautiful country scenes pass by, but we're more concerned about the arm-wrestling tournament that's been set up. Everett is complaining about Victoria cheating, who rolls her eyes and makes a comment about 'constant vigilance' with a smug smirk on her face,