Fantastic Beasts: Alone

8 - Fifth years

It soon approached the end of the year. Edwin and I were still dating, and I still had all my loyal friends by my side. Evelyn celebrated the victory of the House Cup with the Slytherins, which the rest of us accepted very much, and Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup, which I was very proud of Edwin for. The New Era was tracked down by the end of our fourth year, and the followers had been sent to Azkaban. Our OWLs year was fast approaching, and the tensions increased as we entered our fifth year...

"Lia!" I turned on my heels quickly as Edwin walked towards me. I smiled and ran to him, hugging him passionately. He laughed. "Hello, Lia Scamander!" 

"Eddie!" He stroked my hair as my other friends - Anna Roberts, Fern Wright, Evelyn Curtis, and Phyll Tanner, our newest friend - got out of the Thestral-pulled carriages. Fern laughed.

"Hi, Lia." She said, helping Evelyn out of the carriage. I smiled at my friends, giving them a small hug each. After short 'hello's, I noticed a badge on Anna's robe.

"Prefect!" I said, pointing at it in amazement. Anna smiled and nodded.

"Yeah! I didn't really expect to be one, truth be told."

"Well done, Anna!" I pulled her into a very brief hug, before seeing another Prefect badge on Phyll's robe. "And you too, Phyll?"

"Oh, yeah! I'd forgotten..." I laughed and pulled him into a brief hug too. 

"Well done, both of you!"

Edwin chuckled. I looked at him, confused, as he shook his head.

"What're you laughing at, Eddie?" Edwin pointed out Ari, who was running away from us, headed for the Forbidden Forest. 

"Ari, get back here!" I ran over to him and grabbed him before he had the opportunity to get me in any trouble.

My friends laughed as we walked to the Great Hall together. 

Sadly, Clarice had left the school at the end of last year, and had gone to Ilvermorny in America, where her and her parents had moved to, and Ellen had to leave the school for reasons we weren't exactly sure of. We would miss them both, but in exchange, we befriended Phyll Tanner, our first (and only) Ravenclaw friend. I said a brief goodbye to Phyll, Edwin, and Evelyn, who sat down at their house tables, and went to find a seat with Anna and Fern.

"My brother's in first year, so he's getting sorted." Anna said, clearly excited to see which house he would be in.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You never told me you had a brother!" I exclaimed.

Anna laughed. "I didn't mention?" I shook my head, scoffing. "Sorry! Must've forgotten to tell you both! Well, his name's Felix, and he's just the sort for Hufflepuff, I would imagine!" I smiled. Another Hufflepuff! That sounded exciting after Isla, Ellen's younger sister, left! We sat in silence as the sorting began.

We got to Felix, and I felt Anna tensing up. I held her hand as Felix smiled at her and put the hat on his head. The hat almost immediately shouted: "SLYTHERIN!"

I heard Anna gasp and her breathing got a little louder. I rested a hand on her shoulder as Felix frowned worriedly at her again, before he put the Sorting Hat back down on the stool and raced over to the Slytherin table. I smiled at Evelyn, who looked grateful to have a new friend in her house, but who also noticed Anna's rigidness and mouthed: 'Is she ok?'

'Her brother.' I mouthed, referring to Felix, who was sat down with some of the other first year Slytherins. Evelyn seemed to understand as a look of worry spread across her face.

"Hello, Anna." Us five fifth years turned to see Felix smiling at Anna. Anna hugged Felix, who embraced the hug. I smiled. If only I could let myself go in a hug like everyone else did.