Eyes of Sapphire

Chapter 1

If I hear the word prefect one more time...
You would think that I'd have woken up with a more positive thought, but no. My pompous git of an older brother, Percy, had been shoving his shiny new prefect badge into all our faces and I'm sick of it! If I have to hear the word prefect one more bloody time, let's just say all he will be able to taste is dirty socks for the rest of his life. Across the room, my younger sister groaned, pulling her pink bedsheets over her head. The sight made me cringe. Ginger and pink do NOT belong together under any circumstance. Feeling more then a little mean, I tiptoed out of bed, grabbed the end of her covers and yanked them off of her, exposing her pajama clad body to the cool morning air. I sprang back and grabbed my clothes that I had prepared yesterday before legging it to the bathroom, barely beating Ron to it. The door had just slammed shut behind me, yet I could already hear my annoying twit of a twin brother complaining I was taking too long.
Barely ten minutes later, I emerged fully dressed in a cloud of steam and allowed my hair to whip Ron across the face as I turned on my heel to grab my trunk from outside my door. All I could hear was Ron mumbling under his breath. After the very trying journey of hauling my trunk down the stairs, I arrived in the kitchen, where I was promptly pushed aside by my older brother Percy. Just before I could hit the ground, I was swooped up into a fireman's lift by one of my two favourite brothers, Fred. When you have seven siblings it's very easy to become invisible. It didn't take long for Ginny to start complaining that she wasn't going to Hogwarts and for Mum to start yelling at Ron to hurry up. I was already done with these people I was forced to call "family".
By the time we reached King's Cross Station, I was at my wits end. Fortunately for me, I had a very prominent cunning side to me, and that side used the very crowded station and busy large family to my advantage. I managed to sneak off and made my way through the barrier without any of my family knowing. Emerging onto the platform in front of the scarlet stem engine, I felt like I could finally breath and be myself again. I cartined my trolly over to the attendant and readily hopped onto the train. Thankfully the train was mostly empty so it was fairly easy to find an empty compartment. Making myself comfortable, I pulled out my potions book and began to read, quickly losing myself in the book. I was disturbed a little while later by the door being pushed open slowly. A girl my age stood in the doorway, a cage containing an owl clutched in her hand. She appeared to be quite nervous.

"Hello. I hope you don't kind if I sit here. Everywhere else is full."

I nodded my head. "Uh, no problem." I gestured to the seat across from me. She sat down in the seat, placing the seat with her owl in it on the empty seat beside her. I noticed a label with Aphrodite written in cursive. I guessed that that was the owl's name. I held my hand out for her to shake.

"I'm Sapphire Weasley."

She shook my hand, introducing herself in return. "April Martin."

She quickly retracted her hand and nervously began playing with the hem of her t-shirt. I noticed that she kind of carried the nervousness of a Muggle-born, and me being my curious self, just had to ask.

"Are you Muggle-born?" OK,that was blunt!

Her brows furrowed as she glanced at me, clearly taken aback by the bluntness of my question.

With a shake of her hair, she answered. "No, I'm a half-blood. Both of my parents are Muggle-born though."

"Oh, I'm a Pureblood. My family's been pureblood for generations." I told her. I could feel the disgust that my family tainted the word pureblood slightly creeping into my words.

"That must be great, all I really know about the Wizarding world is what my parents learned at school. It must be amazing to grow up in a family like that." She sounded amazed but I quickly shook my head.

"Trust me, I'd rather be a muggle-born then grow up with my family." I spat. I could see her eyebrows raising, so I hastily explained the least mean version. "I never get a minutes peace in that house."

"Big family?" She questioned. I nodded my head once more.

"I've got six brothers and one sister." I could see her eyes widening as I spoke.

"I've only got one brother and he's five. Tell me about them." She leaned forward as if to hear me better, whilst I was a little shocked that for such a shy girl, she could have that kind of demanding tone in her.

"Well, Bill was first, he's a curse breaker in Egypt. Then there was Charlie, he's studying dragons in Romania. Then Percy, he's a pompous git who's been shoving in everyone's faces that he's prefect this year. Then there's the twins, Fred and George. They're the pranksters. Then there's me and Ron, we're twins too. And then Ginny, she's the baby of the family. Mum loves her." I rolled my eyes at the thought.

"Wow, Bentley learned not to eat glue anymore, that's the achievement of the summer." I laughed and could feel myself softening a little towards the girl as she smiled back. I genuinely liked her. She seemed funny.

Not being shy about what I was thinking, I bluntly told her my thoughts." I like you April." I smiled as I watched a soft blush cover her cheeks.

"I like you too, Sapphire. And your abnormally large family." She laughed and I joined in, thankful that someone wasn't casting me in my familyvs shadow as I had grown accustomed to. That's the minute I knew I had met my best friend. I know, cheesy right? But true.

April leaned forward slightly, as if about to tell me a secret. "So, tell me. Which sibling is your favourite?"

Slightly twirling my hair, I had no hesitation admitting the truth. "The twins. We're sort of the black sheep of the family. Mum hates nearly everything we do. The twins spend their time pulling pranks or making stupid jokes while I hate fitting into the stereotype of my family."

"Stereotype?" She questioned, obviously confused.

"Yeah, the Weasley's. All ginger Gryffindors with a muggle loving father. Dad had a weird obsession with muggles."

I spent the entire journey laughing and talking with April about our families. I don't think either of us had realised we had stopped until April pointed out a giant man holding a lamp.

"I guess we're at Hogsmeade." I sighed.

Hogwarts, I hope you're ready for me.