annie's pov

my eyes fluttered and i let out a yawn. i rolled over and peeked at my alarm clock. it read 6:05 am. great. i still had five more hours until i had to be on the hogwarts express.

well, i guess i'm the one to blame here. it was my idea to go to sleep at seven pm so i would wake up energized. i guess it worked, since i couldn't go back to sleep. and the fact that i was going back to hogwarts today was not helping. my body was shaking with excitement. literally. i couldn't wait to go and meet my friends. true, I did meet them at the quidditch world cup, but leilani couldn't even come since her parents are muggles. also, that was two whole weeks ago!

leilani jones , pronounced lay•lani by the way, I'm just telling you so she doesn't rearrange your face, is one of my best friends. she always accompanies me to the kitchens to sneak up some snacks for parties, or whenever we feel hungry, which is all the time.

a lot of people think she's bi, but she actually only likes guys. she doesn't just like them, she's obsessed with them! she's currently crushing on this guy called joey birlem, who i'm pretty sure she hasn't even had a real conversation with.

then there's bella hayes. bella is literally the biggest sweetheart you'll ever meet, but mess with someone she loves and she will hurt you. her crush is some dude called sean evans. i've seen him in our classes and in the common room but i don't know much about him. except for the fact that he's a gryffindor and he's friends with asher.

asher angel is also one of my best friends. i've known him since i was ten. he's kind of good looking, but don't tell him i said that, or i'll never hear the end of it. a lot of girls who don't even know him literally drool over him, which makes him kind of flirty, but as a joke. he pretends to be cocky but he's actually a sweetheart and doesn't really like how all those girls do that. one of them even tried to slip a bottle of amortentia in his pumpkin juice. luckily he didn't swallow it.

my friends aren't the only things that I miss at school. i miss the hallways scattered with suits of armors that patrol the night and the talking portraits and the moving staircases so much it hurts.

i eventually got bored just lying there, so i double checked my trunk to make sure i didn't leave anything behind. i didn't, which was a little disappointing. i sighed and went into my bathroom to freshen up. once i was done i went back to my room and pulled my hair into a bun. then i went downstairs for breakfast. my dad was helping my mom set the table. he's a muggle, but i still love him. he loves hearing about hogwarts and is amazed when we play quidditch or whenever mom does any magic, it's kind of funny actually.

hayley, my little sister was complaining about feeling sore.

"well it's your fault for playing quidditch all day with annie and caleb, dear." mom said, bringing in the pancakes.

"but mommy! how come they aren't sore?" hayley cried.

"because we actually stay on our brooms." caleb said. i sniggered as i thought of hayley falling off her broom again and again yesterday. mom had to cast several cushioning charms so she wouldn't hurt herself. hayley's going in her second year and caleb's in his sixth. he's turning seventeen this year, which means he'll be able to cast the cushioning charms next summer.

i ate my breakfast and went upstairs . i packed my robes, which i would change into on the train and my night stuff. once i was done, i decided to get dressed. we have to wear muggle clothes for the journey to kings' cross, so we don't attract too much attention. dad helps us pick out our muggle clothes, and I'm glad that he does. some pure-blood families wear such atrocious clothes. caleb's friend sydney once wore a blue denim dress with red trousers and yellow rain boots.

i got into a black t-shirt with blue mom jeans and some black sneakers. muggles call them "vans", which i find weird. why would you name a brand of shoes after a vehicle?

i grabbed my trunk and heaved it downstairs. i placed it on top of caleb and hayley's and sat on the couch to watch tv, which is a muggle device where you can watch people pretend to be other people on these things called "tv shows", and the muggle news. hayley was watching some cartoon and i decided to read, since i personally find muggle "shows" boring.

after around half an hour, mom and dad old us to prop our butts in the car. just kidding, they didn't actually say that. well, dad didn't.

i ran upstairs to go grab my greater sooty owl, pepper.

the journey to kings' cross was uneventful. caleb and hayley argued the whole way, mom tried to get them to shut up but was unsuccessful, and dad just hummed to some muggle songs. i just looked out the window, imagining all the fun me, lani and bella would have on the ride.

we finally arrived with fifteen minutes to spare. we got our trunks and placed them on these trolleys that we had to drag.

"so annie will go first..who wants to go with her?' mom asked.

"ooh! me me me me!" my dad said, jumping up and down like a little kid.

my mom rolled her eyes at him and laughed. "okay daddy and annie will go first, then caleb will drag hayley's trunk and i'll bring his. everyone got it?"

we all nodded. me and dad went through the barrier. dad looked even more excited than me. i was looking for a compartment when someone pulled me inside one.

"you're here!" bella said, and hugged me. I hugged her back.

"stop hogging her belles it's my turn!" lani said and she pulled me away from bella and hugged me.

"i missed you guys." i said, smiling.

"we missed you too." lani said. she helped me put my trunk in the compartment above, while bella played with pepper.

i went outside and hugged mom and dad goodbye.

"try not to lose gryffindor too many points this year sweetie, i really want us to win the house cup." mom said.

"can't make any promises." i shrugged. the train started moving. i gave my parents one last hug before running in my compartment.

i caught up with lani and bella and we talked about what we did this summer.

"no frickin way! death eaters came to the world cup?' lani asked bella and me after we had told her about what had happened. we nodded grimly.

"let's change the topic guys. the thought of death eaters makes me uncomfortable." bella shuddered.

"guys, have you seen joey birlem anywhere?" lani asked, looking outside our compartment.

"why are you so obsessed with him?" bella asked. "it's just a crush and you're probably going to forget about him in like a week. or whenever you see some other cute guy."

"it is not just a crush!" lani protested. "have you noticed that every single crush I've ever had only lasted for like, a month?"

"uhh, yea."

"you kind of have a problem, lani."

"well i've been crushing on joey since june! it is now September! this thing has lasted for three whole months guys!"

"whatever you say, LJ." i sighed. it's pointless to argue with lani over guys. absolutely pointless.

"hey that rhymed!" bella said, and lani rolled her eyes. soon after that the trolley witch came and we immediately took the lot.

"if you continue eating at this rate you aren't going to fit into your robes." came a cold voice. we looked up. it was lauren williams.

lauren and i used to be best friends when we were younger, but all of a sudden, in the second year, she stopped talking to me and became really mean, which is totally not like her. lauren is really nice to her friends, but a total biyotch to her enemies.

"i think i might have Alzheimer's, since i don't remember the last time i asked for your opinion." i replied. lani and bella oohed, and lauren scowled at me.

"be careful leblanc. you don't wanna be on my bad side. oh wait, your already on it." she said.

i stood up. "you had a bad side? i thought that was just how you normally act." i said. we both glared at each other.

"uhh, we're about to reach hogwarts laur. maybe we should go and change into our robes." lauren's best friend vanessa said.

lauren gave me one last dirty look, which i returned and walked out of our compartment.

i slammed the door.

"i feel sorry for vanessa. she seems really sweet. too bad her friend is a complete a-whole." lani said.

i laughed. "well her friend's right. we should probably get changed."

we got into our robes and the bus stopped.

"we're here!" bella squealed.

we got out and walked over to the carriages, which are pulled by invisible horses. lani and bella sat in a carriage. i was about to sit with them but two fifth year girls beat me to it. i sighed and sat in another carriage.

a few minutes later, harry potter, ron weasley, hermione granger and neville longbottom joined me.

that's right beaches, i'm in the same year as harry potter.

deal with it.

"hi guys."

"hey annie." they all replied.

"man i'm, starving." ron said, rubbing his stomach.

"me too. i hope their's pudding." i smiled.

"honestly ron, you just ate." hermione said, aghast.

"i'm a growing boy!" ron defended himself. neville laughed, but harry looked out the window.

"you okay?" i asked.

"huh?" he said, looking up at me. "yeah, i'm fine, just tired." i nodded and began talking to hermione.

✧･ﾟ: *

we entered the great hall and watched the sorting ceremony patiently. well, bella and i watched patiently, lani and ron kept moaning about how hungry they were.

the feast was great, as always. then dumbledore announced that the triwizard tournament would take place at hogwarts later this year. we were all really excited, until he told us that only kids that were seventeen and older could participate.

"oh well, i guess i'll be rooting for caleb." i said as we went upstairs.

"fairy lights." i said to the fat lady.

i went upstairs to my dorm, changed into my pj's, and let out a low, "goodnight" before collapsing on my bed, thinking about how good it felt to be back at hogwarts.

a/n:

this stupid fly keeps annoying me, but it's not gonna affect how excited I am about this book!

Word count:

1796