Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 6: Flying First

Briallen woke up the next morning and did not remember where she was. She sat up quickly and looked around the strange room, frightened. There were four other beds and four other girls in the same room as her.

"Did you forget that you're at Bergamot?" asked a pretty Asian girl sitting on the bed to Briallen's right. "I forgot where I was too when I woke up this morning. Nearly had a heart attack." The girl giggled.

"Uh... yeah. This is my first time away from home. I guess it's going to take more getting used to than I thought."

"That's what Aolani told Noelle and me last night. She said she still wakes up sometimes not knowing where she is and she's a fifth year!"

"Aolani? Noelle?"

"Aolani... one of our prefects? You not good with names, are you? I take it you don't remember my name either, Briallen?" Briallen's cheeks reddened and she shook her head. The pretty Asian girl sighed. "Chante Nguyen. Noelle Dugan is in the bed on your other side," she said as she pointed to Briallen's left. All Briallen could see was a lump of purple and a lot of white-blonde hair. "The girl on the other side of me is Kimmy Moseley and that girl over there is Cassandra Elwood but she only responds to Cass."

Briallen looked at the other two girls, relieved she had already met Cass. Kimmy, a girl who had a sharp bowl-cut hair-do and sunburned skin, was placing her books in alphabetical order on the bookshelf above her nightstand. Briallen remembered her clearly from the night before because she had thought the girl looked like a tomato. Cass, currently making her bed, was just as put-together as she was the night before and seemed to pay no attention to the other girls she shared a room with.

"I remember now. There were just so many new people... I couldn't remember everybody."

"Maybe you would have if you hadn't been staring at the sorting staff or Lucan Stone during the entire sorting," said Chante shortly. "Anyway, I'm going down to breakfast now - they're going to be giving us our schedules down there. You can sit with me if you want to."

"Oh, wait, Chante! I'll come with you!" cried Kimmy quickly as she left the remaining unorganized books scattered across her bed and hurried after Chante.

Briallen sighed and got out of bed to get ready for the day. When she returned from the bathroom she noticed that Cass and Noelle were gone and she sighed again, only in disappointment at having been left alone already. She went to her dresser on the side of her bed and opened the top drawer where she placed her socks and underwear. Then she moved onto the next drawer where she put her school vests, shirts, and skirts and she continued moving down until all of her clothes had been put in the dresser. Finally, Briallen got dressed, deciding she would put away everything else later.

Briallen was unhappy as she pulled on her new Withers robes (which, along with her school ties, had been delivered during that night). She had forgotten to ask Toby, or anyone else for that matter, to wait for her in the morning so that she wouldn't have to find the dining room alone. Briallen checked herself once more in her mirror and left, satisfied with her appearance for the first day of school.

When she reached the common room she noticed an older boy with dark blonde hair tying his shoelaces by the fireplace. Hesitantly, she walked over to him.

"Um..." Briallen started. She was suddenly feeling very shy.

He finished tying his shoe and stood up. Briallen's eyes widened when she noticed how tall he was and she took a step backwards.

"First year," said the boy. Briallen crossed her arms, looked down at her shoes and nodded. At the school she had gone to in Hopewell (she had last been in fifth grade), she had been the oldest and so she had no experience in dealing with teenagers. "Could you show me where the dining hall is, please?" asked Briallen, not taking her eyes from the floor.

"Well, I suppose I can, though escorting first years to breakfast isn't really part of my job." Briallen glanced up just as he pointed to the prefect badge on his robes. "I'm Benjamin Beauvais, remember?"

"Um..."

Benjamin rolled his eyes. "Come on." He walked out of the common room with Briallen following closely behind him. When they left the passageway behind the portrait of Sir Lawrence of Woodcroft and entered a great hall full of portraits and moving staircases, Briallen was in awe.

"Whoa! Bevin, watch out! We're four floors up so I'd suggest waiting for the staircase to come to us before you try to get to the main floor, unless you want to eat breakfast in the hospital wing. Mrs Krause, the school nurse, isn't the most pleasant company this early in the day, though." Briallen gasped as Benjamin pulled her away from the edge of the landing. "...And you can let go of my arm now." Briallen blushed, realizing she had a tight grasp on Benjamin's arm. Then she realized he had said her name.

"You know who I am?" asked Briallen as she and Benjamin stepped onto the staircase that stopped just then at the fourth floor landing.

"You're Dean Bevin's granddaughter. I'm pretty sure that almost everybody, at least second year and above, knows who you are."

"Seriously? Why?"

"...Because you are the Dean's granddaughter..."

They had reached the main floor landing and were now walking down a wide hallway lined with suits of armor, a place she didn't remember from the previous night. "So?" asked Briallen as they passed a suit of armor that was reciting a poem about some people at a place called the Tabard Inn. Briallen glanced back, amused, at the poetry-reciting suit of armor.

"So? Nobody here even knew that Dean Bevin had a family and suddenly we're told his granddaughter is going to be at Bergamot this year? That's big news because Dean Bevin is so... mysterious. Nobody really knows anything about him, aside from he's a really nice guy. I guess we're all hoping to learn something about him from you."

Briallen looked at the boy and raised her eyebrows. "Sorry, but apparently I don't know very much about him either. Before... all of this," she said as she waved her hand in a great arc while looking around the grand entrance hall they had just walked into, "all I knew was that he's English, he's my grandfather, and was the very busy Dean of some private school. Well... I also know some about his wife - my Grandma Bevin. She died before I was born, though. And of course his son, who's my dad."

Benjamin nodded, understanding. "Was your grandmother a witch too?"

"No, she was a Muggle."

"A Muggle... so did your dad go to Hogwarts?"

"My Grandpa went to Hogwarts; he was in Gryffindor. My dad's not magical though. And they moved to America when he was a little boy so he went to school here."

This time it was Benjamin who raised his eyebrows. "Really..."

Their conversation ended abruptly when they entered the dining hall to find a large group of people between the Wenlock and Withers table yelling at each other. Briallen was heading towards the other side of the Withers table in order to avoid the fighting group when she noticed that in the middle of the fight was Marisol and Dante. Marisol had just began to ferociously poke Dante while screaming something quickly in Spanish when Benjamin and a pudgy, older Wenlock girl also wearing a prefect badge pulled them apart. They quickly dispersed the crowd and Briallen immediately went to the Wenlock table and sat down next to Marisol, not caring that it wasn't her house table.

"What was that all about?" asked Briallen in a whisper as she helped herself to scrambled eggs and sausage.

"Well, I came down to breakfast, right? And I'm minding my own business when Dante comes in, sits right behind me - where you were sitting last night, you know? And starts telling the boy next to him how Puerto Ricans aren't really Hispanic and that they're a disgrace to all Spanish-speaking people and other stupid derogatory things. And I know he knew I was there. He was saying those things on purpose, Briallen," she said as she wiped away a tear that had began to form. "Why is he so mean?"

"I don't know. We can't let him think that he can get to you like that, though. I was just going to ignore him forever but apparently he's a confrontational sort of person so I say we do something to him so that he won't want to mess with us anymore."

"Oh yeah, and what are we going to do? Throw a dungbomb on his bed? We know hardly any spells and Ava Hudson and Amir Alajabiri - Wenlock prefects - are going to be watching me like a hawk around him now. Especially since I complained to them last night about Dante."

"Well, I didn't say anything to my house prefects and only you and Toby Davis know that I don't like him... we can come up with a plan together and I'll execute it."

"Execute what?" asked Benjamin from behind Briallen. Briallen turned around and nearly choked on her sausage. "I hope you aren't planning to break any rules on the very first day of class, Bevin. What would your grandfather think?" He handed Briallen a sheet of paper. "That's your schedule. I suggest you be on your very best behavior because you have your flying lesson first and Miss Winsome is very strict." After a quick wink, Benjamin had moved on to the next Withers first year.

"He's cute," said Marisol as she continued to watch the older boy pass out schedules to other students.

Briallen laughed and she looked over her schedule. "Marisol! Our first class begins in ten minutes!"

"What?! I still have to run back to my room for my Transfiguration book!"

"You have Transfiguration first?"

"Yeah. You have every class with only one other house. Except for the electives which are mixtures since not everybody takes those courses. See: we're in Ancient Runes, History of Magic, Herbology and Elemental Magic together."

"How do you know which house you have a class with?" asked Briallen as she looked at her schedule again to see if stated which houses have which class.

"I don't know. Guess you find out when you get there. I'll see you in a couple of hours in History of Magic, chica." Marisol left the Wenlock table and took off running to retrieve her books. Feeling awkward for sitting at the Wenlock table by herself, Briallen left the dining hall too, even though she hadn't finished her breakfast.

"Briallen! Wait up!" shouted Toby Davis just as Briallen was heading outside. He caught up to her, breathing hard with two pieces of toast crumbling in his hands. "I slept in..."

"Lucky. I hope broom flying isn't too active. It's too early and I am so tired."

"I feel the same way," mumbled Toby, his mouth now full of toast.

After briefly looking around, Briallen noticed a group of kids in a patch of open ground on the left side of the school. "Come on, that must be them," said Briallen as she tugged on Toby's robes and started towards the group of people.

"Ah, finally, the last two have arrived, and right on time. One second later and I would have had to give you detention," said a sickly-sweet voice from somewhere in the crowd of kids. Miss Winsome stepped out from behind some boys, her long red hair pulled into a tight braid and gleaming like fire under the morning sun. "I want you all to take a place on the left side of one of those brooms over there. Platts on one side, Withers on the other.

The kids walked over to where the brooms were lined up on the ground and did as instructed without question - everybody must have heard the same horrible things about this teacher because everybody was on their best behavior. Miss Winsome stood on one end and looked over the students in front of her. "Christian Chavira! Tell me - have you ever rode a broom before?"

The dark skinned boy standing opposite Toby nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Miss Winsome stared expectantly at the boy, her hands clasped behind her back, her foot tapping the ground. "Well?"

Christian looked unsure of himself. "She wants you to show the class how to use a broom," whispered Lucan Stone from his place next to Christian.

"Stone! Would you like to share your thoughts with the rest of us?"

"No, ma'am," mumbled Lucan as he stared down at his shoes.

"Fine then. Detention, Friday with Mr Eldred, the groundskeeper. You can talk to him all you want. I believe he's been having problems hinkypunks over by the north wood's wall. I'm sure he'd love your help."

Lucan's eyes widened and half the class gasped. Briallen had no idea what hinkypunks were but apparently they weren't fluffy loving animals since most of the class look horrified. Toby had the same look of confusion on his face, having been raised in a non-magic household like Briallen.

"Quiet!" Miss Winsome shrieked. She walked up and down between the two lines of students before finally stopping in front of Briallen. "Briallen Bevin... Dean Bevin's granddaughter. Being related to such a great man and talented Quidditch Chaser must make you a natural on the broom. Let's see, then."

Briallen stared at the woman. She did not want Miss Winsome to know she had no previous flying experience but that was just the problem: she had no clue what to do with a broom. Her eyes darted back to Lucan Stone for some reason, half-expecting him to help her as he had helped Christian Chavira. Sure enough, he held his right hand over his own broom and mouthed the word 'up'. She was thankful he was so persistent and hadn't decided to ignore her after she was so mean to him the last time they met.

"Well, Bevin?" asked Miss Winsome as she stepped closer to Briallen. She was so close that Briallen could smell the teacher's breath and she frowned as the scent of something dead invaded her nostrils.

Briallen held her right hand over her broom. "Up," she said half-heartedly, hoping the Lucan had in fact intended to help her. The broom shook and then slowly floated up to her hand. Briallen smiled happily and Miss Winsome glowered.

"So... are you going to get on or not?" asked Miss Winsome as she glared at Briallen.

With a scowl, Briallen swung one leg over the broom. I can do this, no problem, she thought as she gently pushed off from the ground, guessing that would get her in the air. The broom lifted her a few feet above the rest of the class.

"Good job," said Miss Winsome through gritted teeth, obviously angry that Briallen had managed to do what she asked. "You can land now."

Then Briallen realized she had no idea how to land. She pulled the handle of the broom up, thinking she could just slide off the back but the broom apparently had other plans as it shot into the air instead. Briallen suddenly found her self hundreds of feet above the ground, holding onto the broom with all the strength she had.

Briallen scolded herself for not looking to Lucan for help in landing as she glanced down at the large castle beneath her. She could see a long wall stretching along a forest and a green maze on one side of the school, a giant clock tower on the opposite side in between the greenhouses that their flying lessons were next to, several of the large towers protruding above the castle and what looked like a graveyard not far from the clock tower. She could even see The Village in the distance she was so high up.

Just as she was becoming comfortable enough on the broom to loosen her grip and raise herself up, it shot downwards towards the several long glass greenhouses. She closed her eyes and lowered her head to try and protect it when she heard glass shatter and then landed with a hard thud in a pile of fertilizer. Briallen groaned and opened her eyes.

"Hey! It's Dean Bevin's granddaughter!" said a girl with red hair as she pulled Briallen off of the pile of fertilizer. Briallen recognized her front the night before as Kara Price.

"How observant you are, darling," said a cute boy with dark green eyes from his place next to Kara. Briallen's heart fluttered again. He was the handsome olive-skinned Summerbee she had seen last night. Kara playfully swatted the boy on the arm and giggled.

"Thank you Miss Price, I can handle it from here. Briallen Bevin? I'm Professor Stalkes. Come with me, I'll take you back to your class."

With the school broom Briallen had fallen from in one hand and her arm in his other, Professor Stalkes escorted Briallen back to where her flying class was presently practicing proper gripping techniques. Miss Winsome was belittling a fellow Withers for not gripping his broomstick correctly. Obviously she hadn't even bothered to try and help Briallen.

"Mara? Are you missing a student?" asked Professor Stalkes curtly.

"Why, yes, I am. Thank you for returning her to me, Consus."

"Not a problem. Please take into consideration the window she broke after crashing into greenhouse four when you assign her a detention."

"Of course."

Professor Stalkes nodded, turned and walked back towards his greenhouses. Miss Winsome sneered at Briallen. "I guess you're not as good with a broom as one would expect. You can accompany Mr Stone in detention this Friday. Let's hope you're more adept at handling hinkypunks than you are at handling broomsticks, yeah?"