Hey! This is my first HP fanfic so no flames please! R&R!!!! I do not own Harry Potter or Hogwarts but I own Brienne and her family.

The Joker and Her, Chapter 1: The Dementors on the Train

As Brienne Christie walked down the short corridors of the Hogwarts Express, she passed carriages in search of an empty one. As one of the last new students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to actually get onto the train, Brienne was passing full carriages with people her age who knew each other greatly, or first-years who were awkwardly conversing about Quidditch and discussing what House they were to be placed in.

True, this was Brienne's first year at Hogwarts, but she was not eleven, she was fifteen, and attending her fifth year of magical learning, having previous education in France at Beauxbatons.

Knocking on the door of another carriage, Brienne tugged on her long black Hogwarts robe, trying to make it represent some form of style.

"Come in," came a female, somewhat dreamy voice from inside the carriage. Brienne opened it, only to find it empty, except for a girl, younger than Brienne, with long light blonde hair pulled into a braid. She had green eyes and a blue crest with a bronze eagle with a black R over it was emblazoned on her chest. Strangely, she was reading a magazine upside-down. Even more strangely, she was wearing earrings with small radish's dangling on the ends.

"Um, is it OK if I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

The girl looked up,

"Of course." she said, returning her gaze to the magazine. She had an Irish accent. Brienne sat opposite the girl, taking out her wand (rosewood, nine and a half inches, unicorn hair) from her pocket and rubbed it on her robes, trying to make it cleaner, as her father had advised. Silent minutes later, the girl spoke,

"You're new, arn't you?"

She put aside her magazine.

"Er, yes. How did you know?"

"I didn't see you last year. I mean, you arn't a first-year, are you?"

"I guess not."

"How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen, i'm starting my fifth year. I'm from Beauxbatons."

"I can tell, your accent."

Brienne blushed in embarrassment. She hadn't realised she still had an accent. Then she realised she didn't know the girl's name.

"I'm Brienne Christie," Brienne said, "and you?"

"Luna Lovegood. Although some people call me Loony Lovegood. I can't see why."

Brienne felt a wave of sympathy for Luna.

Suddenly, the train slowed to a dramatic stop, and all of the lights went out. At the erupt stop, Brienne's heart was sent into her throat. Her nerves building, Brienne looked at Luna to see if this was a routine thing. She shook her head, looking puzzled.

They could hear the confused murmurs of students. Brienne stood, opened the carriage door and stuck her head out, as many people were doing. Opposite them, at the same time, a boy somewhat her age, perhaps a little younger, did the same thing, and their heads knocked together.

"Hey, watch it!" The boy snarled. He had a green crest on his robes and had silver-blonde hair. Brienne narrowed her eyes as the boy shut the door again. He was definitely someone to avoid.

Returning to her seat, Brienne couldn't't help but notice that everything suddenly had gotten significantly colder. Wrapping her robes around herself, as was Luna. Brienne stood to check the window was shut. It was. Frozen shut, in fact.

Worriedly, Brienne opened the carriage door again, ignoring Luna's comment ("Cold, isn't it? Oh I am hungry, I hope they have that pie they had at the feast last year, that was lovely...") and poked her head out again. And immediately jumped back.

Outside their carriage and a little to the side, was where a tall, cloaked figure with scabby, bony arms floated outside another carriage. Just seeing it made ice grip Brienne's heart. Sensing Luna joining her at the door, Brienne turned and saw another one of the creatures gliding down the corridor straight toward their carriage. Gasping simultaneously, Luna and Brienne slammed the door shut and pressed their bodies against it, praying that the Dementor couldn't't get in.

"What are they?" Brienne asked Luna, but it was pointless asking a second-year.

"I'm not sure...Daddy said something about Cloaked Farnzies coming to the school this year..."

"What on Earth are Cloaked Farnzies?"

"Well, Daddy says they glide around gathering warmth...but there's no warmth here, so they can't be here too long."

Brienne began to realise why people called her Loony Lovegood.

After a while of struggling to keep the door closed against the cloaked creature, it seemed to give up, and warmth slowly came back. The lights came back on and the train started moving again, sending Luna and Brienne flying into their seats.

A female voice sounded across the train, seeming to come from nowhere,

"I'm sorry for that disturbance. The Dementors were just scanning the train as a safety precaution. We will be stopping at Hogsmeade Station soon. Thank you."

As the voice died there was a soft murmur that could be heard from across the train, which was the students discussing the disturbance from the Dementors. Brienne could hear the boy from the opposite carriage raging at his friends.

"Dementors? Dementors! What do they think they're doing? Just they wait until my father hears about this..."

Brienne rolled her eyes. She hadn't escaped the spoiled princesses.

At Beauxbatons, it was hard to identify a friend, as most girls looked like twins, with their long silvery blonde hair, silvery blue eyes and clear, smooth complexions. Whilst Brienne carried off this 'tradition', Brienne was curvaceous and her hair looked like a mask, which is why she always had it pulled up, unlike her ex-fellow Beauxbatons students who were tall, willowy and stunning. Brienne looked like a Beauxbatons 'little sister', in her own eyes, anyway.

After a while, the train pulled to a stop and Brienne and Luna grabbed all of their essential belongings and left the train, along the way being squashed in between a dark boy with dreadlocks and a tall boy with red hair and glasses.

Finally escaping the train, Brienne and Luna squeezed through the crowds to a beautiful lakeside. Brienne could hear a man with a gruff voice yelling,

"First-years! First-years this way please! First-years!"

Getting confused, Brienne stopped, and Luna suggested she go ask him where she was supposed to be.

"You must go along the lake with the first-years if you want to get Sorted."

And Luna was gone, sitting alone on top of a floating carriage that began to pull itself down a winding road. Brienne turned and moved to where the voice came from, and found herself standing in front of a huge man, at least double her height and five times her weight. He had a large curly beard and his hair covered most of his face. He was a truly terrifying sight.

"You're the Christie girl, en't yeh? Uhh..." he consulted a sheet of paper in his hand, "Bree-en?"

Brienne nodded, and the large man grabbed her by the arm (his hand was big enough to swallow her whole limb) and took her over to the lakeside, where a large group of undoubtedly first-years were standing.

"Righ', we're all gonna be floatin' on these boats across the lake to Hogwarts. I'm Hagrid, i'm the Gamekeeper of Hogwarts. After goin' across the lake, yur' goin' inside the castle, where you would be sorted into yer' houses. Any questions?"

The first years looked at each other nervously and then up at Brienne, confused, and all of them were at least up to her elbows.

"Righ', off we go then, two to a boat, Brienne you have a boat to yerself. And off we go!"