First Year: Chapter Two

Here is the next update!  This is dedicated to AbbyRose, for her awesome comment!  :)  The next comment gets the next dedication!  This is an interesting chapter, and I remember typing this all up from my copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I think it is found in Chapter Four, but I'm not sure.

Enjoy!  :)

-Madeline

First Year: Chapter Two

The Letter from the Barred Owl

The next morning was normal. I got dressed, brushed my hair, cleaned my room, made my bed and then went downstairs to eat breakfast.

“Morning, Emma,” said Mom cheerfully.

          “Morning, Mom!” I said in an equally cheerful voice. I seated myself down at the worn oak wood table, and then helped myself to some hot blueberry pancakes.

“Emma can you pass the bacon?” asked Dad behind the morning newspaper. 

“Yep!” I said and handed him the plate of crispy Canadian bacon. “Can you please pass the syrup, Dad?”

He laughed and put the newspaper on the empty chair beside him. “Of course, Emma,” he said handing me the small glass bottle of Maple syrup. 

“Mom? Can I please go and play at Jenna’s house tomorrow?” I asked as I placed my knife in the butter dish and slathered it on my pancakes. 

“Of course! But why tomorrow?” she asked.

“Well, I told Mrs. Kitten that I would help her weed the garden today and plant the flowers she bought yesterday,” I said as I poured thick brown syrup over my mountain pancakes.

“Oh,” said Mom, reaching to take some bacon. “OH!” she really cried and she accidentally spilled the pitcher full of orange juice next to her arm.

“Mom! What is it?” I cried as the orange juice began creeping toward me across the table. She pointed at the window. 

Mom must have opened it to let in the cool summer breeze in morning. I had my back to the window so I turned around in my seat and gasped. 

An owl swooped in under the lace curtains and landed on the table. He was quite handsome, with black beady eyes, a yellow beak, yellow talons with sharp tips, and a feathery body, the feathers in different shades of brown.

Dad let loose a cry and his eyes widened behind his glasses. The owl turned his head toward me and held out a leg. I then realized there was a crisp white letter tied to it. He hooted and shook his leg.

I was uncertain. When I was seven I had gone into a pet shop and a mean parrot had bit me on the hand. It hurt quite a lot. “Take it Emma!” said Mom excitedly.

        “Um, why?” I asked.

        “Just do it, you’ll see!” she said.  Her eyes were shining.

I held out a hand and quickly untied the letter. “Here boy,” said Mom quietly, a smile on her face. In her hands she held a crisp piece of bacon. The owl ruffled its feathers importantly, flapped over, accepted the bacon, opened its wings, and then flew back outside through the window and disappeared in the cloudless blue sky.

“What was that!?” I exclaimed.

“A Hogwarts Owl!” said Mom happily.

“That was one of the…” said Dad with wide eyes.

Mom nodded excitedly. “Our daughters a witch!”

“What? I’m a witch?” I cried. “You mean I’m a bad girl?”

“Oh! No dear! I’m sorry! Oh! Just open the letter!” said Mom excitedly. 

I looked down at the letter and broke the red seal stamped on the center. My eyes widened as I quickly read the letter, and then I had to re-read it to take it all in:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of  WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Roth, 

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

“I’m a…I’m a wizard!” I exclaimed excitedly. 

“That you are dear!” said Mom. “May I please see it?” she asked. I handed her the letter and then looked for the other piece of paper. I found it, unfolded it, and read it:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of  WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

    The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One)

       By Miranda Goshhawk

    A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

    Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

    A Beginners’ Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Swich

    One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

       By Phyllida Spore

    Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

    Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

       By Newt Scamander

    The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

       By Quentin Trimble 

OTHER EQUIPMENT

    1 wand

    1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

    1 set glass or crystal phials

    1 telescope

    1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE TO BE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

“Wow! Where do we get all this stuff! Where—Hey! Mom! How did you know the owl that brought me this was from Hogwarts!?” I demanded.

“I’m a witch too, hun!” she said. 

“You are! Really?” I exclaimed. She nodded. “Dad did you go to Hogwarts too?”

“No,” he said. “I married your mother and after we got married she told me she was a witch, but I still love her,” he said with affection.

Mom smiled at him and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m sorry we never told you dear. Other people, like your father--‘Muggles’ are what we call them--don’t know about us wizards. We never told you because I didn’t want you to feel upset if the letter never came,” she said. 

“Do you, do you have a wand?” I asked. 

“Oh! I was hoping you would ask!” she got up from the table and went upstairs. 

“Er, so you’re a Muggle?” I asked Dad.

“Apparently!” he said with a laugh. I joined in.

“Here it is!” said Mom proudly after coming downstairs. She walked over to me and in her hands she held carefully a long slender stick, polished smooth. “This is the wand I got in Diagon Alley when I was eleven, at Ollivanders Wand Shop. It is a hawthorn wood, ten inches with a unicorn hair, I believe!” she said proudly.

“Can—can you do—you know—magic on it?” I asked. 

“Of course!” she said. “You better close the curtains though so others won’t see,” she said.

“All right!” I said eagerly. I jumped up and closed the curtains, and, for good measure, the windows. 

“Okay, let me see! Oh! Of course!” she said. “Evanesco!” she said pointing her wand at the spilled orange juice. It disappeared. 

“Wow! I always wondered how you kept the house so clean!” I cried. 

“Watch this!” she said happily. “Wingardium Leviosa!” she said pointing her wand at the coffee pot. “More coffee dear?” she asked as the pot of coffee tilted itself and brown liquid poured out and into Dad’s empty cup. 

“Yes, thank you very much!” he said laughing. 

“Bubulo!” she said. Little colored bubbles sprouted out of her wand and Isabella meowed excitedly and began swinging her paw trying to catch them. We all laughed. “Hoterio!” my cold pancakes were now hot again. I laughed and cut a piece and crammed the warm pancake in my mouth. 

“Can you repair anything?” I asked.

“Of course!” she said and she dropped her glass cup. It landed on the table with a bang and cracked apart. “Reparo!” the white shards of glass flew back together and made it perfectly fine with no cracks, as though it had never been dropped. 

“Cool! Hey! Can you transfigure stuff?” I asked. “Like changing my pancakes into danish cakes?”

She nodded and waved her wand. My pancakes changed into a beautiful pile of danish treats with vanilla and lemon filling. I eagerly reached to grab it but it turned back into a plain pancake. “Hey!” I laughed. She laughed also. “Pop Tarts aren’t good for you!” 

“I know!” I said. “I love blueberry pancakes anyways!” I said and cut another piece of pancake and placed it in my mouth. “Hey! Can you turn Isabella into a different animal?” I asked. 

“Yes! But she won’t like it!” she said slowly.  “What’s the spell again?” and then she remembered.  She waved her wand at Isabella and suddenly Isabella wasn’t a cat anymore, she was a gray dog! Isabella began barking crazily and in her hurry, fell off the couch. “Oh,” said Mom. She waved her wand and Isabella was once again a cat. Isabella hissed and scurried out of the room. “I shouldn’t have done that…” said Mom.  Isabella wouldn’t come to her for at least a week.

“When can we go get my wand?” I asked eagerly. 

“How about on Friday?” she asked.

“Friday? No! Why not tomorrow?” I asked.  “Jenna can wait!”

“All right!” she said with a laugh.

Yeah!  She's a halfblood!  She get's to go to Hogwarts!!  And meet a certain little boy with green eyes.  ;)

Please leave a comment!

-Madeline