The silver moonlight shone in through the window, illuminating a part of the small bedroom. It wasn't much but it was just enough light to read to, which was what the young girl sitting on the bed was doing. The book in her hand was titled Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and from the bookcase opposite the bed it was clear these were the kind of books she liked the most. The rest of the Harry Potter books were there, as well as a multitude of fantasy novels and fairy tales.
The girl herself was a petite thing despite her fourteen years. She looked even smaller the way she was sitting, her knees drawn up and her hands resting on the book she was using her knees to prop up. Small dimples formed as she smiled at something in the book, her freckle-sprayed nosed crinkling slightly. She lightly brushed a lock of her brown hair away but it quickly fell back. It always annoyed her the way her hair didn't want to decide whether it was straight or curly. It was at an odd point between the two and somehow managed to get frizzy as well, which reminded Karen of a brown haystack. She had always wanted to have her mother's hair instead; beautiful honey blonde curls that always looked perfect.
She quickly forgot her hair though. Despite having read the book many times before she was completely absorbed in it. In fact, upon reaching one of her favourite parts a slight shiver went through her. Karen blinked. Odd, that had never happened before. It was like something special had happened just then. She shook her head. Nonsense, it was just the excitement of reading her favourite part. It had been a while since she last read it. Yes, that had to be it.
So Karen Makarov ignored the odd shiver and, after finishing the chapter, closed the book and went to sleep.
~i~i~i~
Karen woke up the next morning to a light tapping sound. She flipped over and, eyes still closed, fumbled with her hand for the alarm clock. It took her a few moments to realize that the sound wasn't stopping, despite her pressing the button. She blinked a few times, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and looked around for the source of the sound.
Karen fell out of her bed. She sat bolt upright and stared at her window, only to find there was nothing there. I must have been still dreaming, she thought to herself. Because there was no way there had actually been an owl outside her window. She stood up slowly and went over to look out the window, just in case. No, there was nothing there. Karen laughed a little. She had had dreams about getting a letter to Hogwarts before but they had never been quite like that. With a shrug Karen headed towards the bathroom, figuring the toothbrush would help her wake up properly.
It wasn't long before Karen was in the kitchen munching on a piece of toast. Her mother stood toasting a slice for herself and her father came in shortly after with the newspaper and some bills. Except for one of the envelopes was different. It was thick and yellowish. Karen stared. She shut her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again. The letter was still there. It had to be her imagination, she was simply still partly asleep. Or it was just some letter in a similar envelope, the other bills were on top of it so she couldn't actually see what was written on it. Before Karen could convince herself of this her father picked up the letters and shuffled through them.
"Here, this one's for you." He said, tossing her the letter. "Not often you get handwritten letters these days."
Karen couldn't reply. She couldn't even reach out to take the letter now lying in front of her on the table, too afraid that it might vaporize if she touched it. Finally Karen gathered up her courage and picked up the letter. It couldn't be real. She wanted it to be real. But it couldn't be. Slowly her fingers stroked the green letters, the Hogwarts crest, the wax seal. It had her name on it. It even had her bedroom on it, just like Harry's had.
Karen swallowed and, hands shaking slightly, opened the letter and read the first page.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall
Dear Karen Makarov
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
Karen shook her head in disbelief as she read over the list of books and equipment. It was the exact same one that was in the book. This had to be a prank, she decided. One of her friends must have sent it. Although none of them were really fans of the books they knew she loved them, one of them could have decided to make this for her. In which case she had to admire the details. The whole letter was handwritten in green ink on yellow parchment. She wondered how her friends had managed to write with such good calligraphy.
Suddenly Karen realised there was a third page. She was certain there had only been two pages in Harry's letter so she curiously read what it said.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Dear Karen Makarov
We apologize for the delay of your letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As your situation is a unique one we will, of course, be sending someone to assist you and to explain the reasons for the delay. You may expect someone to arrive at your house at 3 pm on June 26.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Karen frowned slightly after reading the third page. June 26 was today. So her friend was coming over later to tell her it was a joke? That was the only logical explanation. The third page was different from the others though and she couldn't help but wonder why they had not made it as carefully as the other two. The ink was black instead of green (although they could have just run out of green ink, of course) and the handwriting looked like the one writing it had been in a hurry. Same handwriting as the other pages, but not nearly as neat. Almost as if though the other two had been written some time before the third page.
Karen was roused from her thoughts by her father's voice. "Who's the letter from, Karen?" He asked, looking curiously at her over the top of the newspaper.
"Um… just a prank by one of my friends, I think." She replied, unsure how to explain it. Her parents knew of her love for the books, of course, but this wouldn't be something they'd understand. Or more like, they would probably just laugh and say it was a cute prank, so Karen didn't really want to tell them.
"Well, it was nice of them to go to that much trouble to send you something, prank or not." Her mother said with a smile. Karen just nodded and began reading the letter again. Nothing for it but to wait until 3 pm and see who would show up.
~i~i~i~
At 2:39 pm Karen was trying her very best not to pace around the floor. Oh she was sure it was a prank pulled by her friends alright, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out which one. Karen didn't have very many friends, in fact she had exactly three. Anna wasn't imaginative enough to think of this, Milly wasn't as good a friend of Karen's as the other two so she was unlikely to do this and Cassie didn't like the books so it didn't really make sense for her to do something so detailed. But it had to be one of the three, just which one? Maybe it had been all of them?
Karen glanced at the clock again. 2:42 pm. They probably weren't even going to show up. They most likely put the hour there just to make her think they would and then they would call her and tease her about waiting tomorrow. So she should just focus on reading for now and ignore the time completely. With that thought Karen picked up Harry Potter again and started reading.
2:46 pm. Dangit! She wasn't going to look at the clock! Karen sighed and closed the book again. Clearly her mind would not be distracted from the letter and the time. This was stupid, really. She should have just called her friends this morning to find out which one of them sent the letter. And yet she hadn't. A part of her knew it was because she wanted it to be real, that as soon as her friends confirmed that it was they who had sent her the letter that faint glimmer of hope would go away forever. Karen cursed the little voice telling her there was a chance where she knew there wasn't one.
And then the doorbell rang.