The sun was beating on the four girls really hard. In the middle of August it was very normal for that to be happening in the country of Canada. There was no way the girls could think of cooling off. They tried every muggle thing in the book, they had a "water fight" which was more fun that it sounded, they drank lemonade which did nothing and they even would put ice cubes down each others backs there was nothing they could do to keep them cool.
"So guys, did you end up doing the assignment Anni wanted us to do for tomorrow?" I asked my friends who all sat in a circle lying on the grass under a tree.
"Yes yes, the one where we had to take out the information from out school text books, the ones I never wanted to open and had to write a report on our three top favorite magical creatures, explaining them and why we liked them, yes I did do that!" Caroline answered back. I looked around at the others and they all agreed that they had done the assignment too. Its summer and only a few weeks before school would start, so why exactly were we doing assignments already? We four girls were not any other girls you would see in the mall or at any other place. We were all witches. Conveniently we all lived on the same street and had met as toddlers before we even knew that we had possessed powers. Of course some of us worked them better than others and it ran in our families too. That wasn't the only convenient thing, another was that we had another adult that lived in the muggle world who was also a witch and lived on our street. A friendly woman who lived on the corner of the street, her name was Anni. She had a gorgeous garden and was friendly to all the neighbors. Who would have guessed that she too was once a witch and also attended a school for her super natural powers? We all came to meet one day when Anni had met our parents and looked upon us. We were all together playing every night and she noticed that we were four abnormal girls even before we ourselves noticed. Of course it took us all some time to realize and accept that we were the ones doing these abnormal things that happen to us. These abnormal things that suddenly disappear and suddenly reappeared. Anni though, she knew these things were happening and as she watched us she knew that we were just like her. After she approached us and we confided in her that we did have these abnormal things happening to us she made us a vow to help us live with this abnormality and make it the best it can be. She is our mentor and every so often she calls us together to learn something new about the wizardry world and this way were are able to not only find out about each others strengths and weaknesses as witches but we also find out our own. We have been keeping these meetings regularly for the past two years which is when Caroline and I got our first acceptance letter to go to the wizardry school or Durmstrang, the nearest wizardry school that was located in northern Europe. Since we were both part European, our families insisted that it would the best place for us to go and a few of our parents and grandparents went there too. Then it was just recently this year, that Christina and Chenise were eligible to get their acceptance letters and they decided to go to the same school as us for the same reason. It would be there first year at Durmstang and we were all really excited to see which house they would go to and what houses they would be put in. The four houses of Durmstang in comparisons to those of the famous Hogwarts were, BasiliskToungue (similar to the Slytherin house), PhenoixWing (Similar to the Gryffindor House), WolfHowl (Similar to Ravenclaw) and RabbitFoot (similar to HufflePuff). I was put into BasiliskToungue and Caroline was put into WolfHowl. When we were separated there was devastation at first but we realized that we always saw each other, in classes, at lunch and we made news friends too. Although we were always there for each other. This year would be another chance for Christina and Chenise to make it in one of our houses too.
My mother and father both met at the Yule Ball in Durmstrang magic-folk school. The night was young and the ball was being held to celebrate the Triwizard tournament that was being hosted at Durmstrang. They looked into each others eyes and knew they were to be together forever. Then they got married and decided to live in the muggle world like most wizardry families. Thus, I was born with my brown hair and brown eyes and the cutest and yet mischievous look on my face, it was expected that once I was born I would be like the rest of my family. My grandparents, aunts and cousins have almost all possessed witchcraft or wizardry. The only people who haven't are those that either married into the family or those that were too young to posses any powers yet. That being said meant that I, Michelle Batista, was a pureblood. The only thing that made me different from my friends. I was more familiar with being a witch than they were and it was a lot easier for me to accept it too. I learned I was going to be a witch a few years before the rest of them as my parents were more opened about it earlier. They of course didn't believe me. But then when they got the message they were the first to apologize about not believing. Caroline and Chenise were half bloods and Christina although she finds it offensive and I try my best never to say it in front of her face, is a mudblood.
Chenise played with her blonde bangs as she spoke and she said, "I honestly think that my report is a load of crap and its not fair that you two get more advance books and know more about this stuff than me and Christina!". She said this while glaring and Caroline and I and although it might have been true she had no reason to be putting herself down, besides the report wasn't really about right or wrong answers it was just a little bit of information. That was us though. We would yell at some of the dumbest things and we would joke about the dumbest things too no other words to describe us except for being random.
"Guys…I can't wait! We go back to school and we get to see all of our friends again and all the boys in their robes! I tell you James Patterson is such a hottie! I bet I can get his attention this year and we will be married forever!" this was Christina's normal conversation topic. The lover that she wanted to be with and how she would dream about being with him. She was just thrilled when she found out that she would be going to the same school as him. James Patterson was a very well known guy. He wasn't as huge as the harry potter but he was featured on some wizardry magazines and television shows for being one of the greatest quidditch players of his age. To me, I always saw him as an ignorent and onoxious guy who just though about himself and how good he looked. I swear he found his face more interesting than the actual game. Christina was a fair-skinned, reddish- brownish haired girl and she wasn't that easy to find in a crowd of people, which would be interesting to see how she would try and get James to notice her this year. That and besides the fact that he usually has 2 bodygaurds with him at all times. Sure he was really cute but i wouldnt let anyone know that I thought that, i had spent too much time convincing others of how big of a loser he is.
"Ew Christina that man is so ugly I don't know why you like him, honestly not only is he like in 3rd year but he is ugly and has a girlfriend anyway. Please stop yourself before you make a fool of yourself and of us", I replied back to her. Most of the time we would learn to tune out Christina's conversation when it came to boys but it seems like she was getting more and more attached everyday and it was beginning to scare me.
"Anyways guys it's getting late and I still have some stuff to do at home. I'll see you tomorrow I guess at Anni's right? Oh and by the way tomorrow, big news is on the way! That was Anni's message for me to let you guys know. Apparently she has some interesting news to share with us that she has been waiting to tell us for a long time".
And with that said I spun on my heel and went on my way home. All I could think about that night was the possibilities of different things that Anni could be telling us. What if she really wasn't a witch? What if something happened at Durmstrang? What if the ministry of magic had reviled some important information that she was going to tell us? She did work there and got all the most important news of Voldmort first. Yes, I said Voldmort. I am not going to be a chicken and be all like oohhh he-who-must-not-be-named..ohhh. bullshit! I don't care about that freak. Ohh I said his name, so sue me.
"Alright girls! I hope you all finished your assignments! We are going to have fun tonight but we also have to focus on what we did all of this for". All four of us nodded and were reading to show off the assignments that we had worked so hard on for hours. We took turns reading out the top three creatures that we had chosen. My top personal favorite magical creatures were the Unicorn, Hippogriff and the Basilisk. At that said everyone gasped and my last answer.
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"The Basilisk? What the heck is wrong with you child? You…like…that thing? Is that even possible…to like such a creature?" Caroline commented.
"Well obviously it is", I replied.
Everyone then started talking at once. It was like it was a sin to find the Basilisk interesting. There were remarks of, "But why?" "Explain yourself" "You're a freak!" I decided to let everyone settle down before I would explain myself.
"I like the Basilisk because it represents such power and strength. I like how no one messes with the Basilisk and it's a creature that many people fear. I adore the way it represents cunningness and power all at once, that's why I like it so much", I explained to them.
"Okay more like its evil! And it's the symbol for Slytherin! You know how slytherin is looked down upon in most families", Chenise commented.
Anni just pretended like none of this never happened and continued on to the other girls. Later on that evening it was time for dinner. We were eating pizza talking about some of the creatures that we had picked as our favorites. Then that's when Christina randomly asked me, "What was it that you said yesterday Anni? You had big, amazing news or something like that?"
Anni looked up at us and looked around the table. She took in a deep breath and said, "Yes, I think it is time that you girls know the truth about all of you. You see, the four of you don't JUST live on the same street, it isn't just some coincidence. You girls were ordered to live on this street. I was also ordered to live here as it was part of my job. You see, they put the four of you girls on the same street so that you guys wouldn't have to be so alone when you found out about your differences. So that you always had each other and so that you could become close friends that could be there for each other whenever you needed something and I am here to guide you on your journey to becoming a wizard and a witch. Now you girls are getting older and soon I will have to leave you to be a mentor for other young witches, but I want you girls to always know that you can come to me for anything."
Well all just stood there in silence. Staring at Anni with wide eyes. Our lives, it was almost like they were planned from the start. Almost before we were even born. This news definitely was a shock. To learn that Anni wouldn't be with us forever, to learn that we were almost forced to be friends before we even knew each other.
"Soo is someone gonna say something or what?" Anni asked.
"Well, all I can say is, I'm glad that the ministry decided to put us five together because it seems that it worked out quite well, although its still kind of creepy, they do this to all the witches and wizards? Make them live together?" I asked.
"Yes", Anni responded, "They have to know where every wizard and witch lives if they live in the muggle world and if they do decided to live in the muggle world they must be placed in a neighborhood as they don't get to chose, therefore every witch or wizard will have another one just like them to confide into, or help set them straight sometimes. This way they don't feel so alone and they know who they can use magic around. Its very important as being in the muggle world they have to be extra careful".
There wasn't really much to say or ask after that. We knew what we knew and it was interesting news that was for sure. Why our parents couldn't tell us? Well Anni says that it's her job to tell her own kids about the situation so that the parents don't have to worry about it, teens and their parents, it can get really nasty sometimes. Even if the teen is a witch or wizard, sometimes that makes it even worse.
The night continued and we all just played games, watched television and chatted until it was time to go home. Tomorrow it was time to go back to school shopping and I wasn't looking forward to it. It would only mean remind myself of the awful work we have to do for the next ten months ahead.