A Magical Story

By: Ellen Russell and Susan Thieme

Chapter One: This story was actually performed before a live studio audience…

On one summer day, in Mystic, Connecticut along a lonely development, two eleven year old girls were sitting on a porch in front of a large brown house. The neighborhood was full of large houses like this one, so the fact that it was large and brown was not at all surprising.

What was surprising was the fact that they were looking so incredibly bored. One of the girls nearly fell asleep because of her boredom. She had blond hair that fell down neatly to her shoulders. She couldn't help but stifle a yawn and stretch.

"Hey, Ellen! Earth to Ellen! Are you in there?" the other girl with reddish brown hair said. She noticed that her friend was falling asleep. "Ellen, you need more patience. Seriously."

Ellen laughed. "Sorry, Susan, it's just that this Brooklyn accent I'm trying out tires me out, you know? What I need is magic."

Ellen stood up and started stretching. She had unusual clothing for an eleven year old: a red over coat splashed with dry mud, a triangular pirate hat (she was going through a phase) and dirty brown boots, along with a tan shirt and pants. Susan remained sitting, combing her reddish brown hair with her long fingers. She was wearing a green v-neck tank top and silver shorts with white tennis shoes. This looked more normal than Ellen's outfit, but Ellen did not mind.

Ellen paced the sidewalk. Finally, she dropped her Brooklyn accent and whined, "Come on! I want to play KOTOR now! Susan, we should have never invited those boys! They're taking way too long!" By KOTOR, we are of course referring to that Star Wars game, The Knights of the Old Republic. It's a great game. You could play that game rather than read this book.

All of a sudden, just as Ellen was about to stamp her foot in agitation, two barn owls swooped in front of the two girls. Curiously, there was an envelope attached to each of their beaks.

Susan said, "Well, that was unexpected." Heck yeah it was… "Ellen, they have our names on the cover… 'to Susan, on the porch in front of a large brown house…' and, 'to Ellen, pacing in front of a large brown house'…"

Ellen, who was standing with her mouth open wide (from a yawn, no doubt…) finally said, "What on earth are you talking about Susan?" Yeah, what is she—wait a minute. You just received two envelopes by two owls. Isn't that the least bit strange? A sane person would run screaming out of this story.

But these two eleven year olds didn't appear scared…but rather surprised.

Susan waved the two letters in front of her face and gave Ellen the one with her name on it. Susan had an expression on her face which clearly said, 'Read it yourself.' Ellen took the letter from her hyperactive friend and opened it. She read the letter aloud:

SALEM SCHOOL FOR WITCHES AND WIZARDS

Headmaster: Tim Ditch

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock of the Wizengambot

Dear Miss Russell, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at SALEM WITCHES AND WIZARDS. You will find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Melinda MylesMelinda Myles, Deputy Headmistress

UNIFORMFirst year students will require: 1. three sets of plain robes (black) 2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear3. 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 BOOKSAll students should have a copy of each of the following:The standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda GoshawkA History of Magic by Bathilda BagshotMagical Theory by Adalbert WafflingA Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric SwitchOne Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida SporeMagical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius JiggerFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt ScamanderThe Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin TrimbleOTHER EQUIPMENT1 wand1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)1 set of glass or crystal phials1 telescope1 set brass scalesStudents may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a ARE REMINDED THAT FIRTS YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Ellen looked at her friend, with her dark brown eyes wide open. Susan, on the other hand, was signing the paper to agree to go.

Ellen let out a gasp. "Oh no. Susan, we need to talk about this..."

Susan looked up at her and said, "Ellen, I haven't been completely honest with you. You see, I'm a pure blood witch. I can do magic. It's real. I have known magic all my life; it's why I can't have friends at my house. Now that you're a witch too… well, you can't tell anyone but your parents. Especially Ed and Jake, because if they find out about the wizarding world, the worlds would coincide and who knows what would happen then?"

Okay, if you got a little confused at this moment, Ed and Jake are the boys they were waiting for. In this universe, girls are much better at video games than guys. Or at least Ellen and Susan were better than Jake and Ed, since they were waiting for them.

Why are they taking so long anyway?

Ellen gaped at Susan. A witch?

Ellen always knew that she could be cleverer than Susan. Check out all those quizzes, tests, and essays she got A's on, the ones that Susan usually had B's and C's on! However, they made a great pair because Susan was just the all talk-no-action-girl, and usually had good advice that could top Ellen's in times of crisis. But then again, Susan's favorite sport was fencing… and she was quite undefeatable…

The two friends turned to go inside to the living room to discuss this new power. Apparently, the owls flew away with the envelopes. Good, less of a burden for them.

Ellen was still surprised there was actually magic in the world. She was just kidding! She smiled whenever she thought that. Then she remembered her parents.

"Holy Ra—Susan, what about my parents?" Ellen asked.

"Oh, well, they're still muggles… which makes you muggle-born, I suppose…" Susan answered like it was no problem. If anyone cares, this is a few years after Harry Potter saved the world from Voldemort. It's too bad, considering there aren't many bad guys left now.

"Oh." Ellen's face dropped. Then she asked, "Susan, there isn't a problem with being muggle-born… is there?" Yes there is. There was a whole prejudice about them which basically started the war against Voldemort.

Susan thought about that. After a minute, she smiled and said, "No. there is absolutely nothing wrong with having no magical relatives." Okay… not quite the answer to be expected. What, are you blind girl? There are still a lot of rich snobs out there who still think they're better than muggle-borns!

Susan continued explaining about the world and how it worked, and all the rules there were, and some funny stories involving magic when she was little. All this was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. Ellen's mom's voice came from the next room, saying, "Ellen, Susan, the boys are here!"

Susan hissed under her breath, "Shit!"

She thought, 'hopefully those two blokes didn't hear anything.'

Ellen, meanwhile, called, "Let them in, Mom!"

A tall guy with black hair named Ed, and another equally tall guy with brown hair named Jake entered the room. They both had wide idiotic grins on their faces.

Jake looked at his two best friends and said, feeling awkward, "So… how are you guys? What were you whispering about when we got here?"

Ed laughed. "Yeah… it's like you have a secret… I hope it's not a deadly one that could get us killed!" He and Jake laughed like they had told a great joke or something.

Ellen, remembering what she read in a book, tried not to panic. She remained calm and tried to put a pleasant smile on her face. That wasn't working. This was, after all, a situation that required plenty of panicking. Finally, she decided to snap and say, "What makes you think we were talking about anything important to you? I'll give you a hint. We are GIRLS. We like talking about cute guys who we will get to meet next year in school."

Susan smiled and nodded, hoping that the boys would buy it, but like always the two boys were too stubborn (or too stupid) to believe the lie.

Jake narrowed his eyes and said, "Come on, you can tell us! We're your friends!"

Susan did the only thing she could do before they said something that the two girls would regret later. She said, "We didn't tell you that our parents are making us go to a boarding school… so we won't see you next year… so those cute boys will not include you guys… well, it's not like you guys are cute anyway."

Ellen knew that the boys would believe that story. Maybe they really DON'T know magic exists. In that case, Ellen and Susan should take full advantage of that!

Surprisingly, Ed said, "Whatever. We know there is more to it then that, Susan. You just were giving us the slip!"

Ellen was getting impatient. She wanted to know more about the magical world from Susan but with the boys over, she would have to wait. Susan, on the other hand, just wanted to get to Laci Alley to get her school supplies. Then, of course she would borrow wizarding money from her parents to help Ellen as well, and after that they would shop for neat wizarding things, like candy… She looked at her blond haired friend and knew that she wanted answers from the look on her face. Ellen wasn't type who could stand being left out of the loop.

Susan told the boys to hang on a minute as she grabbed her cell phone and dialed her only pureblood friend: Tessa. Susan walked to a corner of the living room to talk to her. As they talked, Susan finally whispered, "Tess, I finally got my acceptance letter to Salem ! And you know what's weird? My muggle friend, Ellen did as well... I guess she's muggle born now…"

Tessa's charming voice came through on the other line, a little louder than typical people. Her family was also pureblood, and couldn't get the gist of technology like Susan could. Anyway, Tessa said, "Okay…What an odd coincidence." As Susan hung up she noticed that Ellen had just put the letters (the ones that they kept, not the replying ones) in the desk drawers as the boys were trying to wrestle them from her. With that final note, Susan tried to distract the boys by introducing the laptop, a muggle's piece of magic. The four teens started to play KOTOR with no interruptions except when it came to tell Ellen that an enemy was coming…

And like in any story, this piece of foreshadowing came in a dream.