Aunt Lydias home for orphaned girls

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The sun was shining through the sheer curtains and into the bedroom of 3 young girls. They where sleeping, for now.

The weather was too good for my mood. Plus, I had a headache.
I clenched my eyes tightly and pulled the blanket over my eyes. There were footsteps coming up the stairs.
'No! I didn't want to get up.'
The steps came closer and they got louder as they came down the hall.
'Go away, please go away .'
I heard the door open to the room next door and aunt Lydias calls inside for the girls to get up.
'Please skip our room. Just go to the next one. '
The footsteps came closer and stopped right outside our door. The door opens and I heard Lydia's voice. I pulled the blanket off my face and there she stood, in the doorway with a scowl on her face.

-"Up! Get up girls!" Then the door slams as she walks out. Shit.
I pulled my pillow out from under my head and put it over my face, then I screamed into it. Then I threw the pillow to the edge of my bed. I kicked off the covers and swung my legs off the side of the bed.

-" Tough morning?" I heard someone say behind me. I recognized the voice, it's my friend Zoë. My only friend.

-"Who cares? Someone as ugly as her doesn't deserve good mornings." Aaaaand there's Mandy. We don't really get along. I turned to Zoë, her bed beside mine.

-" I'm fine, just a headache." Then I gave her a smile and got up to get dressed.

I did my best to ignore Mandy, but as I walked to my dresser I couldn't help but send her my best death glare. The dresser had three drawers. One for me, one for Zoë, and one for Mandy; seeing as the three of us share a room. The middle drawer was mine. I pulled it. It squeaked, but didn't budge. I pulled harder and it flew open, flinging my clothes everywhere. Great.

Mandy burst out laughing and I glared at her. Then I looked at the mess of clothes on the floor, then to the dresser where Mandy's drawer was not pulled out.

"And what a shame it would be if I just..." I whispered. I reached for the handle of Mandy's drawer and pulled hard. The drawer flew out and now her clothes where all over the floor too.

-"SERIOUSLY?!" Mandy screamed.
I flashed her a humorless smile then searched the pile for something to wear.

There wasn't a lot that was mine because a few days before, everyone was inside because of the rainstorm. While everyone was inside, Mandy put all my clothes in a puddle and left them in the rain. I asked the matron if I could wash them because someone had put them out in the rain but she said l had to wait for my laundry day, which was the next Wednesday. That meant I had two changes of clothes to last me 5 days. I'll wash my dirty clothes in the sink.

I looked up, Mandy stood up from her bed and stomped towards me. She stopped right in front of me. She was about a foot taller than me so I stood in her shadow. I looked up at her face and put my hands on my hips and cocked my head to the side.

"Can I help you?" I said mockingly.

Then she lifted her hand and slapped me across the face. I didn't flinch. I was used to it. I turned on my heel with clothes in hand, opened the door to the hall and walked out into the hallway.

The hallway had a staircase at the far end, 5 doors on each side and floral wallpaper. I always hated the wallpaper. It was an ugly green with pale yellow flowers and it made the place even more sad and dreary than it already was. To my right there was a wooden door with a plaque reading "WC". I rapped my knuckles on the door.

"One sec!" Came a faint voice from the other side of the door. All 30 of us had to share two bathrooms which left the mornings extremely hectic.
The handle turned and the door opened .

"Sorry I... oh it's you." The girl that came out of the bathroom snarled with a disgusted look on her face.

"Good morning to you too." I sneered pushing past her and slamming the bathroom door behind me. I turned the lock and turned my back on the door.

The tiles in the bathroom are where no better than the hall wallpaper. Every other tile was a ugly green creating a checkered pattern of brownish white and green. Gross.

The bathroom was very small with a toilet to the right and a sink to the left with a tiny dirty mirror above it. On the wall straightforward there was an oil painting of a red wood barn with a black tile roof and white trim. There were animals in the paining too. A big fat black and white cow, a off white sheep with a weirdly shaped face, and the pig. The pig , a ugly brown beast with an abnormally round body. A face that would have been an oval but was squished in like it had run into a wall face first. It also had beady black eyes. If you didn't look directly at it, I could swear the eyes followed you. Which is very creepy if you take a shower or need the bathroom any time between 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM.

I took off my pjs (which where basically a very large, used, grey pillowcase with holes cut into it for your arms and head) and change to a dress (another ugly used pillowcase... but with patterns! YAAAaay?")

I turn to the right to look in the grimy old mirror. Ugh. My shoulder length black hair has decided to have a life of its own today and it's currently going full on afro style. I'm very small for my age. I'm a petite African American girl with russet brown eyes and insanely curly black hair, which is virtually untamable.
There's a knock at the door.

"What?!" I yelled.

"No need to holler, damn."
I unlocked the door and swung it open, revealing Zoë.

"Well aren't you grumpy today?" She laughed.

"I'm not grumpy, you're just to...sunshiny." I mumbled.

"Whatever."

For breakfast that morning we had cold porridge. The same thing we had yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that, and every other day since i first came here.

Aunt Lydia forced me to sit with Mandy and I knew trouble was coming. She needed revenge for the drawer incident this morning. Sure enough, when she didn't want anymore bland old porridge, she decided that I would make a good trash can. (Or rubbish bin which Zoë forces me to call it.) She dumps the lumpy concoction all down my pillowcase, sorry, "dress".

She grinned evilly while I excused myself to go wash myself off. The rest of the day was no better. The list of duties came up on the board and I had the worst ones. Scrubbing the toilet, helping ms. Widows with washing the breakfast dishes. Make lunch, clean the upstairs bathroom (two hours with the pig painting, yay). And oooh moahahaha laundry.

Everyone has a "laundry day" where you put all your clothes in the laundry room. The person on laundry duty takes them, washes them, dries them, irons them, and folds them. The person comes to get their clean folded laundry. I have laundry duty which means I wash the clothes. But guess who has laundry day? Mandy Cellers. I can finally pay her back for leaving my clothes in the rain. Maybe I can even sneak in a load of my own clothes.
I'll do laundry first so I can start a load and do other things while the washing machine is running. And dirty up some of old Mandy mans clothes of course. Maybe this day won't be to bad after all.

The intercom searches to life and an amplified voice of aunt Lydia fills the hall. Intercoms are so annoying, especially ours. They squeak and wail and you can barely hear the actual message. Stupid muggles, can't you just come tell us face to face?
The message over the intercom is repeated and I pay attention this time.

"Jazmine prewett to the front desk please."

Darn. This day is going to be much worse than expected.
When someone is called to the front desk, it means they're getting fostered.

My footsteps echo as I walk down the dark corridor towards the entrance hall and the dreaded: front desk. All along the walls of the hall are portraits of all the previous aunts that ran the orphanage.

The oldest portrait is from 1902 of a very stern woman with her hair tied back in a very tight bun. She was looking off to the right of the camera with her hands on her lap. She was a very round woman with large eyes, thin lips, and frown lines the size of the Grand Canyon. (Not that I've ever been.) Making her look stern and not tolerant of bullshit. The gold name plate read:

Aunt Diana Smith
Founder of the 'Aunt orphanage for girls'

Dear god, I'm not grateful for much, but one thing I'm happy about is that she's not the aunt anymore. I'd probably be spanked to death. Also, please make sure whoever is at the front desk is not like this Diana woman.

I'm not even religious, I think the whole idea is kinda stupid actually. But one can not be too sure in situations like this.

I continued walking down the hall and looking at the portraits.

Aunt Sarah, a thin woman with light thinning hair. Aunt Henrietta, an older woman with short curly white hair, round glasses, and a great big smile. She's the first one to look friendly in this long corridor. Also, according to the nameplate her middle name was Peacock. This automatically gains her points in my book.

Way too soon I was at the end of the hall and a tall dark oak door was looming in front of me. I grabbed the round golden handle and turned it.
The entrance hall is a rectangular room with windows all along the wall, looking out onto the busy street outside. The front desk is centered in the room and there are two women there.

One of the women is aunt Lydia, the head if the orphanage. The other has her back turned to me but she seems to have a tight bun. Much like aunt Diana . She is tall and wearing a very long black cloak.

At the sound of the door closing the two women look up at me.

"Here she is ma'am." Aunt Lydia announced monotony.
I walked towards the tall woman referred to as "ma'am". She looked like the founder only thinner and with square glasses but much less stern.
I reach out my hand to her.

"Hello ma'am, Im Jazmine." I greeted.
She flashed me a smile and took my hand.

"Minerva McGonagall," she replies.

"Prewett," aunt Lydia cuts in with the same monotonous voice.

"This woman has asked for you specifically." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and turned to look at the woman who supposedly asked for me.
She nodded.

"Dumbledore sent me to Aunt Lydias orphanage for girls to get 10 year old girl by the name of Jazmine Praglige Prewett. That's you isn't it?"

My jaw dropped and as I stared at the woman. I finally collected myself enough to answer the woman.

"Yes ma'am I'm her. You know Dumbledore?" Dumbledore is the organizer that got me from and orphanage in the USA to here.

"I do, he's my boss." She responded calmly.

"No time for chitchat. Prewett, go pack your things. You'll be going with McGonagall and you leave in 30 minutes precisely. Go on, chop chop,"
This is all going so quickly. I don't want to leave. I mean, McGonagall seems nice and all but what if it's a facade. But then again, she knows Dumbledore so it can't be too bad. And he's her boss so maybe he has something to do with it. Why do they want me? First from the US then to England then fostered by a part of some organization. Maybe I'll get answers by going with her.

But what about Zoë? I can't just leave her, she'll be all alone with Mandy. I can't leave her in literal hell. I make my way back through the hall and up the stairs on the other side. I go down the hall with the ugly wallpaper and open the door to my room.

"Zoë?" I call.
She's not in, she must be working somewhere. I go to the large pile of clothes in the floor and look for mine.

My clothes have a yellow labeling tag while Mandy's have green. I go to the hamper and get all my muddy clothes as well. In the far corner of the room there's a tall cupboard with our suitcases for when we were to leave.
I've never left before.

Zoë left once for a month before her foster parents found her too much. Mandy has been in and out for as long as I can remember. When an uncertain family comes in looking for a child she's the first one there with her charm getting them to take her in, at least for a little. Then 5 days later (at most) the family brings her back because they realize she's not the sweet little angled they thought she was.

"Leaving so soon?"
My head snaps towards the voice.

"They'll bring you back within an hour mark my words."

"You'd know, wouldn't you Mandy panda pants?"

"Don't call me that."

"I'll call whatever I want."

Suddenly I was in the ground flat on my back in immense pain with a big hairy gorilla aka Mandy on top of me punching my face in.

"GIRLS!"
I feel a weight lifted off my chest... as the house keeper Mrs. Meadows pulls Mandy off me.

"What do you think you're doing?" She screamed in Mandy's face.

"You can NOT attack people!"

"But," Mandy protested.

"No," Mrs Meadows interrupted,

"Get back to work." She dragged Mandy out of the room by her arm and closed the door behind them.

I sat up and touched my nose which was excruciatingly painful. I looked at my hand and there was blood all over it. The door swung open again and Mrs Meadows came back in carrying a hand towel.

"Here," she offered, "take this" and handed me the towel. I pressed it against my nose and pain shot through my face causing me to flinch.

"It'll get better, you should get packing. We don't want you her for a second more than we need to." She sneered and turned on her heel before leaving again.

"Heartless beasts," I sighed. "Maybe it won't be too bad to leave."

I packed my suitcase making sure to bring my most prized possession: a leather bound book. When I finished packing, which didn't take long because I didn't have much, I took one last look at my room. I hadn't made my bed. I might as well. It's the last time I'll do it here hopefully. I left my suitcase at the door and went over to my bed.

I put the pillow back in its place at the head of the bed, straightened the sheet and tucked it under the mattress on both sides. The sheet cake breed the pillow so I took the pillow out from under the sheet and placed it on top. I sat on the newly made bed and looked out the window.

The window was right over my bed, it had thin curtains the let light shine through. The window was slightly open and a slight breeze blew the curtains into the air. I remembered the first day I stayed here two years ago. I wouldn't talk to anyone, I felt so alone. At least in America I had my sister.

I don't remember her name anymore, but her face is etched into my mind. Her screams when they said she couldn't come with me would haunt me every night and everyday as I looked out the window. Sometimes when I sit here I can hear her. Especially at night. I only had a few minutes to say goodbye. She was a year younger than me. It was late at night. We sat in the windowsill of an American orphanage and looked at the moon. She sat in my lap. I told her that wherever I was, I would see the same moon, if she looked at the moon she would see me. I'd always be there.

As I drove away in the black car I saw her waving out the window on the third floor crying. I remember telling her I love her and I would find her again. I promised. A pit had formed in my stomach. I promised her I would find her but I couldn't.

I got up and walked towards the door where my suitcase still stood. I hauled my suitcase down the hallway and stopped at the board to see what duty Zoë has, then maybe I'll know where to find her.

Zoë Stark
Library duty
—
Organize shelves
mop floors
Dust sofas and cushions
Wash windows

I walk down the stairs. My suitcase isn't very heavy seeing as I don't have anything but clothes, a diary and a locket.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and open the door to the circle room. The circle room has 5 doors. Going from left to right, one goes to the kitchen and dining hall, one leads to the front desk, one leads to the downstairs bathroom, one leads to the common room and the last one to the far left is the one I need. The door that leads to the study and library.

Every step I take takes me closer to leaving this place.

The circle rooms wallpaper isn't too bad, probably because it's not wallpaper. The walls are painted the ugliest yellow imaginable. Just imagine the ugliest yellow and that's the color.
I open the door to the library and peek in. Sure enough, there's Zoë sitting in the floor surrounded by piles of books, but instead of sorting them, she's reading one.

"Zoë, you're supposed to be sorting them," I chuckled.
Her head snapped up and she smiled.

"Well you're supposed to be doing chores but yet you're here."
I flashed her a smile, opened the door fully and walked in. The smile on Zoës face faded when she saw the suitcase.

"Are you leaving?" She squeaked sadly.

"Didn't you hear? I was called to the front desk. Some woman named Minnie something-or-other came to I don't know foster me or something.

"I explained. Zoë got up from the floor and stepped over the piles of books that surrounded her. She came towards me and swung her arms around me. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Nope, can't cry. I don't cry, my floodgates dried out years ago.

"Jaz?" Zoë croaked.

"Hm?"

"Make sure to write me."

"Of course," I whispered.
"Plus, I have a weird feeling that the woman taking me is... different."

"How so?" Zoë looked at me and wiping the tears that streaked her pale freckled skin.

"I think," I whispered "that's she's a witch. Otherwise, why would she ask for me? I'm the only witch here. Oh and also, she knows Dumbledore."

Her eyes went wide.

"She knows Dumbledore ?"

"Yea, she said he's her boss."
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Well," She gulped, "let me know. Keep me updated and we'll talk soon. Make her take you here if you can." I smiled.

"I'll try."

"What the hell happened to your face!?" She suddenly yelped.

"Oh, Mandy."

"That looks painful, you should get it looked at."

"You know, you can just say I'm ugly, no need to tell me I need to get it checked out." I joked raising an eyebrow. She rolled he trues and hugged me again.

"I'm gonna miss you." she whispered.
"I'll miss you too." I whispered back.
" Prewett!" Someone called my name from the circle room.
"I have to go, bye." She finally let me go.
"Bye." She smiled sadly.
I walked into the circle room and made my way to the front desk.

Little did I know I was going to have the adventure of my life.