Prologue: Simple Life
"Hey!"
The simple retort rings out over the sleepy apartment complex. Several people poke their heads out to see the commotion, before sleepily withdrawing to beds or couches. It was a hot, simmering August day, almost 100 degrees, and nobody felt like moving.
Nobody, except for a small group of friends. There are nine of them: Audrey Chyung, Jiwon Seo, Jenny Mar, Katherine Huang, Joanne Lee, Selena Qiao, Olivia Chen, Kayoon Koh, and Emma Li, and they are the only children in their apartment complex.
The Chyungs, Seos, Mars, Huangs, Lees, Qiaos, Chens, Kohs, and Lis are all rather strange families in that community, though some are stranger than others.
The Mar, Lee, and Chen family are the most normal. The parents have the most normal jobs, and the kids are the most normal. The Seos, Qiaos, and Lis are semi-normal. One parent is stranger than the other, but the kids aren't too bad (or nutty, anyway). It's the Chyungs, Huangs, and Kohs that draw the most attention. In those families, none of the parents work, yet they are very rich with lots of money. Their families dress in weird apparel, and there are always bangs and pops heard in their apartments, along with an occasional squeak or croak. Nobody comments on it because it's rude and not at all polite, but the nine families are something else.
Audrey, in the middle in age, is a rather sleepy child who has a witch-like laugh. She is very dopey and likes to play pranks, while also collecting blackmail at an alarming rate. She is the culprit who usually steals something of Joanne's or Jiwon's.
Jiwon, one of the older kids, is very loud and eccentric. She is very energetic and likes playing with the neighborhood children. Her favorite hobby is listening to kpop, but she always loses her water bottle, either to one of her friends or to her forgetfulness.
Jenny, one of the younger children, is very bright and easily excited; however, she is very mischievous and has developed an almost obsessive liking to dogs (though she is allergic). She loves playing pranks with Audrey, but she doesn't laugh as creepily.
Katherine, one of the older kids, is rather quiet and reclusive, but she is just as mischievous as Jenny, although in a more cunning sense. She is obsessed over cats, and is the opposite of Jenny. It's almost like the sun and moon if they didn't have the same habits.
Joanne, in the middle in age, is a very smart girl who gets bothered a lot by the rest of her friends. Although she seems like the most mature, she is really one of the most immature members of the friend group. She likes pandas, but she isn't obsessed with them.
Selena, one of the older kids, is very laid-back and mature. Although she prefers watching her fellow friends play pranks, she also joins or begins some of them. The best pranking ideas are from her, though you didn't hear that from me.
Olivia, one of the younger children, is rather opinionated but kind and sharp. She is usually the one to return Joanne's stolen belongings, but she takes part and much joy in stealing Jiwon's article of bottled water. She is scary when mischievous, but very approachable.
Kayoon, in the middle in age, is very mature. She likes to sit back and laugh at her friends when they do something embarrassing. She is very eloquent and intelligent, but doesn't always use that intelligence when around her friends. It's a side effect, I guess.
Last but not least, Emma, one of the younger children, is rather sarcastic, but apt and gifted. Though she doesn't actively take part in pranks, she's usually the thinker of the pranking group, opting to hide the stolen articles in clever places or run for the hills over baiting the person.
On that August day, Jiwon's water bottle and Joanne's lunchbox have just been stolen, again. It has become a running joke within the friends to steal the two things (along with Joanne's backpack and water bottle on certain occasions), and it happens quite often. Currently, Jiwon is chasing after Jenny, Katherine, and Emma. The three weave between trees and lamp poles, throwing the bottle between each-other and jokingly taunting Jiwon as she runs between the three.
"Come on, Seo!" Emma calls as she dodges behind a bush. "Get your water bottle!" Jiwon races to take back her water bottle from Emma, but she tosses it to Jenny, who runs cackling back towards their apartments. "Give it to me!" Katherine tells Jenny as she sprints past her hiding spot. Jenny sneakily tosses the water bottle to Katherine before sprinting towards another tree, Jiwon following behind. Katherine quietly runs back to where Emma is, and the two wait for Jenny to return. She does in moments, but Jiwon follows her. "Oh, crap!" Emma yells, grabbing the water bottle.
"Profanity!" Katherine declares, but Emma pays no heed as she rushes past her and back towards the apartments. Jenny, Jiwon, and Katherine follow close behind, Jenny distracting Jiwon as Katherine runs up next to her. "Here, you take it and run to my apartment. Jenny and I will run to Jo's place, and we'll backtrack back to mine," Emma instructs through breaths. Katherine is about to agree before she spots a strange sight. Through all the sweat, heat waves, and bright light of the sun, Katherine spies a large bird, an owl, flying through the air with four strange-looking letters in its beak. "Look!" she yells, stopping all her friends in their tracks. "Look at that owl!"
"What in the world is that?!" Jiwon wonders, thoughts of her water bottle completely forgotten as she stares in wonder at the flying bird. Owls never appear in New York, day or night. Although Katherine had once seen an owl fly past her window, it was too dark to see, and she hadn't paid it much mind. In school, they learned that owls were nocturnal creatures, but this one was flying in clear daylight.
Jenny squints up at the flying bird and asks, "Why is it holding letters? It's as if it's being used as a mailman!" And indeed, this innocent prediction was actually the most accurate. The owl by then had flown much lower in the sky, and the children could see strange, green ink on the letters. Swooping low, the owl drops the four letters on their heads before flying up to a window of the apartment. "Hey, Katherine, isn't that your apartment?" Jiwon asks, but the question is soon forgotten as they focus their attention on the letter. Emma, the first to pick up her letter, is shocked by how accurate the letter is. "Emma Li, Seventh Door on the Twelfth Floor, New York, New York," she reads aloud, before carefully opening the letter. Removing the letter, she reads,
"Dear Ms. Li,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Jenny, having opened her letter, reads a nearly identical letter:
"Dear Ms. Mar,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Katherine's letter reads as following:
"Dear Ms. Huang,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Jiwon's letter is the same as her friends:
"Dear Ms. Seo,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..." Katherine mutters quietly. "How come I've heard of this school before?"
"The more important question is, why the hell is this school called 'Hogwarts?' And what's with the witchcraft and wizardry part?" Emma asks in a dark tone. She is not amused.
"Let's see if Jo and the others have also gotten the same letter," Jiwon says, scanning her own letter once more.
"You're right," Jenny agrees. "We've got to tell them." The four friends nod to one another, before racing off to find their other friends.
At the same time, Joanne is chasing after Audrey and Selena, Kayoon and Olivia walking behind them while talking quietly about random things. "Give me back my lunchbox!" Joanne screams in a shrill voice. Audrey merely cackles her unique laugh before passing the lunchbox to Selena, who dangles it tauntingly in front of Joanne's face before running towards a random tree by the apartment complex. "Give it back!" Joanne yells, trying desperately to wrench her lunchbox from Selena's hands. Selena only smiles brightly before chucking the lunchbox onto a nearby rock. Joanne runs toward it, but Olivia grabs the handle and passes the lunchbox to Kayoon.
Kayoon looks at the lunchbox in her hands. Ignoring Joanne's somewhat desperate pleas to return her stolen belonging, Kayoon looks inside before grabbing the first thing she sees: a fruit roll. "It's a fruit roll!" she squeals loudly, before snatching it from the lunchbox and running away.
"Kayoooooon!" Joanne cries in despair. "Give me back my fruit roll!" Joanne is almost in a state of despair. Her lunchbox is nowhere to be seen, and Kayoon has just stolen her fruit roll. What is she to do? Look for her lunchbox, or take back her fruit roll? She decides to get her lunchbox back (she could always get more fruit rolls from home). Looking around, she spots Olivia holding the bright yellow box. "Oli!" she says, holding out her hands. "Can I please have my lunchbox back? Please?" Olivia seems to contemplate a moment before she throws the lunchbox in Joanne's direction. Joanne, of course, misses, but quickly grabs her lunchbox handle as she sees Audrey appear behind a tree.
"You're supposed to put the lunchbox on a tree!" she says in a shrill whine. Olivia shrugs, not caring, but then stiffens as Audrey says, "We've got to go save the dying potatoes!"
"Potatoes are already dead!" Olivia yells. She does not believe in magic. "They were never alive in the first place."
"My potatoes are alive," Audrey counters, smiling eerily. "They talk to me, you know. They said you ate their cousins last night! The shame!" Joanne sighs loudly as Audrey and Olivia get into an argument about whether or not potatoes could actually talk. "Again?" Kayoon asks, appearing from nowhere. "Potatoes can't talk, Audrey, you're just hearing things."
"Not if you use magic!" the other girl says, grinning broadly. Kayoon, for some odd reason, also smiles.
"Yes, magic," she says.
"Magic?" Selena asks, popping out from behind a large boulder. "Do owls carrying letters count as magic?"
"WHAT?!" Olivia yells, probably louder than necessary. "Shonk, are you trying to tease us again?"
"Nope," she says, popping the p. "It's right there." Pointing up into the air, the five girls could see a large owl flying low in the sky. They clearly see the envelopes in the owl's clutches. Kayoon nods slowly and replies, "Yes, that's magic right there." Joanne is amazed by the sheer size of the owl. It's probably bigger than me, Joanne thinks, because she is quite short. Shonk wonders at the letters, since owls usually don't carry letters. Kayoon and Audrey are nervous, because they think they know what the flying owls are about, and Olivia is confused and slightly curious at whether or not this could prove that potatoes couldn't (or could) talk.
The owl flies above their heads and drop the letters on them. Joanne shrieks as one of the letters knock her glasses off. Scrambling for her glasses, she sees the rest of the girls pick up letters. She herself sees her name on one, and picks up the letter addressed to her. "Are these people stalkers or something?" Olivia says bluntly as she reads the exact address of her bedroom on the back of the letter. Joanne ignores her and opens the letter, careful not to ruin the seal. Taking out the letter, she reads the green ink.
"Dear Ms. Lee,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Audrey's reads:
"Dear Ms. Chyung,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Kayoon sees:
"Dear Ms. Koh,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Shonk raises her eyebrows as her letter says:
"Dear Ms. Qiao,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
Olivia cannot believe her eyes when she reads:
"Dear Ms. Chen,
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 the first of September. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress."
"This can't be possible," Olivia immediately says after she finishes her letter. "Magic isn't real."
"I dunno..." Joanne a little more hesitant on sweeping the letter away as if it is a lie. "I mean, we've done some pretty strange things in our lifetime. Magic might explain why."
Shonk is silent, though her dimples are deeper as she rereads her letter. "Kayoon?" Joanne asks. "Audrey? Are you two okay?" Said girls are grinning like madwomen. Their smiles are joyous, but it looks out of place on their usual stoic faces. "It has arrived!" Audrey says with a cheshire cat grin. "The magic has come!"
Kayoon reaches up to smack Audrey on the head, but Jenny, Emma, Katherine, and Jiwon choose that moment to appear. Emma scans the yellowish envelopes in their hands before saying quietly, "So you got them too." It wasn't a question.
"Yep." Shonk always speaks in simple sentences. She believes small phrases are enough to convey what she wants to say. "So it's true then," Jenny speaks up. "Magic is real."
"It's impossible," Olivia says. "There's not such thing as magic."
"Well, what about what we did back in sixth grade with Asher, Andrew, and Eric?" Jiwon counters, quickly warming up to the idea.
"And remember that time we made our pencils fly?" Joanne remembers, before staring questioningly at Katherine, Kayoon, and Audrey. "You three don't seem very surprised."
"We're not," Katherine replies. "We've known about magic for our entire lives. It's just... I never really believed it, even when I saw my parents doing it."
"It's not a big deal," Kayoon shrugs. "You're all witches like we thought you'd be," she says, ignoring Jenny's "I'm not a witch!" comment. "This means we'll all go to the same school!" she adds with a smile.
"We won't have to make excuses that we're going to some exclusive rich private school in Scotland," Audrey includes, for once completely serious.
"It's in Scotland?" Jenny gasps in shock. She has never gone anywhere outside of New York, and is not sure she wants to.
Emma interrupts with a short "It doesn't matter." Leaning against the side of a tree, her eyes reflect the sun as she speaks: "We'll just have to confirm it with our parents," she says. "If magic is truly real, then we know why we're so different. If it is not..." her eyes darken at the thought. "They will pay."
The rest of her friends, already used to her pessimistic and sometimes ominous ways, shrug and agree. "But for now..." Audrey cackles, back to her normal self, "it's time to steal some more stuff." Jenny and Audrey both grab Jiwon's water bottle and Joanne's lunchbox. Laughing, they run back towards the parking lot as Jiwon and Joanne both shout,
"Hey!"
The others, however, have a lot more to think about. Olivia can not believe magic could actually be real. Kayoon can not believe she is finally going to Hogwarts. Katherine can not believe they sent the letter with an owl (how about a cat?). Selena can not believe the ink on the letter was green. And Emma can not believe she's finally found her way home.
Okay, so this is a fanfiction of my friends and I. We're going to be part of the Harry Potter era (probably a few years younger), but also part of the Percy Jacksons series (around Nico's physical age, I guess). It's a request, and I'm going to do it. Enjoy!