Of Dreams and Flying Erasers
Ella never believed her parents would let her do anything that could ruin their reputation. They were refined scientist as well as some of the best doctors and definitely no-nonsense people. She had grown up with a brilliant mind as well as imagination, but her parents tried to get the imagination out of her. They believed in logic, but Ella thought differently.
Ever since she was little she had got a weird feeling about the world around her and knew she was different. Things happened to her, strange things, her parents always could find some sort of explanation to it, but she didn't want an explanation. If she was different, so be it. Ella loved the unexplained and despite the fact she excelled in ordinary classes like science, she found them notoriously boring.
In Ella's life the only thing that seemed to be interesting aside from those magical instances were the dreams she'd have. She would fall asleep and have the most vivid dreams. They seemed to be of the same things, but always full of ideas and objects her parents would never approve of. Flying motorcycles and broom sticks! She loved to see the dreams though some were rather frightening. She rarely forgot a dream.
Summer was merely a day away as the eleven year old sat at her desk. It was her last class of the day and the teacher seemed to not understand that we wouldn't be returning for months so teaching was obsolete. She twirled her straight brown hair around her finger like she always did when she was nervous, embarrassed, or just bored. Her dazzling sapphire blue eyes stared at the sky. She was petite and would often have a rosy flush to her cheeks. No one paid her much attention, they'd all written her off as a freak. She never showed too much confidence around others for this reason even though she'd never let someone take advantage of her. Mrs. Winters droned on and on about the different forms of clouds. She seemed to think that the class found it fascinating since all of them were watching out of the window. On the contrary, they were all waiting for the class to be let out.
"Miss. Worthington, are you paying attention to me or waiting for the sky to change color?" Mrs. Winters asked Ella and she blushed a brilliant red.
"Sorry, ma'am," she mumbled.
"She's probably waiting for a flying carpet or something to take her back to where the nutters live!" Allison giggled across the room from her. Ella blushed more and felt incredibly angry.
Allison used to be her friend until she told her about a fascinating dream she had of the flying motorcycle. Allison had laughed in Ella's face and they had been sworn enemies ever since. Ella glared at Allison and without touching anything her eraser flew over to Allison hitting her straight in the forehead.
"Ella!" Mrs. Winters yelled at me, "You will stay after class!" She lowered her head and nodded. It wasn't her fault. She never did anything, she hadn't even touched the eraser and yet it still flew and hit Allison in the face. Things like that always happened. Her mother put up one of her toys when she was little as a punishment and Ella was able to jump nearly ten feet in the air to grab it! Another time she was racing Allison and lost, badly. Allison taunted her so much that she asked for a rematch. She really didn't know what happened, but one moment she was at one end of the street while the next she was at another.
The bell rang and she stayed in her seat. Mrs. Winters left to contact her parents for what seemed like the thousandth time this year. What would they do now, ground her for weeks or take her books away? She was terrified at what could happen. By the time the two arrived she had thought of things like shipping her to a boarding school in Paraguay. They were extremely disappointed and didn't even try to say they believed Ella. Instead they asked what her punishment would be.
"Since the year has ended I suggest she just apologizes and you leave it be. Not much to do now," the teacher said wanting to get home. It was a silent car ride home as well as dinner. It felt like no one wanted to punish Ella. She went to bed without a word said to her. It was normal for her parents not to talk to her.
As she slept she dreamt of a castle that was overlooking a lake. A forest surrounded it as well. The towers were enormous and there were several of them. She went in and there was a man with greasy air, a woman who turned into a cat then into a stern looking woman again, and another man who had a crooked nose and long enough hair to tuck into his belt. They were all peculiarly dressed in cloaks of all colors. They seemed to be waving her over as to welcome her into their castle. It was the warmest she'd felt to someone else, like they knew what she was dealing with. It eventually ended though as Ella woke up to the house where her imagination was prohibited.
Of course, her parents never true gave her the time of day a child required. They rarely ever talked to her unless it was criticizing. Both of them wanted good grades and no trouble making, but other than that they didn't care what she did. Neither of them wanted to be a part of her life. It was quite lonely, and sometimes she wanted a hug or someone to believe she wasn't lying. Ella had gotten used to not having loving parents. She was even used to them saying things such as, we hadn't intended on you being born or you were a total surprise. It was normal now. They'd barely say anything to each other.
"Good morning Ella," her mother said while making breakfast. She nodded and sat near her father.
"We think that today you will go apologize to that girl," he told her.
"But it wasn't my fault! The eraser just flew at her, I never touched it!" Ella stated wishing they'd believe her for once.
Her mother tutted and said, "Ella we raised you better than that, you aren't to lie." She knew that this was a fight she wouldn't win.
Ella's parents put her in a dress and took her to Allison's house. Ella sat fuming in the back seat about the whole ordeal. She hated dresses and she hated that Allison always looked like the good girl while she seemed like the delinquent. It wasn't fair that she was actually normal and Ella wasn't. Ella enjoyed being different, but sometimes it was a pain. Like when she had to apologize for not being normal.
Her parents walked to the door and had her ring the bell.
"What do you want?" Allison sneered.
"I want to apologize for my rude actions yesterday and for…having the eraser hit you," Ella said in a false-sincere tone. Allison shrugged and shut the door. Ella took some deep breaths to calm her and then walked away with her parents.
The summer passed annoyingly slow and Ella kept coming home scraped and bruised from Allison and her friends. She'd give anything to not have to go to school with the group again. It had reached nearly July and she had been stuck alone all summer. Her parents were always working and never wanted to spend time with her. Ella normally wandered around her neighborhood trying to stay out of trouble.
She liked the playground when no one was there, but that was very rare. She only went there if it was raining, because everyone would go inside and play. Ella spent most of her time reading library books in the bushes. There were hundreds of bushes where she lived so she would pick a spot and dive into the world of imagination that she loved exploring.
The giants, witches, and fairies made summer bearable to her. She loved to go to the library and check the books out and then read for hours on end. Nearly every book in the library had been read by her and she begged for new books to be delivered. Several books had to be replaced because the other girls would damage them if they found Ella. So she tried to hide extra well. It was a pitiful way to spend the summer, yet Ella was used to it. These people didn't understand her and never took he time to know her.
One day she was heading home rather early due to the hot weather when she ran into Allison and her friends in front of her house. She walked casually over hoping to get right through, but they grabbed her by the arms and stopped her.
"Where do you think you're going Smella?" Allison said while her minions chuckled stupidly.
"Home Allison, that's the thing you're standing in front of for me, I know you prefer to live under rocks, but this is where humans live!" Ella snapped at her and the minions shoved her to the ground causing her to scrape her knees.
Ella glared up at Allison who said, "Look at this, ladies, a book! Ella hasn't any friends so she has to read them! Poor, poor Smella." She cackled along with the others. Ella tried to keep her temper in check, but it was hard to do with them taunting her.
"At least I can read! You all are probably too stupid to comprehend a word of it!" Ella yelled wishing someone would come along and see her being bullied for once. Allison merely chuckled at my feeble attempts to get the book back. She gave a look to the girl holding it and she chucked it into a puddle of mud.
"Oops!" The minion said with a harsh laugh.
Ella looked sadly as the book became increasingly muddy and wet. She'd have to replace another. The library might ban her this time; they were getting highly annoyed by all the destroyed books. They all laughed as she bent over the mud puddle careful not to fall in. She didn't need to become a ball of mud since her parents would be home in only a matter of minutes. She felt hands shove her back and she tumbled face first into the puddle. The group laughed and Ella felt herself becoming too angry to control. Before anything could happen they all became quiet.
Turning around she saw a greasy haired man strolling down the sidewalk looking at the girls in such a fashion Ella thought they'd burst into tears. He had dark, shoulder-length hair and cold black eyes. Each of them started to back away.
"What, might I ask, are you doing?" He asked them in dangerously low voice.
"W-we were j-j-just leaving sir," Allison said shaking and then turned around with her friends and ran off. Ella looked up at the man frightened.
He looked at the girl and he said, "Come on, get up. We don't have all day." Ella nodded and got up trying to brush mud off of her. The man led her to her house and they went inside the house. Ella got herself a towel to wipe off the mud and changed into a new outfit. She had no idea what to say to the man or what her parents would say letting a stranger in the house. He didn't seem strange to her though, she thought she knew him.
"Would you like some tea, sir?" She asked hesitantly after she had changed. Ella set the book down on the table and sat down opposite of him after he shook his head no. Out of the corner of her eye Ella could see the man getting out an envelope with green ink on it and a stick.
Ella didn't want to say anything now for she had realized she'd seen the man before in her dreams. The man held the stick and tapped the book. Immediately the mud left it and it seemed as good as new. She gasped in surprise and awe.
He cleared his throat, "Will your parents be arriving soon?"
She nodded, "Any minute now. Who are you?"
"In due time Miss. Worthington," the man told her in a bored voice. Ella was confused how he knew her name and looked down at the letter seeing that her name and exact bedroom was written on it.
Ella kept to herself while they sat there. She had seen this man in the dream where he waved and tried to get her to come into the castle. Maybe I'm dreaming. Ella couldn't help but think. She didn't want to imagine some of the dreams she had were real, but others she wanted to be real more than anything. Ten minutes had passed and the car pulled up into the driveway. Ella ran to the door to answer it. Her parents walked in and stopped as soon as they saw the man, who was about their age, maybe younger.
"Who are you?" Ella's mother asked.
"I am Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm here to inform you that your daughter is a witch."
A/N: Hope you liked, don't forget to rate and review! :) -HufflePuffs Rule (: