Author's Note: This chapter has been changed a bit since last year. Just thought I'd fix it here, too. About the footnotes: I don't know how to make it link from the number to the bottom of the page where the footnote is written because I don't yet know how to code html to do that. My dad might now (seeing as he is an engineer), but I can't bother him right now because he's working. So, you'll have to find a way to keep your place (I would just select a big section of it with my cursor so it's highlighted), then go to the bottom of the page and read. I tried just putting them into parentheses and it didn't fit right. We're still alive, you still have a story to read, and I have a story to write, so here you go:
An owl flew up to her window and pecked at it impatiently. Ash looked up from her book to see what made the noise, and was surprised despite the number of strange events that occurred around her daily. Birds normally came to her window, but not owls carrying envelopes in the middle of the afternoon. The owl flew in and perched on her bedpost when she opened the window. It looked at her expectantly, so she took the letter from its beak, then it promptly began to preen itself.
There was no return address, but her own very detailed address was written in emerald ink on the parchment saying:
Ms. A. Morgan
The first floor bedroom
37 Mount Pleasant Drive
Hayle
Cornwall
"That's odd," Ash said to herself. She turned it back over and tore it open. Inside were 3 sheets of parchment. The first read in the same green ink:
Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Morgan,
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 September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
She read it twice to make sure she didn't miss anything. Still in shock she unfolded the next piece of parchment which revealed a list as follows:
Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. 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 BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
Witchcraft and wizardry? Hogwarts? Spellbooks and wands? Was it a joke? None of it was believable, but neither was the time she mysteriously managed to explode a toilet from ten meters away or when she caught fire to her teacher's hair from across the classroom. But no matter how strongly Ash believed it was true, or how many times she explained that these and other events were further proof of its truth, her parents would never believe it. They had no doubt their 11-year-old daughter was a nutter and that this was another excuse to run away from 'real' school.
But it was worth a try.
Besides, it was better to think it was real. If it turned out so, she'd be better off, and if it didn't...well, things couldn't get worse, so what difference did it make?
There were too many extraordinary things happening around her too often. Just like the time she was thrown of a cliff and stopped falling two feet short of sharp rocks. There was no choice but to at least try to convince her parents and somehow find out how to get to wherever you could buy this stuff. Thinking of which, she remembered the third piece of parchment.
Dear Ms. Morgan,
We understand you come from a family of non-magic people, also known as muggles, so a staff member will be sent to escort you and a parent or guardian to London where you can buy supplies on August 15th at 9:30 am. Enclosed is a train ticket to Hogwarts from King's Cross station in London.
Please return post with the owl that delivered this letter. Thank you.
Enjoy your year at Hogwarts. Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
That will show them, she thought. There'll be no way they can deny this whole thing when a wizard shows up to escort us... She lost her train of thought when she realized something. Where would you buy magic supplies in London? But then she reassured herself again that she would find out soon: when whoever it was did show up in a week and a half.
Ash went to her desk and grabbed paper and pen, quickly writing a reply telling them she'd be at school on September 1. She folded the paper and gave it to the owl which glided right back out the window and into the distance.
She reread her letters again, then slumped back into her chair. There wasn't anything left to do, it seemed. Ash then spotted a small, lavender piece of paper with silver embellishment. She pulled it out from underneath the other pieces of parchment and read it. "London to Hogwarts for one way travel." And underneath that in big silver letters: "Platform 9¾."
What kind of platform is that? Where is that? Somewhere in the abouts between 9 and 10, said a very snide voice in her head.
She sighed and put the piece of paper back down on the desk. Just one more thing she'd have to find out soon enough. She sat a few minutes wondering about magic, but knew she couldn't sit like that through the rest of summer. Instead, she climbed out the window and went as stealthily as possible (1) to the end of Mount Pleasant. She turned right onto Chapel Hill, which lead to Commercial Road, which she crossed to reached the dock. It was a smaller dock, since that bit of water didn't connect to the other bits of water, and therefore didn't have many boats, but it was great for diving and swimming. The air was cooler by the water than it was up the hill in the sun, but it never got very hot at all, anyway. Ash sat down on the edge with her feet and sandals dangling in the water that gently lapped the wooden dock.
She thought about the letter, not questioning its reality since she knew she'd done magic before. Once she almost felt she could fly. She wondered that if magic was real, maybe there were mermaids in the water. When she decided it was unlikely, she felt someone step onto the dock which was small enough for the slightest movements to affect it.
Ash stood up and turned around to find herself face to face with Bill Miller, also known as Big Billy or Big Bully. His wide frame put her entire body in the shade easily. But even in his shadow with a few of his friends behind him she was not afraid, because now more than ever, she knew she had an advantage that he could never have. She grinned at the thought.
"What's so funny, Morgan? Think I'm funny do you?" he provoked.
"A little," she answered. Her grin widened, "but you'd be funnier if there was a stick through your head."
"Oh, I'd hoped you'd forgotten that. I'm sorry...sorry I didn't kill you the first time."
"Eleven-year-olds shouldn't be murderers in the first place. I wonder why you keep trying."
"I wonder why you're not dying." Then, turning to his friends – no, cronies – and grinned evilly. "But maybe you'll drown this time."
The wind picked up violently, whipping her long hair in every direction and making waves start crashing over the edge of the dock. "You'll never even touch me. You won't dare." Her eyes flashed angrily.
His eyes showed fear, but he forced a laugh and badgered further, "You need anger control or something? " He stopped laughing when a giant wave leaped up and crashed down right on top of Bill and his gang. They all fell over onto their backs from the weight and got soaked through the bone, but Ash escaped the wave by an inch. She remained firmly planted on her spot despite all the dock's rocking and tossing.
They all risked fearful glances back, but ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. As soon as Bill was out of sight the weather calmed down and the streaks of fire in her hair disappeared. It always did that when she was angry or irritated, but she'd never managed to make the lake toss like that before. Besides that, she normally saved herself after they tried to kill her. Last time she only barely escaped them trying to spear her through the head with a tree branch. It bent itself to keep from striking her, then wrenched itself from Billy's grasp and whacked him on the shoulder.
It wasn't time for her parents to be home yet, so Ash sat back down at the edge of the dock, swishing her feet around in the water that was again lapping gently against her legs. After a moment she decided it was pointless to just sit there bored again, so she dived into the water in all her clothes and went swimming. She always loved swimming; it felt just like flying, except that the further you went, the more pressure there was, rather than the other way around. She didn't get to go flying much, however, since her parents were deathly afraid of airplanes, or perhaps they were simply against the idea of them, and never wanted to fly anywhere.
Then again, they gave Ash so much freedom, hardly caring what happened to her, they wouldn't notice if she flew to Norway alone and spent two weeks there. She couldn't do that though, since she didn't have her own money. She was only eleven years old, after all. Even she could admit that.
Ash was lazily floating on the surface of the water when she absentmindedly looked at her watch and jerked upright in surprise. It was much later than she thought, and her parents had been home from work for two hours already. While she was in the water she hardly noticed that it was getting dimmer outside. Eager now to show the Hogwarts letter to her parents she set of running as though there was fire at her heels, and for a split second she felt like there actually was.
The door was locked since her parents kept it that way while everyone was inside (for no practical reason that Ash could see). When Ash's mother came and opened the door she said, "Home finally? We already ate so make yourself dinner."
"Where were you?" her father asked without the slightest hint of concern or interest. (2)
"I was out swimming," Ash answered plainly.
He turned around to look at her where she now stood: a bit behind the couch where he sat. "You're not wet," he stated coolly.
She hadn't noticed it at first but in her sprint home she had miraculously, but completely, dried off. However, after a quick thought she realized it didn't matter. "Well, I've got a letter from a school called Hogwarts. I'll go get it."
Ash hurried to her room, grabbed the parchment letter, then ran back down the hall. Her mother and father sat together on the sofa watching the news but not listening. They scooted closer to each other so they could read it together. Almost immediately after reading the title: "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Mr. Morgan, still unhappy-looking asked, "What is this rubbish?"
"I told you, I got invited to a school," Ash answered indignantly.
"I'm not paying for this if its some dodgy old fool teaching magic tricks. This headmaster, Alfus Bumblebore...Dumb-door...what's-his-face – I wouldn't expect more than a bunch of aba kedabra nonsense from a name like that."
Ash stubbornly ignored her father's snide remark and her mother's astonished face, and waited for them to finish, sitting on the arm of the second sofa with her arms crossed. It didn't take long, then she shoved the other note under their noses, now paying attention to their faces with glee at their shock that a wizard was going to show up at their house on August 15th.
Her father skimmed the first piece of parchment again and asked, "What's this mean, they await your owl?"
"Well, it was an owl that brought me the letter, and I wrote back and it took it and flew off again. I guess that's how they get their letters around," she answered, pretending she didn't notice that her dad wasn't liking the idea of owl post.
"You don't think they use those blasted birds for post, do you? The ruddy things are always flying into your room. Is that what they've been doing all this time, eh?"
"No, they never carry letters. They're just there to say—"
"They don't say anything, Ashley," interrupted her mother scornfully. Ash tensed when her full first name was used but resisted the temptation to punch Mrs. Morgan's lights out.
"Birds certainly sing," she corrected, "and who says their singing doesn't mean any—"
"You're not going." Her father finally stood up, his bony face shadowy and angry eyes burning with rage. "This...school...doesn't even exist, I'm sure. You, Ashley Morgan, would not hesitate to make up such a ridiculous story."
She opened her mouth in protest, but closed it again knowing that saying anything would only make herself more angry. She had expected them not to believe it, after all, so why did she care about them? Why was she shaking from head to foot with such strong, burning anger and why did her eyes feel like they, too, were on fire? She felt like everything they said was a deep insult to everything she was. Mispronouncing Albus Dumbledore's name, acting as though magic was a bunch on nonsense words and mumbo jumbo, talking of birds as though they were senseless, speechless, useless, ugly, disgusting...it all made her soul want to burst out of its dam and drown everyone. Headmaster Dumbledore sounded like a very powerful wizard, especially after that long list of awards: Order of Merlin, first class and so on. That had to be significant (especially to a hopeful eleven-year-old). And hadn't anyone noticed the magic? She made a wave crash all the way over the docks on a perfectly calm day, and that most certainly was not mumbo jumbo. And birds had always been her good friends. Some of her only friends...
The pent-up anger was twisting her stomach and her heart was beating faster, but all of a sudden everything stopped when her father laughed his cold laugh as he sat back down next to her skinny little mother and turned on the news. The sound and flash of the TV jerked her back to this world and she found herself very suddenly hungry. She hurried into the kitchen and warmed up some leftovers for herself, then tromped back to her room where she shut the door and went to bed, purposely leaving the school letter out in the living room for her parents to mull over. She wondered how she ever got magic growing up with these people. They were hardly parents at all. That word they used in the letter for non-magic people...muggles, yes. They were the worst sort of muggles imaginable.
(1) Her neighbors and schoolmates were not very friendly. She didn't just fall of the cliff that time, she was pushed off. She had also been punched, cut, stabbed, drowned, and burned, among other things which never succeeded.
(2) Which made Ash wonder why he asked at all. If he didn't care, why bother? Maybe it's because it made him feel more fatherly, but he wasn't the kind of person who would care about feeling fatherly, either. Some things we never know.