OK This is my first fic on here so be nice :)
Basically, Sabine Babinuex has just moved from France to England straight after the battle of Hogwarts ends. She will join Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny in Hogwarts for her final year. Because she spent a year out travelling, she gets to use the temporary " 8th year" as her final year too.
I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS THAT YOU RECOGNISE!
Enjoy
"Saby? Sabine? Come downstairs there's an owl for you."
I could just about hear the muffled sounds of my mother's lightly accented calls over the sound of my CD player. I rapidly stopped leaping all over my room (pretending to tidy), turned the player down and flew out of my room and down the beige carpeted staircase. If this owl had a letter with a red seal on the back, my day was about to get a whole lot better.
I ran through the hall, skidded round a corner into our cosy loving room and leaped on top of our leather sofa as a short cut. With a thump I landed, narrowly avoiding our fat boxer dog, Suki, and sprinted into the kitchen. Feeling extremely impressed at my own speedy descent from my bedroom, I imagined crowds surrounding me, cheering me. I had just won a very important race. In my head.
"Sabine, stop being silly and come and read this letter. It could be important." Scolded my mother as she grabbed my arm to stop me turning a circle of glory.
"Is it from them mum? " I asked as I shooed off her hands and went to the window facing the fields on one side of our house. Normally I would have stopped to appreciate the way the sun was hitting the apple trees, the way the little stream with an arch of tall trees hanging over it looked like the perfect place for a fairy story, but not today.
I hastily fumbled with the letter, my hands shaking with nerves and excitement, and turned it over. A red seal, exactly like the one I had been dreaming of for weeks now, shone up at me, inviting me to tear it apart and read its contents. I did just that and, throwing the envelope aside, opened up the letter.
I hadn't properly got into my victory dance when my mother came rushing over to me, muttered to herself ("Honestly, do you ever stop dancing?") and took the letter from my hands, which were currently doing a rather vigorous hand-jive.
"Oh Saby! You're going to Hogwarts!" my mother squealed as she finished reading through the parchment in her grip. I reluctantly finished my hand jive with (quite spectacular) jazz hands and let myself be enveloped in my mother's arms. My mum gave the best hugs. I heard a slight sniffle and looked up to see her wiping her eyes with her free, bejewelled hand.
"Mum? Why are you crying? It's only a school!" I asked, startled. My mother wasn't usually someone to show her emotions freely and so it shocked me to see her crying so openly.
"I'm just being silly Saby. Im just so happy that you will have a school to go to come September. I was so worried about how you would settle in. You had friends and family in France and I knew it would be hard for you to change everything in one go. But now you are going to a proper English school and going to make new friends and you are going to be happy and..."
"Mum, your rambling." I interrupted her. When she got her rare bursts of emotion, she tended to talk and talk and talk.
"Oh, I know, sorry. Right." She began to gather herself. "Now, we need to take a trip to Diagon alley, so I'll send an owl to Molly and check when she is going. We can all go together. You can get to know Ginny again. You used to be great friends and if im not mistaken you will most likely be in her year." She walked over to the table where I had thrown the envelope and looked inside it. She pulled out a smaller piece of parchment which looked like a list of equipment and books that I would need for the New Year.
"Ginny? Weasley? The last time I saw her she was tiny." I said, astonished, pulling myself up onto the counter and grabbing a scone from the flowery bread bin by my elbow.
"Well you were tiny too dear. You were both, what? 9 maybe? Very friendly with Harry Potter, I hear." Said my mum, as she pulled me off the counter and began to make lunch.
"Really? As in You know Who Harry Potter?" I asked. I pulled out a chair at the table and scanned over the equipment list that mum had left on the table. I was really excited for our trip to Diagon Alley. I couldn't really remember the last time I had been. I was sure loads had changed and I couldn't wait.
"Apparently. Although I don't think you can call him "You know Who Harry Potter" anymore. Not after last year." My mum absentmindedly waved her long, thin wand over her shoulder as she joined me at the table with 2 steaming hot, brightly coloured cups of tea. A large knife pulled itself from the knife block and began elegantly cutting the cheese and bread that mum had lain out on the old chopping board.
"But surely he won't be coming to Hogwarts again? Not after that massive war." I asked. Why would he want to go back to somewhere with so many bad memories?
"Well, according to Molly, her son Ron, his girlfriend Hermione and Harry ( all great friends you know) have all been asked back to complete their missed year. Remember we read about how they ran around the country for nearly a year? They didn't stay at Hogwarts for their final year so they are going to repeat it." My mum had now pulled out her nail file. I always insisted that she could use her wand to fix her nails, had even offered to show her the spell, but she insisted that her nails were an art and they deserved attention.
I peered over at the progress of the sandwiches and saw that the mayonnaise was now spreading itself onto the thickly sliced bread.
"Do me a favour dear and call Billy for me please? I'd like to send that letter to Molly sooner rather than later." Called mum, who was now pulling parchment from the writing desk in the living room.
I pulled myself from my chair and set my yellow sunflower mug by the sink. I skipped through the living room and made my way through the dining room, my eyes scanning over the many family photos resting on top of the dusty old piano in the corner.
As I flew through the back door and began across the garden to the small shed that we kept Billy (My mum and dad's massive tawny owl) and Blondie (My own snow white baby owl) in, my heart burst into song and I suddenly realised that I wasn't in my garden anymore. I was on top of the mountains, I had just escaped for a brief moment of freedom from the convent and I was singing at the sun and the wind and for the glory of life!
But then I was back in the shabby old shed and I laughed at myself as I put my arm out for Billy. The large tawny swooped down and gently landed; adjusting itself to make sure it wasn't hurting my arm. I carefully walked back to the house so as to not ruffle him and set him on the back of the sofa.
"You got the words wrong." Said mum as I sat back down at the table, my fresh sandwich sitting in front of me.
"Mmph?" I asked, mouth full of Cheese and bread.
"It's "My day in the hills" not "The day and the hills." You were singing it wrong." Mum stood up and left to the living room to give Billy the letter that she had finished writing and I scowled after her.
I finished my sandwich and shoved my dish in the sink. I gulped down a glass of juice and made my way back upstairs.
Suddenly the stairs transformed into a red carpet. At the top sat a podium covered in red velvet and as I reached it, I looked out over the screaming crowd.
"I am extremely honoured to be accepted to this famous, historical school. I want to thank my mum, for being a witch, my father, for letting us move back to England, and my dog Suki, for never letting me give up on my dream." I sobbed into the microphone, acting extraordinarily emotional at my acceptance.
"Ahem." Said mum, who now stood behind me on the red carpet, which was now rapidly morphing back into a staircase. I mumbled a sorry in between giggles and sprinted the rest of the stairs up to my room.
"Diagon Alley in a week, Saby." Called my mum from her room across the landing.
I flicked on my CD player and my music began blaring out again. I resumed my place on top of my bed and began leaping about, my sunflower bedspread flying up around me.
"Little Shop, Little Shop of Hogwarts! Little Shop, Little Shop of Hogwarts!" I belted at the top of my lungs, altering the words slightly to fit my current train of thought.
"Wrong words, yet again." Mum shouted over the music.
Thank you so much for reading and make sure you review! Please :D xx
