Full summary:
It all began when 6 American Muggleborns get their Hogwarts letters. Be there through all their heartache and joy, love and enmity, as they complete their first year with Harry and Ron and Hermione and Dean and Seamus and—I think you get the point. Let's begin, then!
And now for the story.
"Hannah! A letter for you."
The brunette took the yellowed parchment from her father. "Wait," she said, her blue eyes puzzled, "you gave me Haley's letter."
Mr. Schreiter's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I already gave your older sister hers."
Hannah, eyes wide, looked down at her letter. "'Miss H. Schreiter, attic bedroom, 1165 Crestview Drive'—Dad! Is this what I think it is?"
Mr. Schreiter shrugged. "Possibly…"
Hannah tore into her letter. "'Dear Miss Schreiter'," she read aloud, "'we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!' Dad! I'm a witch!"
At this outburst, an older girl popped out from a cupboard. "Niña! Were you accepted at Hogwarts?"
"Yes, Haley, yes I was!"
Haley screamed. "You're going to Hogwarts with me! Yay!"
"I gotta call Rachel!" Hannah exclaimed, reaching for the telephone receiver. Before she could pick it up, however, it rang. "Hello?" she answered.
"Hey, Hannah, it's Rachel! You'll never guess what I got—I know you won't because it's so weird and unexpected—though I always hoped that I was one, you know, after Haley got her letter—I was so excited when I got it—here's a hint: it came with an owl—"
"Take a breath, Rach," Hannah said. "I got one too!"
The prattle on the other end ceased abruptly. "You what?" Rachel breathed.
"I'm going to Hogwarts with you," Hannah said slowly and clearly.
Another voice cut across theirs. "Schmurf? You're going with us?"
"Yes, Katelyn," Hannah said impatiently. "You three-way-calling me?"
"Yeah."
"Ah."
"Hannah—" Rachel said breathlessly, "Tanya called to say she and Sarah and Shelby are going, too!"
"No way." Tanya, Sarah, and Shelby were the final three girls that made up the Funny Farm, a group of close friends from the States.
"Way."
There was a silence, in which Rachel began humming absentmindedly. It sounded oddly like the 'Bewitched' theme song.
"Well," Katelyn said finally, " I should go pack…"
"Hmm…"
Rachel sighed. "My dad and I have to buy plane tickets and make arrangements and all that jazz."
"So…"
"We're going to England!"
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One month later, six American witches stepped off the plane at London International Airport. They retrieved their luggage at the baggage claim (most of it consisted of clean underwear and socks, because they would be wearing their uniform most of the year) and took a rented minivan to their hotel, where they would stay the one night before term started.
"Daddy," Rachel said as they dropped off their belongings at the hotel, "can we go to Diagon Alley now, please?"
"Diagon Alley?"
Rachel sighed heavily. "You know, the place where everyone goes for their school stuff…did you honestly think we were going to find everything on the streets of London?"
"Why don't we would wait until tomorrow? You'll beat the crowds."
"Daddy," Rachel said, quite serious this time, "The Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow at eleven o'clock."
"Well…"
"Please, Mr. Hekman, we're all ready," Sarah pleaded.
Mr. Hekman sighed and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "All right, into the van."
"Yes!" They all clambered into the minivan. "It feels very odd for me to be getting into the driver's side," Rachel said.
"You have no idea," Mr. Hekman said. "Now, which way?"
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After they were dropped off at the Leaky Cauldron, the girls hesitantly asked Tom, the barkeeper, what to do. "Go to the back, little misses, Hagrid should be there. If 'e ain't, come an' fetch me, an' I'll get you through." He smiled not unkindly at them, and they did as they were told.
Hagrid, it appeared, was either a small boy with black hair and glasses, or a tall, giant-like man with a wiry beard. Either way, both of them turned to look at them as they approached.
"Er, Tom told us to have Hagrid help us through to Diagon Alley…" Tanya said tentatively,
The giant looked momentarily confused. "Oh, righ'. Well, no time like the present, eh?" Without preamble, he whipped out a pink umbrella and tapped the wall while the boy and the six girls stared shyly at each other.
"All righ', then, here's Diagon Alley." Hagrid stepped aside to let them pass. "C'mon, Harry, thatsa boy."
Hannah stopped and stared as the boy and Hagrid walked away. Harry…? she thought. Yes, it was the right time, if she had her calculations correct. Exactly eleven years since the Boy Who Lived defeated the Dark Lord. He would be about their age by now…
"Hannah?" Shelby asked. "What is it?"
Hannah shook her head. "Nothing. Come on, let's go to Gringotts."
An hour later, they emerged from the white bank, pockets loaded with Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.
"School robes," Rachel read off her list.
"So does that mean we have to have fabric thrown over us and fitted?" Tanya asked in surprise, her pale eyebrows raised in polite confusion.
"I guess so," replied Katelyn.
"Gross!" Tanya shrieked.
"Why is that gross?" Hannah asked.
"I don't know. I just felt like saying that."
Everyone rolled their eyes good-naturedly, then Katelyn exclaimed, "Look! There's Madam Malkin's. It's near Ollivander's Wands."
"Wands last, guys," Rachel said, seeing Sarah and Shelby's faces.
So the girls went into Madam Malkin's. But before she went in, Hannah caught a glimpse of the same dark-haired boy they had seen before go into the apothecary's.
I must be out of my mind, Hannah told herself, rubbing her forehead. It can't be him. It just can't. She ran into the shop to find Shelby being fitted into her robes.
"Hannah Noel, where were you?" Sarah demanded.
"I just thought I saw someone I…knew," Hannah said quickly and stepped onto the stool as Shelby got off.
"Who did you see?" Shelby asked, snapping her fingers impatiently.
"No one you would know. I didn't even get a good look."
"Come on, you guys, stop bothering her," Katelyn said.
"Eh!" Shelby shouted.
"You're cruisin' for a bruisin', Shelby," Katelyn warned her.
"Don't threaten Beth!" Rachel exclaimed, and then she and Katelyn began arguing.
"Eh, eh, eh, eh!" Shelby stuck her tongue out at Katelyn and barely avoided a slap from Sarah, who then began to yell at her.
"Guys…" Tanya started, but no one listened, so she commenced a shouting match with Hannah.
"Katelyn loves Nate!" Shelby managed to make her voice heard above the chaos.
"That's it!"
Katelyn was about to injure Shelby when Madam Malkin cried, "Girls, please! I will have no brawling in my shop!"
Everyone immediately fell silent.
"Thank you." The witch sighed and went back to work.
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"She was a little crabby," Katelyn commented.
"Who?"
"Madam Melbourne or whatever."
"I wonder why," Rachel said dryly, checking her bags for the hundredth time. "D'you think I should have gotten another set of robes? I mean, eight seems a little paltry…"
"Finally!" Hannah cried. "Ollivander's!"
"Olli-who?" Sarah and Shelby asked in unison.
Ignoring them, Rachel, Hannah, Tanya, and Katelyn went into the shop and looked around. When no one came into sight, Rachel stepped up and tapped the little service bell, and a small, reedy wizard came to the front desk. "Six young witches," he said, not unkindly, "ready for Hogwarts, I presume?"
The girls nodded nervously. "We're, ah, not quite sure what…ah…to do."
"You come first, then," the man said to Rachel. She stepped nervously forward, and he started measuring her: her arms, fingers, neck, and height. Finally he stood, disappeared behind a shelf, and emerged with a dusty burgundy box.
"Willow, dragon heartstring, sixteen inches," he said, putting it in her hand. "Go on, give it a wave."
Rachel tentatively swished the wand, immediately causing a chair in the corner to burst into flame. Mr. Ollivander hastily extinguished it and whipped the wand out of her hand, replacing it with a shorter one. "Too swishy, I think. Try this one. Fourteen inches, yew, unicorn hair core. Go on, dear."
She waved the wand gingerly, but instead of something spontaneously combusting, she got a pleasant prickling sensation on the back of her neck.
"That'll be the one, then," Mr. Ollivander said. "Ten Galleons, if you don't mind…"
Half an hour later, the exited the shop, each bearing their treasures: Rachel a fourteen-inch yew with unicorn hair; Hannah with a twelve-inch oak with dragon heartstring; Sarah with a thirteen-inch willow with phoenix feather; Tanya a twelve-inch cherry with dragon heartstring; Katelyn, a twelve-inch mahogany with phoenix feather; and Shelby an eleven-inch ash with unicorn hair.
"Well, we've got every—" Tanya began, but she was cut off by an "Hola, chicas!"
A slightly older brunette made her way through the crowd toward them. "My little sister is almost a witch," she said happily, hugging Hannah. "Hi, everyone."
"Hi, Haley," they chorused.
"So, has everyone got their wands, and their books, and their robes, and their owls…"
"Owls!" Rachel cried. "I knew I was forgetting—" She broke off as Sarah elbowed her. "What?"
"Look who's coming."
"Who?"
"Tall, handsome…" Sarah sighed.
Haley turned. "Oh, that's Oliver Wood. He's in my year. Hey, Oliver! Have a nice summer?" She turned back. "So, Rachel, you should go—what are you all laughing at?"
Oliver had turned to wave at Haley and walked right into a low-hanging sign. While Haley hurried over to see if he was okay, Rachel ducked into Eeylops', still snickering. She emerged ten minutes later carrying a handsome tawny-colored barn owl in a cage.
"Cool!" everyone cried.
Rachel beamed. "Named him Romulus. You like?"
In answer, Katelyn, Sarah, Shelby, Hannah, and Tanya disappeared into the shop and emerged a while later. Katelyn carried a screech owl; Sarah a speckled brown one; Shelby a small, twittering mottled one; Hannah a grey-feathered tawny owl; and Tanya a brown one with impassive black eyes.
"Now we've got everything," Tanya said. "Hogwarts, here we come!"