p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;" emScratch. Scratch, scratch./embr / Rolling over in my cozy bed, I see a tawny owl scratching my bedroom window with its claw. I jump out of bed and run to the window trying to avoid the cold wooden floors. Opening the window, The owl jumps onto the sill. br / While I try to untie the letter from the owl's leg, it pecks at my fingers. br / "No!" I say sternly. "It is for me." br / The creature gives me a weary look. br / Quickly, I untie the letter and send the owl on its way. Upon seeing the Hogwarts seal, I yell, "Meemaw, it's here!"br / I hear my 65 year old grandmother running up the stairs and down the / "It did?" she asks, cautiously / Waving the envelope, I smile and nod. Opening it, I read:/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;"HOGWARTS SCHOOL emof/em WITCHCRAFT emand/em WIZARDRY/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;" /p
div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;"Headmaster: Albus Dumbledorebr /em(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,br /Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)/em/div
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;" /p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emDear Ms. Hazel,/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emWe 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./em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emTerm begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July./em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"br /emYours sincerely,/embr /br /br /p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emMinerva McGonagall/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emDeputy Headmistress/embr /br / Meemaw smiles and asks, "Do you want to go to Diagon Alley to get supplies to day or tomorrow?"br / "Then let's go today, the train leaves tomorrow," I say / Nodding, she tells me to get dressed and meet her down in the kitchen./p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;"xXxXxXxXxXxXx/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;" "Meemaw, where are we going?" I whine, shouting over the people the cobblestone / "Just keep up, We're going to get you a wand," she says slowing down just enough for me to catch / I become silent and focus on trying to keep pace with a 65 year old woman. After more minutes of being jostled around, I finally see the "Ollivander's" sign. After making sure no one was in the store we / The bell rings as the door closes behind us. "Hello?" Meemaw calls / "Why, hello Gretchen. It has been a long time," An old man says, emerging from the many aisles of shelves. br / "Ollivander, yes it really has," she says / "Now who's this pretty young lady you have with you?" He asks curiously to / "Aurelia Hazel," I say with as much courage I can / "Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl," He says / My face turns pink as does my / Meemaw puts her hand to her face as Ollivander's face grows with curiosity. I shake my hair back to a standard brown / "Curious, very curious," he mutters walking around me pinching strands of my / "And before you ask, no, I can only change my hair color at will," I say / He nods and starts to take measurements. After a while, he stops and walks to the shelves, muttering something to / A minute passes and he walks back out with multiple thin boxes. Setting them on the desk, that I hadn't noticed until, he pulls out a slender / "Yew, dragon heart-string, 10 1/2 in," he says handing it to / I wave it and the drawers of the desk fly / "Nope!" I say shoving it back into the / He gives me one after another, but to no avail we can't find me a wand. Sighing, Ollivander looks at the boxes of wands piled on his / "Do you have any other magical abilities that might in influence your mind?" he asks truly / "I can breathe and speak underwater," I say / "One moment, I might have an idea," He mumbles walking to a section very deep in the / I stand at the desk looking for something to satisfy my discomfort. Finding an old leather-bound book, I pick it up off the shelf it sits on in front of a / "Mermaids: Advanced Information and Identification," I say reading the title out loud. It takes me a moment to realize the book and it's title are in a different language. Quickly, I set the book back on the shelf and turn back to the desk to see Ollivander standing there with a single box in his hand and his mouth hanging openbr / "Is that for me to try?" I ask gesturing to the / He closes his mouth, looks at the ancient thing in his hands and manages to get out, "Huh? Umm, oh, yeah." He hands me the / I take the delicate, weather wand gently in my hand. My fingers feeling warm coming in contact with the wood. A smile creeps onto my face. The feeling of my hair changing snaps my back to reality. Pulling a strand into my vision, em /emI see it has turned a seaweed blue. I, lightly, set the wand in the / "This seems like the the perfect wand, but it is too fragile and I don't want to break it," I say trying to hand the box back to / "No, Ms. Hazel you are mistaken. This wand cannot be broken. It is can only be used by the powerful witch or wizard it was made for," He tells me. "In fact, to prove to you that this wand is destined to be yours, read what it says on the side."br / "Rosewood, mermaid hair core, 13 inches, unyielding, 782 C.E," I read. Again, it takes me a moment to realize the different language. "What is this language?" br / "That, my dear, is Mermish Runes. To find a person that can read it without a translation book at hand is very, very, very rare. And if you were to translate it using a book someone wouldn't speak it that fluently. It would take a normal witch or wizard at least ten minutes to translate just what is on that box, let alone the book title you just read," he informs / "What does this mean?"br / "This just means you will accomplish great, powerful things. That is the wand you will be buying today, right?" He asks getting back on topic of a / "Yes, and would it be okay if I borrow that book? I find it interesting," I say as / "You may keep it, I have no use for it," he tells / After paying him ten galleons, I see a boy about eleven, maybe ten, with blinding white hair and bright yellow eyes approach the shop as I exit it. I pretend to pay no attention to him as I walk passed to meet My grandmother at the Leaky Cauldron to pack for Hogwarts /br /br /br /br /br /~ Aurelia/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;"HOGWARTS SCHOOL emof/em WITCHCRAFT emand/em WIZARDRY/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;" /p
div style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;"Headmaster: Albus Dumbledorebr /em(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,br /Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)/em/div
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;" /p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emDear Ms. Hazel,/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emWe 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./em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emTerm begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July./em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"br /emYours sincerely,/embr /br /br /p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emMinerva McGonagall/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;"emDeputy Headmistress/embr /br / Meemaw smiles and asks, "Do you want to go to Diagon Alley to get supplies to day or tomorrow?"br / "Then let's go today, the train leaves tomorrow," I say / Nodding, she tells me to get dressed and meet her down in the kitchen./p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px; text-align: center;"xXxXxXxXxXxXx/p
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.3999996185303px; line-height: 24.4799995422363px;" "Meemaw, where are we going?" I whine, shouting over the people the cobblestone / "Just keep up, We're going to get you a wand," she says slowing down just enough for me to catch / I become silent and focus on trying to keep pace with a 65 year old woman. After more minutes of being jostled around, I finally see the "Ollivander's" sign. After making sure no one was in the store we / The bell rings as the door closes behind us. "Hello?" Meemaw calls / "Why, hello Gretchen. It has been a long time," An old man says, emerging from the many aisles of shelves. br / "Ollivander, yes it really has," she says / "Now who's this pretty young lady you have with you?" He asks curiously to / "Aurelia Hazel," I say with as much courage I can / "Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl," He says / My face turns pink as does my / Meemaw puts her hand to her face as Ollivander's face grows with curiosity. I shake my hair back to a standard brown / "Curious, very curious," he mutters walking around me pinching strands of my / "And before you ask, no, I can only change my hair color at will," I say / He nods and starts to take measurements. After a while, he stops and walks to the shelves, muttering something to / A minute passes and he walks back out with multiple thin boxes. Setting them on the desk, that I hadn't noticed until, he pulls out a slender / "Yew, dragon heart-string, 10 1/2 in," he says handing it to / I wave it and the drawers of the desk fly / "Nope!" I say shoving it back into the / He gives me one after another, but to no avail we can't find me a wand. Sighing, Ollivander looks at the boxes of wands piled on his / "Do you have any other magical abilities that might in influence your mind?" he asks truly / "I can breathe and speak underwater," I say / "One moment, I might have an idea," He mumbles walking to a section very deep in the / I stand at the desk looking for something to satisfy my discomfort. Finding an old leather-bound book, I pick it up off the shelf it sits on in front of a / "Mermaids: Advanced Information and Identification," I say reading the title out loud. It takes me a moment to realize the book and it's title are in a different language. Quickly, I set the book back on the shelf and turn back to the desk to see Ollivander standing there with a single box in his hand and his mouth hanging openbr / "Is that for me to try?" I ask gesturing to the / He closes his mouth, looks at the ancient thing in his hands and manages to get out, "Huh? Umm, oh, yeah." He hands me the / I take the delicate, weather wand gently in my hand. My fingers feeling warm coming in contact with the wood. A smile creeps onto my face. The feeling of my hair changing snaps my back to reality. Pulling a strand into my vision, em /emI see it has turned a seaweed blue. I, lightly, set the wand in the / "This seems like the the perfect wand, but it is too fragile and I don't want to break it," I say trying to hand the box back to / "No, Ms. Hazel you are mistaken. This wand cannot be broken. It is can only be used by the powerful witch or wizard it was made for," He tells me. "In fact, to prove to you that this wand is destined to be yours, read what it says on the side."br / "Rosewood, mermaid hair core, 13 inches, unyielding, 782 C.E," I read. Again, it takes me a moment to realize the different language. "What is this language?" br / "That, my dear, is Mermish Runes. To find a person that can read it without a translation book at hand is very, very, very rare. And if you were to translate it using a book someone wouldn't speak it that fluently. It would take a normal witch or wizard at least ten minutes to translate just what is on that box, let alone the book title you just read," he informs / "What does this mean?"br / "This just means you will accomplish great, powerful things. That is the wand you will be buying today, right?" He asks getting back on topic of a / "Yes, and would it be okay if I borrow that book? I find it interesting," I say as / "You may keep it, I have no use for it," he tells / After paying him ten galleons, I see a boy about eleven, maybe ten, with blinding white hair and bright yellow eyes approach the shop as I exit it. I pretend to pay no attention to him as I walk passed to meet My grandmother at the Leaky Cauldron to pack for Hogwarts /br /br /br /br /br /~ Aurelia/p