Disclaimer: I own nothing that follows...unfortunately

The Beginning of It All

A beam of pale morning light streamed through white curtains into a little yellow room, illuminating a twin bed with a yellow blanket concealing a girl who was rather small for her age. A little mewling kitten lay in a basket on the windowsill. when she could no longer avoid the suns morning rays, the girl sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"C'mon, Nala," she murmured to the kitten, picking her up and setting the tabby on her shoulder, like a pirate's parrot. The girl promptly walked downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Morning, Vita. You're up early." A tall man, with a twinkle in his eye, said to his daughter.

She laughed. "It's the sun, Daddy. I'd still be sleeping, otherwise."

"I know, honey, I'll get you some blinds, so you can sleep in."

"But I like getting up with you, Daddy," her eyes widened.

"We can still do that, but Mum likes getting up with you in the morning, too." he tousled her light blonde curls, causing the kitten to attack them.

The man put a piece of toast in the toaster for Vita and went outside to get the day's post. He started for a moment when he realized that an owl sat atop his mailbox, but once he blinked, it was gone. So, he took it for a slight in his vision. Owls don't come out during the daytime, he told himself. But then he thought again, strange things had been happening a lot lately.

A week ago, his sons, Damien and Jeffery, had been relentlessly teasing Vita about something or other and the next day they had woken up with hair as blue as the sky on a clear day. Thank goodness it had faded. And, quite unlike England's usual weather, there had been an unusual amount of cloudless skies lately. Mr. Hamlinson decided to ignore these matters for the moment as he walked back to the house, sorting through the post.

Mr. Hamlinson was walking into the kitchen when he saw something very strange in the post-stack: a thick aged envelope sealed with purple wax. The wax was stamped with some sort of crest that contained a large letter "H." He sat the stack of letters, bills and spam on the counter for his wife, Kaylee, and went upstairs to get ready for work.

As Mr. Hamlinson was leaving the house for work, his wife, Kaylee, was only just waking up. Something heavy was on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. She opened her eyes and there was Daisy, her fat cat, all curled up. She stroked Daisy and, with a small trill, she stretched and slowly slinked off. Kaylee looked over to her clock, "8:23," it read. She groaned and plodded downstairs to get some coffee. Once she had poured herself a cup, she walked into their family room, where she was immediately accosted by the blaring noises of Spongebob.

"Morning, Vita. Could you turn that down, please?" she said.

"Sure, Mum. G'morning," Vita began. She turned down the TV and gave her attention to her Mum. "There's a letter addressed to the parents of me on the counter. It'd be about me, right?" her excitement wasn't hidden well and Kaylee could tell that the letter wasn't just one of the beginning of term notices.

"Well I'd think so," said Kaylee, "I'll go get it and we'll see." She winked at her daughter and got up. When she found said letter, Kaylee was confused. The letter would have fit it several centuries ago, with it's wax seal and yellowed parchment. Then she thought again, this was probably an invitation to one of Vita's friends' birthday parties. Some of her friends had over-zealous parents when it came to party themes. She chuckled and brought the letter into the family room.

"What's it say, what's it say?" Vita was nearly bouncing off the walls.

"I don't know, why don't we open it?" As soon as Kaylee started to peel off the wax seal, there was a loud thump above the women's heads. "That'll be the your brothers..." she muttered. Kaylee opened the letter and read aloud:

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hamlinson,

"We are pleased to inform you of your daughter, Vita Estelle's, acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We will dispatch someone, on the day of your reading of this letter, to explain to you exactly what this means," Kaylee began to look very confused, "They will arrive at precisely 6:30 PM, to explain what an opportunity this is for your daughter.

Sincerely,

Terry boot

Deputy Headmaster

"Vitie, when did you sign up for a cult?" Damien's eyes were wide and smiling. He had been listening from the doorway while his twin, Jeffery, stuffed his face in the kitchen. Damien burst into laughter. Vita felt a surge of anger flow through her veins and, suddenly, Damien stopped laughing. He clutched his throat in terror as the realization that he could not speak dawned upon him. He stared at Vita in horror.

"Did I do that?" She asked innocently.

.o0o.

Mr. Hamlinson was shocked, to say the least, when he got home from work. As Kaylee tried to explain what had happened this morning, his expression was priceless.

"Damien?" Mr Hamlinson looked at his fifteen year old son. Damien nodded and tried to say something, anything. He was the more vocal of the twins, and it was very strange for Mr. Hamlinson to see him just sitting quietly in the corner.

Vita looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the family room. "6:29," it read. Vita's thoughts swarmed around her head as she wondered on what was to come. Suddenly, there was a crack, like a gunshot, and a second later, the doorbell rang. Jeffery was the first one out of his seat. He opened the door.

"Well, hello there," said a tall man dressed in khakis and a red, untucked, button-down shirt. He looked to be about thirty five. "I'm Professor Longbottom, I work at Hogwarts."

Vita and her family stared at him in silence for a bit. He looked so normal.

"Hello," said Vita's father in a strangled voice.

Professor Longbottom shut the front door and wandered over to the couch. He sat down next to Damien. Damien made as if to speak but something caught in his throat. He glared at Vita instead.

"Alright then," said the Professor nervously, "Do you guys have any questions?"

"I think I may have taken away Damien's voice." Vita toned quietly.

"I can probably fix that, you know?" Professor Longbottom chuckled. "How did that happen?"

Vita's expression was pained, "I don't know, honestly."

"That's very normal, every witch or wizard has performed accidental magic when they were your age or a bit younger." Professor Longbottom then said what seemed to be nonsense words while waving his wand. Vita stared at it.

"Where can I get one?" she said, in awe.

"Diagon Alley, but we'll get to that later."

Damien toned in, "Hello... um, Thank you, Professor."

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm actually quite impressed that your sister was able to do that spell, we don't learn it until third year at Hogwarts," he directed his words to Vita, "If you ever want to do that again, the spell is 'Silencio.'" Professor Longbottom grinned, "So, do you want to know about Hogwarts?"

"Yes, please," said Vita while her family nodded.

"Okay, Hogwarts was founded around 1000 years ago, by Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff. Our four houses are named after them. Gryffindors are generally brave, Ravenclaws are intelligent, Slytherins are ambitious, and I highly doubt that you'll be sorted into that house as they don't generally allow for muggleborns, and lastly you have the loyal Hufflepuffs. All four are honorable houses and I know great witches that have come out of all four of them. Don't worry about the Sorting, but, as no first year really knows what it is, I'll let it stay a surprise. Um... your first year, you'll only have Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and Herbology, which is with me. Well, you also take Flying, but you're not graded on that. Got it all?"

"Yeah, but what's a muggle?" Vita asked.

"It's just what wizards call people without magic. So you would be a muggleborn, as your parents are both muggles. I know this is a lot to take in, so I'll be here for you guys. you can write me any time. Any owl will find me if you tell it to." He looked around. "Is there a good time for us all to go get the things she'll need for school?"

"We're free this coming Sunday," Kaylee answered.

"That's fine with me as well. I'll stop by at noon and pick you all up." He made as if to leave. "Oh, almost forgot, don't tell anybody about Hogwarts." The look on the Professor's face told the Hamlinson family that, if they told anyone, bad things would happen. And they didn't want that.