There was a tiny whoosh as the letter glided down the chimney and landed on the soft, white rug in the living room.
"MAMA!" I yelled, racing to the letter and picking it up. "MAMA IT CAME!" I eagerly broke the wax seal and opened the letter. My mom walked calmly into the room after having run down the stairs as I carefully unfolded the letter inside the envelope.
"What does it say?" Mama asked, sounding a little short of breath.
"I got in!" I said excitedly, spinning. My skirt twirled modestly around me, and Mama caught me and hugged me.
"Congratulations," she said with the biggest smile. "I knew you would make it." She tried to read the letter over my shoulder, but I couldn't stand still. "Let me see it." I handed her the letter and began doing pirouettes and twirls all around the living room.
"Be careful, don't break anything," my mother said somewhat absent-mindedly as she read the letter, worried about her china cabinet. "Oh, Katie, I'm so proud of you! Oh, did you see this note from Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes, I did!" I replied, practicing an arabesque on my left foot, something I needed practice at. "He's going to lend me the time turner!"
"He said to meet you tomorrow afternoon in his office about the time turner," Mama added, analyzing every word in the letter with her mind buzzing with excitement and organization. "We should go shopping in the morning in Diagon Alley for your school supplies, and maybe we can meet up with my sister. That means we have to reschedule our trip for your regular school supplies. I'll inform Dad as soon as he comes home, so he can take off work and watch Randall; I hope he can at this short notice. And…Kate! Are you listening to me?"
"Yes, mama," I replied, planting my ever-dancing feet on the ground and facing her.
"Absolutely none of a word of this goes to anyone; is that understood?" Mama said strictly, staring me down with those icy blue eyes of hers. "Not even a new friend, or anyone in England. And certainly none of your friends here."
"I know mama," I replied, rolling my eyes a little. Of course I wouldn't tell any of my friends in Savannah; that was a rule of the house, because all of Mama's family, the wizarding side of my family, was in England.
"I just want to be clear," Mama said. "And I mean it when you meet new people at Hogwarts. Even though they are witches and wizards, you don't need to go around spreading your business; it's just not something that they need to know. I want you to seem like a normal student there, so no chit chat about this."
"Except for Professor Dumbledore," I corrected her, thinking how strange it would be to start calling my teachers 'Professor' instead of 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.'
"But only Professor Dumbledore," Mama said, still with her warning tone. "He has been kind enough to allow you into his school, and you are going to be working twice as hard, because of the long hours of each day."
"Yes mama," I said as calmly as I could, but the excitement was hard to restrain. I was going to be Hogwarts' first "commuter" student and American student. Also, I was starting the 6th grade at Bryson Middle School here in Savannah, Georgia. I was going to be traveling between countries and realms within each day, using a time turner to fool my fellow classmates in both England and America, so the kids at Hogwarts would see me as another student at the boarding school and the kids at Bryson would see me as an average American kid. Professor Dumbledore had assured my parents it was almost foolproof.