Chapter 1
Rain was a normal girl from the Philippines. She has dark curls that hung up to her waist and chocolate brown eyes. But she isn't as normal as she turned out to be. She kept doing extraordinary things beyond human imagination. She kept it to herself saying that most kids do that. That was until she had received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, telling her that she was a witch. The letter came from an Albus Dumbledore.
What a funny name, she thought. She looked forward to see a mailman in front of her but all she saw was a big barn owl hooting excitedly at her. What she did was that she wrote a reply saying that maybe they had confusion with the letter.
A few days passed, a package came to their house. Inside the package was a ticket to London, a passport and a visa. Maybe it was a joke.
Who would send things like these to me, she thought. She wrote another reply saying that she isn't a witch and stop sending letters.
August the 30th came and Rain was growing tired of burning the constant letters that came to her.
She retired to bed. A few moments later, she heard a loud bang from the kitchen. She thought of burglars and grabbed a baseball bat.
The lights were open in the kitchen. And when she peeked in, she saw an old man with white, long beard, half-moon glasses and twinkling blue eyes. He wore a long, blue robe with stars.
"Who are you?" Rain asked the strange man.
"I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts." He said.
"You're the one sending me letters?" her brow furrowed.
"Yes, and I came here to fetch you, Miss Mendoza."
"How do you know my name?" she asked again.
"Simple. Magic." He said in an obvious tone.
She thought about her decision for a while. "What about my house?" she said while she looked around.
"It will be taken care of Cheeky." As Dumbledore said this, an elf popped out of thin air and bowed to her.
"Good evening, Miss." She greeted in a small voice.
"Same to you." Rain greeted back and smiled.
"Pack your things Miss Mendoza," the headmaster said. "We still have to apparate."
"We have to what?!" she asked, shocked.
"We have to get to London fast." He said while suppressing a chuckle.
She hurriedly grabbed her clothes and other necessities then threw them to her baggage. After she had finished packing, Rain dragged her bag down the stairs to the living room.
"Hold my arm." He ordered.
As soon as she touched his arm, the walls started moving and they seem to spin. Rain tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Big Ben ticking 12:30. They were already in London.
"What the--?!" she started exclaiming.
"That's what you call an apparition." Dumbledore explained.
Rain nodded slowly and followed the headmaster as he started walking towards a wall. He brought out a stick which she instantly knew as a wand and tapped a few bricks. After he tapped the last brick, the rest of the bricks started moving, revealing an archway, reading "Diagon Alley". She looked forward and saw many shops of Wizarding objects.
"This is where you will buy your school supplies." He said. "But for the mean time, you will stay in the Leaky Cauldron."
"Leaky Cauldron?" she asked but Dumbledore had already started walking further into Diagon Alley. After the long walk, she saw an inn with the sign, The Leaky Cauldron. They went inside and she saw a hunchback.
"Good evening, Tom." Dumbledore said to him.
"Good evening, sir." He greeted back. "Need a room for the little girl?"
"Certainly, and see to it she gets her supplies by tomorrow."
Before the headmaster left, he gave Rain a sack of gold costing 500 galleons.
"You take room 09." Tom said to her and handed her a key.
She took the key and took hold of her luggage.
"No, I'll take care of your luggage. You go to your room."
"Ok." She went upstairs in search for room 09. Finally, she found it. When she entered it, her luggage was already at the foot of the bed. Rain immediately went to the bed and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.
The next morning she woke up at 7:30 in the morning, looking forward to a day in Diagon Alley. On her bedside table, she saw a parchment, with a list of all her school supplies.
She hopped off the bed, took a bath, brushed her teeth and went down to tell Tom that she was off. Along the Alley, she saw many students like her buying in the numerous stores.
Rain's first stop was books. She went to Flourish and Blotts. It was crowded inside and the man in the counter seemed distressed. The books he had been carrying fell and Rain rushed to pick them up.
"Thank you dear." The man said. "Are you a Hogwarts student?"
"Yes sir." Rain replied.
"Well, then give me your list and I'll give you everything you need." He said.
Rain gave him her list and the man went at the back of the counter. After a few minutes, he emerged with many books and wrapped them in a parcel. She gave him 36 galleons in payment and left the store.
She went to the Magical Menagerie to pick either an owl, rat, bat, cat or a toad. She chose an owl with grey feathers and named it Scruffles.
She went to Ollivander's for her wand. She picked a redwood, 12 inch with a single hair from a unicorn.
Next stop, Madam Malkin's where she purchased her Hogwarts robes. She went shop after shop until she had finished the list.
She went to Florean Fortescue's Ice cream for a break and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, her hands full of purchases. She then put them away in her trunk and let the owl zoom around the room.
She lay in bed, thinking to herself, tomorrow, I'll go to a school. The right school for me. And finally, she dozed off to sleep.
