Not What I Expected (A Harry Potter Fanfic)
Chapter One
There were so many things I never thought were possible. So many things I never thought could happen to me. I would soon find out I was wrong.
It was summer vacation and I was getting off the bus when the worst day of my life started. It started when I walked in the one bedroom apartment I shared with my mom. I opened the door and started to walk in when something made me stop dead in my tracks. Blood. Bright red blood out of the corner of my eye. I took a deep breath and finished walking in the door. I saw a sight that no one ever wants to see. My mother was dead on the kitchen floor with a steak knife sticking out of her chest. It looked like she had been stabbed repeatedly and it took a minute for the realization of my dead mother on the floor to sink in but once it did I let out an involuntary scream. It was one of those blood curdling screams that was the loudest I had ever been. I screamed again and collapsed on the floor. "No. No,no no. This can't be happening. Please don't let this be real. It's just a dream." I sobbed while tears fell like fast pouring rain. I began to feel all these memories bubbling to the surface of my mind of my mom and I. They were good and they were bad but they were mostly good.
I cried for what felt like hours but really I didn't know how much time had passed. I just know that when I stopped to take a breath, there was a voice behind me that made me jump. "Katie? We need to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?" I looked up to see a female cop looking at me with concern. She had dark auburn hair and deep blue eyes like the ocean on a clear day. I just nodded, afraid my voice would break and I would start crying again. A bunch of different cops asked me questions about where was I and what did I see. It felt like forever until they were finally done with the questions and brought me to my grandparents house that was five minutes away.
"Oh, honey." My grandma gasped as she enveloped me in a hug and started to cry. "It's just so sad. They don't even have any leads on who did it." She choked out. "Can I go to bed? I kind of just want to be alone right now." I asked timidly and my grandparents nodded understandingly. I crawled into my bed and started thinking of my mom and her untimely death. Tears threatened to spill over but I held them in. I have cried enough for one day. I thought as I drifted off into sleep.
I woke up multiple times during the night which was understandable seeing as I fell asleep at around six o clock at night. Eventually it was nine in the morning so decided it was a good time to wake up. I dragged my ass out of bed and padded down the hall into the kitchen and sat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. It took a few short minutes to realize why I was at my grandparents house the day after school got out for summer vacation and surprisingly I didn't cry once I remembered that my mother was dead. The tempting smell of scrambled eggs filled my nostrils as my grandma set a plate of eggs down in front of me but I was too depressed to eat. I surprised even myself because I was always hungry but the fluffy, yellow eggs weren't enough to make me want to eat. "Please eat something. I know this is a depressing time but you must eat something." My grandma pleaded with me. I shook my head sadly and she sighed.
The rest of the day went by slowly until there was a knock on the front door. I was the only one home so I got up and opened the door. When I opened the door, there was a man with long white hair and he looked like something out of a fantasy book with his strange clothing. "Hello." I said tentatively. "Hello." He said back with a thick English accent that surprised me. I wasn't sure why there would be an English guy on the doorstep of my grandparents home. After a few seconds of not saying anything and of realizing that he wasn't going to say anything I asked him what he was doing here. "Are you Katie Miller? If so, we have some things to discuss." He replied. Okay. This is getting stranger and stranger by the minute. I was confused but I stepped outside to talk to him. "I am Katie Miller. Who are you?" "I am Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School For Witchcraft and Wizardry. I do believe your mother died yesterday?" He replied. I was stunned that he knew my mom died yesterday and also weirded out that he thought he was headmaster for some magic school that didn't exist. "Um, yes. She did die yesterday. Murdered." I mumbled. He just nodded solemnly. "Tragic. Do you know who killed her?" He asked and I shook my head. "Death Eaters out to get you." He was really weird although maybe he was making sense in a way. "What the hell are Death Eaters?" I blurted out without thinking. "Death Eaters are a group of magic folk that are followers of a very powerful dark wizard named Voldemort. I came here today to protect you and to take you with me to Hogwarts where you stay until further notice." I was speechless. What the hell? I thought incredulously and sighed. "I think you have me mistaken with some other girl who actually believes in magic and dark wizards. Why don't you go find her?" I said sarcastically. He then proceeded to pull out a letter and gently handed it to me. "Read this and I will go inside to make some tea." He walked inside and I followed behind him. Well at least he isn't dangerous. I thought wryly. I sat down at the kitchen table and read the letter Albus Dumbledore handed me. It basically said that I was a witch and I was to go to Hogwarts. It also gave a list of the supplies I would need. I then fainted after realizing that if it really was a joke then Albus Dumbledore wouldn't have known my address nor would he have had written a letter.