Chapter 1: Of Epic Tragedies and Plane Rides

It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black-Unkown

The warmth of Australia still in my mind, I look out of the miniscule window of the plane. Fog, rain, clouds. Lovely, I think as I sigh and avert my eyes from the epic tragedy that others may refer to as London.

I should probably explain why I'm having this nice little chat with my depression:

I am officially a British citizen, but have been living in Australia the majority of the year for the past 4 years, going to the Melbourne Institute of Magic. Now, however, my mother has decided that I am too far away, and don't come home enough for the holidays (hey don't blame me, the plane from Australia to England and back doesn't come cheap). So I am moving back to Britain, for good this time. I will be attending Hogwarts for the last 3 years of magical education. To put it simply I feel as if my body has been ripped away from my soul (which was put on the no-fly list by San Ity Incorporated and remained in Australia) and been thrown onto a doomsday missile heading straight for the prestigious Hogwarts and will be trapped there with the green, boil covered mutants left over for the rest of my days. As you can see I have a cheerful and graphic imagination.

"Please, fasten your seatbelts, we are beginning our descent," says a voice in a weird combination of perky and emotionless. Oh fantastic, I think, we're beginning our descent into hell.

I sigh and stretch, then move to put on my seatbelt, my violently red hair falling in my eyes. I pull it into a sloppy side bun and make sure my wand is tucked into my knee-high, dark green boots. I pull my carry-on onto my lap and ready myself for the landing. The only good thing about this was that I will see my family every holiday now. I look forward to seeing all their faces, even Tuney's. If she bothers to show up at all; a doubtful possibility as she had only written to me once in the last 5 years and on that one time making sure to let me know that is was only on the orders of our mother that she was corresponding at all with "the freak".

I'm lost in my thoughts until I feel the jolting bump that means we have landed. After a few minutes of speeding down the endless runway that leads to my impending doom, the plane slows and stops. As you can tell, even the joy of seeing my parents more often was tempered by my absolute hatred of leaving Australia. Don't worry, I don't usually talk (or think) like this, I just get like this when I am angry or sad.

I take a deep breath and plaster a fake smile on my face for the sake of mum and dad. I hope it isn't too obviously fake-looking, they really do want me to be happy, but they had been forced to choose between my happiness in Melbourne and the cost of plane tickets. Of course they think I would love Hogwarts and Britain and want to come back after all of these years with only side trips and a couple of months in the summer or less. Okay, I think, scarily, falsely cheerful in my mind, Lets go pretend I love leaving my friends and home for the past 5 years of my life. It's going to be great…right, great.

I heave another sigh and stand, pulling my dark, red-leather bag up with me. I drag myself into the aisle and hurry down to the dim corridor that leads to the airport building

"Well, this should be fun," I mutter under my breath as I take off towards (according to my parents) the wonderful, fantasyland that I will love with all of my heart and never wish to leave again… not.

I settle back against my old bed with its worn quilt. Everything has gone exactly as expected, which is to say, badly. Tuney is ignoring me or screaming at me and calling me a freak, it rains every bloody day, and my parents think that everything will be fine and dandy if they get me a broomstick (what am I someone from the middle ages, flying around cackling?) As you can see, I have turned into a complete nutter, as I am saying things like "fine and dandy". As you can see, my insanity issue is becoming quite serious.

Tomorrow, I am leaving for Hogwarts and any perks of being here in England will have vanished. My parents won't be there, I won't have any friends and to top it all off, it will be in Britain. What the hell is Quidditch anyway? I wonder this as I fall asleep, And how do my parents know about broomsticks?