Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters!

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An unexpected notice

In the streets of London lay a certain house. A white house, with a red wooden door and a white picket fence, stood quietly and peacefully at the corner of the street. Mr and Mrs Evans, of number nine, Amesbury Street, have two daughters, Petunia and Lily. The family was very normal, according to the eldest daughter, Petunia, that is. Thin, blonde, horse-faced, and nosy are just some of Petunia's characteristics. She was also against anything that didn't make sense. Although her sister, Lily, was somewhat the opposite… She was a few inches smaller than Petunia, but very pretty, dark red-hair and green eyes. She was open-minded and loved to read books. Books that were a bit too advance for her, but she didn't seem to find any difficulty. She was quite smart for her age. Maybe that was why something changed her life completely!

On Monday evening, around summer, the Evans family where in the lounge, Lily was on the floor reading a book and her family, sitting on the couch, watching T.V.

"-And yes folks! June will be one-hot-month this year," said the weatherman fanning himself. "So don't forget your sunscreen and enjoy the holi-"

The sound of tapping and rapping was at the window. Something or someone was outside. They all looked at the window half dumbfounded and half terrified. Mr Evans, being the only man in the house, grabbed a baseball bat in the cupboard, "stay here" he whispered quietly to his family, his voice started to shake. He raised his bat ready to hit, his huge hands sweating madly as he slowly opened the window.

BANG!

A sound of broken glass echoed around the house. He had hit the window and the broken pieces lay flat on the floor. Mrs Evans, Lily and Petunia all took their hands off that was shielding their faces and stared at the shattered pieces.

"HAL! Why on earth did you hit the window for?" Mrs Evans becoming scarlet red. "There was nothing there! Have you gone insane or are you just blind?" Mr Evans was still clutching on to the bat when he realised what he had hit and came back to earth when Mrs Evans gave a little hit on his arm.

"I saw something out there, it wasn't human!" he shrieked and started pointing at the window.

"Hal, maybe you're the one that is not human. It was probably just a bird or some other sort of thing," said Mrs Evans, while her voice began to calm down. "You really need to get that eye of yours a check." Before Mrs Evans could continue, a small brown owl suddenly flew inside and positioned itself on the windowsill. The owl was carrying an envelope in its beak.

"SEE!" cried Mr Evans, pointing at the owl, "I told you something was out there." He slowly raised the bat ready to strike again…

"Dad! No, don't hurt it!" Lily called out, as she got off the floor and ran straight to the owl and protected it, as if it was her own child. "It's just an owl it won't harm you." Lily looked at the owl's beak and found it was clutching on a letter.

As soon as she tugged it lightly, the owl opened its beak and flew the moment Lily had a hold of the envelope. Mr Evans, feeling a bit stupefied placed the baseball bat down and went to have a closer look at the envelope, "Lily, read what is says," gestured Mr Evans.

Finally finding her voice, Lily cleared her throat and read the letter:

"Miss L. Evans

The Lounge Room

9 Amesbury Street

Essedance"

 The envelope was thick and heavy. Made out of a yellow-brown parchment, the address was written in emerald-green ink with no stamp. As Mr and Mrs Evans stared at the envelope curiously, Petunia had gotten up, took a small look at the letter then snorted "what a load of rubbish," she muttered and started to walk upstairs to her bedroom mumbling under her breath something about tricks.

Mr, Mrs and Lily Evans however, didn't take notice of Petunia leaving the room, they stared at the envelope for a long time all thinking that might have sent the letter late at night and how did they know where exactly Lily was?

"Well, open it, Lily!" Mr Evans said excitedly.

Lily turned the envelope around and saw a red wax seal bearing a coat of arms, a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. She ripped it slowly so that the envelope won't rip, then took out what seemed to be a parchment. Feeling excited Mr and Mrs Evans held either side of Lily's shoulder and told her to read what it said:

"HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

 (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

 Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

 

Dear Miss Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

   

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

'Ding-Ding-Ding', it was midnight. As soon as they heard the sound of the chime Mr and Mrs Evans looked as if they'd came out of a trance and shouted eagerly "Lily! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"Yes…" Petunia said sarcastically, "happy birthday."