Prologue

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

I half opened one eye, vision blurred by sleep. Had I been able to see clearly, I was pretty sure my clock would read 12:20, or something along those lines.

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

I opened my other eye and blinked in a futile attempt to clear my vision. It took a moment to dawn on my sleep-stupid mind that perhaps putting on my glasses would help. I don't particularly like wearing them, even though my friends – scratch that, friend, I'm not exactly popular – says they look good. I, personally, think they're stupid little devices designed to slide awkwardly down my nose and make seeing clearly miserable. Stupid nearsightedness.

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

I rammed my glasses on none to gently, and peered through the blurriness that was testimony to my unwillingness to clean them. Perhaps I really should get around to it some day…

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

Under any normal circumstances, I would probably be hiding under my covers making strange and somehow 'logical' 'rationalizations' that the unceasing tapping on my window was somehow connected to a gang of mass murders who were breaking into the house, despite it being a good forty minute drive from any good-sized city, and all in freezing cold temperatures. In case you haven't guessed, yes I'm paranoid.

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

Idiot that I am, I forget to pick up my flashlight before going wading through the piles of junk on my floor. This results in a stubbed toe from a stack of hard-cover books that I've read a million times, a banged shin from my insanely placed bookshelf, and a piece of pencil lead stuck in my left arm to go with the one on my right. Great. Another bloody black dot that I'm never to get out. I really need to stop leaving pencils on the floor and then tripping and impaling myself upon them.

Tap tap tap. TAP TAP TAP.

And now, it appears I'd better hurry if I want to find whatever stupid thing-without-a-brain that dares to wake me from my rest. Making my cautious way back to my bed, I pick up the little blue flashlight I got for Christmas and flick it on. My cat, Ashes, looks at me in an annoyed manner, and I swear that if she could talk, she'd say something like. 'Bloody stupid human, what are you doing? It's midnight, you fool!'

TAP! TAPITTY TAP.

Well, look at that. The stupid three-tap-pause-three-tap-stop rhythm has broken. It's a miracle.

Safely guided by my flashlight, I make my way over to the window where the tapping is emanating from. It was becoming more and more frenzied and annoying by the moment.

TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP!!!

Right. Maybe I really should get around to opening that window…

--

I don't know exactly whether it was foolishness or some greater force that made me open that window and let in the blast of cold air and the owl with a letter tied to its leg that night. All I knew in the years to come was that it was a very good thing that my stupid paranoia left me alone. Because if it hadn't it's very likely I never would've gotten that letter, and never been shipped off to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

However, there could be a few drawbacks…

Such as being in the same year and house as a certain three students, one of which is one of the focal points of the biggest war in history….

A/N: Okay, in case my last few words in the last sentence didn't say it, yes, I'm going to play around with the book's plotline. Chapter one will start in fifth year, up until which everything has been the same. Then I'm probably going to blow the war way out of what it was in the book, and turn it into world war three.

Advice? Criticism ? Sorry it was so short. The next chapter will be longer.