A/N: Ok! I hope you like this story. Keyword there is: Hope. Nothing much more
to say than please read and review!!!
Disclaimer: Harry PotterÓ is owned, created, and published by the lovely J.K.Rowling!
Reality
Chapter 1: The decision
By: Hermione_Harry
Joanne Maton sat at her desk at her computer. She was at the Internet at the moment. In fact, she was reading a story on Fanfiction.Net! Joanne looked like she was really into the story because at the end of it, she started crying.
"No . . . he can't die!" said Joanne, "He just can't! He supposed to be with Hermione and live happily ever after! Harry-dying . . . Hermione-widow . . . Harry . . ."
Joanne kept on crying for about 5 more minutes. She wiped the back of her hand against her eye, and disconnected from the Internet.
"I gotta stop reading these sad stories, they make me cry. I should read happy stories with happy endings!" said Joanne.
Joanne got up from her desk and frantically tried to clean her room; her desk was filled with papers and pencils, her bed undone, her floor filled with dirty laundry, and to top it all, she also had to clean the play room!
Cleaning the rooms before her parents got home is no easy task. They're what you call, 'perfectionist'; they want everything done neat and organized. Both of them were often very serious; and the only time they smiled was when she went to school or when they ate. Of course you could say her parents were fat, but not that 'fat' (Considering Joanne is skinny).
Her mother, Carla, is a very difficult woman to understand. At times, there she is laughing and joking, and at the next she's yelling and screaming at you. Her father, Jim, is in a way her mother's 'follower'. He always does what Carla says and not done anything for himself. If he did, it wouldn't last very long, only a few hours or so they would be mad and then her father would say sorry and the whole thing would be forgotten. But it was her mother's fault that she got drunk and started bothering everyone at night, not her father's. Then why does he every time say sorry and forget the whole thing? And again it happens a week afterwards. It never stops!
But her father is extremely nice . . . more so than her mother. There are times when she wishes her father would divorce Carla, and stay with his daughter. Leave her three-year-old sister with her mother (since her mother only likes her sister), but she knew she couldn't do that. She knew it would never happen. Lorena is her mother's twin. She likes everything girly and dresses herself up. Every time she got sick, her mother would be there to take care; and every time Joanne got sick, she had to take care of herself. Life's not fair, is it?
After sweeping, swiping, and swashing, Joanne was done cleaning. Checking her room for a second time, she headed out for the playroom. Joanne went downstairs and found her sister watching T.V. and eating Oreo's.
But even though the Oreo's were going into her sister's mouth, they were also making the crystal table dirty! Seeing that her sister is three years old, she had to do the cleaning.
"Alright Lorena, come on. I've got to change your clothes and clean this room, ok?" said Joanne while taking her sister to the sofa.
Lorena looked at her and said "Ok!" Joanne found Windex and paper towels and started cleaning. Minutes later she went upstairs to her sisters room and took out a Powerpuff Girls shirt with matching pants. Hurriedly going downstairs and putting them on her sister, she sat at the kitchen table.
While getting the remote control, Joanne saw her dog, Ruby. Ruby was lying on the floor and sleeping.
"Ruby! Ruby! Come here my little baby!" said Joanne in a babyish voice.
The dog lifted up her head and looked at her annoyingly. Then she fell back asleep.
"Your no fun" muttered Joanne.
Twenty minutes later, her parents came home, with the same look as always: seriousness.
"Hi mom, hi dad!" said Joanne cheerfully. Ruby got up and started jumping up and down. Her sister ran up to her mom and gave her a hug.
"Hi Joe" said Her father while giving her a kiss on her forehead. He used the nickname he use to call her. But then her father looked around and said "Did you pass vacuum all over the house?"
'Oops! I totally forgot.'
thought Joanne."No"
"Why?" asked her father.
"I know why," her mother spoke at last, "she's been on the computer all day, doing God knows what --"
"Mom I read on the computer ok?! You know how much I like computers and the Internet!"
"Do you want me to return the computer I bought you?" asked her father.
"No"
"Then stop going there"
"Fine" muttered Joanne.
‰ *F *‰
That night, Carla was making pasta. The aurora was brought all over the house, making Lorena's mouth water. Joanne was in her room re-reading the Harry Potter books, looking for clues. Her room was lilac in color. She had a queen-sized bed with a blue flower bedspread; her furniture was white and beautiful; her computer (in front of her bed) was sitting on top of her desk/shelf. It was the latest flat screen computer money could buy.
Her computer. Ah yes, her computer. Her most prized possession (though it's tied with all her Harry Potter stuff), if it were taken, she would be miserable for the rest of her young life. And since Joanne is 16 that wouldn't be very long.
Joanne was a girl with sleek brown hair and caramel brown eyes; her body figure is the same as any other nice girl she met: curves in the right places, good-sized breasts (not too big, not too small), and very beautiful in her own unique way. Her hobbies are reading, writing, the Internet 24/7, and worshipping Harry Potter.
She never was really an A student, she only made C's and B's (to her parents disgust).
Grades.
The torment for the majority of her life.
How she hates her grades . . .
How she hates herself . . .
How she hates her life!
Countless times Joanne tried to commit suicide by cutting a knife on her wrist. But each time she tried, she thought about her life. The only reason she's alive today is because of her dream: to become a famous writer, even more famous than J.K.Rowling.
Joanne works hard on her weakest writing skills (grammar and mechanics), but her teacher give her C's on it, when everyone else just love her stories. She can make a story anyway she wanted it to. She's a great writer I tell you, wonderful. So then, why does she want to kill herself?
You know the answer.
‰ *§ *‰
The next day at school was particularly boring. Algebra looked as though it would last forever, thankfully the bell sounded signaling the end of the period and the beginning of lunch. Joanne rushed out of he classroom and found her best friend, Lindsey, heading to the cafeteria.
"Hey Lindsey!" yelled Joanne over the swarming kids.
"Hi!" said Lindsey while waiting for Joanne to catch up.
When she did, they sat down at a near by table and started to their homemade lunch. Lindsey started the conversation.
"Joe, did you ask your mom yet?"
" ' Bout what?" asked Joanne.
"About going to London! Duh!" said Lindsey.
"Oops! I totally forgot!"
"Yeah, again . . ." muttered Lindsey.
"I'm sorry. So when is the trip going to be?" asked Joanne.
"Next week"
"Next week! Lindsey, we just started school! We can't just leave!" said Joanne in disbelief.
"Chill out! We won't miss much; they won't give out any real work, yet. Plus you've to got to enjoy the rest of the summer"
"Lindsey, this is Georgia! We're next to Florida! It's like being in a mild summer all year around!"
"Fine" said Lindsey.
"Now," said Joanne, calming herself, "my parents might want to come too. Is that okay?"
"Yeah"
‰ *y *‰
That night at dinner (sirloin steak, mashed potatoes, and Indian rice), Joanne asked the big question.
"Mom, dad, did you know that Lindsey invited me to go to London with her?"
At this question, her father looked up while her mother dropped her fork with a clatter.
"What?" said Carla.
"She invited me to go to London" Joanne repeated.
"When is it?" asked Jim.
"Next Week"
Her parents seemed to be pondering about the trip, Joanne started to get nervous. What if they said no?
"What about your grades, hmm? You have B's and C's, if you keep that up, you won't pass the year!" said her father.
"Dad I always pass! I never fai--"
"Jim give her a chance. You know she passed 10th grade. Do you remember? She almost failed!" said her mother.
Her father seemed to be thinking about it. At last he said "Finish your dinner, I'll discuss it with your mom later."
And for another half hour, they finished their dinner in silence. When Joanne finally entered her room, she went to sit on her bed, and took out her notebook filled with stories. Ahh, her stories. Her own private little world. She knows how to write I tell you, she knows how to write.
All of Joanne's deepest desires and emotions were in her story. They were filled with magic, witches, wizards, sorcerers, etc. Anything can happen in her story.
An hour passed by, and Joanne is still happily writing away. She only to a break to look at the time. It was 9 P.M. She had to go to sleep. Putting away her folder, Joanne put on her sleeping wear. She wore a pink tank top with matching pants; in the middle of the tank top was a picture of Hello Kitty and on the left side of the pants held one too. Joanne put on her pink fluffy slippers and pink robe and climbed downstairs.
"Good night mom, dad"
"Night sweetie" said her mother.
"Night," said her father, "Joanne we talked about the trip and yes, you can go."
"Really?" asked Joanne in awe.
"Yes, but we want to come too"
" OK! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" said Joanne, jumping up and down. She gave them each a kiss on their head, and went upstairs; suddenly happy she had her mom.
‰ *W *‰
The next day at school, she told Lindsey about the great news.
"Really?" said Lindsey.
"Yeah"
"This is great! We'll be able to see my cousins, they've been dying to see you…"
"What are you girls talking about?" asked Ernie, another very nice friend.
"Oh hey Ernie. We were just talking about our little vacation to London." said Joanne.
"When are y'all going?"
"Sunday" replied Lindsey.
"But today's Friday!"
"Oh this reminds me, my parents are coming with us," said Joanne.
"Cool"
"But today's Friday!" repeated Ernie.
"We know that," said Joanne, "Lindsey, remember to come over tonight so we could get the same flight number . . .do you have the notes?"
"Yeah, there here" said Lindsey pulling out a note saying about their vacation to London.
"Okay, let's go"
– —
That night at seven, Lindsey and her family came over. They discussed about the trip, and they called the airport to book a flight. It was a miracle on how they all found seats next to each other, since they all expected to be sitting in different places.
"Okay, we pick up our tickets at the airport, our flight is on Sunday at 4:00 A.M." said Joanne's father.
Several grunts were heard.
"That early?" whined Joanne.
"Yep" said her father.
"Man"
§ ¨ © ª
On Saturday afternoon, Joanne woke up. While all groggy eyed, she got up and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After brushing it clean, Joanne went down stairs to see if her parents were home.
Seeing that one of the cars weren't there, Joanne went to the kitchen to make herself breakfast.
After she finished, Joanne went to the attic to get her luggage. She picked a medium sized one and took it to her room. On unzipping the luggage, Joanne saw a hole on the side of it. Aggravated that she had to go back up the attic and get a new one, Joanne zipped it up again. But looking at the side again, the hole was gone. Strange. She could have sworn it was there.
Joanne looked at the other side. Maybe she made a mistake. The hole wasn't there either. She investigated the rest of the luggage, but found nothing. Weird. Maybe Joanne imagined it.
Joanne went to her drawers and took out lots of clothes. She took enough of everything, including lots of books and paper. Everything fit into her luggage, even her everyday necessities. After she finished, Joanne went to take a shower.
¤ § ¤
Lindsey and her family arrived at 3:05 A.M. Hurriedly putting the luggage in her father's truck, everyone left (they're taking the dog too).
On the plane, Joanne and Lindsey had lot's of fun. But was interrupted because Lindsey had slipped something about Harry Potter (which Joanne is totally obsessed with), and made Joanne talk about it.
"I just love the Harry Potter series!" said Joanne.
"I know Joanne." moaned Lindsey.
"Guess what? There's a rumor going around that in the seventh book (which is coming out next year) Harry's going to propose to Hermione!"
"Goodie" said Lindsey.
"I'm so happy!" squealed Joanne, while she started to do a little dance.
"Okay?"
Eight hours later of Harry Potter praising, they arrived in London. After they got off their plane and picked up their luggage, they went to look for a taxi and after that they found a nice hotel.
Joanne and Lindsey had a room all to themselves.
"Joanne, tomorrow we're going to relax and sleep, and the day after we're going sight-seeing." said Lindsey.
"What about the adults?" asked Joanne.
"They're going to see my other relatives." replied Lindsey.
"Don't you want to see them too?"
"Nope."
T S T
At Morning, the next day, Joanne and Lindsey woke-up from the sound of their clocks. Both of them dressed and went to the next room to check on their parents. They weren't there. They must have left early.
"Come on. Let's go and watch T.V." said Joanne.
Both of them re-entered their room looking forward watching great British movies.
The problem was, there was an owl sitting on top of their desk.
A/N: So. . . a cliffy eh? Please leave a review on how you thought of the story. If you even want me to continue. But I'm gonna continue anyway. I like this story way too much to leave it in the trash.