AUTHOR'S NOTE: before you read this It's my first story and I don't expect it to be good. reviews would be helpful as long as they have CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISIM. Thanks :)
It was 11:13pm judging by my watch. Not that it was necessarily correct, seeing as its battery was dying and I couldn't get a new one. It was dark, so it could have been right.
I was cold in the alley by the bay. It was mid-July, but the nights were just as cold as a autmn day. The cold, wet ground sent shivers starting at my lower spine all the way up to the back of my neck. All I had on was what I always was wearing; my dirty, beaten-up sneakers, a pair of what used to be dark-wash jeans with unintentional rips in them, a evergreen t-shirt with a brown, worn-down sweater, and a matching set of woolen yellow and orange frayed hat and mits.
The pizza place about a block away was about to close at 11:30, and I was about to head over there. They always allowed me to have whatever slightly-burned or extra pizza they had. I knew the owner Mickey, took quite a bit of pitty on me. I mean, an eleven and a half year old girl living on the streets by herself? That was about as heard as your next-door neighbor being a wizard.
When I passed the liquor store on the way to Mickey's pizza, I saw all the usual drunks sitting in the parking lot outside the store. I knew one's name, seeing as he was supposed to be my guardian. But he was a good tome as he was to his wife, so I was put in foster care. After the third home that didn't care about me, just the benifits, I ran to the streets.
When I got to Mickey's, I checked for the closed sign at the front entrance. The sign still read: "Open for Business" so I went down to the bay like I usually did when I got there a bit early.
The bay was just as beautiful as always when it was night. The water shimmered in the glow of the moon and the boat lights. I sat on a bench, watched the boats move and create ripples in the water. After a while I got bored and started trying to skip stones, which I'm not very good at. It didn't take long before I settled for throwing rocks into the water, trying to make the next splash bigger then the last.
I checked my watch after ten minutes of satisfying rock-throwing. It read 11:38. I got up and jumped the fence at the top of the hill. I was surprised I made it, the fence was at least half as tall as me. A lot of weird things happened to me. One time when I was sitting under a tree in the park and another girl and her friends made fun of my clothes. I was getting angrier and angrier and I was about to yell at them when a tree branch fell on their heads.
When I crossed the street and got to Mickey's, I went strait to the back. I knocked the agreed secret knock the employees and I came up with, and was let inside.
"Adira!" Laina exclaimed, "Good to see you!"
I smiled and said, "Good to see you too, Laina! You weren't here yesterday. Did you take a day off?" Laina was fifteen and actually one of my only friends. I stopped going to school when I left foster care, so I didn't really meet many people.
Laina frowned and replied, "I had to leave early for a family thing. It was really boring. I had to see my old auntie Joan so my mom could be sure we were in the will. 'Yes auntie Joan, I've gotten taller' 'It's wonderful seeing you too' 'No thank you, I can't have any more candy, it's gross and I'm diabetic,'" Laina mocked her conversation.
"Well I wished you would have been here. I was looking forward to it." I said neutrally.
After five minutes or so of talking with Laina and saying hi to other people I know that work in the shop, I had half a pizza box of pizza, salad and wings, a glass of water and a warmed body. Then I headed for the safest part of town at night.
I was walking down to the rich ADT protected part of the city five blocks away when I started to get really hungry. All I had eaten that day was a sub bought by a nice woman and her two year-old son when he wispered somthing in her ear and pointed at me.
When I got to Sunnydale street I hoped with all my might that one of the new unoccupied homes would be unlocked. The first house I tried made a unlocking noise as soon as I touched it. Alot of times this happened to me, and I couldn't be charged with breaking and entering if there was no trace of it on the door and I just said it was unlocked.
I was just about to go inside when a owl screeched overhead. I watched it dive and land on the front yard of the unfinished house. It had somthing in its beak, but I could only see a shadow from here.
"Nice owl... Good owl... Don't fly away owl..." I said as I got closer to the bird. when I was about five feet away from it, it dropped the thing in it's mouth and flew away.
I looked at the envlope it- wait. I stood up. Owls don't deliver mail. Especially to homless children. Maybe somone was trying to trick me. I looked around, but no one was there. I looked back to the envelope, now extremely curious and cautious. I picked up the letter and flipped it over. In green ink on the middle of the letter, the envelope read:
To Miss A. Smith, Front Lawn, 2548 Sunnydale Street
I dropped the letter in a panic. How could the sender of this letter know where I am? Right now? How do they know me? The only person who would right me would be Laina, but there is no way she could know where I am. Well, there's only one way I could know who sent me the letter. I had to open it.
Dear Miss Adira,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Okay, so someone is playing a seriously sick joke on me. When I find them, they are going to be hurt so badly that they will be gushing blood for days.
I realized that there was a second page. I sat down on the damp lawn.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WHICHCRAFT and WIZARDRY UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
sets of plain work robes (black)
plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags. COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following: The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
by Quentin Trimble OTHER EQUIPMENT 1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring and owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR
OWN BROOMSTICKSI was just about to stand up and start looking for the jerk who decided to play such a trick on me, when I heard a large crack behind me.
"Miss Adira, I believe it would be unwise to run off at this hour of the night," the odd voice said from behind me.
I turned around to find a tall, slim, bearded, wise-looking man behind me.
"Who are you?" I asked without thinking, "And how do you know my name?"
The man smiled and said "I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I know your name, because you have been accepted."
"So you're playing this trick on me?" I snapped. "It's not funny you know. Making up some silly name for a school that doesn't exist."
"But it does exist. You are a witch. We've made an exception with our rules of admission at our school, just for you seeing as you are a brilliant witch who unluckily lives on the other side of the world. Normally Hogwarts only allows wizards and witches from England and Ireland. But, there are exceptions to every rule, and you, Adira, are one of them."
"If I'm a witch, why weren't my parents magical? They can't be magic, because they wouldn't have died."
The old man's expression became solemn. "Unfortunately, magic cannot stop death."
"I still don't believe in magic." I said stubbornly. "It's scientificly impossible."
The man smiled. "Perhaps you need a demonstration."
I crossed my arms and waited. The man blinked and 2548 Sunnidale street vanished. The reapered. Then vanished, and reappered.
The man looked at me through his half-moon shaped glasses. "I believe that cleared up any doubts about wizards Adira?"
I nodded. "Exuse me sir, but you still haven't told me your name."
"My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, but if you choose to go to Hogwarts it would be unwise to call me by my name."
"Well, I acept, but where do I find all this stuff on the list?"
The man smiled again (I assumed by now he was a very happy person) and said "A large man by the name of Hagrid will be coming in the morning. He will bring three plane tickets for you to go to London."
"Who is the third plane ticket for?" I asked.
"Did I not just say he was a very large man?" Professor Dumbledore (I supposed I should call him that) said. And just as he appeared, a large crack came and Dumbledore was gone.