September 1st, 1989. The first day of the school year in Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Emma Blackwell had received her letter of admission one week before her eleventh birthday on August 24th, neither of her parents were wizards so it came as quite a shock to her. Her first experience around magical people had left her in awe, she went to a bank and exchanged normal money for wizard money and bought everything her letter had told her to get. Robes, some weird sounding books, a cauldron, a wand; hers had been 10 inches made of wood from a cherry tree and its core was unicorn hair. She had scoffed when the wand seller had told her this, earning her a cold glare from the man before she quickly tried to defend herself 'but, I mean unicorns? They're not real, are they?' her parents who had shuffled to the front of the store after a mild explosion due to nine-inch mahogany wand, coughed to get Emma's attention and gave a look that encourage her to be politer to the man behind the desk. The cough also got the wand sellers attention. 'it's quite alright, but you have quite a bit to learn about magic young lady.' The man said while putting the wand back in the box and handing it over to the girl, she had thanked him and made her way out, the only thing left to buy on the list was "an Owl, OR a Cat, OR a Toad."
She hadn't been sure she wanted any until she saw a beautiful barn owl, sitting outside a shop in a silver cage, it was different shades of brown with a white face and chest, it had been preening itself, Emma hadn't even bothered asking her parents before she ran towards it. She had heard her mother laughing at her enthusiasm, 'you can get it if you have enough but I'm not exchanging any more money for it!' Emma had squealed before picking up the cage and running inside, the bird was a bit flustered due to the sudden movements and the old plump woman had seemed flustered due to the young girl bursting into her relatively quiet shop, as quiet as a shop full of animals can be that is. luckily, she had enough for the owl and the lady had told her she made a great choice 'you can use him to send letters to your family back home.'
She was ecstatic! She'd never had a pet before and her firs one was an owl! 'what are you going to call him?' her mother had asked smiling at her excitement. 'his name is Rufus' she had said while stroking his feathers through the cage. 'that's an interesting name for an owl' her dad had smirked, 'you should have called him,' 'dad don't do it' 'barney!' Emma and her mum groaned while her dad laughed for too long. That day had been great, because her parents had been there with her, but now? Sitting on a train alone on her way to a magical boarding school where she knew no one! how was she supposed to cope?