July 14, 2003
Today I woke up, pulled on mum's old school robes and went straight to the broom closet. It was around six thirty in the morning, so I left a note and flew around the family property. The garden looks magnificent from fifty feet in the air. I could see little gnomes popping their heads out of their hiding places. My moontrimmer wasn't the greatest broom ever, but it carried me. The wind lightly pushed my dark brown hair. It was wonderful. My glasses almost fell off at one point, but I dove down and saved them. I'm going to be a great seeker when I grow up. But I'm only eleven now. I suddenly froze in the air. I was eleven today. I'm going to Hogwarts. Hogwarts, the greatest school ever. Excitement rushed through me. I flew down to the open window and just sat on the ground. My parents would be up at seven to pay for the daily prophet and get the mail. When the mail came I'd get my letter. My older sister is a prefect at Hogwarts. I also had two little brothers, but they wouldn't be going to school for another seven years. I heard my mum's feet stepping lightly down the stairs. I ran inside. "Mummy! I get my letter today!"
"Wha?" she asked sleepily. "My Hogwarts invitation! Mum, I'm going to Hogwarts!" She smiled at me. "Well Athena, you look awake. What have you been up too?"
"Flying, mummy." Two owls flew through our open window. One of them, a brownish black one, I recognized as our own owl, Gary. The other was a snowy owl delivering the Daily Prophet. I jumped excitedly while my mum pulled a knut from the pocket of her robes and paid the owl. She grabbed the mail. On top of the pile was a letter, clearly addressed to me.
Dear Miss Brody,
We are please to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later then July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
"Respond now! Respond now!" I yelled as I jumped excitedly. "Quiet down!" exclaimed my mum, "You'll wake the whole town. You try and tell those muggles what you're yelling about." I nodded solemnly. "Can we respond now with Gary?" I whispered. My mum nodded. She walked in the kitchen to get some parchment and a quill. I grabbed the quill and a piece of parchment. She reached for them. "No, honey. I'm going to write the letter." She said sweetly, but then added with a grin, "You'd write a novel to them." I nodded, also smiling. Nothing could ruin this day. "I, Athena Brody, will attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She read aloud as she wrote, "Now all you have to do is sign."
"That's all you're writing?" I asked as I signed my sloppy signature. She nodded. It was probably about seven thirty now.
I could hear my dad stomping down the stairs. "G'moring Jill," he said, turning to my mum. And then he added as he went to make breakfast, "You too, 'Thena." I smiled. "Morning dad!" In about a half hour breakfast was ready. "Dad, will you take me to London today?" I asked with a mouthful of eggs." My dad looked at me funny. "What do you want to go to London for? It's filthy and full of mudbloods." My mum gave him a look. "Muggles." She corrected, "Your mum was a muggle." He looked down. "But still, why do you want to go to London?"
"To buy my school supplies!" I piped. My two little brothers waddled downstairs. "Good morning," said my six year old brother, Bert. He's the youngest kid in the family. Elliot, who is seven, looks almost exactly identical to Bert. You'd swear they were twins. They both had light brown hair and blue eyes. The only thing that gave them away was the fact that Bert was so much shorter then Elliot. Bert was extremely short. My dad looked at them. "Good morning boys," then he turned back to me. "You don't go to school." My mum was laughing at this point. "Hogwarts, David." she said. At this my dad practically erupted with joy. "You were accepted!" He jumped out of his seat. I quickly leaped from mine as well and we did a dance of joy together. "Hogwarts?" asked Elliot, who looked absolutely adorable in his huge glasses, "Isn't that where sissy goes too?" Rose, my older sister was a prefect at Hogwarts. "Yep, Eli! That's where I'm going!" I told him. Rose came stumbling down the stairs, fully dressed in her Hogwarts robes, clutching a letter in her hand.
"Daddy, will you take me to London today? I have to buy school supplies." She pushed her glasses against her face. No one in my family doesn't wear glasses. And we all wear big ones that make our eyes look really huge. Rose is by far the prettiest in our family. She has a brownish red hair color and a slender build. Of course, I haven't had much time to grow, but I think she'll always look better then me. Even when we're 90 and 95. My dad smiled. "Athena does too. She's going to Hogwarts this year," he said grinning. Rose's eyes widened and she ran downstairs to give me a hug. "I'm sorry that I won't be able to come with you to all the shops," she said happily, "I'm going with my friends, Sam and Laura. I'll have an ice cream afterwards with you, though. My treat!" she grinned. I smiled back at her. My dad wolfed down the rest of his breakfast and went upstairs to change. When he came down he was wearing blue jeans and a Wimbourne Wasps t-shirt. He threw on robes over that and grabbed the sack of flu powder. "You first, Athena," he said handing me the sack. I grabbed a handful and jumped into the fire. "Diagon Alley," I said, pronouncing every syllable. I flew through the fire place at the Leaky Cauldron, shortly followed by my sister, and then finally my dad. "Mr. Brody?" exclaimed the bartender, "Is it really you?" My dad nodded, grinning. The man hugged him. "Tom! How're you doing?" my dad asked. The two men became engaged in a long conversation. Finally Tom asked, "What'll it be then?"
"Two butterbeers and a firewhisky," my dad said grinning. Tom handed me and Rose two foaming glasses of hot, frothy butterbeer. And as I sipped it I realized this was the best butterbeer I ever had.
After we finished Rose went off with her friends to buy her stuff. I went with my dad to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. I was still wearing mum's old school robes, so I took them off and wandered around the store while Madam Malkin helped some other students. I was getting bored. I was about to try on a sky blue dress robe, when a lady came over to me and lead me to a room in the back of the store. She draped black cloth all over my body, then she did something with her wand, and walla! It was a robe. She did this three more times. She also made me a soft winter cloak. Then she got me a witches hat like the one my mum wears around the house. My dad quickly paid, and we left. I wanted to wear my new robes, but my dad insisted on putting it in my trunk which he levitated down the street to Flourish and Blotts. A plump little witch greeted me at the door. "Hogwarts dear? I'll fix you right up," she said, then turned to face the books. "Accio Hogwarts Supplies!" she shouted, and a handful of things flew into her arms. There were books, quills, parchment, and ink. My dad paid for this stuff and then we left to get my wand. Ollivander's wand shop was dusty and small. On the wall were thousands of wand boxes. I went through about fifteen wands before I finally found mine. It was ten inches long, with Elder wood and a unicorn tail hair. It was quite whippy and I took a liking to it. When we got outside my dad set my trunk down and I decided I'd try something…
I raised my wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!" I shouted. My dad smiled, and I think he doubted I could conjure a spell like that. His eyes widened as my trunk flew into the air. "Lookit!" I shouted excitedly, "Look what I did!"
"Athena, you amaze me," my dad said, shocked, yet happy with me. I let my dad control my trunk and I skipped down the street a bit ahead of him. Then we passed Quality Quidditch Supplies. I dropped my wand and ran to the window. Some boys were also there. I pressed my nose against the glass and gazed at the shining broomstick there. "Firebird 3000" A sign next to it read. It had a dark handle and darker twigs on the bottom. "Fastest model ever," I heard a boy mumble. My dad came over. "That's one heck of a broom!" he said scratching his head in amazement, "When I was a boy the best ever was just a Nimbus 1000!"
"Daddy, can I get that broom? Please?" I begged. He shook his head. "It's too expensive, Athena," I sighed and wandered toward the Apothecary. I bought my cauldron, and we left after I had accidentally exploded a dragon eye. I wouldn't want to be in there if someone noticed! We hung out in Diagon Alley for a few more hours buying all my supplies, and then we left. When we got home we had dinner and went to bed. I won't go into too much detail because it's way past my bedtime and I probably shouldn't be using magic right now. Mummy called me a genius for being able to do spells so well the day I got my wand. I'm going to bed now though. Good night!
