Chapter One- Fun in the Summer Sun. Kinda.
"Oh, I love this one on you, Meghan!" Squealed a teenage girl in delight. "Me too! You should really get it. It looks wonders on you. Hah! It would me look chubbier than I already am!" Sighed another girl standing to Meghan. "Do you really think so?" The girls nodded. "Well, if you think so, then. All right! After all, Daddy is paying for my credit bills." Meghan was a typical sixteen-year-old girl, well, a typical teenage girl with a lot of money. She lived in San Marino, California, one of the most desirable places to live in Southern California. Her house was a mansion that anybody would die for. It was huge! The exterior was a bright pearl white with a gold colored trim. The door was bright gold, almost as gold as a gold necklace. Meghan had light blonde hair reaching to the middle of her back. Her skin was fair and tanned. Just like one of the ladies out of a magazine ad. She had silver-blue eyes, kind of like a babies. She had a slight pink tinge in her skin as if she had just gone skiing. She was developed, as all sixteen- year-olds should be. She had a chest that guys would look at.. But then again, so did every other woman. She was tall, but not too tall. Maybe about five and a half feet tall, around the height of an average woman. "Will you be paying in cash or with a card, young lady?" Asked the sales clerk behind the counter. He was eyeing Meghan and her purchase, which were about three shopping baskets full. He looked at her as if she couldn't afford to buy it. "I'll be using a credit card," she said smiling. When the three of the exited the store, they wandered around the mall for another two hours. After they had left the last store they wanted to shop in, her cell phone rang. "Oh, it's my mom. Hold on." She answered it, not expecting what she was about to hear. "Meghan, I have something very sad to tell you. Gammy Marissa died a few hours ago. Gampy called about half an hour ago to tell me the news." Her mother was crying as she spoke this, but Meghan just stood still, not wanting to hear any more. "I'll. I'll be home in about thirty minutes. 'Bye." She hung up the phone. Her friends looked at her with utmost concern. "What happened?" questioned one of her friends. "I. I. I have to go. See you later, ok?" She turned around burying her face in her sweater. As though she new the route of the mall by heart, she navigated through the crowd and into the parking lot. Once she found her car, she climbed in and floored it. Going about fifty miles her hour on a thirty-five mile per hour road, she got home in about twenty minutes. Meghan ran through the front door and into her mother's arms sobbing. "I am so sorry about Gampy. Why did he, die? Why now, when we were going to go visit him next week?" "He had another heart attack, honey," her mother replied softly, "and the doctors couldn't do anything about it. It was too severe."
Meghan stood there sobbing for another five minutes until her mother suggested that she go to her room because she would be more comfortable there. She did so, but at a running pace. The next week would go by very slowly.
~*~
It took Meghan about three hours to pack her bags to visit her Gammy in Alwinton, England. Her family would have to fly into the Morpeth International Airport in Morpeth, of course. It would take them about twenty minutes to drive to her grandmother's, and all the while Meghan would be dreading the arrival at her house.
Once they got there, Gammy was, of course, crying. The house still smelled strongly of her Gampy's smoking pipe. He used to smoke it all the time.Meghan thought. The thought of him made the pain in her heart hurt more, but Meghan knew she would never get over the fact that she would never see him again.
In an effort to get Meghan's family's mind off of their Gampy, her grandmother took them on a tour of the nearby forest.
"Please, please don't go wandering off," Gammy pleaded, "it is very dangerous in there. People usually come back dazed and confused, or else in a very big hurry, like they missed an important date." Gammy looked very sincere about this. Meghan nodded, while her little brother took off into the forest.
"I want to see a wild bear!" He shouted as his mother shot after him.
"If you are a good boy like you promised to be, I'll get you a candy bar after we are done!"
"Candy! Candy! Candy!" she shouted in response to his mother's offer.
~*~
After about an hour and a half of walking, they decided to sit down and rest. Meghan, however, wanted to walk more, just to take her mind off of Gampy. "I'm going to have a look around, ok? And if I am not back in half an hour, I have been hurt or I might have gotten lost, ok?" Several of the other hikers looked at her in disgust. Apparently they didn't like Americans.
"Ok, we will." Her mother responded.
Meghan began to walk around a bend in the path. There was a fork in the road, and the left path was marked off with a sign reading:
DO NOT ENTER:
VERY TRETCHEROUS
Meghan, ignoring the sign completely, started down the unmarked path. Hmmm. All of the other paths had rocks lining them, but this one doesn't.Meghan was curious as to why this path had nothing marking it.
Slowly, her surroundings started to turn darker, just as Meghan started to get worried. How long have I been out here? How long will I be out here? Her mind and heart were racing. She started to walk faster when she thought she heard something move near her.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Meghan screamed when something started pulling at her sweater. She turned around quickly and saw that it was just a tree branch stuck on it. "Great, my favorite sweater, too." She muttered under her breath. Her jeans were torn, her sweater ripped, and her hair full of twigs and leaves.
Everything suddenly went quiet. Nothing was to be seen or heard. She could hardly see in front of her, let alone her own hand. She heard someone, or something, roar in the distance, followed by loud thumping sounds. Meghan was petrified, and thinking about turning around and going back, something caught her eye- A very large human was trying to tie something that looked at least twenty feet tall to a tree. She screamed louder than ever, and when she did so, the large human turned around.
"Blimey, wha' are you doin' 'ere? Who are you?" The large man bellowed as he turned around.
Meghan started to whimper in fear as a tear began sliding down her cheek. "I g-got lost! I was just looking around the forest my Gammy brought me to because they were resting and I wanted to go on because I wanted to keep my mind off of my Gampy who just died and-"
"Whoa! Hold on there! Take a breath before you kill yerself!" The man said gently. "I dint mean to startle you, you startled me." He looked at her for another moment with his brow furrowed. "You're a Muggle, arn't you?"
Meghan drew a breath. "Excuse me?"
"I mean, you're an American Muggle, arn't you?" "First of all, yes. I am an American. Secondly, what in the bloody hell is a 'Muggle'?!?"
"Well, you speak like a English person!" He said cheerfully. "A
muggle is somebody 'oo has no wizarding blood in 'im." "Ok, what are you talking about wiz-AAAAAAAAACK!!!!!" Meghan saw an enormous hand coming for her, so she hid behind a nearby stump. "WHOA! COOL IT DOWN GWAPY!! WE 'AVE A GUEST 'ERE!" Hagrid, who was trying to retain Gwapy, (Gwapy is Hagrid's little brother. When I say little, I mean little as in younger. Not smaller.) "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!?" "Ah! Gwapy is a giant." He said coolly. "A giant? What the heck is a giant doing here? Giants aren't real!"
"As I was saying, I am a wizard, an' there is a 'ole school- oops.." Hagrid wasn't supposed to tell any Muggle about Hogwarts, but he almost did. "What do you mean 'a whole school?' Do you mean to tell me that there is a school outside of these woods teaching kids how to do magic?" "Well, erm. Yes." Meghan had had enough of the crap. She walked straight past him, even though she new that a giant was watching her. "Wait! If yer are goin' on, I am goin' with you. Yeh never know wha' is out there." Meghan looked at him through thin eyes for a moment considering his proposition. "Fine. But if I find out you are lying," she said unsurely while looking at Grawpy, "I'm going to kill you." Hagrid laughed. "Fine, you can kill me once we get up to the castle!" "A. castle?" She looked at him in shock. "Yeah, a castle. Yeh ever heard of it?"
"Yes, I have. But there is a castle here?" "Yes," Hagrid replied, "there is. But it is unplottable 'cause the Ministry put unbreakable charms on it so that Muggles can't get through." "So then why did I?" "I don't know. I never got around to asking you, but what is your name?" "Yeh can call me Hagrid." The two of the continued up the dark path, until they could see little twinkles of the stars above. Meghan began looking around. Centaurs were glaring at them through the trees and brush. "Hagrid. What are those?" Meghan asked nervously. "Dun worry 'bout them. The Centaurs won't hurt you." "What is a 'centaur?'" "I'll splain when we get to the castle." Meghan walked next to him for another five minutes until she saw something towering in front of them.
~*~
"Oh, I love this one on you, Meghan!" Squealed a teenage girl in delight. "Me too! You should really get it. It looks wonders on you. Hah! It would me look chubbier than I already am!" Sighed another girl standing to Meghan. "Do you really think so?" The girls nodded. "Well, if you think so, then. All right! After all, Daddy is paying for my credit bills." Meghan was a typical sixteen-year-old girl, well, a typical teenage girl with a lot of money. She lived in San Marino, California, one of the most desirable places to live in Southern California. Her house was a mansion that anybody would die for. It was huge! The exterior was a bright pearl white with a gold colored trim. The door was bright gold, almost as gold as a gold necklace. Meghan had light blonde hair reaching to the middle of her back. Her skin was fair and tanned. Just like one of the ladies out of a magazine ad. She had silver-blue eyes, kind of like a babies. She had a slight pink tinge in her skin as if she had just gone skiing. She was developed, as all sixteen- year-olds should be. She had a chest that guys would look at.. But then again, so did every other woman. She was tall, but not too tall. Maybe about five and a half feet tall, around the height of an average woman. "Will you be paying in cash or with a card, young lady?" Asked the sales clerk behind the counter. He was eyeing Meghan and her purchase, which were about three shopping baskets full. He looked at her as if she couldn't afford to buy it. "I'll be using a credit card," she said smiling. When the three of the exited the store, they wandered around the mall for another two hours. After they had left the last store they wanted to shop in, her cell phone rang. "Oh, it's my mom. Hold on." She answered it, not expecting what she was about to hear. "Meghan, I have something very sad to tell you. Gammy Marissa died a few hours ago. Gampy called about half an hour ago to tell me the news." Her mother was crying as she spoke this, but Meghan just stood still, not wanting to hear any more. "I'll. I'll be home in about thirty minutes. 'Bye." She hung up the phone. Her friends looked at her with utmost concern. "What happened?" questioned one of her friends. "I. I. I have to go. See you later, ok?" She turned around burying her face in her sweater. As though she new the route of the mall by heart, she navigated through the crowd and into the parking lot. Once she found her car, she climbed in and floored it. Going about fifty miles her hour on a thirty-five mile per hour road, she got home in about twenty minutes. Meghan ran through the front door and into her mother's arms sobbing. "I am so sorry about Gampy. Why did he, die? Why now, when we were going to go visit him next week?" "He had another heart attack, honey," her mother replied softly, "and the doctors couldn't do anything about it. It was too severe."
Meghan stood there sobbing for another five minutes until her mother suggested that she go to her room because she would be more comfortable there. She did so, but at a running pace. The next week would go by very slowly.
~*~
It took Meghan about three hours to pack her bags to visit her Gammy in Alwinton, England. Her family would have to fly into the Morpeth International Airport in Morpeth, of course. It would take them about twenty minutes to drive to her grandmother's, and all the while Meghan would be dreading the arrival at her house.
Once they got there, Gammy was, of course, crying. The house still smelled strongly of her Gampy's smoking pipe. He used to smoke it all the time.Meghan thought. The thought of him made the pain in her heart hurt more, but Meghan knew she would never get over the fact that she would never see him again.
In an effort to get Meghan's family's mind off of their Gampy, her grandmother took them on a tour of the nearby forest.
"Please, please don't go wandering off," Gammy pleaded, "it is very dangerous in there. People usually come back dazed and confused, or else in a very big hurry, like they missed an important date." Gammy looked very sincere about this. Meghan nodded, while her little brother took off into the forest.
"I want to see a wild bear!" He shouted as his mother shot after him.
"If you are a good boy like you promised to be, I'll get you a candy bar after we are done!"
"Candy! Candy! Candy!" she shouted in response to his mother's offer.
~*~
After about an hour and a half of walking, they decided to sit down and rest. Meghan, however, wanted to walk more, just to take her mind off of Gampy. "I'm going to have a look around, ok? And if I am not back in half an hour, I have been hurt or I might have gotten lost, ok?" Several of the other hikers looked at her in disgust. Apparently they didn't like Americans.
"Ok, we will." Her mother responded.
Meghan began to walk around a bend in the path. There was a fork in the road, and the left path was marked off with a sign reading:
DO NOT ENTER:
VERY TRETCHEROUS
Meghan, ignoring the sign completely, started down the unmarked path. Hmmm. All of the other paths had rocks lining them, but this one doesn't.Meghan was curious as to why this path had nothing marking it.
Slowly, her surroundings started to turn darker, just as Meghan started to get worried. How long have I been out here? How long will I be out here? Her mind and heart were racing. She started to walk faster when she thought she heard something move near her.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Meghan screamed when something started pulling at her sweater. She turned around quickly and saw that it was just a tree branch stuck on it. "Great, my favorite sweater, too." She muttered under her breath. Her jeans were torn, her sweater ripped, and her hair full of twigs and leaves.
Everything suddenly went quiet. Nothing was to be seen or heard. She could hardly see in front of her, let alone her own hand. She heard someone, or something, roar in the distance, followed by loud thumping sounds. Meghan was petrified, and thinking about turning around and going back, something caught her eye- A very large human was trying to tie something that looked at least twenty feet tall to a tree. She screamed louder than ever, and when she did so, the large human turned around.
"Blimey, wha' are you doin' 'ere? Who are you?" The large man bellowed as he turned around.
Meghan started to whimper in fear as a tear began sliding down her cheek. "I g-got lost! I was just looking around the forest my Gammy brought me to because they were resting and I wanted to go on because I wanted to keep my mind off of my Gampy who just died and-"
"Whoa! Hold on there! Take a breath before you kill yerself!" The man said gently. "I dint mean to startle you, you startled me." He looked at her for another moment with his brow furrowed. "You're a Muggle, arn't you?"
Meghan drew a breath. "Excuse me?"
"I mean, you're an American Muggle, arn't you?" "First of all, yes. I am an American. Secondly, what in the bloody hell is a 'Muggle'?!?"
"Well, you speak like a English person!" He said cheerfully. "A
muggle is somebody 'oo has no wizarding blood in 'im." "Ok, what are you talking about wiz-AAAAAAAAACK!!!!!" Meghan saw an enormous hand coming for her, so she hid behind a nearby stump. "WHOA! COOL IT DOWN GWAPY!! WE 'AVE A GUEST 'ERE!" Hagrid, who was trying to retain Gwapy, (Gwapy is Hagrid's little brother. When I say little, I mean little as in younger. Not smaller.) "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!?" "Ah! Gwapy is a giant." He said coolly. "A giant? What the heck is a giant doing here? Giants aren't real!"
"As I was saying, I am a wizard, an' there is a 'ole school- oops.." Hagrid wasn't supposed to tell any Muggle about Hogwarts, but he almost did. "What do you mean 'a whole school?' Do you mean to tell me that there is a school outside of these woods teaching kids how to do magic?" "Well, erm. Yes." Meghan had had enough of the crap. She walked straight past him, even though she new that a giant was watching her. "Wait! If yer are goin' on, I am goin' with you. Yeh never know wha' is out there." Meghan looked at him through thin eyes for a moment considering his proposition. "Fine. But if I find out you are lying," she said unsurely while looking at Grawpy, "I'm going to kill you." Hagrid laughed. "Fine, you can kill me once we get up to the castle!" "A. castle?" She looked at him in shock. "Yeah, a castle. Yeh ever heard of it?"
"Yes, I have. But there is a castle here?" "Yes," Hagrid replied, "there is. But it is unplottable 'cause the Ministry put unbreakable charms on it so that Muggles can't get through." "So then why did I?" "I don't know. I never got around to asking you, but what is your name?" "Yeh can call me Hagrid." The two of the continued up the dark path, until they could see little twinkles of the stars above. Meghan began looking around. Centaurs were glaring at them through the trees and brush. "Hagrid. What are those?" Meghan asked nervously. "Dun worry 'bout them. The Centaurs won't hurt you." "What is a 'centaur?'" "I'll splain when we get to the castle." Meghan walked next to him for another five minutes until she saw something towering in front of them.
~*~