Hi. I'm Ariana, Ari for short, and this is the story that makes my life crazy. I know, I sound like an English teacher's worst nightmare. Sadly, I don't care.
Anyways, back to the story, eh?
It all started on the day that people close to me and my sister call "The Big Bang" of our lives. We don't know the exact reason it's called that, but there many theories. One is that (I highly doubt this one, there was a bang, but sound simply doesn't travel like that,) a big bang was heard across the world before the lights went out. Another is that it's simply the day our lives started to really get crazy. Whatever the reason, that's what it's referred to.
Anyhow, I and my sister had recently gotten mad at each other. I don't remember why. Maybe it was about which Hogwarts house we would belong to. Maybe it was which Olympian God or Goddess would be our parent. Or which district we would be from. In any case; it had gotten crazy. Lots of yelling. A few broken vases. And then, BOOM! The house shook and the power went out. I know what you're thinking, what's so crazy about an abnormally large earthquake? You probably just live on a fault line. The answer: Everything and anything. You see, my "Family" lives in the middle of No Where, USA. We don't get earthquakes here, let alone abnormally large ones. Then, two owls appeared, coming over the horizon towards our house, coming to a stop on our window ledge. It was then that I saw the letters tied to their legs. I and my sister had the same idea. Hogwarts.
We started moving towards the owls, but out of nowhere there's a knock on our door. We froze, knowing that with our doors that had gigantic windows, we had been spotted. I nodded, letting her know that I'd get it.
When I got to the door and opened it, a British accent said, "Hello" before I had a chance to take them in. He was about 13, just a year older than us. He had messy dark hair and brilliant blue eyes. To top it off, he had a sloppy grin. And his red shirt? It just made the color of his eyes more extreme. After what felt like an eternity with my ADHD of him checking me out (and I, him,) he said, "May I come in?"
I had to think for a moment, because seriously, who wouldn't say yes? I decided to quiz him on knowledge of harry potter. I know, pretty stupid because everyone who's anyone know of harry potter. But I'm pretty sure that Death Eaters have time for 7 awesomely long books, let alone 8 movies.
"What's the first spell Harry sees Ron perform?"
"One to make his rat, Scabbers, yellow." Check one…
"And how does it go?"
"Something like…Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow; turn this stupid fat rat yellow." Check two…but can he handle check three?
"And how does it turn out?"
"It does nothing. Well, in the movie it kind of shocks Scabbers…"
Fine then. "You pass." I stepped out of the doorway.
"No, no," he said, smirking. "I'm not walking into a trap. You must answer my question."
I sighed. What comes around goes around, right? "What is it?"
"How does Lockhart lose his memory?"
"Harry and Ron drag Lockhart into the chamber and take his wand. Lockhart tries to run by taking their memories, but since he was using Ron's wand, the spell backfires, therefore taking his memory."
"And what spell does he use?"
"Oblivate." I rolled my eyes.
"Why does the spell backfire?"
"The wand got snapped in the Whomping Willow"
"Why was it in the Whomping Willow?"
I sighed, this guy wasn't giving up. "Because Dobby the House Elf closed Platform 9 ¾ so that, hopefully Harry wouldn't go to Hogwarts. So Ron and Harry take Ron's flying car and crash in the Whomping Willow. Now, are you going to make me summarize all of the Chamber of Secrets, or will you just come in?" This guy was starting to be more jerkish instead of cuteish.
I think he sensed it too, because he came in without another word. He sat down on our chair and beckoned for us to sit. In our own house. Nevertheless, we did. He still didn't say anything so my sister said, "well?" He shook his head violently, as if to clear it.
"I'm sorry, but would you mind telling me which one of you is Alexandra?"
Oh, yeah, sorry. I probably forgot to mention we were twins. Identical twins, to be exact.
My sister sighed. She didn't like people using her full name. "It's Alex."
He nodded, and then turned to me. "So you must be Ariana."
I winced a little. My full name was usually reserved for when I was in trouble and teachers. "It's Ari, and who are you?"
"I'm Zachary Birch, Zack for short."
"And you're here because…?"
"We know who you two are and what you two are."
I looked at Alex and saw my horrified expression reflected on her face. I could tell that, once again we were thinking the same thing. They knew. They knew that we were secretly undetermined demi-gods and were here to take us to our new home, an asylum. We didn't want to be put in lab coats yet so I gave him the good, old, blank look.
"We know that you two are witches."
I looked at my sister, my jaw hitting the floor, to see if she had heard him too, or if it was just my mind playing tricks on me. (It wouldn't be the first time…) She looked just as, if not more shocked than I did. I looked back at Zachary. He showed no signs of playing a trick on us.
"W…Wi…Witches? I finally got out. Sure, we had made our selves think that the amazing world Rowling had created was real…but we never…deep down we always knew that it wasn't…real.
"Yes." He said simply, as if that cleared everything up.
"But we can't be witches! The Wizarding World isn't really real!" Alex and I exclaimed together, then laughed, and looked back Zachary.
"Yes." He said again. Could he get any vaguer? "Look, have you two ever done anything that neither of you could explain? When you had a strong surge of emotion?"
"Oh, you mean like causing a bang and a blackout?" I tilted my head like a dog.
"No, never." Alex copied me.
He rolled his eyes. The owls pecked at the window, begging to be let in. Zachary quickly obliged, probably just noticing them. They flew over to Alex and me, holding out the legs with the letters out to us impatiently. Zachary sat back down, watching us.
"Well? Are you going to take your mail from those poor owls or wait for me to do that, too?" Jeeze, a little touchy are we?
Nevertheless we took the letters from the peeved looking owls (I swore I could almost hear them throwing insults at me) and they flew off at once.
"Now, as I was saying. Yes. What you did today was magic. Complex magic, for your understanding of it."
I laughed. I couldn't help it. This was one of the best pranks I'd ever seen. However, Alex and Zachary weren't laughing. Zachary wasn't even yelling "Got you!" at us. I stopped laughing as they both were looking at me weirdly.
"What? Don't you get it Alex? He's pranking us! There's probably hidden cameras somewhere. Right, Zachary?"
He shook his head slowly, like I was a little child learning the alphabet and saying that Q is before N. "There's no hidden cameras anywhere, this isn't a prank. You're a witch."
"Hold on, isn't the wizarding world in the UK?" Alex asked.
"It is, mostly. There are many random countries with magical populations; the UK's is just the biggest. You too are the first I've seen in the US though. And as far as we know, you're the only ones in the US."
"What about JK Rowling? If the Harry Potters are true, shouldn't she be in Azakaban instead of making Pottermore?" I questioned.
"That is a good question. She should be, but is currently on the run. No one from the M.O.M. can locate her, however many have lost their memories on missions to find her, which we can suspect was her doing."
"So she's a witch too?"
"One of the best. But why she exposed magic to the world like that makes us wonder…"
"So, to recap, JKR is on the run from the M.O.M., and were witches?
"Yep."
"So…Now what?"
"Well, for starters, you can open your letters."
My letter said:
Dear Ms. A. Morreno,
You and your sister have been accepted into Wizarding School. Since you're in America you can choose the school you go to. (See attached list.) We have sent along the minister's son to consult your parents or guardians and you two, as, most unfortunately, the minister is busy at the moment. Have a magical day!
Adam Michaels,
Head of international
Magical Communications
I took out the second paper:
Here are a few magical schools we thought might interest you and the nations in which they reside. Don't worry about the cost of the trip, we will arrange it.
Hogwarts-Brittan
Beauxbatons-France
Durmstrang-Sweeden
Mahoutokoro-Japan
Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts-Brittan
Brazilian Institute of Magic-Brazil
Note that this page is bewitched. Simply circle the one you would like and we will know. It also means that you cannot go back on your decision.
PS: If you do not know how to speak the nation's language, we will arrange for it to be taught to you, in whatever way needed.
PPS: After you circle it, you will have two days to pack before you have to leave.
I looked at Alex and saw that she had the same main letter. I handed her the list, and after reading it, she looked at me, her expression saying it all. 'This is really happening.'
"So why aren't you consulting our guardians?" Our parents had orphaned us when we were born, and a nice couple named Jack and Jill Fakes had adopted us at age 6. However, they had left us alone about a week ago for a month. They had wanted to get away, as they were people who didn't like being tamed, but insisted that our education was so important that we could not go. Even though this was the ninth school in seven years, and we never got higher than a high D in our life. Well, academically, at least. We usually aced physical exams.
"Well…" he didn't have an answer. "What school are you thinking about going to?" he tried changing the subject, which, sadly for him, wasn't going to happen.
"No, no, we asked you first."
"Well… we think there's a reason you live "across the pond" from the ministry. The Fakes tried to run from the M.O.M. We think they know the whereabouts of JKR."
