July 7, 2013

Hey Journal, I FINALLY GOT ADOPTED! I was adopted by a family in England of all places; I got off the plane about twenty minutes ago and then straight onto a train heading west to a town called Godric's Hollow, the Weasley family is supposed to meet me at the station there, so my new last name is Weasley. I have a mom, dad, sister, brother, grandparents and even uncles, aunts and cousins. I don't know why it took so long for me to get adopted, but I'm glad to finally have a family to call my own. Well Journal in the time it took me to type all this we got to Godric's Hollow so I need to go, I'll tell you more later, ttfn.

Erin

July 7, 2013 again

Hey Journal,

So get this, I was having a good time with my family when all of a sudden this big barn owl swoops through the window and drops a letter in my lap. Now this is of course surprising to me because I have never seen anything like it before, but you should have seen Mr. Wesley's face, he looked stunned that I was getting a letter like this, in fact those were his words, "why are you getting a letter by owl?" They told me to open it so I did; it was all parchment, even the envelope. The letter said that I had been accepted at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, when they heard that everyone in the room started congratulating me and started telling me that I would have a lot of fun learning magic. I must have looked pretty skeptical because they started doing magic to prove I wasn't being pranked, so it turns out that not only was I adopted by magic people but I am a magical person as well, any way Mr. and Mrs. Weasley say they will take me shopping tomorrow to get my school supplies, and that its lucky I am a muggle born because my supplies are going to be very expensive, see since I'm muggle born I get an allowance from Hogwarts for any school supplies I might need, which is good because they can't afford my supplies this year, because I need five years' worth of stuff.

My uncle Harry took me aside and told me about the houses, there are four, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The first years get sorted into them by a hat that can talk, and then you stay in that house for the rest of the time you are at the school, usually seven years, but since I'm starting as a fifth year I'll only be there for three. When I asked him what house he was in he said Gryffindor, along with my parents, and all of my aunts and uncles, so no pressure I guess, well I guess I'll tell you how it went tomorrow Journal, ttfn.

Erin

Erin shut her computer, she had been typing for about an hour and her new Brother, Hugo, was trying to get her attention with a picture…

"Look" he said,

"Is that picture moving?" asked Erin as she took the picture from him,

"Yeah, it's a way of developing the film that makes the subject move as though they were really alive," said her new sister, Rose, "do you want to try flying?" she asked,

"What?' asked Erin.

"Flying, you know on a broomstick." Said Rose,

"Oh, sure." Erin agreed. Rose led her outside and down the road to the forest where an old hiking path could be seen going toward the center of the woods,

"There's a clearing about five minutes' walk in that direction, it's where we practice Quidditch when we get the chance" said Albus, Harry's son who was rose's age,

" And if you think you're going to take her flying without me there then you really are as nuts as your brother says you are", Harry's voice came from behind them.

"Sorry dad, we just wanted to show her how fun it is, maybe she likes it, then she can get herself a broom and try out for the Gryffindor team this year, we need a new chaser." Said Rose as Harry and Ron came up from the house, both carrying broomsticks with them.

"Don't you think we should find out what house she's in first, here, try this one," said Ron as he handed Erin an odd looking broom, it was old, painted orange and black and said two things on the handle, the initials CC and Nimbus 2001, the bristles at the end were a sleek design but beginning to fray,

"Try and be careful with that one" said Rose, "its dad's favorite, the CC stands for the Chudley Cannons, his favorite Quidditch team." When they got to the clearing Rose and Albus took their brooms off of a stand and took off into the air, joined quickly by Ron, Harry stayed on the ground with Erin, chuckling he turned to her and said

" Well I guess that means that I'm teaching you how to fly.

He spent the next two minutes telling her how to sit on and control her broom then, because she seemed to grasp it pretty quickly told her to 'tackle' Ron, which basically meant to get the red ball he was tossing to Albus away from him, to which she said

"Done" and took off toward him. She took him by surprise and was able to get the ball (called a Quaffle) without so much as a fight,

"I think I like this sport" she said as she tossed the Quaffle to Rose and came in for a landing next to Hermione and her aunt Ginny, who had just arrived.

"Hey Ginny, want to play three on three?" shouted Ron from the other end of the clearing,

"Better make it four on four; George is on his way down with Bludgers." She said as she grabbed another broom from the rack,

"Play as our chaser? We can do boys vs. girls, Lily; you play as our beater okay?" She said to Erin and Lily.

"Sure, then we can do shirts and skins so we know who's on what team, we'll be shirts of course, "said George as he joined them in the clearing.

Everyone laughed as they put on red or blue ribbons so they could tell the teams apart, and then started playing.

Hermione acted as score keeper, Erin was a chaser for the blue team and had to fly against Albus who was chaser for the red team, Lily kept close to Erin so that the Bludgers would stay away from her while George kept sending them towards Ginny who was playing as seeker against Harry, who was playing seeker for the red team, Rose and Ron were playing as keepers for their respective teams, Rose was blocking significantly more goals than Ron who seemed to be getting more flustered with each goal Erin made. When Ginny finally caught the practice snitch that Harry had bought for their games the score was 250 Blue and 75 Red.

Everyone congratulated Erin for winning her first game and they all headed for the house where dinner was waiting for them, Grandma Weasley had been cooking the whole time they were playing.

"you should have seen it mum, "Ron was saying, "she's a natural, I admit I let her get the first few but after that she just kept getting around me and scoring, she's going to make some Quidditch captain very happy, you are going to try out for the team right E.?" he directed the last part at Erin, who was enjoying the best meal she had ever had,

"Uh, sure, if they let me" she said between bites of delicious scone with honey butter spread.

"Oh they will, don't you worry about that" said Ron as he poured himself another mug of butter beer. The talk turned to which house the three new Hogwarts students would be placed in come September 1st, Hugo was sure he would be placed in Gryffindor like his father while Lily was convinced she would get Slytherin because she was sneaky and plotting( according to Rose anyway). As for Erin no one could even venture a guess, mostly because no one knew her well enough to say, but the way it had been explained by her uncle Harry, she was certain she would be in Hufflepuff because none of the others made any sense for her, she wasn't brave like Gryffindor, or mischievous like Slytherin, and she didn't consider herself to be very smart so she didn't think she would get into Ravenclaw, besides according to James( Lily and Albus' older brother) Hufflepuff was where you got put if the hat just didn't know what else to do with you, and if you just didn't belong, and Erin had never really belonged anywhere.

Before too long it was time for bed, though no one really even thought about that, everyone wanted to hear more about Erin, where she was born, where she grew up, what kind of schooling she'd had, even what kind of muggle music she liked (James was sure he could make her like some wizarding music if he could find the right genre) She told him that she liked muggle classic rock and he ran upstairs to find something for her to try while she started answering other questions. She had been born in a small town in Oregon, and was raised at a local orphanage, one of the last in the country, where every now and then an interview would be set up with a family and she would get another chance to have a family, which had always gone wrong somehow, because it wasn't until the orphanage set up an online adoption profile that she got adopted, by the Weasleys. As for schooling, she had gone to muggle schools for the last ten years, was going into her sophomore year of high school when she had been adopted and sent to England. Just then James came bounding down the stairs with a pair of earmuffs that he said had the music on them, like a wizarding mp3 player. She promised she would listen to it later, when they weren't talking and he agreed that would be best.

That was when grandpa Weasley decided it was time for presents and everyone jumped to get theirs in her hands first. Ron won the race and shoved a large, floppy, poorly wrapped gift that nearly fell open in her lap. When she opened it the rest of the way she discovered a large coat made of leather in the style of an old pirate coat.

"The website said you liked old pirate stuff so…, "said Ron.

"I love it, thank you Ron." Said Erin, she stood up and put it on, it fit her almost perfectly, fitting onto her like it was shaping to fit her as she wore it,

"Self-fitting, "said Ron "It will always fit you perfectly,"

"Alright mine next "said George.

He handed Erin a small box, about the size of a board game, when she opened it she was surprised to see that it was an ordinary chess set only instead of kings and queens there were pirates and royal navy officers, but when she set up the pieces they suddenly came to life, and demanded to know where to move,

"Um, pawn to F3" she said, and a pirate pawn moved to the spot on the board she had specified. "We heard you liked pirates so I had this special ordered for you" he said.

"Oh, George that may be the nicest thing you've ever done," said grandma Weasley,

"Didn't know you'd be magical though, I was hopin' to scare the bejeezes out of ya'," said George.

"And now you've ruined it" said Ginny

They spent the next hour giving her more welcome gifts; Hermione got her a book about pirate captain Henry Morgan, who was apparently a wizard, Harry and Ginny got her a visitor's pass to see Buckingham palace the next day,

"Everyone should see it at least once," said Harry, "especially if you're from another country,"

James said the earmuffs were his gift; Rose had gone in with Albus to get her a model of The Queen Anne's Revenge, Black Beard's ship, which had little men on deck that moved and did as the miniature captain told them to. Her new grandparents had gotten her a camera; they explained that it was a special camera that made the moving pictures she had seen earlier, which she loved very much. The last gift came from Hugo, it was a small spoon with her picture in the end and after she opened it he took her to a clock hanging on the wall opposite where she had been sitting, the clock wasn't like ordinary clocks, instead of numbers around the face, there were words that said things like work, school, shopping, home and lost, there were others as well but Erin didn't read them all, she was too busy watching Hugo hang her spoon on the clock,

"Now it's official," he said, "you're one of us, part of the family,"

Erin was filled with a feeling she had never really felt before, like she was at home, and that she was loved. She couldn't hold it in any more, she felt a tear run down her cheek as she gave Hugo a large hug,

"Thank you," she said," all of you, thank you so much,"

She began to cry harder as her new family came to give her hugs and make her feel better, but what they didn't realize was that she had never felt better in her life.

That night she laid awake in bed, typing everything that had happened that day into her journal, she didn't want to forget any of it. When she finally drifted off to sleep, she dreamt of everything new and magical in her life, but most of all, she dreamt of her new family always being there for her and she knew she was home, at last she belonged.