A/N: This is my first fanfiction on FF, so please don't eat me alive (or something...). I would really appreciate reviews and people who can help me make my stories more fun to read. Thanks in advance!

Note: I do not own Harry Potter, and I don't pretend to be J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter One

"Holly, come downstairs and eat dinner!" my mother Eleanor called up the stairs of our small English cottage at me.

"One minute!" I called back, and quickly finished writing my letter to Cho Chang, one of my best friends. I carefully rolled up the parchment and tied it to my owl, Avis' leg. I opened the window above my desk for Avis to leave by.

"Take this letter to Cho Chang, okay?" I asked. Avis jumped out the window in response, and soon became a tiny speck in the darkening horizon. I turned the lights off, and left my room and went to join my family for dinner. I sat down at the table and looked around at my mother and father, who both looked content.

"Sorry about the delay, I was writing a letter to Cho. She's still pretty torn up about Cedric." I explained. In the end of last year, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had returned bodily to the world, and he had killed a good friend of mine, Cedic Diggory along the way. Cho, who had been dating him, had taken it a lot harder than anyone else, and was inconsolable for months after it had happened.

I tried to clear my mind of those depressing thoughts and pulled a dish of fresh corn on the cob towards me hungrily.

"Mum, you're an amazing cook." I said, and dished some mashed potatoes onto my plate.

"You should really go to Diagon Alley soon, school starts in two days!" she reminded me. I sighed.

"I know, but there's no point in going if I don't have my supplies list. I have no idea what's taking the owl so long to get here!" I still hadn't gotten my letter, and I was starting to get frustrated.

Suddenly, there was a huge 'thunk' on the window. I jumped out of my chair, and looked outside and saw an owl lying in the plants outside our house. It looked so pitiful! I ran outside to pick it up and carried it gently back inside.

"Why do they always fly into the windows?" I asked, exasperatedly. The owl was a pretty light brown with white specks on its wings.

"It looks like a Hogwarts owl." My mother said from behind me. I gently untied a small scroll from its foot and carried it back outside.

"And stay away from windows!" I called to it as it flew off.

I brought the letter back to the table to read it.

"It's my school supplies list!" I said happily, and handed it to my mother. She was the witch in the family, and my father was the muggle. I often forgot that fact because he was so used to everything magical that went on around him.

"Only two new books this year Holly. The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk and Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard." My mother announced after examining the list.

"So will you go to Diagon Alley tomorrow then?" my father asked. For all of his non-magical knowledge, he had adapted to my mother and I very quickly. He didn't even find it strange how, at this exact moment, the dishes were washing themselves in the sink, and the house was dusting it's self.

"I guess I will. I can take the train to London; it's only an hour each way so… If I leave at about 10 in the morning, that should give me plenty of time to be back before dinner tomorrow…" I started talking to myself… again. It was something I found myself doing all the time, much to the annoyance of the people around me. After a few seconds, I realised what I was doing and laughed.

"Sorry about that. Mum, can I have my key to my Gringotts vault so I can get some money out?"

"Sure, remind me tomorrow before you leave." She said and went back to eating her food.

I smiled. Maybe I would finally see some of my friends from Hogwarts. I had hardly talked to anyone since summer. Cho, my best friend, had been mourning Cedric constantly and we didn't really have any conversations other than her mourning him. I felt really awful for her, but there wasn't really anything I could do to help.

I finished eating diner and excused myself from the table, saying I wanted to get an early night's sleep before I went into London. It wasn't that far of a ride, but I didn't want to be overly tired.

I had a quick shower and put my hair in a bun to let it dry and changed into my favourite pair of pyjama pants and a baggy t-shirt. I looked at myself in the mirror, and my chocolate brown eyes stared solemnly back at me.

I couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts. Sighing lightly, I dragged a hairbrush through my slightly wavy dark brown hair and washed my face with cold water. I was so tired that I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.