Chapter 1: Let it Be
I have always been different, and not in the way that you would expect either. My mom loves to tell me the story of the first time I did magic. I never liked my crib as a baby, never wanted to be in there and cried myself to sleep every night. My mother used to sit outside my door with it open, just to make sure that my screams were not because I had hurt myself. One day, when I was three years old, my toddler mind must have just had enough. I had flown out of the crib and into my mother's arms in the doorway. She was so shocked that she nearly dropped me. We never knew it was magic, hell we didn't know until my eleventh birthday that Hogwarts, the Salem Institute, or any of the magical world ever even existed.
As far as we know my mother is a pure muggle, and I am a half-blood. My mom had a one night stand and about a month later she found out she was having me. My "father," or sperm donor as I call him, never contacted my mom or left a way to get in contact. It was like he had never existed. My mom did try to find him, going through some mutual friends of the party holder where this had all gone down, and turned up nothing. She stopped looking, knowing that if the time was ever right, he would find us.
Of course, that didn't happen. My mom continued raising me in the northern part of Michigan in the U.S. This was the late 1960's, a lot of people looked down on my mom, especially in the small community that she raised me. The community was a small catholic community, and very traditional. None of the "swinging 60's" happened until much later, and because of this fact my mom tried to teach me to hide my magic. Although there was almost nothing that she could do to help. We managed better than some, no one ever expected that I was actually a witch. They all just thought I was the strange, shy, little girl that always sat quietly in church and in school. My life was fairly average, and lonely through my first eleven years. It was always just me and my mom.
I turned eleven on February 2nd, 1971 so yes, I was a groundhog's baby or that's always what my mom called me. They day all started with my alarm clock not going off.
"Sarah Elizabeth! You will get your behind down here this instant!" Was the first thing that I heard that morning. I am not and never will be fond of mornings. Not even Tuesday mornings. I had just started to get dressed when I heard the door bell, which really didn't make sense it was only 6 am, no one would come to the door this early in the morning. I hurried down to the kitchen wondering what was going on. A stern looking woman was standing in the doorway, her clothes were completely odd, they looked weirder than some of the stuff my classmates talked about! She had on this really tall pointed hat and a matching green dress thing.
As I came screeching into the kitchen her eyes shot to me, my mom was already offering coffee and ignoring how oddly the woman dressed.
"No dear, that is fine. I much prefer tea to coffee" Said the strange woman in a fairly thick Scottish accent. "My name is Professor McGonagall, I am the Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." My mom and I wrinkled our noses at the name. Hogwarts? Then realized the rest of what she had said. Witchcraft? My eyes widened as I looked at my mom.
"Wait, there are others like me?" I blurted out, then covered my hands over my mouth, shocked.
"Yes dear, there are many children like you. I am surprised that you have not been visited by the Salam School of Witchcraft yet, being that you are American." The professor said a look crossing her face. "Although Hogwarts is a very good school, one of the best actually."
At this point my mom invited the professor to sit on the couch so that we could talk and discuss what needed to be done. It became clear that I needed to go to school, that my magic needed to be controlled. The three of us talked until the bus had pulled up outside the house.
My mom looked at me. "You are going to school today, no whining. We will talk about this all when you get back." I nodded silently and hurried towards the bus. My mom was good about including me in everything, so if she didn't want me there to discuss something she would talk to me about it later.
The bus ride and school day were very long, and very boring. I was jittery through all of my classes and got yelled at more than once. I tried to be still but it was almost impossible. By the end of the day I was a large ball of nerves.
My mom was waiting in the kitchen when I walked into the door. She looked a little sad, but sort of relieved in a way. She looked up and told me to sit, we had so much to talk about.
"Hunny, I want you to know that I love you dearly, and I do not want you to leave me. You are my world, and I will miss you like none other. Do you understand?"
I nodded. "I believe that you need to go to Hogwarts. It is a boarding school, and it is somewhere in Scotland. I have arranged with professor McGonagall that you take a… portkey to the train station, and then when you come home you can do the same." Her eyes start to sparkle, "the professor was very understanding about everything, all of your school stuff will be paid for by the school, you know that we don't have very much money, that I don't make nearly enough." Mom paused again, "but I will go with you and I think another older student will be coming as well to show us around the Wizarding World here in America. There are shops a few hours away from here, not many but they should have enough to get you ready for school."
At this point I was just dumbfounded. Going to school, in Scotland? That doesn't even seem imaginable, then I look at mom. Who is going to look out for her while I am gone? I think she could tell what I was thinking. "Hunny, I will be fine. You go to school and make a name for yourself, alright? Professor McGonagall told me about all the different careers you can have. It might be better than staying here in the… not magic world." I nodded. "Now head up to do your homework, I'll make some dinner."