A Magical Begining
A/N Hey, it's TheSlyestOfThemAll. This is the beginning of my first story. If you have anything to say about it, please leave me a review. It would be greatly apreciated.
Chapter One
The sun peaked through the soft white curtains of my childhood bedroom.
Today I am leaving the soft cocoon of my parents home to start out my adult life. I was moving across the border from the only place I've ever called my home, the nation's capital of Ottawa, Ontario to the top wizarding school in North America, and in my opinion, the world, to mold the young witches and wizards of tomorrow. My parents, being muggles, were less than enthusiastic about my decision to work in the wizarding world and teaching others the ability that had caused me strife throughout my teenage years. I was snapped out of my inner monologue by a screeching voice coming from downstairs.
"ANNAAAA!"
The high pitched voice belonged to my mother. I love her to pieces but honestly, she did get on my nerves sometimes.
"ANNA, GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!"
The last word was tacked on as an afterthought more than anything. My mother was impatient with anything, whether it was her two children or her booming cosmetics business, she was never one to wait. I hurried down the stairs, taking a deep breath as I prepared myself for the "Surprise Party" I had known about for the past two weeks. I had seen my mother's decision to celebrate the start of my teaching career over two weeks ago. After over a decade of her knowing that I was a witch and nine years of knowing about my psychic ability, my mother still had difficulty comprehending that I could not be surprised.
I reached the bottom of the stairs, stepping over our old Irish Setter, Penny. We adopted him when he was three months old and we have had him ever since. He was the light of my life, always there to comfort me when my classmates had teased me as a child. Nowadays, Penny lounged around the house, always willing for someone to rub his belly or give him leftovers. His favourite spot was right at the bottom of the stairs, which caused my mother to trip and curse him out when she woke up early to attend an important business meeting. As soon as it was legal for me to use magic outside of school, I wasted no time putting a noise reducing charm in my bedroom. I removed it this morning, as my mother didn't want any remains of magic left after I moved out.
I entered the dinning room and just as I had seen in my vision a long two weeks ago, my parents and younger brother sat around the ornate dining room table, where a round cake sat. I knew from my vision that my mother had ordered a red velvet cake, my favourite. I felt my mouth starting to water. I remembered that I wasn't supposed to actually know about this surprise. I put on my best surprise face and began with the usual modesty act.
"Oh, you guys didn't have to get me a cake." I said not really meaning it. Who was I kidding? I love cake. Heck, I love anything with sugar in it. If it were up to me, I would live off of nothing but fruit and chocolate.
"Nonsense," my father replied, "It's not every day that my little girl moves away to America besides, you should be proud of your accomplishments".
"Getting a teaching job right out of school is no mean feat" my mother said.
"Can we just eat the cake now? I'm starving" my 12 year old brother, Cameron whined.
"Alright, but we need to get our pictures taken first." my mother answered. My brother groaned in response. My dad let out a light chuckle. My mother had this obsession with taking pictures on any occasion, and made any excuse up to celebrate. For my brother's kindergarten graduation, my mother had invited all of our relatives to come celebrate, even though the school never actually had an actual ceremony.
She whipped out her latest digital camera, her fifth to date. She had a habit of dropping them and breaking them. I had offered countless times to just repair the last one using magic, but she adamantly refused.
"Ok, let's get one of you and your father, stand beside the cake." my mother directed the two of us "Now squish closer, just a little bit more, PERFECT!" she snapped the picture. I mentally sighed and peeked into the future to see how much longer she would be. It looked like she would be at least another fifteen minutes taking pictures on the current course she was on. I menatally sighed for the second time. Just great.
My father decided to cut in and stop all of the picture taking. "If Anna is going to get to Angela's before dark, she's going to have to eat soon." he subtly hinted at my mother. Angela lives on the West Coast, so I have to aparate several times to prevent myself from getting splinched. That is something I never want to experience again. I promised that I would visit her before I went to teach.
"Oh yes, look at the time, just one last picture and then we will cut the cake." She handed the camera to my brother. "Take a picture of me and Anna please Cam?" my mother asked, using her pet name for him. "Ready Anna? Smile. PERFECT!." I smiled for the camera. I heard a click and turned to face my mother.
We look very much alike, I suppose. We had the same petite build and dark hair. I had inherited my father's light blue eyes, unlike my mother's hazel eyes. Both my mother and I were 5'2", which allowed us the easily share clothes. My mother has a keen eye for clothes, shoes especially. I always loved helping my mom at her cosmetics store during my summers off from Salem's Academy for Young Witches. If I wasn't getting a teaching job, I probably would be working at her store full time.
I peered at the old grandfather clock. It was 2:30 p.m. I accepted my slice of cake from my mother, digging into the sweet dessert. I finished quickly, excusing myself from the table to finish packing the remainder of my belongings. I ran up the stairs and into my room. Most of my stuff was now packed up into boxes except for my bag, which had an undetectable extension charm cast on it, and my broomstick, my trusty Nimbus 2000. The broomstick was my most prized possession. It wasn't the newest model out there, but it was a nice, reliable broom at a very reasonable price. I hurridly stuffed the boxes and my broomstick into the magic bag. I looked up at the clock. Quarter to three. I need to leave. I picked up the pictures of the places Angela sent me so I would know where to aparate. I walked downstairs and hugged my parents before I began my first leg of my journey.