There was a screech of brakes. Then a crash. A feeling of pain. Then nothingness.
Jamie Parton woke up. She'd been dreaming. Not your normal bad dream that you can escape from when you wake up. This one was a memory. A memory that Jamie had had to live with for the five years since the accident.
She'd been in the back of the car, sleeping. A drunk driver had veered onto the wrong side of the road, and had hit her car. Ever since, she'd been wheelchair bound. The drunk driver had been sentenced to a few years jail. A few years, when she'd have to live with it for the rest of her life.
Jamie could still remember the stares when she'd gone back to school. Lucky her school could take wheelchaired kids – one had graduated a few years before she'd started.
Jamie was nervous. She was in her last term of primary school. Next year she'd start high school, and be the kid in the wheelchair again. At least now she was accepted for who she was. High school would be like having her first day back all over again. Especially since she wasn't going to her local school – they didn't have the facilities. She'd be weird all over again.
Well, at least one of her friends was going to the same school. At least she wouldn't be alone.
Jamie didn't enjoy school that day. Sport. And they'd played soccer. Of course she couldn't participate. She'd waited on the side line and read. Before the accident she'd liked sport days. Now she didn't. It was another example of how she was different.
A lot of kids called her a read-a-holic or a nerd. But what was she meant to do with her time? It wasn't as if she could climb trees.
Now she was in the car, being driven home.
"There was a letter for you, Jamie," said her mum.
"Who from?" she asked.
"I don't know – it was probably a prank. It had a really dumb word, Hoggerwarts or something, written on it. I left it for you to look at when we get home."
"Okay, mum."
The rest of the drive home was in silence. Jamie watched kids playing outside. For one she wasn't feeling sorry for herself – some of their games looked really dumb. And because of all the time she spent inside, she always got her homework done and did fairly well at school. It could be a lot worse.
By the time they'd got home, Jamie had forgotten about the letter. She'd spent the afternoon reading (the Amulet of Samarkand – it was quite good), writing (she wasn't good yet, but she was determined that she would be) and watching TV (but not much – there was nothing good on).
It was her mother that reminded her about it in the end. She'd walked up and put the letter next to Jamie and had told her to read it during the next ad break. Jamie hadn't bothered waiting. All that was on was reality TV and Jamie didn't like reality TV.
She opened the letter and read the first sentence.
"We are pleased to inform you that you are a witch."
Jamie almost threw down the letter at that point. She'd been called names before. But something stopped her. That something was a few words – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She wasn't being called names. It was a prank, yes, but at least it would be a funny one.
Jamie looked back at the letter and decided to read it in full.
"Jamie Thomas,
We are pleased to inform you that you are a witch. We are aware that this may come as a surprise.
Have you ever made anything happen? Something unexplainable when you were feeling a strong emotion? You have probably tried to explain it to yourself. But you know deep down that that is not what happened. You used magic.
You have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. School term starts on September the 1st. There will be an information night for students of non-magic parentage on August 5th. We hope you can attend.
Professor McGonnagol
(Deputy Principal)"
When Jamie read the line about unexplainable things happening, she'd stopped. This letter was feeling too genuine for her liking. She had once made something unexplainable happen. She was at school, and a ramp was out of action because of a prank by some high school kids. She couldn't get out of the school. There were no other kids to ask for help. She'd stayed back after school to look at the library.
She just broke down and cried, then. When she looked up again, the ramp was somehow, inexplicably useable again.
Jamie took the letter to her mother, who read it.
"It's junk mail then."
Jamie had shook her head. "I think it's real, Mum." Her mum had looked at her. "You know how it talks about making things happen? I've made something happen."
Jamie felt excited by the idea of high school for the first time in ages. Magic… Was it real? Was she really a… really a witch?
Jamie smiled. Maybe high school wouldn't be that bad, after all.