Chapter one Magic is real

Mr and Mrs Rasmussen, of twenty-one, blossom road, were unapologetically unusual and didn't care if you approved of it or not. They were the first kind of people you'd expect to be involved in something strange or mysterious, because they loved anything out of the ordinary.

Mr Rasmussen owned his own business buying, fixing and reselling antiques and old furniture, he was a very tall muscular man with dark skin, he had many tattoos covering his body and long dread locks he kept tightly tied back. Mrs Rasmussen, a local hairdresser, was a round, curvaceous woman, who usually had brightly coloured hair and like her husband had tattoos covering the majority of her body. The Rasmussens had a small daughter called Wilhelmina, named after Mrs Rasmussens mother and to them she was the very definition of perfection.

The Rasmussens had everything they ever wanted and more, but they had noticed in the past couple of years leading up to Mina's eleventh birthday strange unexplained things started to happen, stranger things than even they were used to, objects moving by themselves, animals acting strangely, plants around the house changing colour and blooming before their eyes, they had no explanation but they decided to just accept it as part of who their little girl was.

Mina was a chubby girl with freckled light brown skin and a mass of tight ringlet curls, she looked like her mother and had her natural dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, but you could already tell that she was going to have her father's large height, she loved bright colours, reading and her cat she named Lion.
She knew she was the reason for all the weird things that happened around her, but she didn't know why nor how she was doing them, that was until one evening not long after her eleventh birthday the Rasmussens got a visit from a woman named Minerva McGonagall, the older woman had explained to her and her parents what was going on and to young Wilhelmina's surprise her parents didn't seem all that fazed by the news of their little girl being a witch.

"There had been rumours that we'd had ancestors that were… different in the past but I just thought they were joking." Mr Rasmussen told the strangely clothed woman standing in the middle of their living room, Mrs Rasmussen nodded in agreement.

"My family is the same but we thought it was just wild imaginations too… I guess not." Mrs Rasmussen said wrapping an arm around young mina as if comforting her after bad news.

"She has been chosen to attend Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry." Professor McGonagall said pulling out a letter from her green cloak and handing it to Mina, with a smile the young witch opened it and read it aloud to her parents, after reading it excitedly to them she quickly realised she didn't know how to get the strange supplies.

Uniforms, a cauldron, weird sounding books, a wand, the list went on and on and ended in bold lettering telling parents that first years weren't allowed to own their own brooms.

"Excuse me professor, where am I supposed to get all of this?" The older woman smiled down at her.

"I have arranged for you to go in a group with other muggle born students and parents to go and collect what you will need for the school year." McGonagall explained like she had said it hundreds of times.

Mr. Rasmussen knew that this was the best option for his little girl, although the boarding school style of education didn't sit well with him (only because he didn't want to be away from her that long) he agreed on the spot that she was to be attending and it wasn't long before herself and her parents were filing into diagon alley with a few other families, one of the other children in Mina's group was a girl with hair wilder than her own, she had large front teeth and looked around with wide eyes full of excitement and astonishment.

"Hello" Mina said to the girl startling her. "I'm Wilhelmina Rasmussen." She held out her hand like her father had taught her, the other girl smiled brightly.

"Hermione Granger!" she shook Minas hand vigorously making her laugh. "It's all so exciting isn't it, I've been reading all about Hogwarts and I've memorized a few basic spells already, I haven't even got my wand yet!" the pure joy that radiated from the bushy haired girl calmed Mina's nerves a little.

"Well I think we're going to Ollivanders next and then going to be fitted for our robes so you won't have much longer to wait." Hermione beamed again visibly fighting the urge to jump up and down in excitement.

Mr. and Mrs. Rasmussen had also met the Grangers and had exchanged numbers seeing their daughters now linking arms and talking wildly, pointing and laughing.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Hermione asked.

"House?" Mina asked confused.

"Yes house, we'll be sorted into one of four houses when we get there, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and slytherin, their named after the founders of the school." Hermione continued to tell mina about the history of the houses and of Hogwarts itself, of who the headmaster was and of some of the lessons they'll be taught, both minas and Hermiones parents were lugging around the supplies they had bought, they were just as fascinated as the children, learning that magic was real was like reverting back to their own childhoods.

The group then went to Ollivanders Hermione all but dragged mina through the doors first, she went first, testing out a few before finding one that fit her.

"Vine wood, 10 ¾ inches, Dragon heartstring core." Mr. Ollivander said, Hermione's wand had vine leaves carved into it wrapping around so delicately, minas on the other hand was very much the opposite.

"Ebony wood, 11 inches, Unicorn hair core." The slender wood felt more natural than mina thought it would, it had a subtle pattern that resembled a butterfly's wing spiraling around the straight slender wood and the flared, rounded end fit so comfortably in her palm it was almost like it had been made specifically for her.

"Uniforms next girls!" Mrs. Rasmussen sang, "Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions" was writing in gold across the top of the purple painted store, we all piled in and one by one we were measured and fitted for our uniforms, pleated skirts, white button downs, jumpers, a black tie, socks and a cloak, Mrs. Rasmussen was almost in tears seeing her little girl in full uniform, even with the pointed hat that Mina thought was ridiculous looking and had to keep on with her curls in the way. It wasn't until she was looking at shoes that mina realized her father was nowhere to be seen.

"Mom, where did dad go?" Mrs. Rasmussen smiled mischievously from the gowns across the store.

"He went to get one of the supplies we missed sweetheart." Hermione and her mother helped pick both of them some sensible well fitted shoes and when both families exited the store mina realized what "supplies" her father had to go and get, Mr. Rasmussen stood beaming at his wife and daughter holding up a cage with a beautiful barn owls perched inside.

"Oh David its beautiful!" Mrs. Rasmussen squealed peering onto the cage.

"Well we'll be wanting letters, and mina needs a pet to take with her." Mina's father cooed at the bird

"She's beautiful!" Hermione said loudly bounding up to mina and her parents.

"What's her name dad?" mina was petting the owl through the bars under its chin.

"That's all up to you sweetheart." Mina looked up at her father and then scrunched her face huffing thoughtfully.

"What about…Ophelia?" her father made a strange face and looked it the bird, who was still enjoying the fuss she was getting from mina.

"That wasn't what I expected dear, but if you want to call her Ophelia then that's her name."

The Rasmussen and the Grangers parted ways that day but both arranged to meet the day the girls were going to Hogwarts, it was a great feeling knowing she'd already have a friend in this new exciting world.