Prologue

The first time I showed any signs of magic was when I was nine, I was pretending that me and my cat, Baby (named after Baby in Dirty Dancing), were in outer space, and I was able to make her float alongside me. I was fascinated and so happy that my cat could fly, I thought she had done it by herself you see; however, it wasn't until three years later did I find out it wasn't my cat. On the first day of August in 2016, which was Monday 1st, a woman dressed in an extremely weird combination of a long rain coat paired with spotted tights and crocs, knocked on our door and requested to speak to me and my parents. Luckily both my parent were home at the time as my mum was a teacher and had the holidays of and my dad was an architect who worked from home. It was then, over tea, that she informed us that she was an official from the Ministry of Magic, and that I, like she, was a witch. Of course my parents thought she must have been a mental patient at first, who had just happened to wonder onto our doorstep, however once she showed that magic was real (by making the tea we had offered her double in size), did we realise she was telling the truth.

My parents were delighted when they found out, as there was now an explanation behind the weird things that would happen around me for the past few years, as since making my cat fly there had been some weird incidents, such as me randomly appearing on the roof of our house and making a pot a window shatter when in a bad mood. The only thing we didn't understand was how was did I get magical powers, with my parents not having any, to which Ophelia informed me that I was muggle-born, being told that muggle meant non-magical folk, and that sit was a completely normal thing for muggles to sometimes have magical children. After a lengthy talk about the wizarding world and being informed that I would attend Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches, that September, Ophelia gave me my Hogwarts letter and said she would come back sometime in the week to take my parents and I to wizarding London to purchase everything I needed for school.

Part of me was extremely excited that I got to go to a wizarding boarding school instead of the public school situated in Bromley, where I grew up, but another part of me was dreading it. I had a very close-knit family made up of my parents, Thomas and Dione Olsen, and my older brother by five years, Daniel. My mother was originally from Brittany in France and moved to England to study languages at University of Brighton where she met my dad, who was studying architecture, and have been together ever since. My skill for languages came from my mother, who taught French and German at the school I was supposed to be going to, and my love of 80s movies and music came from my dad, who constantly made my brother and I watch and listen 80s culture since we were little. My brother was also the most caring, protective person I knew, and wanted to study to be a doctor once he left school. The thought of leaving my family who I loved so much behind scared me, but my mum encouraged me that this was an amazing opportunity, and so we went to Diagon Alley with Ophelia that Friday. After buying everything compulsory, the most exciting thing being my wand from Ollivanders, which was a 9-inch willow wand with a dragon heart string centre and surprisingly swishy, my parents decided to buy me an owl, which Ophelia had said was the only way in which we could keep in touch during my time at Hogwarts. We probably spent about half an hour in Eeylops Owl Emporium while I looked at owls, my indecisiveness making it hard to choose which of the beautiful birds to choose, but finally I landed on the friendly tawny owl who was in the window at the front of the store, a male who I named Ferris.

Once everything was bought and I was back home, I had what felt like three of the longest weeks of my life waiting to go to Hogwarts. After being immersed in the wizarding world for just one afternoon, I couldn't wait to learn and use spells at Hogwarts. When September 1st finally arrived, I was filled with both excitement and nervousness. I didn't know anyone at Hogwarts, what if I couldn't make friends, or was an outcast for being a muggle-born? However, once I was on the train, leaving my brother, parents, and Ophelia (who had accompanied us to Platform 9 ¾), and discovered that there was no need to feel nervousness at all. Stumbling into the first compartment I could find with people who looked my age, I met my now best friends, Albus Severus Potter and Dominique Weasley. The pair were cousins and had been best friends growing up, as they were from a big yet very close family, and they were both starting their first year at Hogwarts. On the train, I connected instantly with the two, especially Dom as we both were half French; and it was here that they told me all about the Hogwarts houses, and introduced me to my obsession, Quidditch.

Later that day in the great hall, both Dom and I were sorted into Hufflepuff house, while Al was sorted into Slytherin house, along with our other soon to be best friends; Scorpius Malfoy, Eli Dalton, a pure-blood, and Krista Stevenson, a half-blood. Over the years, our group of six became like a family, we were quite popular and obsessed with Quidditch; I made Hufflepuff's team as keeper in third year, after discovering I had a natural talent when it came to the sport; as did Scorp and Al, who were a chaser and seeker for the Slytherin team. In fifth year, Dom joined me on the Hufflepuff team as a chaser, while Krista did the commentating at school matches, and Eli said he just loved seeing the guys in their Quidditch gear. Since second year, my dream was to play for the Holyhead Harpies, my idol quickly becoming Ginny Weasley, much to Al's dislike.

My first five years at Hogwarts were amazing, I had great friends, a possible future in Quidditch, and had achieved ten OWL's, even though I only just scraped a pass in Potions, but I wasn't going to carry it on anyway, the only real reason I passed was because Al had been my partner for class, potions being his best subject and star pupil to Professor Slughorn. So that brings us up to present day, where I am now spending the last few weeks of Summer vacation at the Dom's house before we head off to Hogwarts for our sixth year.