"Sweetheart, it's time to wake up for school, don't want to be late for the bus do you?" A very low toned woman whispered in a young girl's ear. Liala opens her icy blue eyes and look up to see her mother, and her warm smile that she always gives Liala every time that she wakes her up. Liala sat up in her bed as her mother walks out of the room, the sun beaming down on her childish face. Rubbing her eyes, Liala pulls her covers off of her and goes to her closet, trying to find something to wear, but it didn't really matter since none of the kids at her school pay attention to her anyway. Liala was one of the smart kids that no one liked unless they forced her to do their homework, which she did or else a beating would come her way. Liala was in the 6th grade at a middle school called Fredrick Middle School. She didn't like it that much there, but she made the best of it. Liala grabbed a pair of dark blue jeans, with a grey tank top and some grey converse that were torn up and have holes in them, from her family not being that wealthy. Her bathroom was in her room though, but very small, it was only big enough for a small child to fit in, which she was. Liala was born pre-maturely, wasn't even supposed to live, but a miracle happened as her parents told her. She looked in the mirror and sighed, seeing that her long, jet black hair was just a tangled mess, which she hated; Liala was all about perfection and neatness. She grabbed her little hair brush and brushed it very lightly, trying not to pull out her hair, because it was very sensitive, as well as her whole body. Looking at her wrist watch it was about 6:53 am and she was usually out there by 6:57 am, she hurried downstairs, grabbing her black book bag from her hook on her wall, and saw her mother and father waiting downstairs at the kitchen table doing the usual. Her father, Robert, always read the morning paper, with his cup of coffee before her went to work, and her mother, Rachel, was in the kitchen making breakfast. Liala always grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl in the middle of the table, usually an apple or a peach. Kissing their cheeks before she left the house they looked up as her mother said, "Don't forget Liala you have to come home and do your chores," Liala nodded as she walked out of the door grabbing her long black coat that she always had with her.
The bus finally came at 7:00 am, right on time, Liala was the first bus stop in the morning, so she always got the first pick of seats... and she always picked the same seat, right behind the bus driver. Liala was, not one of the kids that everyone wanted to be with, she was the exact opposite even. They would call her, smarty pants, teacher's pet; everything else that they knew would bother her. They would throw things at her, beat her up at school, take her back pack and throw it in the trash; the big trash can, with all the school leftovers in it. She usually has to wash her back pack at least 2-3 times a week, from having all the gunk and gross moldy food, all over it, and stink up her house every time. Liala climbed up onto the bus and saw Melvin, the bus driver, smiling at her as she sat down. Melvin was one of her only friends to Liala, they always had conversations about her school and how the other kids should back off of her and not pick on her anymore. He was also one of the kids that always got picked on back when he was back in middle school so he knew what she was going through, and he wished he could help her, but he would always tell her, "I'm only a bus driver, nothing special about little old me." Liala would always disagree but, she never said anything, Melvin was more involved than her parents were, so she usually confided in him with anything. It was hard being the only child in her family, all the kids at her school that were the only child always got anything they wanted and were spoiled little brats to her, but she was one of the kids that weren't so lucky, and her parents don't care what happened to her as long as her homework was complete with A's on every paper. Picking up all the other kids was the worst part on being on the bus, because they would either do one of two things. One, throw something at her slyly when they walked past her, or two, look like they were going to sit by her and then say, "Oh, god, I didn't know YOU were here!" and then move away laughing. She most of the time ignored it, but there were days that it made her cry when she wasn't have a good morning. As the bus started to fill up immensely, Liala started to read her favorite book series that she just started, The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the New World. Liala loved to read about mythical things, because she wished, that she could be something better than a plain old human being.
As Melvin parked the bus in front of the school, Liala slowly started to pack her book away with a heavy sigh, knowing that today isn't going to be a good one. All the other kids past her first, shoving her down back into her seat when she tried to pass, so she wouldn't be late to her class again, but that never happened, about 90 kids filled out before she could even get out. Waving good-bye to Melvin fast, she ran to her classroom all the way across the ground. Liala heard the late bell ring right when she stormed through the door, breathing heavily; she didn't want to look up into Mr. Diazole's piercing brown eyes. He never let her have a slip when she was late, even if it was by a millisecond; he still didn't let her not have a break. Liala stood up straight like a proper young lady as her mother tells her to do all the time, she was looking at him, straight in the eye with a nervous look on her face, waiting on her punishment.
"Well well, if it isn't Ms. Roskelley coming to finally join us in class."
"I, um, sorry Mr. Diazole, I couldn't get off the bus fast enough to get to class on time."
"And why do I care? Rick and John got here on time and you couldn't? I don't think so Ms. Roskelley; you can write me a 500 page essay due tomorrow in the morning, and ON TIME. Now take your seat and don't interrupt my class again."
Liala sighed lightly under her breath and saw Rick and John laughing toward her. Rick and John Fiddlewink were the class bullies, and identical twins, also Liala's worst nightmare coming to life for sure. They would always pick on her the most, no matter what she did right or wrong, they would always do something to her, to "keep her in her place" they would tell her. Once before they stuck gum in her short hair, and they had to buzz cut all of it off, 5th grade was terrible because of that. After that, Liala stayed quiet for the rest of class paying attention to today's main topic, Real & Fantasy. There were a lot of things that were fantasy to everyone, like, how Santa Clause isn't real, Liala believed that he is, and there were so many things that all pointed to him being real, but others say their parents do that. She just didn't believe anyone at the school anymore, since they all just teased her and picked on her, telling her lies all the time. The only thing that she thought was real at school anymore, was math and history and language arts.
School was over and Liala finally got home, where her parents were not at. Liala always had the house to herself, because her parents were gone working out on their day jobs. Her mother worked in the grocery store and her father worked at a construction site, he was not at home most of the time, but that wasn't really anything new to Liala, her father was always gone, even when she was a baby. Marching upstairs up to her tiny little room, she sat down at her desk by the window and pulled out her notebook and a blue pen and entitled the top,
Why Not to be Late
Reason 1:
Liala started writing down all her reasons, to just get this paper over, even though, all the reasons she put down, were all the things that the kids do to her to make her late to school. She didn't want his sympathy, just for him to know the truth, even though she knew that he wouldn't accept any of these reasons. After she was done with that, she heard her mail slot open at 3:21 pm, which isn't right she thought to herself, because she knew that the mail got there at 3:33 pm. Liala cautiously walked down the stairs and saw a letter laying there on the floor, but only one, which wasn't like the mail man. She ran down the stairs and went to see if the mail man was still outside, but when she opened the door, there was a brown and white speckled great horned owl, perching on their light hanging from the wall outside. It squawked at her lightly, freaked out she slammed the door, and then looked back down at the letter. Picking it up slowly, she looked at the front and concentrated on the mailing address to see if they even have the right house.
Miss L. Roskelley
Only Upstairs Room
299 Daniels Dr.
This could not be true; they must have the wrong person. She kept trying to think of ways that this didn't belong to her at all, but it had her name… Her address... Even where her room was. Freaked out she took it up to her room and put it into her desk drawer and would open it later tonight, she didn't want her parents to know about this, they would freak out. Trying to calm down she started to read her book again, to escape the real world and then go into the imaginary world that she wished that she could be in, for real. After a few hours of reading she heard her parents pull up into the tiny drive way, they car pool together since they couldn't afford to pay for two. She put her book in the center of her desk and then headed downstairs waiting her mother and father. Robert walked in first and then looked over at Liala, "Sweetheart, did you know that there is an owl outside of our house?" Her heart dropped fast as she looked out the door and saw it, still in the same spot that is was when she got her letter. "Oh, um, no, I had no idea." This was the first time that she had ever lied to her parents before, but she didn't want to tell them about the letter, and least not just yet. Liala helped her mother with the groceries when she walked into the door and then set them down onto the tile counter. Sighing lightly her mother sat down on the little old wooden chair and held her face in her hands, like she always did when she had a rough day at work. Liala started putting things away in the cabinet and fridge when her father started to finish up the rest, "Liala did you finish all of your homework today?" She had to think, but the letter was buzzing in the back of her mind then shook her head and ran upstairs. Grabbing the letter out of her drawer she looked at it carefully once more, then lightly ripped it open and took out the parchment inside and slowly started to read it, it was covered in emerald green writing just like the front of it.
Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Roskelley,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry
UNIFORN
First-year students will require:
sets of plain work robes (black)
plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring and owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS"
Wow, to think, that Liala was a wizard, this was such big news to her, it was just, unreal. She felt this was just a joke from the kids at her school, since everyone knew that she believed in things like that. Liala took the letter and ran downstairs to show her parents, "Mother, father look what came to me today." Her father gently took the letter away and looked at it, reading it slowly. Looking over at her mother, her father knelt down on his knee and then gently hugged her, "Liala, it's time for you to go." Her eyes looked scarce, what did he mean by leave? Was this letter the truth? or just another lie.