Chapter One - Letter
THUNK!
The girl pulled the covers over her head, and tried to get back to sleep. Just as she thought it was over, the noise came again.
THUNK!
She pulled the pillow over her head, and wished they'd just go away. She was used to this kind of thing. She wasn't a popular kid around here. She wished people would stop doing that, but wishing wasn't getting her anywhere. It didn't help that weird things constatantly happened around her. Things she wasn't completely in control of…
THUNK!
Now she was starting to get angry. Wouldn't they ever go away? Why couldn't they leave her in peace? Or was that too much to ask?
THUNK!
She snapped. "STOP IT, YOU IMBECILES!" she screamed as loud as she could. The effect was kind of spoiled by the pillow, which muffled her voice. She threw it across the room and screamed again, "WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE JUST LET ME BE?"
THUNK!
"Urrrrrrgh!" she growled. Somewhere upstairs, she heard a bulb burst. Oh, not again, she thought. My parents will kill me...or not. They probably didn't care enough. Another 'Thunk,' and she was out of her bed and opening the window.
"If you don't …!" she stopped in mid-sentence. There was no one outside her window. What magic is this? she thought. A blurry movement on the edge of her vision caught her attention, and she looked up just in time to dive for cover as something round and feathery cannoned through the window and ricocheted off the opposite wall.
After taking a moment to calm down, the girl slowly looked up from the (thankfully) soft pink carpet, in search of whatever it was that had cannoned into her room. When she saw it, her jaw dropped. It was a magnificent live owl with black spots dotting its light brown feathers. It looked dazed, and was rocking slightly back and forth on its scaled feet, kind of like a tree during a storm.
There was something attached to its right foot. The girl slowly got up and cautiously crept towards the owl, never taking her eyes off of the bird. She stopped an arm's length away from it, and crouched to examine its leg. The thing attached to it was a carefully folded parchment. A letter sent by owl? she thought? Now that's new. Warily, she extended her arm to the letter. As if on cue, the owl extended its right foot, surprising the girl. It must be trained, she thought. Then it lost its balance and fell over.
She chuckled a bit at the clumsy display, and untied the parchment from the owl's leg. Then, whle the owl tried to get back upright, she proceeded to study the parchment. One side of it was blank. She turned it over. Something was written on it. She unfolded it once, so she could read the inscription that said;
To: Mika Elena Wanders
She sighed and unfolded the parchment. Let's see what stupid prank they've come up with this time, she thought. She read the letter.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: SERENA MACQUOID
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Member of the Wizengamot,
Former Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mika Elena Wanders,
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,
Favian Tyrrell
She turned it over. There was more on the other side of the parchment.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One 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, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK
Yours sincerely,
Mathilda Thomonsicle-Pocus
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions
Mika stared at the letter for a few seconds, and then read it again. Her heart beat picked up. Something was wrong. It couldn't be anything but a prank, but it didn't feel like one. Her gut feeling told her it was real. She sat down on her bed, and contemplated the letter, ignoring the owl which was now back on its feet and hooting indignantly. The letter is legit, her gut told her. Look, there're even two different signatures. Signatures can be faked, her common sense retorted. How many pranks have you received so far? Do you really want to fall for another one?
Suddenly, she laughed, startling the owl, which ruffled its feathers and hopped a step backwards. "Of course this is a prank," she said aloud. "Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, my foot. I mean, what on Earth is a Mugwump? It's obviously made up."
She looked at the letter again, and something caught her eye. "We await your owl by no later than July 31," she read aloud. "So, you want me to respond, huh? Well, you'll get your response."
She jumped out of bed, picked up a sheet of paper, and proceeded to write a note;
Whoever you are, this isn't funny. Stop trying to prank me, or I swear, I'll find out who you are, come to you, and magic you off to the center of the Bermuda Triangle. I'm warning you, BACK OFF!
Satisfied that the letter would scare off whoever sent this prank, she folded it, and turned to tie it to the owl's leg. If it found its way here, it'll find its way back, she thought. However, it turned out that was easier said than done - the bird had perched itself atop her wardrobe.
"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed. "Get down here, right now."
The bird didn't move. She tried screaming at it, it didn't budge. She made cat noises. Nothing. She tried being gentle. The owl only watched her with its huge, black eyes, as if it was enjoying the spectacle. She even considered throwing something at it, but stopped in time to realize that if it got hurt, it wouldn't be able to fly back. After a few more minutes of this, she let out a growl of frustration.
"Alright, you stupid bird. If you won't come down, I'm coming up. And when I do, one of us is sooo not going to be happy." With that, she stormed out of the room, closing the door quickly behind her in case the owl tried to follow her, and raced down the stairs to the kitchen. A minute later, she returned with a chair in her hands. That'll teach it, she thought smugly.
However, when she opened the door to her room, the owl was sitting on her bed. "Why you little…featherball," she spat angrily. She was about to dive for it, but then changed her mind and cautiously approached it. Just as she was about to reach for it, it hopped onto her hand and pecked her.
"Ouch!" she shouted. "Stupid bird." The owl pecked her again. Cursing loudly, she hit it. It hooted loudly, and dug its talons into her hand. Mika screamed, and hit the owl again. All that did was make it dig its talons even deeper into her hand, and bring tears to her eyes.
"Owww! Stop it, stop it!" she screamed at the bird.
The owl, apparently having had enough of the screaming, let go of Mika's hand and flew onto her desk.
Mika sat down onto the floor and placed her injured hand in her mouth, wiping the tears with her other hand. After a while, she got enough courage to try again. This time, the owl obediently stuck out its leg when she brought the letter close to it, and she tied it without any problems.
"OK, now get out."
The owl stared at her for a few seconds, and pecked her screamed and heaved the owl out the window, then closed it before the blasted bird could fly back. She turned around and examined her hand. It was bright pink, and the scratches from its talons were bleeding slightly. She stifled a sob and headed towards the kitchen, where the first aid kit was kept, while the hungry and ruffled owl flew into the horizon.
A week later, Mika was watching tv in the downstairs living room. When your parents were rich, they may be away most of the time, but the chairs were always comfortable, and the reception was always perfect. However, her mind wasn't on the television screen, which was showing a rather gruesome movie scene, but on the prank letter.
The owl didn't come flying back, and Mika took that as a sign that her response scared the pranksters off. But still, she couldn't help wondering what it would be like if it were a real letter. For one thing, it would explain all the weird stuff that seemed to happen around her all the time. Well, not all the time. Mostly, it just happened when it was angry. Then, things tended to blow up, or simply go missing. And everyone always suspected that she did that intentionally. She tried explaining herself before, that it wasn't her fault, that she couldn't do anything about it, but that just made people skeptical and scared of her. She wasn't allowed to go near any of the science labs, every mishap in school was blamed on her, and, worst of all, she had no friends. She knew that there were a few kids who wanted to be friends with her, but they were scared of being shunned by the whole school, so they never approached her.
A loud scream from the tv set interrupted her musings, almost causing her to jerk her injured hand, which had been carefully bandaged by Lydia the househelp, who had made quite a scene when she saw the state her 'little Mikki's poor hand' was in. Within seconds, Lydia's bulky frame rushed into the room, huffing loudly.
"What was that, Mikki? Did something happen? Are you alright? Is your hand hurting you?'
Before Mika could put in a word, Lydia noticed the tv screen. "Oh no, no, no," she said. "Kids shouldn't be watching horror movies. Bad for your mind, it is. What if your parents found out you watched something like this?"
"They wouldn't care."
"Oh, come now, sweety," Lydia said, changing the chaneel to one showing a cartoon. "You know your parents are busy, but they really do love you."
Mika sighed and looked out the window.
Lydia stopped bustling for a second to catch her breath. "Now, don't do that. If you think you should be spending more time with your parents, why don't you just tell them so? I'm sure you can work something out." Then, she disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.
As soon as she was gone, Mika switched the channel back to the horror movie, and lowered the volume. Lydia always said that whenever Mika got moody about her parents. Mika never told them anything. She enjoyed the solitude. It had become her natural element, and frankly, she had nothing in common with her parents. All they ever talked about was business and business trips. She felt they had no interest in her whatsoever. They just provided her with what she needed because it was good for their image in the business world.
Suddenly, the phone rung. Mika walked across the room towards it, and picked it up on the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
"Mika? That you?" her father's cigarette-stained voice rasped at her through the earpiece.
"Yeah, what's up?" she said, feigning cheerfulness. That way, there'd be less questions.
"There's uh… been a sort of change of plans, kind of… we'll be coming home today instead of next week. Today afternoon. In about four hours, actually." He sounded kind of strange. Usually, he was much more precise, and didn't stutter. Probably a deal went wrong, Mika thought without emotion.
"OK," she said. "See you."
At the other end, the phone clicked as her father hung up. Wouldn't have hurt him to say 'see you', she thought. Just then, someone knocked, no, banged on the door. She waited a few seconds to see if Lydia would hear it and come see who it was. She must've been upstairs, because she didn't come running to the door. Another bang on the door made her shout "Just a minute!" and rush to the door.
She opened the door, and gasped.