Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the beautiful piece of literature that is Harry Potter. A couple of characters are mine, but that's all. And I'm sorry for any of JK Rowling's characters that I try to write and accidentally mutilate.
After I opened my eyes, it took me a full minute to remember why I felt so happy. Hogwarts!
I bounded out of bed and pushed open my window. A fresh gust of cool Irish wind blew through my curls, waking me up properly. Then I bounded out of my room, slid down the banister, and skipped into the kitchen, where Mum was leaned over with her elbows on the counter, frowning perplexedly at the flour, eggs, and other assorted baking paraphernalia, along with a recipe for crepes. When she saw me, her face broke into a smile and she gave me a great big hug, then held me at arms length, to get a good look at me, I suppose. I was struck, not for the first time, by how much I look like her. We have the same long, white blond hair, although hers is fairly straight, whereas mine is a mop of tangled curls, and the same blue eyes, though mine are a tad darker. We also have the same long fingers and tiny feet, and ridiculous milk-white skin.
'Saiorse Lovegood, I just don't know how you got to be so grown up. It seems like just yesterday, I was helping vanquish the Dark Lord, and now I have a half grown daughter who, despite being eleven years old, can make crepes, whereas her mother can only make Freshwater Plimpy Stew.' I laughed and hugged her again, then began mixing ingredients, while Mum got out the pan. Soon, I had a plateful of mouth-watering crepes, filled with Dirigible Plum Jelly, for the two of us to enjoy spread on a blanket in the garden. We talked as we ate, mostly about Hogwarts. Mum wanted to make sure that I wasn't nervous, that I had everything packed, that I'd remembered the jar of Dirigible Pum seeds for Neville, or 'Professor Longbottom', as I was now supposed to call him. After breakfast, Mum cleared up with a wave of ger wand, and I ran upstairs to get dressed. I threw on a pair of jeans, a tank top, because it was promising to be a warm day, and a pair of comfy black soft soled ballet shoes. I ran a brush through my hair, then tied it off of my face with a floaty blue scarf. I packed my last few things (journal, toothbrush, slippers), then shut my trunk. It had been my mum's when she went to Hogwarts, and it had been in my room since I was a baby. She'd offered to get me my own, but I wanted the comfort of the familiar thing.
I shouted down the stairs 'Mum, could I have a little help with my trunk please?'
She shouted something indistinct in reply, but apparently she'd heard, as the trunk lifted itself in the air and started making it's way slowly down the stairs. I climbed carefully onto it as it floated past, hitching a ride down the spiral staircase. Mum, standing at the bottom, laughed when she saw me, and set me and the trunk down by the fireplace, where I sat up and crossed my legs. She kissed me on the forehead, and then slapped hers.
'Oh! I almost forgot! Wait here,' she said, and then sock skidded around the corner, into our little living room. She was back a moment later, holding a smallish wicker basket, which she set down on my lap. I looked at her quizzically.
'A going away present. So you don't get lonely,' she said. I opened the basket to see a perfect kitten, only a few weeks old. I lifted her out carefully, where she purred in my arms, a little pouf of chocolate brown fuzz.
'Ma, she's beautiful!' I exclaimed, beaming.
'Well, I was thinking that Lily has an owl, and so does Hugo, and they'd both be more than willing to share, so another for you would be redundant, but a cat is cozy and cuddly and makes you happy. It was as close as I could get to putting a me in your pocket,' she replied, smiling back. I carefully put the kitten back into the basket, but left the top open. I glanced at the clock.
'Mum! It's nearly ten, and that's when we're meeting everyone at the Leaky Cauldron!' I shrieked, on the verge of a total excited meltdown.
'Calm down,' Mum said, a smile tweaking the corners of her mouth. 'We've got ten minutes.' She handed me my book bag, which she'd made for me herself, a couple of years before. Usually, I used it when we walked to the village to pick up groceries. Today, however, it was filled with an assortment of items that I hadn't put in it. 'There's your lunch, and some money for sweets on the train, and a little shawl, in case you get cold,' Mum explained. I stood up, carefully putting the kitten in her basket on top of the trunk, and slung the bag over my head, so the strap rested on my right shoulder, while the bag itself bumped against my left hip, so my hands were free. Then I helped Mum load my trunk into the fireplace. She took some Floo Powder and stood beside it, then threw the powder down and yelled 'The Leaky Cauldron!' and off she whizzed. I closed the lid of the wicker basket tightly, then climbed into the fireplace myself. I repeated her words and clutched the basket tightly, watching the other fireplaces whiz past. Finally, I stopped at one and stepped out of it, into a dingy pub where ten people stood waiting for me; my friends, and my godparents. (Well, strictly speaking, four of my godparents; Neville wasn't there.) I found myself pounced upon by five tweens, my age or a little older, who were my best friends in the whole world; James, Rose, Albus, Lily, and Hugo. Their parents were close behind, and there were a few confused minutes of hugs and greetings and news, with screeching owls and two mewing cats adding to the mayhem. Finally, everything settled out, the adults imposed some sort of order by conjuring little trolleys and levitating trunks onto them. So, in some kind of organized chaos, we all tumbled out into the street.
A/N: This story does start out slow, and I'm posting in 1000 word chapters, so that I can get them out fairly regularly. Cheers, Elle