You Made a Rebel of a Careless Man's Careful Daughter
Katie Wood is 14 when her letter arrives. How does Hogwarts cope with a girl who is smarter than Hermione Granger, more competitive than Oliver Wood and determined to become the Minister for Magic? Rated T because I'm paranoid and a bit mouthy. OC/Fred
Chapter 1 – Hogwarts, Have You Forgotten?
"When your brother is the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, your dad is an Auror and your mum is Fudge's personal assistant, you've got a lot to live up to. It's particularly hard to live up to these standards, when at 14 years old, your letter from Hogwarts hasn't arrived. I thought that the owl had gotten its knickers in a twist (figuratively speaking of course), but once Oliver had left for the train, I knew that something was wrong. My parent's enrolled me at the local Grammar school and didn't mention my lack of letter. Oliver would send me letters during the term time, telling me of how boring his lessons were, how he hated every minute of it. However, the summers are the worst. He spends the whole 2 months going ON and ON about the amazing Hogwarts and the amazing people. I waited for two years for my letter to turn up but I knew that my waiting was hopeless, so I dug in Oliver's bedroom while he was practicing Quiddich, and took his Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. I learned everything within a week and thought maybe this would help my letter come. I'm on Grade 6 now, higher than Oliver and have read all the books in Flourish and Blotts. I've given up waiting for my letter; maybe I'm just not good enough. These thoughts go through my head every day. It was hardest this summer, because Oliver was made Quiddich captain last year and Harry Potter is now on the team. Well woop-di-fucking-doo for him. I tried to get Oliver to teach me to fly but he's too impatient with me. He treats me like some moron. So I taught myself…"
I slammed down the lid of my laptop, one of the few items of Muggle technology that I had, and turned back to my essay. Romeo and Juliet. I'm good at Literature but Shakespeare I do not understand in the slightest. Stupid Bard. I always hate it when my teacher calls him that because I automatically think about the stories that mum told me as a kid. It catches me off guard and rubs it in a little bit more. Oliver knocked on my door. I ignored him. Right then he was the last person I wanted to talk to. He came in anyway.
"Mum says that supper is nearly ready. Hey, have you been crying?" I shook my head, lying through my teeth. He eyed me suspiciously, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine" I snapped and glared as he left my room sharpish. I followed him downstairs.
My mum was rushing frantically around the kitchen and flicked her wand at the dining room as she hurried passed the door. Ducking to avoid the flying plates, I walked over to my mother and kissed her on the cheek, "When did you get home?"
"About 5 minutes ago. Could you set the table please?"
"Sure thing, did you have a good day?" I yelled after her as she disappeared again
"Yeah, Arthur Weasley's invited us for lunch tomorrow." I groaned. The Weasley's were the nicest people you could ever meet, poor as dormice, but so lovely. The only problem was the fact that there were 7 Weasley kids and kid's meant Hogwarts. Two of them (Bill and Charlie) had already left, but the remaining four boys were still there and next year the youngest, Ginny, would be leaving as well. I didn't want to have to face them. I pointed this out to my mother and she just waved me away.
My dad got home 15 minutes later as my mum was serving up dinner. I kissed his cheek too as he appeared in the doorway.
"Good day sweetheart?" I rolled my eyes. "That bad huh?" He patted the top of my head as I cringed away. "Fine then," he said in mock hurt, "Be like that."
He stalked off to see my mother. Once we'd finished supper, Oliver went into the clearing to practice and I went back upstairs. I spent a few hours finishing my essay and then opened my laptop again. I stared at the chunk of writing and clicked the small red cross in the corner.
"Do you want to save this document?"
My mouse hovered over the no icon for a split second but I changed my mind and saved the document as "Katie's Diary". None of my family could work computers so I knew that none of my family would read it. My secrets would be safe and my heart saved away in a Word document.
As I did, my chat 'pinged' and my friend from the Grammar school was asking how I was. Jenna was completely Muggle, knew nothing of the Wizarding World, and thought that Oliver went to a boarding school in Scotland. Whenever she came over, Mum and I would have to hide everything magical and act 'normal'. That was one of the reasons that my parents had bought me a laptop all those years ago. I replied to Jenna and made plans to meet her the next day.
My mum screamed downstairs and I quickly shoved my laptop under my mattress, just in case and swung down the stairs, two at a time. She pointed with a shaking finger at a small caramel coloured owl that sat on the coffee table. In its beak was a yellowish envelope which I approached cautiously and took slowly. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Katie Wood
The Old Barn
Ottery St Catchpool
I flipped over the envelope and traced my finger over the purple seal. After 5 minutes, my dad snapped at me.
"For goodness sakes, open it Katie!" I did with quivering hands and stared in disbelief at the slanted writing.
A tear dripped down my cheek. "Katie?" My mum asked carefully.
I replied in a tiny voice.
"I got in."