Chapter One:
Before I had turned ten, I could never have guessed or imagined what my life was going to be like when I got older. Some kids have parents that have no magic in them; we call that a muggle, or muggles. Or it could be the other way around, parents with a child that has no magic, but usually if one person in the family has magic it is pretty common that the rest does too. For those who don't well... I feel for them. That could be so confusing and frustrating not knowing what magic is let alone that you can wield it.
When I had turned ten I was invited to attend this far away fair tale esque school called, Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. The principal is this very old man named Dumbledore. Everyone there is exceptional and holds a lot of power, even if they don't realize it. My best friend sure didn't. Her name is Dawn, and she was born with muggle parents. They had never known magic was real, and ignored the weird things that happened of which they could not ever properly explain. Her and I met, and we weren't really friends right away either.
You see, back then I was a person who really valued acceptance, feared rejection, and therefore always wanted to fit in with the popular crowds. She was one of the weird people that had metaphorical leprosy that no one wanted to touched, and always teased. They pulled her hair, told her how ugly they thought she was, gathered around her and chanted about how different she was from the rest. Sometimes they even did things really nasty like shoving her into a staff closet and spitting curses up on her. It was never a fun time for her back then, especially when her sadness and hurt would fill her chest, and the magic would do scary things to them in response to her feelings when they hurt her.
Our friendship actually turned into a deep real relationship when we were both out of sorts and skipping class. We were both kids at a muggle kid school at the time you see. She and her family hadn't yet discovered her wonderful talent, while I sort of knew about mine. My parents wanted me to start learning to control it right away, and wanted me to also know how to be around people who didn't believe in the truth. So that was how I ended up at the same school with Dawn... the first time. I was cutting class and sleeping on top of tall rows of lockers. They were in the girls' locker room for gym class. It was dusty, old, flithy, cold, and very uncomfortable however much better than trying to deal with a class full of mean kids and teachers who never understood what was really going on. I was laid back, and resting my head on an arm when the door slammed opened and closed.
I kept my eyes closed, and I didn't move. I just listened for a minute. I couldn't tell if it was a staff member doing a check, or a student doing the same thing as myself. Then I heard a girl's voice sobbing. Crap... someone crying with pain. Okay, maybe if I just stay still they will go away. … … Or not... The sobbing grew thicker and heavier with sheer pain and heart ache. It tore at my own heart that was tense. I didn't know weather or not I wanted to get down and make them feel better, or continue to lay there and wish they would get up and go away. But the pain... that heart wrenching cry... I closed my eyes and let out a faint sigh. I got up, and jumped down. "Ren"? Said the confused and crying voice as I dusted myself off. "Dawn"? I asked with equal confusion as I saw her curled up in a little ball on the floor.
"What are you doing here"? I asked her in complete confusion. I know she gets picked on, and hurt a lot, but she has always been someone full of confidence. Someone more than capable to handle it. I didn't understand what she was doing here. "I... And they... With their...", she sobbed hysterically and panted the more she tried to explain it to me. I felt my face break into a deep frown as I walked closer to her. "You have to, you have to slow down", I told her wishing I could understand what she was saying to me. I sat down beside her with my back against a locker, and pulled my knees to me like she was. "I...", she sniffled through her tears and panting, "I know", she said. I felt really bad. Like my heart was cracking for her. I couldn't imagine what she was going through, or how she felt. I could though, feel the pain, and the depth of it. It was shattering. "Tell me what happened", I asked her in a voice that was more tenderly demanding than I had intended. Slowly she sucked up her crying and panting into shaky gasps. She told me in great detail how some of the other kids in the school pushed her around, spit curses on her, and locked her in a staff closet. Doesn't sound too unnormal from my previous description, except this time the words they used were a lot more graphic and harsher than ever before. This time it was too much for her to bear, and she broke. A tiny shattered pile of a mess all along the trail of herself and soul. These were the some group of people that I had made myself known with, laughed with, listened to, hung out with, and wanted to be accepted by. And they were killing an innocent person's heart with their words and thoughts.
I wanted to cry with her, and hold her, and tell her that everything was going to be okay, even if it wasn't. I wanted to be a God and scoop down into her little torn world and hold her in my hands. There I would fix her, and make her stronger than ever so she could rise above it all. Instead I was as broken and mixed up as she was. I did know one thing for sure though. Without a shadow of a doubt, I wanted her in my life, and I wanted her to know she was not alone or unloved. She WOULD have someone in her life to be there damn it! So when everything was calming down and she was about to leave early for the day, I gave her a hug and let her know I wanted to see more of her. From that moment on I was forever changed, and I had made a friend. A real one.
Dawn and I spent the next two years deepening the depth of our bonds, and growing together. Including hurting each other and being stupid together. Dawn is the same age as me, except she is about four days younger. So on the night of my tenth birthday I had her sleep over at my place. My parent's had let me read a letter from a school. It was saying that I had been accepted to a special school hidden in a land far away from the prying spectacles of the muggle world. Hogwarts. It had me all tingly and excited to think about becoming a real witch and mastering it in a large school full of other wizards and witches. I hadn't realized that Dawn was feeling down until she vanished.
"Hey Mom, where did Dawn go? Have you seen her?", I asked with a simple shrug of her shoulders as my reply. My face puffed with a curious pout as I crossed my arms and went out into the backyard to find her. "Dawn"! I had hushed into the quiet darkness of the backyard. I didn't hear her voice, but I did hear weight shifting off in the distance. As soon as it dawned on me she was upset, I was aware of why. Since we became friends we had never really been a part from each other. Me going away and becoming this make believe thing was a lot for both of us. I found her sitting up on a thick branch of the old willow tree. Lot's off little willows blooming and draping down to the ground and tickling the grass that had been recently cut. "Dawn will you come down please"? "No. You should come up here, and besides... it is pretty here", she said to me with that deep and soft voice she often used when she was upset but didn't how to say so.
I climbed up slowly, and barely made it to the branch she was on. Dawn had to scootch over so I had room to straddle the thick and prickly bark. The view was really pretty. She was right about that. I touched her long and slender hand, and looked into her deep blue eyes. My fiery red hair, pale and freckled face gazing into her pale and native tinted face. She was taller than me, had long silky dark brown hair, and very pale Indian like skin. It was as if an Indian and a vampire made babies, she had that kind of skin. I had the average, exotic beauty of an Irish person, except for all my extra small features that were Asian from my father's side. "I will always be with you, in here", I told her placing my hand from her hand to her chest. She seemed to smile, but she wasn't convinced. "I know that. But still", she said shaking her head and frowning. "I don't like going so long without you here, with me. And now you're gonna go away for like ever until you're an adult", she said with that pouty lip sticking out. "No I am not. I get to come home on all the normal breaks like the muggles", I told her with a hopeful smile. She didn't like that. "I wish I could take you with me", I said. She nodded her head and rested her chin on the side of my shoulder. We both stared out into the night sky. It was freckled with stars and a big nose called the moon. It was beautiful.
A star seemed to go out and we both shifted. Though I needed to shift my sore butt. Then a very faint almost unnoticeable little sound cracked across the air like a little bacteria motor cycle coming to a park. After that we started to notice a lot of the street lights were fading out. Both of us tensed up with fear in our eyes. She grabbed my hand and lipped something that I couldn't understand. Mostly because this one can't read lips to save her life. I shook my head and mouthed, "What"? She just gestured the whole off and pointed downward. OH! She wanted to get down and hide! But how would we do that without being heard or spotted? I nodded my head and started to make my way down. My hands got sore quickly, and clammy. Dawn started to make her way down too after I was about half there. "Snap"! Oh shit... A twig broke, and my hand slipped. I started to fall, and let a bit of a scream out as I saw pure panic in Dawn's face. Then I felt something stop me, like landing on a wrestling mat. I opened my eyes and saw myself floating just an inch off the ground. My face then scrunched with utter confusion.
"Hello, you two must be Ren and Dawn", said the wise and experienced voice. Whatever had stopped my fall was gone now and I felt my body gently thud against the moist grass. When I stood up I looked at the person and gaped in awe. He was tall, wiry, wrinkly, white, and old dressed in yellow and gold linens with a pointy hat. "Stereo typical much"? I said placing fists on my hips. The old man smiled with an airy laugh. Then it sort of occurred to me, as if getting eaten with an intelligent stick. "Dumbledore"? I asked. He nodded his head and said, "Ah, so you have heard of me". "I got your letter", I said to him with a curious spark in my eyes. "You are turning ten in a couple of hours are you not"? He lifted his head and the tip of his pointy hat bobbed gently in the air as he did. I nodded my head. Then he looked over to Dawn who noticed his stare and stiffened up cautiously.
"And you, Dawn. Do you know who I am"? She just shook her head and stared at him with that look of, 'I am so creeped out right now'. He nodded his head and took in the information with deep thought. "Well then this is for you as well", he said with a warm smile handing her a square piece of thick, folded, and sealed paper. It totally looked like something from a movie. "What is this? Who are you playing at"? She asked taking the letter and opening it. "I am Albus Dumbledore, the over seer of Hogwarts, a school of witch craft and wizardry", he told her. She looked shocked and gaped at him. "The same school has her? Why? I am what she calls a muggle", Dawn said with a deep confusion she felt. "Ah, and that is where you are wrong", he said smiling deeper and leaning in closer. "You are muggle born, and still hold magic in your blood", he told her. She shook her head and couldn't make sense of it. "Why? Ren is the witch". "So are you young lady", he said to her. "Alas, this is just an offer. You are not forced to come", he said before turning back to me. "And you I hope to see in two weeks". Then he was gone. Just like that. Dawn and I exchanged looks. Mine was of awe and thrilled excitement while her was bafflement and confused joy. Now we needed to wait to receive our school supplies, and go shopping before heading for the train station. I couldn't have been more excited!