Americans in Hogwarts: 1. A Typical Day

"See if you can keep up!" Anni yelled, turning her head to spot her best friend. But much to her confusion, Sarah wasn't there. Upon hearing victorious laughter, she whirled to face forwards again and spotting her, now roughly ten feet ahead and gaining speed. Her mid-back auburn hair and purple jacket flapped wildly behind her. Anni leaned forward, almost laying flat against her Nimbus 2001 to catch up with Sarah's.

The only lighting was from the full moon. They were used to flying blindfolded in the Missouri hills, so naturally, flying in the dark was no problem. It was like second nature to them.

The race was becoming more intense as Anni caught up. She rammed into Sarah, trying to cause her to fall. They weren't high enough to become too badly injured if they fell. The rules were simple: if you fall, you lose. If you weren't the first to enter the window that led to their bedroom, you lose.

The sky had faded into an early morning grey as the duo raced back in the direction of the house and their bedroom window. Currently, they were neck and neck, both unwilling to lose to the other. They sped up again, now within thirty feet of their home and gaining. Unexpectedly, Sarah slammed into Anni, causing her to collide into the side of the two story house as Sarah crashed straight through the closed attic window that led into their bedroom.

Anni fell to the ground, landing in a bush on her back. "Ah, fuck!" she swore. I was at that instant that a light flashed on from a window on the first floor. "Shit! Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" She panicked, realizing they had woken her mother. Anni grabbed her broom and flew up to the attic where she and Sarah were supposed to sleep.

In the room, Sarah lay perfectly still, afraid of further injuring herself on the shards of glass scattered on the floor. "Anni!" she whispered urgently. Anni landed, climbing off the broom.

"Why was the window shut!?" she hissed.

"I didn't want it to get cold!" Sarah defended. Anni sighed and face palmed herself and automatically wishing she hadn't.

"Oww…" she grumbled. That's when the door slammed open.

"What's going on!? Why are you two up this early!?" Nataly, Anni's mother, demanded. It didn't take long for her to notice Sarah lying on the floor, covered in cuts and glass. "What happened?!" she screamed, looking up and seeing the shattered window. Then she noticed the brooms lying on the floor and that was the last piece of evidence she needed. "You were sneaking out again?!" she screeched with her hands on her hips. The girls were silent.

Nataly glared, whipping out her wand and pointing it at the window, performing the 'repairo' spell. The shards of glass, including the glass from Sarah's wounds, shot toward the window and fit neatly into place, fixing it. Sarah whimpered in pain.

"And what happened to you?" Nataly questioned Anni.

"Huh?" She tilted her head to the side.

"You have a huge bruise on your forehead." Nataly folded her arms across her chest.

"Huh, so that's why it hurt when I face-palmed…" Anni mumbled. Sarah sat up, examining her cuts. Nataly strode over and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on, let's get you bandaged up." She pushed her lightly toward the door and to the bathroom, Anni close behind.

When they reached the second floor bathroom, Nataly had Sarah sit on the toilet, the lid down. She rummaged through one of the drawers, looking for the first aid kit. Anni stood in the doorway and watched.

"You two could have really hurt yourselves, or worse, been seen by a muggle," Nataly scolded.

"We didn't go past the boundaries," Anni defended. They lived in the country. Their house had been built on the eight hundred and twenty-seven acre property owned by Sarah's grandparents. Not saying they were rich or anything; they just had a lot of gorgeous land.

Nataly Fhang was an ex-auror and had resigned from her position to train her daughter and Sarah in the art of magic. It was useful since there wasn't a school for magic in America.

"Anastasia Michelle, if you want to have a seventeenth birthday, you'd better straighten up." she threatened as she applied healing remedies to Sarah's injuries. Anni winced at her real name, but other than that, made no movement.

"Well, it'll just be you and Sarah," she mumbled, looking at the floor. Nataly sighed, knowing her threat had had absolutely zero effect on the teenager. She finished wrappings Sarah's cuts and stood.

"You two get dressed, I'll start breakfast. She turned and left the room. The girls looked at each other. Anni grinned.

"Race ya!" she said before immediately bolting for the stairs.

"Bitch!" Sarah yelled after her. In few short seconds, she passed Anni and flew into the room, slamming the door behind her. Sarah always was the faster runner. The girls laughed. Minus the injuries and getting in trouble, this was how most days were.

Anni sat down at her spot at the kitchen table as Nataly finished placing the food. Sarah stepped into the room, gagged, and rushed to the bathroom. Nataly and Anni looked at each other. "Is my cooking that bad?" Nataly asked. Anni shook her head.

"She didn't get any sleep, and the smell of food makes her nauseous," she explained.

"Will she be able to eat?" Nataly asked, looking at the door with a worried expression.

"Not until 2," Anni replied, placing food onto her plate. Her mother shot her a glare.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" she snapped in a slightly disgusted tone. Anni shrugged.

"I've seen it before. As long as she doesn't smell food, she'll be ok." Nataly's glare didn't lift. Anni sighed.

"I'll take her some tea in a bit, it might help." The older woman nodded, looking down at her plate and starting to eat.

After breakfast and a few hours to allow Sarah's stomach to settle, it was time for 'class'. Every week day, Nataly would spend five to six hours teaching the girls. They studied a variety of topics including Defense against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology.

Sarah's strongest topic was Defense Against the Dark Arts followed by Charms. Anni's best were Transfiguration then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Often times, they would practice their spells in wizard duels, which often ended in ties. For every attack Anni had, Sarah had a defense, and vice versa. Anni was best at offensive spells while Sarah excelled at defensive ones.

They had also been taught how to cast spells without having to utter the name. This often times came in handy. To better assess the girls' skills, Nataly would duel against them. She didn't go easy on them either. And after multiple losses, the girls finally figured out a way to work effectively together, thus standing a better chance.

The trio made their way to the basement, where most of their classes were held. There were two rooms in the basement: the main room where general classes took place, and a side room where they studied Potions. There was a small greenhouse out back for Herbology.

"We'll start with Potions today," Nataly stated matter-of-factly. The girls groaned and Sarah slammed her head on the desk. Neither liked Potions in the least.

"Por qué!?" Anni cried the Spanish word for why dramatically.

"Think of it as punishment for sneaking out," Nataly countered sharply, striding to the door that led to the next room. The girls reluctantly followed.

The interior of the room was simple. There were multiple cabinets lining the room, each containing various ingredients for potion making. A long table in the center of the room held a cauldron placed over a burner. There was large desk placed before a blackboard at the designated front of the room.

Sarah and Anni stood by the table with the cauldron while Nataly wrote the steps and ingredient measurements for a truth potion. Once she was done, the girls left the table. Sarah gathered the necessary equipment while Anni gathered ingredients.

"Whoa, Mom, we're completely out of lacewing and…" Anni paused, pointing at various ingredients on the shelving. "Heck we're either out or running low on everything in this cabinet." There was then the sound of glass meeting the floor. Sarah sighed.

"We're out of glass vials as well," Sarah stated, looking at the glass vial she'd accidentally dropped. Nataly pulled out her wand and silently repaired it. Sarah picked it up and placed it on the table.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to make a trip to Diagon Alley." The older woman sighed, erasing the information on the board. "We'll just have to make a truth potion another time." The girls looked at each other and grinned. It was a double bonus: not having to make a potion plus a trip to Diagon Alley.

Nataly dug out two pads of paper and two pens from her desk. "Instead, you can take inventory and write down what we need." The girls groaned again, accepting the utensils handed to them and separated to the cabinets while Nataly worked at grading some of their previous assignments.

Once inventory had been taken, the trio spent the following four hours working on a few other subjects. Currently, the girls were finishing up on repotting some Mandrakes. Both wore a pair of fluffy earmuffs. Sarah's were deep purple while Anni's were dark green. Anni plopped the wailing Mandrake she held into the new, larger pot and Sarah shoveled dirt onto it. Anni joined, making the job take half the time.

"There." Anni beamed, patting the soil of the freshly filled pot. "All done." They removed their earmuffs and hung them alongside Nataly's blue ones in a cupboard containing their gardening tools. Anni looked at the clock on the greenhouse wall. I read 7:35 P.M. "Lets head in, Mom should have dinner done." Sarah nodded, following Anni out of the greenhouse door, locking it on her way out.

They entered the house and followed their noses to the dining room. Nataly looked up from placing a package of tortillas on the table. "Ah, I was just about to come get you."

"Mexican, sweet!" Anni said, grinning.

"I hope it's spicy." Sarah smiled. Mexican was her favorite, especially when it was spicy.

The girls grabbed their cups and got drinks for themselves; sweet tea for Sarah, water for Anni, and diet cherry Coke for Nataly. All three sat down and dug into the food.

After dinner and showers, two girls drug themselves to their room. Sarah slept on the far side of the room, close to the window while Anni slept closer to the door. The walls were covered with hand drawn pictures they had drawn and photographs that had been charmed so the images would move. The room was kept remotely organized, Sarah's side more than Anni's. Sarah was more of a perfectionist while Anni was more of the messy type.

The girls climbed into bed, Anni setting her alarm to go off at 6 A.M. Nataly had informed them at dinner that they would be leaving by 10 to head for Diagon Alley. They'd have to leave fairly early, considering that London was several hours ahead of they're time. So there would be no late night races tonight with that in consideration; plus the fact that Nataly had taken their brooms; it didn't help that they were exhausted from their long day. Anni flicked off the light and snuggled under her covers, just as Sarah was doing in her bed.

"G'night Sarah." Anni said.

"Night." Sarah replied. Then there was silence as they both attempted to sleep.