I decided it was time to reveal myself, and I marched loudly down the stairs to give my parents some warning before I barged into the kitchen.
"Hello, Daddy," I say cheerfully, a huge smile plastered on my face. The smile faltered as I "noticed" the distress on my parents' faces. "Anything wrong?"
"Yes, dear, there is, actually. Mummy and I have a bit of a problem." My father replied. I glanced in my mother's direction as she scoffed at the word "bit."
"Juliet, do you remember your eleventh birthday party?" Mum asked, randomly it seemed, to me.
"Yeah, why?"
"Do you remember everything?"
1972
It was May twelfth, and I was bouncing all around the house in my anticipation for the party. Mummy gave a beautiful tinkling kind of laugh as I asked, for maybe the thousandth time, when the party started. At least, that's how I remember thinking her laugh sounded at the time.
"You know full well when the party starts, Juliet. You will be able to open those presents on the table at 3:30 sharp." She winks as I start to protest that I hadn't even noticed the exact nine presents on the table. Daddy walks in, and I jump into his arms. I smother his face with kisses, trying the "Daddy's Little Girl" trick.
"Oh, Daddy, don't you think it would be alright if I opened just one present? Pleasssseeeee, pretty pleasssseeee?" I put on my best Puppy Dog Face. He laughs, and looks over at my mother.
"Well, Ingrid? Can she?" My mother sighed.
"Oh, alright. But just one; the rest are for the party for your family to see you open."
I pick one out and just as I start to open it, I hear this strange screeching noise. I leave the present, completely forgotten, and go to stand by the window. An owl, in broad daylight! How extraordinary, I remember thinking. I also remember thinking how odd it was, the looks of worry on my parents faces at the sight of the owl.
All of a sudden, the owl is by my side. "Why, hello, there, pretty bird, what are you doing here?" I murmur. Strange, how I immediate I took in stride the fact that there was a wild bird by my side. I reached out to pet it, but my father snarled, "Don't touch it!"
Startled, I drew away. I noticed to my humiliation and shame that there was a little bit of wetness in my eyes from my father's uncharacteristically harsh voice. I looked away, so as to hide my tears. My mother laid a hand on my father's arm.
"Remember, George. She's just a child, and she has no idea what this means." Daddy nodded.
He turned to me and picked me up. "I'm sorry, ma chéri, will you ever forgive me?" I gave a slight smile at the little phrase, and replied cheekily, "I suppose…" Daddy looked relieved.
"…I'll think about it!" I finished.
"Ah, how will I ever go on, without ma chéri's forgiveness?!" He pretended to be mortally wounded, and clutched at his heart. I giggled at his actions, and completely forgot about the owl. Don't look at me that way, eleven year olds have short attention spans!
The rest of the day went by without little interruption, and I pushed the owl-scene to the back of my mind.
1977
"Yes, I do remember everything. Thank you for questioning my intelligence!" I cracked a smile at my amazing humor, and looked from both my parents faces, waiting for them to smile as well. The smiles never came. However, I must say that I hid my disappointment well, in my opinion.
"Do you remember that owl, though?" I ask. "That was really weird, don't you think? I mean, how often does that happen? And where did it go? I forget that part." I said the last part quickly, hoping they wouldn't notice the fact that I admitted to not remembering everything.
"That is the exact thing we need to talk to you about." Mum said, glancing at my Dad. Oh, God. They have the same look on their faces as they did when trying to figure out how to begin "The Talk." I hope this conversation won't be as awkward.
"Okay, I don't want to beat around the bush, so here goes." My father heaved a huge sigh. Uh,oh. "Juliet, I'm a wizard and that owl on your eleventh birthday? That was for you, accepting you to one of the most prestigious witchcraft and wizardry schools there are." As Daddy said this, he glanced at me to check my facial expressions. I kept it blank. I may not look like it, but I'm very good at hiding my emotions.
"Prove it." I said simply. I regretted it a little, because I could tell Mum looked a little hurt that that was my only response. She's the very emotional type, talking out your feelings and such. However, I didn't get that trait from her. My father wasn't very emotional, but he didn't hide his emotions, so I figured it must be a trait from a couple generations ago.
Daddy reached behind him onto the counter, and grabbed something. It appeared to be a wooden stick. I wondered if he was really serious, as he waved it. I arranged my face to looking skeptical, until I saw blue and yellow ribbons fly out of his stick that I assumed was his wand. I let the emotions flow. A huge smile brightened up my face, and I threw my arms around my father's waist. Then I pulled my mother into the hug, and we stood there for what seemed like an eternity.
"Wait," I said, as I realized something. "Why didn't you let me go?" Suddenly, I was very angry that I lost my chance at something, well, magical. I was also jealous that other kids got to go to this magical school and have the opportunities that I had been deprived of.
"That's another thing, Hun," Mum said. "Don't get mad yet. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but we did choose not to send you to Hogwarts for a reason." She paused.
There's a thing about me that you should know. I have absolutely, positively no patience. I wanted the full story, and now. "Yes?" I said pointedly, making it obvious that I wanted her to continue.
"Well, you see, there have always been little fights between wizards. There are the good guys and the bad guys." My father took over. "However, there is a war beginning, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Sure, I graduated top of my class at Hogwarts, sure I was going to be a fantastic Charms professor, not that I'm bragging or anything, and sure, I had plenty of admirers. However, there is this man, an evil man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, who is gaining power at this very moment."
"Yeah, that's not the only thing he's gaining," Mum interjected.
"Yes. He's also gaining followers, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be called upon. However, I graduated and was on my way to applying for jobs, when I stopped myself and thought of the inevitable events that were sure to happen. I knew I wanted to settle down and start a family, but did I really want to put any children I had in the middle of a war? And the answer, I told myself, was no, I did not. So I turned my back on magic, well, not completely. As you can tell, I still have my wand. I use it from time to time, but I try to refrain from using it a lot, as it's an easy way of tracking someone. So, anyways, I went to college, and there I met your mother. We fell in love instantly, and we had you about two years later." Mum and Daddy smiled at each other in this lovey-dovey kind of way, and I tried not to gag.
"But why are you telling me this now?"
"Because today, some of Voldemort-"
"Who's Voldemort? Oh, is that the evil guy?"
"Yes. Today, some of Voldemort's followers came knocking. They want me to join him, and I told them that they would have to give me time to think about it."
"'Think about it'?" I echoed. "Surely you're not even contemplating it! They sound like horrid people! If you were going to go with anyone, of course you'd go with the good guys!" I said in outrage.
"I only said that to buy time!" Dad said in a distressed tone. "You don't understand. If you don't do what they say, they'll most likely kill you and your family."
I let these words sink in, and, after a moment, I simply said, "I need to think." And with that, I proceeded to walk down the hall, up the stairs, down another hall, and into my room. I closed the door and leaned against it with my eyes shut, trying to take it all in. Then I threw myself onto my bed and thought and thought, until thoughts merged with dreams.