"You little bitch!" I got back up but he hit me again, this time harder, with more force.
"You little bitch!" He repeated, "I've given you everything you wanted! But you still run off to learn to be what I always wanted to be, without any remorse or hard feelings! I've given you the best twelve years anyone could ever hope for! And how do you repay me? By running off to show that you're better than me! Are you happy? Are you ready to leave?" I was silent, unsure on weather this was a rhetorical question or not or weather saying yes would just make him more furious. My silence maddened him until this time, with enough force to knock a full-grown man on the floor, he hit me. His fist collided with my jaw, and I suddenly felt an incredible sense of calm, I had to struggle to stay awake as I watched my Aunts struggle to keep my father from beating me to death. I saw Emily standing in the door; I hoped for her sake that she, like I am, is a wizard, so she can leave this awful man when her time comes. Finally I gave into sleep, and it welcomed me with open arms.
The next thing I remember I was in the loft, with sunshine pouring through the windows. It's my Aunt Kayla's loft, I had been here before, visiting with my family. We didn't visit vey often though, I guess I knew why now. I yawned, sitting up. My jaw hurt badly, but I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, put my hair back in a ponytail, and went down the fire pole into the kitchen.
"Good morning Ari! How's your jaw?" My Aunt Kayla asked while watching Aunt Cat make bacon and pancakes for us all. Yum. The Aunts always know what I want.
"It hurts badly," Suddenly my Aunt Danie had a book open and was waving a "wand" near my jaw.
"Inurio Reparo" She said firmly. My jaw popped and suddenly the pain in my jaw was only a numb tingling.
"Better?" She asked.
"Yeah," I said in amazement. Just then my last three Aunts walked in and sat down at the table. As we waited for our breakfast my Aunts tried to tell me everything there was to know about magic and Hogwarts.
"In Hogwarts there are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and," Aunt Devan made a gagging noise, "Slytherin," All of my Aunts laughed.
"What's wrong with Slytherin?" I asked.
"Well you see, the different houses are sorted by personality, and Slytherin is marked for ambition, cunning, and intelligence…" Aunt Kayla was cut off.
"To bad they're also Cruel, intolerant, greedy, and generally just stuck up jerks," Aunt Devan butted in.
"Well all of the houses have set backs, as do all people," Aunt Megan acknowledged.
"So what are the other houses known for, pro's and con's?" I asked. Aunt Cat brought our food to the table, pancakes, bacon, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Then she used her wand to move a white board from the office to the side of the room into the kitchen. She started writing.
Gryffindor
Pro's- courage, pride, heroism.
Con's- arrogance, recklessness, lack of common sense.
"Arrogance? Really?" Aunt Megan seemed offended.
"I was a Gryffindor too Megs, this is coming out of a book on Hogwarts, it's called 'What you didn't know about your house' it's very interesting," Aunt Cat continued,
Ravenclaw
Pro's- Intelligence, lust for knowledge, studious.
Con's- Lack of connection to the outside world, emotionless
"I totally have emotions!" Aunt Danie almost screamed.
"We know Danie," Aunt Kayla stepped in while Aunt Cat continued.
Hufflepuff
Pro's- Hard-working, honest, loyal.
Con's- Stubbornness, stagnancy, laziness.
"I'm hard-working AND lazy, I'm a contradiction!" Aunt Kayla laughed.
When Aunt Cat wrote Slytherin on the board, almost every person in that room made a gagging noise even Uncle John, Aunt Kayla's husband, who was just passing through the kitchen.
Slytherin
Pro's- Ambition, cunning, intelligence
Con's- Cruelty, ignorance, greed
"And general jerkishness," Aunt Devan added.
"So, Ari, the Strickland bloodline generally ends up in Gryffindor," Aunt Casey explained. That made sense, Aunt Kayla and Aunt Danie both married into the Strickland family, which is why they had been placed in different houses than the rest of my Aunts who seemed to all have been Gryffindor.
The phone rang, both Aunt Cat and Aunt Kayla looked annoyed. Aunt Devan jumped up to answer it.
"Hello?" she paused listening to other other side of the line speak, "No, you may not speak with your daughter! Not until Joseph tells you why she's living with us now! " she yelled before making a disgusted face and hanging up.
"The nerve of the woman. Does she honestly believe that after the eleventh time I'm going to tell her when I didn't all those other times? Then she wants to know if she can speak with Ari, which don't get me wrong I'm fine with, but not if she's just going to try to get the truth out of her."
"Wait, so she's been calling you alls houses as well?" Aunt Cat seemed even more annoyed than she did before, "Anyway, Danie, will you send Ari's owl in today?"
"Sure, not like any of you lazy asses will," Aunt Danie replied.
"Um... Owls?" I asked.
"That's how wizard mail is delivered, much more efficient than the muggle post," when Aunt Megan saw the look of confusion on my face she added, "non-magic humans are called muggles," Interesting...
I learned more and more about this world of wizardry I was now part of. I even learned about the very popular sport Quidditch. It's played in the air! On broomsticks! It's very confusing at first, though my cousin William was determined to teach me all of the rules before school started!
"First you have to learn to fly, which is not only used for Quiddich but for transportation, so it's important to learn anyway," he explained as we walked to the storage shed outside of my Aunt Cat's house. Will unlocked it and from it he grabbed two broomsticks engraved with the words 'fire bolt'.
"These were the latest broomsticks when my mum was in school, so they're a bit dated but they work just fine," then under his breath he muttered, "usually…" That scared me a bit. We laid the broomsticks about four meters apart on the ground and stood next to them. "Now concentrate on your broom and say 'up' it may take a time or two before you get it, but you will," I decided not to question his ludacris instructions, speaking to a broom like it would listen, everything seemed ludacris in this strange world. There was always something more interesting wherever I looked. Even the fire pole from the loft was charmed to let me slide UP it! It is strangely fun to defy gravity. As I looked down at the broom I tried to concentrate only on the broom, and apparently it worked, when I said up it flew up directly into my outsreched hand.
"Wow!" I said, really exited that I had gotten it to work the very first time I tried.
Will looked impressed, "Good concentrating, now mount the broom," when I threw him a look of confusion he said, "you know, like you would mount a horse," I followed his instructions, to find that it wasn't so hard as it seemed. "Now push off of the ground really hard, and control whwere you want to go with the front of the broom," he was good at bossing me around, but I did as he told anyway. I pushed off the ground and felt like I was floating, then I tried going higher, and higher, then left, right, up some more, then Will was by my side looking completely bewildered.
"If I didn't know you I would think you've been flying your whole life," he complimented. I blushed, showing my embarrassment. Then we heard Aunt Cat call to us saying that we would leave for dinner at Aunt Kayla's soon. Will didn't need to tell me how to get down, I dove. Pointed down and just let myself fly, it was like free falling, it was the best feeling in the world. Until Will screamed at me to flatten out so I wouldn't be flattened by the ground. I laughed knowing a lecture on being safe was coming my way.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Another chapter is on it's way :) All rights go to J.K. Rowling. Reviews are appreciated, but not required!