The early morning sun crept in through her slightly opened curtains. Slowly it crawled over her body, kissing her hair and giving it an extra golden flair, before it settled over her eyes. She winced and attempted to roll away but the morning rays seemed ever persistent to wake her up. After several minutes of attempting to stay asleep, she finally allowed her jade eyes to fall open.
Her mouth felt dry and papery, and there was this annoying little buzz in the back of her mind that kept trying to tell her she needed to remember something, although what it was escaped her. Groaning again she rolled away from light and attempted to fall back asleep. She suddenly sat bolt upright when a word suddenly crossed her mind. Hogwarts. Oh that's right, that representative would be here at some time today.
Quickly she jumped out of her bed, racing over to her dresser she pulled out some clothes and set to getting dressed. As fast as she could she discarded her sleep clothes , she pulled on a pair of dark blue shorts and an orange tee. She suddenly wasn't sure what appropriate attire was for this representative. She shrugged off the thought, it was summer and it was still hot, she wanted to be comfortable.
Glancing at her clock she noticed it was 9:47 am, quickly making up her bed before seeing if she could locate her father, maybe he could help her figure out what to do while she waited. She made her way down the stairs to the sound of her father bashing and banging around in the kitchen. Had another owl gotten in the house? She couldn't help but think.
Poking her head into the kitchen she noticed her father leaning up against the far counter, another letter in his hand. "This says." He began glancing up at her from the letter. "That the representative, Mrs. Fogbottom will be here at noon."
She couldn't help the excitement that lit up her eyes. "At noon?" Natasha asked her father simply nodded his head. "That's just over two hours away." She began bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I can't wait!" She exclaimed. "Wait was that delivered by an owl again?"
"Yeah this school seems to do things a little on the weird side." Her father chuckled as he handed the letter off to his daughter, even though he told her what it had said he knew she would want to see it and read it for herself.
"Well Daddy you saw the supply list yourself, it's obvious that this school does things differently. I mean how many schools out there deal with magic and witches and wizards?" Natasha questioned. Even more thoughts and questions continued to fill her mind. It would be great to have some of them answered.
Now it was just a waiting game. She wished there was a little more she could do then just sit around and wait. The house was always kept pretty clean by the housekeeper so doing any chores seemed to be out of the question. She knew she wouldn't really be able to eat anything so trying to make anything bigger for breakfast then a bowl of cereal was out of the question as well. How to busy herself for the next two hours?
She ended up busying herself reading a book, before she knew it the two hours were nearly up. Her heart was really pounding now. Why was she so nervous? This was only a representative of the school, it's not like she was actually in school now. It's not like there was going to be a test. Wait what if there was a test? She wasn't sure if she could handle this. A sudden knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. She glanced over to the clock on the wall and noticed it was now 12:01.
Her father poked his head out of the kitchen and motioned for her to get the door. "Answer that will you Nat, I am almost done making the tea."
"Uh, yeah sure Daddy." She said as she made her way over to the door. Opening the door she came face to face with Mrs. Fogbottom.
"Hello Deary." The older woman said with a slight nod of her head. "You must be Natasha Gates; I am Matilda T. Fogbottom, from Hogwarts. I do apologize for being late."
"Please come in." Natasha said as she opened the door to allow the woman to shuffle inside. She was a short portly woman about the same height as Natasha who at only 11 still had growing to do. She wore a deep mahogany clock with a matching hat. Her smile was wide and bright, giving Natasha a feeling of happiness. She knew this woman's genuine happiness was a contagious thing and left no doubt that when she was happy others around her were too.
"Would you like to sit down?" Natasha asked indicating to the couch and chairs in the living room.
"Do you have a dining room table we can sit at? I have quite a lot to show and I want to make sure I have the room." Mrs. Fogbottom said holding up an old and ratty looking red and green carpet bag. Natasha cocked her head in confusion. She wasn't sure exactly how the older woman was able to fit 'quite a lot' into the bag, but thought it better not to ask.
"Umm yes, right through there." Natasha said pointing to the door that led to the kitchen and dining room. Mrs. Fogbottom nodded and started to make her way with Natasha following behind her.
"Good afternoon, sir." Mrs. Fogbottom said as soon as she saw Natasha's father. "You must be Victor Gates, Natasha's father." She said reaching up her hand to shake his.
"Yes I am."
"Perfect." The woman smiled. "Now let's get down to business, I am sure you have plenty of questions to ask and with any luck I will be able to answer all of them for you."
She made her way over to the other side of the room to the dining room table and set her carpet bag down on top of one of the chairs. "So before I get started I have to ask. You are leaning more to a yes of going to Hogwarts correct? I don't expect you to be fully decided until I am done, I am purely curious."
Natasha nodded enthusiastically. "Yes I am currently planning on going."
"Oh lovely Deary!" Mrs. Fogbottom nearly squealed her excitement. "I went to Hogwarts myself, years back of course. It really is the best school for a budding witch or wizard to attend."
"So there are other schools than?" Natasha asked her curiosity peaked.
"Oh yes there are several schools all around the world. There is the one here, one in Russia, one in China, one in Australia; one is Brazil, and one in America, to name a few." She started running off, counting the schools on her plump fingers. "I suspect you would have been accepted to the American school had you and your father not moved here to England."
Natasha nodded her head. She and her father had only been living in England for some 6 months now. Her father was promoted to a partner and transferred over to the UK branch, where they were in dire need of his assistance.
"Now this is the school you will be attending." Mrs. Fogbottom started, reaching into her carpet bag to pull out a large rolled up poster. There were no folds in the poster making Natasha curious as to how it even fit in the bag to begin with. Mrs. Fogbottom set about unrolling the poster. The poster was so large it took up the entire kitchen table, but showed an image of the most beautiful Castle Natasha had ever seen. "This is Hogwarts."
"My school is a castle?!" Natasha gasped.
"Not exactly but I guess that is probably the closest thing I can compare it too." Mrs. Fogbottom said. Pulling out a wand and flicking her wrist towards the poster the image of Hogwarts zoomed in and rotated around giving a good view of the school at its entirety.
Natasha couldn't help but be amazed at seeing magic first hand. "So this is a boarding school then correct?" Victor asked wanting just as much information as his daughter did.
"Yes it is. Hogwarts is located in Scotland not too far from Dufftown. Students will come home for two weeks at winter break; another 2 weeks at Easter break, and have 9 weeks for summer break." Mrs. Fogbottom said with a smile. "Students arrive and leave Hogwarts via the Hogwarts Express which runs from London to Hogwarts." She again waved her wand at the poster and the image of Hogwarts faded and was replaced with the image of a beautiful red and black steam locomotive.
Natasha felt very excited; she had never been on a train before. Sure she had been on a plane but that was only once and that was their flight from the US to the UK. A train was altogether different and something she had wanted to ride on for as long as she could remember.
"Hogwarts is a 7 year program; students attend school from the age of 11 to the age of adulthood at 18 when they are ready to enter the wizarding world and have a career." Mrs. Fogbottom continued. Natasha couldn't help but think she either did this a lot or was just really well rehearsed.
"Will there be any other students like me?" Natasha couldn't help but ask.
"Muggle born?" Natasha nodded. "Hogwarts students fall into one of three…" Mrs. Fogbottom stopped for a moment. "I don't really want to word it this way but, categories. 70% of the students are what are known as pure bloods, both parents are magic and most can trace their lineage for generations. Then we have half-bloods, where one parent is of magic the other is not. Finally the last 4% are from an entire Muggle family. You fall into that 4%. Finding a child of magic when there is no magic in the family to begin with is a very rare thing."
Natasha couldn't help but look at the ground and frown. Softly she kicked the leg of the table, she didn't want to be the odd and weird student again because neither of her parents had, had any magical abilities. She hoped the students at Hogwarts didn't tease her. She also wondered if she would have a harder time with things.
"Oh don't look sad Deary." Mrs. Fogbottom said softly, almost as if she had read her thoughts. "You are very special, don't think otherwise and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Natasha couldn't help but smile.
"See I have been telling you for years that you are special." Victor said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"There is a teacher at Hogwarts, Mrs. Kelly Carr who is Muggle born. She is the transfiguration teacher, and head of Hufflepuff house."
"What's transfiguration?" Natasha asked.
"And what is a Hufflepuff?" Victor asked as well.
Mrs. Fogbottom couldn't help but laugh. "Transfiguration is the magic of changing an item into something else, like turning a bird into a water goblet."
Natasha couldn't help her gasp. "Wow, I will be able to do that?" She said in awe.
"Yes Deary, that and so much more. And as for your father's question, Hufflepuff isn't a what, it's a whom." She started. "Hogwarts was founded by 4 brilliant witches as wizards of their time, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Godrich Gryffindor." She waved her wand at the poster and 4 emblems appeared. One of yellow and black with a badger and the word Hufflepuff acrossed it. One of blue and black with an eagle and the word Ravenclaw acrossed it. One of green and silver with a snake and the word Slytherin acrossed it. And finally one of red and gold with a lion and the word Gryffindor on it.
"Now this will be explained again once you reach Hogwarts, but the students are sorted into one of these 4 houses before school even starts. It is where their rooms are located within Hogwarts. Also each house will be almost a family for the students." Mrs. Fogbottom's eyes shone as she spoke. "Each year there is a bit of a competition between the houses. Your triumphs will win your house points, and rule breaking will make you lose them."
"Sounds like a good way to also help the kids stay in line." Victor couldn't help but say.
Mrs. Fogbottom laughed again. "That it is."
For hours they sat and talked. Mrs. Fogbottom gave them more information than they ever thought they would get. She told them and showed them the wizarding world's currency. Told them they could trade the Muggle money for Wizard money at Gringotts the wizard bank in Diagon Alley in London when they went to get Natasha's supplies. She told them all about Diagon Alley and how to get there. She pulled out everything a Hogwarts first year student would need and showed it to them so they knew what they were looking for.
Natasha was shocked by the amount of things Mrs. Fogbottom had in her carpet bag. She was finally told it was an extension charm that she had placed on the bag that allowed her to carry around so much more. Not only had she pulled out and showed the first year's school supplies she also showed what the uniforms looked like and stated she still hadn't pulled everything out of the bag.
"So you will make your way to London tomorrow to gather up your school supplies then?" Mrs. Fogbottom asked as she started packing up her bag.
"Yes." Victor replied. "We will head out early and make sure we are there sometime around noon."
"Oh that's perfect. Now do you remember how to get to the Leaky Cauldron?" She questioned; their reply a simple nod of the head. "Good, I will send a letter to Hannah Abbott, owner of the Leaky Cauldron so she will know to expect you."
Together they made their way to the door to show Mrs. Fogbottom off. "Here is a map of Diagon Alley." She stated handing Victor a rolled up parchment. "I have marked all the stores you need to visit."
Mrs. Fogbottom pulled on her cloak and hat and placed her hand on the door to leave. "Oh, before I forget you might want to send out your letter to Hogwarts stating Natasha will be attending."
"But the letter says to reply with an owl, and we don't have an owl." Victor said in confusion.
"Well you can borrow mine then." She said, opening the door to give a sharp little whistle. Moments later a beautiful barn owl swooped down and parched itself on her shoulder. Victor ran into the house for a piece of paper and a pen. Quickly he jot down that Natasha would be attending Hogwarts, before handing the note over to Mrs. Fogbottom.
"To Filius Filtwick at Hogwarts." She stated handing the note off to the bird. It chattered at her for a moment, gripping the paper tightly in its talons before taking off. "It was lovely to meet you both." She said with a simple bow before turning and leaving.
"It was nice to meet you too." Both Victor and Natasha called out together, waving at the woman.
Victor turned and smiled down at his daughter. "Early night tonight kid, London is over 2 hours of a drive away and we said we would be there at noon."
"Yes Daddy." Natasha said happily. Tomorrow they were going to a wizard market to shop for her school supplies to a magic school. She was beyond excited and knew she wouldn't be able to get much sleep tonight.
