THUD!
Diana's feet collided with the floor of her fathers living room as her travel by portkey ended in a matter of seconds.
Unfortunately the impact had thrown her off balance so she stayed on her feet for only a second before collapsing in a heap.
Behind her she heard Emily giggling uncontrollably.
"Very graceful" she said sarcastically as she helped Diana up.
"Shut up" Diana said good-naturedly.
"Now girls," their father said sternly while placing the handkerchief, no longer a portkey, back into his pocket.
"Relax dad we're just kidding" said Emily as she left the room with her suitcase in toe.
"I'll be in my room if anyone needs me."
"Kay Em" said Diana before Emily was out of earshot.
"Now that we're alone" began her father.
"What's this I hear from your mother about you getting your Hogwarts letter?"
"Well you heard right" said Diana Proudly holding up her Hogwarts letter for her father to see."
Her father took it from her and held it up to his face to read.
When he was finished he put it down and gave his daughter a squeeze on the shoulder as he said…
"That's wonderful Diana I knew you would do it."
She groaned inwardly as her father said her name.
No matter how much she hated it, her father always had insisted calling her by her full name, no one else did this, not even her mother.
Though Diana did feel warmed by her father's compliment, but that feeling soon ended as her father then started another, grades lecture in his business-like tone.
"Now Diana this is a really big step for you."
'Oh no, here it comes' she thought.
His great expectations speech
"Since your mother and I won't be with you at Hogwarts, you now have new freedoms."
"And with new freedoms come new responsibilities."
"I am confident you will be very responsible your studies."
'shoot, here comes the Grade part of the lecture, he can go for hours on this.'
"Since I am paying for your education, I expect you to get good grades and really work hard in all your classes…"
After this Diana toned him out.
True she liked her father, but he could go really overboard when it came to her grades.
She had always been a pretty smart kid, a straight-A student, with a few Bs put in for good measure, with the occasional B-, math wasn't her subject.
But her father always seemed to hold higher standards for his eldest daughter.
Her work, it seemed, was never good enough for him.
'Oh well' she thought, maybe when I get to start learning magic he'll be proud of me
She then daydreamed of what she'd learn at school.
It'd be way more exciting at Hogwarts than it was at her old primary school.
She was finally brought out of her musings when she heard her father finish.
"Okay, sure dad" said Diana distractedly.
"I'll just be in my room if you don't mind"
"Alright Diana" said her father, "but I expect you to be at dinner by 4:30 sharp."
"Sure thing" muttered Diana as she left the room.
After a few twists and turns she finally came to the grand staircase of her father's manor.
That's right manor.
It turns out; her father raked in more galleons at his job than Diana had always thought.
Before she knew her father was a wizard, he'd always told her that he was a lawyer.
She'd also believed that her father lived in a small house not far from their mother's.
But when her father told her about the magical world, she found out his real job, Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Beast Division.
She also found out his real house was a manor about a day's travel away from her mother's house, and the house she thought her father was living in, was his vacation home.
In other words, her dad was very wealthy.
As Diana reached the foot of the stairs, out of the corner of her eye she saw her father's house elf, Matty, run right up to her, and sink to her knees in a bow.
Matty was a small elf, she came up to Diana's waist at the least.
She had large flappy ears, great big forest-green eyes, and a light blue pillow case wrapped around her body in a kind of tunic.
"Welcome back Mistress Diana" the elf squeaked, "Matty is so happy to see her Mistress again."
"Um-err, thanks Matty" said Diana uncomfortably.
"And you don't have to call me that, just call me Diana, or Ana whichever you like best.
Matty brown eyes became watery and she spoke in a choked voice.
"Mistr- I means Diana, treats Matty so well, Matty cannot begin to repay her."
"Well could you please help he take this suitcase to my room, I mean, if it's not too much trouble" said Diana, still very uncomfortable.
"Matty would be honored to do it" squeaked the house elf.
"But Miss Diana will no lift a finger, Matty will take suitcase herself."
And before Diana could protest, the elf grabbed the suit case and dis-appearated with a Crack.
Diana stood there stupidly for a few second, until she realized what she was doing and started up the stairs.
When she reached the top landing she let her feet carry her to where she wanted to go.
And after a few minutes she found the room she was looking for with little trouble, her father's library.
This was by far Diana's favorite room; she could spend hours on end in this room and never get tired of it.
Quietly she walked passed self after towering shelf of books till she reached a small corner in the back of the room.
There was a small chair and bookshelf there with a lamp with which to read.
But curiously Diana didn't stop there.
Walking over to the bookshelf, she ran her fingers down each of the spines until she stopped at…
The Standard Book of Spells: Grade Two
By Miranda Goshawk.
Diana then plucked the book out of the shelf, but she didn't read it.
Instead she tossed the book aside and pressed the small bird-shaped stone on the wall behind it.
Almost immediately after she pressed it, the stone wall next to the bookshelf opened up to reveal a set of stairs.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, Diana walked strait through the opening and down the spiral staircase.
Her father's manor had many secret passageways passed down from generations of family members, and Diana knew of only a few, but she knew this one quite well.
Reaching the bottom, she stepped off the stairs to meet a cozy little room, painted a deep midnight blue with a roaring fire place, comfortable chairs, and two large bookshelves, each stuffed with books.
Above the fire place was a huge tapestry of a bronze raven with the motto at the bottom…
Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.
Diana sighed happily as she made her way towards the bookshelf.
She still remembered when she found this place when she was eight.
It had been accidental of course.
She had been absently reading The Tales of Beetle the Bard while walking along the library selves, when she'd walked straight into the bookshelf and toppled over.
Surprised as well as flustered, Diana took a moment to pick herself up and look at her surroundings.
Diana was surprised; she hadn't seen this part of the library before.
'Well that's what you get for walking while reading' said a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her mother's.
Then, after a few minutes, Diana realized she'd left her book on the ground and bent down to pick it up.
Unfortunately, or fortunately if you know what happened next, She lost her balance and fell back against the bookshelf, that caused, The Standard Book of Spells, to fall off it's shelf.
Diana then stood up for a second time to retrieve the book.
She picked it up off the ground, and was just about to put it back, when she saw a stone on the wall shaped like a raven or other bird that the book had been hiding before.
Intrigued by its odd shape, Diana touched the tone gently, but not gently enough.
She was surprised when she felt the rock press into the wall, and downright startled when she saw the wall beside the bookshelf open up.
At first she was scared when she saw the dark stairway, but being the curious eight-year-old she was, she soon started slowly down the passageway.
When she finally found the room, she was mostly amazed at the fact that she found it and no one else knew anything about it, and she planned to keep it that way.
From then on the room became her safe place, a place to read, keep her books, or just be alone for a while.
Snapping out if her thoughts, Diana walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a Blood-red book with the title written in gold,
Werwolf Prejudice, Their Side of the Story.
She sat down in an armchair by the window and smiled, fingering the piece of paper she'd stuck in the book a week ago.
She wasn't even halfway through it yet.
She groaned aloud with frustration,
It was a good book, but she'd never get through it before Hogwarts if she had to read it in secret.
'But it's for the best' she thought to herself.
She knew her father would have a fit if he saw her choice in literature.
Her father detested werewolves, and was not afraid to voice his beliefs.
In fact it was his job.
Nicolas Edwards was a well-known Head of The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Beast Division.
And being head of the Beast Division, he'd had to put up with many werewolf cases.
But he despised werewolves and most of them were killed or sent to Azkaban under his judgment.
But Diana didn't agree with him.
At first she did, when she first heard about the magical world she'd fully accepted that werewolves were dangerous creatures and nothing more.
But some of her father's stories of work placed the first seed of doubt in her mind.
Many consisted of werewolves being killed for crimes of which they did not commit or were blamed for.
She didn't think it sounded very fair, even though her father said it was.
But She'd pushed those ideas aside, calling them nonsense and poppycock.
That is, until her father had taken her to work with him.
Diana shuddered slightly as she thought about it.
Her father's office was a large room with many files on illegal creature breeding, Dangerous creature cases, and a whole cabinet on werewolf cases.
The whole room itself was a bit menacing, with her father's huge wooden desk and display cabinets, all showing a display of sharp silver objects.
"To kill werewolves Diana," her father told her when she'd asked.
"They hate silver you see, it hurts them."
Yes, the room was very menacing, but what really intimidated Diana was the main room of The Beast Division offices.
Her first thought after seeing it, was that it looked sorta-like a waiting room in a hospital, but waiting room weren't this depressing,
And at second glance, Diana did realize that the waiting room was rather depressing.
It was a fairly large room with gray walls and a large desk with a secretary-like women sitting at it.
Behind her desk were different doors Diana could only guess were offices.
On The other side of the wall however, was a hard bench with only a few people on it, all looking very nervous?
Diana eyed them with a child-like curiosity.
There were five people sitting there.
One was a man, looking about her father's age, though he didn't look like her father at all.
He looked tired and weary, his coat was patched and dirty, and his yellow eyes held a sense of hopelessness, Diana felt she could never understand.
The man next to him held that same expression in his dark amber eyes as well, but this man was much younger, yet his clothes were just as shabby as the other man's.
The last three on the bench seemed to be a family, a couple with their daughter, looked no older than Diana herself.
And yet there was something much older in this girl's stare, something more solemn and sad hidden in her golden eyes.
She didn't think anybody, let alone anyone her age, could look that sad.
Her parents looked just as sad, but they weren't as tired and dreary looking as their little daughter.
Finally Diana was able to tear her eyes away from the people on the bench and focus on the conversation her father was having in front of her.
But that didn't stop her from noticing the wizard wearing what looked like a red lab coat coming out in to the room and walking up to the family with a look of disgust on his face.
That look of pure distaste deepened as he led the small family through an office door.
The last look she saw on the small girl's face was a look of pure terror before the door closed, only to reveal a sign on the door that read,
Werewolf Regulation.
Then something clicked in Diana's mind
She couldn't believe it.
That girl, that small, sad, girl was a werewolf.
It just didn't make sense, she'd been told werewolves were monsters of which to hate and fear.
Was that girl a monster?
How could she be when she looked that sad, werewolves weren't supposed to have feelings?
Were they?
Pretty soon Diana saw two other wizards come out and led the other two men on the bench in the same room.
And as her father led her away, nine-year-old Diana decided she would learn the truth about Werewolves.
So ever since then, Diana had been reading truthful books about the hardships of werewolves, finding out real facts about them, not the lies her father had been feeding her.
But luckily her father never found out about this, he was always unaware of what his daughter was actually reading.
He thought Diana was reading transfiguration, charms, and history of magic textbooks.
So Diana had always had to read in secret, not even Emily knew of her sister's secret room and books.
Though, maybe she could have a little more freedom at Hogwarts.
'I could always disguise one of my books as a textbook,' she thought.
'Wouldn't be a bad idea, once I learn that charm anyway.'
Diana read for about an hour and a half, before putting down her book and looking at the time.
It was 4:25.
'Yikes,' Thought Diana.
'If I don't get down to dinner quick, Dad will give me one of his tardiness lectures.'
At this thought she quickly put her book down and headed up the stairs, back into the library.
After finally finding the right stone to push the door back open, Diana walked quicky out of the opening and headed out of the library.
'I wonder what dinners will be like at Hogwarts,' she thought absent-mindedly as she walked out of the library and towards the main staircase.
'Ah well, guess I'll find out in a few weeks.'
And she couldn't wait.
(A few weeks later, Kings Cross-station, London.)
Diana, her sister, and her mother, aided by her father, easily crossed the barrier and entered Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
Diana and Emily stared at the Hogwarts express in awe.
"I can't believe your actually going" Emily said.
"Yeah" breathed Diana.
"You will write, won't you?" asked Emily.
"Of course I will," said Diana.
"Every week?"
"Every week" Diana confirmed.
The two sisters hugged for a minute, then broke apart.
"Well you better had on Ana" said her mother.
Train's leaving soon and I know you don't want to miss it."
"Okay Mum" said Diana before her mother enveloped her in a tight embrace.
"Mum!" squeaked Diana embarrassed.
"Okay, okay I'm done," said her mother in a choked voice.
"Just know that I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks Mum, I'll miss you" said Diana kindly before turning to her father.
"Well, bye Dad" she said warmly.
"Good-bye Diana" He said kissing the top of her head.
"I expect great things from you."
"Alright, well… Bye… Bye everyone" said Diana while turning to her whole family.
"Don't forget Apollo" said Emily while handing her sister a basket.
Inside laid a small, golden colored tabby kitten.
Diana had picked him out in Diagon Ally just a week ago.
"Thanks Em" said Diana before hugging her sister again.
'No Problem, now get on that train" said Emily quickly.
Diana nodded as the final whistle sounded and pushed both her truck and cat onto the train before hauling herself in as well.
Just seconds after she pulled the door shut; the train gave a lurch and started moving out of the station.
"SEE YOU AT CHRISTMAS," she shouted to her family before closing the window and watching them until they were just specks.
Now Diana was officially going to Hogwarts.
"The adventure begins." She murmured excitedly to her self before walking down the train, cat and trunk in toe, to find a compartment.
Little did she know how true her statement would be.
