Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit parody based in the fictional world of Harry Potter. All rights belong to Joanne K. Rowling.
Rebecca lay in the sweltering heat of the summer sun, her thin legs spread eagled behind her in the verdant grass. Her belly was flat on the ground, Martial Magic for Beginners still in her grasp. Her dagger-like wand was lying next to her, its point glinting in the sun's rays. She murmured along with the words of the textbook, having read the tome no less than twice.
It was August 31st of 2010, and tomorrow her parents were going to drive her to North Carolina where she would catch a plane that would take her to the ever mysterious school. Rebecca had done nothing all summer but pour over her various textbooks and practice her magic in anticipation of September 1st. She absentmindedly pulled the chain that hung around her neck and examined the pendant that hung there.
"That is your ticket to everything at the school. It's your identity card, how you communicate with your teachers, your cafeteria card… do not lose that pendant!"
Morgana's words rang in Rebecca's head as she examined the strange pendant. It was in the shape of an octagon, with a picture of an eagle with wings spread on one side. On the other side, it was a black blank. She tucked the medallion back under her shirt, and returned to her textbook.
The Tenability Spell
The tenability spell creates an invisible force shield which prevents Muggle objects, such as swords, bullets, etc. from harming the caster. It is the easiest of all shield spells, since it has no effect on magical spells, only Muggle artifacts.
Incantation: Scutum
Rebecca grasped her wand and followed the motions shown in the diagram, before shouting; "SCUTUM!"
The air seemed to shiver for a moment and then go still. Rebecca grabbed a rock from the grass and tossed it forward. For some reason it stopped mid arch, and bounced back, hitting her in the head.
"Ow," she stated before returning back to the book.
The Body-Bind Spell
The body-bind spell is a temporary state of paralysis. It is the most difficult spell in the entirety of this book and should not be attempted without a licensed teacher –
"Petrificus Totalus!" Rebecca aimed at a harmless squirrel who was innocently devouring an acorn. It instantly froze mid-bite, and toppled onto its side.
She chuckled in that sadistic way that children often do when they are around animals. She began to flip through the pages, sighing at the spells she had already perfected. The majority of them were defensive or straight up harmless. The tongue-tying jinx, the jelly legs jinx, red sparks, blue sparks… They were all rather pathetic and not worthy of the name 'martial.' She had discovered that martial spells were by far the easiest type of magic. Charms came next, and transfiguration was the hardest and required the most concentration. She hadn't even opened her potions and alchemy textbook. It had a picture of a dissected frog on the front cover, and if that wasn't enough to deter an eleven year-old girl from reading a book, then the girl was obviously not human.
Rebecca traded Martial Magic for Aztec, Voodoo, and Native American vs. Hecatean Orthodoxy.
The spells were organized from easiest to hardest, being categorized by color. White was the easiest, yellow was slightly harder, blue was average, red was the most difficult. Each 'antediluvian American spell' had a 'Hecatean orthodox' counterpart, and vice versa. The antediluvian American spells were usually wild and had varied results; they did not require precise movements or precise words. The Hecatean spells had exact results and were almost pinpoint accurate. The antediluvian spells were much easier to master, but could be volatile. The Hecatean charms were anything but easy and, unless performed wrongly, only had one result.
Aztec Torch Spell and the Greek Fire Spell were listed under blue. Each produced a small flame that could be held in a glass jar like a lantern or held on the point of a stick, and produced a gentle warmth. The problem was the Aztec Torch Spell could sometimes be so hot it burned her skin and the Greek Fire Spell only had one heat setting. It was very annoying.
"Rebecca! Come inside! It's 5:30, and dinner is almost ready!" Edith's shrill voice reached Rebecca's preoccupied brain. She grudgingly gathered her books into her arms and made her way through the backyard to the backdoor. She entered the white washed, scarcely decorated house with a spring in her step. She could see her suitcase standing imperiously by the front door, like a staircase to heaven; promising a better place, if only you were brave enough to climb.
She sat down at the fold-out plastic table, placing her wand by her bowl of soup before slurping down the liquid. Edith sneered at her daughter.
"I wish you wouldn't carry that accursed thing everywhere. It's not proper for a girl to carry a knife."
"Sweetheart, it's the 21st century. There is no such thing as proper for anyone," David Nurse stepped forward and kissed his wife tenderly on the cheek. She blushed slightly and sat down hurriedly.
The family of three shared their last meal together as they always did. With David discussing world politics, Edith complaining about the American culture, and Rebecca slyly reading a book under the table.
"How much longer dad?" "Are we there yet dad?" "Can I look at the map dad?"
These were the questions emanating from the back seat of the Nurses' 1998 BMW. Rebecca was bouncing up and down in her seat, rotating from looking at her comic book to looking out the window.
"We're in North Carolina now darling. According to the GPS we should be there in five minutes."
Rebecca practically squealed and began to wring her hands together, eyes glued to the outside forest. They were on an old, cracked highway that looked in desperate need of a repair job.
"Huh, that's odd. The road just stops."
Rebecca tilted her head to look through the front window; she gaped and began to unbuckle her seatbelt before grabbing her backpack and rushing out the door.
"Rebecca! It's just a field!" Edith called thoroughly exasperated with her daughter.
Rebecca raced into the grassy field and towards what only she could see. It was a plane, but not like any plane she had ever seen in books or on TV. It was an old WWII plane, like the allies would've flown over Germany. It was bigger than the average fighter plane, but it was still only big enough to get thirty soldiers over enemy lines.
"REBECCA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"Bring the suitcase dad! I've found the bus!"
As she yelled a door in the side of the plane opened and a plank extended downward to reach the grassy plateau.
Rebecca raised one foot and stepped gingerly onto the wooden plank, her heart beating madly. She took a deep breath and focused on the opening in the plane above her. She felt her father place a hand on her shoulder.
"Can you see it?" she asked, pointing towards the plane. David Nurse shook his head, his features despondent.
"I wish I could see what you see. And your mother wishes that too, she's just scared for you. But you shouldn't be scared. Ever since you were born I knew you were meant to be great." His emollient voice did not soothe Rebecca.
Meant to be great… Rebecca grasped the handle of her dagger wand and gulped nervously.
"But you should know that I will be proud of you no matter what you become. And if you ever need me, I will be there in moments." Mr. Nurse bent down and gently kissed his daughter on the forehead. He handed her the handle to the miniscule suitcase and gently grasped her shoulder.
"Is mom going to say goodbye?" she asked, turning back to the car anxiously.
"She will as soon as she sees you're leaving. I love your mother, but she is one of those people who only believes what they can see. Go–"
"Oi!" a girl stood at the top of the plank, a disgruntled look on her face. "Cut the chitchat and close the door will ya? You're creating a draft."
"Stop being mean to them. He's saying goodbye to his daughter!" Another figure appeared next to the first, this one far more sympathetic looking. "Do you need help with that suitcase?"
"Rebecca, where are those voices coming from?" David frowned in the general direction of the two older girls as they giggled mischievously. The second girl descended the plank and grasped the suitcase.
David yelped as it appeared to him as if a sixteen year old had simply popped up out of thin air. She grinned and winked at Rebecca as she hoisted the suitcase onto her shoulders.
"Muggle-born, right? Come with me, I'll show you around." The older girl gave Rebecca a roguish smile and began marching up the plank. Rebecca gave her father a wave and scurried after her, Fire coat flapping behind her.
When she entered the plane Rebecca tried not to look impressed, but it was extremely hard. On the outside the plane might've looked small, but on the inside it was at least big enough to seat two hundred people. There was an expensive oriental red and gold rug that spread all over the floor, the walls were decorated with golden eagles, and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling every ten yards. Oak tables were set up with two booths facing inward with enough room to sit three people on a booth at a time. It was the most lavish interior Rebecca had ever seen.
Children were already filling the seats, talking and yelling, throwing gum at one another and generally doing what all children are prone to do without adult supervision.
"Come on, you can sit with me and my friend," the girl said, guiding Rebecca to an empty booth. Rebecca sat down and got good look at the older girl. She was, Rebecca decided, the most forgettable person she had ever seen. She wasn't ugly or stunningly beautiful she was just plain. So plain and normal you could forget her face after looking away for a few seconds. She had long brown hair that was tied into a braid and had beads hanging off of it, like some Native American out of a film. Her skin was dark, but her eyes were a bright blue. She wore wizard's clothing, but a baseball cap was firmly situated on her head. She probably wears those to make people remember her, Rebecca thought sadly.
"I'm Rogue Vir." The girl said, extending her dirty, unkempt hand. Rebecca took it cautiously, mentally cursing herself for not bringing hand sanitizer.
"She's lying. Her real name is Lupa, but she hates her first name." Another girl slid into the booth next to Lupa or Anna. This one was the direct opposite of her counterpart; Rebecca suspected many people remembered her. She had short blonde hair with blue eyes and a petite figure; she was like a princess who had walked out of fairy tale. If princesses wore tie dye robes that is.
"Well you would change your name too, if you were almost named after a chronic illness," Lupa huffed.
"I'm Livia, Livia Sanctous." Livia reached out a well-manicured clean hand that Rebecca took without question. "I guess this is your first year?"
"Yes, my first year."
"Well, here's to hoping you'll be in my dorm. Bunker Hill is the best." Livia winked and handed Rebecca a stick of gum.
"Not true! Bastogne is where all the fun is at. We have the most boy to girl ratio," Lupa/Rogue snickered. Livia rolled her eyes.
"Just don't get into Gettysburg, bunch of boring kids in Gettysburg. Always following rules," Rogue laughed.
"Isn't following rules a good thing?"
"No," Rogue said.
"Yes," Livia said.
Rebecca looked from Livia to Rogue and narrowed her eyes. They were the antithesis of each other.
"How many houses are there?" she asked, chewing on the minty piece of gum.
"Five. Gettysburg, Bastogne, Bunker Hill, Omaha, and Fort Sumter," Livia said.
"Those are all US Battles. Bastogne and Omaha happened in WWII so this school has only been around since then?"
"Nah, the school has been around as long as America, they just keep changing the names of the dorms. Bastogne used to be called Bull Run." Rogue had taken out her wand and was currently trying to balance it unsuccessfully on her nose. It was bronze, unlike Livia's plastic wand which lay on the table.
There was a sound that could only be written as VROOM as the engines of the plane started.
"Sounds like we're about to take off. Didn't you need to say goodbye to your mom?" Rogue said, pulling out a box of chocolate frogs.
"I… I don't think I want to," Rebecca muttered, suddenly very interested in the seat of the booth.
"You sure? You probably won't see her until Christmas." Livia began to pull books out of her backpack and arrange them on the table.
"I'm sure. She's not all that excited about me being a witch."
Livia shrugged.
"Suit yourself. But I'm a Muggle-born too, and you should be patient with your parents. They're just trying to help you."
Livia's words fell on deaf ears. Rebecca pushed the thought of her parents far away and focused on the Chocolate Frogs that Rogue was tearing into. She was going to a new life, a new world; she didn't need burdens from the old.
Notes: K, more of a transitional piece than anything else, but I spent all day working on it, so be thankful.
Susan sebest: I can't tell you how much your reviews help me J
Okie98: Who sounds familiar in this? ;)
