Auction: Receiving Hogwarts letter
Astrology: Alexia
Disney, Rabbit: Write about someone stamping their foot.
Book Club, John Chapman: barefoot, jealousy, crazy
Word Count: 435
"It isn't fair!" Alexia whines, stamping her bare foot angrily against the hardwood floor. "It's my letter! They want me at Hogwarts! You can't stop me!"
In that moment, she hates her parents. Phoebe gets to go to Hogwarts. The jealousy burns in Alexia's stomach, and she feels like she might be sick. Her eyes narrow as she scowls at her older sister, as though it's somehow Phoebe's fault.
Perhaps it is. Perhaps Phoebe has done such terrible things at Hogwarts that Alexia has been banned. She is being punished for her sister's sins, and that only makes her blood boil more.
"Enough!" her father snaps, slamming his fist down on the table.
Alexia flinches. Her father is a cruel man who is quick to anger, and she doesn't want to risk driving him over the edge. She and her siblings are all too familiar with his wrath. By age eleven, she has already mastered the art of hiding her bruises.
"Your sister is immune to the rubbish they're teaching there," her father continues. "All this nonsense that witches should have voices and Mudbloods deserve fair treatment. But you, Alexia... You're too soft. Weak. You'll believe these crazy notions."
She wants to protest, to tell him that he's wrong, but she keeps her mouth shut. Her jaw clenches so tightly that it feels like a line of fire is burning through the side of her face.
Alexia thinks that her father might be right. Not about the Mudblood thing, of course. She knows how vile those creatures are, how they've stolen magic in hopes of sullying ancient, pure bloodlines.
But maybe he's right about her weakness. She has spent so much time being a victim. Phoebe has told her stories about Hogwarts. There are girls there who aren't already arranged to marry strange men. Girls who play sports. Girls who learn more than domestic magic and Pureblood etiquette. There's a part of Alexia who longs for that freedom and hates her sister for being able to experience it.
"You will do what is expected of you, Alexia. You will learn domestic magic from your mother and be a good Pureblood. Is that understood?"
Her eyes flicker to the acceptance letter clenched tightly in his hand. It isn't fair. She wants to know what freedom feels like.
In the end, however, she knows it's just a silly fantasy. She will do what is expected of her because it's the only thing she knows.
Alexia nods. "I understand, Father," she says, her voice tense.
Her father beams. "Good girl."
She wishes she could be so much more.