I felt the bed shift and at first was irritated at being woken up. I kept my eyes closed hoping I would fall back asleep. As I heard shuffling around the room I noticed how nice and soft the bed felt beneath me. As I admired the comforting smell I heard a shower turn on in the distance and soon enough I drifted back into the conformable silent abyss.

…

I groaned as I heard someone calling my name. Then that very same voice had the audacity to shake me. I grumbled not liking the disruption at all. Can't a girl get some sleep? Thankfully it stopped and I sighed in content, snuggling deeper into the blanket, enjoying the warmth. Even before it happened I knew what the scrapping sound of metal meant. All too soon I was woken up when the curtains were ripped apart receiving a hiss from me when the sunlight lit the dark room. I receded farther down the blanket, trying to find refuge underneath the covers.

"Selena! Get out of bed." I heard my father irritably say. I shook my head knowing full well that he couldn't see me. "No!" I yelled childishly. I relaxed when I heard footsteps walk away but it was short lived, as all too soon I heard them at the foot of the bed, I felt the blanket being ripped off of me. "This is absurd! You will get out of bed and get ready for the day. Now!" I pushed my face into the mattress trying to smother myself. Just hoping the stupid old bat would leave me alone. "You have thirty minutes to bathe, dress, and be down stairs at the dining room table before I come up here and put a very sour mood to your morning and believe me when I say you do not want to start your day off that way." And with those comforting words dad walked out of the room closing the door not so gently. I wondered how he would react to me being so expressive with the door.

Knowing dad would not go back on his word I grudgingly sat up, forcing myself to sit in the bed. It was then that I noticed the irony in wanting dad to leave the room. I had forgotten I had fallen asleep in his bed and now as I sat on the bed that was now lit with rays of suns I understood why I felt so comfortable. Dad's bedroom surprisingly didn't resemble the cold, eerily creepiness like mine did. I yawned and stretched as I got out of bed. Walking downstairs to my bedroom to get ready. I stood under the hot water letting myself relax. I couldn't wait to go back to sleep tonight. Unlike the previous days I was excited to see my day waste away and get back to my dreamless sleep.

Last night was the first night I had slept through five hours in a row and without any nightmares. Although it was extremely mortifying that I, an almost 12 year old, had to sleep in her father's bed to keep the nightmares away, I was relieved to finally get a night's rest without Janet Mitel making me relive my worst memories. It was frustrating however that after getting sleep I still felt extremely exhausted. I was also becoming quickly frustrated with how long it was taking to get the blasted shampoo out of my hair.

After almost ripping my hair out in frustration I finally left the bathroom fully clothed and refreshed. It was then that I noticed my father who stood in the middle of my room with his arms crossed. Maybe I had spent too much time on thinking and not enough on hurrying to meet the time limit dad had set. He looked up at the ceiling, breathing out of his nose giving me a sense that he was about out of patience. "If I were you I would walk as fast as you can in front of me and pray that I do not catch you before you should sit in the dining room." As fast as my feet would carry me I walked, almost ran, out of the room. Hair still dripping wet and barefooted I descended the stairs to the dining room, taking extra caution to make sure dad could not reach me. He walked surprisingly fast , which frightened me and gave me the impression that he really did want to catch up to me. Not wanting to see what would happen or prove my suspicions right if he were to catch me I broke into a light run.

Finally reaching the dining area, I sat down so fast, trying to keep my butt out of the line of fire, that I completely missed the chair. Thankfully dad had quick reflexes and managed to grab my arm before I tumbled to the floor. Still holding my arm he pushed the chair underneath me and only once I was situated did he let go of my arm. Giving him mumbled 'thanks' and getting rude 'hmph'.

I let the silence kick as breakfast was served. I grimaced as I had two eggs, bacon, toast and grits. There was no possible way to eat all this. Nevertheless I began to eat the grits and dad dug into his food while reading the daily prophet. I looked out the window wanting to go somewhere, maybe dad would let me go on a hike? I thought about my time at dad's manor and realized how little I spent outside. I was usually found inside crying. What a depressing way to live, and what was even more depressing was it was still better than living with my mother. I tugged at my scar for unknown reasons as I stared outside at the birds.

"Would you like to accompany me to Hogwarts this afternoon?" My father said behind the newspaper.

"What are you going to Hogwarts for?"

Dad put down the newspaper giving me such a look you'd think I demanded we duel. "Why is it that you children answer a question with another question? I will never understand the level of rudeness we tolerate." I sighed in frustration. Here comes another lecture.

"I apologize, yes I would love to go." I said with much restraint. He nodded and without answering my question went back to reading the paper.

"Anything to get away from your grouchiness." I mumbled, cutting the eggs and spreading them across the plate looking like I ate. Once again, I heard the paper move down with a snap.

"I'm sorry you couldn't have possibly stated that it is me with the terrible mood, when you have been the one sent to the corner, sent to nap, had an early bedtime, and had been thoroughly spanked? For all you know I could be going to Hogwarts to receive council on the detrimental effects of having an ill tempered daughter." My cheeks burned at his words. I mean who brought that up during breakfast? I ignored his words and began to stab the eggs a little harder than necessary.

"If you are through with massacring those eggs, you may journey up to the library and grab something to occupy the time till we leave." I grimace. I really wanted to go outside though. My plate disappeared and I stood up, pushing my chair in. The sound of flapping wings drove my attention to the window as our owl perched itself on the ledge dropping the letters in the basket. I walked over, giving Henry a treat and petting him. He happily accepted both. I smiled at his cuteness. I looked down at the mail expecting to see something for dad but was shocked to see both letters were for me. I grabbed them happily and retreated to the library, ignoring my father's suspicious glare.

I found a quiet spot in the far corner to open my mail. The first one was from Cedric. A fond feeling crept into my heart as I read the letter. He wrote to me claiming pure boredom. His father had traveled out of the country leaving him with a distant relative. They were supposedly ancient and smelt like raspberries and tuna. He also told me how he had almost passed with perfect E´s and if it weren't for a stupid bat professor, he would be traveling with his father. I stifled a giggle. Potions were clearly not my forte but Cedric really struggled in that department mostly because my father hated him. I sighed setting the letter down, missing Cedric´s company. I opened the next letter already knowing who it could possibly be. Hermione's handwriting practically jumped out at me as she went into full account of her time back home. Her parents were so amazed with all her adventures and wanted to know as much as they could about Hermione's enchanting world. Her parents being the muggles they were, weren't even the least bit upset about her adventure into the lair. Mother was right, muggles are stupid.

It made me wonder if dad would be as gullible; if I were a squib and telling him about my adventures in the muggle world. Ha! Not a chance. Unlike the boys I did not tire when Mione rambled excitedly about her time passing. Which by the length of the letter was exactly what she was doing. She was half way through her summer reading and was already complaining about Professor Binns and Flitwick not assigning challenging homework. According to her, they were practically assigning introduction homework for first years. I bet the boys would beg to differ. I hadn't even looked at their assignments yet as I was tackling dads and Professor Mcgonagall's essays first. My eyes brows furrowed as I read the bottom of the letter. Apparently Mcgonagall had visited the Grangers house to set their fireplace up to the floo system. Mione wanted me to make a firecall to her sometime this week to plan for my trip over to her house.

I bit my lip trying to remember how the process was performed. As I was racking my brain over the method my dad entered the study with his robes on and my travel robe draped over his arm. "I see your friends have managed to find a quill and paper and learn ways of civilization. I trust they're all in good standings and haven't already found themselves in trouble?" I glared at him setting the letter down at the table.

"It's actually just Hermione and Cedric. I haven't heard from Ron or Harry yet but I should probably write first anyways." I said walking over to him, allowing him to help me into my cloak. I felt a sudden pause and I had the strangest feeling that dad did not appreciate an older student and I being pen pals. Nonetheless he said nothing and walked down the dark hallway. It wasn't long before we floo into his quarters at Hogwarts. Although it was a bit odd with the lack of students, it was still refreshing to be back where I had built so many memories in just as little as 9 months.

My dad told me to wait in the quarters for now while he went to speak with the headmaster. I grimaced but nodded my head, grabbing one of my books I had left in my room here. As I skimmed through the pages that I had already read back in the fall, I remembered Hermione's letter. I bit my lip, looking over at the door. My father would kill me if I left Hogwarts without his knowing but I had no idea how to floo call either. I wasn't too keen on getting my eyebrows singed off…

I looked over at the door once again. Chances are, dad will be speaking with Dumbledore for quite awhile. Long enough for me to go and come back. Throwing caution to the wind I sat the book down walking into the fireplace but after a few quick seconds I ran out of the fireplace opening our door just slightly before running back under the chimney. Better to be safe than sorry I thought formulating a plan on the fly. Even Ron would be proud of me. Before I could talk myself out of it I threw the powder down, while yelling Granger's Household. Green flames overtook my vision and just as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared and a nicely lit room came into view. I stepped out of the fireplace and into the living room. It was almost opposite of the manor. The living room had pictures littering the mantle of a young frizzy hair head child. In every picture she smiled showing these two big front teeth that were very familiar. This wasn't any ordinary living room however, none of the pictures moved. Everything sat very still, and there was this weird contraption on the ceiling, it was moving really fast and giving a chilling breeze. I could hear laughter outside and strange noises as these big objects glided across the road.

I started to panic, feeling very anxious and scared about this world I just floo into. The thought never occurred to me that when I would visit Hermione's house I would be visiting it in the muggle world. A world that was never spoken of or shown to me. As I was about to step back into the fireplace I heard my name being called out. I looked up and couldn't suppress the smile that ripped across my face as I saw my best friend at the top of the staircase leaning over the rail to see me.

"Selena! What are you doing here? I said to firecall me." She said running down the staircase to hug me. Barely making it out of the fireplace before I was engulfed in a hug I shakily hugged her back. She pulled away with a concerned look, as I wiped a few tears away.

"I'm not mad that you floo here, I just thought it might be easier to floo call."

"No...no I just didn't really know where I had ended up and...ugh." I stuttered trying to find the right words.

Always being one to read my mind she gave me a sympathized smile. "When I first saw Diagon Alley, I was scared too. There were all these weird creatures, and everyone was dressed oddly, things were being moved without anyone touching them and there were cauldrons with stuff boiling. I remembered grabbing my dad's hand and he told me knowledge can often be frightening therefore we must jump straight into it." I smiled feeling slightly better. It never occurred to me that the Granger's must have felt overwhelmed and frightened when learning about their daughter's world.

"Your dad sounds like he would have been a true Gryffindor." We both giggled and I looked around less frightened now that Hermione was here. Looking at the living room in a different way. It was a very elegant room, very tiddy, and very calming. It explained Hermione's quietness, it was so tempting to curl up on the sofa and read a good book or stare out the window.

"I can't be long, my dad is in a meeting and he told me to stay put."

She rolled her eyes saying, "Already breaking rules are we?"

"Please I've been breaking them since I got home, but I don't want to get in anymore trouble...I don't think this meeting will be too long…"

"Wait! Is he speaking with Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione said excited I gave her a questioning look, not knowing if telling her she was correct would be a good move.

"Professor Mcgonagall and Professor Dumbledore had come to speak with my parents, at first I thought it was because of the trouble we had got into so I had listened from outside the kitchen. They want to advance us in our learning!" I looked at her surprised. Why wouldn't my dad speak with me about this first. I didn't want to be given more homework! Deciding to slay that dragon later I grabbed Hermione's hands and brought her attention back to me.

"What is this about sneaking over here for the weekend? How are we going to do that with your parents?"

"Mum and Dad have this weekend convention to go to. They'll hardly be home, so I figured if you came over to keep me company we could go out to London shop around, they usually give me money to keep myself occupied. It could be fun!" I smiled excitedly nodding my head. I looked over at the clock and noticed it had been almost an hour since I left.

"I have to go. I'll write to you later this evening so we can make a solid plan." She nodded her head and bid me goodbye. I made the last minute decision and shouted Gryffindor commons rooms. Last thing I saw before the green flames consumed me was Hermione's confused expression. I stumbled out into the commons rooms smiling. I had no time to admire it however, as I grabbed a random book off the bookshelf and ran out to the halls receiving a started yelp from the fat lady who did not know I had even been in the room. By floo-ing over to the tower I was able to throw off any suspicions Hermione might have about my parentage and at the same time not run into my father who might be in the parlor. As I ran down the halls to the dungeons I formulated a story. As I was close enough I stopped running and tried to even my breathing. I looked at the book that I had grabbed and shook my head. It was a quiditch book. Teaching all there was to know about quidditch. It must have been Oliver's. There was little to no chance of making my father believe I was interested in reading this book.

I turned the corner and when I was about half way to our door my father came out not looking pleased, especially after seeing me walking down the hall. He stood tall and waited for me to walk to him the rest of the way. I almost turned around or stopped walking to him but if I was to make my story believable I would have to make myself look like I was innocent.

"How was your meeting?" I asked as I came up to him, swaying side to side with a book in my hands. He crossed his arms giving me a stare. "Why did you leave the quarters when I specifically told you to stay put." I looked down at my book trying my hardest to look like a kicked puppy.

"I know I'm sorry I just remembered there was this book that Harry had told me to read. I thought I might grab it and bring it down to read." My dad's expression remained stern and for a minute I thought I had been caught. He looked at the book and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Ron and Harry always talk about it, and all the Weasley know so much about the sport so I thought I might learn a few things myself so I could be included in the conversations." It must have been my lucky day because dad bought my story. Turning around he walked back to our quarters, waiting for me to enter before closing the door.

"I will be needed here for the majority of the day, if you could occupy yourself for at least the next three hours appropriately then we can go to Hogsmeade for dinner before returning home."

I looked up excitedly, "Really? That'd be so awesome!" He nodded his head. After laying out the ground rules he left to go speak with some of the professors. Leaving me to decide on what to do with basically a whole castle to myself. I went to see if Hagrid was home first but found that he must be out in the forest with Fang. I retreated to the library to begin writing Cedric and Hermione back. First starting with Cedric:

Dear Cedric,

Maybe if you weren't' so focused on teasing me about my boredom in school you would have been more focused on potions. We can't always blame the git for someone's lack of talent in the curriculum. Unfortunately, I cannot relate to how it feels to not get perfect marks, as you know I have received all O's maybe if you stick around long enough I can show you a thing or two!

As for your relatives smelling like tuna and raspberries have you tried setting off a stink bomb from Zonko's? I heard that can really help with smells...Anyways life has been pretty interesting with coming to live with my dad. Been having trouble sleeping but hopefully by the next time you write I'll have all these dreams to talk about. Miss you tons!

Your Only friend at Hogwarts,

Selena Mitell

P.S. I'll be in muggle London in two weeks, is that anywhere near you?