I woke up that summer morning the same way I woke up every morning, blinking back at the bright sunlight streaming in from my window. It was my fault, really. Though I didn't enjoy such abrupt awakenings, I liked seeing the garden my mother and I had worked on all summer.
We moved into our little cottage a little over a year ago when my mum had married John, my stepdad. My mum and dad had always had a rocky relationship, in my brief recollection of it, and had split when I was 4 years old.
My mum had been so sad and lonely for way too long, so when she met John, I welcomed it. He was a great guy for her and was pretty nice to me too. He and Mom had decided to move after learning that my baby brother was coming. His name was James, Jamie for short, and was the cutest little brother in the world. He was just 3 months old.
As I walked to the kitchen to get breakfast, I heard the kettle whistling and baby Jamie gurgling.
"Morning Mum," I said as I entered the kitchen.
"Good morning, dear," she replied as she opened the refrigerator to get some milk. I scooped some of the porridge my mum had made into a bowl and sat down. John sat down next to me with a cup of tea and a book.
"What are you reading?" I asked him.
"Oh, it's a book about the pollution of the Thames during the Victorian era compared to now. It's a very fascinating subject. I'm thinking of mentioning it in my advanced history class when we start talking about medical customs of the 19th century the following week."
I blinked as if that would help me better understand what he had said. I wasn't very good at history, sadly. All those dates. The numbers didn't stick in my head very well.
John was a teacher at a university nearby and was very good at it. My mum loved hearing stories about what happened long ago and he enjoyed telling them. They were a very good match for each other. My mum came back with Jamie and her arms and started feeding him his bottle.
"What's the plan for today?" I asked.
"Well," my mum replied. "I'm going to be weeding and watering the garden, the rose bushes need trimming as well, hmmm, let's see. I believe that's it for today. What about you John?"
"Well, I have to leave right now, for work. I'll be back this afternoon." He then got up, kissed Mum and Jaime goodbye, and hugged me, then walked out the door. After breakfast, I went outside with my mother and Jamie. I spread out a quilt for him to lay on with a couple of toys to keep him company. I sat next to my mother and started weeding.
"Are you excited to be going off to school this autumn?" she asked. I made a face.
"No?' she said, concerned.
"Well I'm excited, I guess. I'll miss you guys loads. You have to send me as many letters as possible! I'll also miss some of the friends I've made here. Liza is really nice, but she's going to school in Germany where her mom and aunt went to. But I'm sure I can send her loads of letters."
"It won't be too bad, Amy. We'll see you during the holidays and you can tell us all about your scholarly exploits," she said. Jamie gurgled, as if in agreement. He was just starting to grow a little tuft of hair at the top of his head. It was short and black and curly. His soft hazel eyes sparkled as a butterfly flew over to one of the flower bushes. His dark skin was in great contrast to my own pale freckled one, but he was the best baby brother I could ever imagine.
We had just finished a delicious lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwiches (a family favorite passed down from my grandma Amber) when we heard someone knocking at the front door. The odd thing wasn't that someone was visiting, but that we hadn't heard the front gate creek open. It was very old and rusty, so much so in fact that it that no amount of greasing could silence it.
I opened the door to find the oddest looking woman I had ever seen. She had flowing emerald green robes embroidered with faint Celtic designs. The fact that she was twice as tall as me only made her more intimidating.
"H-how do you do?" I stuttered, confused at why she was at our door. My mother appeared beside me, having just come back from putting Jamie to sleep. She looked confused but invited the woman inside and offered her some tea. She declined. Then she introduced herself,
"My name is Professor McGonagall. I am here to tell you of your acceptance into Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." A bit startled, I replied,
"Witchcraft?"
"Yes," She said curtly. "You are a witch and you must be properly trained. We normally have one of the staff go to muggleborn's houses." After getting over the initial shock of someone accusing her daughter of witchcraft, my mother replied,
"A witch? Muggles? What?" The professor looked at her in an odd sort of way. It was between pity, understanding, and something else I couldn't identify. Then she turned to me.
"Have you ever done something you couldn't explain? Something very odd, out of the ordinary, perhaps even… Magical?" Memories of flowers growing before my eyes, baby deer being way friendlier than normal, and ice melting around my boots, flashed before my eyes.
"Oh…" I said in a quieter voice. Taking this as a sign to move on, she said,
"At Hogwarts, you will be taking classes such as Charms, Potions, Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration." Off my confused look, she added, "Turning one object into something different. For example,"
With that she rapped the lamp on the small table next to her. Suddenly a small flash of light appeared and the lamp shrunk down into a hedgehog. It was very cute, but I wasn't focused on the hedgehog at the moment. I was gaping in astonishment at the caster of the spell.
"Moving on." She said, as if turning lamps to hedgehogs was an everyday thing. "Hogwarts is a boarding school in a Scottish castle. It is one of the best magical schools in Europe. You have qualified for a Transitional Half-Scholarship, and your tuition will be paid for by the school. Your list of books and other necessities are right here along with your acceptance letter. All of your books and other supplies can be bought at Diagon Alley."
"To get there you must go to the Leaky Cauldron, here's the map of the Underground, take the blue line there. When you get there, ask Tom, the bartender, to help you get to Diagon Alley. Explain you're a muggleborn. Oh goodness, is that the time? Goodbye, and well, good luck. It's hard to get your head around it at first isn't it?" With that, she walked swiftly out the door. There was a loud bang, and I ran to the window only to find her gone. What I didn't know was that that was only the beginning...