Disclaimer- Sadly, I do not own the copyrights to Harry Potter or Hogwarts. Any mention of either, or other various characters from her books, belong solely to JK Rowling. However, the plot and Jesssica, as well as her relatives, Serenity, and Mr. Clarkson are of my own creation.
A Story Never Told
Jessica instinctively hid the envelope and its scattered contents below her bed, on top a pile of dance tickets and party invitations she'd kept concealed from her mother for years. Then she quickly kneeled down beside her mother, leaning over her to see if she was all right.
Jessica's tears had fled, instead a new feeling had taken its place. Excitement and curiosity bubbled inside her, but for her mother's sake, it was masked, quite poorly, by concern.
Her mother's eyes were closed, but Jessica could feel her breath upon her face as she leaned closer. She sat up and waited for her mother to do the same. Instead she only moved her lips, whispering the words "It was only a dream, Jess?" It was not a statement, but a question, and without any doubt Jessica answered. "Yes, Mom. It was only a dream.
Her mother's eyes opened and she began to sit up. In return, Jessica stood and held out her hand to assist her mother. She gratefully took it and stood up, falling back onto her daughter's bed, letting her arm drop. She patted the spot beside her but Jessica stood, grasping the desk beside her with her left hand, feeling that she'd need something to hold onto, sensing that her mother was about to tell her something.
"Did I ever tell you, you're British?" Her mother started, and noting the blank stare she continued on. "We moved away when you were three." The sigh Jessica had long ago grown accustomed to found its familiar place on the lips of her mother and traveled upwards filling her own ears with the sound. "That's when the whole nightmare started."
Jessica nodded, pretending to know what she was talking of, even though they both knew she didn't. She only knew that she needed her mother to continue.
"My best friend lived there, and still does. I asked her to come with us, but no matter how much her daughter continued to betray her, she refused to come.
Katelyn and you both had the same birthday, and the morning you turned three, Katelyn turned eleven. It would have been a joyous event had that letter not arrived.
It was clearly addressed to Katelyn, and on the back was a crest with a lion, badger, snake, and raven."
Searching her memory, an image of the same crest her mother was describing entered her mind. She had seen it on the envelope when opening it.
"It was from a school called Hogwarts," She paused. "A proposed school of witchcraft and wizardry.
Bridgette refused to allow Katelyn to go. She wouldn't listen, however, and that following fall she left, through a wall," she paused, as if the last words had taken much out of her, "to Hogwarts. I didn't stick around to find out what happened to her. I was only thinking about you and your safety. I wasn't going allow you to be sent away from me. So, your father and I packed up our things and moved away."
Jessica smiled. Perhaps the letter wasn't entirely fiction, and maybe not fiction at all.
Her mother returned the smile, although weakly, and stood. "You deserved to know the truth. Besides, your eleventh birthday has passed. You won't be going away from me. I wouldn't allow it."
Her mother stepped forward and encircled her arms around her child's shoulders, pulling her towards her in a hug. While returning it, Jessica couldn't help but think that her mother had just unknowingly helped her daughter in pursuing an education in witchcraft. Whether she knew very much of the school, she now knew she had to attend it, and wanted to more than she had ever wanted anything else.