If there is one thing I can't stand it is stagnation, I want and need change. I can't stand being still for too long and I refuse to build myself a dam. I suppose that is why I drive my mother so crazy. She never wanted things to change and also foolishly hoped I would be a lady and an example, the pride of the wizarding community.
Personally I think it agitates her even more that her divination skills fall quite short when it comes to me and my brother. My mum is brilliant, she can feel change, but unlike me she does everything in her power to stop it. She has a real knack for the future except when it comes to her children. She declared that my older brother, Owen, would become an accountant for the Gringots branch in Cork after graduation and she was positive that I would be the most dignified and respectable lady the likes of Galway had ever seen. She was wrong on both visions, my brother is a photographer for the Daily Prophet and I, much to her horror, am the best seeker my school has seen in five years.
I just finished my 5th year at the Tira Nog school of witch craft and wizardry, mum always wanted me to go to the Avalon School in Scotland because the divination program at the time was almost as good as Hogwarts. Mum knows that the Irish and the Scottish can attend each others schools as we like but can only attend Hogwarts, the best school around, by exchange. The only way me and my family could go is if we moved, something my mother could never abide because moving called for big changes. So when Owen was in his sixth year he participated in the newly instated transfer program and now it is my turn. I filled out the essays, went to the interviews, and took the transfer exams and got in. Hogwarts only lets three students from Avalon and Tira Nog attend every year so Mum was of course overjoyed, figuring that being exposed to Professor Warwick's brilliant and innovative divination program was just what my "hibernating" eye needed.
As for me, I couldn't wait to get there! Hogwarts is much bigger then Tira Nog and has a quiditch team for EACH house and they play each other over the term!! I can't even imagine having so many matches because our school barely had two teams and one big game featuring the best team against Avalon per term. Hogwarts is also hidden away in a deep forest somewhere which means the students can practice with out creating shields and fairytales to keep the muggles away. Muggles believe that both Tira Nog and Avalon are magical places of legend; it is all quite silly really but we have encouraged it to help keep secrecy.
My mom wanted to see me off and followed me all the way to the portkey imploring me to be on my best behavior and study divination seriously. She had already oweled Professor Warwick informing her of my "situation" (ie. My lack of interest or talent in the field) asking for special attention and study and that I must not let this awful quiditch "attachment" interfere with my studies. Ironically, when it comes to my mother's divination lectures she is very predictable. "Aideen Joscelyne Bradiagh," she would begin hoping that the use of my middle name would scare me. "You are part of a long and respected line of Witches and as such I expect only the best…" I knew it all by heart and she fumed a bit when I said the last part of the lecture along with her but I grabbed the old coke cup before she scold me and moments later I arrived with a sore arm and my cedar chest at the side of the Hogwarts express.
The place was crowded with international students it seemed professor Dumbledore really wanted to encourage exchange and international relations in lieu of the dark risings of Lord Voldermont. Well, I thougt smiling to myself, as long as I can play some quidich and have some fun I will create all the posterity he wants. I looked around suddenly surprised to not know anybody here. It was a bit of a shock being from such a small community where I was used to knowing everyone. The only faces I recognized belonged to Helen O'Shea whose only life ambition was to be a prefect and horrid Sean McGregor from Avalon. I still hadn't forgiven Sean for knocking one of my chasers of his broom; it was a dirty trick and ended with an injury that removed a teammate mid-season.
At this point I vowed to find a new face. I could feel the adrenalin flow in my body when it began to hit that I really WAS at Hogwarts! After all the work and daydreaming I was really going to be here for a whole year! At that moment I saw a girl looking nervously around the platform. Surely she had to be just as excited as me! I wondered what country she was from, if she liked quiditch, what dorm she wanted, and at the same moment I wondered what dorm I wanted. Maybe we were going to be roommates because we were girls the same age on exchange or maybe we would be in different houses and I would never see her again. I rushed up to her with all these questions running though my head and just went with the moment, after all I am a Hogwarts student now. She turned around just in time for me to introduce myself to her.
"Hi, my name is Aideen. Want to be my friend?"
She looked a little surprised as if she didn't expect anyone to talk to her. It took her a moment to register what I had said and for a moment I wondered if she spoke another language but then she giggled and offered her hand. She spoke confidently through her southern accent and introduced herself "Sure. My name's Fae. I'm from the United States."
Ah, a Yankee, it is real tough competition in America to get here. This girl must be one of the best they have over there. "Exchange program, then? That's how I got here, too" I told her. At that moment the crowd around us began to migrate up the station to a set of boats. "I suppose we're meant to follow them. Better grab your wand and get a move on."