Harry Potter is the sole creation of JK. Shanie Foster is however mine. I'm just borrowing bits of her Universe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter One
The Discovery
It was just another lazy summer day for the town of Aberdeen, North Carolina. Not even a full week out of school and already half the town was empty for summer vacationing. Nearly all the town's children gone, save for young Shanie Foster. Shanie sat at her window, head resting on her folded arms looking absentmindedly out at the world and wishing her life were different.
"There's nothing to do in this stupid town," she whispered angrily into her arm. She got up and walked across her bedroom reaching for the doorknob when the door opened suddenly. Her mother peeked in.
"Are you almost ready?" Her mother asked.
"Ready for what?" Shanie asked, puzzled. Her mother scrunched her face, apparently not amused.
"Now really, I've told you several times already this morning that we're going to go see your grandma today. I would have hoped that at least one of those times would have sunk into that thick head of yours." Her mother proceeded to open Shanie's dresser drawer and hastily throw a pair of jeans on the bed.
"Now hurry up and get dressed, I don't want to be late." Shanie scowled at the back of her mother's head as she left the room.
"I hate summer," she groaned as she threw the jeans at the window, knocking over her lamp.
Shanie's mother pulled the beat-up old Chevy Lumina into the dilapidated driveway of her grandmother's rickety two-bedroom house about half an hour later. The interesting thing about Shanie's grandmother's house was there was so many interesting things. Her grandmother didn't have a mailbox for starters. The outside of the house wasn't anything strange really, but once inside the oddities stuck out like a fire-breathing chicken at a horse track. Shanie's grandmother didn't own a television, a washer or dryer, a stove or even a vacuum cleaner. How she kept the house so immaculate was a continuous mystery to Shanie.
Shanie's grandmother appeared at the doorway as Shanie and her mother got out of the car. How the old woman could move so well and look so good at her age was another baffling concept.
"Hello there Kathleen, hello Shanie," she said as she gracefully walked down the porch steps and across the walkway.
"Hello mom, how are you doing? I'm sorry it's been so long in between visits-"
"Oh no need hun, no need. I know how things have been going with the divorce and all," she said as she squeezed Kathleen half to death. She bent down slightly to give Shanie a gentle embrace and whispered into her ear,"So how's my birthday girl doing?"
Shanie looked up at her grandma with a slight smile on her face.
"All right I guess. Mom and Josh are taking me and Lizzie out to dinner later on and then we're going to the bowling alley. Do you wanna come?" Shanie asked as they headed inside. Her grandmother looked down at her bemusedly.
"Oh no dear, I'm afraid I never could get the hang of bowling. Such a silly sport compared to..." she trailed off with a distant look on her face. Shanie sat down next to her mother on the couch as she watched her grandmother's face.
"Compared to what, Grandma?"
Her grandmother regained her focus and stared down at Shanie with a blank expression on her face.
"Nothing dear. So tell me, are you excited about school next year? You'll be starting junior high, isn't that right?" Shanie turned glum-faced.
"Yeah that's right," she said bitterly. Her mother looked down at her.
"Now what's that tone for?" Shanie looked between her mother and grandmother and squirmed uncomfortably.
"I don't wanna go," she said flatly with her arms crossed. Her mother turned sour.
"And why not? Do you know how hard I worked to get you into that private school? I had to go in front of the school board. And let me remind you your previous record didn't help a bit."
"Record?" Questioned her grandmother. Kathleen glanced over at her mother and then back at Shanie.
"Shanie didn't get along well with her teachers last year. She seemed to think they were singling her out-"
"They were!" She nearly screamed. "Mr. Peterson hated me most of all, the stupid jerk."
"That's enough Shanie," her mother said evenly, but her grandmother was curious.
"Why do you think he hated you?" She asked Shanie. Shanie's glare at her mother softened as she turned to her grandmother.
"He kept thinking I was doing things I really wasn't doing," she said.
"Things? What sort of things?" Her grandmother asked.
Shanie sighed and began.
"On the first day of school last year he made us do this test that no one was prepared for. It was a vocabulary test and he said we should have known that stuff for a long time already. Well when I got back my test it had an 'F' on it and I yelled at him. 'You shouldn't be giving us tests on stuff we don't even know yet,' I told him. He said to me that everyone else did just fine on the test, it was just me that had failed. He said it was probably because I didn't bother to pick up a book over the summer, and that all I did was watch TV and do nothing. Then the chalkboard beside him came loose and fell on the floor and broke his toe. He hated me all year after that."
Her grandmother looked at Shanie thoughtfully.
"And he somehow thought you made the chalkboard come loose?"
Shanie shrugged.
"I dunno. I don't know how it came off the wall like that I just know it wasn't my fault" Her grandmother eyed her.
"Was that the only time something peculiar happened?"
Shanie's eyes shifted slightly.
"Well...no."
Kathleen turned to her mother.
"I used to get school reports for just about everything. Broken windows, missing textbooks, desks glued to the ceiling..."
Shanie's grandmother turned to Kathleen.
"And this...Mr. Peterson... seemed to think Shanie was behind it all?"
Kathleen nodded and sighed.
"Eyewitnesses usually claimed that Shanie couldn't have done it, which did keep her out of some trouble."
"Oh really?" said Shanie's grandmother.
Kathleen adjusted her gaze.
"Well, the eyewitnesses said that those things happened by their own accord. When the textbooks went missing, the children in Shanie's class swore to the principal that they all turned into frogs and leapt out the window."
A twinkle shone in Shanie's grandmother's eyes.
"How unusual," she said, unable to keep the mirth out of her voice.
"Now Shanie," began her grandmother,"I have some things I need to talk to your mother about. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if...."
Shanie shook her head.
"No, I don't mind."
"Thank you, dear," her grandmother said as she got up and led her confused daughter into the dim kitchen.
Minutes passed as Shanie strained to hear what was being said in the adjacent room. Suddenly there was the creak of a floorboard from above her. Shanie looked up at the ceiling and then at the stairs.
Although the house only had two bedrooms, it was still a two-story building; a very tiny two-story building. Shanie crept to the stairs and tried hard to look up into the musty darkness, but could barely see five steps up. Making sure her mother and grandmother were still in the kitchen, Shanie climbed carefully and deliberately up the stairs. The moment her feet touched the second floor she heard another creak, this time from the aged joint of a door. She looked to her right and saw that her grandmother's bedroom door was open just a crack. She walked slowly to the door and opened it. A gentle breeze met her cheek. She put her head into the room to see that all three of the windows were wide open, pouring sunlight into the room. She hesitated for a moment, then jerked the door open all the way and stepped into the center of the room.
There was a noise to her left just then, a small shuffle in the closet. Shanie turned.
"Hello?" She whispered, inching closer to the closet. She put her hand on the doorknob and began to turn when something huge and squishy hit her across her head.
'Ow!' She mouthed as she felt the lump growing on the back of her head. She looked down just then to see the weirdest thing she ever lay her eyes across. A small barn owl with a letter clamped firmly in it's beak laying flat on it's back. Without realizing what she was doing, she gingerly removed the letter from the owl's beak. It hooted in gratitude and then righted itself with a hop and a flap of wings. For a moment it just bounced around the room, appearing to enjoy itself, before it took off into the air and out of the window. Still staring after the owl, Shanie barely noticed the parchment in her hands. After a while, she looked down and flipped the envelope over. It read:
Miss S. Foster
7532 Hawkfisher Dr.
Second Story Bedroom
Aberdeen, NC
Carefully, she flipped the letter over. Covering the envelope was a curious wax seal bearing a crescent moon embedded with miniscule stars. She opened the letter and out came two sheets; one with what appeared to be a list and another a short note.
Salem Witches Institute
Headmistress: Serena Whittlenest
(Order of Merlin, Second Class, Head Witch of the Second Armory and Supreme Member of the Elders Council, New England)
Dear Miss Foster,
We are delighted to inform you that you have been admitted into the East Coast's finest school for witches, Salem Witches Institute. Enclosed is a list of all the books and instruments you will need this year. Term begins August 15th. We await your return owl by no later than June 22nd.
Kindest regards;
Carina Whittlenest
Deputy Headmistress
Shanie continued staring at the parchment until her mother came into the room.
"Shanie, honey, what are you...?" Her mother's voice trailed as she followed Shanie's gaze to the parchment she held.
"What's going on up here?" Her grandmother asked as she stepped up beside her daughter. Shanie's mother took the letter from Shanie and looked at her mother. Shanie looked up finally and uttered a confused sound.
"Wha?"
Her mother looked down again and crumpled the letter slightly in her trembling hands. Shanie looked to her grandmother instead.
"Come," she said and walked Shanie over to her four-poster bed. "Sit down."
Shanie plopped onto the bed, her eyes like marbles. Her grandmother took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
"Shanie, you're a witch."
Shanie blinked. "Huh?"
"A witch," her grandmother repeated.
Kathleen had the look of deepest remorse on her face as she held the letter firmly to her chest.
"Your mother never told you because we weren't sure if you were or not." Shanie looked to her mother, as her face now crinkled distinctly in distaste.
"I'm also a witch, Shanie. But your mother and father, they're not. You're mother is what we call a Squib and you're father is what we call a Muggle."
Shanie blinked.
"Mugger?"
"Muggle, it's what we call non-magical people. The truth is we thought you'd be just like your mother, what with your father being a Muggle and all. I guess we were wrong."
Shanie began to fidget. She jumped up suddenly and began walking around in circles, like a dog chasing it's tail.
"Is this some sort of joke? I mean, you are talking about witches, right? Flying 'round on brooms and casting spells and cauldrons and stuff?"
Her grandmother gave a short, considered nod.
"Well essentially, yes. But it's oh so much more than that. It's a world Shanie, our world."
Shanie took another step back. "You mean a world of witches flying 'round and casting spells on little children and boiling them in cauldrons?" She screeched, half-panicked.
Her grandmother shook her head.
"No, no, nothing like that at all. We eat the same things Muggles do, usually. We usually don't fly around on broomsticks because honestly, Apparating is just so much more logical, and cauldrons are usually used by potion-makers and whatnot, not everyday use." Shanie looked at her grandmother horror-struck. She began walking around stiffly repeating: "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming...."
She came up to one of the posts of her grandmother's bed and began beating her head against it.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
Her grandmother reached over and grabbed her while her mother stifled a sob.
"Oh Shanie I'm so sorry, but it's true honey, it's all true!" Her mother wailed, using the letter as a handkerchief.
"Sorry?" Yelled her grandmother, rounding on her mother. "What's to be sorry about? We hoped as much for you, too, had circumstances been different."
"Well I'm glad they're not!" Her mother returned, her eyes mad.
"There's no shame in being a witch Kathleen." Orated her grandmother.
Shanie's mother erupted like a volcano, spluttering and spitting.
"Shame? SHAME?! There's plenty to be ashamed of Amelie, the shame of being a freak! A sideshow attraction! And I for one will not have such freakism living in my house! Shanie is NOT a witch; she's going to that private school and that's the end of it!"
"Not a witch? Now be reasonable Kathleen, how do you explain the frogs? The books? Her letter?"
Shanie's mother stomped around angrily.
"She's not going! No daughter of mine is going to some strange school with-" But with what Amelie and Shanie never found out.
During her rant, Amelie had brought out a 10-inch long stick, whirled it around a bit, and Kathleen was completely mute. She clutched at her throat like something was stuck in it.
Amelie towered over Kathleen.
"Shanie is going to Salem Witches Institute, Kathleen, and there's nothing you can do about it." Shanie rounded on her grandmother.
"But, why? Why is it so important that I go to this place?" Amelie rose and swished her stick again, and all three of the windows closed and latched, and with another flick, the curtains drew themselves.
"You're going because it'd be far too dangerous for you to stay in Muggle school. And second of all, you need to learn how to control your powers. You may have gotten away with 'gluing' desks to the ceiling now, but it won't always be like that. You'll draw attention to yourself, and to us. To the wizarding world. It's too much of a risk. You have to go."
Being told what to do never did settle well in Shanie's stomach.
"What if I don't want to go?"
Her grandmother's eyes bored into her.
"You have to. No more questions."
Amelie swished her wand again and returned Kathleen's voice.
"I don't want you telling anyone about this. Not Josh, not Elizabeth, not anyone." Kathleen nodded, her eyes red and her lips quivering slightly. Shanie's grandmother then turned to Shanie and placed her arms on both of her shoulders.
"You mustn't speak of this either. Leave your window open tonight; I'll be sending an owl your way. Now go on, I'm sure you two have lots to do. And happy birthday."
Shanie nodded and followed her mother out the door, down the stairs, and out of the house.
-------------------------------------------------------
P.S. special thanks to Kara, since she's doing all the research on the Salem area. You've been appointed beta reader Kara, hope you can take it.