Rating: PG-13
Summary: In this chapter we learn more about the OC, who will not be a Mary Sue! After this, all chapters become much, much longer. In truth, I despise short chapters, but these are introductions to the characters, and although they might be boring y'all must put up with them. Whoa....that was a run-on sentence. ^_^
A/N: Many thanks to those who read and/or reviewed. Special thanks to Jessi Lupin and Plateado(I agree, the last paragraph is especially rushed).
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Addison Freeborn (A/N: pronounced Free-burn. ^_^) didn't know which was worse- being invisible in her own home, or being invisible at school. If she was forced to chose, she would pick the former. One knows there is something very wrong if your own family doesn't notice you. At least at Hogwarts she had a few friends and had an activity to pass her free time. Quidditch was definitely one of the best things to happen to Addison.
She hadn't ever been very popular in primary school because of her bookish tendencies. Even at the tender age of four she had her nose stuck in a book. She was never any good at Muggle sports either. She couldn't kick a ball to save her soul, so football was out of the question, and at the time that was the favorite sport among kids her age.
One positive side was that her parents were always very supportive of her. Even if they acted a bit discouraged at her lack of friends and her inability to kick a ball, they never shunned her or ignored her, and for this Addison was grateful. And so the years of primary school hell slipped by, and before she knew it she was almost in the sixth grade. It was then that she received her letter.
The day she was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a day she would never forget. It had started out innocently enough, she woke, ate breakfast, and was reading the newspaper when she heard a tapping at the window.
"Addison, darling, would you see what that is?" her mother asked distractedly, busy cleaning the dishes.
"Sure Mum," Addison grumbled, a tad agitated at being interrupted in the middle of her reading. She laid her paper down, and cast a quick glance at the window, at what appeared to be the source of the light tapping. Seeing nothing there, she returned back to her newspaper. "It's nothing," she said absently.
TAP, TAP, TAP! The rapping continued, but this time in a more demanding manner. Sighing in exasperation, Addison stood quickly and stalked over to the window. Pulling it open, she looked out and around. Seeing nobody, she looked down in case the offender might be hiding in the flower bed. Again there was no one. Only one more place to look, she thought. Raising her eyes, the sight that greeted her almost made her pass out from shock. Hovering in the air right above her head was a screech owl, a piece of parchment tied to his leg.
Oh my God, she thought frantically. "Nice birdie," she said in what she thought to be a soothing way, and slowly pulled her head back into the room. The owl flew right in after her, and landed on the table, giving her an offended look. Addison bit back a yelp of fright.
"Mum, there's an owl in the kitchen," she announced shakily, never taking her eyes off the large bird. "Mum?" She looked over her shoulder and found to her dismay that her mother had exited the kitchen. "Great. Bloody brilliant," Addison mumbled grumpily. "I can't just leave you here."
The owl simply glared at her, as owls tend to do, and stuck out his leg containing the piece of parchment.
"Will you leave if I untie this?" Addison asked hopefully, feeling slightly embarrassed at talking to a bird. To her surprise, the owl inclined its head in what appeared to be its version of nodding. In amazement, Addison removed the parchment slowly, and the screech owl spread its wings and exited out the still open window, which Addison shut so that no more errant owls would drop by as well.
She then turned her attention to the thick piece of paper addressed to her. Opening it, she scanned the page and what she read caused her to snort in amusement. "Me? A witch? Ha!" she laughed, assuming it was some kind of prank. She tossed the parchment in the waste basket and continued about her business.
To her consternation however, more and more owls appeared, each bearing letters from the same person, and each letter said the same thing as before. Her parents couldn't help but notice, and were not amused. "Those hooligans!" They would complain while tossing the letters into the fire.
But the letters continued to arrive, and the more Addison received, the more she began to doubt the fact that they were just some prank played on her by the kids from school. Why would someone go through all of this trouble to play a trick like that on her? And why would they use owls? As far as Addison could tell, she knew of no one with that many owls. She read the parchments carefully numerous times, and they fascinated her. What if these are real? she thought, and decided to consult her parents.
The Freeborns were not as open to this idea as Addison. They firmly believed that all of this rubbish and nonsense about witchcraft and such was just a malicious joke. Addison argued with them, and asked if they could at least try to find this Diagon Alley that Hogwarts recommended for school supplies. Grudgingly, they agreed. "Only to prove that this is a load of codswallop," her dad had told her.
Of course, they found that Diagon Alley was, in fact, a real place, and they were extremely overwhelmed by it.
"We are leaving," Mrs. Freeborn ordered stiffly, glaring suspiciously at the absurdity of her surroundings.
Addison simply grinned in pleasant surprise. "No! Let's stay!" She begged, and looked pleadingly at her parents. They firmly shook their heads. "But Mum, Dad, these are people like me! Maybe I'll fit in here!" She argued. Fifteen minutes and one long-winded shouting match later, Addison was happily dragging her family down the street.
Upon her return home before the start of term, she noticed a change in her parents' demeanors. They transformed from warm and supportive to cold and distant. It was then that Addison realized how shallow they truly were. They were the stereotypical "normal" Muggles, who thought Witchcraft and Wizardry preposterous, and refuse to have anything to do with it.
"I want you to know that we do not condone this," they told her icily on the day that she left from Platform 9 and 3/4.
And now, more than ever, her parents treated her in the exact same fashion. She had been practically ignored every summer, and though she'd gotten used to it, she was still bothered by the whole isolation and silent treatment but decided that the choice she'd made near five years ago was for the better. At least now she had best friends whom she trusted with her life, and over the summer she kept up contact by owl post.
Today was only slightly different than any other day in that she had gotten into an argument over school supplies with her family.
"We are not paying for your silly school supplies," her mother snapped, looking to Addison's father for support.
"We are a good Christian family and will no longer tolerate this nonsense. If you want to continue at this voodoo school, you must finance your own supplies," he growled in agreement.
Addison practically gaped at them. "Fine then," she quipped after she'd recovered from her initial shock. "I'll pay for everything myself. And I just want you to know that it's not voodoo, it's witchcraft, and it has nothing what-so-ever to do with religion." She stormed up the stairs and grabbed her purse, before stomping out the front door towards the Underground. A quick train ride would get her to Diagon Alley quickly, and Addison wanted to be as far away from her parents as possible. Thank God for my emergency bank account, she thought as she paid her ticket toll and boarded the train car.
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A/N: Well, that turned out longer than I expected. *shrugs* I guess that shows that you never know when it comes to writing. I ask once again that y'all review. Not only do they make my day happier, but they help me write faster and keep the story going. Thanks very much!
Until next time,
~TheSiriusSparrow~