Hey peeps, Mandi gets about one chapter done a week. Eight should be posted soon.
Disclaimer: Already said it, don't wanna repeat it.
Chapter Three
August 26
You'll never guess what happened to me today! An owl flew into my room and dropped a letter. And you know what the letter said? I'M A WITCH! But not a bad witch like in movies and books and stuff, but a good witch. I'm gonna go to a magic school! It took a little bit to convince my mom to let me go but she finally said yes. I'm so excited! Jeff looked really jealous too. Haha. I get to learn magic and he doesn't. Yaaaay. Well, I'll write again soon!
Claire
August 28
We went to get my school stuff today. It was hard getting to the right place though. We finally found a guy that knew where to go. He's a wizard and he went to Hogwarts too! (That's the magic school). I can't believe it. He used magic to make a door in a brick wall. It was so cool. We finally got all my stuff. We went to the bank to exchange our money and there were goblins there. They looked kinda scary. Then we bought books, pens, potions ingredients, robes, and even a wand! I was waving it around when we got home and it made a bunch of sparks and I accidentally broke the tv. Mom took it away until I leave. I'm leaving on September 1! I can't wait!
Claire
September 2, Year One
I have so much to tell you! On the train I met a girl named Hermione, and we're friends now. She's really smart, she can already do some spells. And then, we had to get sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Me and Hermione are both in Gryffindor! We sleep in the same room too, along with two girls named Lavender and Parvati. And there are five boys in our grade too. Neville, Dean, Seamus, Ron, and HARRY POTTER. They told me that when Harry was a baby a really evil wizard came to his house and killed his parents, then tried to kill him but the curse bounced back and destroyed him and Harry was left with a lightning bolt shaped scar. It's really sad. I started classes today too! I have transfiguration where you turn stuff into other stuff, like bugs into buttons. And I have potions where you make potions (duh). And Herbology which is with a bunch of really cool plants, and charms where we learn spells, and History of Magic which is actually pretty boring even though it's taught by a ghost. The classes are so cool!
That's all. Bye!
Claire
Claire sat up very late reading that night. She read straight through her first two years. It wasn't very hard though, her handwriting had been huge and the entries were short compared to the end of the diary. She had also drawn a lot of pictures.
She realized that her life at Hogwarts was very interesting, and very dangerous.
Year One...
We all went to try to stop Snape from getting the sorcerer's stone. First there was Fluffy but we knew how to stop him, some music did the trick, then the big plant thing... I think Hermione said it was Devil's Snare and she knew how to get past it. Thank goodness she pays attention in class. After that was a room with flying keys but we found the right one for the door. There was a troll, thank goodness Snape had already knocked it out. The chess game was really weird, we had to replace pieces and they got all smashed up. Ron got hit so Harry could go forward. I stayed back with Ron while they went ahead. They told me that there were potions in the next room and Hermione used logic to figure it out, and Harry went on to the next room and saved the stone. It wasn't even Snape. It was Quirrel! And You-Know-Who! Harry almost died! He didn't though. I'm glad. I don't want my friend to get hurt.
Year Two...
...Something weird has been happening. Filch's cat got petrified...
...There have been more attacks, I'm getting worried, they're attacking all muggle-borns, I'm afraid I might be next...
...at the dueling club Harry talked to a snake! I can't believe it, Harry? Speaking to snakes?...
... they keep saying Harry's the heir of Slytherin. That CAN'T be true!...
...HERMIONE'S PETRIFIED! I can't believe it, one of my best friends! It's horrible. I cried so much when I found out!...
...we've figured it out! Actually Hermione did. It's a basilisk, in the pipes that's hurting everyone. The Chamber of Secrets is in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom!...
...Ginny's been taken! Ron's really upset. We're going to go tell Lockhart what we know...
...He did it! Harry killed the basilisk and saved Ginny! Lockhart lost his memory, doesn't remember anything. Poor guy, I hope he'll be alright...
...Everyone's okay now! Hermione's back! I'm so happy. It's all over. Yay!...
The next morning during breakfast Claire asked her friends many questions about her first two years. They answered them all with smiles on their faces.
"I can't believe it! We actually did all that?" Claire said, shocked.
"Yup." Ron said, "It was mostly Harry though. You should see when you get into our fifth year! THAT was interesting, with the DA and Umbridge, and the Department of Mysteries... although..." he stopped, with an anxious look at Harry.
Harry knew what he was thinking, "It's alright Ron. I'm fine, really."
Claire looked from Ron to Harry, confused. "What...?"
"You'll see," Ron said quickly, a smile returning to his face, "if I told you now it'd ruin all the excitement of year three. You'd know the big secret and how everything turns out, that'd be no fun."
"Oh fine." Claire said, finishing off her toast.
"We'd better get to our classes." Hermione said, "Claire, are you supposed to come too?"
"No, I have to meet Dumbledore in his office."
"That's too bad." Ron said quietly.
Claire stopped in the bathroom on her way to Dumbledore's office. When she looked in the mirror she gasped, with everything else going on she hadn't even thought to see how she had changed in the past six years.
Instead of seeing the young, eleven year old face she knew, she saw a matured, teenage face. She was several inches taller now and had gained a couple pounds, her figure was obviously that of a seventeen year old girl. She still had the same greyish blue eyes and slightly pink cheeks that she had always known.
But what shocked her most was her hair. It had always been very long and light brown. Now she was looking at short hair, just brushing the tops of her shoulders. It was pitch black with red streaks all through it.
"When did I do this?" Claire whispered to herself as she ran her hand over one of the red streaks.
She decided she would ask her friends about it later and left the bathroom. She found her way to the entrance to Dumbledore's office and waited. He had said he would meet her here.
He walked toward her minutes later and smiled at her. "Follow me." he said and continued walking down the hall.
Claire followed him until they came to a vacant classroom. Dumbledore nodded toward a chair and Claire sat down. He sat in a chair across from her.
"Now, I've been researching the past few days, trying to find ways to bring your memory back. I've looked in spellbooks, potion books, even muggle medical books. I've found a few things that might help but nothing to bring back your memory fully. Some are very dangerous, but I don't think we'll need to use those."
"So what will you be doing?"
"Oh, I'll first try a spell that allows a person to remember things they have forgotten. It's usually used by someone with a rememberall to see what it's flashing for but we'll see if it works with a person who has had a memory charm placed on them. Are you ready?"
Claire nodded.
"Okay." Dumbledore said as he lifted his wand. He pointed it at Claire and said a few words that she didn't quite catch. A stream of bright blue light came forth and seemed to go right through her head. It then disappeared.
"Well?" Dumbledore asked.
"Nothing." Claire told him, a little disappointed.
"Not a problem, I didn't really expect it to work." he told her, smiling warmly. "It's alright though, we'll just have to try another one."
Claire entered the common room that evening to find her friends sitting in a corner, Hermione writing a paper while Harry and Ron played wizard chess. Claire sat down beside them.
"Well?" Hermione asked her, looking up. "How'd it go?"
"Nothing worked." Claire told them. "He tried a lot of spells and potions to try to get my memory back but none of it worked."
"That's too bad." Ron said. Claire noticed that he really did seem upset about this news but chose not to say anything.
"I guess you'll just have to go back to reading your diary then." Harry said as his queen took out one of Ron's rooks.
"I guess so." Claire said, "That's not so bad then, if I had gotten my memory back it would've ruined the whole book." she smiled.
"Yeah," Ron said, laughing, "and you'd have to go back to class and get a bunch of homework like the rest of us."
"Which you aren't even doing." Hermione pointed out.
"We have a week to do it." Ron replied, watching his knight pull Harry's queen to the side of the chess board.
"But you have three papers to write and a spell to practice. And I'm not going to help you this time." she told him, a little annoyed.
"You say that everytime but you end up helping us in the end." Ron told her.
Hermione sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Don't do your homework. See if I care."
Claire shook her head, "I hope there isn't a lot of that in my diary."
"There probably is," Harry told her, "they do that a lot."
She laughed and brushed a bit of hair from her face, that reminded her, "Guys..." she said, to get their attention.
"What's up?" Ron asked.
"When did I do this?" she pointed to her hair.
"Do what?" he replied, a little distracted by Harry's knight pushing his pawn to the edge of the board.
"When did I change my hair? It's always been long, and light brown."
"Oh that." Ron said, "Hermione, you're better at explaining things, you take this one."
Claire looked at him, confused. She looked to Hermione who set her pen down.
"You see," Hermione started, pausing to find the right words, "You went through a sort of... phase, last year. And that led to a fight... with Ron."
"I had a fight with Ron? Why?" Claire asked. She was shocked, she seemed to get along with him so well.
"We had quite a few fights last year actually." Ron told her, looking at his feet.
"But why?" Claire asked again, "and what does that have to do with my hair?"
"I'm sure you'll figure out exactly what the problem was in your diary," Hermione told her, "but as far as I know you just wanted a change. And, I dunno. I don't know any of the details. You'll have to see if it's in your diary."
"Oh... okay. Thanks anyway." Claire said, "but about the fighting with Ron, how often did we fight? And why?"
Before anyone else had a chance to answer Ron said quickly, "I don't want to get into that right now." and that seemed to settle it. Hermione went back to her homework and the boys went back to their chess game. Claire continued to sit there, staring out the window, wondering what else she would find out about her life in the coming days.
She was running through the woods, desperate to get away. She could hear them gaining on her. She had to get back and warn everyone, if she didn't who knew what would happen? She didn't want to think about it. She needed to think about getting back.
The trees were getting thicker. She was nearing the heart of the forest. I'm halfway there, she thought. The yells behind her seemed to be getting closer. NO, she screamed in her head. They can't catch me! I've worked so hard to get away!
She turned to see how far ahead of them she was and gasped. A huge hand came through the trees and grabbed them. She stopped to catch her breath. She knew exactly whose hand it was. She was okay now. They were gone. But she still had to get back to warn the others as quickly as possible.
She made her way through the forest as fast as her legs allowed. Now that she was out of immediate danger she could feel exactly how much her legs really hurt.
The trees thinned. She could see the lights of the castle. She pushed open the heavy doors to find herself face to face with a tall figure.
"Welcome back Claire." he said menacingly, right before he hit her with the spell.
Claire woke up, breathing as hard as if she really did just run through those woods.
"It was just a dream," she told herself quietly. "Just a dream..."
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