4. Evra's Surprise

Knock, Knock, Knock! Evra's dream was broken. She rolled over to think when she heard it again. Knock! Knock! Knock! She rose from her bed, pulled on her bed robe and left the room. She walked down two flights of stairs and too the front door. She called out, "Who's there?" No answer came. She repeated, "Who's there?" only a bit louder. She peeped through the eyehole, none she saw. She opened the large oak door and spotted a letter on the doorstep. She picked it up, it was for her. She looked around but all she saw was an owl. She listened to it coo. It sounded beautiful.

Another sound reached her ears. The sound of footsteps. She turned to see the Headmistress walking towards her.

"Evralicia! What are you doing downstairs?" Mrs Winsten asked cruelly.

"I'm … I'm… I heard a knock at the door." Evra answered nervously

"Well, I didn't! Now go back to bed and don't wake Selika." Mrs Winsten said strongly.

She strolled back up the stairs to her room and sat on her bed to open her letter, when she heard Selika ask "Evra where did you go?"

"Um… to the toilet."

"Where did you get that?"

"Well…I…um…"

"You didn't go to the toilet did you?"

"No I didn't."

"Where did you go then?"

"I went down stairs to answer the door."

"To answer the door?"

"Yes, I heard the knocking? Did you?"

"No, I didn't"

"You were asleep!"

"No I was awake, I had a nightmare. I've been awake for two hours."

"Oh"

"Well, what does it say?" Selika then asked.

"What?" Evra glanced down, "Oh, I haven't read it yet."

"Come on read it, I want to know who it is from."

"Oh… Oh… It's from…wha?"

"What… What is it? What does it say?"

"It says,

Dear Evralicia Briarta,

Sorry for the late notice. I am afraid we lost contact with you after your mother's death. When your father broke out of Azkaban, we asked him and he directed us…"

"Us, Evra, who and where did this come from?" Selika asked and then muttered Azkaban.

"Um… it's from Professor Dumbledore at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Evra said in a confused voice.

"Evra you're a witch and you didn't tell me!" Selika stated disappointedly.

"I'm a w…wit…witch. I didn't know. But if I did why would I tell you?"

"I'm a witch too. Well my mum was but I'm a squib."

"A what?"

"A squib. It's a person whose parents are magical and their not." Selika said sadly.

"What do I do about it?" Evra asked politely. "The letter I mean."

"Well you… Um… Well read it. It should be self explanatory." Stuttered Selika. "I can read it? I have always wanted one of those letters."

"Okay." Evra answered. "But wait till after me." All fell silent while Evra read the letter. Evra glanced up and saw Selika's hazel eyes fixed on the letter and her finger twirling her black hair. A thought crossed Evra's mind, 'What if there's a letter for Selika'. Suddenly Evra blurted out, "Selika we must go down stairs."

"Why?"

"You might have a letter."

"No…No… Are you serious?"

"I don't know. Do you want to check?"

"Yes!"

"Shh, sh, sh, quiet down. Let's go."

Selika put on her bed robe, and said, "Evra, what about Mrs Winsten?'

"What do you mean?

"She might catch us down stairs."

"Oh, don't worry! I've got a plan."

Five minutes later in the toilets, "Selika, remove your hand from your nose." Evra stated.

"But it sinks in here. Where is it coming from?"

"Selika, it's a toilet, of course it stinks," Evra stated.

"I'll take my hand off my nose then alright? Any way, what you grand plan have to do with the toilet block?" Selika said sarcastically.

"Everything. This how it works. We'll trash this toilet block, then go down stairs. One of us keeps an eye out for anyone and the other checks for the letter," Evra explained.

"Why are we trashing the toilet block?" Selika asked in a confused way.

"Oh well, there is toilets down stairs, right?"

"Yeah! But that still doesn't give us a reason to trash the toilets."

"I'm not finished explaining yet. Now no one uses a trashed toilet, right!"

"Get to the point" Seika said angrily.

"Okay…Okay… Calm down, we'll go down stairs and if Mrs Winsten sees us we'll say were going to the toilet…."

"She'll ask us why we didn't use the up stairs toilets!"

"Selika let me finish. The toilet will be trashed, so we'll tell her that there trashed if she asks us why we used the down stairs toilets. Understand?"

"Yes, we'll trash the toilets, go down stairs, get the letter and if Mrs Winsten sees us, we'll say the toilets up stairs are trashed so we were going to the other toilets. But if she doesn't see us we'll go to the toilet, then find her and tell her about the other toilets…"

"No Selika, don't look for her and only tell if she sees us and asks us why we were using the other toilet."

"But she will find it and blame us."

"No the cleaners come at 5 o'clock. They'll clean it up."

"Cool, we're going to get away with this."

"Okay Selika, quiet down, you stand there and I'll throw half the toilet paper to you" The room wasn't clean to start with but they were making it worse. When they left the room, it was as though someone had dropped an atomic bomb.

Evra quickly sneaked down the first flight of stairs and search for teachers. There were none in sight. She signalled Selika to come to her and whispered in her ear, "OK, We've made it thus far without being seen. There is no turning back after this point. Do you understand?"

"A ha, continue."

"I'll look out for Mrs Winston and any other teacher or students. Mean while you retrieve the letter, alright?" Evra said.

"Yeah Cool."

"Let's do it!" Evra finished.

Evra then looked around before running across the corridor to the last flight of stairs then signalling Selika to follow. The two of them walked together down the stairs quietly. Evra thought of stories were there is always a squeaky step and smirked, she knew that the person in the story would be caught if in her situation, thanks to the squeaky step. But Winston's Ladies Orphanage House was well maintained and had no squeaky steps. Once reaching the bottom step Evra glanced both ways. The coast was clear. Selika ran to the large oak wood door and pulled it open, and crept outside. Thanks to maintenance, the door opened silently. Evra kept her eyes peeled. Selika entered the building with eleven letters in hand. Evra didn't speak; she just began to walk to the stairs when her stomach jolted. Someone was coming down stairs.

Evra turned and took Selika's hand and dived into the cleaners' closet. The door isn't always open, but this time was an exception. The clock on the wall read 5:30 am. Selika shook with fear, "They'll catch us!" Selika whispered. Followed by Evra swearing and saying, "It's the ruddy cleaners. We'll be stuck here for a half an hour."

Selika jumped behind table and whispered, "Door". Evra had just enough time to do the same when three cleaners entered talking about the toilets, then picking up toilet cleaning agents and left the room. Without thought, Evra jumped up, took Selika's hand and silently followed the cleaners.

The cleaners went up two flights of stairs and turned left, and headed towards the toilet. The girls went right and to their room at the end of the hall. They opened the door, raced in and closed it behind them. Selika then handed Evra four letters and opened her own letter. Evra felt tied at this point, took off her robe, hopped into bed, pulled on her covers, and tried to sleep. "I'm in!" Selika's said just before Evra fell into a dream, 'I hope this wasn't a dream.' Evra thought.