The Sister God Forgot to Give Me
As we go on we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change come whatever
We will still be Friends Forever
-"Graduation" Vitamin C
Christabel Valwick had everything a little girl could ever want. Well, almost everything. Her parents had a large bank account, and bought their only daughter all of the nicest and most expensive gifts, but they were never around. Mr. and Mrs. Valwick donated large sums of money to important charities in the Wizarding world, and were almost always gone away at a social gathering or fancy ball. To an outsider Christabel was living the perfect life.
To Christabel, she was living in her own personal hell. Her parents were never around, and if they were they treated Christabel like she was a part of the décor. For the first 7 years of her life, Christabel never had a single friend, unless you counted the house elf, Stubby, and Christabel didn't. Stubby was more of a babysitter anyway.
Christabel had brown curly hair, and took extra care to try and style it like her mother's. She thought that if she tried to be just like Mrs. Valwick, then maybe her parents would notice her. Of course, when this didn't work, Christabel would sit alone in her dark bedroom and stare at her face in the mirror as her chocolaty brown eyes leaked tears.
While most girls were dreaming of castles in the sky, Christabel was dreaming of things a little closer to earth. More than anything, she wanted a friend.
--
Jena Sinclair was the third of 5 children, and the only girl. Her parents weren't as well off as some pure blood families were, but considering they had five children they lived very comfortably. Jena didn't get everything she wanted, but as her mother said, it made her appreciate what she did have.
Growing up with four brothers made Jena into what some call a "tom-boy." She liked to do boy things, and was disgusted by ribbons and bows, and dolls. She preferred getting dirty, playing in the yard with her brothers, and flying. Between the five Sinclair children, they shared three broomsticks that were of decent quality. Adam, Jena's oldest brother, was on his house Quidditch team at Hogwarts staring his third year, and was usually took charge of the Sinclair kids' game.
Jena was always tall for her age, and always wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail. She looked just like her mother, and three of her four brothers, with the same yellow blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Adam, the oldest, took after Mr. Sinclair with his dark brown hair and matching brown eyes.
--
Christabel and Jena met one afternoon late in July when they were both 7. Jena and her brothers had walked to the park at the center of the neighborhood and passed the very posh Valwick Estate. Being naturally curious children, they stopped at the gate and looked toward the sweeping estate, imagining what sort of people lived in there. Jena envisioned fabulous rich and famous people living in the lap of luxury there, and was surprised to see a young girl her age in one of the upstairs windows. The two girls made eye contact, and Jena smiled a friendly smile. The girl in the window look scared and a little confused, but soon left the window and came out to the gate.
"Hi, I'm Jena! Your house is wicked!" Jena said slipping her arm through the fence to shake the girl's hand. Christabel hesitated for a second and then returned the shake.
"I'm Christabel, and it's not really all that great." Christabel said.
"What kind of name is Christabel?" Jena's second youngest brother, Caden, asked.
"Caden!" shouted Jena and Adam.
"It's ok, I hate my name anyway." Christabel said.
"If you hate it then why don't you use a nickname?" asked the second oldest Sinclair boy, Frank. "My name is Francis, but everyone calls me Frank, unless it's mum and she's really angry."
"No one has ever really addressed me as Christabel except my parents on a few very rare occasions, and I can't really tell them I hate the name they gave me."
"Don't you have any friends?" Jena asked.
"No," Christabel said sadly.
"I can be your friend." Jena said. "And we can call you Chrissy. How do you like that?"
"It's better than Christabel." From that moment on Jena and Chrissy were best friends. Chrissy went with the Sinclair kids to the park and played with them all afternoon. When they left that evening, Chrissy went home with Jena and ate dinner with the Sinclair family. None of them had any idea how close they would get in the coming years.
By the age of 9, Jena and Chrissy were inseparable. Mrs. Sinclair joked that she actually had two daughters, Jena and Chrissy. Chrissy spent more nights at the Sinclair house than her own, only going home when she knew her parents would be around.
Jena turned 11 two months before Chrissy. Her parents had a small party, with relatives being most of the guests. Of course, Chrissy was present, although at this point she was pretty much considered family. Jena's Grandmother gave Chrissy a big hug when she arrived, overlooking the fact that Chrissy is not really her granddaughter.
The party lasted well into the night. Jena opened all of her presents, and after they were done, started playing with them along with Chrissy and her brothers. From her aunt and uncle, Jena got her own broomstick, and she took it outside out fly around the yard on it. Chrissy watched from the ground, being afraid of heights and not liking flying anyway. Jena and her brothers started playing a two-on-two game of Quidditch, and soon many of the guests were watching.
For Chrissy's 11th birthday, Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair threw her a small party. While this one wasn't as big as Jena's, Chrissy was still very thankful for it. Her parents never really acknowledged her birthday. She got gifts on random days, although they were left where she would find them rather than presented to her in person. Chrissy suspected her parents had forgotten her birthday and instead showered her with gifts all year to make up for it. Honestly though, Chrissy would rather they gave her a hug and a kiss and wisher her happy birthday then get her expensive gifts.
Chrissy's party consisted of the entire Sinclair clan, as well as a few neighbors. They had cake and presents and party games. It was by far the best birthday Chrissy had ever had.
Spring turned to summer and by late July Jena and Chrissy were anxiously awaiting their Hogwarts letters. Chrissy went home every day in July just to check for any post.
One sunny afternoon in July, those letters finally arrived. Surprisingly, Chrissy's letter arrived along with Jena, Frank and Adam's letters at the Sinclair house. The letters were identical, save for the names they were addressed to.
Dear Miss Valwick,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
--
Dear Miss Sinclair,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Jena and Chrissy were so excited to get their letters that they begged Mrs. Sinclair to take them to Diagon Alley that day to buy their school supplies. Chrissy ran home to get the key to her Gringotts vault, and then they were on their way.
Mrs. Sinclair, her five children, and Chrissy traveled to The Leaky Cauldron via floo powder. Chrissy had only traveled this way once before and absolutely hated it. She always came out of the fireplace full of soot. Jena on the other hand loved traveling by floo powder, although she had done it many more times than Chrissy. Sure, it made you dizzy and you get soot in you hair and on your clothes, but it was pretty wicked in Jena's opinion.
After arriving in the Leaky Cauldron, the Sinclairs and Chrissy went out back to where the entrance to Diagon Alley is. Mrs. Sinclair took out her wand and tapped a brick which opened a large archway in the formerly solid wall. Their first stop was Gringotts, where they stopped at Chrissy's vault and the Sinclair's vault. After their moneybags were filled up, they walked through the street, stopping in stores for books, potions ingredients, robes, quills, parchment, and lastly, wands. Once Jena and Chrissy had purchased their wands from Ollivander's, the family met up again to head back to the Sinclair's house. Again, they traveled by floo powder, bringing mounds of soot into Mrs. Sinclair's spotlessly clean drawing room. With a wave of her wand, Mrs. Sinclair returned the room to its usually clean state.
Chrissy went home that night and slept in her own bed for the first time in nearly three months. She listened carefully for any sign that her parents might come home, hoping to share with them the news of the letter she got that day. When morning came, and Chrissy was still alone in the large house, she gave up hope that her parents ever really cared for her at all. She didn't even bother leaving any kind of note, and just left for the Sinclair's house for the rest of summer.
On the eve of September 1st, Mrs. Sinclair told Chrissy she should try going home again and letting her parents know she would be leaving for school the next day. Chrissy reluctantly agreed, only going if Jena would come along. The two girls sat in the large drawing room until 11:30 when Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair came and brought them home for the night. Chrissy's parents never came home.
As Chrissy walked away from her house and back to Jena's house, she felt a tear roll down her cheek at the thought of her parents not even wanting to say goodbye.
Jena noticed this and put her arm around the girl she had come to call her sister. The girls sat up all night quietly talking about what was to come, ignoring what had happened that evening. They fell asleep at 4:30 in the morning, only to be awoken 4 hours later.
A/N: I'd just like to remind you all of my request from the first chapter for a sorting hat song. I will seriously love you forever if you write me one!
response to my reviewers:
Again, no reviews. This makes me tres sad. But I will get over it. I am figuring that people are losing interest in these begining chapters, so I shall speed up the process. Unfortunatly, after they reach Hogwarts, I only have three or four chapters completed. So Since I am speeding up the uipdate process now, its going to mean slower updates later on (that is until the end which i have pretty much already finshed). So I ask for some feedback here. Any feedback. Thoughts on my story, thoughts about life,ideas about how 11 year old British wizards talk and act, anything. I hate to beg, so please don't make me! Just read and review!
DISCLAIMER: I do no own any of this nor am I making any profit, this is just my way of passing boring summer nights, and I'm sure eventually it will become another way for me to procrastinate once school starts up again. All names, places, ect. From the Harry Potter world belong to JK Rowling and the publishers ect. and the song quotes belong to their respective artists and the correct rights owners.