I don't own Harry Potter. I'm on vacation this week so you'll probably only get one chapter from me, Enjoy!
Pre-Hogwarts
Chapter 5
August 1987
Jo had arrived at Leilani's house for the first time about an hour ago, she'd been given a tour and had met Leili's dog, Annie, a fluffy West Highland terrier who had taken quite a liking to Jo.
"What would you say if I told you that I'm a witch?" Leili asked now, after closing her bedroom door.
"As in, abracadabra and alakazam?"
"Close enough."
"Tell me everything!" Jo demanded excitedly.
Leili grinned and began to tell her everything she knew, beginning with animals.
"First off, dragons are real, they're kind of rare and because they're dragons they have really tough skin so when a dragon dies- and I'm told that a dragon is like an organ donor, various parts are used for various things and the rest is buried or cremated or something- anyway when a dragon dies they use the skin for protective clothing, blood for potion ingredients, heart strings for wand cores and everything else for various things.
"Unicorns and centaurs and werewolves are real, I dunno about vampires or fairies though. Magic wands are real! And there are potions and spells and it's all really cool. And, we can travel by fireplace! If two fireplaces are hooked up to the Floo network then we can grab a handful of this glittery silver powder, toss it on the fire, step inside-the powder makes the fire bright green and totally harmless- say where you want to go and woosh! There you go!
"It's totally awesome, but if you mispronounce it you get spat out in the wrong place. Floo powder is smart, if it can't understand where you want to go, it'll guess, so, mispronounce Diagon alley and you'll be spit out in Knockturn alley, a place, I'm told, no sane person ever wants to be."
"Hey, Leili? What kind of tree is in your front yard?" Jo asked.
"It's a, um, watermelon red Mauling Myrtle," Leili said, watching Jo carefully for her reaction. She was giving her a lot of information and so far, she wasn't running screaming from the room, but a magical tree could just be the last straw. The Mauling Myrtle resembled the Crepe Myrtles of the muggle world, with one dangerous difference. If the tree didn't like you, or felt you were a danger to what it guarded, you were promptly mauled.
"I'm naming her Molly. Can we put a swing on her?" Jo grinned.