The Swaddle

A/N: The next chapter is here. Enjoy.

On the other side of Kent, a boy named Leonard Swadshurt was awakening to the twittering of an over-excited owl. Nano the Burrowing Owl was flitting about the room, waiting to be let out. Leonard smiled slightly and opened the window, allowing the brown striped bird to go hunting. He looked around at his room, unable t of all back to sleep. A quick glance at the clock told him it was four in the morning. Leonard stretched and yawned, before sitting on his bed to read his favourite book at the moment, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He was particularly fond of the moving illustrations that demonstrated their behaviour.

Leonard was a Pure Blood Wizard, with two happy parents. He couldn't wait to receive his Hogwarts Letter, the school for only the best wizards and witches. He looked into the garden of his house, The Swaddle (so called because of the last name), and gazed at the flora growing there. Ignoring the butterflies and birds that were awaiting sunrise, Leonard turned back to his room. Portraits hung on the wall were snoozing, and Leonard was sure he had never been so bored. In that moment, he realized today was the day he would be getting his letter. Just to double check he was definitely not a Squib, Leonard flipped his duvet around a bit with magic. He was sort of able to control it, but after all, that's what Hogwarts was for, teaching students how to use magic. Quietly, Leonard slipped his dressing gown over him and snuck into the kitchen. Grabbing a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, he slinked onto his immaculate living room, slipping down to sit there. After devouring as much as he could, Leonard stopped eating the Beans as he just tasted the Vomit flavour and now really did feel sick rising in his throat. Deciding it best to lay down, Leonard again made his way upstairs. Nano was tapping at the window, a letter clasped in his sharp talons. Excitement rose in his chest, and Leonard let Nano in to retrieve the letter, after giving his beloved pet an affectionate stroke. Just as he suspected, it was indeed his Hogwarts letter. After reading it through quickly, Leonard immediately scribbled a reply, and locked his train ticket inside his drawers. Nano was once again sent off to make a delivery.

Without realizing it, Leonard had fallen asleep and when he awoke again, his mother, Frieda, was standing over him with a breakfast tray.

"Wakie, Wakie, it's 10 'o' clock. I heard a little someone was accepted into Hogwarts!" she cheeped. Leonard was still feeling slightly ill, so only nibbled a bit of everything.

"Not hungry?" Frieda said upon return, "not to worry, I bet you're just very excited. We're going to Diagon Alley this evening; it will be a bit quieter. Before you get started on your chores, I want you to talk to your sister. You two have always had a good relationship. I can't get her to talk to me about anything. You try." With that Frieda left the room. It was certainly true that his sister Letitia was feeling down lately. She was attending sixth year at Hogwarts that September, and obviously something had happened to get her down. Leonard could almost predict what was wrong with her.

He knocked on her door after dressing in his robes. Letitia answered with a cold stare. Upon realising it was her brother, she smiled and let him in. "What's up?" she said. She tossed her tight brown curls, and stared at her bespectacled brother.

"Well," Leonard began, "you've been down since the end of the year, that's what's up." Letitia had been expecting this. Frieda was always using them to find out what she wanted – but she could trust her brother with anything. Probably.

"Um… The OWLS were last year, and I don't think I did very well," she admitted. Leonard had been right, and he snorted.

"Please, you've been getting O in all of your assignments, I highly doubt that all of a sudden you're a T," he assured her. Smirking slightly, Letitia sighed and nodded. Trust her brother to be logical. "Yeah. I heard we're going to the Alley tomorrow. Looking forward to going to Hogwarts?" she replied. Leonard knew immediately what was coming next, "you'd better be in Ravenclaw, otherwise we are not speaking ever again," she saw his slightly scared face and added, "just joshing kiddo." This sentence signified the end of the conversation, so Leonard left her to it. Just before he reached the door, he smirked and said "Your results should come by the evening you know."

"I've already got them. Just too afraid to open them I guess."

After completing his mission, Leonard set to finish all of his chores by the afternoon. His daily routine was rather monotonous and he knew his jobs by heart. First, was to sort the bookshelves that lined the halls. His father, Horatio, was a neat freak, and required the books to be arranged in alphabetical order, and it took a while to do this, seeing as there were many bookshelves lining the walls. He was to do a shelf each day, and this time Leonard went for the L section. He looked at it for a while. Lockhart. He had heard his mother gush about this man, saying how great he was, how the worst things happened to the best people. Leonard had been told he has been placed under a severe memory charm. Wondering who would have done that to such a magnificent person, Leonard continued arranging. What was A History of Magic (Bathilda Bagshot) doing on this shelf? Trust Letitia to do that. A while passed, the shelf finally finished. Nodding with satisfaction, Leonard turned to perform his gardening routine. A wiggentree grew at the back of their garden, and sometimes they would get wand makers coming and going to take some twigs; it was a wand tree alright and that meant – "BOWTRUCKLES!" Leonard screamed as he approached the tree. Feeling threatened, the said creatures displayed their sharp claws to him. After he had retreated far-enough, the hand-sized critters resumed their peaceful demeanour. "Mum! Do we have any fairy eggs left? The Bowtruckles are made again!" Leonard shouted into the house.

"Top drawer in the first cupboard darling!" Frieda hollered back.

Taking the eggs carefully, Leonard offered them to the pests. Greedily, they took them all. Now that the 'truckles were distracted, Leonard seized the opportunity and started snipping dead leaves from the lower branches. A plethora of broken brown leaves littered the ground by the time he had finished, leading on to his next job, sweeping. Leonard dusted, cleaned and polished mirrors, windows, ornaments and wall items. The jobs got more and more tedious, to the point Leonard almost fell asleep. Finally, after much work, he managed to finish in time for dinner.

He walked into the kitchen to the aromas of chicken and potatoes, with a side of vegetables. His stomach growled moodily, waiting to be filled with the delight that was food. The taste of the vomit flavour bean had disappeared, and was quickly replaced with the delights of his dinner. Frieda smiled at her son while he ate. She couldn't wait to hear what his opinion of Hogwarts was – as he was so bright and plucky, she guaranteed he was destined to be in the house his whole family was in, Ravenclaw. If he wasn't… Well, Frieda wasn't going to be as bad as Walburga Black.

A/N: You know readers, the more reviews I get, the more I can adjust it to your tastes. Tell me what you thought of this chapter and the previous one. Thanks to my first reviewer, Moony 1972, you were very helpful. May not upload for a while, I have a ton of homework to do. Sorry. :/