AN: I have decided to reformat this story and fix some minor errors. This chapter has combined previous chapters 4 and 5.
The Great Hall always made me feel very uncomfortable. So many people all around me, talking loudly with one another while chomping away on the grand and extravagant meals that were served to us three times a day. Who am I joking? Being in any room in Hogwarts always made me feel uncomfortable, for the school was packed with tons of young wizards and witches. I was definitely not used to being in a place with so many people. Even being in my 6th year here at this magical school, my nerves were still constantly at end. I was still not used to being surrounded by so many people.
You see, back home it was never like this. I live in one of those small villages that isn't even listed on most maps. Very low population. Chances are most people wouldn't even know what I was talking about if I told them where I live. That's how isolated my hometown is. I live in a tiny, beat up cottage with my parents. I'm their only child. I never got to know any of my neighbors, considering they live five miles away in either direction.
The school that I attended before Hogwarts consisted of sixty kids. That wasn't just for my year, but the entire school. Sixty kids in the whole entire school. That's all. There were only six other kids in my year when I went to that little school. I guess you could say that even then, I was isolated from my peers. When you're such a small classroom, with just six other kids, nothing goes unnoticed. When you are able to do weird things that other kids can't do, it scares them. It makes you that creepy girl that no one wants to sit by or talk to. These kids, they are normal and they are scared of you because you are anything but normal. They tattle on you to the teacher for making your pencil float a few inches above your desk. They try relentlessly to hit you with the balls during recess, and they can't figure out how all the balls seem to miss you every time.
Being a magical child in a small town is probably what started my socialization problems. Yes, I think that it is safe to say that my problems started then. I had no friends in my town. They all made fun of me and avoided me. I was the oddball. The outcast.
I had never told my parents about the things I could do. I hid it from them. I didn't want them to be afraid of me as well. I never told them that I could make things move without touching the objects with any part of my body. That is why they were very shocked when the letter came from Hogwarts. That is when I found out the truth about everything.
My parents, Emma and Richard Milo, were indeed very familiar with Hogwarts. They themselves had attended many years ago. After they graduated, they moved out here to this little cottage in this quiet town in the middle of nowhere. They never used magic again after that. They had seen a lot of people become corrupted by the power of magic. They did not want to be a part of that world any longer. My parents had hoped that I would be spared and never know of the magical world. They hoped that it would skip me. My parents were both what most would call Mudbloods. They had been born to families that had never known magic before. But somehow, they obtained this ability. This magical ability. My parents had never noticed me showing any signs of having magical powers. They assumed that the magic was not within me. So, when that Hogwarts letter arrived by owl, my parents couldn't believe it. They thought that there was some sort of mistake. How could it be? That's when they confronted me.
"Gabby, sweetie, can you come in the kitchen for a minute. Your father and I want to talk to you," my mother had told me when she knocked on my door.
I had walked into the kitchen, my parents sat on one side of the small wooden table, and I took a seat on the side opposite. I noticed how my father was clutching a thick piece of paper in his right hand. In the other hand was an envelope with some sort of weird seal hanging on the flap.
"Gab, sweetheart, have you noticed anything strange that you can do?" My father asked.
My mother had shot him this warning look. "What your father means is have you noticed that you can do things that the other kids can't do?" I looked at them watching me closely. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if I was going to be in trouble. I decided that I should answer truthfully.
"Y-Yes." Their eyes grew wide, and they had turned to each other in disbelief.
"What kind of things?" My father asked after another minute.
"I can lift things up, but without my hands."
"Can you show us, Gabby?" My mother asked, leaning closer.
I then focused on the banana on the counter. I levitated it a few inches in midair. My parents followed my eyes to the banana, and once they saw it floating, they both jumped up. My mom gasped. And that was when they finally told me the truth about them. That's when they explained to me what I really was. You would think that once I was at Hogwarts with all these other people who were just like me, who could do special things just like me, that I could feel at home. But alas, I did not. Even in a huge school filled with tons of other witches and wizards, I still feel alienated. I am still the outcast among the rest.
That Monday night I sat in my dormitory, bored to death. There wasn't really much to do, since I had already completed the assignments for all of my classes. I sat in my bed, doodling on a piece of parchment. I hadn't really intended on drawing anything in particular, I just sort of let my hand lead the quill in whatever direction it wanted to.
"Wow, that's a good drawing." I jumped a little, and looked up to see Lily Evans standing next to me, peering down at my parchment.
"Oh. Th-thank you."
"Do you draw often? You seem pretty talented."
"No, I, uh, just doodle sometimes."
"That's what you consider a doodle? I'd hate to see what you call artwork then," she said with a smile. I returned the gesture, not sure what to say. It was silent for a couple of minutes. I felt awkward, not knowing what I could possibly talk to Lily Evans about. After a couple more seconds of awkward silence, Lily said, "Well, I'll be off to bed now, nice talking to you Gabby."
"You too." With that, I looked down at my parchment, at the abstract looking image of a woman in a field, and then I set it aside. I was surprised that Lily had decided to talk to me, but I was grateful. She seemed like a really nice girl, and I would be happy to be a friend of hers. I slipped under the covers and blew out the candle on my bed stand, falling asleep with a sense of optimism.
The next couple of days went by without much going on. Lily made small talk with me every now and then when she saw me in the dormitory. It wasn't much, but it was an improvement in my life. Friday afternoon, I sat outside of the castle on a small boulder, reading a playwright by William Shakespeare called Twelfth Night. It was a bit chilly out, but it felt great to be outdoors none the less. I was absorbed in the book when suddenly I was snapped out of my trance by the sound of heavy panting. Confused, I looked up from my book and saw that the dog from the other day was back yet again. I smiled widely and it wagged its tail.
"Hey boy, what are you doing here again? Don't you have a home somewhere?" The dog sat now in front of me.
"I guess you like it here because the students will play with you," I sighed. "It must be fun to be a dog. Everyone thinks you're cute and they pay attention to you and love you unconditionally. Even when you make a mistake like drinking out of the toilet bowl, they can't stay mad at you for long, can they?"
He put his chin down on my knee. I lightly petted his head. He nudged my book with his nose. "What is it boy? Would you like me to read to you?" The dog wagged his tail. I laughed, "Alright then."
I read Twelfth Night aloud to my furry companion, and he sat still in front of me the whole entire time. It wasn't until I noticed the sun setting that I closed my book. "Well, that's all for now. I've got to get back to the castle." I stood up, and so did the dog.
"Bye-bye, pup," I said, patting his head one last time. He ran off to wherever it was he had come from, and I made my way up to the castle where I would sit in the Great Hall and eat dinner in silence.