(Chapter 5 edited 12/27/06)
It seems like forever since I have seen him. Growing up in a rural area was tough because there were few kids around my age. I guess its obvious where I grew up from my accent. I have always been misunderstood-literally and figuratively due to that. On the upside there were very few muggles in the area so I was able to play quidditch all the time. Quidditch, the best game ever invented! I really don't understand why it isn't a bigger deal in life. To muggles, football (soccer to Americans), baseball, American football, and to some degree golf, seem to have bigger influences in daily life then in comparison with quidditch.
Don't get me wrong. It is my favorite sport, but sometimes I think that there is something else out there for me, but it is all that is expected of me. You see my father was an avid quidditch fan, but a horrible flier, and my mother is terrified of heights, but does not expect anything of me. She thinks that I am a stupid mindless jock. Yes I go on and on about quidditch but it isn't the only thing in my life. I enjoy the finer things in life, but my enthusiasm for my favorite pastime is often misunderstood as an unhealthy obsession; you see my mother doesn't approve of my father's interest in quidditch. She is a bookworm and a prude. I know you shouldn't say bad things about your parents, but everyone says it: my father, my grandparents, her friends, etc.
It is hard living in my household. I sometimes wish I could swap lives with someone. Just because I couldn't play a stupid violin or memorize a lot of stupid poetry at age 2, my mother thought I was a complete idiot and blamed it on my father. She was disappointed that I was not a "genius" such as herself. Don't get me wrong, she is a smart woman, but walks all over others to get what she wants.
MY father was ecstatic when he caught me on his broom one day. I was just a wee little lad, and I was flying on his broom. It was my first bit of accidental magic. I got a good beating from my mother for taking up such foolishness as that, but my grandparents (especially her parents) and my father were proud. They knew I would be a natural and that's all the expected me. Though they did not agree with my mother's verdict on my intelligence, they didn't have many expectations in regards with academics.
I will admit I had reading and writing for a lesson, but I do enjoy a good book from time to time. I am not obsessed with quidditch and have it on the brain all of the time. I wish everything would just go back to much simpler times.
I think I was like three when I met him. He was the nicest kid ever. He saved me from this weird dog thing. I swear it had three heads. He shot a very strong gale of wind out of his hands. OR well I think that's what he did. He was too young for a wand, but then again I got one later one before I was off to Hogwarts. It was an unspoken rule that magical families (especially the old ones) gave old wands belonging to deceased family members to the children to practice magic to be at the top of their classes…that rarely worked for many of the muggleborns outranked the oldest of the pureblooded families. It is not so much about skill as it is ability. Knowing something is not the same as doing it.
xXxXxXxXx The Four xXxXxXxXx
I feel sorry for the muggleborns at times because they are thrown into a new world and there are at time such low expectations for them and at other times impossibly high ones. People do not give them enough credit. My family believes that it is not the blood of the wizard, but the ability and skill.
I was never very good at magic. Well I could some transfiguration just fine and was good at herbology to some degree, but I was a disappointment to both of them when it came to charms and history or magic. Both of them were well versed in both of the areas. It was the one thing my father wasn't too keen off me. He knew I tried my best and always gave more than 100, but didn't understand how two of the leading historians and charms practitioners in Britain could produce a son without much skill in either one. HE understood that history is more of a personal taste. But the natural ability in charms runs through my family's blood. IT is what we have been known for, and the reason the majority of my family have been placed in Ravenclaw for generations.
I have never been that much of a student, but I always tried. I just never found it very interesting. I tried but it never… I could never pay attention long enough to really understand it. I just don't think I am cut out to be in this family. I wish I was, but I guess quidditch is all that I have.
xXxXxXxXx The Four xXxXxXxXx
We were good friends after that incident with that strange dog thing. I was so scared then and then out of nowhere he saved me. HE looked familiar, but I couldn't think of where I had seen him before. My parents were very overprotective of me, despite their opinions on my future. We were inseparable. Our parents became good friends quickly, but then it happened. I think I was six. I heard screams coming from his house. I ran over there and there was smoke everywhere. And… there was no one inside.
I never saw him again until Hogwarts. I never really expected him to be there. That was really stupid of me because it is basically the only school for witchcraft and wizardry in Great Britain. Yes there are a few smaller schools but they tend to focus on one area in particular, and are quite mediocre. I don't know why I really thought that, but I guess it was so long since he left abruptly that all hope of seeing him again had faded away. I wasn't ready for the surprises in store for me at Hogwarts
By then I had decent control of the flames I create when I am angry. It didn't necessarily have to be when I was angry, but it was triggered by my emotions.
xXxXxXxXx The Four xXxXxXxXx
Author's Note
Here's another update to keep you all happy. My MacBook is acting strangely so this is taking longer than expected. From 158 words to approx. 1000-not too shabby
Happy Holidays and please review!
-Keeper (12/27/06)