"What do you mean?" I ask my mother.
"A school..." She begins.
"For what?" I demand, "I already go to school."
"Carter." She puts her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off and move further down the couch. The doorbell rings, and Zeffer sprints in, his paws slipping on the floor and sliding around, making the hallway look like more of a skating rink than a hallway. The umbrella stand knocks over. The doorbell rings again. Zeffer barks, looks at my mother, then take her empty spot on the couch. He hides his amber paws in my lap, and I pat his shaggy golden head. My mom comes in, followed by a lady wearing emerald green robes. Zeffer jumps off the couch like he was never there, and bounds over to the lady.
"Could you possibly get this dog off of me?" The lady inquires, not looking overjoyed to being licked by a dog.
"Of course." My mother grabs Zeffer by his collar and throws him in the kitchen. "Carter." She says when she gets back. "I would like you to meet Professor Minerva McGonagall. She is the headmistress of the the school in question."
"Nice to meet you." Professor McGonagall nods in my direction. "Do you know any myths about magic?" She asks me. I nod, remembering my Septimus Heap books on my shelf upstairs. I had to remember to pack them for camp... "Magic is real Carter." I look at her like she's crazy, which she probably is. "And you're a witch."
"Ok." I say slowly. "So suppose this magic is real. I'm a witch. But what about everyone else?
"They're muggles. And you are muggleborn. That means that neither of your parents are wizards. " I exchange a glance with my mother. "Unless your father is a wizard. In which case then you are a half-blood."
"My dad's a weatherman." I made up quickly. "But I'm a half-blood." I said under my breath. Professor McGonagall took no notice of this.
"In any case, your powers need to be trained. That is why you must attend Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry in the fall. Here is your acceptance letter. Have a nice day." There was a pop and Professor McGonagall disappeared into thin air.
"What about camp?" I asked. "You promised me I could stay all year. I promised them I would stay all year. "
"I know." My mom sighed. There was a slight cough from behind the bookshelves that signalled that we weren't the only ones who heard what Professor McGonagall had said. Thea popped out from behind the some books.
"So that's true?" She asked. No one answered.
The summer went by pretty quickly. Thea and I went to camp, although mom had to drive us, as we weren't there when the bus showed up. I got a letter from Rose visiting her grandparents in Australia that said she and Albus were going to a different school next year. I told them that so was I, and which school were they going to, so maybe we could hang out. And she said that is was a very elite boarding school that Albus' brother James went to, and that all of their cousins went to and that it was in London and that her family and Albus' family had only moved to America for 3 years. And I said oh well, there's always vacation, even though there really wasn't because I had to go to camp and because Rose was in . August passed in a rush of birds and bees, and capture the flag games and canoe races. And then it was the fireworks and the bead ceremony. My mom picked me up early so we could get a flight to London to go shopping for school supplies, because apparently there weren't any Wizarding stores in the US. Thea stayed at camp for the whole year as opposed to coming to London with us. And then it was September 1st and we headed to King's Cross in a taxi.