Chapter 3
Merida knew she was different. And not just because she had red, curly, crazy hair or because she was taller than all of her classmates, but because she could do things. Things she couldn't explain to her teachers, or even her classmates. Her parents told her she had magic, but that she couldn't tell anyone. So when the strange things happened, she couldn't say anything, and had to listen to people call her freak. Even her teachers seemed a little scared of her.
She ate lunch alone in the corner of the cafeteria. Nobody talked to her, or even looked at her. In class, when the teacher made them choose partners for an activity, Merida was always the one left out. One of the girls, the "most evil person ever" (what Merida called her in her diary) Mary Cotton, told Merida everyday that she was ugly, freaky, and stupid.
One day, fed up with Mary's insults, Merida shouted at her, "Maybe I'm a freak, but I can beat you up since I'm taller than you!" She stepped forward and jutted her chin up and frowned down at Mary. Mary looked scared, but snapped back, "You're like a boy," and ran off.
That particular insult didn't insult Merida much. She actually liked the boys better than the girls at her school; they let her play soccer and basketball with them. She was really good at sports, and everyone wanted her on their team.
But when they went back to class, none of them would talk to her.
For her ninth birthday, Merida received a broomstick from her parents. She looked at her parents, and they laughed at the confused expression on her face.
"Stand up," her father told her, "And put your hand over the broomstick." Merida did so, and her father said, "Now, say, 'Up!'"
Merida's eyes widened and a huge smile broke out on her face. She shouted, "Up!" The broomstick flew up into her outstretched hand. Her mother applauded, and her father came over to show her how to sit on a broomstick properly. That afternoon, in their garden surrounded by tall oaks, her father gave Merida her first Quidditch lesson.
"But dad," Merida asked, wiping some sweat off her face as they headed in after the sunset, "I thought that underage wizards can't use magic outside of Hogwarts."
Her father winked and ruffled her hair. "Don't tell the Ministry."
Merida often used her broom to explore the woods surrounding her house. Her parents had warned her that bears and wolves lived in there, but whenever Merida encountered them she simply flew up into the branches of the nearest tree and waited for them to lose interest in her. She had play sword fights with trees (using her father's real sword that she stole from her parents' bedroom) and used the bow and arrows her mother gave her to shoot at targets she constructed on her own.
"Do you ever get worried that she spends too much time alone in those woods?" her mother asked her father.
Her father chuckled. "The girl is smart and brave. She can handle herself."
When Angus, her parents' owl, brought Merida's Hogwarts acceptance letter to her, she ran outside to where her mother was gardening. "Mom!" Merida shouted, smiling broadly. Her mother waved her wand, making geraniums sprout from the ground, and stood up to meet her. Merida showed her the Hogwarts seal on the letter, and her mother gasped.
They opened the letter together. "McGonagall is still headmaster? Goodness gracious," her mother commented.
"Minerva McGongall?" Merida said, reading the name from the letter.
"Minerva McGongall is a great woman," said her father, apparating next to Merida. "She fought in the Battle of Hogwarts and was the Transfiguration professor for many years."
"Just because she is a great fighter and a good teacher doesn't mean she knows how to run a school," grumbled Merida's mother. She flicked her wand and another batch of geraniums sprouted.
"Ahem," said Merida. Her parents looked at her. "I think we should be discussing the details of my trip to Diagon Alley," she said, smiling.