Chapter Three
Virginia was sure that this year's birthday would never be normal and joyful. She felt annoyed but couldn't find anything to do.
She was in a complex mood. If she really had been a eleven-year-old girl, she would have got very excited; but she wasn't at all excited. The story she read in her last life before she died had been obscure in her memory, but afterall she had an overall impression about it. It was like the story of mermaid: no matter how many years passed after you read it, if ever someone mentioned the story you would remember that at the end of the story the beautiful mermaid princess became bubbles in the seawater, while the prince married another princess – well, if it comes to details, perhaps most people would become prevaricated then.
During her last life, Virginia had an unfortunately poor memory. Even when she was young, she couldn't remember many simple things. But her memory can be recollected if she sees familiar people and things in front of her – these things often arise her recollections.
She tried to use this advantage as self-relief but couldn't feel happy.
If you think this is a fairytale, then it has left Virginia a very strange impression. She didn't feel most impressed by the plot; instead, she had complex emotional feelings, obscure and gloomy. She felt that it was nothing like a story for children – except that the protagonists were kids, most of the older generations had passed away. She suddenly felt sarcastic about it.
O'right, she admits that she was still reluctant and possibly afraid to open the letter. She didn't wish to accept the cold reality. But all that should come will come. She takes a deep breath and opens it with stiff fingers, and rigidly takes out the contents. There are two papers. She unfolds them slowly.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Acting Headmaster: Severus Snape
The second line was like a bolt to her. Virginia couldn't read the following words. Now she feels more shocked than at the time she was reborn in this world, even more than when she received the letter. She even forgets to breath but hold her mouth slightly open. Her eyes are not at all focused, just like she was stuck by the bolt.
She holds this position for somewhat like a century, till the bathtube was filled with water. The noise of water slopping over finally catches her attentions. She turns her head, again automatically.
Late when she thought about it, she couldn't account for her own actions. But now she walks toward the bathtube and sits down inside it, as though the noise of water is completely inaudible to her. It wasn't till the hot water warms up her body that she finally allows her sense to come to the real world. Then she laughs at herself. Now she knows it's never a hoax made by Rowling, althogh the plausibility in itself had always been very small indeed.
She puts the letter on the closet beside. Now she doesn't feel able to keep on reading it.
She immerses her whole body inside the hot water and thinks slowly. If the headmaster of Hogwarts now is Severus Snape…. Well, why not? She lately seemed to have forgotten to consider her birthyear.
She stares through the water in the bathtube. Everything seems so unreal, as though all had been a rather ridiculous dream.
Then she suddenly sits upright. No, it was never a dream. She had parents who love her; she had her own peaceful life. Nothing can damage this. She couln't deny her ten years of very happy life, but she admits that she was truly a bit frightened.
The fact that Severus Snape is the current headmaster of Hogwarts reveals several truths: First, Albus Dumbledore has already died. Second, this is the darkest year in the wizarding world. But she couldn't come up with anything else.
Has the Boy Who Lived been at Hogwarts this year? She had no memory about that.
When was Hogwarts attacked? She hasn't the slightest thought as well.
The only reason that drove her to read the last book of the Harry Potter series was that she wished to know how Severus Snape ended. Now she thinks about that – it was nothing curious about the fact that he was bitten to death by the huge snake of Voldemort.
What was the name of that huge snake? She still has not the faintest idea about that.
She has not at all the slightest advantage in the magical world! That was her final conclusion.
She cannot go to Hogwarts, because firstly her own safety is threatened, and then, most importantly, she doesn't know that she herself can do magic – oh magic! She considers it such a preposterous dream.
Appealing to the common sense, if she really is a witch…. A genuine witch…. Surely she should at least have encountered unusual things during her growth? Such as the so-called magical riot and sudden outburst of magic? That when she gets excited or angry, her surroundings should be influenced? That she should have to some degree damaged something if she gets into a temper?
All right she has to admit that since she was born , it never occurred that she lose her temper. Getting into an anger? Well, it seemed that she lived such a happy and satisfying life that she even didn't care to value it. She now regretted that deeply.
And surely, if these things ever happened, she would never have so ridiculously imagined that she be a witch. She would rather think that she possessed special skills, which, when heard, seemed much better than a witch.
Imagining herself on a broomstick, wearing a pointed witch hat and clocks, circling in the sky, Virginia though it as ridiculous as it can be.
No! She can never attend school there! Absolutely not!
Again reality has irrefutably demonstrated that not everything in the world conforms to people's will.
A slight knock on the door suggests Virginia's mum's presence, whose voice echoed, "Gini, are you all right? You have been in there for a long while."
Virginia was a bit flustered. She crambled out of the bathtube awkwardly, shouting at the same time, "I'm alright! I'm coming!" Unfortunately enough, her feet slipped, and she fell back to the bathtube, inhaling in a small amount of water at the same time.
Virginia's mum stopped knocking and called again, "Gini?"
"I….. I am alright!..." and finally did she came out of the bathtube. She quickly covered herself with a bathrobe, looked into the mirror, and casually rubbed her face. The girl in the mirror appears nice, with a ruddy face, and the hair sticked to her cheeks, neck and shoulders like weed. She attempted several times to make her hair appear fluffy, but in vain.
"Gini?", called Virginia's mum again.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Virginia inhaled deeply and opned the door with a smile on her face.
"Mummy!", she clutched at her bathrobe and stretched out her tiny head. Seeing her mum's worring face, she was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt. She walked out and hugged her mum.
Virginia's mum pulled her daughter into a deeper hug. Thinking about the abnormality of her daughter just now, and comparing it to her daughter's weak action now, she felt even more worried. If Virginia ever grasped a bit of her mum's thoughts, she would surely feel quite doleful. Heaven knows she hardly ever appear so sentimental, despite that she was indeed a bit weak then.
"Virginia,", Mum seldom calls her name so formally, and she is staring at her as she never did before, " You should know that no matter what happens, you can feel free to tell me and your dad. There's no one in the world that cares about you more than we do. Maybe someone in the future will care about you equally much, but no matter when and where you are, me and dad will ubconditionally stand beside you, do you understand?"
Virginia burst into tears. Tears slipped out of her eyes and quickly disappeared within Mum's clothes. Such an overpowering feeling of touch caught her up that she wasn't at all prepared. She nodded silently and clutched her mum more tightly.
At this time Dad came out of nowhere. She leaned on the door, watching them with a smile, till they felt a little embarrassed and broke apart. Then he said, " Oh my dear little princess, let me hug you as well." Actually this sounded a bit sour, and so they both laughed heartily.
Virginia smiled and pushed her parents out. She took with the door and stretched out her head and said, watching them, " If this gentleman and this lady should agree to wait till their little girl has dressed herself, then their little girl will have something important to tell them."
"My honor.", they both answered, and Dad pretended to take off his hat, bowing slightly.
Virginia closed the door and gave off a relaxed, long breath. She ran to the cabinate in the bathroom where the letter still lies.
She unfolded the letter and lay it on her bed. Dressing herself and drying her hair and at the same time glancing quickly over the content of the letter, she found that all conforms approximately consistently with her memory, save the signature of the headmaster. Deputy headmistress is still Minerva McGonagall, and the school starts on September 1st. All was same as they should be in any normal school, but she was a bit nonplussed by the line which instructed her to send back her responses with an owl before July 31st. She never had any owl; she even never touched a cat.
And then there were the textbooks and witch robes and so on. She was completely bewildered by these books. As to the wand, she had to admit that she was really a bit curious about it.
She automatically ignored the costumes, but how about the pots? Pewter pots? Pots made of wax? Well, she knew that pot meant cauldron, which is used during Potions lessons, but she still deemed it comical. Pots made of wax, weren't they molten when kindled? Then how can they be used to make potions?
Then according to the letter, all students are permitted to bring a pet with them ,either an owl, a cat or a toad. Well, now she understood why Neville brought the ugly toad with him. What she couln't grasp was why Ron was allowed to bring a rat. Perhaps it was because of the nobility of Ron's family, and the school made an exception in his favor?
She thought that if she were to go to Hogwarts, she would certainly refuse to take a toad, which makes her sick even by glancing at it. She wouldn't consider the owl as well, because letters can be sent with school owls. She would opt for a cat. A cat surely matches her well.
She suddenly cut short her cranky ideas. Now that she has made her decision not to go, she shouldn't be imagining the life there.
Magic? Her life will certainly not be disturbed with or without it. Moreover, she has never in the past found out that she had the least magical talent.
She put away the hair-dryer. Standing in front of the mirror, she felt much more comfortable than before. She picked up her letter and came out of her room.