When we had gotten home that evening, I was first attacked by Aletta, who insisted on letting her play with Tawn. My Father attacked me second, parading me with questions about the shopping trip.

"It was incredible Father. Very exciting and anticipating." I had told him quickly, hiding my bag of sweets inside one of my school robes.

All I wanted to do was go to my bedroom, set up Tawn's cage and take a peak at my books. Maybe even try to get a charm down and bite into a Bertie Botts Bean.

"Aletta, you can stroke Tawn all day tomorrow. Leave her be." I scolded, noticing Tawn was a mere poke away from nipping Aletta's finger.

She sighed dramatically, put her head down and pulled herself upstairs, dragging her left foot as if pretending to be a zombie.

I rolled my eyes at her acting then snapped my fingers, letting my supplies fall onto the floor. A loud crack was heard, and Skibby was instantly at my side, looking nervous as usual.

"Yes Mistress?" He said, tugging at his shopping bag.

"Take my stuff to my room, along with a mug of hot Apple Cider, just how I like it." I said to him, indicating to the cage full of books and Tawn.

He nodded and quickly began to work, muttering to himself in the progress. Instead of going to the Library, I headed towards Aletta's bedroom. Her's was a few doors to the right of mine, and as I escalated the three flights of stairs, scrapes and thumps preluded from her door. As soon as I was a foot away from her room, they became louder.

"Aletta? What are you doing?" I asked knocking on the door.

"N-nothing! Go away!"

I raised an eyebrow, then jiggled the handle. She always leaves it unlocked, no matter how much privacy she wants.

"Vanice! I told you to go awa-"

Her round eyes widened and she stopped at mid sentence when she noticed that I had found what was making all the racket. On the floor was Mother's cat, Dember. Next to Dember was a lump of pink silk cloth, ripped and torn. Aletta's wardrobe was knocked down and the canopy that hung over her bed was swinging slowly, dangling from only one side. Dember was calmly licking his paws, next to the silk. Then, he looked over the mess without interest, stretched his back and walked straight out of her room.

"I didn't do it! Dember was on my bed, napping and I accidentally sat on him and he freaked out! Don't tell Mum!" She said hoarsely, picking up the pink silk that was her curtain and putting it under her bed.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Skibby appeared at the doorway.

"All your ord-ders have been met, Mistress." He stammered, swaying his hands to the hall.

Immediately, I forgot about Dember and Aletta and ran to my room. Next to my twin size bed was Tawn's cage, and she was already inside, cleaning her feathers again. Beside her, was my mahogany desk. My books were piled on top, along with fresh quills, ink and parchment. The fire was freshly lit in the chimney, and on the small coffee table in front of it was a warm mug of Apple Cider, which had a scoop of Vanilla IceCream stirred inside.

"Which book should I open first?" I squealed with excitement, closing my door and grabbing my mug.

I sat on my desk, pulled the closest book towards me and opened it up, placing the mug a few inches away.

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade One? Let's see what we have here..."

The spells and charms were all so fascinating, and useful. The Unlocking Charm would come in handy, as would the Wand-Lighting Charm. And the Fire-Making Spell I would definitely use. What made it even better for me is that I had photographic memory, so by the time I was halfway done with each book, I had remembered most of the spells, charms, plants and beasts.

"I can't wait until Hogwarts begins. I bet their Apple," I yawned, rubbing my eyes, "Cider is...much...better...than...thizzzzzz..."

The mug rolled out of my hands and clattered to the floor. I had fallen asleep on my desk, and in three hours, it was going to be six in the morning. Staying up all night studying for school before it's even started. What a wonderful excuse for not getting any sleep.

.

•~•~LATER THAT EVENING~•~•

.

"Can I see your wand?" Aletta asked me, putting her tiny hands out.

I turned it around in my fingers, admiring it and ignoring Aletta. It was beautiful. The handle had carved swirls, that slowly went up to the tip, diminishing and eventually blending into the core of the wand. It was curved a little, looking ever so slightly like a crescent moon.

My eyes were droopy due to the lack of sleep, and I had decided to take a nap in the Library when Aletta came in. She saw that I was looking at my wand and immediately began to pout, wanting one of her own.

"Please?" Aletta's voice pleaded, interrupting my thoughts.

"You'll get your own in three years." I told her, clutching the wand to my chest.

"But Vanice...I just wanna hold it!"

"But Aletta...it's mine." I said, standing up from the couch and walking away from her.

She stamped her foot down angrily, but I didn't look back. She did it again and I kept walking and left the Library, heading to my room. A soon as I stepped in, Tawn stopped pecking at her food and looked at me.

"Hrrrooo, hrrrooo!" She hooted, fluttering in her cage.

"Let me let you out Tawn. You must be annoyed being cooped up all day." I cooed, unlocking her cage door and stroking her head.

She soared out of her cage, swooping under my arms and using her talons to yank at my hair a bit. Giggling, I sat on my bed

"Tomorrow we go to Hogwarts, and I expect you to be the prettiest owl there." I said, watching her fly around my room.

As if telling me that I was stating the obvious, she landed on my knees and pecked me, then cooed in an ignorant tone.

I laughed and gave her a treat.

"Come help me with packing my books and supplies in my trunks." I told her standing up.

I pulled out two wooden trunks from under my bed, dragged them to the fluffy white rug in the middle of my room and opened each one, leaving the lid hanging open.

"Alright Tawn. Get me my books."

In a flash, she swooped down, grabbed two books from my desk with her talons and dropped them into the trunk, making a loud THUMP in the process. I arranged the books so that they were piled on top of each other, and as Tawn brought me the last book, I smirked, noticing that it was at perfect height.

"I'll get everything else. Thank you darling." I told her, noticing she was trying to claw onto the ink bottles.

The first trunk was soon filled with my books, telescope, phials, parchments, quills and ink. When it was all perfectly packed, and I moved onto the second one, which was to be filled with my robes.

"Alright, I'll put the winter-wear on the bottom...and the others on top...oh!"

My bag of sweets rolled out of my robe pocket and clattered onto the floor, spilling a few Droobles Best Blowing Gums. As I scrambled to pick them up, Tawn began to nip at my fingers.

"Ow! Tawn! That-OW! Alright! You can have one!" I yelled, throwing one across the room.

Angry and agitated, I picked up the rest of the candy, stuffed it back into the pouch and placed it on top of the robes slamming the lid shut. I glanced at Tawn and saw her happily chewing the bubble gum.

"How lovely." I muttered to her, putting my cauldron on top of the trunks and sliding them by my door. "A bird with the same sweet tooth as me. How absolutely lovely."

Tawn hooted back, as if giving me a smirk. I rolled my eyes and went to my closet to pick out some warm pajamas and then closed the curtains. Leaving the fire on, I crawled into bed and Tawn situated herself on my knees again. She cocked her head and hooted.

"Tomorrow's a big day." I mumbled to her. "A big day."

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Alright, so I have some news. There will be two more OC's, and I really hope they're OK. One of them is necessary because of Snape's issue with Lily, and the other is just so Vanice can have a best friend.

•Question for the chapter...

- What is one of the biggest pet peeves you have with The Wizarding World?

R&R, favorite and follow, PM me and I'll see you next chapter!