Bloody Crushes- Literally!

ONE

A chill settled over the house as Christina crept down the hallway, her father's wand in one hand, a large book, almost the same size as her head, in the other hand. She had heard footsteps creaking downstairs, and although her brain was telling her to go back to bed, her body seemed to be almost possessed. Her breath came out in short, but quiet gasps, trying to cover the sound of her breathing so that the intruder wouldn't hear or see her coming. She would have been safer with a knife, but as she didn't know where this strange man was hiding, she didn't want to risk being killed in her very own kitchen, centimetres away from something that could change her life.

When she made it down the stairs, after barely dodging the squeaky step that always warned her parents when she was sneaking down for a snack, she found the shape of a man wrapping presents on the couch.

"Santa?" She whispered as she walked closer to the man. She then laughed at herself. Santa wasn't real, her father had told her so on only the eighth Christmas of her life. She then heard the deep and full laugh of her father. The light then flipped on, and her mother came into view as well. Her mother's hair was disheveled and she looked like she was having a really good nap.

"Why, hello, Tina. Too excited to sleep? You do leave for Hogwarts tomorrow. I was far more excited when I started. I kept my parents up all night with excitement," her father said as her mother jumped awake.

"I did the same, dear. My mother was mad when I fell asleep on the bus to the King's Cross. I slept on the train all the way there. I wonder if the train is still the same."

"I bet it is, darling. I don't think trains have changed that much in the past thirty years."

"You know muggles and their weird inventions. I bet they're trying to reinvent the wheel or something."

"I think the muggles have a whole saying about not reinventing the wheel. I'm pretty sure at least. I've only spent a little bit of time in the muggle worlds, but most of that has been working in their near-primitive hospitals."

"Why do you have my wand?"

"I was scared. I needed something to attack with."

"But you also have my atlas for some odd reason."

"Also something to attack with."

"I don't think that an atlas is the best weapon, Christina. You'd hurt the book more than any attacker," her father said as she rolled her eyes.

"Dear, you should head to bed now, we have to get up early to leave for the train," her mother said, as Christina started her way up the stairs. "Goodnight, dear!"

"Goodnight!"

The next morning Christina woke up before either her mother and father. Based on the small clock on her nightstand, she had awoken at five-thirty in the morning. She could feel electricity in her blood and she couldn't help but bounce around her room, waiting for the creaks of the stairs to know her parents were awake. She didn't want to wake up her parents, but she couldn't help but spend her whole time waiting, bouncing about her room, trying her very best to keep quiet.

"Chirstina!" She heard her father's voice yell, almost an hour after she woke up.

"Yeah?" She replied as she jumped up from her bed, excited that her father was up.

"What would you like for breakfast?" He asked as Christina dashed out of her bedroom, her curls bouncing as she ran.

"Eggs!" She yelled as she dashed down the stairs, so happy that her father was up so that she could leave for Hogwarts as soon as she humanly could.

"Alright. And just eggs?"

"Yeah!"

"How are you feeling your eggs today, Christina?" Her father asked as Christina sped into the kitchen.