Beatrice yawned and pulled her blankets off of her, she drowsily walked from out of her bed and pulled the curtains up. Sunlight reached every corner of her room, she squinted her eyes as she faced the suns blazing glare.
"Bea!" Her mum called from downstairs,
"Coming, Mum!" She called back, putting on her clothes for the day, she stretched her hips and adjusted her socks, banging into the door as she walked out. She flicked her straight dark brown hair out of her shirt as she left. And slid down the hall and came into the room where her mum was cooking breakfast and her dad was reading the daily newspaper.
"Smells delicious Mum." Beatrice says, kissing her dad in the forehead. She took her seat on the table and waited patiently for her mum to bring the food.
"So, are you excited for your school tour, tomorrow?" Daniela, Beatrice's mum said,
"Eh, sorta." Beatrice said truthfully,
"Come on, it'll be fun. New friends, new teachers, new classroom."
"Sounds like a daydream." Beatrice says, sarcastically,
"Did ya hear?" Rowan, Beatrice's dad says, lifting down his newspaper revealing his brown eyes that matched her own. "some folk says they've seen a witch on a broom, you'll be surprised what he'd say next... Pfft, casting spells through the air." Daniela smiled with a amusement and slid eggs onto Beatrice's plate, doing the same for Rowan's. Beatrice began to wolf down the food, but Rowan didn't even touch his. But continued to read his newspaper, Beatrice took her last bites before mumbling.
"Going to my room."
Daniela nodded, and Beatrice departed to her room, she sat on her desk, and pulled out a paper and a pencil. The birds sang beautifully outside as the winds welcoming breeze drifted the song through the air. A sudden fluttering noise came from outside of her room,
"What the-" she heard her dad say, "a letter? From our fireplace?" Beatrice, sat up from her chair and opened her door, Rowan was holding a envelope, his chair was pushed back from the table. Beatrice walked forward to get a better look. The envelope read 'Beatrice Charles Panklton'
"It's for you darling." Daniela tried to grab it from Rowan but his grip was strong on the envelope. He tore it open and took out a neatly written letter. It took a few seconds for Rowan to read through it.
"Hogwarts?" He said, as his eyes met the top of the page again he began to reread the letter before saying, "what the ruddy hell is Hogwarts?"
"A school for witchcraft and wizardry." Daniela whispered guiltily,
"Witchcraft and wizardry...." Beatrice repeated with awe,
"You know about this?" Rowan demanded to Daniela,
"I went there... when I was a kid." She was speaking so low that Beatrice had to lean forward to hear.
"So basically a school for magic?" Rowan said, "a school for freaks." Daniela flinched at her husbands words, but still nodded in reply. "No way my daughter's going to that stupid excuse for a school."
"Well, frankly, it's not your choice!" Daniela snapped, finally looking Rowan in the eye. They both turned towards Beatrice, who awkwardly looked back at them,
"But... but I'm not even sure I can do magic!" Beatrice says,
"If you get a letter from Hogwarts, that must mean you can." Daniela said softly, in a reassuring tone. And Rowan grunted,
"Your actually considering going to that-"
Daniela elbowed Rowan in the gut to make him stop talking. Hogwarts... a school for magic.... The word 'magic' ran through Beatrice's head a few more times.
"I want it to go." Beatrice decided, "it must be better than going to a regular school... right?"
"Much better." Daniela says,
"Do I have a say in this?" Rowan demanded, furiously.
"No, you do not."
"As Beatrice's father I do-"
"As Beatrice's mother I have to right to say that she is going to Hogwarts." Daniela cuts Rowan off once more, sounding satisfied in herself she says, "and that's that."
Beatrice tucked in the last of her clothing into her bag, her mum had given her school stuff like a beginners magic book, potions books, and a quill and a bottle of ink.
"Ready to go?" Daniela asked,
"Yes."
"I got you a gift." Daniela rummaged through the bag and pulled out a rectangular box, and handed it to Beatrice. Who opened it and revealed piece of wood, reminding her of the toy wands she used to play with when she was little.
"A wand?" Beatrice looked up,
"How else do you expect witches and wizards to do there magic?"
"Wicked." Beatrice waved around the wand,
"Don't use it until you know how." Daniela ordered, "now let's go." She stepped through the fireplace, then quickly stopped, "right, you don't know how...."
"How?" Beatrice echoed,
Daniela ignored Beatrice and started to explain, "We're going to use the Floo network. All you do is grab some of this powder, and release it and shout were ever you want to go." Daniela instructed "we want to go to Diagon Alley, you go first." Beatrice nervously grabbed some powder from out of her mum's hand and stepped into the fireplace,
"Diagon Alley!" Beatrice shouted, before being transported to another fireplace, she looked around to see a crooked alleyway with a bunch of wizards and witches, carrying wands, books, robes, and owls, a lot of owls. A person suddenly crushed her, she looked up from the ground and saw her own mum.
"Oops! Sorry Bea!" She offered out a hand to help Beatrice get up, "are you alright?"
"Mhm, just feeling a little stiff." Beatrice said, taking her mum's hand to support her up. Her legs wobbled as she stood but quickly adjusted. She noticed her mum was pushing a trolley. They walked and walked down the alleyway, wizards and witches were shouldering them as they went. Tall crooked buildings surrounded her, she smiled at the sight of some of the crazy names of some of the shops. Daniela lead Beatrice towards a brick wall, and she held out her wand. She did something to the wall, and bricks started to fall out of place and made a passageway for them to go through, Daniela first stepped out, then it was Beatrice's turn, she simply just stepped out and went closer to her mum, the streets were not filled with people with robes and trolleys and cages, but with people with suits and briefcases. Beatrice recognized that they must be with the non-Magic users.
"Where are we going?" Beatrice asked,
"Kings Cross." Daniela replied, Beatrice had only been there once, the memory was blank place.
"What are we doing there?"
"Going to platform Nine and Three-Quarters."
"And what are we doing there?"
"Going on the Hogwarts express." Daniela said, then corrected herself. "Your going on the Hogwarts Express."
"You aren't coming?" Beatrice asked,
"No."
"What? Why?"
"I can't go to school with you. Have I ever gone to muggle school with you?"
"Muggle school?"
"Oh, right.... Erm, a school for people who don't use magic, muggles." Daniela stammered,
"Muggles." Beatrice repeated, making sure to remember that word. They walked a little longer before a huge crowd was forming at the train station, Beatrice grasped onto her mum's shirt as she guided her down the busy walkway.
"Okay, now." Daniela rolled up her sleeves, and offered a hand, directing Beatrice's free hand to hold onto the trolley. "We're going to run into that wall." Daniela pointed to the wall between platform nine and ten.
"What?" Beatrice turned to look at her mum with disbelief.
"In order to get to platform nine and three-quarters we must go through there. Now, come on." Daniela urged, and pushed the trolley towards the wall, and starting to jog,
"Wait!" Beatrice stepped back to stop the trolley from moving, her mum almost tipped into the trolley from the sudden stop,
"What is it?"
"Do we have to run?"
"I thought it would be easier."
"Erm... not for me." Beatrice didn't want to show her mum that she was nervous, so she quickly offered, "why don't you go first, give me a demonstration."
"Okay." When no muggles we're looking, Daniela broke into a jog towards the wall, she ducked her head a little, then she vanished.
"Mum?" Beatrice called out, then took a breath, gathering her courage, she first backed up and then copied what her mum had did and jogged a bit slower towards the wall, her trolley squeaking as it was being pushed. Beatrice stumbled at the wall, she was expecting a hard bang with her and the wall, but instead she disappeared into the wall, and reappeared into another platform. Beatrice looked around with awe, thick white steam flooded out of a train with a print in front that read 'Hogwarts Express' around her was a lot of people, both parents and children, some dressed in robes.
"Mum, do I have a robe like that?" Beatrice asked, pointing to a girl.
"No, but you'll get yours after your sorting ceremony." Daniela replied,
"Sorting ceremony?" Beatrice echoed,
"You'll learn eventually." Daniela muttered.
"It's beautiful in here." Beatrice murmured, admiring the big train, and the crowd of witches and wizards, she especially enjoyed the view of the steam that came out of the train. She took more time to explore before she went back to her mum.
"So, your not coming with me?" Beatrice asked, even thought she already knew the answer.
"No, I'm sorry sweetheart."
"I understand." Beatrice said, even though she didn't quite understand why her mum couldn't come to school with her. Then it felt silly thinking it was not strange for her mum to go to school with her. The train let out a loud whistle and a crowd of kids left their parents and went on the train, their faces was full of excitement, Beatrice was one out of a few that didn't board the train yet,
"Hurry, you must get in the train. You don't want it to leave you behind." Daniela shoed Beatrice towards the train entrance. "And that would be terrible." Daniela bent down to kiss Beatrice on the forehead, and she pulled her into a hug, Beatrice squeezed her lovingly.
"Bye Mum." Beatrice said, gathering her stuff from out of the trolley, "I don't need my trolley, I can carry my stuff,"
"Okay... bye Bea." Daniela blew Beatrice a kiss, and Beatrice waved goodbye, sadness struck her, she should've been more appreciative towards her mum during the summer time, because she wouldn't see her mum all year long. Beatrice walked through the isles, in search of a empty compartment, with Beatrice's luck, she couldn't find a single one that was empty.
"Hi..." Beatrice slid open a compartment door, waving shyly to a girl who was staring out the window. She had long brunette hair and blue eyes, she grunted in greeting. And Beatrice said with a small unnoticeable squeak, "I'm Beatrice." she had low confidence but managed to sound a little brave.
"Kira." The girl murmured, not seeming to care about a single thing about Beatrice.
"So, um... is this your first year too? Because it's mi—"
"I'd prefer silence." Kira shot Beatrice a deadly glance, "if you wouldn't mind."
"Yeah... no problem." Beatrice sat down across from Kira, taking a small distance. The train jerked forward and it started to click as it went. Beatrice stared out the window, outside was beautiful, the sun was shinning and flowers was swaying with the wind. Beatrice then noticed Kira was wearing robes. Beatrice studied the robe carefully, it had a small raven printed on the side.
"Why are you wearing robes? I thought we didn't get our robes yet." Beatrice asked, then remembered that she was supposed to be quiet.
"Oh, these are Ravenclaw robes, I'm wearing my sister's because I already knew I'll be put in Ravenclaw." Kira said matter-of-factly, a smug look on her face appeared. she seemed to forget that she made Beatrice go silent.
"What's Ravenclaw?" Beatrice asked,
A thin smirk rose on Kira's lips, "are you a mudblood?"
"Mudblood?" Beatrice repeated with hesitation, she could tell it was something bad by the tone of Kira's voice. Kira let out a chuckle and began to inspect her nails.
"Kira!" A blonde girl opened the compartment door, "what are you doing here? We're all in a different compartment, we were wondering where you were."
"What am I doing here." Kira muttered with a quick glance towards Beatrice. When her eyes met with Beatrice's shirt Kira let out a ugly giggle. "I'm coming." Kira gathered her stuff and hustled out the door with her friend, not even bothering to close the door behind them. Beatrice let out a scoff. When they left, Beatrice reached out to close the door, but a hand clutched it and slid it even wider open,
"Anything from the trolley, dear?" A witch asked, pulling a trolley full of treats, "we've got Chocolate frogs, Pumpkin pasties, Cauldron cakes."
"Oh, um, no thanks." Beatrice shook her head, and the witch continued to push her trolley forward. And Beatrice reached out, once more, to close the compartment door, but this time, nothing stopped her from doing so. Beatrice sat down, and closed the curtains that was shinning the scorching sun into the compartment. She wrapped her arms around her bag, searching for comfort from the bag, she already missed her mum. Beatrice stuffed her belongings into into her bag, it barley closed from all the stuff. A tall man walked by her compartment, and said,
"Almost at Hogwarts, pack your belongings."
Beatrice had already packed so she just sat still, wondering about what Hogwarts would be like, she'd imagine it would be huge, since the Hogwarts Express was packed with students. She could her muffled excited voices, chattering from outside her compartment. Students were peeking out of their compartment doors, they looked curious. Once the train came to a stop, kids were swarming the isle, but Beatrice just sat still. She clutched the bottom of her seat with unease. Once the isle cleared up a bit, Beatrice stood up and slid the compartment door open, she quickly stepped out, not wanting to get lost with the crowd. Beatrice heaved her bag over her shoulder and followed the rest of the students. The crowd continued to walk down the walkways of the train, Beatrice couldn't tell where the exits of the train were, she expected none of the other passengers did either. More people emerged from their compartments and joined the crowd of students, finally, Beatrice squeezed her way out and exited, she looked up and saw a huge man with a brown beard. Beatrice's mouth gaped with surprise and curiosity,
"Hey Hagrid!" A older boy jumped up and gave the man a high-five, the tall giant like person seemed to named 'Hagrid'
"Paul, meh boy!" Hagrid gave the boy a slap on the back, Paul stumbled forward with a wide smile. Hagrid then turned to the students on the train, "first years over 'ere!" He shouted, pointing to a empty spot next to him, Beatrice realized she was one of the 'first years' and scurried over there before she was carried away with the crowd. A lot of other students that were Beatrice's size joined her, some waving to each other.
"Now follow me." Hagrid ordered, once the crowd cleared up. And Beatrice and the others quickly walked forward with Hagrid in the lead, it was dark and a bit stormy. It seemed like the only light that was there was Hagrid's lamp he was carrying. They walked a bit further until they met up with water, everyone seemed confused on how they were going to get across.
"You can get in your boats, four is the maximum per boat." Hagrid said, heaving himself into a boat, and Beatrice heard Kira say to her friends,
"He's the size of six of us! How's the boat going to carry his weight?"
Beatrice boarded a boat and the others did the same, two girls and a boy joined Beatrice's boat, they seemed reluctant to board her's but they smiled towards her politely. Beatrice smiled weary back, and leaned backwards, but shot right back up when a huge castle appeared in the fog.
"Is... that Hogwarts?!" She heard a girl squeal pointing her hand wildly towards the castle.
Beatrice gasped with astonishment, It was quiet, everyone was silent from the breathtaking view. Beatrice couldn't help but wonder, am I actually going to stay here for the year?!
