The Eagle and The Serpent || Chloe Eszes

1

The translucent beams of the rising sun shot through my window. I noticed my greenish-blue curtains were bunched up at either side of my window. My mum was supposed to shut those last night. I wish she didn't forget, again. I took in the breaths of the early morning as I stared at the different objects representing my favorite house, Ravenclaw. I had an old blue and bronze scarf pinned to the wall next to the hole my dad called a window. A bookshelf sat lifeless at the other end of my small room. I owned a sizeable collection of books, mostly hand-me-downs from my family

I had a collection of old badges from my family dating back to twenty decades ago. Some of them were for prefect, or even head boy and head girl. Others were just the standard badge that represented your house.

My father and mother were both in Ravenclaw, but my father's mother had been a Gryffindor. Actually, most of my family dawned the blue badge with the eagle on it during their time at wizarding school.

I get to see my father's parents a lot. They usually give me some chocolate from Honeyduke's every time I am at their house. I don't really see my mother's parents. She always seemed to not enjoy being there. I know her father was a dueling champion, so maybe she always had some fear in her head that he might die. Although, I think shortly after my mum had been born, he became a teacher at Hogwarts.

I was still tired. I moved my sleepy feet down the cold stairs made up of various stones. An end-of-summer breeze floated through the window. I always liked those.

The smell of freshly-cooked scrambled eggs had also blown my way. I love scrambled eggs.

As I sat at the tiny table, an owl floated to the window and my mum untied an envelope from its claw. She looked at the envelope and then set it down next to me.

I took some pepper and sprinkled the tiny black and brown dots of flavor onto my eggs. I took some of the eggs and put them into my mouth. They were squishy and the only thing you could really taste was the pepper.

I grabbed the envelope. It had a hard red wax seal on it. Green writing had sunk into the back of it, forming my name and address. I carefully opened the envelope because I wanted to add it to our family's collection of acceptance letters.

I carefully took a piece of smooth parchment out. At the top, in more emerald ink, it read Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the top with the school crest. The crest featured a brave lion, a cunning serpent, a strong badger, and a majestic eagle.

I read through the handwritten letter. The next piece of parchment included my supplies list. I scanned through the lengthy list. I tried to recall if any of the books on the list were on my shelf upstairs. I gave up and took out a small piece of flat parchment. It was a bank note from my grandfather.

My mum's eyes widened and she tilted her head towards the wall with the mail window. She moved her hand over to mine and clenched the smallest piece of parchment.

"Chloe, what is that?" she asked, curiosity filled her voice.

"A note from grandpa," I said.

My mum nodded her small head. She turned and started to occupy herself with the filthy, dusty cookbooks. I don't know why we still have those. My dad almost never cooks, and both my mum and I easily memorized those.

I started dusting the reddish stands with an old feather duster. I wiped the mahogany stands with a damp cloth. I moved my hand over the smooth top of the stand. The back and forth motions reminded me of a dancer. One that turns with every beat of the piece