Prologue

21 2 0
                                    


It was nearly midnight. Everything was quiet here at Ottery St. Catchpole, in Enadira's lovely home. Nobody was awake except for her because in three days, her daughter Willow will attend her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enadira has been thinking about this since Willow was in her womb. She was very excited at the time about how Willow would turn out to be, and now her daughter is eleven years old.

Enadira was thinking about how she was going to make sure her daughter had the special seven years at Hogwarts that she had—well, six years from her. Enadira's family has a tradition that whenever a child leaves for Hogwarts, the mother must give a journal for each year their child attends and may only read it once. This tradition started with Enadira's mother, Nora Cromwell. Nora made seven journals for Enadira when she began her first year at Hogwarts in 1991. Moving away from the study room, Enadira grabbed an empty brown journal and wrote on the title with special ink, "First Year."

Before she could start writing, Enadira lit a candle in honor of her parents and smiled as the candle scent filled the room—the smell of home. "I am doing this for my family," Enadira thought and exhaled while sitting down in the study room. She got distracted again by the full moon tonight shining through the drapes in the room, and she couldn't help but sigh. As she grabbed her wand and waved, the drapes closed. She thought for a second about how she was going to write it, but decided to tell her the beginning from her own perspective. She began to write:

My lovely Willow,

Firstly, congratulations on entering Hogwarts! Your father and I will be happy in any house you enter. My darling daughter, this is a tradition that your grandmother started and that I will continue with you. Each year when you begin, I will give you a journal that will entail my experiences at Hogwarts when I was just eleven years old, and so forth. I wish to share with you my special memories, good and bad. I will give a warning, however: there will be some romantic moments in these journals about your father and me.

Now, before I write about my first year back in 1991, I want to tell you a bit about the background of my family because your father told you about his. On my mothers side of the family, there were only pure bloods. Pure-bloods are those who are born as full wizards. The majority were also housed in Slytherin, though there were few successful Ravenclaws. My family only accepted purebloods and Slytherins; my grandmother, Rosalind Cromwell, who is also your great grandmother, always threw these grand balls to celebrate the pride of being a pureblood and a Slytherin in the family.

Rosalind Cromwell gave birth to Nora Cromwell in 1960, and when Nora was eleven years old, she was housed in Slytherin. As the years went by, Nora fell in love with a young man named George Carter, your grandfather. George Carter was in Gryffindor and a muggle born. Muggle-born are witches or wizards who have non-magical parents. When your great-grandmother heard of this, she was upset and said it was a sham in the Cromwell name. Nora didn't care for; she and George both fell in love and left.

Then one day Nora and George came back, but Nora was pregnant. Rosalind, your great-grandmother had no choice but to take them in. Then, on the seventh of December 1980, I was born into the world. However, Nora and George were both killed in the first Wizarding World, and with no one else in the Cromwell name, Rosalind took me in and named me what my mother decided—Enadira Cromwell. It was supposed to be Enadira Carter, but Rosalind changed my last name.

You see, I didn't always live here. Rosalind and I lived in a manor in Ilam, Ashbourne. It was where Nora grew up as well. It was a lovely manor, but it wasn't exactly home all the time. Your great-grandmother and I didn't always see eye to eye, but we respected one another. She'd always try to force me to attend her grand balls. At first, I attended without a fuss, but as I grew older, I hid from these balls. Sometimes she'd find me with the help of the staff, or she'd give up and throw the ball nonetheless.

This was the neighborhood where your great-grandmother and I lived: Cromwell Manor

This was the neighborhood where your great-grandmother and I lived: Cromwell Manor

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

It is still bound to this day, but nobody lives there now. I always check every now and then to do a little cleaning, but I never had the heart to abandon it. After all my mother, your grandmother grew up there and as did I. Its a connection and it has been through generations for Cromwell's and now Snapes because you are Willow Snape, keeper of this manor when you grow up. I know you will do an amazing job one day when your older and continue the wizarding world with respect.

Enadira stopped writing and looked at the time, for it was already half past one in the morning. "Time flies when you're writing," Enadira thought and exhaled as she stood up from the chair and began to stretch. As she finished stretching, she closed the journal and waved her wand. "Nox," she said, and the candle turned off. "Lumos," Enadira whispered, as the spell made a small light at the tip of her wand when she closed the study room and walked into her bedroom. As she slipped inside her bed gently without making a sound, her wand itself turned off, and she felt an arm wrap around her. Enadira accepted the embrace, and they cuddled into the night.






First year: A stoned heart professorWhere stories live. Discover now