The day we caught the train - A marauders era fic

Chapter one: First Year

July 19th 1971

It was a calm and warm night when she had woken up to the sound of something being repeatedly shot at her window. They had locked her in her room for a week now for refusing to go to some stupid family dinner. She opened her eyes, and slowly sat up, glancing at the clock, 10:10pm. She had only been asleep for an hour. Frowning slightly, Isabelle crawled out of bed and opened the window to her small bedroom off the side of the house her family lived in on the southern edge of Lancashire, England. She hesitated slightly before reaching out and grabbing the small envelope that had been dropped just moments ago on her windowsill.

She knew this day was coming; she had just turned eleven in May, and her mother never shut up about the idea of her first-born children finally getting their stupid Hogwarts letter.

The Prewett's were apart of some stupid numpty group of families called the "Sacred twenty-eight" which pretty much meant that it was important for her to be all posh and on her best behaviour all the time in order to not wind her mum up too much or else they'd lock her up in her room for weeks and pretend she didn't exist. After a few moments of pondering over the letter, Isabelle finally turned it around and slowly began to rip open the back of the envelope, taking out the contents and reading the piece of parchment slowly and carefully.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Dear Miss. Prewett,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

This caused Bella to jump up with a small squeal before quickly skimming the second page, making a mental list of items she would need for September: a stack of books, a set of robes, supplies for potions class, and she could even bring Shadow with her (her cat). After reading the letter over a few more times just to make sure it was real, she sprang out of bed, sprinting down the stairs and out into the back garden where her mother was currently quizzing her twin brother, Charlie, on the constellations.

"Mum! Mum! Look, I got my letter! I have finally gotten it!" Bella squealed, shoving the parchment excitedly in front of her mother's face, grinning ear to ear. "Can we go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get our things??"

She was already preparing to list everything they needed before September first when she finally noticed the scowl that was forming on her mother's lips.

"Calm yourself, child," Penelope Prewett snapped. "Do you see your brother jumping up and shouting like a fool? You must learn to compose yourself."

Bella tried very hard not to snort.

Her father was nothing like her mother.

Her father, Cedric Prewett, was a quiet Scottish wizard who worked at the Ministry of Magic in the Office for the Detection of Counterfeit Defensive Spells. He was patient, level-headed, and gentle in a way that Bella had always appreciated. Despite what Charlie liked to say, Bella had never once seen him raise his voice.

However, the real authority in the family had always been Bella's grandfather.

Ignatius Prewett held a senior administrative post in the Ministry's Department of Magical Transportation, overseeing several of the regulatory committees that managed international Floo Network travel. Within wizarding society, his opinion carried considerable weight.