Just a Muggle ...

Dedicated to FlorenceLovegood, my big watty sister, because she has made the cover, the banner AND let me co-write 'The Gryffindor Lion' with her, so go check it out!

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Just a Muggle ...

Prologue

I looked at the letter in my hands with disbelief. First, a huge tawny owl came swooping in through the kitchen window, in broad daylight, and it dropped a letter in an expensive-looking sealed envelope on my lap. Even stranger still, the letter seemed to be implying that I had been accepted into 'Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry'!

I looked up to my mum, who was at the kettle, pouring herself a cup of tea, her long brown hair tied up in a messy plait. "Mum," I asked innocently, "does magic exist?"

Mum looked at me comfortingly, her hazel eyes kind and gentle. "Hermione, dear, magic exists in your imagination, of course! Why do you ask?"

I held up the letter. "I've just got accepted into a magic school." I stated simply.

Mum's expression changed from kind to bewilderment. "Show me the letter, honey." I reluctantly passed the letter into her outstretched hands.

After scanning her eyes over the letter, sympathy filled her features, and she sat down on the chair next to mine. "Hermy, this letter... well, I think it's a fake. It's probably people trying to trick you into giving them money. I mean look at the equipment list!" She said, pointing at the long list of books and equipment required, "all of this would most certainly cost a fortune! Most of it doesn't even seem to exist!"

My face crumpled. How could this not exist? Everything that the lady, 'Minerva McGonagall', had said seemed real. How could anybody make all of the strange information on the letter up?

"But...but how-" I faltered, how could I prove the letter was really? I didn't know myself, and my mum was an adult - obviously her judgment would be better than an eleven-year-old's.

Mum put her arm around me. "Sweetie, it's okay. Of course, these people would know that you would believe this bogus, you're only a child, after all."

Mum was right, I was only a child. Magic didn't exist - only in my imagination.