Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"Go away."
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"Go away!"
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"I swear to Merlin, if you don't shut up in three seconds - "
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"That's it, you bloody owl."
Severely pissed off and still half-asleep, I rolled over to the edge of my bed, basically fell off of it, and went to my window. The owl that had been fluttering outside happily swooped into my room and perched on my desk, its leg stuck out proudly.
"I hate you," I told it as I took the morning paper and gave the owl a Knut. It hooted cheerfully and swooped out of my window. I glared at it until it disappeared; when it was finally out of sight, I stumbled out of my room to the living room.
"Why does the freaking owl have to come to my window in the morning?" I asked my father as I handed him the paper. "Seriously, you're always awake at an ungodly early hour, perfectly capable of getting the paper at a window out here. But nope, it's just gotta come to my window at nine in the freaking morning because apparently the universe just doesn't want me to sleep in during the summer."
"You are unnecessarily annoyed by this, Eleanor," said my father without looking up at me. I laughed incredulously.
"Oh, no. Not unnecessarily. It is a completely justified annoyance. Because for over fourteen years, several hours of sleep have been stolen from me every morning I wake up in my own room. At the Weasley's it's okay. The owl comes to the kitchen window, greeting someone who's already awake, someone who's more often than not actually interested in politics and drama and whoever Rita Skeeter decides to write horrible articles about. Here, though, that's just not allowed, is it? The owl just has to rudely barge in on an innocent girl's beauty sleep with its incessant tapping and hooting and I woke up less than a minute ago and am already talking way too much and probably pissing you off but guess what? I don't care because I need coffee. Then I'll apologise for being in a weird mood."
With that, I went into the kitchen and poured myself a generous mug of coffee. Once half of it was gone, I was feeling more agreeable and went back into the living room, from where my father hadn't moved.
"Sorry," I said, sitting down on my armchair.
"You'd better be more agreeable before you meet the Weasleys in Diagon Alley in ten minutes."
I jerked so fast some of my coffee spilled onto my legs.
"I completely forgot! Oh, Merlin, how could I forget? Fred sent a letter two days ago telling me when they were planning on going. I just - " I stopped and looked at my dad, who was just watching me, drily amused. "I should probably just go and get ready, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you probably should."
"Right." I set down my coffee and ran back to my bedroom to prepare for the day. A quick glance in the mirror told me that my hair had definitely had fun during the night: it was a short, bubblegum pink cut with rainbow tips.
"Damn Metamorphagusness," I muttered, changing it into something a little more normal (and by normal I mean shoulder-length curls the colour of a tomato). Deciding it was too normal, I made my tips change the colors of a rainbow all the way down.
"Eleanor!" shouted my father.
"Hold your hippogriffs!" I shouted back as I pulled my hair back. With a sigh, I grabbed my wand and went to join my father in the living room.
YOU ARE READING
The Only Exception
FanfictionI thought my fourth year would be fun. It was supposed to be the last year before O.W.L.s, the last year I could mess around and not worry about school and my future as much. Fred and George were starting to talk more about their joke shop, and I wa...
