I tried to forget it. It was hard but I was getting there. It had been a week since the fair.
I was just beginning to move on but of course that wasn't how life worked because when I went in for breakfast today a teacher passed me a letter saying it'd come in for me a day ago.
I'd held it up and stared at it hard.
I knew it had something to do with the woman it had this atmosphere.
The envelope was thick and heavy. It had been made with yellow paper. There was no stamp on the envelope which added to my suspicions. My address had been written in beautiful green ink.
I flipped it over only to see that it was sealed with a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.
I stared at the seal almost sure this was the woman from earlier.
It had to be.
I gently opened the envelope. To anyone around they'd think I was worried I'd explode the envelope when in reality I was afraid it would make me explode.
I opened it slowly and read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY-
I stopped there.
It was them.
How did they know where I lived?
They had to have been kidnappers.
Why were they targeting me though?
I wasn't part of some rich family or anything.
I didn't even have a family.
What did they think they could get from kidnapping me?
I stared at the letter in my hand for an unreasonable amount of time considering I wasn't reading anything. I took a deep breath releasing most of my tension with it. It didn't matter what they wanted because they weren't getting it.
I wasn't going to let them.
I didn't bother to finish the letter.
I didn't care what they wanted to say because it was all lies.
That much was obvious.
I grabbed my dorm mistress's lighter and went to the roof. I burnt it there and went straight back to my dorm.
It was strange seeing it burn because even after acting so sure of myself.
I wasn't I was curious about it.
I wanted to read it but I knew I couldn't.
I stopped there.
I AM NOT A WITCH!
These people were absolutely crazy thinking I would believe their nonsense.
I was conflicted.
It was as though I had two voices in my head. One is logic the other is intuition and I usually listened to intuition but right now it had too much risk.
I went to bed early once again.
It became a habit after the fair. Though unlike the other days that had been filled with fear today was filled with confusion. I was confused by my thoughts.
Throughout the day I'd been having arguments in my head one half of me, the logical one, was glad I burnt the letter while the other half, the curious one, was mad and regretted burning the letter without reading it fully.
I kind of agreed with the curious side but I knew better.
I feared my curiosity.
It was dangerous.
Sure it could lead to great things but it was a gamble because its consequences were horrendous.
I could easily lose everything I've ever had.
Curiosity was a weakness.
It was one I knew I had.
It was one that I would learn to control and just like every other weakness I'd ever had I'd turn it into my strength.
I don't know how but I know I won't let it win.
Though for now, it's probably best I just ignore it. My thoughts were spiraling again and at this rate, I probably wasn't gonna fall asleep so I forced my mind to clear and soon I was sleeping.
The next day I woke up to the sound of knocking.
My sight had just cleared when it hit me.
The sound had been coming from my window.
I instantly turned my head to see a big brown owl gently peck on my window. I stared at it a little more until I noticed something tied to its leg. Was it hurt? Was that some kind of bird trap? I walk towards the window and open the window. I then gently ruffle the owl's feathers. It was so pretty.
Why would someone hurt something as precious as this?
I look at the leg only to see it wasn't a trap at least not for the owl.
It was a trap for me.
I slowly untied the letter from the owl. Once I was done it flew away with beautiful grace. I stared at the letter for an unusually long time. It looked just like the one from yesterday.
It couldn't be.
Could it?
I slowly opened it questions running through my head like it were the finish line of a marathon.
I read the first word.
HOGWARTS-
And dropped it like it were a piece of hot coal.
I took a deep breath.
I needed to breathe.
I picked it up ignoring all the questions in my head.
I shouldn't care.
So I wouldn't care.
I wouldn't care about the fact they managed to get an owl to be able to come to my exact address and deliver this letter again.
I wouldn't care about the fact that they are doing so much just to kidnap me.
I wouldn't care about the fact that their budget to kidnap me seemed higher than my worth.
I simply wouldn't care.
I took the letter to the roof and burnt it.
Each day passed with more letters arriving at my window.
I promptly decided to ignore the owls and had been burning the letters that they left behind.
I'd stopped even bothering to open them anymore.
It had been a good morning routine to climb upstairs and burn them and then come back down to my dorm.
A week or so had passed when I woke up to no letters which shocked and worried me but I decided to ignore it.
I should be happy.
The letters were finally gone.
I'll finally be freed from the smell of burning and ash.
But I didn't feel free.
It felt odd.
Just yesterday I had a total of 40 letters so having none today seemed odd.
It didn't feel right.
But lately, I've been feeling lots of odd feelings.
My intuition had been going haywire.
I decided to ignore it.
It'd be fine.
I had breakfast and was in my dorm getting my books ready for class.
I had an English and literature class in about 20 minutes so since I had nothing better to do I decided I'd pack for it.
I was almost done when I heard a knock and out of habit I turned towards the window.
Thankfully nothing was there.
I was overreacting.
I took a breath and calmly walked to the door.
When I opened it I saw Mrs. Martha, my dorm mistress standing there with this extra wide smile.
I'd seen that smile before.
It was the one she showed when taking a student to the adoption center.
Which meant someone had requested something that I fit the description of.
A small smile came on my face.
I don't believe that I'll be adopted but those who come to adopt someone usually do, well, do what they came for.
Which meant someone here will get a new foster family.
This thought made me smile.
"Hey, Martha. How are they? They seem good?" I say not even trying to act like she's anything like a caretaker.
She's more like a casual babysitter at least to me.
Her real smile overtakes the fake one she had on.
"She's nice though she seems old. Maybe if you behave she'll take in a brat like you" She says giggling slightly.
I scowl.
She always targeted my ego.
"Hey didn't you lose your lighter a week ago?" I say smirking.
This made her scowl.
Proud of my accomplishment I was ready.
"come on brat. let's get you going." She says as she starts leaving.
I follow her down to the adoption center.
I hum happily as I slowly walk my way there.
It'd been a while since I was this carefree.
After the fair, I'd been somewhat stiffer, easier to tick off, and less relaxed.
I smile thinking about how things were finally going back to normal.
We were nearing the center when I hear an old lady's voice but it seems somewhat familiar.
I walk closer and as the voice gets louder I recognize it.
It couldn't be.
How could it be?
How was she here?
Oh no...
Oh no....
Oh no....
OH NO....
OH NO!!!!
I want to leave.
I freeze on the spot but Martha must have not noticed how tense I was because she simply nudged me toward the room.
I enter the room anxiety and fear building up and filling every vein and nerve in my body as I'm met face-to-face with her.
"Hello dear. I believe we've met. My name is McGonogall."
Author's Note:
I've got nothing to say except for how sorry I am that it's taking a while to get to actually being in Hogwarts. Also, I really love the idea of a muggle-born doing what the Dursleys did to Harry's letters for themselves because they think magic is bad. It just feels so easily possible. As I said before she's 11 not 5 she wouldn't be able to let herself believe it. Not enough to be worth anything else. Anyways, Hope you enjoyed it <3
Word Count:1585
~Author<3