Cynthia Cygnet and the Misplaced Gryffindor

● Chapter 1 ●

The flame on 11 pink and white candles dimmed after Cynthia attempted to blow them all out in one go. Her eyes lit up and she laughed out loud when she was successful.      

 "Happy Birthday!" Her family and best friend, Charlotte had shouted out and they began to pull party poppers. Rainbow confetti showered the room and fell onto Cynthia's mousy brown hair and clothes.  

 "Can we have cake now?" Rory, Cynthia's little brother said, growing bored of pulling poppers and waving old glowsticks that their mother had found in the back of a cupboard which they filled with any old junk they found lying around.

 "Of course" Osias, Cynthia's father agreed, grabbing the kitchen knife from the table and cutting the delicately decorated cake into fat squares. He began to plate up 5 servings when a scratchy sort of knock was heard from the kitchen window, catching the attention of everyone.   

Charlotte began to excitedly point, "Look, It's an owl with a letter!" Osias' eyes widened and he hurriedly and subtly pointed a finger at Charlotte - who was a muggle- and gave a shooing motion to his wife, Marcie. 

 "It's getting a bit late, isn't it?" Marcie said to the girl, turning her gently by the shoulders towards the front door "Your mother must been wondering where you are now"

 "It's fine, I promise!" Charlotte said cheerfully.

"Obliviate" Osias whispered under his breath and the girl briefly stilled and passively agreed. She began rambling on about how she needed to get home as soon as possible. 

"I'll walk this one home" Marcie said to Osias, who gave her a sort of apologetic smile.

Cynthia watched her best friend walk home from the window in horror, "Did you have to do that?" She asked helplessly "We've never had to do that before"

 The same apologetic smile was present on Osias' face again before he turned away to open the window for the owl, "Can't have her asking questions, can we?"   

 Cynthia grumbled, understanding. Would it not have been possible to say it was a party trick?. When her mother and best friend disappeared from the view from the window, she got up from the bay window and threw herself down on the sofa besides her brother.                                                 

"Grab some knuts will one of you, please?" Osias asked as he took the parchment from the owls beak. Cynthia glared at her father and stubbornly stayed firmly in her position, jabbing her brother in the side to get him to get up. Her brother shot her a dirty look and refused to move too. 

"Ouch!" Osias yelled out, the small screech owl had pecked him on the wrist and he dropped the letter. "Hurry, I'm going to lose an eye in a minute" 

 Rory scrambled up and rushed upstairs. A loud jingling of coins was heard and Rory had returned. After giving his father the pouch, he sat back down and gave his sister the biggest push he could. Knocking her off the sofa, Cynthia let out a screech almost like the owl in the kitchen and jumped onto her brother. Wrestling and bickering pursued  while they ignored their father asking for them to stop.

"It's for you, Cynthia" This caught them by surprise and Cynthia shot up. 

 "What is it?" She asked curiously, slowly getting up and joining her father to read the letter with the bright red wax seal on it.

"Your Hogwarts letter" He said, the smile could be heard in his voice. Cynthia's eyes widened.

Her nervousness began to grow line by line as Osias read out the letter. Although she was looking forward to learning more about the wizarding world and have fun at Hogwarts, over time she had began to dread getting the letter as it meant spending the next 7 years of her life only seeing her family and friends at holiday. Osias clocked onto Cynthia's silence, "Now don't be like that, Cyn. I know what you're thinking"