Eccentric // Fred Weasley [1]

Letter to Hogwarts

Floating.

That's what it feels like I'm doing.
Floating in an endless ocean. Under the water were everything is calm and quiet. At first I don't need air but suddenly the need to breath is weighing done on me and I float up to towards the surface.

When I come up I see that everything is not as calm as it seemed. There is fire burning on top of the water and the sky us so full of smoke it looks black. A little ways away from me is a small rock justin out of the water.

I swam towards the rock with some difficulty, the water staring to feel more like tar. As I got there I realized it was a lot larger than I originally thought. I pulled myself up on to what was more like an island, with some difficulty and just laid there for a while.

When suddenly from behind me I heard, "Jackie! HELP!" I jumped up and spun around to see Ella standing there with her feet buried in the ground. I try to run and help her but I couldn't move my feet and I look down to find that mine are submerged in the ground too.

"HELP! Please!" She yelled again as a rumbling sounded in the distance. We both looked up to see a shower of rocks tumbling down from the sky. The rocks came down and landed right on top of her crushing her.

"NO!" I yelled sitting up my eyes flying open. I looked around realizing that I was fine, that I was in my room and it was only a dream. I let out a loud sigh as I fell back on my bed, covering my head with my blanket. That was a normal dream for me to have but it never failed to scare me.

I sit up again as the smell of waffles wafts into my room. I jump out of bed quickly and run out of my room towards the stairs. As I start going down the stairs I trip and fall about halfway down them, landing in a heap at the bottom. I get up and run to the kitchen sliding past the table due to my socks and slam into the wall. Mom looks at my strangely for a second before going back to making breakfast. As I get up and sit at the table Damian and Cecelia walk in and sit down also. "All that noise that we heard was just Jackie falling right?" Cecelia asked looking at me knowingly.

"What else would it be," my mother said chuckling. She turned around placing a plate of chocolate chip waffles on the table before sitting down herself.
I glared at them before grabbing a waffle and drowning it in syrup.
"Oh, Jackeline do you mind grabbing the mail before you eat?" Mom said suddenly.

I sighed before getting up and saying, "Sure, if I have to."

I walked into the front hall and grabbed to stack of letters glancing at the top one before doing a double-take and screaming loudly. I rushed back to the kitchen, throwing the other mail to the side and shoving the letter into their faces.

It was a thick envelope made of yellowish parchment with emerald green writing on it saying

Miss J. Nickol
The Room in the Upstairs Corner
1307 Water Wind Dr.
Grey Forest
Texas

All they could do was stare at it. We were never sure if I would get it after we left England. After Ella died we held a small funeral, then left the day after it. Mom closed down the shop and we had already worked that Cecelia would still go to Hogwarts, so everyone was fine with leaving. When Harley was done with school he stayed with us for the summer then left to "travel the world" as he put it. He still visits now and finally has a job in Germany. We think he might have a girlfriend but he won't tell us anything.

When we moved here everyone just kept to themselves. The strangeness of her death caught us all off guard and when I described it to mom she looked very worried. They never caught he intruder though because I never got a look at his face. Mom says it's not my fault but I know she wishes I knew more.

Anyway, when we got here everyone coped with her death in their own ways. Cecelia was very hostile and snapped at us. Damian was very quiet and mostly stayed in his room. Mom was always sad and was never seen with dry eyes. Myself on the other hand, tried to spend as much time out of the house as possible. I would go to the nearby village and play with the other kids there. They thought I was very strange but accepted me none the less. I didn't blame them, I had a strange accent and blue hair but I was close friends with some of them. Over time I started to lose my british accent as I spent more time in the village. I now talked like all of the other kids, with a 'Texan accent' as they called it. For a while everyone was just in their own little worlds, then slowly but surely we became a family again.
As they stared at the letter, a sadness coursed through me at the realization that Ella should be getting a letter too, but never would.

I pulled the letter back towards me and opened it, feeling their expectant gazes on my bent head. Inside there were two pieces of paper. The first said,

Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sor., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Nickol,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been excepted at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.

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

Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

I read the letter out loud to my family. By the time I was finished Damian was squealing in excitement and Cecelia was grinning like mad. Mom on the other hand was frowning and looked very deep in thought.

"What's wrong mom?" I asked concerned.

She looked suddenly before saying, "I've been thinking...we should move back to England."

Silence.

"Well just because you'll be going to Hogwarts now, which means Damian will be going to Hogwarts no matter were we live. And Cecelia, you'll be going into your 7th year then after that your going out into the world. I know how you've always wanted to work at gringotts and I wouldn't want to stop you just because we live in America," she said quickly, "and we wouldn't have to go back to the house. We could live in the flat above the store. There's enough room."

More silence.

Then, "I think your right mum," Cecelia said slowly. "I mean you're right Jackie is going to Hogwarts and so will Damian. I think it's a good idea."
"I'm with Cissy," Damian piped up looking at her.

Everyone turned to look at me, "What do you think, cupcake?" Mom asked.
I was thinking about everything, weighing everything they had said before saying, "Yeah your right mom, it's time to go home."