A Whole Different World

Chapter 2 - Letter to Eden

Eden walked through the front door and immediately went on her iPad and started scrolling through her twitter feed, there was nothing interesting, just unimportant information.

"Ugh I'm so bored" she said to no one, "first sign of madness is talking to yourself" she said dryly into the empty space of her room. A loud thump broke her boredom and she turned to her window and saw the owl she spotted while walking home lying in her flower bed, an owl? During the day, in the middle of Liverpool?! She ran to the window and swung it open. The owl had a letter attached to its leg, something she was sure was not one of the features she had learnt about owls during biology. She gently took the letter off the owls leg and almost immediately the owl flew off into the sky. She looked at the letter, it had a strange red seal on it. She flipped it over to stare at the back to see if it was some kind of joke. When she opened it she gave a slight gasp, it was addressed to:

Miss E.COLO

The Highest Bedroom

27, Kenny Street

Colderstones

Liverpool

The person who sent the letter knew exactly which bedroom was hers, which was something Eden found to be very disturbing. She turned it over, peeled the seal open, and pulled out one of the pieces of paper. It said:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Colo,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than the 31 July

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress.

What? Hogwarts? Witchcraft? Wizardry? Second sign of madness getting a letter of acceptance to a magic school. Something strange was definitely happening.

"Eden, were home," Eden's mum called from downstairs, maybe they could explain the letter to her. She ran downstairs to talk to her parents, the letter clutched tightly in her hand.

"Hey, Mum, what's this?" Eden asked her mum holding up her strange letter,

"Oh, my goodness," her mum said softly, "Thomas, come quick!"

"What is it? What has Eden done now?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at his wife and daughter,

"No, it's not Eden, it's that!" her mum said quietly pointing at the letter in her daughters hand,

"Oh, it actually came," her dad gasped in disbelief. A million questions were running through Eden's head; her father knew about the letter prior to Eden receiving it? How? What is it?

"Um, Dad it would be really helpful if you could explain what the bloody hell is going on right now, because I have no idea. And both you and Mum are making me feel as though we're just characters in a melodrama." Eden said in her usual loud, witty tone,

"Darling, please sit down, and be quiet. We have something important to tell you," her mum said in a voice which made Eden sit and be quiet which was not something that happened often.

"Um, Eden, you're a-a witch." her dad said slowly, so that Eden could understand, and she did,

"That's a really mean thing to say, Dad, how dare you call me that!" She exclaimed before he could go on and explain himself.

"No, Eden, I mean that you can do magic, just like someone else in the family...me," her dad said quietly as though he didn't want anyone else to hear,

"WHAT? HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TOLD ME THIS BEFORE?" Eden started yelling - clearly she didn't have the same concerns as her father. Her parents had kept a huge secret from her, and she wanted to know why.

"We were worried that you might not have understood what you could do when you were younger. But now you're older and you might be a bit more knowledgeable and capable of learning control. You start school on the 1st of September, which I guess you already know from the letter," her dad smiled at her, "I went there too, you'll love it. That's where your brother goes, not to a boarding school in London. There is no better and safer school than Hogwarts."

"This is so...just so...strange." Eden mumbled, she didn't feel like talking. Her world was changing and she wasn't sure if she wanted to scream or party. Maybe she was capable of doing both. Clutching her letter and shutting the door to block out the sound of her parents listening to the news, she closed her eyes and smiled. This was going to be one strange year. Scratch that. This was going to be one strange life. And Eden wanted it to start straight away.

She assumed her dad would have some sort of text books about magic, so going to the bookshelf in her parents' room and taking seven books seemed like a great idea, despite how heavy they all were. She set them up on her bed in order of how she would read them; Hogwarts: A History to A History of Magic. Eden enjoyed reading about the world that her father lived in, the one she was about to discover.