THE WITCHING HOUR ➸ h. potter

1 - the letter

"NATALIA! GRAB THE MAIL FOR ME, WOULD YOU?" A voice yelled across our house. Since it was quite small, you could have easily heard a person screaming from anywhere in the house. Not that I'm complaining — it's more than enough for my mum and me.

I rolled my eyes, standing and stretching, "Mum, I was reading! You know I hate getting up when I'm reading!"

Sighing, I slipped the bookmark into my book and threw it onto the couch I had been curled up on seconds ago, making my way to the front door. A few envelopes were lying on the ground.

Picking them up, I quickly stepped back into our house, shivering from just those few seconds of having gone outside. I walked into my mum's "writing room," as she called it, and handed her the mail. She was an author, so she spent most of her time in this room . . . alone. Which, in turn, left me alone most of the time.

But ever since my dad walked out on us five years ago, I took up a liking to reading. So, books were the thing that kept me company most of the time. And they made the whole having-only-one-parent thing a whole lot easier to deal with.

"Thank you, darling. I've been waiting on a reply from my editor for days now. Hopefully, she's sent it today . . . "

As mum took the letters from me, one of them slipped from my hand and fell to the floor with a soft thud. I bent down to pick it up but froze when I saw my own name staring back at me. A few lines were written on the front of the envelope in green ink:



MISS. N. WALKER

The room on the top floor

Westwood Street

BRIGHTON



Slowly, I tore open the red seal on it and started reading the rest — my eyes widening with each passing word.



Dear Miss Walker,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please, find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

The term begins on the 1st of September. We await your owl by no longer than the 31st of July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress



First year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black with silver fastenings)

Please, note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble



Other equipment:

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl, a cat, or a toad.

Parents are reminded that first years are not allowed their own broomstick.

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions



My first reaction was to laugh. A school for magical people? And they wanted me? Rubbish! It was probably just another prank those horrible people at school were trying to pull on me. Did they really think I would fall for something this stupid? Shaking my head, I passed the envelope to my mother.

"Look at this!" I cried in disgust.

"I hate everyone in my school! They feel like they can just bully me around like this, and it will be perfectly fine! Ugh!"

I frowned when my mum didn't reply. Turning to look at her, I saw that she was staring at the letter as if it was a death threat.

"Mum? What is it?" I asked.

She sighed shakily, slowly looking up at me. "Nat . . . I'm — I'm afraid that this isn't a prank."

My heart felt like it was beating at a hundred miles per hour. A sudden jolt of fear rushed throughout my body.

Swallowing hard, I tried to speak, "What — what do you mean, mum? This . . . it can't be real! Magic? I — what?"

She closed her eyes, as if wishing that this was all some sort of dream. Or nightmare, and it would all be gone in the morning.

"I've always suspected this may happen. What, with Maia and Jake — and now probably even Pearl!"

I had no idea what she was talking about. Maia and Jake were my mother's sister and her husband. And Pearl was their daughter, who was a good friend of mine. She was only a few months younger than me.

"So many incidents, and I chose to just ignore them all! I should have been preparing you the whole time — not hiding away in this room, trying to pretend everything was fine! Now, there's no time left!"

"MUM! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" I yelled, placing my hands on her shoulders to stop her from rambling on about things that I couldn't make any sense of.

She was crying. She never cried.



"Are you dying?! Am — am I dying? What is going on?!"

That seemed to bring her back to reality. Mum quickly dried her eyes and shook her head.

"No one is dying. But . . . Hogwarts is real. You see, Maia was sent one of these letters when she was your age too. She met Jake there —he's magic as well. Naturally, Pearl inherited their abilities and is going to be going to Hogwarts this year. I . . . never got a letter. But over the years, I've seen such . . . strange things happen around you. I started to wonder if maybe you would somehow become one of them."

She paused, giving me a second to try and take in everything she had just said.

"I was scared, though. I had heard all the horrible things that had happened to the witches and wizards from Maia. I didn't want to believe that you would have to go there."

Witches and wizards? I was officially going insane.

"So . . . you're trying to tell me that magic and wizards and spells are all real? And — that I'm a witch? Who — who can do magic?"



A high pitched laugh escaped my lips as I backed away from my mum and the letter that was now lying on her table.

"And there are also 'horrible things' happening at this school? That I have to go to? Hell no! I'm fine here. I'll deal with the bullies myself, thank you very much. No need to go to some strange school."

Mum shook her head again, grimly. "I'm afraid you have to go, sweetie. If you really are . . . magical, your life will never be safe here with us. You need to learn how to control your magic. Maia has told me enough about their world to know that there was this wizard who went rouge. He started forming an army — killing hundreds of witches and wizards. But some years ago, there was this boy . . . the Chosen One, they call him. The Boy Who Lived. The rouge wizard went to kill him — I'm not sure why. He managed to kill the boys parents. But when he tried killing the boy, something happened. The wizard vanished. Some say he died, some say he's just badly inured — waiting to recover, and then come back."

I gasped. Did she really think this was helping? That a story about some crazy murder was going to make me want to go to this crazy school?



"My point is, that if he comes back, no wizard is safe. The only way to protect yourself is to know how to fight back. And . . . Hogwarts is supposed to be one of the safest places for wizards. So . . . please, just think about it — all right?"

I didn't really care if some wizard wanted to kill me. He probably wouldn't even be able to find me, right? And even if he did — it wouldn't be that bad. But if I was staying with my mum . . . she had just told me how he killed that poor boy's parents. What if he did that to her?

No. I wouldn't let him ever get to her.

"Fine." The word cut through the silence like a knife. They felt like one, too.

Mum's head snapped towards me. "You — you'll go?"

Last chance to say no. Say no, say no, say no!



"Yeah. I'll go."

a/n: thank you for reading <3