meant to be (1)

1

Summer 1991 was hot. If not boiling. My brother and I would spend hours upon hours at the pool in our garden, running around, eating ice cream, telling jokes and laughing.

We both were children filled with lots of stupid ideas and energy. Due to all our similarities ,inside and outside, we always were really close. And we seemed to grow closer as we got older.

One of the many things that made me happy was that this school year would be different. I wouldn't have to go to muggle school anymore. I despised going to muggle school, and I only have been going, because I knew it would make my mum happy. My eleventh birthday drew nearer which meant that I was finally going to Hogwarts.

It would be underestimated if I said I was excited. I've been waiting for this moment ever since my  brother, Mason, got his hogwarts letter. I've been waiting to finally leave all the mean kids, the bullying I've been experiencing and bad grades behind me.

But slowly I was getting sick of waiting patiently. It seemed as if it took forever for the letter to arrive. I started annoying everyone about it, but that just made the waiting somehow even longer as it already was.

"Julie!!" dad said loudly ,with a lot of excitement in his voice, one day in early july after getting the post. "Look ! This just came for you!"

He held up a letter made out of yellowish parchment. I looked at him in pure shock. I mean  i've been waiting for it to come, but I didn't expect it right now, but after waiting for two years, it finally happened. My hogwarts letter had arrived.

I tried to open it quickly but carefully at the same time. I read out aloud, my voice almost cracking out of happiness: "Dear Mrs Clarke, we are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcarft and Wizardy. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July"

"You soon will be able to understand why I hate double potions with Snape!" Mason said happily with an amused grin. He always was going on and on about him hating Snape.

"Oh come on, no one can be that bad!?" I responded looking up at him.

"Well he is-" Mason started arguing with an annoyed voice, but mum cut him off. I mentally thanked her. I hated arguing, especially with Mason.

"Oh you two stop arguing. Come on let's make homemade pizza."

We all agreed eagerly. Everytime when something special happens we make homemade pizza. It was one of my favourite family traditions. My first memory of it was when I first managed to grow a flower out of my palm when I was a little girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old.

I quickly tied my hair into a lazy ponytail and we started making the dough. At first it was exhausting, especially rolling out the dough , but then it started being really fun as it usually is. We all formed our pizzas into fun shapes. My pizza had the shape of my favourite flower, a tulip. I absolutely adored it. Mason said his was supposed to be a car but it looked nothing like it, which made me chuckle.

The highlight of the whole process was when I threw a piece of salami at Mason. He got really mad. Mum also didn't find it very funny, but dad and I were roaring with laughter.

While our pizzas were baking we all played an intense round of Ludo. Just as we finished and I won, the pizzas were ready to be eaten and we decided to sit down at the table outside in the garden.

As we were eating we were chatting happily.

"What are you most excited for at Hogwarts, Julie?" mom asked.

"I'm super excited for all the classes, especially Defence against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. Mason told me that the food there is really delicious, so I obviously want to try it. Hagrid's supposed to be very nice as well. I really want to meet him. Ohhh Dumbledore is also really cool. And of course I need to know if Snapes really that bad! Theres so much things I wanna do at Hogwarts, I don't know if i'm even going to manage to do everything." I said.

"Hogwarts is really cool, but the exam's are sooo unnecessary" Mason said.

"Well I think they're very important." Mom stated. "Come on lets clean up. We can take a swim in the pool afterwards."

So we did. We cleaned everything up, put our bathing suits and shorts on and all jumped in the pool at the same time.

Dad of course had to start a water fight as he always did. It was really fun and I felt as happy as ever. Moments like these made me appreciate my family and life.

We only got out of the water when the sun started setting. We were shivering and wet, but we stayed outside for a couple of minutes to watch the beautiful sunset. The sky was painted in a light shade of pink.

After we went inside I quickly took a shower, put on my white pyjamas and tied my hair into a messy bun and went down into the living room, because my parents wanted to watch a film together.

I sat down on the sofa between my parents. We were chatting happily while we were waiting for Mason. When he finally came down we started the film and I put down my head on my dads chest.

I really liked the film, because it was about wizards and witches, which made me even more excited to go to Hogwarts.

I dosed off at the sweet thought of the school I would soon attended while still resting my head on my dads chest.

🤍

"You can't do anything right. You won't manage to keep up with everyone else. You don't deserve to be happy about this. You will fail. YOU'RE NOT MAGIC!!!"

I suddenly woke up covered in sweat, while shivering. My head was aching because of the dream. I sat up and checked the time. It was 2 a.m. and I slowly realized that I was still in the living room.

I looked to my right where Mason was laying  next to me at the other end of the couch. I figured that he also must've fallen asleep while watching the film.

I got up carefully. Just then I realized how thirsty I was, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water with ice cubes in it. I proceeded to go to my room to try and continue sleeping, but I saw that Mason had now woken up too. I felt guilty for waking him up.

"Hey, everything alright? Why are you awake?" he asked. I looked at him in silence, remembering the dream I just had, a tear rolling down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away. I always hated crying, especially in front of my family. It made me feel weak and useless.

"Hey, it's alright, you can talk to me"  he said softly in an attempt to comfort me. He swung his arm around me and we sat down on the sofa. He knew I didn't like crying.

"This is going to sound really stupid, but I had a really terrible dream about me failing and not being magic and now i'm really scared. I'm not scared of failing, I'm just anxious about disappointing Mum and Dad. Please don't laugh" I said while continuing to sob quietly.

Mason started rubbing my back comfortingly when he said: "Oh, don't be silly. You are magic. I know you won't believe me, but trust me you're going to be able to do everything! And even if I can't keep the promise, I'll have your back, always."