James Sirius Potter and the Matter of Marcella Black

1

Welcome to Modern Day Hogwarts.

I was in the perfect reading position, blanket over the head and phone set on dim. My dog, penny, a red and black dachshund sat on the bottom of my bed snoring in the ugliest way possible. One earbud stuck in my ear and the other fallen hopelessly on my shoulder. It was a miracle no one had screamed at me to go to sleep.
The clock struck 3am. My family was a family of squibs. I am one of the only wizards in the Black family who has magic abilities. My mother can do simple spells and my father, a muggle, believes that my brother may have powers when he grows up.
'Maybe the Black family has a chance to have magic again.' I thought. 'Perhaps-' my train of thought was ruined by the sound of flapping wings outside my window. I quickly threw the blanket off my head and practically chunked my phone on the bed, which ripped the remaining earbud in my ear out, as Penny's head shout up in the air.
I raced the short distance to my window, careful not to trip on any of the stacks of canvases around my room. Peaking out of the patch of lavender that grew outside my window on the second story was a letter addressed to Marcella Black, 304 Acanthia Way Little Norton, Great Britain.
My hand moves toward the latch on my window. I quickly remove my hand to my side and assess the situation. Someone, a winged something, dropped a letter into a flowerbox full of lavenders, which look lovely because the lilac complements the white flowerbox just right, addressed to me at 3 am. My brain screams at me telling me not to open the latch but curiosity gets the best of me and I open it.
I first look over the sill down onto the streets below. Luckily no one is there. Lucky for them and for her.
With a sigh I remove my attention from the ground below to the skies. There was no sign of the bird. Finally I picked up the letter.
On the side addressed to me read:

Miss Marcella A. (For Ayn) Black
Second bedroom upstairs on the right (how descriptive, creepy even)
304 Acanthia Way
Little Norton, Great Britain

A coat of arms with a owl with a letter in its talons was on the bottom left hand corner. It read Owl Post Service. OPS for short. Marcella snorted. 'UPS' she thought.
In the top right hand corner was a large M that said Ministry of Magic. That sparked her interest.
She flipped the letter over and her eyes widened. She placed the letter down and back away from it. Her mother had talked about it once. It had been over the news, the wizarding news that is, Hogwarts. It had been rebuilt about a decade ago when Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord, Voldemort.
The letter was from Hogwarts. What would they want with her? A stupid question. She was a wizard of age, but she was also from a family of squibs. Her mother told her that the Ministry didn't keep tabs on squib families, but then again mother didn't speak much about her lineage. Unlike father, who was proud of his Greek origin.
The red stamp that held the mascot of four of the most important groups in the wizarding word stared up at her, begging her to open it. 'What if it's a howler?' Marcella asked herself. 'No, who would send a howler by owl at 3am.'
Slowly but surely Marcella tore the envelope open quietly as she sat on her pillowed window bench. She pulled the letter out of the envelope and examined the contents over and again once more just to make sure her eyes didn't deceive her.

Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Susan Bones (bunch of titles I have no idea of what they are)

Dear Miss Marcella Ayn Black,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl no later than 18 August.

Yours Sincerely,
Basil Fortescue

Hogwarts wanted her, a magical miracle born to a squib and muggle. She almost laughed. She sat the letter aside thinking this was all just a sick dream and crawled back into her bed to resume it.