Watch me fly
“Do you have everything, Harry?” Anne asks her eleven year old son.
Harry nods. “I think so. Luckily we found Diagon Alley, I thought we’d never get in but the barman was so nice!”
“He was”, Anne agrees. Since they were all new to the Wizarding World, Tom the bartender had helped them out in the Leaky Cauldron, the dingy café for wizards. Gemma never got an invitation to go to Hogwarts but on Harry’s eleventh birthday, an owl arrived with a letter tied to its claw.
Dear Mr Styles, it said. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry, at first, thought it was some joke from his friends. But he didn’t know where they would have borrowed the owl and actually made it fly to his house to deliver a letter. But when he showed it to Anne, she nearly burst into tears. Confused, he asked what was wrong and Anne told him their father had been a wizard too, only he had broken his wand into two to marry Anne.
Gemma hadn’t turned out to be a witch but Harry did have magical talents, apparently, and so he found himself packing his trunk with his belongings and new schoolbooks. He had no idea what to expect.
“Haz, why does your train ticket say Platform nine and three quarters?” Gemma asks, wandering into the room and holding up the ticket with a suspicious look on her face. “Does that even exist?”
“Are you sure it says nine and three quarters and not just nine or ten?”
“Haz, don’t tell me you haven’t looked at the ticket yet.”
“I haven’t”, he says honestly. “I was a bit preoccupied with packing my stuff and reading some of my new schoolbooks.”
“We have to go. The train leaves at eleven and it’s a three hour drive to London. King’s Cross Station, right Gemma?”
Gemma nods and hands Harry his ticket. “Here, I don’t think you’ll be able to get on the train without your ticket. Don’t lose it”, she tells him sternly.
“I won’t. Thanks Gem.” He puts the ticket in his pocket and looks at his sister with a smile. He was relieved to find out his sister wasn’t jealous that he was going to Hogwarts and not her. According to her own words, she liked Holmes Chapel a lot better than London.
“You know, if anyone ever asks, I haven’t said this, but I’ll miss you”, Gemma whispers when Anne is going over Harry’s trunk one last time. They hadn’t bought a pet (either a toad, an owl or a cat) because Harry had no idea how to take care of an animal and he didn’t want to be responsible for its (very possible) death. No toads, cats or owls for Harry.
“I’ll miss you too”, Harry whispers back. “But I’ll see you with Christmas.”
“You better be here with Christmas or I’ll personally come and find you”, Gemma jokes. Suddenly, she rushes forwards and wraps her little brother up in a hug. “Be careful and don’t-”
“Don’t harm anyone, I know”, Harry smiles. “I’ll write you letters”, he promises.
“You better”, she says and she lets go of him. “See you, little brother.”
“See you, Gem”, Harry calls back and Gemma leaves the room. She wasn’t coming to London because she had school today.
“Are you all set?” Anne asks.
Harry nods. “I think so. You checked my trunk twice, Mum. I’ll be fine. And if it turns out I’m missing something, I’ll just ask one of the teachers.”
