The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 1 - The Letter

Grace Thorne was eating breakfast when it happened.

A large sooty owl had flown in through an open window and crash landed on the table in front of her. Her breakfast, a piece of toast with butter, was flung onto her lap, as the owl skidded along the table, before coming to a stop on top of her mother's newspaper, making her let out a small shriek of surprise. The owl stood up, ruffling its feather in an attempt to neaten them, and Grace noticed the large envelope tied to its leg.

She untied it and patted the owl's head, handing it the remains of her toast, which it snapped up in its beak. She turned the envelope over, reading the name on the front. 'Alexander Thorne' was scrawled across it in a way that was neither messy nor neat. "It's for you," she said, looking up at her father who had entered the room upon hearing the screeching owl. She handed it to him and then went into the kitchen, getting a cloth to wipe the remaining butter from her dress and clean up the mess that the owl had created.

Alexander tore open the top and pulled out a piece of folded parchment, which he then unfolded. Another letter fell out and dropped soundlessly to the floor.

"Who's it from?" Paula, Grace's mother, asked, folding up the newspaper that she had been reading. He didn't answer, as he was too busy scanning the letter to find out for himself. Suddenly, his face lit up and he cleared his throat, looking down at the two who were still seated at the table.

"I've been offered a job."

"Oooo where?" Grace asked, sitting forward in her chair. "I'm getting there. I've been offered a job at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts!?" both Grace and Paula gasped. The two of them had heard many great things about the school that Alexander used to go to. "Yes! Dumbledore himself sent me a letter asking if I wanted to teach Care of Magical Creatures there! He's the headmaster now apparently!"

"That's great Alex!" Paula smiled and stood up to hug her husband, whilst Grace was still deep in thought. "But dad, isn't Hogwarts in Scotland or something?" He nodded. "Yes it is."

"So that means we're moving, doesn't it? And I'm going to have to change schools?" "Yes it does. Actually, Dumbledore mentioned something about..." he trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He picked up the empty envelope that he had discarded on the table, and opened it. "Where......" his eyes scanned the floor, locking on another small envelope that was unopened "Ah! There it is!"

He then picked it up and handed it to his daughter, and watched her expression as she opened it.
"I'm going to Hogwarts!" she gasped once she finished reading the letter "I'm actually going to Hogwarts! Oh wow. What house am I going to be in? Am I going to be in a dorm thing? Will we go visit Nanna and Pa again? How many students are there? Where are we going to live? Who-"

"Slow down Grace!" Alexander exclaimed, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder. She grinned up at him sheepishly. "Sorry. So, what's going to happen?" "Well, since I'm going to be teaching at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has said that we can live there as well. He's also offered you a job, Paula, as a fill-in teacher." He answered, turning to his wife who exclaimed "Really!? How nice of him."

"And Grace, yes, you will be staying in a "dorm thing",' Alexander said, making quotation marks in the air before chuckling slightly at his daughter's choice of words "But you can come visit us anytime. We might even end up teaching you! And then maybe during the school holidays you can go and stay with Nanna and Pa. As for what house you'll be in, we'll have to wait and see won't we."

Grace was still beaming with excitement "When are we going?"

"In a week." He replied, calmly.

"A week!?" Exclaimed Paula. "How are we going to get everything ready in a week!? We have to pack everything, book the flights, and what about our jobs at the primary school? We have to tell them that we're not teaching anymore, and it's the middle of August! Grace still has a whole semester of year five left!"

"Don't worry, Dumbledore's already booked the tickets for us, contacted Grace's school, he even said that he'll send someone around on Wednesday to help with the packing. As for Grace's schooling, I think you're forgetting something. In Europe, their school year starts in September, not January, and they don't even have wizarding primary schools like we have here in Australia. Grace will be well ahead of her peers already."
Paula sighed "Fine, let's do it." Grace and Alexander grinned.

"This is going to be great."

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I'm going to post the first four chapters all in a row so that it's up to date with the version on Quotev and so that y'all can get a bit of an idea as to what the hell is actually going on.

-Grace