Phan and the Downward Spiral

Dan

Beep beep. Beep beep.

I smack the snooze button and pull the covers over my head, sleepiness still clouding my brain. The darkness of the insides of my sheets is comforting. Then it hits me what day it is. I throw off the covers, leaving my bed an unholy mess in my excitement, and race to the bathroom to shower and prepare myself for the day ahead.

The warm shower water rejuvenates me, cleansing me of any of my previous grogginess. There's a knock on the door.

"Honey!" I hear over the noise of the shower "Carnus will be here soon! Twenty minutes!"

Twenty minutes?! How much did I oversleep?! Not today!

I get dressed and ready as fast as I can, almost spraying deodorant in my eye in the process. I've never known myself to be an athletic person, but in this moment, I'm going as fast as freaking Usain Bolt. I can do it. I've packed in less time than this before.

I throw everything into my enormous trunk, including my newly purchased books and wand. And, of course, Noctowl, my fabulous barn owl (who would've guessed). (I'm very creative with naming pets aren't I? I named my pet owl after a pokémon the looks like an owl? Woaaah). I pocket my purple Tamagotchi and heave my trunk - and Noctowl in her cage - down the stairs.

Four-year-old Adrian greets me at the bottom of the stairs, saying something barely audible over all this ruckus. I'm not sure if he'll turn out to be magical or not, but he has been acting awfully weird since Carnus came and explained everything (though that might just be a side effect of everything weird that's happened to me since then).

Carnus Fludgewood is a man who works for the Ministry of Magic, that came to our house the day I turned 11 and told us (my parents and me) all the basics of magic. (Adrian was there too, but I don't think he understood much of it). He told us how to get into Diagon Alley, how to transfer normal money (well, it won't be normal to me soon. Apparently non-magic folks are called muggles. I keep forgetting to call them that.) into wizard money, and all about Hogwarts, the houses, and the classes I would take.

Later that week, he took us to Diagon Alley where I got all my books, my cauldron, my robes, my wand, and Noctowl. It was so weird (and a little overwhelming) to see all these people who were like me. It didn't feel like it was real. There were lots of kids around my age who were shopping with their parents too, some of them with chaperones (you could tell who the people that weren't magical were by their clothes).

A bowl of cereal awaits me on the bench. I scoff the whole bowl, my parents all the while complaining that I was going to choke if I don't slow down. I'm barely listening to them; I'm too busy fantasising about what it'll be like at Hogwarts.

When I finish, Mum whisks the bowl away and Dad gives me a boa constrictor-esque hug. It'll be awful leaving them behind while I'm off to the school of my dreams, but hopefully, they'll be able to handle it. I've never been away from home for more than a few days, (except for one time when I went to visit my Nana by myself) so I'm kind of nervous about spending a whole term away from them.

Mum jumps at the photo opportunity and yanks her phone out of her pocket to snap a picture. I wince at the flash

"Oops, sorry dear, forgot to turn that off." She hurriedly deactivates it, still very antsy, even though I managed to only take ten minutes getting everything packed, so we have another ten before he gets here.

Now we wait.

Exactly ten minutes later, Carnus Fludgewood arrives (with a mysterious crack) in all his glory, wearing a very posh looking suit. There's a logo on his suit pocket bearing a coat of arms in the shape of a capital M with a wand protruding in the centre.