The Simple House of Duffrey

(1) The Postbox and the Owl

Anna Duffery was not particularly excited when she got her Hogwarts letter, in fact she was rather terrified. The daughter of a Scottish wizard and a half blood English witch she had spent most of her time in Yorkshire, near enough the border to visit Scotland but still subject to her English family most of all. It was her family who made her dread Hogwarts. The issue of houses and sorting had been a very big problem for her family and she often wondered how her parents had even come to marry.

Her eldest sister Mary had been sorted into Hufflepuff like her mother some years before which should have pleased at least one of their parents but honestly their mother Wenda, who was also a Hufflepuff in her day, was rather indifferent. Their father Devin on the other hand had been a Ravenclaw and was most disappointed in his eldest daughter's failure to show intelligence above all else. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure". That emblem appeared most often in their house like other Ravenclaw decorations of blue and silver. Many of her father's great uncles however had been Slytherin, like his father. Yet even more confusing was that Wenda's wizard father had been a proud Gryffindor, the first in his family for some generations. Their muggle grandmother however had not cared a single bit what house they attended in school as long as they had 11 years of "regular" school beforehand. It wasn't so hard really but her father never seemed to put much merit in the skills they were learning. Anna's Hogwarts letter had arrived around 2pm on a Sunday afternoon in Leeds being carried by a freshly coifed barn owl. He dropped the green inked letter kindly in their muggle postbox so as to not offend her mother's friends.

If anyone had any suspicion that their house was filled with wizards they would certainly not have got it from Wenda Duffery who rarely used magic anymore. She was an average build woman with short brown hair and dark blue eyes who dressed almost exclusively as a muggle. In fact, the only time she really got out her wand was to weed the backyard. Herbology had not been a favorite subject of hers, unlike music and frog choir. Devin Duffery on the other hand was quite happy to restrain his magic to work and his indoor office activities. He rather didn't care much for flashy displays and certainly not dueling. The man stood two heads above his wife with his bearded face and puffed out chest, quite wide along the middle. His work was almost completely focused on Arithmancy, often finding his calculations sent along to a third party, Gringotts. In truth, Devin worked for the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement regarding 'misused' magic objects but this was an interdepartmental post where he occasionally dealt with the Accidental Magic Reversal squad.

Anna, a girl much taller than she should be with her father's dark hair and brown eyes, pulled the letters from the postbox near the sapphire painted front door. She walked into the kitchen and dropped her parent's mail on the clean counter. As the envelope flopped out she realized it had her name printed on it ...

Miss Anna Duffery
The Kitchen
Grange Park CL
Allerton-by-water, Yorkshire

Anna's sister Mary had just returned from a shopping trip at the corner store when she walked in and put down her two shopping bags at the cedar kitchen table. Mary was average like her mother, in fact very nearing short, but she had her mother's softer colored brown hair and lighter eyes. Peering just over her younger sister's tall shoulder she grinned.

"So it's come then" she said pleased. "No use hiding it or they will send another straight to Mum and Dad".

Mary had noted her sister's reluctance to tear open the envelope and see what it said. She herself had been rather nervous about starting school when hers had arrived almost seven years previous. Anna turned over the parchment paper and opened the letter containing two sheets of paper. The booklist she handed to her sister Mary who would probably recognize most of the textbooks. She heard Mary nodding audibly behind her as she read her letter to herself...

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HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Amando Dippet

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Duffery,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 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.

Yours sincerely,

Septima Vector

Professor of Arithmancy

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Mary handed the second page back to Anna with the grim realization that most likely her sister would be using her secondhand books. She giggled some remembering the ketchup stain on page 43 of A History of Magic on her shelf upstairs. Just then light spread into the living room as their mother walked inside carrying a bag of her own from the supermarket. When she saw her daughters in the kitchen she frowned at Mary's sacks of what was most likely easy to bake, instant meals. Mrs. Duffery was not an excellent cook and she often thought her eldest daughter's foresight to prepare was more of an insult than a help. Sweeping back her bangs from her forehead and setting down her bag of the evenings dinner ingredients Wenda rushed to add the milk to the fridge along with some ice cream she was hiding in the freezer from their father.

When their Mother didn't turn around very quickly Mary seemed a bit sassed no doubt realizing her mother had noticed her grocery bags. "Mum guess who just got their letter for Hogwarts?" she said to break the ice. Wenda still bustling with the freezer finding the best corner to hide her treat from her husband said "That's wonderful" in a sort of flat voice. If any mother would have ever been happy for a squib as a daughter it would have been Wenda and her relentless enjoyment of muggle life. She had of course been raised that way by her own mother. Once her endeavor had succeeded and the ice cream was no longer visible behind some frozen peas Wenda straightened up.

She grabbed for the letter out of Anna's hand in a concerned way. "That's good, that's good." She mumbled as her eyes ran down the list. "You'll be able to use more than half of your sisters old books" she beamed at her daughters. "Your father should appreciate that". Both girls nodded as they headed out of the kitchen to let their mother begin cooking. The living room was fairly normal though the decorations were definitely heavy on blue and Wedgewood plates lined the walls. Mary sat down and turned on the television but Anna hurried down the hall past her father's open office door. His office was the most Wizard-like room of the house with his things and family artifacts out on display shelves. Documents full of numbers and symbols were left out on the dark wood table inside, a privilege Devin had accomplished by Muggle proofing the room. Anyone sneaking in would see basic accounting sheets or tax forms.

Anna rounded the corner to the room she shared with Mary. Half the room was plastered with black and gold posters and small house flags. Her sister Mary's favorite muggle item was playing quietly in the corner, a flute she had enchanted to play after she gave up her muggle music lessons.