For my whole life I assumed I was ordinary. Just a tiny asset to a giant world. But that changed when I turned 11 years old.
On my 11th birthday, I remember, that a small, tawny owl delivered a small letter, addressed to Miss Fleur Lynch, that read,
Dear Miss Fleur Lynch,
You have been invited to come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We understand that this may be a shock, as your family are strictly non-magic people. You will be starting your first year at Hogwarts, and so you are reminded that the Hogwarts Express leaves Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station at eleven o'clock in the morning on the first of September. You will need to purchase your school supplies from Diagon Alley. To get there, go to the Courtyard out the back of The Leaky Cauldron and tap the third brick up, second along, three times.
First-year students will require:
Uniform:
Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)
One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear
One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all student's clothes should carry name-tags at all times.
Books:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
Other Equipment:
1 Wand
1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set of brass scales
Students may also bring an Owl, a Cat or a Toad.[1]
We hope that you take this opportunity, please be at Kings Cross Station, platform 9 and 3/4 for eleven o'clock on the first of September.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.
Regards, Professor Albus Dumbledore.
I was completely shocked. My mother and father were too. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whatever that was, sounded more like a madhouse than a school to us.
I remember getting to the station, and seeing a red haired boy, who I now know as Percy Weasley, running straight into the wall between platforms 9 and 10. I was completely shocked by this, but then his mother, Molly Weasley, asked me if I needed help getting to the platform, and when I said I did, she told me that I had to run into the wall the same as Percy did.
I remember being so scared to run into the wall, but when I did, I saw the huge Hogwarts Express train.
It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It looked like an old fashioned train, and I loved it.
I met my best friend, Luna Robins, on that train. I sat down in a carriage on my own, and Luna came bouncing in and sat down.
She had her light blonde hair in pigtails, with little bits of ribbon tied around the ends, and her cheeks were splattered with tiny freckles. She smiled at me.
"Hi! I'm Luna...Robins. Luna Robins. What's your name?" She said cheerfully.
"My name's Fleur Lynch. I don't have many friends yet. I don't come from a magical family." I said.
"Oh! Wow! You're a Muggle! My dad does Muggle studies at his work. What's that like, then? Muggle life?" Luna asked.
I was baffled. What was a muggle?
"Um. M-Muggle? What's that?" I stuttered.
"Oh, you know. Non-magic folk. Oh wait!" She slapped her forehead, "Sorry. I forgot, you won't know what a muggle is. It's basically just a fancy word that we use to talk about non-magic people."
"Oh, okay. I don't really know how to describe muggle life. But I can imagine it's quite different to what your life is like." I smiled.
"Yes, probably. I mean, my mother often dances around the kitchen with pots and pans flying everywhere when she's cooking, so I imagine so." Luna grinned
I laughed, and we spoke more about the differences between our two lives.
A tall boy walked in. "What are you two up to?" He said and sat down next to Luna.
"Oh, well, this is Fleur. She's a muggle. We were talking about muggle life and stuff. Can you go now? Mum said you weren't to annoy me, remember." Luna crossed her arms.
"Alright. I was just checking in on you. But if you're okay, I'll go now. Have fun." He said and shut the door to the carriage, before sticking his head back through. "Do you want anything from the sweet cart?"
"Ooh! Yes please! Can you get us two of each thing? Pleeeease, Cornelius?" Luna pleaded.
"Fine." He nodded and shut the door again.
I expected that you would get things like ordinary chocolate bars, or lollipops from the sweet cart, but I was wrong, as when Cornelius got back and gave us our sweets, I opened up a chocolate frog, thinking it would be a chocolate bar shaped like a frog, when it hopped out of the packet and onto my face.
Luna laughed like a lunatic, but I was terrified. I finally caught hold of it, and was scared to eat it, but when Luna told me how good they were, I suddenly got extremely hungry, and decided to just shove the whole thing in my mouth.
Then we ate the jelly beans, which again, I thought would be normal.
I put one in my mouth and spat it back in Luna's face. It stuck to her forehead and she laughed.
"It tasted like fish!" I yelled, pointing at the jellybean on her forehead.
"Yeah, I probably should have told you that there are some bad ones too." She said and made a face before spitting out a jelly bean. "Blerghhh! Rotten egg!"
I laughed for a long time about that, and we still laugh about it now, 6 years later.
The train stopped suddenly, and a teacher who was extremely tall and had a beard and long, dark hair walked into the carriage.
"You two in firs' year?" He said.
We nodded.
"C'mon then. Leave yer trunks 'ere." He said. I picked up my little tabby cat, Lumos, and we followed the man through the train.
We walked through a series of carriages with a range of different age groups in them, and then we finally reached the top carriage, which contained the rest of our year group.
They carried all different types of pets, cats, toads, owls, and some that I didn't even recognise.
"Alrigh'!" The tall man shouted overtop of our voices. We all stopped and looked at him. "My name is Hagrid, an' I'm the groundskeeper 'ere at Hogwarts. We're gonna get off the train now, if ye could keep close to me, please."
He pressed a button and the door opened.
We all stepped out and above all of the heads of people a lot taller than me, I could see what looked like a huge castle.
"Everyone follow me please, that's it." Hagrid said.
He pointed at the castle. "This is Hogwarts. You'll feel strange bein' 'ere at firs', but soon ye will all be used to it, an' ye won't want to leave."
YOU ARE READING
love hate thing - cedric diggory
Fanfiction"I hate you, yes, that's no lie. But that doesn't mean I want you to die, Diggory." - reposting this bc i had a masssssive anxiety moment and took it down at 2k wow
