Rosewood: A Hannah Abbott Story

Chapter One: A Vacation Cut Long

The Abbott family were enjoying their vacation immensely. Each summer, they went on a month-long vacation to immerse themselves in different countries and see the world. They had learned several languages along the way, were fluent in French, and somewhat understood Dutch and German. This year they went to their favourite country, France, to a small quaint village called Maison de la Terre. It was mainly agricultural, but a few of the women did weaving and a few others went to work in the closest city.

The weather was warm, yet somehow also breezy and pleasant. The days were very long, and the Abbott family enjoyed living a simple, normal French farm life. However, the Abbott family itself was far from normal. The parents, Abigail and Felix Abbott, were different from most people in one little way: they were a witch and a wizard. They had two children, Hannah and Richard Orson. Richard Orson was six years old, and Hannah was going to turn eleven on July 23rd, which was on the last week of the vacation, so the Abbott family had planned a big party as an ending to their stay in France.

Eleven was a very important age in the wizarding world: a British witch or wizard turned eleven would get to go the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, arguably the best magic school in Europe. A witch turning eleven was celebrating her most important birthday; maybe even more important than her coming of age, which would be at age seventeen.

Hannah was perfectly aware of her approaching birthday, and was excited about it because she had heard a lot about Hogwarts from her parents. However, she also liked her home very much, and thought it wouldn't be great to live in a castle far away from it. Hannah wanted very much to learn magic, but she loved her family too much to look forward to leaving home. She knew it was inevitable, though, so instead of thinking about it she focused on the vacation and the delightful village scenery and air. Her parents silently thanked the fact that their daughter wasn't very enthusiastic about her birthday, because they wanted to make the surprise party as good as possible.

Three weeks of the vacation had already passed. The Abbotts got used to speaking French again - and learned that the Belgian dialect is not the same as the French dialect - and Richard had already complained about being tired of baguettes twice, although he seemed to forget his complaints when a warm baguette was offered to him. Hannah realized her parents hadn't prepared anything for her birthday and started to get worried, but she couldn't help getting distracted by the amazing opportunities for relaxing walks and quiet time that the village had to offer.

It was the beginning of the fourth week of the vacation. The sun was almost down as the Abbotts came back from a music festival in a nearby town. There was music of all kinds there - orchestras played classical symphonies, street performers played dance music, and a few pianos were put in the streets and people of all skill levels played on them everything from simple tunes to difficult sonatas. Going to the festival was the first sign of a delightful surprise for Hannah, as she was very much in love with music and had played the violin ever since she was little. It was Mrs. Abbott who'd thought of going to the festival, and it was only the first of the plans for Hannah's birthday.

When they returned to the farmhouse, Hannah and Richard were already exhausted and went to sleep almost immediately. It was all going according to Mrs. Abbott's plan. She and her husband waited until the kids were fast asleep to pull out their wands and conjure balloons, posters, and decorations. Mrs. Abbott made a cake the magical way, while Mr. Abbott, who specialised in transfiguration, created a very special present for Hannah.

The cake was done relatively quickly thanks to a plethora of spells employed by Mrs. Abbott. It was a chocolate cake with little colourful candies on top, and a writing in cream that read "Happy 11th Birthday Hannah". Satisfied and tired, Mrs. and Mr. Abbott went to sleep, although not before the former cast a charm to hide the birthday surprise, just in case. The Abbotts all slept soundly. Nobody stirred when the clock struck midnight, but at that very moment Hannah turned eleven years old.

They all woke early to the sound of the rooster crowing. Hannah sat up in her bed and immediately looked for any signs of her birthday, but found none, to her disappointment. She figured her parents must have done something in the living room. She was about to get dressed when Richard came running into her room, jumped onto her bed and toppled her on her back with an aggressive cuddle.

"Happy birthday!" he sang out as he and Hannah rolled around in the bed, until Hannah pinned him down and leaned over him.

"Good morning to you too, Riri," she replied, grinning at her little brother.

"Mommy said to call you to breakfast and that you have a surprise and there's signs and presents everywhere!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming in a moment. I need to get dressed first," she said, less enthusiastically, and released him. "Go now, I'm getting dressed!" she yelled exasperatedly when Richard didn't leave the room. Only when she shoved him out and slammed the door in his face did he finally leave. She dressed slightly hurriedly, and strolled nonchalantly into the living room of the farmhouse, as though her parents hadn't sent Richard to tell her to come and see the birthday surprise.

When she entered the living room, she was struck with awe. There were balloons in all colours around the room, a huge present in the middle of the room, and a sign that read "Happy birthday to our very dear Hannah!". Hannah opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her parents and Richard started singing Happy Birthday as Mrs. Abbott, secretly using magic, floated the cake towards Hannah. When the song ended, the cake was already in front of Hannah.

"Make a wish," Mrs. Abbott told her daughter gently.

Hannah closed her eyes and made a wish. Then she blew on the candles and put them all out in a single breath. Her wish swirled with her breath, like an invisible, all-powerful whirlwind of infinite potential, fading into the fabric of the world, forever fated to become a bright center of hope for those who seek it.

But the Abbotts, like most people, were unaware of the significance and the magic of the wish. "Happy birthday!" Mrs. Abbott exclaimed and clapped, smiling. Richard clapped too and ran to hug Hannah, and Mr. Abbott chuckled a little and added three or four more claps to the excitement.

"Cake for breakfast!" Richard screamed enthusiastically, practically diving into his slice of cake. All four devoured their cake ravenously. It was the best cake Hannah had ever tasted.

"Now to open your presents. Do you remember if there was anything you wanted in particular?" Mr. Abbott asked, smiling knowingly.

"I wanted new yarn..." Hannah trailed off as she knelt to open the largest package. She gasped as the paper fell away, revealing a beautifully carved mahogany trunk. Her name was carved in intricate swirls across the top, and it sprang open at her touch. Inside were a ball of white yarn and a thick hardback book. She grabbed the yarn first, and quickly froze as it flickered, turning her favorite shade of light orange.

Mr. Abbott grinned as he kneeled beside her. "It's enchanted to never end and to turn whatever color you wish. Anything knitted from it will always fit the receiver."

Hannah screamed with delight. Next she pulled out the book, and this time it was her mother who explained its purpose.

"It contains any and all knitting spells I could find. Molly Weasley told me about a bunch of them. I'll do them for you until you get your own wand, but after that you're on your own." Hannah thanked her mom, replaced the book in the trunk, and turned to open the rest of the presents.

The excitement had started to subside, but just then an owl came flying through the open window and dropped a letter on Hannah's head. She dodged and caught the envelope while it was still in the air. She knew what the letter in her hands contained immediately, and almost dropped it. Slowly bringing her hands down, she looked at the envelope with awe. It was just like in the stories her parents had told her; the envelope was made of rugged, yellowish parchment, and was addressed, in emerald green, to Ms. H. Abbott, the Living Room of the Farmhouse, Maison de la Terre, France.