What do I want?

Chapter 3

My parents looked at each other. Then they started to laugh uproariously. Then Annabelle joined in. Even though they were laughing at her, 'Professor' Chang didn't look at all bothered. I stared at her in astonishment. This woman was delusional. She really wanted us to believe that there was such a thing as magic?

My Dad wiped tears out of his eyes. "You, you want us to believe that you are a witch and you are from a magic school?"

"Yes," She replied simply.

My parents continued to laugh and I found myself joining in. It was just so funny that she thought that she was magical and was so sure of it that she had the nerve to tell me I was magic to! Annabelle was in danger of falling of the couch. None of us were paying her any attention any more. Until she pulled a stick of wood from a pocket in her jeans. I looked at it in astonishment. She waved it. Red sparks shot out of the tip of the stick and hit the couch and it burst into flames. Annabelle screamed and we all jumped up away from it. I was absolutely terrified. Was this real?

"It's perfectly alright. These flames are completely harmless. Look," She waved her stick again (which I now knew to be a magic wand) and the flames disappeared. "Has that changed your mind?"

All our mouths were wide open. I looked from her to the couch and back again. Could it be that she was actually telling the truth? I couldn't speak with shock. Bonnie was barking madly and I had to pick her up to get her to be quiet.

"I hope you believe that I am telling the truth now," We all nodded. "I am not some delusional madwoman and you are a witch Eva."

"I'm sure you cant wait to tell your friends what you saw," Mum looked guilty, "However, this MUST remain secret. The wizarding world must not be found by muggles."

"Sorry to interrupt," I said quickly, "but what is a muggle?"

"A muggle is the wizard word for non-magical person. You are all muggles except for you Eva. That is the only reason the rest of you get to find out about this."

"How do you know that Eva is a witch though?" Annabelle asked, "How do you know that I'm not a witch?"

"Well, have you ever made something happen? Something that you didn't mean to do when you were having particularly strong feelings?" Annabelle shook her head. "Exactly," Professor Chang continued, "What about you Eva?"

Now that she mentioned it, I had. When I was 5 I went to a sleepover, and my mum forgot to pack me pyjamas. The girls mother gave me a long t-shirt to wear to bed and it was so embarrassing. When I came out of the bathroom, one of the girls started laughing at me. I remember that my face was so red and I washed that no one would be able to see me. Then all the lights in the building went out! I was so glad that no one could see me any more. Our parents had to come ad pick us up and I didn't have to continue to be embarrassed. At the time we thought it was just a blown fuse but Professor Chang was offering another explanation.

"Yeah, I might have..." I answered.

"There you go!" Professor Chang said triumphantly, "Young witches and wizards can't control their magic and it spurts out of them at random times. That is one of the reasons that we find children with magic and teach how to control it. If they are left on their own, all sorts of dangerous things could happen."

"Like what?" My dad asked.

"You don't want to know."

There was a pause while we all wondered what she could be talking about. But I could tell my mum was bursting to ask all her questions. She is always full of them. And I was right.

"What is she actually going to learn at this Hodgarts exactly?" My mum asked.

"The school is called Hogwarts and all students are taught to control their magic. There are 2 big exams they will have. In their fith year they take their OWLs which are Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Then in their sixth year they get to pick from the subjects they passed on to do their NEWTs in their seventh year which are Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests..."

"What a strange thing to name an exam." My dad said under his breath.

"... which they take in their seventh year," Professor Chang continued, ignoring dad, "And that is basically how their schooling will work."

"But don't they learn things like English and Maths and Science?" My Mum asked.

"No. We assume they have learned it in primary school. And they wont be able to get jobs with that kind of education in the Wizarding world anyway."

"What will she have to bring to school?" Mum asked.

"You will be able to get your school supplies in Diagon Alley. I will come tomorrow to escort you. Here is a list of everything you'll need. And you are allowed to bring a cat, owl or toad with you to school."

"But Eva just got a dog today!" Mum exclaimed, "Surely she will be allowed to bring Bonnie with her."

"Well," said Professor Chang, "I would have to speak to the headmaster about that. But I think something could be arranged."

Annabelle had got out her phone. "I can't see Diagonal Alley anywhere on this!"

"That's because it is a secret wizarding street!" There are many places that you won't find on a muggle map."

Annabelle was very excited by the thought of secret streets and she immediately asked what kind of magical shops there are.

"You can see them for yourself when we go there!"

"I'm allowed to come too!?" She almost screamed, "Oh my gosh! Can we go right now! Please!?"

"We can go now if you want to. I don't have anything else on."

My parents exchanged looks. "I think that we will need to have a family discussion about this first if that's ok." My dad said apologetically.

"Sure!" Professor Chang replied, "Take all the time you want. I'll wait here."

Mum motioned for us to leave the room and I followed Annabelle out. We went into the dinning room and sat down. Dad came in closely followed by Mum. They sat down and I started talking immediately.

"Mum and dad I have always hoped that one day I would be told magic was real and I would be able to learn it. Now that it has finally happened I don't wont to miss the crazy thing that magic school would be!"

My dad took a deep breath. "I know you really want to go but I personally don't know that it's the best thing for you. I don't know how our family would cope being away from each other for such long periods of time! I also don't want you to not be learning all the normal subjects! You love maths so much and I want it to enjoy the work you do. There is also that you will be starting anew. None of your friends will be there and you won't be able to tell them anything about what you do at school. We would even have to make up a story to tell everyone about where you are and how your going. And when you get a job, you'll have to make something up then a well! I feel that the rest of your life would be lying to almost everyone. And I don't want my little girl to go through that."

My Dad looked at my mum for support but she was looking at the table.

"Michael I want her to go," Dad stared at her, "You do know how much you would have wanted to go to a school where you learn magic when you were younger? I think she'll be ok making new friends and we can cope without her for a term if she writes to us lots. I think we should let her go because I think this will make her happy. We can figure this out as a family. The reason I think she should go is that I think that if I got this opportunity I would have jumped at the chance. And if my parents didn't let me would have never forgiven them and I would've spent the Rest of my life wondering about what I was missing out on. So yes, I think we should let her go."

My dad looked sideways at me and reached out his arms. I walked into them and he hugged me the hardest he had ever hugged me.

"I love you so much more than you could ever imagine. Remember that always."

I looked up and saw tears glistening in his eyes. I kissed him on the cheek and saw Annabelle come over. Dad put his arm around her and mum hugged me from behind. We sat there as a family.