Evangeline Potter and the Repeat in History

Chapter Two

Gahh! I give up! I've been trying to find out what my letter meant for eight hours now and still nothing has come up. There's nothing in the library related to it, there's nothing in all the encyclopaedia's I own, and there's nothing on the world-widey-web about it either. The only way I'm going to find out about it is if my aunt and uncle tell me and there's a fat chance that that's going to happen. They won't tell me; they've made that quite clear. I'll just have to forget about it. Or try to.

I sit onto my bed and cross my legs. I stare out the window at the darkening blue sky, as the sun slowly makes its way downwards, to the horizon. I don't know how long I stare out the window for, but it comes to the point where some of the early stars are starting to make an appearance. I stare at them, they truly are beautiful.

I look away for a few seconds as I check the time on the clock. Seven o' clock. I look back at the window and jump. Staring at me, perched on the window ledge, is a beautiful snow-white, snowy owl. I stare back at it, curiously. I shake my head slightly to get my hair out of my eyes, and the owl copies me. I raise my eyebrows slightly. Curiously, I cock my head to the right, and watch as the owl does the exact same thing. Strange. We stare at each other for a few minutes, and then it taps on the glass of my window with it's beak. I frown slightly. It flaps it's wings once or twice and then taps again.

I stand up and make my way over to the window. It taps again. I unlatch the window and lift it upwards, and suddenly the owl flies in. I lock the window in place and then turn around to see the owl now perched on the back of my chair. I stare at it curiously before sitting back down, cross-legged, on my bed. The owl then flies over to me and lands on my right leg. Cautiously, I reach my hand out and run it down the owl's back. It feels tense, but as I stroke it, it starts to relax. It then lifts it's left leg, and I see a piece of folded parchment tied loosely around it's ankle. I frown slightly and untie it.

I unfold the parchment and read the scruffy handwriting.

Dear Evangeline,

Happy Birthday!

We'll see each other again soon!

PS. The owls name is Hedwig, I think it'll mean more to you when you start school. Look after her, she's yours.

I glance upwards at the beautiful snowy owl perched on my leg and then back down at the anonymous letter. "Hedwig," I murmur, and the owl replies with a soft 'hoot'. I read over the note again. 'Happy Birthday'? It's not my birthday until tomorrow. And, what about: 'We'll see each other again soon'? What does that mean? The only people I ever remember knowing are the people I live with and the people I go to school with. It also mentioned something about school. Could it be that this is the same school that wrote to me this morning?

A sudden idea comes to me and I quickly - but gently - move Hedwig onto the headboard of my bed and rush over to my desk. I grab some paper and a pen and quickly jot down a note:

Hello,

Is that the school Hogwarts? If so, I have no idea what it means or what it's about. I haven't been told anything and as far as I know, I can't be a witch. I'm as normal as anyone gets. I'm sorry but I don't know who you are or how you know me or anything about the school. I don't even know if it exists.

Evangeline

After reading it over and making sure I don't sound rude, I fold it in half, put it in an envelope and then turn around to face the owl. Who is staring curiously at me. I become less confident that my idea will work, but I have to try. I tentatively approach the bird with my letter, and then it raises it's leg. I carefully tie the letter to it's leg, gently, using the string that was used before. I then allow the bird to climb onto my arm and I carry it to the window. Still feeling unconfident.