The Duchess Lists

Top 10 Opportunities to Revel in Nostalgia

Moving back home after my Master's has had its advantages. I get food cooked for me, I don't pay rent I have air conditioning, and I got to slough through my childhood as it exists in boxes in my dad's basement. As a result of this, I unearthed a few gems produced by my adolescent self. I fancied myself a writer then, and clearly I still suffer from the same delusion. At any rate, I have decided to share with all of you the only existing chapters of a Harry Potter fan fiction story I wrote as a 12 year old. I've copied it verbatim, all poorly paragraphed, randomly capitalized and chock full of erroneous punctuation and spelling. Ladies and gentlemen, I present:

Kelly Turner and the Mirror of Dreams: a Fan Fiction by Katelynn Enright, age 12

Chapter 1: When It Started

            Kelly Turner appeared to be a normal 11 year old. She was average height, had long brown hair, and blue eyes. She lived with her parents in a large house just outside of London.

            To everyone who knew her, Kelly appeared normal, but only she and her parents knew better. Her parents, and a man named Frederick Gunther.

            Frederick Gunther wasn’t considered normal either. This man was the headmaster of a large school, far beyond the London countryside. This school was only known to about 1/3 of England’s population, and was only seen by 1/3 of England’s population.

            The year of Kelly’s 11th birthday, she received a letter. This letter was the exact (well almost) same her parents had received some 20 years ago. It invited her, Kelly Turner, to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To those who knew about it, this was a thing to celebrate indeed. Hogwarts was a fine school with a fine history as well. This school had hosted such students as Percy Weasley, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger. Unfortunately, the school had also played host to some students who were not as highly celebrated. These students included: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (aka Lord Voldemort) and Draco and Lucius Malfoy.

            Despite all of this, Kelly was extremely pleased to have been accepted to this wonderful school. Kelly, being born into a family of witches and wizards, had been brought up to look forward to this all her life. She has grown up listening to the Weird Sisters on the Wizarding Wireless Network, playing on toy broomsticks with her father, and watching her mother’s bewitched knitting needles.

                       

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            The Turners were as good a wizarding family as any, so they had bought a home far away from Muggle eyes. Kelly had been taught since she was young that people who could not do magic were called Muggles. And so, being a magical family, the Turners made it a rule that they would not even risk exposing what they were to anyone. As a matter of fact, Kelly had never been to school before she hit eleven, just in case she showed some sign of witchcraft accidentally. You just couldn’t risk these things.

            Mike and Jenny Turner had long told stories to Kelly of what had happened when they found out that they would be going to Hogwarts. Mr. Turner often told of how his toad, Joey, had escaped on the train, and he’d had to explain to the trolley-lady why he had to search every box of Every-Flavour Beans. Jenny often told Kelly of how her first try at selecting a wand had ended up with her with green hair. Kelly didn’t want any of these things to happen to her (especially since she wanted an owl, not a toad) and often had nightmares about embarrassing things that might happen to her at Hogwarts.