Recrux, the True Ending

chapter one

She held the bundle, a slight flicker of regret entering her mind before being swept away by the complete awe of her magic's capabilities.

Two strangers sat next to each other in the train compartment. Five minutes earlier, they didn't know of each other's existence, but that alone tied them together. Neither knew someone of similar age on the train. They shared that gleam in their eyes; they were completely and utterly alone and knew nothing of what they were getting themselves into. They sat in comfortable silence, watching as the station, their last connection to everything they knew, became distant. Their families were at that station. Their lives, their normalcy, were at that station. Sure, they were excited for what was to come, but that feeling of unknown for the future was too overpowering, especially for two eleven-year-old girls with little-to-no prior knowledge of the magical world.

The first girl knew absolutely nothing of magic for most of her childhood. Her parents were Muggles, or people without magical abilities. It wasn't until her eleventh birthday party when she and her parents were first introduced to magic. She had mustered up the courage to invite her neighbor, who was about three years older than her, to her party; the girls weren't close or anything, but they always made silly faces at each other when passing by—that was good enough. When her neighbors arrived with a box wrapped in red and gold paper, the neighborhood cat and the family dog decided to attack one another. In what was most likely a turf battle, the fighting animals knocked into the neighbors, sending the present flying in the air.

Considering the laws of gravity, the present should've hit the ground. Everyone watched as the present remained high in the air. It remained struck in the air, and the mother snatched the dog from the ground to stop the fight. All eyes turned to the friend's father, who had his hand out toward the flying present. The box slowly moved toward the pile of other presents for the birthday girl. That was how the Green family was first introduced to magic. 

Usually witches and wizards could just mutter an incantation and cause the Muggles to simply forget what they saw. Before the wizard could do so, a certain envelope in the pile of presents caught his eye. He grinned and wished young Josie Green a happy eleventh birthday and a big good luck for the future.

Josie must have read over her acceptance letter every hour of every day leading up to the first of September. It took weeks for her to even comprehend what was going on. Luckily, she had her magical neighbors nearby to help out, for her parents didn't have any real advice either. One minute she was being prepared for secondary school, and the next minute she was being taught the difference between a Puffskein and a Murtlap. Her neighbors provided her with lots of books to read, at least two dozen, and she read each of them... twice. There were often countless days when the Greens wouldn't see their daughter leave her room; they never tried to coerce her out.

While watching the new scenery whiz past, Josie considered everything she spent the past few months reading over: news articles, biographies, autobiographies, tales, works of fiction, works of nonfiction, et cetera. Her favorite was by far an autobiography by Hermione Granger Weasley herself, How I Survived Hogwarts...Literally. Mrs. Granger Weasley was her favorite author; she had read each of her books many times leading up to the train. Of course, she had each one carefully packed in her suitcase as well. Josie felt a connection to Mrs. Granger Weasley automatically, as she felt the two had a lot in common; they were highly intelligent Muggleborns with little knowledge of the magical world prior to their acceptance into Hogwarts. Josie felt compelled to bask in every word she wrote. Mrs. Granger Weasley was her idol, and she couldn't believe she was on the same train as her two children and many nieces and nephews.

Josie was very small for her age. Her parents always told her that a growth spurt was in the makings, but it never seemed possible. She had short, dark hair that was cut very short. Full bangs rested on her forehead, ending right above her round, green eyes. She was a very beautiful girl, but she didn't have the self-confidence to believe so; most girls her age didn't.