Things Will Never Be the Same Again

I woke up the next day feeling a whole lot better about everything than I had the day before. I glanced at my watch and realised it was already after midday, I couldn’t believe it. I still felt tired! I had to fight every muscle in my body to get up and out of bed; I knew I couldn’t stay in there forever.
I swung open my door and saw that a huge trunk was standing just outside of it, a letter placed on top. I ripped open the letter, addressed to me, to find two pieces of parchment, one stating how I’d been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the other listing my books and supplies needed for the year.
I raced down stairs and into the kitchen, which seemed to be the common meeting place for everyone in the house, to find Molly Weasley cleaning up. Clearly I’d just missed lunch again.
“Um, Mrs Weasley?” I called a bit nervously as I strode over to the sink where she was waving her wand at the dirty dishes.
“Oh hello dear, I see you found your Hogwarts letter.” She smiled at me and nodded toward the pieces of parchment in my hands.
“Yeah, I, was sort of confused, it says school starts on September the first?” I asked, looking back to the first page of the letter, double checking I hadn’t read it wrong.
“That’s right.” She nodded.
“Well, isn’t that tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yes, it is”
“But I haven’t got anything yet!” I exclaimed becoming seriously worried by Molly’s lack of awareness.
“Well that’s alright! I went out this morning and picked up your things for you, we also managed to take a few things from your house for you too. It’s all in your trunk upstairs!” She beamed, obviously proud with her hard work. I let out a sigh in relief.
“Now sit down and let me find you something to eat”

I ate in a rush, I was eager to get upstairs and change my clothes at last and also to have a look at my new school things. “Oh and there should be a surprise waiting for you in your room” Molly smiled as I chowed my way through a ham sandwich.
I raced upstairs after thanking Molly and leapt into my room where someone had managed to fit my trunk in beside my bed.
There was something else though; a bird cage was sitting on top of the small bedside table which was squeezed in next to my trunk. A tiny black owl was sitting on a perch inside the cage, it hooted softly as I got closer to it. It had the most vivid green eyes. On the bottom of the cage there was a tag saying ‘Male’.
“Hmm, I think I’m going to name you Joseph” I smiled at the tiny owl. It looked like he would fit in the palm of my hand. Joseph hooted softly looking very content. I forced myself to look away from the cute little creature and turned my attention to my trunk. I flicked the hatches and it immediately burst wide open because it had been so over packed and crammed with stuff.

Books and bottles of ink tumbled out the side and went sprawling across the few feet of ground in the room that wasn’t occupied. I quickly changed from the clothes I’d slept in and then turned and had a good look through the contents of my new trunk.
The most interesting thing I found was the new wand which was sitting at the bottom of the trunk. It was a shiny black and I could hardly wait to use it, I actually managed to convince myself that I needed to cram as much knowledge into my mind as I could before the start of school the next day, I was sure the students I was going to be with would be much more advanced than me. Mostly I just wanted to use the new wand though.

The rest of the afternoon drifted by peacefully as I lay on my bed with my new school books spread out in front of me.
I practiced the Accio charm Molly had taught me the day before and kept doing it until I could eventually summon an object from the other side of the room, even though that wasn’t saying much considering the rooms size. Then I moved on to a few harder ones like Mobiliarbus which moves objects and Orchideous which produces a bouquet of flowers from the end of a wand. By the time I was happy that I’d mastered these spells my room was a mess. The bed was upside down and hundreds of flowers were scattered everywhere. A few of my books I’d managed to successfully make into birds, Joseph sat in his cage watching contently. He clicked his beak in warning every now and again as one of the books would flutter over near him.

“Oh how remarkable!” A loud voice yelled from the door to the room, I spun around in surprise. Mr Weasley was standing with a hand over his mouth looking around at the room.
“I’m really sorry about the mess, honestly I was just trying to practice a little, I-I’ll put everything back I swear!” I choked out, hoping I’d be able to follow through on the promise.
“Sorry? What is there to apologize for? Molly! Molly, quick come, look!” He yelled over his shoulder. Fred and George were at their father’s side in an instant. They looked at each other and grinned “Wicked,” They both muttered at the same time.
“Oh goodness,” Molly exclaimed as she arrived at the doorway too “You did all this dear?” She asked, beaming with joy. I nodded happily before swishing my wand. The birds turned back into books and hit the floor with a thud. “Well there’s no doubting you will be able to perform in Charms lessons”

Dinner that night was a lot more subdued than it had been the night before, everyone was still talking but the atmosphere seemed to have changed dramatically. Sirius seemed to be taking it the worst, he hardly said anything at all.
“He’s Harrys God father,” George muttered when I’d asked him about it. “Doesn’t like being cooped up here by himself”
“But there are lots of people here”
“Not usually there isn’t,” He said in a low voice taking the last bite of his meat loaf.
I felt bad for Sirius, I couldn’t imagine I’d like being stuck in this house either.
“Hey Ron, what’s that in your hair?” George suddenly asked sitting up straight in his chair and looking at his younger brother who was sitting across the table from him.
“What? What is it?” Ron stammered looking terrified.
“Erugh!” Fred made a disgusted noise from the other side of George. “That’s the biggest spider I’ve ever seen!”
I was just about to say how I couldn’t see anything when Ron leapt from the table, sending his dinner plate flying, and rushed from the room twitching and jerking and running his hands in a frenzy through his hair.
The whole room erupted in laughter, well almost the whole room. Mrs Weasley sighed in frustration and demanded that anyone who was planning on boarding the train to Hogwarts the next morning had to go straight to bed, right now.

“Good one guys” Ginny muttered as we all solemnly left the room without pudding.
“It’s not their fault Mum’s been overreacting so much lately” Ron muttered as he walked with us up the stairs, still a bit shaken from his episode earlier. "It's all thanks to Percy..."
“She’s just worried” Hermione said defensively and Ginny nodded in agreement. I had a feeling I was missing out on something, but before I got the chance to ask we had already arrived at the landing my room was on.

“Hey we’re gonna hang out for a bit in Harry and Ron’s room, wanna join?” George asked as I turned to open my door. Hermione and Ginny were already heading up the next flight of stairs to their room and I thought about Mrs Weasleys face if she caught me out of bed.
“Um I’m kinda tired, I might just go to sleep” I replied slowly.
“Oh right, ok, well see you tomorrow” He said before following Fred into a room further down the hall. I felt a little bad about turning him down, but I really didn’t want to get in trouble on my last night in this house.

As I was lying in bed I practiced a few more simple spells that I knew would come in handy. “Lumos” I said I flicked my wand, a bright light shone from the end of it, illuminating the room.
“Nox” Suddenly the light went out and I was once again surrounded by darkness.
voice came from the doorway, it was George.
“Hey sleepyhead, not so sleepy after all?” He asked as he sat at the end of the bed, there really was nowhere else he could fit.
“Guess not” I shrugged.
“Well you missed out on a lot of fun, Ron flipped out twice about spiders!” He chuckled. "Some jokes never get old," He sighed.
“I hope you realise he’s going to get you back one day”
“Ha, not likely.” George grinned twirling his wand in the air. “Hey what is that?”
“Oh yeah, that’s Joseph” I smiled as I noticed him glaring at the tiny black owl who was fast asleep and tucked up under his wings. “He’s my owl”
“You’re joking! That’s not an owl!” He gaped “That could hardly carry an envelope and what would happen if a storm came? Poor thing would get killed.” I kicked him in the ribs.
“Ouch!”
“Well you deserve it!” I replied, sticking my tongue out.
“Oh real mature”.
“Like you can talk George!” I retorted.
“I can talk”
“Can you really? I’d have never guessed”
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit you know”
“At least I have a form of wit, you know.” I mimicked him back. He let out a soft laugh.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Jess, night”
“Goodnight George” I grinned, trying to kick him off my bed. I was too slow, he disapparated before I had the chance.

I had a restless sleep that night knowing it was my last night I’d spend in this bed. I was already dreading the next day, I shuddered at the thought of not knowing people. I knew I had George to talk to but he was a seventh year so I knew I wouldn’t be able to spend that much time with him. I was terrified that everything would go wrong, I’d get lost at Hogwarts, I wouldn’t be able to do any magic, I wouldn’t make any friends and the list went on. In the end I drifted off as the exhaustion took over and I went spiralling into darkness.