Anna Ryan

Backstory

I was born in a modest home in Brighton, England. I grew up surrounded by muggles, living in the muggle world. I grew up with magic being a figment of my imagination. I was a very ordinary child so I always dreamed of being special, but I wasn't. So I would have to use my imagination. As a young child, I made up other universes that I lived in, that contained magic. Maybe these fantasies were fueled by my Grandfather. He used to tell me tales of a magic school, where kids went to learn magic.

Due to the fact I was a shy kid, with dreams of being special, and singing non stop 24-7, I had trouble making friends. In fact, I only had two good friends. We would read books and sing and play together. I was a very loyal to them, as they were my only friends, and we were very close. As well as being imaginative, we did all our school work together and being the nerds that we were, we had our homework done the night we got it.

I discovered I was magical when I was 9 years old. I always knew I was an odd child, but this moment confirmed my suspicions. I was in my large backyard talking to myself, which I did a lot, when a bird or two came by. This was nothing special as animals loved our house. I was singing a song when a bird came and perched itself on my finger. It was a beautiful little sparrow. We took turns singing songs. As I was young, this seemed like a dream from a Disney movie. When the song was over, I noticed I had an audience of animals. Rabbits, squirrels, deer even. Some let me pet them. All of a sudden, one of the little birds that was listening on a top branch, began to fall, but it was so young it didn't know how to fly. So my instinct was to reach out. I couldn't catch the bird, but some invisible force must have shot out at me, and stopped the bird mid fall. I gently raised my arm in confusion, and watched as the bird went up back to it's nest.

After I got home, and told my parents about the day I had, my mum explained to me how I was a Half-blood. My mother is a witch, and was in the house Ravenclaw as a child. After she graduated, she decided to study magical creatures. In her travels, she met my father, a muggle. He was working in a cafe in Brighton, which he now owns. They fell madly in love and decided to have my older brother, the older sister, then me, then my younger brother. Apparently my two older siblings, Kaleb (16 [when I'm 11] ) and Isis (14 [when I'm 11] ) are both non-magical, but as they are older, they both know about mum's past. My little brother Matthew is only 8, so he doesn't know. My Grandfather (on my mum's side) is also magical. He was in Gryffindor, and when I found out he was magical, I was thrilled, as it meant his stories he would tell me were true. I had mini flashbacks to all the games I had made up, then finding out the universes I created were real, and that I was special, it was like a dream come true.

After receiving my letter to Hogwarts, my Grandfather and my mum were the two who took me to get my school supplies from Diagon Alley. It's about an hour long train ride from Brighton, so I had heaps of time to geek out. I went through the shopping list about a billion times. I remember going into Ollivanders, I couldn't believe I was getting a wand! Beech wood with a Unicorn Hair core 10 1/4" and Pliant Flexibility. After buying my books, equipment, robes and anything else I needed, my mum surprised me with a trip to a pet store. I left with a beautiful black cat which I named, Oscar. I just fell in love with his big yellow eyes.

The time from that shopping trip until my last day of holidays felt like a million years. I could only dream of the adventures that awaited me. Of course I was worried about making new friends, especially because I didn't have much experience, but this time, these kids would be just as weird and wonderful as me. I spent last few weeks reading all my textbooks, so I would have an understanding of the subjects in which I would be partaking. I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot after all.

During the train ride, I did meet a bunch of wonderful people, some who turned out to be in my house, and others who did not. But we are still friends. I am so excited to be here, and be a part of Hufflepuff house!