The old house loomed at the edges of the dark young girl's sight; playing into her thoughts without her even noticing it's intent, and in the same moment the car scuttled across the path of dusted memories towards it's door.  Her hair, as black as swampy sludge, was perked yet fluid with the wind from the cracked window.  No, not cracked as in rolled down a smidge, cracked from the baseball her cousin Sarah had thrown.  She ran her finger over the fragmented glass, careful not to cut it; how much it would hurt.  The never-ending fence of trees too tall and too thin gave way to the view of what seemed to be skeletal remains of a once-beautiful house.  She frowned at it and stuck out her tongue a bit; it smudged her lipstick but she didn't care.. much.  Her aunt Lucinda, Lucy, looked through the rear-view mirror at her and gave an equally matched frown, "Oh, get you're finger off the window, Ze, you'll hurt yourself!"  She mumbled loud enough to hear.  Zelia complied and let her hand slip back to her lap, but let out a hiss as she did; the quick motion has sliced the end of her finger on a rogue sliver of glass.  "Ah, see, I told you so..." 

The car clunked to a stop in the driveway of the old thing, and Lucy stepped out to open the offending door.  "Here, come on in and have a cup of tea, we'll get that cleaned up."  Zelia stepped out, grabbing her bag along the way.  "Honestly...."  Her aunt shook her head with a tut-tut, but said nothing more.  It really wasn't all that bad, but a steady stream of red was dripping to the dry ground.  She stuck it in her mouth on her way to the door.

Her younger cousin, Tiana, broke through the door, not literally, and took the few quick steps to a hug with her dear 'Ze-te'.  She pushed her into the house with a grin, holding the door open for both her and Lucy.  "Hi mum."  Lucinda smiled lovingly, "Ah, hullo little Tia."  she said and gave her a short, but affectionate, hug.  Zelia smiled around her finger, which didn't go over well with Lucy, "Get that finger out of your mouth young lady!  Go on, go wash up and get settled."  She shooed her up the stairs with a wave of her muscular hand.  Zelia hurried up the old stairs with her good hand on the railing, a little laugh escaping along the way.  The second floor wasn't much better than the outside of the house; it was rarely used because there were two bedrooms on the first level.  She made her way through a maze of cobwebs and to the guestroom, a small affair with a single window and chair in the corner.  The walls and floor were dull, monochrome colors, yet she still found it charming.  She threw her bag onto the bed and returned her injured digit to her mouth.

Luckily, she was left handed, so she had no trouble getting her journal out and writing a bit.

Dear diary, 

I've made it to auntie's house; it really is a dreadful place, and I doubt there are any pixies in these woods at all. Apparently, though, we won't be staying here long.  We'll be traveling about the country and beyond, 'anywhere we want' cousin dearest says.  I suppose I'm excited... oh, of course I am!  I can never lie to you, diary.  I'll be receiving my owl soon, strange that they're sending my acceptance..hopefully acceptance... letter by owl when I'll be attending online, the world wizarding web.  Father was always old-fashioned, so maybe all wizards and witches are like that....  Oh, I can't be stereotyping like that!  I hope to meet other magical folk on the student forums when I attend, and learn a lot of course!