“I hate my life. I hate my life. I hate my life” I was thinking as they lead me to Professor Sprout’s office. Wait, let me backtrack. My name Is Ainsley. Ainsley Piccirilli, and I’m a witch. I attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now, when I saw witch, I don’t mean those evil, warty, ugly, voodoo brewing hags you normally think of. We’re just regular teens that can do magic. I, for instance, had no idea I was a witch. That is, before me and my friends got kidnapped…

“Ainsley!” My foster mum wailed. “Get your lazy butt out of bed!”

“Okay!” I replied, annoyed “I’m coming!”

I was sick of my life in foster care. No one was nice. Everyone seemed to think that being rude, mean, and terrible was the way to live. I thought otherwise. In the building 413 gloomiest lane, I sang, danced, gave hugs, and smiled 24/7. Almost everyone in the house hated my cheerfulness. Sometimes, when I got angry, I would shower them with hugs and cheerful thought. Other times, crazy stuff happened. I’m talking bewitched mops, and creepy television sets. Anyway, I’d always wished to be anywhere but there. Anywhere. Even school was better.

I looked at the clock. 6:50. I had fifty minutes to get ready for school. I hopped out if my old, creaky, wooden bed to take a look in my old, creaky, wooden dresser. Looking at the clothes that had been handed down to me from all the other girls in the foster home, I picked out a yellow shirt that Lizzie had just grown out of and ripped skinny jeans, also from Lizzie. Lizzie was pretty cool. She was stylish and a size above me so I got all her cool clothes. I put the clothes on and skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. I looked at the clock. 7:00. I had half-an-hour until I left for school. I choked down some Cheerios. 7:10. Another twenty minutes and I’d be out of here. I decided to go back upstairs. Everyone stared at me as I sped back up the steps.

“What’s up with her?” I heard Alyssa ask.

“Who even wants to know? “ Beatrice grumbled “She’s so weird…”

I pounded up the steps. Opening the door to the bedroom, I saw Annabelle pounding her dummy and Sophia had her earphones in listening to her walking man. Yeah, we never get new stuff. A new iPod? Forget it. Annabelle’s dummy was almost in shreds and Sophia’s earbuds were always malfunctioning. I had earbuds too, but mine were yellow not green.

“You guys ready for school?” I asked

“Yeah” Annabelle said, letting her dummy in on a powerful kick. She blew her blonde hair out of her face to show her green eyes. “Are you?”

“Duh” I replied “Sophia!”

“What!” she sat up and pulled out her earbuds “Oh, hey Ainsley, what’s up?”

“Are you ready?”

“Been ready. I mean-she’s ready for anything…” she nodded over to Annabelle who was still trying to kill her already dead dummy. We laughed. It was finally 7:30.

“Let’s get outta here.” I suggested

“That’s an awesome idea.” Sophia said packing up her music stuff. “Ditto!” Annabelle agreed, giving her dummy one last kick.

We ran downstairs, grabbed our backpacks and dashed out the door. The wind blew through my light brown hair, as it did through Sophia and Annabelle’s. We hopped onto the back of a trolley.

“Is this illegal?” I’d been wondering this for a while but never asked.

“Yeah” Annabelle answered “I think so. But, how else are we gonna get to school?”

I thought about this, but eventually nodded. She was right. We had no other way. Our foster mum would never drive us.

“Get ready to jump!” Sophia warned. Our stop was right up ahead. We jumped, Annabelle and Sophia landed on their feet, but as usual, I landed flat on my rear.

“Oww.” I complained “That hurt.”

“Oh, shut it, Ainsley, “ Annabelle told me “you oughta be used to it by now!”

I rolled my eyes and we walked up the stairs to our school.

*******

Our lockers were all right next to each other. I was on the far right, Sophia was in the middle, and Annabelle was on the far left. We opened our lockers, grabbed our things for 1st, 2nd and 3rd periods and went straight to the library. The library was our favorite place. To be specific, the Fantasy section. We checked out our books for the day, then left for 1st period (our school did 5th grade like middle school). Sophia had band, but me and Annabelle had theatre. We said bye to Sophia and rushed to class. Luckily, at school, not everyone was a jerk. We said hi to the class and sat down. The bell rang and Mrs. Blah came in.

“Good Morning, class!” she sang. I smiled at Annabelle and she scowled at me. Annabelle hated singing of any kind. Especially happy singing.

“Good morning.” The class attempted, but we were all too tired.

“Open your scripts and start working! I’ll be at my desk if you need anything!”

Me and Annabelle went to meet our group. We were practicing Romeo and Juliet. With 3 boys in the group, things got awkward…

1st period ended and we met with Sophia again for Physical Education. In the changing room, me and Sophia were in a little corner and Annabelle wasn’t too far away. I changed out of my jeans and t-shirt and into my black gym shorts and white t-shirt. So did Sophia and Annabelle. We put our hair up in ponytails and met up with the rest of the class. Turns out we were doing cricket. Boring.

2nd and 3rd periods past. Then we had History. History was normally boring so we didn’t have much to look up to.

“Good afternoon, class.” our teacher said in her normal boring monotone voice. “Open your books to page three hundred and fifty-”

“BEEP BEEP BEEP!!”the speakers boomed “Attention all pupils! This is a real lockdown! I repeat! A real lockdown!”

Of course me, Annabelle and Sophia were closest to the entrance. So I was asked to lock the door. I locked it, then hid under my desk with Annabelle and Sophia. BOOM BOOM BOOM! Loud footsteps told me whoever we were hiding from was big and right outside the door.

“Alohomora.” I heard a man’s gruff voice whisper. The door swung open. The lights were off so he couldn’t see us. But, I could see him. He was about 8 feet tall and two times the size of a regular man.  His hands were the size of baseball mitts and his feet were the size of turkeys. I didn’t dare look up at his face.

“Lumos!” he bellowed. The tip of a stick glowed brightly in his hand. “Oh, come on out! I know yer here!”

Everyone in the room stayed under their desk except Annabelle, me and Sophia.

“Er you guys Sophia Jonas, Annabelle Smith and Ainsley Picca-Piccer-Piccarelli?”

We rose. I was the first to speak.

“Yer wizards” he repeated “An’ I’m takin’ yeh ter Hogwarts”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No jokes, no pranks”

“I’m in!” I said “Wizards are awesome! Magic, spells, potions!”

“But-” Sophia said “what about our stuff!”

“Wer gonna go ter pack it!”

“What about our foster mum?” Annabelle asked “She’ll never let us go!”

“Oh, I bet she will when she sees meh”

“Ok.” Sophia decided “I’m in!”

“You’re seriously going to believe him?” Annabelle asked her “I mean Ainsley is bloody stupid. But you?”

“Everything is answered Annabelle! C’mon!” Sophia urged her.

“We’ll be fine!” I reassured her “I feel like we can trust this guy!”

“She got good judgment” he added

“We don’t even know his bloody name!” Annabelle argued

“Blast! Where er meh manners?” he slapped himself in the head “I’m Hagrid, Rubeus Hagrid.”

“Okay, but how do we know Hogwarts is a real school?”

“Blimey! I’m very fergetful terday!” he chuckled “Here er the letters”

He handed us all envelopes with wax seals labeled with a cursive ‘H’. I opened mine. Sophia and Annabelle did the same. Mine read... 

Dear Miss Piccirilli,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on the 1st of September. We await your owl by no later than the 31st of July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Uniform:

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

*Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

Course Books:

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment:

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

I couldn’t believe it. I was a wizard. I could do magic! Well, technically I was a witch, but still! Annabelle’s jaw dropped, but she soon closed it again.

“How do we know these aren’t fake?” she asked. I was actually starting to get mad at her. We needed to get out of here. What was the class thinking 

? They would know we had been kidnapped.

“Annabelle, honestly!” I told her “This is proof! This isn’t printed! It’s written! This is real ink! Unless you can’t tell between real ink and printed ink…”

“I can too tell the difference! I’m not stupid, Ainsley! I can tell this is real ink! But what was it written with, Hagrid?” she said this as if she were about to win the argument.

“Quill pen” he replied simply. “That’s what we wizards write with, y’know.”

“Right…” Annabelle snorted.

“See! Now let’s go!” Sophia pleaded. Annabelle didn’t look convinced. “Fine then. We’ll leave without you.”

“Ugh! You’re so stubborn! Fine! I’m coming!”

“Yes!” me and Sophia said at the same time.

“But, what about our class?” Annabelle asked “Won’t they think we’ve been kidnapped?”

“Agh! Simple! See, yeh gotta use a charm, yeh do.” he told us.

“Okay, so can you do the charm?” Annabelle asked, annoyed.

“Oh! Yeh. Right. Neh, after I do this, we’re gonna have to leave. I’ll tell the front office that I’m yer guardian and that yeh foster mum sent meh. Then, we leave” he fumbled with his wand “Obliviate! Okay, Let’s go.”

We walked out the door. Hagrid told us to grab our stuff from our lockers. So, we took a stop. Thankfully, as you know, our lockers were right next to each other. I grabbed my stuff only. I wouldn’t be needed my science, history, math, Language Arts, theatre, or food science stuff at Hogwarts. My stuff consisted of only a brush, my iPod (which was a very old, black one that only played music, no apps. This was also Lizzie’s), my earbuds, my 2 writing books, my lip balm (my only Christmas present), and finally, my locket from my parents. Yeah I know, you’re probably like “Holy Annie cliche”. But it’s true. My parents gave me a golden locket, but unlike Annie’s, it wasn’t broken. It was a whole, golden locket made of real gold. It had a cursive ‘A’ etched into it. I wore it most of the time, but not at school. I kept it in my locker during school. I took my yellow lock off (I wasn’t gonna leave it with the school, I might need it), took all my school stuff from my backpack, replaced it with my stuff, zipped it up, and slammed my locker shut.

“Ready!” I told Hagrid. I realized Sophia and Annabelle were already finished.

“About time!” Sophia laughed.

“Finally…” Annabelle mumbled.

“Alright! Let’s go.” Hagrid said

We walked to the front office behind him. I thought about leaving. I was gonna miss that place. I stared at the tiles on the floor which seemed to change from red to white as I walked, my worn out sneakers appearing and disappearing from on top of them. When Hagrid cast the charm, did he remove all the memories of us? Did he erase all of our records? Would anyone remember us? Were there memories of us gone forever? By the time I asked myself all those questions, we were walking up to the office door. Mrs. White was sitting behind the front desk filling out some papers with a sour face.

“Er- Excuse me ma’am?” Hagrid asked her. He faced us again and whispered to us “Eh-what’s er name?"

“Mrs. White, ma’am!” he asked louder this time.

“What do you need.” she mumbled.

“I’m these girls’-er- one of ther gerdians? Ther foster mum sent meh to pick em’ up.” Hagrid fumbled with his words. I figured he hadn’t had many formal meetings before.

“Just sign them out, please.” Mrs. White said dryly and without emotion, as normal.

“Erkay…” He signed his name on the sheet of paper. Then he cast the forgetting spell on her, too. She looked blank for a minute. “Alright, neh let’s leave before sheh comes back ter the real werld”

We ran out of the building and he beckoned us into a black motorcycle with a sidecar that had three seats, one for each of us. We climbed in and he started it up. I was in the seat closest to the motorcycle, so I could hear a great deal of noise from the engine.

“How the bloody hell are we going to get there by driving?” Sophia asked.

“Oh, wer not drivin’,” Hagrid responded “Wer flyin’.”

“What the heck? Are you on drugs?” Annabelle asked.

“Wha’? Neh! Irm not on drugs!”

Hagrid started up the motorcycle and it flew into the air.

‘Hagrid! What about the people below us!” I exclaimed. What would these people be thinking?

“Oh yeh,” he pressed a button and the motorcycle vanished along with us. “Tha’ should fix it. There weh’ go…”

“Whoah” I breathed.

Soon we were at the orphanage. We quickly went in and grabbed our stuff while Hagrid explained to our foster mum that he would be taking us until the school year ended. She took it pretty well. I wasn’t surprised, though, she never really cared about us in the first place. I thought I heard Beatrice mumble something like ‘good riddance’ but I didn’t acknowledge it. I was so happy to be leaving this place, nothing could get on my nerves. Nothing. We got back onto the motorcycle.

“Do yeh mind if I put us inteh high gear?” Hagrid asked.

“What’s high- whoah!” Sophia yelled. Annabelle and I responded the same way. The motorcycle sped up to- it felt like- a million miles per hour. In a flash, we were in a cute little shopping area.

“Where are we?” Annabelle asked, but her awed expression soon changed to and angry one “Where have you taken us!”

“Relax, This is Hogsmeade,” he explained “It’s where yeh’ll get all tha’ stuff on your list ther’.”

“I hope I’m dreaming…” she mumbled.

“First things first!” I said, in a happy voice, trying to change the subject, “How about our animals?”

Oh yeh,” Hagrid replied, “You can either get an owl- oh yeh, they’re a bonus cuz you can send messages with your own owl instead of the school’s owls-, a toad, a cat or a rat.”

“How about we all get owls?” I suggested. They all nodded.

“Yeh expect to get stuff withou moneh?” Hagrid chuckled as an old woman walked past us with a look of distaste.

“Where’s our money then?” Annabelle asked

“It’s in Gringotts, oh course!”

“What the hell is Gringotts?”

“The wizardin’ bank oh course! And I don’t like your additu-”

“Oh, can it, mister wizard dude.” Annabelle rolled her eyes “How do we even have money? We didn’t know we were wizards or witches or whatever until now!”

“Yeh didn’t think yer mum and dad left yeh nothin, did yeh?”

“It’s Piccirilli, sir. But, yes, yes we are.”

“I need yer guys to come wit meh” he said. I cringed at his bad grammar.

“We aren’t going anywhere!” Annabelle said, her voice a little shaky “We’re staying here!”

“Yer gonna have ter come wit me. It’s de only way.”

“What are you talking about?” Sophia asked“Yer guys want ter go back ter dat orphanage?”

“Of course not, but-”

“Exactly, let’s go.”

“Sir, what is that in your hand?” I asked

“It’s me new wand!” He said proudly.

“I’m sorry, sir. Wand? As in-like-magic wand?”

“Yer wizards.” he blurted out

We stood in shock at the announcement this man had just made. Me? A wizard?

“Sir, I’m afraid you have the wrong people.” I told him. “We’re just orphans!”

“Do yeh see this?” he showed us a piece of paper. “It says yer names on it. Black and white ink.”

“Sir, we’re orphans.”

“Your parents died?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you know anything about your past?”

“Well, no-”

"Exactle." Hagrid responded. And with that, we set off for Gringotts.