Going to Hogwarts
September 1st 2014
Whitehall Farmhouse
Johnnie woke up two hours before her alarm clock was supposed to do. She laid down in bed trying to force herself back to sleep but couldn't how could she? She was going to Hogwarts today. The first in her family to go. Her older brother Dara had decided to study abroad at Ilvermorny and had already left to start his 4th year. But what did Ilvermorny have on Hogwarts? Its Hogwarts! She heard the stories that aunts and uncles told of their time there how much fun they seemed to have. She couldn't wait to have stories of her own. She laid in bed until it was 30 minutes before she was supposed to get up she couldn't stay in bed any longer. Climbing quietly down from her bunkbed being careful not to wake up her little sister she ran out of her room and made her way into the kitchen where her parents were listening intently to the radio.
"It is time for us to stop hiding from Muggles! The statute of secrecy is old and outdated! It is time for us to take our place in the world and not cower like animals! We can make the world a better place!"
Her father listened his mug raised to his mouth but he didn't drink, his brow furrowed in concern. Her mother just sat there arms crossed looking out the window. Johnnie didn't care about the radio there were more important things going on right now its her first day at Hogwarts.
"I go to Hogwarts today!!!" Johnnie shouted throwing her arms up in the air excitedly. That seemed to snap her parents out of it. Her Mom quickly got up and changed the radio to a 70s themed station. While her Dad quickly smoothed over his face putting his coffee cup on the table and got up matching her excitement.
"How could we forget? Its a big day and I've decided to make those chocolate chip pancakes you love so much. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny will be here soon so why don't you go take a shower and get dressed?" Johnnie turned and skipped off towards the bathroom and the 70s music was switched back to the previous channel.
Once Johnnie was showered and dressed she walked out of the bathroom almost tripping on her younger siblings, their face stained with tears.
"Rellie and me don't want you to go!" Annmarie cried
"Y-yeah who am I gonna play with.? Mimi don't play with me and she won't let me play with her and Hugo." Rellie cried
"You're too little to play with us." she retorted pushing Rellie out of the way causing him to tumble to the ground and cry even more.
"What is going on in here?" Their Mom walked into the living room over to them picking their youngest brother up off the ground holding him to her chest.
"Mimi pu-pushed me and Johnnie's leaving to go to Hogwarts! She'll never come back!" Rellie was practically hyperventilating at this point. Johnnie didn't know what to do so just made her way back to the kitchen sitting at the island while her father cooked.
"Your mother and I placed bets, she thinks your going to be in Gryffindor I say you'll be any other house but Gryffindor. Honestly I couldn't remember any of the other houses names if I tried, but from what your mother told me learning magic at the settlement I grew up in seems a lot easier, no unnecessary test or exams, you just knew what you knew and if it didn't stick with you it didn't stick." Her dad shrugged as he flipped a pancake over.
"You never tried to go to Hogwarts?"
"Times were different then, witches and wizards didn't socialize with wood elves as much as they do know our species were seen as dangerous up there in classification with werewolves." he chuckled as he flipped another pancake. "The amount of times your mother had to talk me down from keeping you and your siblings home to teach you myself." He moved some of his hair back behind his hear showing the tip of his ear that been cut off not coming to a point like the one on his left or like how Johnnie's and her siblings did. "Witches and wizards are cruel. Your mother has slowly showed me otherwise."
"Are you telling me this because of the lady talking on the radio? Did she say mean things?"
"Nothing for you to worry about. I just want you to be careful at Hogwarts I can't be there in a second if something goes wrong or if someone is mean to you." The doorbell rang and Johnnie rolled her eyes as she hopped down from the stool to answer the door.
"Nothing bad is gonna happen Dad it's Hogwarts."
September 1st 2014
King's Cross Station
Platform 9 3/4
Johnnie was amazed as they went through the barrier and arrived on Platform 9 3/4. Wizarding families hustled and bustled around them and it was like looking through her Mom's muggle history books. You had the pureblooded traditionalist family who wore clothes that were styled no later than 17th century and looked down on the others around them. The less strict and younger pure blooded families seemed to wear Victorian and Edwardian clothing. Half blooded families seemed to adopt the style of the 40s and 50s, which apparently to progressive and something to be looked down upon according to her great great aunt Beatrice. Some of the seventh and sixth year boys dressed in a Teddy Boy style which seemed to have witches swooning. This made Johnnie giggle wishing she had her mom's book to compare the pictures. She couldn't help but feel slightly out of place in her modern muggle clothes. She looked to James to see if he found it just as funny as he did but he didn't seem bothered, he did hang around more witches and wizards than he did. She quickly realized what caught his attention as she too began to gawk at the large glorious steam engine train in front of them.
"C'mon we need to get the best seats! Alice and Frank said they'll meet us on the train!" he grabbed Johnnie's hand beginning to pull her along but his father managed to grab the back of his jumper before they got too far.
"Hold on." Uncle Harry chuckled. "Let's find the others and say goodbye first before you get on the train."
They found the rest of the Weasley family on the platform not they were hard to spot and made their rounds hugging everyone and saying goodbye. The younger cousins throwing tantrums or crying begging to go with the older ones. It was chaos. In the end Rellie and Lily had to be pulled off of Johnnie twice only when Johnnie promised to spend the entire Christmas break with them did they let go. Her father pushing them towards the train where their luggage had already been loaded by Teddy, Victoire and Louis.
James dragged her through the train until they found Alice and Frank in one of the last compartments. Johnnie quickly went over to the window opened it and waved to her family. Her Mom waved back eagerly letting the tears flow freely while her Dad had his arm around her shoulder his eyes slightly red as he also waved. The train lurched, the whistle blew its last warning and they were off. Johnnie waved until she couldn't see her parents anymore. She closed the window flopping onto one of the benches. James turned to her eagerly smiling from ear to ear.
"We're off to Hogwarts!"