Birthdays and Owls
March 27, 1971
I watched as the clock turned 7 am, I was officially eleven years old. I held onto the small gift in my hands then marched out the door to see James doing the same. We faced each other standing in the middle of the hall, it was good that our doors were right across from each other or there wouldn’t be a happy medium.
“Happy birthday Hazel!” He whispered, smiling at me. Even though our parents room was on the opposite end of the hall, we didn’t want to wake them. We’ve been doing this tradition all of our lives: trading gifts at seven am, the time we were born. At the start, we gave each other buttons or art work, but not we used our allowance to buy real gifts.
“Happy birthday James!” I whispered back and handed him his gift which was a lot smaller than the one he gave me. I tried my hardest not to feel bad, reminding myself it wasn’t about size. Together we mouthed a countdown from three then rushed to open our gifts.
“No way!” The two of us said at the same time. I was amazed at what I was looking at: a pair of sparkly flats that had red bottoms. They were perfect for when I became a Gryffindor next year. At least I hope I will become a Gryffindor next year. I looked back at James who was starring at his gift. I had gotten him a replica of the medal the cannons just won from the World Cup. I couldn’t exactly remember if he liked the cannons the best.
“Do you not like it?” I asked worriedly, but then he looked at me with absolute glee. Without saying a word he hugged me and I hugged back. We were eleven today, the day could only get better.
Apparently it took a while before better actually came. The two of us starred at the widow as our mother made breakfast. Now, it may seem strange for two eleven year olds to spend their birthday look out the window, but I assure you, it’s very common for a wizard. Today, an owl would come carrying our letters into Hogwarts: the best school in the world.
Both of my parents went to Hogwarts, and they became incredible wizards. My father invented a potion to keep hair straight and many other cool things, my mother designed our house to be its magical self. Our house can create and hide rooms, decorate itself, and help out with some of the chores.
“What if it doesn’t come? Of what if only one letter comes?” I wondered aloud. James looked at me as if the idea was impossible.
“The owls take awhile” my mother assured me “we’re a long way from Scotland. Besides I know my children and I know they have magic in them. I’ve seen it with my own eyes” she smiled at me and suddenly I didn’t worry any longer. I knew I had magic, I had accidentally grown flowers or maybe un-accidentally exploded water in my brothers face.
“Where’s dad, mum?” James asked turning my attention back to the conversation.
“He’s working, but not to worry, he’ll be back before tonight’s celebration. Which reminds me, I had Gully set your presents on the floor of the living quarters. Your father and I agreed you should be able to open one before he gets home!”
We ran to our presents, I had a feeling that our mother only allowed this so we stopped starring at the window, but you know, presents! James immediately went for the broom shaped box, I assumed he would spend the day trying to get me to play quidditch with him. I scanned my options: there were bags and boxes wrapped in pretty colors, there were small ones and large ones all with my name on it. I decided on a medium sized box with pink paper on it. I opened it up to find a beautiful butterfly necklace, I looked back at my mother
“It’s beautiful! Can you put it on me?” I held my curly hair and pushed it higher upon my head. The ends blocked my brown eyes from everything in front of me. My mother clipped the necklace as my brother looked at me and laughed “it’s the lockness monster!”, I stuck my tongue out for retaliation.
Just as I predicted, James invited Peter Pettigrew over to play quidditch after I repetitively said no. I helped my mum make the cake for tonight. I always loved doing things with my mum. Truth be told, I didn’t really have many friends. James and I were homeschooled and the only ones around were the Pettigrews. They had a son our age, but no girls. The one daughter they had was years older and spent most of her time at school. I used to play with her all the time but now I mainly stayed at home.
It was precisely 1:13 when James came running in with Peter chugging along behind. Peter was a lot shorter than James and I, not all too bright either, but he was a good friend to James. He was James’ only friend except for me.
“Owls! Owls!” James screamed pointing outside. I ran to the window to find two twin owls flying to our house. I suddenly found myself in love with the creatures.
My mum smiled as James and I ran outside to catch the owls. After seconds of jumping to reach them, they dropped two letters than made it’s way into our hands. We ripped open the letters; I must’ve reread the letter loads of times, taking in all the words. Come September, I would be attending hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry!
“Don’t worry Pete, pretty soon you’ll get your letter and the three of us will be on the way to Hogwarts” James had said. I didn’t notice before but Peter looked down, his birthday wasn’t for another few months which meant he had not been accepted into Hogwarts yet. James was only trying to make him feel better.
“Once we all get in, we can go buy all the Gryffindor items they have!” I contributed, but I don’t think Peter appreciated my thoughts for he looked more concerned than before. I wondered if he didn’t believe he could get into Gryffindor or if he could get into Hogwarts. A lot of his family had been a squib, a person with no magic from a magic family, and the ones that did get in, normally ended up in Slytherin. I don’t have anything against the house, they get a bad reputation from a lot of evil wizards coming from there. But they can’t all be evil.
* * *
My father came home around at 4 pm, we ate dinner and opened the rest of our gifts. The majority of our presents were our school supplies for Hogwarts, but there were also clothes and other toys.
Gully had finished the cake and served it to us with glee. Everything about today had been so good, it just didn’t explain why I felt off. I sat in my room, long after our celebration was over. I could feel my heart beating and my stomach felt a bit off. At first I thought it was just too much cake, but it didn’t go away. I didn’t know what to do so I went across the hall and knocked on James’ room. He opened it in only a few seconds, he looked both tired and confused.
“Haze what’s wrong? Are you ok?” He asked me
“I don’t know I just.. can’t sleep I suppose”
“Want to talk about all of our adventures at Hogwarts?” He asked excitedly as we stepped into his room. I saw how ready he was to go to school when I realized my problem: I was nervous about Hogwarts. I was fine with the magic part, but what about the people. James makes friends easily, but I don’t. What if I have no friends?
“Can you promise me something?” I asked head strong.
“Sure, what?”
“Do you promise that no matter how many cool new friends you get you’ll still play with me?” I watched as he too realized what I was concerned about. He gave me a soft smile.
“Of course! Haze you’re my best friend! In fact you’re even better than a friend, you’re my twin”
“So no matter how cool you became you’ll still-“
“I don’t care if they throw a party in my honor, nothing beats having you there”
“Really?” I tried so hard to hide my smile but now it was impossible.
“Well I may stop by the party because it would be rude not to of course” we laughed until we couldn’t breathe anymore. Every time we looked at each other, we just laughed some more. I think all the cake and celebrating messed with our brains, or maybe we were just tired, but for some reason that was the funniest conversation in the world.
“Want to play wizards chess?” He broke the laughter after awhile
“Sure, I’ll win anyways.”
And I did, three times in a row until we both fell asleep on his floor.