The Letters
Mae MacMillan could not be more excited about going to Hogwarts.
Her older brother was in his Fourth Year, and she had heard stories for years.
She and her best friend James hung onto her brothers every word when he told stories.
Michael, her older brother, was just happy to have an audience to share them with.
Mae and James had been best friends since even before they were born.
Their parents were close at Hogwarts, and Mae and James spent a lot of time together as babies.
Mae was born February 27th, James on March 27th, exactly a month apart.
Their friendship progressed once they turned seven and Michael left for Hogwarts, leaving Mae with only James.
James being an only child was thrilled to have a friend, especially one that lived only a few streets away.
As they got older, some other neighborhood kids became friends with them, all Muggles, but the two remained best friends.
This year was finally going to be their year, once their letters arrived.
The Hogwarts letters all got sent out over the summer, and everyday the two waited for their letters to arrive, while Michael awaited his latest supply list.
Every morning James had come by to see if Mae had received her letter yet.
Mae was in her bed, sleeping soundly when she heard something hit her window.
She pulled one of her pillows over her head to ignore it.
Mae heard screaming and groaned, pulling her pillow over her ears.
“MAE!” James screamed.
Mae sighed, getting up from her bed.
“M, c’mon, I got my letter this morning!” James screamed from outside.
Mae opened her window.
“Just come in Potter, I’ll be down in a minute,” Mae yelled down.
She heard the front door slam as her best friend hurried in.
Mae sighed and pulled on a jumper and some trainers before rushing downstairs, meeting him at her kitchen table.
Her mum and dad were there, heaping pancakes onto three plates, as James dug into one, Michael looking over his own letter.
“Reckon I actually need all these Potions supplies? I can probably just nick them from the supplies closet once I’m there,” Michael said as Mae picked up the unopened letter with her name on it.
“Michael we have more than enough to buy your Potions supplies, we would love to hear you got less detentions this year,” Mae’s mum sighed as Mae opened her letter, grinning.
“Alright switch,” James said, and the two swapped letters, grinning.
“No promises Mum,” Michael said with a smirk.
Michael got up as the doorbell rang.
“Must be the Prewett’s, they said they would come by today,” Michael said with a grin as he headed off.
James and Mae grinned at each other.
A visit from the Prewett's could only make the day better.
Michael’s two best friends, Fabian and Gideon Prewett were Gryffindor’s, and James and Mae idolized them.
Michael returned to the kitchen, sadly without his friends in tow.
“It’s the scrawny kid from a few streets over, for you Mae,” Michael said as he sat back down.
Mae got up and headed to the front of the house, a bit confused on what he could want.
Mae opened the door to find one of the Muggles she and James knew standing on the front stoop.
His name was Peter Pettigrew and he was rather shy, not exactly who Mae would choose to be friends with.
However, James took a shine to people who he felt needed an advocate in life, and if anyone fit that description it was Peter Pettigrew.
“Hey Peter, what’s going on?” Mae asked.
“I um, heard James screaming about a letter?” Peter said softly.
“Oh, sorry about that, I’ll yell at him for waking you, git needs to learn to knock on a door,” Mae said, going to shut the door.
“Actually- um, I was wondering what it was about,” Peter continued.
Mae paused.
“What do you mean, letters are awfully personal Pettigrew,” Mae replied.
“Well, I received a rather odd letter this morning, my parents think it's a joke, but well, if James got it too…” Peter trailed off.
Mae glanced down and sure enough, there was a Hogwarts acceptance letter in Peter’s hand.
“Go get your parents and bring them back with you, my parents will explain everything,” Mae said.
“So, it’s not a joke?” Peter asked.
Mae shook her head and the young boy broke into a grin.
“I’m magic, I’m special,” Peter whispered, and Mae pretended she hadn’t heard as she closed the door.
Mae returned to the table.
“What did good ole Petey want?” James asked as he stole a piece of bacon off Mae’s plate.
“He got a letter,” Mae replied.
“Oh, what about?” James asked.
“A Hogwarts letter,” Mae replied.
Her parents and Michael looked up surprised as James grinned.
“Good one, what did he really want?” James asked.
“No joke, he had it there in his hands. Thought it was some kind of practical joke until he heard you screaming about your letter this morning. I told him to grab his parents and come back, that we could explain,” Mae replied.
James looked over at her, surprised.
“Never would have guessed Pettigrew had some magic. Good for him, guess that makes our duo a group of three, can’t leave poor Petey out on his own,” James said.
Mae sighed internally, while smiling and nodding.
Mae had nothing against Peter, but he idolized James, and with him going to Hogwarts with them, Mae could not help but see it as her own friendship with James shrinking already.
“Maybe he’ll even be in our House, don’t really fancy him a Gryffindor though, maybe he’ll join Michael in Hufflepuff,” James continued.
“Doubtful, he doesn't strike me as a Hufflepuff, we aren’t pushovers Potter,” Michael said with a grin.
James laughed and there was another knock on the door.
“How do you reckon it’ll go with the Prewett’s here when we’re explaining magic to the Pettigrew’s?” Michael asked with a smirk as he go tup from the table to answer the door.
Mae grinned, picturing the twins explaining magic to Peter's buttoned up Muggle parents.
Her smile lessened when she thought of all the experiences she and James had been looking forward to for years, now with Peter at their side.
James looked over at her with a smile, holding both of their letters.
Mae smiled back at him, and followed him into the living room, ready to see how the Muggles took the news.