"I don't believe it," Harry said, staring at the recently delivered letter.
"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked, as Ron tried to swallow his mouthful of breakfast to ask the same question himself.
"There was an accident. Apparently, Dudley got in trouble with the police and got into a high speed chase. He was caught, but he crashed through the garage and into the back yard and mowed over Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, as well as Aunt Marge, who was visiting. Dudley's in juvenile detention and the adults are in the hospital, the letter says it'll be a year at best before Petunia is out, and longer for Vernon and Marge."
"That's horrible!" Hermione said.
"That's great, Harry," Ron said, his mouth finally empty enough to talk, "You can come stay at the Burrow."
Harry shook his head, "They're sending me to a relative of Vernon's. Apparently, Vernon's closest relation after Marge is a distant uncle named Mickey McFinnigan, but he's the town drunk and not fit as a guardian, so they're sending me to live with his son and his family in the states over the summer, at a town in Rhode Island."
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�31 Spooner Street,� Harry read as the cab he�d taken drove away. He made his way up the sidewalk, pulling his trunk behind him and Hedwig perched on his shoulder, her cage stowed away. Harry stood at the door for a moment as to brace himself. These were Vernon�s relatives, however distant, so he prepared for the worst and knocked on the door. A few moments after, a large, blonde boy, a couple years older than Harry, answered.
They stared a moment before Harry spoke, �Hello, is this the Griffins house?�
The large boy blinked dimly between Harry and Hedwig a couple times before turning back, �Mom! There�s a boy with an owl at the door!�
A red haired woman came to the door, �Oh, you must be Harry. My name�s Lois, I�m Peter�s wife. Come in, come in, meet the family.� She pulled him into the living room, Chris had sat on one end of a couch in front of the telly, a large, obese man on the other end, a baby with a teddy bear nearby with a few toys, a teenage girl in a pink shirt and hat on the floor in front of the couch, turned to him from the television, and, what surprised Harry the most, a white dog sitting on a chair reading the paper.
�You met Chris, our son, this is Meg, our oldest, Stewie, our baby boy, our dog, Brian, and my husband Peter,� Lois turned to her family, �Kids, this Harry Potter, a distant relative of your father�s. He�ll be staying with us for the summer.�
�Hey,� Meg greeted.
�Hello,� Chris added.
Stewie walked up to him, his eyes seeming to judge him for a moment before he spoke, �I smell death on you.�
Harry�s surprise at such a young baby talking so well was washed away when the dog stepped up, standing on two legs, �Nice to meet you, Harry. Hope you have a good stay here, and you can ask me if you need any help.� He said as he held out a paw, but Harry was just staring, �Is something wrong?�
Harry shook his head, �Sorry, it�s just I�ve seen a person who can turn into a dog, I�ve seen a giant, three headed dog, but I�ve never seen a talking dog before,� Harry was surprised at himself that he was just mentioning Sirius and Fluffy to strangers, but even more so that nobody questioned him as he gingerly shook hands, �Sorry, just a little caught off guard.�
�It�s alright,� Brian said.
�Hey, Harry,� Peter finally spoke, �What�s with the big pigeon?�
Hedwig narrowed her eyes as Harry explained, �Hedwig is my owl, not a pigeon, and she is smart enough to know you�re insulting her.�
�Sorry, Harry,� Lois said, before elbowing her husband, whispering, �Peter, apologize.�
Peter just stared Hedwig in the eye before she barked, �Prick.�
�HEY! What did you call me?�
�Prick!�
�Why I otta-� Peter raised his fists, only for the owl to zoom in, repeatedly pecking and clawing his head, �OW, AH, DAMN IT, I GIVE, I GIVE, I�M SORRY, UNCLE!� Hedwig left the man, returning to Harry�s shoulder, closing her eyes and turning her head away.
�Prick.�
�Sorry,� Harry said, �She�s rather proud and doesn�t like being insulted.�
�Smart owl,� Meg commented.
�She is, she even takes mail to my friends during summer holidays, usually, but I don�t think she�ll be doing that this summer, not across the Atlantic.� Harry said, reaching and scratching Hedwig�s plumage. �So, um, where will I be staying?�
�You can use Meg�s room,� Peter said, �she�s never here anyways�
�I�m right here, fatass!� Meg shouted.
�Oh, hey Meg, when did you get here?� Peter said, surprised, �Harry here will be sharing your room for a while.�
�What about that guest room?�
�What guest room?�
�The one Uncle Patrick stayed in,� Meg said, only to be answered by a clueless expression that clearly said �who?�, �Mom�s crazy brother, �The Fat Guy Strangler�,� Clueless, �The room where that half-dead fat guy ate the dead fat guy.�
�You mean my rec. room?�
�Rec. Room? What rec�� Meg just growled then sighed in defeat, �C�mon, Harry, I�ll show you our room.�
Harry nodded silently and followed, pulling his trunk behind. As he disappeared up the stairs, Hedwig swiveled her head around once again, aimed at Peter with a parting word.
�Prick!�
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As Harry Finished setting Hedwig�s perch next to a window, Meg came into the room carrying a folded cot she�d gotten from the attic. She unfolded it for him before sitting silently on her bed, her back to Harry as she stared out the window and he set up his trunk, Hedwig soon fell asleep on her perch. Once he was set up, Harry laid on his cot for a few moments before turning his head to see Meg was still motionless and silent.
�Meg? Are you alright?� Harry asked, �I�I�m sorry if me being here bothers you-�
�No,� Meg cut him off, not looking back, �It�s not you, it�s just�� She seemed to struggle for a word for a few moments, �It�s�It�s not you, not really, anyways.�
�Not really?� Harry asked, wary of what to say. He was quiet for a moment before asking, �Would you like to talk about it? Whatever�s bothering you?� Meg turned and gave him a look that she didn�t quite trust him, �I know we�ve just met, but it seems we�ll be sharing a room for the summer, and if we don�t talk about it, it will fester until it turns worse than it started as. So, if we have a problem, it�s best to get it out of the way.�
�It�s not a problem, at least not with you,� Meg said, getting a look that told her he wouldn�t let it go, she sighed, �It�s not you exactly, it�s my idiot father. No offence, but we don�t know you, I don�t know you, but he�s willing to let a strange boy room with his only daughter. The last time we had someone we didn�t really know live here, it was mom�s brother Patrick.�
�The Fat Guy Strangler,� Harry said quietly, remembering the earlier argument.
Meg nodded, �He was in a mental hospital most of mom�s life because he had some traumatic event involving him walking in on Grandma with some fat actor, and he flipped and thought all fat people were immoral. When mom found out, she had him moved in here, he snapped and started killing fat guys in the park. They ended up putting him back in the mental home.�
Harry was silent for a moment; he really had no idea what to say to that, �Well, you don�t really have to worry about me.�
�I know, it�s just�� Meg was quiet for a moment before turning around, putting her back against the wall, �You really want to hear all this?�
The way she said it made Harry a little hesitant, but something told him he should, �Yes.�
�I hate my family.� She said simply, stunning Harry, �My dad�s a retard, literally. He thought he was such a genius when he played trivial pursuit and he remembered a fire truck was red. So what�s he do? He started acting like he was so fucking smart and started watching �smart people shows� on T.V. and repeating things even though he had no clue what the hell they meant, like he was some stupid parrot. Then he get�s tested and finds out he�s actually retarded, so what�s he do? He uses it as an excuse to do what he wants because �he doesn�t know better�. He always gets into trouble but, somehow, he never faces any of the serious consequences he should. He causes mass destruction at least twice a month and has barely spent a total of a week in jail.�
Harry was too stunned by the venom in her voice to say anything as Meg continued, caught up in her own rant, �And then there�s Mom, old mommy dearest who can�t even say �I Love you� to her hospitalized daughter. She thinks I don�t really notice, but I know, she�s so disappointed I�m not more like she was at my age, that I�m not so pretty and popular, well it was easy for her, she had rich parents who spoiled her and probably didn�t mind her getting surgery to look better, she was so popular because she slept with everything that had a heartbeat. She drinks and does drugs, but has the gall to try and lecture us on the evils of drugs and alcohol. And she reads from my private dairy to the family like it�s a comedy book, and doesn�t even bother to stop when I find out, the bitch.�
�And then there�s my little brother, Chris, who bugs me and insults me, ignores me and abandons me when it suits him, but always wants my advice when he needs help, like the idiot thinks I didn�t notice what he just said about me. And Stewie, he thinks I�m as stupid as the rest of the family and I don�t hear him, but I just stopped caring since all he does anymore is insult me.�
Tears appeared in her eyes, either from anger or sadness, as she continued, �And none of them, nobody at all in this house or even this damn town, seems to give a damn about me. Chris once ran off to the Peace Corps in South America just because he was getting picked on for being a freshman, and when we go down there, he pisses off the natives and we have to run to the plane while dodging arrows, darts and spears. They get on the plane and take off while I catch a bunch of darts in my back and have enough poison put in me to put me out for two days, and where am I when I wake up? Still in the fucking jungle, those bastards just left me behind and I have to wait two weeks to catch a Peace Corps plane back here, and you know what dads first words are when I walk in the door, with dirty and torn clothes? �Meg, did you get the milk?�� Meg was breaking down crying now, �Chris and Stewie get separated from a tour group in the forest, and in a few hours police, forest rangers, everyone is out looking for them. I�m gone for almost three weeks and nobody, not my family, not my friends, nobody notice I�m gone, nobody misses me. My teachers give me mediocre grades for stuff I didn�t even do, even the one guy who constantly asks me out didn�t notice, turns out he was hitting on a picture of me in his locker and couldn�t tell the difference.�
At this point, even though she felt so awful, so worthless, even though she didn�t even know this guy, she couldn�t stop pouring her heart out, curling up and hugging her own knees �I�m constantly the butt of everyone�s joke, and nobody ever tries to help. Every time I make some headway, every time it looks like someone might start treating me better, they go back to the same old shit in a week. One time, mom developed an eating disorder and when she got liposuction she tried to tell me that eating doesn�t solve problems, even though I weigh just as much as her, so what do I say? I tell her the truth.� She raised her tearful, reddened eyes level with Harry�s, �I say, �I don�t eat when I have problems, I cut myself, is that better mom?�� Meg sees the horror in Harry�s face, but quickly continues, �And she ignores me, she just says something about Chris�s hat like I never said anything, like she doesn�t care if I hurt, like she doesn�t care if I die.�
Meg couldn�t continue, she just lay into the fetal position, quietly sobbing. Harry got up and sat next to her before beginning to rub her back. He didn�t really have any experience with crying girls, so when she looked up at him, and then wrapped her arms around him before crying into his chest, he just went with it and continued to rub her back.
Meg realized just how low her life had gotten. She always knew she had a piss poor life, but here was a guy a couple years younger than her, who she had literally just met, and he was treating her better than her own family had in years. Maybe it was shock or pity, but she was desperate for anything, any help or emotion from another human being.
Harry felt he had to say something, he wasn�t sure why, he wasn�t sure what compelled him, maybe it was having seen Cedric die or having had to fight Voldemort and seeing his parents, but he felt he needed to bare himself to someone like she had to him, that if he talked to someone, he might feel better.
Meg�s sobs died down a bit and he began stroking her hair before speaking, �When my parents were married, before I was born, there was a madman named Tom Riddle, who called himself Voldemort, a leader of a group out to kill or torture those they didn�t consider �pure�. He ended up targeting me and my parents when I was born, so they took me into hiding, they were hid in such a way that only one person could tell others where they were, they placed all their trust in that one man, an old friend of my father�s, and another friend of my father�s pretended he knew the secret to draw attention to himself and away from the truth.�
�But Peter, the one who knew the secret, was already a traitor. He told Voldemort and on Halloween, when I was almost a year and a half old, he came to our house. Dad tried to distract him, to buy time for mum and me, but he was killed. Mum tried to protect me, she tried to bargain for my life, but she was killed in front of my crib.� His own tears began to form, �I sometimes still hear her in my sleep. He tried to kill me next, but it backfired and hit him instead.� Meg raised herself as she listened, both of them now with their backs against the wall.
�After that night, I was sent to live with my mother�s sister and her husband, who thought of my parents as freaks, and they thought I�d have to be a freak since I was my mother�s child, so they thought they�d �beat the freakishness� out of me. For almost ten years I was hated and beaten. I slept in a cupboard under the stairs and fed on scraps. I was made to do almost all the house work and hit when I didn�t do it well enough. Everyone in the neighborhood was told that I was some sort of delinquent son of a couple drunks who died in a car crash and left me as a burden on my hard working and �normal� relatives. My cousin was an ass and a bully who scared people away from being friends with me while he bullied everyone, but because his parents claimed he was such a great kid and I was a juvenile delinquent, nobody would believe Dudley Dursley would do any wrong. And god forbid I defend myself against their precious little Dudders, yes, God forbid the freak not get the beating he deserves for being a freak.� Harry growled, his voice turning cold as he spoke more of his cousin, aunt and uncle.
�Then, not long before my eleventh birthday, a letter came in the mail slot for me, it was even addressed �Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinning, Surrey�. My uncle seemed to know what it was and he burned it. That day I was moved into the smallest bedroom, the room Dudley kept all his broken toys in. The next day, another letter came, �Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinning, Surrey�, and it was destroyed too. The next day it was three, a dozen the next. Once my uncle nailed the mail slot shut, the milk man handed them to him. Then, that Sunday my uncle was smug, �no post on Sundays.� But then dozens of the letters shot out of the chimney. My uncle gave us five minutes to pack before we left after that, but each time we stopped at a motel, there was a letter waiting for us, for me. Eventually, on the day before my birthday, my uncle rented a shaky little two room shack on a miserable rock island in the middle of a huge storm. But I still got a letter, only it was hand delivered this time.�
Harry took a pause, which was noticed by Meg. This was the moment of truth, he had to decide if he would expose the magical world to a girl he had known for maybe a couple hours at most or not. Harry took a deep breath and decided, �Meg, I�ll be as honest as you are with me. The rest of this will sound impossible, and I need you to keep it a secret, but it�s all true.� He looked her in the eye, �Can I trust you?�
Meg was silent for a moment, but nodded. She knew she was quick to latch on to people, at least people who were nice to her, but she didn�t care. This boy seemed like the first person to genuinely care about her in so long. She would follow him to hell and back, she knew it wasn�t really anywhere near healthy, but at the moment, she didn�t give a damn.
Harry took a deep breath before he continued, �The last of the letters, addressed to �Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, The-Hut-On-The-Rock, The Sea� was delivered at midnight on my birthday of July 31st, and it was given to me by a man almost twice the size of a normal man. A man who became one of my first real friends, and who said four words that changed my life, �Harry-yer a wizard�. The letter that he gave me, just like the letters before, were invitations to go to a school of magic, like my parents had before me. At first I was excited, my parents weren�t the drunken lay abouts I was told, they were a well known witch and wizard, and I was going to go to the same school they had learned magic, I got Hedwig and I made some friends. But it wasn�t as great as I thought it would be.�
�When Voldemort tried to kill me, he used a Killing Curse, a dark and difficult spell that kills its victim instantly. It killed my dad and my mum, but my mum did something when she sacrificed herself to save me, something happened that made it so I was the only person ever to survive the Killing Curse with only a scar on my head, that and the fact Voldemort was defeated made me some kind of overnight celebrity to the magical people, so everyone would stare at me like they thought I was going to become some sort of superhero any minute, bothering me about my scar, I went from the Dursley�s freaky delinquent nephew to top celebrity in a day, not exactly as fun as it sounds, especially with things that happened later.�
�And things weren�t exactly the greatest at Hogwarts, either. Some kids gawked at me, some hated me because their parents had been followers of Voldemort. People�s opinions seemed to change about me every year and every year I had someone try to kill me. First year my defense teacher was actually possessed by Voldemort�s spirit and tried to kill me twice himself and he let a troll loose in the school that almost killed my friends as well, and all of that not to mention a potions professor who seems to hate me so much he may think it a crime each time I breathe.�
�Second year I had a nutter house elf almost killing me to protect me, a sixty meter snake that can literally kill with a look loose in the school, a copy of Voldemort possessing my friends little sister, and a ponce of a defense teacher who tried to completely erase my memory. And add to all that, people were getting turned to stone, including one of my best friends, and people thought that just because I could speak to snakes, I must be some evil wizard in training who set loose said sixty meter snake.�
�Third year I had a supposed mass murderer, who was actually my innocent godfather, who had broken out of jail and was running around. Everyone thought he was out to kill me, but he was actually after Peter the traitor who was disguised as my friend Ron�s pet rat. I almost got my soul sucked out three times by these monsters the government placed at the school to �protect� me, and that years defense teacher was a werewolf who lost control and attacked me and my friends. We had Peter captured, but he got away, and without him the Minister of Magic wouldn�t believe my godfather was innocent and he had to go on the run.�
�Then, this last year, everything went completely pear shaped. First there�s a contest that only adult students, for us that�s seventeen, are supposed to enter, and I end up forced in because the �magical goblet of fire�,� he said patronizingly, the lights beginning to flicker as his anger showed, �apparently has no way to tell a forgery from someone�s real signature, then most of the school and my best friend turn on me because they thought I was some attention seeking glory hound who tricked his way in and Ron was apparently more pissed that I didn�t let him in on it, never mind that this contest hadn�t been held for over a hundred years for the reason that a lot of contestants ended up dead. I had to outrun a fire breathing dragon, fight off pissed merpeople, risked getting torn apart by a sphinx and had to deal with yet another defense teacher trying to kill me.� Harry�s rage seemed to come to a screeching halt as tears filled his eyes, �And to top it all off, I saw�I saw a friend die in front of me right before I had to watch the bastard who killed my parents rise from the dead and try to kill me again.�
Harry was getting angry again, Meg could tell because the lights almost went completely out and she could hear her father complaining about the cable getting messed up.
�I barely escaped with my life and almost nobody was willing to believe the bastard was back, and they refuse to take their heads out of the sand until something bites them on the arse. I find I won�t have to spend the summer with my damnable relatives, but now have to spend it with people I have no blood relation to in the first place. And I can�t even keep in contact with my friends because now I�m stuck across the ocean with a family that, by your accounts, should have been split by child services as soon as mine should have. Just when I think something good might have happened for me, it all turns to SHIT!� The windows in the room loudly cracked, snapping Harry out of his rant as he saw the spider web marks appear across the panes of glass.
�Woah,� Was all Meg could say as the lights went back to normal, and the sound of the television come from downstairs.
Harry looked around, seeing the damage he�d done, �Oh, hell, I�m so sorry,� without thinking, he pulled his wand out of his pocket, �Reparo,� only after the glass was fixed did Harry realize what he�d just done, �Oh hell.� He said, looking out the window expectantly.
�Is something wrong?� Meg asked, once she had a second to get used to seeing actual magic, �The window looks fine now.�
�It�s not that,� Harry said, looking confused, �It�s just, I�d have expected an owl from the Improper Use of Magic Office by now.�
Meg was confused, �A what from the who, now?�
�Um, a letter from the magical government,� Harry said, a little embarrassed, �Back in Britain, we�re not allowed to use magic outside of school until we�re seventeen, and especially not in front of non-magical people. The warning owls are pretty quick and get to us in minutes, but it�s not here.�
�Well,� Meg thought for a moment, �Maybe it�s different here. Or, maybe, they just don�t pay attention to some places. We have had some pretty weird stuff happen around here.�
�What would be so bad that they would ignore magical law here?�
�Death came here.� At Harry�s blank stare, Meg continued, �I mean it, we actually had Death himself, bones, robe, scythe and all, stay in this house.�
To that, Harry could only reply, �HOW?�
�Dad�s fault,� Meg shrugged, �He went to the hospital because he thought a lump on his chest might be cancer. It wasn�t, but when it was time to pay the doctor, he wrote he was dead on the insurance forms to get out of paying. Death literally showed up at our door and chased dad around for a while, but ended up tripping and spraining his ankle, he had to stay here to recover. Dad eventually got himself spared.� Harry stared blankly as Meg took a moment before continuing, �There was also this time Dad messed up an Indian burial ground in the back yard and disturbed some spirits, they attacked, took Stewie hostage for a while and made the house disappear until Dad put back a skull he took to use as an athletic cup.�
�He�what kind of disrespectful ass takes a human skull for a cup?!� Harry nearly yelled, appalled.
�Yeah, but believe it or not, it�s still not the worst thing he�s done,� Meg said, at least a little amused that someone is finally as angry at her father�s stupidity and can see none of this is normal, �One time a show he liked was cancelled, so he had Chris pretend he had a lethal illness so they could get one of those �make a wish� foundations to put it back on T.V.� Harry looked even further disgusted as she continued, �When people noticed Chris didn�t die, Dad just said he healed Chris. This cult started up and dad let it go to his head, claiming he was god. Things went crazy and we started getting hit with the ten plagues from the bible. Dad didn�t admit he was a fake until the last plague and Chris was almost dead.�
Harry stared blankly for a few moments before yelling, �What the bloody hell is wrong with this insane asylum?!� He laid back again, hitting his head against the wall, �I go from a house where everyone hates me to a house full of nutters,� He quickly turned to Meg, �no offence.�
Meg shrugged, �None taken, I�ll admit I have some problems, but that�s not the worst thing I�ve ever been called.� They were both quiet for a while, letting their minds process the new information before Meg broke the silence, �So, a wizard, huh? Like, you can just wave a hand and make stuff happen?�
Harry shook his head, �No, I mean, there are some things we can�t do, even with magic. And as for hand waving, well,� He thought for a moment, �there is accidental magic for kids. I mean, when a witch or wizard gets very emotional, stuff happens��
�Like cracking windows when you get pissed?�
Harry had the decency to look embarrassed, �Yeah, sorry about that, but yeah. It usually happens when we�re little, but if someone gets angry or scared enough, things can just happen. I don�t know if you can learn to do it on purpose, I never really looked into it. I�ve just always used my wand like everyone else,� He said, holding up his wand.
The brunette looked it over for a few seconds, �Could I see it?�
Harry shrugged, not seeing the harm in a muggle girl checking his wand (A.N. Not like that, sicko), but he didn�t expect what happened next. As soon as Meg had a good grip on the wand, a shower of pink sparks shot out of the end. Wide eyed, she looked to Harry for an explanation, only to find he was just as surprised as she was. Meg lifted the wand and gave it a flick, which seemed to cause her closet door to slam shut.
�Holy shit,� Was really all she could say, �Am I supposed to be able to do that?�
�No,� Harry said, still in awe, �Not at all. Muggles, er, non-magical people shouldn�t be able to use a wand as anything but just another wooden stick. Meg,� he said, locking eyes with her, �I think you�re�a witch.�
Meg�s mind went blank at that. A witch? She was magical? Could she be a reason behind some of the stuff? Her father caused a lot of shit to happen, but some stuff just seemed kinda random.
Peter was fat, but he shouldn�t have been heavy enough to just fall through the stairs, was that her?
Were some of her father�s smaller accidents because she was magical and pissed at him?
Despite her physical injuries, from others or self inflicted, many seemed to heal quicker than they should, was that magic?
Was the ghost portal through her ass because she was, herself, magic?
Was magic why she survived all those darts in her back in the jungle?
Come to think of it, how had she become so desensitized from her father�s odd adventures to not realize, stuffed animals shouldn�t be able to come to life and run away or commit suicide by truck? Was that because of her too?
�Meg, MEG!� Harry shocked her out of her thoughts.
�I�m sorry, what?� Meg said, shaking out the cobwebs.
�I said it doesn�t make sense,� Harry repeated, �Even if it�s a little different here, you should have gotten an owl, a letter from a school of magic, years ago. I know for sure there�s one in Salem. Did you ever get a letter on parchment?�
�No, never, at least not that I know-� her thought stopped there and she groaned. What was the one constant screwing up her life? �Come with me.� She got up and lead him down the stairs to the living room, where it was just Brian still reading the paper and Peter watching T.V. �Dad, did I ever get a letter you never gave me? Maybe when I was about eleven?�
Brian lowered his paper, an oddly specific question.
Peter didn�t even look away from the television, �Oh, yeah,� he rustled a hand into the cushions and pulled out a creased, folded and slightly crumpled envelope, �I was gonna give it to ya, but Inside the Actor�s Studio had F. Murray Abraham and I forgot.�
Meg, with barely veiled anger, grabbed the letter and looked at the address�
Miss Megan C. Griffin
31 Spooner Street
Quahog, RI 00093
Breath hitched, she opened the letter and read�
Salem Witches Institute
Headmistress: Rachel Clinton
To Whom It May Concern,
We are happy to inform you that Ms. Griffin has been accepted to the Salem Witches Institute. Enclosed within is a school supply list, our tuition rates, an approved pets list (Any animal NOT on the list must be cleared by our magical creatures professor beforehand), and a basic list of rules (The complete rule book is available for mail purchase or to borrow from the school library upon arrival). Also enclosed is a list of faculty contact numbers if you have any questions.
Fall term begins the final week of August. You must send a letter of acceptance by the first of August or we will assume your daughter does not wish to attend. With any acceptance letter, please inform us if your daughter will require transportation to the Institute.
Sincerely,
Emmaline Gale
Deputy Headmistress
Meg looked over the other papers, the tuition itself wasn�t really much more than her normal schooling costs and while boarding was rather expensive, they also offered something called a�Portkey? Something that would help her commutes to and from school from home, anyway.
Meg�s anger began to boil up again as she felt something inside rise at her father. I could have been with people like me! I could have had real friends! But because of this fatass, I�he�
�Meg!� Harry said, grabbing her shoulder and startling her as the window shattered into the house.
�What the hell!� Peter yelled. Quickly looking through the broken glass, he stuck his out the hole in the wall, and yelled, �Damn you kids and your invisible bricks!�
Harry quickly led Meg back upstairs, not noticing a dog�s eyes following them.
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�Meg, calm down-�
�How can I calm down, Harry? I just found out I lost so much because of my dumbass father!� Meg yelled, her eyes alight with sadness and anger, �I�m a witch who never learned magic! I could have actually made friends at that place! I�I could have found people who cared about me,� she sat on her bed, expression falling.
Harry sat next to her and glanced at the perch and open window, before he put a hand on her shoulder, �Look, Hedwig is out hunting, but first thing tomorrow, we�ll send her to the institute with a letter and see if there�s anything you can do.� Harry took a moment to consider what he said next, �And, if you�re careful, I can probably teach you some spells with my wand since it seems pretty compatible with you.�
�Compatible?�
Harry nodded, �As far as I know, all wands are at least a little different, different cores from different creatures, different wood types from different trees and different lengths,� he pulled his out and showed it to her, �Mine is made of Holly wood, eleven inches long with a phoenix�s tail feather as its core. Ollivander, the man who made it, told me that the wand chooses the witch or wizard, so it is a bit surprising that seems to work well with you.� Harry was silent for a moment before he held the wand out to her, �Let�s see how well it works. I want you to take the wand and say �Lumos�.�
�Lumos? What kind of spell is that? I thought spells, like, rhymed and stuff.� Harry just held the wand to her, so she took it and pointed away, �Lumos.� Immediately a bright, soft light came from the tip. It was a simple spell, but it had its effect on Meg. A letter and some random sparks were nothing compared to actually purposefully casting a spell, �I�I really am a witch.�
�Now say �Nox�.�
�Nox,� Meg repeated, the light going out as she did.
�Good, Meg,� Harry praised, �I don�t think it�s a perfect match, but it is close enough that I can teach you some things with my wand, but you�ll have to be careful, even simple spells can misfire.�
�I understand,� Meg said with a smile as the two of them leaned back against the wall, waiting for dinner to be announced. Meg glanced at her guest a couple times, seeing his eyes droop as jet lag and the days excitement caught up to him. She began to scoot a little closer and a little more until she leaned her head on his shoulder, with Harry a bit too tired to care. �Harry?�
�Hmm.�
�You�re my friend, right?� She asked, uncertainly.
Harry opened a groggy eye and sealed the change of his destiny forever, �Of course, Meg.�
Meg grinned as she closed her own eyes. She didn�t want to seem desperate, but she had almost no real friends, and the few she did have seemed either the fair weather type or were just her friends in school. But, she didn�t know why, somehow she could tell, she could feel that Harry would be a real friend, someone she could rely on and wouldn�t just judge her. She knew, once again, she might be attaching herself too quickly, but this was a boy who, in just a few hours, had literally just changed her whole course of life, and she would do anything to support him. As she drifted off, a darker, needier, more desperate part of her psyche vowed pain on anyone who tried to hurt or take her new friend away.
Far away, on a barren island, in a cold, bare cell, a dark haired woman shivered as if a person had stepped n her grave.
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