Muggle In Hogwarts

Chapter One.

-AAARGGGHHH!!-I screamed falling out of my bed. Grumbling, I picked myself up and rubbed my eyes looking for my glasses on the night table next to my bed. I popped them on, while all my room came into focus. It was a small rectangular room, mostly occupied by a small desk, a closet, the bathroom, shelves full of books and the bed. It was my own little "cave" as my parents called it jokingly. They always teased me, saying that I could stay in my room for days without needing anything and not saying a word, and I'm not at all ashamed to say that it's completely true. It's not that I'm sick or something, hell no; it's just that I have a major obsession for books. There must be about fifty books in my new room, and there isn't one I haven't read at least twice, add that to a couple hundred books, that didn't fit, so part were given to well-fare and the other part was stashed in the attic. The reason I call the room new is because we moved less than six months ago from South America, more precisely Argentina, to England. I've got four older sisters. Yes, we're all women. I'm used already to the typical comments that follow this statement "Oh, poor father!" or "Your father must be a saint" and other condoling words toward the great "saint" of a father I have. Sometimes it's a little unnerving, but only a little, since he's anything but. As I was saying, I have four older sisters whose names are Clara Maria, Maria Mercedes, Maria Teresa and Laura Ines. And then there's me. Little "baby" Maria Cecilia. Yeah, I know. I thought exactly the same thing when I found out. Apparently my parents didn't like the name "Maria" at all so ... believe me; I suffer from this more than you do.

Let's go back to the beginning, shall we? I woke up with a scream and put on my glasses. I took deep breathes so as to calm the beating of my heart, but it was only half working. Suddenly, I heard a 'click - click- click' it seemed someone was knocking on the window. I opened the door (I have two doors in my room, one leading inside the house and the other leading to the backyard) to the garden and looked out. Something came swishing over my head and into my room. I closed the door and looked at the fur-ball that was flying around my room, which seemed to be a small owl. Finally, when I caught it I realized it had an envelope attached to its leg. The owl started hooting happily, which would have made me smile but given the fact that it was the middle of the night, I was too afraid it would wake everybody up. I untied the envelope from its leg and put the owl in my lap and stroked it one-handedly as if it were a dog. Right on cue, Brenda, my dog, entered the room and climbed on my bed, positioning herself to sleep. Brenda put her head on my lap as well, and I stroked them both for a couple of minutes. Then, when Brenda and the owl had fallen asleep, I turned back to the letter. I didn't dare open it, so I just read and re-read the address of who was supposed to receive it. It said, "Harry, Privet Drive 4, upper right window (behind)" and nothing else. I supposed that the reason the window was signaled was for the owl, though I truly doubted the owl could read, if not, he wouldn't have ended up with that letter in my house, when Privet Drive 4 was five blocks away. I frowned slightly at the sleeping owl. I sighed shaking my head and biting my lip, something I always did when I couldn't believe that someone could reach that far. Then, I slowly took Brenda's head off my lap, and stood the owl on my desk chair; I rolled myself into a ball and slept soundly in the space Brenda left me on the bed.

Despite the night's adventure, I woke up early the next morning, or better said, I slept little. I faced my reflection in the mirror. My dark brown shoulder-length hair was in a ponytail, though strands kept releasing themselves from it's grasp; my green-brown eyes were brightly lit by curiosity and impatience; my naturally pink cheeks, more flushed than usual; and my tight jeans and waist-long shirt set off my slim figure to my advance. Too bad I don't really pay attention to these kinds of things or I would have at least been mildly satisfied of nature's work. At six-twenty in the morning I was already ready to go. I picked up the owl, the letter and a couple of stones to throw to the window. I sprinted out of the house into the cold morning, though it actually couldn't be called morning since the sun hadn't even started to come out. In five minutes or less I had reached Privet Drive. I reached Privet Drive four and went around to the back. Left the letter and the small owl on the floor next to me (the owl was still sleeping) and aimed to hit the left window with one of the stones I had brought from my backyard, but I noticed that the window was open. I made an extra effort to see the glass since I didn't want the stone ending up inside the room. That was when I noticed someone was at the window ... staring right at me!

Harry Potter had woken up sweating from a nightmare. One that had been repeating itself in his mind since the end of classes two years ago, also the end of Cedric Diggory's life. He shook his head to get that thought out of his head. But in this dream something had been different, but he couldn't grasp what it had been. There had been a girl, but he couldn't remember who she was or how she looked, he only remembered her screaming. He gave a little shudder. He checked his alarm clock. It was a quarter past six. He had been 16 for six hours and fifteen minutes. He chuckled slightly, some of the panic of the dream drifting off. He lay ten minutes still in his bed, trying to remember the dream. He wished Ron would come and pick him up already. He didn't feel like being another second in the Dursley's house.

Ron Weasley, one of his best friends, had invited him to stay in his house for the rest of the summer and promised to pick him up at six, which in English meant six thirty. Harry checked once more that he wasn't forgetting anything. And strolled the window. He opened it up and lay his head on his hands over the windowsill. Suddenly he felt like someone was looking at him, piercing the darkness of the early morning. He looked down and tried to pierce the surrounding darkness. He was only able to see an indistinct figure before he heard a small squeak and saw the figure fall. Harry, too surprised to think, ran down the stairs with as much caution as he could, to not wake his uncles and his cousin up. As soon as he go to the back yard he found the figure sitting up, apparently massaging its foot.

-Are you ok?- asked Harry. For a moment he had been afraid the person might have fainted or died or something.

-I'm ok. -Grunted a slightly quivering female voice.-I just tripped over something.- Harry nodded, suddenly suspicious.

-Now, would you care to explain yourself?

-Are you Harry? -she asked at the same time. Both expected the other to answer first.-How do you know who I am? -Harry finally asked exasperated. He was used to being identified but this situation was ridiculous. Besides, when people usually recognized him they asked him if he was "Harry Potter", not just simply "Harry". The girl seemed to smile faintly. But before the girl could answer, a flying car made its descent on the lawn. Harry, seeing Fred Weasley, one of Ron's older brothers said :-It's about time. -And gave them hurried directions so that they'd load the trunk into the car. Then he turned again to the girl.

-Sorry, I didn't catch your name. -Said the girl. -Is it or isn't it Harry?

-Yes, my name is Harry. Harry Potter. And you are...?

-Cecilia. Cecilia Politi. -She said shaking his hand, and taking advantage of this to use Harry to pull herself up. -And this, -She said giving him the letter with the other hand. -Is for you, I believe. -Harry took it and opened it. Ron had sent it saying they might be late, so that he wouldn't worry. Harry turned to the girl and found her jaw opened, looking at the twins (Fred and George) putting Harry's trunk in the car and freeing Hedwig (Harry's owl). As soon as Hedwig was released, Cecilia's eyes turned wide behind her glasses.

-Oh! I nearly forgot! This must be yours too. -She said, giving Harry a little package of cloth. He opened it and almost dropped it in horror. Pig (short for Pigwedeon, the tiny fluff-ball of an owl, belonging to Ron,) lay as if dead in between the clothes. As if reading his mind, Cecilia hurriedly said: -He's just sleeping. And you better keep him that way or you're gonna get some trouble with that pretty owl of yours. She's a female, right?

-Harry, astounded, barely nodded his head, noticing she was talking about Hedwig.

-How do you know so much about owls? -Harry asked suddenly. Cecilia shrugged her shoulders.

-I don't. She just looks like a girl, and this little fellow was enough trouble for me during the two seconds he was in my house. -She said smiling.

Ron hopped out of the car and, at one glance of Cecilia, Harry noticed his friend was starting to become tense, which as usual, was accompanied by an unexplainable redness in his face.

-Cecilia, this is one of my best friends, Ron Weasley. Ron, this is Cecilia. Your crazy owl delivered the letter to her instead of me. - Ron acknowledged the information and looked at Pig, who was waking up, quite sternly.

-I recommend you put Pig in a cage, immediately. He's leaving childhood, and males are difficult to handle at that age, especially when they're near females. -All the time she had been looking at Hedwig fly gracefully in small circles, but then as an afterthought she looked at the blushing red-haired boy she added: -just like it's owner, apparently. -This made Ron blush even more.

-Oi! Ron, Harry! Are you planning to come or will you prefer to stay here chatting with the chick! - asked Fred, with a look like he was about to have the best of times teasing his brother. George stuck his head out a window, and turning to Cecilia, said: -No offense, cutie. But we better get going if we wanna hit home before the sun's up. Nice to meet you! -Both twins nodded to Harry and Ron, who signaled her with their heads in a good-bye gesture and hoped in the car and the four, plus Hedwig and Pig, zoomed out of sight. Sighing, she slowly returned home and shut herself in her little "cave" to think.

"Ok," I said to myself. "You're not going crazy. You saw a flying car and a guy called Harry Potter and a guy called Ron Weasley jump in and take off with two other guys, Fred and George, and an owl flying right behind the car while Pig had to stay in the car because of his hormonal problems." A faint smile tinted her lips with this last thought.

-Chuchi!! -I heard my mom calling. She always called me that, and so did my sisters. Actually, I had practically a thousand nicknames inside and out of my family circle.

-What!? -I answered, somewhat irritated. My mother, with her crazy looking face came into my room and did one of her usual "nut-house" routines that had me on the floor laughing before I noticed it. My mother with her plump, small figure and short black hair, that made her brown eyes seem dimmer on her face, was enough to put the Marx brothers to shame.

-What? -I asked again, more gently and giggly than before.

-We are goin' on vacatioooooons. -She said pulling funny faces. I laughed loudly. Not only because of Mom's faces but also because of her terrible English. It sounded more like "wir ir goning own vacatiuuuuuuuns" or some other strange combination like that. I jumped up from my bed squealing with delight and grabbed a bag and started packing, basing myself on the information my Mom started giving me. After about fifteen minutes, I finished packing and took my bag to the front door next to my sisters'. Mom had been talking about this trip for weeks. How could I have possibly forgotten about it? My Dad, as soon as I left my bag, came and smiled at me, so I knew he was in a good mood. I went to hug him, and I wasn't surprised when, with a nasty grin, he walked away from me as if knowing my intentions.

-What? -I said trying to look innocent. But my Dad knew me since I came to this world and looked at me suspiciously. -No hug? -I said with a hurtful voice. Dad sighed and put his arms around my shoulders and I put mine around his belly while all around us, my sisters were yelling to each other something about extra panties. As soon as I noticed he had lowered his guard I squeezed my arms as hard as possible, making my Dad start to yell and to fight me off with his bear strength. I tried to stifle my laughs to no avail as he looked at me accusingly.

-You never forget, do you?- it was more a statement than a question. I shook my head no. When we were little, my Dad used to hug us so tight we felt we couldn't breath, so now it was time for revenge. Every time we hug him (well, most of the times, anyway) we crush him, although it's all playful fighting. Dad turned me around and pushed me gently to the stairs.

-Go help your mother.- he said with laughter in his voice. I complained loudly. Mom was fun but she always had a million last minute things to do.

-What am I?- I asked in mock anger.-The only daughter in this family? You've got four other daughters to pester.

-Yeah,- came Laura's reply. -But you're the baby, so we'll leave all the work to you. We lived through it more than you did so ...- she spread her hands as if there was nothing she could do about it, but her eyes were flashing maliciously.

-Shut up, you're only a year and three months older than me.- I was about to say something else, but a high pitched scream was heard all over the house. I rolled my eyes. It never failed, every time we were about to go somewhere, we fought just before we left so we were usually in a bad mood in the car.

Things had been going too well that day. I sighed with resignation as I saw the happy look in my dad's face fly out the window.

-Here we go again.- he grumbled as he climbed the stairs, three steps at a time. Two seconds later, the house was filled with incoherent screaming from my sisters and my parents. I hid my head in my arms and tried to block out the fighting. Half an hour later, all seven of us, plus Brenda, were inside the car and finally on our way, in the legendary cold silence of the car. In a low voice, I asked Dad to put some music to lighten the mood. Mom, thinking it a good idea, put a strange looking cassette in the cassette player. Mom pushed play and Christmas carols resounded through the car, and we five, my sisters and me, sang them all, on some occasions changing the real words for others.

- ... Jingle bells

- ... Batman smells

- ... Robin laid an eeeeegg

- ... The Batmobile has lost a wheel

- ... And Joker played ballet.

All of us ended up laughing at the top of our voices. Six hours after we had set out, we made our first stop. We were going to stay the night there so Dad wouldn't be too cranky and would be able to have a good night's sleep and some relaxation. We put up the tent, both tents actually: there was a small one for Mom and Dad, and a big one for the five of us. Then we made a small fire and burned marshmallows and put them in between crackers and, at night told horrendous horror stories to scare one another though a well put "BOOOO!!" would do the trick just as well. Finally, we all fell asleep but I woke up half an hour later covered with cold sweat and breathing like I had just ran a marathon. I rocked myself forward and backward to ease my nerves, it always worked when I was little. Slowly I cooled out and tried to remember the dream. I could hardly grasp it, but the big parts of it, the general idea, stayed in my mind as if printed by fire. I decided I'd better write it down and what better place then my diary. So I did.

I was going to a dance in a huge castle, feeling a little odd, and suddenly a big mount of thunder and lightening filled the sky and a downpour immediately began. I saw a big group of people I recognized but now I can't remember who they were, and a high cold laugh was heard from somewhere behind me, very, very close. Then the image shifted and I was at a lake. I recognized it from the picture Mom had showed us before, the blue picture perfect lake next to a pretty nice cabin, where we're heading now, but there was something wrong. The fact was that I was alone, and I felt really cold. I was running to the cabin and found a big strange mark outlined in the sky, (right now I can't remember it, though it gave me the shivers). When I opened the door I had a feeling in my stomach that made me want vomit. And then, I woke up.

I capped the pen and stashed my diary and the pen in a secure place. I wasn't too keen of my sister's reading my dreams and my thoughts, so I always tried to keep it as far away from them as possible. Then, I was so tired that I just flopped right back to sleep. And I had the same nightmare again ... and again ... and again. In the end, I was so scared of the serpent-mark that had been on top of the cabin and of the high cold cruel laugh I heard, that I decided it wiser not to sleep again until I were sure I wouldn't have that dream again. So I stayed awake for another hour alone, just thinking, until my sisters started waking up and my Mom passed by the tent to tell us to get ready. So we undid and folded the tents, put them back in the car with the rest of our things, hoped in and continued our way. Six hours later, we were reaching the cabin near the lake.

Two wonderful weeks went by, so I thought my dreams and fears were silly and unjustified. We were about to leave, and strangely enough the weather was horrible, there were giant dark clouds and thunder could be seen in the distance. But, even though the water in the lake must have been freezing, my sister Laura insisted on going to take a last swim. I had a bad feeling about this, so I went with her, though no way was I going to touch the icy water. Laura took off her clothes to reveal her stunning bikini, which I doubted my mother would have allowed her to use if she hadn't been so persistent, and dived easily into the water. I watched her resurface and shiver a little.

-Come on in!! -She tried to coax me, but I wasn't getting near that icy water unless I went bonkers.

-No way! -I answered. We were there for about twenty minutes until Laura got tired of swimming alone and came out of the water to dry herself with a towel she had brought with her, as she did, we heard screams from the cabin. We both rolled our eyes.

-It never fails. -I mumbled.

-Come on, I'll race you to the cabin. -She yelled as we ran. I laughed and followed her, out running her only after she had stumbled slightly.

-Oh no you don't! -She screamed after me laughingly and caught up with me easily, passing me after a couple of seconds. She reached the door first and stood paralyzed. Thinking that maybe she was just bugging me, I pushed her in, laughing as I did so. As soon as I saw what was on the other side of the door, my laughter caught in my throat. A bundle of emotions went through me like a whirlwind until every thought and feeling left me feeling like I had just been punched in the stomach. Inside the cabin all seemed quite normal, most of the things we brought were put away, and the bags and trunks were all strewn on the floor, as usual. The odd things were the bodies. The bodies with terror written all over their faces, lying on the floor as dummies, their faces so familiar, but with so unfamiliar expressions. Five bodies sniffed by Brenda, calling their names to try and wake them up. Crying for them. They were dead. Mom! Was the word that escaped Laura's lips. Only then did I snap out of the shock and see him. A small chubby man in a robe with a black cloak with a black hood hiding his face, but a silver hand was seen in between the folds. The murderer. He pulled the hood from his head, showing us his hateful beady eyes, in a rat face that went so well with my thoughts that I couldn't wait for another second. I jumped on him with my fists in the air. Pounding him in the face, punching his stomach, willing him to die, my Mom's horror-stricken face loomed over me, right next to my Dad's, and Clara's, and Mercedes', and Teresa's ... Tewey! Daddy! Mommy! Claire! Mercy! Please come back! Was all that I could think of while I pounded that face. The man said something, with his finger pointed, and my dog, Brenda, fell to the ground. Laura screamed and ran to her. The man was obviously worn out, and so was I. He yelled something that sounded like "Renocuo" at me but I pulled his silver hand away. I heard a thud and with a glance backward I realized it hit my sister instead. The falling and raising of her chest showed me that she was still alive. I jumped up from the murderer, kicking him hard in the stomach, and ran to my sister. The man had gotten the wind knocked out of him and couldn't stand up. I tried to pick my sister up, as well as I could and fitted her and me in a closet nearby, and I was closing the door just as the man was standing up and a number of pop's were heard along with running feet.

-Oh my God!- I heard a man say. The murderer turned to him, lifted his hand and murmured something, and with another "pop" he disappeared from sight.

The man who had just entered turned around where there must have been someone because he said: -Did you see that, Marty?! It was him! Peter Pettigrew!!

- Yeah, I saw him. We better notify the Ministry.-said Marty.

-Ok, -said the first man again. -But first, let's do a couple of the basics here so that the guys can take it away.- So they sent little pink rays to all the bags, checked that everyone was dead and were surprised when Brenda got up and started barking, then left to notify the ministry. I didn't really understand what they had said, but I had half a mind to grab my bag so that they wouldn't take it away, call Bibu so she'd follow me, and stuff both in the closet with me and my sister. Other men came and went inside the little cabin but didn't open the closet. Half an hour after Laura and I had raced giggling from the lake, all the men had left the cabin for one thing or another. I picked my sister up and then my bag that to my amazement was as light as a feather. Surprised but still feeling too mechanical to react, I ran out the door and towards where I remembered the nearest town to be, with Brenda following behind me.