All in the Family

ALL IN THE FAMILY

CHAPTER ONE:

I just have one thing to say to you: being a Squib sucks. Especially when you come from a big old family of wizards and you're the first one. Even worse; being a Squib living with Muggles could be nice, but being a Squib surrounded by wizard families isn't.

Yeah, I know, I'm obsessed with the word Squib, but what can I say? It sucks, really.

For 10 years I anxiously waited for the day they'd say that I was actually a witch, but my hopes died as I turned eleven and no Hogwarts letter came. I never got it. But let me tell you a little more about my family.

All I know is that my grandparents names were Noel Wood and Isabella Ursteina; great wizards who went to Hogwarts and Durmstrang, respectively. Hogwarts is somewhere in Great Britain and Durmstrang... no-one knows. They met studying dragons in Romania and they fell in love. From that marriage came my father, Oliver Wood. He went to Hogwarts, like my grandfather. He wasn't as good a wizard, but he was one of the best Quidditch players of all times. Well, one of the advantages of being a Squib and living with wizards is that you can have football and Quidditch at the same time; Chocolate Frogs and Sherbet lemons, Linkin' Park and The Witches...

We better go back to my family history. As I was saying, my father was one of the best Quidditch players; in the house there was a gigantic cups with his name on them. My mother, Emma Ridgewey, also went to Hogwarts; she was a year younger and was in another house, but they fell in love. And they had me. Hannah Wood, at your service.

 

* * * * *

 

But I never met them exactly; I was 3 years old when they died. I was there, but I don't remember that day, and when I could understand that my parents were dead, they told me what happened. We were on a trip through America, Brazil to be more exact. We were in a Zoo, a Muggle one; and, suddenly a lion escaped from its cage and attacked them. My father protected us, my mother and me, but it was in vain. When it reached my mother, she wanted to use magic, but it was to late. Apparently, there was another wizard there that was able to use magic to save me, his name was Neville Longbottom.

And that was how I ended up with him, his wife, Parvati Patil and his son, Terry, who has just turned 11. They were so happy when he got his letter from Hogwarts that they didn't even notice that I had sneaked out with Neville's wand trying to do magic. I did that many times, generally when I was left alone, but nothing never happened. It was useless; I was condemned to be a Squib for the rest of my life.

Until that day.

That day I woke up early, earlier than usual. The alarm clock told me it was morning; I had been 14 for seven hours. I went downstairs quickly and went into the kitchen. I had eaten well the night before, but still I was hungry. I grabbed one of the Chocolate Frogs I found on the table and opened it. I was able to get it before it hopped away but something inside the box surprised me and when I opened my hand it fled quickly hoping away through the whole kitchen.

Before I continue with this story, I have to tell you how Chocolate Frogs really are. They come inside a metal box and have a spell. But, what everybody cares about the most of that treat, is what's underneath the frog; the card. But not any card; it had the most important wizards of history.

I took the card and saw the picture that smiled and waved at me (yes, photos move in the wizarding world), underneath, with gold letters, was written Harry Potter.

I sat on a chair and stared at it; there was young man of about twenty, with dark hair, green eyes in front of broken glasses and... yes! I had seen correctly! A scar in the shape of a lightning bolt in the middle of his forehead. I stayed staring at it for a good while; it was very weird that a person so young would appear on those cards. I, who had about 600, knew that they were always old wizards with long beards o witches full of gray hairs. But not this one.

I turned it around and read.

Harry Potter: great wizard of the twentieth century. Known worldwide for defeating in the year 2000, only 20 years old, the great wizard Voldemort.

Lord Voldemort? Where had she heard that name before?

Wormtail... Wormtail?

Those words fell into my head like bombs. What were those names? What did they mean? I had no clue, but I was determined to find out.

I left the kitchen quickly and went to the library. My uncles, as I called them, had always let me read all the books on magic that they had. That's why I knew almost all the potions and spells that existed by heart, but there was a part that was forbidden to me.

I got on a bench and started searching in the higher shelves. I knew my uncles kept them there. There was a series of books that, for one reason or another, weren't permitted for my eyes. Never had they said why exactly; when I asked, they murmured something about Dark Arts and changed the subject. There!

History of great wizards of the twentieth century.

Surely I'd find Harry Potter there, just like Voldemort and Wormtail.

I got off the bench and sat down with the book open on my lap. I started passing the pages quickly, trying to find the name as quick as possible, I didn't want to get caught.

 

Harry Potter. Known worldwide as the greatest enemy of the great sorcerer Lord Voldemort, born the...

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah; I passed to the next paragraph, I wasn't interested in his childhood, I wanted the last thing.

 

Many times Harry had to encounter his enemy. But it was only on the eve of his twentieth birthday that he was able to put an end to-

 

"Hannah!"

Aunt Parvati ran quickly towards me and ripped the book out of my hands. By her face, I could tell she wasn't very happy.

I stood up and faced her. "You can't do this to me, Auntie," I said. "I have a right to know."

"Know what?" she asked me.

"About Harry Potter! Voldemort!" I said.

"Hannah... please," she said. "It's better if you stay out of this."

"Wormtail," I said as she started to stand on the bench to put the book back in its place. "I know about that; I don't know how, it just popped in my head, but I know. I've got thousands of names in my head: Malfoy, Avery, Nott..."

Aunt Parvati fell from the bench and landed on the floor on her bottom. Uncle Neville entered the library at a run. "What happened?" he asked worried.

"Oh, Lord" Aunt Parvati was fanning herself with her hand. "She knows, Neville." She told him. "About the Death Eaters."

"The what?" I asked. Everything was becoming more and more confusing. Thousands of things were going round my head; names, words, numbers. And I didn't know what they meant.

Uncle Neville helped Aunt Parvati get on her feet. I approached them.

"Malfoy, Avery and Nott are Death Eaters?" I asked them.

Uncle Neville looked at me surprised. "We have to tell McGonagall." It was the only thing he said.

 

* * * * *

 

You don't have to be a genius to know when problems were coming. And in my case, I knew it was going to be big. My uncles hardly looked at me, and Terry didn't want to play with me anymore. Every time I approached Aunt Parvati, she turned around and left, terror written all over her face. I didn't know what was happening, but I was sure it was nothing good. Who was McGonagall? That question bounced in my head. But not for long, because at three o'clock sharp, McGonagall arrived.

It was the day of my sentence.

 

* * * * *

 

At three o'clock sharp, McGonagall came through the door; only then did I realize it was a woman. And very old at that. She was dressed in a big scarlet robe she dragged all over the floor. She wore square glasses and her black hair pulled back into a bun.

She silently came towards me and looked at me from head to toe. She wore a carefully expressionless face, but I could tell she was surprised by my outfit; oxford pants with butterflies, a Liverpool football team T-shirt and platform shoes. Typical Muggle teenager clothes.

"Hannah." she said. "Sit, please, we need to talk."

Aunt Parvati and Uncle Neville disappeared from the room leaving me alone with the old woman. I sat on the couch and she sat on the chair facing me. The woman smiled grandly as she looked at me.

"Hannah..." she said. "Hannah Wood."

"Yes." I said. "That's me!" What else could I say?

"Are you feeling ok?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I'm great." I answered. "What's going on? Why did I remember al those names all of the sudden?"

"There's something you don't know, Hannah." McGonagall removed her glasses. "You're not a Squib."

"I'm a witch?" I asked, almost yelling. She nodded. I was a witch! That was the best day of my life. "Really?"

"Yes, Hannah. Your parents were wizards, and so are you." She said.

"Then... why wasn't I told before?" I asked. Why had they done that to me?

"Lord Voldemort was one of the great wizards in history." She started. "He had a lot of power, and used it to look for allies. If anyone opposed, he'd kill them. He was evil, Hannah."

"There is no good and evil; just power and the courage to use it." I said, but in that moment realized that I shouldn't have said anything. McGonagall quickly put her glasses back on and looked at me with horror.

"After many years of fear, finally someone was able to stop him." She continued, still looking at me with the same expression. Was I some kind of monster? "When he died, his servant, Wormtail, continued with his evil deeds. He looked for allies all over the world, killing those who refused." And she became quiet, I understood what that meant.

"Like my parents." I said, and she nodded.

"But for some reason, he didn't kill you." She said, later. For several seconds she stared at me, as if surprised. Finally, she got out of the chair. "Very well, I have some things I must do. So, if I'm allowed to, I'll leave now. I how you know how to appreciate this... you were signed up since you were three years old."

I nodded and got up as well. It was bad manners to remain sitting. McGonagall took something from inside her robe and gave it to me. Then, turning around, said goodbye to my uncles who had just entered the room and disappeared.

I looked at what she had given me, it was a rolled up piece of parchment, rather yellow. I opened it cautiously and read.

 

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

 

Director: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First-Class, Great Sorcerer, Chief Wizard, Supreme Chief, International Wizard Confederation)

 

Dear Miss Wood:

We have the pleasure to inform you that you have an opening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Adjoined to this letter there is a list of equipment and necessary books.

School begins on September 6. We expect your owl no later than the 1º of September.

Cordially,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress.

 

The parchment seemed old, and there were some water stains that had made the ink run.

Just then I realized there was another page. Smaller and whiter. It was a list of all the books I would be needing for fourth year. I was going to Hogwarts...

 

* * * * *

 

The next day, we went to Diagon Alley. I had already been there, once they had took me to meet it, but now it was completely different. Terry, my little cousin, was almost as excited as me. He has just turned eleven and was also starting at Hogwarts. But to me it was completely different; I started in fourth year. On one hand it was good, I wouldn't have stand having classes with eleven-year-olds; but on the other hand I didn't want to. I already knew several potions and spells, but I didn't know exactly what the fourth-years had learned.

What scared me the most was the Sorting Ceremony. Where would they put me? Even though it went round and round my head I couldn't understand why they hadn't let me go before; why had they told me I was a squib? Why?

Finally we arrived, after going through almost all of London; that place was beautiful. Thousands of wizards dressed in robes and pointed hats walked from one place to the other. All of them were shopping for the things necessary to start the school year; books, robes, cauldrons...

First we went to buy the simplest and fastest thing, books. Then we went to get cauldrons. When we arrived at the mascots shop I spent several minutes looking around before choosing a big light-brown owl.

"Hannah, go on that side, choose the robes you like the best." Aunt Parvati told me while she looked at the smaller sizes.

I walked to the great tender and started looking. I knew several people were looking at me surprised, I could fell their eyes on my back. I was still dressed in Muggle clothes, I was used to that and wasn't about to change.

The robes were practically the same, the only variation was the color. I took a black one and a maroon one; for that year we needed two, one normal and one formal. I put them up in front of me and walked several steps backwards so I could get a better look. Something hit against my back. I turned around quickly and found myself with a tall and redheaded guy, probably about 15 years old.

"Sorry," I said. "I didn't see you."

"You were walking backwards," he said as he picked up the books that he had dropped. "But don't worry, it's ok."

Just then, when he stood up was I able to get a good look at him; he had bright and light blue eyes. His face was had some freckles but his hair wasn't as orange as I had thought, it had some touches of brown. He looked at me strangely; I knew he was looking at my clothes. I dropped my eyes to my shoes; they had different drawings I had painted on them. As always I was wearing a Liverpool T-shirt, though my jeans were more normal.

He looked at my shirt and laughed. "You're the first person I meet that's from Liverpool," he said.

I looked at him surprised. "You know them?" I asked. "Practically no-one I know has any clue what football is," and it was true, no-one knew what was Basket, a phone, a vacuum cleaner...

"Yes, I know what it is," he answered. "My grandparents are Muggles. Whenever I visit them I watch TV. It's fascinating what they come up with," He laughed. "And... I'm from Manchester."

"You're definitely not going to be a friend of mine," I said.

"Why not?" he asked. "I know that Liverpool and Manchester are like Gryffindor and Slytherin, but that doesn't mean that you can't make friends in the rivaling team."

"Gryffindor and Slytherin are enemies?" I asked surprised; I knew which were the four houses of Hogwarts, but I had no idea that they were rivals.

"Yeah, there were always problems between them, but that was accentuated when Potter came," he put out his hand. "By the way, my name is Steven Weasley."

I shook his hand. "Han-"

"Steven!" someone cried.

"Sorry, I hope we meet again," and with that he left.

I stood there, both robes in my hand. Suddenly, I realized that a woman with brown hair was standing in front of me, smiling.

"What?" I asked alarmed. She shook my hand with a firm grip.

"Hannah Wood," she said. "It's such a pleasure, I was wondering when we'd meet you,"

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Everybody knows your name," she replied. "I'm Hermione Weasley. Granger for my students."

"You teach at Hogwarts?" I asked, for some reason, I was starting to like her. Maybe it was her smile, or her warm voice.

"Yes, Transfigurations. I hope you stand out in my class," she shook my hand once more and left.

I was more confused as the minutes passed by.

 

* * * * *

 

I sat in a chair at the Ice Cream shop while my uncles bought Terry an ice cream cone. At the moment I didn't want anything, except find out as much as I could about Harry Potter.

I opened 'History of great wizards of the twentieth century' again in the pages of that wizard and started reading. They had dedicated 20 pages of that huge book; one page for every year of his life. When I finished reading I directed my attention to my uncles who were sitting besides me at the table.

"Did you know him?" I asked.

"Who?" asked Uncle Neville, while he enjoyed his 18 flavored ice cream.

"Potter, did you know him?" I explained. My adoptive family stopped eating their ice creams to look at me; except Terry whose complete attention was occupied by his cone.

Uncle Neville nodded faintly. "His death was very painful for us," he said slowly, I thought he was about to cry. "For everybody,"

"What was he like?" I asked.

"Very strong and decided," Uncle Neville answered. The ice cream had started to melt in his hands, but he seemed to be a thousand miles away. "He was a great friend; never let you down. Everything he did had a just cause," he closed his eyes. "The best person I've ever met."

I bit my lower lip. I felt bad for my uncle. Harry and he must have been great friends. I felt guilty for having reminded him of all those painful things. "Did you know there's a new professor at Hogwarts?" I changed the subject, it was the best I could do at the moment.

"Really?" my aunt asked. "I didn't know."

Uncle Neville reopened his eyes and cleaned his hand, which was full of dripping ice cream. He ate some and looked at me again.

"Someone called Jennie Jimmie," I answered. "He's the new caretaker."

My uncles smiled. "Remember Filch?" Aunt Parvati asked her husband.

"And Mrs. Norris?" Neville smiled. "How I miss Hogwarts!"

And then my uncles told us story after story about their adventures in Hogwarts. From the first day to graduation. I tried to look interested, but there was something else on my mind...