For in Dreams...

A Dream Realized

Over the next five years, Dumbledore and Ryanna would talk about her dreams and other things her parents could not understand. Her mother helped her control her emotions, especially her anger, with meditation and her father would teach her how to concentrate on keeping her gifts in check. But it was her conversations with Dumbledore that she cherished. The book that he gave her soon became filled with more than just her dreams. She would write about events that came true that were in her dreams and of what would happen because of her talents. She was surprised to see that the book never seemed to run out of pages.

It wasn't until she was 11 that the most frequent of her dreams would come to realization.

While recovering from a brief illness, Ryanna was sitting on her bed reading one of her father's writings when she noticed a bird perched on her windowsill. As she approached the window, she noticed that it wasn't just any bird, but an owl that was the color of honey. She was astonished to see that it was out during the daytime, but was even more shocked to see that it was looking directly at her. Approaching the window cautiously, Ryanna smiled at the bird, who with a tilt of his head, blinked at her, "Hello. I've been waiting for you."

Opening the window, the owl entered her room, perched itself on Ryanna's desk and lifted its leg to show an envelope clasped in its talon.

"Is this for me?" Ryanna asked curiously as she took the envelope. She looked at the writing on the front. Written in a flowing green script was:

Miss Ryanna Gertrude Taylor

Bedroom

Brooks Square

Watlington, Oxfordshire

She closed her eyes. The smell of the envelope's paper was a welcoming scent, like the smell of her father's treasured first editions that he would let her read from time to time.

"Thank you," she said to the owl, which seemed to nod as it took flight out of her window and quickly out of sight.

She turned the letter over and saw the oddest thing on the back. A red wax seal was holding the envelope closed and an emblem stamped over it with the same green ink along with the words 'Hogwarts.'

Her heart pounded like a heavy drum in her chest. She remembered seeing a book in her father's study about a place called Hogwarts. Her father wouldn't tell her much about it other than that it was a boarding school out in the Scottish countryside.

"Mummy!" she yelled as she raced down the stairs. "You're never going to believe what came to visit me!'

Ryanna rounded the corner into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner.

"Ryanna Gertrude!" her mother said flatly, as she closed the refrigerator door. "How many times have I told you not to run down the stairs? You just got out of hospital. Now, tell me what it is that you got and be quick about it so I can finish dinner."

Ryanna showed the envelope to her mother. "You're never going to believe what's happened! Look! An owl brought this to me!"

"How can an owl bring you a letter in the middle of the day?" her mother asked. "You know that owls only fly at night."

"But it's like in my dream," she answered. "You know the one I always have? Except, in my dream I wasn't able to read the envelope. I don't know how, but I had a feeling that this was going to happen. Look at what it says on the back."

She handed the envelope to her mother, who looked at it very carefully. "Surely this some sort of joke," she said as she turned the envelope over to reveal the wax seal. "Well, apparently not. It looks as though Mr. Albus is inviting you to attend his school."

"Oh," she replied curiously. "Can we open it?"

Helena handed her daughter the envelope and watched as she tore it open and removed its contents.

It took Ryanna a few seconds to capture her breath and then began to read. "Dear Miss Taylor. We're pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... What?"

"Keep reading," her mother requested.

Focusing her attention back to the letter, she continued. "Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 4. We await your owl by no later than July 31...Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall."

Ryanna turn to the next page to find a list of the items that were quite unfamiliar. "First year students will require...a pointed hat? One pair of...Dragon gloves? One winter cloak? Mummy? Does this mean to say that I am a witch?"

"Ryanna," Helena began. "Your father and I were going to speak with you about this over the weekend. We were hoping that the letter wouldn't arrive until next week."

"So is this the reason I can do all of these things is because I'm a witch?"

"Mr. Albus seems to think so," she smiled as she pulled her daughter close. "He feels that it may be the place to find out where you fit in."

Ryanna looked at her mother. Her hazel eyes were glazed over with tears. Until now, she was never able to hear her parents' thoughts. It was a shock to her when she heard her mother thinking to herself, 'Please say you want to go. Your father and I want so much for you to fit in somewhere. People are beginning to talk about the things you can do.'

"I want to go and I want to fit in. But how can I fit in anywhere if I'm a witch?"

"How did you do that?" Helena asked. "You knew what I was thinking."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "If I look in your eyes, I can hear what you're thinking. You're not mad, are you?"

"Of course not," she smiled, "Why don't we wait for your father to come in from work and we can tell him, OK?"

"OK," Ryanna replied happily as she hugged her mother then ran upstairs to her room to write her letter to say that she would attend.

When her father arrived home, he found his daughter waiting for him. He wasn't even in the door and Ryanna was in his arms telling him about the letter she received and how much she wanted to go. She was also full of questions about Hogwarts, to which, William finally allowed her to read "Hogwarts: A History". The question that her parents had been preparing for was finally asked after dinner. How did Ryanna come to be a witch?

For the rest of the week, William and Helena did their best to explain her family's history. Her father showed her moving photos of her grandparents and explained about her grandfather being a powerful wizard. He showed her letters that he wrote to William giving details of the wizarding world. He finally showed Ryanna his father's will, which said that he left her with a vault at a bank called Gringotts in a place called Diagon Alley. He also left her his old schoolbooks that she could have when she came of age. The last thing he left her was his wand.

William presented her with a long wooden box emblazoned with her grandfather's initials, "N.A.T".

"I've never taken it out of the box," William explained solemnly. "So, we'll need to have it cleaned. Dumbledore said that it should have been buried with him but your grandfather made me promise..."

"Dad," Ryanna said as she hugged him. "Why don't you hold on to it for me? I'll get a new one."

"No," he said with a sniff. "Your grandfather wanted you to..."

"I don't want the memories," she said flatly. "Can you hold on to it for me until I'm older?"

"All right," he smiled. "We'll have it cleaned at Ollivander's and put in your vault."

"Okay," she said. "Dad, where's Diagon Alley?"