Gwen
.
Gwen
It was a warm day in June, and a small 11 year old girl was playing in her playhouse. Strange things had been happening to her lately, but her parents kept telling her that it was her imagination running away with her. For example, she had seen her toy table begin to float all by itself, and she had also seen her toy food serve itself to her dolls.
Things got weirder one afternoon when she heard her mother calling for her to come inside. "GWEN!” her mother shouted. "Get in here, quickly!" Gwen ran inside as fast as her little legs could carry her. Startled, trying to catch her breath, she asked, "Mom, what is it?"
"Gwen, your father and I are not sure". Gwen looked around, and there, in the living room, stood the strangest looking woman Gwen had ever seen. She had on a dress of every color of the rainbow, and on top of the woman's head sat a rather large hat that came to a point. The hat was black and had a green trim, which made Gwen smile as green was her favorite color.
“Mr. and Mrs. Redfield,” spoke the strange woman, “I am here on a matter concerning your daughter, Gwen. I have been sent to deliver her welcome letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
“I'm sorry, what did you just say? Is this a joke? Wait, where's the hidden camera? Are we on television?" Mrs. Redfield asked as she looked around the living room and out of the windows looking for a camera that simply wasn’t there. "This is no joke Mrs. Redfield, and certainly not a television show, I can assure you.”
"You honestly expect me to believe that my daughter is a witch? Witches are nothing but legends; characters designed to amuse children." Mr. Redfield spoke. The strange woman replied, "Oh no, we are quite real. We just prefer to keep a low profile around muggles such as yourselves. We only reveal ourselves to other witches and wizards, and Gwen here is one of them." she said.
"What's a muggle?" Gwen asked shyly. The funny woman leaned down to face Gwen and said "Muggles, my dear child, are people who don’t have the ability to use magic. While the rest of your family may be made up of muggles, you my dear are indeed a witch."
“I still don’t believe any of this,” stated Mrs. Redfield. “If you truly expect us to believe that you’re a witch, and our daughter is one as well, then prove it!” Without uttering a word, the woman pulled a small stick from her robes, pointed at some furniture in the room, and it began to float into the air, seemingly all on its own.
Mrs. Redfield, clearly dumbfounded, fell back into a chair, mouth agape. Gwen could hardly hold in her excitement at the seeing magic right before her eyes. Gwen asked, “Mam, will I be able to do that too?” The woman smiled, lowered the stick in her hands, and the furniture was put back into its original place. “Yes, Gwen. If you wish to learn how to perform magic such as this, you will be taught all you need to know at Hogwarts to become a very powerful witch. You will of course need your parent’s permission, and there is plenty of time for both you and for them to think about what joining Hogwarts would mean to you and your family. The Train for Hogwarts leaves on September 1st at 11am. We will expect a response concerning your attendance via a letter sent by owl. Should you choose to join Hogwarts, further instructions on how to attend, as well as what you will need, will be mailed back to you." The woman lifted the stick back into the air, waved it around in the air for a few seconds, muttered something Gwen couldn’t quite make out, and a small cage containing an owl appeared in Gwen’s hands.
"An owl! Oh, he’s so pretty!" Gwen exclaimed, holding the owl cage. The woman went on to say, "In the Magical world, we send mail with owls and other creatures. I will leave one here with you so that you have a way of contacting us. Just tie your reply to the owl’s leg when you're ready." When she finished speaking, she walked into our unlit fireplace, withdrew some sand from a pouch she was carrying, threw it down to her feet, and she vanished in a huge puff of green smoke.
Gwen stood there, mouth open, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. Gwen could hear her mother and father whispering in the corner. The last thing she heard before her parents sent her up to her room was her mom saying, "This can't be happening. What should we do?" Gwen slowly made her way up to her room, still holding the cage from the woman, whose name she was never told
0 comments:
Post a Comment