We're Going to Hogwarts! [Closed]

Lyra woke up quite early, considering it was the summer holidays so she had no reason to be up. Seeing Lyn was still fast asleep, she crept out of their shared room as quietly as she could, in search of some breakfast. Still in her spotty pyjamas and slippers.

Once she got down to the kitchen, she picked up an apple from the fruit bowl. Fruit wasn't that bad, even though other people her age might disagree. It meant she was pretty and healthy. When everyone else was up she planned on getting some proper breakfast for herself but this was just to keep her going until she could have her usual eggs.

Then Lyra skipped out of the kitchen door. While she waited, she might as well do something useful. Like let the chickens ad cockerels out. The poor things had been all cooped up in their little cabin all night and they'd probably been up for ages. So, even if nobody else was up, she could let them out into the garden. After undoing the hatch, she watched happily as they ran out. There was Nasim, Jill and Aiden Turner. Oh, and the new chick who Hunter had named Aoife, for some reason. The rest followed. There was a lot of chickens and cockerels.

Since it was cold and wet outside, she came back inside, took a seat in the kitchen and picked up the book she'd been reading. It wasn't too great, but it was something to do while she waited for her family to drag their lazy bums out of bed. Hopefully they'd hurry up, though, because the book wasn't very good and she was hungry.

Jack woke up to the glare of the sun hitting his face from between the curtains. With a yawn, he sat up and stretched. He was usually up before daybreak to help his father with the farmwork, especially since his brother had gone off to school. Hunter's absence meant that there was a lot more work to go around. But now that the holidays had begun, and it was the weekend, Jack could afford to sleep in a bit. At least until the sun came up. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Jack pulled on a faded pair of jeans and an old white tee shirt and pulled the curtains open so that light streamed in through the window.

Hunter was still sleeping, so before leaving the room Jack grabbed a pillow from his bed and wailed it in his brother's direction. "Oy, wake up, you git!" Jack exclaimed good-naturedly, laughing when Hunter growled at him to go away and pulled the covers over his head. "Better get used to it, you aren't in magic land anymore," Jack grinned. "Hurry up, mum'll be after you soon." Letting himself into the hallway, Jack peered into his parents' room long enough for his mother to tell him to start breakfast. Of course he had to start breakfast.

Making his way into the kitchen, he realized that he wasn't the first one up. "A bit early for you, isn't it, kid?" Jack asked Lyra, grinning and tugging a strand of her hair lightly as he walked passed her. She was reading something. Jack couldn't understand why. He didn't enjoy reading much. "Good thing, though. Mum wants you to start breakfast." It was unlikely that Lyra would fall for it - Jack's badly-hidden grin would definitely give him away. "You know what, forget it. I'll just do it."

The VanDerbergs were a close family - Jack loved all his siblings. But Jack got along really well with Lyra. Of course, he loved Lynette, too, and he and Hunter were as much best friends as they were brothers. But he had a soft spot for Lyra. Stepping around the table and putting a pan on the stove, Jack started the pancakes. "Any breakfast requests?" he asked his little sister.

It was great to be back home. Hogwarts was wonderful and everything, but Hunter couldn't even begin to explain how good it felt to be in a normal house with his sort-of normal family doing normal things. He was a muggle again, at least for a few months. And that didn't bother him one bit. That morning, he was sleeping soundly in his perfectly normal, familiar bed - that is, until a pillow slammed into his face. Mumbling for his brother to leave him alone, he flipped over and ignored him. But, as Jack had predicted, it wasn't long before his mother was banging on his door, telling him to wake up. "Alright, I'm coming!" he called irritably, running a hand through his hair and giving up his comfortable bed.

"C'mon Rex," Hunter said sleepily to the Dutch Shepherd that was laying at the foot of his bed. He grinned as the dog rose to follow him out of the room. Lynette claimed most of the animals around the farm, but Rex glued himself to Hunter's side the moment he returned from school. Jack and Lyra were already in the kitchen - Hunter entered the room just in time to hear Jack ask Lyra if she had any special requests for breakfast.

"Bacon, of course," Hunter interjected, knowing fully well that bacon was the last thing that either of the twins would want for breakfast. Probably because they wasted their time naming the pigs. "Morning," he added brightly, punching Jack in the arm on his way to the refrigerator to grab a glass of milk. He poured a cup full of dog food into Rex's bowl before  taking a seat at the table next to his sister. It was later than he thought - maybe Hogwarts had made him a little lazy when it came to waking up in the morning.

Cool, Jack was up. "A bit early," Lyra shrugged. What else could she say? There wasn't any particular reason why she had woken up before her usual time. "I let the chickens out but I didn't feed them. Lyn can do that." Because, for some reason, her twin sister seemed to enjoy feeding the animals. Probably because it meant they kept favouring Lyn.

Lyra raised an eyebrow at his PATHETIC attempt to try and make her start breakfast. Stupid. But he seemed to realise she wouldn't fall for it after he'd said it and just started himself. Before she could make her request for breakfast, Hunter had come down as well. "No, not bacon!" she exclaimed, sticking her tongue out at her fancy magicky older brother. "Look at poor Toby out there! And all his friends and family!"

"Scrambled eggs, please!" she beamed, making her way towards the fridge and taking out two eggs for herself. "I can make them, though. You do the pancakes and the bacon." Ugh, bacon. Lyra shuddered at that word. Poor pigs.

Scrambled eggs were her speciality. And one of the only things she could make without burning herself, making something explode or just creating a really horrible dish. She put the frying pan on to heat and whisked the eggs. Yes, these were going to be very, very good scrambled eggs. Lyra could just feel it.

Since it was weekend, Lynette usually liked to sleep in. She liked curling up under the soft blankets. Sometimes Kay woke her up, but that day it was her mother's yelling at Hunter's and Jack's room that caused her to open her eyes. Soon enough, there was her mother yelling at her to wake up, too. Uh, she thought as she rolled out of bed. Somehow, she slipped and fell flat on the floor. Well, it's better than having a bucket of cold water dumped on your head, Lyn told herself as she picked herself up and walked over to the door. One time, it had genuinely happened to her and she wasn't planning to have it happen again. She poked her head out of her bedroom door and looked down the hallway. It was deserted. Kay was probably out chasing the chickens and cockerels, if Lyra let them out. That was what her sister usually did when she woke up first.

Sighing, she made a dash towards the kitchen, still in her pyjamas and slippers. "Gooood morning!" Lyn greeted everyone brightly, and then bent down to give Rex a morning pet before sinking down in a chair at the kitchen table. It looked like Jack and Lyra were cooking that morning so she got to relax for a few more minutes. "I smell pancakes!" she exclaimed jokingly. And bacon, she added in her mind, shuddering. She loved animals too much to eat them, those poor things. Her stupid brothers didn't mind bacon, though. Poor Toby and Spencer and Aria and Hanna and Caleb and Jenna and Emily and Paige and Ezra and Noel and the others, Lynette thought, upset at the thought of eating Aria, her most favourite pig. Then there was Aidan Turner, her favourite chicken and Kay, her favourite dog. She loved animals.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Jack joked as Hunter entered the kitchen. "Honestly, that place has ruined you. Sleeping in like there's nothing else to do," Jack said in amusement to his brother. "You have almost a year's worth of chores to make up for, kid," he added with a grin. "Fetch me the bacon while you're in there," Jack said as Hunter opened the door to the refrigerator.

He laughed at Lyra's overly predictable response, catching the sealed package of bacon that Hunter tossed across the room to him and putting it over the stovetop. "Toby?" Jack teased. "And who's this?" he questioned in amusement, indicating the bacon that was now sizzling on the stove. "They aren't pets, they're food." Lyra rose to start the eggs. Usually, Jack wouldn't be so keen to let Lyra cook, but she actually made pretty decent scrambled eggs, so he let her join him.

Lynette entered shortly after Hunter, singing an overly cheerful good morning like she usually did. "My specialty," Jack responded when Lyn said that she smelled pancakes. As some of the bacon finished frying, he deposited it onto a serving tray and grabbed a piece for himself. "Want some?" he asked the twins with a laugh as he set it on the table. Before he'd even let the tray go, Hunter had taken a few pieces and inhaled them.

As he turned back to the stove, he caught sight of something in the distance through the kitchen window. "Hey Houdini, mail's here," Jack said to his brother, opening the window pane so that the barn owl could sweep into the room and perch on the window-sill.

"It's probably my school list," Hunter replied, munching on some more bacon. "Grab it for me."

"Fine," Jack said, reaching over the counter to untie the letter from the bird's leg. "But if it bites me like the last time, I'm blaming you - hey, there's more than one letter here..." There were three letters. Furrowing his brow in confusion, he flipped one of the envelopes over to see if they were all addressed to Hunter. "Lynnie and Lyra have one, too," he said, making his way to the table and setting the pile of letters down in the middle.

"No, you heart-less git!" exclaimed Lyn as Jack invited her to eat bacon. Then she hesitated and said, "Wait, actually, no, I love you, but only because you are making the pancakes today." Smiling, she folded her arms and waited for breakfast to be finished cooking. She was too lazy to get up and get something herself. After a few moments of debating, she decided to get out some cups of milk for all of them to drink. Just as she was about to stand up, she heard Jack say something about mail. Turning around, Lynette faced the window just in time to see a tiny barn owl fly into the kitchen. Normal non-wizard people would scream immediately and run out of the room but having a wizard brother, you'd get used to owls swooping in everywhere. Apparently, magical people contacted each other that way. Lyn didn't care, all she wanted was a cute fuzzy owl.

Wait, what did Jack just say? Lynette was too focused on the cute owl that she hadn't heard what her brother had said until the last bit. Lynnie and Lyra have one too. "What?" she gasped, shocked, and rushed forwards to grab one of the letters. She almost took Hunter's by mistake but then fixed it and grabbed the one letter addressed to her. "Oh my god, Lyra, it's true! I have a letter! From that Hog-whats-thingy-school-place-which-Hunter-goes-to-and-has-loads-of-owls!" Lyn squealed, forgetting the fact that Jack had called her Lynnie (which was a very baby-ish nickname as she was trying to be more mature). "Do you think they'll be asking us to go too? To get our own wands and magic booksy-s and buy our own owls and learn to do magic so we could magic Jack's hair pink? Black is a bit too boring for him, he needs a more brighter colour, you know?" Then she shook her head and did a weird kind of funny face that kind of said 'oops!'.

Without thinking, Lynette then ripped open the envelope and started reading what was inside.

Dear Lynette VanDerberg

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Sandra Torres
Deputy Headmistress

And then there was another piece of old paper (which was what Lyn called parchment) with a list of books and things that they needed to take to school. "Oh my god! Lyra! Lyra, did you read it?!" Lyn yelled loudly, looking up at her sister.

Jack was so mean and cruel. "You're a GIT! That was probably a distant relative of Toby!" Lyra said, aiming a punch at his shoulder. Unlike Lyn, who'd just turned up in the kitchen, she was making her own breakfast, so didn't have to rely on being nice to her brother. "MORNING LYN! You alright? Sleep well?" She kept on whisking the eggs calmly, humming a song under her breath.

When the owl-mail arrived, she didn't actually look up since she was used to the creatures flying in all the time now. But when Jack said there was a letter for them, Lyra's head snapped up and she abandoned the bowl on the side, running towards the owl. "Aww, he's cute!" she cooed. Anyway, on to the letter! She got distracted too easily.

No way. That couldn't be happening. But it was! She double checked the letter and it definitely wasn't a stupid prank! "NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY! LYN WE'RE GOING TO THE CASTLE PLACE! AND WE GET TO GO TO THAT SHOPPING PLACE AGAIN AND SEE ALL THE ANIMALS!" she squealed. "HUNTER WE'RE GOING WITH YOU TO ANNOY YOU AND EMBARRASS YOU IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR FRIENDS!" Even better!

As expected, Lyn and Lyra cooed over the owl a bit when it entered. Hunter didn't leave his seat. He'd seen enough birds to last him a lifetime at Hogwarts. "What?" Hunter said in confusion when Jack announced that there was more than one letter. He wondered who else could be mailing him. Aoife wouldn't be owling him, since she was muggleborn and could just phone him if she felt like it. He raised an eyebrow in surprise when Jack said that there were letters for the twins as well. There's no way... "Are you sure?" he asked, leaning over the table to get a good look at the letters.

Before he could say anything else, the twins had pounced on the envelopes and were reading whatever was inside. If Hunter had doubted his suspicions before, there was no way he could deny them now. The twins were both shrieking and celebrating as if they'd just won a million dollars or something. Really, Hunter should have learned to never be surprised, but what were the chances that the twins would be witches? Although Kynan and Aylee were muggleborn, and they both went to Hogwarts.

Hunter snapped out of his surprised daze as Lynette said something about turning Jack's hair pink. He burst into laughter, trying to picture his brother with bright pink hair. "Actually, I can already do that. But magic isn't allowed outside of school." He wasn't very good at the spell, actually. But he could sort of do it, and that was good enough. "I can't believe it," he said, shaking his head in amazement.

"You guys will love Hogwarts!" Hunter added excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. "Just wait until you see it! It's like nothing you've ever seen before. And there are secret passages everywhere and the weirdest animals. And owls absolutely everywhere!" Lyra mentioned embarrassing him in front of his friends, but instead of worrying he grinned, remembering something else. "Oh yeah, and you guys can meet Aoife! I wonder what house you'll be in... Not slytherin, there's no way. None of the others are bad..."

Realizing that he hadn't opened his own envelope, Hunter trailed off and grabbed it from the table. Like he expected, it just had his school list. "We'll have to make a trip to Diagon Alley again soon."

Jack shared a look with Hunter as the girls' excited shouts began. "Looks like your magic is contagious, Hunter," Jack grinned. "I'm starting to think that this is all just a ploy to get you gits out of doing any work," he added good-naturedly, watching on in amusement as Lyn and Lyra read through their letters. To be honest, after Hunter had gotten his letter and gone off to school, Jack wasn't nearly as surprised to find that Lyra and Lyn were magic as well.

Then Lyn was suggesting that they learn how to turn his hair pink. "If you turn my hair pink, I'll turn Aiden Turner into fried chicken," he retorted. "So you might want to think twice about that one." He grinned again as Lyra pointed out that they could follow Hunter around and embarrass him. Hunter seemed pretty excited for them - his brother always was nicer than him. Hunter would probably like having them around, at least at first.

"Well, congratulations, weirdos," he said, returning to the stove and flipping a couple pancakes and distributing them onto plates. Hunter mentioned going to Diagon Alley. Though he wouldn't admit it, Jack was just as excited to go back to Diagon Alley as the twins probably were. He had thought that Hunter's letter was a joke until they visited the intriguing line of wizard shops in London. "Who wants pancakes?"

"But I'll use magic to duplicate myself so I can be here and at Hogwarts as well! Then I'll do some work!" Lyra said enthusiastically, sticking her tongue out at Jack. She felt a bit sorry for him, actually. They were all leaving now. Obviously he'd be fine without them but she hoped he didn't feel left out, being the only non-weirdo child.

Aoife. "Yeah, I want to meet your girlfriend!" she teased. "What's so bad about Slytherin? I want to be in Hufflepuff! Because it sounds cute and puffy! What are the other houses?" Hufflepuff Hufflepuff Hufflepuff. Glitterpuff. Rainbowpuff. YES, she HAD to be in Hufflepuff! Even if it was the worse house! At least it had a cool name.

Lyn's obsession with Aidan Turner just wasn't healthy anymore. "You should do that, Jack! I've heard enough about Aidan Turner!" Lyra laughed. Then her brother was offering pancakes. She should probably get back to her eggs, actually. She chucked them in the pan. Nom nom nom.