2 An Unexpected Suprise

The morning of her eleventh birthday dawned on February 12th 1991. And as it was one of her rare few days off from anything work related as declared by the mother, Alexis was found slumbering still in her room at 10.30am when she was suddenly roused from her pleasant dreams.

Still dishveled from her unexpected wake up call Alexis was surprised to find no one in her room that could be the reason for her state of consciousness. And there it was again, that 'tick, tick, tick' sound that woke her up.

Following the noise Alexis was led towards her window where upon opening it just outside was an owl. Thinking that she was probably still dreaming to be seeing an owl during the day Alexis was prepared to go back to sleep and write this event off as just her imagination when the owl, seeming to sense her intentions gave her finger a hard nip.

With the pain having woken her from her half-asleep state, Alexis was shocked to find that the owl was not a figment of her imagination after all.

Perplexed by the strangeness of this Alexis reached for the letter tied to it's leg when prompted so by an impatient hoot and an extended claw. As soon as it was free of its package, the owl set of to roost at the oak tree a few feet away.

Still confused by the events that just transpired, Alexis turned her attention back to the letter in her hand after observing that the owl was still in the vicinity.

The form of address only managed to further confuse her along with the contents of the letter. It was addressed as such

To Miss Rider,

The second largest bedroom,

Second floor,

Chelsea,

London.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Dear Miss Rider,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . Please find enclosed a list of all the book and equipment needed. In two days time a member of the staff shall drop by to clear any doubts remaining in regards to either the school or the equipment.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagal,

Deputy Headmistress.

Half certain that this might be a part of some elaborate prank, Alexis left to find one her parents. Hoping that one of them might be able to make sense of this bizarre situation.

Alexis found her mother in the parlor, talking on the phone with someone while in the midst of elevensies. Might be someone from the Sponsers if the tone of her voice is anything to go by.

"Mum?", called Alexis. Fingering the letter with one hand as she knocked on the open door with the other.

"Yes dear, what is it?", questioned her mother. Placing her phone on the table at the side, she beckoned Alexis to come sit beside her.

"I just got woken up by an owl at the window, it delivered this letter to me and left. Do you think this might be a prank?", Alexis asked. Her bright blue eyes the same as her mother glowed in anger at the thought of this prank waking her up from her well deserved rest.

"An owl at this time of the day? Are you sure your still not dreaming dear?", questioned her mother, taking the letter from her daughter's hand.

"No! I wasn't dreaming. It really was an owl and it even pecked my finger see", Alexis brought up her still bleeding pointer finger in front of her mother's eyes.

"And besides it's still here. It's sitting in-", Alexis barely finished talking before her mother was holding her hand, the letter long forgotten.

"Maria! get me the first aid kit, hurry!", her mother yelled for one of the maids. She cleaned her finger with a handkerchief to see how deep the wound was.

Once her finger was clean and bandaged the two got back to the topic of the mysterious owl and the letter.

"So you're saying that and owl came to your window, pecked your finger, delivered this letter and flew away?", asked her mother, waving the aforementioned letter as she did so.

"Yes mum, that's exactly what happened", answered Alexis. Taking another bite of the biscuit in her hand, Alexis nodded along to her story.

"Well I can't tell if this is real or a prank. This kind of parchment isn't widely available so if it is a prank then it's a mighty expensive one coupled with the trained owl. On the off chance this is real though, we can't really do anything until this staff member arrives in two days. So with that said we can put this issue of for two more days, what we can't put of though is the photo shoot in a weeks time", her mother answered. And just like that the matter was almost completely forgotten with the more pressing issue of organising the events during the month without any clashing of schedules.

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