“Mom, it came! It came!”

“Calm down Mira. The letter isn’t going anywhere, so eat your breakfast before doing anything else.”

Almira was jumping around the living room while holding a letter that came in just moments ago in her hands, with her mother sitting at the table looking a little unhappy about the fact that Almira wouldn’t sit down to eat the feastlike breakfast she cooked for her daughter’s 11^th birthday.

The last year and a half went by in a flash, as Almira learned a few new handy spells from her mother, like the drying spell Heandush (for when her fur got wet), the mending spell Reparo (for the accidental rips from her claws) and the extinguishing spell Flanguisho (for when she sets something on fire). The last one being one out of necessity as, for some reason, whenever Almira tries to do wandless magic she ends up setting the target of her spell on fire, so her mother ended up teaching her Flanguisho so that she can clean her own mess by using it together with Reparo.

“But mom. It’s the letter.”

“Well then, which one do you want? The letter, that can be opened just as well 15 minutes later, or the breakfast I especially made for your birthday?”

“The breakfast!”

Almira answers as she throws the letter on the sofa and hurries to sit in the dinner table.

“And no changing your mouth to eat faster.”

She changes her mouth full of sharp teeth back to a human one at her mother’s command and starts eating with happiness clear on her face.

Changing her human features to those of an animal is also something she found she could do, but at the moment the only change she can make is widening her mouth and turning her teeth to those of a lion. Handy when she wants to eat faster, but otherwise doesn’t do much. This however doesn’t discourage her as she knows it’s just a question of time before she can change wholly into a beastform.

After finishing her breakfast, she goes back to the sofa and opens the letter, finding two pages of paper inside, with the first one saying:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin: First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Marlson,

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 necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

And on the second page is a list of clothes, books and equipment, with things like a wand or a cauldron of size 2.

“’Students may also bring an owl, a cat or a toad.’, but didn’t letter just say to get an owl?”

Almira ponders for what reason did the cat and toad get added to the mix. And that was not the only thing she found weird on this list.

“Mom, why would I need a broomstick when I can just use the cleaning spell to clean the floor?”

“Oh sweetie, the broom isn’t for cleaning, but for flying.”

Her mother laughs before answering, making Almira now even more puzzled.

“But why would you fly using a broom? Shouldn’t there be a lot of better things to use for flying?”

 Almira asks a question someone should have asked a long time ago.

“Well that’s because… I… actually don’t know?”

Her mother starts to explain, but stops as she can’t think of any real advance in using a broom. Now even her mother is puzzled about the question on why do they fly using brooms.

“There should be some good reason for it, right?”

Her mother says with uncertainty.

“But if they can make brooms fly, why wouldn’t they make something like flying shoes? If I had flying shoes, I could always have them with me and take flight whenever I want!”

Her mother thinks about the pros of her idea thrown in excitement, and the more she thinks, the more she likes the idea of having a flying tool at hand at all times.

“Well that would indeed be useful. Maybe we should look into the charms they use in making the brooms and see if we could make two pairs on our own, one pair for you and one pair for me.”

“Really? We could do that?”

Almira’s excitement goes through the roof when she hears that in the future she could have her own pair of flying shoes.

“Calm down sweetie, it’s going to take a while before we can make them, as I have no experience in making flying equipment. As for when it comes to the stuff you actually need for your first-year studies, how about I’ll take you to Diagon Alley today? How does that sound?”

“Yes! Lets go! Lets go!”

Hearing her mother mention the school supplies, that she already forgot with the talk of flying shoes, she grabs her mother’s hand and starts pulling her towards the door while jumping up and down.

“Not now, sweetie. We’ll go after we’ve eaten lunch, as it will take some time to shop for everything.”

Few hours have never felt longer for Almira as she waited for lunchtime to come. And when it did, she practically poured a plate full of soup down her throat, only to end up waiting as her mother took her sweet time eating her own portion.

After her mother finished washing the dishes, with a single cast of cleaning spell, they donned their clothes and walked out of the door, or well, her mother walked, and Almira skipped, locking the door behind them. 

Her mother was dressed in a dark blue robe and a matching woolen pointy hat on her head. Almira was wearing a green, hoodless jacket and blue short jeans with black woolen stockings underneath them. Almira liked clothes that are easy to move in, but this doesn’t include robes as, even though they are comfortable, the hem always gets stuck in places and is easy to step on accidentally, making Almira fall quite few times when she did try wearing one.

When they reach the roadside, her mother lifts up her wand, and they both start waiting. It takes about 30 seconds before they hear a terrible combination of different horns, as purple three-decked bus speeds from the street corner and stops like hitting a wall right in front of them.