A Whole LOT Going On

Wow. Okay, much drama has ensued since the owl dropped the letter off here. Mom and Dad are fine now. I guess Dad's family has magic people in it too. After a few phone calls, local and long-distance, he's been stunned to find out just how many! Mom said that this was part of why she's been saying they need to communicate more often and openly.

Mom got a bunch of books from Great-Great-Aunt Dalleigha for me to check out before going to England. I'm not sure how they arrived so quickly, but they were at my place at breakfast the morning after the letter came. I thought they'd be full of really cool arcane spells and such, but it turns out that magical studies might be a lot more like regular school than I thought. Very disappointing.

It seems that things for First Years are pretty rudimentary. I'm glad that I'm an "A" student in the States 'cos I actually know a bunch of things in these books anyway! I think one of the neatest things for me wasn't so much the books, but learning that I'm going to go *shopping* for all sorts of wicked (ha, ha, not really) things at a place Mom calls "Diagon Alley."

I apparently needed robes (dress and uniform), pointy hat, cauldron, wand, perhaps an animal familiar, and a bunch more. I asked if our dog could come with me and be my familiar. My parents just whipped their heads around in unison and gave me "a look." The scary thing was that the dog whipped her head around at the same moment, and I swear she gave me "the look" too. Creepy. Anyway, Dad said I couldn't because First Years could only have certain animals - the other choices came later.

I was packing my bags to get ready to go when my mom came in my room and wanted to know why I was packing half the house. "You're really not going to need many of your clothes. We're going to have to buy you new ones in Diagon Alley. Why don't you just pack some things that will help you keep home close to you while you're away." So I'm taking some photos in frames and a scrapbook. I'm bringing my favorite pillow and blanket, my favorite bath towel and robe, my GIR plushie, my Jhonny The Homicidal Maniac nightshirt, some soap, clothing detergent, and fabric softener (to smell like home), my booklight, and other toiletries. It seems so weird that everything fits into one small trunk. Mom and dad said that my trunk would be much larger after the shopping spree.

Yeah. They said that the trunk would be larger. I found out later that they hadn't misspoken. Hmmm.

When I had said goodbye to my friends, packed all my things, and had my quiet alone time to say goodbye to my home, I brought my trunk into the living room. My parents were already there and smiling. Dad said to just leave the trunk for now, that they'd make sure it came with us. They each took one of my hands, mom said we were going to *jump into the fireplace* on the count of three, and we ended up coming out of another fireplace somewhere else! I swear I'm not making this up! It was the strangest moment of my life. Well, the strangest up until then, anyway.

Ack! The Prefect is going around the rooms telling us it's time for lights out. I'll write more tomorrow.