“Mara, what am I going to do?” wailed Kaylei Weasley, burying her face into her hands. “It’s the summer I should be starting Hogwarts, and I’ve barely shown any signs of magic! You’ve already gotten your letter, and I don’t even know if I’m going to Hogwarts this year!”
“Kaylei, calm down,” said her best friend and cousin Mara Potter consolingly. “There are plenty of reasons as to why you didn’t get your letter yet. The owl could have gone awry, the people at Hogwarts could have run out of owls, or they’re just stupid and didn’t there’s two Weasley kids, not one.”
Kaylei didn’t look convinced. “I seriously think I’m a Squib! This is not good, Mara, not good at all! The only sign of magic I’ve shown is when James accidentally sent a knife flying at me and it bounced in midair and landed on the table. Oh yeah, and when I set fire to James’s bed while he was out practicing Quidditch with dad and wouldn’t let me join.”
“Don’t forget about when I almost pushed you off the balcony when that Patronus-thingy of your dad’s hit me, but your feet anchored themselves to the ground,” added Mara, “See, you’ve shown plenty of signs of magic. There’s just something wrong with you getting your letter.”
“I don’t know…” said Kaylei uncertainly, “Maybe I should go ask Mum. She’s smart. And, duh, she’s a teacher at Hogwarts! She probably knows all that goes on there. I swear, she could write her own version of Hogwarts, A History without needing to look anything up. Something I certainly didn’t inherit from her,” she added in an undertone.
“My dad told me he and your dad used to tease her about being smart and all that,” said Mara with a smile.
They laughed. “I can see them doing that,” they said together. They looked at each other and laughed again.
Kaylei and Mara had been best friends for their whole lives, despite the fact that they were cousins. They spent all of their time together and rarely fought. Some even asked if they were sisters because they had both inherited the Weasley red hair. Mara’s however, was darker and less fiery than Kaylei’s, she had inherited her father’s green eyes and lack of height.
“Mum!” Kaylei called as she jumped the last three steps in her haste to get down the stairs. “Mum! Are you home?”
“I’m right here, Kaylei,” said her mum, emerging from the den right beside them.
“Mum, why hasn’t my letter from Hogwarts arrived yet? Is it because I’m not going? Am I not magic enough or something? Because I think that I am, three times I accidentally performed magic, that’s almost as much as Mara and I just think that it’s wrong if I don’t go to Hogwarts because”“
“Kaylei! Calm down! Goodness you are like your father, it took him almost three-quarters of an hour for him to ask me to marry him because he kept babbling on about nonsense,” Kaylei’s mum interrupted, “You letter from Hogwarts arrived today. It was late because the owl they used kept collapsing during the journey and eventually had to be replaced with a new one. Rather reminds me of your father’s old family owl, really.”
“So I am going to Hogwarts?”
“Yes dear, of course.”
“Hooray! We need to go to Diagon Alley!” Kaylei and Mara hollered together, before running back up to Kaylei’s room.
“What was that all about?” Ron Weasley asked, walking up to Hermione and putting an arm around her shoulders.
“Oh, just your daughter and niece acting exactly like you and Harry,” Hermione said, smiling.
“Thanks again for taking Kaylei and me shopping with you and Mara, Aunt Ginny,” James said.
It was three days after Kaylei received her late acceptance letter, and her Aunt Ginny had taken her and James shopping with Mara. James, being very much like his mother, had already started reading The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three while the girls were being fitted for robes.
“Where to next?” Aunt Ginny asked, glancing down at Mara’s list.
“Wands,” Kaylei and Mara said at the same time.
“All right. Hey James, is Ollivander still the wandmaker?”
“No,” James replied, “It’s this new bloke called Simon Chewtner. He kept the shop name though. It’s still called Ollivander’s.”
The four walked into the shop a few minutes later. It looked exactly the same as it had in Ginny’s time, except for the owner, who came bounding into view as soon as the bell tinkled.
“Hello, hello, come in, come in, good to see you all!” he bellowed genially, “My name is Simon Chewtner, what can I do for you today?”
Simon Chewtner was a very tall, very skinny man. He had lots of thick, honey-colored hair that swooped to the side in an almost dashing way. Wire-rimmed glasses framed his large hazel eyes and from what the four could tell, he was the type of man who had one voice volume: Very loud.
“These two need wands. They’re starting at Hogwarts.” Ginny said, indicating Kaylei and Mara.
“Alrighty then, let’s see what we’ve got here!” Chewtner shouted, clicking his fingers. A tape measure jumped off the desk behind him, and began measuring Mara. Chewtner’s eyes flickered over to James.
“James Weasley! It’s a pleasure to see you again!” He roared.
“It’s a pleasure to see you too, Mr. Chewtner,” said James politely.
“So are you here with your sister? Ah yes, this must be her?” He hollered, gesturing to Kaylei, who had sat down on the spindly chair that was still there.
“Yes, that’s my sister,” said James, who sounded surprised that Chewtner knew who she was.
Chewtner looked at Kaylei again. “You two look alike,” he said, his voice a normal volume for the first time, before turning back to Mara.
Fifteen minutes later, they emerged from the shop, Kaylei and Mara each clutching a new wand. Mara’s was ten inches, made of maple, and had a dragon heartstring core. Kaylei’s was twelve and a quarter inches, made of oak, and had a unicorn hair center.
“Well, you three,” said Ginny, “thanks to Kaylei’s late letter”“ here, she smiled and winked at Kaylei to show she was teasing, “you all had better get packed. The Hogwarts Express leaves in three days!”
A/N So what did you think? No matter how hard I try, I always seem to write in the style I hate, so tell me if you liked it or not! Please?