Finnely Swift - Year 1, Chap 1

Instructions

Flora...are you okay? ___________________________________________ I woke up next to my little sister, as usual. She was still sleeping, and I looked over at her. I didn't really want to wake her, so I got up and got dressed. I ran over at to my elder sister's room, and opened it. Empty. Right...she had gone to Germany the day before. It felt like a piece of my heart had been taken away, but I didn't say anything. I was never much of a talker. I went downstairs for breakfast. I got some toast and started munching on it half-heartedly. "Won't you wake your sister?" Mum asked. She was drawing something with watercolor. Even though she was a Witch, she chose to take a muggle career as an artist. "Let her sleep...she didn't sleep well last night." I muttered, and Mum raised an eyebrow. "Why, Finn?" she asked, worry evident in her voice. The truth was, Florence (which is the name of my little sister, how rude of me to not introduce her to you first), had been crying herself to sleep for the nights in the past month. She'd never told me anything about it, so I never pushed it. "Uh- she- uhm- was missing Fiona." I said hastily. I knew Mum didn't believe me, but she didn't say anything about it. I loved that about Mum, she never pushes us to admit anything. Suddenly, I saw a different version of Mum, older, with a lot of scars on her body, clutching a broken, dead body of a girl I didn't know. I looked away. Must've been my imagination... At that moment, a screech owl flew through the window and dropped a letter in front of my plate of half-eaten toast. The seal had a lion, a raven, a badger, and a serpent engraved on it. I opened the envelope, and almost dropped in shock and excitement. It was MY Hogwarts letter! The school my elder sister had gone to! I squealed in excitement and hugged Mum in excitement. Mum smiled warmly. "Happy birthday, dear." She said. Right...it was my birthday that day. But I wasn't really happy about that. Guess I just missed my sister. The owl nipped at my half-eaten toast, and I let it eat my toast. I went upstairs to wake my sister, but I found our bed already empty. "Flora?" I said quietly. This didn't feel too good....I heard quiet sobs from the bathroom. I slightly opened the door, to see Florence sitting there, sobbing, with a kn!f3 in her hand. "Flora, no. FLORA!" I yelled, and snapped her out of it. "FLORA, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" I yelled, choking back my tears. I crouched down and gingerly took the kn!f3 away from her. There was a minor scratch on her neck. "Why? W-who hurt you enough for you to do this?" I croaked, my anger evident in my voice. She didn't reply, but she pulled me into a hug. "The nightmares...t-they keep coming back." She whispered between sobs. The excitement from seeing my hogwarts letter died inside of me, being replaced by a wave of guilt. I was such a bad brother. I hadn't noticed the signs. "I-I'll help you..." I whispered to Flora, letting her go. "We're going to talk about this later, 'k?" I said, gripping her shoulders in what I hoped was a comforting guesture. I picked her up and we went outside the bathroom, so I could try my best to fix the scar on her neck....and the scar in my heart.