Everleigh sat on her bed, confused. What had happened? Was that really... magic? Mrs. Hong knocked on the door. Lei stood up. Her caretaker normally poked her head in. She never knocked. "Come in," she called. Mrs. Hong entered with three other people. It looked like a family of three, a pretty girl that looked a few years older than her, a man, and a woman. The girl looked friendly, and so did the mom, but the man seemed to look at her and then look away. "Lei hon, this is Mr and Mrs Chang, and their daughter, Cho." Lei nodded politely toward them. "And- they want to... adopt you." Mrs. Hong also seemed to still be processing the fact that one of her "children" was getting adopted. "A-adopt me?" Lei said incredulously. Adopt her? Why her, of all the kids here? Could it be related to the event that happened today? It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Mrs. Chang stepped up. "Excuse me Mrs Hong, do you mind if we talk to Everleigh alone?" Mrs. Hong nodded, and left the room. "I know this might be really strange, but Mrs. Hong told us about what happened today at your school." Everleigh nodded. "Have you ever wondered- if magic was real?" Leigh gawked. "Are you saying- that magic is real?" Mrs. Chang nodded. "Sweetie, this may seem strange, but you are magical." Lei kept gawking. Then her expression changed into a more thoughtful look. "If I was magical, that would explain what happened today." Mrs. Chang nodded again. "This is why we want you to be part of our family. If you stayed here, it wouldn't be easy. Mugg- I mean, the people without magic would be suspicious." "Wait, what are- Mugs?" Cho popped in the conversation. "They're what we call people without magic. Muggles. You live with a lot of them. We try to hide our magic from them." "But what if a muggle sees it?" "Then the Ministry of Magic will erase some of their memories." "Ministry of Magic? What's that?" "Well, it is what the name sounds like. It is the ministry... of magic. Basically, it monitors magic, and if there are any problems, like Muggles see magic, the Minister of Magic will send out a group of Aurors- they're a wizard or witch that works as a highly trained law enforcement official for a wizarding governing body- to erase their memories." Lei listened intently. "But don't you have to learn magic, or is it just like... lodged in your brain?" "Well, there are wizarding academies out there. The best one is Hogwarts. You start going when you turn 11, like me! I'm starting this September. There are four 'houses', Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw is for the smart people. Slytherin is cunning and ambitious, mostly purebloods- I wouldn't want to get that house, lots of evil people who use dark magic get into that." Cho saw her mom's look and sighed. "Okay, not always. And Hufflepuff are accepting- you know, loyal, kind. Gryffindor is for the stupidly brave people. I hope I get Ravenclaw!" Lei listened, interested. "Oh wait, what are purebloods?" "So in the wizarding world, there are three blood types- half-blood, pure-blood, and Muggle-born. Half-bloods are people who have both wizard and Muggle ancestry, pure-bloods have no Muggle-ancestry, and Muggle-borns are Muggles who have magical abilities. Oh, and there are Squibs. They are people who are born in magical families, but have no magic. I'm a pure-blood. Do you know who your parents are?" Mrs. Chang gave her a sharp look. "Cho, that's personal!" Cho realized what she said. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize, I just thought if you knew your parents, my dad could search files for them... he works in the Ministry." Mr. Chang was still staring through the window, avoiding eye contact. Everleigh looked at him, half waiting for him to say "Of course!", or something like that. He didn't say anything. Lei turned her head back and focused on Cho and her mother. They were nice, she decided. But the dad? Lei didn't know what to think about him. "Um, so you want to adopt me?" Mrs. Chang's mother nodded. "We think it would be better if you stayed with us instead of here. It will be hard to conceal immature magic, and I don't want anything bad to happen. Anyways, Mrs. Hong told me you're an avid reader, like Cho! You sound like you could really work out with our family. Cho has always wanted a sibling- right Cho?" Cho rolled her eyes, but nodded. "What book are you reading?" Lei gave it to her sheepishly. "After what happened today, I decided to research more about magic, and I'm reading about the witches of Salem. Um- kind of a weird question, but did they burn Muggles, or real witches?" Mrs. Chang gave a sad smile. "They were Muggles, wrongly accused of witchcraft. We were safely hidden, but we couldn't save the young women who had to unknowingly sacrifice themselves for us." "Oh."
~ Lei hugged Mrs. Hong for the third time. Tears were forming at the brim of her eyes. "I'm going to miss you," she whispered. But there was something wrong. Mrs. Hong's arms were stiff and hard, and suddenly she grabbed Everleigh. Leigh screamed and her instincts made her use self defense and kick Mrs. Hong in the face. She screamed when she realized what she had done and pulled away. Mrs. Hong’s eyes were flickering from red to brown. Mr. Chang pulled her back. “Get away! I won’t let you be like her…” Everleigh paused for a second to look at him. But there was no time. Mr. Chang screamed and grabbed Leigh’s wrist. Then with a CRACK! Lei was teleported to a different house. She sat on a carpet, dazed. Cho was also dazed, rubbing her head. Then she ran over to Leigh and hugged her. “Oh, I’m so sorry! She must have meant so much to you…” Lei nodded, sniffled, and cried on Cho’s shoulder. Madam Chang walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry you didn’t get to finish saying your goodbyes. But she- she was possessed by one of the Death Eaters.” Lei looked up. “Wha-what are Death Eaters?” “We’ve been fighting a wizard with Dark Magic for a long time. He has a name, but no one except Dumbledore, one of our best wizards, dare say his name. He calls himself the ‘Dark Lord’.” Cho shuddered. “He has a group of followers, which he calls his ‘Death Eaters’. One of them- just possessed your caretaker, Mrs. Hong.” Everleigh gasped. “I think they wanted you- it’s fortunate that we got you in time. If we hadn’t…” Mr. Chang was talking to the ministry. An- Auror? Everleigh assumed was talking to Mr. Chang. “Yes, there was a Death Eater that almost attacked us- yes- no, it wasn't the work of the child, -no, you won’t have to keep an eye on her- she’ll be fine- YES, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, YES.” Then Mr. Chang walked back into the house. His face was grim. “Cho, show her around, please.” Cho nodded silently and looked at Everleigh. Then she took off her shoes and went up the stairs. Everleigh, who didn’t have time to put on her shoes before she left her old home, followed Cho upstairs. ~ Everleigh woke up with a gasp. It was half-past midnight, the room was pitch-black. She looked around. Where was she again? This wasn’t her room- and then all the memories flooded back to her. She lit a candle on her desk. A book was on it. Salem Witch Trials: The Accusations of Witchcraft- one of the books Mrs. Hong got her. Everleigh hugged the book tightly, and sobbed. ~~~~~~~~~ Ok, I know this wasn’t posted on Christmas, but I was (and still am, writing this WAY before it was posted) on vacation. I wrote one word on Christmas. I have no access to Wifi on a computer rn, so I am not able to write stuff ( I’m using a phone to post my poems and type rn) Edit: ok, I'm in the hotel rn, and I'm using my mom's chromebook to write this, so the thumb is blurrier than usual. But I can type, so I am typing.
