The Kitchen
Number Thirty-six
Kings Close
London
That’s what it said on the letter written in flowing green ink, my older sister’s name. On the other side, holding the envelope shut, was a purple wax seal bearing the Hogwarts School coat of arms.
My sister’s grin was wide. My parents’ eyes were wet. Even my brother was gushing all over her. We had all known it was coming; we had all been expecting it since she was five when she used to make the mirrors crack every time I walked past them, all because she was angry that I had insulted her hair.
I had known this day would come. I had always known. It was no surprise, and I wasn’t shocked.
So what was this weird feeling in my chest, like I was about to stop breathing? And what was the churning feeling in my stomach, as though I was about to throw up?
Maybe I just had a stomach bug? Yes, that would be it. I would excuse myself, go to bed early and most likely be fine in the morning.
I stood on the deck of a ship. The breeze blew in my hair, throwing it around and whipping around my face in an almost crazed way.
The sun shone down on the sparkling water below, glittering and shimmering, the waves lying so still that it almost resembled glass.
Over the side of the boat, down in the deep waters below, a haunting note rang out “ the cry of a whale. A fin broke the surface of the calm waves and a dolphin jumped upwards. It spiralled in the air, splashing water droplets onto my face as it twisted and turned in the sky before dropping back down to swim alongside the ship.
In just a blink of an eye, I disappeared from where I was standing and reappeared besides the dolphin, hovering just above the ocean with my feet skimming the waves.
Without having to take a breath, I dove down, into the depths, and with eyes wide open, flew back towards the surface.
Within seconds, I was back and standing on the deck of the ship, bone dry. It was magic.
“Ellie… Ellie… Ellie!”
Without warning, the sky darkened. Casting a fearful look upwards, I saw dirty grey storm clouds rolling overhead.
“Wake up! Come on, sleepyhead.”
The waves below the ship grew larger, and crashed against the side of my vessel. From my safe position on board, I felt the spray reach me. I leaned over the side of the deck, casting a fearful look into the unfriendly waters below.
The dolphin had disappeared. Where had it gone to?
“Ellie!”
All of a sudden, everything went cold. But at the same time the clouds rolled away, showing off the bright sunshine once more. But I didn’t want it to be bright. I didn’t want it to be warm.
So why not use magic, to make things go my way?
“I said GET UP!”
Before I had a chance to do anything, the whole world turned upside down. There was a final large crash of the waves upon my ship as it finally tipped sideways.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I fell over the side, the waves approaching nearer. Why couldn’t I fly anymore? Why couldn’t I use magic? I like it just as much as Marie. Why can’t I do it too?
I plummeted into the depths of the murky water. Unlike last time, the salt stung my eyes, and the water rushed down my throat, burning my lungs.
Tangled up in the waves, I couldn’t move my arms or legs; the bed sheets restricted my moves. The water was suffocating me, the pillow smothered me. The ocean filling my ears with water, making a horrible sound inside my head; my brothers laugh echoing around my room.
“Wha-happened? Whasmatta?” I grumbled, as I sleepily tried to untangle myself from the mess of sheets on my bedroom floor.
“What are you doing, still in bed?” I heard Ben say. “You’re normally the first one up and jumping around like a lunatic until I make you breakfast.”
“What’s the time?” I finally managed to stand and rid myself of all the annoying sheets.
“Pretty late. We’ve already been shopping for Marie’s new school stuff. You should see her new wand. It’s wicked.” Ben lent over to feel my forehead. When he took his hand away, he looked pleased with the result. “You feel fine. Are you better now?”
The second those words left his mouth, the horrible churning came back to my stomach. Groaning, I bent forwards. I had forgotten about that. Why had it come back?
“Ellie? Are you okay? Look. I know you don’t get on with Marie. God, I know I don’t. But this is an important time for Mum, okay? So I think you should at least congratulate her.”
Maybe that was why I felt ill. Just the thought of Marie made me feel sick now. That would be a wonderful excuse to never have to see her again.
But you won’t be seeing much of her anymore, anyway, I thought, suddenly. She will be going off to a boarding school, learning magic. And you will be stuck at home, learning Muggle things. Like Maths or Science.
An image shot through my head “ Marie, dressed up in black robes, a witch’s hat perched atop her head, waving a wand around in her hand and performing the most beautiful and complex spells. While I sat at home, writing essays about World War One.
Then another, much more pleasing, image ran through my mind. It was almost exactly the same, except that I took my sister’s place. And she took mine, sitting at home bored while I took the chance to perform supernatural things that her wildest dreams could never imagine.
What was this feeling?
Was this all jealousy?
Was I jealous of Marie?
“It’s just because you’re jealous,” Marie says to me. Every single time it’s the same. If she can’t win an argument, she ends it like that. No need for reasoning when she can just use bullying.
“It’s all because you want to be magical, like me. No need to start an argument over it, though. Honestly, you’re so childish!” Then she laughs and flicks her hair at me before stalking off with a new bounce in her step.
She did it again this time. She scribbled all over my homework. I know she did. No one else would do it. Why would Mum and Dad want to ruin it? They were the ones who made me do it. And why would Ben want to? He helped me to write it.
But when I told her all this, she just laughed that infuriating laugh again, and flicking her hair, turned away.
“You need to grow up and get over it,” she called out, over her shoulder. “Stop being jealous; just because you’re a Muggle, you can’t appreciate magic like I can. You’re so stupid.”
Then, because she knew she had won again, she flounced away, practically jumping out of her shoes as she bounced along the floor.
Marie is my older sister, and according to my parents, she is also very special. At twelve, she is the middle child but she has always been my parents’ favourite.
Back when we were little, it was because she was so cute. Even now, she’s the pretty one.
She has long, pin-straight, midnight-black hair, which shines and shimmers constantly with never a hair out of place. At Christmas time, when we were younger, she used to make fairy lights appear in her hair, using her magic. It sounds cheesy, but it truly made her hair look like a dark night sky, with the stars shining clearly, lighting up the world.
That hair and her eyes are her two best features. She has pretty green eyes, which look as though they belong on a china doll. And she flutters them often, when she wants things her way. I have green eyes too. In fact, that’s the only thing we share. Our pretty green eyes.
When she turned five, strange things began to happen around her. If she didn’t want to eat her Brussels sprouts, they would explode on her plate. If she didn’t want to have a bath, the water miraculously disappeared.
But instead of being worried, our parents were always proud. My mum is a Squib, you see, and was happy her daughter could experience the magical world that had long ago been locked to her.
My big brother, Ben, is the second favourite. He’s sixteen, but he never received the disappointed looks because he wasn’t magical. By the time our parents realised one of their children could be a witch or wizard, they had already accepted him as he was, so they didn’t mind as much.
Not that I blame them. Ben is my favourite, too. He knows what it’s like, to find out about another type of world but he, unlike me, has an easier time accepting it.
“What is wrong with you, Ellie?” Ben asked, glancing sideways at me. “You’ve been huffing and puffing ever since you came out here. If you didn’t want to come out with me to take the dog for a walk, you could have just said “”
“I’m not huffing and puffing.” I scowled, crossing my arms.
“Yes, you were!”
“No, I wasn’t!” I frowned at him.
“You were! Ellie, you still are!”
“No, I’m not. Stop being mean.”
“Ellie…” My brother laughed and pretended to copy me, sighing melodramatically, crossing his arms and stamping his feet.
Scowling at him, I felt my shoulders start shaking as I attempted to hold in my laughter. He really did look stupid, pretending to be a girl six years younger than he was.
It didn’t work; within seconds I was almost screaming with laughter. Ben was a Muggle like me. He faced the same, non-magical, problems as me. Maybe I could trust him with an answer.
“It’s Marie,” I said eventually, once we had both stopped giggling.
“Marie?” He sighed in exasperation. “What’s she done now?”
“Well…” I glared down at the ground and said, “Sh” she” she ruined my homework.”
“Is that all?” He winked. “I thought you were going to say something serious. But that’s okay; we can just do it again.”
“Well,” I continued in a quieter voice, “it’s not just that. She’s a witch. She can use magic, and I’m just a Muggle. But if I know about magic, then why aren’t I allowed to appreciate it like she can? I like it just as much. So why not? Why can she do these things when I can’t? Why is it that she is so much more special than me? Why?”
I felt tears well up in my eyes, and stopped walking, just staring at the ground. Ben said nothing but stopped walking also. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dog sit down patiently.
“You can’t appreciate magic?” he whispered under his breath. I gave a small nod in reply. “Because you can’t make it?” I nodded again, and started as his hand rested lightly on my shoulder.
“Such an overrated word. What about that, then? Can you appreciate that?” I looked up to see him take his hand off of my shoulder and throw it around in a wide circle, embracing the landscape surrounding us.
While we had been walking, the sun had begun to set. Now filling the sky were pastel shades of purples, reds, pinks and oranges. The clouds were rimmed with gold, and right above, you could see the faintest stars twinkling.
Taking the dog out, we had opted for walking along a bridle path. Trees surrounded us on all sides; greens, browns and other earthy colours jumped out at us. Not too far away, a squirrel, nut in mouth, raced across the branches. Even closer was a song thrush, its mouth held wide open in song.
I could do nothing but nod. Who in the world wouldn’t appreciate such beauty?
“Can you make that?”
“No.”
“Can Marie make that?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s magic.”