OK, guys! Here's the next chap!

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Chapter 7 - September

On September first, at two minutes to eleven, Amara sat at the kitchen table and stared at the clock on the wall. She twirled her hawthorn wand absently in her hands, as the clock ticked the seconds until the train departed.

One minute left... Amara wondered if Dita was searching the compartments for her right now, since she hadn’t said anything in her letters, hoping that maybe at the last second they would change their mind... forty seconds left... Mrs Burke had been acting very strangely lately... thirty seconds left and Amara was considering grabbing the Nimbus 1000 and going there herself... Fred and George would’ve done that... ten seconds, nine... three, two, one.

After a moment, Amara got up and went up to her room. A letter lay on her bed, where she had written a short explanation to Dita about her not going to Hogwarts. Folding it in two and putting it an envelope, she scribbled ‘To Dita’ on the back and went downstairs again, into the living room where the Burkes’ owl Litsa was snoring in her cage. The tawny owl pecked at Amara’s fingers angrily as she woke her up, but she gladly accepted an excuse to stretch her wings a bit.

‘You know who to go to,’ Amara told the owl, tying the letter to her legs. She carried her over to the window and let her out, a breeze swooping in from the open window. Amara stood there for a while, thinking.

Mrs Burke was apparently still asleep, Mr Burke was at work, and there was no one else in the house except for the cat, who came purring and nudging Amara’s feet for attention. She had named her Fizzy, for her constant hissing and curious sounds reminded her very much of a strange Muggle drink she’d once tasted on one of those monthly trips the Matron used to take them on.

Picking Fizzy up, Amara went upstairs to her room again, and, sitting cross-legged on her bed, she opened The Standard Book of Spells.

Hover Charm
Incantation: Wingardium Leviosa
Wand movement: Swish and flick

The first day of term had started, so that would mean she could do magic without getting expelled, at least she hoped so. Raising her wand high, she pointed at the book and said clearly, ‘Wingardium Leviosa.’

Nothing. Realising she’d forgotten to do the proper wand movement, she tried again, and after many attempts, she’d finally managed to levitate Fizzy, who gurgled and murmured grumpily in mid-air. Closing the book, she glanced at the clock and went downstairs with Fizzy in her hands, where Mrs Burke was busy cleaning the already-pristine kitchen.

‘Ah, you’re up, Amara,’ she greeted her, rather ironically since Amara had actually been awake since five that morning, pondering endlessly.

‘Good afternoon,’ said Amara, faking cheerfulness quite well. ‘I made you some pancakes, they’re in the oven.’

‘That’s so sweet of you, dear,’ said Mrs Burke, still scrubbing at a spot of nonexistent dirt.

Amara stared at her. Something was definitely wrong about Mrs Burke’s behaviour. And suddenly, like an unexpected slap in the face, a page from The Standard Book of Spells swam into her thoughts and she realised that Mrs Burke was definitely under a Confundus Charm.

‘Er – I was thinking of going to the – the Burrow—’

‘Yes, yes, of course you may go.’

Dashing out of the house with a reluctant Fizzy grumbling in her hands, she practically ran down the footpath and into the empty playground, where she slumped onto a swing, her mind racing.

Even though leaving Mrs Burke alone probably wasn’t the best idea, she was so furious at Mr Burke right now, she felt she could have jinxed him into oblivion without any practice. Amara jumped up off the swing suddenly and Fizzy leapt off at the last second, hissing angrily. After pacing around for a few minutes, Amara picked up her cat again and made for the Burrow, where she presumed the others had already arrived.

‘Hey, Amara,’ Ginny greeted her, opening the door. ‘We’ve just come back.’

‘Oh, yeah, great,’ said Amara distractedly. ‘Listen...’

‘Yes?’

What could she say, though? Listen, Mr Burke has Mrs Burke under a Confundus Charm, that’s why I can’t go to Hogwarts. So I’m getting there on my broom. Could you pass on the message that I’m at Hogwarts when they come knocking?

‘Nothing.’ She turned to leave.

‘Hey, why are you going?’

‘Sorry, but – er, Mrs Burke wants me to help around the house. See you.’

And she made her way back to the playground, which was still empty, watching the sun reach its highest peak before going back inside.

The rest of the summer passed half as quickly as it should have. Amara spent most of her time wandering around, cursing Mr Burke in her head and wondering why she hadn’t just flown to Hogwarts on her own, even though she had no idea where it was. Dita’s sympathetic reply, telling her she’d been sorted into Gryffindor, didn’t help at all, and though Fred and George did write once, and the other Weasleys were all nice enough, the sinking feeling only got worse as the twentieth drew closer.

The morning she had to leave for Durmstrang, Mrs Burke woke her up at six sharp, and after a quick breakfast, and checking that she had packed everything, Mr Burke told her that they’d be Apparating to the school, and after experiencing the unpleasant sensation of being squashed into a nanoparticle, they arrived at the front gates of the school at last.
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