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“Um..hello” the quiet man spoke “You must be Anne.” He said nothing after that. Just stared at her with ice blue eyes looking almost bewildered.
Well. She’d just have to do the talking for the both of them. After all she WAS very good at talking. “That’s me! Anne Shirley! I assume your Mathew Cuthbert? Oh Mathew I’m ever so elated to be meeting you and staying with you and your darling sister! I can tell we will be fast friends already. One may even say kindred spirits.” Anne ranted
“Oh..um yes of course..” Mathew replied “...w-would you like me to take your bag then?”
“Oh thank you but it really isn’t heavy at all! I can manage quite fine on my own. However I must ask you Mr. Cuthbert, a month or two ago I got this letter. It is addressed to me but at the orphanage our caretaker must open and read all corespondents before we can. She hasn’t read mine so it remains unopened.” The redhead reaches into her washed out brown bag and produces a yellowing envelope with a red wax seal and a crest Mathew recognized immediately “oh.” He says simply “ok we will open it when we get home” the two of them walk to the carriage and climb inside. Anne names The Avenue “The White Way of Delight” and The Barry’s Pond “Lake of Shining Waters” she also told him stories of her time in homes and orphanages, how she was often passed around because of her temper and how odd things happened when she got frustrated. (She was also convinced nobody wanted her because of her red hair but that was merely opinion.)
By the time they got to the gate it was already opened my one Ms.Cuthbert. She looked a bit shocked “oh no,” Anne thought “it’s my hair! She’s seen it and she’ll surely send me back now!” A few words were passed between the siblings before they turned to Anne and Mathew helped her out of the carriage. “You won’t be sending me away again will you?” Anne asked quietly.
“Don’t be foolish girl now come on inside”
As promised, after meeting the animals, doing chores, and preparing hew new room, Anne got to open her letter. She ferociously ripped of the wax seal and flipped open the letter to read its contents. A few more feverish and hushed words were passed between the siblings as Anne began with the note. “Dear Anne Shirley....invited to...”she mumbled along “Hogwarts School of...WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!?” Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “I’m a witch!? Oh Miss Cuthbert, please don’t burn me at the stake!”
“Anne!” Marilla said, as if offended by her even suggesting such things. “You don’t understand! Our brother was magic too, but the rest of our family were muggles” seeing Anne’s confused expression she elaborated “Muggles are non magic folk, like me and Mathew. Sadly our brother passed a while ago...” the siblings eyes shown with sadness, but Marilla quickly recovered “do you know if you are part magicfolk?” She asked the redhead.
Anne skimmed the rest of the letter, “well it says here “You’ve shown great magic ability despite being..muggleborn” so no..?”
“Oh that’s alright!” Mathew said, talking louder and more words than she’s ever heard him “We must take the Barrys up on their offer this year Marilla.”
“What offer?” Anne asked confused, she and Mathew had passed the Barry’s house but she didn’t see anything peculiar. “Oh well Mr. and Mrs. Barry are magicfolk, the only others around as far as we know.” The siblings peered at each other again as if deciding to tell her something, but seemed to decide against it. “They have 2 daughters and offered to take us with them to Diagon Alley, a place were you can get all your school supplies.”
“Wow! Are they muggleborn too?”
Marilla laughed a bit, “No the Barrys are a very respected pureblood family, meaning they come from a line of witches and wizards before them.”
“Oh..but what do THEY need school supplies for?” Anne asked.
“Oh! We completely forgot to tell you, Mr and Mrs Barry have a daughter your age, it’s also her first year at Hogwarts, her name is Diana.”
So as Anne laid in her new bed, in the new house of her new caretakers, she thought about the new friend she would (hopefully) find in Diana Barry, the new school she would be going to, and this whole new world.