Far From Normal ((Sita))

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Waking up is never fun. I hate waking up. You always have to wake up really early in my house. And even if you don't have to, it's really hard to get some sleep when everyone else is awake. My house is a big house, with lots of people in it. Nine people! That's a whole 5 more people than most houses have! I consider myself lucky at times, because I have so many brothers and sisters, I'm never bored. I have fun, but they don't; and that just makes it even more fun! I sometimes feel bad after pulling a trick on them, but not often enough for me to stop. The point is, I have so many siblings that it's impossible to A) be bored, and B) get some sleep. Therefore; I hate waking up in my house! Ingrid sat up in her yellow bed, the comforter flopping over the edge of the bed and sagging to the floor. Ingrid reached out to catch it, but it was too late and it fell to the floor with a soft 'plop!' Ingrid bit her lip and rested her chin on her hands, her feet crossed and up in the air. My bed swallows me whole. Sometimes I can't even breathe. Stupid bed. But it sure is comfy and warm during those cold winter nights. She sighed and grabbed the comforter, pulled it back up to her, and burrowed into it. Right when she thinks she is on the brink of falling back asleep, something tugs at her comforter and pulls it away from her.

"Muaahhhhhhh!" Ingrid called as she tumbled off her bed with the blanket. Hard wood floors are not cushioney! Note to self; get carpeted room. She tried to sit up and see who pulled her out of her sanctuary. More likely than not it was Janine, but Ingrid wanted to know who this traitor was. Janine knew better than to wake her up. She waved her hand over her face to get rid of the stray pale blonde hairs that were in her eyes. Sure enough, Janine stood in front of her- a gleam in those eyes and a smile playing on her lips. Janine always looks like she's plotting something, Daddy says I look the same way, but I don't agree. I'm not plotting anything, just scheming. Janine's my little sister, the youngest of my family. She's a sweetheart, and she's the best. She wants to be just like me! You don't know how flattering that is. Or you do, and you understnad perfectly well I couldn't yell at her for waking me up. Ingrid stood up and smoothed out her nightgown, trying to appear her best for her little sister.

"Sorry to wake you up, Ing, but breakfast is ready!" Janine told her, hopping over a table and leaving the yellow room. Ingrid sighed and went over to her closet, opened the door and looked in. The colorful outfits were standing out, and Ingrid wondered which one to wear. My closet is the only thing that is organised in my room. I havelots of clothes, and I wear each outfit at least once every month. I have jumpers, and jeans, and shorts, and shirts. My favourite thing to wear though, is my black jumper with my white polo shirt, my mary janes and a red bow in my hair. It's my favourite outfit and I always wear it on Friday. My favourite day of the week. Ingrid snatched at the outfit and closed her closet door, she got dressed and headed downstairs to the house of horrors. Breakfast is always so busy here, Andrea is really busy looking for her things. Mark's still trying to get dress. Jason's gone. Kirsty's eating her breakfast slowly; she's always the calm one. Sally is outside warming up for track. And Janine and I are just coming down. This is how days are at the Lewis house. I wouldn't change it for the world.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Mummy is a real smart lady. She knows arithamatic, writing, histories, and science. She's the one I go to for homework help. Mummy's also real smart when it comes to common things. For instance, in the morning when we all go downstairs for breakfast- she places our mail by our cereal bowls. That way there isn't this large rush to the mailbox. I have told her plenty of times that a large rush to the mailbox could be a good way to start the day, but she simply pointed out that I think sliding down on the stairs in a sleeping bag is a good way to start the day. Which is true. The only bad thing that happened was a fractured wrist, but that wasn't supposed to happen. Either way- I think it would be amusing to see my older brothers and sisters racing to the mailbox to get their mail, while Janine and I sit back and laugh. We never get mail, unless we send a letter to each other, but that doesn't really count.

"Any messages for me today, Mummy?" Ingrid asked as she slid into her seat. I'm a very popular girl. Just last week the Queen of England called to tell me she was sending me a rather late birthday present and it should be here soon. I still haven't recieved my gift, but things like elephants take time. You can't simply put them in a mailbox. The phone rings so much, that Mummy has to take messages. Mrs. Lewis looked through the stack of papers that was already piled so high, even at this early hour in the morning and pulled out a blank piece of paper. She leaned over the counter and pretended to read off it to her daughter. See? Told you.

"Why, yes, the prince called. He would like you to come over for tea later, around noon?" Mrs. Lewis asked with a inquizitive voice. Ingrid put her finger to her chin and then said, "Will you be the best, and tell him I simply can't? I have much to do today, and I am afraid tea is out of the question." She then grabbed the box of Sugar O's and poured some into her bowl, then took the banana, chopped it up into pieces with her spoon- and continued to sprinkle the bananas on her cereal. Just sugar o's is bad for you, which is why I put bananas in my cereal. That way I get my 'patassmium.' Of course I have milk with my cereal, and orange juice. Sometimes even a piece of toast, but bananas are a very important thing to eat. After the milk was poured on, Ingrid plunged her spoon into the cereal and scooped some up. Putting it in her mouth and chewing thoughtfully. Janine sat down next to her and did the same. Ingrid was so engulfed in her thoughts she didn't realise her sister was poking her. "What is it, Janine?" She asked sort of annoyed. Janine pointed to something underneath Ingrid's cereal bowl.

As I said earlier, I don't get mail. But I had a letter tucked underneath my cereal bowl. I guess you could say I was very surprised to see something addressed to me that wasn't in Mummy's or Janine's handwriting. "Curiouser and curiouser." Ingrid muttered as she opened the letter. She unfolded it and started to read. I am a real good reader, Mummy even calls me her star reader. I was reading at a very young age, and I was the top in my class. But, this letter wasn't making any sense to me. Ingrid finished reading the letter and put it flat down on the table, glaring over at Kirsty who was reading the paper. "Ha ha. Funny, Kirsty. Joke's on me." She said in mock hysterics. Kirsty looked up and raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?" Ingrid lifted up the letter and said, "You telling me you didn't send this?" Kirsty shook her head and went back to her paper. I have a mystery on my hands, and I will solve it. Ingrid jumped down from her seat and headed towards the door, "Come on, Janine."

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

"Ingrid, honey, if you're going outside please take a jacket!" Mrs. Lewis called after her daughter's retreating back. Mummy's also real over protective. She thinks we're going to get a cold anywhere we go. It's funny sometimes, but other times it's just annoying. Ingrid sighed and stopped speeding so she could grab her light jacket and give Janine hers as well. Then she was off again, running as fast as her little mary janes could carry her; and that was pretty darn fast! The streets were wet and slippery, because the rain had just stopped three hours before- but the sun was still shining; and a rainbow was shimmering in the sky. I adore adore adore rainbows! They have all my favourite colours! Blue, red, yellow, and green. Sometimes the colours mesh together and make other colours like, purple, and orange! Blue, red, and yellow are primary colours. That means they can't be made from other colours. I learned that from Daddy when he was painting our walls.

Janine's footsteps could be heard behind Ingrid's, but the older girl didn't stop to let the smaller one catch up with her. Ingrid was in too much of a hurry to pay attention to her sister. This mystery needs to be solved! A car drove by, and Ingrid jumped out of the way in enough time to grab her sister's hand and pull her out of the way too. Her breathing was harsh and ragged and she decided it was time to pace herself and walk. She looked at Janine who was just as winded as she, and smiled, "C'mon. We're going to the warehouse." She told her with a wave of her hand and a march towards the warehouse. The warehouse is a building that is used for storages and things like that. Mummy and Daddy rented out a storage room for us kids, but the older kids don't use it as much as Janine and I. We decorated it ourselves, and it's real cool looking. I don't know why the others won't come with us.

They were in the lot to the storage rooms within two minutes, and the men on duty greeted them with cheers. Ingrid was even swept up into one's arms. Bobby is the coolest worker at the warehouse. He's 18 years old and we're getting married someday. He's the one who taught me to ride my bike when I was 7, he's known me for my whole life! I wish I could say the same for him- he's the best! "Hey, kiddo!" Bobby said as he hoisted her up onto his shoulders and walked around with her like that. Ingrid looked around for Janine and saw that she was on Mark's shoulders. Janine was her top priority.

"Hi, Bobby! How's work today? Slow, I bet! It doesn't look awfully busy busy busy...is there some imaginary people here or something?" Ingrid swung around and fell down, Bobby caught her with a smile and set her down on the ground. Ingrid crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the left, her lips set in a firm pout; Bobby couldn't help but pick her up again, "Work's okay. Very slow, but I bet you'll change that right, Ing?" He looked up at her and she smiled that infamous mischievous smile, "I have no idea what you are talk talk talking about." She told him with an innocent smile. Bobby knows me too well. Of course I will do something to make the day less slow! "But, first, I have a mystery to solve!" Ingrid hopped down from Bobby's arms and skipped over to her sister. She pulled her from Mark's arms and ran towards the warehouse that was marked '13.'

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita woke early that morning. Noise from next door. They were a terribly noisy household, her mum always complained. But her mum didn't mind really. She got on really well with the huge Muggle family. It was always chaos in there in the mornings, and when Sita went over there she hardly added to it, unless Ingrid was in the mood to get up to something. Sita grinned at the thought as she sprung out of bed and started pulling socks, jeans and an old t-shirt on. Within minutes she was dressed for the day and skipping her way downstairs. Her dad was in the kitchen straightening his tie, and she ran up to him and gave him a good morning kiss as he tried to ensnare her in a bear hug, which she twisted away from, giggling. She didn't have time for that. She was hungry.

As Sita poured herself some Rice Krispies and put on lots of milk, the letter box flap opened and she heard the sound of a solitary letter on the hall tiles. Sita looked up at the clock. Quarter to nine. A bit early for the post, wasn't it? It was usually really late. Especially on a Saturday. Sita took two more mouthfuls of her Rice Krispies before standing up and going to investigate. She could clearly see as soon as she got into the hallway that the letter lying there was no ordinary letter. She scampered to pick it up and noticed the 'H' on it, intertwined with four different crests. Sita knew the Hogwarts crest immediately. She ran into the front room and peered out of the window. Two handsome tawny owls were beating away in the daylight from two households. One of them was coming from the Lewis household. Sita jumped in joy. It was true then. She hadn't been mistaken.

Sita ran upstairs and jumped onto her parents' bed where her mother was having a lie-in. "Mummy, it's come it's come!" she shouted in excitement, brandishing the letter in her mother's face. "I'm going to Hogwarts!" she proclaimed, bouncing up and down on the end of the bed, receiving a slightly annoyed look from her mum amidst the general expression of happiness on her mum's face. Sita felt proud that she was qualified to go to one of the most renowned schools in the country. "I'm going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" she announced again. Her mum sat up and gave Sita a hug and a kiss to show how pleased she was before the slight eleven year bounded back off the bed. "I'm going out now. Going to find Ingrid," she told her mother. Sita's mother looked up in alarm at that. "Don't tell her you're a witch," she said. Sita smiled mischievously. Ingrid did give her bad influences sometimes. "How do you know I haven't already told her?" she asked with a grin, leaving her mother contemplating whether her daughter was serious or not as she skipped off.

Sita slipped outside and made her way next door, giving a wave to Sally as she saw her returning from down the road. Probably from a morning jog or something. Sally was always really sporty, in Sita's opinion at least. Sita was quite sporty as well. Sometimes Ingrid's older sister would play tennis with her. Sita was good at tennis. Sita knocked at the door of the Lewis household and then opened the latch using the door key she had brought with her. Andrea looked round from where she was searching near the sofa for some item or another to greet Sita and various other members of the family greeted her without any particular surprise at her being there. It was normal. Sita could be found in Ingrid's house as often as she could be found in her own. Having looked round for Ingrid, and found her not there, letter out of sight from the usual place near the cereal bowl, Sita looked round for Janine and saw that she was absent too. That meant she knew where Ingrid was.

It didn't take long for Sita to get to the warehouses, because she ran there at the top pace her legs could carry her, which was pretty fast seeing as she did all that tennis and she had the slope of the main road on her side. There were Bobby and Mark. Bobby was fun. Ingrid talked about him all the time. Sita ran past him towards the Lewis warehouse, not attracting any protest, and it was there that she finally found Ingrid. "Ingy!" she shouted, scooting to a stop beside her friend. "Have you got it? Have you?" Sita grinned at the other eleven year old, panting from the exertion of running all the way and just having time to take in Janine beside her friend.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Ingrid was about to unlock the warehouse when Sita came speeding around the corner. Ingrid looked at her little sister and said; "Speedy Gonzales." Janine giggled, but clamped her hand over her mouth before the giggling turned to laughter. Sita is my bestest best friend in the whole wild world! She's like me, only not. I'm with her most the time- we're insperable at times. She must've stopped at my house before she came here, she always does. Sita was breathless and seemed rather excited about something. When she asked if Ingrid had gotten "it", Ingrid gave her a rather blank face.

"'It'? What 'it'?" She asked with as much confusion in her voice as she had on her face. Something has been different about Sita lately- ever since school has been coming to an end, she's been acting real strange. I brushed it aside- thinking it was nothing, but maybe it's serious. Maybe she should see a doctor and get surgery or something. As Sita answered, Ingrid turned and finished opening the warehouse door. The metal doors slid up to reveal a comfortably furnished room with vibrant colors and lots of fun looking toys. Ingrid walked in and took a seat.

"If by 'it' you mean a letter. I got one this morning. But I thought it was a phoney, is it true?" Ingrid asked. Excitement in her eyes and in her voice. Her blue eyes watched her best friend with anticipation- wanting to know if there really was a school called Hogwarts in which they taught you magic. If this is true, then I am a witch and that means that I'm different. I'm special. I've always wanted to be special since Janine was born- because when Janine was born I wasn't the baby of the family anymore. I grew out of that, but now I kind of want the specialness back....

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita had to fight down her eagerness to jump up and down in frustration as all she received from Ingy was confusion. Ingrid wasn't feigning this. Her innocent smile never, ever fooled Sita. No! And it never would either. Sita was in on it most of the time anyway. But anyway, with Ingy Sita would swap the 'innocent until proven guilty' for 'guilty as guilty as guilty as... why could be as guilty as that innocent smile tinged with mischief? Oh why was Sita always lost for the best words? It simply wasn't fair! Ingrid was the clever one, of course, always had been. That was exactly the reason why Sita knew she was always guilty for the elaborate, ingenious, hilarious tricks. No one else could be so clever! No, good tricks were plastered all over Ingy's face plain to see. Apparently only for Sita to see a lot of the time, but that just meant the rest of the world simply wasn't trying hard enough. Of course, if anyone ever accused Ingy of being malicious, or nasty or any of those other untrue nasty words, Sita would be the very first to leap to her defense and that would be done as quick as lightening and with the greatest amount of conviction ever possible. Ingrid was a great friend and a great person, there was nothing more to it! The bestest bestest bestest friend anyone could ever wish for. She couldn't be faulted. And she was a witch and she was coming to Hogwarts with Sita and they would be sorted into the same house and get to sleep in the same dormitory like all the sleepovers they'd ever had except for every night instead and not with fussy prarent grown-ups and Ingy would be the bestest bestest witch friend ever!

Finally, comprehension had dawned on Ingrid! Why had it taken so long? It wasn't fair! Sita was so impatent to tell her everything! "Yes, the letter, the letter, that's it!" Sita almost shouted, all the pent-up excitement inside her bubbling out with every word she uttered."Look, this one!" Sita said, waving the letter with its Hogwarts crest around in the warehouse as she plonked herself down on one of the colourful chairs and waited for Ingy to grab it. "Of course it's true, you silly-billy! Whatever possessed you to think it wasn't? There's another world right next to ours, hidden, and it's all for you to explore and me to show you round!" Exhausted as she was from all her incessant excitement, she sprang up out of her chair and grabbed Ingy by both arms, spinning them both round and round and round until Janine and all the colour of the warehouse room was just a blur, trying to blend together to make white and she collapsed breathlessly in a heap on the floor, laughing and giggling and hiccupping, not able to stop because it was so wonderful she and Ingy were witches and were going to Hogwarts and she would get to tell her best friend all about the wizarding world she'd had to hide for so long.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Ingrid took Sita's letter into her hands. She turned it over at least a total of seven times before actually reading the writing on the envelope. It wasn't a cruel joke someone had played on her, there was an actual place called Hogwarts, and Ingrid was actually going! Her thoughts and plans began to whir into one big mesh as she realised the truth. She was a witch. But how could that be? Witches, wizards, and magic only were real in fairy tales and movies...not in reality. Ingrid took out her letter and looked at it side by side with Sita's. Identical. Except for the address and names. Her breath caught in her throat and she let out an almost inaudible, "Leapin' lizards..." Before she could say anything more, however, she was pulled out of her seat and jumping around the room with Sita.

Shock was still rushing through her, but she was able to push it down and hide it a little bit to be able to scream with joy and jump up and down with Sita. Though many questions were running across her mind. After all, before a few moments ago- she thought everything in the letter wasn't real. And it seemed that Sita knew all about it all along. Ingrid pushed the fact that her bestfriend kept somthing from her for the longest of times out of her mind, and smiled at her friend. She giggled as Sita fell to the ground and Ingrid plopped down next to her, looking at the letters again with a heavy sigh. Janine sat in the corner watching this unravel. It was much for her to comprehend as well, but not as much as Ingrid.

"You know about this place? Will you explain it?" Ingrid asked Sita as she sat up and listened intently.

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita gave a large sigh as she let her burst of excitement out of her and Ingrid asked for her to explain it. There was so much to explain! Where could she possibly begin? There was why the wizarding world was secret, which her mother had told her time and time again about, even though her mother wanted to bring the two worlds back together she didn't want her daughter to be the one that did it since she didn't believe the time was anywhere near right, the amount of suspicion and hype anything out of the ordinary was treated with by some Muggles, and the complete incredulity, ridicule and disbelief by others. There was how everything was so different there. There was You Know Who, who Mum was getting so worried about nowadays. There was Hogwarts. Sita had heard about Hogwarts but she didn't know everything about it. But Hogwarts was the place to start.

"Hogwarts is a school... for witches and wizards... for you and me because we're both witches," Sita said happily. "And I think it's a big castle but I don't know what it looks like because I've never been there. My mum says it's something special though. It's in Scotland. Not so far away from here, but you have to go down to King's Cross Station and get on a train from there so it takes donkey's years to get there. And we can learn how to do magic there! And we get to go on a shopping trip for all our school things! It would be good enough to go for new secondary school things but we get to go to Diagon Alley! That's the main wizarding shopping street. So we get to buy a wand each and a cauldron and school books and school robes and I get to get a pet I can take to Hogwarts and you can take Boe because toads and frogs are allowed and cats and owls too. Loads of wizards and witches communicate by owl. The owls carry messages for them. That's what delivered our letters. Two different owls. I saw the one going to your letterbox. But I don't know how to explain everything. I hardly ever go into the wizarding world, after all. But we can go and see my mum and she knows all about it! She's at home today but my dad's gone out to his Muggle work which is a shame 'cos he knows loads of stuff. Oh... hang on... Muggles... they're non magical people... people who aren't witches and wizards. And if you're born into a family of Muggles and are a witch then you're a Muggle born witch which is you!" Sita grinned at Ingy before getting up off the warehouse floor and brushing herself down, running to the door. "Wanna come to my place now or stay here a bit?" she asked.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Ingrid listened to Sita's slightly small explanation of the wizarding world which was now introduced to her. She smiled a smile so large that it hurt her after a moment, she hopped up and did a quick twirl, "Let's go to your house! Maybe then I can learn more! I can't believe I am a witch! So, do we get wands or spell books or stuff like that? Or is it wandless magic, with minds and stuff?" Ingrid grabbed her friend's hands and pulled her up, bringing her into three very fast twirls. Ingrid had never, in her wildest imagination would have believed she was a witch. Sure, in her make believe and pretend things she would, but not in reality! The funny thing was, weren't witches supposed to be ugly? With warts? That couldn't be true though, because she was a witch, Sita was a witch, and so were millions of others out there- who look like normal people. It was all so new to Ingrid and she felt so confused and so lost, but she hid it better than she normally would have.

She pulled Sita out into the sunny sun light, and began running toward the exit. She suddenly skidded to a stop though, her heels kicking up mounds of dirt. She had forgotten about Janine! Janine was running behind them, out of breath, and looking like she was about to cry. Ingrid bit her lip and looked from Sita to Janine. She wanted to go to Hogwarts, but she couldn't if Janine didn't. It just wouldn't feel right. "Ohh...." Ingrid said as if she were having a hard decision. In the end, she knew she was going to go to Hogwarts- she just didn't know how she was going to tell Janine. Ingrid looked at her almost-twin-sister, and said; "Janine...I need to spend time with Sita for a little bit." She watched as her sister nodded slowly and ran off ahead of them. Ingrid frowned, but instantly smiled as she looked at Sita and pulled on her arm.