Sooo, I wrote a bit! 

Thena Barnes woke up with a start, two hours before the alarm. The whole week had been filled with exhausting sleep schedules, pushing her a step closer to completely risking her education for a few more minutes of sleep. 

Rolling out of bed, the DJ inside her head started to play music again as if it had never paused in the first place. 

But except for that, the apartment was strangely quiet. Her mother must've overslept again. Thena couldn't blame her. At least she had inherited those genes from her mother. 

Quietly slipping out of her room, careful not to step on the creaky planks of the floor, the girl made her way towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast before her mom woke up. 

Apparently she wasn't that quiet as she had hoped because as soon as she opened a fresh jar of jam -took her quite the struggle, she had to admit- her mother, Juliet Barnes, had appeared next to her. 

"Sunshine, what are you doing at this early hour already?" She mumbled a lot, as if the words alone made her tired.

Thena would've flinched if it wasn't a normal habit. Instead, she used her usual method of escaping questions. "Did you know that penguins can be in same-sex relationships?", she spit out a random fact she had collected from one of the many books she had read. 

Her mother brushed away a blonde strand of hair that had fallen into her face and her eyes glossed over the walls, zoning out. "Oh, really?" Her voice was filled with mild interest, only a whisper. 

Thena gently led her mother to the table, pushing her on the first chair. "Yeah! Crazy, right?" She kept talking to her mom, keeping her company as the woman brabbled inaudible words with a weak smile on her pale face. 

Suddenly something seemed to have snapped in her brain, because her gaze cleared and she looked around as if somebody had just woken her up from a deep sleep. 

 "No, what am I doing?", She stood up, sudden determination in her gray eyes. "Thena, you shouldn't care for me, I am your mother, not the other way 'round!" 

Thena didn't protest when her mom started to toast slices of bread with eggs and bacon. Those little episodes happened rather often that year, so she was glad when her mom went back to her usual self again. 

On some days, Juliet Barnes would zone out eventually, where she trailed away from reality and left Thena to herself for a few minutes or even hours. 

Not that she had a problem with being alone. But it was creepy when a grown woman started to malfunction. It reminded Thena of Katniss Everdeen's mom. 

The doctor had said that it had to do something with her mental state because the constant stress of raising a child by herself was draining her. But she'd always deny that, not wanting to risk losing Thena to the youth welfare office. 

A loud thump at the window made both of the blonde women turn towards the source of the sound. They both moved in sync when they looked back at eachother and at the window again. 

Thena had grabbed a butterknife, as if this could defend her from whatever had crashed against the window. 

Her mother hesitated. Then she shook her head and dropped the rolling pin she had clutched in her hands. 

"It's probably just a bird"

"Oh, yeah, you're right" 

"I mean, what else would-" 

"- Wouldn't make any sense" 

They both started to talk at the same time, shrugging off the feeling they had before. It was quiet for a second. 

"We should probably check if it really was a bird" 

"Yeah, maybe it's hurt" 

"Exactly" 

They both continued their sentences, somehow still understanding eachother. But before any of them could get closer to the window, a dark shadow popped up behind the glass, making Thena yell in surprise. 

On their windowsill sat an owl. A bit ragged and confused, but it was an actual, real life owl. Crumpled between its claws was a letter, sealed with red wax and everything. 

Thena exchanged a questioning look with her mother, before her mom carefully approached the window as if the bird outside might explode at any moment. Thena had grabbed the rolling pin and raised it like a baseball bat, following her mom with a -how she hoped- threatening expression. 

When her mom opened the window, the brown owl jumped into their apartment as if it belonged to her. There was a long silence of the two women staring at the animal, unsure of how to react while the owl pecked at its feathers.
Owls weren't native in the middle of London, so neither of them could hide their surprise and confusion.

Thena broke the silence. "Should we..."

"Yes, probably, hang on..." 

Her mother disappeared to call animal control or maybe the police. Thena had no idea on what to do in this situation. School didn't prepare her for things like that. 

She crouched down, careful not to startle the feathery predator. It was surprisingly calm, and even hopped towards her, with its head tilted. Maybe it has escaped from a zoo, that could explain why it was already used to humans. 

Thena took a closer look at the letter. Green handwriting blinked from between the feathers. What kind of idiot wrote letters this day? And what kind of super-idiot sent an owl to deliver said letter?

"Hey, lil man. You're on a mission or something?"

The owl shuffled closer at the sound of her voice. Thena had no idea why she started talking to a bird now.

"Can I see who this belongs to? Maybe we can use more efficient ways to send this to its owner", she slowly reached for the piece of paper, carefully avoiding the sharp beak, that clicked in little rhythms as if the owl wanted to answer her through morse code. 

Thena snatched the letter from its claw, unfolding the wrinkly paper. Her eyes scanned over the neatly written address and widened when she finished. 

"Ms. A. Barnes, the first room to the left, 13. Hunter cl. London" 

She looked at the owl like it had transformed into one of those aliens from 'Independence day'. Her first thought was to threaten the bird, until she realized how ridiculous her idea was. It probably was some kind of joke from those girls from school. Who else knew where she lived? 

Her intrusive thoughts won eventually, because she pointed an accusing finger at the animal. "Who do you work for?"

The owl clicked its beak again. Its eyes seemed to say; "Use your eyes, idiot" 

Thena turned the letter to take a closer look at the red seal. A symbol with four animals was imprinted on the surface. A lion, a snake, a badger, and a raven. The words 'Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry' curved around them. 

Great, now she was being spied on by a crazy animal cult. 

"Mom, do we know a college named ... Hogwarts?", she called out, her voice anxious. 

Her mother appeared from the hallway, the phone still in one hand. "Do we know what?" Her face was filled with question marks. 

She reached out her hand. "Give me that"

Her eyes showed the same reaction as Thena before. She examined the symbol, her fingers trailing over the wax surface. Then she looked at the owl, just like Thena did before. 

"I'm gonna turn you into chicken soup" 

As if the bird understood her, it jumped onto the windowsill again and fluttered away like it was  never there. 

Her mom mumbled some pg-18 words before turning to face Thena. The girl was still sitting on the floor, quietly observing the scene with interest. 

"What now? Do we call the police?" 

Her mother huffed, crumpling the piece of paper in her fist and throwing it into the bin. 

"It's just a scam, like those stupid E-mails, but the version from 1989", she waved off the topic and went to fix the burned breakfast. 

For her, the topic might've been finished, but Thena couldn't get the letter out of her mind. It kept spinning in her head as if it was calling after her like some voodo-curse. Her name must've been on there for a reason. 

The whole schoolday flew by unnoticed and when her mother went to sleep at the early evening, she snuck out of her room and into the kitchen. Her curiosity had won after all. And the fact that she wasn't allowed to read it, made her want it even more. 

It was dark outside, and she didn't dare to switch on the light, so she bumped against the countertop multiple times, suppressing some curses she had learned from her mother. 

When Thena fished out the letter, her heart started to beat from excitement. She slowly trailed over the words indicating  her address. With shaking hands, she ripped open the paper, revealing two sheets of parchment. 

She scooted closer to the window where the pale moon gave her enough light to read the cursive words. And her mind wanted to black out just like that.

Dear Athena Barnes,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

 Headmistress

What do you think?