Hester wandered around the park, lugging her bag of new supplies with her. She couldn't believe that she was in fifth year already.
She arrived at a fork in the path and chose the left turning. She was glad to be going away from home. Things were getting tough there. She stuck out like a sore thumb. Neither Jeanie nor Hannah had got a place at Hogwarts and they weren't happy with that. And to top it off, the pet she had given to them had died this summer.
Nothing was going right.
Hester kicked at a stone and it scuffed the front of her shoe. If she had been normal then everything at home would be fine and her parents wouldn't argue so much.
She hadn't seen Lavender in a while. She hoped that she would return to Hogwarts. The thought of not having her scared her.
She sighed and glanced up at the sky. It looked like it was going to rain.
