Branden

Backstory

My name is Branden Watson, I come from South Africa. My magical journey started when I was 6 years old. Of course I didn't know it at that time. My mother and father and infact everybody in my family are muggles. So no one knew about the wizarding world. No one but my father. When he was young he was in the military and there he met Albert Diggory. Mr.Diggory and my dad became good friends and he told my dad about the wizarding world, even showing him some magic. After some years Mr. Diggory returned to the Uk and my dad left the military. He met my mother and in 1998 I was born. Three years after that my sister was born.

One day we had a visitor, it was Mr. Digorry. He came to my parents to talk about my future. He first had to explain to my mother about the wizarding world, how it would effect all of us and how it is important that it be kept a secret. He then explained that me an my sister had magical power running through our veins. But that something strange happened. Usually the nearest wizarding school would contact us in someway when we are ready to be accepted by the school. For me it would me Uagadou, but the names of Both me and my sister as well as our cousins are written down in the magic book and quill at Hogwarts in the UK. This does not often happen and he was not sure why, but Hogwarts saw it fit to let my parents know before hand that I was accepted as I would have to travel abroad many times. Should my parents agree to send me Mr. Diggory would be my personal guide and ensure I would go to Hogwarts and come back home safely.

Years went by and when I turned 11 I received my Hogwarts letter. That is when my parents explained the full story to me. I was very excited and couldn't wait. About 2 months later Mr. Diggory gave us another visit. This time we went with him to London. We stayed would be staying with him until we were to return to south Africa. The next day he took us to an old looking building called the leaky cauldron. There we had a delicious breakfast, and I tasted my first pumpkin juice. After breakfast we went out behind the building and we were facing a brick wall. He took out his wand and tapped certain bricks on the wall and they magically started moving it formed an archway. We walked through it and saw an amazing place. Mr. Diggory called it Diagon alley. There were so many people and building I didn't know what was going on. he suggested that we head to ollivanders first to get my wand.

As we enterd the building I was overwhelmed with the amount of wands that I saw. So many shapes and sizes and wood types and cores, it was all very confusing and scary,

But Mr. Diggory reassured me that Mr.Ollivander would help me to get the perfect wand. We rang a little bell on the counter and a man came from the back of the shop. He introduced himself as Gerald Ollivander. I'm not sure if he was the actual Mr.Ollivander or a family member helping out as he did not look at all like the old man who was in a portrait hanging behind the counter titled Mr.Ollivander.

He seemed to already know who I was and pulled out a small box. He took out a wand that had a skull on its back. "Rowan wood, 14 inches, unicorn hair slightly flexible" he told me. I took the wand and he told me to flick it at some drawers. I did so but they rapidly started opening and closing. I thought this is what was meant to happen, but turns out that was not my wand.

He took out another box and handed me a different wand. This one had all sorts of carved patterns on it. "Cedar wood, 10 1/2 inches, unicorn hair, very flexible". This time he told me to flick it at some dead flowers. I did so and felt a warm energy flow through my body. The dead flowers started to bloom! They looked fresh and definitely alive. Mr. Ollivander smiled and said "I believe this is your wand", but my Mr. Diggory stopped him and pointed at the flowers. As we looked up the flowers had died again, looking even worse than before.

He took the wand back and took out another box. But this box looked different than the others. He explained that this wand is not an Ollivanders made wand. It comes from Africa, just like me. He opened out the box. "Hazel wood, Dragon heartstring, 12 3/4 inches slightly springy" It had a dragon head and wings on its tip, with patterns carved down from it. He didn't take it out of the box and as I reached to take it, the wand shot into my hand by itself. As if it was a piece of metal and my hand was a magnet. Warm energy washed all over my body. Mr. Ollivander looked surprised and amazed. "The wizard doesn't choose the wand, Mr. Watson , the wand chooses the wizard. And I believe this one chose you"

After that we went to get a wide array of other stuff. Books, robes, quills and ink, all sort of stuff. But none was as special as Hoot, my pet Tawny owl. Then we returned to Mr.diggory house and the next day returned to South Africa. A month later Mr. Diggory came to fetch me again. It was time to go to Hogwarts.

We flew back to London and then went to a place called kings cross station. With all my belongings we went to platform 9. we were heading towards platform 10 when mr. diggory stopped. He told me to run towards the wall between platform 9 and 10. I didn't want to at first but then I saw another boy do it. I ran towards the wall and came to a huge station, much like kings cross station. There was a big red train standing there with students getting on. Mr.diggory wished me luck and helped me to board. The train started moving and off to Hogwarts I went.

We arrived there at night and were guided to the castle, it was an amazing sight. We crossed a lake on boats and were met by professor Wessex. She explained to us that we were gonna be sorted into our houses. I was nervous and very curious about which one of the four houses I was gonna be put in.

We entered the great hall and I was overwhelmed with the amount of students and teachers staring at us. One by one professor Wessex called forth our names. Eventually she called mine and I went up. She put the sorting hat on my head and I could hear its voice in my head. It took awhile almost 7 min to decide which house I was gonna be put in. It was struggling to decide between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. But eventually it decided on Hufflepuff. I sat down at the Hufflepuff table. After the sorting was the great feast. Then professor Dalloway lead us to the Hufflepuff common room and explained how life as a Hufflepuff would be. And that's how my Hogwarts journey started