HyperPost 10: My 11th Birthday (Stuff That’s Near My Wall Part 2)

Your 11^th birthday means one thing and one thing only: getting your acceptance letter from Hogwarts.

This was my second Harry Potter-themed birthday (the first being for my eighth birthday, where all of my gifts, the cake, loot bags, and decorations were Harry Potter-themed).

I was excited for this year because my Grandmum was out of the hospital and well enough to come to my birthday party and I had new cousins – from my step-mum’s family – that were much closer in age than my dad’s biological nieces and nephews.

Hunting down decorations wasn’t too difficult with a couple of party stores in our area – but being right after Halloween and within the same week of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opening in theatres meant that a lot of the good Harry Potter stuff was out of stock.

We came home with a Hufflepuff banner for our front door. I dealt with it and moved on, even though I was a Gryffindor at the time, since Cedric Diggory had died in the fourth movie and he was a Hufflepuff.

Once the party was rolling, all the kids were sorted into one of the four houses, with one of the first Harry Potter movie on in the background.

Then came cake time – where I was presented with a massive chocolate cake, decorated to look like one of the books from a class at Hogwarts.

Then came the big moment that I’d been waiting for – getting my Hogwarts letter. Rolled up in a scroll attached to a plush owl’s foot, the letter and owl were tossed to me. I unrolled the scroll and read out loud to my family what Professor McGonagall had address to me.

My parents had it easy in regards to editing the letter – all they had to do was change Mr Potter to Ms Potter.

Also, the Half-Blood Prince came out that year, but my parents were kind enough to let me read it early even though it was technically my birthday present, so that I wouldn’t fall behind in the fandom.

Piece out.

Hyperpost 6: Magic Schedules

I may not have gotten a real letter to Hogwarts, but I still managed to have a magical high school education.

The first day of school means you get your new schedule for the year. I took to colour coding mine the same day, to help me memorise my classes.

In grade 9, my friend group consisted mostly of Harry Potter fans. We decided that the courses we were enrolled in would be much more interesting if we translated them into courses (or activities) from the series.

I had done the conversion out of habit in grade 10 as well – giving me two years of magic.

The classes I was taking were converted as follows (grade 9 conversion is listed first if there were any changes between the two years):

Homeroom = Astronomy and Herbology

French = Ancient Runes

Gym = Quidditch Practice

History = History of Magic

Drama = Divination and Defence Against the Dark Arts

English = Transfiguration

Science = Potions

Maths = Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms

Personal Orientation Project (grade 9 only) = Muggle Studies

Computers (grade 9 only) = Charms

Spanish (grade 10 only) = Divination

Ethics (grade 10 only) = Muggle Studies

We spent the year using our new class names:

“What do you have after lunch?”

“I have … Oh! I have Ancient Runes and then Potions.”

That sounds like much more fun that French and science, right?

Piece out.