Ally Cope: Travels of a PotterGirl - Sa13+


Chapter Guide
Day Zero
Day One: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight
Day Two: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

***

Day Zero

I only have five minutes. Maybe less than that.

We got off the plane half an hour ago, and my dad is off trying to untangle the strange rules in the UK for getting a rental car. And I told my mom that I lost my trip journal and was just going to run into this kiosk to buy one.

Only I didn’t really lose my trip journal. I obviously have it, because HELLO? I’m writing in it right now. But the most important thing about keeping a journal is writing stuff down when it’s still fresh, right? And we JUST got off the plane, so this is definitely still fresh.

Here’s the big news flash: THE COPE FAMILY JUST LANDED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

My mom has this wacky idea that we should all keep these journals the whole time we’re on vacation, and then when we get home, she’ll scrapbook what we wrote with all the family pictures we take. Cheesy, right? She tries to do this on all our vacations.

Last year’s super thrilling trip to the rubber museum in Akron resulted in a scrapbook about three pages long. One page of my brother Brad posing next to giant stacks of tires, one page of my dad sleeping in the car, and the only page anyone wrote in their journals. It said “Akron has no beaches” 127 times. I would have written it more, but my pen disappeared on the trip home.

So let me tell you how UH-MAZE-ING it is that my parents decided to take us to England this year. We were having dinner, and my mom says, “We’re going on a trip to somewhere you’ll both like this time.” As if last time, there was some invisible third sibling who really LOVES rubber.

My brother is one of those sports-obsessed guys, so he starts listing all these ballparks and arenas that he wants to see. He totally missed the part where it would be somewhere we BOTH like. And then my dad can’t stand it anymore and he shouts, “WE’RE TAKING YOU TO ENGLAND.”

Spoiler alert much, Dad?


Day Zero, Part 2

Brad found me and dragged me out of the kiosk.

The Cope family is now on the road. My mom is driving, even though she’s sitting on the passenger side and driving on the wrong side of the street. My dad is asleep (this is what he does on most of our vacations). Brad is ignoring me. No loss.

“Honey, why don’t you look at all the amazing scenery out the window? Maybe you’ll see Hogwarts.” Ugh. I can tell by the smile on Mom’s face that she think she’s being cool.

“Mom, much as I love you for skipping the museums devoted to petroleum products on this trip, your lack of Potter knowledge is shameful. Everyone knows Hogwarts is in Scotland.”

“Oh.” She starts watching the road, and I know I hurt her feelings. Brad knows it too.

“Shut up, Ug.” He is so lulzy and stuff. Leigh is my middle name. Get it? Ug-leigh?

Brad’s no prize either. My friend Kat says he’s hot, but he’s more of an Arm Pit than a Brad Pitt. My brother, the Arm Pit of humanity.

My mom isn’t wrong, though – I would sell my own kidneys for a chance to see Hogwarts, or really any location used in one of the Harry Potter movies. That’s the big draw for me on this trip: I’m a major Potterphile. I love all things Potter.

But instead, we’re heading in completely the wrong direction. My parents got a great deal on a cottage on a lake or something, but it isn’t the right direction to see anything. Imagine being this close to places I’ve only ever dreamed about… and not getting to see any of it.


Day Zero, Part 3

We’ve arrived at the cottage. Its pitch black, with the brightest stars I’ve ever seen. Still, the lake is just the sound of waves on the shore right now, so I’m not sure yet what the level of lame is.

Mom’s flipping. She just realized half my suitcase is packed with all seven Harry Potter books, companion books, and lexicons, instead of clothes and stuff. I guess she should have been more specific when she told me limited packing space would require us to prioritize.

Harry Potter is my priority.

She says I’d better go to my room before she Avada Kedavra’s my face. Except she says “abracadaver,” but I get mad anyway.

“Mom!” I say. “The Killing Curse is not a joke!” I slam the door behind me, but it’s sort of pathetic because the door doesn’t latch. It bounces open again.

If I was a witch and not just a sad little Muggle girl, I would have slammed the door again with all my pent up rage!magic. Instead, I just let it flap open as I bury myself in the covers.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow my vacation begins.

Welcome to Other Stories! I'm really glad you're here!

Abracadaver and rage!magic elicited all sorts of snorts and giggles over here.

Having read most of your stuff here, I always notice how distinct the voices you write in are. It's really extraordinary and I'm envious. Lend me your skill, please?

Shut UP UG.


I think I like Brad a lot. Or maybe I'll just say that to get a rise out of Ally? hehe


I can't remember all the GOOD THINGS I said about this last night, but you KNOW I'm a fan. Even if Ally dissed my RIDDLE DIARY reference. Snob.


Love it, Ern. More brilliance from your brain and fingertips.

OMG Ern is writing again!? I will read this one all the way through since I am here for the beginning and because I looooove it like WOAH!

Part 1
Toooo funneh! I can just here the little tenge of sadness behind those words for the lost pen. What else was there to do, honestly?!

I love this girl!

Part 2
Hmmmm...he's an intelligent one isn't he? *que sarcastic voice*

Part 3
Sounds alot like me....just not quite to that extent.


Awesome start Ern! I can not wait until the rest of the story, I have suscribed!

I love "Arm pit!"

I love the story, I love the title, I love the graphic.

You rock. When I get famous and I need to write my memoirs, I'm hiring you to ghostwrite it.

I LOVE the story!!
Oh, totally jealous right now. I want to go to England majorly!
Bahaha, hilarious
Haha, I'm liking her brother right now
Haha, you're freaking brilliant to come up with this stuff. It's amazing and clever
Haha, that sounds like somethings I'd do
Hahaha, sounds like my mom actually. She knows nothing about Harry Potter and tries to make it sound like she does all the time. She even tries the British accent, but it's horrible

Amazing start! PLEASE PAMS!!

You mentioned Scotland in your story!!!!! I am from Scotland!!!!!!!
If you need UK help, just ask. If you want UK language for like British people that your characters will meet then just ask. Landmarks, just ask.

I really enjoyed this story, you are so very lucky that you can write humour. I find it really difficult to be funny in my FF.

The Ug-Leigh bit was awesome!!!!

Awww, praise from Jer-em-ie is high praise indeed! I'm happy to be here and busting out of my old style and forums . I hope to keep you stocked in the giggles.

I like Brad too, and he isn't as... awful as Ally makes him out to be. I hope you CONTINUE to be a fan.

Her capitalizing thing? I think she got it from you.

Haha... you say that like I ever stopped writing! I have a couple up in Characters and a co-drabble thread with Tegz. But I'm GLAD to see you!

Aww, Brad isn't as dumb as his sister thinks. Don't feel tooooo bad for her.

That's sort of the point, I guess. Ally is a ramped up version of all of us, I think.

Welcome!

Silly rabbit. You can write too. I bet you do a great job of writing your own memoirs.

Me too. Let's GO!

Awww, thanks . I hope to keep the funnies coming.

My mom does it too, but she acknowledges she doesn't know anything. She's cute about it, though.

Thanks! Welcome!

I probably will take you up on that offer, actually. I'm making it up as I go, so I need your UK-ness . I appreciate the offer.

And thanks... writing humor can be arduous sometimes, but Ally lends herself well to it. She wants to be funny.


I'm responding to comments now because the second "chapter" is almost done, and I want to give you all the attention I can right now .

Good God, this is too funny. xD

Aww. Awesome depiction. =pp

PETROLEUM! Excuse me, while I hyperventilate. This is what this engineer plans to specialize in. And, while I hyperventilate, we'll ignore that the museums were skipped, shall we? =pp

BUT! Mean Ally. MEANNNNN. *pokes her*



LOL. Just ... LOL!

LOVE this bit. *saves it* xD

That's actually very painful, if you do take out the time to imagine it. I would rather not be that close, if I know I won't get to see a place I hold that dear. Then again, I might want to be that close after all, in the hopes that I might somehow get to see the place. Dilemmas. xD

My dad says that! Or something like that. xD AND he hasn't not read the books, either! He's read most of them. Like, seriously. He translated one of them into another language, for the fun of it.

.... and he still pronounces that wrong.


The good part is that he gets my Potter mania, watches the movies with me, and doesn't pronounce anything else wrong. =D

I'm looking forward to that.



*awaits update*
But no pressure.

Like SenoritaMaxie, I'm awaiting an update. Just PM or VM if you need UK help!!!!

***



Day 1

It’s raining.

Later

Still raining. Mom and Dad escape to town to get groceries for our stay, but before she leaves, Mom tells me to look on the bright side. It might be raining, but I can explore our cottage. I’m still kind of miffed about last night and mentally Silencio her. Or myself. That spell is really unclear.

Our cottage is bright pink, with these frilly curtains and enormous roses on the wallpaper. The place is TOO pink, actually. Pink rugs on the hard wood floors, pink cushions on the furniture, pink-lined dishes in the drying rack by the sink. Brad says he feels trapped in a bottle of Pepto Bismal. I say it reminds me of Umbridge’s office, minus the kittens.

Apparently, all the cottages have flower names, and I bet they’re just as monochromatic as ours, although I can’t even see them in the torrential downpour.

Obviously, ours is the Rose Cottage.

Brad must not know who Umbridge is. He grunts at me in his caveman monosyllable tongue and starts to fiddle with the television. It's one of those old ones with knobs on the front and enormous rabbit ears. All he gets is static, but it’s British static, at least.

Mom left breakfast on the table. I sprain my wrist trying to saw off a slice of bread from the rock hard loaf, which I have to eat plain because we don’t have butter yet and the jelly is orange. Are colors crazy here or have my eyeballs exploded back into my head? The world is bright pink and my jelly is orange.

Plus the bread tastes like a towel.

I wander back into the living room where Brad is laying on the floor, sprawled all out on one of the tiny pink rugs. He says, “Sorry.”

“What?” But really… for WHICH thing? Being a Neanderthal, being annoying, or telling me that the best thing about Harry Potter is that Emma Watson is hot? As if that’s a GOOD THING.

Hermione isn’t supposed to be HOT. IDIOT. His sole purpose in life is to say things that cause me minor heart attacks on an hourly basis, I’m sure.

Brad rattles a game box at me. “Want to play Sorry? I found some board games.”

“I would rather stick acid pops up my nose.”

“Whatever. If you find one, I’m first in line to help,” he tosses the game back into the cabinet.

Good thing Mom and Dad show up then, because my screaming at him would have disturbed the neighbors.

“It stopped raining,” Mom announces. She lines up a bunch of paper bags on the counter as Dad brings them inside.

“Sweet.” And like that, Brad disappears.

He’s smarter than he looks. Mom shoves groceries into my hands, making me help her put everything away until the bags are empty. All that food looks much more appetizing than the towel-bread.

When we finish, Mom suggests I go outside. To play. TO PLAY. As if 14-year-olds still PLAY.

I don’t have my bathing suit on yet, but I head toward the water, figuring that's the most likely place to find anyone around here. There’s a path leading from the stone steps of Rose Cottage down toward the lake where it joins other paths. They all come together at this long dock that extends out into the water. Even though it’s only been a few minutes since the rain stopped, the dock is already full of people.

It looks so much like summer to me. There are kids hanging off a rope swing and splashing around in the water. A few families have kayaks and canoes they are slinging off the end of the dock. I even see Brad chatting up a group of pretty girls. He has somehow lost his shirt.

Merlin, just knock them over the head and drag them home already, Arm Pit.

The cottages feel ancient, but the wood on the dock is new. So new, actually, that it smells like fresh-cut wood and feels sticky to my bare feet. I circle the small groups clustered on the dock and just keep walking. I want to get to the end, which is so far out in the lake that I bet you feel surrounded by water. A little Ally island, you know?

A girl with red hair brushes past me. Ginger. They call it ginger here, right? Like ginger ale and gingersnaps and my mom’s fantastic ginger chicken, all of which are brown. But the girl has Weasley-red hair, and so I mouth the word as I look at her. Ginger.

Just past her, I see him standing on the end of the dock. Him. Stepping straight out of every fantasy I’ve had since I first read Philospher’s Stone. Him. HIM.

Harry Potter is on my vacation.

NEW READER!


hoyl crap this crap is so good. your humor is excellent....*wishes i had your talent*


It's amazing. and the endign was good too.

the brother makes me laugh.


so does the girl.

thsi story is fantastic.

Another post!!!!! *dances around Ern*



Aren't we all a bit confused about that one. Ahhh the things we ponder!

O_________O Ewwww.....

There you go Brad!!! We have that in common!

Sorry Ern (and Ally) for going all BOY on you in here.

Classic.

wow!!! That is too funny that she mouthed Ginger at that girl!!!

*gaspeth!!!* Could it be?!


Awesome post yet again Ern, keep it up! *poofs away*

Haha, I'm in! *Goes to pack bags* Ready??
Bahaha, I love the Harry Potter references. My friend Ruth and I make them daily.
Hehe, that would be my response. Love it
Bahaha, I'll have to remember that one You're hilarious
OMG! Like Dan or someone that looks like Harry?? So exciting! I'd be freaking it out if it were either! Haha.

Great chappie! I loved it! PLEASE PAMS!!

From Silencio through Ginger I was non-stop chuckles.

I can feel her sighing in exasperation at her mother, particularly when she's told to go PLAY. I said it last chapter, but I'll say it again. Her voice is just really excellent.

One thing I noticed this time around is how descriptive you can be in short chunks of text. I particularly noticed it in the description of the cottage. It's not super long, but it's written in a way that I can picture exactly how I think that cottage is.

Plus, you know, I want Harry Potter to be on MY vacation, too. So, I'm going to live vicariously through your Ally for a little bit.

Ern... I have told you this before and shall tell you again... YOU ARE AMAZING. I love your stuff and I look forward to stalking this fic like whoa!

*sets up a tent and camps out for the next update*

I love this! It's so great!
And so funny. I think I was laughing the whole way through!

I feel like I owe you an I told you so. Your doubts, as usual totally totally totally are unfounded. I think the tense and the point of view are both working out really well from a technical perspective; Ally's voice is really clear and more importantly, from the perspective of someone who knows you well, different from your own. Thats a skill that a lot of people can't quite grasp and it takes some practice. (Whee RPing is good practice for this XD) I like the present tense, it makes everything feel more immediate and relevant and allows you to get into Ally's head.

Now 'scuse me while I add some star power to this thread <3

I love this so much!!! I would love to have Harry on my holiday!!!

You are doing very well with the UK stuff. We do say Ginger and our jelly (we call it jam actually) is all different colours. The one you mean is Orange Marmalade.

Can't wait for the next post!!!!!!

Buttt. *POUT*

Hehehe.

LOL. I love pink, but THAT much would drive even me, crazy. xD Brad is awesome, by the way. Pepto Bismol and all. xD AND, of course, the Harry Potter reference. =D

You know I love reading this, right? =D



Bwaha. I'm actually starting to like Brad more and more, as the story progresses. Arm Pit. xD

=O

Harry Potter-look alike? OR Harry Potter? *FLAILS*
Moooooooooooooooooore?

*waits*
Totally patient, yet. Not.

LOL I love that. Made me think of my first time in England.

RIGHT!!! OMG! My brother says the SAME thing. At least the chick is hot!

Do you know MY brother? Brad's my brother... totally. Just give him some stupid joke about him being more Italian than me and I will ask him if he's contacted you on Facebook. LOL.

OMG!!! You can't leave it there! I need to know! I need to see if he's nice, or like Brad (and my brother) a jerk!

I have never written this, but this ending calls for me saying "PAMS!!!"

New Reader

WOW! This is sooo good!
I mean great!
Really well written!

OMG! Harry Potter is on her vacation!?

Oh PAMS!

Evangeline

You haven't posted in ages!!! PAMS PAMS
Love this story, I need more

New reader here! I LOVE it!!

I love this part, it's hilarious

That sounds like a delightful breakfast...

Yes, Im sure he lost it...acidentaly.

PAMS!

Yeah. Tegz is right. ADDIN' SOME STAR POWER. Holy whoa.

Quote:

“Honey, why don’t you look at all the amazing scenery out the window? Maybe you’ll see Hogwarts.” Ugh. I can tell by the smile on Mom’s face that she think she’s being cool.

That's such an epic mom thing to do. Haha.

Quote:

“Shut up, Ug.” He is so lulzy and stuff. Leigh is my middle name. Get it? Ug-leigh?

Brad’s no prize either. My friend Kat says he’s hot, but he’s more of an Arm Pit than a Brad Pitt. My brother, the Arm Pit of humanity.

HAAHAHAHA. This is made of SO much win. You're killing me here.

Quote:

She says I’d better go to my room before she Avada Kedavra’s my face. Except she says “abracadaver,” but I get mad anyway.

“Mom!” I say. “The Killing Curse is not a joke!” I slam the door behind me, but it’s sort of pathetic because the door doesn’t latch. It bounces open again.

Abracadaver. Haha. Lovelovelove. And the door. Mmm. What a pride-killer.

Quote:

“What?” But really… for WHICH thing? Being a Neanderthal, being annoying, or telling me that the best thing about Harry Potter is that Emma Watson is hot? As if that’s a GOOD THING.

My brother says that too. And it just makes me laugh.

Quote:

A girl with red hair brushes past me. Ginger. They call it ginger here, right? Like ginger ale and gingersnaps and my mom’s fantastic ginger chicken, all of which are brown. But the girl has Weasley-red hair, and so I mouth the word as I look at her. Ginger.

Just past her, I see him standing on the end of the dock. Him. Stepping straight out of every fantasy I’ve had since I first read Philospher’s Stone. Him. HIM.

Harry Potter is on my vacation.

Oooohhhh, EPIC! MMMMMMMmmm.

Queen Ern, I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: you're unbelievable. If I could read your writing all day, every day, I would. So get some books out into the world please. Heh. <3