Alexander had Zhenya's arm in his. He was walking her down the aisle, to Gordy Brickworth - the boy that lived down the road. At 16, Zhenya and Gordy went on a Summer date, and 5 years later he proposed to her. Today was their wedding.

As she approached Gordy, she was smiling and had tears forming at her eyes. Every step closer, her heart beat slightly faster. And when he smiled at her, she had to compose herself because she was close to running. They finally reached Gordy, and Alexander pulled back her veil and kissed her on the cheek.

It was 9 months until the wedding and Zhenya had told Gordy they needed to talk. He thought she was calling the wedding off.

"Gordy there is something I really need to tell you," she said.
He sighed heavily, "Just do it," he said.
"I'm... Gordy I'm a witch," she said, pulling out her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa," she said pointing at the remote control.
His eyes widened, "What are you? ZHENYA!?" he yelled, standing up and looking down at her.
"A Witch. I'm telling you because we're getting married," she said.

That afternoon, Zhenya told him everything witchy about herself.

"Zhenya please just eat them, they're good for you!" Lisabel said.
"But mum these prunes taste so ancient," she said. "They're ancient prunes! And they are mortifyingly disgusting."
Dimitri let out a roaring laugh, and both women looked at him. He was busy reading a text book and making notes. "This Ancient Runes homework is Ancient Prunes," he said and they all cracked up laughing.

Zhenya, thinking it was the right time, picked up a handful of prunes and squished them in her hands.
Surprisingly, that just made clean-freak Lisabel laugh harder "Anc-Ancient Prrrunes," she gasped through laughs.

Lisabel had been practising her spell for banishing a Boggart. Burton Cottage had recently become home to one, in her bedroom drawers. She asked Zhenya if she wanted to help, as it is a useful spell.

Lisabel taught Zhenya how to cast "Riddikulus." She had been practising all day and was finally ready, with her mother standing at the doorway. What stepped out of that drawer chilled Zhenya to the bone. It was her grandparents, dead and decaying as Zombies, coming towards her.

"Riddikulus" she yelled, and they turned into their past bride and groom. She laughed and they disappeared.

Zhenya's owl, who was nameless, was flying in Lisabel's rose garden. Zhenya had to try to stop her from destroying them!

They were playing a game of chacey, and Zhenya was laughing as the owl she pecked on the rose petals. But then - well that was odd, the owl started eating the rose buds and petals, whilst hoot hoot hooting. Zhenya thought that the hoot meant she liked the roses - and she was right! From then on, her owl went hoot-crazy whenever they gave her roses, which led to Zhenya naming her "Rosy" and Rosy hooted at the word.

"I dare you to ask Zhenya out on a date," said Clara, her next door neighbour.
Gordy smiled, looking at the bottle that was facing him.

He stood up and walked two paces, holding out his hand. Zhenya took it, and was pulled to her feet. Holding both of her hands, Gordy said "Zhenya Burton, my pretty neighbour, will you be my valentine in four days?"
Zhenya blushed, giggled, and replied "Of course Gordy."

The circle moved to allow the two to sit together, and from that day onwards - Zhenya and Gordy were in puppy love during the Summer holidays.

Dimitri was starting at Hogwarts, so the Burton family were going to Diagon Alley to get all of his school supplies, plus some things for Zhenya to take to Russia.
"First stop, Gringotts," said Alexander.
Zhenya was on his shoulders, and she was pulling out strands of his hair to play a game.

When they walked into Gringotts, Zhenya took a whole fist full of his hair, and Alexander screamed in pain. "OWW Zhenya," he said, pulling her gently off his shoulders. He put her on the ground and saw that she was frozen in fear. Approaching them... a Goblin.

Lisabel and Zhenya saw the body laying on the ground in the kitchen. There was rubbish over the floor, and the mop water was slowly spreading through the carpet in the lounge room.

"POCUS!" she yelled, going over to the limp body of her house elf. She tried feeling for a pulse, any sign of life - but there was none. Poor Pocus had died. Lisabel cried, picking up Pocus and holding her body close. She rocked back and forward, somehow hoping to soothe the dead elf, but she knew it was no good. Poor Pocus would never be coming back.

Mmm Chocolate! Melted Chocolate! Zhenya dipped her finger into the bowl her mother was melting the chocolate in.
"OWW!" she said, putting her finger in her mouth.
Lisabel slapped her hand away as Zhenya nursed her burnt finger. She pourred the melted chocolate into the cake mix and it oozed out of the bowl, over the sides.

"Oh bugger," Lisabel said.
Zhenya looked at her stunned - she made an error with the melted chocolate? She never put too much in, usually not enough.
Zhenya got a big spoon from the drawer and began scooping the oozing chocolate into her mouth.

Two year old Zhenya was laying in her crib taking a nap. Lisabel had been up all day with the terrible toddler who had recently figured out how to levitate small objects without a wand. Although Lisabel was proud that her daughter had figures out her powers, even temporary, she was worn out from getting things out of her reach, like tissues, plastic bags, towels...

In her crib, Zhenya was playing with the fluff from a toy she had ripped open. She was throwing it up in the air like snow. That was her kind of nap, a play nap!

They were on their dare - Zhenya and Gordy. Zhenya was wearing a red sundress with red ballet slippers, and Gordy was wearing jeans with a button-up top.
"You look handsome," Zhenya said. Her mother had told her father he was handsome once, and then he kissed her. Maybe that was what happened when you called someone handsome.
"I'm going to take you for Ice Cream," he told her. Afterall, they were big 10-year-olds and they didn't need parents to supervise them at the movies. No, this was a proper date, thanks to that dare Clara gave them.

Dimitri was reading on the couch when Zhenya jumped up to sit next to him. She looked at the book in his lap and said, "What's that?"

He closed the book, showing her the cover, "It's called Hogwarts, a History, and it's ALL about Hogwarts!" he said to her.
"Wow, can you read me something from it?" she asked, very curious. Nobody ever talked to her about Hogwarts and she wanted to learn about it. To be ready for when she went.

He opened it to show her some of the pages, from past Professors, to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"And the old Transfiguration teacher was an Animagus!" Dimitri told Zhenya, reading to her from Hogwarts, a History.
Her eyes widened, "What's thaaaaaaaat?" she asked. She thought, was it a monster? A job?

Dimitri laughed and said "It's when someone can transform themselves into an animal. She was able to transfigure herself into a cat," he explained.
She was very impressed. "Are you an Aminonin?" she asked.
He laughed again, "It's A-NI-MA-GUS. And no I'm not, it takes a lot of practice to become one," he said.
"I'm going to be an owl," she said to herself.

Zhenya walked to the Common room after the feast. There were a few people there. One was a tom-boy looking girl, and the other looked like a model. Zhenya herself was plain, so she went to sit on her bed.

After a few minutes, she decided it was time to come out of her shell.
"Hi I'm Zhenya," she said to both of them, who turned around and smiled at her.
"I'm Raven," said the tom-boy.
"I'm Desiree," said the model.
"Hi," said Zhenya with a big smile on her face. From then on, they were best friends.

Zhenya had just left her first Arithmancy class. She had decided to pick it up as a second year subject, because her father was always going on about needing to work out numbers on the job. He was a healer, and Zhenya had aspired to be just like him.

She had learned so much from this subject. After the first lesson, she went back to the common room, pulled out a note book and started writing down everything that was on her mind that second about Arithmancy. It was 39 pages long, and she tucked it safely in her trunk.

Zhenya and her father had just finished making the paper mache tennis-sized galaxy with all the planets and some stars. Some were slightly more paper mached and some less. They painted them all the colours and patterns of the real planets, and they were charmed to float around the Earth.

The moon was Zhenya's favourite. They had made sure they did the crater details which looked really nice. It had such a wrinkled texture, which looked similar to some of the moon pictures she had seen.

Zhenya decided she would give one of the planets to her Astronomy teacher.

After ordering a Mocha, Zhenya sat down with her two best friends, Desiree and Raven.

"I'm really good," Zhenya replied. She held out her left hand to show them her Sapphire engagement ring. "Gordy proposed to me last week," she said excitedly. "AND I'm having a great breakthrough on a reversal potion for magical injuries. I've found some amazing healing powers from chicken guts," she said happily. Then she laughed at their reaction.

"What about you Raven, Desiree? Have you got much news?" she asked, taking a sip of her hot mocha.
It was so good, seeing her old friends.

"So you two will be bridesmaids," Zhenya said. She didn't ask. She didn't need to.

"What can I wear?" Desiree asked.
"Dress robes! They will be sapphire blue, made of silk with a long, silk dress underneath," she said. She had already picked them out, but she did want the girls to come and tell her they liked them. Or loved them. If they hated them, she might have to change them, but she didn't want to - they were perfect!

She took out a photo of her wedding gown and handed it around. It was ivory, corseted, lacy and full.

"Here you go, Zhenny," said Dima, handing her a small gift. It was obviously a box of some kind...

She smiled at him and took the box, opening it up. It was a long red box... She opened it up and inside was a red Quill which was glittery. Her eyes lit up. She loved red, and she loved glitter - AND she loved to write. There was also three small jars of ink; a black, a red and a gold.

"Thanks Dima, it's my favourite!" she said, immediately unscrewing the ink and writing on the back of a white envelope.

In her pocket, she shoved her Dragonhide Gloves. They fit in there well. She hastily put on her wellington boots and ran up to the ground floor, and out to the Greenhouses. Her poor Fire Seed Bush needed her.

She went to see it, and the nice Ivy was shielding the light from it well. She smiled at it and said "Thank you."

Then she shoved on her gloves, and felt around the pot to make sure it was warm enough - which it was. She put some water into a watering can and heated it up, and sprinkled the plant.

It was time for charms homework. Dimitri loved Charms, and Zhenya watched. He practiced the summoning charm, and tried to summon fire logs from the fireplace. Zhenya was quite scared and was hiding behind Dimitri.

“Accio log,” he said, pointing his wand at the fire. A log burst from underneath and slowly levitated towards them. “Oh no,” said Dimitri, it was coming right for him. He flung his wand back to the direction of the fireplace and it went shooting back in there.

“Can I-” Zhenya started to say, but fell over laughing.
“Rictusempra,” he said, pointing at her.

“Mama I need money,” Zhenya said.
Lisabel looked at her with her eyes wide. “What?” she said, frowning at her daughter.
“Money, mama, I need some,” she held out her hand.
“Zhenya Gredippe Burton, you sound just like your brother,” she said in shock.
Zhenya smiled, knowing why. “Mama, Dima doesn’t need to mooch off you anymore, so I’m taking his place,” she said smiling. Well, why shouldn’t she mooch of her mother. She was too young to work.
Lisabel rolled her eyes, and rummaged in her purse, handing Zhenya 4 gold coins.
“THANKS MAMA!” Zhenya said, hugging her tight.

Zhenya had made a new best friend; Laura. She was a first year in Hufflepuff, but she was very rough with Zhenya. They were partners during the three-legged race, and by the end of it, they were both covered in mud, bruises and cuts.

The next round, Zhenya had been hoping that Laura would be more careful. Even if not for herself or Zhenya, but for the Topiary plants, which were actually more like the Groundskeepers pets. She was worried if they weren’t careful, they might decapitate one. Then they really would be in trouble. A lot of trouble!

Zhenya was watching something her mother had chosen to show her muggle students who were Zhenya’s age. It was a documentary on The Great Depression. She was so bored. Who cared about muggle money? She thought more and said, “Mama I don’t care what happened to muggle money which happened SO LONG AGO!” she said, slowly and loudly, in a very bored tone.

She rested her head on her fist which kept slipping when she was falling asleep. “Mama, don’t show this in class. I’ve never met such a bore in my LIFE. It’s utterly deathly boring,” she said simply.

Zhenya had known for a long time that she had an allergy to soaps. Well, it was more ingredients or fragrances in the soap she reacted to. Her skin would break out in red bumps and scales, and it hurt and itched. But after a bit of cream, the redness, scales, itchiness and soreness went away.

But that was nothing. She found out during her first Potions lesson of second year that Raven was allergic to Kneazles. How horrible. Zhenya heard her best friend sneezing very loudly as the Kneazles affected her. Hopefully the Antillergen Potion would help her allergy.