Chapter 1 - The Letter

Kestrel Everett was a small girl whose long raven hair was, in her opinion, one of her only redeeming features, the other being her intelligence. She was twelve years old and did not consider herself particularly brave. This was evidenced by her shaking hands which were, at that moment, clutching a thick parchment envelope as she watched the owl that had delivered it soaring away through the window. This was a school letter.

Kestrel didn't go to just any school though. She was a Witch, and that meant she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Or, at least, she thought she did, but the previous school year had ended on such an uncertain note, what with the evacuation, that she wasn't even sure it was still standing. From the letter in her trembling hands she guessed it probably was, however precariously.

Kestrel had not had a great first year at Hogwarts, which was a real shame. She'd been excited to discover a letter waiting for her on her eleventh birthday last year telling her she was a Witch, but thought it had been a joke until a stray cat had walked purposefully into her back garden and transformed into the acting Headmistress of Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had explained to both of Kestrel's shellshocked fathers that magic was, in fact, real and that their excited daughter was invited to attend the best school for magical children in the world. Kestrel didn't think either of her fathers would have believed it if they hadn't just seen a cat transform into a woman.

Professor McGonagall had failed to mention the magical war raging around them until Kestrel had asked about the 'monsters' she'd seen gliding around outside sometimes. Her fathers had, of course, assumed they were imaginary until the Professor explained what Dementors were; soul-sucking creatures that caused depression and were invisible to muggles. She'd had to explain what muggles were too, of course. Kestrel's fathers had been less willing to let her attend after that, but their daughter had been so excited by the idea, and Professor McGonagall had persuaded them that she'd only learn how to fight the creatures at that school.

So they'd gone to a little street just off Charing Cross Road called Diagon Alley, which Professor McGonagall assured them would have everything their daughter would need for school. It had confused both her fathers to no end when they'd needed to follow Kestrel through the doors of a pub their eyes simply didn't want to look at to get there.

Kestrel saw things that day she'd never even dreamt of; so many that she never thought to question why half the shops were closed. There were Goblins at the bank. Goblins! And there were all sorts of weird pets for sale; she hadn't been allowed to get the fire-breathing salamander she'd wanted, but her biological father, Peter relented and bought her a Little Owl for her birthday, which she promptly named Athena. She was only about twenty centimetres tall and looked absolutely miniscule when compared to the Tawny, Barn and Screech owls all vying for attention. Anyone looking at the girl's face knew she wasn't going to leave the store without that tiny ball of feathers once she'd seen her.

Then they'd bought her school robes at Madam Malkin's, and all her new and exciting school books at Flourish and Blott's. If her other father, Dan hadn't dragged her out of the shop she would have happily stayed there all day. They got her a cauldron and lots of weird potions ingredients at the Apothecary, but what had excited Kestrel the most was getting her wand. She'd been heartbroken at the sight of the boarded-up windows, but a tinkling bell behind them as they were leaving told them that the wand shop was still open for business. It turned out that the previous wand seller, Mr Ollivander Sr, had been kidnapped and so his son, Mr Ollivander Jr, was taking extra precautions, quite reasonably.

Kestrel had only tried three wands before she'd been handed one that sent warm tingles up her right arm and shot red and gold sparks when waved. Her wand, of which she was immensely proud, was ten inches long and made of hazel wood, with a Unicorn tail hair at its core. She didn't entirely understand what all that meant, but she loved it all the same.

The rest of the day had passed in a bit of a blur after that, though she'd been allowed a brief trip into an exciting looking joke shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, where her fathers had permitted her one purchase. She'd wanted a daydream charm, but they weren't being sold to anyone under sixteen, so she'd decided on a cloak that provided the wearer with a shield charm capable of deflecting minor to moderate hexes and jinxes. Had Kestrel known then how much she'd need it at school she might have asked for two.

Kestrel's first year at Hogwarts had seen her wonder and delight with the magical world snatched away from her sharply and painfully. So much so that she wasn't at all sure she wanted to go back. Only her curiosity told her she would return regardless.

A greasy-haired, hook-nosed, unpleasant looking Wizard called Professor Snape had taken over as Headmaster. He had, her fellow Ravenclaws informed her with certainty, killed the longstanding previous Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Then there were the Carrows, brother and sister Amycus and Alecto, in charge of discipline. Kestrel hadn't understood everything she'd been told, but they all seemed to be followers of a Dark Wizard whose name she never learned because everyone called him 'You-Know-Who' or 'The Dark Lord'.

Then a sixth year Ravenclaw called Luna Lovegood had been kidnapped from the train back to school after Christmas, and a Gryffindor girl in the same year with red hair hadn't come back after Easter. Then the Carrows had found out she had non-magical parents, at least as far as they could work out since Kestrel wasn't at all sure who her mother actually was, and chained Kestrel up in the dungeons for being a 'mudblood'. A sixth year Ravenclaw called Michael Corner was tortured when they discovered him freeing her and what little resistance there had been seemed to have ebbed away after that.

A wave of excitement had washed over the school when a boy called Harry Potter and his friends appeared out of nowhere to fight, but students under seventeen, with one or two exceptions, had been evacuated before the fighting began in earnest and Kestrel had heard nothing from the magical world since. Her belongings and Athena had appeared about a week after she got home, and the Dementors had disappeared, so she assumed they'd won, but nobody had told her anything. Until now, that was.

Kestrel held the thick yellow parchment envelope in her trembling hands, completely forgetting her breakfast as the memories of the previous year came flooding back.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Peter asked gently.

Kestrel hadn't told them much about her year away at school, it would only have worried them, and she was sure some of what they'd been taught should be illegal. They seemed to know something was wrong though.

Gingerly, Kestrel slid her finger under the wax seal bearing the Hogwarts crest and pulled the parchment letter out of its envelope.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

(Order of Merlin, First Class)

Dear Miss Everett,

We are pleased to inform you that your place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is secure. The unfortunate events of last year shall not be repeated under ANY circumstances, and we sincerely apologise for any and all harm done. Professor Snape died during the battle, and the despicable Carrow siblings are serving a lifetime in Azkaban. The castle has been repaired over the Summer, and we look forward to your return.

Yours sincerely,

Pomona Sprout

Deputy Headmistress

Enclosed was her train ticket for the Hogwarts Express leaving from Platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock on September the first, and a new list of textbooks including The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Two by Miranda Goshawk and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble. That was new. The previous year the school had taught Dark Arts, it seemed they'd be learning defence this year. Maybe this year would be better after all. Kestrel's heart had leapt and her stomach unclenched when she'd read Professor McGonagall named as Headmistress again.

"Well, what does it say?" Dan asked.

Kestrel handed over only the new booklist, saying

"New textbooks I need."

"I suppose we'll have to go back to that high street," Dan sighed, adding quietly "it looked quite run-down."

Kestrel hadn't really noticed that last time, she'd been much too excited.

They decided to get her new school things the next Saturday.