Title: Americans At Hogwarts

Author: Fyrbird

Disclaimer: 1) I'm not J.K. Rowling 2) I'm not Joss Whedon. If I were him, Angel would still have Connor. Grr…

Author's Note: Harry Potter, Hermione, or other students from the books aren't here except for maybe a few, I haven't decided. Hogwarts and the teachers ARE there though along with an extra and some of the roles have changed. There's also some differences in minor details.

Summery: Some Yanks are accepted to the world's greatest school of magic.



1 Intro

Phoenix Hart quickly walked down the hall of her school. It was the last day and she thanked any major deity that was listening for that fact. She couldn't stand her school, the teachers or her foster parents. Which was why, instead of going home, she was going to the library. It was the one place she found solace, in the quiet musty stacks of the huge city library.

She grabbed her leather jacket and messenger bag, ultimately cleaning out her locker since all of her books were already turned it, and all but flew down the stairs to the fresh air of Los Angeles. There wasn't too much smog so it WAS relatively fresh. She sat off to one side of the steps and strapped on her roller blades, ignoring the others as they passed and talked about what they would do now that school was out. Finally she stood and raced the familiar path to the library. The trip took roughly twenty minutes. She changed footwear next to the large lion out front of the library and went in.

She went to the reference section, the place she spent most of her time and set her bag and jacket on the table. Often times she would pick a topic and research it, just for fun. Most kids her age thought she was a bit odd. The librarian saw her skimming a row of encyclopedias and went over to her. "Whatcha looking for?" she asked.

Phoenix looked up and smiled. "Hey Jessie," she said. "Nothing really. Just trying to find something to look up."

"I got a topic for you," the blonde woman said with a mischievous smile in her blue-green eyes.

"Yeah?" Phoenix asked, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"How about magic? I don't think you've done that yet," she said.

Phoenix nodded. "True. OK, thanks."

Jessie smiled. "No problem," she said before turning to go back to her desk.

Phoenix tucked her long black hair behind her ear as she turned back to the shelf.

**************************************

Phoenix didn't get home until late. She'd been engrossed in the different books Jessie had helped her find on magic and witchcraft and hadn't noticed the time until the librarian told her the library would close soon.

She crept through the front door of the suburban house she shared with her foster parents, trying to be quiet. As if that ever worked. "Where have you been, Phoenix Katherine?" Amanda, her foster mother said.

"Um, the library," she stuttered.

"Why didn't you come home?" Amanda demanded.

"I just… I wanted to check something out," Phoenix said truthfully.

"Until nine o'clock at night?" she asked incredulously. "I think you can stay home for a few weeks so you can keep track of time better."

Phoenix's jaw clenched but she held her temper at bay; it would be useless to argue anyway. "Fine," she said and went up to her room in the attic.

She sat at the vanity and looked in the mirror. The Hispanic 11-year-old staring back at her looked sad and depressed. Amanda and Derek weren't really that bad but she missed her real parents.

Maria Cortes and Jason Hart had left Phoenix when she was about seven. Literally, she woke up one day and they were gone, no note, nothing. The authorities had searched high and low but they were gone. Foul play was suspected but nothing had been proven. She knew that she'd been born and raised for the first six years of her life in Madrid, Spain and then moved to America. Since Jason had been an American, marrying Maria and having Phoenix had made them American citizens as well.

Phoenix looked longingly at the framed picture near the mirror. It was the whole family right after they'd moved to California. Phoenix could tell she was beginning to look exactly like her mother but with her father's clear blue eyes. She knew that wherever they were, they would have preferred to stay with her or take her with them. She knew they'd had a good reason, if it had been a willful decision.

She dragged herself to her bed and collapsed in it, face-first. A half an hour later, she fell asleep with a tear-stained face.