Summary: Lily Evans and her little sister have been living on the streets for three years now and their family's history and whereabouts are a mystry to them. At Hogwarts a library book catches her attention and a facination with ancient runes provides tantalizing hints about her family. But runes are hardly safe for a child to play with. How much will she risk for knowledge and the possibility of being loved?

CHAPTER ONE:

The creation of the Hogwarts letter is a magical art that has been forgotten over the last couple hundred years. How the letters are made, and by whom they are written, is a mystery no one bothers to solve. Still, every July third, the annual letters find there way into the air and off to the young witches and wizards. The lack of true interest in the answer to this puzzle does not upset the mysterious creator. Unperturbed, it diligently continues it's work in the dusty attic behind the unlocked door at the top of the molding staircase hidden by the false wall and faded tapestry of Helga's cousin's wedding in the East tower.

It is strange for such an unhidden place to be such a secret. The floor is bare wood, the celling is slanted by the roof and home to spiders and a nest of wasps. In the center of the room, an ancient mystery of Hogwarts sits in plain sight.

Works, rather. For the quill was not idle. Rushing around in a feverish haste a foofy old quill scribbled the last words in the letters it had created months ago. Dear Mr. Euyn, Dear Miss. Evans, Dear Mr. Finish… The pile of finished letters grew rapidly into a teetering stack, yet before the last straw killed the camel, the quill was resting in the ink bottle and the envelopes floated forward. The letters folded themselves in three and jumped inside and were sealed. They re-stacked themselves in alphabetical order and for a moment everything stopped. With a dejected slump of it's feathered head, as if it were sighing, the quill heaved itself from the emerald green ink and began scribbling away.

Mr. A. Dodger

Upper bedroom

439 Hideaway st

Hilsburrow

Kent

Mr. K Euyn…

Bored and quickly tiring, the quill almost miswrote the next address

Miss. L. Evans

Basement

Unnamed alley

London

London

Unnamed alley? The basement?! How in the world would the owls find this one? Deciding the ancient address book had finally begun to loose it's magic, the quill sent the letter off to another pile. How strange. Whatever.

Mr. N. Finish

East bedroom

37 Ruggles Ave…

Owls came and went, collecting the letters as they were finished, but Miss. Evans' letter sat on the desk's corner and weighed heavily on the quills mind. What to do, oh what to do. As Miss. Zephra's letter flew out the window, and the last owl perched on the sill, the quill finally decided. He'd send the letter anyways. If it came back unopened - well it was the books fault.

XXXOXXX

In an unnamed alley, in the overcrowded city of London, Lily Evans held her sisters hand. Belle tugged her collar back onto her shoulder. The shirt's sleeves were rolled four times just to show her fingers and the bottom hem landed somewhere just above her knees. Scuffing her ratty tennis shoes on the pavement she frowned, but kept silent. Lily squeezed her hand and smiled. "You'll grow into it. Let's go." In silence, they walked away, tennis shoes whispering on the pavement.

The cackling of black birds and scuttling of rats faded away as the pair approached the more popular streets of London. Cars crowded the streets in the morning rush, and hurried citizens rushed by on their way to work. Jostled by the uncaring people, Lily gripped Belle's hand tighter. Waiting at a crosswalk Lily looked around. A woman with permed hair and large earrings looked at them with disgust. A tall black man was talking heatedly on a cell phone. A nervous business man clutching the handle of a leather briefcase in a death grip moved from foot to foot anxiously at the edge of the sidewalk. Belle yawned.

The signal changed, the crowd rushed across, and Belle and Lily took a left. Peering through the tall masses, Lily could just make out the blue corner of a familiar sign peeking from behind a neon tattoo ad. Quickening the pace, Belle grinned, her stomach rumbling. Even a shop away the rich smells of Great Harvest bread hung tantalizingly thick in the air. Pushing open the glass door they stepped inside.

The room was crowded, as usual. Stressed adults were buying morning scones and muffins as a healthy breakfast on the go. Lily and Belle hung back, knowing the danger of getting between coffee-lacking workers and their food. They took a seat and waited. It didn't take long. The last of the morning rusher's were quickly gone. Standing up, Lily followed Belle to the counter, gazing at the mouth-watering samples they had set out on display. Behind the counter a girl with bleach-blonde hair and a nose piercing like a bull smiled at them. "Would you like a free sample?"

"Yes miss. May I have a slice of the Apple Crunch?" Still smiling, must be in the contract, the girl handed her a thick slice. The warm bread tasted delicious. Belle was peering over the counter on her tippy-toes.

"I'd like some Cinnamon Chip bread."

"Please," Lily reminded her. The worker laughed, as Belle corrected herself and handed Belle an extra big slice. Belle grinned.

"Would you like anything else?" When Lily shook her head, the worker stopped smiling, seeming to realize what they were: homeless wretches taking advantage of company policy. Lily ignored this and left, taking Belle's hand once again.

Back across the crosswalk, three stores over, stood a used book store squished between a record shop and computer store. Lily grinned as she saw the elderly man propping open the door and flipping over the 'closed' sign. "Hi Mr. Quiggle!"

Mr. Quiggle was an elderly gentleman with a big heart and horribly arthritic fingers. He was also very naive. Under the impression that Lily just wanted some extra spending money he paid her five pounds a day to come in and help him shelve books, clean, or organize depending on his mood. With that money, Lily could get dinner every day and save up enough for supper on the weekend and, over the months, even buy things like sweaters and shoes.

"Hello Lily, Belle. It's looking to be a fine day, don't you think?" He said, peering up at the sky through silver spectacles. "I've decided to do some cleaning. It's really getting far too dusty." Lily nodded and helped Belle roll up her sleeves another notch and knot the huge shirt at her waist. They followed him inside and Lily couldn't help but agree. Cobwebs hung in the high corners and dust lightly coated unpopular shelves. The lightbulb by the fairy-tale section had died and needed replacing, and a few books sat around waiting to be shelved. Taking the offered dust rag she got to work in the children's section, knowing that Belle would tire out quickly and want to read.

As she worked, she also realized it was about time to reorganize. It wasn't bad, but between the row of Spot books sat a Sleeping Beauty story, and atop the K's lay Spanish II which was in the wrong area completely. Humming to herself Lily cleaned beside little Belle keeping her on track with gentle words and quiet conversation. Still, a mere two rows later, as predicted, Belle was done. Putting away her rag she went to find a story to read. Lily sighed, and smiled at her innocence. She'd do anything to protect that. Scrubbing a little harder, she gave a half-smile as she acknowledge just how much she'd already given up: schooling, friends, her childish light heartedness. But she knew she'd give it all up again at the drop of a hat, because it was worth it, every little bit. Carrying a sleeping two year old Belle on her shoulder as she searched desperately for food in the dumpsters, going hungry to save the money for Belle's cold medicine, shivering in the snow to keep Belle warm, maturing quickly to raise Belle right, stealing when other children were at school, later working instead. It was all worth it.

The city clock struck one and Lily knew that Belle was getting cranky and hungry three rows over. She frowned. If only she had more money, she could buy Belle lunch, but it was hard enough getting dinner with the five pounds. She knew it wasn't healthy, a five year old eating two meals a day. She could see it in Belle's bony figure and growling stomach. Yet, she couldn't steal again. She had an example to set for Belle, and her own morals to improve. She'd stolen only once before, when they had literally gone for days without food. Pushing the depressing thoughts aside, Lily opened the bottle of wood polish.

A few hours later and Mr. Quiggle was closing up shop. "Thank you for helping me today Lily. We got a lot done. You too Miss Belle. You did well. What did you read?"

"Spot books." He smiled.

"Good, we'll have to read together tomorrow, how does that sound?"

Belle grinned excitedly. "That sounds fun!" On relaxed days, Mr. Quiggle enjoyed teaching Belle how to read and write. Lily was thankful for his help. Though he didn't know it, that was all the schooling Belle was able to receive as they didn't have the parents or guardians required for signing up for school. Lily herself had dropped out in the middle of second grade when they'd ended up on the streets. She missed the friends and learning, but she was doing alright. Mr. Quiggle let her read his books if she finished early, which on most days she did, and so her reading was up to level. The low spots were just everything else.

With the five pounds in her pocket, Lily said goodbye and took Belle's hand. "Where do you want to eat?"

XXXOXXX

The sun was setting when Lily and Belle returned to the unnamed alley. Glancing around to see if anyone was watching, they hurried to a wall at the base of which was a window. Pushing it open Belle dropped inside, quickly followed by Lily who shut the window behind them. Looking around, she saw the small basement was as it usually was. A pile of blankets made their bed in the corner a grocery bag held their winter sweaters, mittens and scarves. An empty box held other necessities like the hair comb, water bottle and savings jar containing three and a half pounds. Opening that first, Lily added the quarter pound that was leftover from dinner.

She had just settled down on the bed to comb out her hair when she heard a knocking noise. Freezing, her eyes sought out Belle who quickly scurried over to the bed. Huddling together they feared the worst. Who had found them? A creep? A huge sewer rat? Maybe - She heard it again. The window. Carefully she inched over until she could see outside. She squinted through the dark. It wasn't a person…

It stared at her, it's large amber eyes unblinking. In it's beak it held a piece of paper. It knocked again and Lily had no choice but to believe that it wanted to come in and that the paper was for her. Belle appeared by her elbow. "The bird wants in." Lily nodded, and slowly walked over, careful not to spook it. It kept staring. Reaching up she opened the window and it fluttered inside, dropping the letter in her hand and flying back out again. Lily shut the window behind it.

In the fading light she and Belle stared at the strange letter. In an emerald pen someone had written her name. Her name, and her house, and they even knew that her street was unlabeled. How did they know? Rather freaked out, Lily turned it over and saw it was sealed, with wax. Not some silly sticker like April had always used. And, now that she thought about the norm, the paper was different too, heavier. Breaking the seal she pulled out the letter and read. And read it again. This person thought she was a WHAT? Very freaked out by then, Lily read the letter to Belle who, of course, was thrilled with the idea. Idea. Neither of them really believe it. The letter said someone would come in two days. She shrugged and put the letter in the clothes bag. If they came, cool. If not, whatever. She had more important things to do than worry about such oddities.

Still, they knew where she lived. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she sat back down and combed her hair like she'd attempted to do five minutes before. Braiding it, she then began to gently work out the knots in Belle's curly locks. Belle bit back her complaints and yawned. Soon she was tucked in bed, Lily rubbing her back soothingly as she stared tiredly at the deep scar in the wall above their bed, faintly visible in the darkness.

Snoring softly, Belle mumbled as Lily took her hands away and crawled in beside her. "Don't worry Belle, believe in me 'cause I'll make everything alright." Closing her eyes, Lily followed her sister to sleep.

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