Chapter 1: A Perfect Little Girl

Ellie looked at the pictures. The first picture was from when she was six and a half, the day she was adopted. Her smile had been wide that day, while she stood there in a soft crimson robe, her hair a mess. That was the best day of her life, it was the day she was finally the one who had been noticed, instead of one of the other hundred kids at the agency. Each time someone visited they would all wake up early, and try to make themselves look more presentable. Then the family would either leave or choose a couple of them to take home.

At first the children would keep in touch with the others at the agency, and tell the others all about their new lives. Some were luckier than others. Ellie's friend Natalie had moved into a huge mansion in Switzerland, her friend Sierra into a tiny shack on the coast. Everyone was grateful, no matter where they ended up. If you asked Sierra if she was happy with her life, Sierra would be the first to tell you her life was amazing, with a loving mother and father who worked with some of the animals on the coast. Natalie lived with a dad who was head of a department in the ministry of magic and even though she could have anything she wanted, she wasn't happy because her dad was always at work.

Ellie's friends disappeared one by one, and soon she was one of the fifteen left who had been there since '05. Her mother had brought her to the agency when she was just barely born, she couldn't have been more than a month old. She didn't know what her true birthday was though, and she never would. The story went that her mother left and was never heard from again. Her mother had wanted to come get her someday, but she didn't within five years and after that Ellie was put up for adoption so she would have at least a chance at happiness.

She looked at the next picture, in it she had on a huge blue pointed hat falling into her eyes, with a huge flashing seven. She was sitting on a miniature broom that went up to six feet in the air. She had been living with her family for only 6 months then, but had already completely accepted them. That day her parents had invited over some of the other little magical children that lived nearby, and Ellie had made some of her first friends outside of the agency that day.

There were pictures of her with her friends Lucinda, Jamie and Amanda. There were pictures of her with her parents traveling around the world (their favorite pastime). There were pictures of her riding her first real broomstick, and meeting her relatives for the first time. There were pictures from her trips to America, Ireland, and Egypt. There were six pictures from the orphanage, each with an unsmiling girl dressed all in grey, each taken at year intervals from when she arrived at the agency.

"Ellie, are you ready?" asked Celesta, Ellie's mother. Ellie startled out of her reverie and yelled back "Yes!"

Today Ellie would be going to Diagon Alley with Lucinda and Jamie; they would be getting their things for Hogwarts. Hogwarts. Ellie felt her stomach drop, what if Luci, Jamers, and her weren't all sorted into the same house? It would be awful. They had been connected at the hip ever since Ellie's seventh birthday. There was also Amanda, her dad was a muggle and her mom a witch, they had all assumed that Amanda was a witch too, but when the letter from Hogwarts didn't come they knew it wasn't so. Now Amanda was enrolled in a public school for muggles so that she could fit into her father's world.

When Ellie, Luci, and Jamers had first gotten the letter they had run to meet up with each other and talk about it. They hadn't even asked Amanda whether or not she had one, they had just assumed, and they had assumed wrong.

Now Amanda would barely even look at any of them, and her favorite activity had become staying in her room and wondering how anything could have gone wrong. All three of them had tried in their own ways to make it up to her. Luci had climbed through her second story window and tried to cheer her up at night. Jamie had made her ginger cookies, just like she loved them, with her name spelled out on each one. Ellie had just gone and tried to talk to her. None of it had made any difference.

And now Ellie would be leaving, without Amanda. It had hurt Ellie more than anyone else, she had been closer to Amanda then the other two, and had known her the longest. She wouldn't forgive herself for what had happened.

Ellie rubbed her eyes; she had been up half the night talking to Lucinda and Jamie. They all seemed to want different things. Ellie wanted to go and looked at the animals in Anastasia's Animal Wonders, Lucinda wanted to look for love potions in Wicked Mysteries, and Jamie wanted to look in Weasly's Wizard Wheezes. They also had to get their uniforms, books and other supplies for school.

The girls started by going to the book store, and they each got all the books on the list. Jamie was tempted by a book on invisibility but decided against it once they all disappeared. Next, they went to get fitted for their uniforms. They all got phials, telescopes, cauldrons, and scales. Soon, all they had left was their wands. Ancient Ollivander still owned the wand shop and Lucinda's mother talked to him freely about the time she had gotten her wand. He started testing each of the girls with different wands. Lucinda got a willow wand that had a thestral hair and was about 13" long. Jamie got a cherry wand with unicorn hair that was 10". Ellie's wand was gorgeous rosewood; it was 8" and contained dragon heartstring. The three girls kept waving their wands around and seeing the marvelous thinks that happened while Ollivander kept trying to tell them that the wands were dangerous and they should be more careful.

Then the girls got to go to their stores of choice. They started with Wicked Mysteries were Lucinda found a potion that was bubbling and was bright pink, it promised that anyone who ate it would fall madly in love with the instigator. It stated that it would work in cookies, cakes, drinks, and any other edible item. Lucinda bought three bottles, saying the more the merrier.

After that, they moved on to Anastasia's Animal Wonders. It was amazing, there were rats, cats, dogs, frogs, toads, mice, lizards, and many creatures they had never even seen or heard of. A dog, looking identical to a black Labrador except for the fact that it was about one-eighth of the size it should be, stared up at Ellie with mournful eyes. Lucinda stared entranced as the turquoise rats started making a rat pyramid then jumping off and running in figure eights. Jamie was holding a creamy white kitten that was cuddling into Jamie. They all started to walk out, agreeing it was all too expensive, but before long they had all run back into the store and started forking out all of their savings. It cost them more than they had thought it would, what with animal beds and cages, food and treats. By the time they left the store the only one with a penny to speak of was Lucinda, who was richer then Jamie and Ellie put together.

Despite this, they went to Weasly's Wizard Wheezes, since they could always use a good laugh. When they arrived, they could hear loud music pumping in the background, they walked in and Lucinda soon disappeared, going to the area just for witches where everything that had to do with romance was kept. Jamie looked at the candies, as she was known for having a sweet tooth. Ellie wandered around taking in everything and loving this world that she was part of. She wasn't watching where she was going, and suddenly, she found herself lying on the floor next to a black-haired brown-eyed boy. She could feel a blush starting across her cheeks.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going…" she stuttered.

"No problem." replied the boy. Then he held out his hand "I'm James."

"Ellie, Ellie Black," she got out a few more words.

"As in Sirius Black?" asked the boy, James.

"I have no idea, I was adopted when I was seven, before that I just lived at the agency."

Ellie continued her awkward conversation with James, he showed her around the joke shop, which apparently one of his uncles owned. She discovered that he would also be starting his first year at Hogwarts, and he would be the first in the family. After about an hour Jamie found her and started telling her they had to go. She headed back to the Leaky Cauldron with Jamie and Luci and they stayed up half the night talking about how excited they were to be going to Hogwarts.

The next morning they headed back home, with two weeks to go until school started.