Author's Note:
I sincerely hope you enjoy the introductory chapter of my first fanfiction and my own take on the wizarding world with many of the characters we all know and mostly love! While I have most of the story laid out already, and it's sure to be a long one, any comments, thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome!
Hopefully you'll stick through this adventure with me as the OC comes to life and embraces her place in the magical world. The story will start off cannon but will stray from the original paths of the book to become a different story in the same world. There will be plenty of pairings later on once the characters grow and as the years at Hogwarts go by.
All rights for this wonderful world and characters belong solely to J.K Rowling, but the story is my own.
-TheFirstSlytherin-
The Leaky Cauldron
The Leaky Cauldron was an unassuming building, often frequented by oddly dressed people at odd times of the day. It was because of this that most people steered clear of the old London pub, normally remembering some forgotten appointment or pressing matter that stopped them looking too closely at the blackened windows or near-constant piping smoke that billowed from its crumbling stone chimney. Nobody hovered long outside the rickety wooden doors, choosing instead to usher their often far too excited children inside or wrap their cloaks tighter around themselves and hurry through the doors.
On the 31st of July 1991, Mr and Mrs Lawson, were the obvious exceptions to the unspoken rule. They stared openly at the pub with such wonder that, should the walls have eyes and a face, it would have blushed. Mrs Lawson was a slender sort of woman with a face that stated clearly she was not one to be trifled with. Mr Lawson was almost the mirror image of his wife with one striking difference which if you did not look closely enough you would have missed, and most people did. The finer details of his aging face showed the tell-tale signs that once upon a time he had regularly smiled, perhaps even laughed. In their early forties, distinctly average and quite clearly, to those that paid them the slightest of attention, dressed for travelling, they were not the normal patrons of The Leaky Cauldron. If it wasn't for the obviously magical child that stood between them, they would surely have been asked to leave.
Feeling the magical signature of the young girl between the two bemused muggles, the oddly dressed men and woman choosing to visit the pub nodded a quick and unobservant greeting to what looked to be a small family unit. Unbeknown to them Mr and Mrs Lawson were not looking upon the battered old pub all muggles saw on their first introduction to the magical community but instead the warm welcoming building, alive with laugher and excitement that greeted the Witches and Wizards of England and beyond.
Unbeknown to Mr and Mrs Lawson, it was the child between them that allowed them to see the building before them, a small act of final love in a family of convenience.
Sensing it was time, Rachel Lawson tugged softly at her 'parents' sleeves and with much hesitance and with one final look of what Rachel knew to be jealously, they turned away from The Leaky Cauldron, somewhere they had never been truly accepted. With striking blue eyes, akin the that of a bolt of lightning, the girl surveyed the man and woman before her, if it was to be her last time seeing them, she wanted to be sure to remember them clearly. They were of course how she had always seen them, her guardians for a time when she could not protect herself and now that time had come to an end. She wondered briefly if she could ask them to stay, just for a few more years, so she could have a home to come back to. The thought was gone as quickly as Mr Lawson's brief smile and suddenly Rachel knew what to do.
"You have everything you need?" she asked with a business-like voice not befitting an eleven-year-old girl.
Mr and Mrs Lawson's face's tightened in sync with each other and the brief display of emotion either had considered showing disappeared. "We have," Mrs Lawson said through tight lips.
Rachel nodded thoughtfully. "As soon as you leave the country everything will be as it was promised," she explained, knowing the words were comforting, she had spoken them a dozen times before and they had never failed to make her 'parents' happy.
"And we will forget you," Mr Lawson said in a hushed tone, knowing it to be true yet almost phrasing it like a question none-the-less.
"You will," Rachel confirmed. He looked at his eleven-year-old 'daughter', a child he had raised from near birth and nodded, barely masking his excitement under any adult's concern at leaving a child to fend for themselves at such a young age.
"Then we'll be off," Mrs Lawson spoke, re-arranging her bags and making it obvious that there was little more to be said. Rachel mimicked the actions, pressing her hand against her jean pocket, making sure her trunk was still stored safely there.
Mr Lawson wrapped a hand around the young girl next to him, bringing her into a half hug and an unusual display of affection. Seeing her husband's resolve shaking, Mrs Lawson joined him in embracing the only daughter they had ever known. To any pedestrian wondering by they would have assumed that the small family was embracing happily, perhaps at some good news or even that it was a celebration. To the three that hugged awkwardly in the middle of the street it was a goodbye, one that would not dampen any eye and a goodbye that in a few short hours only one of them would remember.
Rachel was the first to pull away, replacing the hood that had masked her appearance up until now and would continue to do so until her 'parents' had left. Seeing it as an indication for them to leave Mrs Lawson took hold of her husband's hand and pulled him away. "It's time," she spoke in a hushed voice she believed only he could hear. Together they turned their backs on their 'daughter' and the moment they did so the warm inviting pub turned back into what it looked to be for every muggle that passed it by.
As if it was an after-thought and to everyone that knew Mrs Lawson they would most likely know it to be, she turned back to the girl who was watching them leave. "Stay safe," she whispered, her soft green eyes meeting the vibrant blue of the girls for the last time.
With that the couple joined the fray of the rest of the muggles, The Leaky Cauldron and the young girl left behind them.
Taking a deep breath Rachel turned towards The Leaky Cauldron and after ten long years she knew it was finally time to re-join the magically community. What it had in store for her she could barely begin to contemplate, this was where she knew she belonged, she was finally going home.
By English time it was just past mid-night when the plane Mr and Mrs Lawson had boarded touched down in Australia. It has been a long journey full of uncertainties, once or twice their thoughts had strayed to the girl they had left behind but in truth it was what awaited them in their new home that was more worrying and bore all their excitement. Ten years of their life had been leading up to this moment and all they had to do was step off the plane for every dream they had ever had to come true.
With a firm hold on her husband's hand, Mrs Lawson took her first tentative step onto the foreign ground of her new home. The surprise at her lack of feeling lasted less than a second before she wondered why she should even feel surprised at all. She turned to her husband who was looking at her expectantly for some reason she could not understand. It was the growing line of people behind them that pulled them from their curious staring match and just as unsurely as his wife, Mr Lawson placed a tentative step on the airport's tarmac.
"Tell me again why we travelled the muggle way? It would have been so much easier to just arrange a portkey," Mrs Lawson chuckled as they made their way toward the terminal.
"It was worth a try," Mr Lawson laughed, "One not to be repeated though, no self-respecting Wizard would ever board one of those twice" he added, casting a glance at the big metal tin they had just gotten off.
Without a worry in the world Mr and Mrs Lawson, known to themselves as Mr and Mrs Mitchell, headed off to start their new lives and procure new wands. One of them, neither knew exactly who but both blamed the other, had managed to miss-place theirs.
Unbeknown to them their first steps into the new land had woken a young girl on the opposite side of the world. With a gasp her eyes flew open and a smile settled almost instantly on her face; she knew she was going to be exhausted for the next few days but it was more than worth it. After a life time of waiting and ten years of counting down the time, her once parents had their magic, they too were finally home.
"What's wrong?" came the still half-unconscious voice of the young boy who had fallen asleep curled up in one of The Leaky Cauldron's famously over-stuffed large armchairs by the fire.
She smiled warmly at him as he adjusted his glasses, berating herself slightly from having woken him from the first goodnights sleep it seemed he had gotten for a while. "It was nothing Harry, go back to sleep," she chuckled softly, promising herself as she pulled her blankets back around her that she would keep her first ever friend safe from all that awaited him.