Chapter One

Prologue

A drowsy light was shining through the half-closed curtains of the smallest bedroom in a little house on the outskirts of England's capital city. The in the northern parts of London lying house had two floors and was built in a quite old timely style. The rays of light, which were indicating a soon to rise sun on the warm July morning, where creeping across the floor, gliding over books and magazines spread across the floor together with a couple of already worn clothes and a strange looking ball.

On the bed in the corner of the room, you can see a young boy laying, with his head on the wrong side of the bed and directly atop of an old book, which had the inscription "Magical Beasts and where to find them" written in garnished gold letters across its leathery front.

Right next to him, spread across the wall, where multiple pictures and posters of different Quidditch players, some even some with signings from the people on said posters. They all had one thing in common. The bright orange robes and the small crest showing two crossed cannons and the inscription "Chudley Canons".

A small table with a chair in front of it, which had a black suit jacket thrown over the backrest, was positioned on the opposite side of the room. Spread across the table, there where again multiple books and a few roles of parchment, as well as a cracked open envelope with the Hogwarts, seal on it. Next to it was a noticeably well-read letter claiming that a certain Nicholas Taylor was invited to join said school for wizards and witches.

Inside of a small cage, which was resting on top of the closet next to the shut open door, a white owl was scanning the room with a slightly cautious gaze, before returning to nibble on a pumpkin seed again, which she had taken out of a bowl inside of her cage.

A smooth morning rain was splattering against the window creating a very soothing rattling, which was spreading through the house which was mixed with the snoring of the young boy in his room.

He had brown hair with a hint of umbra and a rather pale skin. He didn't always spend his free time, sitting around in his house, reading books and magazines. But since he got the letter, inviting him to visit a school full of people with the same skills as him. Brewing potions, casting spells, playing Quidditch and much more, he had to prepare. Something he was looking forward to, even though his knowledge when it came to the first two was limited. He and his father used to "fly" with broomsticks (his father flew and he was sitting in front of him while screaming out of joy and fear at the same time) and throw each other a ball in their old yard. The same ball, which was now lying so carelessly on his floor.

But then it all changed.

His father and his mother died when he was still very young. He was five when he came to his aunt and uncle, who brought him out of the country, together with a few young children, who had gone through the same agony and fear. The same roller-coaster of emotions that he went through.

He then came to a family who took him and made him one of their own. Two young wizards, Jessica and Tobias Taylor, who raised and taught him to live with such immense pain by giving him love and affection. Something he needed, something he was denied by some form of justice. He had never been told, about what happened that night. That night his parents died and tore a hole into the life of this now eleven-year-old kid. He was determined on finding out who killed his parents and why. He was going to take revenge.

This never left him. A constant spore in his working mind. He did well to put it behind walls and doors in his brain. Shutting it off and putting it away. Tobias Taylor had taught him the art of Occlumency at a young age to control his own life and to help him get over the loss.

It did help. It helped him to finally think again. Think about things children his age should think about. Like who was the best player in the game Chudley v.s. Harpies or which way he and his friends could make the teacher fume again.

He meets his friends in elementary school. Though being a wizard, Tobias and Jessica Taylor thought it would be the best idea to put him into muggle education until he was of age to be accepted by Hogwarts.

Nicholas actually found out that one of the girls, who was going to the same school as him, was a witch. He noticed this, as one of the guys in his class threw a piece of paper at her, which burst into flames the second it touched her skin.

After that, the boy was kicked out of the school and the girl went and stayed home for a week.

Nicholas started to keep an eye on her, to make sure that his theses were in fact correct.

Katie was an outcast in her childhood. A girl between worlds. That she was until she was hit with a flaming piece of paper in her fourth year in muggle school. The boy was suspended and later-on had to leave the school because they thought that she had set fire to a piece of paper and threw it across the class only to hit her.

That was the same thing as she thought at first, but she quickly came to the conclusion that there was something odd about her. She noticed how strange things were happening around her all the time. When she was five, she touched the bowl of her goldfish and it disappeared. Her parents where wizards like her. She hadn't understood back then. But when that piece of paper hit her she didn't feel pain or even just the flames, not even their warmth. Only when the girls behind her started screaming she realised what had happened.

The teacher had sent her home instantly and as she told her parents what happened they where ecstatic, she had finally shown her first signs of magic. They said that she should stay at home for a few days and so she did "To make those muggles think that everything was normal" her father claimed back then.

As she came back to school, she noticed something different. The other girls started talking to her and got constantly asked to talk about what happened. She got annoyed quite quickly and searched for silence and lonesomeness.

One day, she was just sitting at her usual spot, a small bench behind a few trees in the back of the schoolyard, someone she recognised as the Taylor boy approached her, which was quite unusual because he normally only hung out with his group. He was alone when he meet her back then. She already thought about just getting up and leaving, over the risk of having to talk to somebody again about what happened.

He just sat down next to her and said nothing.

After about five minutes she asked: "what is it?" in her best-annoyed voice she could muster. A smile is what she got in response followed by another minute of silence. She started to get up and leave. Just as she was about to pass the tress he said silently "I know about your… gift...". She froze mid walking and her face got pale. "Never let the muggles know that you're a witch..." her mother always told her. She slowly turned around and looked at him with an emotionless mask. She tried her best not to show her genuine fear. "What are you talking about?" she shot back. Again, the only thing she got in response was a grin. Not a smug or evil one. A comforting and genuine one.

He grabbed a leaf from the ground and placed it on his palm. It slowly started to float and hovered above his hand for a short amount of time.

She looked at him in awe and new found interest. "How did you..." she started asking, but only managed to get out the first part before struggling for words. "Oh, you know how I did that. It really easy, you just have to focus on it hard enough.". The young blond witch looked at him and shook her head and repeating the question: "How did you know?". Now it was his time to look at her in a strange way. "It's easy to tell once you look for the right things" Nicholas claimed, again showing off that grin of his.

Katie was completely lost in thought. There was someone like her. Someone who she could talk to, to help her get through this mess of a time. "I guess..." was the only thing she was able to say, still fixated on the leaf in his hand. "Well… would you like to come with me, so I can introduce you to a few of my friends?" Nicholas asked "They are nice, I can vouch for them." he said smiling. Looking straight into her blue eyes as if he was reading her mind. Keeping in mind how young he was back then, he behaved quite mature for his age. He took the time to notice what her problems were and tried helping to overcome them. In that case, she had no one to talk to.

After that day, they spend their break times together with him and his friends and once in a while, they visited each other after school.

Now an eleven-year-old Katie was reading the lines of her Hogwarts acceptance letter again and again. She was ecstatic, jumping through the room like the floor was burning. She looked forward to telling Nicholas about that.

She was done reading the letter for the fifth time as she heard her mother voice from the living room yelling: "Katie! Breakfast is ready...". She ran straight out of her room, thinking to her self, maybe she should tell her parents before anyone else.

Not too far away, to very sleepy green-greyish eyes where looking down on a now slightly wrinkled page about the Niffler, readjusting his glasses, which had fallen off of his nose during his sleep. The morning sun was pouring in through the curtains. The floor still full of Books and Magazines, most of them with moving pictures. He had spent the entire last week, since he had received the letter with the invitation to join Hogwarts, learning more about the world. His foster parents helped him, especially Jessica who was working for the ministry of magic helped him practice simple spells, so he wouldn't fall in behind the other kids, like Lumos or Wingardium Leviosa and other things like the basic history of the magical world. He knew a bit already since his foster and biological parents taught him a bit already when he was younger. But now he needed to know the most important things and he had to remember them.

With one hand, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes while the other one was putting the book onto the nightstand.

He still was very perplexed. He had a strange dream about a girl. She was about the same age as him and she stood under an elder tree. He could only remember that she was calling out his name and he was running towards her, while never actually getting closer. Then the sky filled with doves and the hill he was running up, was slowly turning into a mountain and she was getting more and more away.

He had woken up with the scream of his name in his ear and the picture of that girl standing on the hill under the elder tree was burning itself into his brain.

It wasn't the first time he dreamed something similar. He dreamed something like this, the night his parents died. But back then it was a little girl which was standing under an Elder tree and then the doves came, just like this time, but they carried her away. He could only hear his name in the voice of a maybe five or six-year-old child. He then started to run towards her, trying to save her. He lost the ground under his feet and was suddenly riding a honey badger who suddenly started to fly. Then he woke up, his ears ringing from the noise of his name being shouted into his ears. Back then he knew something bad had happened.

This dream was different though. More relaxed, but terrifying in a whole new way. He felt a sudden rush of helplessness. But also a strange strength building inside of him. A strength he couldn't entirely understand. The dream wasn't a nightmare. It was much more clear. More like a vision or even a very vivid memory.

It was interesting to see what a vision like this could say about a person. But something that was really unnerving was the fact how he always dreamt of an elder tree standing on a hill and the mysterious girl always had to do something with those doves.

He looked through the pile of books next to his bed. Finding what he had searched for, he grabbed the book with the inscription The Dream Oracle and looked through the first few pages to look for an index. Again finding what he looked for, he opened the page about Elder Trees, only to realise that what he was reading, was completely useless. 'Typical Divination…' he thought to himself, as he was putting a page marker in the fitting site too, if he had to, be able to look up the page quickly again.

"Are you up already?" Nicholas heard the voice of his mother as he was putting the book away "Yes!" he answered while yawning and stretching.

The door opened and a young witch, in her late mid-twenties, entered the room. Jessica was a quite short woman, at about 5'7'' she was just slightly taller than the eleven-year-old boy in front of her. She had waist long burgundy hair and a few freckles on her nose and her cheeks. Her piercing green eyes where always capable of reading exactly what he was thinking. It would only take her a few seconds to tell if someone was lying if someone wasn't feeling well or something similar. She could read people like an open book. The only person, which she wasn't ever able to break, was her own husband. The 6'5'' tall blonde wizard who was now resting against the door frame of the room, scanning through the mess on the floor with his blue-grey eyes. He was well built. At Hogwarts, he played beater for the Hufflepuff house team. Nicholas had his signature smile from him.

Jessica was looking a little shocked at the state her son was keeping the room. It was a dramatic contrast to the rest of the house. Everything always was glowing and shining, because it was so well polished. Not that it was difficult to keep a house clean using magic. It still was something special.

"We wanted to go to the Diagon Alley today… Remember?" She said with a smile at the still very sleepy looking Nicholas sitting right in front of her on his own bed sounded by her old year five and year six books.

He was basically breathing those books. She wanted him to have it as easy as possible in his school time. He should be able to have some free time, instead of having to study the entire time.

He only could nod, before falling back into his bed and closing his eyes. "Five minutes..." he said before slowly but surely drifting back to sleep.