Prologue
The woman who sat in front of Paula and her parents looked like nobody they had ever seen before. Tall and commanding, she wore black robes that flowed down to the floor and when she had entered the sitting-room she had placed a pointy black hat onto the glass coffee table. Her face warned Paula that she wasn't the type of person to suffer fools lightly but she would also be just and fair.
"You can get all of your school things in Diagon Alley," Professor McGonagall concluded. "Here is a map that will show you where to go." Placing another piece of parchment on the small pile next to her hat she continued: "You will have to pay for all of your school things using wizarding money but you will be able to exchange muggle money at Gringotts. When you arrive at the Leaky Cauldron Tom will show you how to get to Diagon Alley - he usually ends up showing most of the muggle-borns the way." Professor McGonagall stood and Paula and her parents did the same. Together they walked out into the hall and Paula's father opened the door for her. As she crossed the threshold Professor McGonagall looked back and a small piece of parchment appeared in her hand which she passed over to Paula. "I almost forgot - you already have a relative at Hogwarts. You might want to think about writing to him before you meet on the train." Paula nodded mutely, still shocked at the turn her life had taken in the last half an hour. Professor McGonagall seemed to realise this because she gave her an almost smile and then walked down the garden path. The gate squeaked slightly and then she was gone.
The dazed family shut the front door slowly and traipsed back into the sitting-room where they all collapsed into arm chairs and stared at the pile of parchment on the table. For a full five minutes none of them could speak. When Paula's father finally did break the silence it was only to say "well". Then again with an emphases; "well". Paula's mother recovered enough to ask her daughter whom the relation was. Paula looked down at the parchment and smoothed out the wrinkles from where she had scrunched it in her hand. She read aloud the name and address; Theodore Nott, Nott Manor.
Paula and her mother walked nervously down the busy London street, looking for the Leaky Cauldron. It was two days before she was due to leave for Hogwarts and despite the fact the Mr Nott was working (he was an editor in a big publishing house) they felt that they couldn't leave buying Paula's school stuff any longer.
On the other side of the street, sandwiched between two large stores, they spotted the Leaky Cauldron, it's sign swinging gently in the breeze. Crossing the road they entered and found themselves in a place completely different to what they had imagined.
Witches and wizards of all ages surrounded them. The majority were wearing long robes like Professor McGonagall had but theirs weren't a plain black. Instead they were all the colours of the rainbow; blue, green, purple, red, indigo and in one case a vibrant orange. In a corner a large fireplace stood, belching green flames as it spewed even more witches and wizards onto the floor. In the opposite corner a group of small humanoid creatures sat, their long fingers gesticulating as they argued in a foreign language and above the bar a large sign read
"Firewhiskey - 5 sickles
Elf-made Wine - 6 sickles
Gillywater - 3 sickles"
Paula stood in the door and looked around for a full minute before she realised that she was blocking the door. She quickly stepped to the side just as a large group of elderly witches came through, all chattering excitedly. At a loss for what to do she stood in the corner whilst her mother looked around in wonder and tried to work out where she had to go. Professor McGonagall had said that she should go and find Tom to help them get into Diagon Alley but the pub was packed so tightly that she could barely see a foot in front of her. Her mother, being quite a lot taller than her had more luck.
" We should head over to the bar," she said, grasping hold of Paula's hand so that they weren't separated in the crush. "There's a group of people standing next to it who aren't wearing robes." Paula nodded, not sure that she would be heard over the din.
Eventually they managed to push their way through the crowds and reach the bar. As Mrs Nott had said, there was a group of people standing there, all looking as dazed as Paula felt. None of them were wearing robes either which made Paula feel a bit better - she had been feeling slightly out of place before-hand. All of the children looked about her age and so Paula assumed that they were the other first-year muggle borns.
Standing close to one of them, a curly-haired girl she asked: "are you waiting to be shown how you how to get into Diagon Alley?" The curly-haired girl nodded and tried to reply but it was lost in a roar of sound as the fireplace spewed a group of elderly wizards with long, white beards and tall, pointy hats out of the grate. They headed for a small door that clearly lead out to a back yard and disappeared through it, the door swinging shut behind them. The curly-haired girl tried again.
"Yes," she shouted. "Apparently so many of us come through that he shows us in groups. As soon as he's finished this group of customers he'll show us through. I'm Josie," she added. "Josie Wilson. Who are you?"
"Paula," Paula replied. "Paula N-" At that moment the small wizened looking man who had been serving a customer came out from behind the bar. Beckoning to the group he headed for the small back-door through which the elderly wizards had disappeared through earlier. Turning round Paula saw her mother talking to a woman on the other side of the group. Pushing her way towards her, Paula managed to grab hold of her mother's wrist and give it a small tug. Mrs Nott saw what was happening and followed her daughter out, through the back door and into what was, as Paula had guessed, a small back yard. Out of the corner of her eye Paula saw that Josie slipped through the doorway too and that she was standing a little to the right of them, behind a large boy and his parents.
Standing on tiptoes she managed to see the man from behind the bar pull a stick of wood out of a trouser pocket. Shuffling sideways slightly he showed them a blank piece of a wall, made from bricks.
"To get to Diagon Alley, simply tap this brick here; from the bottom of the bins six across and 12 up."
"Sounds a bit like a crossword," Mrs Nott muttered and Paula stifled a giggle. Tom tapped the brick with the stick of wood which Paula realised had to be a wand and slowly the wall began to rearrange itself, the bricks folding back on themselves to create a gateway into the most magical street Paula had ever seen: Diagon Ally.
Later that night Paula sat on her bed, trying to attach a letter to the leg of the barn owl she and her mother had bought that day. She had taken Professor McGonagall's advice and written to Theodore Nott. The barn owl hooted impatiently, it's leg was held out helpfully so that Paula could tie the letter on but it clearly was fed up with having to stand on one leg. After making sure that the knot was tied as securely as she knew how Paula let go and carried the owl (she had decided to call her Morgana) across to the window and slid it open. Morgana sat for a moment on Paula's outstretched arm and then flapped off.
Closing the window Paula sunk down on her bed and picked up her wand - cherry and unicorn tail hair - hardly able to believe how her life had changed. Before the holidays she had thought she was going to go to the local secondary school but now...Hogwarts. Paula sighed happily and drifted off to sleep.
Smoke billowed and belched around Paula as she stood with her parents and luggage on platform nine-and-three-quarters. A helpful porter had shown them how to get through and now Paula was watching as the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station. They hadn't wanted to risk being late and so had ended up arriving half-an-hour early but that didn't particularly matter. It was far better in Paula's opinion to be early than late.
The train pulled to a stop and a sea of students flooded onto the train, tugging on end of giant suitcases whilst their parents pushed on the other end. Hoots and screeches from hundreds of owls filled the air as their cages were bundled onto the train and into compartments along with the suitcases.
Paula seized one of her suitcases and tried to haul it onto the train. It was so heavy that she almost dropped it several times and her father quickly relieved her of it and strode onto the train with it. Finding an empty compartment he lifted it onto the luggage rack whilst Paula and Mrs Nott followed behind, carrying Morgana and a small bag containing the things that she wanted for the journey.
Morgana's head was tucked under her wing and she didn't complain when Paula put her down and covered her cage over with a coat pulled from the bag.
The Nott family stood in the small compartment and looked at each other, and Paula realised that she wouldn't see them again until she came home for the Christmas Holidays. She felt a little bit like crying but at that moment the compartment door slid open and the curly-haired girl from the Leaky Cauldron poked her head around the door.
"Hi!" She said brightly as she tugged ineffectually at the handle of her suitcase which was almost as large as she was. "Is it alright if I come and sit with you? Almost all of the compartments are full and I can't find anywhere to sit."
"Sure," Paula said with a wobbly smile and Mr Nott crossed over to help her with the suitcase.
"Thanks," Josie said. "I almost was too late. I had to catch the train in 'coz Mum had to stay with my little sister Amy. She caught Chicken Pox a week ago and it's been crazy these last few days." She plonked a cage down on the seat next to Morgana and dumped a small carryall on the floor. A whistle cut through the air and Paula realised that the train would be leaving in a few moments. Her parents did too as they both gave her a tight hug and promised that they would write as soon as they could. Then they turned and left the compartment, too stand on the platform just outside the girl's compartment.
The train whistled again and doors slammed up and down the length of the train. Her parents started to wave, as did everybody else on the platform. With a jerk that caused Paula and Josie to fall down on the seat the train started to move, picking up pace quickly. Paula waved until her parents disappeared from sight and then stopped, realising that she was finally off to Hogwarts.
"So," said Josie after they had finished waving (they had both waved goodbye for good measure). "What do you want to do now? I've got some Exploding Snap, if you want," she rummaged in her bag. "Or there's Wizard Chess only that's not so good for a train journey, or we could play-"
"Um," interrupted Paula, feeling slightly rude, "I'm supposed to meet my cousin in a few minutes but – maybe later?"
"Oh sure," said Josie, sitting back in her seat and pulling out a magazine. "Just don't miss the trolley or you won't get any lunch. Mind you," she added when she saw that Paula looked confused, "that won't be for-" she looked at her watch "an hour and a half yet. You go on and meet your cousin – I'll still be here when you get back." With that Josie settled down to read her magazine and Paula, feeling slightly bemused by her new friend's confidence, left the compartment to go and find Theodore Nott.
As she wandered down the corridor she saw several students wearing the long robes that seemed to be the characteristic clothing of all the witches and wizards that she had so far seen. Realising that she hadn't got a clue where to start looking she pulled out the reply to her letter that had arrived the day before. He had written that if she couldn't find him she should ask any of the students that were wearing robes with a green badge on them where she could find Theodore Nott and they would be able to point her in the right direction.
Having no better alternative she walked up to a compartment in which several boys with green badges on their robes were sitting and slid open the door. The boy's conversation broke off and they all turned to stare at her.
"Excuse me." Her voice came out a tiny squeak – she hated being the centre of attention - so she tried again. "Excuse me. I was wondering if any of you could tell me where Theodore Nott is. He's my cousin and I'm looking for him." In one corner a dark haired boy and his friend, who had blond haired so light it was almost white, sniggered.
In one corner a boy who had been sitting slightly apart from the others unfolded himself from where he had been lounging and sat up properly. Not handsome, he was taller than the others but also weedier and he had hair that was an unremarkable shade of brown. Something about him told Pula that he was older than the two boys who had sniggered.
"Are you Paula?" He asked her and when she nodded he carried on, "Come on, we'll go somewhere else to talk." He stood up and she realised that he was even taller than she had first realised. "I'll be back in minute," he told the others, then shunted Paula out of the compartment and into the corridor. Closing the door, he set off down the train, obviously looking for an empty compartment. Paula wondered whether or not she dared to tell him that there were any but decided not to. Despite his not particularly threatening presence she felt awkward and into sure what to do. She assumed that he was Theodore Nott but he hadn't actually said anything. He could be, in fact, a complete stranger. Paula crossed her fingers and hoped that he was Theodore Nott
Halfway down the train the boy stopped and Paula almost walked into him. Sliding open the door he entered and Paula, after hesitating a moment, followed. Inside the compartment was empty apart from a large suitcase and an owl cage which the boy sat down next to. Paula stood in the doorway, not quite sure what to do, should she sit down or not?
"You might as well sit down," he said so Paula did, closing the door behind her. The boy looked at her for a minute before speaking. "When I got your letter I was surprised that you would be going to Hogwarts - I thought you would be non-magical like your parents and grandfather. Does he know that you are going to Hogwarts?"
"Granddad? No. He died a couple of years ago," she told him.
"Oh." The compartment was silent for a moment before he asked: "did you know that you were part of magical family before you came?" She shook her head. "So you don't know that your grandfather was the brother of my grandfather?" Again Paula shook her head.
"Oh." Again silence.
"I didn't even know that magic existed until about a month ago." Paula confessed as the boy was obviously waiting for her to say something. "Professor McGonagall told me. She gave me your address at the same time and recommended that I wrote to you." Glad of something to do she rummaged about in her coat pocket she found the piece of parchment and pulled it out, handing it to him. He took it and glanced at it briefly before looking back to her.
"So you don't know anything," he concluded, "about the Nott family or how come you are magical when neither your parents nor your grandparents were. I see." Paula was starting to feel patronised and interrogated and she didn't like it.
"No," she said, before she could bite her tongue. "Why don't you tell me instead?"
"From the beginning then," he said. "In the magical world there are wizards who are born into a wizarding family and who inherit the 'magical gene', or whatever you want to call it. Then there are those who have the 'magic gene' who aren't part of a wizarding family. These people are usually called muggle-borns. Finally there are those people who are born into a wizarding family whom the 'magic gene' has passed by. These people are called squibs. Usually whenever a squib was born they were sent into the muggle world to learn how to become muggles as it was deemed kinder than letting them stay in a world which they didn't really belong to. Usually the children of a squib are also non-magical but occasionally there are a few who turn out to have the 'magical gene' which passed the others by. For all intents and purposes they are muggle-born because neither of their parents were magical. Normally this wouldn't be a problem as muggle-borns are now pretty much accepted. Your grandfather was a squib and, like all of the other squibs of that time, he was sent out into the muggle world where he married and had children." He looked at her to see how well she was keeping up and Paula nodded to show that she understood.
"Unfortunately, about twenty years ago there was a wizard who," he paused, trying to work out what he wanted to say. "I guess you could say that he went bad. He was of the opinion that all muggle-borns were bad and he gained a lot of followers before he disappeared. Do you remember the boys in the compartment? All of their fathers and most of their mothers were part of it. The Malfoys, Flints, Crabbe, Goyle," he looked at her before saying the last name, "and Nott were just a few. He disappeared a few years ago now and most of his followers went to prison, though not all.
This is where we hit a problem. If you were any muggle-born you would be fine – you might have a problem when the Dark Lord comes back but you could, if clever enough, survive because you would have anonymity. Because you're related to an old pure-blood family who was part of his Death Eaters, however, you won't get that. You would probably be dead within a year of his return. So," he concluded, "we have to therefore present you as a distant, pure-blooded, cousin in the hope that nobody will realise that you are, effectively, a muggle-born." Theodore looked at her expectantly, clearly expecting an answer.
"Um," Paula could spot several holes in the story but was reluctant to voice them after her earlier outburst. She still wasn't quite sure what to make of this boy who was clearly trying to help but had just told her that his father was part of some kind of muggle-hating organisation. "It sounds like a good idea but -"
"There are a couple of holes in the story, right?"
"Not so much holes as gaping wounds," she replied, deciding to tell him anyway. "Firstly: I don't know anything about magic. Secondly: I won't know anybody when I arrive. Won't that be a bit suspicious? I mean, your family must know lots of people whom I haven't even heard of. Thirdly: won't all your friends know that you don't have a cousin?"
"Distant cousin," he corrected. "No, I wouldn't have thought so. Plus, we can say you've been living abroad for the last few years and have only decided to come to England because your parents want you to go to Hogwarts. That also explains why you won't know anybody. As for not knowing anything about magic, well," he shrugged, "I can't help you with that, you'll just have to play it by ear and see how it goes although I'll try and help."
Paula considered for a moment. The plan still seemed to be as full of holes as a sieve but then… Are you sure that the, what did you call him again? The Dark Lord? Are you sure he's going to come back?
"Oh he'll come back." Theodore told her with certainty. "I don't know when, or how, but he will come back."
After that there didn't seem to be much more to say; either she agreed, or she didn't and faced the problems when they came further down the road. The only question left to ask was:
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Why would you try and help a distant cousin when you're family apparently hates muggles?"
"Oh. Well, you're family. You're different." Paula supposed that she should feel flattered and considered what he had said. "Plus," he added, seeing that she wasn't quite convinced, "there's the matter of family pride. Can you imagine: a squib in an old pure-blood family!" She wasn't quite sure whether or not he was joking but the tiny half smile he wore suggested that he was. Whether he was or wasn't, she had made up her mind.
"All right," she agreed.
Theodore's half smile grew slightly. "Good," he said before starting to tell her about the Nott family and how she could be a convincing pure-blood.
Josie and Paula stood next to each other, at the back of the group of first years waiting to be sorted into their houses. Professor McGonagall had left them a few minutes ago and everywhere the two girls looked they saw new first years looking ill. Paula didn't feel too well either. Noticing that her new friend had started to look slightly green Josie linked her arm through Paula's and gave it a squeeze.
"You'll be fine," she told her. "I'm sure your family won't actually disown you if you don't get put into Slytherin. I mean, seriously, it can't be that big a deal. Your parents didn't go to Hogwarts so..."
Paula grimaced. She had told Josie that her family wanted her to be a Slytherin and carry on a family tradition (Theodore had told her that this out of all of the four houses was the one that most pure-blood families into) but was now starting to regret it. Josie had seemed surprised that she came from a family of Slytherins but had immediately started telling her not to worry and that people rarely got disowned for not being in the right house nowadays.
Often shy she had trouble making friends easily and was grateful that Josie had seemed to have taken her under her wing as otherwise she would have felt even more terrified than she did now.
During the rest of the journey she had told Paula all about the four houses (and their reputations). From what she had said Paula was not convinced that she even wanted to be put into Slytherin but sometimes it felt that life left no choices available.
"How do they decide who's going to go in which house?" Paula asked, suddenly realising that she didn't know.
"Well," Josie leaned forwards as if she was going to divulge a secret, "Dad says that you have to make a rabbit come out of a hat." Paula pulled back in horror; she hadn't a clue how she would even go about starting such a thing. "But he's a muggle, though, and hasn't been to Hogwarts. Plus, " she added, "he's a muggle magician and that's his main party trick. It's kind of funny, really. Dad makes his living by performing magic tricks at parties and he doesn't know any real magic, whilst Mum works at the ministry and shuffles paper all day and is a witch. Still, you can't have anything in life. Anyway, Mum told me that I only had to put a hat on and that it chose which house we get put in so we'll be fine." Paula just wished that she had half of her new friends confidence.
A small door opened and Professor McGonagall came back and started to shoo the first years into a line before leading them out of the small room and into the Great Hall, where the rest of the school waited. The sight of several hundred students and teachers staring at the group made Paula's queasy feeling, which she had barely managed to convince to leave her alone, return. Josie was standing next to her and seemed completely unaffected, looking around the Hall curiously.
Paula swallowed hard and looked to the front of the Hall where a dirty hat was perched on a three-legged wooden stool which looked as though it would send whoever sat on it tumbling to the floor. She tried to forget the image but the harder she tried the more it remained in her mind's eye. Now she could almost hear the sound of everybody laughing as she scrambled to pick herself up. Shaking her head she tried to concentrate and realised that the hat was singing.
…So Gryffindor picked the noble,
the daring and the fearless.
Hufflepuff took those who sought to learn,
the caring and the selfless.
Whilst Ravenclaw took the clever, then,
taught them to be the smartest.
And Slytherin, the last of the four,
took those whose blood was purest...
The song continued on for a little while longer but Paula wasn't concentrating. The fact that only "those whose blood was purest" seemed to become Slytherins made her realise how incredibly unlikely that she would ever get in. A round of applause told her the hat had finished and Professor McGonagall started to read names of a piece of parchment.
"Adams, Jason." A smallish boy trotted up to the stool and sat down on it, putting the hat down on his head. From what Paula could see he looked slightly green and was thankful tht she wasn't the only one who was scared. There was a moment of silence and then the hat shouted out:
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Buxton, Dawn" A girl with blond hair tied up into two bunches by bright red ribbons ran up and put the hat on her head. Another pause, then:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The names continued.
"Golding, Joan" became the first Hufflepuff as did "Holleron, Claire" but " Greeveson, Daniel" became the first Slytherin.
Eventually, after "Mason, Bethany" became a Ravenclaw, Paula heard: "Nott, Paula". Trying not to be sick she walked up to the stool and put the hat on her head. Feeling the eyed of the entire school upon her she tried to banish the thought of the stool collapsing underneath her and instead tried to think about which house she would be in.
"Hmm, kind, terribly shy, not stunningly clever but intelligent," said a small voice in her ear, "you would probably make a good Hufflepuff. But you are desperate to be in Slytherin. Now why – oh, I see." The hat seemed to be reading her mind, Paula thought. "Of course - that's what I do," if a hat could chuckle then this one certainly was. "Well, a Slytherin muggle-born. I suppose it is possible but ...irregular. Still, if that is what you really want -" Paula tried to nod mentally "- then SLYTHERIN."
Feeling a bit shaky Paula slipped of the stool (which hadn't, she realised thankfully, collapsed under her) and took the hat off. Setting it down she made her way towards the table which was cheering and saw that there was a seat next to Theodore which she sat down on. He gave her a tiny smile which she half returned. They both knew that no-one would ever believe she was a muggle-born now for what could be more ridiculous than a muggle-born Slytherin?