Hello! This is my very first fan fiction, so I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original characters and a bit of the plot, this disclaimer is for all the chapters
Alicia Boyd's discovery
Alicia Boyd was the youngest of four children, all raised by a single mother. Due to lack of money the family had lived in many different places. When Alicia was five, they moved from a little town in Scotland to Nottingham in England. Her mother had found a promising job in a bookshop and would work nightshifts as a waitress.
They didn't have many possessions so they moved by train. Alicia sat with her two oldest siblings, a boy, Rowan, and a girl, Lauren, both were fourteen. Their mum sat a little bit further down the aisle talking the youngest boy, Carl, about school. They took a very early train, so there was almost no one else on it. When Rowan went to the toilet and Lauren dozed of, bored Alicia decided it was time for a walk.
She strutted in the opposite direction of her mum and, to the dismay of some, wasn't afraid to let her gaze linger on the few passengers she didn't know.
When she saw a man that really peaked her interest, she stopped. He was middle-aged and had a huge suitcase with him. Next to him sat a cat who was, just like the man, in a deep sleep. They were both kind of weird, and it just happened that Alicia loved everything weird.
The weirdest thing was the clothes of the man. He wore jeans and a top usually worn by women with slippers and a hat that seemed to be right from the 19th century. To finish the outfit he wore a yellow bathrobe as a coat.
The little girl noticed the tip from a weird stick sticking out of the man's pocket. As curious as ever, convinced that the man was still sound asleep, she sneaked up to him and took the stick. Awe struck her when she saw how beautiful and detailed it was shaped. It was obvious this wasn't an ordinary stick. While she was studying it intensely, she suddenly heard a voice:
"Would you please give that back, it's kind of important to me."
She looked around to see who had just spoken, and was surprised to see that it was the owner of the object in her hands, whom she'd thought was still asleep.
"What is it for?" she asked.
"None of ya business. Now give it back, before I get real angry".
Not wanting to part with it yet, she jumped back, protecting the stick. When the man stood up she closed her eyes tightly and waved the stick like a sword, not knowing what else to do. When she didn't hear anything from the man, she opened her eyes again. The man was gaping at her and an old woman, also in shock, stood next to him. She didn't understand it at all.
"What happened? What did I do?" she asked.
After another few seconds of silence the old lady spoke: "Where are your parents, girl? I would like a word."
Alicia wasn't particularly happy with the fact that these people didn't answer her question, but she remembered how annoyed her brothers and sister were with her when she kept asking the same question over and over again. She decided not to push it. Besides, the woman had a certain sense of authority around her, she could be very important.
"My mum is in the next wagon" was her reply.
The trio started walking, but didn't get far before the door swung open. It was Alicia's mother with Rowan.
"Alicia, what do you think you are doing here…" she started, but halted when she noticed the people standing beside her.
"Oh no" the mother mumbled, "did she cause you any trouble?"
"Not particularly no" said the old lady, receiving a disagreeing glance from the weirdly dressed man.
"But we would like a word with you."
Her brother took Alicia back to her place while her mother was talking with the weird duo in private. She let her thoughts wander for a bit when she suddenly realized something.
"Did you see a cat when you came for me?" she asked Rowan.
"Why would I have seen a cat?"
"So you didn't, than."
He shook his head "You are seriously weird sometimes" he laughed.
Alicia was absolutely fine with that. Lauren looked at both of them with a curious glance; she had no idea what was going on because she slept through the whole thing.
Their mother entered the wagon with a drained, almost scared face. She had been talking to the weird duo for almost 20 minutes, and the train was about to arrive at its destination.
That didn't stop Alicia from immediately asking: "What did they say?"
Her mother didn't answer.
It took Alicia two years to finally get the answer. She had apparently fired a defensive hex to the weird man, who she still didn't know the name of, and had proven herself to be a witch. The lady had introduced herself as Minerva McGonagall, head of some kind of school for wizards and witches.
Not long after Alicia's eleventh birthday she got her acceptance letter from Hogwarts by mail, along with another letter that explained that she would be accompanied by a faculty member for shopping and finding the right train platform.
She first wanted to decline because she had set her mind on a career as a great scientist. But it didn't take long for her to change her mind as she was too curious to let this chance pass by.