Chapter 1
From her cushioned window seat she watched, fascinated, as the rain slowly ran down the windowpane leaving a slippery, silver trail. There was something so hypnotic about the predictability of the sliding droplets. Outside the overcast sky was dark and left the land below in shadow, even though it was only early afternoon. Dark green trees obscured her vision of the winding path beyond.
Flexing her body like a cat she yawned and got to her feet. There was still an hour or two before her meeting with the Headmaster and she was bored of being stuck inside. Rain or no rain she had to go out. Maybe she could shop. A grin spread across her face and she grabbed her light grey cloak before dashing out the door and down the stairs.
Downstairs the Three Broomsticks was packed. Table after table was filled with people talking loudly or whispering together conspiratorially. The rain had driven everyone inside and Madam Rosmerta busied about serving drinks from large trays. Another time she would have been curious about all the different sorts of magical people that filled the pub but having all this money was new to her, and exciting.
As she walked out the door the bell tinkled behind her. Pausing briefly to pull her cloak on she ran out into the rain. Splashing through puddles left, right and centre she laughed and gave up trying to keep her feet dry. She half danced through the rain to the front of the nearest shop. She pushed the door open and shook her midnight black hair out like a dog spraying the nearest customer.
"Oops, sorry," she giggled. Weather like this always made her a bit dippy; France was always so predictably sunny that unusual weather like this was quite exciting. The old man she had sprayed frowned at her and stalked out of the shop muttering to himself. She glanced back just in time to see a quick wave of the wand and a pale yellow dome surrounded him, keeping off the rain.
Looking back round she found herself in a clothes shop. In front of her stood rail upon rail of long black robes, black cloaks, black hats.
"Sheesh," she thought out loud, "what's with all the black?"
"Hogwarts uniform, child," said a voice. A wizened shopkeeper stood to her left and looked at her curiously. Hogsmede was a magical village and this child looked more than old enough to be at school, so what was she doing here if she didn't go to Hogwarts?
"Oh, I see," she wrinkled her nose at the thought of having to wear those clothes, they were so boring!
"What school do you go to then?" asked the shopkeeper as she perched on one of the wicker barstools by the counter.
"Beauxbatons," she replied, "well at the moment I do, but I think I'll be transferring here next term."
"But you speak English," exclaimed the old lady, "with no trace of an accent, how."
"I was born here," she interrupted, "I don't know who my real parents were but I was adopted when I was very young and lived in England until I was nine. Then my foster mum decided to move to France, which is how come I didn't go to Hogwarts. Do you have any clothes here that aren't black?"
The lady gestured to the rear of the shop and so she made her way through the rails to the back. The wall was lined with floor length mirrors and she paused and looked at her reflection. Her long hair hung dripping around her pale face; she blinked causing the water droplets lodged there to drip to the ground, a pair of brilliant blue eyes stared back at her.
"Now look here, little missy," called the lady, "I can't have you dripping all over my shop." She ambled down the rows of clothing until she too reached the back. Taking a yellow disc from her pocket she said a brief incantation and it grew to about the size of a Quidditch hoop. The she dropped it over the head of the waterlogged girl that stood in front of her. "There we are, luv, now just ask if you need anything," and with that she hobbled back to the front of the store.
The mirror now showed her a small girl with soft wavy hair wearing a completely dry grey cloak that hung from her shoulders, light blue jeans and a navy jumper with a silver star on it.
Turning her attention to the clothes she rummaged through them until she found something she liked. It was weird having so much money with noone to say to her, "are you sure you want that? What would you wear it with?" and "I'm not saying that you can't buy it but are you sure you want to spend all that money on it?" But in an odd way she kind of missed that.
About an hour later she left the store, arms laden with bags and her purse considerably lighter. She just had time to dump her things in her room before the meeting.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As closed the door to her room she flattened her hair nervously, it was time. She walked slowly down the stairs into the hubbub of the usual crowd of people in the Three Broomsticks. As she entered a tall man in a long, forest green robe stood to meet her. His long sliver beard almost brushed the stone flagging and bright blue eyes twinkled from behind half crescent glasses.
"Tanwen Gray, it is so good to meet you at last." She smiled, her name still, after all these years sounded.wrong, to her. They had been going through colours at the orphanage. Still, she thought, things could have been worse- she could have been Tanwen Orange.
He held out his hand and shook her hand. His grip was firm and reassuring, "I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. As delightful as our surroundings are, might I suggest that we find a more convenient place to talk?" With sparking eyes he gestured to their noisy backdrop and she couldn't help but smile as she nodded her agreement.
The door closed behind them as they walked out into the night and together they walked towards the large castle that loomed in the distance. As they walked he made polite conversation and Tanwen soon found that she no longer felt awkward, there was something about him that knew exactly how to put her at ease. She instinctively liked him and wondered if all the professors were like him.
As they made their way up the long drive Tanwen looked up with awe at the huge castle that was Hogwarts. In the moonlight the tops of its many and various turrets shone with a pale luminescence and the long elegant windows reflected back the sallow gaze of the moon. Long shadows stretched out behind in casting a soft darkness over the surface of a large lake and several long greenhouses on the lawn.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said with a smile as they entered the cavernous entrance hall.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tanwen sat in a large chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. As he talked to her she tried to keep her attention on him and not the fascinating surroundings of his office.
"I'm intrigued to know why, after three years of study at Beauxbatons, you wish transfer to Hogwarts," he said as he watched her closely from where he sat.
"Well," she replied, "I wanted to return home. I lived in England for half my life and I just felt it was time to return." She was just going to stop at that, to give the answer that she had prepared and rehearsed since she had decided to make the move, but there was something in his gaze that made her feel uncomfortable and she felt she had to tell the truth. "And, well, I guess I felt that there was more of a chance of me finding out questions about myself that I've been dying to know for as long as I can remember here. About where I come from, who I am. I don't really have a very reasoned explanation for that though."
"I see," replied Dumbledore as he stroked his beard thoughtfully, "well, academically I see no problems with your transferring. The reports I've been sent from Madam Maxime indicate that you will be able to deal with the change in that respect and have covered much of the same ground as our professors here. You will need little extra work to catch up on what you have missed I would think and you may enter into the fourth year this September if this is still you wish."
"Oh, it is! Thank you, thank you," replied Tanwen with a grateful smile, "I won't let you down sir, I mean professor."
"I'm afraid you won't be able to meet with any of your teachers seeing as term only broke up two weeks ago and none of them have returned as yet. You'll just have to meet them when you return in a few months time."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Landing in the Leaky Cauldron she stepped out of the green flames and used the large duster present to dust the soot off her clothes. She heaved her bag over one shoulder and made her way to the door.
It was late afternoon outside and the rush-hour traffic clogged up the roads. She was going to have taken a taxi but it might be quicker on second thoughts to take the tube. Tanwen sighed, her bag was so heavy- she definitely shouldn't have done so much shopping! But then, she thought, there wasn't really anything that she would take back.
She trudged her way uncomfortably along the road to the nearest tube station. After paying for her ticket she pushed her way through the turnstile and hurried to catch the southbound line.
A hot and stuffy journey later she emerged onto her new street. She inhaled a deep breath, glad to be able to breathe again- the underground had been so busy! Continuing along the pavement she passed row after row of large white houses with long marble pillars and lush green gardens that got smaller and smaller the further she went.
About half an hour later she stopped in front of a white, three-story house and dug her keys out from her bag. She had bought a one-bed studio here on the top floor. As she turned the key in the lock she smiled to herself as she thought of the day she had signed the deed. As she had predicted they were rather unwilling to let a fourteen year old own an apartment, so she had done a small memory charm on them. And the best thing of all was that because she still belonged to the Ministry in France, the Ministry here didn't pick up on her spell. She guessed that she had about a month more of restriction free magic until they transferred her over.
Huffing and puffing she hauled her bag up three flights of stairs until she reached a large wooden door. Her keys jangled in her hands as she found the right key to let her in. She opened the door and dragged her bag in after her closing the door behind her.
She threw herself into the nearest armchair, stretching her tired limbs as she snuggled into it.
"Home," she said, it still sounded slightly unreal, but it was nice to have a place like this, she had been extremely lucky! She had two large rooms and a comfortable sized bathroom. The smaller of the two rooms was her bedroom, at the moment it held a queen-sized bed with a large white duvet and various coloured cushions. The wooden panelled floors had a large sheepskin rug next to her bed. There was a medium sized wardrobe, which stood empty at the moment, and a trunk which stood open at the foot of her bed. Several cardboard boxes were stacked to one side containing the rest of her clothes.
The largest room had an open plan kitchen with a breakfast bar that faced the wall of windows. They looked out onto the rest of London showing the dark rooftops stretching out into the clouded sky. Inside the room she had the soft, crimson armchair she was sat in and a matching sofa, and a TV and video (some of the muggle tendencies of the lady who had raised her had rubbed off, and besides when you lived alone it was good just to have background noise sometimes.)
Tanwen heard a scuffling sound coming from her bedroom and looked up. A furry russet coloured animal about the size of a cocker spaniel ambled out of the doorway towards her. It had a shortish black snout, and black fur surrounding its large beady eyes. A long bushy tail waved behind it as it made its way across the floor.
"There you are," said Tanwen as she bent to lift it off the ground onto her lap. It chattered noisily letting her know he was glad to see her, "yeah, I missed you too Loki!" She hugged him and snuggled her face into the fur on the back of his neck. Loki was what muggles called a Red Panda. They thought that they were almost extinct, but really it was because they could turn themselves invisible if they wanted, which had the obvious effect that muggles rarely spotted them (that and the fact that most of them didn't like humans).
Loki was different of course. Tanwen had been taken on a trip to China before she had known about Beauxbatons and one day she had gone on a tour through the jungle. The group were going rather too fast for her small legs and so she lagged behind them a little as they pushed through the vast amounts of foliage. Just as she had tripped over about her twentieth tree root she was grumbling to herself and wiping the mud from her hands when she heard crying. Forgetting about the fact she was supposed to be sticking with the others she left the path and followed the sound.
She forced her way through the undergrowth to reveal a sad sight. A mother red panda lay dead on the ground, a snapped branch between her paws, at her side lay a small bundle the size of a kitten, crying. Tanwen reached out and picked the tiny thing up and cradled it in her arms.
"Don't cry, baby," she told it as she felt a hot tear trickle down her face, "I'll take care of you."
And that was what happened. Tanwen managed to find the rest of her party and hid Loki in her jumper. The next day they left to go back home, and once they had returned Tanwen had managed to persuade Mrs Lander, her foster mum to let her keep him.
Anyway, however they had met, Tanwen was glad of his company. She had learnt that nights on your own could be very lonely, and to have a warm, fluffy body in bed with you was really comforting.
She had been living alone now for almost a year. When Mrs Lander had found out that Tanwen was a witch she just couldn't deal with it. She was in her mid-fifties and her husband had died the year before she had adopted Tanwen. All she had wanted was a nice, normal child that she could raise and would ease her loneliness. But she was not cruel; in her own way she loved Tanwen and had parted from her unwillingly. To help her on her way, and ease some of her guilt, Mrs Lander had given Tanwen half of her money, and she was a very wealthy lady.
And so Tanwen had started Beauxbatons with no home to return to in the holidays. However towards the end of the summer term in her first year Madame Maxime had found a wizarding couple she could live with so long as she only returned during the long summer break. That suited Tanwen fine and it worked out well until about a year ago the pair had left halfway through the holidays and never returned. Tanwen had been fed up of being shunted from one place to another so she had simply never told anyone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After a while Tanwen became hungry, "Up you get Loki, I'm hungry." He jumped to the floor and padded behind her as she walked to the kitchen. Standing on a small stool she opened a cupboard and pulled down some green bamboo shoots, which she gave to Loki and then took some chicken, rice and various other ingredients from other cupboards. Then, thinking that she might as well use her privilege while she could, she found her wand and set her dinner cooking.
Once it was ready she plonked herself back in her chair and turned on the Television. Loki sat at her feet gnawing away at the shoots.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
From her cushioned window seat she watched, fascinated, as the rain slowly ran down the windowpane leaving a slippery, silver trail. There was something so hypnotic about the predictability of the sliding droplets. Outside the overcast sky was dark and left the land below in shadow, even though it was only early afternoon. Dark green trees obscured her vision of the winding path beyond.
Flexing her body like a cat she yawned and got to her feet. There was still an hour or two before her meeting with the Headmaster and she was bored of being stuck inside. Rain or no rain she had to go out. Maybe she could shop. A grin spread across her face and she grabbed her light grey cloak before dashing out the door and down the stairs.
Downstairs the Three Broomsticks was packed. Table after table was filled with people talking loudly or whispering together conspiratorially. The rain had driven everyone inside and Madam Rosmerta busied about serving drinks from large trays. Another time she would have been curious about all the different sorts of magical people that filled the pub but having all this money was new to her, and exciting.
As she walked out the door the bell tinkled behind her. Pausing briefly to pull her cloak on she ran out into the rain. Splashing through puddles left, right and centre she laughed and gave up trying to keep her feet dry. She half danced through the rain to the front of the nearest shop. She pushed the door open and shook her midnight black hair out like a dog spraying the nearest customer.
"Oops, sorry," she giggled. Weather like this always made her a bit dippy; France was always so predictably sunny that unusual weather like this was quite exciting. The old man she had sprayed frowned at her and stalked out of the shop muttering to himself. She glanced back just in time to see a quick wave of the wand and a pale yellow dome surrounded him, keeping off the rain.
Looking back round she found herself in a clothes shop. In front of her stood rail upon rail of long black robes, black cloaks, black hats.
"Sheesh," she thought out loud, "what's with all the black?"
"Hogwarts uniform, child," said a voice. A wizened shopkeeper stood to her left and looked at her curiously. Hogsmede was a magical village and this child looked more than old enough to be at school, so what was she doing here if she didn't go to Hogwarts?
"Oh, I see," she wrinkled her nose at the thought of having to wear those clothes, they were so boring!
"What school do you go to then?" asked the shopkeeper as she perched on one of the wicker barstools by the counter.
"Beauxbatons," she replied, "well at the moment I do, but I think I'll be transferring here next term."
"But you speak English," exclaimed the old lady, "with no trace of an accent, how."
"I was born here," she interrupted, "I don't know who my real parents were but I was adopted when I was very young and lived in England until I was nine. Then my foster mum decided to move to France, which is how come I didn't go to Hogwarts. Do you have any clothes here that aren't black?"
The lady gestured to the rear of the shop and so she made her way through the rails to the back. The wall was lined with floor length mirrors and she paused and looked at her reflection. Her long hair hung dripping around her pale face; she blinked causing the water droplets lodged there to drip to the ground, a pair of brilliant blue eyes stared back at her.
"Now look here, little missy," called the lady, "I can't have you dripping all over my shop." She ambled down the rows of clothing until she too reached the back. Taking a yellow disc from her pocket she said a brief incantation and it grew to about the size of a Quidditch hoop. The she dropped it over the head of the waterlogged girl that stood in front of her. "There we are, luv, now just ask if you need anything," and with that she hobbled back to the front of the store.
The mirror now showed her a small girl with soft wavy hair wearing a completely dry grey cloak that hung from her shoulders, light blue jeans and a navy jumper with a silver star on it.
Turning her attention to the clothes she rummaged through them until she found something she liked. It was weird having so much money with noone to say to her, "are you sure you want that? What would you wear it with?" and "I'm not saying that you can't buy it but are you sure you want to spend all that money on it?" But in an odd way she kind of missed that.
About an hour later she left the store, arms laden with bags and her purse considerably lighter. She just had time to dump her things in her room before the meeting.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As closed the door to her room she flattened her hair nervously, it was time. She walked slowly down the stairs into the hubbub of the usual crowd of people in the Three Broomsticks. As she entered a tall man in a long, forest green robe stood to meet her. His long sliver beard almost brushed the stone flagging and bright blue eyes twinkled from behind half crescent glasses.
"Tanwen Gray, it is so good to meet you at last." She smiled, her name still, after all these years sounded.wrong, to her. They had been going through colours at the orphanage. Still, she thought, things could have been worse- she could have been Tanwen Orange.
He held out his hand and shook her hand. His grip was firm and reassuring, "I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. As delightful as our surroundings are, might I suggest that we find a more convenient place to talk?" With sparking eyes he gestured to their noisy backdrop and she couldn't help but smile as she nodded her agreement.
The door closed behind them as they walked out into the night and together they walked towards the large castle that loomed in the distance. As they walked he made polite conversation and Tanwen soon found that she no longer felt awkward, there was something about him that knew exactly how to put her at ease. She instinctively liked him and wondered if all the professors were like him.
As they made their way up the long drive Tanwen looked up with awe at the huge castle that was Hogwarts. In the moonlight the tops of its many and various turrets shone with a pale luminescence and the long elegant windows reflected back the sallow gaze of the moon. Long shadows stretched out behind in casting a soft darkness over the surface of a large lake and several long greenhouses on the lawn.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said with a smile as they entered the cavernous entrance hall.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tanwen sat in a large chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. As he talked to her she tried to keep her attention on him and not the fascinating surroundings of his office.
"I'm intrigued to know why, after three years of study at Beauxbatons, you wish transfer to Hogwarts," he said as he watched her closely from where he sat.
"Well," she replied, "I wanted to return home. I lived in England for half my life and I just felt it was time to return." She was just going to stop at that, to give the answer that she had prepared and rehearsed since she had decided to make the move, but there was something in his gaze that made her feel uncomfortable and she felt she had to tell the truth. "And, well, I guess I felt that there was more of a chance of me finding out questions about myself that I've been dying to know for as long as I can remember here. About where I come from, who I am. I don't really have a very reasoned explanation for that though."
"I see," replied Dumbledore as he stroked his beard thoughtfully, "well, academically I see no problems with your transferring. The reports I've been sent from Madam Maxime indicate that you will be able to deal with the change in that respect and have covered much of the same ground as our professors here. You will need little extra work to catch up on what you have missed I would think and you may enter into the fourth year this September if this is still you wish."
"Oh, it is! Thank you, thank you," replied Tanwen with a grateful smile, "I won't let you down sir, I mean professor."
"I'm afraid you won't be able to meet with any of your teachers seeing as term only broke up two weeks ago and none of them have returned as yet. You'll just have to meet them when you return in a few months time."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Landing in the Leaky Cauldron she stepped out of the green flames and used the large duster present to dust the soot off her clothes. She heaved her bag over one shoulder and made her way to the door.
It was late afternoon outside and the rush-hour traffic clogged up the roads. She was going to have taken a taxi but it might be quicker on second thoughts to take the tube. Tanwen sighed, her bag was so heavy- she definitely shouldn't have done so much shopping! But then, she thought, there wasn't really anything that she would take back.
She trudged her way uncomfortably along the road to the nearest tube station. After paying for her ticket she pushed her way through the turnstile and hurried to catch the southbound line.
A hot and stuffy journey later she emerged onto her new street. She inhaled a deep breath, glad to be able to breathe again- the underground had been so busy! Continuing along the pavement she passed row after row of large white houses with long marble pillars and lush green gardens that got smaller and smaller the further she went.
About half an hour later she stopped in front of a white, three-story house and dug her keys out from her bag. She had bought a one-bed studio here on the top floor. As she turned the key in the lock she smiled to herself as she thought of the day she had signed the deed. As she had predicted they were rather unwilling to let a fourteen year old own an apartment, so she had done a small memory charm on them. And the best thing of all was that because she still belonged to the Ministry in France, the Ministry here didn't pick up on her spell. She guessed that she had about a month more of restriction free magic until they transferred her over.
Huffing and puffing she hauled her bag up three flights of stairs until she reached a large wooden door. Her keys jangled in her hands as she found the right key to let her in. She opened the door and dragged her bag in after her closing the door behind her.
She threw herself into the nearest armchair, stretching her tired limbs as she snuggled into it.
"Home," she said, it still sounded slightly unreal, but it was nice to have a place like this, she had been extremely lucky! She had two large rooms and a comfortable sized bathroom. The smaller of the two rooms was her bedroom, at the moment it held a queen-sized bed with a large white duvet and various coloured cushions. The wooden panelled floors had a large sheepskin rug next to her bed. There was a medium sized wardrobe, which stood empty at the moment, and a trunk which stood open at the foot of her bed. Several cardboard boxes were stacked to one side containing the rest of her clothes.
The largest room had an open plan kitchen with a breakfast bar that faced the wall of windows. They looked out onto the rest of London showing the dark rooftops stretching out into the clouded sky. Inside the room she had the soft, crimson armchair she was sat in and a matching sofa, and a TV and video (some of the muggle tendencies of the lady who had raised her had rubbed off, and besides when you lived alone it was good just to have background noise sometimes.)
Tanwen heard a scuffling sound coming from her bedroom and looked up. A furry russet coloured animal about the size of a cocker spaniel ambled out of the doorway towards her. It had a shortish black snout, and black fur surrounding its large beady eyes. A long bushy tail waved behind it as it made its way across the floor.
"There you are," said Tanwen as she bent to lift it off the ground onto her lap. It chattered noisily letting her know he was glad to see her, "yeah, I missed you too Loki!" She hugged him and snuggled her face into the fur on the back of his neck. Loki was what muggles called a Red Panda. They thought that they were almost extinct, but really it was because they could turn themselves invisible if they wanted, which had the obvious effect that muggles rarely spotted them (that and the fact that most of them didn't like humans).
Loki was different of course. Tanwen had been taken on a trip to China before she had known about Beauxbatons and one day she had gone on a tour through the jungle. The group were going rather too fast for her small legs and so she lagged behind them a little as they pushed through the vast amounts of foliage. Just as she had tripped over about her twentieth tree root she was grumbling to herself and wiping the mud from her hands when she heard crying. Forgetting about the fact she was supposed to be sticking with the others she left the path and followed the sound.
She forced her way through the undergrowth to reveal a sad sight. A mother red panda lay dead on the ground, a snapped branch between her paws, at her side lay a small bundle the size of a kitten, crying. Tanwen reached out and picked the tiny thing up and cradled it in her arms.
"Don't cry, baby," she told it as she felt a hot tear trickle down her face, "I'll take care of you."
And that was what happened. Tanwen managed to find the rest of her party and hid Loki in her jumper. The next day they left to go back home, and once they had returned Tanwen had managed to persuade Mrs Lander, her foster mum to let her keep him.
Anyway, however they had met, Tanwen was glad of his company. She had learnt that nights on your own could be very lonely, and to have a warm, fluffy body in bed with you was really comforting.
She had been living alone now for almost a year. When Mrs Lander had found out that Tanwen was a witch she just couldn't deal with it. She was in her mid-fifties and her husband had died the year before she had adopted Tanwen. All she had wanted was a nice, normal child that she could raise and would ease her loneliness. But she was not cruel; in her own way she loved Tanwen and had parted from her unwillingly. To help her on her way, and ease some of her guilt, Mrs Lander had given Tanwen half of her money, and she was a very wealthy lady.
And so Tanwen had started Beauxbatons with no home to return to in the holidays. However towards the end of the summer term in her first year Madame Maxime had found a wizarding couple she could live with so long as she only returned during the long summer break. That suited Tanwen fine and it worked out well until about a year ago the pair had left halfway through the holidays and never returned. Tanwen had been fed up of being shunted from one place to another so she had simply never told anyone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After a while Tanwen became hungry, "Up you get Loki, I'm hungry." He jumped to the floor and padded behind her as she walked to the kitchen. Standing on a small stool she opened a cupboard and pulled down some green bamboo shoots, which she gave to Loki and then took some chicken, rice and various other ingredients from other cupboards. Then, thinking that she might as well use her privilege while she could, she found her wand and set her dinner cooking.
Once it was ready she plonked herself back in her chair and turned on the Television. Loki sat at her feet gnawing away at the shoots.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~