Millie was awoken by a knock at her bedroom door and her aunt's voice.

"Millie, dear, there's somebody here who wants to speak with you. I'll get him a cup of tea while you make yourself decent okay?"

The fifteen year-old's thoughts, upon hearing the "him" instantly went out to James, her boyfriend whom she had had a fight with the day before. Or perhaps Samantha, who had recently cut her hair short and had taken to dressing like a boy, insisting that everyone called her "Sam".

Millie rolled out of bed and completed her aunt's image of decency by sticking a pair of shorts and a bra on underneath her baggy t-shirt. She fluffed her hair into relative cuteness and rushed down the stairs after checking her reflection in the mirror.

Seated in one of her aunt's comfy armchairs, sipping tea from a dainty teacup, was an old man with an extremely long white beard that matched his hair. He wore a purple hat that was pointed and upright like Millie's Halloween dress-up hat and matching purple robes.

"Good morning, Miss Hart. I trust I didn't wake you with my early visit? The elderly tend to rise early, you see, I had quite forgotten you teenager's knack of sleeping until lunchtime. I'm Professor Dumbledore."

"Er...hi."

"Nice to meet you too" replied the professor, nodding good-naturedly at her

"Er, yeah, sorry, nice to meet you...sir" said Millie, tacking the "sir" on the end so as not to seem rude.

The old man smiled at her hesitancy with the "sir".

"I expect you're wondering why I'm here."

Millie opened her mouth to agree but Dumbledore continued without giving her time to reply.

"I'd like to offer you a place at my school. It's called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Normally, you would have entered when you were eleven, but you seem to have only just showed magical skill. Your mother was the same, you know. You're the only two people I've ever seen it happen to."

She didn't know what to say. She was stuck between bursting out laughing and running away screaming to the metal hospital. Luckily, the professor seemed to understand and stayed silent, looking at her expectantly.

"My...my mother? Witchcraft? What do you mean "magical skill"? And what's my mother got to do with anything?"

"Ah. Of course, your dear aunt wouldn't know anything about this. I'd better start at the beginning:

When your mother was fifteen, she was exactly like you. You're the spitting image of her, I must say. Anyway, we had been watching her since she was small, seeing as her great-great-grandmother was a witch, we thought she might be too. These things often skip a generation or two, you see.

On her fifteenth birthday, she got upset with your father. They were childhood sweethearts, you know. Anyway, she got angry and, being a witch, she made her birthday cake explode. Completely by accident, of course, these sort of things are very common in young witches and wizards.

After that incident, she was so obviously a witch that we couldn't possibly not let her into Hogwarts. The problem was that she had lived as a muggle for her whole life..." Dumbledore paused, seeing Millie's confused expression. "I am sorry, I use these expressions too easily. Muggles are non-magic people, not witches or wizards like you and I.

Anyway, all of Hogwarts students until then had started learning at the age of eleven. Being fifteen, your mother obviously couldn't start as a first year, but neither could she be put in fifth year classes with no idea of magic at all.

So I decided to teach her intensively, everything that her future classmates had learnt in four years. Luckily, she was a quick learner and had a great amount of talent for spells and such.

So, when term started, she was as prepared as any fifth year student, and started taking classes at Hogwarts until she graduated and started studying to be an Auror. When she was twenty-one, she met your father again, purely by chance and they fell in love just as they had when they were both teenagers. For him, she left her studies and forgot all about the magical world.

Three years later, you were born. We were watching you all through your early years, checking for even a scrap of magical talent. I suspected that you would be the same as your mother, showing magic at fifteen.

Alas, when you were three, there was that terrible plane crash. I attended your parent's funeral, even though you won't remember.

And now, Millie, I would like you to come and study magic with me so that when September comes, you will be able to attend Hogwarts like your mother did."

The teenage girl was shocked and her voice came out tentative and quiet.

"You mean to say that I'm a witch? And my mother too?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"That's impossible! You're crazy, if my mother was a witch she wouldn't have died, she wouldn't have left me all on my own!"

The professor looked sad and shook his head, making his beard waggle.

"Millie, no magic can wake the dead. Even witches and wizards have to die; we can't prevent our own deaths."

"Fine, maybe she was, but I'm not!"

Dumbledore looked at her pityingly. He had obviously seen this a million times before.

"Tell me about your fifteenth birthday."

"Okay, um...we went to the fair and there was this ride that everyone wanted to go on. They wanted me to go on too but I'm scared of hights and I said no. They were going to make me go on but I just looked at the ride and thought "I don't want to go on" and the ride stopped. But it was just a lucky coincidence, the fuse box had blown or something..."

"You don't really believe that, Miss Hart. You made it happen, because you're a witch."

"Maybe, but..."

The old man cut her off: "Millie, believe me, I've done this a thousand times before. Nobody believes it at first but you'll soon see how true it is. Just give me a chance to show you my world, your world and at the end of the summer, when you've learnt everything can show you, I'll let you decide whether to start at Hogwarts or carry on at your old muggle school."

She hesitated and decided to be crazy for once and accept his offer.

"Fine, just this summer. Prove to me that I'm a witch and you're a...wizard."

"Excellent." Professor Dumbledore stood up and smiled at Millie. Go and pack your trunk...suitcase I believe you would call it. We're going on a five day trip to start your lessons."

Millie gave up trying to be normal and just went and did what he said. When her suitcase was filled, she couldn't lift it. Dumbledore seemed to understand her problem and muttered a spell under his breath. The suitcase lifted itself up and glided down the stairs to land at Dumbledore's side. She watched him incredulously and followed her suitcase down. There, she found her aunt smiling happily at her through her tears.

"Goodbye, dear, Mr. Dumbledore has explained everything. I'll see you in five days when you come to get your stuff, okay?"

"Sure, Aunty, I'll miss you" said Millie, hugging her tightly. "Bye now!"

With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore shrunk Millie's case and she picked it up and put it in her pocket. She then followed the wizard out of the door, away from the world she had known all her life.