Elena was sitting in transfigurations class with Harry, Neville and Edward Cullen. Ron and Hermione were making out in the back of the classroom where McGonagle couldn't see them, because she had forgotten her glasses today. Elena was passing notes with Draco, and Edward was writing a poem to his girlfriend Bella, who was in Ravenclaw. Neville was paying attention.

Elena Alexandra Laurelin Thundercat Winterborne was a 6th year Gryffindor. She was pale with dark eyes, and naturally black hair that was shoulderlength and in a layered cut. Her best friends at school were Hermione, Luna, Lavender, another Gryff girl named Frankie Cooper and a Ravenclaw named Kira Shaw. She had two younger sisters who were twins and were in 4th year.

"Can anyone show us how to turn a hairbrush into a teapot?" asked McGonagle.

Hermione raised her hand.

"Very well, Miss Winterborne," said McGee. "Please come up here and give us a demonstration."

"Actually, Professor McGonagle..." Hermione protested.

"We'll take that later, Miss Granger," said McGonagle. "Now pay attention as Miss Winterborne shows us how it's done."

Elena sighed and walked up to the front of the class. She didn't want them to think she was a show-off. The class hadn't seen that it was Hermione who had raised her hand either, because they all had their backs to her. She pointed her wand at the hairbrush and shouted "TRANSMOGRIFFAGUS KETTULUM!" Suddenly the hairbrush changed shape and became a kettle with a painted handle. It looked exactly similar to one her grandmother had.

"Very good, Miss Winterborne," said McGonagle. "Excellent craftmanship. Now for homework, practise this transfiguration until you get the hang of it, and then read page 483 to 494 in Tranfiguration Through Changing Times. See you tomorrow."

The students hurried out of the classroom. Elena decided to hang out in the common room with her friends for a while, before going home. She lived so close to school that she didn't need to be a boarding student.

"Are you all coming to see the Quidditch match in Saturday?" Harry asked. "We're going to flatten Ravenclaw, and Ron is going to be our new keeper!"

Ron smiled sheepishly. "We're going to be celebrating in Hogsmeade later," he said.

"Sure I'll be there," said Elena, because it was that or going with her Muggle father to the village ping-pong tournament. Her Mom was on vacation, and her Dad didn't want the kids to be home alone because once they had thrown a pirate party and flooded the basement.

They did some studying, and Hermione showed them the transfiguration again. Her teapot looked better than Elena's had, but that was because it was impossible to be better than Hermione at transfiguration. Elena was a good number two, though.

Walking out of the castle, she saw Bella Swan coming from the Ravenclaw tower. She waited up for her, and they went down to Hogsmeade Station together.

"Do you like it here in Scotland?" Elena asked.

"Sure," said Bella, but it sounded like she was saying it to be polite.

"What do you miss most about Arizona?" Elena inquired.

"Hmm," said Bella. "The sun, and looking after my Mom, and not being the copper's kid. And Jacob."

"Is Jacob your ex?" Elena asked. It was weird imagining Bella dating anyone other than Edward, who she was always sitting with when they didn't have class.

"Yeaaaah...," Bella admitted.

"Is he hot?"

"Yes," said Bella and blushed. "He's Native Quileute, and can turn into a werewolf. When he is human, he is very tall and muscular, with long black hair and bronzed skin. Don't tell Edward that I told you about him. He is very insecure and is scared that I won't like him because he isn't as hot as Jake. But that isn't true."

"I won't tell Edward anything," Elena assured her.

The Hogwarts Local arrived and they went onboard. This was a train for those students who lived less than an hour from school and commuted. Bella lived with her Dad, who was the village cop, in a place called Kilmoor. It was very small and down a valley. Elena lived in a town called Ashgate, wich was barely more than a village and rather dull.

The twins were already home when Elena got in. "Where is Dad?" she asked.

"He went out to look for aunt Doris," Tanya said.

"She wasn't here when we got home," said Shannon, "but her empty bottle of whiskey was."

Doris was their Muggle aunt. She was fond of a drink and men, and had never had a job. For the past four years she had lived with her sister's family. She hadn't been able to go on vacation with Elena's Mom and other aunts on their girl-trip, because she had been banned from Spain.

"Oh, OK," said Elena, and went up to her room to watch Bones.

Elena's bedroom was the nicest in the house. It was one half of the attic, that her parents had decorated for her as compensation for aunt Doris getting her old one. It wasn't safe for Doris to live anywhere other than the ground floor. She had her own TV and Playstation, a huge corner desk with lots of drawers and shelves, a laptop with wireless and a huge wrought-iron bed. Her bed was painted cream white, and she had wrapped little plastic roses with lights in them around the headboard. The telly was placed so she could sit on her bed and watch. She wrapped her comfy fake-leopard blanket around her and started watching the horrifying case of the episode.

After the episode about a serial killer, Elena decided to go downstairs and have a cup of chocolate and a sandwich before bed. On her way down the stairs, she heard singing. Someone was belting out a song by Bonnie Tyler off key. The door opened, and her Dad stumbled in with Doris under his arm. She was wearing a really short pink dress, very high h00ker-boots and a studded leather jacket from the 80s.

"GNNGAAHHHRF" said aunt Doris, and puked all over the floor. Dad cleaned it up while Elena and the twins dragged Doris to her bedroom and took her boots off. This was one of those times when Elena wished they hadn't lived on a posh street, because no one else there had an aunt like that.

Elena went to the upstairs bathroom to brush her teeth and have a shower. She was happy that her parents had chosen to have the comforts of a modern home, instead of living in a traditional wizarding house. Wizard houses were really charming and cozy, and probably really lovely in the summer, but they never had electricity and some didn't have plumbing.

She fell asleep soon after she crept under her duvet. Her dreams were a muddled lot of shadowy images. In one of them she stood in front of a window, and gazed out across the roofs of an old town. Everything was in sepia, like an old photo. The scene faded and shrunk, becoming an actual photo on the wall in a long corridor. As she walked along the green paneled walls, she looked at other old pictures. People, places, none of them known to her. She was overcome by an intense feeling of fat and history. It felt like there was something she had forgotten, like she had once known the whole story. At the end of the hall there was a door. She pushed down the handle and slowly opened it.