Chapter 1

It was the beginning of Harry Potter's last year at Hogwarts. Voldemort's gone for good. They've got an American wizard for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry's ready to move out of the Dursleys when the year's over. Yep, this year is finally gonna be a normal one.

As soon as the first years were sorted into their houses, food appeared on the students' platters and everybody started to eat. Before Harry could take a sip of his pumpkin juice, he heard the doors burst open followed by a scream. He and all the other students turned around to see a girl about his age in what seemed to be a uniform for a Japanese kendo class. What seemed strange about the girl was that she had black cat ears, yellow cat eyes, claws, and fangs. She ran to the middle of the room next to the bench Harry was sitting at.

"Somebody help me!" she screamed with tears streaming down her face. "He's after me! He's gonna absorb me!"

Right after Harry stood up so he can help her, a creature came through the open doors. He looked partially human, but the rest of him seemed to be parts of unworldly creatures. An 'arm' shot after the girl and struck her in the gut.

"Come, half breed," the man-creature said coldly, "become one with my body!" He pulled the girl towards him as she made a blood-curdling scream, and she disappeared as he absorbed her.

17-year-old Nicole Morris woke up from her horrible nightmare with a gasp.

"You okay back there?" her Uncle Adam asked her as he steered the broom they were riding on.

"I'm okay," Nicole replied. "Just woke up from a nightmare about . . . him."

Adam sighed. "You'll be safe at Hogwarts," he said, getting lower to ground. "It's the best Witchcraft and Wizardry school in the world that speaks English. You'll be fine."

"Yeah, except I won't have any friends," Nicole mumbled. "Every witch and wizard I meet always senses something demonic about me and stays away from me like I'm jinxed."

"I'm not like that," Adam replied, "and neither was your father or grandparents."

"You're supposed to not be like that," Nicole stated. "You're my uncle."

"Oh, come on," Adam complained. "Not all people like their nieces or nephews. I've heard of a wizard your age that lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, and they don't like him."

"They must be muggles," Nicole replied. Adam twitched a little in defeat.

"Hold on," he said. "We're about to land at the Leaky Cauldron. And here's some more fairy dust to put on that bracelet of yours. It should be enough to completely hide your demonic powers."

He must've been talking about Harry Potter, Nicole thought as she took the fairy dust and sprinkled it on her bracelet. He was in my dream again.

They landed in front of a building with a sign showing a cauldron. Adam looked around to make sure they were alone and no muggles in sight, and took his invisibility cloak off the two of them.

"Well, here we are," he said, walking to the door to the building. Nicole picked up her handled box and the two of them entered. A man spotted them and walked towards them.

"Mr. Morris!" the man exclaimed. "Welcome to England!"

"You must be Mr. Fudge," Adam replied, shaking the man's hand. "Thank you for meeting us in such short notice."

"No problem at all!" Mr. Fudge said. He looked down at Nicole. "And this must be Nicole, I presume?"

Nicole nodded. "I am," she said, looking down.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Mr. Fudge said sadly. "Charles was a very bright wizard."

"Thank you for your consideration," Adam replied. "Shall we settle in?"

"Right away," Mr. Fudge replied, leading them to the stairs. "Mr. Morris's room is the third door from the left and Nicole's is right across. And I'd like to meet Mr. Morris back down here after unpacking."

The two walked up the stairs and found their rooms. Nicole put her handled box on the bed and opened the small door that was on its side. Five cats came out of the box. One orange male named Kyo, two black females named Ichigo and Luna, one black male named Kuro, and one white female named Maneki.

"Make yourselves at home," she said, scratching behind Maneki's head as she purred. "But not for long. We'll be leaving to Hogwarts in two days." She walked out of her room to her uncle's room.

"The cats have settled in," she said, leaving against the doorway. Adam dug into his trunk and pulled out a miniature one and threw it towards Nicole for her to catch.

"Tap your wand on it three times and say Expand to bring your trunk to life-size," he said.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning," Nicole said, walking out. "I'll be expecting Edgar with my letter of school supplies." She went back to her room and closed the door. She put the mini-trunk on her bed and followed Adam's instructions. As soon as it was back to its original size, Nicole took out her pajamas and got changed. She cleared her bed and tucked in as her cats jumped on the bed and laid down. Nicole took off her glasses and put them on the bedside table and turned off the light.

"Oyasumi," she said to the cats as she closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.