AN. So I've started another story... I have been working on it for months now and am finally at the point where I can begin posting it. It was originally meant to fit perfectly into the cannon storyline but I decided not to because I was stressing myself out. So it's now this, and I quite like it. And I hope you do too

CHAPTER 1

Petunia and Vernon Dursley had a secret. A dark secret that Minerva McGonagall would have discovered if she had begun watching number 4 privet drive only two weeks earlier. The happy, very muggle couple, had a second child, or rather a first, a girl, born two years before their son.

The first thing that went wrong for their child was the stunning thick red hair that she had. She looked just like her aunt, and Petunia was not happy about that. The second, was that from her very first birthday, she was making strange things happen around her. Vernon's moustache would change colour, or Petunia's hard made cakes would float into the air whenever their daughter wanted to help. They swore they would make her normal, work through the problem until it went away, but it didn't. The third problem, was when Dudley was born, and she levitated his toys around the room while she was playing with him one afternoon, grinning while she did so. That had been the final straw for Vernon and he immediately packed a small spotted blue rucksack and pushed his daughter out of the door, giving her the directions to the nearby orphanage.

When Harry Potter had been found on their doorstep, they thought it to be as punishment for sending their daughter away. They also believed that something terrible would happen to them if they sent away the small child. They didn't like magic, but they certainly feared it.

For their daughter, things did not get better. She couldn't read, being three years old and so never found the orphanage. She did stumble across many well meaning families over the years, some would feed her or let her sleep at their house for a night, but all of them would talk about taking her to the orphanage, and so she would move on to the next street and the next family that intended to send her away.

Her accidental magic didn't go away, in fact she found herself able to perform more controlled magic, but only barely. She assumed she was around six, having never actually known what day it was, when she first managed to levitate anything towards herself. It had been when she saw a woman having a picnic with her family that she spotted the box of sandwiches that was tucked into a basket that sat behind the group. She hadn't eaten anything that day so when she saw them her hunger was what activated her magic. The box of sandwiches flew straight toward her and she hugged it to her chest the second it was close enough to reach. She immediately ran to her usual hiding place in the park and climbed up her tree to the small perch she had made for herself. She lived off of the sandwiches for almost a week, but after that, she discovered a better way of getting food. She saw a small dog walking through the streets, being offered food as he went, so she had an idea. If she could be a dog, she could be fed too and she wouldn't be sent to the orphanage. She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to become a small wolf, though she just looked like a husky, or at least a husky's puppy.

She even learnt how to change back and began looking through the streets for a library, which of course she was rarely welcome in because she couldn't wash very often. It was after years and years of living that way that she spotted two familiar faces, a thick bushy moustache and a long neck, that she had hope. Maybe these were her parents, maybe they remembered her. She followed them, as a wolf of course, until she found herself followed by a large black dog, or rather he was following them too.

"What are you doing little pup?" The big dog asked. This was the first time another dog had tried to talk to her and she wasn't sure how to talk back. "Are you even a pup?" He asked. "You look a little too big. How old are you?"

"I'm not sure." She spoke back, moving closer to the big dog. "Are you like me? Can you be a person too?" She wasn't sure how to gauge how the dog reacted, but he might have been surprised.

"Are you a wolf or a person, little pup?" The dog asked.

"A person." She replied, and she soon saw a frail man in the place of the dog.

"How old are you? Where are your parents?" He asked. He looked bone thin and his skin was shallow.

She barked back before realising that he couldn't understand her. She became human again and it must have shocked him, because his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. She didn't know what she looked like, she didn't even know how old she was so she didn't know why his man was so shocked.

"How haven't the ministry picked you up yet?" The man asked himself, or she thought so because she didn't know what this ministry was. "Where are your parents?" He asked again. She wanted to ask him the same question, even if he was an adult.

"I've been following them. You have too. They made me leave." She shrugged. "I don't really remember them but I remember them making me leave, I think they wanted me to go to an orphanage, but I can't really read so I'm not sure." She didn't know why she was telling this stranger everything, maybe it was because to her mind he was a pack animal, and she wanted to join his pack. It was peculiar what being an animal did to your mind. Especially when you spend days at a time as a wolf.

"I don't remember when it happened." She continued, trying to remember as much as possible. "I think I have a little brother, he's a baby. I might have been three or four when my parents turned me away. They didn't like the things I could do. I didn't even know I was doing them."

"Magic." The man supplied. "It's called magic, and you seem to have been mastering it fairly well on your own. There's a school that I'll be going to fairly soon, I can take you with me. If you'd like."

"Why are you going to a school?" She asked, her curiosity peaking.

"I'm looking for an old friend." He answered. "Maybe I'll tell you about it on the way."

"Where's this school?" She asked. "And why do you have to go to that one? Couldn't you just write him a letter?"

"No. He's hiding as an animal, like I am." The man spoke. "But he framed me for betraying my friends, for killing innocent muggles and for killing him."

After thinking for a few moments, she took one whist full look at privet drive, only to see a boy leaving the house pulling a large trunk behind him. She turned back to the man who had also seen the boy and changed back into a dog. She quickly did the same.

"What's he doing?" The black dog growled. "He's not protected on his own." He began pacing forward trying to scan the area for anyone who might harm the boy. The boy raised his arm, pointing what looked like a wooden stick at the dog. He fell back and a big purple bus materialised in front of him.

"Come little pup, we should leave now." The black dog suggested, nudging me away. We ran for a while, until we were far away from Surrey, or at least further than she'd gone before.

"What do I call you?" She asked after a few hours. They had been moving in silence and she was getting rather tired. "Most people call me mutt or boy or…" She didn't really have a name, or at least not one that she remembered.

"You can call me Padfoot if you'd like. That's my name as a dog at least." Padfoot shrugged, slowing his pace to match hers. "My human name is, well… It might be better for you if you don't know my name. That way only the people that know me, or rather trust me, will be able to help you."

She nodded as she tried to keep her breathing steady. She wasn't used to running long distances, especially not on four legs.

"What's your name little pup?" Padfoot asked. "The name your parents gave you."

"I don't remember." She shrugged, looking out over the landscape. "I don't really remember much about anything."

"Stick with me little pup." Padfoot grinned, or as well as a dog can grin, and led her to a slightly hollowed out tree, curling around her small frame to keep her warm. She may have been a wolf with enough fur to fight off a chill, but he wasn't going to take that chance. She was only a child after all.

"I know your family, or at least some of them." Padfoot spoke, remembering many of the stories Lily used to tell. "I knew your aunt, your mother's sister. We met at the school I'm taking you to. I knew her husband first, he was my best friend for years. The boy we saw earlier is their son, he's been living with your parents since my friends died. They don't approve of magic, your parents, but something must have scared them for Harry to still be living there."

"What were their names?" She asked, trying to keep her eyes open. She was far too warm and she had been running for far too long.

"Lily and James Potter." Padfoot frowned.

"Maybe that can be my name." She spoke, her eyes falling shut. "Lily."

Padfoot curled tighter around her, placing his head over hers protectively. "I think you'd suit the name. But I might still call you little pup."

And so they slept, curled up inside of a hollow tree. It rained that night, and they were lucky to have found somewhere to sleep, because they were dry and warm. For the first time in years, both Padfoot and Lily had a good night's sleep.