Hello! This story is about Tina and Queenie's life as children. Enjoy and please leave constructive criticism in the review section!

30/11/1910

Pennsylvania

In a small, dingy apartment, there sat a girl.

Her hair was dark and messily done up in a quick plait which cascaded down her back. It had obviously not been washed for weeks. She had beautiful eyes which were full of tears. Her skin was pale and youthful. This child had a thin, elegant frame that had been dealing with a great amount of responsibility and stress for too long - it had made her small and quiet, unwilling to share her pain or pass it on.

She also had incredibly narrow feet, but nobody ever noticed that.

This girl was named Porpentina Goldstein - Tina, if you knew her well. Her younger sister called her Teenie, a name that until recently, she had hated. But now she was desperately clinging onto anything familiar from their old life, in which she wasn't so unhappy and stressed.

Currently, she was sitting in a small hallway on a hard wooden chair. Her bones aches as she raised her head to peer out of the grimy, broken window at the cobblestone street below. She shivered as a draught blew in, clutching her coat closer for warmth.

For six hours, now, she had sat waiting for the doctor to emerge from the door that was on her left. Waiting to hear the news about her beloved parents. Whether they would survive the illness that had scarred their skin with ugly marks and given them a high fever and left them bed stricken for days, weeks now.

Tina had tried to manage. She had done the cooking, the cleaning, the shopping. Everything she could. She had taken care of her little sister, making sure that she had enough to eat, even though it meant she missed out.

It wasn't good enough, though.

The apartment was freezing cold, because her parents were too ill to light a fire with magic and Tina didn't know how. Because of the Pennsylvania coal strike, it was near impossible to get gas cheaply, so they were forced to light candles and huddle in itchy woollen blankets for warmth.

Queenie was always saying that she was hungry - the stale bread and watery soup that Tina made didn't fill them up at all and it tasted disgusting. There was no money for fresh vegetables or meat and they had no milk.

Lastly, the house was filthy. Tina would scrub and wipe and brush but the place was never clean. Her mother's magic could of instantly cleaned the place, but Tina had no choice but to roll up her sleeves and do her best.

Tina sighed, looking around at the dingy hallway. Another tear streaked down her cheek and landed in her lap. She wiped it away.

The door clicked open. It creaked as a tall, broad shouldered man stepped out of the room, a solemn look on his face. Tina looked up, her face the picture of hope. She got up from her chair, instantly regretting it as her legs nearly collapsed from underneath her. She faced the doctor.

"Will they be alright? Are my parents better...?" she trailed off as the doctor interrupted her.

"I am very sorry, miss. But you're parents...they have just passed away."

Tina stood there, utterly shocked. "No...no...NO!" she stammered, starting to scream. She collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. Around her, objects were smashing as her magic got the better of her. The chair smashed into the window, leaving it even more broken. A metal cup hit the wall, leaving a dent.

The doctor quickly drew his wand from his pocket and pointed it at Tina. He muttered a few words under his breath and the grief consumed child stopped and slumped to the floor, having been put in a magical sleep. Objects stopped flying about and landed with a clutter on the cold floor.

The doctor sighed. Sometimes, he really wondered why he'd chose to be a Healer.

...

Tina watched silently as the Healers carried two bodies out of the room. Her parents. Her beloved mother and father. They were covered in white sheets, their bodies limp.

She couldn't believe that they were gone. Of course, she knew how deadly dragon pox was, but she'd always thought that her parents were stronger. To her, they were the strongest people in the world. Nothing could ever get the better of them - at least that was what she had thought.

She stared blankly at the door to the room her parents had shared. Silently, she got up and slowly walked inside.

The room was dark and smelt horrible. In the centre of the room, there was a small bed - besides that, the room was empty except for a few books piled up into the corner.

Tina stepped further into the room. Carefully, she opened the beige curtains. Light streamed in, and she blinked. The bed was covered in blood from her parents sores, staining the sheets. Tina stared at it until a Healer walked in. She looked up, feeling guilty.

The Healer smiled at her softly. It was the same one who had cast the sleeping spell on her when she had lost control.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Tina shook her head. The Healer held out his hand. "Come on, miss, let's get out of this room."

Slowly, Tina took his hand and let herself be guided out of the room. The Healer shut the door behind him.

"I know it's hard..." he began, crouching down so as to be at Tina's level. "I know you've been trying to look after your parents and your sister and that you've been through so much, but I need you to help me."

Tina's bottom lip quivered. "How can I help you?" she asked. "I'm only a little girl - you're a Healer. You're smarter and you know magic. How could I possibly help you?" The Healer sighed and looked at his shoes.

"Now that your parents are..." he paused. "Now that your parents are gone, we need to find somewhere for you to stay."

"Me and Queenie are going to the orphanage, aren't we?" Tina said, rubbing her eyes sadly.

"Not if we can help it. Have you got any relatives? An aunt, or a grandmother who could take care of you?"

Tina thought for a second. "We've got our Great-Aunt Beatrice. But we've only met her once - she didn't get on with my mother because my father was a No-Maj Born."

The Healer nodded slowly. "Anyone else?" he asked.

"Not that I can think of. My mother's parents died in a fire and my father's parents disowned him after found out that he was a wizard. They said we were all abnormal and wicked. They believe magic is evil and the Devil's work, you see."

"Okay...so I guess you're staying with your great-aunt, then." The Healer stood up. He was amazed by how calm this child was now. She was quite mature for her age, and she seemed to already know that No-Maj's didn't like their kind.

"Do you know where your sister is now, miss?" he asked, looking around. There was no sign of Queenie.

Tina nodded. "She's playing on the street. I told her too." She pointed through the window to a blonde child playing with a hula hoop. "I didn't want her to see...to see our parents while they were ill. So she didn't become sick either."

The Healer put on his hat. "Well, let's go get her. And then I suppose we had better contact your aunt..."

He led Tina through the Healers and they walked down the creaky steps to the grey, washed out street below.