Chapter One: A Strange Visit

Many a time Lily looked out her window wishing she could just fly away by the light of the setting sun as the thrushes outside did. Yelling came from the rooms below where Lady Carnella was supervising cleaning among the other orphans. Lily leaned her head against the window pane and closed her eyes, wishing her life were different. She'd long given up dreams of someone coming and whisking her away to a gentle home, be it a family member or stranger willing to foster or adopt. She was approaching her eleventh birthday, and would soon be too old for adoption. She was a thin girl, a little on the short side, with thick raven black curls past her mid-back and bright green eyes set into a heart-shaped face. Her skin was pale, almost frail looking, and her voice was soft and melodic.

BANG! BANG! BANG! came from the stairwell outside the door, startling Lily from her daze. Lady Carnella threw the door open, her fierce gaze landing on Lily's cowering figure, and a grim smile split her over-powdered face. "You've got a visitor, girl!" she barked in her deep, guttural voice. "Look lively now! Out, out! Straight to my office!"

Lily jumped to her feet, keeping her head down to avoid Lady Carnella's gaze as she dashed through the door and down the stairs to the ground floor. Outside the office, she tugged her overlarge gray sweater straight and took a deep breath to settle herself. Who could possibly be coming to visit her? With a creak, she pushed the door open and peered nervously inside. A stern looking woman sat at the desk in an emerald, old-fashioned looking dress, her hair pulled into a tight bun and her lips set into a thin line. With a gulp, Lily slipped inside the office and took a seat along the wall, facing the woman, whose face softened momentarily into a kind smile.

"Lily Kensington?" The woman asked, her voice sharp. Lily nodded and held her breath. "I am Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of a school that's very interested in you." She pulled a yellowed envelope from an ugly carpet bag on the floor beside her and handed it to Lily.

Lily gazed down at the envelope curiously at first, but then with confusion. "Is this a joke? Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry? I've never heard of such a place and everyone knows magic isn't real."

"Well, Lily, I can assure you that this is quite real. We've been watching you for a while now, and you are indeed a witch." She smiled kindly again. "I know this is all confusing, but I can answer all of your questions."

"If magic is real, how come I've never met another witch?"

"Ah," McGonagall sighed. "You live among what we call 'muggles' in our community. Non-magic folk who don't understand our world. Imagine what the poor folks you see on the street would do if they saw dragons or trolls on a regular basis with no way to protect themselves? It does happen on occasion, of course, but a simple mind wipe clears it up."

"You wipe people's brains?!" Lily gasped. "That's . . . that's . . . wrong!"

"Oh no, dear, it doesn't harm them at all."

"This is some sick joke," Lily choked. "Did she tell you to set this up?"

The woman paled and shook her head. "I'm afraid I've made the wrong impression. Magic is wonderful when used correctly. You're too young to know about the war just about 20 years ago –"

"There was no war, or I would have learned about it in school."

"Oh, of course not dear. It was a magical war." The woman sighed and shook her head. "Perhaps a demonstration will convince you."

"Demonstration?" Lily asked, even more confused, but the woman had stood up and seemed to be shrinking somehow. In just moments, where the woman had been now stood a tabby cat with markings along the eyes similar to those of the woman's spectacles. Lily's hand flew to her mouth as she swallowed back a shriek of surprise. In the blink of an eye, the woman was back, standing before her once more.

"Magic is very real, dear," McGonagall said, her tone serious. "Has anything odd happened around you recently? Anything when you were upset, or scared, or emotional?"

Odd? Lily thought. Lowering her hand, she was about to reply "no," but thoughts began to bubble to the surface, memories of the bathroom flooding when she was terrified that she would be beaten, or the time Billy MacDonald had gone home with unexplained mild burns during school after clipping a strand of her hair, or the days her eyes seemed to change color from green to stormy gray and golden brown. "Yes," Lily whispered. There were many instances she could think of now, most often when she was angry or scared. "Many odd things have been happening recently."

McGonagall nodded. "I suggest you open the envelope then, and I will explain a little more of our world." She gestured and waited as Lily broke the seal and skimmed the contents before continuing. "Hogwarts is a school designed to train young witches and wizards, such as yourself, in the safe use of magic. Among your peers, there will be challenges and chances to prove yourself and over the years you will be able to decide upon an area of magic that most suits you. I myself am most comfortable with Transfiguration, as demonstrated, and taught it for many years before becoming headmistress. There are rules of course. You are strictly forbidden to use magic outside of the school until you come of age on your seventeenth birthday, and while at school you will be prohibited from dueling or practicing dark magic on any student. Am I clear?"

Lily looked up from the parchment, and nodded with an audible swallow. "Yes, of course."

"Any questions?"

"Erm . . . how will I get these supplies? And how will I get to the school?"

"Ah, yes," McGonagall said with a nod. "I will send another teacher to help you with your supplies in another week or so. Term begins on September 1st, and you will be taking the train to school. The teacher I send will give you more details on that. Upon arrival, you will be sorted with your peers into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. You will live in dorms with your housemates and be rewarded with points, or punished, according to your progress and discrepancies. It's a bit of a competition among the houses, and at the end of term the house with the most points will win what we call the House Cup. A little motivation to do well in your schoolwork, I should think."

Lily took a moment to absorb the information, and then nodded. "I'm sorry for my rudeness, professor. This all just seems like a dream come true and I'm afraid I'll wake up any moment now and find out that it really is all just a dream."

McGonagall had a look of pity in her eye for a moment, but nodded. "Quite understandable in your circumstances. However, my time grows short, and I must leave. A teacher will be by this same time next week to take you to get your supplies. I shall see you on September 1st, Miss Kensington."

Lily watched her sweep out of the office, speak to Lady Carnella for a brief moment, and then glide out the door. She was a witch! And she would be leaving this dump! Lily could hardly contain her excitement, and went through the rest of the day in a sort of daze, hardly hearing the bark of Lady Carnella or the mocking jeers of the other orphans.