CHARACTERS

Ellie Fletcher-Undine Student (1st year)

Jade Marie Fletcher-Sister, Glacies Head Girl (6th year)

Mom-Glacies House, Head Girl

Dad-Gnome House, Head Boy

Anthony Jones-Undine Head Boy (7th year)

Christine Malfoy-Undine Head Girl (7th year)

Acacia Cavora-Undine Prefect

1

Ellie Fletcher had just arrived at school. What school? Salem Seminary school for magic, of course. She was finally eleven years old and she had been waiting for this. Her mother, father and sister had all come to this school and she couldn't wait until it

was her turn. Of course, her family didn't seem to care much about her.

When Ellie was three, her father completely left her mother, sister and herself. He gave no reason and Ellie hadn't heard from him since. He was her whole world. This was only because Ellie's sister and mother didn't care for her very well. Ellie's older sister, Jade was her name, was almost an exact replica of their mother, just younger. She was now 17, just six years older than Ellie.

When Ellie had turned eight, her mother had been fed up. Having two kids and being a single parent was hard enough. But with a child who is overly emotional, that was just too much for her mother to handle. Ellie's mother had kicked her out at age eight, with no money, no food, just the clothes on her back and the things she could pack quickly enough to just get away.

Jade had watched this all happen to her little sister, being thirteen at the time. She didn't think she could do anything of course, her mother had pretty much turned her against her sister so Jade thought this was the right thing to do for the family. Jade was scared for her little sister of course. Jade knew she probably couldn't survive out on the streets herself, why should her little sister be able to? She didn't even know magic to help her along. Ellie didn't even show she knew that there was magic, and it had been around her since she was born.

As Ellie thought back on her life, she of course couldn't believe that it had all happened to her. She'd had a rough life, yes. But she was ready to put that behind her and start over. It was about time she did so too. As she took her first step onto the school grounds she gasped in amazement. Her backpack on her shoulders and the acceptance letter firmly in her hand. She looked around and couldn't help but smile. This was a new chapter in her life. She would accept this and embrace it with open arms, and she would do so gladly.

As Ellie walked to the front doors, they magically opened for her. These doors were not only magical, but they were huge! They were the biggest doors she'd ever seen and they were pure wood. She rested her hand on one of them and felt the smooth aged wood beneath her fingers. They were gorgeous doors, and the wood looked like oak. The smile on her face was one of pure enjoyment. This was all relatively new to her. She had seen magic and knew that everyone in her family was able to do magic. But once she got kicked out by her mom she had lost all hope of ever getting to train and go to school.

Once in the entrance hall, Ellie sat down on one of the many benches there. She didn't know where to go from here. She unfolded the letter she had in her hand. It was crumpled beyond full repair because she had been squeezing her hand so tight. She had been very nervous about coming here and she was now afraid that she'd been late. She had no way of knowing the date or the day of the week. She barely had a way to keep track of the time. For all Ellie knew, she had missed the first week of classes and that was surely going to be unacceptable. She'd have to make them up. She generally liked school but she tended to always have problems with certain things. She had three wishes of this new adventure that she was embarking on.

She wanted to make friends.

She wanted to learn and excel in her powers, she certainly wanted to take as many classes as she could too.

She didn't want to see her sister here. If she was here.

Those were the only three wishes that Ellie had for her new life. She kept them simple so that she could remember them and make them happen if it was in her control. The first two certainly were within her own control. They depended on how hard she worked and how far she put herself out in the community of the school. The third wish though was more of a prayer. She never wanted to see her sister, or any of her family for that matter, again.

Well maybe not all of her family, she could handle finding her father. She had so many questions for the man who'd abandoned her at such a young age. Ellie had spent the last three years focusing on surviving, finding food and shelter every night. And some place to shower and some place where she could stay out of trouble. But when she was set up for the night and as she waited for sleep to claim her for the night, she would think about her father and always ask if it was her fault that he left too. Her mother had always been convinced that everything that went wrong in their lives was Ellie's fault. Why shouldn't Ellie believe that too? She had certainly tried to find something that went wrong that couldn't possibly be linked to her, she had come up on the negative side of that question.

Ellie was prepared to forget all of that. She wanted to forget her past and she wanted to start over. This was her chance to do just that. So long as her sister wasn't here. However, even if Jade was here. She'd be no part of Ellie's life. She'd not helped Ellie out when she most needed it and Ellie was sure that Jade wouldn't start caring now.

Ellie was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps approaching at a rapid pace. It seemed to belong to just one person. Wait, maybe two people. One set had a softer pattern and the other had a stronger pattern. She would smile and just stay sitting on her bench. She looked up from her letter for a second, unaware of the tears that had slid down her face as she played everything over in her mind just before that.

***POV CHANGE***

Anthony was walking quickly with Christine, they had just come from the Trophy room. They had spent the day in there just talking because it was their experience that it was one of the few places that never really got a ton of traffic. Being Head boy and girl of the Undine house, free time was hard to come by. Alone time for them both to be together was even harder to come by. Christine's hand was in his own and he squeezed it tight as they rounded the corner to the entrance hall. He stopped immediately and just stared at the little girl, they'd failed their duties. They were supposed to be welcoming students today, it was their turn. Well, they'd taken the turn from the Slyth head boy and girl because that house was just never willing to be nice to first year students.

Anthony quietly walked forward and bent down beside her. He saw the tears and whispered quietly to her, resting a hand on her hand, which was resting on her knee. His touch was gentle and so was his voice.

"Hello there, I'm Anthony Jones. I'm sorry we weren't here to welcome you right away. Is everything okay?"

He could instantly tell that it was not okay. Her emotions were running wild and he wasn't prepared for that at all. He stumbled backwards as she looked up at him and he knew Christine was feeling the same overwhelming emotions that he was because he looked up at her face as he sat down on the ground.

The girl was quiet and she wiped her tears quickly with the back of her hand. She finally would whisper to them.

"Yes, I- I'm alright. It's okay, I just wanted to sit anyways. It's been quite a journey."

Her voice was shaky and Anthony looked up at Christine, nodding as he realized they were on the same page. This girl had clearly gone through something. It was never 'quite a journey' to get here because parents always brought their children the first day. But naturally, he hadn't seen any parents with her. He hadn't seen anyone with her. His thoughts became clear to him; he had to find out who this girl was and then what happened in her past so that he could try and help her.

***POV CHANGE***

Ellie spoke quietly. It was a soft and shaky voice that she would speak with. She didn't know why but she was almost scared. She had no reason to be. This young boy and girl had made no threat towards her but she figured it was probably her lack of trust in anyone.