Chapter One: The letter and the truth.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of its characters. They belong to the amazing J.K Rowling. I'm not making any money off this, and it's for my enjoyment and (hopefully) the enjoyment of others. Now, just go ahead and read the stupid story already!

Also, this is NOT a HarryxOC story!

.Beep…then another beep. Elena's alarm was going off. It was a weekend. Elena didn't like her alarm going off on a weekend. Beep. Elena groaned as she stretched her arms out. Beep. She reached her arm down the side of the bed and moved her arm around trying to find the phone that was causing so much disruption to her sleep. Beep. Finally, she succeeded in finding the stupid device. Click. The beeping was over, and Elena could finally go back to sleep. She rolled over and curled into a fetal position. Finally, she drifted once again into the blissful world of sleep.

When she awoke several hours later, she felt refreshed. It was good to know that it was Saturday, and she had two days to relax and do whatever she wanted. Something else that made her feel even happier was the fact that it would be the summer holidays in a couple of days' time! She would have two whole months to enjoy herself. She stretched her body out and slowly got out of bed. She could hear her baby sister, Emma running about and screaming upstairs. Then she heard her mum shouting at her. She laughed. Typical. She walked out the door of her bedroom and looked upstairs. Her bedroom was downstairs. After a couple of moments of listening to her sisters screaming and laughing again she made her way up to the bathroom to brush her hair out. She ran the brush through her short, blonde hair, trying to straighten it out as much as possible. It was quite curled at the side so this always prooved difficult to do so. There were a couple of freckles dashed across her cheeks, but they only really came out whenever it was very sunny. After washing her face, brushing out her hair and just tidying up her appearance in general, she made the way to the breakfast table as she was starting to get quite hungry. The smell of bacon wafted through the air, only making her even hungrier.

She pulled a chair out and sat down. Her mum turned around and began to speak to her.

"Sleep well?" she asked Elena as she began to dish out breakfast.

"As well as I could with that storm last night. I kept waking up because of the wind." She replied.

"Try sleeping right next to the window."

"I think I'll pass."

After breakfast was finished,(and it really was delicious) Elena was about to make her way back down to her room to listen to some music, but suddenly CLACK! There was mail. Elena never got mail, so she assumed that is wasn't for her. Forgetting about it, she made her way back down to her room, but before she got to the halfway step her mum called to her, "Elena, get that please!"

Sighing, she made her way to the mail. One was addressed to….Elena Meyen. Well that's a change!

She thought to herself. She gave the letter addressed to "Eimear Meyen" to her mum and then she rushed down to her to her room to see what this new letter was all about. Mail barely ever came to her, and when it did she always got quite excited. Upon closer inspection, she noticed something quite odd about the letter…It was sealed with red wax…..And there was a very strange symbol on it. The symbol was roughly in the shape of a shield and it was divided into four (five if you counted the part with the "H" in the middle) sections. The upper left section had a lion standing on is hind legs, the upper right had a snake, erect and looking like it was about to strike. The lower left had a badger and on the right was a raven or eagle of some form. Just below the crest was some foreign text that read "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus". All of this was very puzzling. She had no idea what any of it was about, but it seemed like the card was from the 1800's. After a couple of moments of consideration, she decided to upon the letter up. She slid her finger underneath the wax, and lifted the flap up. She lifted the letter out, hoping to get some answers. But what she saw puzzled her even more.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Elena Meyen,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress"

Frowning, she reached into the letter and produced another list. This was all getting very strange.

The second letter read:

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

UNIFORM First-year students will require: sets of plain work robes (black) plain pointed hat (black) for day wear pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings) Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK"

Trying to comprehend everything, she sat on her bed. She didn't understand this…What was going on? "I have to show my mum…." She muttered out loud. "She'll be able to help me out…"

She sat there for another couple of minutes, trying to figure it out herself…. One thing stuck in her mind: "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

She decided to leave it until dinner to ask her mum about it. She was still trying to figure this all out herself. Whenever her mum was stirring around the bolognaise sauce, Elena just abruptly said, "Mum, what's Hogwarts?" Just as abruptly as Elena had said it, her mum stopped stirring and turned around very slowly to meet Elena in the eye. She said it very slowly, "What did you just say?"

Her skin had went very pale (which was saying a lot considering that she had a very white skin complexion)

"I said 'Hog. Warts.'" She repeated in quite a dumb tone.

"Where have you heard that word before?" her mother asked, appearing to be getting quite nervous.

"Well…Remember when there was mail earlier on? Well , I got this letter that said that I was excepted at some Wizardry school or something….Oh yeah, It was 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

"I never thought that this day would come…And MY Child…My eldest daughter…."

"Your 'Eldest Daughter'?" Elena laughed slightly. Her mum never referred to her as "The Eldest Daughter." It was always just "Elena's the daughter and Emma's the baby daughter." It was strange hearing her mum speaking in this tone. Her mum dished out the spaghetti.

"Mum…What's going on?" Elena asked. She wanted to know.

"I'll explain everything to you after dinner." Just then, Emma ran in to kitchen screaming, "No! Is mine! Bah!" Elena looked down at her. She was such an adorable little 2-year-old.

After the dinner was finished, and everything had been washed and put away, Eimear sat Elena down on her bed. She was about to explain everything.

"Ok Elena…You're probably going to find some of this hard to understand. And I don't expect to believe all of it straight away…But just try to understand that this is all true. Every single bit of it."

She started off. She knew that what she was about to tell Elena would seem impossible. But she also knew how important that it was…

"Well, I'm just going to start off bluntly, maybe that will make is easier…Elena…You're a witch."

Elena stared for several seconds. Did she just hear what she thought she had heard?

"…What?" she whispered back.

"You're a witch, Elena. You're magic."

"H….How am I…Are….Are you a witch?"

"No." Eimear shook her head. "I'm just a normal person…Or as Wizards say, I'm a 'Muggle'."

"So…My dad…Was he a wizard?"

"No, he was also a muggle."

"Then….How am I-" she was cut off by Eimear,

"Your great great grandparents were wizards. But…They only had one son, he was a squib. Squibs are people who have magical parents but have no magical powers themselves."

She paused for a second and then continued, "Your great grandfather married a young witch, in hope that he could please his parents by giving them wizard grandchildren…It didn't work out, and he had two muggle children, one of them being Arnold, my father. He loved them very much, mind you but he was still rather disappointed about it. From then on, he told his children about their heritage, and told them to tell their children. Arnold married Annabelle, yet another muggle. They had me." She stopped again and looked at Elena. Elena had figured it out.

"So you married a muggle, my dad… You had me… And now, I'm… a witch…"

They sat there in silence for several moments, until Emma broke the silence by screaming her random mumbles of gibberish. Elena looked at her. "So mum….What about Emma? Will she be a witch or a muggle? I mean…I know that she has a different father than me…But what will happen? "

"Well Elena…I'm really not sure…Only time will tell that. So! We need to get you sorted out Elena! I should probably tell you about Hogwarts first…"

Elena was quite excited, to learn about all of this.

" Hogwarts is a school for wizards and witches-" she patted Elena on the shoulder-"Such as yourself. You will study magic there for seven years, starting this September. You will learn the ins and outs of magic. How to do spells, make potions, ride a broom and so on." Elena's mouth was hanging open at this stage. The thought about making potions and riding brooms….It was so much to take in. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that she had the letter, and that her mother sounded so…serious and excited, she may not of even believed her at all. "What types of potions will I be making?" she asked.

"Oh my… You'll be making hundreds of different brews. Some that will make you fall asleep, some that will paralyze you and even some that will make people attracted to you. There are many different types."

"Will there be different subjects?"

"Oh yes! You'll be in first year, so some of the subjects that you'll be studying will be Charms, Potions, Herbology, and Defence against The Dark Arts. But I won't spoil all of them for you. "

"So how many first years will there be?"

"I'd say roughly about 140. Oh and also, about that…"

"What is it?"

"Well, when you get there you will be sorted into a house."

"What's a house?"

"Ah well, there are four different houses at Hogwarts. The each contain people with different qualities and traits."

"How do they know what traits you have? Oh wait lemme guess…magic."

"Yes, well actually it's a magic…Never mind. You can find out for yourself."

They both laughed.

"How many houses are there?"

"There are four houses and they all have different mascots. Gryffindor's mascot is the Lion, Slytherin's is the Snake, Ravenclaw's is the Crow and finally, Hufflepuff's is the Badger."

"Ah, so that explains those animals on the Hogwarts letter."

"Oh, Elena! The letter! Bring it up here so I can take a look at it."

"Alright mum!" Elena was quite eager to take another look at the letter as well.

The Hogwarts acceptance letter was still in her bedroom, so she ran straight done to her room to get it. Elena was very excited about everything now. She was looking forward to getting all of the stuff the letter mentioned. Especially the wand and her school books. The letter was lying flattened out on the bed. Just as she had left it. On the subject of beds, Elena realised something…She could be asleep and dreaming right now. Her heart sank at the thought. She didn't know whether to pinch herself or just keep going. But something inside her just told her…she wasn't dreaming. It was just too real…And she could feel-and this might sound terribly corny- but she could almost feel that she was different. There was magic blood running through her veins. She was a witch. Then the thought crossed her mind. Should she tell her best friend Sophia about it? Surely she wouldn't believe her… Elena wouldn't believe it if somebody came up to her and told her that they were magical. Then she realised that she had dawdled in her room for too long. She snatched the letter and scurried upstairs.

"Here you go mum!" Elena handed the letter over to her mother and then clutched her side as she had a stitch from running up and down the stairs so quickly. Eimear took the letter off her and began to read it, smiling while doing so. But then she sighed. "The letter that I was always hoping for…"

Elena felt really bad. Her mother had been waiting for this letter forever when she was a child…And now, she, Elena had received it, even though she had never heard of Hogwarts in her life. "I'm really sorry mum…" she started, "Sorry that it was me and not you…"

"Nonsense, pet." She began to smile again, "I'm so proud of you, and I want you to enjoy yourself. Don't you worry about me."

"Mum…Will I ever be able to come home during the holidays?"

"Yes pet, if you wish too. You can come home for Christmas and Easter. Then in the summer, you'll have to come home. Besides, you can sent me an owl during school days if you need to contact me."

"An owl?" Elena asked.

"Oh, you still have a lot to learn about this! I'll tell you everything now."

Eimear and Elena spent the next two hours talking about the wizarding world. Elena learnt about the wizard currency, blood purity, a bit more about the houses and about everything imaginable in the wizarding world. But there was one topic that Eimear didn't cover…Voldemort and his death-eaters. She didn't want to worry Elena with any of the darker and more serious topics. Besides…Voldemort was gone…He would never be coming back…Never.

Elena was too excited to go to sleep that night. She kept thinking about Hogwarts and all the magic and what house she would be sorted into. After about an hour, she finally fell asleep…