A/N: Okay, so this is my first ever HP fan fiction, so please bear with me if it sucks. Also, it's going to be sort of (well, really) AU; meaning that even though it's taking place during Book 5, there isn't going to be much going on with Voldy and whatnot. Oh, and the only characters that belong to me are Katharine/Katie and her mom. I'm borrowing the rest.

The envelope arrived at the tiny, cramped apartment (or, flat, as they called it in England) that Katharine and her mother shared on a hot and sticky summer evening. The windows had been thrown open wide in an attempt to let in any traces of a breeze, but there were none.

Katharine's mother had been transferred to Britain with the Department of Magic and Muggle Cooperation. They'd moved to London from the US only several months before. Katharine's dad was a Muggle, and had been killed by Voldemort when he was last in power. She was only a baby then, and didn't remember much about him, other than that she had his hair; a wavy, mousy brown.

She inherited more from her mother though. She too, was a witch, and had attended the Salem Witches Institute, in Salem Massachusetts. She also had most of her mother's features; they were both short, with round faces and light brown almond shaped eyes.

The similarities stopped there though. Katharine was quiet, shy, and would rather spend her time alone with a book than socialize; she'd had a small circle of friends back in the States, but had been having trouble making friends in London. "Maybe if you stopped reading all the time, and actually did something, you'd make friends," her mother would say. Katharine hated to hear it, but she knew it was the truth. She hated being so painfully shy.

Katharine and her mother had begun to make dinner for themselves, when a tawny owl swooped through the open window, making Katharine jump considerably.

"What's that?" she asked, still slightly in shock. She was used to getting owl post, but something was different about this envelope. It was rather large, and something was written on its front in neat cursive.

"Looks like your Hogwarts letter, Katie," Katharine's mother answered, calling her by her nickname.

"I get to go to school here then?" she inquired, her eyes lighting up.

"Of course you do! Did you really think I was going to keep you locked up in here till you're of age?" her mother replied, untying the letter from the owl's leg.

Miss Katharine Caldwell, Flat 3120, 21 Baker Street, London, the envelope read.

Katharine tore the envelope open. The letter read:

Dear Miss Caldwell,

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 September 1; you will be placed in year 5. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress

"Isn't July 31st tomorrow?" Katharine asked her mother.

"You'd better send an owl Katie," her mother replied, smiling.

Katharine practically ran from the kitchen to her tiny bedroom, leaving her mother to finish the cooking. This was her chance to start over, to leave her shy, bookish self behind, and become the person she'd always wanted to be; someone who was outspoken and wasn't afraid to be herself.

She quickly found a piece of parchment and a quill, and scrawled a quick message: Expect me at King's Cross on September 1st, Professor. I can't wait! – Katie She liked the way her mother's nickname for her sounded.

Katie emerged from her room, grin still plastered on her face. The owl Professor McGonagall had sent was still perched on the kitchen window; she retied the letter, and sent the owl off. Tomorrow, she was going to turn over a new leaf.

Tell me what you think! Even if you hate it, just review! It'd mean everything to me, since this is my first HP fic.