DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter...

When I First Saw Magic...

I was six when I first saw magic. Our cottage had a beautiful little garden; the grass was always a spring green; the many flowers in the beds were out all year; and there was a little apple tree right at the bottom that shed the most luscious apples in early September. The tree had gnarled, sturdy branches that spread out around it making it the best climbing tree. My older sister and I would climb up the tree; I always needed quite a bit of help, and over the wall into the woods yonder. Sometimes my sister would bring a picnic and we would go down to the stream and have our lunch. Then we would explore. My sister, being five summers older than me, would often grow tired of me and run off searching for conkers or pretty flowers, depending on the time of year. This left me on my own to search for fairies. My mother used to read me fairy tales all the time; I listened in awe to them all. I convinced myself I would find one, some day. I did. One day in the woods I was looking under all the leaves on a particularly big tree and I found about fifty or so tiny eggs under one of the larger leaves. I'd seen many insect eggs before, spending most of my time in the woodland, but never any like these. They were all multi-coloured and shimmered in the dappled light. I reached out my hand to touch them only to have a stinging sensation shoot up my arm. Looking back, it serves me right really. Suddenly a large insect flew out at me and I felt as though I had pins and needles all over. After the tingling had stopped I looked towards the eggs again to see a small human-like creature with beautiful multi-coloured wings counting them carefully with a tiny scowl on her delicate features. "Hello." I whispered softly, thrilled I'd actually found a fairy.

I have no idea what I thought was going to happen but I didn't expect the small creature to open her mouth and a high pitched buzzing noise to fill my ears. I instinctively crouched into a ball, hands covering my ears, eyes squeezed tight. When it was over I glanced back to the fairy who was hovering in front of me arms crossed with a frown. "Wow, you're beautiful" I said quietly.

The fairy's greenish tinted cheeks turned a light pink as she blushed and then she twirled around in the air. "Amazing!"

The fairy made sparkles appear at her finger tips, "Wonderful!"

She danced around on the branches, "Magnificent!"

I continued to admire and applaud the fairy until my sister came bursting out through the trees, "Hellie! You've got to see this! Were you talking to yourself?"

I looked back at where the fairy had been just moments ago, she was gone. "No!" I protested, "I was talking to a fairy"

At that my sister laughed, "You are a strange one Hels, come on I really want you to see this..."

The second time I saw magic I was twelve. I still hadn't given up looking for another fairy but my luck had been thin and I was beginning to think it had been some sort of dream. I had just been down to the farm, fetching some eggs for supper. I was walking back home, up the dusty road when I saw a small girl. She was curled up in a little ball by the hedgerow. I crouched down beside her and asked her what's wrong. She had replied, "I'm lost"

I told her not to worry and that I would look after her and make sure she found her mother and father again. I held out my hand to help her up but her fair hair was tangled in the thorns, "This may hurt a bit" I told her.

And I took out my small knife and cut her hair away from the hedge. "I'm sorry, your hair's a bit lopsided now" I told her.

She just laughed and replied, "Don't worry- look"

She touched her hair gently where I had cut it unevenly and stroked it, coaxing it down. It glowed ever so slightly and began to grow. "How did you do that?" I asked her in awe.

She just shrugged and stood up. "Isolde? Where are you?"

A woman dressed in rags a few hundred yards away down the road shouted out. "Mother!" The little girl cried and ran off to the woman. I smiled as she waved before picking up my basket of eggs and going home, puzzling over the girl's magical abilities.

The third time I saw magic was when I was fifteen. In those nine years since I'd first seen a fairy I'd searched persistently for some sign of one or any type of magic. I had given up on fifteenth birthday, then, almost a year later magic changed my life completely. I was in the woods, high up in one of the trees, eating a plum I'd picked earlier, when two odd men walked past beneath me. They stopped underneath the tree I was sitting in and one of them brought out a smooth stick from under his robes, he glanced around shiftily before waving it in the air. At the time, I'd thought he looked ridiculous. He said a word I'd never heard of before and pointed his stick at a rock. The rock turned into a bench. I almost fell out of my tree in shock. Almost. I definitely let out a small yelp. Fortunately, the two men didn't seem to notice, they sat down and started to chat, "Do you think we're close?"

"Yes, can't you feel it? I can sense her"

At that I almost fell out of my tree again. I was sure they were talking about me.

"I can smell muggles, if that's what you mean"

"No, no, no, I can feel her magic"

I got lost at the word, "muggles" but when they started talking about magic I perked up a little and started to pay more attention although slightly disappointed they weren't talking about me- I didn't have magic!. One of the men had long golden hair and a scruffy beard, the other had black hair and sharper features with a neater shaven beard. They both couldn't have been more than twenty summers old. The black haired man scoffed at his companion and took a swig from a pouch around his neck, "You think we'll be there by nightfall?"

"Certain of it," replied the man with the golden hair, "Forgive me for dragging you all this way, Salazar"

"No, my friend, it's my pleasure and it's all for the sake of our dream, tis it not?"

The golden haired man grinned and the men stood, waved their sticks to make the bench disappear and strode off in the general direction of our cottage which was not an hour away. By then I was curious, so I climbed down from my perch and examined the rock that had moments ago been a bench. Then I decided to follow them. It wasn't hard to track the men down, they left an obvious path. I was always more cautious, making sure I had a light tread. I followed the path they made, keeping always a few yards behind until, an hour or so later, they reached my garden wall. I hid behind a large oak tree and watched them carefully, "Here already"

"Yes, faster than I'd thought"

"Are you ready?" asked Salazar but he didn't wait for an answer; they both disappeared with a crack. I almost ran out but I caught myself just in time. They were now in my garden, striding towards the cottage. A horrible thought crossed my mind at that point, they knew magic. They were powerful. They were dangerous. And they were heading right for my home and my family. I did the only thing I could think to do, "Stop!"

They both turned in surprise to see me peering over the wall, "Stop!" I cried again and gave them my most menacing glare.

They glanced at each other and started murmur quietly. Then they started to move towards me, quickly. I backed away from the wall towards the oak tree. Crack. They disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the wall. I suddenly realised what a stupid decision I'd made to get them away from the cottage, now they were coming after me. For a moment I stared at them, terrified. And then I ran. Stumbling through the trees and tripping on the roots, the woods rushed past me at increasing speed, "Helga!"

One of them had shouted my name, "Helga!"

My heart thumped in my ears, I'd never seen them before in my life and they knew my name. I heard a loud crack from behind but I carried on running, desperate to get away. And then the black haired man was in front of me, "Stop." he said sternly.

I just shrieked and swerved, carrying on running. And then I realised I was now running in the direction of the stream, I turned again. I saw the root, I just didn't stop running- I couldn't. I shut my eyes waiting for my foot to catch, to hit the ground. But I didn't, it was like the root had disappeared, I didn't question it. I didn't have time. I was just thankful. There was another crack and the golden haired man caught my wrists as fast as lightening. I breathed heavily just staring at him, his scarred hands tightly clenched around my thin wrists, he was panting too but he managed to shout, "Salazar! I've got her!"

Another crack and Salazar appeared also panting, "She's a quick one"

I scowled my breathing back under control, "What do you want?" I hissed with as much venom as I could although I was trembling on the inside.

"Are you Helga Hufflepuff?" Salazar asked.

I narrowed my eyes and repeated my question, "What do you want?"

"We don't want to hurt you" answered the golden haired man.

"Or your family" Salazar added.

"We've come an awful long way to find you- if you are Helga Hufflepuff."

"She is, Godric, she fits the description"

"We want you to help us with your magic"

I gulped. "I don't have any magic"

At that they both laughed, "So the trees just parted for you by themselves?"

"The trees didn't-" I started but then I realised I hadn't had to dodge any and the root, it had disappeared as if by magic.

The two men looked at me smugly and Godric released my wrists. I dropped my arms to my side awkwardly. Then Salazar looked shocked, "So you never knew you were magical? Did your family think you were a squib or something?"

"A what?" I asked.

Godric intervened, "Salazar, we knew that she might have been from muggle birth"

Salazar frowned but said nothing more.

"Why do you want me?" I questioned Godric.

"A friend back home, Rowena, made a prophecy. There were four people in it, Salazar, Rowena and I. And you. So we've come to fetch you"

"What happened in the prophecy?"

At this question both men's eyes lit up and Salazar answered proudly, "We built a school of magic"

Those six words filled me up and made my heart beat faster, "That sounds wonderful" I whispered.

Now I'm five and twenty summers old and I teach children magic...