Summary: All Alex Ratcliff wanted to do was dance. However, weird things happen when she does, like flickering lights…and exploding ones. When her guardian invites an old friend to explain these strange happenings, Alex learns more about her past and herself than she ever expected. Follow Alex as she learns magic and tries to keep her secret: she was with Harry that fateful Halloween night.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters created by the extremely talented J.K. Rowling. I only own the characters and plot lines you don't recognize from the original story.

Rating: T (only because I'm paranoid about the language used throughout the story)

Warnings: This is an AU story so if you don't like that, that's totally fine! This story may not be for you though. Also, throughout the story there is some stronger language. Nothing too horrible but there will be a couple F-bombs. I'll be sure to warn you ahead of time in case people are offended by strong language.

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all the fans who messaged me asking for updates. This whole edit is because of you all. I hope you enjoy the edited version of this story!

Chapter 1 Magical Mystery Tour

When the music started, the magic began.

Moving to the beat, she felt her blood begin to pound. Muscles stretching to their limit, she jumped and turned and flew around the small practice room. It was as though her body was humming to the tune of the song. As the music filled her up, she knew that the movements she was performing weren't ones she had been taught for this song. She should have stopped but the music kept going; therefore, so did she. The moves seemed to come from somewhere inside her but her mind didn't dwell on the matter. All that she cared about was dancing until the end. The music stopped as she struck her final pose, panting slightly and grinning.

Then the light above her exploded.

"Oh my God!" shouted a woman in her mid-thirties, rushing over to the young girl who, luckily, leapt away before the glass could hurt her. "Alex, are you all right?"

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine, Ms. Jenny," the girl replied shakily, looking up into the concerned blue eyes of her dance instructor.

"I've told Jane a thousand times to replace these lights before they burn out," the woman called Ms. Jenny growled, pulling Alex's lean form toward her in a hug. "Or maybe," she added with a wry smile, "you danced so beautifully that the light shattered by itself!"

Alex chuckled, returning the hug from her instructor. "Yeah, okay Ms. Jenny."

"Well, we can't continue the lesson with all this glass on the ground. I think its time to stop anyway. Get your stuff and come with me while I call someone in to clean this up."

Nodding, Alex gracefully leapt over the glass and to the safe area by the wall of mirrors, slipping off her ballet shoes. She looked back at the shattered light through the mirror and sighed. She hadn't told Ms. Jenny but this experience was not the first time weird things happened as she danced. Just last week, she had been in a different practice room going through a routine alone when suddenly, the lights above her flickered and surged with electricity. Another time, Alex did a leap and slammed into the opposite wall that was too far away to have been an accident.

Shaking her head, Alex dispelled these thoughts. The lights were just faulty and the wall was closer than she had anticipated. She often forgot the world around her when she got caught up in dancing and didn't notice things like people…or walls, apparently.

Alex instead focused on the reflection before her. A ten-year-old girl stared back at her. The black leotard she wore revealed her slim yet muscular form that was still growing into her long limbs and large feet. Long, thick black hair was pulled back in a ballerina bun but a few stray strands had come loose and fallen in her olive-toned face. Her stormy grey eyes looked back at her with a gleam of adrenaline from the exercise.

Unconsciously, she rubbed her arm and let her fingers run over the familiar scar on her right upper arm. Alex had it for as long as she could remember, the result of a car crash that killed her parents. It was a rather strange scar, as it appeared to be in the shape of a lightning bolt. Normally, Alex kept her upper arms covered because she hated having to explain its shape and origin to people. However, it was a hot and muggy day in the end of July and Alex knew anything with sleeves would just make her sweat even more than she was already.

"Alex? Everything all right?" Ms. Jenny called from the doorway, pushing strands of her dirty blonde hair out of her long face.

"Yeah, I'm coming now," Alex replied, grabbing her stuff and leaving the room to walk to Ms. Jenny's office. The office was covered with ballet show posters from when Ms. Jenny had been a ballerina herself. While Alex's instructor had never been a prima ballerina, she had been in the Royal Ballet for years. Alex's eyes drifted across the posters and she felt the familiar longing in her chest and pain of disappointment.

"Next year," said Ms. Jenny softly, causing Alex to look over at her instructor. "Next year, we'll convince your uncle to let you go to White Lodge."

"But I'll be a full year behind! Will they even accept me?" Alex asked, throwing her bag on the ground and dropping into a chair. "It's not fair, you know. Uncle Monty is just going to send me to the local secondary school. He says I need to focus on my education but the Royal Ballet School has a great academic program!"

"I may not agree with his decision, Alex. You know I don't," said the woman with a frown. "I called the man enough times to tell him so but during those conversations, I learned that he really feels that he's doing the right thing for you. He loves you like he's your family."

"But he's not, not really anyway! He's not my father, no matter how much he thinks he is or—"

"Alex…" Ms. Jenny warned and Alex let out a huff, crossing her arms and glaring at the wall. "I don't want this to come between you and your guardian. Don't let your anger now make you say stuff that you'll regret later. We'll train and we'll try again. Don't forget that there's always Covent Garden when you're sixteen. I'm not going to give up on you so don't worry, okay?"

"Okay," said Alex grudgingly. She stood up and picked up her bag as she looked for her shorts to put on over her leotard as well as her sneakers. Sighing, she felt her anger that had flared up so quickly die out just as fast, leaving behind the sadness. "I do love Uncle Monty, really I do. I'm sorry I said those things. I'm just still upset because he doesn't understand how much I love dancing. I think he thinks it's still a hobby for me but it's something I love with all my heart. When I dance, I feel like the part of me that's missing from my normal life is there."

"I know," Ms. Jenny said with a smile. "We'll keep working on convincing that tough old Irishman. Now, you better get home before it gets dark. Do you need a lift?"

"No thanks, I think I need the walk anyway. I need to clear my head and calm down before I get inside my home. Will I see you tomorrow, Ms. Jenny?"

"Take the day off, Alex. Give your muscles a break and a chance for us to fix that light."

Alex nodded and left the office with a wave. Once outside, the muggy air assaulted her face like a wave on a beach. Pushing those unruly strands off her face, Alex shouldered her bag and made her way through the village. It wasn't a large village or particularly memorable. Its biggest draw was that Stonehenge was a thirty-minute drive away. Alex preferred the longer trip to the city of Oxford personally but that was more because her Uncle Monty had taken her there when she first came to live with him five years ago. He had spent the trip poking fun at the Oxford dons and telling her stories of famous Englishmen who had gone to the university long ago.

She couldn't help smiling as she recalled that day before the expression faltered. Alex couldn't help the anger and sadness that she still felt. It had been months since her guardian put his foot down and said that he would not allow her to apply for the Royal Ballet School. That was the first time the two of them had argued that fiercely and things were still very awkward in the home. For a whole month, Alex refused to speak to her uncle (the month that she had been grounded) and only started speaking after she realized silence wouldn't solve any of their problems.

Before the huge fight, Alex and her Uncle Monty had gotten along very well and had been thick as thieves. When Alex's grandparents died very suddenly, she had no family left to look after her. Uncle Monty really wasn't her uncle but one of her mum's good friends. He was unmarried, childless, and looking for company. He agreed to become her legal guardian. Life was different with her uncle, and not just because she had moved from a farm in America to a manor in the English countryside. Uncle Monty worked at a bank and was gone for most of the day. He also was a terrible cook and had a woman hired to cook for him. Alex put a stop to this situation two years ago by reading cookbooks at the local library and becoming the honorary chief of the family as soon as she could see over the top of the stove. Their house was large and had been in Uncle Monty's family for generations. Despite this, he kept the house clean and dust free. Alex never understood how but didn't question it. If she could cook all the meals, the least he could do was keep the house clean.

Alex waved to people as she walked, knowing practically everyone the village. The local kids shouted her name as they rushed by on their bikes, wanting to know if she was coming to the playground later after dinner. She declined, having promised her best friend Erin Malloy that they'd hang out that evening. Slowly, the buildings became fewer and farther between and Alex found herself outside a gated estate. A long time ago, it was a wealthy landowner's home. However, the grounds were now overgrown and the house dilapidated. It seemed that the owners had long abandoned the place. Alex leaned her head against the rusting bars and stared up at the house as her mind drifted back to practice and the shattered light. It was just so strange how that kind of stuff seemed to happen so often with her…

As she thought, her fingers traveled to the necklace that hung around her neck and had been tucked into her leotard. Pulling it out, she looked down at the heart-shaped locket in the palm of her hand. She ran her thumb over the outside before pulling it open to see the pictures of her parents. Alex looked exactly like her mother with the Italian skin and hair. With a name like Alana Tortelli, it was clear were Alex got her Italian heritage from. Her father, David Ratcliff, was a handsome blonde man with blue-grey eyes. While her eyes weren't the exact same color as her father's, Alex liked to think that she got her strange-colored eyes from his side of the family.

The sound of wood snapping caused Alex to start and look around. It seemed to come from the woods that surrounded the estate on the other side of the gate. Was someone in there? Had some of the older kids decided to go into the mansion on a dare? Testing the gate, it opened without any problems. Curiosity overcoming any fear or anxiety, Alex walked through quietly and strained her ears and eyes for the slightest sound or movement. Then, all of a sudden, she heard a noise to her left. She turned and saw a bush moving in front of her. Quietly as she could, she moved towards the movement, picking up a stick to use in defense. The thing jumped out and Alex leapt back while letting out a small yell, stick raised to strike.

It was just a rabbit.

Laughing at her stupidity, Alex threw her stick away and the noise caused the rabbit to take off. She turned and made her way back to where she came in. Of course it wasn't the kids acting up. She had seen a bunch of them heading to the playground. Besides, who'd want to go up to that dump anyway? As Alex closed the gate behind her, she looked up and gasped. Leaning against a tree, a boy with sleek blond hair and a pinched, sickly looking face was sneering at her.

"Well, what do we have here?" he said, still sneering.

Alex stood, still too shocked to speak. She didn't recognize him from the village. Tourist maybe? The boy started walking over to the gate, making Alex back away. She finally got control over herself.

"W-Who are you?" she asked, clearing her throat. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," he said in a mocking tone.

"Yeah, and I live in Buckingham Palace," said Alex with a frown, calming down once she realized the boy was real and not a ghost or anything else creepy. "Just look at that place, it's falling apart! No one lives there. Seriously, you should get away before you hurt yourself. And…what's that you're wearing anyway?" She just noticed that the boy was wearing jean cut-offs with a bright orange polo that looked like a dress on him. On his feet were black sandals with one white tennis sock and one black one.

"It's like what you're wearing," he said defensively.

"Uh…no, it's not," Alex said with a chuckle. Not wanting to make the boy more uncomfortable, she continued, "Anyway, you still haven't explained why you were hiding out in the bushes. You gave me quite a fright, you know."

"It's my house and I can do whatever I want," the boy said with a sulky frown.

"Oh right, I forgot this is "your house", please forgive me," said Alex with a hint of sarcasm and a grin.

"Where do you live?" asked the boy, shoving his hands in his pockets after pulling his shirt out of the way.

"Just up the road a little further," Alex replied, pointing away from the village. "My uncle and I live there together." She was quickly able to see that this boy wasn't dangerous and she was close enough to her house that she could run there if he did suddenly become dangerous. Looking at the boy, Alex could tell he was just lonely.

"Where are your parents?" the boy asked and Alex flinched at the dreaded question.

"They died when I was a baby."

"Oh." The boy looked down at his feet and kicked a small rock away from him. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't kill them," offered Alex with a small smile. "Some drunk driver slammed into their car one night."

"Oh…er, right," the boy said, looking confused for a moment but before Alex could comment, he continued, "So if you live outside the village, why are you coming from there?"

"My dance school is down there. I've been dancing ballet since I came to England."

"You're not from England?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?" Alex asked with a laugh. "It's kind of complicated. My parents were English but my mum's parents moved to America while my mum and her sister were in university. When my parents died, I went to live with them. They passed away suddenly so I was shipped back here."

"Do you miss it? America, I mean," he asked, walking closer to the gate but still a safe distance away from it.

Alex raised an eyebrow and shifted the bag to her other shoulder. She didn't feel comfortable talking about her past and her dead grandparents with a boy she had just met, lonely or not. "That's a rather personal question for only having just met me," she said slowly. "I'll tell you what, though: I don't have class tomorrow so we could go to the playground."

"I…I dunno," the boy replied, looking back at the house anxiously. "My parents don't let me go into the village. I probably shouldn't even be talking to you. They wouldn't like me talking to someone like you."

"What, a girl?" asked Alex in a joking tone. However, seeing the boy's concern, she quickly became serious and walked closer to the gate. "You mean that you've never left these grounds before?" He shook his head and Alex straightened up to her full height as she continued, "Then it's settled. I'll come back tomorrow at two and we'll have adventures. Can you sneak away from your parents for a few hours?"

"Yeah, my father is working and my mother's planning on meeting family. I can pretend to be sick and stay home for the day," the boy replied with a sly smile.

"Great, I'll meet you here tomorrow then. Oh, I don't think I ever introduced myself," said Alex with a chuckle. Extending her hand through the gate she said, "Alexandria Ratcliff, but you can call me Alex."

"Draco Malfoy, at your service," the blonde said, shaking her hand.

"That's a cool name," remarked Alex. "Tomorrow, I'll have to ask where it came from. However, I should head home before my uncle worries. Good-bye Draco and it was nice to meet you!"

"Likewise," Draco said quietly with a wave as Alex grinned back and took off down the road.

Alex soon reached her own home and saw her uncle's car parked in the garage. Unlocking the front door, she threw her bag in a corner and rushed into the kitchen. Sitting at the table with a paper in his face was her adopted uncle, Elian Montgomery. Her guardian lowered the paper, revealing a gentleman in his mid-forties with thinning and greying auburn hair and sparkling green eyes flecked with gold. He was still roguishly handsome despite his age and threw her a crooked smile as he folded the paper up.

"I was getting worried that you wouldn't come home," her uncle said in his calming, soft tone.

"Sorry, I did get out early but I ran into someone along the way," returned Alex, going to the stove and turning it on. Moving about the kitchen with practiced ease, she got out pots and pans.

"Since when does Ms. Jenny let you out early? I thought she'd be cracking the whip harder than ever because…"

"Because I'll be a year behind the others at White Garden?" Alex supplied, unable to keep the bitter tone out. Sighing, she turned to her guardian. "I'm sorry, I don't want to argue about that anymore. What's done is done and Ms. Jenny said she won't give up on me so I'm not going to be upset about it anymore. I'm sorry that I've been so horrid to you, Uncle Monty. I know you're only doing this because you love me."

"I do love you, Alex." Uncle Monty stood up and embraced the girl. "I may not be your blood relative but I love you just like they did. It may not seem like it now, but I know you'll understand that I know what I'm doing." He kissed the top of her head and patted her arm as he asked, "So, what's for dinner tonight?"

"Grilled chicken and potato salad with asparagus sautéed in olive oil. I whipped up the potato salad this morning before going to practice and the chicken shouldn't take too long to grill. The vegetables will be quick too."

"Sounds delicious!" her uncle said, patting his stomach as he went back to his paper. "Why did Ms. Jenny let you out early today, by the way?"

"There was an accident at the studio…" Alex stated slowly. She heard the paper crinkle and knew her uncle had put it down to stare at her. "I was dancing and the light blew out. Glass got everywhere so we couldn't use it anymore and it was near the end of the practice anyway so she sent me home."

"Oh my…Alex, did you get hurt?" her uncle asked, getting to his feet and coming over to look at her carefully.

"No, I leapt away before the glass could come down on me. Honestly, I'm fine. It just freaked us out, that's all." Alex turned away to go to the refrigerator and pulled out the chicken cutlets.

"This isn't the first time that this has happened, is it Alex?"

Alex froze, chicken in hand, and turned around to face her guardian. "How…?"

"You wouldn't be so worried if it was just a freak accident. Shaken up, obviously, but not as frightened as you look now," Uncle Monty explained. "When you dance, do you feel a buzzing sensation throughout your body? Like all your nerve endings are on fire and hypersensitive? Is it like a part of you that you've been missing is finally there?"

Alex could only gape at her uncle in utter shock. "I…yes! It's like my whole body comes alive and nothing else matters. I'm free and…and…"

"Powerful?"

"Yeah!" Alex laughed, looking at her guardian. "You do understand what it feels like. I thought you didn't know how much it meant to be, but you do get it."

"I do understand, Alex," he replied with a sad smile. "I know exactly what you're going through right now. I also know that what you are feeling is why you can't go to the Royal Ballet School. Now, don't interrupt," said Uncle Monty, holding up his hand when Alex started to speak. "I have to talk to some people but I promise by tomorrow night, all will be explained. I think it's time you met a friend of mine."

Her guardian kissed the top of her head hurriedly before rushing off, most likely to his office. Alex was left holding the raw chicken and feeling very confused. Knowing that her uncle would explain in his own time and nothing she said or did could change that, she resigned herself to going about preparing dinner.

Author's Note: Hello readers! I am so excited to be publishing this edited version of my story. I've spent a lot of time going through all my versions of the books and figuring out what should be added and taken out. I love my characters and really wanted to make them even better for you all. I'd love to hear what you think! Constructive criticism is more than welcome, so long as it's not flames. If you really hate something, tell me why you hate it! Leave your thoughts in the lovely review box below! Thank you again to everyone for supporting this series and asking for me to post more chapters. Although this may not have been what you had in mind when you asked me to update, I hope you still enjoyed it. :D