Summary: Eleven-year old Talley Rose McKay and her little brother Ben are orphans, both born with powers no one else has. The only memory Talley has of the night their parents died is of a flash of green light and a baby crying, nothing more. But on the day of Talley's eleventh birthday, a strange man with a long white beard comes to visit them at the orphanage and says that he's come to take them both to a very special place called Hogwarts, a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Soon after they meet the famous wizard Harry Potter, and their lives change forever.
*the first book in the Changing Draco Malfoy series*
Chapter One: Birthday Surprise
"Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to youuuuuuuuu!"
Newly eleven-year-old Talley Rose McKay grinned broadly as the chocolate cake she'd helped Sister Nancy bake earlier that morning was put in front of her.
"Blow out the candles!" her ten-year old little brother Benjamin exclaimed happily, jumping up and down on the bench beside her. "Make a wish!"
She leaned forward, grateful her shoulder-length brown curls were being held back by her blue headband so they wouldn't catch fire, and closed her eyes, wishing again for the sixth year in a row the same thing she always wished for.
I wish for a family, and a place to call home.
Later that day, after unwrapping the customary one gift from the Nuns of Saint Anne's Orphanage, Talley sat on her metal-framed bed and admired the new school knapsack she'd gotten.
It was the most beautiful gift she'd ever received; made with tan-coloured canvas fabric with the letters of her name sewn beautifully in blue on the front flap, and big enough to put things in for when she and Ben went out adventuring. Though she was grateful for the gift (the Nuns always took special care in choosing a birthday gift for each child) she felt a pang of sadness and guilt slice through her heart at the fact that this had not been a gift from the family she didn't have.
The Nuns had been trying to get her and Ben adopted for years, but all the families had been too freaked out when strange things began to happen after taking in the siblings. You see, Talley and her brother weren't exactly ordinary children. They could do things children shouldn't be able to do and that scared a lot of prospective families away from even thinking about adopting them. But it wasn't their fault, they couldn't control the things that happened, it was just how they were.
Talley sighed, forcing a smile on her face when Ben came bouncing into the room like a kid in a candy store.
"Talley! Talley! Guess what? Guesswhat?"
She giggled. "What? What is it?"
"Sister Nancy says someone's here to see us! We might get a new family today, Talley, how great is that? And on your birthday, too!"
She grinned for real this time. That was great. The greatest bloody news she'd heard all day. "Well, who is it? D'you know?" she asked him, jumping up from the bed to straighten her clothes and clean up the room a bit.
Ben shook his head as she fussed over the wrinkles in his blue striped rugby shirt. "I didn't see who it was, but I heard the bloke's voice. He asked specifically for us."
Excitement rushed through her veins, making her heart pound a mile a minute against her chest, and she bent down to tie Ben's shoelace, straightening just in time for the door of their shared room to open.
An elderly man with a long white beard, bright blue eyes hidden behind crescent moon spectacles, and the strangest clothes they'd ever seen stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
"Hullo," he said brightly, noticing their shocked expressions. "Are you Talley and Ben McKay, perhaps?"
Talley stared at the man for a moment before nodding.
"Good, good." He stepped forward, eyes twinkling. "My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore, and I'm very pleased to meet you both."
"Hi," both Talley and Ben said, too shocked to say anything else.
"Talley, you turned eleven today, is that right?" Dumbledore asked, and she nodded. "July thirty-first, a very special day indeed." He crossed the room to sit down on Talley's bed and grinned, motioning for them to join him. He clapped his hands. "Now, I want to ask you both a very important question, is that alright?"
"Sure," Talley said with a nod, and the next thing he said shocked her to her core.
"Can you do things the other children can't?"
"Wha-what?" she stammered, eyes going wide. "What d'you mean?"
Dumbledore chuckled softly. "This is what I mean." He stared hard at Ben's bed and the next thing they knew his bed was making itself, an invisible force fluffing her brother's pillow and folding the blanket.
Talley yelped in surprise, almost tumbling off the bed. She stared at Dumbledore in shock. "How did you do that?" she breathed.
"With magic," he told them. "Just like when you turned Sister Nancy's asparagus into a frog because you didn't like it. And just like when Ben here got so angry he turned one of the children's hair pink when they were making fun of him. I can do things other people can't either, and that makes all three of us special, wouldn't you say?"
"Special?" Ben said. "How can we be special?"
"Because, Ben, you are a warlock, just like I am, and your sister Talley is a witch."
"Magic? Witches? Warlocks?" Talley shook her head. "There's no such thing. It's not possible."
"How can there be no such thing when I just showed you it was possible?" Dumbledore asked with a wink. "Hmm?"
Talley's jaw popped open and her words stuck in her throat; she couldn't think of how to respond.
He chuckled again, pulling something from the pocket of his robes, and handed it to her. "Here, maybe this will help."
With trembling hands she took the letter that was addressed to Talley Rose McKay, Saint Anne's Orphanage, Glasgow, Second floor, Third room on the right. She sucked in a breath, turning over the letter and ripping it open. She read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, and Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards.)
Dear Ms. McKay,
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
She fell silent for a few minutes, shocked, then finally looked up into twinkling blue eyes. "So I'm a witch?" she asked.
"Yes," Dumbledore said with a nod. "And Ben is a warlock."
"Are you here to take Talley away to Hogwarts?" Ben asked, his voice trembling, and Talley could see the tears brimming in her little brother's eyes.
"I am," Dumbledore told him. "In fact, I'm here to take both of you. I wouldn't dare separate the both of you." He turned his eyes on her. "So, Talley, would you like to find your family?"
Hope surged through Talley's body at the word. "Family?"
"At Hogwarts we treat everyone like family. Would you like to come?"
"Yes," she said instantly, not even pausing to think about it. "I would love to come to Hogwarts."
Dumbledore smiled an ear-to-ear grin. "Excellent! Now, why don't the both of you get packed? And hurry, we've got to get going if we want to make it to Diagon Alley to fetch your school things."
It honestly wouldn't have mattered if they'd hurried or not, because twenty minutes later Talley, Ben, and Dumbledore were suddenly standing in a crowded pub-though how, Talley didn't know, and she didn't question it either.
"Where are we?" Ben asked as Dumbledore steered them in the direction of stairs leading to the second floor of the pub.
"Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron in London," he told them with a grin, and Talley's jaw dropped.
"London? As in Great Britain London?" The Professor nodded. "How did we get to London when we were just in Scotland? In Glasgow?"
"Magic," Dumbledore chuckled, winking at them both. A second later they stopped in front a door and he knocked, the door swinging open to reveal what literally had to be a giant.
The giant was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed in the tiny room, and so wild-long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. He also wore a huge moleskin overcoat with many pockets.
"Professor Dumbledore!" the giant exclaimed happily. "Good ta see yah!"
"How lovely to see you again, as well, Hagrid. I've brought two extra guests to join you on your trip into Diagon Alley. Talley, Ben, this is Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
Hagrid's eyes widened at the notice of Ben, and widened even more at the sight of Talley. "Is she really-" Dumbledore held up a hand, cutting him off, and Hagrid blushed. "Sorry, Professor."
"Quite alright. Did you manage to find Harry?"
Hagrid beamed. "I did."
"Good." He pulled what looked to be another letter out of his robe pocket and handed it to the giant. "Please give this to the head Goblin when you go to Gringotts, Hagrid. I need you to get something from a certain vault for me."
Bushy eyebrows raised and Hagrid nodded, stuffing the envelope into his pocket. "Yus, sir, Professor. You can count on me."
"Now, I've got business to attend to back at Hogwarts, so I'll leave Ben and Talley with you to get their school things. I've already spoken with Tom about giving them both a room, so when you're done bring them both back here."
"Can do, Professor," Hagrid rumbled, grinning.
"I'll be seeing you both at Hogwarts come September 1st," Dumbledore told Ben and Talley, blue eyes twinkling, and the next thing they knew he was gone, a loud crack reverberating in the empty hallway.
"What was that sound?" a voice asked, and all of a sudden a boy with messy black hair, striking green eyes, and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead popped out from behind Hagrid.