Chapter 1: Owl Post

"Mum! I think Uncle Harry has written to us!" Dalia Dursley shouted up the stairs.

A large brown owl was sitting on the kitchen counter, an envelope clutched in its beak. It wasn't unusual for an owl to sail in through the Dursley windows on holidays or on one of the Dursley children's birthdays. Dalia's uncle Harry kept trained owls that delivered letters and packages for his family. However, it was the middle of summer, there were no family birthdays, and no holidays were looming.

Dalia knew that her uncle Harry, who was actually her father's cousin but who she'd always called uncle, was raised with her father. She saw him a few times a year, normally at holidays. Harry and his wife, Ginny, were some of Dalia's only extended family. Her father and mother were both only children and her mother's parents had died before Dalia was born.

Harry and Ginny Potter didn't spend a lot of time with the Dursleys but they were perfectly nice and usually sent truly remarkable gifts. However, Dalia suspected that some sort of rift had developed between the Potters and the Dursleys lately. The gifts she'd gotten recently had been quite ordinary. On her last birthday, Dalia received a carved stone chess set. She liked it a lot but nobody in her house played chess so all she could do was examine the pieces and set-up the board.

In fact, all of the remarkable things the Potters had sent in previous years seemed to have disappeared from the house. Dalia's parents had used the same instant boiling tea kettle every morning for years after receiving it from the Potters as a wedding gift but it was gone now, replaced with a slower electric model. Gone too were some unusual children's toys, a framed picture that was actually a sort of interactive video of its subjects, a brass door knocker that must have had a motion sensor because it knocked automatically when anyone approached the door, and a fireplace poker that regularly prodded dying fires back to life.

Karen Dursley descended the stairs. She was a tall, lanky woman with long, wavy dark hair and dark blue eyes. Her daughter, Dalia, looked remarkably like her, though Dalia normally wore her hair in a long plait. "Where is the owl?" asked Dalia's mother matter-of-factly.

Dalia pointed into the kitchen and then followed her mother as she approached the owl. "Can I get it? I think I'm old enough now."

"Now Dalia, I don't even let Derrick or Dougie get owl post. Wild birds can carry disease, they can attack, you don't know."

"It's not wild. It's trained."

Karen ignored the protest as she gingerly tugged the envelope from the animal's beak. Free of its letter, the owl soared out the window. Dalia thought this a little strange. Normally, the owls waited for some kind of response which they delivered back to the Potters. Perhaps this one had simply gone out for a nibble and would be back.

Karen read the address on the envelope and held it out for Dalia, "It's for you. I don't recognize the writing. I'll bet it's your cousin Lily saying hello. "

Dalia was suspicious of this. Her cousin, Lily Potter, who was Dalia's age had never written to her before. Dalia took the envelope anyway and looked at the address which was written in shiny purple ink. It said:

Miss Dalia Dursley

The Kitchen

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging, Surrey

She opened it and read:

Dear Miss Dursley,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September, We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely,
Filius Flitwick
Deputy Headmaster, Hogwarts

Dalia leaned against the back door holding her letter and envelope, uncertain about what to think when a second page fell out. Dalia reached down to pick it up and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' 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
Comprehensive Magical History Vol. I by Hermione Granger-Weasley
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic 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
wand
cauldron (pewter, standard size 2, standard thickness 5)
set glass or crystal phials
telescope set
brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad OR a rat

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.

Dalia stood there, her mouth hanging open a bit. Was this a joke? James, Harry's oldest son, liked to play jokes. Perhaps it was he who had written his younger cousin. It did seem a bit ridiculous—a school of witchcraft and wizardry? Karen, who had taken a cake from the oven, asked "Did Lily try to grow a giant pumpkin again this year?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly.

"Well, what does she say, sweetie?" Karen said, absentmindedly as she prodded the cake to check for doneness.

"It's just some joke of James.' It says I'm invited to attend a school for magicians."

It was a very pathetic joke and Dalia was about to crumple the papers and put them into the rubbish bin when Karen tore the pages from her daughter's hand. Karen looked at the papers for all of 10 seconds before hurriedly taking the phone off the hook, dialing her husband's work phone number and telling him "Dalia's got an owl post."

In 30 minutes Dudley Dursley was home, sitting at the kitchen table, peering at his daughter's letter. Dalia didn't understand why they were making such a big deal but she sat and waited for her father to finish looking at the letter. Her father, after reading the pages, cleared his throat and said "Your uncle Harry got a letter like this when he was your age. I never saw it. Grandpa insisted that we ignore it," Dudley chuckled a little at the thought.

"Uncle Harry?" It didn't make any sense.

"The thing is...well, the thing is that this school...it's real."

"You're saying that I am invited to a school for magicians?"

"Not magicians. These aren't show people. They're wizards," and then throwing caution to the wind he blurted out "like Harry."

Dalia sat there stunned and confused. She didn't know what was going on and couldn't understand why her father's face was so grave.

"This school is where magical people go to learn how to use their powers. Your cousins, James and Al, attend this school—this, Hogwarts." he said, carefully pronouncing the last word as though he had never uttered it in his life.

Dudley sighed and his eyes darted around as they did whenever he was trying to decide how to explain something. "You know that Harry's family is a bit unusual?" Dudley asked, as though trying to make a point.

Dalia thought about it. The Potters didn't have a telephone or a computer for email. All of the communications between the Dursleys and the Potters had been sent by owl. In fact, Dalia had never even seen their car. She vaguely remembered seeing them one Christmas and asking how they had arrived. "By magic." Harry had joked.

She nodded, hesitantly.

"I suppose I should have told you this before. I meant to, of course, but then we got that letter and the stakes changed," he turned to his wife. "Do we still have it, Karen?"

"Yes, I set it aside. Does this mean...? I mean she's still so young."

"She's 11. I should have known. I should have remembered. Where is it? I think she should read it."

Dalia wasn't sure what to think. She wanted them to stop speaking so cryptically but didn't dare interrupt her parents' strange conversation, afraid of what they might tell her next.

Karen retrieved an envelope from upstairs and pressed it into her husband's enormous hands. "This should help you understand," he said, handing it over to Dalia who read:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,

Although you are muggles, that is to say non-magical people, past dealings with the Ministry of Magic have left you aware of the existence of Magical society. It is my duty and pleasure to inform you of magical abilities in your daughter, Dalia.

In the past, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has allowed this magic to go on unchecked until children were of age to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While this continues to be the case, we have begun alerting muggle families early on concerning their children's emerging magical talents.

You may or may not be aware of the wizarding law prohibiting the use of magic by minor children. In magical households, the duty of policing magic use in children falls upon parents who are themselves magical. However, monitoring magic use by wizard children born to muggle parents is a duty that falls upon the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. Once children begin their magical education, they will be prohibited from performing magic in front of muggles while underage.

While it is perfectly normal for wizard children to accidentally perform magic before beginning their education, magical ability can sometimes be honed to bully others or gain unnatural advantages in muggle society. Your child is likely unaware of the burgeoning magic within her and, if this is the case, it is best to neither encourage nor discourage its use. Although it is extremely rare, some wizards are able to control and wield magic to great effect before their education has commenced. If you are concerned that your child's magic use is a danger to herself or others, our Muggle Liaison Intervention officer can be dispatched to help gain control of the situation.

It is also important to note that the Ministry of Magic has detected a number of magical items in your home. These items could become unstable around your child without an adult witch or wizard's magical control. It is advised that, until your child's magical education has begun, these items be either discarded or stored away a considerable distance from your home. This action is suggested for your and others' safety.

Yours Sincerely,

Percy Weasley

Muggle Liason Office

Ministry of Magic

"Muggles?"

"People who aren't magic. Like your mother and I," her father explained.

"And Uncle Harry is..."

"A wizard, yes. Aunt Ginny and Lily are witches and the boys are wizards."

"But Derrick and Dougie aren't. They're ..." she used her new vocabulary word "muggles."

"Correct. But you don't have to have magical family to be a witch or wizard. And having magical family doesn't necessarily mean you'll be magical yourself. However, my aunt Lily, Grandma's sister, was a witch." Dudley explained.

"And Grandma's not?"

"Definitely not."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I don't really know. I grew up being afraid of magic. Grandma wasn't very happy when she realized that Harry was magical, like her sister."

"But if her sister was a witch…"

"It's complicated," her father exhaled slowly, took a fresh breath and continued "When she was a girl, Grandma was a little jealous of her sister. But after a while she stopped being jealous and started hating the magical world. You can imagine how she felt. Her sister was off on an adventure and she was left alone in the muggle world.

When Lily died and Harry came to live with us, she refused to believe in magic, even though Harry was bursting with it. Harry had a bit of a hard time and, I'm sorry to say, I was hard on him myself. I didn't understand everything. I still don't but I do know that if you are magic, there's not much we can do about it except let you learn how to use it properly. I suppose that's why you've been invited to attend this school." Dudley finished.

Dalia scanned the letter in her hands, still trying to make sense of it all. "So, Mum's favorite kettle?"

"Locked away in a storage unit on the other end of town, along with all of the magical gifts we've gotten from Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny over the years. That's why they only ever send muggle things now."

"But magic? I didn't even know magic actually existed and they think I'm magic. It's not like everything goes my way. If I were magic, you'd think it would. I just don't see how I could be."

Dalia considered her life so far. It was a series of moves, a succession of new and abandoned friendships. She did alright in school but was never top in her class. She was never top in sports like her brothers. She was just sort of in the middle. If there were magic flowing from her hands, she'd have been remarkable. Instead, she was just a person who blended into the background—utterly average.

"I don't think you understand about magic," her father spoke in a calm, measured voice. "I'm not an expert by any means but I can tell you that it's not like that. You didn't grow up knowing about it so you don't understand. Magic can be subtle and it can take a long time to learn. That's why they have schools for witches and wizards, like Hogwarts."

"But what if I don't want to go? What if I want to stay here with you and Mum and go to school with Derrick and Dougie?" Dalia was confused. She didn't want to leave home to go off to some school to learn magic. No matter what her father might say on the matter, she still wasn't convinced she was magic.

"I don't think I'm the right person to convince you that you are magic. Maybe it'snot something you'll really understand until you experience real magic. In fact," said Dudley thoughtfully, "How about we go and get some of these supplies?" He indicated the equipment list. "Then you can see what you think."

"I don't know, dear. Are you sure we should? If she doesn't want to go, then I don't see the point in making her," said Karen, hopefully.

Although it sounded like Karen wanted to give her daughter a choice, Dalia wasn't sure it was about leaving the decision up to her. It was clear that to that her mother didn't want her to go away to school. But Dalia wasn't sure if her mother simply wanted to keep her daughter around or if there was some problem with letting her attend a school away from home—and a school for magic no less.

"We won't be forcing her to do anything. We'll just be allowing her to make an informed decision." Dudley said and then added, "We agreed to all of this years ago when we got the letter."

"You're right, of course," Karen's shoulders sunk at this reminding.

Dudley put an arm around his wife. "She'll be alright. She'll have James and Al to look after her. Lily must be starting school this year too, if Dalia's of age. It will be an adventure for her. I must say, I'm a bit jealous myself. When I was her age, I started Smeltings." He seemed to shudder at the thought of his old alma mater.

Then, looking at his daughter, Dudley said "I'll write to Harry and arrange to meet him to see about getting these items on your equipment list. I'm not entirely sure how it's done, just that all of these supplies are found somewhere in London."

Dudley's promise to communicate with Harry was quickly fulfilled. A white owl burst in through the open window with yet another letter. This time the owl really was from the Potters. Ginny apparently knew that Dalia had been invited to attend Hogwarts and was writing to congratulate her and offer help getting Dalia ready for school.

Dudley sent a letter back with this owl who, as usual, waited for a response. Just one more letter arrived by owl that day and it bore a book and instructions on where and how to meet Harry and Ginny Potter so Lily and Dalia could shop for their school things together.

The book that the Potters sent was called Magical Primer: A Guide To Navigating the Magical World for Novices by Hermione Granger-Weasley. A note tucked inside the cover explained that the book was a copy of a manuscript written by a friend of the Potters. The book jacket explained that it contained basic information about the wizarding world and had been enchanted so that only those with magical abilities could read it. Otherwise it looked like a computer manual. This explained why her brothers looked at her with disgust when they came across her reading it with deep interest.

She read through it slowly at first. The pictures, she noticed, looked like the family photo that her parents had put away. The people in them were moving. She read about some of the basics of magic use and about wands. Remembering a wand was an item on her school supply list, she referred back to her Hogwarts letter which she kept tucked inside the front cover. Robes, a pointed hat, and a cauldron-the list read like a Halloween party supply list.

As she read Magical Primer, she was convinced that she could never take it all in. There were just too many facts and her brain didn't seem big enough to hold them all. She merely skimmed through the section called Wizard Descent: Magical Ability as Determined by Two Genes which attempted, through complicated explanations and diagrams, to explain how wizards could be born from muggle parents.

When Dalia got to a section entitled: Wizarding History Basics, she was happy to see that the writing was more like a story and less like a list of facts. She read about how the early magical people had been persecuted by the muggles of their day. Dalia wasn't sure if she believed this. Since these people were magical, she assumed that they should have been able to perform some kind of magic to prevent others from noticing them.

Then she read about how these first magical people hadn't been able to do everything they liked with their powers. They had yet to discover wands, which could focus a wizard's power. Magical spells hadn't been developed and, without standard spells, their magic happened at odd times, not always creating the desired effect.

Unfocused yearnings, such as those that a person might consider during periods of stress, were even less likely to create the desired magical effect. Usually, the witch or wizard was the source of random magic and this made them even more likely to be discovered. So the earliest wizards and witches who found themselves facing inquiries about magical events were unlikely to be able to escape punishments that the muggles might have inflicted. Some died and many were exiled.

Over time, wizards and witches gathered together and studied magical theory. They created standardized spells with reproducible results. They invented wands. By practicing their magic carefully, they learned to control it, even under pressure.

Finally, over fifteen centuries ago, the magical community had gone into hiding when the study of magical theory led to the development of entirely magical lifestyles. Large-scale enchantments and spells were placed on property which enabled magical people to live, for the most part, beyond the notice of muggles. While they had agreed that muggle society was not to be disturbed, and created laws and governing bodies to oversee the magical community, they realized that they could not avoid muggles entirely. Instead, they agreed to learn to act like them when in their company. This was mandated by wizarding law.

By the time the muggle world was caught-up in witch hunts in the 15th century, the real witches and wizards had long since been hidden away and sufficiently able to avoid prosecution.

Dalia's reading had been disturbed several times by her brothers. The boys had been given an explanation of the morning's activities by their parents and didn't seem to regard their sister differently. They strode through her door with hats, asking her to pull rabbits from them and wondering if she could use magic to get them a copy of Legends of Skythorpe, a video game that was recently released and so popular that it was almost impossible to get a copy.

Derrick was two years older than his sister and Dougie was 4 years older than her. Derrick was very tall and Dougie was shorter but quite sturdy. Both of them had pale blonde hair. The pair of them were quite foreboding, especially when compared to their tiny dark-haired sister. People were often flabbergasted to realize that the boys and Dalia were related.

It was her brothers' pestering that made Dalia actually long to be away from home for the first time. The boys were very protective of their sister and seemed to think that only they were allowed to pick on her. But it had always been that way. Not only did they hold sway over her but they instilled fear in other kids to ensure her safety. She was painfully aware of feeling powerless to them and their brotherly bullying of her.

Over the years, as they migrated from military base to military base for their father's job, this was a problem for Dalia. As her family only stayed about 9 months in each place, it was hard enough making friends. Her brothers' protective instincts made friendships even more difficult. She loved her brothers but they were so…male.

She finally shooed them out of her room for the third time that day after insisting that she couldn't turn their pencils into chips. While she was pushing them out, Dalia's cat, Zorro took the opportunity to enter her room. When Dalia plopped down on her bed again, Zorro leapt into her lap, purring endlessly.

"Boys!" she said as she stroked Zorro's striped brown fur, "Well, human boys at least...muggle boys, I guess."

The sight of her cat reminded her that she was allowed to bring a pet to school with her. Zorro had been a gift to Dalia's from Harry and Ginny on her tenth birthday so it was certainly her right to take him with her even though everyone regarded him as something of a family pet. Zorro sniffed Dalia's book, and used his slightly squashed looking nose to flip over a page.

She thought wistfully of Zorro living in her school dormitory and snuggling up to her every evening while she did her homework without the bother of her brothers. It might be nice to go away to school, she thought. She had spent most of her life moving at least once a year for her father's job. Her new home in her grandparents' former house was supposed to give her life stability. Maybe she could find that at school too.

It was late and Dalia needed to sleep. It had been a busy day. She expected that a good night's sleep would help her think clearly about the choice she was being given.