*****Disclaimer: I do not own this... It is all J.K. Rowling (but I wish I did)

A sixteen year old girl was sitting alone in her room waiting for her owl to return.

This girl was no ordinary girl she was a witch and she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was not even ordinary for being a witch; she was the daughter of a Death Eater who had been killed in the early days of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. She had spent nearly her entire life trying to forget the things her father had done. She had even changed her name.well her last name at least. Her mother had decided that she should not live her whole life as the daughter of Regalus Black.

Her mother had been glad that her father had been killed before she had been born. He died four months before she had been born and he did not even know about her.

Though her father had been a Death Eater he had married a Muggle. No one knew about his marriage to her though for even he feared for her death if anyone found out about her. His family was clearly against Muggles and anything to do with them.

After Regalus had been killed, Emily, her mother had contacted Albus Dumbledore to ask what she should do. She did not fear for herself but she feared for her child. What would happen if the Dark Lord found out about them? Dumbledore took Emily in until she could have her child. He instructed her to change her last name so that no one could ever find out about her. Since she was the opposite of what the Black family stood for, except maybe for Regalus' brother Sirius, they decided to use the last name of White.

When Emily's daughter was born she named her Astrid because she was the only light that Emily had left. Dumbledore said that Emily and her daughter could stay in the castle until the threat of You-Know-Who decreased.

They did not have to wait long.no more than nine months after Astrid's birth He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was defeated by a small child named Harry Potter.

The very next day Emily decided that it was safe to leave Hogwarts. She bought an apartment in Muggle London not far from Diagon Alley. She wanted to keep in touch with the Wizarding World.

Emily felt that it would be safer if she did not tell Astrid that she was a witch until she got her Hogwarts letter, so she raised her as a Muggle.

Then the day came, Astrid was eleven with the morning post there was a letter for her. It was from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That day her mother told her everything.

She explained why she did not tell her sooner, even now Astrid knew who she really was. She now understood how she had made things happen. Like that time she turned her hair blood red when she was seven, and when she had managed to predict those answers for her math test.

That very same day, her mother took her to Diagon Alley to get all of her school things. To get there she had to go on the street where her favorite bookstore was. Instead of going somewhere she recognized, her mother led her to a small pub called the Leaky Cauldron.

Once they were inside her mother walked up to the bartender and asked if he could let her into Diagon Alley, since she did not have a wand, she could not do it herself. Tom, the bartender, excused himself from the bar and opened the gateway to Diagon Alley. Astrid thanked him and then looked around. She was amazed at the things she saw. She wanted to begin shopping immediately, but her mother said that they first needed to go to Gringotts to get some gold out of her fathers vault.

"Gringotts, what's that?" questioned Astrid.

Then her mother explained all she knew about the wizard's bank and finished just as they got to the huge doors. They were ushered inside by two goblins. Astrid was surprised by this, but she did not show it because she had faced many things that day and she now felt that she could handle anything. When they got to the huge front desk, Emily took out a small golden key, in miniscule writing on the key said, "368". They followed the goblin to a rickety old cart and got inside. The ride that followed could only remind Astrid of a roller coaster. When she got to her father's vault and it was opened, she was surprised at how many gold, silver, and bronze coins were inside of it. When she saw it she could not help but think, "I am rich."

Emily filled a small leather pouch with a few of the gold, silver, and bronze coins. On the way out she explained them to her daughter. Astrid learned that the bronze ones were called knuts, and that there were twenty- nine knuts to the silver sickles, and that there were seventeen sickles to the gold galleons.

Once she had money it was time to go buy all of her school things. Her mother decided to go and get her wand first. To get it they went to Ollivanders. After what must have been a hundred wands Astrid finally found one that suited her. Her wand was eight inches long, made of mahogany, and it contained one single unicorn hair.

She had finally found her wand. They paid Mr. Ollivander and went to a store called Madame Malkins Robes for all Occasions. There she bought her required three school robes and cloak. She also bought a pointed wizards hat and a pair of dragon hide gloves. Then she went to the apothecary and to the bookstore and eventually got everything on her list.

It was after dark but the time Emily and Astrid got back to their apartment. They were loaded with packages containing everything from potions ingredients to spell books.

As Astrid went to sleep she could hardly believe that everything that had happened that day was real. All she knew was that she could not wait to get to this school, Hogwarts, and learn all about the Wizarding World.