This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Prologue

23rd December 1998

It was a cold, crisp night. The kind that only comes in mid-winter, leavng a clean, cleansed feeling in the air. Although no snow had fallen, Lou pulled her coat tighter around her and tried to snuggle down into it's warm depths. It didn't work. She had been sitting with her friends right in front of the pubs inglenook fireplace, with it's warm and homely flames, until just moments before, and her coat couldn't take up the shortfall. She stamped her feet impatiently until the door of 'The Castle' swung open again, emitting her best friend.

"What took you so long?" Lou demanded as she shivered.

"Had to slash," Julian shrugged. "Sorry."

Julian had been her best friend for six years. The day they met he'd been short and weedy with a long pointy face. His mousy brown hair had been obviously home-cut with odd, choppy lines. Nothing much had changed.

"Well, are we going or are you enjoying the fresh air?" Julian asked with a quirk of his lips.

"Did you know Jules," Lou began conversationally and not moving an inch. "That human beings are seventy percent water? You've kept me waiting all this time and I believe half that water has frozen. I find myself utterly unable to move."

"God, you're such a drama queen," Julian said humorously. He grabbed Lou's arm and pulled her until she started walking on her own. They made their way up the short high street towards the site of a old Saxon hill fort. It had fallen many years since, but ruins stood and from the top you could see across the Blackmore Vale and beyond.

Lou gave the sky a speculating look as they walked. "Do you think it'll snow tonight?"

"Nah," Julian answered. "It's too cold. There'll be a thick frost though.

"You got a lesson tomorrow?"

Lou gave Julian a scathing look. "It's Christmas Eve tomorrow. My instructor is doing her Christmas shopping, as am I." She paused for effect, "With you."

"Shit! I'd forgotten about that.

"Hang on, if tomorrows Christmas eve then I don't have any work." Julian did a nerdy dance of triumph in the middle of the street.

"You're utterly hopeless," Lou teased as she bumped his shoulder. "Who, on earth, forgets when Christmas Eve. It wouldn't surprise me…" She trailed off as it became obvious Julian was no longer listening to her and his attention had been caught by something else.

She followed his gaze to the castle moat which still followed through the town. There by the war memorial was a young man who seemed to be wearing a dress.

"Who is that?" Lou whispered.

"I've no idea." This was quite shocking. Castermill was a small town and she'd lived there all her life. Julian hadn't lived there nearly as long but worked in the local garage. Between them they knew everybody at least by sight. To find a stranger in their midst was more than a little unusual.

Curiosity pipped they approached the moat. The man had his back towards them but they could see he was shorter than most, though not as short as Julian. His hair was black and wild and the long black clothing he wore reminded Lou of the robes the vicar wore on Sundays. As they got closer they could see he was shivering violently. Lou didn't know how she could tell, may-be it was in his posture, but the confusion and loneliness coming from him was almost palpable.

She left Julian's side and approached the dark man, ignoring his hiss of "Lou". She knew he was following her by the sound of his footsteps.

"Excuse me," She said when reasonably close to this stranger. "Are you okay?"

He turned towards her quickly, as if startled, and in the soft light of the street lamps she took in his appearance. From the almost religious robes, small mouth and button nose, to the scar on his forehead that looked surprisingly like a lightning bolt, and his vivid green eyes that were currently brimming with panic.

"Help me," he pleaded in an voice devoid of accent. "I don't know who I am."