Disclaimer: I am not JKR. I have not created all of the characters. However Carys and Lisa belong to me, along with a few characters that will pop up later on. The ones you know are obviously not mine.

Chapter one.

Carys Stroud had started life with her parents in a small sleepy Kent village. That was long before everything really began. It was well before she started school, Carys would spend seven years of her life in a very exclusive boarding school located somewhere in the north of the country. But at the time she knew none of this. She did not know that when she reached the age of four her parents would be killed in a car crash. That because of this she would be raised by her mother's best friend in a small flat somewhere in London. Her parents had been the only family she had, all that she had ever known.

She enjoyed a normal enough childhood. It was quiet at least, nothing more happened to upset Carys's life. That was until her eleventh birthday however. Shortly after that birthday Carys received a letter. She had never had a letter delivered for her before, except for those from the dentist concerning check ups. This letter was very different, and quite unexpected. The letter was, it said, from a school for exceptional youngsters. Carys did not understand who had sent her this letter. Or why. She wasn't exceptional. She was just normal, like all the other girls. So she had shown the letter to her mother's best friend, a woman who insisted that Carys call her Aunt Lisa, despite the lack of blood relation.

Lisa had thrown the letter away immediately. It was a joke, or a mistake. Carys didn't have her name down for any exclusive boarding schools. Her parents hadn't hadthe money for such things.

But not a week later another letter arrived. This one however was hand delivered. A severe looking woman was standing on the doorstep of Lisa Kay's two bedroom flat, holding an envelope exactly like the one that had arrived the previous week. Carys had been the one to open the door. The woman had smiled at her and said hello in what she hoped was a friendly and reassuring manner.

"Hello Carys. May I come in? I'm here to talk to Lisa."

Carys was stopped from answering when Lisa joined them at the door.

"I'm Lisa, who are you and what do you want? If you're selling something we're not interested. Thank you."

She made to close the door, not waiting for the strange woman to answer her questions.

"If you please I'm not selling anything. I'm here to talk to you about Carys and her future. My name in Minerva McGonagall and I work at a school for gifted children." the older woman said smiling despite the apparent rudeness and hostility.

"You're from that school? That Hogwards?"

"Hogwarts, yes. We're very interested in Carys. We feel she'd benefit from out school very much indeed."

"Well that's as may be, but I can't afford to send her to some boarding school. You're wasting your time."

Lisa made to close the door again, the woman was really wasting her time. Carys however didn't want her to close the door. She knew this woman was something special. There was something about her. This woman was not like other grownups.

"Oh but that's not a problem." the woman spoke up. She put her hand up to stop the door from closing. "We're not asking for any money. Her tuition is free. All we ask is that you take care of her during the holidays. Her father left money to cover the cost of her books and other essentials."

The door stayed open, Lisa was interested in what the woman had to say. It wasn't that she was a cheap woman, who didn't care about the little girl she was entrusted to look after. Times were hard, it was just her. She had to work, and look after Carys. Doing the two together was not easy. There was barely enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table. To pay for the little girl to go to some school she had never heard of was out of the question. She wanted the best for Carys, but the best cost money. And that was something that was in short supply.

"May I come in?" the older woman asked.

"Of course, where are my manners? Would you like some tea?"

Lisa opened the door completely. If the tuition really was free the least she could to was hear the woman out.

"Yes that would be lovely. Thank you."

They sat together in the kitchen, Carys had left to read alone in her room.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning." the older woman began. "Carys's father attended our school when he was a child. As such when she was born her name was immediately put down on our list. We do not expect you to pay anything towards her tuition. We are uh, funded by outsider donations."

"Oh ok. Look it's not the money, well it is partly the money. I'm just not sure you know. That I could just send her away to god knows where."

"That's perfectly understandable. But I can assure you she will learn things at Hogwarts that no other school in the country can offer. And wouldn't it be nice for her? A common with her father."

"I see what you're saying but I, well I just don't know."

Minerva nodded and smiled. She understood the young woman's reluctance.

"What sort of curriculum do you have?"

"Well now, that is the question. I know this is going to be hard for you to understand so I must ask you this first. Has Carys ever done something that you are unable to explain?"

"Uh well, I, well yes. Quite recently actually. She cut her doll's hair. Not that that's strange in itself. But well, I wouldn't buy her another one. And I watched her do it, cut the doll's hair I mean. Well the next day, the hair had grown back. The doll's hair! And I know it was the same doll because it has a mark over its eye. You think I'm mad don't you?"

"Not at all." Minerva smiled gently again. "You see Carys is a witch. Her father was a wizard. That's what Hogwarts is you see. A school for witchcraft and wizardry."

If Lisa was at all shocked by what she had just heard she didn't show it. It all made sense somehow.

"Oh well, that's ok then. I suppose she'd fit in better at Hogwarts than at another school. If she's a, a witch."

"There is no doubt in my mind. But before we make any decisionsperhaps we should ask Carys?"

"Yes, yes of course. Carys sweetie could you come here a minute please?"

It seemed that, being not far from the kitchen, Carys had heard everything that had been said.

"I want to go." she said as she entered the room. "Please can I go?"

"Of course sweetie, if that's what you really want. And if you find you don't like it you can always come home."

"Good" said the little girl. "When can I come?"

And that was how it all started. Little did she know that she would later spend many sleepless nights wishing she hadn't said yes.