Chapter 1
A girl sat on the train waiting patiently for her stop. She was of average height with an athletically trim figure. She had tawny golden-brown hair, that fell to just past her shoulder blades, and had blue-gray eyes the color of a stormy sea. She wore baggy olive green pants with large side pockets and a fluffy white knitted sweater that complimented her. Black combat boots completed the look. Except for the stuff she had shipped back to the Nest (the Nest being the home base of all her family) She carried all her worldly possessions with her. She had a green army duffel bag filled with clothes and such. Slung over her left shoulder by single strap was a battered backpack holding her harder to replace items. Her name was Lea Garnet although her birth certificate read Cathrine Applewhite.
Lea was, among other things, a wanderer by nature. When her feet began to itch she would pack her two bags, ship everything else to the Nest for storage, and catch the next the next bus/train/plane. And if none of the above were available she would take off on foot (her Mother had taught her wilderness survival) following her feet as it were. And it was her wandering feet that guided her now to check up on a very old friend.
Lea had lived with her mother almost all her life. The almost? Her father who she never knew and her Mother never married had gained custody of her for a year. She was in third grade at the time.…..
Lea was scared. She was going to a new school in a new country but worst of all was the man she had never met telling her to call him daddy. He took her away from her Mommy. She stepped timidly into the third grade classroom. Lea wanted her Mommy and Aunt Trina and her cat Pouncer. The teacher saw her and spoke up "Class this is Cathrine Applewhite, she's a new student from America so be nice." A course of "HI! Hello. Nice to meetchas's" rang out. " Why don't you take a seat right back there by Harry." The teacher said as she pushed lea towards a seat in the back of the room. She slid into the seat and turned slightly to look at the "Harry" beside her. He had messy black hair and was kinda small but not as small as Lea. Hidden behind thick black plastic frame glasses that were taped together were bright glowing emerald green eyes. He had the look of a stray dog. Half starved and waiting for the next kick. Those were the best ones and the worst ones. If you gained their trust they were loyal for life. But you had to watch out for them because if you didn't have their they would only take so much before they would bite back. "Hi, I'm Cat" she said. Cat was the name the kids at her old school called her. Her mom called her Kitten because "your curious as a young cat and abought as much trouble". He looked at her curiously and then said "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."…………………………….
Lea was jolted from her memories as the train reached her stop. She had liked that year, circumstances not withstanding, she had gotten in the most trouble that year. The "Dad", note the sarcasm, was stuffy and boring and had very strict (and backward) views on the way a girl should be. The incident that had finally gotten her sent home was when she let all the animals in the visiting circus go.
She caught a cab and gave them Harry's address. A half hour later she was standing in front of Number 4 Privet Drive Little Winging Surrey. She grabbed the duffel bag and walking up the drive rang the bell.
Dudley Dursley answered the door. Lea flashed back to the first time she had met him……………………………………….
Lea walked out to the playground with her sacked lunch and spotted Harry at the edge of the playground sitting on the grass. She walked across the playground and plopped down next to him. She looked around for another lunch sack and said "Where's your lunch?" he looked at her wide eyed. "I don't get lunch." He said. Lea thought on this for a moment "Well why not?" He didn't answer. "Well then you can have some of mine." She said handing him half a sandwich. "Thanks." He said. He ate quickly like he was afraid someone would steal it. Again he reminded her of a stray dog. "Don't you parent make you lunch?" she queried. "My parents are dead." "Oh. Sorry…So who do you live with?" She was curious. "My Aunt and Uncle and My cousin Dudley, he's a bully." They finished the sandwiches and she gave him one of her cookies. She started telling him abought how her father had taken her away from her mom. She had worked herself into a real tizzy over the injustice of it all. This of course was the moment Dudley Dursley decided to show up. Dudley was the reason Harry didn't have any friends. He spread rumors abought "the Freak" and beat up anyone who dared try and be friends with Harry. "Hey New Girl what are you doing sitting with the Freak." He swaggered up the size of a small pig his mean piggy eyes narrowed. "Who're you calling a freak!" she said. She stood up. Lets face it he could make five of her. She was a tiny thing weighing abought 25 pounds all arms and legs and guts. "You stay away from the Freak, New Girl, or I'm gonna pound you!" Did he really think he scared her? I mean come on Lea's played with bigger dogs! And they had sharp teeth. So she told him so, "You don't scare me pig boy!" Dudley swung his fist. Harry pushed Lea out of the way and so got hit instead. This was a big mistake for Dudley. You see Lea wasn't the type for physical confrontations. She would dodge and taunt and then trip them/run them into a tree/excetera/excetera. But you did not touch her friends, yes she did consider Harry her friend, because then she would Make You Pay. She leapt at Dudley, forget fists she was going to tear him to shreads. Lea had very long very sharp nails and she had spent whole days watching her cat Pouncer use his claws. She swung and three bright lines of blood appeared on his face ………… …………………………………………………………
She looked at Dudley now he looked more like a small whale than a pig. "I'm looking for a Harry Potter, He here?" Dudley's eyes got big "He's... he's at the park." He slammed the door. Lea wondered what had happened that made Dudley so scared of Harry. Of course she suspected that Harry as she had predicted got excepted to a Wizarding School. That would explain Dudleys attitude. No Lea was not a Witch although she was aware of the wizarding world to an extent. She was however magically inclined. All the family had some small form of the gift. Her mother had a green thumb, she could encourage the plants to grow. She had the most beautiful garden in the town. Lea had a very special ability called SpellWeaving. A SpellWeaver was usually a seer or prophetess born in times of war. The usually had an equal a great amount of power but little finess. Lea was different. Her mother speculated that this difference, having very little power but having the ability to see the energy the very fabric of the world, came from the circumstances of her birth. You see Lea was stillborn. Her mothers first child. Her Grandmother who was there for her birth and close to death herself had giver her the gift of life. Grandmother was a healer. And like the others in her family she had very little power. But there is a loophole. The power was not the only thing that powered a Gift. You could if you chose to use your very life energy to power your Gift. This is what Lea's Grandmother did. She put all her life force into her Gift to bring Lea back to life. Because of her being dead Lea could see if she chose to the energy that made up all matter and life. Her gift allowed her to manipulate this energy. Hence the term SellWeaver. Having very little power but having the ability that no other SpellWeaver had, to see the energy she was manipulating, Lea could do anything. All she had to do was move a few very very small threads. Big spells took a lot of time. She had to weave an entire fabric of energy. But she could leave almost finished spells in gemstones and crystals.
Lea picked up her duffel bag and headed down the street toward the park. She walked into the middle of a battle.