Harry sighed, letting his forehead fall against the window pane in the train. This was easily his worst month ever. Voldemort was dead, the Ministry found over half of the Death Eaters, he, Ron Hermione were all alive, and he didn't fail any subjects when taking his 6th year exams. Yes, everything seemed to be going just fine but it was still Harry's worst month ever.

"Harry, you got to stop beating yourself over it." Ron, a lanky redheaded boy, advised him.

"Ron's right Harry," Hermione, a bushy brown haired girl, agreed. "It wasn't your fault."

Harry didn't say anything to them. They weren't there; they don't know what it was like to be there, Death Eaters closing in on them, having only one way of escaping. Harry sighed again, he could feel himself drifting off slightly, loosing himself in thought.

The whole room was dark, it was well light a second ago, but now it was practically pitch black. He didn't mind though..it was nice. That's when he saw it, a white skeleton like figure lying on the ground; dead. Harry tried to snap back in to reality but knew that it was hopeless. The Death Eaters were closing in on a tree, slightly ruined and knocked over.

"Run Harry. Run now. Go to the port key. I'll distract them," Said a brunette with a Canadian accent. Harry sighed happily, there was Brianna. Her long wavy brown and dirty blond streaked hair falling in to her face as he pulled her back. The rain was beating down on them like bullets.

"I'm not going to let you." Harry told her, slightly angry with the world.

"Harry, trust me..no one is going to miss me." She said as she got up and ran off. The Death Eaters, wands out, took after her. As much as Harry didn't want to leave her there, trying to give him a chance to survive; he ran. She wanted him to live and who was he to not honor her for doing so.

Every second of his life since she ran, he regretted what he didn't do. When she told him that no one was going to miss her, he want so badly to say, 'I'd miss you'. But it was too late. She was gone; forever.

"Brianna wanted to do that Harry." Hermione said sincerely. "She wanted to let you live. Trust me she's most likely much better off dead then where she was before."

"How can you say that, Herm?" Ron asked, outraged.

"Alright so I didn't use the right words. I'm sorry." She apologized; picking up her cat Crookshanks.

"See you next year Harry. Maybe you could come over again this summer." Ron said as the train pulled to a stop.

"Yeah," Harry croaked out glumly.

The three walked through the barrier that the Muggles on the other side couldn't see. Once he got through, he saw a sight that made his day even worse; Vernon Dursley. Harry, when he was one, was left one his Aunt and Uncle's door step after Lord Voldemort killed both of his parents. He was lucky enough but was punished by having to live with them for the rest of his life.

But something was different about him. He would usually find his uncle wearing very decent clothing but, there he was in clothes too big for him, his hair not brushed and looking very shabby.

"Get in the car boy." He demanded in a slightly low voice.

Harry got in and sat in the back seat quietly. Uncle Vernon didn't say a word to him at all. Harry got lost in his thought s for another moment when he noticed something.

"Uncle Vernon. This isn't the way to your house." He said, looking around.

"I know Damn well that this isn't they way. I'm dropping you off somewhere; for good."

Harry watched, slightly mortified as they pulled up in an orphanage parking lot. Vernon dragged him by his arm to the office, knocked gently, and entered.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" Asked the lady at the desk.

"As much as I regret it, I want to put my son up for adoption," Vernon told her, pretending to not cry. "I want to keep him with all my heart but.look at him. He's all thin and scared. I'd love to keep him but I just think that he could use a much better life then what me and his mom could provide."

Now Harry understood why Vernon wasn't dressed like himself. He wanted to make the lady believe that he was poor. But that story that he was telling her was so fake; you could see him grinning. Harry was put in the waiting room as they made the final arrangements. Vernon came out moments later, Harry could see him dropping off his trunk and Hedwig, and then driving off.

"Could you come in here please?" The woman asked.

Harry slowly got up, went to the other room and sat down in a cushioned chair.

"Id just like to ask you a few questions. Your first name is.."

"Harry" he told her as she scribbled it down.

"Green eyes, black hair, what's your height?"

"I'm just under six feet if that helps."

"Helps a lot. Could you stick out your wand hand?" She asked.

Without thinking Harry stuck out his right hand.

"So would that make you a wizard?"

"How did you know?"

"I asked you for your wand hand. Most sorcerers don't use wand and I can tell that you aren't a girl. And when ever we ask a muggle for their wand hands they just laugh." she added with a smirk. "Sadly, we don't accept wizards here, we are a muggle orphanage even though the staff is all magical. Fortunately, there is an orphanage that does take in those of magical qualities. So I'll just send this over to them and you can go get your stuff."

"Where would I be going?" Harry asked as he reached the door.

"Port Hawkesbury; it's a small town in Cape Breton which is in Canada."

Harry left the building. *I'm going to Canada.* He was back in the office and didn't even know it. He was sitting on his trunk, waiting for the woman to return. *Will I still get to go to Hogwarts in September?*

"It's all set, you can go now. Do you want me to escort you?"

"No thank you, I'll be fine." He said, stepping into the fire place.

"You have to say "C-B Orphanage" loud and clear." She told him, handing him some Floo powder.

Harry stood up straight, remembering everything that the Weasleys told him about traveling by Floo, dropped the powder and yelled, "C-B Orphanage."

After a highly nauseating Floo travel across the Atlantic Ocean, Harry found himself standing in another fireplace. The walls were white and there was a mahogany desk and matching chair in the corner of the room. Another woman, this one with golden curly hair, looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello Harry Potter and welcome to the CBO." She greeted with a British accent.

"CBO?" He asked, slightly confused.

"Cape Breton Orphanage; I'm Penelope" She told him, extending her hand.

"Penelope Clearwater? From Hogwarts?"

"The very same. Now you'll have the other half of the top floor. You can just leave your stuff there; we'll bring it up later. There are a few other boys up there. You'll meet them tonight if you didn't by then. Now why don't you just go and look around for a bit and meet the other orphans?"

"Ok," he said while making his way to the blue door.

"And Harry," She said, getting his attention, "Being an orphan isn't as awful as you think."

Harry grinned and left the room. He walked through what seemed to be a receptionist desk, and out the door, surrounded by glass walls. The walls were covered by orphans that were adopted, but there were only three walls full. Harry assumed that not many people wanted to adopt. He went to the first room he saw. It looked like a cafeteria, and what a cafeteria it was. It was nothing like Hogwarts' Hall, where the walls were stone and the tables and benches a rich mahogany. Here the walls seemed to be painted a clean white and one of the walls seemed to be covered with some kind of material that made it look soft and it stretched for two floors. Large fold up gray plastic tables joined together making two rows and five columns with red, yellow, green, and blue chairs scattered everywhere. There were more chairs stacked under a stairwell with a landing that led up to the second floor. On the other side of the room, there was a large box that showed a kitchen where the orphans would be served food.

Harry turned around and saw a library that Hermione would love to go in. The walls were made out of glass and it showed off hundreds of hundreds of books and a few tables to sit and read at. There was also some stuffed bears, a stuffed beaver in a glass box labeled 'Louis' and multi colored beanbags for smaller kids to sit on.

Harry was about to go down the downstairs' hall where he could hear some kind of music. He walked into the cafeteria again and it grew louder. He walked through the doorway and down a small hall and it was steadily getting louder. The saw a open door and decided to enter it. Inside there was a stage with five or so girls on it, looking no older then ten years old, dressed in rags

"It's the Hard-knock life for us. It's the Hard-knock life for us."

"'Stead of treated"

"We get kicked"

"'Stead of kisses"

"We get kick; It's the Hard-knock like."

"Got no folks to speak of so. It's the hard-knock row we ho."

"Cotton Blankets,"

"'Stead of wool"

"Empty bellies"

"'Stead of full; it's the Hard-knock like."

"Don't it feel like the wind is always howling?"

"Don't it seem like there's never any light? Once a day don't you wanna throw the towel in? It's easier then putting up a fight"

"No one's there when your dream at nights get creepy, no one cares if you grow or if you shrink. No one dries when your eyes get weepy."

"From the crying you may think this place will sink

*What is going on here?* Harry thought. *I always thought that Penelope was nice but by the sounds of it, she's pure evil and..why are they singing?*

"Empty belly life. Rotten, smelly life. Full of sorrow life. No tomorrow life."

"Santa Clause we never see..."

"Santa Clause what's that? Who's he?"

"No one cares for you a smidge, when you're in an orphanage. It's the Hard- knock life."

The little girl who was sad over Santa Clause climbed on top of a bed and shoved a pillow up the top half of her dress.

"You're going to clean this dump, 'til it shines like the top of the Chrysler building."

"Yank the whiskers from her chin, stab her with a safety pin, make her drink an icky pin.."

"Whoa!" Came a voice from the corner of the room; off the stage. "It's a nicky fin not icky pin? What's an icky pin?"

"I don't know Brie. What's a nicky fin?"

"The lyrics Joli"

"Brie; who's that," Asked an African girl who was on the stage; pointing at Harry.

The girl turned on her heal and looked at the door, where Harry currently stood.

"Harry? Is that you?" She asked; very shocked.

Harry froze. He looked closely at her. There was something familiar about her.

"Brianna?" He chocked out.

"What brings you here? Are the Dursley's here to get someone else to do your dirty work while you're at school?"

"No. I live here now. Why are you here?" He asked, now in the high ceiling room.

"I lived here since I was one. This was my home for almost forever."

"Oh," Harry said in a low voice. "And what's with them?" He asked her pointing to the small kids on the stage, helping some girls into French maid outfits and boys into tuxedos.

"They live here too. And they're in the play. We're doing Annie this year."

"Annie? A play?"

"Yeah, we do a play every year and this year we're doing Annie. It's about an orphan that gets adopted by a millionaire. It all takes place in New York."

"Brie," Yelled one of the girls on the stage, now in a French Maid costume. "Can he play Mister Warbucks?"

"What do you say Harry?" Brianna asked while all the kids on stage begged him to say yes.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. But can I talk to you in private."

"Sure. Okay everyone, practice is over so get out of those costumes." She told them.

Her and Harry walked out of the stage room and into the cafeteria. They both sat down at a table across from each other.

"How did you live? How did you get away from the Death Eaters?" He asked her in a very serious tone.

"Well...at the orphanage, we learned how to Apparate when we're six. And I figured that you didn't or else you would have done that earlier. So I made them go after me and began to Apparate in different places. I went to where the port key was and I noticed that there was a piece left behind so I picked it up. When I got back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore thought that it would be better if I just go home instead of staying there for the rest of the week because he didn't want me to be badgered about how I got away."

"That's it? I thought that you died." He told her as the kids began to come out of the room.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but that is it." She smiled. "Now why don't we find a room for you?"

She got up from the table, Harry close behind and climbed up the stairs. They turned left and began to go down the hall.

"That room there is the workshop. They put that in there because back when we had Lewis, he made up build furniture but now we just use it as a place to build what ever we want." She explained as the continued to walk down the hall until they found his things stacked up outside of a room.

"Is it Okay that I have Hedwig?" He asked, looking at his snowy owl.

"Yeah. There's a woods behind the building, and there is a lot of owls in there. Now, let's begin the tour."

A/N: Well, there's the first out of I don't know how many chapters of this lovely story. I know that Brianna sounded too simple when explaining how she got away from the Death Eaters and she does sound like a Mary Sue right now but just wait a bit. It'll all blow over.

Please Review.