A/N: Hello, dear reader. Obviously you're here for a reason, and hopefully that's to enjoy some fanfiction. This is Draco/OC, a 150 page fanfiction, now complete. It's rated M for chapters 13, 18, 19, and 24, so it that's what you're reading it for, those are the good bits.

I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any part of it. I did not imagine it, I did not create it, I did not write it. However, I do love it, which is what prompted me to write this fanfiction.

Chapter 1

The girl squatted in the dirt yard outside the house. She was dirty, her long hair dragging in the dust. Clever hands were brown with dirt, jeans dusty to the knee. Her round brown eyes were concentrating on something.

Her eyebrows shot up when she found what she was looking for. A tiny, silver-green lizard peered up at her from the dirt, no longer than her little fingernail. "There you are." She murmured, picking the thing up. It squirmed in her hands, growing until it was the length of her palm. It was a Moke.

Cradling the Moke in the crook of her elbow, the girl straightened up and headed towards the house. It was a small cottage nestled in the Berkshires, usually surrounded by greenery, but the drought had reduced everything to brown.

"Uncle, I found Claudius," she said, dropping the Moke in a terrarium in the great room. A tall man in the corner was busying himself with the kettle. He nodded, using his wand to send boiling water into delicate china cups.

"Good, good. Tea?"

"Yes, please." She plopped herself at the worn kitchen table, dunking a teabag in the water. In the process, dust fell from her clothing to settle upon the floor and table. The man raised his eyebrows, looking at her with his murky hazel eyes.

"You're filthy."

"Well, with no rain to keep the dirt down, dust just gets everywhere. Can't walk outside without getting coated," she protested. The man sighed, waving his wand. The dust and dirt disappeared immediately. The girl sighed. "I never can get the hang of those cleaning-stuff charms."

"Yes, you seem much more skilled at the dramatic spells than the useful ones."

"Dramatic ones can be very useful," said the girl sticking her tongue out.

"Don't be childish. You're going to be seventeen tomorrow."

"Yes, but really, what's the difference between sixteen and seventeen? Just a day."

"The real question is what the difference between seventeen and ten is?" The man sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'm sorry, Jack. I've been irritable lately."

The girl called Jack cocked her head to one side. "Nervous?"

He smiled. "You've never been so far away from me before. Salem Witches Academy is across the state. Hogwarts is across the Atlantic. I went there when I was growing up in Wales- I suppose it's natural for you to want to take part in the exchange program."

"It's going to be exciting." Jack smiled, sipping her tea. Her uncle could see she was terrified. He smiled and drank, thinking on what he would have to tell her tomorrow. How he would have to upset her reality forever. He closed his eyes, thankful for this one last day of little Jack Harcourt, his niece.