Two Milicent Road in West Bredgeford, apartment number two, sat a nice little family, a mother, a father, and a daughter who was of the age of thirteen.
Tonight seemed to be an ordinary night, the light bustling of streets and half drunk people walking by, perfectly ordinary. At least to those eyes untrained by the wizarding world.
An old man with long white hair that blended into his white beard, dressed in an exquisite blue robe, walked the street by himself.
He got the edge of the street just before he would have to turn, and he waited, for what or even for who was unclear.
A small black cat appeared from the shadows, and the old man's brown eyes, filled with wisdom and age light up at the tiny creature.
So far their meeting had gone as planned and with no interruptions, a first in many years.
The cat before him transformed into an elderly woman with brown hair tied neatly back, and she wore a green dress, and atop her head, quite fashionably perched, was her witches hat.
"Albus." The woman says acknowledging the older man before her.
"Minerva," He acknowledges back with a smile in his eyes. "How were your travels?"
"Not as comfortable or as easy as yours, I'm sure." They resume their walk to the house and walk up the steps.
"Perhaps not." He replies and knocks on the door. They can hear heavy footsteps walking towards the door, and the clicking of locks being unlocked.
"Can I help you?" The man who answered the door asks. He was dressed in dark jeans and a lovely red button-down shirt, his brown hair slicked back, and his brown eyes were tired from whatever job he was working.
"We're looking for Ms Morana Acacia Skotadi," Albus says, his voice seemed strained.
"I'm her father, what do you want with her?" He was short with the two of them, obviously wanting nothing more than to go back inside to his family.
"We want to invite her to Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry," Minerva speaks up, hoping to provide comfort to the man. He eyes the two of them debating on whether or not to let them in or shut the door and deal with them another day. He chose the first option.
"Please, come in." He says opening the door wide, allowing them to enter into their little house. "Honey put the kettle on, we've got visitors." He calls as quietly as he can so he doesn't wake his sleeping daughter.
"What kind of psychopaths did you let in at this hour?" His wife calls back as she rounds the corner and stops abruptly to see the two figures standing in the entryway. "I'm terribly sorry; it's been a long day, does earl grey suite your tastes? I'm afraid it's all I've got right now and-"
"Earl grey will do just fine," Minerva says, hoping to calm the young woman down.
"Great, I'll put the kettle on then." She leaves and heads back to the kitchen where she throws the water in the kettle and throws it on the stove.
"Let's take a seat in the living room, and we can discuss further." The husband says, guiding them into the living room where they all take a seat. The wife hurries back over quickly and sits on the arm of the chair her husband sat in, while the other two sat across from them on the couch.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves," Says Albus. "This is Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of one of our houses, and I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts."
"I've never heard of Hogwarts, where is that?" The wife says, her brown eyes exhausted from the day, just like her husband, and her blonde hair was frizzy and out of control, almost as if she had just been electrocuted.
"A school up in Scotland, and unless you've had close family attend I would doubt you've heard of it."
"You want my daughter to go to school all the way up in Scotland, are you crazy?" The wife becomes almost ecstatic, and she runs her hands through her hair, trying to smooth it back.
"Mrs Skotadi, if I may ask a question..." Dumbledore trails off, waiting for a response from the wife.
"I suppose I don't see no harm."
"I feel the reason that you are both so exhausted from this day is that your daughter has been doing things, things the majority of people are unable to do. Am I correct, in this assumption?" The husband and wife look at each other, and a wave of relief washes over them. They, were, in fact, not going insane.
"Yes," The husband says, finally speaking up and turning his attention back towards the visitors. "Just today she levitated something at a museum on a school field trip."
"And the week before she was hissing at snakes." Says the mother. Minerva and Albus share a glance.
"If you would allow your daughter to attend our school with like-minded students, we could help her," Minerva says, just before the kettles goes off, and the wife hurries back into the kitchen. She pours two cups of tea and brings them out to the living room for the two.
"You say you could help her, properly help her?" The mother asks.
"It is our specialty to help the gifted." Dumbledore remarks and then takes a sip of the tea.
"I don't know if it's a good idea, she's adopted and I don't want her thinking that we're giving her up because we can't handle her." Mrs Skotadi breathes. Dumbledore looks up to the stairs and sees the child sitting on the staircase trying to hide; she had pure white hair which framed her angelic face and made her emerald eyes sparkle.
"Would you mind I went up and said hello?" Dumbledore asks.
"She's asleep, otherwise-"
"I can assure you she's not in bed; I will be quick." The parents nod, and he gets up and watches as the child races up the stairs and into her room, hoping that no one had noticed her.
But of course, Dumbledore had, he notices everything; otherwise, he would not be an excellent headmaster. Nevertheless, he was exceptional at his job, except apparently this child that had somehow evaded all documentation in the magical world. The only reason they knew about her now was because of things that were happening, and a wizard had been there to witness one of her incidents.
Then, a week later, her name was written in the Book of Admittance and Dumbledore was to plan a personal visit to this child.
He knocks gently on the door before entering the dark room of the child.
He flips the light switches on, and she sits up, eyeing this older man.
"I'm sorry I was peeking..." She starts, and Dumbledore smiles and waves a hand dismissively.
"I honestly expected nothing less from a child as bright as you." In front of him is a desk and a chair, and he motions his hand to the chair. "May I?" She nods, and he takes a seat in the chair, facing her.
"Am I in trouble?" She squeaks out.
"Trouble?" She nods. "Why do you think you're in trouble?"
"I can do things that others can't, make things lift off the ground, talk to animal even snakes, and I accidentally threw someone into a wall without touching them."
"I see. Anything else?" She thinks back to last week, the week where her parents got drunk and got into a fight and got angry and got yelled and began to throw things and...
Morana didn't finish that thought, that thought was too dark, and she didn't want to go back to that thought.
"No." She finally says.
"Good." Dumbledore leans forward and folds his hands together. "Do you know why I'm here, Ms Skotadi?"
"I hope you're here to help me. Otherwise, I truly am a lost hope." She tries to make a joke of it, but Dumbledore didn't have to use a spell to tell she wasn't joking.
"No one is ever truly lost, Ms Skotadi." He sighs. "Though I suppose everyone feels like they are at least once in their life." She blinks back at him. "Ms Skotadi, if you would allow me, I am here to help you. You would come to Hogwarts, a school specifically designed for gifted people such as yourself." She perks up at this.
"There are others like me? You mean I'm not alone?" Dumbledore couldn't begin to imagine what she was going through; she must have thought she was going insane and alone in the world, and to finally hear that there were others out there just like her...
"No, there is a whole other world, hidden but right in front of you if you know where to look, of people who have the same abilities you do. Would you like to learn how to control them?" She nods excitedly, unable to speak for she was happy. "Good," He says and hands her an envelope. "You may open that when we leave." He begins to walk out of the room only to stop short of the door. A question he dared not to ask but knew it was necessary nonetheless; and how this situation was all too familiar. "Just one more thing, if you will allow me before I go."
"Of course." She says, turning her attention away from the letter and to him.
"Can you control them, your powers?" She stared at the older man, his eyes were slightly filled with fear, horror even, she knew her answer wouldn't be good, of course, she could control them, but he didn't want to hear that.
"Not as much as I would like," She says and then looks down. "Only if there is a strong emotion evolved am I able to alter them." She lied, and Dumbledore knew she lied, he knew she could control them, he didn't have to ask, but he was hoping that he was wrong.
"We can help you with that too, that letter will contain all the information you need, Ms Skotadi."
"Ace, call me Ace. Everyone does." Dumbledore smiles and then leave her sitting in the room with the letter in her hand.
~To Ms M. Skotadi~
Two Millicent Road Apt 2
~West Bredgeford~
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms Skotadi,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic
by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory
by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration
by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions
by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK
Yours sincerely,
Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions
The letter was beyond her wildest dreams; she wasn't alone. There was another sub-world right in front of her face with people exactly like her.
She ran down the stairs just in time to watch the two teachers leave and her parents discussing something underneath their breaths.
"What is it, Morana?" Her father snaps.
"I, um, I wanted, well I," She stumbles through her words unable to form the sentence she wanted.
"You know how I hate mumbling." Her mother chimes in and Ace takes a deep breath and then starts again.
"I wanted to tell you that I really want to go here. I think it would be best, I would be able to control whatever this is." Her parents look to each other and then back to her.
"Are you sure that you want this? You would only be able to come home during the summer." Her mother states and walks over to her, brushing a strand of hair out of her daughter's face.
"Yes, I don't want to live like this; living in perpetual fear is not living mother." She takes in her mother's brown eyes there was no hint of emotion, she was completely void of anything. This should have scared her, it should have sent fear down to hear very spine, but she grew up with this gaze, this half empty, "I don't give a crap" look. She never received any real words of comfort or warmth from her even less since the incident a few weeks back.
"I understand what you're going through Morana, and we-" He further starts.
"How can you of all people understand what I'm going through, this has never happened to you or affected anyone you know, I don't even know my real parents, this may give me a chance to finally figure out who they are and why they gave me up! You do not understand what it's like to be the only one, to feel like you're going crazy, and then have these very nice people walk into your home and tell you that there is another world out there filled with people just like me." The lights in the house start flickering, and her parent's eyes go wide in shock, this was new for all of them, her emotions hadn't spiraled this far out of control before and she had begun to control her powers. Her parents backed up from her, terrified of another incident.
"Even you, my parents, are terrified of me. I think it would be best for all of us if I went to Hogwarts." Her father nods, thinking that this was the best possibility there was for her, there wouldn't be a better one. If anyone found out, she would more than likely be stuck in a lab facility and poked and prodded for tests and abilities for the remainder of her life.
"Then you will go, tomorrow we will head down to this 'Diagon Alley', and we will get you everything you need." Her father says, walking up to her and then placing a hand on her shoulder. "For now, you need to get some rest." A beat. "Go to bed."
Ace heads up the stairs, her mind racing with what Hogwarts was like and what this mysterious Diagon Alley held for her. Where was she going to get all the supplies, obviously there wasn't a shop that carried those wizard items. Ace couldn't wait. She finally felt, for a small moment, at peace with herself, like she wasn't fighting every waking minute to be something she wasn't.
She climbs back into her bed and promptly shuts off her lamp, trying to fall asleep but ultimately failing and staying up the whole night.
She watched out her window as the sun began to rise and then finally it was late enough in the morning that her parents would be up and she could start getting ready for their trip.
She threw on her most beautiful pair of jeans, a dark blue blouse and fashionable boots, modest, stylish and practical.
Her curly white hair was another matter. She had gorgeous curls, and because her hair wasn't pure white but more grey than white, she referred to her hair as smoke, and sometimes it acted as such when the wind blew.
She pulled half of her hair up and out of her face, still allowing for length and volume.
She grabs the folded up letter and begins to head down the stairs when there's a soft knock on the door, and she rushes to answer it.
She opens the door, and Minerva is standing outside the door.
"Ms Skotadi, I'm here to escort you to Diagon Alley and help you get everything you'll need." Ace takes a step and allows her to enter the house. "My name is Professor McGonagall, I'm head of Gryffindor House, and I teach transfigurations." She says and walks into the house further, and Ace shuts the door. "I know Headmaster Dumbledore met with you last night while I was explaining everything to your parents."
"What's Gryffindor?"
"One of our four houses that you will be sorted into, I hope you are sorted into Gryffindor, you would make a fine addition to the house." Ace nods along, trying to process everything that the Professor was throwing at her. "Are your parents going to be joining us, Ms Skotadi?" She nods, but the worry is evident on her face.
"Yes, they said they would take me to the Alley, but they're not up yet." The minute that Ace said that her parents weren't up yet Professor McGonagall knew they weren't in the house, that they would not, in fact, be taking her to Diagon Alley, or supporting her in any way shape or form. They had abandoned her.
"Well no use in waking them up, you'll get to see them over breaks, and frankly we're late. Come now." She says, and Ace begins to follow behind her but stops.
"What about my clothes and things? Don't I need to pack?"
"You will buy everything you need at Diagon Alley and will promptly switch into the required clothes, other than that you will need nothing else."
"And what of my parents, I can't just leave without saying goodbye?" Professor McGonagall sighs, the kid showed heart, she indeed did, but the answers she would seek would not be found in her parents.
"If you go check on your parents only heartache will follow, the answers you seek lie in front of you, not behind you, and they most certainly do not lie in your parents." McGonagall takes a quick breath, she was trying to keep Ace from heartbreak, to keep her from finding out that her parents really had given up on her, but she didn't understand how most muggles worked, at least not yet. Most were frightened of magic, and what magic people could do, it could even turn your life long partner against you if they found out.
"Why are you trying to keep me from them?"
"I'm trying to protect you, Ms Skotadi. I want what is best for you, and if you go and check on your parents, you will only hurt yourself more." Ace stares back at her elder and then, finally, after what seemed to be minutes, she nodded in agreement.
"It wouldn't be the first time they've let me down on something important." Ace sighs. "Let's go."
