Chapter 1.
London's Orphanage for Children.
A man walked brusquely down a cold, narrow street, his heavy cape trailing behind him in the dust. He headed confidently for a small shabby cottage covered by overgrown vines. An enormous snake appeared on the doorstep, its hard scales flickering sinisterly in the moonlight. The creature whispered something in a horrible spine-prickling language and the man smiled unexpectedly, revealing a pale face and greasy hair, "Inform the Dark Lord, the plan is ready. Harry Potter will die." The snake hissed in content and slithered back into the dark cottage. The man spun on his heals and disappeared.
"Auri!" someone shouted. "Aurora Patterson! Don't you faint out on me. Wake up missy!"
Aurora's eyes fluttered open and clenched onto the bedcovers with clammy ghost like fingers, sweat pouring down her face. "They're… they're going to kill him," she panted heavily.
"We've got to do something about it. We can't… we can't… help, we've got to," she cried and stared around the room wildly.
"Who?" the boy said skeptically, staring into the fifteen-year-old's blue musty eyes.
"Harry Potter," she wheezed. "You believe me, don't you Billy?"
The boy stared at her, concerned, and wiped her face with a towel.
"You had another one of your dreams again," Billy informed her. "Right now you're in London's Orphanage for Children."
"I- I know," she stammered. "But we've got to help, Billy, we've got to!"
The boy walked across the rackety floorboards and closed the window. He turned to his friend and said curiously, "Who is Harry Potter? You scream out his name every night."
"I-I don't know," Aurora replied honestly, blushing slightly. "He's a boy and he goes to this magic school and someone- someone horrible is after him, again."
"You have a wild imagination," Billy smiled.
"But these dreams…" her voice trailed off. "They're so realistic!"
Billy pulled her out of bed, the crazed dreamy look still in her eyes.
"I'm going to have breakfast," Billy said slowly. "You better come down in five minutes. Miss. Bustle doesn't give out food after 9:00. Auri, you know that." Then he turned and left, the door closing quietly behind him.
She sighed and leaned against the wall, chewing her lip. Billy is right. These silly dreams are simply nonsense, a token of her wild imagination. She'll always have strange dreams like these, but it wouldn't be reasonable to believe in them. "But what if… what if these dreams aren't silly?" Aurora thought. She waved off the thought and hurried downstairs in her nightgown to join the rest of the children for breakfast.
The dining room was a small square room with crowded tables and a dim light hanging from the old ceiling. If you were lucky, you could get a seat, but if not, well then… you ate standing up. Breakfast was always a piece of hard bread with butter and a cup of tea. Miss. Bustle was merciless and if you complained about the food, she would send you off to the Prison Room, and that was not a pleasant place to be in.
Aurora received her food quietly, lost in thought, and spotted Billy in the corner of the room, waving to her happily. She bit into the hard toast, and whispered to him, "Billy, this is very important. I'm going to leave for a while. You'll need to cover for me."
He choked on his tea and whispered back, "You're leaving! They'll catch you and punish you for good. Are you insane?"
She shook her head seriously, "No. It's about those dreams I'm having. I need to find something out."
Billy finished the disgusting tea and said quickly, a shadow falling on his face, "Those dreams again? I thought we talked about this, Auri."
She hardened her look and replied defiantly, "You don't need to remind me. So will you cover for me or not?"
"Fine," he sighed.
She hugged him tightly and winked, "Don't be surprised." She dumped the food in the trashcan and sneaked into her room. If her dreams were reliable, then she could still make it in time for the train station. Aurora slipped hurriedly into a pair of worn out pants and a simple shirt, and swiftly jumped out of the window and onto the soft grass.
"Here goes nothing," Aurora said in a shaky whisper, her heart thumping loudly, and took a run for the train station.
She walked quickly to the platform 9 ¾ exactly as it was in her dreams and stared at the wall. Her heart sank. It was stupid believing her dreams anyways… Now Miss Bustle will put her in the Prison Room for sure. But then she remembered suddenly and walked towards the wall, whispering, "Please let this work, please let this work."
She walked through the wall successfully and screamed in surprise and then laughed and burst into tears. Her dreams were very true indeed! In fact, this magical world of wizards and witches was at her very fingertips.
A sleek black train blew its whistle and Aurora stood in the middle of a perplexed crowd of huggers and nervous boys. She didn't have a ticket, but with luck, she was skinny enough and unnoticeably walked onto the train with the rest of the fussing crowd. She chose an empty compartment and took a seat by the window, sighing in relief. This train will take her to an enchanting world, the world she had dreamed so much for so long…
"Huh?" Aurora narrowed her eyes. A noise had disturbed her daydreaming. The knock on the door grew louder, more persistent. She unlatched the door and a girl about the age of 15 she guessed, took a seat. The girl had bushy hair and was wearing one of those black robes.
"Hi," the girl said in a friendly manner. "I'm Hermione. You're a fourth year, aren't you?"
"A-what?" Aurora looked at her quizzically.
"A fourth year is someone who is fifteen years old in Hogwarts school. You know that, don't you?" Hermione began in her usually teaching voice.
"Of-of course I know that," she replied carefully. "My name is Aurora by the way."
Hermione settled her bags on the lower compartment and polished her prefect badge. "Isn't it lovely?" Hermione said.
"Oh… oh yes," Aurora answered, unsure of what her new acquaintance was talking about.
"Do you like Hogwarts? I haven't seen you there," Hermione said conversationally.
"Oh… um… Hogwarts is wonderful," she answered uneasily. "I've been- around."
There was an uncomfortable moment's silence, and then her new acquaintance gazed at her watched, and nodded, "Come on now. We better get dressed. We'll arrive at Hogwarts in 15 minutes." She pulled out her trunk and slipped into new black robes, pinning the prefect badge at her chest.
"Didn't you… didn't you pack robes?" Hermione asked, confused.
"I must've forgot I guess," Aurora said, feeling the back of her neck glow.
"Well, alright then, you can borrow some of mine," Hermione flung a black robe at her. Aurora caught it in midair and fumbled a bit with it, unsure of how to put it on.
"Oh, come on now," Hermione said a little impatiently. "Don't tell me you've never put a robe on before."
"I-I have, but your robe is… is different," she struggled to find the right words.
"Balderdash," Hermione said, smiling. She adjusted the robes and loosened the belt a bit. "There. You look charming."
Aurora gazed at herself in the compartment mirror and turned to her new friend, "Your robes are so much prettier."
Hermione chuckled, and took her bags from the lower compartment. She grabbed onto Aurora's hand and pulled her out to the train's walkway, where many students in black robes were chatting happily. Two boys came running towards them, knocking a couple of students off their feet.
"Hermione!" the red haired boy said, grinning. "We kept looking for you."
"I was with her," Hermione pointed to Aurora. "Anyways, I can sit wherever I want, can't I?" Then she added, "This is Aurora Patterson."
"Auri, if you don't mind," Aurora winced. She didn't like her full name too much. It was very… odd.
"Nice to meet you, Auri," Ron shook her hand for a little too long. She withdrew and coughed a bit, "Likewise."
"He's Harry," Ron motioned towards his friend. "But you probably know about him. The whole bloody school can't keep its mouths shut." He grinned again.
"Harry?" she repeated slowly. "Harry who?"
"Potter," the boy with jet-black hair answered simply.
Her eyes widened and her face turned a pale shade of white. Clips of her dreams ran through her mind like a mad movie theatre. This boy was in danger. She screamed his name out every night.
"You're…" she licked her dry lips, but then sighed, "It's nice to meet you."
The train whistled quite loudly and lurched to an abrupt stop. Aurora was suddenly knocked off her feet , sitting dumbfounded on the ground. Ron, the red haired boy, pulled her up and slung a hand around her shoulders. She slipped away unnoticeably, smiling politely, and joined Hermione with her many bags. They glided against the dark murky lake on a large ship and were pulled ashore to a giant castle. They entered the enormous building and arrived at the richly decorated Great Hall with floating candles. Auri felt her shoulders begin to tense up. Obviously no one in the entire school knew her because she had never laid a foot on the school grounds. Sooner or later she would have to reveal her secret to their world: she was no witch and could do no magic.
"Auri?" Hermione peered into her thoughtful face. "Auri? Can you hear me?"
Her eyes opened with a great difficulty and she found herself on the cold tiled ground, her face shaded by thousands of lit candles floating in mid-air.
"Yes," she croaked. People from the four enormous tables turned to stare at her. She scrambled up and readjusted her posture, glaring back at them. Hermione patted her on the shoulder and took a seat at the Gryffindor table.
"I'll be… I'll be right back," she told her nervously and disappeared outside, where the fresh air calmed her senses. She took a seat on an old ancient bench and turned her gaze at the round silvery moon. "They'll never accept me," Auri thought miserably. "According to my dreams, people get sorted at the age of thirteen into four different houses. I'm 15! Even if they do accept me, I'll fail horribly. There's so much I need to catch up on…"
She sat there for while, breathing the cold night air, and returned to the Great Hall when the feast was finished and the food disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Auri!" Hermione ran up to her. "Where were you? You skipped the entire sorting and feast."
"I'm not hungry," she replied dully.
"Is everything alright?" Hermione said anxiously.
"Wonderful," she answered grumpily. "Let's go get some sleep."
They walked up a long winding staircase, each saying nothing, and a cold silence encompassed them in the enormous magical room. They arrived before the portrait of the Fat Lady. Hermione whispered "Dragon's Teeth" and the portal hole opened. The two walked inside and into the girl's dormitories. Auri swung herself on a bed next to Hermione and whispered "good night." Hermione whispered back, barely audible, and Auri closed her eyes, tumbling into a deep sleep.