A/N- If you haven't already, please ready The Last Potter, which is the story prior to this one. Whilst you are under no obligation to do so, it might help clear any confusion up on this one. I would also like to point out I do not own Harry Potter and neither do I claim to, hence why this is on a FANFICTION website. That is all- enjoy!(or hate, whichever you prefer)

Chapter 1- The Small Town of Avery Moors

Everyone knew everyone in the small town of Avery Moors, which was all very well because there was little over 400people living there, including all the children. So, naturally, they became very curious when the lonely man from up Avery Hill came back in late June with a pale little girl. She seemed a fragile thing, and she was very small, despite being told she was to be thirteen that coming October. Those who were old enough to remember, could remember the girl visiting before, once, when she was very little- barely a scrap of a girl then; mind you, as Mrs Bird from down the post office pointed out, she was still hardly a scrap of girl now.

Coming late into the summer holidays, when most of the town were away on their seaside trips down to Cornwall or even abroad, the same girl Mr Lupin had come back with that just passed June, walked down by herself into the heart of the village in an attempt to look for something to do. It was as though the Queen had decided to go for a stroll along the ancient streets, as in an instant everybody was secretly following her and pointing her out, whispering to one another like old gossips.

The girl walked into the small park and sat on an empty swing, away from most of the children. It was a few moments before one brave soul walked up to her and smiled. He was about fourteen, and already filling out across the shoulders and had dirty blonde hair that was folded over as a quiff at the front of his forehead. He was, as you would put in, one of those boys all the girls seemed to fall for.

"Hi," he said, sticking out a hand. "I'm Jimmy Copper."

The girl looked at him in a moment's pause before shaking it. "Avril."

"Nice to meet you," Jimmy said. He peered at her. "You're awfully pale for summer. Have you been ill or something?"

"No," Avril said. "I don't tan."

Jimmy just shrugged this oddity off. "Got a surname?"

"I did," Avril said. "I don't use it anymore."

"Why not?" Jimmy pushed.

Everyone watching would swear later on that they saw the girl flinch.

"Because it wasn't my real one," Avril said, her voice cooling slightly.

"So," Jimmy said, sitting on the swing next to her. "You're living with Mr Lupin for the summer? He a relation of yours?"

"No," Avril said. "He's my godfather. And yes- I'll be living with him over the summer- and every summer after that."

"What? You won't be coming for Christmas or Easter?" Jimmy frowned.

"I go to a boarding school," Avril said simply. "We get Christmas off but we only go home if we want to, so I might. But I doubt it. And we don't really celebrate Easter."

Jimmy pinned her down as posh girl. Going to boarding schools was expensive- just as much as a private school. "So, is your family rich? You have to be to go to a boarding school."

Avril nodded, contradicting what followed slightly. "You don't have to pay to go to my school. You pay for your uniform and books but that's it."

Jimmy peered at the pale girl. She was very pretty, and no doubt about it. She had silvery grey, blue, green and black eyes- each colour a fleck creating a very intriguing eye colour. Her raven black hair hung in soft curls down to her chest; the curls weren't overly curly but there was the odd few while the rest was pretty much just curled at the bottom. He wondered if she curled it on purpose. She was slight, short but otherwise there was nothing much to her.

"Sounds like hell," Jimmy said. "I go to the nearest secondary school- just over the moors. Nothing special or anything but at least we get Easter off."

"Oh no, we have a spring holiday, but we don't get to go home," Avril said. "It's only a week long whereas Christmas is three."

Jimmy just nodded. "What's the name of this school?"

"You wouldn't have heard of it."

"Don't matter."

"Hogwarts," the girl said. "It's called Hogwarts."

"You're right, I haven't heard of it. Sounds like a funny old place with a name like Hogwarts."

Avril shrugged. "What's yours called?"

"Greystone," Jimmy said.

"There you are. At least Hogwarts sounds exciting."

"Well, is it?"

She tilted her head slightly, "Me and my friends almost died last year so…yeah."

"How did you almost die last year?" Jimmy asked, completely stunned that a school could be quite that dangerous.

The girl stood up. "Nice meeting you Jimmy." And then she walked off.

As you can imagine, poor Jimmy was hounded for answers about the strange girl called Avril without-a-surname. And nobody had heard of a school called Hogwarts. One lady went onto the internet and googled it but there weren't any search results. Either the girl was a liar or Jimmy had misheard because there was no record of any boarding school called Hogwarts. And even stranger was that they didn't see her for the rest of the summer. However, they did see Mr Lupin when he came down to the corner shop to get a few bare necessities.

"I hear your goddaughter is staying with you Mr Lupin," a sweet but nosy old lady said to him in the shop.

"Yes, she is, Mrs Parker," Lupin said. "I heard she met the young lad Jimmy."

"Oh yes," Mrs Parker said. "Jimmy's a good little boy. He was trying to be friendly but then she just left without answering his question."

"And what question was that, Mrs Parker?" Lupin asked, picking up a carton of milk.

"Oh, he was only asking how she almost died last year at that funny school…what's it called…. Hogwarts," Mrs Parker said.

Lupin almost dropped the change he was holding. "It's a long story Mrs Parker and I told her she couldn't be long so she must've thought she didn't have the time. Just like I don't. If you would excuse me."

And within thirty seconds Lupin had paid for his groceries and was out of the corner shop like a shot. Of course, Mrs Parker relayed the whole conversation to anybody who would listen, which was everybody, and the small cottage up on the hill once again became a topic of interest. Those who lived close enough also noticed the amount of owls that flew in and out of cottage and naturally found it bizarre but thought little of it as, as Muggles, there was no rational explanation.

And from that day, where Mrs Parker met Mr Lupin, the inhabitants of Avery Moors speculated and gossiped and tried to find out as much as possible but didn't have much else to go on as they didn't see the girl or Mr Lupin for the rest of the summer, unless they were nosy enough to be staring at the hill for any sign of movement in the windows. And if they were nosy enough they would have been surprised to see a lot of wand waving. It was remarkable, really, how all that wand waving had gone unnoticed. Oh, and not to mention, the green flashes as they disappeared into the fireplace. It was amusing just how ignorant nosy parkers could be.