Notes: Hey guys! It's Emmy-chi! This isn't my first fanfic ever, I have another account with a bunch of crappy fics that I'm not going to tell you about cause I'm so embarrassed by them. I'm working on some other Harry Potter fics, but this is the first one I've decided to post, hope you guys like it~

When you lie to me it hurts,
but I can get over it at the
prospect of a new adventure
rising out of the wounds.
-anonymous

Prologue: Meet Elizabeth Dratter

Elizabeth Dratter sat at the end of a small, four poster bed, swinging her legs. She was currently staying in a guest room at the Leaky Cauldron in London. Until recently she had lived in Massachusetts with her parents, but everything had changed one day. Now she was here, nervous as hell, and wondering just how wizards and witches could keep something as large as Diagon Alley secret from the thousands of muggles living in and around London.

Sitting in front of her on the ground was a half filled wooden trunk. In it was a whole assortment of spellbooks, potions ingredients, and everything else she would be needing throughout the next school year. Elizabeth was a witch, and this year she was being transferred from Salem Academy of Witch Magic, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The news had come only a week ago when her foster parents sat her down on the couch and told her that she was adopted.


Flashback

"Lizzy, honey, your father and I would like to speak with you in the living room." Elizabeth looked up from her computer and over at her mother who was standing in the doorway of her room. Shrugging off her headphones, Elizabeth followed her mother quietly.

Her father was already sitting in his giant red armchair by the fire place. Elizabeth walked past him and slouched into the couch. Her parents sat opposite of her, both looking slightly nervous for some reason. Her mother looked like she wanted to cry while her father just looked extremely sad. Finally he broke the silence.

"Lizzy, it's time we told you the truth about you."

Elizabeth could only raise an eyebrow and will them silently to go on. Unless you hadn't noticed yet, Elizabeth isn't prone to talking very much.

"Elizabeth, it isn't a coincidence that you're a witch while no one else in our family is. Lizzy, dear, please don't be angry at your mother and I, but honey, you're adopted."

Elizabeth felt her mind spinning. What? This has to be some kind of mistake? I can't be adopted, I look exactly like Mum and Dad!

She felt tears welling in her eyes, and she refused to meet her 'parents' gazes. She could tell they were frowning and she could hear her mother crying now.

"We didn't want to keep it from you," Carl Dratter murmured. "When we adopted you Albus Dumbledore came to visit us and told us that we weren't allowed to tell you until you were seventeen, and that when we did you would be transferred to Hogwarts."

Elizabeth felt her eyes widen and she spun her head around to stare at the people she had thought were her parents for almost seventeen years. Her mouth opened and she uttered one quiet word.

"What?"

Across from her, Carl and Diana looked pleased that they had gotten her to speak, but they were unaware of what was to come.

Before anyone could react, Elizabeth stood abruptly, smashing her hand against a small coffee table to her right.

"You people are...you're despicable! You think that you can lead someone along for seventeen, SEVENTEEN YEARS! Make them think that you're their parents and then just turn around and tell them that they're adopted, and that they have to transfer schools? I'm not leaving my friends! I won't do what you're asking of me, you lost the ability to order me around when you told me that I was adopted!"

Her father stood quickly, his hands out in a defensive position.

"Liz, we wanted to tell you, but Dumbledore said we couldn't."

"I don't care what that old coot says! You should have told me!"

"Elizabeth Harmony Dratter, you will not take that tone with me."

Elizabeth's blue eyes flashed icily and her wild mane of red hair began twirling in a surge of magic.

"That isn't even my name is it? You can't order me around using that name seeing as IT ISN'T MY NAME! I BET I DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE THIS EITHER, DUMBLEDORE PROBABLY HAS ME UNDER A GLAMOUR OR SOMETHING!"

"That is correct."

Elizabeth's eyes snapped toward the front door where an old and frail looking man with long white hair and half moon glasses stood. He looked up, his piercing ocean blue eyes sparkling.

"Would you like to see how you really look?"

Elizabeth was speechless again, the rare moment where she would actually speak gone from her mind. Almost numbly, she nodded.

With a flick, the man removed a wand from his sleeve and pointed it at her. She gulped as she felt a cool sensation, like water being dripped down her head, flood through her body from her head down to her feet and back up again. When the tingles left she heard her the Dratters gasp.

Her hands immediately touched her hair in alarm, afraid that she looked ugly.

The Santa-like wizard smiled kindly at her when she looked to him for assurance.

"Don't worry, you look lovely dear."

Suddenly anxious, she rushed from the room, sprinting up the stairs to the bathroom. She slid on the linoleum floor and came to stand in front of the mirror, panting slightly, before she too gasped. Gone was the frizzy, waist length red hair that always seemed to match so well with her 'mothers' and gone also were her pale blue eyes. In their place was pin straight black hair and the prettiest sparkling green eyes she had ever seen.

Elizabeth quickly spun in a circle, inspecting the other parts of her body. From what she could tell, she had sprouted up like a bean stalk. No longer was she just over 5 feet, now she had to be at least 5 foot 6 inches. The tight fitting black shirt she had been wearing stopped above her belly button and felt extremely constricted around her chest. Looking closer, Elizabeth almost shrieked.

There's no way... she thought. Oh dear Merlin, there is! My chest is bigger! Before she could revel in the happiness of her bust size growing as well, she heard a small rip. Glancing down she saw that her shirt was starting to rip around the chest area. With a final loud sound, it ripped all the way down her side, leaving part of her bra exposed. Damn, this was one of my favorite shirts. She quickly ran into her room and changed into a ratty looking t-shirt that she usually reserved for sleeping in.

As she began climbing back down the stairs she remembered the present problem at hand. Automatically a string of questions began shooting around in her head. She hopped back into the living room, and plopped down onto the couch. The old man was sitting in an old rocking chair, sipping tea, and being all together silent. When she entered the room, he looked up and met her questioning gaze. Putting down his tea, he smiled at her again.

"All your questions will be answered, my dear. Now, let us start at the beginning. My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."

End Flashback

With a sigh, Elizabeth placed her last book into the trunk, shut the top, and slid the clasps into locked position. All of that had happened a little over a week ago. She had been told that her parents were dead, killed by an evil wizard who went by the name of Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore refused to tell her the name of her parents, her last name, or any details about relatives. He said that it was of utmost importance that she had no idea who she was, as then, You-Know-Who(a popular nickname for Voldemort)wouldn't know who she was either. From what little the elderly wizard would tell her, she got that she was very important in some way or another.

Dumbledore had however, told her the story of why she had been left in the care of muggles and sent to a U.S. magic school up until this time. It was to protect her, he said, to keep her oblivious to the happenings in Europe so that she wouldn't figure out who she was. He had informed her that she was now needed in England for there would be a war soon which she would be needed for. At first she had been wary, but decided to believe the kind man. She had been given two days to pack clothes and her wand, and to say goodbye to her friends here.

The hardest to part with had been Chelsea. Chelsea and Elizabeth had met at Salem Academy and immediately hit it off. As they grew older they came to share everything: secrets, boys, a dorm room, gossip. There was nothing about one that the other didn't know. Elizabeth had bid her friend goodbye, promising to visit her during holidays, with tears shed rapidly on both sides. After that, all there was to do was grab her trunk, hop on a plane, and stay in London for a few days before the Hogwarts Express left from Kings Cross station on the 1st of September.

Elizabeth had hoped to leave the States without a confrontation with the Dratters, but it was not to be so. They met at the airport, and Elizabeth ignored them entirely. Both apologized over and over again, telling her that they would always love her. Finally, as they were about to leave, she turned around, dashed at them, and hugged them, telling them that she forgave them. Then, she and Dumbledore were gone.

While on the plan she had asked Dumbledore why they didn't just apparate, and he told her that flying was easier on his old bones. Elizabeth didn't fully believe him, but she let it go and didn't bring it up again. The two traveled together all the way to London, where Dumbledore brought her to the Leaky Cauldron, took her school shopping, and then left her alone for the next four days, promising that he would send an escort to bring her to the train station on the 1st. As he left, he reminded her that she would have a private sorting to determine which Hogwarts house she would be in(he briefed her on all four during their plane ride) and informed her that she would still be using the name Dratter while at school. He then left, with a twinkle in his eye, after whispering to Tom the innkeeper that all expenses were on him.

Now, it was the 31st of August. Tomorrow Elizabeth was going to Hogwarts to start her new life. With a loud groan, she collapsed onto the bed, and in minutes she was asleep, dreaming of the uncomplicated days when she still believed that she was related to her parents and when Albus Dumbledore had never made a visit to her house.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, I only own this plot and and any characters that you don't recognize from the books or movies.

Notes: sorry, this is a slow chapter, but then again it IS just a prologue. I promise things will speed up, I have a good idea where this is going and I'll tell you right now that there WILL be a happy ending. I might possibly have to raise this story's rating up to M, but I'm not sure yet so I'll leave it at T and tell you guys when/if it's going to be rated higher. Thankies for reading~ Reviews make an me happy, so click that button! Constructive criticism is welcome.

Love Emmy-chi~