Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.

A/N I know most of you on my alert list are Tamera Pierce fans. But I wanted to give Harry Potter a try. Just so you all know, the story really starts to pick up about Olivia's fourth year, but I wanted to have her first three included in the story for some background. So the first few chappies might be a little bit slow. I don't think so, I think they rock, but let me know. Review me!
-Nubia

Chapter One: Hogwarts

Olivia Ballentine was not like most of the witches and wizards scurrying through King's Cross Station. She came to this realization quite quickly upon their arrival. Since she had been sitting on the tiny bench she had claimed for her own for almost two hours, she had had plenty of time to observe her soon to be fellow students. She hadn't needed that time, not really.

She already knew.

There was something infinately different about her, a knowledge that she possesed that most others did not. A knowledge that she saw when she looekd into her own eyes in the miror. A knowledge that wasn't reflected back at her. However, it was also the kind of knowledge that if one did not posses it, then one also could not recognize it in others. For that reason, Olivia was able to blend in quite well.

If one were to look at her, sitting quite calmly on the bench, the difference between her and the other students would not be immediately apparent. She was dressed nicely in a light blue button down shirt with a brown pleated skirt jus sort of knee length that rested gently at her hips. Her curly black hair was pulled back into a neat pony, the ends curling ever so delicately. Black, thinly framed glasses rested on her nose, a shield for her intense blue eyes. She looked like a respectable young ten year old, albeit slightly mature for her age.

No, the difference was not on the outside for people to see. It was on the inside, where her emotions resided. For while the students and parents buzzed around her with excitement and happiness, regarding their train ride into school as a wonderful new opportunity, as an experience of a lifetime, and all those jolly things, Olivia saw it as something drastically different.

With a sigh, Olivia grabbed firmly onto the trolley that held her one ratty old trunk and pushed herself towards the wall between platforms nine and ten. She had worried for an agonizing ten minutes about the seemingly absence of the gate she was supposed to be at, but then logic had kicked in and she realized the gate must be hidden.

Since she had gone eleven years of her life without knowing that magic existed, it was logical that the magical world was exclusive and open only to those who had been accepted in. They wouldn't blatantly flaunt themselves for just anyone to see. Therefore, the gate must be there, exactly where her admissions letter had stated. There was simply a trick to it, that she had yet to figure out.

Her suspicions had been confirmed when she saw the first odd family walk into the station. She had recognized them immediately as that of a Hogwarts family because their young son had been carrying a trunk much like her own accompanied by a cage with a fluttering owl inside, something she still found curiously strange. That and they had walked through the wall separating the two platforms and apparently disappeared.

Since that first family, Olivia had watched dozens more walk through the wall, had seen proud parents, excited older kids, and scared little boys and girls that looked to be around her age. It hadn't taken a genius to figure out what she needed to do. The reason she hadn't moved from her bench wasn't because she didn't know where to go or how to get to the train.

It was because she was fighting the raging guilt and panic that was eating its way through her insides.

Olivia knew that it was now or never, and not just because the time was rapidly approaching departure. she had pushed her resolve as far as it would go and she needed to get through the gate and onto the train, before she lost her battle with the guilt and she didn't get on at all. She had to. Returning home would only make things so much worse. She had seen it in her mother's eyes. Had felt it in her bones.

With a sigh and a slight wince, Olivia pushed her protesting body up to her feet and walked steadily towards the stonewall. She felt her stomach flutter with nerves and wanted to close her eyes in preparation for pain, for surely she would run right into the stones and fall back on her face. But she forced her eyes to remain open and her pace to remain sure. Her mother's face flashed through her mind again and she resolved that she would face any pain head on. She had to at least have that much courage.

And then she was through and standing on an open platform. The sun was beating down on her sallow face, the heat trying to soak into her cold appendages. Olivia looked wide-eyed at the students around her. The air was noisy with the buzz of goodbyes and warnings to behave. There were so many students Olivia was amazed she was able to see the giant train that puffed steam steadily from behind them.

Since watching the happy families only made her sad, Olivia pushed her way through the crowd and towards the train. She watched a father stow the trunks on the train with easy strength and did the same before climbing in and heading down its length looking for an empty compartment.

It was easy finding an empty seat as most of the students were still mingling on the deck outside. She had her pick and decided to pick a seat on the side that faced away from the platform. Landscape was a much safer backdrop for her thoughts. When Olivia had decided that she wasn't like the other kids coming to Hogwarts this year, she hadn't been lying.

When Olivia had first received her owl with the letter welcoming her to Hogwarts, she had been intrigued. At first she had thought it was a private school within her area. Since she hadn't fit in at public school, due to her own choice of actions, she had assumed that going to a private school would be a good change. At a private school, it would be easier to hide away the bruises and the periodic panic. It would be easier to pretend she was too focused on studying to make friends. It would be that much easier to hide.

But upon showing her mother the letter, she came to the conclusion that she had been wrong. Hogwarts was not a private school within her area. It was a school for witchcraft and wizardry, something she hadn't thought existed and was still slightly sceptacal about. Her mother, however, was a firm and terrified believer. Olivia could still remember the look on her mother's face.

Her eyes, so big in her already sunken face, had seemed to widen even further, swallowing all the other features until it seemed she was two painfully blue eyes surrounded by dirty brown hair.

"Where did you get this Olivia?" Her mother's voice had faltered at the end, almost unable to say her daughter's name. They were seated at the kitchen table, the lights dim, the noise of the food cooking on the stove muted. It wouldn't be right for loud noises, not if they wanted the monster to wake.

"It came through the window. With an owl," Olivia whispered, suddenly scared. The sight of an owl hadn't startled her, though she had been curious as to why it had come to her and not her mother. She had seen a few owls in her lifetime, only when her mother's husband had been out to sea though. The sight of them always seemed to put her mother in a better mood. Why now was it different?

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this," her mother whispered, and to Olivia's horror, she saw tears flood her mother's blue eyes, magnified by the fact that they were so wide within her thin face. The sight of them squeezed Olivia's heart in the most painful way.

"What is it mommy?" Olivia whispered in her child's voice, coming around the table to kneel at her mother's side. She grabbed one of her hands, wanting to comfort, wanting to heal, to sooth. Her hands were skin and bones, and shaking so violently it was a wonder Olivia hadn't seen. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, dearest. Of course nothings wrong. This is good news. Very good news indeed. We should celebrate," Her voice broke on a sob and Olivia felt tears pinch at her own eyes.

"No!" Olivia said a little too loudly and watched her mother's eyes dart fearfully to the kitchen's door before settling back on her daughter's lovely face. "No, I don't want to celebrate. This isn't good news, is it? This is something bad. Something terribly bad. He isn't going to like this is he?"

Olivia watched her mother struggle to lie to her, struggle to find something good to say, but it was no use. Her stepfather would not approve of this. And that was why they both had reason to fear.

"Excuse me?" The voice broke across Olivia's thoughts and she pulled them back from the dark day inside her mind. Her wide blue eyes, the only feature she and her mother shared, glanced over to the door and stared at the three young boys that crowded the entryway. Unable to speak with the lump that had formed in her throat, Olivia raised an eyebrow in question. " Can we sit here? The other compartments are full."

Olivia cleared her throat as she glanced out the window. To her surprise, the train had taken off while she had been lost in thought, the landscape she had gazed at briefly before whizzing past her now. They were officially on their way to Hogwarts. Olivia felt her heart sink into her stomach as she came to terms with the fact that there really was no going back now.

"Sure," Olivia said at last, scooting into the corner, wedging herself against the far wall as the boy took a seat next to her and his two friends sat on the side opposite. Subconsciously she pulled at her sleeves, wanting to make certain the bruises around her wrists weren't visible. She had been right in assuming her stepfather wouldn't be happy about Olivia's choice of schools.

"I'm Teddy Lupin," the boy said, leaning slightly forward, trying to gain her attention. With another little sigh, Olivia turned to the boy, looking at his face. He had brown hair cropped close to his head. His hair had the slightest hint of a curl to it, causing it to fall towards his brown eyes. Chocolate brown eyes that were smiling at her, as was the wide mouth that showed off white teeth with incisors that were just a little too long. The shape of his face reminded her just the littlest bit of a wolf, and she pinpointed the reason to be the way his eyeborws shadowed his face. All in all he was a very fortunate by to be so handsome. She supposed other young girls in her class would consider him cute, but Olivia was too preoccupied to actually take that into account.

"These are my two friends, Roger Prewen and Dylan Banks. What's your name?" He smiled wider at her. He seemed overly eager, excitement vibrating through his whole entire being. He must be a first year, she decided though she had guessed that frm the beginning. Teddy looked to be around her age.

"Olivia—"

"Teddy, leave her alone. She's just some stupid girl. I want to play Exploding snap!" One of the boys interrupted. She wasn't sure if it was Roger or Dylan, she hadn't honestly been paying attention during the introduction. But she was grateful of it. The last thing she wanted was to be drawn into a conversation.

"Don't be a git, Roger. I'm just making conversation. What did you say your name was?"

"Olivia Ballentine." escaped on a sigh.

"Teddy loves Olivia! Teddy loves Olivia!" shouted the other boy and soon the two were chorusing it in sign song voices, growing louder and louder until Olivia was sure that the surrounding compartments could hear also. She watched with mild irritation as Teddy's face grew red with embarrassment and equal parts anger.

"No I don't! Shut up!" Teddy launched himself across the compartment at the two boys and thus began the inevitable scuffle. Olivia felt her insides freeze up painfully at the sight of violence, a reaction she'd had most of her life but still couldn't control completely. She hastily turned her face away from the boys and stared out the window at the passing countryside. But she wasn't seeing it. Her mind was centered around another memory.

Her stepfather standing over her as she made herself as small as possible in the kitchen chair. Her mother sitting across from her, watching with fear filled eyes, clutching her hands so tightly together they shook. Even though they hadn't given him the letter, simply said she had been accepted to a school for "uniquely gifted children" he still hadn't been convinced. Or pleased to be pulled into the conversation. Olivia could see the anger swimming in his eyes, through is blood.

"You think I'll spend my hard earned money on you to go to some school for crazies?" The raging voice shouting in her ears as the face loomed ever closer. She could see the hatred in his eyes for the child that wasn't his but that he was forced to accept. The hatred for her.

Then later, the quick trip into Diagon Alley for the school supplies that had been hidden hastily in the attic. All those amazing sights to see, all those wonders of the witches and wizards that surrounded her, passed by her, would have left her in awe. The wand shop, where she had tried tens, maybe even hundreds, before the slim willow wood wand had produced a flurry of sparkling butterflyes. All of these she should have enjoyed, should have cherished. But she couldn't. Not a single minute of it. Because her mother had trembled beside her the entire time, constantly checking her watch, hurrying her along. And she had known what their fate would be if they had been caught.

Olivia had known from the start of the excursion that it had been against her stepfather's will that they be here. That the constant monitoring of time had been so they could be the first to arrive home. It was so that he would never know about it. They had returned home first, barely. But all that secrecy and anxiety had been for naught. He had noticed the missing funds later that week and there had been hell to pay.

And the final, most devastating memory of all. Sitting in the car, sweating bullets for each mile that they passed that brought her closer to King's Cross and closer to separation. The silence in the car had been deafening. And when they had arrived at their destination hours too early, Olivia hadn't wanted to get out of the car. Hadn't wanted to leave her mother alone.

For years Olivia had believed that she was the last thing standing between her mother and the true violence that lurked within her stepfather's soul. She had believed herself to be the shield that protected her mother from the death that she felt in her stepfather's hands whenever she was the focus of his rage. Olivia had seen him on more then one occasion temper his blows when it came to her, and she had wondered for years why it was so. But though she didn't understand, she had used it as often as possible. Stepping in between his fist and her mother.

Sitting in the back seat of their beat up old station wagon, she couldn't face the guilt that ate up her insides, or the certainty that the ten months she would spend apart from her mother's side would be the death of her. She had refused to move, refused to get out of the car. If she left, would she even have a place to return to at the end of the year? Instead, she had clutched the edge of the seat with all her might, and cried.

She could still hear her mothers voice now, and the sound of it within her head brought fresh tears stinging to her eyes. "You need to go Olivia. Please, this is what I want for you."

"No mommy, no!" Olivia had sobbed, clutching the seat all the harder, pushing her spine into the cushions, trying to become a part of the seat so she couldn't leave. "I won't leave you with him. I won't!"

"Baby, there's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine." But the tears had been in her eyes too. And Olivia knew that had been a lie too. So many lies.

"Please… don't make me," Olivia sobbed, feeling the despair welling up inside her like a wave that wanted to swallow her whole. She was drowning in it as she stared up into her mother's wide blue eyes and wondered if this would be the last time she ever saw her.

"Baby, listen to me. The greatest gift you can give me is to go to school and become educated. To follow the dream that I was never given. To make me proud. Please, for me."

Olivia had felt her resolve weaken, had felt her tense muscles slacken. And then her stepfather had lost patience with the entire scene. Shouting about imbecilic bastards he kicked open his door and stomped over to her side of the car. All the relaxation fled and Olivia felt herself become tenser then ever as she watched his progress.

Then he was at her door, leaning in and grabbing her by her upper arms, wrenching her from the seat. Her forehead bumped against the doorway as he forced her onto the sidewalk. She tried to pull herself away but her squeezed all the harder, causing her to yelp at the pinching pain, before pushing her away. She had stumbled and fallen, banging her knee on the concrete. Then his fists were around her arms again, pulling her up.

He dragged her to the back of the car and released one arm so he could open the back and drag out her trunk, throwing it half heartedly on the side walk. Giving her a shake and a push that made her stumble again and fall backwards onto to the hard ground.

And he was in the car, and it was starting and pulling into the street. Her mother's window was rolling down and then her mother's face, leaning out for just a moment, as she waved goodbye.

And that was the last sight of her mother that she had seen.

Would it be the last ever?

"What house do you want to be in?" The question interrupted the thoughts that dragged sluggishly through her brain. Her eyes focused on the passing landscape and she realized that quite some time had passed while she had been lost in thought. That and she was extremely cold. Her thin body was shuddering with huge shivers that wracked goose bumps down her arms and back.

"I want to be in Gryffindor," Roger offered up, or maybe it was Dylan?

"Me too!" Said Dylan (Roger?).

"As do I, my friends. As do I. But who wouldn't?" Teddy proclaimed as he sat up straight in his seat, his chest puffed out.

"What's Gryffindor?" The question slipped from Olivia's trembling lips before she could stop herself. She hadn't realized she was speaking, but now that the words were out, it was good for her to know. She hadn't really thought about school, or where she would sleep or what kinds of classes she would take, or anything really. All she had thought about was her mother and how it would possibly kill one or both of them to be separated for so long.

"You don't know?" This time she was almost certain it was Roger who spoke. He was the chubbiest of the three with muddy brown hair and piggish nose.

"Did you say your name was Ballentine? Are you related to Danton Ballentine?" That was from Dylan, who was taller then them all. He had blonde hair and pretty green eyes that stood out against his pale skin with the slightest dusting of freckles across his nose.

"Who's Danton Ballentine?" Roger again. Olivia was coming to the conclusion that he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

"He invented all those cool spells. You know, about transfiguration. He also helped regulate how to become an Animagus. Haven't you heard of him? My grandmother tells me about him all the time. Seems he was some what of an idol to my mother before she died," Teddy said, before leaning forward again to catch Olivia's eye. "Are you related to him?"

As far as Olivia knew, her father had been a sailor on her stepfathers boat. Where he was now, and whether or not his name was Danton Ballentine, Olivia had no clue. Her mother had never deemed to share that information. Olivia felt her shoulders shrug before she answered quietly into the expecting silence, "No."

"Oh. Are you from a Muggle family then? It would make sense, seeings how you don't know about Gryffindor and the like." Catching the raised eyebrows on Olivia's face, Teddy explained further. "A Muggle family is a non-magical family. Can anyone in your family do magic Olivia?"

She pursed her lips as she thought of this. It wasn't quite as simple to answer as she would have anticipated. Her mother, certainly, had never displayed any sign of magic. And neither had her stepfather. Her mother hadn't been surprised at all by the letter from Hogwarts, however. In fact, she seemed to have been dreading it. So she must have known about the magical world. That could mean that someone in her extended family might have been a witch or a wizard. But since she hadn't met anyone in her extended family, ever, she wouldn't know if that was the case.

"I guess I am from a Muggle family," Olivia allowed, after thinking it over. Technically, she was from one. Whether magic ran in her family, since she didn't know her entire parentage or family, was inconclusive.

"Then you don't know anything about Hogwarts?" Roger asked, slightly shocked. Olivia shook her head slightly, causing her bangs to ruffle and fall into her eyes.

"Anything at all?" Dylan repeated. Olivia shook her head again, her bangs becoming even more disheveled. Unconsciously Olivia reached up to brush them aside. Her sleeves, already slightly too short for her long arms, pulled back and the bruises around her wrist stood out in the light of the cabin for the briefest glimpse.

"What are—" Teddy began, but stopped as he watched Olivia pull the sleeves hastily back down and cover them up. He seemed to be the only of the three that noticed and watched as her turned a deep red of shame.

"What's Gryffindor?" Olivia asked a littl too loudly, talking over him. She wanted to change the subject before anything else more painful was brought up, but it seemed she had no need. Teddy didn't mention it again. He launched into a lengthy explanation of the four houses and then gave another, even longer explanation of the sorting hat, which Olivia found to be immensely intriguing.

"Is it true that the sorting hat can read our mind?" Roger breathed, leaning so far forward he was in danger of falling off his seat. Teddy seemed very knowledgeable about Hogwarts and all that it entailed. She wondered where he had learned so much.

"My Uncle Ron told me that he can read every thought you've ever had. And that no matter what, you can't hide them from him. Because he's got magic from all four of the head of houses. That's why he's the sorting hat."

"But what if you have thoughts that Slytherin's have?" Roger demanded.

"Yeah! What if he wants to put me in Slytherin?" quipped Dylan, also leaning forward on his chair.

"Well, my godfather told me that when he was being sorted, he had Slytherin thoughts in him too, but he had more Gryffindor then Slytherin. And he thought really hard about wanting to be in Gryffindor, and so that hat must have heard and gave him what he wanted. You can do that too!" Teddy explained calmly. Olivia didn't see what the problem with Slytherin was. Sure, it wouldn't be her first choice of house. But there didn't appear to be anything wrong with it. Not like Hufflepuff.

"That's what I'll do then," Roger declared loudly, straightening his shoulders and lifting up his chin. "And you have to do it too. Because we all have to be in Gryffindor together!"

Teddy looked sideways towards Olivia and asked quietly, "Are you going to ask the sorting hat to be in Gryffindor also? Are you gonna be in same house as us?"

She considered it for a moment. Gryffindor would be a nice house, she knew. But it honestly didn't matter to her. As she saw it now, the only thing that mattered was focusing on her education, as her mother had asked of her. Her heart pinched painfully and she felt the fresh sting of tears.

With a shrug she replied. "Possibly. But wouldn't it be best to let the sorting hat decide for me? That's what he's for, after all."

Teddy was about to reply when an older student knocked quietly on the door and announced that they would be arriving at Hogwarts within the half hour and that it would be best if they changed into their school appointed robes.

Dutifully Olivia dug out her school robes and pulled them on over her conservative outfit before taking her seat once more. Her mind wandered away from the conversation that had moved onto ghosts and moving staircases and thought back to what she had decided.

Yes, it didn't matter which house she had been placed into. Her resolve had strengthened and she realized that it wouldn't do to mope about her mother. This is what she had wanted right? Wasn't those some of the very last words she had spoken to Olivia? Her mother wanted her to study, wanted her to succeed. So that's what she would do. She would focus all her attention on excelling in her classes. Once she figured out what they would be.

The rest of the journey passed in a blur. Before she knew it she was following a rather gigantic and hairy man towards an even more gigantic lake filled with tiny little boats. She climbed into one and was soon joined by Teddy, Roger, and Dylan, who seemed too awed by the sight of the castle to continue any more conversation.

Then she was standing in the great hall being lectured by a rather stern looking man who had proclaimed himself Professor Kinsley teacher of transfiguration and head of the Gryffindor house. He pushed them all into a semi-straight line and led them through a magnificent set of double doors.

Olivia stepped into it the Great Hall, slightly in front of Dylan, looked up and caught her first sight of true magic. As she stood beneath the enchanted ceiling that twinkled with thousands of tiny little stars where they weren't obscured by the lazily floating clouds, Olivia resolved to never forget the sight before her or the way reality finally set in.

Buying her cauldron and potions ingredients, all those spell books that she had yet to open, the weird and slightly uncomfortable robes, even her wand, hadn't made her realize what she was becoming. Not until this moment, hundreds of miles away from the one person she had ever loved and about to face the most grueling tests of her life, had she fully accepted where her life was going.

And then Professor Kinsley was calling out names and the children were going forward and being placed into the houses. She looked around the Great Hall more firmly and saw the four separate tables, the house indicated by the banners hanging from the walls at the end. It was easy to discern which house was which. The teachers table was the one that interested her the most, but before she had time to really study the men and women seated at it, she heard her name being called.

With a start she stepped forward and scrambled onto the stool in front of her. She looked up at Kinsley just as he was dropping the hat onto her head. It fell below her eyes and a loud, obnoxious voice filled her mind.

Obnoxious am I?

I would say so, Olivia thought back with mild irritation. It wasn't exactly pleasant to have her mind invaded like this.

Hmm… Ballentine. Any relation to Danton? He was interesting, just like you. Had that same little spark.

You can read my mind, hat. You obviously know I'm not aware of whom my father is or if he is this Danton you speak of, Olivia thought crossly. Honestly, she had assumed since the sorting hat claimed to be made up of nothing but magic, and had been in commission for so many hundreds of years, that it would be just a little bit smarter.

Snotty little brat, are you not? Perhaps Slytherin is where you belong.

If it gets your unintelligent thoughts out of my mind, by all means.

Really, there's no need to be insulting. Besides being a little bit on the quippy side, I don't think Slytherin is for you. Hmm… quite a puzzle you are. As was Danton. Are you sure you're of no relation?

Olivia was certain this was said just to irritate her further. She refused to answer since she was well aware of his ploy.

No? All right then. You shall be in…

"RAVENCLAW!"

Then the hat was gone and Kinsley was pushing her ever so gently towards the table that was cheering so loudly for her. She sat shakily in an empty seat, hating the way all the eyes of the table were trained on her, even for those few brief moments.

Then Dylan Banks was being called and he was placed in Gryffindor, as were Teddy and a little later, Roger. The feast began and the people around her dug into the plates of food overflowing in the middle of the table. Three young girls who had also been accepted into Ravenclaw joined her on either side. They kept up steady conversation, but left her alone after she refused to be drawn in.

Before she knew it the feast was over and she was following the crowd through the halls, up several flights of stairs, past the most peculiar paintings in which the contents moved around as they pleased, to a door that asked the lead of the group a very intriguing question. The answer quite surprised Olivia, as it was not what she would have expected.

She followed the other three girls through the doorway into a cozy common room, lit with several fires and filled with table, couches and chairs. Yawning heavily she continued to follow the girls across the common room, up some stairs and into a dormitory. One of the beds had her trunk at the foot. She walked to it and had just enough energy to pull on her nightclothes and fall into the bed.

As her eyes drifted shut, her last thought was that she would do her best to make her mother proud.