-------Chapter One(Never Going to Look Back)--------
Chloe Smith was shocked. She had just been snooping through a locked desk at the orphanage where she had spent her whole life, when she had come across a letter, but not just any letter, the letter that would change her life forever, a letter addressed to her that, by the date written in green ink was roughly four years old. With trembling fingers she got up, ran to her shared room, which was, thankfully, empty, locked the door and ripped it open. Inside it read:
Dear Miss Chloe Smith, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July sincerely, Minerva McGonagallDeputy Headmistress
The next page was filled with a list of strange items, she was sure she had never come across in London, not that she was aloud to leave the orphanage much, or for that matter, had any money too spend, but still she was sure she would have noticed shops selling magic wands and all that other ridiculous things. Chloe read over the letter 3 more times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating (which, she thought, wasn't all that unlikely with the amount of strange things that always seemed to happen around her), jumped up, and headed back to the desk, in the dark room no one was aloud in and started frantically searching until…. Yes, there were more, one, as far as she could tell by the dates, every year since that first one.
A thousand questions started running circles around her head, who was sending these letters? Why had they been locked up in here, and not passed on? Could she really be a… a… a witch? She shuddered at the word, surely witches and wizards didn't exist really? And if they did why did they need to go to school? Witches and wizards she had read about as a child had always been evil, nasty creatures, who surely wouldn't waste time teaching others, shouldn't they be out turning people into frogs and things of that nature? She didn't think so somehow, for some reason totally unknown to her was a sudden desire to join these people, to know them, and she knew that these were not evil people. Perhaps, she thought, that surely these people could not be any worse then the evils she was living with now, and that stupid as it was to even think it, she would be much safer, even happier with fairy tale monsters then these ones.
Glancing down at her letters again she gasped, if these dates were correct, and if they were going to continue there habit of sending a letter once a year, then the next one was due tomorrow, the 25th of July, just one day, now she thought about it, before her 16th birthday. Without thinking twice, Chloe stuffed all 6 letters into the back pocket of her tattered jeans and rushed back to her bedroom.
As soon as she entered the room, she quickly locked the door, grabbed an old backpack from the tattered splintery cupboard and started to pack. After about 10 minutes as she was just pulling the last of the things out of the draw and shoving it into the bag, she stopped, and then quickly started putting everything back. This was going to be a new start, a chance to leave the place that had been her own real life nightmare since before she was born, and she was NOT going to do that caring around a bag full of reminders!
After placing everything back were it belonged she sat down on her bed and started to think. If she was right(as she usually was, being exceptionally smart, too smart some might say), then her letter would becoming with the rest of the mail tomorrow at 5:00am, that would give her one our, one hour to leave before anyone spotted her and dragged her back by her hair.
The next morning Chloe woke at 4:45am, got up and strolled over to the large mirror right next to the front door, to take one last look at herself before she started her new life. That was the one other good thing that Chloe liked, no matter how hard the orphanage workers tried they could never manage to make her look ugly, or even less then perfect, even with her dirty, unwashed hair and lack of much personal hygiene materials besides perhaps a tooth brush, she was still breathtakingly beautiful, she had the perfect womanly figure (which no amount of starvation seemed to tarnish, much to the disappointment of the orphanage ladies, although they never seemed to give up), perfect straight, blonde hair (which for some reason could not be cut, without the scissors, or even razors being mysteriously blown up right in their hands), perfect porcelain skin, full red lips, and Chloe's favourite feature, sparkling blue eyes, that even to herself in the mirror seemed to be x-raying herself.
Right then the mail shot right through the mail shoot and right onto the floor. Heart, hammering Chloe quickly scooped up the letter looking for the one she needed more then anything, and there it was, the very last letter, address to her so perfectly she quickly scanned the perimeter outside half expecting to see someone smiling and waving. This was it she thought, the last time I will see this place, the last time I will feel the way I have for the last 14 years, the last time I'll see him again, the person who has haunted her dream every night only to make her wish he was like in her nightmare when she did wake up, the one person she would truly hate for the rest of her life; Matt. With that thought Chloe opened the door, stepped gracefully out and walked away, never to see this place again, in living memory.
When Chloe was far enough away that they wouldn't bother looking anymore, she stopped at a nearby café called the Leaky Cauldron, a place she had never seen before but seemed impossibly familiar, to read her letter. Once inside she gasped, this place was surely full of magic, there were a lot of funny looking people who could not be human, the chairs were setting themselves around tables, not to mention that in the corner sat a girl with bushy brown hair, reading a book that was called, unless she was mistaken, Transfiguration Today, and practicing spells with a wand!
Chloe continued to look around shocked, until she remembered why she was here, she sat down and pulled out her letter. This one was slightly thicker, there was an extra page. After careful reading the first and second pages, and realizing that they were the same as usually except that the second had a different list, the books were different, harder she presumed, she unfolded the third page. This one was addressed to her, it said that when she chose to come, that she was to find all her books and equipment at a place called Diagon alley.
She had never heard of such a place, and had no idea how to find it, she continued reading the letter which then said that if she should have trouble to ask tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron. She glanced around again looking for Tom, there was a man behind a dusty bar, and perhaps he would know were I could find the owner.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Tom, I need to…" but the rest of her sentence was drowned out by an audible gasp, as the man had turned around to stare. Chloe was far to used to people staring at her, but it still made her extremely uncomfortable. But there was something else in his eyes, something more then purely amazement, and surely if that was just it he would have stopped by now, she was just about to ask what is problem was when…
"Madam Delacour, what a pleasure to see you again, I hope that Miss Fleur is well?"
Madam, Delacour? Fleur? She had no idea who he has talking about, perhaps this man was a bit, to put it nicely mental unstable.
"Umm no my name is Chloe Smith, I was just wondering if you knew where I could find Tom?" She said quietly, aware that several people had turned to stare.
The barman gave a suspicious glance and then said in what he must of thought was a friendly tone "of coarse Miss Smith, I am Tom what can I doya' for?"
"I need to go to umm Diagon Alley? Could you please give me directions?"
"Of coarse love, right this way". Then he turned right around and led her into the back room. Carefully she followed, crossing her arms around her chest, Tom didn't look dangerous, but years of experience had taught her better. He had led her into a tiny little court yard, it was about just big enough for maybe one small table, maybe this was were he kept the maps, although she could not see any draws. And then just as she was getting suspicious, he pulled out a wand, and started tapping the brick on the wall, a second latter her jaw dropped again, the bricks were moving a hole was getting bigger and bigger in the middle, until, seconds latter, the was a whole arch way the led to a spindly street full of little shops.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley" Tom said smiling at her expression which still hadn't changed. "First thing you wanna do is go to the bank, they'll sort you out, oh I almost forgot", he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a battered, yellowing key and handed it over. "You're grandma gave that to me yonks ago, it's the key to your money love, just go into the bank and hand it over, and they'll take you to your vault. Oh and Miss Smith? If you need somewhere to stay until the school year starts, we have rooms available here".
Too shocked to form words yet, she simply nodded, pocketed the key and walked into Diagon Alley for the first time.