Once when I was around two years old, I had a very bad night. My mom only told me about this 'incident' once, but I remembered it always. She said that it was on Halloween night, and I had just fallen to sleep after putting up quite a fight, when I started screaming something horrible. She had never heard anyone scream like that. She told me that she tried everything to calm me down, but I just kept screaming for hours, till finally, around midnight I calmed down and fell asleep from exhaustion. I had woken up the next day looking as though, my mother told me, I had been tortured, and would never be the same. I remember nothing from that night except the pain I felt, as though half of me was slowly being shredded to pieces. It was only much later that I found out why that had happened.

****************Years later***********************

A girl about 16 years old was lying by the long oak tree in her backyard, eyes closed, with a large dog lying by her side. She was enjoying the summer weather like any kid would, lazing about. She looked like a normal teenage girl, wearing a normal t-shirt and jeans, but she was quite unusual. This girl was a witch, a very good one at that. Her name was Faith Connors. She had long, thick, curly black hair, which was always in a braid. She also had a mark on her left wrist which made her even more unusual, even in the magical world. The mark was of a skull with a snake coming out of the mouth like a tongue. Faith always wore a watch to cover it, because, even though she didn't like for other people to see it, she liked having it. It was a mark that she had been born with, she guessed she had gotten it from her father. Faith had never seen her father, or even really knew much about who he was. Her mother, a muggle, had raised her in America surrounded by family. Their family was pretty close, and they all knew about her being a witch. At the age of 6, Faith had started school at the Salem Institute, the best magical school in America. She graduated from there at the age of 12, but because her mother wanted her to be well informed on muggle things as well, she sent her to a muggle school when she was 13. After graduating muggle high school at the age of 15 (muggle school was much easier than the Salem Institute), she decided to work on her own doing various projects. When Faith was 14, her mom sat her down and told her all she knew about her father.

"Your father was a wizard named Tom. I didn't know his last name, and I only spent a few days with him. I don't want you to resent me for that, but I'll understand if you do."

"I don't, but I want to know everything about my father."

"All right, but I don't know much. Like I said, he was a wizard, a pretty powerful one, as I understand it. That's where you get your magic. And you're more powerful than he will ever be. He left after those few days, back to England I suppose. He was from England, but I don't know where. He went to school there. His parents were dead. When he left, he said that I would be pregnant, and to give you what he left behind."

She dragged a large trunk into the room. It had several locks on it.

"Was this his?"

"Yes it was. He left if behind for you. I have never taken it out of the closed since we moved. I thought you would be old enough to understand everything now, and appreciate whatever's in this trunk. I'll leave you alone now."

And with that she left her daughter alone with the trunk and her thoughts.

********************************

"Faith! Mail!", her mom yelled from the kitchen door.

'Man, I was having a really cool dream too,' Faith thought as she tried to remember it. It was futile; the dream was forgotten. "Come on Frostie! Let's see what Hephy brought today." The dog barked in reply, and they dashed up to the house.

"Hey mom! Where's the mail?"

"Where Hephy always puts it, in your room," she said.

There were 2 letters on the blue bed. One was The Hermes Report, and the other was in a yellowish sort of parchment with green ink on it. 'Nobody uses parchment here.' Faith went to the foreign letter and turned it over. It had a purple wax seal of a badger, an eagle, a snake, and a lion surrounding an H. She new at once from her studies that this was the marking Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Why she had a letter from Hogwarts was a mystery. Quickly opening the letter, she read:

Hogwarts School

of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Connors,

I have written to you in the hopes that we might arrange to speak with each other in person. It is important that we meet, as I have some rather shocking, and quite possibly, good news to tell you. It will most likely be better to speak privately. If it would be convenient to have this meeting on July 22, at 1:00 in the afternoon, please send a reply by return owl as soon as possible.

Yours Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Albus Dumbledore,

Headmaster

'Professor Dumbledore! One of the greatest wizards ever! But I wonder what the news is? Let's see the 22nd is this Friday, so that means that my mom will probably be at work. That's perfect.' She quickly wrote down that that time is fine, and gently woke Hephy to send the reply with him.

The days till Friday seemed to pass a lot slower than usual, while Faith's anticipation grew. She tried to busy herself by imagining a new spell that allows a picture in a book to become a type of hologram movie; and by playing with her dog, Frostie, a lot.

Finally, after what seemed like a month, Friday came. Her mom was at work, so she had the house to herself. The clock hit 1:00, and the doorbell rang. Faith stood frozen to the floor, nervous as can be. The doorbell rang again, and she collected herself enough to go to the door. Professor Dumbledore stood there with a bagful of lemon drops in his hand, and a warm smile on his face.

"Good afternoon Ms. Connors, or do you mind if I call you Faith?"

"Sure you can call me Faith, sir. Please, come in."

"Thank you."

They made their way into the kitchen and sat down. Professor Dumbledore offered her some lemon drops, but she politely refused, being more interested in the news he had.

"I do love a good lemon drop. You are probably very interested in the news I have. Where is your mother?"

"She's at work, but she knew you were coming and wanted me to say that she really wanted to meet you."

"Oh, well tell her I'm flattered, won't you? Well, onto the matter at hand eh? I have recently found out some rather strange news that involves you. If I may ask, what do you know about your father?"

"Uh... Well, I know only what my mom told me and that was very little. I know that he only stayed a few days with my mom, his name was Tom, that he came from England somewhere, and that he left his trunk for me." Faith really hoped Dumbledore wouldn't ask what was in the trunk. Thankfully, he didn't.

"Well, if you'd like, I could tell you a little more about Tom?"

"Yes, please!"

"All right, but not much of it is good."

He proceeded to explain all about Tom Riddle, the kid at school. He was very ambitious, too ambitious. About Tom/Voldemort and all the awful things he did during his rise to power. Finally he got to that Halloween night, 14 years ago. He told of how Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow and killed these two people named Lily & James Potter, and tried to kill their son, Harry. Faith only vaguely knew about the famous Harry Potter, and how he defeated Voldemort. History wasn't her strong point. He continued to tell her of how her father performed the killing curse on Harry, and of how it didn't work, and her dad lost everything.

Her vision of a good, kind-hearted father had been shattered. She no longer wanted to know him, and wished that he wasn't her father at all. She told Dumbledore as much.

"You shouldn't wish that. You can't change your family. Think of the good things you got from him."

'I guess he's right,' she thought. She still didn't want anything to do with him, but the trunk he left her, she still loved, because it was from her father, and that meant something.

"As I said, their son Harry is doing well at Hogwarts. But now I come to the real news. Voldemort is connected to Harry Potter by the curse that failed. And, for a reason I cannot find, since Tom Riddle is your father, you are also connected to Harry, but more so. You are Harry's sister."