Chapter 1 – The Colourful Orphan
Minerva McGonagall was deep in thought as she walked slowly down the street. It was hard to believe that only weeks had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts. She was still struggling to take everything that had happened in. It took her several moments to realise that she had in fact walked straight past her destination. Looking back, she observed the tall, dark building with disdain. She had always despised orphanages. She entered and began walking towards the receptionist. She took in the building around her and was pleasantly surprised by its interior. As opposed to its dark outside, the walls of the lobby were decorated with various pictures that had obviously been drawn by the younger residents of the building, and there seemed to be a pleasant atmosphere, as if the workers had tried to make it homely for the children.
Professor McGonagall noticed that the young lady behind the desk was observing her with a mixture of curiosity and alarm. Minerva had never had a knack for dressing in Muggle clothes, and was currently wearing a long green dress with a tartan overcoat.
"Good day, I am here to see Mrs Newton." It took a moment for the receptionist to register that she had been addressed by this strange woman.
"Er, what name shall I give?"
"Professor McGonagall. I am here to speak to her about one of your residents."
"Yes miss." The girl got out of her seat and disappeared down a long corridor.
She returned about a minute later with a much older, more severe looking woman. She would obviously be very questioning about exactly what this strange woman was there for.
"Good day professor, how can I help you?"
"Could we speak somewhere a bit more private please?" Minerva didn't really want to discuss these things around other people, especially not since she could see the receptionist trying to look around her boss, clearly wondering what was going on. For a moment, Mrs Newton looked as though she was going to refuse this request, but then turned on her heel and began to head back down the dark corridor. Professor McGonagall followed.
Mrs Newton led the professor into her office before sitting down to face her. As Professor McGonagall took her own seat, she couldn't help but notice that this room reflected the dark and miserable exterior. This room contained no decoration at all, merely a desk which separated the two women and filing cabinets all around the wall, obviously detailing all of the previous children to have resided here.
"How can I help you?" Mrs Newton repeated. Minerva knew that there was no point beating around the bush.
"One of your students, Adam Black, has been accepted into the school which I work for." Mrs Newton raised her eyebrows not in surprise, but clearly deep in doubt.
"Who put him on this list? Adam has been here almost as long as me, he was just dropped off one day, just a note saying his name."
"I don't know exactly who put him onto the list, but he has been down for a while now." Mrs Newton observed this strange woman closely, clearly considering her, before ultimately deciding that this woman could be trusted.
"Very well. In all honesty, I won't be sorry to see him leave us."
"Really?" Professor McGonagall straightened up slightly, "Why exactly?" Mrs Newton suddenly looked even more serious, a feat Minerva wouldn't have thought possible.
"He is definitely in this school of yours isn't he? It doesn't matter what I tell you?"
"Yes."
"Well, strange things seem to happen around him. There was this one time, when he got locked out on the roof of the orphanage. When we went up to let him in, he wasn't there, he was back in his room." Minerva wasn't all that surprised by this. If he hadn't shown any signs of magic by now, then she wouldn't be there.
"And then, there was his hair." Mrs Newtons' expression sharpened in apparent distaste. "When he stayed out in the sun too long, his hair seemed to go a shade of ginger which the other kids made fun of. Next morning, he woke up to have bright blue hair," Minerva raised her eyebrows slightly at this news, "We of course assumed that one of the other kids dyed it while he was asleep as a prank, but no one owned up to it and we couldn't dye it back."
"Really?" Minerva was very surprised. In her whole life, she had only ever heard of two Metamorphmagi, Nymphadora Tonks and her son. From studying these types of wizard, she knew that they were extremely rare and that they inherited their powers from someone in their family. Yet she was under the impression that this child was a muggle-born.
"So, would you like to meet him?" Mrs Newton asked suddenly, bringing Minerva back to the conversation.
"Yes please." Minerva stood up and allowed herself to be led out of the office. Mrs Newton led her deep into the orphanage, where she found a room with a faded sign on the door which read "Adam Black." Mrs Newton knocked on the door three times, but before waiting for anything to happen, stalked off down the hallway, leaving Minerva waiting alone in the corridor as footsteps approached her from the other side of the door.