I had my iPod on and was lost in thought as I turned the corner to my street, so I didn't notice the people standing around looking confused and worried, or the anxious stares I received as I fumbled with my keys and let myself into the houses. In fact, I didn't notice anything was different until I reached my room, which was in the attic. There was a weird green light shining through the skylight. When I looked up, all I could see was the bottom of some kind of floating green shape.
Naturally, my first thought was aliens, so I ran back into the street and joined the throngs of people trying to get a better look. The floating shape was a massive green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, and it looked like it was made up of lots of tiny green stars.
"Holy moly..." I whispered, as I craned my head back to stare at it. "Mum! Dad! Kev! Have you seen what's outside?" I ran through the hallway, yelling for my family to come and look with me, but got my answer. I rolled my eyes. My family was so lame – all asleep at 9 o'clock during the summer holidays.
I ran into my mum and dad's room, still yelling. No answer – they weren't there. I did the same for Kevin, and with the same result. Had they all gone out without me? Or were they playing a trick on me? Completely forgetting about the floating green skull outside, I resigned myself to sit on the sofa and watch TV until my family decided to show themselves. I never got that far.
As I entered the living room, I spotted the scene that would be burned into my brain forever, and feature in all my nightmares. My family's bodies were on the floor, white and lifeless, their eyes staring blankly up at me.
Years later, I still didn't know much of what happened after that, and all I knew I'd been told. The next thing I consciously remember was waking up, chained to a chair. More than a little worrying, I'll tell you that. I was in what looked like a dungeon, and there were about 50 men and women staring at me from their seats around the edges of the room. If I had been thinking straight, I would've noticed they were all dressed extremely strangely, but as I was, I didn't.
When all the adults noticed that I'd woken up, the entire room seemed to become more alert, like they were the ones waking up. Lucky they were alert, because I wasn't. I felt like I'd been drugged, and the constant underlay of mutters wasn't helping, either.
"I call this court to order!" came a voice, sounding above the murmur. I looked around to find where the voice was coming from, and settled on a podgy man with a bowler hat who was sitting in front of everyone else on a raised dais directly in front of me. He banged his hammer down on the table, and called out again. This time there was silence.
With a jolt, I realised that this was a trial, and by the looks of it I was the one being tried. But what did I do? The podgy man stood up and started speaking.
"Witches and Wizards of the Wizengamot, were are not here for a trial."
Oh.
"We are here to assess the danger that this girl poses to our society, and take measures against this danger."
What? Me? How could I possibly be a danger to all these fully grown people? Were they insane?
"Will our witness please stand." And with that the podgy man sat down, thankfully. I didn't like him much. A man of about 40 stood up in his place. He started talking hesitantly, twisting his fingers together nervously.
"My job these days is to find Muggles like this, who have witnessed You-Know-Who's magic, and to do a memory charm on them. So when a witch contacted the Ministry and told us about a Dark Mark above a Muggle's home, I apparated there straight away. I found this girl in the house, staring at the bodies of her family. Protocol dictated that I had to do a memory charm on her. Knowing that she would be blamed for the murders, I hesitated."
Here he looked up, at me.
"But I had to stick to my orders, so I tried performing the charm." He was interrupted by an intimidating old lady near the front, who was narrowing her eyes.
"What do you mean, tried?"
The witness stared at the floor, as if scared. I didn't blame him. I mean, even I was scared of this lady – and I was sure it was all a dream. Charms? Really? The witness gulped, then answered.
"Well... I couldn't. It didn't work."
After this apparently shocking admission, the whole room started buzzing urgently. The members of the 'Wizengamot' were shooting me sideways glances and talking to everyone in their vicinity. I couldn't understand the significance of the man's evidence though. Then ole' Podgers stood up again and started talking. Again.
"We all know what this means."
Did we? I didn't.
"This girl could single-handedly change the result of the war we are fighting with evil. We cannot have the fate of the entire world resting on one young girl's shoulders, and once You-Know-Who find out, he will almost certainly try to recruit her. Therefore, for her own safety, I propose we send her to Azkaban for the duration of the war."
At this point there was an outbreak of indignant interruptions.
"But Fudge, she's fifteen!", "That's preposterous!", and "Simply barbaric!" were just a few. Whatever this Azkaban was, I'm guessing it's not very nice.
A really old man stood up, with half-moon shaped glasses, a stupidly long white beard (how did he wash that thing?) and deep blue robe thingies.
"Minister, as well-thought out and necessary as I'm sure your plan is, I do have a couple of points to make." Even from halfway across the room, I could feel his calm aura and quiet confidence.
"Of course you do." Podgers sighed, and waved his hand in the man's general direction before sitting down again.
"Well, firstly, I would like to point out that if Olivia's family was targeted, then it is almost certain that Voldemort-" there was an audible gasp, "has at least some intelligence about the situation." I looked at Podgers, to find that he was grinding his teeth together. The oldie continued.
"And secondly, I have a suggestion. Olivia could be placed in my care, and she could live at Hogwarts. I have some knowledge on the –ahem- circumstances, and could instruct her. There would be no danger to Olivia or any other students."
A voice called out from the crowd-
"What if You-Know-Who goes looking there? What about our kids?" The old man smiled.
"My dear Pearson, if Voldemort wanted to take over Hogwarts he would've done so already. No, I am sure that he does not dare come to Hogwarts yet, even for Olivia." The man's nerves seemed to have been calmed, because he didn't say anything else.
"Anything else?" Podgers asked rudely, climbing to his feet again.
"No, nothing." The man replied politely, sitting down gracefully. Podgers turned around, looking a bit purple in the face.
"Fine. So. If anybody wants to go with Dumbledore's plan, raise your hand." About 40 out of the 50 hands went up, with only the little group around Podgers keeping their hands firmly down.
"That's a majority. Take her to Hogwarts." He said to Dumbledore, as if it was his idea. Dumbledore nodded serenely.
Without another word, Podgers swept out of the room, most of the other people following him, and some giving me occasional smiles and waves. I tried to acknowledge them, and found my hands had been freed. Suddenly, the guy called Dumbledore appeared in front of me, smiling.
"Hello, Olivia." I managed a weak smile in return. His eyes suddenly turned gentle. "I'm very sorry about your family."
Without the blanket of shock, or trying to concentrate on the court proceedings, the memory of my family's bodies hit me like a bulldozer, the pain un-numbed by anything else. I struggled with myself, willing myself not to let the pain consume me. I would not break down in front of this stranger.
As the internal battle carried on, one single tear rolled down my cheek. Finally, after what must have been a whole minutes, I looked up and nodded.
"Thanks." I whispered.
"Shall we get to Hogwarts, then?" I had no idea what that meant, but hey. It was all a dream anyway, right? Dumbledore offered me his arm and I took it, unsure as to what would happen next.
Before I could even finish that last thought, I rushing through nothingness, holding tightly to Dumbledore's arm, as it felt like my only lifeline. Which, I guess, it was. I felt like all the air was being pulled out of my lungs, like I was being squeezed through a rubber tube about half my size.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. I was standing in completely different room, which was full of interesting mechanisms, lots of moving pictures of old people, and a bright red and gold bird. I looked at Dumbledore, confused out of my mind. He moved to sit behind a desk near the back of the round room, and motioned toward a chair on the other side of his desk.
"I expect you have some questions?"