My name is Lucy. I was born on a rainy day, in the grass. I opened my eyes and saw a tall branch over my head. It was full of water beads. I raised my arms to pick them. They fell on my lashes.

My mother and father came to greet me. I had never met them. They took me inside a dark, warm place, placed me on a red rug and left me in front of a fire.

I wanted to go back outside, but they told me I could never go out on rainy days.

That is when I first cried.

I didn't eat or sleep, I didn't want to play or even open my eyes again.

All I wanted was to go outside again.

I was left by the window, touching the pane and feeling the rain.

When mother and father played with me I didn't want to laugh. When they talked to me I didn't want to talk.

It never stopped raining and I never stopped yearning for the rain.

They took me to doctors and showed me to relatives, but I refused to be nice.

All children are nice, at one point. But I wanted what was due to me.

I lived in a world of flickering lights and ghosts. I stayed in my tiny bed for hours, pretending to sleep.

I screamed very loud whenever they tried feeding me milk. I loathed it.

Many people who came to see me told me I was insufferable.

My parents complained of not being able to rest anymore.

It wasn't my fault.

One day, they came to me and told me.

'You will be called Alice, my dear.'

I frowned upset and got up on my two tiny legs.

'No, my name is Lucy,' I said loud and clear.

I was seven and slept in a tree. I would not come down, no matter how much they begged. Now that I was finally free and independent I would stay out as much I wanted to.

I had no interest in anything else.

I threw leaves in the wind, but they always came back to me. I saw many eggs hatch and many birds fly and once I spread my arms and flew with them.

I only managed to stay up a minute, but it was the most amazing feat.

My mother sat next to me all day and begged me to eat.

When she saw I would not open my mouth she gave up and left me alone.

My father came home from work tired and grieved every night. I saw him from the landing. We used to sit at the table and I'd watch him speak.

He'd tell me many things which I understood perfectly, but I never said anything. I just let him talk. I think that is what he wanted.

'Lucy, I'll teach you how to read and write,' he told me one night. He brought forth a thick, old-looking book and a white piece of paper along with a green quill.

'Now…we'll read together,' he said opening the book.

I saw the first lines and frowned. I looked down and saw more undecipherable signs that meant absolutely nothing.

He started telling me the word monotonously. Then he wrote them on the piece of paper.

'Do you understand Lucy?'

I shook my head and threw him a disconcerted look. Why did I need to know such rubbish?

I scurried out of the room and left him alone.

The next morning I followed him as he left for work and found the book on his bedside table. I snatched it quietly and went up in my tree.

Time passed very fast that day as I touched and tasted all the strange signs on the pages.

When evening fell I thought it was morning again.

'Lucy, would you like us to try again?' father said sitting down at the table with the book.

I sighed in resignation and jumped in his lap, taking the book from him.

"This is a story of old and young, of wrong and right, of time and death and only the brave may come out of it unscathed…" I started reading.

My father took me in his arms and peered at me behind his tall spectacles.

'Audrey! Come quick!'

The following days I took all the books up in my tree to discover more strange signs. I don't know what I understood from those books. I guess life.

As the years went by, I never suspected any danger. I should have, but I guess I was too entranced in childhood. Time stopped for me and I stopped for him. There was a mutual bond between us.

That bond was broken by a letter my mother showed me.

'You are going to Hogwarts, Lucy! You're starting school.'

From the beginning I knew this could not be good.

'Will I stay here?'

'No, you will live in a castle.'

'Why? I am content here.'

'You will live with many children of your age.'

I disliked the idea already. 'Will I have my tree?'

'I'm afraid you can't take it with you.'

'Will I be able to stay outside all the time?'

'Sometimes you must sit in classes, but the courts and sceneries there are wonderful.'

What good is it if you can't stay outside? I was disappointed.

'Must I go?'

'Yes dear. It is paramount that you have a good education.'

I could educate myself by looking at the world. I could go around the world and sit in various trees. That would help more.

'You will get to know your cousins more.'

I didn't like school. I never would.

The day I had to leave my home nearly killed me. I hugged my tree tight and promised I'd return somehow.

I looked at our garden and the hills far beyond and tried to take the picture with me.

The castle was surrounded by deep black water. I touched it with my fingers and felt it run back in the depths like soft silk. I wondered who lived there and I called out to them, but no one answered.

I saw my face in the pool. It was the first time I saw what I looked like. I had never looked into a mirror before. I was scared mirrors might swallow me and send me somewhere dark and gruesome.

My face told me nothing. I felt the water showed someone else's face, a shadow or someone next to me. In my dreams I imagined I had long black hair and purple eyes, but now I saw a girl with red hair and black eyes. I told myself that the magic in me could change me as I wished. I would only have to focus really hard.

I looked at the castle. It was so tall and majestic, like thousands of kings and queens dwelt there. If so, I wanted to meet them all.

There were so many lights at the small windows. It made me curious; how can a place have so many rooms? What do they do inside?

I wish buildings were made without roofs. That way, we'd all be able to see the sky and the clouds could fall on the floor and we'd sleep in them.

I saw a large field, like a wide meadow winding from the bottom of a hill. I guessed the water didn't surround the entire castle. It was only a lake.

I was looking for trees to sit in but no one caught my eye like a large willow did. I knew that was the tree I wanted.

When we finally disembarked we were in front of tall oak doors. I took out my wand and aimed it at the willow, trying to tell it I had come and it needed to be alone no longer.

A tall young girl snatched my wand and frowned at me.

'Young lady, no magic performed outside of classes.'

They took us inside. We were many. But mother had lied. They were all different. None of them was my age. I always imagined I was 70 years old, that's how time treated me.

I thought I'd go in and see red carpets and cushions and sofas but all I saw were dark, dim-lit halls with torches and silly paintings.

A young man opened another pair of doors and we entered a big, big room full of…tables and people. I saw children and adults sitting, chatting, looking at each other, whispering…doing something stupid.

But then I had never seen such a thing!

The castle had obeyed my command. The room had no roof…or rather the ceiling was the sky.

I felt so pleased I didn't even care about everyone else.

'Lucy Weasley!'

They had said my name. But who was it? I looked around terrified. Then I saw a young man wearing black robes calling me to a chair. I hadn't even noticed…

The other children had left me, I was the last! Where had they all gone? Some were sitting down.

I took my seat on the chair and someone had the rudeness to place a huge smelly hat on me.

'Sorry…who are you?'

'My, my, another Weasley! Will you lot ever stop reproducing?'

'I'm not another Weasley,' I said offended.

'Where should I put you, young girl? Gryffindor? Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff? Slytherin?'

'What are those?'

'Houses! You will belong to one. Look at the tables, one for every house.'

'The girls there are wearing blue. Can I wear blue?' I asked shyly.

'If you are in Ravenclaw, yes.'

'Put me there!'

I joined their table proudly. Sadly, no one there smiled at me.