Nina Koffer sat on the sad excuse for her bed, and looked drearily at the dirty floor. All around her, the other beds were not being occupied by the numerous girls of various ages, at least not yet. The younger ones were outside in the small, old park that the old women would often take them to. Nina was 15 years old and she had lived in this orphanage in the blue collar part of London, ever since she was almost 2 years of age. Amanda, her best friend who also lived in the orphange since she was 2, plopped down on her bed next to Nina's.
"Well, tomorrows adoption day. There will be a lot of child-less parents coming." Amanda said, with a hint of hope in her voice.
Nina said, "Yea, right. And the first thing they're going to ask old Ms. Lodgin is where are those lovely, troubled teenage girls? You know that they all want the cute little babies or the ones no older than 8 years old. Nine years, if they're lucky."
Amanda plopped down on her side, her head hitting the thin, stiff pillow. She pulled her brown hair out of her face and stared longingly out the window with her sad green eyes. "We can hope, can't we?"
"I gave up hoping a long, long time ago." Nina tucked her dark blonde hair behind her ears and her blue eyes didn't once leave the dusty, old wood beneath her feet.
"Well, teenagers are adopted sometimes aren't they? I mean, maybe this is our chance, you know?"
"Honestly, Amanda, I don't know about you, but if that happens it will only be one of us. And if, and when that happens, it will mean we could be forever seperated. Is that what you hope for?" Nina asked, somewhat irritated. The last thing she thought of doing was dressing up and giving fake smiles for what would be worthless. All the adults would uneasily smile at them and hurriedly walk toward the younger ones. All the adults thought if two 15 year old girls were still in an orphanage, there has to be something wrong with them. When in all actuality, most of the younger girls were mean as snakes, but put on quite an angel of an act to cover up their devilish smiles and personality. They were tons worse then Amanda or Nina could ever be.
Amanda sighed, "Oh, fine! Suck the fun out of everything why don't you? I can hope can't I?" Amanda didn't talk for a few minutes, and when she finally did her voice was soft, "Nina? Do you ever think about why your parents left you here? I mean, did Ms. Lodgin every explained how you ended up here?"
Nina shrugged, "No, not really. I mean I wish I could remember their face or even if they loved me. All I have is the picture of us all, while I was still a baby, that they left with me when I was brought here."
"Yea, same with me. Ms. Lodgin said that my parents just weren't able to be good parents to me so they decided this would be a better place."
"If you ask me, Ms. Lodgin's been a better mother to us all then our own parents ever were or ever would be."
Amanda remained silent once more. "When I get out of here, I'm going to try and find them. Are you?"
Nina's face turned into a scowl. She angrily replied, "No, why would I?! What would I say?! 'Oh hello, I'm Nina, you know, the daughter you threw out when I was only a baby!' Oh yes I can see it now."
Amanda mumbled, "Sorry. Just wondering."
"Well, luckily dinner will be soon, followed by sleep, followed by peace." Amanda laughed at Nina. For what reason, Nina couldn't even figure out why.
Dinner came and went, as did nightfall. But during the night, Nina had a dream that was completely unexplainable. All she saw was blasts of fire, running, screaming and a nasty pair of hands. The hands obviously belonged to someone, but the unknown person's face couldn't be seen. Nina woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. She looked around the room. Everyone else was sleeping soundly. Nina tried to go back to sleep but decided maybe she should talk to one of the ladies working at the orphanage. Depending on who was on night duty would depend whether Nina would talk to them or not.
She shuffled down the hall and looked for a light on in one of the offices. The only lit office was the one that belonged to a Miss. Hartshore, the newest addition to the teachers and staff.
She knocked lightly on the door and a young, small voice replied, "Come in." Nina walked in slowly, looking at the ground.
Miss. Hartshore looked up, "Oh hello, Nina, dear. Something the matter?"
Nina put her arms behind her back and replied, "I just woke-up from a terrible dream and I.. I can't go back to sleep."
"Oh well, have a seat dear and tell me all about it." Nina sat in the old, but comfy chair infront of Miss. Hartshore's tiny, but neat desk.
"Well, its hard to describe. It was dark and it was like a killing almost. There was blasts of fire and screaming. There was a woman running, scared, clutching onto something and she was turning around as if she wanted to make sure that no one was following her. There was this pair of ugly, gray and gnarled hands. I couldn't see the person they belonged to." Miss. Hartshore's face drained. Never before had she heard these events in a dream described this way.
"Nina, was there a sense of magic perhaps? Dark magic?" Nina looked confused for a minute. Wasn't magic fake?
"Uhm,well..er... sort of. It was strange whoever the hands belonged to, they were destructive and quite angry."
"Oh Nina! We've found you!"
Nina looked completely confused, "What do you mean, you've found me? I was never lost!"
Miss. Hartshore's face was estatic, "Nina, dear, do you have any idea how long we have been looking for you?!" Nina thought Miss. Hartshore had completely lost it.
"What? Have you lost it, Miss. Hartshore? I've never been lost!"
As if coming to her senses, Miss. Hartshore settled down. "Oh sorry, dear. I forgot you know nothing of who you really are. Well, dear, what I mean is that you are a witch. And the Ministry of Magic and a man named Albus Dumbledore have been looking for you for an awfully long time."
"Witch? What are you talking about?! I think you really have lost it! I'm not a witch! There is no such thing as magic!"
"Oh but, Nina, there is! Listen, when you were left here as a child, they did not know your last name and no matter how hard they tried, they could not find your file. Koffer isn't your real last name. It's a name they had to give you, so you could be in the files incase you were ever adopted. I am a witch, too, and for an extremely long time we have been looking for a young lady by the name of Nina Pandolle. That is your REAL name! Your mother was running from a man named... named Lord V-V-Voldermort. She found out your father was what we call a Death Eater, a follower of the Dark Wizard. When she realized he planned on making her a Death Eater, she ran with you. She knew you could not be brought up in that type of home. So she left you here with only your first name so that way you could not be found by your father or You-Know-Who.
"There is a school for witches and wizards, called Hogwarts, and when a witch or wizard is 11 they get their exceptance letter. The only problem with you, dear, is that no one knew for sure where your mother had left you, or if you were even alive. It was harder to find you without you having your proper last name. We have been trying very hard and that is why I came here. Albus Dumbledore decided that perhaps you were in an orphanage, and we all hoped you were not adopted. Luckily, you weren't. But now that I have found you, you will be going to Hogwarts in a week. Tomorrow you and I shall go to Diagon Alley and get what you need."
Nina was trying to take everything in. She had no idea what any of what Miss. Hartshore said had meant. "Wait, what am I going to tell Amanda?"
Miss. Hartshore grinned, "She will be coming with us of course, she has been attending Hogwarts since she was 11."
Okay well I thought it was a decent opening chapter how bout everyone else? Well reviews welcomed. Sorry its so short!