Chapter One

Yer a Witch, Solana

It had seemed like any other summer day at Amell Manor, on the day that the wizard came to visit. The maids and gardeners went quietly about their work while the master of the house attended to the business of the day. His only grandchild sat by herself in her room, flipping through the glossy coloured pages of a travel book and wishing that she could be anywhere else.

Solana Amell was rather small for an eleven-year-old girl. She had a long face, a rather beaky nose, and chestnut hair that fell around her narrow shoulders in flat curtains. Her large cloud-grey eyes were bright with curiosity as she looked up at the man who had just opened the bedroom door.

He was rather old, with a wizened face, a long grizzled-grey beard and shaggy hair to match. His eyes looked puffy and tired, but he smiled kindly at her, in a way that she imagined other peoples' grandfathers smiled at them.

"Good afternoon, sir,"said Solana.

"Good afternoon,"the old man replied. He had slow, gravelly voice.

"Are you my new doctor?"

"Do you see many doctors?" asked the old man.

"Grandfather insists," said Solana. "He says that I'm disturbed… I really don't mean to cause trouble. I honestly don't even remember doing those things."

"What sorts of things, child?"

Solana frowned. "Don't you know? Did Grandfather not tell you before you were hired?"

"I'm not a doctor, and your grandfather did not hire me, though we did just have a discussion about your future," the old man told her. "My name is Professor Irving. I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Solana blinked silently at him for a moment, uncertain if she'd heard him correctly. School of what?

"What sort of things did you do?" Professor Irving asked again.

"I… The last thing I did was push my grandfather down the stairs," Solana admitted. "I didn't mean to, but he was yelling at my poor nanny again and I got upset. But I don't remember touching him. Just… one moment he was yelling and the next, he was falling."

"You do not remember because you did not touch him," said Professor Irving. "You used magic. Young witches and wizards often use accidental magic, when frightened or angry."

"Magic?" Solana said with an indulgent smile. "That's ridiculous, there's no such thing."

"Please, set your book beside you on the bed," said Professor Irving. He pulled a carved wooden rod from the inside of his coat. With a single flourish of his wand, the book gracefully floated up into the air. Solana gasped. Nothing was holding it up. She even waved her hands all around it to make sure there weren't any invisible strings.

"Levitation," said Professor Irving. "It is one of the most basic and useful abilities in a witch or wizard's skill-set. You'll learn it during your first year at Hogwarts."

The book dropped gently back down to the bedspread and Professor Irving tucked his wand away in his coat pocket. It was almost as though nothing had happened at all. Solana couldn't believe it. True, she had seen it happen with her own eyes, but maybe everyone was right about her. Maybe she really was mad, after all.

But the greater part of her… That part wanted to believe that magic was real, that she had magic inside of her just waiting to be discovered.

Professor Irving gave Solana an official letter from Hogwarts inviting her to attend, which came with a very strange supplies list. "Where can I buy these things?" she asked. She didn't know of any shops that sold wands or cauldrons.

"I will take you to Diagon Alley," said Irving. "It's a shopping district in London that caters to people with our abilities."

"We're going to London?" Solana asked excitedly as she put on her coat. She had never left the city before. "Will we take a car or the train?"

Professor Irving just chuckled and held out his hand, displaying what appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary signet ring bearing the Hogwarts seal. But the moment Solana touched it, she felt an odd tugging behind her belly-button. She was then pulled until, suddenly and to her surprise, she was no longer standing in her house. Professor Irving gave her a gentle smile.

"Are you alright, child?" he asked. "Travel by Portkey often causes transportation-sickness, for those unused to the sensation."

Solana grinned up at the headmaster. "That was amazing! Can we go again?"

"No, no," said Professor Irving, chuckling fondly. "We have much to do."

They were standing in a small, walled courtyard behind what smelled to be a restaurant or pub. There was nothing in the courtyard except for weeds and a few trash-cans, until Professor Irving tapped a brick in the wall with his wand. The wall opened up, revealing a narrow street lined with colourful shops and crowded with people wearing robes and cloaks. Solana stared in wonder. She wanted to talk to everyone and go everywhere at once. If this was madness, then insanity was something to which she could definitely grow accustomed.

They purchased a basic set of potions supplies from an apothecary, had her fitted for her uniform, and bought a small telescope for astronomy class. Then they went to a shop called Flourish and Blotts for her schoolbooks. Solana wished that she could buy a copy of every book in the shop, or at least stay long enough to read them all. There had to be thousands of books, in shelves and stacks that reached all the way up to the ceiling, with strange titles and peculiar symbols on their covers. Some even had pictures that moved. Alas, Professor Irving insisted that she buy only the books on her list (though she was placated when informed that the library at Hogwarts had an even greater selection). The girl and the professor split up so that they could find the books more quickly.

Solana was trying to pry a copy of A History of Magic by Germanus Genitivi out of its stack, when she accidentally knocked over a large pile of books.

"Ow! Be careful!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" Solana asked. Sitting behind the stack was a boy who appeared to be her age. He had a thin face, shaggy black hair, a long nose, and dark bluish-grey eyes. His own copy of A History of Magic lay open across his lap.

"No, I'm alright," the boy said after a moment, though he was still rubbing a sore spot on his head.

"Are you sure?" Solana asked.

The boy nodded and returned his attention to the pages of his book.

Solana started stacking the books back into place, every once and a while casting a curious glance at the boy. "Are you going to Hogwarts, too?" she asked eventually.

"Yes," said the boy. "I can't wait to get there. Hogwarts is the best school of magic in the world, I've heard."

"Is it?" Solana asked. "Professor Irving hasn't told me much about it yet."

The boy nodded. "All of the most skilled witches and wizards in history went to Hogwarts. It's in a big castle in Scotland, and completely invisible to Muggles."

"Muggles?" Solana asked with a frown.

"That's the word people use here for those without magical ability," the boy explained.

"Like my family," Solana realized. "I didn't even know there was such a thing as magic until today. But you seem to know a lot about… well, everything. Do you come from a magic family?"

"Oh, no. Far from it, actually," said the boy. His face went oddly blank for a moment before returning to a friendly smile. The boy gestured to his book. "I've just been doing a lot of reading. Professor Uldred left me to it once he saw I wouldn't budge."

As if summoned by the boy's words, Solana had just finished tidying up her mess when a bald man with a hooked nose arrived. "There you are, boy. We've wasted enough time indulging your curiosity."

"Alright, Professor Uldred," the boy sighed. He closed his book and stood up.

"Good afternoon, Professor," said Solana. "Which subject do you teach, sir?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Professor Uldred replied. He squinted at her, making Solana feel oddly as though she was already being graded—and found wanting. "You must be a Muggleborn."

"My parents aren't magic, if that's what you mean."

"I see. Seems like we get more and more of you every year," Professor Uldred said, looking back and forth between Solana and the boy. "At this rate Hogwarts will be filled to the rafters with Muggles in less than a decade. Come along, boy."

He turned on his heel and left, not seeming to care if his charge actually followed him or not.

"Again, I really am sorry," Solana insisted.

"Don't worry," the boy said. "I'm Jowan, by the way."

"Solana Amell." She shook Jowan's hand. "See you at school. I'll try not to drop anything else on your head while we're there, yes?"

Jowan laughed over his shoulder as he left. "I'd appreciate that, thanks."

Professor Irving returned Solana to the Amell Estate once they had purchased everything. "Term begins on September the first," he said. "The Hogwarts Express leaves from King's Cross Station at eleven o' clock precisely."

He gave her a train ticket. What she read made her frown in confusion. "Platform 9 & ¾?"

"Just walk through the wall between platforms 9 and 10," he said with a fond smile. "I'll see you at the welcoming feast, child."

With that said, he re-activated his Portkey and disappeared.