23rd June 1991

Almost ten years had passed since the famous Harry Potter had been placed on the doorstep of Privet Drive and the girl who had been next to him still had no idea of his existence. Effy had been placed on the doorstep of the London orphanage with a letter that stated her name and date of birth before explaining that her mother was dead and it was thought best to leave her in the institutions care. When she was found she was raised in the orphanage for two years until it closed down and she, along with the rest of the orphans were put into foster care. By the age of six, Effy had lived in four different foster homes all around the south of England and had never really lasted long in any of them.

Just over five years ago, she was placed in a foster home in the middle of London with another foster child and had managed to stay there as she made friends with him. As the years passed two more foster kids had joined them and they had all learned to care for each other, some more than others, as they learned to live with the family they had been put with.

The house they lived in was large and it had three floors, the first included rooms such as the lounge and the kitchen while the second had three bedrooms and a bathroom and the third was the attic converted into one large bedroom that was separated with a curtain and a small bathroom that included a sink, toilet and shower. The third floor was strictly only for the 'foster wretches' as Effy's foster mother called them.

Effy had been sleeping soundlessly as she dreamt the same as she usually did: a beautiful woman was over her, smiling as she kissed her on the forehead and then a bright green flash erupted out of nowhere, blurring Effy's vision and waking her up.

She jumped out of unconsciousness and took in the usual sight around her: the curtain separating the girls' room and the boys' room, her foster sister, Alice, on the other side of the room and the window next to her bed. The foster kids didn't have much and what they had was more than likely stolen. She did have clothes on her bedside table and a couple of full sketchpads that she hid in her bottom drawer under a pair of jeans. Her most recent, uncompleted, sketchpad and pencil case was in her black hobo bag that she carried around with her. Under her bed, she had a pair of old trainers and a pair of black Doc Martens boots that her foster brother, Felix, had shoplifted for her on her birthday.

"Wake up!" screeched Donna, her foster mother, from downstairs as she hit on the ceiling with a broomstick.

Alice woke up groggily and sighed as she rubbed her eyes. She was nine years old and had mid-length dirty blonde hair accompanied with bright blue-green eyes and light skin.

Effy looked her over and smiled as she looked up at her, "morning."

Alice nodded at her with a small smile before going to the bathroom.

Suddenly the curtain was pulled open and in came Felix. He was taller than Effy, despite being a year younger, and had olive skin with dark hair and soft brown eyes.

"Good morning Elizabeth," he grinned mockingly as he sat down on her bed. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, I did actually, Fee," she smiled and smacked him around the back of the head.

"Ow!" He laughed, "What was that for?" Effy raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned. "Elizabeth is your name, darling."

"Exactly," she nodded, with a small smile. "That's why I go by Effy."

He laughed and hugged her, "you've got such a lovely smile, Eff. You should do it more often."

Effy kissed him on the cheek and said, "Aren't we going to the Zoo today?"

"Apparently," he nodded.

"Alice will be happy, she loves animals."

"How can you tell? She hasn't said a word since she got here."

"She draws them all the time." Effy smiled sadly, "how long has she been here? Three and a half years now?"

Felix nodded, "she was so small."

There were more bangs from the floor as Donna hit the ceiling, "get dressed or we will leave without you!"

"You can't do that or the social will take us away and you won't get your precious money!" yelled a voice from behind the curtain.

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!"

Felix and Effy shared an amused look as Kyle pulled open the curtain and walked into the room. He was the oldest foster kid as he was almost thirteen, two years older than Effy.

"She's not going to let you have any food for that, you know," Felix said.

Kyle smirked, "I'd rather starve than have her cooking anyway."

Effy gave him a crooked smile while Felix laughed lightly. Alice came out of the bathroom; she was already dressed and almost ready to go. She walked over to them and held out a couple of hair bobbles and a hairbrush in front of Felix. He smiled and told her to sit down in front of her before brushing her hair. Effy smiled slightly at the sight and looked up at Kyle as he ran a hand through his dark hair before going into the bathroom.

Kyle was the only foster wretch that Effy didn't think of as a brother or sister. Maybe it was because he'd only been there for about 8 months, or it could have been that he was older than her. She also knew that it could be because she found him attractive. Sure, she thought that Felix was just as good-looking but Kyle was a different kind of attractive and she sometimes found herself contemplating whether or not she wanted to kiss him like they do in the movies. He had light skin accompanied with bright green eyes and perfectly straight teeth. She had trouble finding a flaw in his appearance but she knew that he was a troublesome character.

"He's going to be ages in there," sighed Felix as she began to French plait Alice's hair. "I need to shower."

Effy laughed, "That's why I showered last night."

Felix rolled his eyes with a small grin, "oh shut up, Elizabeth."

Effy laughed as she stood up to get out some clothes for the day, she may not have had much but she still preferred to look half decent as she walked around London. She pulled open a drawer to pick out some underwear and then went on to pick out a tank top and a pair of black jeans that she'd ripped over the years.

"Fee?" she turned to him, showing him her clothes.

He nodded with a grin, "rip 'em a bit more."

Effy rolled her eyes and laughed lightly, "shut up."

He smirked and finished off Alice's hair before giving them both a quick hug and going back to his room to pick out some clothes for himself. Effy got changed and got out her sketchbook and a pencil. She sat down on her bed and began to draw: eyes at first, then a nose, lips and the rest of the face. She carried on drawing until Kyle walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and damp hair.

"What you drawing?" he asked.

Effy closed the book and looked up at him, "nothing."

He looked at her with a smirk and shrugged before disappearing through the curtain. Effy opened the book again and looked at her drawing. It was the woman from the dream, it always was.

Felix walked into the room and looked at the drawing as he walked towards the bathroom, "who's that?"

Effy shrugged, "I don't know."

Felix smiled slightly, his eyes bouncing between Effy and the drawing before fixing his eyes on Effy. He smiled, "Maybe it's your Mum."

Effy rolled her eyes, "don't be an idiot."

He didn't let her insult faze him, "she kinda looks like you."

Effy frowned, "no she doesn't."

Felix nodded, "yeah she does; same nose, face shape, lips, even your freckles. The only things that are really that different are your eyes and hair... and that god-awful scar of course!"

They laughed and Effy hit him with a pillow.

About thirty minutes later, the foster kids were all ready to go and went downstairs to see Donna Hendrix sat smoking a cigarette in the kitchen while her children, an eight-year-old boy named Lewis and another boy named Henry who was ten, sat at the table eating pancakes. Marissa, Donna's six-year-old daughter, walked into the room and sat down with her brothers.

Donna had blonde hair that had been curled into strands that resembled sausages and light skin that was caked with loads of makeup; her dark green eyes were accompanied by mascara-coated eyelashes and her thin lips where a too-bright shade of red.

"Took your time!" she stated.

"Sorry Donna," smirked Felix sarcastically.

"You shut up," Donna pointed at him with a whisk.

Kyle laughed, Effy smirked and Alice smiled as Donna glared at them. She plated a couple of pancakes for Marissa and then put a couple of rubbish pancakes on a plate for the foster kids to share.

Once they ate, they all went to leave when the doorbell rang. Effy went to get it to see that it was a respectable looking lady stood there with a grin on her face.

"Hello," she said. "My name is Charlotte; I'm Kyle's social worker."

"I'm Effy," Effy nodded and opened the door wider so that everyone could get out of the house.

"Get into the car-" Donna began to shout until she saw Charlotte. She smiled and ruffled Felix's hair as he walked past her, "kiddie-winks!"

Felix rolled his eyes and flattened his hair down as he walked towards Effy. Alice walked towards them, frowning at Donna as she acted excited for their day out, and took one of Effy's hand before reaching out and taking one of Felix's, standing in between them as they watched their foster mother.

"I've organised a minibus to take us to and from the zoo," smiled Charlotte.

"Us?" Donna raised an eyebrow but kept her fake smile plastered on her face.

Kyle walked out last, following Donna's children, and greeted the social worker with a nod.

"Of course," said Charlotte. "I need to speak to Kyle about how he is settling in at his new school so I thought that this would be a good chance to talk in a calm, collected and informal setting."

Donna's smile widened, "how wonderful!"

Felix bit his lip to stop himself laughing while Effy just smirked at the situation. Charlotte caught up with Kyle as they all walked towards the minibus and Donna grabbed onto Effy's shoulder, making Effy, Felix and Alice stop walking.

Donna looked over at the social worker and spoke at a volume that only the three foster wretches could hear. "You better make sure there isn't any funny business on this trip," she pointed at each of them separately as the others got into the minibus. "I'm warning you – if you do anything to showcase how freak-ish you are I'll lock you in the attic and you'll have no meals for a week. Are we clear?"

Alice nodded slowly while Felix puckered his lips slightly in annoyance and Effy raised her eyebrow.

"Is everything alright?" asked Charlotte from the minibus.

"Oh yes," grinned Donna, ruffling Felix's hair once more before making her way towards the bus.

Felix, Alice and Effy followed and got into the bus, making sure that they were sat together. Alice seemed quite nervous and Felix nudged Effy, motioning for her to say something.

Effy narrowed her eyes at Felix before taking Alice's hand, "don't worry about Donna." Alice looked at her. "She's just trying to scare us; nothing will happen."

Alice didn't seem to believe her but she smiled slightly anyway. Effy bit her lip; she didn't actually know if anything was going to happen she just hoped that it didn't for her foster siblings' sakes. Alice, Effy and Felix always seemed to get into trouble for doing things that couldn't be explained.

For example, once Donna had shrunk Felix's school uniform and it made him look like an idiot. Felix had spent the night topping and tailing with Effy talking about how bad it was and what they were going to do when people made fun of him at school. But the next morning all of his clothes were the perfect size, some even better than before. Felix and Effy had been locked in the attic for the weekend for that.

Whenever Effy did something, Felix would be punished too and whenever Felix did something, Effy would also be punished due to the fact that Donna thought that they were partners and worked together with everything that they did. Once Effy was watching Donna dye her hair in the bathroom, hoping for it to go wrong and while the hair dye was blonde, Donna's hair ended up going a horrid dark grey colour that made her look ten times older than she actually was and, no matter how many times she dyed it, her hair would go the same colour for weeks. Effy had got caught watching and she and Felix had no meals for a week. They managed to sort themselves out by shoplifting some chocolate bars on their way home from school so they didn't mind that.

Alice had been blamed for all of Donna and Marissa's clothes suddenly getting smaller and smaller as they tried to put them on and, while Effy tried to take the blame, she got locked in the attic for a day with no meals.

This had been one of the reasons why Effy had been tossed around in foster homes before Donna. She was always said to make unexplainable things happen and would always end up getting herself into trouble.


The zoo was crowded with families and it seemed to be one of the sunniest days of summer so far. Marissa, Lewis and Henry had asked for an ice cream so even the foster kids got an ice lolly each as Donna needed to keep up her act for the social worker.

They ended up having a really good morning and as Donna's kids got bored of the animals, they all went to have lunch at the zoo restaurant. While eating, a large blond boy around Effy's age began having a tantrum and while many of the visitors began to glare at him, including Donna, Felix and Alice began laughing at him while Effy's eyes landed on a smaller, dark-haired scrawny boy who was sat with him. He had bright green eyes and was wearing seemingly broken circular glasses with cello tape wrapped around them.

She smiled slightly at him as he was smiling happily after being given an ice lolly that the blond boy had kicked off about. As the blond boy got a new lolly, the dark-haired boy looked up towards Effy and smiled slightly. She stared at him, recognising him in some way, before being dragged away by Felix.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house to look at all of the different types of lizards and snakes that were behind the glass. Lewis and Henry ran towards the largest snakes while Marissa and Donna went towards the smaller lizards and Charlotte and Kyle went to the chameleons. Felix and Alice were looking at some smaller snakes while Effy watched as Lewis and Henry got bored of the big snake, which seemed to be sleeping, and went towards the lizards.

The blond boy from the restaurant and his family came in and walked towards the large snake. He pressed his nose against the glass, staring at the snake before whining to who Effy guessed was his father, "make it move."

The man tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," the boy ordered and his father did as instructed, but the snake just snoozed on. "This is boring," the boy moaned before shuffling away.

While the rest of the family followed the bond boy, the dark-haired boy stood in front of the tank, looking at the snake intently. Effy watched as the snake suddenly opened its beady eyes before slowly raising its head until its eyes were on a level with the boy's.

It winked.

Both Effy and the boy stared and then the boy looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching but didn't seem to notice Effy. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head toward the boy's family before raising its eyes to the ceiling.

It gave the boy a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."

"I know," the boy murmured through the glass. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" the boy asked.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass and both Effy and the boy peered at it. 'Boa Constrictor, Brazil.'

"Was it nice there?" asked the boy.

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and they read on: 'This specimen was bred in the zoo.'

"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, Effy walked towards them. The snake looked at her and then back to the boy, motioning for him to look at her.

He turned to her and she smirked, leaning against the glass, "you know, you probably shouldn't talk to snakes. People will think you're weird."

He shrugged, "people already think I'm weird."

Effy smiled slightly, "me too."

The boy looked at her and smiled slightly before holding out his hand for her to shake, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

She shook his hand, "Effy Black."

"Nice to meet you."

Effy smiled slightly before turning towards the snake. She and Harry watched as it nodded its head towards her as some form of greeting before looking at each other and laughing lightly.

Suddenly, a deafening shout from behind Harry made them all, including the snake, jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

The blond boy, who Effy suspected to be Dudley, came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.

Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor, towards Effy. She and Harry glared the Dudley and one second, Dudley and his friend were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

Effy's eyes widened and Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. Effy watched as the great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly and slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past them, Effy could have sworn that she'd heard a low, hissing voice saying, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigos."

And when she looked at Harry, she knew that she'd heard correctly. She held out her hand to help Harry and he took it graciously.

"Thank you," he said just as Felix and Alice ran over.

"Did you see the size of that snake?" asked Felix with a grin. "Donna screamed her head off!"

They laughed and Alice looked at Harry. He smiled at her and she did the same.

"This is Harry," smiled Effy, motioning to Harry. She then gestured to Felix and Alice in turn, "This is my brother Felix and my sister Alice."

"Hi," smiled Harry.

"Hey," Felix nodded with a small smile.

"HARRY!" a male voice yelled from the crowd of people

Harry rolled his eyes with a smile, "see you around."

"Bye," Effy smirked while Felix and Alice waved at him.

"ELIZABETH!" screeched Donna.

Harry and Effy shared a look and a smile before going their separate ways.


I hope you've enjoyed the story so far x