Chapter 1 – Not Without, Within

It seemed to Catherine that whatever force had put her here enjoyed playing with her. For one, she had been given the exact same name as her former self – excluding her last name. Secondly, she had the same birthday, October 31st. Even her appearance was similar. She was still very much Asian - with tanned skin, almond-shaped eyes the shade of dark chocolate, and jet black hair. Her face was slimmer and more evenly proportioned than it had been in her past life, her nose just a bit higher and just a bit smaller.

Despite these similarities, many other things about her new life were different. Her parents were different, and she was born in a different country six years after she had been born her past life. London was strange. Catherine had lived in New York City her entire life, so she would think London wouldn't have been much different, except it was.

By no means did her acceptance of this life come easily - perhaps quicker than that of most fanfiction characters, she would later think. It definitely took her a while, but Catherine eventually got used to her new life. She had always been accepting of whatever situation life put her in, and was determined to live this new life she had been given with no regrets.

As a 19-year-old in the body of an infant, Catherine's thoughts were far more tuned than her motor skills. When she was finally able to walk and talk, her parents thought she must have been a prodigy. She spoke in full sentences despite her given mispronunciation of some words and demanded to be read to rather than play with her parents' tablets or smartphones.

Obviously, Catherine still retained her linguistic ability. She could read the moment she could clearly see words, but given that she was meant to be a child who had not yet entered kindergarten, she resorted to having her parents read to her.

Catherine liked her new parents. Rosanne and Michael Bautista were kind, and she could tell that the couple truly loved their daughter. Thus, the girl aimed to be the most well-mannered child she could possibly be, putting up as little fuss as she possibly could.

When Catherine turned three, she begged to be put in dance classes, and after a year in dance, she begged for figure skating lessons. When she was six, she started to play guitar. At seven, piano.

Every night she thanked whatever mystical force for putting her into such a well-off and loving family, assuming that she must have done something right in her past life.

By the time Catherine was eight, she had shown off her reading prowess enough to warrant having her parents buy her longer books deemed challenging for her age. When Rosanne asked her what books she wanted, Catherine answered in a heartbeat.

"Harry Potter!" She exclaimed, skipping happily next to Rosanne. Catherine had just gotten out of a full day of school, followed by a figure skating lesson. Her tiny duffel bag containing her tiny skates was slung over her shoulder.

"Ooh, what's that? I haven't heard of those books before!" Rosanne replied, adjusting her grip on Catherine's schoolbag.

...What?

Catherine frowned. There was no way Rosanne hadn't heard of Harry Potter. It was now 2014. The film series would have long since finished by then.

Nevertheless, she took it in stride, assuming Rosanne was playing around. "You know! The one with the orphan boy who finds out he's a wizard! He goes to a magical school called Hogwarts and has to fight the evil Lord Voldemort!"

Rosanne pushed open the door into the bookstore, frowning. "Hm. I really haven't heard of it before! Here, let's ask this girl if she knows the book you're talking about, okay baby?"

Catherine nodded as she and her mother walked up to the college-age girl greeting customers at the front of the store. The girl turned to the mother and daughter with a smile.

"Go on sweetheart, ask her for the book you're looking for", Rosanne said, nudging her daughter.

"Hi, could you tell me where the Harry Potter books are, please?" Catherine asked.

The salesgirl bent down to be at eye level with Catherine. 'Ah, now this girl knows how to speak to children!'

"Hmmm, I haven't heard of those books before! But I'm not usually in the children's book section. I can see if we have them though!" The girl stands back up and starts speaking into her earpiece. "Hey children's, pick up? Do you guys have any books by Harry Potter up there?"

'Wait, what?' She already had a hard time believing that Rosanne, a journalist, hadn't heard of Harry Potter. But now a girl who worked in a bookstore, too? And to top it all off, this girl thought that Harry Potter was the book's author?

The girl tilted her head to listen to some unseen person's response through the earpiece. "Copy. Thanks for checking." She turned back to Catherine. "I'm sorry sweetheart, we don't have those books here."

'Uh. Okay? What?' "That's fine. Is there any other book you want, Catherine?", Rosanne asked her daughter.

"Um, not off the top of my head. Can we go look at the books, mom?" Catherine was determined to find these damn books. She considered herself an expert on the franchise and would be damned if she wouldn't be the same in her new life.

Catherine and Rosanne's search ended up in vain, however. After going to three different bookstores and asking multiple sales clerks (one of whom responded to Catherine's description of the plot with "Wow, I haven't heard of it, but you should write that book one day!") , they ended up heading home with some other books Catherine was familiar with from her past life, but hadn't cared for as much.

'A world without Harry Potter, huh?' Catherine thought as she sat on her couch with a failed search attempt for her beloved books pulled up on the tablet she had received for her birthday, fully realizing the fact that she must have not just been reborn, but been born into an alternate universe.

'Just no Harry Potter? Of all the things – it couldn't be a universe without certain presidents, or something?' She was pretty glum, but the alternate universe discovery wasn't a huge deal to her. After all, she would have been living in two bodies in two places at the same time, and surely that would have caused some kind of paradox. I guess you can't have everything.

After the Harry Potter disappointment, Catherine went back to life as usual. She went to school, where she excelled (given that she had already learned most of the material) and received all kinds of academic awards every year. The only subject she needed to study more closely was history, as she wasn't as familiar with the history of Great Britain. She began skating in her first few competitions, had a few dance and music recitals, and before she knew it she was nearly 11 years old.

The summer before her 11th birthday, Catherine was a bit depressed, as she usually got when her birthday was approaching. In her past life, she would currently be turning 30, but she tried not to think of her life that way. She was living in the now, and despite missing her family and friends, her years spent in this life were ones she could honestly say she enjoyed.

Little did the girl know, everything she thought she knew about where and who she was would change that very summer.

It was the 15th of July, 2017, and Catherine was confused.

She was absolutely sure that Harry Potter did not exist in her new life.

So why was there an owl outside her window with a whole Hogwarts letter in its beak?

'What the hell?' Catherine had never, ever told her parents anything more about the Harry Potter books than what she described to Rosanne years ago. There was no way, absolutely no way, that this was a surprise from her parents. Even if they did know the details of what they believed to be their daughter's made-up story, there was absolutely no reason for them to go to the extent of finding an owl to rent in order to deliver a faux Hogwarts letter. No reason at all.

Catherine opened her window. The barn owl on her windowsill ruffled its feathers. "Um, hello?" She said carefully. The owl stuck its beak out, almost as if motioning for her to take the letter from its beak, so she did.

In fact, she didn't just take the letter from the owl, she practically snatched it. She expected the owl to leave, but it just stayed there, blinking. 'Does it want payment or something? Isn't that how it usually went? I think?' "Uh, I don't have food or anything, if that's what you're waiting for."

Stare.

"Okay..."

Catherine looked at the envelope in her hands under the watchful gaze of the barn owl.

Ms. Catherine A. Bautista

Westmost Bedroom on the Second Floor

74 Suffolk Street

London

She turned the envelope over and almost screamed at the sight of the Hogwarts emblem and wax seal.

Actually, she did scream.

"MUM?" She yelled, running out of her room, the owl staring after her. "MUM, DAD?" Catherine ran downstairs and into the kitchen, where her parents were sitting at the island eating breakfast.

"What is it, honey? Is everything okay? What's that in your hand?" Michael asked, standing up in alarm at his screaming daughter.

"I – an owl? An owl was at my window! It gave me this! It's addressed to me, it's a letter, I don't know – I, it's – I'm going to open it." Catherine began to pull off the wax seal.

"What? An owl? What's the letter then? Wait, don't open it, it could be dangerous! Catherine Anne-" Rosanne began, now hopping up from her seat as well, ready to take the mysterious letter from her daughter's hands.

As soon as the wax seal broke, the envelope flew up and formed the shape of a mouth which began speaking.

Catherine almost fainted.

"Dear Ms. Bautista, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress." The letter fell to the ground.

Catherine, Rosanne, and Michael were silent for about three seconds before Catherine snatched the letter up.

"Mum, Dad, get paper. Paper and a pen." Her parents didn't move. "PAPER AND A PEN NOW" She ran out of the kitchen and got halfway up the stairs before running back down and grabbing a piece of toast off the island. "Now, guys! Now! Come on!"

Her parents ran up the stairs after her this time. "What was that? Catherine? What's going on?" Michael asked, thoroughly in shock along with his wife. The two went into even further shock when they followed their daughter into her room, only to see an owl perched outside the open window, now happily munching on the piece of toast Catherine had grabbed from the kitchen.

"I think – I think I know. Hold on. I just need – " She grabbed a piece of paper out of one of her school folders and a pen from her desk and immediately began writing back. While Catherine did this, Rosanne grabbed the envelope and pulled out two sheets of paper, which she and her husband immediately began inspecting, trying to figure out how the envelope flew into the air and spoke.

Meanwhile, Catherine's mind was in shambles.

Her new life had gone off without a hitch, despite some odd things happening to her here and there.

Once when she was five, her figure skating instructor nearly got sliced by someone going into a flying sit spin, and Catherine had barely managed to yell "Watch out!"

Luckily for her instructor, something must have gone wrong with the skater's form, because they ended up flying towards the other side of the rink.

Another time, she had dozed off while taking a bubble bath. When she came to, she was hovering a foot above the water. When she realized her position she promptly fell back into the tub with a loud splash.

Rosanne had come running in to see what had happened, and Catherine told her mother what she thought had occurred. She had fallen asleep and woke up with a start. It must have been her body's reaction to nearly drowning in the bathtub. After all, she couldn't actually have been floating in mid-air, right?

These odd occurrences happened fairly frequently during Catherine's childhood – even her parents tended to notice, but they would simply say "Special things happen to special girls!"

'What a load of BS.' Catherine thought, carefully writing out a letter to Professor McGonagall. 'It was accidental magic.'

"Mum, Dad, tell me if this is right. I mean it probably is but I don't know if I'm capable of writing a coherent letter right now." Catherine said before reading out what she had written. "Dear Professor McGonagall, My sincerest thanks for my acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, my parents and I would greatly appreciate further explanation of what this acceptance entails, as none of us have had experience with witchcraft nor wizardry. Sincerely, Catherine Bautista." Michael and Rosanne nod, and as Catherine folds up the letter and places it in the beak of the happily stuffed owl, sink onto their daughter's bed.

Rosanne doesn't speak until the owl has flown from the window. "Catherine, didn't you mention that Hogwarts school before? Years ago, I think. You mentioned it when we were looking for that book you wanted."

"Yes, I – I think that I did," Catherine responds.

"And you-you seemed so sure those books were real. Where did you get the idea?"

"I think it was from a dream. Or maybe I overheard it. You know, how I have weird dreams sometimes." Catherine sits down in between her parents. She felt guilty already – she was rarely put into a position where she had to lie to her parents about how she knew things, playing the genius child card well. "And you know how weird stuff happens to me sometimes." She looks at the adults on either side of her - the adults who really weren't much older than her.

Michael places his hand over his daughter's. "Yes, but I thought – I thought they were just weird things. You know, how we would say that special things hap-"

"Happen to special girls." Rosanne finishes. "We knew you were special. You're so very smart and so, so well-mannered. We are so lucky to have you as a daughter. This- you really are special then, huh, sweetheart?"

Catherine started crying. Not only was she reborn into an amazing, loving family, but she was in the Harry Potter universe. She was a witch, and her amazing, loving family accepted her.

"What's wrong sweetheart? Oh, don't cry –" Michael pulled Catherine into his arms, rubbing circles on his daughter's back.

Catherine couldn't tell whether or not she was crying out of happiness. Should she be happy that she was in the Harry Potter universe? Was she anxious? Scared? All she knew was that she surely had never felt the heart-pounding rush which had occurred when she saw that letter ever before, in this life nor her last.

A/N:

I'm going to say this right now - if you were expecting a dark, edgy, and depressed OC, this is not the fic for you.

This story isn't being written to explore the challenges an HP fan would experience after being reincarnated into the Wizarding World. Rather, it's more of an exploration of what if?

What if someone was reborn into the Harry Potter universe who just accepted it? There is no war going on, no immediate danger slated to happen for a few more years. This isn't a story about what someone would do to change the fate of the wizarding world. It's a story about someone who just wants to live their new life as normally and as fully as possible.

I'm sure we've all fantasized about growing up in the wizarding world. No war - just going to Hogwarts, playing Quidditch, studying for O.W.L.'s, and going to Hogsmeade on the weekends. By no means is there anything wrong with exploring the life of a fan experiencing the realities of war first-hand, but why is there so much of that, and none of this?

I really hope y'all can understand where I'm coming from. I grew way too tired of the same tropes appearing in reincarnation aus. After a while, they all start sounding the same. Let me know what you think in a review!