Author's note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

The sun was in her eyes so she couldn't quite make out what type of bird it was, but Edith watched it as flew across the sky and over the woods. She had a lovely view from her window. She wondered distantly if the bird would still be alive after the next shooting party. And what about all the other birds she had seen, were any of them dead now? Well, they had to be. Birds don't live very long. Her mind moved to all the people she had seen in Ripon, going about their lives. Had she once met a person who was now dead?

This was admittedly a rather morbid topic for an eleven year old. But she had been cooped up in her room for weeks, with no sunlight of playing. By this point, Edith was feeling rather low. A feeling not helped by the fact she rather suspected her parents were planning to send her to an Asylum. Edith knew her parents had been worried about her for a while now, even before that fight with Mary in the nursery. She would have loved to be normal, to make her parents love her the way they did Mary and Sybil.

What Edith didn't know; and her parents wold never admit, was that when she was little her parents barely noticed her. Mary and Sybil were both so demanding and Edith quiet that the little golden haired girl in the corner often ended up being neglected in favour of precocious Mary and charming Sybil. It was only when she was eight that Mama and Papa really began to see her. For that was when it became apparent that she was not like her sisters.

It was during the New Years Eve shoot. Mary was allowed to go for the first time, despite only just turning ten. Edith had been jealous and demanded to join in, finding it rather unfair for Mary to get to do something she didn't. And so, kitted out and feeling very fine in her miniature tweed suit, Edith joined her family on the shoot. It did not end well.

Despite being eight years old and thus 'a big girl', Edith hadn't quite managed to realise that going on a shoot meant shooting things. Edith watched in horror as her Papa proudly shot down a bird that had seconds before been soaring majestically through the air. She had screamed, very loudly. And as she did, all the gentlemen cried out in horror and dropped their guns to the floor, their hands covered in blisters. The guns melted into the grass, completely ruined. No more birds were harmed that day.

"What a lovely bedroom," came a quiet voice from the doorway, "Although, not quite cosy enough for my taste,"

Edith jumped from her seat and stared at the man before her. She blinked twice, for her eyes could not quite believe the sight of the man before her. He smiled kindly and Edith found herself giving a slight smile back.

"Hello Edith. Your parents have kindly allowed me to talk to you," this paragon of strangeness said.

Edith nodded, still a bit dumbstruck.

"May I sit down?"

Once more she nodded.

"My name is Professor Dumbledore.."

"Are you taking me to an Asylum?" Edith interrupted, clenching her fists in her skirt.

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" Dumbledore asked softly.

Edith ducked her head to hide her tears. "Because I'm strange. And I hurt Mary. I didn't mean to!" she added quickly.

"You mean, you didn't want to hurt your sister?"

Edith looked up and noted Dumbledore's eyes staring into her, and for some reason she felt like there was no point in lying to this man.

"Well... I didn't mean to, but I wanted to. I mean, there is a difference, isn't there"

"A great difference. And it is good that you have been able to tell the difference between trying to hurt someone and wanting to," Dumbledore agreed.

"The thing is, I'm not sure how I did it. I couldn't reach the chandelier and the books were at the other end of the room," Edith admitted.

"I can tell you how you did it," Dumbledore said, leaning in closer so that Edith could see his eye wrinkling as he smiled.

"Can you?"

"Yes. Magic,"

Edith jerked backwards. Magic! Well it was clear someone in this room needed to be in an Asylum and it wasn't her! She should have guessed by his clothes really.

"Ah. I see you don't believe me," Dumbledore noted.

Edith's eye wandered towards the bell, wondering if she should ring for help.

"I can show you if you like," he offered.

Edith's gaze returned to his and was once again struck by the way his eyes seemed to gaze straight through her. His words were mad and yet, she could not help but feel their was a sincere look on his face.

"Go on then," she whispered, still clenching her skirt.

Dumbledore gracefully pulled a long, thin stick out from his sleeve and flicked it, pointing it at Edith's favourite doll, Angelica.

Edith watched in delighted disbelief as her doll rose elegantly to the ceiling and onto her lap. She ran her hands over it, checking for strings. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Still don't believe me then? Alright," and with that he tapped himself smartly on the head, completely disappearing in front of Edith's astonished eyes. She jumped, nearly dropping Angelica in the process.

Dumbledore reappeared, now beaming from ear to ear.

"Now do you believe me?"

Edith nodded, giving a shaky laugh. "Will I be able to do that"

"Maybe, one day. If you work hard at your lessons,"

"What lessons?"

"The lessons at the school I am offering you a place at. A school where young witches and wizards like you travel from all over the country to in order to study magic and become fine Sorcerers. The school where I myself trained at,"

Edith shook her head in disbelief, feeling rather muddled. She was going to a school! !To learn magic! She was a witch! Granny certainly would not approve...

"Do Mama and Papa know?"

"Not yet, I thought we could tell them together,"

Now that the truth had finally sunk in, questions sprung into Edith's head and tumbled from her mouth.

"Do I get a wand too?" she demanded, "And a broomstick and a cauldron? Oh, oh do I get a cat? Please say I get a cat,"

Dumbledore chuckled gently. "Yes, you do get a wand. It is a vital tool for every wizard and witch. At Hogwarts you will receive flying lessons and in the second year you will be allowed to bring your own broomstick to school. Cauldrons are on your school equipment list and as for cats, students are allowed to bring one familiar each. Whether it be toad, owl or; as you wish, a cat. I take it this means you wish to come to Hogwarts?"

To Edith, there was only one possible answer. She turned a radiant face to Dumbledore, her head whirling of images of her gracefully flying on a broomstick, making objects invisible and fly (at Mary) and cuddling a cat.

"Oh yes!"