Chapter 2

She Who Follows

"Coraline!" Mr. McCoy yelled from the hallway, dressed in his neatest casual-looking outfit that he could dig up from the cardboard boxes. "Hurry up she'll be here any minute!"

It was about 9:58 A.M (According to her Dad's watch) and Coraline was still trying to wake up from staying up until three in the morning. She brushed her teeth furiously, trying to make her morning breath go away with the minty toothpaste. She didn't want her bad breath to be the first thing the principle-er-Headmistress to come in contact with. To her, first impressions were very important; especially when people are taking time and effort to make sure you can go to school.

Coraline spit into the stone sink and yelled out into the hallway "It's not my fault I've got bad breath!" Her Dad opened the door to the bathroom and handed a stick of gum to her. "Chew on this then." He grabbed her by the arm and nearly pulled her into the kitchen to look at her. "Is that really the best you can do, Coraline?"

She was never the type to wear anything girl-ish. No skirts, dresses, bows, ect. And formal wear was no exception; she wore dark blue pants, that her aunt Lucy had back in the 80s, they weren't made of jean material, they almost felt like pajama bottoms and they flowed the same way too. They weren't too loose but they weren't too tight.

Her shoes were skater shoes for boys that she had seen the previous year when her Dad and she went school shopping for clothes, they were the most interesting pair of shoes she had ever seen, and the colors were dark green and a light blue. It almost looked like the shoe was sewn together. It was perfect for her and she couldn't ask for a better pair. Her shirt was a regular dark blue shirt that was covered by a jean jacket with a golden locket on the outside.

"I'm not going to wear a skirt, Dad." Coraline protested; about to say the same thing about her father, wearing jeans and a jean jacket over a plain white shirt with tennis shoes. Before he could open his mouth his watch began to go off, and as if someone was waiting for it there was a loud CRACK, a noise that the McCoy's had not heard for four years.

They both turned around to the source of the sound, and before them stood a very stern looking woman with square glasses placed upon the brim of her small nose. Her graying black hair was tied into a tight bun and she was wearing an emerald green cloak. Coraline spotted in her right hand, before placing it beneath the cloak, was a thin wooden object that could be nothing short of a wand.

The woman in the cloak turned to Coraline's father and held out her hand. "Alvin McCoy, I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts." Coraline's father smiled and shook her hand, exchanging "hellos" before she turned to Coraline. Coraline eye's met her's, and she noticed of how they almost looked like a cat's eyes and that the woman didn't seem to blink that much.

"And this must be Coraline; it's nice to meet you, dear." Coraline shook her hand and drew a blank on what to say before finally coming up with "Likewise".

She felt like banging her head against the stone counter. "LIKEWISE? LIKEWISE?!?! THAT'S ALL YOU COULD SAY? Why couldn't you have said "It's a privilege to meet me Professor-YOU! Meet YOU Professor!" AGGG!" Coraline mentally slapped herself but she found the Headmistress smiling at her and that made Coraline feel warm despite the chilly Monday morning.

"Can I offer you some coffee, Professor?" her father started to walk towards the coffee machine on the counter near the window. "Oh, no thank you Mr. McCoy." The woman pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down. After Coraline sat at the other end of the table, she felt the woman's cat-like eyes study her intensely. She almost felt nervous being in the same room with her under her gaze, trying to determine almost if she was friend or foe. Coraline took to examining the scratches on the table until her father sat down next to her on her left with his mug of strong smelling black-silk coffee.

"So" her father turned to Professor McGonagall "I don't know if you know, but we just moved into the country from America. We're actually surprised that she's been accepted, I mean, Adrian and I knew she was a witch since…" he leaned back in his chair slightly trying to think back. "Pretty much since the day she was born. But after the accident and…after Adrian died, we got a letter from the American Witchcraft school in Washington saying that-"He took out a piece of paper from his coat pocket and unfolded it to read it aloud.

"It would be impossible to maintain the conditions that are required for proper education." He recited before un-carefully crumpling the note back up into a wad of paper and sticking the ball back into his pocket.

"The American School system has a bit of a different idea of how they teach." Professor McGonagall replied. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say it but, they are a bit prejudice against any kind of student who needs special commendations. I myself had a particularly bad encounter with the Headmaster of Salem School of Witchcraft about a year ago. In all my years of teaching I have never met an American Headmaster that I have had the pleasure of meeting, no offence Mr. McCoy."

"None taken." Coraline's father replied. "My wife often said to me that while the public Muggle schools were practically made for helping kids with problems, the Wizarding world in America practically lacks the capacity to adjust and adapt for one kid. They say it "Takes up their time" and they don't want to deal with it. Typical Americans I guess…"

"Dad" Coraline interrupted as he raised his mug to his lips "We're American."

"We're not your typical American family though." He responded after gulping down the coffee. Coraline nodded and agreed to that.

"I was partially relieved that they wouldn't let her in." He continued. Coraline looked at her Dad with astonishment. She had the understanding that he was so angry at them when she received the letter that he actually went to lengths to sue them. But without a way into the Ministry he couldn't even make a complaint.

"You didn't want me to go?" She asked.

Her Dad looked at her with an astonished face. "No, I didn't say that." He replied "What I mean is that I had heard about what American Witches and Wizards were like and even met some when my wife was alive and quite frankly I found them to be rude, inhospitable and self-centered. Most of your manners come from learning them at home and at school from your teachers. I didn't want Coraline messing in with that crowd."

Coraline nodded again. Before her Mom died and before the bite, she did remember meeting some of her Mom's friends and their kids during cook outs. She found them to be a little spoiled and rude for their age and she didn't like that quality that much.

"After her Mother passed away, I couldn't even figure out how to find another person to make the potion for her and since I'm a "Muggle" I couldn't brew it on my own so…" His voice trailed off into an unspoken sadness as Coraline remembered the day he set up the shed in the back yard after taking down the swing set she sat upon so often.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that we can brew the potion for her at school." The professor said with a soft smile. Coraline's mood turned around when her ears picked this news up as well as her father. Her missing canine tooth could be shown with her grin. "The Wolfbane potion" Professor McGonagall explained "doesn't stop the transformation but it helps the human keep his mind when he transforms. So they can curl up somewhere and wait for dawn to break. The potion needs to be taken the week preceding the full moon however, many people have forgotten to take it on one day or another and unfortunate things have happened."

Coraline gulped.

"Speaking of which, what were you planning on doing for the August full moon?"

She almost jumped in her spot. The full moon had already passed for July just a week ago. In fact her father planed for her to transform the day before they moved to England in order to have some time to find a safe place. It didn't make the flight over any easier.

"I've planned to rent a small place somewhere in the country where she can go once a month. Away from people." He said rather softly. Coraline's head drooped and her back slumped. She readjusted her hat placed on her head so that her hair fell out from it. She twirled her fingers in the pony tail as she looked out the kitchen window at the rainy London morning. She hated talking about her next transformation. She scratched her left arm a little, where she had bit herself the previous full moon. It still itched but if she kept scratching it would scar.

"Well, that's well planned." The Headmistress said. "Do you know where Diagon Alley is?"

Her father closed his eyes, straining his memory to try and remember. "My wife and I went there very briefly." He said finally "I think a war started and we left for America when I finished College at Oxford?"

McGonagall nodded. "Adrian was a smart girl; a bit of a hot head but smart." She said "She had to be, she was in Ravenclaw. She knew what to stay out of and war was just that thing."

"Yeah." Coraline's father nodded.

"Ravenclaw?" she whispered, turning away from the window and looked at the pair.

"Mr. McCoy," The Professor drew her father's attention "I have one last question." The Headmistress stood up and Coraline's father followed in the action. "May I ask why you decided to move to England? Was it because you wanted Coraline to attend Hogwarts?"

"Well" Coraline's father turned to her again. "We moved here because of a job opportunity at the local hospital. Better pay here and the rent for this place is a lot more affordable. But I didn't stop to think that it could also be beneficial to Coraline. That completely slipped my mind until yesterday, I remember Adrian saying something about Hogwarts accepting a werewolf once but I thought I had just miss heard."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "We did have a child attend the school with…similar circumstances." Coraline noticed the way she looked at her. The sad expression of a friend dearly missed. "But so far, that has been the only case in Hogwarts history."

Coraline's jaw dropped open slightly. "You mean that in the one-thousand years that Hogwarts has been around, I'm only going to be the second werewolf to attend?"

"Actually" her father leaned in "You're going to be the second werewolf to study magic in the entire history of the Wizarding world."

Her jaw dropped fully open, her missing molar tooth shown to all. "You're joking…." She closed her mouth, slightly, as she made eye-contact with the Headmistress. The Professor shook her head. "I'm afraid, Miss McCoy," she said rather quietly "that I rarely joke in situations like this."

McGonagall turned to Mr. McCoy as she pushed in her chair.

"The directions to Diagon Alley are on the back of the acceptance letter, Mr. McCoy." Professor McGonagall informed.

"Well," Mr. McCoy held out his right hand to shake. "It was nice meeting with you, Professor, and thank you for letting Coraline attend."

"You're welcome, Mr. McCoy."

"Please, call me Alvin."

Coraline sat back in her chair, trying to wrap her mind around what she just found out. She had thought that there were kids like her that went to Hogwarts all the time. She had actually looked forward to forming a pack of some sort and belonging and being accepted for who she was instead of "What". This changed everything she had anticipated.

"Coraline!" Coraline blinked and was drawn back into the kitchen, still sitting at the table while her Headmistress was about to leave.

"Oh." She whispered as she stood up and held out her hand for the Professor. "Thanks for letting me attend Hogwarts, Professor. I promise I'll do my best!"

"I know you will, Coraline." And with a sudden flick of a brownish blur, a deafening CRACK echoed in the kitchen and she was gone.

Coraline stood there, gazing at the spot where her Headmistress disaperated. She felt somewhat cold as she was left standing in the kitchen with her father. She was just told that in the entire history of magic, there was only one other werewolf to ever study magic.

Her image of what she imagined shattered into oblivion like glass. There were so many pieces that even with a spell; it could never be re-assembled the same way. She would be alone, even at school because of her condition. If it got out that she was a werewolf, would they distance themselves from her? Would they tease her?

Not only that, but considering that Hogwarts only had one werewolf to deal with, what if they messed up? What if the potion wasn't made right so she became more dangerous than normal? What would she do if something went wrong?

"Coraline," her father touched her left shoulder, knowing the right was tender. "They've got a good system that's worked before and they've got a potions master to make that…uh…thing for you, they know what they're doing." She shook her head. "Dad" she replied, her gaze still focused on the woodwork of the table.

"They know-"her father said slowly "What they're doing."

Coraline took a deep breath and let it go out her nose. Slowly bending to her father's advice, she nodded and was forced to accept his judgment.

"I hope you're right Dad. I hope you're right."

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