Hey everyone, here's a new chapter for you all. I'm sorry to say that I don't know when I'll be posting the next chapter for this story or my other one. I just haven't had and motivation to do much of anything lately. I will try to do something, but no promises.

Hope you all enjoy.

anything that sounds familiar isn't mine, but everything else is.

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Magnolia stood in front of her full-length mirror adjusting the hem of her knee-length black skirt so it was perfect. She wore a short-sleeved purple silk shirt over the top and a pair of shiny black shoes that had silver snakes as buckles. Her long brown hair hung pin straight to the middle of her back, not a strand out for place, as always.

When she was satisfied with her appearance, Magnolia grabbed her coat and said the Lavesus, "I'll see you when I get back. Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

"No, you go alone; I don't want to be around a crowd, to many people who might step on me. But don't worry, I'll be here when you come back and I will be going with you when you leave for Hogwarts."

"Alright then, I'll see you later." She said as she was walking out her door to go downstairs. She did not have to wait long before there was a knock on the door and Jenny came to tell her that Professor McGonagall was waiting at the door.

Magnolia walked to the door and said, "Hello Professor, it's a pleasure to meet you." McGonagall was a middle-aged woman of average height with dark brown hair pulled into a tight bun and brown eyes behind a pair of glasses. She was wearing a floor length green dress that reminded Magnolia of the odd clothes Albus Dumbledore had worn the day before.

The professor had a smile on her thin lips as she responded. "And it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Barton. I'm happy to be able to meet you before school starts and help you acquire everything you need."

"I appreciate the help, shall we be going now? Jenny would you tell my grandparents I've left and will be back later."

"Yes, of course I will." Jenny said.

"Don't you grandparents want to see you before you leave and meet me? I'm sure they'd like to know who you'll be with." Professor McGonagall asked her with a confused look.

"My grandparents don't particularly like magic, I think they had enough of it with my mother and it's just worse that I have it as well. Jenny will let them know I've gone though."

"If you're sure, then let s go."

Magnolia turned and gave Jenny a hug before following the Professor out of the door and down the long driveway and past the gates. They walked down the street to the large park at the end of the block.

"Where are we going?" Magnolia questioned.

"To Diagon Alley," replied McGonagall. "We will be Apparating there and since this is a Muggle neighborhood we must go to one of the designated Apparation points so the Muggles don't notice. The closest one to your home is here in the park."

"What's Apparating?"

"It's a kind of instant transportation. You can Apparated anywhere as long as there are no wards preventing it but in the Muggle world, it is best to go to Apparation points, which are warded so that Muggles cannot see when you disappear. Once you turn 17, you will be able to Apparate for yourself but for now, you will have to Side-Along. Hold my arm and prepare yourself. It can be quite nauseating the first time."

McGonagall offered her arm and Magnolia took it, instantly feeling a twisting and squeezing feeling in the center of stomach. It felt as though she was being pulled at both ends, as if her body did not quite know which way it was supposed to go and when if finally stopped a moment later she was in a completely different place.

Magnolia immediately bent over and put her hand over her mouth in an attempt to prevent her breakfast from coming up. She stayed in that position was she tried to control her stomach. Once the queasy feeling became bearable, she stood upright and looked around herself.

She was in an alleyway with McGonagall's hand on her back asking if she was all right. Magnolia saw that they were not that far into the alley, only ten feet in front of her there were people walking past on the street. The Professor led her out onto it and she notice that unlike the Muggle street they had been on not minutes ago, this one had no road or cars. The streets were filled with people though, parents with their children, getting ready for the coming school year like her.

"First we'll stop at Gringotts's to withdraw some Galleon from your vault." The Professor told her. "Then we'll go to Ollivander's to get you a wand."

"Is that where all the money my parents left for me is? In a vault?" Magnolia asked with interest.

"Yes, your mother knew Dumbledore very well and had it in her and your father's will that if they were both to die, the key to their vault would go to him until you were old enough to go to Hogwarts."

"Okay." Magnolia said in a quiet voice, feeling a little overwhelmed by everything going around her. She followed McGonagall down the street towards a large building with huge doors leading into it. The inside had unbelievably high ceilings with magnificent crystal chandeliers filling the place with light. They walked down the center of the room, the sides of which had multiple desks with many goblins writing away, not looking up as the two of them past.

Magnolia stared at them wide eyed and with, having never seen anything like them. The two of them walked to back of the room where there was a tall counter with another goblin behind it. He barely looked up when he said more than asked them, "Name."

"Magnolia Barton, Professor McGonagall said for her.

"Vault Number."

"Seven six nine."

"Key." At this, the Professor pulled a small box from her pocket and opened it to pull out an old looking key.

The goblin behind the counter waved another one over. This new goblin escorted them around the side of the counter to the doors that were behind. There they climbed into an odd contraption that Magnolia thought looked like a roller coaster seat at had a wheel behind one of the seats. The goblin took this seat and the two of them sat in the seats behind. As soon as they were all seated, the contraption began to move forward and gained speed.

McGonagall put her arm around Magnolia's shoulders when she noticed she had a green tint to her skin at all the twists and turns that they were taking. For several minutes, they drove onwards until they gradually slowed and finally came to stop next to a ledge that had a large metal door with a keyhole in the center and a round silver doorknob just above it. They goblin took the key from McGonagall and inserted it into the keyhole. There was a soft grinding sound before the goblin twisted the door know, opened the door and stepped aside to let them enter.

Inside there were piles of gold, silver and bronze coins. There we several wooden trunks around the vault, some of them open, a few with neat stacks of books inside, one with an assortment of jewelry spilling out of the rim and the rest shut tight. The thing that caught Magnolia's eye was at the back of the room. It was a pedestal that when she approached she found that there was a small box on it with a small piece of paper folded in half. The outside of the paper read, "For Magnolia." When she unfolded the paper it said, "Open in private."

She took the box off the pedestal and turned to see McGonagall looking at her with curiosity. Magnolia told the Professor, holding out the piece of paper. "It says to look at it in private; I'll open it when you take me back home."

The Professor took the note and read it before looking back at Magnolia with a smile, "That sounds fine. Now let's get some coins." Taking out a drawstring purse, she put a handful of each type of coin into it, and then handed it with as well as the note to Magnolia. "Here, this is your money, so you can hold onto it."

Magnolia put the box into her coat pocket, but the purse with all those coins in it were too large to fit into one. So instead, she asked McGonagall, "Could you hold it until we go back to my house please?"

"Of course. Now we must be going. We have to get your wand at Ollivander's." She said as she headed towards the entrance of the vault. When she noticed that Magnolia was following she turned around and said, "Well, come on, we've got to be going."

"Can't I have a look at some of the stuff in here? It all looks so interesting." Magnolia said with a slight pleading tone laced into her words.

The Professor sighed and told her, "I wish we could, but I don't want to chance there being wards on any of the items. Besides we must get all your supplies before it gets too late."

Magnolia did not let her disappointment show as she slowly nodded her head and said, "I understand." She finally walk to the entrance of the vault and followed the Professor out.

They went back up the way they came and out the front doors. As Magnolia was descending the few steps in front of Gringotts's, her foot caught on one of the cobblestones and she fell forward. She got her hands up in time to land on her hands and knees and found herself starring at a pair of highly polished shoes beneath pants made of the finest fabric she had ever seen.

"Lucius, help the poor girl up, we don't want her groveling at my feet in public, that would be embarrassing." A deep and silky voice remarked casually with a hint of amusement.

Magnolia saw a pale long-fingered hand reach in front of her face and when she grasped it, she noticed that it was very soft and smooth. The hand pulled her to her feet and she had to look up to she the steel-grey eyes of its' owner. The boy was at least a foot taller than her four-foot six-inch height, with skin as pale as her own and long platinum blonde hair that was held back in a loose pony-tail. He wore pants as fine as the man who must be his father by the looks of it, with a dark grey bottom up shirt over the top.

"Thank you." Magnolia said to the boy, whose name must be Lucius going by what the man had said.

"Mr. Malfoy, there is no need to be rude, I'm sure it was an accident. Magnolia, please apologize to Mrs. Malfoy so we can be on our way." Professor McGonagall.

"Now whose being the rude one, won't you introduce us to this stunning girl? I don't believe I've seen her around before." He gave Magnolia a smile when he saw the slight blush that appeared at his compliment.

Professor McGonagall sighed heavily. "Very well. Mr. Malfoy, Lucius, this is Magnolia Barton. Magnolia, this is Abraxas Malfoy and his son Lucius Malfoy."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm sorry about falling in your way a moment ago." Magnolia said apologetically.

"I think a pretty thing like you can be forgiven. Barton...hmm... the only Barton s I've heard of are from France and I thought the last of them died years ago." Abraxas stated.

"Magnolia is the daughter of Lacina and Adrian Barton of France. When her parents died, Lacina's adoptive parents took Magnolia in and cared for her. They are Muggles and kept her magically heritage away from is why you have never seen her before." The Professor told the Malfoys.

"Poor thing, being raised by filthy Muggles and kept from your true potential." The senior Malfoy said with a sneer on his face a pity in his voice. "It must have been horrible, forced to live like those vermin when she you could have blossomed into something magnificent."

"Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "I ask that you wouldn't talk so foully in front of her, those are her grandparents your talking about. I'm sure they loved and cared for her just fine."

At this, Magnolia barely held in a disgusted laugh. Lucius seemed to notice, because he smiled at her and asked in a voice as smooth as his fathers, "Why don't we ask Magnolia how her grandparents were towards her?"

Magnolia frowned and told them, "Considering they never let me out of my rooms when people are around and they have never let me go off our estates, it's hard to believe that they love me. They only ever look at me with resentment and have never once said they loved me. As far as caring for me goes, they left that to the servants. I wasn't even allowed to go to school, instead I had private tutors. It doesn't help that they knew what I was my whole life and I had to find out about it from a stranger. Worst of all they lied to me about who my parents really are." She look at them with an expression that was a mix between sadness and anger as she finished. "So, no. I don't really think that they loved me much at all and I can't say I loved them either."

McGonagall looked stunned at Magnolia's words and the Malfoys both had smiles of satisfaction on their faces, though Lucius's was tinged with slightly with sadness towards her.

"You see, even a girl raised by Muggles doesn't like them. Just watch with a few years immersed in magic, any Muggle tendencies she may have will be gone." Abraxas said with a smirk directed towards McGonagall. "And if she's fortunate she may just grow up to be a good Pureblood lady."

"We really must be going now. I'll see you at school Mr. Malfoy. Magnolia, come along." McGonagall said with a scowl directed at the Senior Malfoy as she pulled Magnolia behind her by her arm. Magnolia glanced back to get a last look at the Malfoys and that's when she noticed the cane in Abraxas Malfoy's hand. More importantly, she noticed the head of a silver snake with emerald eyes on the top of the cane. Her eyes went wide and she looked up at the Malfoys again before being pulled into the crowd by McGonagall and losing sight of them.

There was a moment of silence before Magnolia asked Professor McGonagall, "What's a Pureblood?"

The Professor sighed but said anyways, "I had hoped you wouldn't learn about that just yet but I supposed you should know before you go to Hogwarts. A Pureblood is a witch or wizard who has no Muggle blood in their family history. If a Pureblood and a Muggle have a child together, they are considered half-blooded and there are many Purebloods who dislike half-bloods. What some Purebloods despise more than a half-blood, is a Muggleborn, a witch or wizard who has two Muggle parents. Some Purebloods don't mind either half-bloods or Muggleborns but most will tolerate half-bloods as long as they become disassociate with their Muggle family members."

"Oh, am I a Pureblood than, since both my parents had magic?" Questioned Magnolia.

"Your father was from a very Pureblooded family, one that unfortunately you are the last of. But your mother's blood-status remains a mystery. As far as anyone is concerned though, you are a Pureblood. There is no proving otherwise." At this point in their conversation they had arrived at a shop and were standing outside it's door. "Now, let's get your wand, we've been delayed long enough."

Fifteen minutes later, Magnolia and the Professor came out with Magnolia's new wand, a 10 inch cherry wood wand with a dragon heart-string core. From the tip down there was a spiral pattern, that looked to her like two snakes wrapping themselves around and around each other, until at the grip end the spirals faded away.

The rest of the day went by with no problem, they got all her books, her uniforms, things for her potion's class and various other necessary items. Between each shop, Professor McGonagall explained to her the Houses of Hogwarts and how she was the head of Gryffindor House, the point system and some of what her classes would be, such as learning Transfiguration from her.

As the were about to go, Magnolia spotted a few other kids coming out of a store called Eelops Owl Emporium and Magical Menagerie with various animals. Considering this she turned to Professor McGonagall and asked her, "Are students allowed to bring pets to Hogwarts?"

McGonagall turned to looked at her as well, "Students are allowed to bring animals to Hogwarts as their familiars, as long as the animal doesn't harm any of the other students. Do you want to buy an animal to bring along with you?"

"I don't need to buy one, I have an animal at home that I'm going to bring." Magnolia said with a smile.

"Really? What kind of animal is it?" The Professor asked curiously.

Her smile turned slightly wicked as she responded, "It's a surprise."

McGonagall looked at her for a moment before saying, "Alright then, Magnolia. Now, it's time to get you and your things back home." When they arrived back at Magnolia's house, her grandparents were waiting in the living room for them.

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Sluven. How as your day?" Professor McGonagall asked them politely.

"Just fine. Did you get everything that she needs?" Mrs. Sluven replied stiffly.

"Yes, of course. Let me get it for her." She took out what looked like a tiny toy trunk and set it on the ground as she muttered a spell under her breath. As the trunk enlarged to its original size, Magnolia's grandparents turned slightly pale and seeing this, Magnolia in turn felt a smirk appear on her face at their show of fear. "Everything she needs is in her, her wand, books, uniforms and other things she may need."

"Good, now Magnolia, will you escort Professor McGonagall out." Though it asked as a question it came out sounding more like an order. Ignoring her grandmother's tone, she nodded and led the Professor to the door.

When they got there, McGonagall turned to face Magnolia, handing her the purse, which now had many less coins in it. "I put your fault key in there as well. In addition, here are your instructions on how to get to Hogwarts Express and to get on the train that will take you to Hogwarts. You must be there before noon this Friday." She handed her a piece of with the directions on it. "It was a pleasure to meet you Magnolia and I can't wait to teach you once you arrive at Hogwarts."

"I enjoyed spending the day with you and meeting you as well. Good-bye Professor." Magnolia shut the door behind her and put the purse of coins in her pocket now that it fit. She turned to go back to the living room to get her trunk but once she got there, it was gone."

"Where's my trunk?" She asked her grandparents who sat drinking their tea innocently.

"You'll get it back when you leave for Hogwarts, you have no need of that stuff while your still here." Her grandfather replied casually, as though she had done nothing wrong.

"But I wanted to read some of my books before I got there. So I'm not completely clueless when I go." The anger evident in her voice and the glare she was sending her grandparents seemed to put the slightest bit of unease in them.

"You'll have all the time you want when you leave for school and you won t get your stuff back until then, no matter what you say or do. Now go to your room if your going to be so disobedient."

Magnolia, knowing she wouldn't get her stuff back anytime soon, merely glared at them until they looked away and began to fidget a little, before storming out and upstairs to her room. When she got there, she sat in one of the chairs that looked out over the back lawn and garden of the mansion.

She just sat starring out the window for a long time. She finally stopped when she remembered the box in her pocket and took it. Opening it up, she found a piece of paper folded multiple times inside. It read:

Dear Magnolia,

If you are reading this, then I have died before being able to give you this gift. I only hope that you were old enough to remember your father and me. If not, I fear you are probably only just learning about your magic. Knowing my parents, you were probably told lies about us as well. Whatever the case may be, know that your father and I loved you very much, with all our hearts. There is one thing I must tell you about our ancestry, the only thing I truly know about it. YOur may or may not know at this point of your ability to speak with snakes, this is called Parseltongue and only the Heirs of Slytherin are blessed with this gift. I know there is one other out there like us, but how closely related his is, I do not know. Whether or not you choose to go find this person is up to you. I was content with not knowing, but you may be different. Included is a bracelet, it is the only thing that I have from my parents; I have had it since I was in an orphanage. It is my gift to you, wear it to remember me.

With All My Love, Lacina Barton

Magnolia had tears streaming down her face as she pulled the bracelet out. It was made of silver and in the shape of a snake eating its own tail. The snake s eyes were made of emeralds and it had tiny scales that could be seen it great detail. She smiled at it as she put it on her wrist. It was a bit big on her small wrist but as she watched, it shrunk until it fit perfectly against her skin.

It was then that she noticed Lavesus was lying in her lap. Magnolia quickly wiped her tears away and asked him to hide the fact she had been crying, though it was useless, "Have you ever seen anything like it? A bracelet that fits to your wrist?"

He hiss in amusement at hiding her discomfort before saying, "No, but it's probably normal in the magical world."

"You re probably right. And guess what? I don't have to sneak you to Hogwarts; Professor McGonagall says students are allowed to bring an animal with them if they want." Magnolia said with a bright smile."

"That's good to hear, though you will still have to sneak me out of your house."

"That's true." She said.

Magnolia avoided her grandparents for the rest of the week. She spent most of her time in the backyard, talking to Lavesus and other snakes that she wouldn't see for a while. The rest of the time, she was in her room reading books and getting clothes and other things she wanted to take to Hogwarts ready. The only person that came to talk to her before Friday was Jenny, who would bring her food and talk to her.

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Please review and tell me how you think the story is going so far.