Chapter Three

As soon as Carlie landed, Shelly jumped out of her bag and made a beeline for the lake. She had been going stir crazy ever since they had arrived in London, and was in need of a good swim. "What was that?" asked Tim in alarm. Carlie realized that she hadn't introduced her pet to her newfound friends. "That was Shelly, my otter. She doesn't like big cities much, I think London was driving her crazy," she said as she tucked her broom back into her bag. Tim stared in amazement. Yet another thing Carlie hadn't explained. "Undetectable extension charm," she said. "Just about everything I own is in this bag at the moment."

As they walked up the steps toward the castle entrance, the large double doors opened, and someone walked out. He was tall, with electric blue eyes, long silvery hair, and a matching beard. "I see Professor Lupin wasn't exaggerating when he said you look exactly like your mother, Carlie" the tall man said. He gave Carlie the impression of being terribly wise.

Assuming that he was the famed Hogwarts headmaster, Carlie replied "It's an honor to meet you Professor Dumbledore." She wanted to ask him why he had called Lupin "professor," but she stopped herself for two reasons. One was that it might seem rude to be so amazed that Lupin was a professor. Not that she really was, she just thought he would've mentioned it before. The other was that in all honesty, the answer in its self

was pretty clear.

"I have a great deal I wish to ask you, so if you would be so kind as to follow me to my office…." Carlie, Lupin, and Tim followed Dumbledore through a long series of hallways and corridors, until he came to a halt at a rather ugly looking gargoyle. "Bertie Bott's every flavor beans," Dumbledore said to the gargoyle. To Carlie and Tim's amazement, it swung open, revealing another corridor. They walked down to a door marked "Headmaster," and Dumbledore led the way in.

All around the office were the moving portraits of past headmasters. There was a large desk to the left, which held several peculiar instruments that Carlie had never seen before. "Please take a seat," said Dumbledore, cutting Carlie's inspection of the office short. Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, and the three of them sat in chairs in front of the desk. It was a little intimidating.

"Now, your real name is Alexandria, but you prefer to be called Carlie, is that correct?" asked Dumbledore. "Yes," replied Carlie. "May I ask why?" She hesitated a little before answering. "My foster parents called me Carlie; I guess I'm just used to it." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, as if he didn't think she was telling the whole truth. In fact, Carlie herself wasn't sure why she preferred her fake name.

Dumbledore decided not to press the matter. "Do you know if your foster parents were connected to your real parents?" he asked instead. "My foster mom said she was friends with my mother at Hogwarts. Her name is Helen Firedrake; I don't know what her maiden name is. She met my foster dad after she moved to California, so I don't think he knew my real parents," she replied. Dumbledore nodded, as if remembering.

"As I take it, your foster parents don't know that you are here, is that right?" Carlie liked this interrogation less and less. "Yeah, I sort of left as soon as I could. Now that I look back on it I probably should've left a note or something," she said sheepishly. "In that case, we should owl them immediately. I'm sure they are worried about you." For one horrific moment, Carlie thought that he intended to send her back to California, but then, seeing her distress before she even said anything, Dumbledore said, "You are planning on staying here, correct?" Carlie nodded vigorously in relief. "I'm sure you foster parents will understand. I think it would be best if we both wrote to them. Now, there is one last piece of business to attend to," with that, Dumbledore pulled a large, torn old hat out from under his desk.

Carlie raised an eyebrow in confusion. "That's the sorting hat," supplied Lupin. "There are four houses at Hogwarts, and your house is like your family, in a way. The sorting hat picks your house, based on what kind of person you are." Lupin looked at Dumbledore and said, "I suppose it would be logical if we sorted both of them now?" Carlie looked at Tim in confusion. "Don't you go to Hogwarts already?" she asked. Tim blushed a little and said, "I was taught at home before, but since my dad took a teaching job here, I'll be here instead. I'm going to be a third year like you."

Carlie was about to ask why his mom didn't teach him, but Dumbledore said, "Which one of you would like to do first?" Carlie looked sideways at Tim, who shook his head. "Me, I suppose." She took the hat and placed it on her head. It slid down over her eyes, and a voice in her head said, "Ah, I remember sorting your brother. Hmm… lots of spirit, loyal, clever… and certainly brave. Better be GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted the last word for everyone in the room to hear. She took off the hat and passed it to Tim, eager to see what house he was in. She hoped he was a Gryffindor; it would be nice to have a friend to start off with besides her brother.

The hat flopped down over Tim's eyes. It seemed like forever, but finally the hat roared, "GRYFFINDOR!" Tim whipped off the hat, looking confused about something. Carlie didn't know why, Lupin was grinning ear to ear, happy for his son. Dumbledore however, seemed to understand him. Carlie couldn't help it, she had to know. Tentatively, she began prodding around in Tim's mind.

With ease, she found the memory of the hat. "Hmm… certainly clever. But a little shy for Gryffindor…" the hat began. "I want to be in Gryffindor," thought Tim firmly. More firmly than Carlie had ever heard him. "You'd do nicely in Slytherin, I can see that quite plainly. Or perhaps Ravenclaw…" the hat went on as if it hadn't heard him. Carlie could feel Tim's anger as if she were a part of him. "I WANT TO BE IN GRYFFINDOR!" he thought with all his might. "That is more like it," said the hat. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Carlie came back to herself, and realized two things at once. One was that Tim was a lot braver than he appeared on the outside; the hat had even made him prove it. The second, Dumbledore was staring at her with an odd expression on face. It was a look somewhere between awe and confusion. It made him look older somehow. "Carlie, what did you just do?"

"Crap, he knows," thought Carlie. Out loud she said "What do you mean?" Hopefully he would think nothing of her little space out. She was perfectly aware of the odd phased out expression that appeared on her face when she read minds. Sometimes she could keep her face normal, but she had gotten too caught up in Tim's memory to pay attention. "I think you know perfectly well what I mean," said Dumbledore sternly. Lupin and Tim looked confused.

Well, there went that plan. She knew it was best to just tell the truth, but she would hate for Tim and Lupin to think she'd been invading their privacy. Especially Tim, he was so shy to begin with… what if she lost him as a potential friend all together? "Um… could I talk to you in private?" she asked. This confused Tim and Lupin even more. "Tim, Professor Lupin, if you would be so kind as to wait outside?" asked Dumbledore.

When they were gone, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. His blue eyes seemed to pierce her very soul. Could Dumbledore read minds as well? Is that how he knew? "Ever since I can remember, I've been able to read people's emotions. As I got older, I could occasionally hear their thoughts. Recently, within the past year in fact, I have even seen people's memories. At first, I couldn't control it at all. I still can't, not very well at least." She paused for a moment, then in a rush she said, "Are you mad at me?"

Dumbledore considered her for a while before responding. "You certainly have a unique gift. I can see why you didn't want to talk about it in front of them. I am not mad, but I think you will need to learn proper control of your abilities. So you don't err…. Lose control again. And I think it would be proper for you to apologize to Tim. It was his mind you were reading if I'm not mistaken. You don't have to do it now, if you don't want to, but I think it would be best if you did." Carlie nodded and said "I will."

Dumbledore let Lupin and Tim back into the office. They both looked at her inquiringly but Dumbledore, bless him, acted as if nothing strange had happened. "Here is a sheet of the classes you can choose from. You may choose up to three. There are mandatory classes you will be taking as well. Why don't we all go have lunch in the Great Hall while you think it over? Then perhaps you should think about writing your foster parents. Tonight you will two stay in the Gryffindor dormitory, and in the morning, we can think about arrangements for Carlie to meet Harry."

If Carlie had to pick her favorite thing about Hogwarts so far, it would be a tie between the grounds and the food. The Great Hall in its self was amazing, with its enchanted ceiling that made it look like you were eating outdoors. But the food was indescribable. All of it was delicious, but there was such a variety of foods; rich puddings, humungo sandwiches, and pumpkin juice, which Carlie had never tasted before, but discovered that she liked.

As she was eating she looked carefully at the list of electives. She knew she wanted Care of Magical creatures; she was a sucker for animals. Arithmancy sounded like a fun sort of challenge, so she checked off that one as well. As for her third class, she had no clue. She knew she didn't want divination. Ancient runes sounded dull. Well, Dumbledore said she only had to pick two, and three was just a maximum. She really didn't want to stress herself out to much either.

After she handed in her elective sheet to Professor McGonagall, who Carlie thought was a tad too old fashioned, she want down to the lake with some parchment, to write home.

She wrote one to her foster mother, witch was rather short and to the point, and one to her best friend Nikki, which described how cool Hogwarts was, and asked her to tell the others that she had heard from her. Feeling rather drained, she sat there for a while, stroking Shelly's fur.

Suddenly, Tim was sitting down next to her. "Hi," she said cheerfully. "Hullo," he responded. Carlie decided that it was now or never. "The reason I wanted to talk to Dumbledore in private was that I'm a mind reader." She spit the words out in a rush, and she was filled with dread as she waited for his response.

Tim sat in silence for a long time. Carlie didn't dare read his thoughts after what had happened earlier. "So you were reading my mind?" asked Tim. His voice wasn't exactly accusing, but all the same Carlie winced inside at the question. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I usually don't, its just I kind of… lose control of it sometimes. If a someone looks angry or sad, and I'm not paying close attention to what I'm doing, I just automatically… see it, I guess," she finished lamely.

She was worried that he'd think she was some kind of freak, or maybe even that she was lying. But he just nodded. Well, she had managed not to lose the one and only friend she had made in Britain. That was a start. Not a great start, but defiantly a start.

Unfortunately, something was nagging at the back of Carlie's mind. She had been trying (without much success,) to ignore it, having just avoided tragedy, but the thought persisted. So, as idiotic as it may seem, she asked the question that had been burning a hole in her head. "Tim, since I told you my secret, could I ask you something?" He looked at her with his lovely hazel orbs, and said, "Sure." Carlie took a deep breath, and said "Why doesn't your mom just teach you at home, if your parents wanted to home school you?"

A/N: I know that seems like a dumb question, but you will see in ch 4 how important it is! keep reading, and please review!