One day shy of being three years and two months to the day since Reginald and Olivia Blackmore's funeral, was the last day of classes for Dalina for the school year; the last year at the Junior school she attended in Thetford where her grandmum lived, and she now lived as well. She had adapted well since the loss of her parents and was growing up into a lovely young girl. She was eleven now, having just celebrated her birthday on the 9th of April. She was a few centimetres taller, her hair was just as long as it had been, her body was starting to gain more definition, though not completely. She was still only eleven, after all.

As she bounded in the front door, she headed straight into the kitchen where she threw her brown leather backpack on the table. She immediately went for the cupboard where grandmum kept the snacks, pulling out a package of Jammie Dodgers and setting them on the table beside her backpack. Sitting down, she helped herself to a few of the shortbread biscuits and stared at the orange, floral wallpaper as she kicked her legs back and forth. She could hear grandmum walking around upstairs, probably in her sewing room, sewing something. Possibly a quilt. One of their neighbours was expecting their first child by the end of summer and grandmum liked to gift homemade quilts for any occasion that called for one.

"Dalina? Is that you?" Grandmum called down from the second floor.

With a full mouth, Dalina replied, "Yeah."

"A strange letter came for you today." Grandmum's voice was getting louder, signalling the woman was descending the stairs to greet her granddaughter. She appeared moments later in the archway to the kitchen. "It quite literally flew threw the post slot, and landed on the foyer floor. The postman must've been in some rush to deliver the other letters to our neighbours today."

Dalina turned her attention to her grandmum, setting down a Jammie Dodger had been about to consume. "What kind of letter?"

"I'm not entirely sure. There's some sort of crest in the upper lefthand corner with four animals on it. It says Hogwarts on the top. I have no idea what Hogwarts is." Grandmum pulled an envelope with a red wax seal on the back out of her apron pocket and handed it over to Dalina. "Have you sent away for some sort of book club? I know how much you like to read," she added with a smirk before giving Dalina a quick but gentle pinch to her cheek. She then moved to take the Jammie Dodgers from the girl and put them away. "And no more of these. You'll spoil your supper."

Dalina was too distracted by curiosity over the letter that she wasn't really listening to anything her grandmum had said. She flipped the envelope over a few times, studying it closely before breaking the wax seal on the back. Within the envelope was a letter folded in half that she warily pulled out, discovering their was another letter behind the first. Opening the first, Dalina's green eyes widened with amusement.

"Well, what's it say, darling?" Grandmum questioned, giving a brief glance over her shoulder.

Dalina cleared her throat:

"Dear Dalina Blackmore,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

Dalina raised an eyebrow, confused. Grandmum did the same thing as she turned around from the kitchen counter to get a better look at the letter. "I don't get it," Dalina muttered. "Is this a prank? Grandmum, did you do this?" she questioned with a small laugh, holding the letter up for her grandmum to read over for herself.

"I have no idea what this is, darling." Grandmum glanced at the second page in Dalina's hand. "What does that say?"

Dalina looked down at it, scanning all it said. "It's a list of requirements: uniforms, books..." she trailed when she reached the bottom. She almost jumped out of her seat from excitement. Whether this letter was a joke or not, she loved it. "One wand, one cauldron?" Dalina giggled. "And it says at the very bottom that 'Parents are reminded that First Years are not allowed their own broomsticks'. This is too funny! I still don't get it, but I like it!"

"This has to be a joke," Grandmum insisted. "Perhaps Uncle Chester is playing games with you."

"Unlikely." Dalina made a face.

"Well, I don't have any other explanation for this." Grandmum handed the first page back.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Both grandmother and grandchild looked up in the direction of the front door. Dalina, still holding the letter in her hand, got up off her chair.

"I'll get it." She was still looking down at the letter as she walked into the foyer and to the front door. She wasn't really paying attention as she turned the knob and opened the door to see who was on the other side. A glint of purple material caught her eye as she turned to look at who it was standing before her. "Hello, can I help..."

Dalina cut herself off when she looked all the way up into the face of the same old man with the long beard and half moon spectacles she had seen three years earlier at her parents' funeral.

"Hello, Dalina," he greeted with a small smile. "I see you have received your acceptance letter. Good. Might I come in?"

"Uh..." she hesitated. "Grandmum?"

"Yes, darling?"

"There's a man at the door who knows about the letter I got. He wants to come in."

Grandmum was in the foyer faster than anyone could blink. "Can I help you?" she asked when she greeted the man at her doorstep.

He smiled. "Yes. I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and you are Ms. Emma Blackmore, grandmother of one Dalina Blackmore, correct?"

Grandmum lost her voice for a moment, but quickly found it. "Uh, yes. Yes, I am. Um...please, do come in," she gestured for him to join them in the living room.

"Why, thank you."

As he stepped across the threshold, Dalina closed the door behind him and followed him and her grandmum into the living room. They each took seats next to each other on the sofa, but he remained standing in front of the fireplace to their left.

"Could you please explain to us what this Hogwarts School is? My granddaughter and I do not understand. Is this a joke? A lottery for children, perhaps?"

"Oh, it is no joke. It is a school for magical children; young wizards and witches."

"Really?" Dalina asked with a big smile on her face.

Dumbledore nodded. "Really." He smirked, looking at Dalina; both moved and amused by how exicted she seemed to be.

"I'm sorry," Grandmum shook her head and knitted her eyebrows together. "I still don't understand."

"The easiest way I can explain it is that magic is real, it exists in the world. There are many born with magic in them; they are wizards and witches. Every country has their own school. Here in the United Kingdom is Hogwarts. There are other schools like Beauxbatons Academy in France. Had you been born in Paris," he looked at Dalina, "You'd be going there." He glanced between Dalina and her grandmum, before continuing on. "You, Dalina, are a witch, just like your birth mother was, and your birth father was a wizard. They attended Hogwarts as well, once upon a time."

"They did?" Dalina looked at her grandmum, then back to Dumbledore. "How come I never knew about this?"

"It was a safety precaution," he explained. "Your parents unfortunately became involved with the dark side of magic and with some very bad wizards and witches."

"What happened to them?"

"They were killed, but not before they hid you away in a secret closet within a closet and sent word to me, asking for my help in protecting you. They wanted you safe from harm, no matter what came their way."

"Killed?" Grandmum repeated. "Oh dear."

Dalina looked down at the coffee table in front of the sofa she sat on. She leaned forward, setting her acceptance letter she still had in her hands onto the table, then went about picking at her fingernails. Dumbledore noted the change in her demeanor as sadness from knowing she would for certain never meet her birth parents; something she had clearly wondered whether or not would be a possibility for her some day.

"Your birth parents loved you so very much, but their dealings caught up with them." Dumbledore moved around to sit down in the chair catty-corner to Dalina's side of the sofa. He patted his hand on her leg. "You were the one, truly good thing they ever did."

"How do we know this magic is real, that you aren't pulling our legs for sport?" Grandmum questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"That's easy," he responded. "Dalina, have you ever made something strange happen without meaning to?"

"How do you mean?" Dalina raised her head to look at Dumbledore. Her voice was a bit sullen from her thoughts still lingering over the news of her birth parents having been killed.

"Have you ever made something appear, or move on its own?"

Dalina sat quietly for a few moments. She thought about the rain drops on her window the day she learned she was adopted and how they moved to form into the shape of a flower. Then there was the time last year in school when she dropped her pencil on the floor and it bounced back up onto her desk on its own. No one had been looking to see it happen, so she thought she had imagined it at the time. Now she was reconsidering.

"Yes," finally came her answer. "Can you do magic?"

"I can do a great many things," Dumbledore quipped. From inside his left sleeve, he used his right hand to pull out a strange stick with three bumps on it closer to the base.

"What's that?"

"My wand." Without another word, he pointed the wand upward and muttered, "Orchideous." Immediately a plethora of flowers blossomed from the tip of his wand.

"Flowers!" Dalina squealed, a smile plastering itself onto her face. "I have a memory of my birth mother doing the same thing! I used to think it was just a dream I had, but my mummy told me it was probably a memory instead."

Dumbledore smirked and plucked one of the flowers from the bouquet and handed it to Dalina. It was a yellow tulip. She took it graciously and smelled it, her eyes twinkling when she realised it was the real deal. She showed it to grandmum who gave the flower a whiff, also surprised by the fact it was authentic and not some fake flower second rate magicians used in their acts.

"How did you do that?" Grandmum questioned.

Removing a second flower from the bouquet, a pink carnation, Dumbledore passed it over to grandmum and gave her a knowing look. "Magic." He shook the wand without muttering another word as the flowers fell from the tip of the wand as nothing more than many petals, which disappeared as soon as they touched the carpet.

Dalina had craned her neck to watch, still holding onto the tulip in her hands, twirling it idly between her fingers. "So what happens now? Where is Hogwarts? Where do I get the things I'll need?"

"How much does it cost?" Grandmum interjected, thinking more straightly and sensibly.

"You'll have to go to Diagon Alley. There is a brick wall behind The Leaky Cauldron in London. Dalina need only ask for help and she will be shown which bricks to knock on. It will reveal an archway which serves as an entrance into Diagon Alley. There are numerous shops where you can purchase all you need. Gringotts Bank will be able to convert muggle currency to wizarding currency so you may make said purchases. I will see to it a follow-up letter is sent your way very shortly, to help understand what needs to be done on your part, Ms. Blackmore. Muggle parents or guardians of magical children often have a time of it, trying to wrap their heads around the concept of magic being real and what the coming school years will entail."

Looking up at Dumbledore, Dalina furrowed her brow. "Mr. Dumbledore," she spoke innocently. "What is a muggle?"

"Oh, a muggle is a non-magical person, like your dear grandmother here. Men and women who are magical are wizards and witches. You are a pureblood witch, born of a long line of witches and wizards, though blood status should not be important, even if it seems to be for a good many purebloods." Dumbledore sighed, clearly thinking on something that must be plaguing his mind at the moment. He offered a twinkling of his eye to cast away the dark shadows in his thoughts. "A person born to magical parents but is not magical themselves is a squib. They cannot attend Hogwarts but may work there when they are adults. We have one such squib, Mr. Filch. He is our caretaker. You will eventually make his acquaintance, but be warned, he is a bit ornery. Best you learn that early on."

Dumbledore stood up then, placing his wand back up his sleeve.

"Are you leaving?" Grandmum asked, standing as well. "Would you care to stay for supper?"

He shook his hand and let out a small chuckle. "Oh, no thank you. I appreciate the offer, but I have other children in Dalina's situation to visit before the day is over." Dumbledore moved to turn and head toward the foyer, before stopping and looking down at Dalina. "One more thing: be at King's Cross Station on September 1st, Platform 9¾. The train for Hogwarts leaves promptly at 11 AM." With a look to grandmum, he added, "Only Dalina will be able to go through to the platform for Hogwarts. You will have to stay behind."

Dalina stood up as well this time as grandmum moved around the coffee table to sidle up to Dumbledore. "When can we expect this further information about your school and what we need to do? And...I am still not entirely convinced this magic stuff is real."

Dumbledore gave her a look that bordered on mischievous. "I guess the only thing I can do to convice you is this," he commented, raising his eyebrows slightly, before disappearing suddenly as if being sucked into a invisible, spiraling portal, which was accompanied by a loud, popping noise that sounded almost like a car backfiring.

Dalina could feel something different in the air the moment he disappeared. It was like static electricity. She turned and looked up at her grandmum who was deathly still and appeared to be in some sort of shock, before her eyes rolled upward and she fainted to the ground.

"Grandmum!" Dalina clamoured to the sixty-three year old woman's side, kneeling beside her and giving her a good slap to her face. "Grandmum, are you alright?"

Grandmum stirred and her eyes fluttered. "H-he...he va-vanished! Into thin air!" she sputtered, trying to sit up. "H-how did he do that?"

Dalina just grinned happily, turning back to the spot in the foyer that Dumbledore had been standing only a minute prior. "Because he's magical," she replied. "Just like me."