Eleanor glanced up from the newspaper in her hand that detailed the collapse of the bridge only yesterday, doing her best to cover the pictures that were moving about. The fact it was being reported in the Daily Prophet confirmed that it had indeed been a death eater attack and not poor construction quality like what the muggle news outlets were saying.

It wasn't smart to take the trip into the city with her sisters, but she hadn't been able to convince her step-mother to let her go without bringing them along and there were no wizarding establishments anywhere closer where she could keep up with the news about voldemort and his followers.

She wrote as often as she could to Cynthia, but it often took a few days to hear anything back and Cyn was more interested in telling her all about what she was up to in her holidays than events that were affecting the muggle community.

Rounding a corner she spies Harper, still sitting in the bakery where Eleanor had left her to watch Lillian and Imogen so that she could find the little hidden wizard's shop to buy the paper before returning to them.

"Thanks for that," Eleanor says quietly to Harper when she enters the bakery, glad that her half-sister was home from school to make the holidays more bearable and who was more than willing to help her keep in touch with the magic community wherever possible.

"Why don't we go buy some presents and then we can head back home?" Eleanor asks the two younger girls, eager to return home now she had what she needed. "Is there anything in particular you want for your birthday?"

Harper would be turning fifteen in less than a week and they had made it a habit, rather than guessing, to just buy each other something when they went shopping together since they both spent more time away at their schools than home.

"Well, there's this school ball happening later this year and I would love to have this gorgeous pair of shoes that I've had my eye on for a while," Harper smiled as the group of them left the cafe into the unnaturally chill summer air.

"The kind our parents wouldn't approve of I take it?"

"Exactly."

Strolling peacefully from shop to shop for an hour or so they finally return to the bus stop weighed down with their purchases, presents for both Harper and Eleanor who would celebrate her birthday with her step-sister like every year since she would be back at Hogwarts for her own birthday.

"Just imagine, by the time you come home for Christmas you'll be seventeen and able to drive us around on your own. No more waiting at a bus station or walking the twenty minutes to the stop from home."

Not to mention I'll be able to perform magic outside of school. Eleanor thought to herself. And then I can make you all safer with protective spells around the house.

A week into her holidays at home she had received a letter from Susan, the ink smudged with tears as she informed Eleanor that her Aunt, Amelia Bones, a very powerful witch from everything Eleanor had heard, had been killed in her home possibly by Voldemort himself.

Ever since then every noise made Eleanor jump and she barely slept at night, constantly keeping one ear out for the creak of a gate or the crunch of gravel underfoot. Sure her family were muggles, but her father belonged to the Wicks and, in the last war as just as much of a target as her mother had been for all the involvement he had in the plans to bring down Voldemort. Eleanor only hoped the guy didn't hold grudges.

Shivering a little despite the sun that was still high in the sky, Eleanor gripped the hands of her younger sisters as the bus pulled up to the curb, doors squealing open allowing them to board and find a group of seats together for the drive back home.

"So, is there anything interesting going on?" Harper asks when Lillian and Imogen are distracted playing I-Spy with each other.

"Hmm, more of the usual really. The bridge of course, and the freak hurricanes," Eleanor flicks through the pages of the paper, a pamphlet on security measures you can take around the house falling onto her lap.

"Can I have a look?" Harper says as Eleanor becomes distracted with the pamphlet.

"Go for it."

The first time Harper had found Eleanor with a newspaper whose images were moving she had been thoroughly disturbed. Since the age gap between them was so little she had grown up knowing all about Eleanor's magic, but she had never seen any form of it. Now, every chance she got she took the papers when Eleanor was finished with them, staring in awe at the rearranging stories, no matter what horrors they were reporting on.

"Who's Harry Potter?" She asks, a photo of the boy catching her eye, along with the bold headline reading - Harry Potter: The Chosen One?

"He's a boy in the same year as me at school. And right now a lot of people think he's very important."

"And is he?"

"I think people shouldn't pin all their hopes on one person."

"They talk about him like he's a celebrity." She says, her eyes absorbing the articles about him.

"He kind of is, I don't think you'd find a witch or wizard who didn't know his name."

"And are you friends?"

"No. We've hung out a little before, but no."

Eleanor was tired of talking about Harry, especially since this year he probably wouldn't want anything to do with her when it got out that she had decided to befriend one of his biggest enemies - Draco Malfoy.

Thankfully, Harper had moved on from the articles about Harry, skimming quickly through the rest of the paper.

"Who are your friends?" She asks, as she folds up the Prophet and hands it back to Eleanor.

"Why are you suddenly so interested with who I'm friends with?"

"Well you've met all my friends before, besides, it interests me - getting to know about this whole other world that you get to live in." Her voice is quiet, well aware of how she would sound to other muggles sitting on the bus and, glancing out the window they can see their stop approaching.

"I can show you when we get home. There's some more pictures there that I took while I was at school."

"Moving pictures?" she asks, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes, moving pictures." Eleanor says, smiling at Harper's excitement.

The bus lurches to a stop and the four of them step out into an unnatural amount of fog, reducing visibility greatly and causing Imogen to cling closer to Eleanor's hand. Walking along the sidewalk they find the whole town to be blanketed in it, with hardly anyone wandering the streets either from simply wanting to avoid the fog or some other, deeper instinct that told them to venture out into it would be a foolish thing to do.

They had just left the borders of the town for the little cottage they occupied ten minutes out when Eleanor finally realised what was causing it.

"Dementors," she breathed, more to herself than for her sisters to hear.

Sure enough they passed by a small pool of water beside the road that was frozen solid, confirming for Eleanor that somewhere nearby dementors were roaming and breeding too if they really were the cause for all the fog.

Cursing herself she realised her wand was still at home, locked away in her trunk. Despite everything that had been happening it had still been instinct to her to put her wand away when she returned home for summer. Not that it would change much anyway since she still had the trace on her and even then she had yet to be able to produce a patronus.

She was useless, and a beacon to the creatures, she realised, knowing her panic would draw them closer to her and her sisters who had no idea what was lurking out there and were simply walking along wondering aloud their amazement at the fog.

There hadn't yet been a report of muggles being attacked by the creatures that had given up guarding azkaban last year to join Voldemort, but Eleanor doubted any muggles that did venture outside during this weather had a witch with them, pulling the creatures closer.

Picking up her pace as subtly as she can, Eleanor takes a few calming breaths fully alert for anything moving in the fog around them.

The time it took them to get home felt like an age, the old gate of their front yard a welcome sight as Eleanor looses the breath she had been holding, pushing her sisters through and casting her gaze around the garden before she follows them into the house.

The fog had cleared by the next morning but Eleanor was still hesitant to venture too far outside the house, her wand now safely tucked away into the pocket of whatever she wore.

After spending the evening tucked away in the bedroom she and Harper shared, going over the dozens and dozens of pictures that she had developed of her friends at Hogwarts she stayed up late into the night, waiting for her sister to fall asleep before she pulled out a spare sheet of parchment and a quill, scrawling a hurried letter before handing it off to the owl who had just delivered her a letter from Cynthia.

Surely she wouldn't mind her borrowing her owl for something as important as this!

Now, sitting on the old wooden swing in the backyard rocking back and forth as she watches Imogen and Lillian chasing one another she feels confident that she is doing the right thing. A sudden commotion from inside drawing her attention.

Trusting that since the fog was gone the girls would be fine on their own outside for a few minutes she enters the house through the back door, catching the end of a heated but hushed conversation.

"I just don't understand what you're doing here," she heard her father saying from the lounge room in the front of the house.

Pushing open the door she finds the headmaster of Hogwarts school Albus Dumbledore, seated across from her father and step-mother, entirely unperturbed by the fact that he was apparently not expected.

"I asked him here dad," Eleanor says, walking into the middle of the lounge room, her father looking at her with confusion and surprise.

"Y-you invited a wizard? Here?"

"I need his help, we all do that's why he's here dad and I need you to hear him out." She says, praying that her father wouldn't just kick him out straight away.

Beside her Professor Dumbledore sits forward a little more, clearing his throat softly before speaking. "You may or may not be aware Mister Wicks, but in recent weeks there have been incidents occurring across both the wizarding and muggle communities. Incidents that have to do with the return of the wizard Voldemort."

Dumbledore waits a second for this news to sink in before continuing, "And, it has come to the attention of your daughter here that it might be best for you and for your family," at this he glances to the pictures of her sisters in the room, "for any and all affiliations to the wizarding community and yourselves to be severed."

Her father frowns, "I already have cut my ties to the wizarding world. I did a long time ago."

"Not all of them," Dumbledore says gently, turning now to look at Eleanor.

"No." Her father says abruptly, leaping from the chair as though he's been shocked, "She's my daughter. Voldemort's back you say? Well, magic or not I can keep my own daughter safe. We'll go into hiding, change our names, but I'll not abandon her."

"Dad," Eleanor says, surprised at how quickly he had jumped to her defense when they had never been particularly close, "It's not me who needs to be kept safe. And I don't want to run off into hiding, I belong in the wizarding world with my friends. Just like you all belong here. It would just be safer for you, for my sisters, if I were gone, if there was no reason for anyone to come here. If- if you all have no knowledge of the wizarding world."

Her father stares at her, and for a moment Eleanor thinks he will keep refusing, but she sees the look on his face as he hears the shrieks of Lillian and Imogen from outside, the soft humming of Harper from somewhere further in the house. "I want to do this dad. I want to let you all forget about me, so that they are safe."

She's done it. She's won, her step-mother is looking pleadingly at her husband as she hears that this will keep her children safe. Well, as safe as any muggle can be from Voldemort.

"Okay." He breathes.

Dumbledore nods his head once, before turning to Eleanor.

"Go pack your things, I'll explain everything in more detail to your parents and then take you to your guardian's house."

Hugging her father tightly before she leaves the room Eleanor again assures herself deep down this is the right thing to do. Considering who she was friends with, considering everything that could happen this year, this was the only thing to do.

She leaves the room in silence, slipping quietly into her bedroom where she unlocks the cupboard with her trunk already packed inside. She'd been ready for this ever since the murders had begun, but she had kept putting off writing to Professor Dumbledore until walking home yesterday, until she realised her sisters wouldn't have been out in the city, or walking home amongst a dementor's fog if she hadn't taken them all along to get word of the wizard world.

She doesn't want to say goodbye - they won't remember it anyway, she thinks to herself, slipping out the front door quietly and waiting for Professor Dumbledore to join her which he does a few minutes later.

"Thank you Professor," She says, as he casts a few protection charms around the house for safety.

"I've had one or two other students request the same thing Miss Wicks, and in this case I think it is indeed for the best."

When he is done he turns and holds his arm out for her to take, "Have you ever side-along apparated before?"

"No Sir," she says, taking a hold of his arm, her bags having already been whisked off by another spell.

"Well, I must warn you, the experience will likely not be a pleasant one."

Without another word she felt Dumbledore twist away from her and then everything went black as she was pressed in on from all around and she felt she couldn't breathe. The next moment they had emerged into a light sprinkling of rain and Eleanor gulped down the fresh air, feeling thoroughly ill.

"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asks, seemingly unaffected.

"Yes," she replies after a few more seconds of gaining her bearings. Looking around she notices that they are at the end of a lavish, muggle street all of the houses around her ornate and grand looking.

"This way," Dumbledore says, setting off down the road at a steady pace. "I do believe you may have befriended the young Draco Malfoy at the end of last year," Dumbledore says his effort at making the question sound like a casual observation noticed by Eleanor.

"Do you disapprove Professor?" She asks, wondering if he is going to advise her against it.

"Everyone needs a friend Miss Wicks, especially those like Draco Malfoy. I would advise caution though, being his friend may lead you down a path where you have to choose sides."

"Are you saying I shouldn't be his friend because he will do work for Voldemort?"

Her directness makes the Headmaster chuckle lightly to himself, "No Miss Wicks, but I am suggesting that if you're going to wade into the world of death eaters that you learn ways to protect yourself, your friends and your thoughts."

"My thoughts Professor?"

But Dumbledore says nothing else, having stopped outside one of the many curling, iron gates leading to the steps of one of the glamourous houses, a flicker of movement behind one of the windows.

"This is where I leave you Miss Wicks, I know you had very little contact with your wizard relatives but your father's brother was more than happy to take you in, even on the short notice. And what's more your cousin will be starting at Hogwarts this year so you should have some company your own age."

The man waits only long enough for the door of the house to open, calling goodbye to Eleanor before turning back down the street, Eleanor still pondering their earlier conversation. The woman who opened the door is rather short and petite, her features set into a warm, welcoming smile as she ushers Eleanor into the house.

"I'm your Aunt Hinata," she smiles. Her sleek black hair is twisted up into an ornate style and her deep brown eyes move over Eleanor's face as she examines her niece for the first time. The sound of a door closing catches her attention and the booming voice of a man greets her.

"Eleanor! The last time I saw you you had just started to crawl." The man approaching doesn't look much like her father, his hair light while her father's was dark, and where her father had crows feet from laughing and smiling, this man's face was smooth with barely a wrinkle.

"Thank you for letting me stay," she says, completely caught off guard by these people she had never met but who were supposed to be her family.

"It was our pleasure," the man says, holding out his hand for her to shake, "Herbert Wicks. And you've met my wife."

"Hello."

"Well, if you like we'll show you to your room and let you settle in, dinner will be in an hour or so." He smiles, turning to lead Eleanor up the stairs.

Looking around Eleanor is astounded at the interior of the house, every bit as grand on the inside. Scattered about are dozens of portraits of no doubt previous Wicks witches and Wizards and others who she guesses come from her Aunt's family. On the wall beside the staircase is a tapestry of the Hogwarts school crest and beside it another one she doesn't recognise.

"It's the Mahoutokoro school crest," her Aunt says, noticing her staring at it.

"The what?"

"It's the school I went to, in Japan."

"Oh."

"It's where our daughter was also going but, well what with everything happening at the moment we didn't think it safe to have her so far away from home," her Uncle says. "So she'll be finishing her schooling at Hogwarts."

"How old is your daughter?" Eleanor asks as they reach the second floor landing.

"Sixteen, so she'll be going into your year when she starts," her aunt says, "you'll meet her soon, she's no doubt around here somewhere."

"Here we are, feel free to make yourself at home," her uncle says, stopping outside a door and opening it for Eleanor, "we'll have someone come get you for dinner, we have guests coming over so you might like to wash up and change."

With that the two wander off, leaving Eleanor alone to settle in. The room is rather spacious, wardrobes line the wall immediately beside Eleanor as she walks in, a small makeup table and settee placed by them. Further down is a large canopy bed, a desk, several bookshelves and at the end of it all, a comfy looking window seat overlooking the street below.

Her trunk had been left by the wardrobes and the first thing she does is open the basket sitting on top of it to lift out her fluffy white cat, Ollie who lets her hug him briefly before pouncing to the ground to inspect his new living conditions.

Watching him sniff around the room Eleanor feels the warm tears and tastes salt on her lips before she realises she's crying. Exhaustion overwhelms her and all she wants to do is curl up in bed and cry and cry and cry. Instead she unlocks her trunk and begins to unpack her things, sorting through her clothes for something that might be suitable for a dinner with this fancy family she knew nothing about.

"I'd go with the first dress, that one's more of a dinner party dress," a soft voice says from the doorway of Eleanor's new room.

Looking she finds a girl leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed across her chest as she watches Eleanor struggling to make a decision.

"I thought there were guests coming?"

"There are, but they're just family friends nothing fancy."

She moves into the room, to take a seat on the settee beside Eleanor. "I'm Michiko."

Looking at her Eleanor can see that her cousin has inherited more of her mother's looks than her father's. Her thick, black hair hangs halfway down her back, she has the same deep chocolate coloured eyes and her petite figure also comes from her mother though she looks a little taller.

"Eleanor," she says, stepping back behind the screen to change back into the first outfit, a casual forest green dress that sits just above Eleaonor's knees with t-shirt style sleeves. Stepping out Michiko gives a little clap and offers to do her hair for her.

Michiko's own dress is more form fitting and made of a royal blue but Eleanor can see that it is still more casual than she had been fretting about.

"Thanks, I had no idea if what I had was appropriate, I thought-"

"That we were gonna get all glammed up without warning you?" Michiko smiles, finishing with Eleanor's hair in a matter of seconds and leading her out into the hallway.

"Are you nervous to be starting at Hogwarts?" Eleanor asks as they walk down the staircase.

"Not really, school is school. Though the whole house thing is different I suppose. At Mahoutokoro we were more defined by the colour of our robe which changed with our skills than we were by anything else."

"Robes?"

"They start as a pink when you first get them and the goal is for golden robes, that symbolises the height of academic achievement. I was so close, if I was going back this year I probably would have gotten them but-"

A flicker of annoyance flashes across her face and Eleanor sympathises for her, having to leave behind her friends and goals to start at a school where she wouldn't be a captain of anything or have made any progress towards anything.

The guests had already arrived by the sound of it as Eleanor and Michiko reach the bottom of the stairs.

"You might know them," Michiko says crossing the floor to the dining room, "Their son goes to Hogwarts."

"What's his name?"

"Malfoy."