SUMMARY: First of Granger Witch Trials series; A few short days before her 11th birthday, Ophelia Granger recieves a letter and a visit from a teacher from a magical school. This changes everything. Slowburn Sirius/OC; Marauders ERA

YEAR 1, CHAPTER FOUR: DEAR MIRANDA

September 6th

Hogwarts, Scotland

Dear Miranda,

Hello sister! I hope you get this letter and know that I'm okay and doing wonderfully at Hogwarts. I've made a lot of friends in the week that I've been here. Lily and Severus live not so far away from us but the rest of my friends are "purebloods". Rich wizards, basically. Classes are great. I'm learning so much. I think my favorite so far is Flying Classes and Charms. Potions isn't so bad either but Lily and my other friend, James (the boy I met at Diagon Alley, remember?), argue ALL the time. In our first Potions class, I saw James sabotage Lily and Severus' potion and Severus ended up in the infirmary for two days but don't worry. Lily got him back.

TUESDAY, 8:30 AM

Ophelia hesitantly glanced over at Lily from the Gryffindor table. With Severus still in the infirmary, she'd expected the redhead to be stewing for days. Instead, Lily had a bubbly smile on her face and the look in her eyes made Ophelia nervous. It reminded Ophelia of the look in her cousin, Marshall's, eyes whenever he succeeded in doing something he shouldn't.

"You okay, Lily?" Marlene asked hesitantly, brushing her long pale hair out of the way.

"Oh, I'm doing great," Lily batted her eyelashes sweetly.

"Are you sure?" Ophelia asked, just as hesitant as Marlene.

"Fantastic," Lily smirked in reply and nodded her head towards the entrance of the Great Hall. "Oh, look. It's Potter."

Sure enough, James had walked into the Great Hall but he looked different than he usually did. Instead of the wild black locks he usually had, his hair was a startling shade of hot pink and his skin was a shade from puke green.

"Did you know that there's a spell to change hair color and skin color for at least 36 hours?" Lily asked smugly. "It's a third year charm. Surprisingly easy enough, however."

Ophelia glanced at James who was embarrassingly walking with his head down and a dark look in his eyes. Then she turned back to Lily who was smugly smiling with her arms crossed over her chest.

"This is gonna be a long couple of years," Marlene muttered.

It was kind of funny but at the same time, I felt bad for James. He just REALLY hates Slytherins. Professor Dumbledore, our headmaster, changed James back and I think he thought that Lily's little joke was funny too. Sirius and I, and Marlene and Remus, and another friend of James, a little guy named Peter, started keeping them away from each other. By Wednesday, Severus was back in classes and Lily was much happier. I've been enjoying my classes too. Charms is a lot of fun and I like my professor. I like most of my professors, actually, but my favorite is Professor McGonagall. Did you know she can turn into a cat? It's called Animagi and it's a very complicated process that first-years definitely shouldn't try but then again...it sounds pretty fun. But don't tell Mum and Dad that!

I also learned how to fly on Tuesday. It was amazing, Andy! I think my favorite part was when Professor Hooch let us fly around for a bit, but then Sirius and James had to ruin it.

TUESDAY 9:20 AM

"There we go," Professor Hooch called out. "Miss Evans, Mister Snape, easy, easy. Just lean forward slightly and don't be scared."

Ophelia found herself five feet in the air, her broom steady as she shot towards the end of the twenty-foot space that their tall, hawk-eyed young teacher had given them.

"Excellent, Miss Granger," Professor Hooch cheered. "I see a Seeker in Gryffindor's future."

Ophelia felt her heart speed up in excitement as she stopped her broom (easily too!) next to Peter, Marlene, and a rat-looking Slytherin boy.

"Where's James and Sirius?" Ophelia asked, nose wrinkling. Peter's shoulders hung low as he glanced up. Ophelia followed his eyesight to ten feet above them where James and Sirius were throwing something between them and another Slytherin was shakily trying to get it. Ophelia recognized the Slytherin as 11-year-old Delilah Greengrass, a small dark-haired girl with a pointy nose. With a scowl, Ophelia shot upwards towards James.

"James, Sirius! Stop it," Ophelia said angrily, stopping by James.

"Oh, come on," James complained. "We're just having a bit of fun, aren't we, Greenie?"

"Give me my journal, Potter," Delilah said angrily. A smirk fell onto his lips and he threw the tiny book in the air.

"If you say so." James laughed before letting the book fall between his fingers.

In a split moment, Ophelia had a choice. Either let the book fall or catch it. With a grim determination, she dove. The air rushed by her air, the wild brown hair falling behind her. The broom felt like power under her palms. As she rushed closer and closer to the ground, she saw the book near her and she reached out with a hand. With a gasp, she caught the journal and pulled up sharply. She skimmed across the grass and twisted the broom sharply to the side, stopping right in front of a furious Professor Hooch.

"Hello, Professor," She said sheepishly.

The board of Directors was really mad about what happened, especially the president of the board, Abraxus Malfoy. They decided that first-years are too irresponsible with brooms to play Quidditch. I got Saturday detention with Filch, who takes care of Hogwarts. James and Sirius got two weeks' worth of detentions with Professor McGonagall. She was so mad about it. Apparently, she's pretty Quidditch-crazy and she wanted James to try out for Chaser or Keeper. Every Potter has played Quidditch since she's been at Hogwarts. Detention wasn't that bad, though. I think I accidentally became friends with Delilah. She invited me to study with her and two other Slytherins, her brother David and Ariana Selwyn. It wasn't bad, at least until Bellatrix Black and Narcissa Black showed up.

SUNDAY 6:50 PM

"I still need two more inches," Delilah grumbled. "I hate Transfiguration. I swear McGonagall has it out for me."

"You should add in something about the theory," Ophelia pointed out, motioning to her parchment roll. She'd already finished her Transfiguration homework and was working on Potions and History. David, who was taller and darker-haired than his sister, was too focused on his Potions homework to say anything and Ariana, a skinny blonde girl with sharp hazel eyes, was sneaky glances into a thick tome book for her History homework.

"That's a good idea," Delilah muttered. "Theory, theory, here we go. Theory of Transfiguration from a matchstick to a needle." She began muttering to herself as she skimmed through their Transfiguration book and began writing things down on her parchment.

"Oooh," A shrill voice came from another table. Ophelia's eyes glanced up and froze at the sight of Bellatrix Black, the curly-haired girl that had insulted her at Platform 9 3/4. "Ickle firsties," She cooed softly. "But...is that a Gryff I see mingling with my snakelets?"

"Shove off, Black," David grumbled. "Go bother someone else." A distasteful look flickered in his green eyes.

Bellatrix laughed shrilly, a terrible laugh that seemed to etch into Ophelia's ears. She shrunk down, eyes locked onto her papers before glancing over again. Dark eyes seemed to stare holes into Ophelia, a look full of hate and disgust.

"You shouldn't be sitting with a Gryff, snakelets," Bellatrix sang. "My Cissa doesn't, do you?" The tall, petite-faced blonde girl sitting with her stuck her nose up, a cold glower on her face towards Ophelia.

"She's a mudblood," Narcissa Black said coolly. "Disgusting."

"You're a muggleborn," Delilah said in surprise. "You didn't say that."

"I didn't think it was important," Ophelia said awkwardly. She glanced over and saw a cold look on Ariana's face as she realized who she was studying with.

"Maybe you should go," Ariana said icily. "I don't study or even talk to dirty mudbloods."

Ophelia felt her eyes tear up and she stood quickly, anger flooding her. She felt David, Ariana, and the two Black girls' cruel stares on her and Delilah's sympathetic on her.

Ophelia left the library behind, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. She could hardly see where she was going which didn't help her navigate the hallways where students were walking. She didn't even see herself turn down a corridor and crash into a tall student.

"Oh my," A soft voice murmured. "My apologies," Ophelia wiped her eyes and glanced up. A seventh-year student wearing the traditional Ravenclaw blue robes smiled lightly at her. Her hair was long and pale blonde, eyes a calm bluish-grey. "Let me help." The student said sweeping up some of Ophelia's parchment and books.

"I'm sorry," Ophelia hiccuped.

"It's alright," The student smiled. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Ophelia said, wiping her eyes.

The girl studied her for a moment, the grey in her eyes sharpening before a look of realization came over her. "Bellatrix is not someone you should listen to." She said firmly. "Ok?"

"How-?" Ophelia said in confusion but the girl just smiled at her before walking down the hallway away from Ophelia.

'That was possibly the strangest interaction I've had at Hogwarts so far. I did some snooping, however, and found out that her name is Selene Deveroux. She's due to graduate this year and she's Professor Luxere, who teaches Divination's, favorite student. Oh, I'm running late for studying with Lily and Marlene. I'll send another letter later, Miranda! I promise.

Sincerely, your sister (and witch in training)

Ophelia Granger.'