I know, I know, I'm back again, with a new story, why don't I ever update my old stories? What's wrong with me? Well, I seem to hyperfixate on things for a while, then I lose interest and rarely go back...it's a real problem. Anyway, new story for y'all now. And yes, I have more ideas too...sorry...anyway, the usual disclaimers, blah blah blah I don't own anything, duh, it's FANFIC! Enjoy, let me know what you think, the more reviews and comments the more likely I am to keep working on it.

Chapter One

Harry walked alone into the forest. His family were still around him, he could feel them, even though he had dropped the Resurrection Stone somewhere behind him in the dark woods. He was prepared to meet his death, as nobly as he could. He was so tired of fighting, so very tired, and he knew that while his death would mean the end of Voldemort, it wouldn't mean an end to the fighting. There would still be Deatheaters and rogue werewolves to round up, dementors to deal with, giants to relocate, at least one person would try to fill the void left by the dark lord, and the wizarding world would expect him, their Chosen One, their Savior, to step up and do it all for them.

He sighed, he was just tired of this life that had been laid out for him. If only he had known years ago what he knew now, he could have quietly gathered all Voldemort's horcruxes and had them taken care of. Griphook had told him the goblins had a way to remove the soul pieces without damaging the vessel. The priceless objects of the founders could have been restored to Hogwarts, hell, he wouldn't be walking to his death right now. So many lives could have been saved or changed for the better if Dumbledore had just shared his knowledge instead of hoarding it like the dragon from his favourite book, The Hobbit. He smiled sadly as he remembered Hermione pressing a copy into his hands before he left Kings Cross at the end of second year. Then he heard voices ahead, and his smiled faded away.

'Harry Potter, come to die.' Crowed Voldemort.

Harry didn't voice a retort.. There was no need. He tossed his wand to the side and held his arms wide.

'I'm ready,' he said. 'Do it.'

The Deatheaters gathered laughed at his bravado, expecting him to cry and beg at any moment. But Voldemort smiled.

'At least you have more honour than others,' he said. 'Very well, AVADA KEDAVRA!'

Harry didn't close his eyes as the green beam of light sped towards him. He had thought time would slow, that his life would pass before his eyes, isn't that what people said happened before death? But no, no life flashed by his eyes, time didn't slow, the beam of light hit him, and he felt no more. He was dead before he finished falling backwards, his glasses falling off his face as his head thudded into the soft soil. He never heard Voldemort commanding Narcissa Malfoy to check if he was alive, never saw Hagrid howling his grief.

He never expected to open his eyes again. But, he was. Opening his eyes that is. It was dark, wherever he was. Dark, and cramped. And, strangely, familiar. Before he could start to figure out where he was or even what had happened, he heard a faint sigh. What startled him more than that though was that the sigh had been in his head.

'Thank you,' a faint voice said. 'Thank you for answering my prayers.'

'What are you talking about?' said Harry, frowning as his voice sounded weird.

'Not out loud,' begged the small voice in his head. 'Just think, I can hear you.'

'What is going on?' Harry asked in his mind, confused beyond belief.

'Fate has answered my prayers at last. I can rest.'

'Rest? What do you mean?'

'I don't have long, so this will be a little uncomfortable for you, I'm sorry. Fate has chosen you to live my life because I no longer can. Please, take care of my body as much as you can. I pray that you have a better life than I ever did.' The voice was getting fainter, Harry could feel whatever it was fading away.

'I don't understand!' He cried in his head, looking around in the dark. 'What is happening?'

'I'm sorry,' the voice whispered, 'but thank you.' With a final sigh, Harry felt the voice leave him.

Before he could do anything though, memories exploded in his head. A young girl watching as a familiar fat toddler walked for the first time, getting praised for his accomplishment, her doing the same and being pushed away. Harry frowned as more memories passed, similar to his own but different. The girl was older now, wearing a stained apron and struggling to see over the top of a pot on the stove despite the stool she stood on. The girl scrubbing the bathroom floor as a tall woman sniffed and told her to use more bleach. A fat boy pushing her down and laughing as his friends took turns kicking her. An even fatter man grabbing her arm and throwing her into a cupboard. Harry felt his heart skip a beat as he recognized these people as the Dursleys, the cupboard under the stairs, his own green eyes staring back at him sadly from a mirror the girl was cleaning, her face thin and pale.

'I'm sorry,' a ghostly whisper said. 'But Fate answered my prayers to deliver me from this life, and has decided you can live this life better than I ever could.' It was the final whisper of the voice, now gone, but this whisper lingered, a final memory. 'My name was Rose, but you must choose a new name for yourself. Goodbye, and thank you again.'

Harry gasped and reeled. If what he had seen and heard was true, he had been sent back in time, maybe even into an alternate universe, where he had been born a girl, and now he occupied that girl's body. She had faded away, said that Fate had answered her prayers. Going by those memories that had settled next his own, she hadn't been able to handle the abuse dished out by the Dursleys and had given up, given up on life and love and a better future.

And now here he was. Fate had made him her bitch, and decided that instead of a peaceful afterlife with his family, that he was to live this poor girl's life. Her name had been Rose, he remembered. Rose, another flower name, like Lily and Petunia. But she had said he had to chose his own name now. He frowned. Why did he have to chose a new name? If he was to live her life, wouldn't he have to use her name?

'No, her life is over, you must chose a name for yourself now.' A strong female voice echoed in his head. Harry groaned and grabbed his head in an effort to ease the pain. 'And I did not make you my bitch,' the voice continued. 'You are the one who decided to gather the Deathly Hallows. Hence you could not pass into the Afterlife. You are a Master of Death and cannot pass into the Afterlife until another takes the Hallows from you. Now chose a name so I can get back to my work.'

Harry gasped and groaned. The new voice, Fate he assumed, was waiting impatiently. Alright, if he had to pick a new name, why not his old one?

'Because you are no longer a boy you idiot!' Thundered the voice. Harry felt his nose begin to bleed from the pressure in his head. 'Hurry up!'

'Alright alright!' He shouted in his head. 'Give me a minute!'

He thought quickly, a name, a name. He needed a new name, a girl's name. And not one that already belonged to someone he would meet up with at Hogwarts, that would just be awkward and confusing. He immediately threw Harriet out the window, Dudley had used to call him that as an insult. What about a flower name then? His mother had been Lily, her sister Petunia, this world's him, er, her, so confusing, had been Rose. Alright then, a flower name. It made sense to him, her. Argh! This would take getting used to.

'I'm waiting,' the voice purred in a way that promised violence if he didn't hurry. 'I do have other, more important things to be getting on with.'

'Nearly there,' Harry assured. 'Just give me a moment.'

Flowers, he knew about lots of flowers thanks to both Petunia's demands he work her garden and from Herbology class. Lilies and roses obviously, but also daffodils (no way), jasmine (too heavy a scent in summer), holly (too prickly), dandelions (did he want to be laughed out of Hogwarts?), pansies (definitely not) and so many others. Which one? Which one? Suddenly he remembered seeing a flower in the nursery Petunia had once dragged him to. She had wanted him to do the heavy lifting for her, and he had seen a flower with what seemed like hundreds of petals, and it was such a dark purple he had first thought it to be black. He had pointed it out to Petunia and mentioned how he thought it would look lovely next to her azaleas but Petunia had stomped right past it and declared that no flower he thought was good would every belong in her garden. He racked his brain now for what that flower had been called.

'Dahlia,' he said softly. 'My name is Dahlia.'

'Dahlia what?' huffed Fate.

'Oh, er,' Harry thought fast. Before he had been named for his father, James, so it made sense to him to go with Lily now.

'Lily.' He said. 'Dahlia Lily Potter.'

'A double flower, whatever, your choice.' Fate laughed. 'It is done, you are now Dahlia Lily Potter. Goodbye, don't bother me again.'

'But I never wanted to call on you in the first place!' Argued Harry, er, Dahlia, but Fate had already left him, argh! Her! 'Right, er, Dahlia. Get used to it right now. You are Dahlia Lily Potter, you are a girl, she, her, female. Remember it. No more Harry, Harry is gone, Harry never was. Dahlia is who you are.' She nodded to herself. 'Right, I can do this. Let's see, what to do first? Get out of here? Should be easy, I had all but mastered wandless magic before the end. Here we go. Alohomora.'

Dahlia pressed against the door, expecting it to open for her. She frowned when it didn't. 'Alohomora.' She said, more forcibly. Still, nothing happened. With some slight panic settling in, she withdrew into herself to examine her magical core. She was shocked to see how small it was, less than a quarter of what she remembered from her last life.

'Oh, did I not mention that?' laughed Fate in his head. 'Your mind may be seventeen, your knowledge vast, but physically you're only ten! That includes your core. Don't worry, it will grow as you do.' She faded away again, laughing her head off.

'What a cow,' growled Dahlia. 'She could have told me that earlier. No matter, I'll just have to wait until they let me out and make my escape then.'

She settled back onto the small dirty cot mattress and began to plan her escape. If things here were similar to her old childhood, once Petunia opened the cupboard she would be set to making breakfast for the Dursleys. Hopefully she could sneak some of it for herself, she didn't know when this body had last eaten but it felt like ages ago. She frowned as she realised she didn't even know what day it was. If she was ten, and she still hadn't received her Hogwarts letter, then it had to be before July at least. Suddenly she shot up and hit her head on a low step. Groaning, she rubbed the sore spot as she remembered the infamous zoo trip that was Dudley's eleventh birthday. If she could hold out until then, she could make her escape into the crowds at the zoo and make her way towards London and Diagon Alley. Once there she could access her vault and get some money and figure it all out from there. Yes, that was her plan. She nodded as she lay back down to wait for morning. Soon she would be free of the Dursleys.

With a frown she remembered the blood wards around the house, and the many tracking charms Dumbledore had on her. With a sigh she set about weakening the charms so when the time came she could just sever them and be free. The wards were no problem, once she no longer called this place home they would fade away. She knew no one would care to come after the Dursleys once she was gone.

Once the charms were weakened enough, she slipped into sleep. Doing such magic at this age had exhausted her.

Just a few hours later she was awoken by the lock on the outside of cupboard slamming open and a hand pounded on the door loudly.

'Up! Get up girl!' Came Petunia's shrill voice. 'Get up now or stay in there all day!'

Dahlia hastened to get up quickly, tumbling out of the cupboard and landing in a heap at Petunia's feet.

'Clumsy oaf,' the woman growled at her. 'Why can't you ever get up with more decorum?'

'Gee, maybe because you make me sleep in a cramped cupboard,' muttered Dahlia as she stood and stretched.

'What did you say?' Screeched Petunia.

'Nothing Aunt Petunia, nothing. Just saying good morning is all.'

'Whatever. Hurry up and start breakfast. And don't you dare burn the bacon today, I want everything perfect for Diddy's birthday.'

Dahlia started, what luck! Today was the zoo trip! Her escape was coming even quicker than she had dared hope. She smiled as she trotted into the kitchen and began to assemble a large fry up for breakfast. Excellent, there was a pack of sausages in the fridge. She could easily slip one of those into the pocket of her too large pants, no one would notice as the pants were already pretty stained. Too bad she couldn't get away with an egg or two, the protein would be wonderful for this body. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation of the stolen sausage.

A thundering on the stairs announced the arrival of her cousin and uncle. Vernon settled at the table with his newspaper, not even acknowledging her existence. That was fine with her. She kept her attention on the frypan in front of her, poking at the sausages to see if they were done yet. Once Dudley arrived she would use the inevitable tantrum about the number of presents to purloin her breakfast.

'Happy birthday Diddikums!' Squealed Petunia as her whale of a son finally entered the kitchen.

'Happy birthday son!' Boomed Vernon, closing his paper. 'Fine haul this year, if I do say so myself.'

'How many are there?' Demanded Dudley, his greedy piggy eyes staring at the mound of presents that hid the table from view, not even greeting his parents properly or thanking them for their well-wishes. Dahlia rolled her eyes at the predictability. Luckily none of the Dursleys noticed as they were all paying attention to the presents.

'Thirty six, counted them myself.' Said Vernon proudly. Dahlia smirked at the thought that he should be proud to be able to count that high.

'Thirty six? But last year! Last year I had thirty seven!' Screamed Dudley, getting ready to launch into a grand tantrum.

'Yes, well, some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year's,' started Vernon, only to be interrupted by Dudley.

'I don't care how big they are!' He sneered, but before he could say more Petunia intervened. Dahlia took this opportunity to slip a sausage into her pocket, trying not to react as the hot oil burnt her fingers.

'Yes, but you see Diddykins,' she said sweetly, hands on Dudley's shoulders from behind. 'I thought while we're out today that you could pick two more presents, what do you think of that darling?'

'So I'd have, thirty, thirty,' his face was screwed up in the attempt to understand the simple math presented to him.

'Thirty eight sweetums,' said Petunia, squeezing his shoulders before directing him to a chair.

'Oh, yeah okay,' the fat boy said as he reached for a present. 'That will work.'

Vernon and Petunia exchanged a relieved look.

'Girl! Where's my coffee?' demanded Vernon suddenly.

'Right here Uncle Vernon,' Dahlia said as she placed a mug in front of him. 'And your tea, Aunt Petunia.' She added as she placed a tea cup in front of Petunia. Neither of them thanked her, nor did she expect them to. The click of the mail slot came down the hallway.

'Get the mail girl,' said Vernon as he drank his coffee.

'Just a moment Uncle Vernon,' said Dahlia as she turned back to the stove.

'I said GET THE MAIL!' Thundered Vernon, Dudley grinning as he looked up from his presents. Watching the freak get yelled at was much more entertaining.

'If I get the mail now then your breakfast will burn,' Dahlia said from behind clenched teeth. 'Which would you prefer? For me to get the mail now and burn breakfast, or wait for me to plate up your unburnt breakfast and then get the mail, which isn't going anywhere by the way.'

'You insolent brat!' Screeched Petunia.

Dahlia ignored her as she plated up the fry up and placed the plates on the table before going to get the mail. When she returned and placed the mail on the table, Vernon grabbed her by the hair and dragged her backwards to the cupboard and threw her in.

'For your insolence you can stay here until you go to that old woman's house!' He growled at her as he slammed the door and locked it behind her.

Dahlia didn't say anything, there was nothing to say after all. Either getting the mail straight away or waiting as she had would have resulted in this. The only difference was that if she had of burnt the breakfast, she would have been beaten.

She allowed herself a grin as she pulled the now cool sausage from her pocket, but sighed as she pulled the lint off it. She ate it quickly, knowing that at any moment Mrs Figg would be calling to say she couldn't have her today because she had fallen and broken her leg. Yep, there was Dudley pretending to cry loudly as Vernon and Petunia decided they had no choice but to bring Dahlia with them to the zoo.

The sound of the doorbell put a quick stop to Dudley's fake tears, and Petunia scuffled out of the kitchen quickly to drag Dahlia from the cupboard before their guests saw. It was Piers Polkiss and his mother, who was dropping him off for the day. Dahlia sighed. This boy looked the same as she remembered, tall and mean. His rat eyes latched onto her in glee when he heard she was coming with them. Apparently in this world as well as the last she was his favourite punching bag.

'Go and get dressed,' Petunia said to her, pushing her towards the stairs. 'We need to be off soon. So lazy,' she said to Mrs Polkiss. 'Don't know where she gets it from.'

Dahlia stumbled on the stairs in confusion until a memory of Rose's surfaced. Apparently in this world she only wore Dudley's cast offs around the house. When it came to school and forced outings, like this zoo trip, there was a small selection of girls' clothes in a box upstairs. Dahlia guessed the Dursleys had to keep up an appearance of caring for a young girl in some way, and over sized boys' clothes weren't the way.

She found the box and decided she may as well jump right into this girl thing and chose the only dress. It was wrinkled from being in the box for who knows how long, but Dahlia shook it out and deemed it worthy enough. It was dark purple with small flowers embroidered along the hem. She also found some shoes at the bottom of the box, and decided since she was escaping today that the black ankle boots were probably a better choice than the faded ballet flats with the worn soles.

She slipped into the upstairs bathroom to change and brush her hair, which she had just noticed was still black but not unruly as it had been in the last world. She shrugged and assumed that was due to the length. She debated whether or not to examine her new body, was it weird or not? And then decided that this was her body now, Rose was gone, and she couldn't return to her old body anyway, so she may as well see what hand Fate had dealt her.

Taking a deep breath, Dahlia looked at herself in the mirror. This body wasn't so different from her last at this age. Apart from the obvious lack of male genitalia that is. Her eyes were still that vibrant, emerald green shade that her mother had also possessed. It seemed that puberty hadn't set in yet, so there were no breasts. She was about the same height, maybe a touch smaller. Her hair was long, halfway down her back. Moving it aside, she saw the reason Petunia hadn't cut it. It helped hide the bruises from the beatings Vernon and Dudley and his gang gave her. She lifted her fringe and saw that she still had the scar, which meant there was still a horcrux in her this time around. She sighed, that was one of the first things she'd be taking care of when she made it to Diagon Alley. But for now, she had to hurry and get dressed.

She pulled the dress over her head and settled it around herself. It really was a nice dress, she thought to herself as she brushed her hair out and styled it as much as she could. She eyed the boots and her socks, which were much too long. She shrugged and pulled them on anyway. The shoes were too big, but after a moment she took them off and folded her too long socks over her feet before pulling the boots back on. That was better, her feet didn't swim in the boots now, and her socks weren't showing. With one last glance in the mirror, Dahlia left the bathroom before Petunia had to come up and get her.

'About time,' grumbled Dudley when she descended the stairs and stood with the rest of them. 'Don't know why it takes you so long, not as if you've got anything to work with.' He and Piers burst into giggles as Mrs Polkiss told her son off.

'Right then, let's be off,' said Petunia before anything else could be said. 'We'll have Piers back later this afternoon.' She told Mrs Polkiss, who kissed her son goodbye. Once she had left, Piers grimaced and wiped his cheek with his sleeve.

The rest of them piled into Vernon's new car, Dahlia ending up squished against the door by Dudley's bulk. She didn't mind, it was better than being next to Piers and his grabbing hands. She shuddered as memories of him groping at Rose surfaced. That poor girl. He hoped wherever she was that she was happy.

They finally arrived at the zoo, where the boys were treated to huge chocolate ice creams at the entrance, and like last time, they couldn't get Dahlia away fast enough before the lady asked what she wanted. Dahlia chimed in before Vernon could and ended up with a cherry ice, better than the lemon one she had had last time. Vernon glared at her as she sucked on it while they walked.

Dahlia mused about when to make her escape. Probably in the reptile house, she thought to herself. That was when Dudley and Piers would get bored and wander off, and Petunia didn't really like snakes so she would be looking at the roof again, and Vernon didn't pay her that much attention at the best of times, so she should be able to sneak off then. But where would she go? How would she get out of the zoo and away to London?

It wasn't until they entered the reptile house a while later that she saw the group of school children. They were all in free dress, no uniforms, but they all had a lanyard around their necks that had the name of their school printed on it.

Perfect, thought Dahlia. I can easily use the gemino curse to get myself one of those and blend in with them long enough to get to London, if my magic will work this time anyway. She glanced around, and flicked her hand at one of the closest lanyards, whispered gemino and grinned when an identical lanyard fell to the ground unnoticed by the children or their minders. She swooped to pick it up as she passed, and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. No one had, and she grinned even as she felt a wave of weakness. That was a lot of magic she had used, and she still needed to completely sever Dumbledore's tracking charms on her. That's alright, she thought to herself as she followed the group into the reptile house behind the Dursleys and Piers. I've got time, I can sever the charms later, its all good.

'What with you?' Sneered Piers as Dahlia leant against the wall for a moment, panting slightly.

'Just hungry,' she said with a grin as Petunia gasped. 'Didn't get any breakfast.'

'You little joker,' growled Vernon as he glanced around, a couple people had heard and were glaring at them. 'You had a big breakfast today. Let's go.'

They all moved into the reptile house, and Dahlia thought for a second she'd gone too far as Vernon followed her quite closely, but then Petunia latched onto his arm with a whimper as her fear of snakes surfaced. After that he was quite distracted reassuring his beautiful wife with smug glances at all the other men who didn't have women hanging off their obviously unmanly arms.

Dahlia grinned as Piers and Dudley headed off to look at the boa constrictor. She felt bad that this time she wouldn't be able to free the poor thing, but she remembered reading how it had been caught a few days later in the last world, so it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Once she was sure none of them were looking at her, she attached herself to the back of the group of school kids and followed them outside into freedom.

Luck was on her side, as the group had been there since early morning and were now leaving the zoo. Dahlia made herself look small and insignificant as they boarded their bus, inserting herself somewhere in the middle of the group. No one paid her any attention as she kept her head down, scribbling on a piece of paper she had picked up. With any luck they'd all think she was working on an assignment.

She grinned as the bus pulled away from the zoo. With a quick check on her magical core, she gathered her strength and quickly severed the weakened tracking charms, and as a final fuck you to the Dursleys and Dumbledore, renounced Number 4 as home. She felt the blood wards snap, and finally she was free. She sighed as she felt the exhaustion creep in, but she couldn't fall asleep now. It wasn't safe. So she sat up straight and stared out the window as the bus steadily made its way towards London. She had to plan how to get away from the school group once they arrived. If the bus stopped in the school proper she may have a problem.

Eventually they arrived in London, slowly meandering through the streets until they arrived at the school. Luckily for Dahlia, the bus just stopped outside the school, and everyone gathered on the curb. Dahlia managed to get off the bus without gaining any attention, and managed to drop her lanyard into the open backpack of a girl in front of her. Then, being on the edge of the group, she simply turned and began to walk away.

'Excuse me! Come back to the group at once!' a commanding voice called after her. Dahlia kept walking, hoping against hope she wasn't being called. But then her shoulder was grabbed and she was forcefully turned around. 'I said, come back to the group.' The woman glared at her, and Dahlia had to think quick.

'What are you talking about?' She asked with a confused tone. 'I'm not part of your group.'

'I saw you leave the group,' the woman said. 'So don't lie to me.'

'I'm not lying, I'm not part of your group. I don't even go to this school. I've got a free day today, my school is out, so I came to London with my cousin, but she went on ahead of me to meet her boyfriend. I'm supposed to meet her at the Starbucks around the corner,' Dahlia remembered seeing one as the bus had been navigating the streets. 'It's not my fault your group disembarked the bus without looking to see if anyone was walking past. I got caught up in the middle of you all.'

'I don't believe you.'

'Aren't you a teacher? Shouldn't you know your students?'

'I'm a substitute for the day, as well you know. Let's go.' The woman began to drag Dahlia towards the group again. She frowned. This wasn't part of the plan, but she could fix it easily enough.

'STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!' Dahlia screamed, and began to struggle against the substitute teacher's grip on her. 'HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!'

The whole street turned to look as the teacher dragged her along.

'Oh do be quiet,' she snapped. 'That's not going to work.'

'Miss, what are you doing?' Asked one of the students.

'I'm returning this girl to the school, obviously.' Sneered the teacher. 'She'll be getting one hell of a detention, and I'll be sure to call her parents too.'

'But miss, she's not part of our class,' frowned the student, peering closely at Dahlia. 'I've never seen her before.'

'Nonsense,' said the teacher, with a hint of doubt in her voice now. 'You're just conspiring with her.'

'No she's not,' said several other students, chiming in to say they'd never seen Dahlia before either.

'What is going on here?' demanded another teacher as Dahlia continued to struggle.

'SHE'S KIDNAPPING ME!' Yelled Dahlia.

'Mary, what on earth are you doing?' The new teacher said as she finally got a look at the struggling girl, definitely not knowing who she was.

'I caught her sneaking away from the group, thinking she can play hooky under my nose, so sirree.' Said Mary. 'Got you now missy.'

'Mary! That girl is not one of our students!' Exclaimed the new teacher. 'Release her at once!'

'I, but, what?' stammered Mary the substitute teacher. Dahlia took the opportunity to shake herself loose.

'I told you!' She cried. 'I told you I wasn't part of your school! You can't just grab kids off the street like that!'

'Miss, I'm so sorry for my associate's actions towards you,' the other teacher said. 'Please know that her actions hold no bearing towards our school as a whole.'

'It's not you who should be sorry,' grumbled Dahlia. 'She's the one who grabbed me. Can I go now? My cousin is waiting for me.'

'Of course, please. Once again I apologise.'

Dahlia left, storming off down the street in a fair imitation of righteous anger. She even went so far as to flick her hair behind her like she'd seen Pansy do in the other world. She listened as she walked away as the teacher in charge chastised her colleague.

'She didn't even have one of our school lanyards!' were the last words she heard yelled as she finally passed the corner and into true freedom. She giggled as she skipped down the street. Finally. Now, where was she?

Noticing a bus stop, she headed over to read the map. Luckily she was close to the street the Leaky was on, just a few minutes walk. She hummed as she went on her way, smiling at the old ladies who clucked at how pretty she was.

Reaching the Leaky, Dahlia took a moment to revel in watching the muggles who couldn't see the old pub. They didn't even seem to notice there was a building between the big book shop and the record shop. With a shrug, she skipped her way to the door. It seemed that some girlish actions, like skipping and giggling, were starting to feel more natural to her.

Once inside, she took a moment for her eyes to adjust to dark interior of the pub. It looked that same as it ever had, she was glad to note. She made her way towards the bar, where she easily got the attention of old Tom the barkeep.

'Can I help you young miss?' He asked, frowning when he saw she was alone.

'Yes please,' said Dahlia sweetly. 'Could I trouble you to open the back alley entrance for me please? I'm here to pick up some potion supplies for my mum, she's home with my little sister who's feeling a bit, what was the word Mum used? Co-licky? I don't know, she didn't seem very licky to me, very drooly and loud though. Anyway, Mum needs some stuff to make a potion for her so she feels better, but she didn't want take Ella out so she sent me. See, I have a list and a letter for the goblins at Gringotts so I can get some money.' She leaned in close to Tom and beckoned him closer. He leant in close with a smile at the sweet and excitable girl. 'Can I tell you a secret?' She whispered to him.

'Of course young miss, us barkeeps are very good at keeping secrets you know.' He whispered back to her.

Dahlia giggled softly and told him, 'The goblins scare me.'

Tom smiled at her. 'You know what? They scare me a little too,' he confided in the girl. 'But you have to be brave for your sister, Ella was it?' Dahlia nodded. 'So come on, I'll let you through the Alley. You be brave and face your fear for your sister, you hear?'

'Yes sir! Thank you sir!' Dahlia gushed as she followed Tom out the back. After he had opened the Alley for her, she smiled at him again and, in an impulse, gave him a quick hug about the middle. 'Thank you very much!'

Tom blushed as he watched the girl skip away into the Alley. What a sweet and caring girl, he thought to himself. If only more young people were like her.