Diagon Alley, such a fascinating place. A place where she could practically taste the magic in the air. Even now, with the muggles gone, the entrance was still through the Leaky Cauldron; it was tradition after all.

The pub looked far cleaner than she had expected and had a much lighter feel. In a booth was a family, the parents smiling as the children chased after a shimmering bubble; in others were friends chatting and laughing, perusing the news and playing exploding snap, the scent of burning cards wafting through the air.

Behind the bar, smiling and joking with a customer was Tom, she presumed, looking much younger than she expected, though what wizard didn't with Malfoy selling the Potion of Youth.

She walked past them, unnoticed by the patrons, just another child in the throng. Her clothes were the usual fair, black trousers and jumper, a rather common colour in these times, with Hogwarts students buying their uniforms. Not that she would be, she was far too young, but it helped the eyes of others glide over her.

Looking around, she ensured that no-one was watching her before ducking into the side of the bar, where the entrance to the alley was. Taking out the ash wand, she tapped the stones in pattern, before the magic responded.

The brick wall fell away, folding outward upon itself from where her wand touched it last and revealing the alley.

Magic could be fantastic, sometimes. To her muggle sensibilities, what just happened had caused a dozen alarms to go off, all blearing about how impossible what she just witnessed should be. The wall didn't even appear to have thickness, such power magic held.

Stepping through the hole, she found herself in Diagon Alley, the streets bustling with people, from students buying supplies to adults wandering in and out of stores. On one street corner stood a witch, laughing as dancing sparks flew out of the reach of children; overhead people on brooms flew, centred around the broom shop, trying out various broomsticks.

It was lively and cheerful, so very different to the abandoned streets of London, the broken down houses and rusty cars. Even the air felt refreshing, a faint scent of flowers carried by the breeze.

It was so happy.

And so very, very fake, as though the destruction this market lay at the centre of didn't exist, an isolated shelter in the midst of a storm. It sickened her, nothing more than a fresh layer of paint that was hiding the rot beneath.

Yes, she would feel no guilt for this.

Moving amongst the crowd, she had a slight, easy going smile on her face, just like all the other children. But her eyes were sharp and probing, picking for targets in the crowd.

She spent a while just exploring, it was her first time, after all. From sweet shops to book stores, she had a look in all of them, her sharp face faintly reflected in the glass displays. Eventually, she found a mark.

There, a teenager, no older than fourteen, walking with his coin pouch strapped to his side as he talked to the girl next to him, blue eyes looking at her with an obvious desire. He was oblivious to his surroundings; an easy target.

"Incendio" she whispered, focusing her will, dominating her power with a strength she hadn't managed before.

The pouch let out a slight hit of smoke as the bottom began to turn black, carried away unnoticed by the breeze, the navy blue silk darkening.

She was starting to feel faint, a pounding in her head as her magic struggled against her control, blind and wild, but she ignored it, gritting her teeth as she stared at the pouch.

"Shit" the boy muttered, as his pouch split open, coins of all shaped and sizes spilling on the ground, clanging and clinking. His hands reached for the coins reflexively, but he was too late.

Now came the more challenging part.

Her next effort left her on her knees, gasping and sweating as she pulled, hands slapping the ground. The coins, rolling on the ground, began to wobble, before rolling towards her, through the legs of the crowd that was just watching the boy hastily pick up his coins with amusement. She quickly swiped up all the coins - shining gold and silver - hidden by the tall legs of others.

And really, who would suspect her? She was but a small child, with no wand or training, capable of only accidental magic.

Such arrogance.

Picking herself up, she stumbled away, breathing deeply. That was… Far more exhausting than she had hoped. It was very slightly easier than when she first started training, but only slightly. It would be a long road to controlling her magic.

Did the Dark Lord experience the same, trying day after day for mastery over his power? Striving for more, an endless hunger pushing him forward? Even he hadn't had much power as a child, not really. He could cause pain, compel truth from muggles, levitate items etc. But against even the most mediocre wizard with a wand, he would have been blown away.

But it was the base, the instinctive knowledge of magic that she was painfully grasping, hoping it would take her a step above most wizards, as it had the Dark Lord.

Checking the money, she saw that she had managed to… re-appropriate, a couple galleons and a few other coins, sickles and knuts etc. Galleons were approximately £50, so she'd made at least £100. It wouldn't be enough, most days she doubted she would be so lucky, and it was a dangerous job. She'd need to find something else eventually, but for now this would do.

Naturally, this would hardly be the extent of the challenges she would have to go through to obtain more, but that was why she chose today to begin, when the students started buying their shopping. All those careless children, weighed down by heavy coin purses; she was doing them a favour, relieving them of their burden.

If she happened to improve her skills, well, that was - how do you say- killing two birds with one stone.

The ice-cream she bought with her new wealth had never tasted so sweet.


The common room of her orphanage was, like the rest of the place, run down. It smelled of mold and rot and neglect, the furniture was covered in dust and the fire was barely a flicker, as though none of them were worth a few simple spells to clean and warm the place.

The other children were pitiful things, filled with anger and cruelty. They fought over the crudest of things, the orphanage workers doing their best to ignore everything they saw. Unless you were dying, you were on your own, a lesson the other children had quickly taken to.

So, unless they wanted to see just how close they could go to that fine line, between injury and potential death, they avoided her like the plague. One time, a child had attempted to steal something from her room.

Once.

Now they avoided her, the limping brat an ever present reminder of the fate that awaited should they try to wrong her.

Which is why she was mildly surprised when she found a child approaching her, looking up from the newspaper she filched earlier that day.

"Excuse me" came a timid voice. Morgan looked over the child, a small Asian girl that looked about her own age, wearing the tattered clothes they all wore, fidgeting nervously as she quailed under Morgan's gaze. Her hair was roughly cut into a bob-cut and her skin showed faint signs of bruises.

"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow, curious.

The girl flinched, before straightening up a little. "Can you read that?" she asked, eyeing the newspaper.

Could she… "Of course, I would hardly be reading it if I couldn't now, would I?"

The girls face brightened at that, but her eyes were still hesitant and timid, flickering from the floor to herself and back again.

"Um… C-could you teach me? Please?" She shrunk in on herself as Morgans eyes pierced her.

Teach her? Well… "What's your name?"

"S-Su, Su Li" she mumbled, peeking up at her hesitantly. She relaxed a little when she didn't see any hostility on her face.

Su Li? That sounded familiar, wasn't that a girl who was only briefly mentioned? Morgan looked at her with new eyes. That meant the girl was a Hogwarts student, or rather, had the potential to be one. She would never be chosen if she couldn't even read.

Should she teach her? There was potential there, but it would be a significant time investment and with uncertain results. Su might not even get into Hogwarts, so perhaps it would be better not to waste the time.

But… As she looked Su over - quiet, shy, scared Su, who had probably spent her life lonely and cowering from bullies - she couldn't help feeling respect for the girl. Before Su laid the Wheel of Fortune, just waiting to be spun, for good or ill. To her, she could have left this conversation much worse off than she entered it, she had no illusions that the other children weren't turning her into a demon behind her back.

That had been her goal, after all.

Yet she'd braved it, she'd looked at herself and decided she wanted to be more than she was, spun the Wheel and hoped it came up in her favour. It seemed a small thing, just asking her something like that, yet it rose the girl above everyone she had yet met in this new life.

Morgan leaned forward, cupping Su's chin with her hand. "And lets say I give you the teaching you desire. What shall I be given in return?"

Su was stumped for a second, staring bafflingly as she tried to think of something, before she blurted out "Anything!"

An amused smile appeared on Morgans face. "Very well then, I accept. I'll teach you, but from now on, I expect you to work hard; their will be no slacking off, is that clear?"

Su nodded frantically, hope shining in her eyes. It was a nice look, the light of hope within her previous dull eyes.

Maybe Morgan still had a soft spot in her after all. Somewhere.

Grabbing Su by her shoulder, she pulled her upstairs and into her own small room.

"Well then, why don't you tell me what you already know…"

As it turned out, not as much as she hoped, but more than she expected. She knew some of the alphabet, some basic counting and that was about it.

What a pitiful world where a child doesn't know the A.B.C.

She couldn't wait to burn it down.

No matter, people always learn faster under personal tutoring; with her tutelage, she would soon be well ahead of her peers.

And Morgan would have years to indoctrinate the girl into her own way of thinking, show her the flaws within society.

It was never too early to start gathering followers.


One of her main problems in this new life was her lack of access to magic books. The entire system was designed to disadvantage people like her. She was unable to buy a book without an adult, at least until she became a student. She hadn't the money for a tutor as pure - and even halfbloods - did, so that option was out.

Then there was the disdain, the condescending looks some gave her when they saw her tatty clothes. She may have as well been standing there holding a sign proclaiming her blood status.

But that was no matter. If they would not give her what she wanted, then she would have to take it. She would climb to the top of this cesspit they call a country, built upon the bones of her civilisation. And then…

Then they would know pain.

For now, however, she would have to make do with what she had. Some small magical ability and one 'follower.' Su was coming along fine after a year of teaching, with particular focus on muggle history, the good and the bad. Su didn't yet understand why she was being taught those things, but she would, in time.

Any student of hers would be fully capable of critical thinking. She wouldn't have her brainwashed by magical media, no, she would teach her to look out for the bad, hidden by the good, to see beneath the painted mask magical society liked to wear.

It was the middle of the day, and the orphanage was sweltering in the summer heat. The children had all ran outside, fleeing from the stifling heat, along with the workers.

This was an opportunity that she wouldn't pass up.

Within the orphanage was a few students, young and none went to Hogwarts, but they had what she wanted, magical texts.

The room she was standing outside belonged to a student that had just finished his first year at some no-name school. He would survive the loss of a previous years book.

The door was locked, a rusty iron handle and lock sealing the room. Placing her hand on the cold metal, she focused again.

"Alohomora" she muttered. This was a much more difficult spell than merely moving coins, something she could do with greater ease now that she had practised it a lot. Her magic was… Gaining more sentience? She didn't know how to put it, her magic wasn't a separate entity she felt, rather it was more like her subconscious self. If she didn't know how to do something, then her magic wouldn't, since her magic was her.

And she was stumbling in the dark, figuring things out by pure instinct; therefore her magic was the same.

The lock started rattling, overly noisy in the quiet hallway. Sweat beaded on her forehead as the strain increased, as though she were trying to use a battering ram to pick a lock, her control was still so little.

With a thunk, the door unlocked, swinging open slightly. She released the spell, breathing out with the loss of the mental strain. Jesus, but that was tiring. If she had a wand that actually worked for her she might have been able to do more, but all she had was the treacherous ash wand that was just as liable to blow her up than perform the spell.

Entering the room, Morgan quickly found what she was looking for, a thick book entitled The Standard Book Of Spells: Grade 1. It only covered a few spells, but it was still a heavy tome, and this was for 11 year olds.

Once she got older, entire books would be dedicated to single spells, multiple even. Magic was a complex subject at best, at worst it was a lot of guesswork.

Taking the book, she left the room. She hadn't yet figured out how to re-lock doors - something this book might help with - so she would merely have to accept the risk of being found out. It was doubtful she ever had a chance of the theft not being discovered, but she doubted she would ever be suspected.

Once back in her room, she ignored Su who was doing her best to silently read through a slim book Morgan had found for her in a nearby untouched library. She sat at her desk and began to read.

She was disappointed. It was evidently clear that despite the large amount of theory in the book, it was still a book for eleven year olds. She wasn't sure what she expected.

And some of it was just laughable. Who doesn't know what fire is, or what causes it?

Still, there were some usable pieces of information. Not much, but enough that she had a fainter idea of what she was working with, as though a candle had been lit in the centre of the universe, practically unnoticeable, but slight nonetheless.

She focused on the spell she was currently most interested in, incendio, the fire-making charm. Funnily enough, there was a note that it would be taught in first year herbology, not charms, which would cover it in second year.

A candle that she had stolen stood upon her desk, half melted from previous training, wax pooling at the base. As usual, Su perked up when her attention was focused on the candle; all children were interested in magic after all.

"Incendio" Morgan spoke, snapping her fingers. With a flash, the tip lit up, a dull orange flame casting shadows across the room, flickering and dancing beneath her gaze while a lavender scent wafted into the air.

The exhaustion was drastically reduced now, after all her hard work.

A wicked grin lit up her face. Finally, she was seeing some real results, moving ever forwards and gaining speed. Soon, soon, just a decade or so and she would be in a position to begin, to break this filthy world over her knee.

And it would be exquisite.