Albus walked in a bustling London street ignoring the bewildered looks people kept sending them with ease well used to them. He was using what looked like a flamboyant muggle suit knowing that his usual robes would have attracted even more attention. He needed to look professional if he was going to be presenting himself as a professor to muggles. Although he had to admit that his preference for colorful styles was considered eccentric in both worlds.

Nevertheless a few looks wouldn't keep him from enjoying one of his favorite parts of his job, introducing muggleborns to their world. He was hoping that the Potter heiress had already explained the most important parts of their world to Miss Riddle. However, it was always better to be sure in case the two of them weren't friends so Dippet had sent him just in case. He couldn't help but feel sad for the young heiress, losing both of her parents at such a young age and ending up in a poor muggle orphanage out of all places. It truly was quite a tragic story, he still felt saddened at the sudden death of such wonderful and promising students. James' talent in his subject was truly marvelous and according to Ms. Olsson, Lily was just as talented in Charms. He couldn't deny that he was quite excited to see what their daughter could do.

He soon arrived at his destination, an old tall wooden structure that seemed to be a strong breeze away from falling down. Albus was once again marveled at the imagination muggles showed, building and living in such a building, without the protection offered by the frequent spells used in wizard constructions, it was truly admirable. He passed the iron gates and the desolate courtyard and he knocked on the front door. Soon a plump young girl wearing an apron opened it.

"Good afternoon. I have an appointment with a Mrs. Cole, who, I believe, is the matron here?" he asked politely.

"Oh" said the young girl bewildered, obviously surprised by his attire "Um . . . just a mo' . . .MRS. COLE!" she bellowed over her shoulder.

Turning back towards him she said "Come in, she's on 'er way." Albus stepped into the spotless hallway and soon a skinny, anxious looking woman descended the stairs followed by another young girl wearing an apron giving a set of instructions to the younger woman. When her eyes met Albus's extravagant figure, she stopped as if an ostrich had just entered her building.

"Good afternoon." Albus extended his hand, well used to similar reactions with other muggle families. The woman didn't do any motion to respond to his greeting so he continued. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I sent you a letter requesting an appointment and you very kindly invited me here today."

"Oh yes. Well — well then — you'd better come into my room. Yes." She led him towards a room on one side of the dark hallway. It seemed to be a part sitting room, part office, with a large desk and a small mountain of papers and ink at one side. She seated herself behind the worn down desk while offering Albus a fragile looking chair.

"I am here, as I told you in my letter, to discuss Violet Riddle and Jasmine Potter and arrangements for their future." he explained, Albus didn't fail to notice how the expression of the woman soured upon hearing those names.

"Are you family?" she asked.

"No, I am a teacher." Albus ignored the baffled look the woman sent him. "I have come to offer Violet and Jasmine a place at my school:"

"What school's this, then?"

"It is called Hogwarts." he replied.

"And how come you are interested in those two?"

"They both have the qualities that we are looking for."

"You mean, they have won a scholarship? How can they have done it? They were never nominated in the first place."

"Their names have been down for our school since birth -"

"Who registered them? Their parents?" Albus' patience was finally consumed, he much preferred it when the muggles didn't ask so many questions about the school. After all, it was the students who decided if they wanted to go or not. Picking up a piece of blank paper from his pocket he quickly put a confundus charm on it, before giving it to Mrs Cole.

"Here, I think this will make everything clear."

The eyes of the woman slid out of focus as the compulsion set in while gazing intently at the paper.

"That seems perfectly in order."

Albus conjured a bottle of gin and two glasses, he didn't like the taste of conjured alcohol, but he knew from experience that people had a loser tongue after drinking a bit.

Mrs. Cole looked at the bottle confused for a moment before the charm kicked in. "Er - may I offer you a glass of gin?" she said as if trying to sound polite.

"Thank you very much." said Dumbledore smiling, knowing that his charm was working.

The woman poured them both a generous amount, before drinking her whole glass in one gulp. She smiled at him, her expression was still slightly confused.

"I was wondering if you could tell me anything of Violet Riddle and Jasmine Potter's history? I think that Violet was born in the orphanage?"

"That 's right." she said while serving herself more gin. She soon told her a sorrowful story of a young girl, suffering and alone while giving birth in the middle of a snow storm only to die shortly after. If the clearly magical second name she gave to her baby was anything to go by, this woman was probably a witch, most likely a half-blood or muggleborn, who got pregnant out of wedlock. Albus felt terribly saddened knowing that some families still treated their own blood this way.

"They are funny girls." she said the gin clearly had already started to affect her.

"Yes I thought they may be." he said, prompting her to continue.

"Riddle was a funny baby too. She hardly ever cried, and now that she is older and she has her little friend…" she said clearly, already having a word in her head but doubting to say it, as if she feared something.

"They are friends?"

"Oh! Yes I have never seen two orphans this close they are always together. They don't really talk with the other orphans they are just..."

"Just what?" he asked gently he was frankly a bit apprehensive of the amount of fear this woman showed towards the two girls.

"They definitely have a place in that school of yours?" she asked, suddenly more focused and serious.

"Yes they have." he reassured her.

"Nothing I tell you can change that?"

"Nothing."

"You will be taking them, no matter what?"

"Definitively." he affirmed a feeling of dread having crept out on him. What did those two girls do to scare this muggle so much? She looked at him, seemingly deciding if to trust him. Apparently, he passed the test, because she quickly, as if it was something she had long wanted to tell, began.

"They are scary, they are always together at school, in the orphanage wherever one goes the other follows. And they frequently disappear without showing even a hair. The other kids are terrified of them both."

"So you mean they are bullies." he asked, already knowing from the fear in those eyes that they were much worse.

"If only they were that. Riddle is always more open in her dislike, glaring at the other orphans as if they were beneath her." she took another gulp of gin before continuing "Potter is much more subtle, she doesn't even seem to realize they are in the same room as her, but when someone says something to her or looks at her the wrong way something bad happens to them. It is as if she curses them." She said, shuddering at some image that Albus didn't want to imagine. "One day we found Billy Stubbs passed out on the stairs after following both of them. When he woke up he said that he had just fallen down the stairs, that it was an accident. He broke both of his arms and a leg and when he returned, he was fine at first but the next day something happened. The poor child, he was never the same, we had to send him to an asylum. Of course, we can't prove it but I know they were there, it's always them, they had been observing him for days." She took another swing of gin before continuing. "On the spring outing, we take them out, you know, once a year, away from the city. Well, we went to the coast and we were waiting for all the children to return to the campsite because it was already getting dark. Those two and two other orphans, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop were late. We were searching them everywhere when Potter and Riddle arrived completely soaked, they didn't even tell us what happened to them until I asked them." she shrieked and her face had gotten pale despite the redness of her cheeks. "They swear they were just exploring a cave where they found a subterranean lake, they said the other two fell into the lake and drowned, that they tried to help them but they couldn't save them." she took another swing at the gin this time directly from the bottle. "Well, at least Riddle says that. Potter didn't say a word, if it wasn't for the fact she too was drenched, you would think she simply took a stroll across the forest. Riddle showed us where the cave was, and we found their bodies; they were already completely cold when we arrived." Dumbledore had to take a deep breath at that, to have died at such a young age, were the two girls really responsible. Were they both involved? "You will understand that not many will be sad to see their backs." she said clearly including herself in that group.

"You understand that they will have to return each summer?" he explained although the Potter heiress might have a property where to stay if she needed to.

"Oh, well, that's better than a whack on the nose with a rusty poker," she said with a slight hiccup "I suppose you like to see them?"

"Very much." he affirmed although he dreaded what he might learn there, it was the first time he had seen someone so terrified of a magical child. She led him through the stairs up to the last floor, there is a grim hallway, she guided him to the last room to the right, where she knocked twice at the door. "Enter." said a sweet voice from the inside.

"Riddle, Potter you've got a visitor this Mr. Dunderodre. He's come to tell you - well I'll let him." said the matron before quickly leaving. The small room was cramped by a pair of iron bedsteads, an old wardrobe, and a small bookshelf full of old, battered down books. The two girls were seated next to each other on a bed with gray blankets, each reading a book. The pale girl was tall for her age with soft and luscious hair made in an intricate braid, she was seated straight in perfect posture. The other tanner girl was wearing a pale blue dress and her hair was much more of a mess, with wild curls that reminded Albus of her Black blood, she tensed a bit at seeing him.

"How do you do?" he said with a gentle smile while sitting himself in the opposite bed and extending his hand. The girls hesitated, before the pale one, Violet he remembered, took it. When their eyes met, he immediately tried to see what she had in her mind, he saw the image of an old tree on a dark day, the image was curiously clear. Before he could try to search for more memories a voice interrupted him.

"You are a professor?" asked the shorter girl.

"Indeed I am, I work at a school called Hogwarts, I think your parents must have told you about it. I came here to invite you both to my school." He said while extending them both their respective letters. They slowly took them, looking at them with suspicion. Why were they so wary? He turned to look at the paler girl before continuing "As your friend must have told you Hogwarts is a school of magic." He said, once again trying to enter her mind only to see the same tree again. So it wasn't just a fleeing thought and the clarity of it. Someone had most likely taught her the basics of Occlumency, he thought, turning to look at the young heiress who was smiling while reading her letter.

"You are magical too?" asked the taller girl.

"Indeed I am, I guess your friend here has explained your accidental magic?" he said, the young girl nodding with a fond smile on her face.

"Yes she has. Prove that you are a wizard." she demanded with a tone that showed she was used to being respected.

"Does this mean you are going to take your place at Hogwarts." he asked.

"Of course, we will." said the young girl, while the other absently nodded.

"Then you will refer to me as either 'professor' or 'sir' and you will talk when I ask you a question." he sternly said while looking at the Potter heiress, who seemed to be surprised to be put in the spotlight. When he lifted her gaze from her letter and she locked eyes with him, Dumbledore poured his magic on her to try to see if she also had Occlumency barriers as strong as her friend. Once again, he saw the image of a now familiar tree although this time, young Violet was also there seemingly running around it with a smile on her face. So they both knew Occlumency, were they in contact with another wizard? He knew that neither of the parents of the Potter heiress had any friend close enough to adopt her when they died. That was the whole reason she ended up here.

"Of course sir." they replied in unison.

Albus nodded, at least they seemed ready to learn, it was better to encourage such behavior. He took his wand from the pocket of his suit, and pointed it at their wardrobe, he didn't miss how both of them tensed at this seemingly innocent action. He then made the wardrobe levitate a few feet before gently putting it back in place.

"So you can do something similar?" he asked wanting to know what kind of accidental magic they had performed and if they had, as Mrs. Cole comments seemed to suggest, any control over it.

The taller girl was now ever paler as she nodded before saying "I have summoned things towards me when I can't reach them, Jasmine once apparated by accident trying to flee…" she hesitated just for a moment but Albus had enough experience with children to know that she was thinking how to lie next. "a dog. Changing the color of the dress of a girl that was mocking us at school, stuff like that." She was a good liar, her more aggressive tone completely replaced by a polite voice worthy of a classically trained heiress. But she was lying nonetheless, the other girl just kept observing him, her eyes fixed on him and her shoulders tense as if she was ready to spring into action at the smallest hint of aggression. Why were both of them so paranoid, what were they hiding? Dumbledore had a bad feeling about these two students.

"Sir, how will I pay for the materials? Jasmine likely has her own vault but I don't have any money." asked the taller girl.

Dumbledore searched in his other pocket for a small pouch. "There is a fund at Hogwarts for those who require assistance to buy books and robes. You might have to buy some of your spellbooks and so on secondhand, but it should be more than enough. I'm sure your friend will help you if needed." said friend was tensely smiling at him. "Now, I can help you while buying your materials. Jasmine, did your parents tell you where Diagon Alley is?"

The young girl nodded "Yes they did, sir." So they may have gone there, is that how they learned Occlumency. It was doubtful that Jasmine knew enough to become so good at it without any further instruction.

"You are coming with us?" asked Violet. He knew that technically they could go alone but he wanted to learn more about these girls.

"Certainly, I wouldn't want you to get lost."

"We don't need your help sir, we go downtown frequently to buy books, just give us the directions sir." She said her tone remained polite despite how tense she was. He sighed, it was best to try to learn more when they were less closed down. He quickly gave them instructions on how to go to the alley and to take the train in September. He rose up from the bed and said his goodbyes before leaving the small room. He would need to keep an eye on those two, it wasn't the first time a muggle accused a magical child of hurting people. However, he had never seen someone so completely terrified of just a pair of children. And if they had truly killed two of their friends they were a danger for his students too. He hoped that it was all just exaggerations, but he needed to keep a close eye on them.