Hello people. I know I should be working on Winter At Home right now but I simply don't feel like it right now. So I decided to start yet another new story! I always seem to do that when I'm having a hard time with my other stories. Oh well! Hope you all like this one! On with the story!

1 Chapter 1

Linette sighed. She couldn't sleep. She sat up and looked around. It was dark. It always seemed to be dark in the orphanage. She got up and went outside. She knew this wasn't allowed but she had gotten away with taking walks every morning for the last ten (well, maybe not ten. Since she probably couldn't walk then…) years. She looked at the sky. The sun was just beginning to come up. There was a gentle breeze, which felt nice because it was so scalding hot in the girl's wing.

Linette looked at St. Andrew's Orphanage. Linette thought that St. Andrew must have been pretty depressed when he had built that building. It just reeked of gloom and misery. She'd hated it for all the ten years that she'd lived there. Linette Johnson was only eleven years old. But she seemed much older. It wasn't that she was especially tall or anything, but her eyes held a wisdom and grief that no eleven-year old should have. Even through her ragged clothes, you could see what a pretty little girl she was. She had long golden hair, which she had had to put into braids so her hair wouldn't get in her way. She also had beautiful sea-colored eyes. Not that Linette knew that she was pretty. It's not like anyone at St. Andrew's would tell her.

Linette got on top of a rock so she could see over the gate. She was looking for her only friend, Ron. She saw the young red-haired boy rushing up to the gate. She couldn't help but smile at him. (I just realized all these paragraphs start with the word Linette. Scary…). She had met Ron on one of the rare days that she and the other orphans had been allowed to go play outside. They had become friends instantly.

Ron yelled, "Hullo, Linette!"

Linette replied, "Hello."

"I was afraid you wouldn't be able to come out this morning. Mrs. Kingsley almost caught you last time."

Linette shrugged, "But she didn't." Ron smiled at her. He had always admired Linette's courage. He knew the kind of punishment people got for breaking the rules at St. Andrew's. "So, what's going on on the outside?"

"Well… I bought "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" yesterday." He looked especially thrilled by it. Linette grimaced.

"Oh. Another book about MAGIC?"

"Yes. I still don't see why you don't like magic and things like that."

"Magic is stupid. There's no point in believing something like magic when you KNOW it can't exist. You just have to be satisfied with what you have."

"Can't you at least HOPE that something better, like magic, could happen?"

Linette shook her head, "Hope doesn't get anyone anywhere. I should know." Ron didn't push it any farther. He knew she was referring to when her parents had died. He didn't know all the details of their death but her knew it was a very touchy subject.

"All right… but magic IS real. I'm sure of it." Linette sighed.

"What makes you so sure?"

Ron smiled mischievously, "I just know. I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"I'm going away to school for the year. So I won't get to see you anymore." Linette frowned.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Er… I just found out about it. I'll be home in the summers though." Linette thought to herself, I should have known. The one good thing in my life and it gets taken away.

"Just proves my point about where hope gets you." Ron sighed.

"Well, we might be seeing each other sooner than you think." He reached into a bag Linette hadn't noticed until then. He pulled out a book. "This is the first Harry Potter book. I want you to read it. Maybe it'll change your mind about hope and magic." He threw the book up to her. She caught it.

"Ron! Do you know what they'll do to me if they find me with this book? They'll think I stole it!"

"Don't worry about it. Just hide somewhere and read it."

"What are you going on about?"

"Just do it. Please?" Linette stared at, him for a minute.

"Fine. But it's only because you're my best friend." She heard the sound of the other orphans waking up from the orphanage. "I have to go!"

Ron was already down the hill, "Bye, Linette!"

"Bye, Ron."

She remembered how Ron had told her about going away to school. She somehow felt confident that they would see each other again. But that was stupid. Hope was stupid. She shook her head and jumped of the rock. She rushed inside, unnoticed. She looked at the book in her hands. Was she really going to read it? She had promised Ron so she supposed she had to. She hurried up to the attic. She coughed because there was so much dust. Not the most comfortable hiding place, but it would have to do. She sat down on a mat and opened the book. She sighed and began to read.

1.1 Three Hours Later

Linette was about ¾ of the way through the book. She could hardly believe how much she was enjoying it. She was reminded WAY too strongly of Ron by the character: Ron. They were so much alike! That certainly was strange. She almost felt as though she was living the story. Maybe magic WAS different than she had thought. But yet it was all so stupid… Magic wasn't real…

She closed her eyes. She hadn't slept at all last night so she was really tired. She wanted to finish the book and see who was trying to take the Philosopher's Stone. Why did she want to know so badly? But she was SO tired…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Linette woke up. Her hand groped around for the book. But she came up with nothing. Where was it? She heard a woman yell, "Linette!" On no, Mrs. Kingsley realized that I'm gone. Linette opened her eyes and sat up. She expected to see the dusty attic of the orphanage around her. But it wasn't there. She recognized the surroundings vaguely. Like something from a dream… What was going on?

A red-haired woman came into her room, "Linny? It's 12:00! Are you just going to sleep the whole day away?" Linette could hardly believe it. Now this face she remembered.

"Mum?"

"Of course. Who did you expect?" Linette had seen her in pictures before. But she could hardly believe she was standing right there in front of her!

"Um…"

"Seems like you haven't quite woken up yet. You need to make sure to find your list. We're going to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys tomorrow."

"The Weasleys?!"

"Yes… you know, your best friend's family?" Linette stared at her in shock for a minute.

"Er, yeah. The Weasleys… Ron…"

Mrs. Johnson nodded, "Ron's coming to lunch. Get ready and come downstairs. Okay?"

"Okay." Her mother turned and went downstairs. Linette leapt out of bed. She said to herself, "This isn't happening. This CAN'T be happening…"

Linette looked around her room. She realized that it was the room she had had when she had been a year old. She didn't know how she remembered that… She looked in the closet. There were clothes. LOTS of clothes. She had never own bed more than two outfits in her whole life. Linette realized all the luxury around her. This was just crazy…

Linette took a blue blouse out of the closet and found some jeans. She put them on. She felt like some kind of princess. She was wearing clothes that didn't have ANY holes in them! She hadn't had a dream this good in a long time. She went downstairs. She saw both of her parents at the table. She couldn't get over how strange it was to see them alive. But then again, they'd been alive in tons of her dreams. But this was just different somehow. The third person at the table looked incredibly familiar.

Linette said, "Ron!"

Ron grinned, "Hi Linette. Good to see you're finally awake."

"What are you doing here?"

Her father asked, "Remember? Ron is coming to eat lunch with us today."

"Oh…" Her Ron was supposed to be Ron Weasley! She wasn't that surprised.

Ron asked, "Are you all right?" Linette decided she would just play along with everything until she woke up.

"I'm fine. So… are we still on to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

"Sure. Aren't you excited about going to Hogwarts?"

"I'm going to Hogwarts?"

Ron laughed, "Of course! It's all you've been talking about for the past few weeks. Are you really sure you're all right?"

"Yeah. I'm just a little out of it."

Her mother said, "She's probably still recovering from that flu." Her father and Ron both nodded. They began to eat. It was so strange to eat food that actually tasted GOOD. But then all of this was so strange…

They finished lunch. Linette and Ron went up to Linette's room. Now that they were alone, Linette asked, "Ron? What's going on here?"

Ron looked surprised, "What are you talking about?"

"You're the only person I know here. Why are my parents alive? How come I'm not at St. Andrew's?"

"I'm hoping you know more people than me. And your parents are alive… because they're not dead I guess. If we were all alive, we'd all be dead, wouldn't we? That would sure be boring… Isn't St. Andrew's that Muggle orphanage that treats all those kids so badly? Why would you be there?"

"So I've never been at St. Andrew's?"

"Of course not. What are you getting at? You're freaking me out."

"Nothing. I just had a really bad dream. You want to go to your house and play Quidditch?" Where had that come from? She didn't know how to fly on a broom…

"Now you sound more like your old self! All right. I'll ask Fred and George if they want to play. Come on!" Linette followed Ron feeling REALLY confused. But if this was a dream, she hoped she would NEVER wake up.

Okay, I'm done for the day. I know this is a little weird. But I hope you like it anyway. Happy reviewing!