Chapter 2
Visitors and Punishments

Soraya knocked on the door.

"Come in." Said the headmistress over the top of her newspaper.

"Headmistress Baldwick, I can explain..."

"Sit down!"

Soraya looked around the room. There were three other people apart from the head teacher in her room. Cartmen and two other people Soraya didn't recognise, oddly these people had looks of hope on their faces. Soraya looked around the room and waited for the fireworks to start. It was very hot in Miss. Baldwick's room, there was a window very much like the one in the classroom. Sickeningly yellow wallpaper covered the walls, and the sides of the office which was small enough had a big bookcase on each side. This made people feel trapped and insecure as they were being surveyed by Miss. Baldwick.

"Now Soraya it is my understanding that you have been here for one and a half years is that correct?" Soraya looked in to Miss. Baldwick's eyes, but then she felt as though someone was watching her. But not the people she could see, more like – someone behind her? Soraya quickly turned around....was she dreaming? Or could she see a foot – or part of a foot? "SORAYA GRIFFIS!!!" She quickly turned back round.

"Yes miss?"

"Please answer the question!"

"Ummm....what question is that miss?"

The headmistress took in three steadying breaths. She could not hit the girl as there were other people from outside of the school, and could report it to social services. Miss. Baldwick's face had turned the colour of a beetroot. Soraya had to fight herself from laughing, 'A breathing beetroot? Now that's something you don't see everyday.' She thought.

"You have been here a year and a half is that correct?"

"Yes miss."

"Your parents died when you were the age of 6 months?"

"Yes miss."

"They died in a household accident, a....gas explosion I believe?"

"N...yes miss." But that wasn't it at all. Her parents were killed by a dark wizard, a very dark wizard indeed. Lie told her a year before he and Luna died. He sat Soraya in the living room two years ago, when he decided to tell her how her parents died.

"There was a death eater too, except he kept his face hidden. If I wasn't lucky enough to turn your crib in to a portkey when I did. Then I don't want to think about it."

Soraya then came back to reality with a bang. "Miss Griffis? MISS GRIFFIS!!" Soraya jumped.

"Yes miss?"

"I asked you when you were miles away in thought and not paying attention. If you would like to live with Mrs. Sarah and Mr. Derick Redwood?"

"Really? Will they take Amily too? Cause I can't leave her no matter what, even though we aren't related she's like –"

"A sister to you?" This time it was Sarah who spoke. Her voice was silvery and kind, her hair was light hazelnut brown and her eyes were hazelnut too.

"Yes, we already said we would take Amily too Soraya." Derick had golden hair, blue eyes and a very masculine voice when he spoke but it too sounded kind. Soraya stared, and then she felt warmth she hadn't felt in a long time. A sort of happiness and gratitude towards these two people who could get her and Amily out of this awful place.

"Sarah and Derick cannot have children of their own, therefore –"Cartmen groaned, she was still holding her bloody nose. "Cartmen go and see the nurse, there's a good girl." Cartmen hobbled out of the office her face in her hands. "Therefore it rests in your hands Soraya. Do you wish to leave? Or stay here till your 18 and then join them?"

Soraya didn't need telling twice and said rather loudly and hurriedly. "What are you nuts miss? Of course I'll go!" Smiles spread over the Redwood's faces while the headmistress looked a little taken back. Was she disappointed? But Soraya was too happy to care.

"There will need to be a background check of course, so you will be coming back in a week to collect them?"

"Yes!" Said the Redwood's together.

"Alright then Mr and Mrs Redwood you can go. But the girls stay here; punishments will need to be given out for the disturbance this afternoon."

Soraya's happy feelings were ebbing away as she turned to watch the Redwoods walk out. Was Soraya seeing things, or was Derick holding the door open a couple of seconds longer? As though for some invisible person to be able to walk out of the office with him?

"Now I heard what you did today Soraya. That's a very bad move indeed." There was a sort of unmistakeable pleasure in the way she said this that it gave Soraya the creeps. Amily who at the time had been absently mind idly looking at her feet raised her head. "Amily. You seem to have broken Cartmen's fingers I understand?" Amily gave the head teacher such a look it was a good thing Miss. Baldwick wasn't looking. She was busy fumbling with what looked like a file. "This is you record Amily." There was hardly anything in it, and then the head teacher picked up a very thick file. It looked like it took a bit of effort to move. "Thiiss is yours Soraya." It landed with a thud upon the head teacher's desk. "Now Soraya your record is very big, and I could use this against you in your later life. All I ask is that you not go."

"No way miss! I'm going to be happy, I don't care how much you will miss the mayhem I cause. Yes that's what I heard, I go and you get bored. I stay and I will never be happy again! I will not let YOU take that AWAY FROM ME!!!"

"SCILENCE, I will not be spoken to like that. OK then the record stays and you will have trouble later on in life. But mark my words Soraya you should have heeded my words. Now..." Her voice steadied a bit and she looked down at the records. Filled out two pieces of paper with a relish, and then sent for Dean. Apparently this was her next point of business, he appeared five minutes later.

"Right now remember what I said." She looked seriously at Soraya when she said this. "Take care in life..." She then poured herself a glass of water. "You don't want to meet the same end as your parents." She had a tone of pleasure and grinned. At this Soraya felt a wave of anger she had never felt before, or even thought possible to feel. Then without warning, as Soraya was looking Miss. Baldwick a funny thing happened.

The water boiled, and then the glass in her hand shattered with some it cutting the head teachers lip. For a moment no one said anything. "Right..."Miss. Baldwick said to try and steady herself. "Off you two go to the kitchen, which is where you shall both serve detention until the Redwoods come and pick you up."

As Soraya and Amily left Dean was looking at Soraya with a very odd look on his face. Soraya didn't like his puzzling look, and it was as though he was keeping something from her again. They made their way to the kitchens. In one of the doors to the left Cartmen was blocking the whole of the door way, with a look of utter triumph on her face. Then she turned and disappeared in to the room with her nose and one of her hands bandaged.

Soraya and Amily then passed one of the windows. Amily stopped dead in her tracks, she was looking at something through the window.

"What is it Amily?" Amily just pointed and Soraya followed her finger.

There down at the front entrance, in front of the wall were two men. One was old and had a long silver beard; he was holding a cloak that seemed to float like water. The other one was young, had greasy black hair, and was dressed all in black. Giving the impression of an oversized bat Soraya thought. The old one looked up and smiled at them, Soraya shook her head but they were still there. They were both dressed in robes, the sort of thing you never see around here. The old one winked and mouthed something that looked like. "See you later." Then the other one raised his eye brows, and caught the attention of the old one.

Soraya didn't blink, she knew she didn't. They just seemed too have vanished. Amily and Soraya looked at each other, agreed they weren't dreaming and not to tell anyone about this...ever! 'Strange though I can't help thinking I've seen them somewhere before.' Soraya thought as they continued down the corridor.

Kitchen duty was unbearable. The heat coming from the ovens was so bad; they felt like they were going to pass out. The kitchen was entirely made of steel, apart from the walls which were made of bricks. The place often smelt like spinach or cabbage, which made Soraya feel sick – she never liked cabbage or spinach. The end of the first day came, compared to the punishment in the hot kitchen. The rest of the school felt cool.

They were just about to enter the bedroom to sleep when Dean came running out of the door. He grabbed Soraya and Amily and dragged them in to a nearby broom closet.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Soraya stared at Dean and was very puzzled over his behaviour.

"Make the glass explode of course!"

"I what? - I mean, I didn't...did I?" But the damage had been done. Dean stared at her and then decided to tell Soraya something. "Tell me what?" Dean sighed.

"Do you know anything about witches and wizards?"

Soraya gave him a piercing look. She knew the Hung's were magic folk. But they lived in the muggle world to protect Soraya and Amily from a dark wizard. Though they never told her the name.

"Might do why?"

"Well I'm not supposed to tell you but..." Dean checked that no one else was in ear shot. "...I am a wizard, and about to start my sixth year at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry."

Soraya looked stunned; Dean and Amily gave her a puzzling look. Soraya suddenly remembered what Lei had also said. She was nine years old and going down stairs to get a drink one night, something woke her up but she wasn't sure what. The most she could remember was walking down the stairs, in light blue pyjamas. Soraya came down the stairs to get a drink of water. She just reached the bottom of the stairs, when she heard raised voices coming from the living room. There was a small crack in the door, so she peered inside.

"The child needs her powers to be controlled; even you must know the extent of damage she can inflict." Soraya saw Lei give a man dressed in black a very piercing look.

"Serverus Snape, even you know why I keep her here in the muggle world?"

"The dark lord's powers have gone, he isn't here anymore!"

Lei turned to the other man dressed in purple robes. "Albus Dumbledore, sir. Please even you know – "

"Yes I know Lei. But not to worry, she will be quite safe at Hogwarts..."

"Soraya?" Dean had shaken Soraya back to reality, even Amily looked worried.

"Sorry I just remembered something Lei said,...Who is Albus Dumledore and Serverus Snape?"

"Ok...Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and professor Snape..." Dean shuddered as he said this. "....is the potions master, and is always looking for ways to deduct house points from Griffindor."

"Griffindor?"

"Yeah I'm in there...oh....OK I'll tell you. There are four houses Hufflepuff, Griffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I wouldn't end up in Slytherin if I was you."

"Why Dean?"

"Because more dark wizards and witches have come out of Slytherin than any other house."

"Oh!"

Just then the broom cupboard door was flung open.

"What cho doin in ere? Get to bed this minute!" It was the janitor. So all three of them hurried back to the bedroom. Then changed in to their pyjamas by changing behind two curtains, at the far end of the room. Right curtain for the boys and left for the girls. They got in to their beds and went to sleep, all except Soraya. Her mind was still buzzing with the memory in the closet. Lei was begging a man with a grey/silver beard not to let her go to Hogwarts.

"But Dumbledore what about the death eaters? The minute they get wind of her at Hogwarts they will trace her back here! Then none of my family and Soraya will be safe from him!"

"YOU IMBISILE! DO YOU REALISE WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO?"

"Serverus; leave us and calm down."

"Albus this – "

"Serverus!" Dumbledore had raised his voice a little.

"Go somewhere and calm down now. I shall take care of this situation."

Serverus then headed towards Soraya with his black cloak billowing behind him. Soraya turned and ran silently the way she had been taught by Lei in Ninjitsu training. She headed towards the kitchen and then turned and hid behind a wall of the kitchen. The living room door opened just as she got behind the wall. Then Soraya remembered why she was down in the first place. Soraya reached for a glass, only to find it was too far back from the edge of the counter. She was trying desperately to reach for the glass but only the tips of her fingers were grazing it in a very annoying way. She sighed, gave up and turned round.

There standing in the doorway was Snape, and he was looking right at her. Soraya's eyes widened trying to take him all in, he looked very intimidating as she was only nine and didn't have a lot of height on her. His eyes were reflecting the moonlight; they then strayed to the glass she was reaching for only a few seconds ago. He walked towards her with his cloak swishing behind him. Snape took the glass off the counter, filled it with water and then gave it to Soraya. At first Soraya didn't know what to say, but quickly remembered her P's and Q's.

"Thank you." Snape walked over to the table and drew out a chair. He sat down straight, put a hand to the bridge of his nose and sighed. Soraya stood there for a second, and then turned towards the door walking quickly when Snape said something which made her jump a bit.

"Your name is Soraya is it not?" She stopped and didn't turn around as she answered him.

"Yes, sir."

"You didn't hear anything from the living room, did you?"

"No sir." It sounded suspicious as he was yelling so she quickly added. "Only someone yelling, but I couldn't make out what they said sir."

"Good now get along to bed." A strange thought hit Soraya as she went back to bed. 'Was that an order?'

Soraya came back to reality racking her brains. Just then it hit her, those two men she had seen vanish today. They were the ones from her memory all of those years ago. She turned to Amily but she was already in her silent sleep and everyone else was snoring. She looked around, closed her eyes and soon fell fast asleep.

The week passed slowly for Amily and Soraya as they served their punishment set by Miss. Baldwick. But the time passed faster when they were with Dean. When he talked about Hogwarts Soraya and Amily hung on every word, it sounded like paradise compared to the orphanage. The next day the Redwoods would be coming but Dean was leaving the day before.

"Mum says that the time out as made my little brother calm down. She wants me to come back so I can go to Diagon Alley ."

"Diagon alley?"

"Yes, that's where I get all my school equipment from. Everyone who goes to Hogwarts goes there first." He proceeded to tell Soraya and Amily all about Diagon alley, when no one else was around. Dean finished packing his bag on his bed and bid farewell to Soraya and Amily. Then he said something really strange.

"Remember, it's not goodbye forever." He winked which made it even more suspicious. They turned to the window to wave goodbye from a second floor window. His parents came to meet him at the gate, hurried him in to car and then drove down the hill out of site. Soraya watched sadly as her new friend drove away, but Amily tugged at her clothes and pointed at their own half packed bags.

"Yes Amily lets finish packing."

That night Soraya had a disturbing dream. It was about a dirty great snake, acid green in colour with a diamond pattern. The snake struck out at her face with fangs as long as knives. She screamed, but not in her 15 year old voice. But as a baby, she was both screaming and crying for a few seconds as warm blood obscured her vision in her left eye. Then a man dressed in black showed up with his face was hidden by his hood. The next few minutes of her dream was out of focus, she must have been waking up. But then when it did drop back in to focus there was a flash of green light and it shattered a nearby statue.

She woke up in a cold sweat as her scar was hurting and stinging madly. Soraya reached up to touch it. She looked at her fingers and the moonlight reflected some blood. It was very slight but it was there none the less. Soraya froze for a couple of seconds, then used her other hand to touch her aching scar. She breathed a sigh of relief as it had stopped bleeding. It was as though it had magically healed without a trace that it had ever been opened. She turned over and saw the clock on the wall. 'Let's see the time is fives minutes past twelve. Hmm....I have been sixteen for five minutes. Don't need any birthday presents tomorrow I got the best one. A great home and a family to go to, and I can now escape from this place. YES!!!' With this great thought in her head, she turned around completely relaxed and fell asleep straight away.

In the morning she woke with a start, Amily was shaking her vigorously to wake her up.

"I'm up Amily! I'm up and I'm excited too!" Soraya got up and changed, then went to breakfast with Amily.

The other kids broke in to applause when they entered the cafeteria, Amily and Soraya had no idea they were so popular. Everyone cheered, except Cartmen and her gang. But Soraya didn't care; people were clapping her and Amily on the back. Saying things like. 'Congratulations' or 'The Baldwick's gonna get bored without you Soraya.'

But the best line was when someone said loudly.

"AWW Amily do you have to go? We need you to break more of Cartmen's fingers so she can't hurt anyone else for a while."

Cartmen and her gang looked around stupidly for the perpetrator. Soraya was laughing her head off, Amily was grinning broadly and banging her hand on the table to symbolise laughter. The rest of the morning was the most fun Soraya had ever had in the orphanage. Everyone was going to miss 'the mayhem maker', that was a title she owned in the orphanage because of some of the things she got up to whilst she was here. Some of the things she did was Amily's doing. But she took the blame for her anyway because that's what family's do. Soraya only did these things because she was so bored in the orphanage, but some of them were so bad she was nearly skinned by Miss. Baldwick.

Each time the Baldwick punished her the more rowdy she got, and everyone was talking about her antics that day.

"Do you remember the time she put a spider in Mrs. Tweed's coffee cup?"

"Oh yeah, and she was deadly scared of spiders. So she packed her bags and left the next day."

But the one thing everyone remembered was when Soraya played a prank on the Baldwick herself. 'Oh my god. I thought Soraya was dead for sure!' For you see one day Miss. Baldwick was particularly nasty to Amily. She gave Amily a punishment for no reason at all just because she felt like it. So Soraya had it and decided to get Miss. Baldwick once and for all.

So one day when the head left her office Soraya raced in. She put a whoopee cushion under her cushion on her chair, and then loaded that with stink bomb solution. She also placed itching powder on her cushion and desk side where the head sat. But the best thing was when she placed a bucket over the top of the heads door. It was full of some particularly nasty smelling drain water and the rotten smelling pound slime from the back of the school. The pond had never been cleaned out in a couple of decades and was full of the stuff. She squeezed out the door and hid in a nearby room a little way down the corridor from the head's room. Then she sat back and watched the fireworks. First came the bucket, then the cushion and desk. Soraya watched as Miss. Baldwick ran out of her room at the speed of light to the teacher's bathroom. But Soraya had a feeling that she would always remember the horrendous smell coming from the head as she ran past the room.

Soraya waited for a couple of minutes, and then went back to her room with a normal expression on her face. The thing that she was good at was lying and keeping a straight face. She didn't laugh until someone told her about it and then doubled up with laughter. Everyone had tears in their eyes every time they remembered this or was in fits of laughter at the mere mention of it. The head's room took two weeks to get back to smelling normal again. It took Miss. Baldwick four days to scrub all that stuff off her, especially from her hair. Everyone knew who done it and even the head herself had her suspicions. But no one had any proof and Soraya was very careful not to admit it to anyone, not even to Amily. So she remained modest and said she didn't know who did it.

"But I wish I did, that person could have given me a few pointers."

Soraya and Amily had no more kitchen duty that day so they relaxed in the sun and cool breeze, and played with their friends until lunch. After lunch Soraya and Amily went to their bedroom to pack the rest of their things. Miss. Baldwick came in just as their bags were packed with a strange look upon her face. It was total and utter puzzlement; as she carried in her hands were what looked like two broomsticks.

Each had a registration no. and the word Firebolt written in gold letters on one side. Soraya and Amily desperately tried to keep a straight face and succeeded, but they knew these were no ordinary brooms. Nearly four years ago they had a very rich grandmother who was dying, so to make up for all the birthday's and Christmases she missed. She bought each of them a Firebolt, the best racing brooms there are to date. Soraya loved flying her Firebolt. But took care of it and treasured it in memory of the person who bought it for her. She may not have been her grandmother, but she accepted Soraya as a family member like Lei and Luna.

'Thanks Grandma' she thought as Miss. Baldwick handed the girl's their brooms. The girls covered the brooms with two black cloaks which they wore at the Hung's funeral that day. Then strode out of the door following Baldwick with broad grins on their faces. They got to the big entrance double doors and were welcome to screams and major applause. The Redwood's looked happy and hurried the girls off to the car. Cartmen looked as though Christmas has been cancelled.

But for the girls this was great. Soraya and Amily were going to a new home and the applause could still be heard until they lost sight of the hill. The journey was long but enjoyable, nobody spoke as they were far too happy to talk. Everyone was savouring the moment Soraya and Amily were especially happy. Soraya noticed they were leaving London, so she decided to break the silence. "So you live in the country then?"

"Oh Yes." Said Sarah

"It's lovely to work out here. Umm...Derick I think we should tell them – "

"Not until we get home."

"Tell us what?"

"It's a surprise." Derick was grinning as he said this, so no one said anything else all through the long journey. It seemed everyone was too happy to say anything, Amily and Soraya was eager and excited about their surprise. 'But what could be better than going to a new home?' Thought Soraya, her mind was buzzing trying to figure this out for a few minutes. But gave up and decided to enjoy the rest of the ride to their new home.

*** Changed and ready for reading I shall update the other chapters soon. But until then I hope they are up to your satisfaction and if not tell me why and I shall try to correct the mistake. P.S If you think damn is a profanity then you won't like the word git so I would find another story.