"Is your last name really Black?"

"Hi, Reia! My name's Seamus Finnigan. Pleasure to have you in Gryffindor!"

"How old are you?"

"You're not really a first year, are you?"

"Well she can't be! Look at her!"

"Good to meet you, Reia."

"Welcome to Gryffindor!"

Reia blinked. Suddenly she became very aware of her surroundings and immediatly shook herself out of her flashback.

"Hey! Are you alright?" a red-headed boy asked. There must have been at least twenty people around her, asking her questions at the same time, but she answered only this one.

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks," she muttered, feeling a bit sick. The only thing she could do was sit at her place on the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and stare at her plate.

"Students, please, there are still first years to be sorted..." Dumbledore said, standing up. The room settled and Professor McGonnagal went on with the list of names.

"Morris Blades."

"So, what year are you in, really?" the girl who introduced herself as Padma asked.

"Oh, I'm a sixth year," Reia replied. The Sorting Ceremony was over now, but everyone was feasting in the Great Hall.

"Why are you being sorted into a house during your sixth year?" a girl named Ginny asked.

"Well... My family didn't really... approve of my being a Witch... So I was never really able to come here until a few months ago when Professor Dumbledore came to my house."

"He came to your house?!" another boy asked. "Why did he wait five years to do it?"

Reia didn't answer this question. She couldn't really think of a proper responce to say without being made an outcast for the rest of her life in the Wizarding world. Once again, her mind buckled and she found herself in the second half of her flashback...

Her face ached before she even opened her eyes. Rolling over, she discovered that the pain didn't stop at her cheekbone. Her entire body was in pain, and suddenly she remembered why. Her father had hit her, like so many times before. He hated her for who she was, for what she was. But it wasn't always like this. As a matter of fact, she could vividly remember a time when her parents both loved her. It was before she knew about her power and before she knew that she was adopted as a baby. She was happy for nine years of her life, that was until strange things began to happen...

She couldn't explain the strange things. She would think about something and it would happen. Her parents couldn't explain them either for a long time, so Reia was left alone. Then one day, her parents got a letter that was just laying outside their front door. She didn't know much about what it said except for the fact that it explained who she was and what she was... where she came from. It wasn't signed properly, either. It only said that it was from the only other living member of her biological family, her brother. Her parents became abusive after that day, both verbally and physically. She was treated like a servant, and when she didn't do something properly, she was hit.

On the day of her eleventh birthday, another letter was on the porch outside the front door. She wasn't allowed to read it, but whatever it was, it was bad. She was hurt badly by her father for reasons she knew nothing about, and her mother helped by insulting her the entire time. It was never spoken of again, but Reia thought about it a lot. As a matter of fact, she was actually introduced to the Wizarding world about a month after that (without her family's knowledge, of course) when a black cat showed up outside her bedroom window. She was startled by it, obviously (especially when it transformed into an elderly woman with a pointed hat and introduced itself as Professor McGonnagal), but eventually she became accepting of the world.

Professor McGonnagal tutored her for five years in secret. They would do lessons at night and Reia was amazed by the fact that there were thousands more Witches and Wizards like her. However, no one ever explained to her why she wasn't able to go and live among them, why she had to stay in the human world and fill out her days with her adopted family...

This thought made her eyes flutter open. She suddenly realized that she was warm.. that there was a blanket on her. The searing pain in her face did not go away, however. She looked around. She was laying sideways on a bed facing a white wall. The bed was small, but the sheets were soft and warm. She sat up, but the fast movement caused her cheek to throb even more than it was before. She sucked in air through her teeth, reacting to the awful feeling.

"Oh, here, let me help you," came a man's voice in the corner of the room, behind her. Startled, she jumped back on the bed, but he didn't notice. He stood up and went through the door across from her. A few seconds later he came back with the white-haired man called Albus Dumbledore, who walked in the door smiling.

"Ah, Reia, it is good to see you awake," he said moving forward. At his movement, Reia scooted back on the bed even more. "Do not be afraid. You needn't worry. No one will be able to hurt you any longer."

Of course, his statement made Reia think of her family and she became frantic. "My family... What did you do with them?!"

"Relax, Reia, your family is fine. If you recall from yesterday, my name is Albus Dumbledore. I am a friend of the Witch who has been tutoring you for some time, Minerva McGonnagal."

At the mention of her name, Reia's eyes widened, but suddenly she felt very safe. These people knew the woman who taught her magic, which ment that they were also members of the magic world. "You know the Professor?"

He smiled. "Yes, I do. I am, in fact, the Headmaster at the school in which she is a professor, Hogwarts."

"Have you come to take me there?"

"Yes, I have. I have also come to bring you news of who your real family is and who you are."

The man from before shifted his weight uneasily where he was standing, which was a few feet away from the bed. Dumbledore pulled a chair up to the bed and sat in it, facing Reia.