-Recovered Memories-

Summary: They thought she was crazy. "There's no such thing as magic..." her mother would tell her. But she kept to her heart. There was a such thing as magic and she knew it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling but I did think up anything you don't recognize so please don't steal my ideas.

A/N: Just a little plot I thought up and am deciding to have a bit of fun with. I mean, why not?

Chapter Three: Departure and Indecision

Alyssa wasn't all too happy about Martin's influence on Lauren. She seemed to think that Martin was putting "bad" things into Lauren's head except, as Martin repeatedly told her, they weren't bad.

"But you and I agreed-"

"Alyssa, stop bringing that up! I know we agreed, but you can't just ignore the fact that Lauren was born with witch blood. I didn't really even believe myself when I promised you we'd raise her 'normally'," said Martin.

They were arguing. Again. Lauren had been listening from the landing at the top of the stairs with her head in her hands. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for her to go off to school. . . But this had been her dream since before she could remember. She couldn't just throw away her dream when it came and smacked her in the face. . . right?

Lauren walked back into her bedroom and sat on her bed. She took out her wand and twirled it around in her hand. She wanted so badly to do some kind of spell but she didn't know how to. It couldn't hurt to learn a little something before school, could it?

She opened up her already packed trunk and took out The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One) and opened it to a random page near the beginning. It had the directions on how to do the Lumos spell that her dad had showed her earlier.

"Slightly swish your wand in an up and down movement," read Lauren allowed from the book, "and chant the word Lumos." Lauren held her wand in her left hand and slightly swished it and said, "Lumos!"

Nothing happened. Maybe she wasn't meant to be a witch after all.

Although, Lauren wasn't the kind of girl who gave up on something that fast.

"Lumos!" Lauren chanted again and a small light appeared at the end of her wand. She turned to the next page.

"To extinguish your light, slightly swish your wand in the opposite direction that the light appeared and chant the word Nox," Lauren read aloud.

She swished her wand in the opposite direction and said, "Nox," and the light went out instantly. "Awesome. . ." said Lauren.

So, she was supposed to be a witch after all. Lauren, smiling, went to bed. Only a week left until Hogwarts.

- - - - -

The last week of school passed as fast as anything. Lauren spent time with her dad learning about the half of her life that she had missed out on. The Bellafiore side of her family, her dad's side, was a pure blood wizarding family that Lauren had never met before. She had gone to visit them and they were all extremely proud to have another witch in the family.

Alyssa's side of the family however, had not heard of Alyssa's "abnormal" daughter, as Alyssa would call her. Martin and Alyssa were always arguing over Lauren and her future. But, Martin always seemed to win in saying that it wasn't his fault that Lauren turned out to be a witch and as he always said "you can't just ignore the fact that's she got magic in her blood".

September first rolled into view and every day Lauren got more nervous. What if all the other students already knew tons of spells when she barely even knew one? How could she possibly survive being so very behind when she hadn't been introduced to magic until only a month ago?

She was kindly reassured by her father, however, who hadn't been allowed to practice magic before attending school. His parents didn't even let him touch a wand until he had to buy one.

So, Lauren relaxed and slept soundly the night before September first knowing that it couldn't be all that bad.

- - - - -

Lauren awoke the next day to a knock on the door from her father telling her it was almost time to leave. The train always left at exactly eleven o'clock sharp Martin had told her. So, they were off to King's Cross in no time.

Martin handed Lauren her ticket on the way to the station. Lauren looked at the ticket and then shook her head, there was something definitely wrong with this ticket.

"Daddy, there's no such platform as platform 9¾," said Lauren questioningly.

"Oh, yes there is and I'll show you just the way to find it."

In a few minutes time, they had arrived at the station, gotten a trolley for Lauren's trunk and Snickers in his cat carrier and were on their way to the platform.

Lauren saw a pack of red-headed children and their mother go hurrying past her and her father.

"Muggles. . . they really should get us our own station. . ." said the lady.

"Daddy, what's a muggle?" asked Lauren.

"It's what we call non-magic people," said Martin as if it were something he heard everyday. "Ah, here we are," said Martin, "Look, here's someone doing it now."

There he was, that boy again, with the handsome smile and raven black hair. She saw him run straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten and then – he was gone. Then, after him, went another boy, with very bright red hair and after him, the woman that must've been his mother.

"See? It isn't very hard, is it?" said Martin, "Just run straight at the barrier and I'll come through right behind you."

Lauren looked at her father then turned back to the barrier. The wall looked very solid indeed. But, nevertheless, what was the worst that could happen? She would all the sudden go crashing into the wall sending her trunk flying in the other direction and smacking herself in the head as well? Well, that couldn't be so bad. . .

She began to walk towards the barrier, but then, feeling nervous, she started to run. There the barrier was, looming and closer and closer. And here it was, the smack but then –

She looked behind her to see a solid barrier and ahead of her a sleek red train with the name "The Hogwarts Express" written on its front. Suddenly, her father appeared behind her and pushed her along towards the train. There was also a sign that said "Platform 9¾" just above her head and that made her smile.

Martin led her to a door onto the train and helped her heave her trunk up onto the train.

"I'll see you for the holidays, Laurie!" said her father given her a hug and kiss.

"I'll miss you, daddy!" said Lauren and giving him a final hug, shut the door behind her and went off to find an empty compartment to sit in.

- - - - -

After dragging her trunk and cat along for a while she finally spotted an empty compartment. She went in and pulled her trunk in behind her and sat down. Snickers was meowing in his cage so she let him out to look out the window.

There was a knock on the door and the compartment door opened.

"I can't find another compartment, could I sit with you?" asked the girl in the doorway kindly.

"Sure," said Lauren. The girl walked in and dragged her trunk in behind her.

"I'm Baylyn," said Baylyn extending her hand and sitting across from Lauren.

"I'm Lauren," said Lauren shaking Baylyn's hand. Baylyn was a pretty name and Baylyn was a very pretty girl indeed. She was tall with long, thick reddish-brown hair. Her eyes were a beautiful grayish-hazel that looked deep and wise. Baylyn was automatically taken to be someone who would never tell your secrets.

"So, have you heard the news? Harry Potter's coming to school this year! I can't believe we're going to be in the same year as him! I mean, you are a first year, right?" asked Baylyn. She had a strong American accent and Lauren had never been to the states so this was very interesting to her.

"Yes, I'm a first year and I've already met him," said Lauren mischievously.

"You have?! Oh my god, what'd he look like? Is he cute? Does he have that scar that everyone's talking about?" questioned Baylyn excitedly. The train began to move, it was exactly eleven o'clock.

"Well. . . I guess he's cute, and he has lovely eyes, they're green," said Lauren thinking back to Harry's wonderful eyes. "Scar? What scar?"

Baylyn hesitated for a moment and she looked very surprised.

"You – you don't know about You-Know-Who?" said Baylyn.

"No. . . who's that?" Lauren was beginning to feel that her dad had left out a great deal of information when he was talking to her about the wizarding world. Actually, come to think of it, he hadn't really ever told her much at all.

"He's the guy who almost killed Harry! But Harry stopped him from using the spell that had killed so many other people. I can't believe you don't know all this stuff! He's famous! Well, anyways, You-Know-Who -"

"Who's You-Know-Who? Because, I don't know who this person is. . ."

"Oh, um, we don't say his name. . . he was one of the darkest wizards who ever lived."

"Could you just say it once? Please? I want to know."

"Fine. . ." Baylyn leaned across to right next to Lauren's ear and whispered, "V – Voldemort."

Baylyn went on to telling Lauren all about how Voldemort had killed Harry Potter's parents and how he had been defeated and was now lurking around somewhere regaining his powers so he could attack again.

They talked almost the whole train ride there until there was another knock on the compartment door and a boy walked in.

"Hey, can I sit here for the remainder of the ride and my friend too? We got kicked out of our compartment. My brother was being a real big bully," he said.

"Sure, come sit," said Baylyn. The two girls moved over so the boys could sit.

"I'm Baylyn and this is Lauren," Baylyn introduced.

"Hello, I'm Charlie and this here's Cameron," said Charlie. Charlie was fairly tall and very well built. He had light brown eyes and dark brown hair.

"Hi everyone," said Cameron. He had a slight Irish accent and Lauren just loved Irish accents. Cameron was a bit on the short side and had curly brown hair and light blue eyes.

The last few hours of the train ride went by even faster yet with all four of them in the compartment. Their conversations went from childhood memories to an interesting truth or dare game introduced by Lauren.

Before they knew it, Lauren, Baylyn, Charlie and Cameron knew more about each other than they did about any of their other friends and even though they didn't know it yet, they had become a group of best friends.

- - - - -

"Oh, excuse me, sorry," said Lauren as she accidentally ran into someone while getting off the train.

"Oh, that's okay, let me help you with that," said the boy. He looked up. It was Harry. Lauren blushed.

"Thanks," she said as Harry helped her turn her trunk right-side-up. After that was finished he walked away with a red-headed boy and a bushy haired girl.

"Was that HIM?" asked Baylyn. "Was it? WAS IT?"

"Yes, it was. Now could you please calm yourself?" said Lauren. Her trunk was taken away magically and Lauren assumed it was being taken to Hogwarts, wherever that was.

"Firs' years this way, firs' years!" called a low booming voice. Lauren and Baylyn turned around and found themselves facing some kind of animal skin. They looked up and saw a very, very large man with a big bushy beard.

"I know him. . . I saw him at the Leaky Cauldron!" said Lauren but Baylyn didn't hear her; she was in too much shock at seeing a man so large.

"All right there, Harry?" asked the large man looking down at Harry Potter who was now standing next to them. Baylyn was now staring at Harry in shock instead of the man.

"C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" bellowed the man more loudly this time.

Lauren and Baylyn closely followed by Charlie and Cameron were walking behind Harry and a red-headed boy. Baylyn was whispering excitedly.

"Do you know who that is? It's HIM Charlie, it's Harry Potter!" said Baylyn looking backwards at Charlie.

They stumbled up the narrow path surrounded by thick trees on either side of them. It was very dark and Baylyn stopped whispering so she could pay attention to where she was going.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," said the man they had discovered to be named Hagrid, "jus' round this bend here."

Everyone gasped and "ooh"ed at the sight in front of them. The path had suddenly opened to reveal a humungous black lake. Across the lake on the top of a mountain was a castle. Lauren could see windows sparkling, reflecting onto the lake and the many towers reaching up towards the starry sky.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called and Lauren, Baylyn, Charlie and Cameron followed the crowd to where the boats where. They all clambered into a boat and sat staring forward at the castle ahead of them.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, he was in a boat all by himself. "Right then – FORWARD!"

The boats pulled them magically forward across the lake nearer to the castle. Everyone bent their heads low as they went under a cliff and into the castle. Hagrid instructed them to exit their boats and follow him. They were met at the door by a tall witch with her hair pulled back tightly in a bun.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here." The professor opened the door and Lauren saw the biggest room she had ever seen in front of her. The ceiling was so high that it hurt to crane her neck to see it. She could hear voices meaning the rest of the school must've already been there, but instead, Professor McGonagall led them away from the voices. They went into a room and squished themselves tightly together to listen to the Professor.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, you House will be something like you family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory and spend your free time in your House common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts. . ."

Professor McGonagall continued to speak but Lauren's attention ranged in other places. She gazed all around her at all the other nervous faces. Harry Potter and the red-headed boy were close by listening intently to the Professors speech. She saw Harry's famous scar on his forehead partly covered with his bangs. She then looked at his bright green eyes that envied her every time she saw them. . .

". . . I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting," finished Professor McGonagall.

Cameron started to press his brown hair down to his head as it was a bit curly and sticking out on the end. Baylyn started to run her fingers through her hair to make it less tangled. Charlie, however, just stood still looking about the room like Lauren.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall, "Please wait quietly.

Lauren had knelt down to tie her shoe when all the sudden she heard several people, including Baylyn, scream. She jumped up.

"What happened? What the - ?"

She gasped and so did many other people around her. Around twenty ghosts had just floated through the back wall. They looked silvery and were slightly transparent. They glided through the air and where calmly talking to one another taking almost no notice of the first years.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance --"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"

Lauren looked up at the ghost with her mouth hanging open. She had never seen a ghost before, let alone believed that they existed.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them, "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

Lauren nodded timidly along with a few other students.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar, "My old House, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp, strict voice, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." The Professor had returned and slowly led all the students out through a door and they all filed out in a line.

As Lauren entered the Great Hall, she gazed around and saw things she had never seen before. There were thousands of torches that lit the room and candles were floating around towards the ceiling in midair. Many students were sitting at the four tables that lined the hall.

The Professor led the students to the top of the hall where she was placing a stool and a wizard's hat. Lauren wondered what they had to do with the hat. . .

There was silence and then the hat began to sing and it recited a long poem that described the attributes of all the houses and who had run them in the first place. After the hat was done, the hall burst into applause and it bowed and became quiet again.

So, all she had to do was simply put the hat on her head and it would sort her into her house.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," said Professor McGonagall holding a long roll of parchment. She glanced down at the list of first years and then called, "Abbot, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, witch fell right down other her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause –

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat so all could hear. The table on the right cheered and Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. The ghost of Fat Friar waved merrily at her.

"Bellafiore, Lauren!"

That was her. Why did her surname name have to start with B? Lauren stepped out of line and tripped on the hem of her robes a bit and then stumbled up to the stool. She pulled her hair behind her ears and then picked the hat up and placed it down over her eyes then sat.

"Hmmm," said a small voice in her ear, "Difficult, very difficult. You have plenty of courage but you are always honest and true to your word. Loyal to your friends, I see. There is much knowledge in here, it's all in your head, you see. So, where shall I put you. . ."

Lauren sat, trembling waiting for the hat to sort her.

"Hmmm," said the voice again, "Well then, better be – HUFFLEPUFF!"

Lauren smiled and whipped the hat of her head and dropped it back onto the stool. She hurried off towards the cheering Hufflepuff table and sat down next to a smiling Hannah.

"Another Hufflepuff, eh? You'll love this house, you will!" said the Fat Friar cheering.

- - - - -

A/N: I know, I know, it's pretty boring but it'll get better, I promise! I just have to work my way slowly into the plot. . . OK? Please review! Thanks!