Disclaimer:
I don't own anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books. Which is pretty much every character, place, and thing. The plot, however, is my own strange imagining.
Full Summary:
Eleanor Norris has never performed a spell in her entire life. She knows nothing of what Hogwarts is really like, although she's heard her sister and parents brag about it for two years. And most especially, perhaps, she has never had a real friend.
All she knows is thousands of ways to hide from relatives, ways to annoy little black cats, and plenty of advanced potions. Oh and the little fact that she can talk to animals.
But all this is about to change when on a hot summer day, Eleanor does something nobody expected. And ends up throwing herself into a whirlwind of dangerous magic.
Set during what has become to be known as the Marauder's time, Eleanor's story provides a deeper look into the lives of the ones on the other side. Such as Snape, Lestrange, Avery, and the two black sisters. Not to mention frequent appearances from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and other, more acceptable, students at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.
For it is there that she finds not only friends, foes, and more adventure than she ever dreamed possible, but a great and terrible destiny that is drawing nearer to her and her friends…if Eleanor can survive.
Chapter One: The Going Away Party
Usually one who grew up in the wizarding world is happy on their 11th birthday. But this is not the case for Eleanor Norris. She was very unhappy as she gazed out the window of her family's attic not really seeing anything. She could hear the chatter and noise of the people downstairs. They were partying on behalf of her sister; her perfect twin sister, Aggallina, who had been accepted at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and Wizardry. When Aggallina had gotten the letter her parents were ecstatic. For, although Eleanor's grandparents had been wizards, neither of her parents had inherited that magic and everyone was worried that Aggallina would be the same. They never cared whether or not Eleanor would be non-magical. No one ever worried about her. But now that Aggallina was finally leaving maybe they'd start to pay more attention to her.
"Ella! Ella, are you up here?" Aggie was the only one who was allowed to call Eleanor by her nickname. If anyone else tried to they got a quick punch in the stomach.
Eleanor listened as her sister pounded up the attic stairs and came bursting into the room. She ignored Aggie and pretended to study the sunset. Knowing how disappointed her relatives were that she hadn't gotten a letter, she really did not want to have to go down to the party.
"Come on, Ella! You should come downstairs and enjoy yourself! The party is really fun! And besides, this is the last time we'll be able to see each other for a while. I'm leaving for London tomorrow to get supplies, you know!" Aggie cried, tugging on her sister's arm.
"Oh all right Aggie, but only for you. They don't want me down there." Eleanor said.
"You know that's not true, silly!" Aggie said, giggling, "Now come on!" She pulled Eleanor off the window seat and towards the rickety stairs. As soon as they reached the bottom, her mother found them.
"Ah, there you are, Aggie, we've been looking for you!" She exclaimed, beaming at Aggie, "Come look who's just arrived!" Aggie led the way towards the door as her mother followed, dragging Eleanor with her.
"Grandmother!" Aggie cried and ran towards the old woman who had just stepped through the door while Eleanor tried to hide in the shadows behind her mother.
Grandmother hugged Aggie and then straightened up, smiling. "I'm so proud of you Aggie! You finally get to go to Hogwarts! Unlike some people..." Grandmother looked pointedly at Eleanor. No one seemed to notice this however and Grandmother was led to the party room.
For the rest of the evening Eleanor watched as people laughed and congratulated her sister but threw dirty looks her way. Her sister didn't realize what was making Eleanor so unhappy or she pretended not to notice it. But that was how Aggie was, always joyful and never letting anything get her upset. Eleanor was often jealous of Aggie because of this. She figured that if she was always cheerful, maybe people would be nicer to her. But she never bothered to try that theory out.
As soon as everyone had gone home and the mess had been cleaned up, Eleanor hurried back up to the attic, which also served as her room. Although the Norris's lived in an old Victorian mansion, the rooms had been built extremely large. They had room for a library, two bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen, bathrooms, and dining room, but no room for Eleanor's bedroom. Aggie had offered to share her bedroom with Eleanor once, but Eleanor had always preferred to sleep in the spacious attic. Eleanor dropped onto the window seat and rested her head on her hands, drifting off into her own little dream world where she was the center of everything.
Eleanor woke up still curled up on the window seat. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Eleanor trudged over to the dresser and began to yank her brush through her tangled mess of hair. When she was finished she looked at herself in the mirror. A small eleven year old girl with curly, red hair that seemed to stick out everywhere stared back at her. Her eyes were of a light, sky blue color. She sighed and shook her head; although Aggie and she were twins it was always easy to tell them apart. Aggie had smooth, shiny red hair that was slightly wavy and her eyes were flecked with green. Aggie was the prettier one, the perfect one.
Eleanor quickly got dressed and went downstairs. Her parents and sister were already up, Aggie looking bright and cheery like usual. Her suitcase at her side was stuffed to the seams with going away gifts. A snowy white owl sat in its cage on top of the suitcase. Aggie had named the owl Ella, to remind her of Eleanor.
"Ella, I'm going to miss you so much!" Aggie yelled and pulled Eleanor into a hug.
"Don't worry; you'll make tons of friends once you get there. You always do!" Eleanor whispered to Aggie. Aggie smiled at Eleanor and followed her dad out to the car.
"Bye Ella!" Aggie called, waving one last time. As the car pulled away, Eleanor ran out the door, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks and waved until it disappeared from view. And as she stood there staring at the empty road, a realization came to her. Aggie was gone. The only person, who had ever put up with her, was gone, for a whole year.
All thoughts about how life would be better without Aggie were forgotten and replaced with worries. But Eleanor had no time to be concerned about Aggie…
"Eleanor! Come back inside, its chore time!" Her mother yelled from inside the house.
Like most mothers, Eleanor's insisted that having her children do chores was good for them. It helped them to be more responsible. And like most children her age, Eleanor disagreed with this, so she avoided it at all costs. In this case it meant running around to the backyard to hide in her secret spot.
She dashed over to the big willow tree at the far end of the backyard and parted her way through the branches. Putting her hands on a large branch she pulled herself up to a sitting position. From there she carefully stood up and walked along the branch until she came to the roof of the garden shed. The garden shed was partially underneath the willow tree's branches and was almost hidden from view; the perfect place to hide.
As soon as she was comfortably sitting on the shed, a few stray sun rays shining down on her, Eleanor became lost in thought. She thought about school, how Aggie had always been the one making friends and how she, Eleanor had never been able to. Aggie had always let Eleanor play with her and her friends. Now Aggie wouldn't be there. And who was the one that walked home with her? Aggie was. Things would be very different now that Aggie was gone.
Eleanor was pulled from her thoughts when a small, fury black cat rubbed along her back, purring. The cat was Sethen or Seth, her cat. It was really Aggie's cat too, since they had both gotten Seth for their birthday, but Seth seemed to like Eleanor better. Maybe it was because Eleanor was the only one who remembered to feed poor Seth.
"Hello, Seth. And how are you today?" Eleanor asked.
'I will be fine if you would kindly move from that patch of sun!' replied a voice, seeming to come from inside Eleanor's head.
Normal people would have been surprised and maybe a little bit scared to hear a cat answer back, but Eleanor isn't normal. Ever since she was little she knew she was different than other people. After all, she could talk to animals, and sometimes trees, while others couldn't. She had been talking to Seth for ages.
"This is my bit of sun, but if you'll ask kindly, I'll tell Willy to part a few branches to let in more sun," Eleanor told Seth. Willy was the willow tree and although he prefers to be called Willard, Eleanor never did. She believed that Willard was a silly name for a willow tree. Not that Willy was a better name.
'Oh fine,' Seth mumbled, 'Will you please ask Willard to move some of his branches?'
Eleanor laughed, she loved to tease Seth. "Yes, yes, of course I will!"
"Willy? Will you move a few branches for Seth?" She asked.
Eleanor got no reply to her question but there soon was a new sun spot right next to Eleanor's.
'All this for a stupid place in the sun,' Seth grumbled as he curled up next to Eleanor, falling asleep. Eleanor moved into a more comfortable spot and soon fell asleep herself.