Disclaimer:
I don't own Harry Potter or anything from his world. Ophelia is mine, but anyone, including JK Rowling may feel free to use her character.

A/N: Many thanks to the webmasters of The Harry Potter Lexicon, it is really a great source of information! Also thanks to my Beta Snapeseraphin who is simply wonderful!
In this story I will be referring to other fanfics, it's a sort of ode to them, I'll name them in my author's note for the next chapter!

Thanks for your review:

paprika90: I like you! That really is a compliment, Ophelia isn't supposed to be a Mary Sue indeed, she's another character who has her problems and her good things. I want her to be a bit like those of the 'Golden Trio' and due to a good friend she'll meet there will be a dynamic duo, but their adventures will be quite different...
Snapeseraphin: Lol! I like cliffies! You taught me about those! I think you will recognize someone, and won't like what I've done to him, but be patient, you'll see why I did something as gruesome as that...


Meeting new people

Ophelia was walking through London accompanied by her parents. They were told where they could park their car and how to walk after that, but after walking the street up and down three times they still hadn't found the pub where they were supposed to meet Mr. Pudgley. Mr. Pudgley was a wizard who was supposed to escort them to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron which also should be situated in this street according to her dad, but neither one of them could locate it. And without Mr. Pudgley, Pheli was sure she wouldn't make it on time to the test.

They decided to take a seat at a street bench. Just as they sat down a man clad in bright orange robes approached them. Her mother shook her head and started saying they were not interested in Sai Baba when the man started talking to Peter.

"Well, if that isn't Peter Bramble! Have never met you of course, but you look an awful lot like your dear old father! How's the old man doing? And what a lovely wife and daughter! You're here for the yearly test?

A girl with that hair should be one of us, you can see that! In history of magic we learned Salazar Slytherin's wife had a white stripe in her raven-black hair. But of course Rowena Ravenclaw had that as well! Who knows! You might even be an heir to one of them! But we will find out at Hogwarts. Oh, look at the time; you'll be tested in five minutes from now. Well shall we go then?"

Peter stared at him and finally asked "Who are you?"

"Well, Willard Pudgley of course! I'm to escort you to Olivander's! Mind you Mr. Olivander has an excellent student who's nearly ready to start on his own or maybe take over the business! Maybe your daughter will even be tested by him! Yes, this young man has a bright future in front of him: every wizard needs a wand and he seems to have a nice talent to select the right type of wand. The wands he's handed out seem to agree with their wizards as never before!

He marvelled at Herbology when he was at Hogwarts and ever since he started at Olivander's he developed a feeling for the treatment of the wood he uses for a wand.

And the combinations he comes up with are great. He uses different cores from creatures all over the world, he has an excellent feeling for the use of the core. Mr Olivander will be stepping back very soon now I think he has earned quite an amount of money and has been saying he needs a vacation."

While the man kept rambling they walked over to a house and suddenly he held a door open. A door to a house Ophelia had not seen while walking up and down the street. She wondered how that was possible.

Inside it was quite dark, but it was crowded. People in normal clothes mingled with people who were clad in large robes. Pheli started to giggle when she noticed a tall dark man in black robes with black hair at chin length. To her he looked like he was wearing a dress! He seemed to be busy talking to a grumpy looking old man with short silvery hair. Suddenly the man turned and stared threateningly at her. The giggles stopped instantly and Pheli felt a chill running down her spine.

"Ah little miss! I see you've discovered our Hogwarts Potions Master!

If you pass the test, he will be one of your Professors! He's one of the finest teachers you can get, although he's not really easy on his students... But we'll meet him again very soon. Well, let's get going now, no time to loose!

It took me a while to recognize you on the street. Would be a lot easier to have something on you, which I could recognize you people with; all people in Muggle clothes over there, how am I supposed to know the difference?"

While he was talking, Pudgley led them trough the back door of the pub, where there was nothing but a wall. He took out a wooden stick of some kind and tapped it against the wall at different places. They stood there, and nothing happened.

"Well Mr. Pudgley? I thought you were leading us somewhere?" asked Maria.

"I don't know! Oh wait... I know. How could I be so stupid" He seemed to mutter to himself. He tapped the wall again, now at other places and suddenly the bricks seemed to back away before them and through the hole a whole new world appeared and Ophelia was reminded of this morning when a different world was revealed to her as well.


"I never told you this Maria, and certainly not you Ophelia. Maybe I should have, but I hoped I would never have to." Peter began. Ophelia and Maria looked at each other and both sat down too. Peter had never behaved like this before, so they knew he was serious.

He didn't look at anything else but the envelope, he seemed to think hard.

"I don't know where to begin, but… There is a reason we never had any contact with my parents. They are wizards, and I'm… Not."

Maria and Ophelia wanted to speak but stayed silent when he moved his hand.

"Wizards are real. Not all the ones from the fairy tales, but some are real. The fairy godmother from Cinderella really existed. Her name was Cornelia Pumpkins. The wicked stepmother was married to her brother and she desperately wanted Cinderella to have a bright future away from the evil place. But the wicked stepmother took her revenge and had Cornelia burnt on one of the first witch hunts. That's when the Wizarding world decided to retreat and never interfere again with the non-magical world, also known as the Muggle world."

"Maria," he said to his wife, "You are a Muggle. I was supposed to be a wizard. My father is a pure-blood wizard, as was my mother. They were cousins. They didn't love each other, but they had to marry at a very young age to make sure the bloodline was preserved. I was their only son. But after a few years I turned out to be a non-magical person, a Squib!"

Maria and Ophelia still looked clueless, but didn't say anything. Peter went on with his story. "This was of course a big disappointment to the Malfoys and the Brambles because I was supposed to be the great ancestor of the Brambles. And of course a little of the Malfoys. The latter were convinced it was a 'Bramble'-problem, the Brambles themselves were certain it was something of a Malfoy problem."

"What do you mean with that family problem?" Maria asked. "Well, in the Wizarding world it's a disgrace if you're a Squib and it's even worse to be the parents of a Squib. And none of the families could have that disgrace so they were blaming each other of having foul blood." Peter explained. "Of course they couldn't bring this out in the open, so my parents were forced to move to the United States as long as I was still young and would not have been able to do much magic anyway. We returned to London when I was 21. They gave me £500.000 and asked me to move to another part of the UK and never contact them again. I know it may sound very harsh, but this actually means they loved me. In a pure blood family a Squib usually dies young in an 'accident', if you know what I mean."

"I was lucky since my parents got the opportunity to move. They set up their own business and got rich very quickly in the United States and gave me a normal, even loving childhood. They kept in contact with their family of course, but they told their family I stayed in the US and lived like a Muggle. They gave me the money to make sure I would have a good life, and begged me never to contact them again because that would mean we would all be killed in an instant."

"They had to move back here because the dark lord Voldemort had been temporarily defeated and the family needed their money to make sure everything of his properties was saved. That way my parents gained the respect from their families again and could live safely in the UK."

"Daddy, why would they want to live here again?" Ophelia asked "I don't think I would want to live near that family ever again."

"It was not that simple, Pumpkin" Peter answered "When they lived in the United states they met American wizards and became friends. They decided to turn to the good side if they would ever be called back to the UK. And of course they were…They went back because they thought they had to, but I was a problem for them. That's why they made the family believe I stayed in the United States and lived like a Muggle. I couldn't come with them, that's what they said to me.

But I wanted to go. I knew the consequences, but I wanted to be close to them anyway. I still loved them."

"Peter, why are you speaking in the past tense?" Maria asked.

"Three years ago someone sent me the Daily Prophet, the paper in the Wizarding world: in it was an article about my parents, it said they had been a spy for the Ministry of Magic and they had been caught by the followers of Voldemort. My mother might even be killed by her own brother, Lucius Malfoy. But it seems the war is over, the mysterious disappearing of non-magic folk is over."

Ophelia said: "Daddy it's all too confusing, who is Voldemort? Why were my grandparents helping him? And is there really a Ministry of Magic? And what has this to do with me? Why am I getting a letter from them?"

"I can imagine its confusing dear. Maybe we should just go and see what's in the letter, maybe we'll have one question answered. Because your daddy will have a lot to explain!" Maria said while taking the letter and giving it to Ophelia.

Ophelia opened up the envelope and started to read aloud:

Dear Miss Bramble,

As you of course know your father comes from a family of powerful wizards. Since we haven't heard of any magical activities around your village we would like to test your abilities. If you show magical abilities we would like to invite you to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to train the abilities you have. You could start your first year in September of this year.

The test will take place at the atelier of Mr. Olivander, located at Olivander's in Diagon Alley and will also be taken by Mr. Olivander.

This will all take place at the 5th June at 14.00h.

We trust you will be attending this meeting together with your parents, so you can get your school things immediately when you turn out to be a witch. Mr. Pudgley from the Ministry of Magic will await you in front of The Leaky Cauldron which is marked on the map you will also find in this envelope.

A list of supplies will be handed over at the testing area when you've passed.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

(On behalf of the Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore)


"Pheli, are you coming?" Maria called. Pheli woke from her daydream and started to look around. People in strange clothes were now all around her. Some wore a wizard's hat and suddenly Pudgley started to look normal and they started to look like the ones with the weird clothes. People stopped and stared at the group and started whispering as soon as they had passed.

Pheli heard the name Malfoy and the name Bramble several times and saw people pointing at her hair.

She tried to ignore this and looked around. Strange looking bottles and artefacts in one store, animals in another store, in front of them a big white building. Willard Pudgley stopped in front of a little store. The sign said 'Olivander's'

"Well people, this is where we have to be, I'm going to bring you inside, and if I'm right one of the Hogwarts Professors will await you there. The test will be done by Mr. Olivander or one of his trainees. The Professor will see to the procedure and I will be off to get the next family!

Now, here you go, have fun, don't irritate anyone in there and I hope we won't have to Obliviate you!"

Still smiling Pudgley opened the door for them and they entered the shop.

Inside there were walls covered with stacks filled with little cardboard boxes. No one appeared to be there. "Hello?" called Maria.

Immediately they heard a bump and a muffled cry, and suddenly a head popped up from under a table. It was a young man, covered in dust and looking kind of dazed. His rather large front teeth showed when he smiled at them. "Hullo, my name is Neville Longbottom, how can I help you?"

"We're here to have the 14.00h test!" Peter said "Or actually, Ophelia is here for the test. We're just her parents; we don't have any magical abilities for certain."

"I'd be happy to test you too sir, its good practice. But you could never attend Hogwarts anymore I'm afraid. Maybe a Kwikspell course would help. If you have any magical abilities of course!" Neville said, still smiling.

Peter grinned "Thank you Mr. Longbottom, but I think any magic would have shown by now. Even though I have never been tested; they didn't have tests like this when I was young."

"Then we would do well to test you then, Sir," croaked a voice from the back of the store, "During the war we learned some people who we thought were a Squib, turned out to be wizards and they had been taught by the Dark Lord himself. My my, we had some trouble with them! Do you have any idea what a wizard can do when he's not registered, sir?"

The source of the voice revealed himself as an old wizard with bright white hair. He stepped up to Peter and introduced himself: "Olivander, at your service Mr. Bramble. I can remember your father, Holly 14". Quite a sturdy wand. And your mother was a Malfoy; they like to go to foreign countries to get their wands."

Ophelia stood and listened with awe. Her father had looked at Mr. Olivander in a rather peculiar way. She couldn't read his face. Then he smiled again.

"If you want to test me, be my guest, but we're here for Ophelia. She

has never shown any magical signs, but it seems you have reason to believe she's a witch, so at least give her the test. If she is a witch we will have to make sure she will get all her stuff, and since we don't have any way to get into Diagon Alley ourselves, we will have to get them today! So let's get it over with!" Peter said.

"I understand, Sir," Neville replied "Let's get back to the atelier, so we can perform the tests!"

He turned to Mr. Olivander and asked: "Do you want me to test Mr. Bramble or little Miss Bramble? We can perform the test together I think."

Olivander seemed to think a bit

"Mr. Longbottom, I think it would be best if I did Mr. Bramble myself, you will test Ophelia Bramble; I don't think there will be any problem. Please follow me! I think the Professor will be there already"

And Olivander turned and opened a door to a backroom. The others followed him into what turned out to be a quite large room filled with strange instruments. There was a table with something what looked like a Muggle workbench, but still different. Other strange instruments were mounted to the wall, and a lot of little boxes and jars were everywhere, all labelled in a firm handwriting. In the corner a tall man in dark robes stood, looking at a stack of boxes.

"Ah, Severus! How are you these days?" Olivander said while approaching the man. The dark robed man turned and Ophelia recognized the Potions Master of Hogwarts who had sent chills down her spine. He turned to Mr. Olivander and the corners of his mouth curled a bit. It was not enough for a smile, but he didn't look very threatening anymore. He shook hands with Olivander and the two men seemed to understand each other without talking.

Pheli noticed Neville seemed to look a bit nervous now, especially when he tried to walk over to a chair and managed to trip over his own feet. But when he spoke Neville's voice was steady.

"Here Professor, please sit down while I perform the test on Ophelia."

"Is it a test or a spell Mr. Longbottom? And are you quite sure this chair is any good? I think I've been molested enough while you were at Hogwarts... Turning me into a baby, into a student and into your grandmother were not the most pleasant experiences I had I'm afraid" Professor Snape said, but even though he said this in a sneering voice, Ophelia noticed his eyes didn't match his voice.

"Professor, you're not being very fair now, the incident of turning you into my grandmother did not involve you personally! I insist you take that back!" Neville's voice was quite stern now, but his eyes also didn't match his voice. They seemed to have a twinkle in them! Ophelia was confused. Neville saw the look on her face and smiled at her. "Now don't be shy! Come here now, before I completely ruin the Professor's reputation!"

Ophelia walked to the spot Neville was pointing at. "Isn't there anything I have to do besides standing here?" Ophelia wondered. From where she was standing she could see her daddy, Olivander was waving a kind of stick and suddenly silver sparkles emitted all around her father. "Well, that's that then," Olivander said, "I'm afraid you really are a Squib after all Mr. Bramble. The test never lies! Silver sparkles say there's no magic in you, if they had been gold you would have been a wizard. Quite simple actually. Now for the young lady. Neville, please proceed!"

Neville pulled another stick from his sleeve. He waved his wand in a strange pattern through the air while saying "Diagnosis Magika"

Suddenly a shower of sparkles surrounded Ophelia, She saw the main colour was gold, but there was a green shade to them. She wondered if that was normal, to her, this was not really gold.

Neville had stopped waving and looked surprised. "Maybe I did something wrong... Let me try again" He said and he started waving again.

"Diagnosis Magika" he yelled. Again a green-golden shade of sparkles surrounded Ophelia and she saw a frown appearing on Neville's forehead.

Neville turned to Mr. Olivander. "I don't understand, I'm doing this the way I always do it! I don't know what's wrong!"

Olivander smiled "You are doing nothing wrong Mr. Longbottom. It seems we have something very special here…weird, yes, but very special!"