DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, just my own characters.

Everyone read an review,. I do enjoy flames, so flame all you want. Just review it.

It depends on how my reviews are if I give this story a chance or not. If there are any typos just ignore them I'll fix them later...

Aludra Major was sick and tired of her mother. Yeah, she understood grief did make a person do strange things. But Aludra thought it was downright ridiculous when her mother burst in to loud, tearful, sobs at random. And it was even more frustrating to Aludra because she didn't know who had died, and her mother didn't seem as if she would tell her anytime soon either. And Aludra didn't like it one bit. Who could've been so important to her mother, when her mother's family was dead, according to her anyway? So, who could it possibly be?

It wasn't as though she hadn't asked. It had all started about a fortnight after she had left Hogwarts for summer vacation. Aludra had been up early, and when she saw the header on the front page ("Harry Potter: the Chosen One?"), she had scanned the front page and tossed it on the kitchen table, where it lay until her mother woke up. Like so many other people, Aludra's mother had begun reading the Daily Prophet all the way through, since Lord Voldemort had come out into the open. Aludra didn't bother. She didn't like the Ministry, not after Umbridge and the way they had discredited Harry Potter, and he had had been right all that time. The dunderheads. Bur she really hated Umbridge, with that evil black quill of hers. Her best friend Artemis had gotten detention with her and told her about it. Her mother was getting half way through the paper when she knocked a mug over. It shattered loudly on the kitchen floor. Aludra looked up, alarmed. Her mother didn't drop things or knock things over. It just wasn't her. Her mother had a blank, dazed look on her face, her eyes moving rapidly across the page. Then she had said in a shaky voice,

"Ill be upstairs, okay, honey?"

And before Aludra could say a word, her mother was up the stairs, slamming the door behind her. Aludra had followed her up and heard the muffled sobs through the key hole. And no matter how hard she tried to get her mother to tell her what as wrong, the most sufficient answer she got was, 'Somebody she knew died,' Her mother had most annoyingly took the newspaper with her in the bedroom which was locked at all times, and as Aludra couldn't open the doors by magic over the holidays, it was impossible to get to it. It wasn't as though she hadn't tried to force it out of her of course. Her mother running up the stairs crying was the result either way. And Aludra was quite sick of it. She hadn't nothing to do or anywhere to go this summer either. Her best friend, Artemis, went on vacation to France. She had offered Aludra the chance to go with her family and stay the summer, but no, Aludra had to turn it down. She didn't want to leave her mother home alone all summer and they usually had fun by their selves anyway. How she wished she would've taken the chance now…

So it had been another one of those evenings when her mother had had another crying fit, over dinner, when Aludra had been trying to trick her into telling her who it was that died.

"Mom, why don't you just tell me? I'm just curious!" she had said loudly, when her mothers eyes began to fill with tears over dinner (that Aludra had made because her mother had been upstairs crying all day) when Aludra had asked if she had saw today's Daily Prophet, about the serious new protection they were putting over Hogwarts this year .

"I'll tell you when I'm good and ready! And If you don't care who it is just….just leave it alone!"

"But Mom,"

"I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to sit here and argue with you either, Aludra!" But her words were drowned out by Aludra's frustrated scream. She felt so fed up and angry, words that seemed blissfully unconnected form her mouth, as though listening to a radio show.

"I HATE THIS! WHY DON'T YOU JUST GET A LIFE! SITTING UP IN YOUR ROOM CRYING OVER NO ONE! IT HAD TO BE SOMEONE! " Aludra took a deep breath and glared at her mother who looked momentarily stunned, tears still falling thickly.

"You'd better watch that tone with me, missy!" Her voice got stronger and angrier. Aludra didn't care. She'd had enough.

"All you care about is your self, mother! What about me!" Aludra screamed, slamming a fist on the table shaking the dinnerware.

"My dad wouldn't do me like this!" The words were out of her mouth before she knew it. When Aludra saw the effect they made, she wished she hadn't even thought it. Her mothers face paled and lost its anger. Her expression went quite blank and dazed.

"Aludra, I'll be up in my room, co…could you...?" But she was unable to finish.

Her mother's shaky, tearful stuttering changed into a loud sob, and her mother jumped up, her hands over her face, and went flying up the stairs. Aludra heard the door slam shut, and dropped her fork with a loud clang angrily. Why on earth was this happening? She was determined to find out who was in that obituary page, whether her mother liked it or not.

Aludra cleaned the kitchen furiously, accidentally breaking a glass, a china plate, and chipping one of her mother's mugs. She swept the pieces into a corner of the small kitchen, cursing her mother, herself, and the glass, mug, and plate, too. She threw her away her mother and hers untouched food, dropping the plates unceremoniously into the soapy water inside of the sink. It wasn't fair, Aludra thought, as she scrubbed the plates unnecessarily hard with a sponge the muggle way,' Just because somebody died, it doesn't mean she cant have a proper conversation with me without turning into a human hosepipe!' She took the wet plates out and slammed them on the counter. One was now sporting a long crack down the middle and was chipped in places. She took off the rubber yellow gloves, threw them on the table. She did wished someone would come get her, come save from her mother's dismal house…Maybe her father wouldn't have done her like this. She didn't really know….

This was one of the only times Aludra wished her father was around. She didn't know who he was, nor did she usually care very much. Only because she never knew anything much about him. His eyes were gray though, like hers were gray. They had to be, because her mothers were hazel. He also had to be white. Her mother was biracial but still Aludra was a whole lot paler than her. Her mother was as stubborn with that as much as she was with that damn death in the paper but perhaps less emotional. Aludra didn't ask about him often, and she got pitiful answers when she did. Like 'When you're older' or 'I'll tell you when you need to know'. But she had gathered the fact that he had been in Hogwarts and he was in her mother's year, and he had been a Gryffindor, like her mother. So that was all she had to go on. And it wasn't very much.

The last time she had asked who he was she was about thirteen. She hadn't even gotten a real answer. She got a mean look from her mother, and was told angrily out get out of her face, Aludra knew what the answer was anyway. 'When your older'. Aludra didn't know any fatherly figures. Her mother had never had a steady boyfriend. They didn't last but a week, and when Aludra asked what happened to them, she said that it didn't work out. But, that hadn't been since before Aludra had went to Hogwarts and she was fifteen now, would be in a few weeks anyway. And, secretly, she had always been glad to see the back of them. They were nice enough, but still she'd rather not have them around.

Aludra stomped up the stairs loud, so her mother would hear her, and then slammed her own bedroom door shut, breathing deeply staring into the velvety darkness of her bedroom. She crossed the small room in four swift steps to a window with dusty purple curtains, and pulled the curtains back. The last orange glowing rays of light from the deep red sunset illuminated the cluttered room.

It was the smallest room in the house, but the house was so small it didn't really make much of a difference. There was a dirty wooden desk in the corner, piled with books, papers, empty ink bottles, broken quills, her much unorganized Chocolate Frog Card collection, an empty Droobles Best Bubblegum wrapper, and other empty wrappers. Trash, her mother called it; Aludra called it her stuff. Among all the "trash", there was a empty filthy fish tank and a copper cage where Aludra's large brown barn owl, Orion, was snoozing peaceful. A dirty full length mirror was hanging on the wall opposite the desk. The walls were an off white that looked more like gray. There was a bed right under the window; the bedspread was bright purple with gold stars flying throughout it and a rickety three legged side table was leaning up against the wall. Upon it, there were three photographs inside tarnished silver frames. As Aludra surveyed her room, the silver glinting brightly in the sun's last light caught her eye. She walked over to the table crouching down to see them better. She almost forgotten they had been there.

The first one showed a smaller, five year old Aludra grinning mischievously, one hand behind her back. The picture Aludra waved animatedly. Aludra smiled. One of her mother's long gone and forgotten friends had taken this one. Her mother was looking for her wand somewhere else in the house, and she had it behind her back. Her eyes drifted off to the next one. This one was more recent, taken when she was thirteen at the Quidditch World Cup. Her best friend Artemis Fairfax was sitting next her in this picture both of them outside their tent trying to start a fire with those Muggle things called matches. Artemis-in-the-photograph had given up and was now leaning against the frame fanning herself with her hand. Artemis had been Aludra's best friend ever since their first year at Hogwarts, when they met on the Hogwarts Express. Artemis was a tall black girl with dark brown eyes. She was slim and had long black hair that was usually swept into a ponytail. Artemis hated it so long, but if you even suggested that she cut it, she gave you a look that plainly stated 'Are you mental?' She could remember the World cup like it was yesterday. The Death Eater riot had made Aludra genuinely afraid of forests, especially after the Dark Mark had appeared. Aludra's eyes flitted over to the next picture. Just thinking about Artemis and the Hogwarts Express and Quidditch made her want to cry, she missed it so much.

The next picture was older, much older. Aludra's mother was smiling back up at her, while she was holding a small wrapped up bundle in her hands that was Aludra. Adhara Major and her newborn daughter.

Aludra never heard her mother talk about her own past. It was something that was never mentioned. It just wasn't talked about. Her mother's family wasn't spoken of; there were no pictures of them or anything. They were conveniently left out of tales concerning Aludra childhood. They had been mentioned once though, along with Aludra's father. The memory of that day came to Aludra's mind as though it had been yesterday. It was the morning she would go to Hogwarts for the first time. Her mother had told her about the houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Aludra had asked what house she would be in.

"Oh you'll probably be in Gryffindor." Adhara had said quickly and happily as she heaved Aludra's trunk into their car "I was in Gryffindor and so were my brothers and sister. And so was your…" And she had stopped suddenly and looked away. And Aludra had asked eagerly:

"My dad was in Gryffindor, Mum?" Her mother had taken her time to answer her. Finally, she said quietly so Aludra could barley hear her.

"Yes, he was in Gryffindor too. In my year,"

"I didn't know you had any brothers and sisters"

"I had an older brothers and a little sister but they're dead. Now let's go before we miss the train, you don't want to be late" Her mother had said crossly. And Aludra took her mothers cross tone as the end of the conversation and fell quiet.

In her room, Aludra sighed. Everything had changed in the space of two weeks. Her mother hadn't had a decent conversation wither since she'd been home for summer vacation. She cried uncontrollably over "no one". And for the first time since she had been eleven, Aludra was wishing to be at Hogwarts after only four weeks of vacation. Slowly, Aludra stood up and quickly changed into her night dress. She all of a sudden began to realize how tired she was. And hungry too. She climbed in to the bed, closing her eyes. Maybe, she thought drowsily, maybe this was all a dream, and in the morning her mother would be normal again, making breakfast as usual. Happy, Cheerful and fun as usual. Not being moody and secretive and…just …plain out bluh.

"Yeah," she said aloud to herself, yawning slightly as she turned over, facing the wall, sleep beginning to claim her. "She'll be fine in the morning,"

"Fat chance, darling" said her mirror softly, just as Aludra closed her eyes and fell asleep.

So here's the first chapter. Yeah I know kind of boring but you need to know this stuff. I've been working on the plot all year. It's very very good, you'll see. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.