1Meanwhile just a little ways away Dumbledore was sitting in his office. Indeed, the headmaster was pondering the same things that Fudge was, and Fudge wasn't wrong that he did have more information than the minister to ponder. Fudge was dreadfully wrong about Alleyne being instructed by him, or anyone else for that matter, not to disclose information to the Minister. That was simply her obstinate nature. She had not forgotten that day years ago anymore than he.
There came a firm knock from outside his office door. "Enter" he said, knowing that she was on the other side of the door and probably bubbling over with the irritation that Fudge's visits seemed destined to bring. He was not disappointed as a slender girl with deep, thick, dark hair came into the room. Her vivid blue eyes flashed with anger and her usual smile was replaced with what could only be called disgust.
He almost chuckled out loud at the very site of her. Barely eleven and already capable of seeing people for exactly what they were not to mention a range of emotions most adults never experienced. Then again, he corrected, she had always seen Fudge for what he is. She had halted at the other side of the desk from him and for a moment he thought of just letting the silence grow until she spoke but he couldn't quite resist provoking her just a bit. Her sweet features making the snarl on her face quite amusing.
"The news has come to me that the Minister of Magic has paid you a visit." He said, his eyes twinkling as he spoke.
"Minister of Pompousness would be a more accurate term. He believes that you have told me to keep information to myself and that I am being brainwashed against him." She replied, obviously this had bothered her much and she spit all the words quickly from her small mouth. Dumbledore motioned for her to come around the desk and she did so almost at a run. Climbing into his lap she laid her head on his chest and sniffed. "Why can't he leave me alone. How am I to know if Voldemort is dead or alive, he knows the only Death Eaters I ever saw was Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix LaStrange. He cleared Malfoy, even thoughI know that he wasn't bewitched at all." All of this was said at the topmost speed Alleyne could manage. Dumbledore allowed her to pour it all out, all the while holding her to him and marveling how brilliant she really was.
Later that night Alleyne crept down the stairs from her room. Though Minerva had tucked her in and admonished her to get some sleep so she would be fresh in the morning sleep alluded her. Summer was in full swing now so the castle corridors were very warm. What would it be like to be here as a student? She had, of course, been in the school during the scholastic year, but she paid little attention to any of it. She went where she pleased, knew the house-elves by first name, and had her private lessons for her magic. Indeed, had she not grown up at Hogwarts it seems very likely that she wouldn't have been able to be a student there.
Alleyne had a unique form of magic. Indeed she was an abstinemaige; able to do magic without a wand, truly at times without trying or knowing she was doing so. That night with the two aurors was repeated many times before the true reason was found for Alleyne's run away powers. Dumbledore and McGonagall had both been tutoring her for several years now and though she had mastered them mostly there was still so much to learn. Indeed, the first thing she had to learn was the ability to tell when magic had been cast or where. It was imperative that she learn how to detect when she had cast a spell to become alert to the small differences in herself. It never failed to shock her how Dumbledore could always tell and accident from deliberation of her powers.
"Why Miss Ashford, what could you possibly be doing at this hour creeping around." Starting she looked around to see Sir Nick, a rather friendly ghost and claimed of the Gryffindor House.
"Hi Sir Nick." She smiled at him, "I couldn't sleep and so I hoped that a walk would help."
"Excited about becoming a student?"
"Oh yes," She said, leaving out that she felt so nervous when she really thought about it that she could cry. Her room, her privileges, and even her relationships would all change. She had already been informed that she would not be allowed to call any of the Professors by their first names any longer.
Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to be back in her bed. Making excuses to Sir Nick of being tired she left and went back to her room. She knew what Nick had been hedging at, he wanted to know about her house. Everyone had been talking about that quietly when they thought she wasn't around or listening. There were a couple of professors that would have preferred her to stay in her room. Most vocal and been Severus Snape who said he did not want her in his house and that was where she was going to end up. Indeed, she wondered where she would end up. After all, both of her parents had been in Gryffindor and it did usually run in the family. However, they hadn't lived with Voldemort either she reasoned to herself. She knew that it would prove a lot of people 'right' about her if she did end up in Slytherin and she knew also that it would let Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall down greatly. They had been the extreme advocates that she should be allowed to go to school as a normal student.
Well, as normal as possible. Alley thought to herself. I certainly don't fall under any category of normal I have heard of. Indeed, between her abstinemaige abilities and her unique upbringing she wads surprised that the Minister of Magic had not been at the school every other day. There had even been a suggestion that she go abroad to study but she hadn't wanted to do that either. Dumbledore suggested that to her one evening and did not say anything when she had adamantly refused to go to a foreign school. She rather thought Dumbledore was pleased that she wanted to stay at Hogwarts (and truthfully had he admitted it he would have missed the girl terribly had she gone to another school for most of the year) and before she knew it all was arranged and she would be sorted and placed as another student.
September first came rapidly, as things always do when you don't want them to. Alley found herself being shifted into the crowd by Professor Sprout outside of the dinning hall. No one noticed her much, they all were shifting around nervously and took no notice of another girl dressed in her Hogwarts' robes. When they followed Professor McGonagall in Alley noticed how she avoided her eye. Instead, the spoke crisply and lead them up to the sorting hat. Called up alphabetically Alley was at the very top of the list, only one before her. A slight lull seemed to occur after the first boy (who's name she had not been listening to) was accepted into Ravenclaw and her name was called.
Alley was not unused to people watching her and she marched off to the stool as if she had done it a thousand times before. She, unlike most of the first years, held no fear of anything in Hogwarts especially Minerva McGonagall. The hat fell over her eyes when placed on her head and for a moment she heard nothing.
"Ho ho..." Came a small voice in her ear. "perhaps my most difficult to sort yet" The voice sounded pleased about this. "Powerful, yes, very powerful... and bright, no doubt about that... courage in ample amounts and a bit of darkness thrown in to the mix." Alley wanted to lash out at the hat but instead she felt tears well up behind her eyes. Even the sorting hat thought she was evil.
"Oh no, you aren't evil, but powerful enough that if you became so you would be quite formidable." the hat murmured into her ear.
"Then don't help it along any." She replied sarcastically back.
The had chuckled gently and there was silence for a moment. Alley heard a scrap of a chair in Great Hall and started a bit, she had forgotten everyone else was there too.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled and there was a great cheer from that table. Alley jumped up from the seat when Professor McGonagall had took the hat off. Her heart was thumping and she caught the Professor's eye this time and although there was no smile there was a pleased look on her face as Alley sat down at the table, having her hand shaken by several people she didn't know, she caught Dumbledore's eye too. He didn't refrain from a large smile that was across his face. She gave him her best 'well-what-do-you-expect' look and didn't look at him again until the meal was over and he gave his speech.
"A few start of term reminders for those of you who may have forgotten over our long vacation. First, the forest is forbidden to all students. Second, Professor Kettleburn has asked me to inform you all that Care of Magical creatures has been relocated to the area near the beech tree by the lake. Third, there is a great deal of Zonko's merchandise that has been banned from Hogwarts. If you are interested in knowing if your purchases are illegal you can see Mr Filch with any questions you have." He nearly smiled at these words. "I believe that is all and seeing as class starts bright and early tomorrow I am sure you are all ready to run off to bed. Good eve"
Alley blended into Hogwarts and became another student much more smoothly than anyone could have imagined. Dumbledore would spend every moment that he could watching her or listening to her talk with other students and professors. Her grades were always at the top of her class and she kept her special abilities to herself as they had discussed. Indeed, the only real problem was the idea that she seemed to have was that she had no one else outside of Hogwarts. Letters that were sent between parents and the first years were always a highlight to the students, yet, Alley didn't have that. Students would head down to Hogsmeade to catch the train back to King's Cross and Alley planned to say good-bye in the entryway and then head up to her room. She showed no desire to mingle with the professors like she used to and was distant even with Dumbledore although in the past the holidays had always held a great deal of excitement for her. There would be other students at Hogwarts for Christmas, but that didn't mean much to her. She hadn't asked if she could move back to her old room or if she had to stay in the dormitory, instead she took the stance that if they didn't want her there then they would make her move.
He showed up at her door at about a quarter to six. She had choose to eat alone in her room and when he arrived it was to find her curled around some homework that she had been given for the break.
"How very diligent you are to be doing school work on the very first day of break." He said. She glanced up for a moment and then marked her spot in the book.
"How are you doing?" She asked him from her perch on her bed. Moving over a bit to let him sit down.
"I was wondering," he replied delicately, "If you was interested in going to London with me for awhile tomorrow. I was thinking of spending the day picking up some things in Diagon Alley and then perhaps exploring a bit of muggle London. I have a few presents to pick up and maybe a few hamburger stands to visit as well."
She smiled looking at the floor. He knew that they had not spent much time together and that she was lonely. She had made a few friends in her grade but mostly had stayed to herself. It was too hard to explain why she had extra lessons with the headmaster or field questions about her past that she didn't want to answer. Many of her classmates saw this as an aloof stance and ignored her or whispered behind her back that her grades where really due to favoritism.
The next day at the Leaky Cauldron Alley and Dumbledore were sitting over a couple of hamburgers throughly discussing the more colorful characters of the forbidden forest.
"I think that the centaurs are by far the best creatures there. At least when it comes to someone who will just listen. It takes so long to get anything out of them that if you are in any sort of a hurry you had best just turn right back around." Alley was saying to Dumbledore who was nodding easily.
"I remember," he began, "when I first met the centaurs. I had wandered into the woods in a mildly curious form and emerged with a complete whole new take on life. Not to mention an arrow through the top of my favorite hat." Alley laughed at the thought and though he didn't mention it she knew that he must have earned their respect as well that day for all the centaurs knew of him and really it was only her affiliation with him that had earned her the right to talk to them at all. At least at first, she could honestly say that now she had earned her own spot with them. She had showed a keen interest in listening about the constellations and how they moved and such is the way to any centaurs heart.
They walked through the small shops in Diagon Alley, looking casually at the owls (for neither needed one) and continuing along to the Madam Malkin's because Alley did need some new dress robes and some for everyday wear too when she wasn't at Hogwarts. Dumbledore waited while she was fitted and then the two of them went to Florish and Blotts to look at books.
Alley loved to read. She read everything too. Mysteries, drama, fiction, biographies, text books... they were all on her shelves. She found that she had a good knowledge on most things because of this. She knew a bit about everything and was able to keep up in conversations that most eleven year olds would have ignored and found dull. Most of the time it helped her homework as well, she knew what books to go to for reference information almost automatically. Madame Pince found herself a grudging respect for the girl and actually handed her books that she thought Alley would enjoy reading. Though Madame Pince always talked to 'Miss Ashford' with a cool tone that conveyed none of the warmth she felt towards the girl.
Alley spent a good deal of her money in the book store. Though the library was nice she often yearned to re-read a book even after she read it. It was like coming home to an old friend and the longer she spent in the dusty shop that smelled as only a book store could, the more money she found herself parting with.
Dumbledore made stop at the apothecary too. What he bought didn't interest Alley half as much as all the ingredients that lined the shelves. Doxie dust in neat little bottles with bright orange warning labels, dragon hide wrapped up for sale by the bolt, long strings of unicorn hair glistening brightly in the sun... everywhere Alley's eyes fell there was another thing to investigate.
Upon the return to the main street of Diagon Alley they had just enough time to grab a couple of ice creams and head back home to Hogwarts. It had been a long day and both were tired and didn't speak much over their sugary desserts. Albus took one of the floos from the Leaky Cauldron and soon they were both in his office.