Monday was a good day because for the very first time I actually made it to breakfast on time without getting lost once. I wasn't so lucky getting to my first class however. I had transfiguration and I nearly got stuck in one of the disappearing steps on the way there. The class itself didn't go too badly. We had the written part of a test to see what we had learned our first week and I wasn't required to do any magic.

I'd enjoyed all of my herbology classes so far. They didn't include much magic, but were still quite interesting. Today we were potting snapping rose bushes. Victoria, much to my delight, sustained a nasty bite and was sent to the hospital wing. Megan, who seemed to be pretty hopeless at everything by herself, came and joined me at my rose bush. She didn't help much and whenever she tried to she ended up getting in the way, but it was still nice to talk to someone instead of working on my own as I usually did.

That afternoon, I managed to find my way back to the glowing hall of stained glass where the Ravenclaw dormitory was located more quickly than usual. We'd had an absolutely dismal potions lesson. Apparently a boy in Gryffindor, Kenneth Towler, had accidentally exploded his cauldron and sprayed the frog guts he'd been working with everywhere. Snape was in a fowl mood and the dungeon smelled even worse than usual.

I had just taken out my latest assignment and was busy procrastinating by staring into space and pretending to be thinking, when I saw the notice board. On a pale blue piece of parchment, magically stuck to the board was the headline 'Auditions- Next Friday!' This immediately caught my eye. I loved performing; being on stage, singing, dancing… you name it! My grandfather, the one who'd gone to Hogwarts, actually, had been an actor. I could remember going to see him in plays when I was a little girl.

He'd first got me interested in acting. Seeing him up there, in the lights, woke something up in me. I'd been in all the school plays when I was little and I'd done muggle community theatre as well as some freelance stuff with a magical troupe.

I leapt to my feet, shoving the paper on moonstones that I was supposed to be reading back into my bag. 'Hogwarts's two-hundredth annual fall musical! The Warty Players will be presenting The Sound of Magic…' Details followed about what should be prepared as an audition piece and rehearsal times and performance dates. I scanned the page quickly making a mental note of all the information. My mind was already whirring with possible pieces I could use for the audition. I quickly wrote my name on the provided place below the text. The list was completely blank so far… odd… but less competition, I supposed.

When I'd finished scrawling my name, year, and house I turned to go. Suddenly however my name faded and disappeared. I turned back, staring blankly at the parchment, wondering where my writing had gone. I was just about to put my quill to the page again when words formed in my own bright lilac ink on the notice. 'Thank you Sarah Starell. We look forward to seeing you on Friday the twelfth! –the Warty Players'.

I was so excited that I nearly forgot my promise of the day before to write to my friends and family until history of magic that afternoon when I was so bored I had nothing else to think about. I'd tried taking notes in history of magic but Professor Binns' wheezy, droning voice made me yawn so much that I quickly lost track of what he was saying. I'd raised my hand to ask him a question, but after twenty minutes my arm got so tired that I forgot what I'd meant to ask him in the first place.

I took advantage of the opportunity to write a quick letter to my parents and my sister.

Dear Mom, Dad, and Anna

Hogwarts is great! We've been sorted into houses- I'm in Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw is supposed to be really smart! The other girls in my house are o.k. and I have a friend in Gryffindor named Angelina. I'm not so good at transfiguration…I chose not to mention the explosions. Hopefully I'd get better and they'd never have to know that I'd done less than brilliantly at magic.

…but I like herbology and our defense against the dark arts teacher seems nice. Speaking of defense against the dark arts, you never did find that book, did you? Well send it along A.S.A.P. if you do locate it. I've just signed up for The Sound of Magic, the school play. I'm thinking of singing that song I did for the audition for Warlocks and Dolls, remember the one? Either that or one from Camelot, but that's muggle theatre so it might not be good for this. Anyway, I hope all is well! Anna, you'll have to tell me how things are back in school! Love you and miss you!

-Sarah

I lay down my quill, satisfied. I would give the letter to Regal tonight. He'd fly to a post office on the coast where a special long-distance owl would take over. Regal would stay there until someone could arrange for him to be taken to Willow Park by floo powder. I'd have to find the Owlery later so I could send letters to Veruna, Sylvia, and Camille.

The next day I woke feeling a bit nervous about my upcoming magic lesson after dinner with Professor Kowen. I tried putting it in the back of my head; there was nothing to worry about after all, but nerves kept bubbling up in my stomach during the day. Nothing of great importance happened during my classes. I didn't manage to blow anything up but I didn't manage to do any magic either.

I found the sheet music for Camelot and a book of monologues I'd gotten for my last birthday. I also found a stone tower full of rustling, hooting, owls which I assumed was the school owlery. I quickly addressed three letters to Camille at Spelladry Academy, Sylvia at the Susan B. Anthony School of Magic and to Veruna at the Pari Ghar school in Nepal. I asked all of them if I'd see them at Christmas time and how their schools were and whether they'd made friends. I rather selfishly hoped they'd been having just as much trouble as me when it came to friends.

I felt incredibly lonely as I watched the three owls swoop off into the mild afternoon sky. I watched until they disappeared from view and then turned and made my way back down the narrow steps.

I didn't feel very hungry at dinner. I forced myself to choke down some food, trying to convince myself that everything would be fine.

I wasn't exactly sure what I was nervous about. I tried to pinpoint the feeling as I set off in search of defense against the dark arts department. It wasn't about the lesson being with Professor Kowen. Nor was it about the possibility of exploding something again. It was just a vaguely ominous feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Professor Kowen was sitting behind her desk correcting papers when I came in. "Good evening Miss Starell. Now, as you know, these lessons have been arranged to help you keep your magic in check. Let's begin by seeing what you can do. Would you please try and transfigure this beetle for me?" I nodded and drew my wand from my pocket.

"Mutatiomedis!" I carefully articulated, bringing my wand in a circular motion and then jabbing it at the small black beetle scuttling across the desk. Nothing happened.

We'd learned the spell for transfiguring beetles into small black pebbles during class, but as I hadn't recently attempted any magic, I'd never properly tried working magic on living things.

"Try again. It's more of a swish than a jab," Professor Kowen instructed, watching me carefully.

Again I brought my wand around and swished it downward at the bug. "Mutatiomedis!"

My wand tip glowed, the beetle hummed, my hand shook and with a sudden whoosh of green flames the beetle erupted into a pile of small black pebbles with razor sharp edges that went pelting about the classroom.

"Protego," Professor Kowen said, flicking her wand deftly at the ceiling. The pebbles bounced away from us, ricocheting off the walls.

"Evanesco," she said, apparently unperturbed. "Good we're making progress!"

I decided it would probably be rude to ask in what way this was progress, so I just half-smiled and awaited my next instruction.

"Now, when you attempt to perform magic, what exactly do you feel before the magic starts working?"

"Well… Sort of a… humming, I suppose," I said weakly. I wasn't exactly sure what she was asking me, but I seemed to have given the right answer because she smiled and nodded.

"Go on, what else?"

"A… a tingling, and a kind of… well, warmth…" I hesitated, and then added, "Professor, I don't think it's me that's doing the magic. I mean… I know it's me saying the incantation… but the actual magic part, I've got no idea what I'm doing and I feel like I haven't got any control. If you asked me what my wand was about to do and what degree of damage it'd cause, I'd have no clue."

Professor Kowen raised her eye brows, "Well, that's interesting… but still, the wand chooses the wizard, right? So, this wand must be meant for you and only you. There must be some way of controlling it… And some of this may still actually be your doing…" Professor Kowen stared off into space for a moment, apparently thinking to herself.

"Well, why don't you try again? Let's attempt some charms work. Would you please levitate this feather?"

I nodded and gripped my wand tightly. Professor Kowen hadn't actually given me any advice yet. I still had no idea how I was supposed to be containing and executing magic in a non-destructive way…

I gulped and brought my wand in the upward swishing movement and then flicked it down at the feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!" I said. Slowly the feather floated upward as if blown by the breeze. I was doing it! The feather was levitating and nothing was- Suddenly my wand burned in my hand and the feather was smoked out of existence by a cloud of crimson sparks.

"Er… sorry," I said, watching the ash drift slowly downward onto Professor Kowen's desk.

"No, no, no! This is good… I'm sure it is! If you can only manage to control this magic it will be incredibly powerful! I really think we're making progress! Now just let me think…" She surveyed me carefully. I waited.

"Could I see your wand, please?" I glanced down at my wand, still clutched tightly in my right hand. Little puffs of pearly white flames burst from the tip. I started to hand it to her, but suddenly I hesitated. For some incredibly strange reason, the last thing on earth I wanted to do was give my wand to Professor Kowen. My fingers tightened around the handle and I pulled my wand back. Desperately I was trying to think of some way to keep the wand from Professor Kowen, while at the same time, my logic and common sense were kicking in and wondering why I was so reluctant to hand it over.

"What kind of wood is it?" she was asking.

"Oh, er… Black palm," I answered.

"Aha! And the core?"

"Unicorn hair."

"Ah, a risky combination… Perhaps it should be looked at by its maker. I'm assuming it's not one of Ollivander's?"

"No, I bought it back home, in the U.S."

"Hmmm, you might want to get it looked at. Though, then again, you might not have half the power with a different wand… And it could be costly to get a replacement," she added as an afterthought.

Abruptly Professor Kowen reached out and seized my wand. Her hand flashed out to take it so suddenly I barely noticed until she already had it in her clutches. Rapidly she swept it upward, said an incantation, and aimed it at the ceiling.

A flock of pelicans erupted from the end. There was a great squawking and flapping for a few seconds before Professor Kowen retrieved her own wand and managed to vanish them.

"Strange. I suppose it really is the wand then, and not you… but even so, you must be the only one who can find a way to control it or it wouldn't have chosen you…"

I watched the last few feathers my wand was coughing up drift to the ground. "Avis, the bird spell," she explained, "It's supposed to conjure a flock of canaries or sparrows or the like. Certainly not… er, pelicans," she said, picking up a feather and inspecting it perplexedly.

"No matter… you'll just have to keep working. Do magic in your classes and try to concentrate on what the wand is doing. As you saw, the magic I performed was not entirely satisfactory, but at least nothing exploded…"

"But… Professor, I'm still not entirely sure what I can do to make magic work…"

"Tell me something, Miss Starell, are you pureblood? That is to say, are your parents of wizarding descent?"

I was so shocked and taken aback by the question that I didn't answer immediately. "Well… no. My mother is a muggle, but I don't see what that's got to do with-"

Professor Kowen was scrutinizing me through narrowed eyes. Suddenly however, as if brought to her senses, she held up a hand, "Sorry, I apologize for asking such a personal question. It's just that, not having been raised around magic, some children find it difficult to adjust when they first come to school. I was just wondering if that might have affected your magical ability. Well… I'll see you Friday then, shall I?" she said cheerily.

"What? Oh, right. Yes. Thank you." I took my wand and exited the classroom. I was glad to be gone, but my mind was having trouble absorbing what had just happened. She'd covered well, but Professor Kowen had most certainly had a point to asking me about my parentage.

What could it possibly mean?

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! If you leave me a review, I'll update faster lol! Thanks for reading...