Chapter one: The Runaway

"Okay, Serena" the doctor said "just one more push and you'll be done. Ready?"

Serena could only nod.

"One, two, three." The doctor called "push!"

Serena took a deep breath and pushed with all her might. She felt the baby give way and with an overwhelming relief inside of her and she heard her baby's fist cry.

Serena listened to the cries of her baby and closed her eyes with tears streaming down her face.

"Serena?" the doctor said gently "Serena honey, open your eyes and see your daughter."

Serena opened her eyes and saw the most beautiful child she had ever seen. At that moment the door to the delivery room opened and Thad walked in. he took a quick glance around the room and spotted Serena. He made his way over to the bed.

"Thad, meet your daughter" Serena smiled at her beloved boyfriend.

Thad looked at the infant in Serena's arms. His nose curled and he looked a bit disgusted.

"Humph" he snorted "I guess she'll do." was all he said to his daughter before he left the delivery room.

Serena's eyes welled up with tears. 'She'll do?' She thought. 'He sounds just like my dad!'

Serena's father had been A cold and calculating bastard towards Serena all of her life. Serena's mother had died giving birth to her. Her father eventually remarried and her life became if at all possible even more hellish. The moment he had found that his daughter had magic in her he had all but disowned Serena. He vowed that she would never be trained or go to school at Hogwarts. Even when she had gotten her letter he had burned it right in front of her, laughing mercilessly as she sobbed and shouted how much she hated him. He had eventually remarried but his wife was as cruel as he was, her troubles became worse when the new wife became pregnant, causing Serena's world to become so lonesome as her father stopped paying attention to her altogether. When Serena had finally left home she vowed that she would never return. Her father had hunted her down mercilessly and all but forced her to come back but what could he do? She was of age and he could no longer control her and she would never have anything to do with that man. Just to prove her disdain for her father she had not even told him she was pregnant and had vowed that he would never know he had a granddaughter. But hearing Thad's words at that moment had cut her heart like a knife. She had thought he would love their daughter from the moment he had seen her.

'But maybe he could still love her.' Serena thought hopefully. 'Maybe all is not lost.'

she looked down at her now sleeping baby and whispered.

"This I vow to you my Astra. No matter what I will always do what I can to do what is right for you."

It had been a few month's since Astra's birth and Serena could already see that she had inherited Serena's magic. Astra had taken to floating her toys above her head. Terrified, Serena desperately tried to hide this from Thad. Thad's view on magic had mimicked that of Serena's father's and she knew he would be furious if he ever found out. Still, with all of her careful concealing she had failed miserably. Thad had seen Astra levitating her toys one night and had become enraged just as Serena knew he would. He started to yell at Astra, who looked at her daddy with the same fear Serena knew in her own eyes from her father. It was only when he had moved to harm her that Serena had shown allowed her control to go.

"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!" Serena yelled. At that her magic lost control and threw Thad backwards, hitting the wall and knocking him unconscious.

Serena grabbed Astra and picked some items she knew she would need and ran out the door. She had taken the car and her credit cards and headed straight for the airport. The one thing that she had remembered of her life that she had not blocked out was when Albus Dumbledore had come to visit her home and try to convince her father and stepmother to allow Serena to be trained. Her "parents" of course said no. When he realized he was getting nowhere with her parents Dumbledore had asked Serena to walk him out as he got up to leave.

"Serena if you ever need me or my help uses this address to contact Tom. He will know how to contact Me." and with that he was gone.

Serena had kept that piece of paper all this time but had never used it, until now.

She needed help to keep her and Astra safe. She had no where else to go. As she looked at the paper's address while waiting in line at the ticket counter she noticed it was an odd address even for London.

The Leaky Cauldron, Charring Cross Road, London, England.

"NEXT!" the ticket counter woman said loudly jolting Serena back to reality

"Oh! Sorry." Serena blushed "umm. I need one adult and one infant for London England please."

"Passport?" the woman asked.

"Oh yes. Of course" Serena pulled out a passport and nodded "is this one way or round trip?"

"One way"

"that will be $200.00 please."

Serena paid by credit card and asked if there was a cash machine near by. The attendant told her where to find the cash machine and gave Serena the tickets.

"Your flight leaves at 11:30 sharp from gate 2. Have a nice flight."

"Thank you" Serena said walking away.

Serena kept an eye on the clock as she was making withdrawals from her Credit Card. She worked her way towards gate two stopping at every ATM and vendor she saw and with drawing as much as each spot would allow her. By the time she got to her gate she had about $2500. She knew that Thad would have the card shut down as soon as possible to cut her off of all her money, so, she had to get what she could now to survive. She had also stopped at the grocery store on the way to the airport to get diapers and formula for Astra before she had gotten to the airport. She took another look at the clock and realized that it was 11:20 and her flight would leave in 10 min. She was very glad that she did not have very far to go. The final ATM spot was luckily only one terminal next to hers.

"Now boarding flight 201 for London England" the flight attendant announced "families with small children are now asked to board."

Serena picked up her daughter's car seat and her bags and met the flight attendant with tickets and passport in hand.

"Hello ma'am." the attendant smiled "Well all is in order. You may board and thank you for choosing British air."

Serena made her way up the gate to the plane. They sat her by the door so it would be easy for her to get off the plane when they landed. As she buckled her daughter who was once again asleep into the seat beside her she started to think about how Thad had almost hurt her baby. Her blood started to boil just thinking about it. She shook her head and pre pared for lift off.

Thad had come to and looked around wildly. He had just gotten up when he heard a popping sound and spun to face two men in his hallway.

"Who the hell are you?" He growled as he advanced on the intruders.

One of the men held what looked to Thad as a stick straight at him.

"Petrificus Totalus!" The man stated and Thad stopped moving.

"Truly sorry for that mate but you have seen to much and we need to rectify this." The man advanced on Thad not lowering the stick. "Obviate!"

The next thing Thad remembered was darkness.

Serena looked down at the sleeping child and wondered whether or not Dumbledore would help her.

"Miss, would you like anything from the cart?" The stewardess asked her.

"Just a glass of water." She stated.

The stewardess nodded and handed her a cup of ice and a bottle of water, then moved on to the next row.

Serena sighed and prayed that she had not made this trip in vain.

Thad opened his eyes and looked around, groaning with the pounding headache he now had.

What happened? He thought as he rubbed his head.

He vaguely remembered yelling at Astra for something, then he had advanced on the child and Serena yelling and then he blacked out.

"Serena?" He called as he got up off the floor. No answer came and he felt his anger flare. "Serena!" He now yelled.

He searched the house and realized that Astra and Serena where no where to be found. In a fit of rage he destroyed his living room quickly then picked up his phone, It wasn't for nothing that his father made him go through the police academy. He would find her no matter what and then he would make her pay for her insolence.

"We are now landing in beautiful London England. For those of you that are departing please remember all items and thank you for choosing British air."

The sound of the captain's voice had woken Serena with a start. She hastily gathered everything up and exited the plane. Astra had woken and started to fuss but Serena was on a mission and the baby would have to wait for the moment. First she needed a car then she needed to find the three broomsticks what ever that was and find this man named Tom. She got to the counter and asked to rent a car. The person was helpful and proceeded to write her up a contract.

"How many days will you be needing the car miss?" the car rental agent asked.

"oh just a day or two" she told him "oh and by the way can you direct me to charring cross road please?"

" sure thing. you take this road to meet..." he was explaining while pointing on a map so fast that she lost track and had to ask him to repeat himself a few more times before she actually understood.

Serena followed the car rental agent's directions right to 12th and charring cross road. There she saw a small pub that was between 12th and 13th on charring cross road that had a sign above the door that read:

The leaky cauldron

Serena parked the car and removed her daughter and all of their belongings. She proceeded to enter the pub. When she did she had wished she hadn't. She got all kinds of weird stares from its inhabitants.

"Hey you!" she heard from somewhere behind the bar. "Yeah you. Wot cha doing in here?"

"I'm" Serena squeaked and cleared her throat "please sir I'm looking for Tom."

"Well then you found him." the bartender said "and who might you be?"

"I'm Serena Mitchell. Albus Dumbledore said if I ever needed him to come here and you would know how to find him."

"Aye that I do" Tom smiled "come child. Let's go into a parlor and you can explain."

Serena followed Tom into the parlor and proceeded to explain about her child hood and how she had met Albus and how he had told her if she ever needed him to contact him. Then she told him about Thad and her daughter Astra and why she had come to seek out Dumbledore.

"So you see sir. To protect myself and my daughter I had to come." she had started to cry at this point. "I really do believe he would have killed her. And I could not just let that happen."

"There, there child." Tom soothed "well it is a bit late and I am sure that you would like to freshen up a bit before you speak with Dumbledore. So how about some dinner and a room for the night and in the morning I will arrange for you to meet with Albus."

"Thank you sir." Serena smiled

Astra had awoken as Tom closed the door to fetch dinner for Serena

"okay sweetheart." Serena said soothingly as she cradled the babe in her arms and proceeded to feed her.

Tom came back with a tray laden with the most wonderfully smelling foods. Serena had smelt. She ate hungrily since it was the first meal she had since she left Thad. After she was finished Tom came and took them tray away. She sat by the fire for a moment till Tom came back into the room.

"Well my dear." Tom smiled "shall we show you to your room?"

"Sir how much this will cost me?" she asked tentatively

"cost? Why nothing dear. I'm sure that what little money you have will be needed to purchase your books and what not."

"Books? Why would I need those?" Serena asked

"Well that will have to be for Albus to explain my dear." Tom explained

"oh" Serena said stunned.

She had no idea what she was about to get herself into but she also knew that she needed it to be done, she just wished that Tom would have elaborated on what he had meant. Tom showed her to a quaint little room with a water basin and a mirror above it. It had a small bed and a crib beside it for the baby.

"I'll let you sleep now. If you need anything let me know." and with that Tom left.

Serena placed Astra in the crib and climbed into the bed. She fell asleep instantly and did not wake till morning.

Serena woke bright and early next morning to Astra's cries. She changed her baby's diaper and proceeded to make her a bottle. Just as she was finished making the bottle Tom knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Serena said picking up Astra to feed her

"Miss Serena?" Tom said. "Breakfast is in the parlor and at 10:00 am sharp Albus will be contacting you."

"Thank you sir." Serena said with a smile

"just Tom will do. And you are welcome." Tom smiled back at her.

Serena picked up Astra and headed out the door to the parlor. As she entered she noticed the clock read 8:45 am. So in a little more than an hour she would meet with the man that she had not seen in at least 10 years. She found that she was a bit anxious and nervous at the same time. Sitting herself down to eat, she found her self picking at her food but only eating a bit. It seemed like forever for the time to pass but when she looked at the clock again it read 9:59.

One minute to go. She thought wearily as she sat down and wondered just how Albus was going to be contacting her.

Just as she was finished with that thought the fire flared and turned green and looking out of the fire at her was Albus Dumbledore's head.

Serena screamed