Chapter 4 – New Beginnings

When I woke up, I felt sore but otherwise fine. The room above me was light so hopefully I'd only slept the one night away. I slowly moved my head looking around I realised I was in a hospital, but it looked like it was from the 50s. From across the room I noticed a nurse bustling around but her back was to me. I stayed quiet; this wasn't a normal hospital, which meant I could be anywhere.

I've been in plenty of hospitals, only last year Petunia had hit me over the head with a frying pan and I had ended up in hospital with a concussion for a few days and a hairline fracture to my skull. No this wasn't a normal hospital. Hospitals were noisy, even at night. Doctors and nurses busily walking around and machines beeping, no this was no normal hospital. Which meant I was probably in their place.

I quietly took in my surroundings, I wasn't strapped down and I didn't feel too sore. If I could make it to the door I could sneak out. Slowly I got up, testing my ankle, that didn't hurt at all anymore, I was wearing pyjamas and no shoes though my glasses sat on the side table, I shoved my glasses on before I started for the door, the floor was cold under my bare feet. I got to the door just as I heard someone gasp from behind me. "Miss Potter please..."

I didn't wait for the rest. I opened the door and bolted out. I picked a corridor and ran as quickly as I could. I got to a staircase and faltered, this place was huge! It reminded me of one of those large manor houses that royals used to live in, but this was so much bigger, I looked behind me to see the nurse had just starting out of the door, so I started running down the stairs jumping down the last 5 steps, rolling onto the landing before starting on the next staircase. What the hell had I gotten myself into? I've been kidnapped!

I ducked as I heard something hit the air around me. Was it a stun gun like before? If so I needed to make myself a hard target to catch. I ducked again and kept running until my foot landed on a step but carried on going through. Great it was rotten. I tried pulling my leg out. But I was stuck. I grabbed the railing pulling myself slowly out. The moment I had pulled my leg out though I had to stifle a scream when the staircase started to move underneath me stopping mid turn.

This was too much, what the hell was going on?! I took a deep breath in, holding it for a moment before I started looking at my surroundings again, my options wouldn't be great. I could climb onto the bannister and try to jump down to the landing below but if I fell, I'd be falling, what 6 stories? So I'd be falling to my death. Or I could wait and hope that I could find an exit after I was caught again.

There was no escape to be had because just as I took a step forward readying myself to jump I noticed that I was surrounded in people. Below me on the landing to my right, where I had been planning to jump, was a small guy, a woman covered in dirt and the guy from before with the long hair. Above me on the landing where I had just come from was the giant man, the nurse and the woman that I had startled in Hakaan's house, her hair was done up in a tight bun. I braced myself. I'd fight until death.

"Miss Potter, calm down we aren't going to hurt you but you will hurt yourself again if you carry on like this." The woman with the bun was trying to be calming but instead she just seemed annoyed.

"Hari." I looked down to the guy with the long hair. "We knew your parents. I actually went to school with them. We aren't here to hurt you."

"Then what do you want with a ten year old girl?" I spat as, from behind me, I heard a gasp.

"Nothing like that I assure you Miss Potter." I think that that was the nurse but by the time I'd glanced up she'd stopped talking.

I looked back towards the guy with the long hair because the staircase had started moving again so it was lining up with their landings once more.

"Miss Potter, we came to invite you to Hogwarts. But Hagrid scared you so we had to step in. It escalated very quickly. You've got great reflexes by the way." The long haired man smiled at me when he placed a foot on the bottom step with his hands out where I could see them; slowly he climbed the steps and stopped a few below me. "I'm sorry it happened this way, it's the first time we've had such a reaction."

"Where are my friends?" I looked at the man with level eyes.

"Everyone is at their homes; we had to erase their memories. I'm sorry about that but we didn't expect it to happen how it did. We explained things to your family." Ok so if they were telling me the truth, none of my friends were hurt but I knew I had been, I'd definitely twisted my ankle before but now it seemed fine. I rolled my ankle in front of me, nope perfectly fine; maybe I hadn't hurt it as badly as I thought.

"I healed your ankle; you had a slight concussion and a couple cuts." The nurse spoke from behind me. She healed me? How? OK not the pressing matter.

"Where am I?" I spoke to the man now opposite me on the same step. The staircase was very wide so he was still a few feet away from me, I turned so he was in front of me, with my back to no one, I felt slightly more at ease with this.

"We are at Hogwarts." Hogwarts, wasn't that the name of the school in the letter? But that was a joke, there was no school. Was there?

"I'm sorry Hari, I expec' it was a shock when I came knocking." I looked up at the giant man, Hagrid. He was massive, with long curled hair that was knotted and messy.

I turned back to the only person who had moved, the man with dark long hair. "Ok, so what am I doing at Hogwarts?"

"Why do you think? To learn. Well come September anyway." Maybe I should play along and escape at my next opportunity.

"And why would I come to Hogwarts?" The man frowned at my reply, he looked like I should have known the answers already.

"Don't you wonder where your parents learned it?"

"Learned what?"

"Magic."

"If I wanted to learn card tricks I could do that myself from the internet. I think you should let me go."

"You're a witch. You know that right?"

"A witch?" I rolled my eyes. "I've been called a lot of things in my short life but never that." It's true and most of those words had come from Petunia, she really didn't like me. "Oh that's a good one." I scoffed, "-bubble, bubble, toil and trouble and all that jazz? I don't think so."

The long haired man regarded me closely before answering. "Are you telling me nothing strange has happened around you?" Of course strange things happened around me. I was a freak after all, according to Petunia my parents were freaks and I was one also, that's why I didn't have a bed until a few years ago, she said she wanted to try and keep the freak gene from activating; her words not mine. Hey, if I was a witch and if I could leave the Dursley's maybe it's a good thing.

"Yeah right. I'm a witch and I'm leaving the Dursley's to go to magic school." After I repeated it sarcastically back my heart lurched. My biggest wish was leaving the Dursley's, this couldn't be true. It was a game, a joke or maybe just maybe I'd finally snapped. "Sweet Circe, I'm going crazy aren't I? I've finally cracked. I'm in some psych ward in a strait jacket aren't I?" The man opposite observed me closely, his eyes piercing mine as the stern woman above me spoke. She'd stepped down a few steps as she spoke but still kept her distance.

"I assure you, this is real." With that the woman let birds fly out of a stick in her hand. They flew around until they flew into a wall and exploded. If this was real and I was a witch why couldn't I save myself from the Dursley's does it mean I'm weak? If my parents were magical how couldn't they save themselves from a supposed car crash? And if this wasn't real and I really was going through some psychotic break then well, at least I still wouldn't be with the Dursley's. I'd almost take a psych ward over them. I sat down heavily on the step above me putting my head in my hands.

Me a witch. A witch? Does this mean I wasn't a freak, that I was supposed to be this way or was I this way because I was a freak? I tried to sort my brain out, there were so many thoughts, memories, hopes, wishes and nightmares all flashing though my brain in quick secession.

Ok place them in order, what's first? What mattered the most? "Are my friends really ok?" I asked my audience, my hands were still covering my face, I heard the man sigh next to me before he sat down still giving me a little space.

"Yes and so is your family."

I turned my face to him, my hair still covering my face mostly but I managed to look at him levelly. "The Dursley's aren't my family." I sighed heavily looking down again. "So, what happens next?"

The stern voice answered from behind me somewhere again. "You go and get your school supplies then you go home until term starts on September 1st." I nodded more to myself than anything. So, I'd have to go back for a month but that would be ok. What's a month?

"Ok, so how am I supposed to pay for school? The Dursley's won't pay a penny for it."

"Your parents left you their accounts, you'll be fine." The guy next to me said.

No one spoke for a moment while I gathered my thoughts, "Sorry about attacking you." I winced inwardly with the memory of what I did to him. He laughed, a proper belly laugh, except for Ama I hadn't heard an adult laugh like that.

"I'm never going to live down that an untrained 11 year old took down the potions master. I will be one of your professors, as will Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick. Madam Promfry is the school healer and Hagrid is the keeper of keys at Hogwarts. I am Professor Snape."

"I'm sorry for causing trouble. I guess Hakaan showed me one too many films and I went into Buffy mode." They looked at me like I was crazy. "You know Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" They still looked at me blankly. "Don't worry. I suppose it's time to get the show on the road." I looked at my watch and found it was 7am.

"I'm sorry if we wrecked your birthday plans." Hagrid said from above me.

"It was my birthday?" I asked startled, outwardly I shrugged but inside I was crushed, Dudley's words came flashing back, a whole new meaning to asshole just flicked in my head. I'd missed my birthday, again, it happened almost every year. "Nothing unusual there." One year Petunia had made me weed the garden, wash all the curtains, polish every surface and polish the brass. After she locked me in the cupboard she had laughed and wished me a happy birthday before leaving me without food and serving the family a cake. I tried not to pay attention to my birthday if I could help it.

I slowly got up and headed back to the hospital room following the healer. My things would be there if anywhere. I couldn't go shopping in pyjamas. Madam Promfry came in behind me and wrapped my bed in a curtain before making my clothes appear in front of me. Wow. Magic was cool.

I changed and pulled my hair down, combing it through with my fingers before braiding it. I was still in Dudley's shirt but at least I had my shorts on and my own underwear and boots.

I emerged to find Hagrid waiting for me. I had been hoping that Professor Snape would take me he seemed more approachable than the giant man but I suppose Hagrid would do. "No Hagrid, Hari must eat before you leave." In minutes I had a bowl of porridge and fruit in front of me, I could get used to magic quickly.

Meanwhile as the girl ate the first breakfast she'd had in months, upstairs in the headmasters office now sat all the teachers that were involved last night except Hagrid.

"Really Albus, you should have heard them, the aunt has refused for Hari to go back. She refuses to have a freak under their roof." Minerva spoke with distain rolling off her tongue, she had wanted to obliviate them but Albus wouldn't hear of it. "Hagrid said her door was locked from the outside, I know her room has scarcely anything in it. Not even clothes. Albus its clear Hari has been mistreated. Merlin! She didn't even know it was her birthday!"

"I spoke to the friend across the road before he was obliviated; he said that Miss Potter has found paperwork and statements a while ago proving that the funds they receive for having the child, haven't been spent on her in the slightest. The money is used for their gluten of a son and their holidays. He said the amount would add up in excess of £100,000 which is over 20,000 galleons, at least. He's seen the woman hit the girl and they starve her. The last time being 4 weeks of punishment, for the glass vanishing in a snake enclosure, while out on a zoo visit, normal accidental magic that Petunia knows about!" Severus spoke up, he was fuming that Lily's daughter could be treated as such by relatives, Severus only knew that much because he was a skilled in Legilmency.

Albus was furious himself. Petunia knew why Hari had to go live there and yes he had known about the sleeping arrangements but they had been changed, it seems he would need to make another visit to Surrey today. "I will deal with it." He assured his staff, oh yes he would deal with it. "Apart from that, how is she?"

"She looks like Lily." Professor Sprout mentioned but Severus shook his head.

"Her hair is darker, deeper. Her eyes are brighter and she has an edge to her. She definitely caught me unawares."

"Poppy said he had a severely broken nose, a fractured wrist, a fractured jaw, heavily bruised shins and three fractured ribs oh, and she kicked him in the groin." Albus looked amused at Minerva's words.

"I haven't had to fight like a muggle in years; I'm rusty that's all." Severus said in a mood, "If this happens again I'm not running after them." They all burst into laughter around the youngest professor. "We found some of her reports in a box over at her friends. Miss Potter keeps her important things there, she gets great grades but doesn't participate in discussions but her work is impeccable, is a bit of a loner but it does state that her cousin frightens off potential friends but otherwise she seems fine. Obviously we don't know the full extent of the neglect and abuse, or how it's affected her. She's out spoken when it's needed but polite, works hard and has a sense of humour. She hates bullies and even though she's being bullied herself she sticks up for the younger kids. So yeah a Gryffindor at heart I'd say." Severus passed Albus a few reports that they had found.

Albus excused them all but Severus stayed. His eyes almost glowering at the old wizard. "Albus…"

"-I know, I didn't know it was that bad."

"What happens if they won't take her back?"

"Then we look at other options but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I have a lot to plan and then I need to leave the premises. Could you go to Diagon Alley with them Severus? I have a feeling that Hari would feel safer."

"If you command it."