16 Saturday

Noelle stood on the castle grounds, leaning her back up against the cobblestone fence. She'd done as told and was wearing a thin jacket and her house scarf around her neck. Still, the jacket was unzipped and her scarf hung loosely around her. Though it would start to get colder soon enough, it wasn't there quite yet.

Starting to get a little stir crazy, Noelle straightened up and looked around. The instructions she'd received by owl told her to show up here. Yet, twenty minutes had passed and Noelle had seen no sign of anyone, let alone an American witch she'd never met before.

Turning in a circle, she tried to see if anyone had appeared in the last few seconds. That was known to happen often in the wizarding world. She didn't see anyone, but did notice a key lying atop the stone fence that she hadn't noticed before.

"Wonder what this goes to…" With nothing better to do, she walked over and saw that it looked to be a simple house key. "Someone's gonna have trouble getting home."

Figuring she could bring it back to the school and turn it in to a teacher, Noelle reached out to pick up the key. On contact with the key, her world disappeared around her. Her insides felt as though they were being pulled outwards and any movement or struggle was strained, difficult to perform. Her body appeared to be a blur of black, white, and brown, with no ability to ascertain what was what.

Within seconds, her feet touched solid ground, her skin crawling from the repercussions of traveling by portkey. She doubled over, feeling nausea struggling to claim her. Blankly she heard the key fall from her hand and clatter across a hardwood floor, and then footsteps nearing her. Whoever was standing nearby was clearly waiting for her to recover and she took her time, straightening only when she felt the notion to vomit pass completely.

Blinking, she cleared her eyes. An older woman, but still quite lovely, with curly short hair stood in front of her, holding a tray with tea cups and a tea pot made from fine china. She looked Noelle over with kind eyes. "I know dear, it's that way for most people on their first try."

Noelle spoke up, voice cracking initially. "Using an actual key as a portkey… I've heard most common day items are used but was this an attempt at a pun or…?"

The woman smiled and set her tray down on a coffee table in the middle of the room, which, as Noelle now noticed, was a bit on the smaller side. A warm room with a hearth at one end, a couch and two armchairs surrounding the table, and pictures filling all the empty space on the walls. "It is a bit amusing if you think about it. And yes, in answer to your question, I am Queenie."

"I didn't ask any question."

"Not out loud perhaps. But that's the point. With us, you don't need to." She smiled again and sat in one of the chairs, pulling a wand from her sleeve. "Please, sit down, let's have some tea."

Noelle rubbed her arms, feeling the chill in the air. Looking out a window she saw snow on the ground. "Where are we?" She sat on the couch, watching as Queenie waved her wand and the tea began pouring itself.

"New York City pumkin. America. Now how much sugar do you want?"

With their tea in hand, Noelle slowly sipped hers, wondering where their "lessons" would go from here. She didn't wonder for long before Queenie spoke up again. "For the both of us, legilimency was a born ability. For other witches and wizards, it can be learned but not usually perfected like it can with us." She sipped her tea. "Still, Dumbledore wanted me to expedite your training so you can better get a handle on it. He and I both know what it's like for someone to grow up confused and hurting because of something they can't control."

"I wonder what problems she had growing up…"

Queenie set her cup down. "I thought initially it was normal. As I said, I was born to it. But for a lot of people, they thought me weird, or mad. Even today in the wizarding world, sometimes it's better to keep quiet and not let on that you know exactly what everyone around you is thinking. It can make most people cautious or even avoid you." She laughed lightly. "No, I'm not trying to scare you. As Dumbledore told you, this is a gift. I just want you aware that not everyone will see it as such. You just have to be careful."

"So what will I be learning with you exactly?"

"Because Dumbledore wants you to be able to get a handle quickly on your ability so it doesn't make you lose your mind, we'll be starting with the spell which most common witches and wizards use to learn it. Legilimens. Once you're able to do this, it should start to become natural to you and eventually you won't need the spell or your wand to enter another person's mind. As you've seen a few times already at school I imagine. Today however, is just a 'get to know you.' Next week we'll begin our real lessons. Once we're done here you'll take the portkey to get back and forth each week."

Noelle cringed and looked at the table which Queenie had set on the table. "Do I have to?"

Queenie laughed. "I'm afraid so. Don't worry, it does get better."

Noelle wasn't skilled enough to read the woman's mind and see if that was the truth. She just prayed the journey home would be less straining than the one here.