Chapter 2: A New Life

Would her lies be revealed?

What would happen if they learned the truth?

Finally Kroblac broke the silence by taking something else out of a drawer. It was a little glass bottle with a glass stopper.

"You must drink this potion in order for us to know if you possess magic." Kroblac handed the object to Stanley and tapped his fingers on the huge regal looking desk.

The ever smiley man popped it open and handed it to her. It had a lavender color and it smelled like the ocean. A wary feeling made her pause 'This is suspicious.'

"You will need to drink it quickly, as the taste does not reflect the smell." Alfred waved his hand encouragingly.

'Great. Well, here goes nothing-'

She brought it to her lips and quickly downed it. Once it was down she nearly dropped the vial and Smiley caught her, because the potion's effect made her dizzy and tip over. A similar warmth spread through her stomach as before. Her fingers tingled at the sensation.

'Why does everything magic have to be so unpleasant?!'

She finally stopped being dizzy and righted herself. As soon as she sat up there was a collective intake of breaths. She looked up confused. Kroblac had stood up and Stanley was frowning. She couldn't see Alfred but he probably reacted that way as well. What was wrong though? She saw something shimmer down by her chest and her eyes widened. There was a glowing orb that was completely white and swirled.

"Oh-"

"How delightful!" Stanley said, smiling again. His frown had only lasted a few seconds.

"W-what is it?" She didn't understand their excitement.

"You have a larger than average amount of magic. It's pure and untainted. Honestly we couldn't hope for a better outcome-" Alfred paused and added, "Except finding your family of course."

"You have been blessed by Lady Magic child." Kroblac sat back down. His eyes sparkled a little. He quickly returned to his uninterested persona and sat back in his chair.

"We will try to find your family, Nelliel I promise." Stanley knelt in front of her. He gently took her hand.

'He doesn't really need to promise it… At this point I've kind of accepted that I won't see them again…' Not really knowing what to say she just nodded numbly. She felt a little bad knowing the truth.

She wasn't super close with her mom. They stayed friends and had dinner sometimes but only because it would kill her mom if she left. The woman was barely stable. It was Taylor and Athene she would miss most. Her eyes became slightly wet.

The glow disappeared as the orb seemed to be absorbed into her chest. She returned to fidgeting and waiting patiently.

Stanley stood and returned to his seat just as the creature with the paper came back. Kroblac took it and examined it. Deeming the information acceptable he handed it to Stanley. She shook herself out of her mournful thoughts and leaned over to look. She was so curious she forgot what the test might mean. She clenched her jaw as she read it.

There wasn't a lot of information on it. Under parentage her Mother and Father's names and the words deceased. No living relatives were listed at all. Smiley frowned again. Under age it said the number ten and it said she was born October 26th. 1980. Her name was at the top and so was her nationality, race and other things.

Other than that there was nothing else notable besides a weird symbol under the word deceased. She disregarded it as unimportant. For the first time since she woke up in this strange place it finally hit home.

Sure she understood the concept. The idea. With proof it was much more painful. She was dead, she would not see her family or friends again.

'Who was it that said death was only the beginning?' She thought dryly. 'I'd like to give that person a piece of my mind.'

When there was nothing left to do they left the building. Alfred stayed behind for something else. They ended up doing that unholy mode of transportation again to go back to the bar she had started in.

She took a second to get a better look at the place. It was very rustic. Long tables for eating and the fireplace added just enough warmth to the place.

'I need to stop getting so distracted, where did Stanley go?'

She turned her head in an attempt to locate the tall man. He was headed for the fireplace. Her speed increased to keep up with him. It wouldn't do to get lost all over again when she finally had someone to guide her through this new world.

"Ah, there you are." He motioned to the clay pot he took from the mantle. "I apologize for having you go through Apparition. This form of travel should be much less jarring. This mode is called the Floo, it's a bit safer. All you have to do is throw it into the fire, step into the green flames and speak loudly and clearly your destination. You might stumble a bit."

'Well, it does sound easier…minus the stumbling.'

He took a small handful of green powder and placed it into the palm of her hand. It had a similar texture and feel of sand but softer. Then he demonstrated for her by going first. The moment the dust hit the fireplace it lit up the flames an emerald green. It reminded her oddly of the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz.

"We will be going to the Ministry of Magic, Level eight Atrium."

He stepped into the flames, arms straight at his sides, and repeated himself loudly. Immediately he was gone and she had to keep herself from gasping audibly.

'I need to be careful, he said safer, not safe.

She tossed the powder into the fireplace and slowly stepped in. The flames were heatless but the warmth from the fire remained, so did the ashes. If she wasn't really an adult in a child's body she might have had less control over ignoring the burning in her eyes and nose.

She needed to be cautious. It couldn't be that easy, everything up until now proved that. She stiffened in an attempt at mimicking what Stanley did.

"Ministry of Magic, Level eight Atrium!"

The flames swirled around her. She could see many fireplaces pass by through them. Nearly losing her balance she stepped out quickly. Thankfully Stanley was there to catch her.

"There you go. See? Much easier. Come along now and stay close. We'll be going up to level 2."

'Okay, that was definitely much better than the other one. That Apparition thing was a mistake and whoever invented it deserves a thousand deaths. Or at least one.'

She brushed the ashes and soot off her as best she could and followed him closely. Not that it mattered because she noticed several of the groups just moved out of their way. She was pretty sure they were just avoiding Stanley by the pitying looks sent her way.

The huge hallway and room they entered reminded her once more of Emerald City. The polished dark wood floors and green brick. She wondered if anyone else saw the irony in that. They approached a desk next to some metal gates. The gates looked kind of like elevators.

"Stan! Gibbons was looking for you and Al." A woman with short blonde hair and a light pink dress sat at the desk when she saw him.

"Oh, Gibbons, Anice? What'd he want? You know what, never mind. Tell him I'll be in my office doing a job."

"Sure thing, just let me log your arrival."

He handed something over to her. She did something behind the desk and handed it back. They entered a gate. It was an Elevator like she thought.

'Again! Why is everything magic unpleasant!?'

The elevator is apparently not meant for anyone afraid of heights or with a weak stomach. The speed at which it moved nearly displaced her footage. If not for Stanley she probably would have been thrown everywhere.

He waited patiently for her to regain her senses before leading down another long hallway. It was unsurprisingly dark green brick and dark wood floor. Several turns later and they came to a large door with an intricate emerald green design. In gold lettering on the plaque above it read, 'Domestic Relations.'

They entered and walked down another hallway. This one had a significantly less amount of people. There were many different doors, each a different color or shape or size. There were also paintings of people. She did a double take.

'A-are the paintings moving?'

It didn't take long to realize yes, yes they were. The surprise was open on her face. Of all the things she could have been prepared for, moving portraits weren't on that list. He led her to another door. It was a light green-blue with his name on the plaque. This was Stanley's office.

"There we are, go ahead and have a seat there," He motioned to the plush magenta armchair in front of his desk," and I'll be right back."

He left her alone in his office and she shuffled awkwardly. Finally she took a seat in the armchair and waited. She sighed.

'I wonder if mom will feed my cat…'

She waited there for almost fifteen minutes before he returned. He shuffled around her to his desk and set a case down on it with a loud thunk. Opening it he gently pulled out a glass vial. It was thin and short. Instead of a glass stopper there was a cork.

He pressed his wand to his head and muttered something. A long strand of glowy blue plasma looking stuff was pulled out, which he placed into the glass vial. He set it into the case and pulled out a few other items. A few files and papers. There were ink bottles and quills.

"Well...let's start with discussing your options. Normally you would be brought to a living family member and that'd be that. The only problem is that you don't have any that showed up on the test."

'Could you be a little more sensitive Stan? Everyone I know is gone.'

"Since you're on British soil rather than American we have the power to place you within a trusted household under the care of a guardian with supervision. At least until we hear back from Macusa. We can't withhold your magical education either so you will be attending our school, Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" 'Of all the names a magical school could choose, they chose Hogwarts?'

"Yes. You aren't the only one to be blessed with magic without any in the family. Magical children born to non magical families are normal and happen quite frequently, even if we don't know the cause." He placed a small stack of the papers facing her along with the quill and an ink bottle.

"Let's get started, shall we? There are a few questions there for you and personal information to fill out. If you have any questions go ahead and ask. I'll fill out these here."

She simply nodded and scooted forward. The questions weren't all together that difficult for here to answer. Just information regarding allergies, medical history, basically anything she could remember. She ended up asking him questions anyway. It would be odd not to if she wanted to portray herself as a ten year old. Thankfully figuring out the quill wasn't so difficult, after he showed her it was similar to using a fountain pen. Partway through there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

A man opened the door and entered. His long robes a dark blue rather than black. His hair was blonde and he had aristocratic features.

"Gibbons, Anice said you wanted to talk to me?" Stanley peered at him over the folder he was holding in one hand.

"Where were you? Do you expect me to clean up your messes forever you fool?." The man dropped a large stack of papers on the desk. It made an audible thump. "I did a third of your work for you-"

"Thank you."

"-next time you leave quickly just take it with you!"

He huffed and turned to leave, grumbling as he shut the door. It was quiet for a while after that. She finished the papers she had been given and waited for him to finish reading.

"Alright." He turned to face her and shut the folder. "Time to find a suitable guardian for you. I won't bore you with too many details. After all you can read the files yourself. There are four guardian's free at the moment."

He set the files down in order as he spoke. "Diggory, Belmont, Clearwater, and Flitwick."

'Why am I getting to choose?'

"Go ahead, I'll be back in a few minutes. Got to go put some of these away."

She watched him as he got up and left. Now that she was alone she realized how tired she felt. It had been a long day. She picked the first file up. None of them were very thick so she wouldn't have to read very much.

A few minutes turned into thirty. She wondered briefly if he forgot she was here. Having already finished the files she thought about them. They all had gone to Hogwarts and received their education there. They were all something called Muggle or Half blood.

'I don't really like where this is going. What does any of that mean?'

One of the names, Filius Flitwick, was a professor at Hogwarts. He happened to almost share a birthday with her. His race was half goblin. He was head of a Ravenclaw house and taught Charms. He seemed like the coolest pick out of all of them.

There was a long list of his achievements. Out of the four offered files, his was ironically the most interesting.

The reason she liked this option the most was because while she was stuck here she would have access to information about this world. He would be able to tell her the most about where she was and her options.

She needed to learn as much as she could about her new life as possible. This seemed like the best and safest bet. What better source of information than a teacher after all.

Stanley returned finally. He was carrying a small blanket and a square tin box. He set the blanket down on the arm of the chair and the tin in front of her, taking the offered file from her in return.

"Thought you might like some rest and something to eat. You'll be out of here soon, so don't worry. This process is fairly quick and easy." He took his seat once more and examined the contents of the file. "Professor Flitwick, eh? I had him when I attended. Nice man. Bright. Really cares about his house and students."

It was rhetoric but she nodded anyway and remained silent. It would take a while for Smiley to finish filing the files and signing all the paperwork. She sat in the chair and watched him work as she ate her sandwiches, careful not to get crumbs on the blanket. She finished and pulled the blanket up around herself and made an attempt to sleep.

~-oOo-~

Hushed voices woke Nelliel from her sleep. It took a moment before she realized where she was and what all had happened. She had kind of hoped it had been a dream.

'What are they saying?'

She tilted her head away from the chair to hear better. They were discussing her.

"-won't like this at all. You know that."

"And? Any chance to stick it to that toad of a woman I'll gladly take. You won't even have her long enough for that woman to do anything about it anyway. Whenever the Domestic Relations of Macusa get back to us about the girl we will have to return her to her home land."

"I suppose you're right. Though I'm glad. I didn't think I'd get the chance at all. Even if it's temporary I'll gladly take it."

She blinked. Deciding not to eavesdrop any longer she stretched and stood up. The blanket fell to the floor with a soft plop. Conversation came to a halt. She felt slightly self conscious as she stepped around the chair to face them.

Stanley still reminded her of an anime character. He stood to the right and was no longer wearing his robes. Someone much shorter, even shorter than herself now, stood to the left.

He had brown hair combed to each side from the middle in a short style. He had a slightly curled up mustache and light eyes behind round glasses. A little bow tie adorned a collared shirt with grey vest and striped trousers.

They were both surprised that she had awoken. Probably hoping they had been quiet enough not to bother her. She pushed her hair over her shoulder and out of the way. The silence was getting slightly awkward now. Stanley finally turned fully and interrupted the silence.

"Ah, hello Nelliel. We were just discussing your placement with Filius." He waved his hand to motion to the shorter man.

"Oh. Hi." She waved slightly. 'So he's super short. Great.'

Filius stuttered at first. He clearly didn't expect her to be in the same room the entire time. He finally managed to calm down a little to form a greeting.

"H-Hello."

"Great! Now that that's out of the way we can proceed."

She took her seat in the magenta armchair again. Filius took the bright yellow one. Stanley began speaking again, this time including her.

"Nelliel here currently has no living family. She can't remember much before yesterday. Until Macusa decides what to do with this she'll be under watch by us. This means that we need a temporary guardian to watch over her."

"We don't want her to lose out on a year of education for this, however, so she will attend Hogwarts with the other students until she is returned to her country." Stanley handed Filius a copy of the file holding everything she filled out yesterday. "That's where you come in. You already teach at Hogwarts as the Charms teacher. This means you'll be able to keep an eye on her while she's there."

"This is all fine and well, though, my current residence is the school so she would be there even during breaks. Is that acceptable?" Filius sounded skeptical.

"Absolutely. Students already stay during breaks, not many but enough it wouldn't be lonely. Again, this is only a temporary arrangement so it's not like you need to go out of your way to provide a house."

There didn't seem to be any more questions. Since it seemed that was all Stanley clapped his hands together.

"Alrighty then, now I just need both of you to sign here, and here on both of these papers."

Her eye twitched. 'Why does it seem like he's always trying to get things over with. He made me do most of the work yesterday so he wouldn't have to…'

Once they finished signing the papers Stanley relayed the last bit of information they would need before leaving.

"Aurors will visit once a month up until she is to return to her country. In about a month you'll need to bring her in to St. Mungo's for the usual health check and vaccines. That's all. I'll send an owl telling you the exact date."

'Wait, vaccines?! There aren't weird magical diseases and illnesses are there? Oh no…'

"Nelliel is it?"

She turned to look at her new guardian and nodded.

"Have you had anything to eat?"

She blinked. The last thing she had were a couple of odd, salty sandwiches. She was pretty sure they were corned beef or something.

"Not really sir."

"Well let's get you some food before making a round about Diagon Alley to get your school supplies and clothes.

"Okay."

She grabbed her bag and followed him out of the office and down back to what she thought was a lobby of some kind. The elevator was still a nightmare to use.

The woman at the desk was still there and talking to someone else. Filius led her to one of the fireplaces that reminded her of the Wizard of Oz. She stood by as Filius took out that green powdery stuff again and handed her some of it.

"Do you know how to use floo powder?"

"Yeah, Stanley showed me how."

"Ah good. We'll be going to the Leaky Cauldron. The lunch isn't bad and it also happens to be the entrance to Diagon Alley."

She nodded and threw the powder down. It was the exact same process as it was to get here. She didn't stumble as much this time. She stepped out of the way and cleared the soot and ashes off her clothes the best she could.

Filius appeared a moment after and had a lot less difficulty even with his closer proximity to the ashes and soot. He offered a smile as he led the way across to an empty table next to the window.

"I'll be right back, going to speak with Tom about getting something easy for you to eat."

She watched him walk up to the counter where said man was standing. He came back a moment later and suddenly a plate and bottle appeared in front of both of them.

"Oh!" She gasped slightly surprised. 'I need to start expecting the unexpected. Magic, Nelliel, it's Magic.'

Filius just chuckled slightly.

"That there is butterbeer. It's a favorite among many witches and wizards. Go ahead and dig in."

She didn't have to be told twice. The eggs and bacon smelled delightful. She was really glad to have some real food. She forced herself to slow down a little.

The butterbeer surprised her. It was like root beer but butterscotch and birch beer had a baby. It was really good. It wasn't long before she finished.

"Thank you for the meal." She smiled at him. 'I'm glad I'm not a messy eater.'

"You're welcome, dear. Now, let's see about Diagon Alley then, shall we?"

She followed him, passed the counter and out the back into the yard. She nervously glanced around for wherever she left her burnt and broken phone. There wasn't enough of it left to identify it so she tried to ignore it.

This was where it all started. Where she woke up. A knot formed in her stomach.

Filius paused in front of the brick wall. He pulled out a long wooden stick. A wand, she realized. He then tapped a pattern into the bricks. After a second she let another audible gasp as the bricks folded away from each other and an archway formed.

A bustling street full of shops of all sizes, people and all sorts of goods. Children laughing and running by. Brooms in a window shop. Owls flying around the roofs and landing on fences and lamp posts.

Whatever Nelliel had expected, this wasn't it. There were lots of people, but not enough to make her nervous. Filius grinned, motioning to the scene with an outstretched arm.

"Welcome, Nelliel, to Diagon Alley!"

AN: "Alrighty!" Things are going pretty smoothly. Got this one in about 2 days so that's good. Any suggestions or questions or tips are appreciated. I am writing cause I enjoy it but I'd still like to get better at it.

-Lav 3