Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.

This is home
Now I'm finally where I belong
This is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it
Maybe this is home

This is Home by Switchfoot

Chapter 1 – Lucy Jones

Lucy Jones was not a normal 10-year-old girl; at least, not to an ordinary person. She looked normal. She was on the slightly shorter side, her jet-black hair fell to the middle of her back, and she had bright hazel eyes. She lived with her parents in a small, cottage-like home in a tiny, almost non-existent town in Massachusetts.

The way that she was not normal was that she was a witch, and her mom and dad were a witch and a wizard, respectfully.

However, she looked very ordinary at the moment, other than the fact that she wasn't down the street playing with any of the other neighborhood children. She was laying on the grass in front of her house with her arms behind her head, and she was gazing up at the sky.

With a sigh, she wished, once again, that she could have some siblings to play with. Although she knew her mom and dad couldn't have any children of their own, she couldn't help but wish, especially on dull days when she didn't have anything else to do.

Lucy's parents weren't her birth parents. They had told her that she was adopted as soon as they felt that she was old enough to know. Lucy's adoptive parents were named Dan and Sue Jones. Dan worked for the Magical Congress of the USA, and Sue worked a part-time job in a robe shop.

Lucy wished that she knew who her birth parents had been. She was very grateful for her adoptive parents, but they would never be her birth parents. Unfortunately, not even Dan nor Sue knew who her parents had been.

Getting bored, Lucy sat up and looked around her. A rock was sitting in the grass not too far away. She stared at it, concentrating on it and willing it to move. Finally, slowly, the rock started to rise from the grass. It was a couple of feet off the ground when—

"LUCY!"

Oops, Lucy thought as she turned to look guiltily at Sue, who was standing in the doorway and frowning down at the girl. Lucy smiled sheepishly before shrugging her shoulders. "Sorry, Mom," she apologized. "I just… got a little bored."

Sue shook her head, smiling slightly, and then beckoned Lucy into the house. "If you're going to practice magic, at least do it inside from now on, okay?" Sue instructed.

Lucy shrugged and got up from the grass. She went to her mother and followed her into the house.

As Sue shut the door behind them, she went on, "Remember, you can't be performing any magic once you start school. At least, not before you turn seventeen."

Lucy nodded. She was extremely excited to be starting witchcraft school in the fall. Finally, she would have a wand and be able to do magic, too. "When do you think I'll get my letter from Ilvermorny?" she asked as she plopped down onto one of the dining room chairs. Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the American school of magic that Lucy was planning on attending.

Sue looked up, and she seemed to hesitate before she smiled down at her adopted daughter. "I'm not sure," she replied. "Probably sometime around your birthday."

Lucy smiled widely. Her eleventh birthday was coming up in a few weeks, on which her dad had promised to take her shopping for her school things. As she began imagining the magic she would be learning at Ilvermorny, she couldn't help but wonder why her mother had seemed so hesitant. Was there something going on that Sue wasn't telling her?

~LJ:TH~

It was a week before Lucy's eleventh birthday, and she was growing impatient. She still hadn't received her letter from Ilvermorny. That morning she was sitting in the kitchen with her parents before they had to leave for work. Dan's sister—the only living relative of Lucy's adoptive parents—would be coming over soon to stay with Lucy.

"When is the mail going to get here?" Lucy asked anxiously, her eyes glued to the kitchen window. Their family owl, Thomas, was nowhere in sight.

"I'm sure it will be here soon, dear," Sue said. "Please eat your breakfast."

Lucy frowned, looking back down at her plate of food. She stabbed moodily at her eggs, trying to be patient.

A few minutes later, Lucy heard a screech. She looked up excitedly to see Thomas swooping into the kitchen through the window. There were a few envelopes in his beak, which he dropped onto an empty spot on the table. Dan promptly picked them up and started thumbing through them.

"Anything for me?" Lucy asked, not trying to sound too excited.

Dan paused, staring at one of the envelopes. Then he showed it to Sue, who nodded. "Lucy," Dan began, "there's something your mother and I need to talk to you about."

Lucy immediately felt nervous, and she dropped her fork onto the table with a clatter.

"It's good news, dear," Sue said quickly, patting Lucy's hand reassuringly.

Lucy sat up straighter. "What is it?" she asked.

"Your mother and I received a letter from Albus Dumbledore at the beginning of the summer," Dan explained. "Have you heard of Dumbledore before?" Both he and Sue looked at Lucy expectantly.

"Yes," Lucy replied. "Isn't he from Britain?"

"He is," Sue confirmed before turning back to her husband.

"He is the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and he has extended an invitation for you to attend," Dan finished.

Lucy frowned in confusion. "But… I'm American," she said. "Doesn't that mean I should go to Ilvermorny?"

Dan and Sue exchanged a glance.

"I suppose it's time to tell you what we know about your birth parents," Sue said.

Lucy's heart leapt hopefully at that; she'd always wanted to know more about where she'd come from.

"First of all, we want you to know that we have very limited information about your parents," Dan began. "What we do know is that eleven years ago, when you were born, there was a war taking place in Britain. We've told you about You-Know-Who, of course."

Lucy shuddered involuntarily at the thought of You-Know-Who. He had wanted to take over the entire Wizarding world. Eventually, he had been stopped by an infant named Harry Potter, and nobody was quite sure how a baby had been able to defeat such a Dark wizard.

"Your birth parents were from England," Dan went on. "They were fighting in the resistance against You-Know-Who. Unfortunately, because of this, they were targeted by You-Know-Who. He sent some of his followers to track them down. So, in an attempt to keep you safe, they decided to temporarily send you out of England. We were contacted by Dumbledore himself about taking you in until You-Know-Who was defeated, and your parents were safe again."

Lucy's mouth felt dry, because she knew that this story didn't have a happy ending.

"Your parents were killed shortly after you arrived at our house," Dan finished. "Since Dumbledore told us that there were no living relatives to take you in, we decided to fully adopt you. However, since you were born over there, Hogwarts is the school that you're meant to attend. Your name has been down for it since you were born."

"Oh," Lucy said, feeling speechless.

There was a lot of new information she had just been given, and she was finding it hard to process. She never would have guessed that her parents were from an entirely different country, nor had she ever thought that they would have been killed on the orders of the most evil wizard of their time.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Sue said sadly. "We always thought that you would go to Ilvermorny, and so we had decided to tell you about your birth parents once you turned seventeen. However—given the circumstances—if you wanted to go to Hogwarts, it was only fair that we tell you why you're being accepted there."

There was a pause while Lucy continued to think.

"That's all you know about my birth parents?" she asked eventually.

"Yes," Dan replied. "When we took you in permanently, we contacted Dumbledore and asked for more information about your parents. He said that for your own safety, it would be best if we didn't know their identity."

"But You-Know-Who's gone," Lucy insisted. "What is he still trying to keep me safe from?"

"We're not sure," Sue admitted. "This is Dumbledore, though. He led the resistance group against You-Know-Who during the war. Maybe he knows something that the rest of us don't."

Again, there was silence.

Lucy's thoughts turned back to her schooling. "So, let's say I wanted to go to Hogwarts instead of Ilvermorny," she said. "Does that mean we would have to move to England?"

"Well… no," Dan answered slowly. "Your mother and I belong here."

Lucy frowned in confusion.

"Dumbledore has informed us that a family is willing to take you in," Sue went on. "They'd be sort of like a host family. They would take care of you while you're in England."

"Go to England… without you?" Lucy asked to clarify. Her head started spinning slightly.

How could she go all the way to another country just to attend school? Sure, at Ilvermorny she would be away from her parents, but they wouldn't be very far. She also knew that, because they were a magical family, there were ways of traveling that were almost instantaneous, but it was still an unnerving thought.

"Sweetheart? Are you all right?" Sue asked, looking worried. Lucy nodded wordlessly, and Sue continued, "You would still come home to us during the summer. Dumbledore also explained that they let students visit home over Christmas."

Lucy remained quiet for a while, still thinking carefully. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Hogwarts was older than Ilvermorny, so she was sure it would be a fascinating place. She didn't really have any friends in America to leave behind, either. Plus, if her birth parents had gone to school there, maybe she could find out who they were and what had happened to them.

"If I don't like it there… can I come back here and go to Ilvermorny?" Lucy finally asked.

"Of course, you can, sweetie," Sue replied. She looked a bit sad. "Does this mean you want to go to Hogwarts?"

"I'd like to try it," Lucy answered. She left her thoughts of finding out about her birth parents to herself.

"Then you should probably go ahead and open this," Dan said, holding out the envelope that he had found in their pile of mail.

Lucy took it and saw that it was addressed to her. "What is it?" she asked.

"I think it's the letter letting you know that you've been accepted into Hogwarts, should you choose to go," Dan replied. "Dumbledore let us know that you would be receiving one."

Lucy carefully slit open the envelope and pulled the contents out. There were two sheets of parchment and a smaller slip of paper. The top piece of parchment was a letter, and Lucy began by reading it.

Dear Miss Jones,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

The other sheet of parchment in Lucy's envelope was a supply list, and the small paper was a ticket of some kind.

"It says here that we have to send them an owl by July thirty-first," she said when she was done reading. She handed the letter over to Sue. "What does that mean?"

"We just need to send them a letter to let them know that you're planning on attending," Sue replied. "I'll write to them this afternoon when I get home from work as long as you're sure you want to go."

"I want to," Lucy said with a nod.

"All right," Sue said briskly. "Your father and I will get everything set up." She smiled at Lucy before standing up and tending to the dishes.

Lucy looked back down at the list of school supplies that she would need. Her eyes zeroed in on a single word that was listed just under the Other Equipment heading. "A wand?" she asked, confused. "Hogwarts students get their wands before they get to school?" At Ilvermorny, students acquired their wand when they arrived at school for their first year.

"What's that, dear?" Sue questioned, returning to the table.

"It says on this supply list that I need to get a wand," Lucy replied.

"Well, it's not Ilvermorny," Dan said. "They just have a different way of doing things over there, I suppose."

Lucy shrugged and returned to looking at her list. A grin grew on her face as she realized that this was really happening. Very soon, she would be attending school to become a witch. She would also be in England, which was hopefully one step closer to finding out who her birth parents had been.

~LJ:TH~

The day before her eleventh birthday, Dan and Sue sat Lucy down in the living room.

"We have more news for you," Dan began. "We have been in contact with your host family, and they have offered to let us all stay with them until you have to leave for school. That way we can get you all settled in, and you can get to know them for a while before you go to Hogwarts. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Lucy said. "You both would be coming with me?"

"They invited your mother and I, as well, yes," Dan replied. "We've both gotten the month off from work to accompany you."

Lucy felt relieved; as excited as she was to meet new people, it made her nervous thinking about living with strangers in a new country. Having her parents there for a while would help her to ease into living in England.

"So, when are we going to go over there?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I promised we could go shopping on your birthday," Dan said, "and I want to stand by that promise. Your host family has offered to take us shopping in England for your things. If we want to do that then we would have to leave tomorrow."

Lucy grinned widely, glad her father had remembered his promise. "That'd be great, Dad," she replied.

"I'm glad you think so," Dan said. "Everything has already been set up. We'll have to leave relatively early tomorrow morning to deal with the time change."

"So how are we getting there?" Lucy asked.

"We'll have to use the International Floo Network at the Congress," Dan replied. "It will take us to Great Britain's Ministry of Magic, where we can then Floo to your host family's home."

"Can't we just Floo right to their house?" Lucy questioned, frowning.

"The American Floo Network isn't connected to Great Britain's," Dan answered. "The only way of traveling by Floo between certain countries is to use the International Network. It's one of those things that's highly regulated by the International Confederation of Wizards."

Lucy nodded. "I suppose I'd better pack then," she said.

Sue clapped her hands together. "Come on, sweetie," she said, "I got you a trunk a few days ago." She stood up and held a hand out to Lucy, who took it and walked with her mom towards the stairs. As they went, Sue continued, "It has an Extension Charm cast on it so that you can fit as many things in it as you need, and a Feather-Light Charm to help you carry it."

"I'll get some dinner ready!" Dan called to their retreating forms.

As Lucy climbed the stairs to her bedroom, she couldn't help but be excited. The next day, she would be going to get her school things.

~LJ:TH~

A/N: So, I know that according to the Harry Potter universe, American witches and wizards call the Magical Congress of the USA 'MACUSA', but I found that to be a bit ridiculous. In this story, they refer to it as the Congress.

FYI: This story has fifteen chapters, plus the prologue that has already been posted.

An important change already (sorry ha): I mapped out a posting schedule, and if I post on Mondays and Thursdays, I won't be finished until early 2020. Oops! So, the first two stories are going to be posted on the Monday, Thursday schedule, but when I get to story three, I'm going to change it to Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I'll remind you all again when we get to that point, but doing it this way, I'll be finished posting by mid-December 2019.