Uncontrollable Circumstances

I have a feeling you don't know me. I'm pretty new here. I'm from the USA, so it was a gigantic shock when my parents told me and my brother that we were to be moving to England. England! Of all the places we could've moved! When mom said we were moving, I thought she meant counties or cities or even states, but I definitely didn't think countries! We settled in Little Whinging on a road called Privet Drive, 6 Privet Drive if you must know. My name is Rhea Tigner and this is a story I'm sure you won't forget.

We moved to our humble abode when I was 13. The third day we were there, we met our neighbors from 4 Privet Drive. They weren't what you'd call an interesting family. Believe me, because I was the one to open the door. There was a man, apparently his wife and two boys. One of the boys was, for lack of a better word, fat and the other had glasses, was rather skinny, and had the messiest black hair I've ever seen.

"Well, hello there," said the man.

"Hi," I said, "Mom! Neighbors are here."

I soon discovered after that less than interesting conversation that the man was a Mr. Vernon Dursley, his wife was Petunia, and the fat boy was their son, Dudley. The other was their orphaned nephew who went by the name Harry Potter. It took me a moment before I saw the scar on his forehead. It was shaped like a lightning bolt.

If you've ever been to a party with your parents and your parent's friends you probably know what happens. The parents discuss their jobs, when they met their spouses, old high school memories while the kids go and do something a little more interesting. I believe the only reason my older brother, James, hung out with Dudley was because they liked the same video games. For reasons I don't know, they wouldn't let Harry in my bother's room. So being the nice little hostess, I decided to hang out with Harry.

"Is your brother always like this?" Harry asked after he couldn't get in.

"Sad to say, but yeah, he is," I replied.

"I'm Harry Potter by the way," he added.

"Rhea Tigner," I said, "You can hang out with me if you want. I don't have cool video games though."

He agreed. I found out he was my same age. I mentioned that I thought his scar was pretty cool and he said nothing, which gave me the distinct feeling that it had something to do with him being orphaned. Dinner was fairly nice. My dad and Mr. Dursley were exchanging jokes, my mom and Mrs. Dursley were swapping recipes, and James and Dudley were discussing cheat codes for various games. Through my dad's laughter, my mom saying something about flower, and James telling which buttons to push, told me I should probably start a conversation with Harry. I didn't know what to say though. I knew nothing of which we had in common. So I did what I usually do, took a stab in the dark.

"So… Harry, uh… got any pets?" I asked.

"Actually, I do," he replied.

Thank goodness! I found something we have in common.

"What kind of pet do you have?"

"A snow owl," he stated.

"Wow! I thought it was cool to have dogs!" I exclaimed.

"Her name is Hedwig."

"Would it be ok if I came to see her sometime?"

"Sure, just not tomorrow. My Aunt is coming over, and let's just say she isn't the best person to be around."

That was the beginning of an interesting friendship. He wasn't at home after his Aunt left. He apparently went to some sort of boarding school. He was back that summer though. We were now both 14. We would occasionally escape to the park, me to get away from my brother and Harry to get away from the Dursleys. From his description of them, they are horrible. He also told me about his friends from school, Ron and Hermione, but he seemed to never describe his school and every time I asked he would just say, "Oh, just some boarding school."

The next summer when he came back to school he seemed really out of it, almost as if his body was here but his soul was somewhere else. This is where the main story begins.

I was now 15. My layered blonde hair was a little past shoulder length. I wore pink converses with green laces, blue-jeans, and a white shirt on the day in question. I was walking up to the Dursley's to see Harry, when I found him in a hydrangea bush.

"How ya doin'?" I said.

"Huh!?" he exclaimed as he almost hit his head on the flower box, "What are you doing?"

"Actually that would be a question more appropriate for you," I replied, "So what are you doing?"

"Shhh… get down!" he whispered, "I'm hiding."

I got down in the bush with him. I asked, "Why are you hiding? The Dursleys force you out again?"

"No, not exactly," he responded, "I'm… listening to the news."

I looked up and saw the window above us was open.

"Couldn't you do that inside?"

"It's hard to explain."

Then all of a sudden there was what sounded like a large gun-shot. Harry jumped and this time actually hit his head on the flower box. Along with the thump made by his head hitting the box, I heard a car alarm, a cat screech and I think china breaking. Harry was now standing.

"Mercy Buckets…!" I yelled.

An old lady passed us and then a large arm reached out and grabbed Harry.

"What did you do this time, boy?!" yelled Mr. Dursley.

"He didn't do anything," I said as Harry was about to speak, "He was with me."

"What was he doing in the bushes?" Mr. Dursley asked.

"Uh…checking…a lose nail," I replied.

Mr. Dursley let him go and recoiled back into his house.

"Thanks for the cover," Harry said.

"No prob," I said, "Oh yeah! By the way I almost forgot, there's a rock concert near town, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come."

"Sorry, Rhea, I'm just not in the mood," he replied.

"Oh ok, don't worry about it."

For some reason I felt that his mood had something to do with his school. So I went back home and watched him head toward the park.

The next day when I went to see him, I discovered he was grounded and the Dursleys wouldn't tell me why. He was grounded for four days as long as I could tell, but on the second day, it was in the evening, a brown owl flew into my room! It extended its leg revealing that it had a letter attached and apparently wanted me to have it. I opened it to find neat cursive hand writing. It read as so:

Dear Rhea Tigner,

You are probably wondering how I know your name, but that is not important now. All you need to know now is that we need your help. I cannot put all I want in a letter due to the circumstances at hand, but I will reveal all to you when we shall pick you up. You must understand I cannot say when you are to be picked up or by whom due to the circumstances.

A. Dumbledore

The owl then flew away and I was left with a letter that could confuse even Stephen Hawking. I was also left with the standard questions: Who needs my help? Why do they need my help? How could I possibly help? When and by whom am I going to be picked up? All these questions whirled in my head. I even wondered if I should tell my parents. I mean, if this A. Dumbledore couldn't put an explanation in a letter, should I tell my parents.

The fourth evening my Dad came into my room and told me that he was invited to a ceremony commemorating the best lawn. He said the Dursleys were invited, too. I turned down going. "Who knows," I thought, "This may be the night I am picked up." So I gave the "Harry wasn't going so it wouldn't be fun for me" excuse.

Mom, Dad, and James left wearing their Sunday's best, while I stayed home. Trust me; I won't give you the thrilling details on how bored I was. It was about 9:00, when all of a sudden I heard the lock click.

"Back all ready?" I shouted to the door, but when I opened it, it wasn't quite who I expected. He was old by the looks of him. He had long white hair and a long white beard. He also had half-moon spectacles and was wearing long robes. And once again, I took a stab in the dark.

"Um…A. Dumbledore?" I asked.

"The 'A' stands for Albus, but you can call me Professor Dumbledore," he replied.

"So you're here to take me some where. Should I bring anything?" I said even though the whole "you must not talk to strangers" speech that my mom gave me when I was 6 was ringing in my head. Half of me thought that this man standing at our front door was part of a weird dream, because I fell asleep on the couch.

"You might want to pack." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Pack! How long will I be gone, and should I write my parents?"

"You pack, I'll write a letter to your parents, and I'll explain everything on the way there."

So, I quickly ran up stairs to my room, grabbed a big suitcase and packed for all occasions. This was definitely the weirdest thing to ever happen to me. I then ran back down stairs to find the Professor finishing a letter for my parents.

"Ready," he said.

"As I'll ever be," I said. We then left the house and started down the street when Professor Dumbledore started to explain.

"Rhea, this may come as a surprise to you, but I must be frank in times like these. I am a wizard," he said.

"Excuse me! A wizard! Whoa…what a conversation starter," I replied.

"Any way I am the head master for a school of witchcraft and wizardry, Hogwarts."

"You mean there are more of you!"

"Yes, let me continue."

He did. Professor Dumbledore told me how in the wizarding world there was an evil wizard, named Lord Voldemort. Hey, don't look at me I didn't come up with the name, but it is creepy. Anyway, he continued saying he was very powerful and will not hesitate to kill any witch or wizard who gets in his path. He also has killed many muggles.

"Muggles?" I asked.

"People who don't have magical powers," Dumbledore answered.

"So, I'm a muggle?" I said.

"No, I will tell you what you are in a minute," Dumbledore said.

He then, continued saying that I was being taken to a society that tries to stop Voldemort. He also said that he has followers called Death Eaters, once again freaky name.

"So do you understand all I told you?" he asked.

"Surprisingly enough, I do," I replied.

"Now, on to the matter of what you are," he began, "Has anything strange happened to you? More specifically, has anything strange and unexplainable happened to you while you were near water."

"Well," I said, "there was that time when I was ten, I was at a pool party, and this boy kept trying to hit me with a rat tail. Then a huge wave from the pool splashed him and knocked him over. I thought some one else did it."

"Anything else?" he said.

"Let's see…Ok when I was at the beach, I got really mad at my brother. As I was yelling at him, and this huge wave came up. It wasn't one of those 'Oh well that's a big wave' it was tsunami size almost. We had to take cover. Nothing got damaged real badly. The rest of the week however was really calm hardly any waves. I thought it was just a bad storm that passed through."

"Well it's not."

"It's not!?"

"I have now been convinced. I believe you are a sorceress."

"Excuse me a what!?!" I said quickly.

"A sorceress," he said again, "Sorcerers and sorceresses have the ability to control the five mystic elements, Ether, Air, Fire Water, and Earth. You have already unlocked the ability to control water."

"But why did you ask me about water first, I mean, I could of unlocked fire instead for all you know."

"Well, a sorcerer or sorceress usually starts with water. I guess it's easier."

"Oh…"

We had now reached the end of the street. I was standing there with my mouth hanging open. Professor Dumbledore was standing there quite calmly.

"Now, trust me I am totally wigging out right now in my head, just let it sink in and then I'll start screaming," I said.

"I just want to know one thing," Dumbledore said, "Why did you come with me and believe me?"

"Well I could use an adventure and the other option is this is a dream," I said, "And if it is, well, I'm having a really cool dream."

"Here," he said, "Let me take care of your luggage."

He pulled out what only could be his wand. Then he waved it around and my suitcase disappeared.

"You know, I have a feeling I'm gonna have to get used to that," I said.

"Now the way we are going there is by Apparating," Dumbledore said.

"Um…translation, please?" I said.

"It's difficult to explain," He began, "but in short you disappear from one place and pop up in another."

"Oh…I get it!"

"Now hang on tight."

"Huh!?!"

As soon as I said that I grabbed on and, boy was that some ride. It was very uncomfortable. We ended up in a neighborhood and as soon as we landed, I spun around and grabbed the nearest tree.

"Are you all right?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"I think I'm gonna hurl," I replied. I did let go of the tree, but I felt woozy.

"We're here," Dumbledore said.

"We're where?" I asked.

"Think about this very hard," he said.

He then whispered in my ear, "Number twelve Grimmald Place." I thought about it and then between two houses appeared what had to be number twelve Grimmald Place.

"I believe there is some one in here you know," he said as we approached the house.

"I don't know who," I said. He just smiled.

As we entered the house, a lady with bright red hair approached us. Professor Dumbledore then explained who and what I was and how I got here. He told me her name was Mrs. Weasley and she'd show me to a room.

"Hello dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "Now you must be quiet when going through the halls. They're also having a meeting and noise doesn't help."

She lead me up the stairs, told me my suitcase was in a room, and she lead me to a room where "the children are" as she put it. Before I opened the door I heard some one shouting. And when I opened the door, Dumbledore was right; I did see some one I knew.

"Harry!" I shouted.

He looked up at me and his eyes got very big. The two people he was shouting at turned around. The girl had wavy brown hair and the boy had bright red hair and freckles.

"Rhea?!" Harry exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"I'll get to that in a minute. So you're I wizard. I should've known," I said.

"Yeah, how'd you…" he began, but he was interrupted by a loud bang and twins with bright red hair appeared.

"Hello, Harry," said the first, "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"You really shouldn't bottle up your anger," said the second, "Ah I see we have a new-comer, George."

"Uh… hi?" I said.

Then a girl with the same bright red hair, who looked to be a little younger than I was, came into the room.

"Oh hello, Harry," she said, "I thought I heard your voice." She then went on to tell the twins how the kitchen door was charmed and she couldn't hear through using a flesh colored piece of string. I was now confused.

"We'll deal with that later," said the first twin whose name apparently was George, "We have to have introductions for our new guest." The girl then noticed me and nodded.

"I'm Fred Weasley," the second twin said, "And this is my brother George."

"Hello," I said.

"This is my younger brother, Ron," Fred continued, "And our little sister Ginny."

"Hi," said Ginny.

"And I'm Hermione Granger," said the girl with brownish hair.

"Oh…Harry's told me all about you and Ron," I said.

"Really…" Hermione said giving Harry an evil glance.

"Don't worry he didn't tell me about Hogwarts," I replied.

"Then how did you…"

"Listen, as much as I like confusing people," I began, "I'm not going to tell my little adventure until Harry tells me how he's involved in this."

Wow, did I ask for it. Harry then began telling how when he was one year old, Voldemort killed his parents and when he tried to kill him he failed which gave him the scar. And how after that, everyone thought that Voldemort was dead, he stopped him numerous times during school and how Voldemort came back at the beginning of summer and killed a friend of his. He then proceeded to tell me that things called Dementors (they suck the happiness and souls out of people) attacked him and Dudley and how the Ministry of Magic was going to hold a hearing on whether or not he could go back to Hogwarts, because he used magic outside of school and saved his cousin. I was literally sitting there with my mouth wide open.

"Ouch," I said, "Well that blows my story out of the water."

I then told my story which in my opinion was not as good as Harry's. When I finished, everyone sat in silence around me as if I were a bomb and the slightest breath would make me explode.

"So you're a…" Hermione began.

"Yep…" I replied.

"And you can…" Harry started.

"Uh huh…" I finished.

Then it seemed like an explosion went off. Everyone began talking at once about how cool it was.

"So, can you turn your hand into a ball of fire?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Eventually, and hopefully, yes," I said, "Just not now. The only element I've unlocked is water, and I barely know how to control that. Maybe Dumbledore will give me something to study, a book, an ancient text, cursed scrolls, I don't care."

I know all that I have already told you were mainly just a bunch of explaining, and after this little encounter there was only more. I will only give a brief summery of what happened next. After the whole gang found out what I was, Mrs. Weasley came back in and said that the meeting was over and we could get something to eat. We thusly started heading down stairs when we heard an awful blood curdling scream. I mean a Bloody Mary scream, caused by a portrait, which I'm still trying to figure out to this day. She (the portrait) was yelling great profanities I guess from the Wizarding standpoint. I also found out the main reason for not talking loudly in the hall way: You would wake up the painting. A witch named Tonks accidentally knocked over an umbrella stand, which caused a loud noise which caused the loud painting to wake up. Once in the kitchen I met four other wizards. The first one I met was Harry's godfather, a man named Sirius Black. Next I met Professor Lupin; he was a former Hogwarts teacher. They told me he couldn't stay at the school because he was a werewolf. I took two large steps back from him when I heard this. Then I met Mad-eye Moody. The reason for his name was apparent the moment you saw him. He had a magical left eye that seemed to pierce right through you. And lastly, I met a rather unscrupulous wizard named Mundungus. He was the one who made the loud gunshot sound four days ago and apparently the same day Harry fought off Dementors. The rest of this time was spent explaining to Harry what he had missed over the summer and why he didn't get sufficient letters from his friends. Harry and I both learned that the little operation they had going here was called The Order of the Phoenix. They also told him the latest on what Voldemort was up to. From what I can remember, they said he had found a new weapon. Apparently he had already had a deadly weapon known as the Killing Curse (actual name: Advada Kadadva). After this we were shoed off to bed. And thus ends the rest of the explaining. Whew…

I was bunking with Hermione and Ginny. When I got to the room, my bed covers were rolled down and my pj's were lying there waiting for me. Ginny and Hermione got in bed and I lay down. The lights went out and then, just like I told Dumbledore, the fact I was a sorceress sank in, and I started screaming. The other girls woke with a start and asked me what was wrong. I had to give some form of excuse and I apologized. I then lay back down and then went to sleep.

A/N: Untill next time. Sorry there's like a lot of explaining in this chappy but it'll get more interesting trust me.- Hotaru-Chan