Disclaimer: I own nothing, just playing in a combined sandbox as it were.

Chapter 1

Nikki Shepard awoke in a very strange circumstance. Her last memory had been of that blasted child-like entity touching something and she disappeared. The rest was still fuzzy. Unfortunately, she wasn't in a position to even try and get back at that blasted entity. Like any good soldier did, she took stock of her situation and found that she was definitely not on the Citadel anymore. Now, she was lying in a bedroom in what appeared to be a group home for girls in the middle of London. She could tell that it was London due to the sight of the Parliament building and the Big Ben Clock tower.

Now, however, she was trying to understand why she was significantly shorter than her usual height of 5 feet 11 inches. She decided to head to where her bathroom would be, which oddly enough was a communal bathroom shared with the other girls on this floor. Making it to the bathroom, she noticed that a couple of the older girls were busy "freshening up" after a rather intense shower. Why she noticed this was beyond her, but oddly she thought nothing of it. She recalled the relations she'd had with . . . all of a sudden she couldn't remember much of anything prior to being blasted apart from the citadel and waking up here. It was like her mind was a blank slate and she was downloading new experiences through her cybernetics, only she didn't have any cybernetics. She didn't have much of anything from that future. All she had, after seeing herself in a floor-length mirror, was a much shortened stature, hair that stretched past her shoulders, and was pulled into a horse-tail. She also noticed that her face had a more youthful exuberance to it, and she could see a hint of mischief within those eyes. Those startlingly blue eyes that seemed to pop out of her face and into the world. Her hair was a different color all together. It was a strangely neon purple which made her think that she must have dyed it at some point. She also noticed a very much lacking area between her stomach and shoulders. While she didn't have much to be envious of in those terms, it was much of a point of contention between some of the girls who had started to develop at an early age, comparing their sizes. She decided to head down to the house matron in hopes she'd be able to help her understand what was going on, because she woke up this morning with a rather disturbing situation.

After she finished showering, her visit to the matron paid off. She discovered she was an early bloomer in one aspect of womanhood, while she might be a late bloomer in the other aspects. After a very thorough talk with the matron about what changes to expect and how to manage that monthly visit, she decided to take the Matron's advice and head out into London's shops to try and find some feminine products that she might prefer as opposed to what the house kept on hand. The Matron was busy, but one of the older girls, Kendra, was called on to take Nikki out.

Nikki and Kendra had so far, managed to strike up an impromptu friendship during their ride on the dreaded London Tube. They emerged in the shopping center, and Nikki Shepard discovered the joys of shopping with an "older sister."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," she groaned as Kendra took out her mobile phone and proceeded to snap a few pictures of Nikki in quite a few stunning outfits, many of which were too expensive, but thanks to the wonders of technology, camera phones were the best bet of preserving the memories they made on their journey. Nikki had managed to put on several halter-style dresses and also had donned quite a few hats, sun glasses, and other accessories. While all the money they had was going to be spent on getting Nikki hooked up with her feminine care products, they had been given permission by the house matron to spend the afternoon together in a kind of impromptu celebration of Nikki's departure from childhood and into the realm of womanhood. Kendra had always doted on Nikki throughout their time at the House, but only Kendra knew that. Nikki had had no recollection of events, apart from waking up that morning, remembering some of what she previously was, and forgetting the majority of stuff happening in the here and now.

"Come on, Nikki," chimed Kendra. "You've got to admit, in a few years and once you've filled out more, you'll be the envy of every girl in the House and the object of many boys' fantasies, maybe even a few girls, but one never knows."

Nikki turned a severe shade of red, though not quite literally. The candid talk coming from Kendra was enough to make her chuckle at the prospect of being attractive. She didn't think of herself as pretty, but on the whole, she was certainly cute. Especially when she wore her hair in a horse-tail or let it cascade in the ringlets that seemed to naturally occur if she undid the horse-tail. It was strange, here she was having a grand time with someone who had been almost a real sister to her and now, something was telling her it would be the last time she'd ever see this older girl.

After an afternoon spent window shopping and trying on extravagant clothes, the two of them made their way to a local pharmacy which came equipped with everything needed to meet the needs of women just starting menstruation. The two girls picked out what they needed, and headed back to the House. It was when they arrived at the House that the matron approached Kendra and told her that her case worker was here.

Kendra sighed, "Perhaps there's an offer of adoption, finally. I mean I really don't want to come back here ever again for a long period of time, but maybe to visit once in a while, to check up on my 'sisters' and see how they're doing."

"What're you talking about?" asked Nikki.

"This is a group home," said Kendra. "We're all orphans or somewhat. The Matron has been looking out for us for a while now, some more than others."

Nikki had no idea this was what she had to look forward to after waking up. She'd had a similar childhood growing up in Vancouver, but then she'd only had been by herself until she was 12, when the gang took her in and she had Jack to look out for, albeit a few months. Now, it looked like she was almost eleven and might be heading toward the same lifestyle, but the matron wasn't like the old orphanage keepers of the stories. She actually cared for her girls and used the money she received from the government to make sure they were all clothed well, and were well educated. She also made money on the side by renting out the rooms that were empty to women who needed a place to stay after escaping from domestic violence and who just needed a place to crash until they could get back on their feet. All told, it was well-established and honest business model.

Nikki headed back up to her bedroom and decided to get herself situated with these new-fangled products. Kendra had shown her how some of them worked, at least in theory without actual physical application. After getting herself situated, she crawled back into bed for what would turn out to be a two hour nap.

Waking up again, this time a little more naturally and more fully aware of her history within this existence, she tried to understand what the child-like entity was getting at.

"A chance to rediscover my humanity? He's seriously off his rocker if he thinks I'll be able to redeem my humanity. As I told him, I only care about one person's survival, mine!"

As she said this, the matron knocked on the door. "Nikki, post's here. Something for you, might be about that private school you applied to."

Nikki remembered that there had been an opportunity to get in on a scholarship to one of the prestigious private academies in all of the UK. All she had to do was apply and provide an accurate record of her grades, which were very well earned and achieved. She and the matron had finalized the application and had sent it via post to somewhere in Scotland. She hadn't expected a reply so quickly, it had only happened a week ago, so why would a response happen now, and not a few months down the road.

What Nikki didn't know was that the Matron was a squib who had recognized Nikki's potential and had contacted, through family channels, Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, to ascertain of Nikki was able to study there. Sure enough, Dumbledore had confirmed that Nikki's name was on the ever changing role of magical children in Britain. Now the waiting game had been going down for nearly eight years since Nikki was two.

Nikki headed up to her room and proceeded to sort through the post. Sure enough, there were letters from various schools around London who were recruiting her, but the one letter that she couldn't put down had a very strange way of addressing it. It simply read

Veronica Shepard
London House for Girls
Second Bedroom on Left Hall

The letter was definitely for her, and it was odd that something this specific had arrived in the standard post. Taking a minute to open the envelope, she discovered that there were two distinct letters. One was from a strange man named Albus Dumbledore and the other was from a woman named Minerva McGonagall, whoever they were, but it was the letter from Dumbledore that really threw Nikki for a loop. It read:

Dear Veronica Shepard

It was with an adulated heart that I welcome you first and foremost to this little pocket of the traverse. First and foremost I must impress on you the need for absolute secrecy. You can't tell anyone that you are from a different dimension, if you were to do that, then the very fabric of reality would be ripped apart and the dimensions wouldn't be able to hold together.

Secondly, I look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts this upcoming school year. In the second enclosed letter is what you'll need to purchase for the next academic year, as well as any future years in which you attend our illustrious school.

Thirdly, I must tell you that I totally empathize with your plight. You have done everything you can do to survive, even at the cost of those around you, but now it is something different that we are fighting for, apart from our survival. We are fighting to hold together the very fabric of our world. Already ideas are encroaching on our world that need to be put down and the status quo must be held.

Apart from all this, I look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts this year.

Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry etc.

It was totally strange to see this headmaster spout off facts that he didn't even know existed. For all that this professor knew, there was already a Nikki Shepard who was an orphan whose name appeared on the rolls for the school, but to hear some of the thoughts that were intrinsic to her psyche spouted back to her, it was like a dam had been destroyed. The entire memory of the war with the Reapers came flooding back. Her battles with Sovereign, Saren, the Collectors, and her subsequent court-martial, all came flooding back. Now, she looked at the letter with a grim determination. It seemed that Albus had the same idea she did. Anything and everything is secondary, the first thing that matters is your own survival. Only in the back of her mind, she recalled what the child-like entity had said. "Your humanity is still there, but sadly, you need a bit of a refresher in what it means to protect someone. As such, you are given a chance for a new existence. This will be your only second chance."

Who exactly would she be protecting, and if so, from whom? These questions burned their way through her mind as she settled down for the night.

Upon waking up, she suddenly felt strange, as if there was something burning along her nervous system, and she had one splitting headache. Vaguely she recalled having experienced this when she first woke up on after being revived thanks to the Lazarus Project, but this felt entirely worse, not only did it feel like she was going to have a massive Eezo explosion, but there was also the distinct possibility that something would happen to those around her if she were to head down to the communal kitchen and help herself to breakfast.

Not many people were aware of what Nikki was feeling. How could she tell the Matron that she was experiencing something far worse than morning cramps? After all, it had only been yesterday that she'd finally started blossoming. Now unfortunately, the second stage of having her Eezo capabilities awakening was feeling not only the energy from her body going out the window, as it were, but also her metabolism would shoot sky high. Breakfast sounded like a good idea now, and a lot of protein would be needed.

Slowly, she made her way down the stairs from her room to the kitchen, slowly nodding to some of the younger girls lining the balustrade. These girls were getting ready for an outing for their age group, but Nikki had little time to worry about that, she needed food now.

Upon entering the dining room, she smelled the smoked kippers and eggs, along with toast and English muffins. She sat down in her normal chair, and waited for the Matron to return from the smoke house with the newest batch of kippers. Fortunately enough, she didn't have long to wait. Many other girls had arrived by now and were slowly making their way towards the table. Nikki knew that among the older girls, the kippers would hardly be touched, so that left more for her.

After everyone was organized and some semblance of "grace" had been said over the meal, Nikki helped herself to kippers and eggs, loading her plate generously.

"Come to think of it," said the Matron, addressing Nikki. "This is the first time I've seen you eat that much."

"I woke up this morning feeling very hungry."

"Well, they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so dig in as much as you want. Also, one of the professors is coming by to take you shopping for supplies."

Nikki was caught off guard by this, but thought about it. It would make sense for a school as prestigious as Hogwarts, to have some very rare materials needed for their academia and whatnot. More to the point, Nikki felt uncertain about navigating a world that she didn't know, but fortunate for her, her required response had been sent by the Matron. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the professor to show up.

((O))

Professor McGonagall was having a bit of a hard time adapting to all the changes that came about during the last 10 years. Had it really been 10 years since the fateful night of dropping young Harry Potter off at his Aunt and Uncle's house? She didn't let her mind dwell on the past, especially since she had to navigate the London Tube with at least one charge and her family today. Thankfully, her first charge on her shopping trip turned out to be Muggleborn, and she helped Professor McGonagall navigate the intricate system that is the London Tube. After a while, they came to a station just south of City Center, and made for the London House for Girls.

Minerva really didn't like it leaving the castle. It just showed her that she was indeed getting old, well more well-preserved than anything. She didn't much care for the attitude of her young charge, one Hermione Granger. Hermione was busy playing with that square metal thing and listening to some strange piece of electronic mumbo jumbo while patiently waiting for the queues to finally move.

It seemed strange to her that there would be a distinct gap between the wizarding world and the mundane world that existed all around them. Now, there was this new thing called WiFi that made talking to people take very little time at all, almost similar to the Floo calls that she was used to, but not so old fashioned. Sadly enough, while she was fascinated by all things muggle, Hogwarts was still a place where muggle technology, apart from a very old phonograph and a few odd radios, didn't work at all. How the new batch of muggle born or muggle-raised would cope with a drop in technology was something that she was looking forward to seeing.

The four of them, Minerva, Drs. Granger, and Hermione, finally reached the front stoop of the London House for girls. Minerva thought it looked eerily like Grimmauld Place, but the houses were Georgian in their style, so more than anything, there was consistency and uniformity to the houses on the street, something she admired. She approached the knocker, and waited a few minutes until the woman, simply known as the Matron, answered the door.

"Lovely to see you again, Minerva," said the Matron.

"Nice to see you to, Hilda."

"I take it you've come to collect young Nikki?"

"Indeed I have. I also have another charge with me, so we'd best be on our way."

"Nikki, the Professor's here."

"Coming Matron."

Professor McGonagall was startled to see a young woman coming down the stairs and out into the foyer of the house. She was roughly the size that an eleven year old girl should be, but the startlingly blue eyes seemed to hold memories that somehow made her seem older than she physically was. Her vibrant neon purple hair also made her stand out. There was also something inherently powerful about this girl, like you didn't want to get on her bad side, whether you were in authority over her or not.

Hermione Granger also noticed the new girl, and almost immediately dropped her cell-phone.

"Nikki?!" she exclaimed.

"Mia?!" exclaimed Nikki in almost the same amount of shock.

Both girls stared at each other for the longest time, almost an eternity before Hermione rushed forward and enveloped the young girl in a style of hug that would eventually be named after her.

Nikki was already shedding tears, although she didn't know why. Oddly enough, a small part of her mind made sense of the reaction. Evidently, she and Hermione had attended the same primary school together, and the two of them had been really good friends, despite Nikki's reputation as a bully, and Mia's reputation as a loner and a bookworm. Just another example of how opposites attract, as it were. Hermione had been there for her after Nikki's parents had died some two years prior. It had been a very difficult time for her, now realizing she was an orphan, but Hermione made the pain all the more bearable, and she had bonded with the girl one day in the library of all places.

Yet why did it seem that Hermione was a complete stranger to Nikki? It was because the Nikki that Hermione knew was no more, and the Nikki that took her place was really a 34 year old ruthless woman who would stop at nothing to protect herself, even at the cost of her friends, but that didn't matter now. She recognized that small bit of her that needed some girl companionship and Hermione provided that in spades. Maybe this experience wouldn't be so bad after all.

Shortly after the tear-filled reunion, the two students, with Professor McGonagall and Drs. Granger made their way to a very old decrepit watering hole called the Leaky Cauldron. Minerva guided them through the majority of the shops and through getting the British Pound exchanged for Wizarding Currency, Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts to name the coins needed for standard wizarding prices. For Nikki the trip seemed to blur by except for one stop in particular, which she made by herself. Hermione and her parents were still caught up in Flourish and Blotts bookstore, so Professor McGonagall took Nikki to Ollivander's Wand shop.

Upon entering the store, a very decrepit old man greeted both Minerva and Nikki. If it weren't for Nikki remembering that she was in the body of an eleven year old girl, she would've reacted the same way any former soldier would, eliminate any surprise to your environment and ask questions later.

"Hello Professor McGonagall, how's your wand faring after all these years? Nine-and-a-half inches, made of fir, dragon heartstring as the core, very fitting for a Transfigurations Mistress."

"My wand has suited me fine these last few years, but we're not here to debate the best woods and cores devoted to transfiguration. I'm here with young Nikki Shepard. She's attending Hogwarts on scholarship, and she needs her wand. Be quick about it, old man."

"You don't need to get uptight," muttered Ollivander as he made his way back into the stacks.

After several tries of varying types of wands, including a wand made from Sequoia, a rather rare wood for Britain, they couldn't find a wand that was suited for her.

"Well, this is curious. Normally we would've found something by now, but then again, it is the wand that chooses the wizard," said Ollivander after the 20th wand that they tried, a holly and phoenix feather, not to be confused with the other infamous one he had sold yesterday to the Boy-who-Lived.

Most of the wands they tried had been, apart from the Sequoia wand, rather indelicate for what Nikki needed. She thought it might have something to do with the powers she had coursing through her nervous system that might have hindered her wand choice, but sadly, Garrick was at a loss.

"I'm sorry, but there is no way that I can provide a wand for you, Miss Shepard. We've gone through most of our stock, and I'm the only wand maker who adheres to Ministry-approved methods. Any other wands you get will either have to be imported from overseas or found in Knockturn Alley, and I wouldn't recommend that."

"What kind of wands are made around the world?" asked Nikki.

"There are varying kinds of wands that are made throughout the world, and many trees are capable of being made into wands. The Chinese, for example, the wild regions often utilize the Gingko trees for their wands, and more often than not, they are crafted by local shamans who need to heal their charges cores. Another wand that is a very good Chinese export is Plum wood, but sadly, we don't see a lot of that over here.

Now, America has quite a few good trees that are very good for use in all sorts of wands and even magical staves as well. I knew a member of the First Nations among our Canadian cousins who favored a Sequoia staff with at least 5 different heartstrings from dragons, all of whom were gathered from around the world. That staff was among the most powerful I've seen, but it was cumbersome and was only utilized as a last resort, since he also had a wand made from Maple and holding a few pieces of Fairy wings as its core.

My best bet would to recommend trying out one of the American shops that is located near the Magical Embassies. They are almost caddy-corner to Gringotts, and since Gringotts global headquarters is here, it made sense that the Magical Embassies would be there."

With that in mind, Minerva headed off to collect the Grangers and return Nikki to the House for Girls in London, but Minerva said she would stop by the American Import shop after fetching the Grangers from Flourish and Blotts.

Nikki wandered around Diagon Alley for a few hours while Professor McGonagall was gone. She made her way past the various shops and eventually found herself in the Magical Embassies. It seemed that no matter where you went, in the traverse, or in Magical Britain, politicians were still the same, full of hot air and only enjoyed the fruits of their own success. She made her way past the various official embassies, and found herself in the American Import shop. There were several devices that helped with magic and had been developed by this company called Microsoft. Somehow, these devices would work in even the most magically saturated environments, having been tested out at Hogwarts by an American exchange student some twenty years previously.

"Fine selection you have here," said Nikki as she recognized a lot of the base technology behind the devices.

"Thanks, but these are just proto-types. We're working on developing something that, if it gets medical approval, will significantly end the need for wheelchairs all over America."

"Why are you marketing them over here if its muggle technology?"

"It's one of the few ways that muggle science and wizardry have managed to blend together. We're also currently working on something to harness the energy that almost all magical people put out. We've isolated the element, and discovered that there is no element that exists within our known periodic table. We've been trying to come up with a name, but so far we've only assigned it a periodic number, which is zero."

Shepard did a double-take. So it was the Americans around this time that had started to get the ball rolling on researching the effects of Eezo. Still she thought that the implants were almost prototypes of the L1 implants that had been off the market for the better part of half a century, but sadly, she would have to deal with Eezo emissions in her own time.

"Do you guys sell anything along the lines of actual wands and not these technological mock-ups?"

"Yes we do, we have a fair selection of wands made from many indigenous trees, including the Sequoia, the Oak, the Maple, and also one wood that's very dear to me, Rowan. I've made so many wands out of Rowan that it's become a hot seller for me, in both the Domestic and the foreign markets."

"Would you have one that I can try?"

The shopkeeper went back into his stacks and pulled out a rather interesting case. The case was almost like that of a sword scabbard, but due to the length of the wand itself, it needed a sheath in order to keep its power down and in check.

"Go ahead have a wave."

Nikki pulled the wand out of the sheath and almost immediately, the cores sprang to life and sparks shot out of the end, almost catching fire to the other wands, but a quick splash of water from the shop vendor kept anything significant damage from happening.

"I've never seen a reaction like that in a while," said the shop vendor. "Almost makes it worth the price that I'd be asking, but that one is a rare one for me. A tri-cored, interwoven dragon heartstring core, modeled after a pirates' cutlass and standing at a length of about 13 and a half inches. Made of Rowan so it is inherently flexible, since the wood was often used for the bows of medieval soldiers."

Nikki immediately fell in love with the wand. She could feel an almost psychic connection to the wand, almost as if the cores were acting as her old L5 implants, helping her become accustomed to the Eezo that was almost pouring out of her body now.

Nikki paid somewhere around 20 Galleons and some change for the wand. The vendor threw the sheaf and a belt as complimentary items for no charge, since he had carried that particular wand for nearly 30 years without selling it.

Nikki made her way back through the maze of international shops that lined the walls of the Magical Embassies. Arriving just outside Flourish and Blotts, she made contact with Professor McGonagall and arrived back in time to see Hermione laden down with a lot of books.

"Ever the bookworm, I see."

"You love your books to, but there's a bit of disconnect between someone reading them to you, and you actually reading them yourself."

"Hey, I like listening to those stories, sadly I don't have the time to read them, especially when I was playing bodyguard to you during our elementary days."

Hermione would've brought a pointless debate about whether or not that time should be called Primary or Elementary, depending on what side of the pond you came from, but Drs. Granger had finally had enough and insisted that they return to their house. Professor McGonagall was all for this, and with purchases in hand or in Hermione's trunk, the five set out from the Leaky Cauldron and proceeded back to their places of residence.

Well, there's Chapter 1. Thank you so much for the response that this story is getting. A couple things I want to point out, while Shepard is slowly regaining some of her memory from her previous self, there will be memories that are planted into her brain to help her make the connections that others will have with her, especially Hermione. Next Chapter will focus on the arrival at Hogwarts and having Nikki meet Harry for the first time.