Last night was a lonely one. No one was by her and she was all-alone. She was still at home. Ice reached out across the bed. Eyes closed tight lost in memories. She couldn't understand all the feelings deep inside.

Her body shuddered in the night. No solace to be found. Closer and closer to her own madness she came. Until the very morning, and until the very break of dawn, she was lost and it was all the same.

Her eyes opened slowly. Her sheets were so soft and her mattress was a little saggy. It'd belonged to her mother's family for a very very long time. Jasmine mingled with the scent of decay. Some how the dust built up over centuries didn't detract from the old mahogany. It framed the room in a different type of light. Her family was old, her bloodline was strong, and she knew it.

She eased her way out of bed. Ice took her time removing the covers and she took special care to hide any bloodstains. Most of them were old. Probably from her last nightmare. Circumstances had forced her to pick up sewing, stealing, and the subtle art of incineration.

Having so many sisters made such things a necessity. Other wise she'd be teased to death for her lack of self-control. She wasn't in the mood for dealing with any of their bullshit right now. So she had to be extra careful.

Not that any of that mattered now. Kino was out doing who knows what, her mom was busy feeding on the lord of the house and self proclaimed hero Tsukune Aono, all of her other sisters were busy as well.

Ice pulled on a dress, pulled on socks, and slipped on her shoes. Then she left her room and headed to her bathroom to brush her teeth. Inside of said bathroom was an unexpected guest. A 1.9-meter tall unexpected guest.

"Hello Ice"

"Rin, what are you doing here?"

"Didn't your parents tell you yet?"

"Tell me what?"

Down the hall a door creaked open.

"Ice iz gots stuff te tell ya. Pleeze come ova here dearrrr"

"Is . . . is your dad okay?"

"He's just a little light headed. He'll recover in a bit"

"Isn't that how you got your-"

"Yes, yes it is. Now if you'll excuse me I need to see what he wants"

Ice left her bathroom and headed down the hall to her parents room. Her dad was leaning in the doorway. Obviously trying to hide his current state. But Ice knew from experience that if she so much as blew on him too hard he'd collapse like a house of cards.

"Ice there have been a few set backs with rebuilding the schools. Any who what you NEED TO KNOW is that you'll be going to a wizardly school"

"What do you mean?"

"Hogwarts. You are going to Hogwarts. I called up grandma Sendo to help you out. She'll tell you everything you need to know. Something like that. Good luck Ice. Daddy would love to talk to you but your little brother is hungry. Stay safe darling"

Aono tumbled back wards and hit the floor. Ice saw a blur of Navy blue shoot across the floor. Her little brother had escaped from his crib. Ice backed away slowly. She'd come up to deal with this later.

Ding-dong. That was the door. Ice sprinted to it and opened it as fast as she could. She needed something, anything, to help drown out the sound of her little brother's sloppy attempts at feeding.

"Ice, you've grown so much"

"Yes I-"

Fujiko wrapped her in a tight hug.

"I now that you've had a hard life but things are going to get better now. It's going to be all right. Just remember who you are and don't let any one forget it. You are braver then you know my dear"

"Thanks"

Fujiko slowly let go. Then she reached underneath her cloak and pulled out a stack of cards.

"These are very special Ice. Each of these cards contains a spell. I know it's not much but you a clever young woman. Many people may judge you for wielding this kind of magic. But they're just little shits who wouldn't know true magic if it fell on top of their head in a washtub."

"Yes Granny"

Fujiko smiled.

"Pack your things Ice. I'll wait here while you get ready. We'll come back to grab it later. Today we've got to go and pick out your school books"

Ice ran upstairs and started packing. She threw stuff into her trunk with vampiric speed. Thankfully her little brother had stopped feeding. Now all she could hear was her father's unconscious body being dragged across the floor.

With all deliberate haste Ice made her way back down the stairs. Rin was standing next to grandma Sendo now as well.

"Rin, you're coming too?"

"Yeah. Every one else has been sent to different schools. All expenses paid of course by your father. Also if we don't reveal our identities to any one or leave a massive pile of dead bodies then we get to skip our Human studies class next semester"

"That's good. I think."

Rin started smiling. Thank fully Granny Sendo spoke up before something got lit on fire.

" Are you ready?"

Ice nodded. Rin's smile some how split wider. Miss sendo pulled a very small broom from underneath her cloak which then lengthened to an average length.

Now Granny Sendo pulled off a smile that put Rins to shame.

"Get on and hold tight. Because things are about to get bumpy."

The average flight from Japan to London takes 12 hours. Granny Sendo covered the same distance in 10 minutes. Suck it All Nippon Airways!

"Here it is"

They had stopped outside a rather unassuming pub called the Leaky Cauldron. It looked like the place had definitely seen better days. Who can say when those better days might have been but they definitely weren't all that recent.

"So", said Fujiko, "How about we head in?"

They all hopped off the broom and entered the fine establishment. The inside was cozy and surprisingly free of dust. The barwoman had blonde hair and a smile on her face. Only two people were sitting at the bar. There was an policewoman with short blonde hair and a very attractive looking young man who both looked quite familiar.

Ice went a little bug eyed at the revelation. This whole thing had her father written all over it. She had to make sure though.

"Professor Victoria? Uncle Gin?"

Both of the turned around; bloody fantastic.

"Oh, so I see you all know each other then", commented the barwoman/ owner/ wife of Neville Longbottem and hufflepuff extraordinaire Hannah.

Fujiko sort of handled the situation, "These are teachers from my granddaughters old school. They just got their letters a little while ago. Looks like the Owls must have gotten lost"

Hannah polished a glass thoughtfully and spared a glance at Ice.

"Never heard of anything like that happening."

After a considerable amount of time Hannah finally finished polishing up that cup.

"I'm so sorry. Where are my manners? You look quite hungry. Is there anything I can get you?"

"Actually we're fine. I'm just taking them to go shopping for school supplies."

Hannah smiled and looked back towards Ice.

"Well I wish you all luck then. With any luck there won't be any giant snakes your year"

"Thanks", said Rin sincerely.

"Um . . . thanks", muttered Ice as visions of a thousand terrible possibilities raced through her mind. Her pupils started to dilate. Another image flittered into her mind. Blood stained hands and the scent of decay flittered in as well.

When Ice came to both Fujiko and Rin were walking away. She quickly followed. Did they notice? Did they know? Did they care?

Ice shook these thoughts off and watched Grandma sendo approach a wall of bricks. She walked up and tapped them with her wand in a counter clockwise order. The bricks shifted and moved aside to reveal the entrance to a very magical place: Diagon Alley.

Fujiko smiled, Rin balled her fists and started counting targets, and Ice's face lit up.

"This is amazing!"

She walked forwards. Her eyes wide open. Rin and Fujiko followed. There were so many witches here, and they were doing so many things, and she couldn't help but smile. Ice Aono was actually smiling.

"Where to", growled Rin.

"The second hand book store would be a good start", suggested Fujiko.

"I see it", shouted Ice.

"As do I", boomed Rin.

The taller girl took the lead. Every one in the path of Rin Shirayuki suddenly decided to take an alternate route. Because 100 plus kilograms of undiluted madness was charging forwards.

When Ice and Fujiko caught up they found themselves all standing outside the bookstore.

"Do we have money to pay for this?"

"Just barely. Here, take this.", Fujiko handed her a small pouch and the said, "You two enjoy yourselves in here. I'll take care of the rest"

Ice nodded and Fujiko departed. Rin meanwhile had already started staring at a nearby bookshelf. Many of the books where missing cover, others had exotic stains on them, and a curious mixture of cat piss intermingled with decade old leather accented the air.

Eventually it occurred to Ice that they didn't know what books to look for. Thankfully Fujiko had already returned with a big smile and two leather sacks.

"Is that everything we needed?"

Fujiko nodded.

Ice went to hand her the bag but she just shook her head. Fujiko handed them their respective sacks. They were about to leave when Fujiko smiled and pulled out another thing from under her cloak. It was a book with a green cover.

She pointed at Ice's sack, ice opened it, and she dropped the book inside. A little later they started walking away. Fujiko took them to Kings Cross station. Granny Sendo wasn't one for long farewells. So she just smiled and kissed them both on the forehead.

Tears glittered in her eyes as she waved goodbye. Rin and Ice followed the other kids leads by running through the magical column to platform 9 ¾. They were heading off into the unknown. A world of magic and wonder where anything was possible. Like their excruciatingly painful deaths or their slow decent into madness.

Isn't school exciting?

Character Bio

Name: Fujiko Sendo

Species: Witch

Height: ?

Weight: ?

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Purple

Build: She's beautiful on the inside and a wonderful person. That's what matters. ( slim, ordinary)

Psych Evaluation: Sane

Recommended Treatment: N/A

Other Pertinent Information: She is the mother of Yukari Sendo and is happily married to Tamanori Sendo. She's in her sixties but doesn't look a day over 34. But the first thing any one notices about her is her smile.