The sun streamed in through the curtains and I groaned slightly before rolling out of bed. It takes me a few seconds to realize where I am and the events of the previous day come crashing down on me. I am a witch and I'm going to a magical school. I can't help but smile even though I had only been to school up until I was eight and had run away. I get up and go look at the clock to see it is seven thirty and decide I ought to look over my school stuff so that I can try and catch up. I decide I'll go in alphabetical order so I grab the Astronomy books and star charts. I poor through the book and chart and find that I already know all the required stars and can identify them and their constellations. Star gazing has really paid off. I spend about a half hour refreshing and then close the book putting it away. No sooner than I put the book away a small elf like creature appears with a tray of breakfast foods. I think back to yesterday and realize that this must be a house elf.

I look at them as they place the tray down saying they got food for the young mistress. I am slightly puzzled by this but decide they would be easier to ask questions to that Professor Snape. I gently speak to the house elf "My name is Lotus, what is yours?" The house elf looks a little surprised but then responds back "Slippy, Young mistress" I then continue on "I'm new here and I was wondering if I may ask you a few questions." The elf nods its head up and down eagerly saying "Slippy is very helpful, Slippy can answer questions". I decide to start off with "What exactly is a house elf and what do you do?" Slippy responded "Slippy and other house elves live to serve our masters; we can do almost anything if it pleases our masters." I nod at this before continuing "What exactly are the four different houses?" Slippy quickly answers "Students are separated into houses based on personality and traits; they then compete with other house to win points for the house cup." I decide not to ask too much at once so I thank Slippy for the meal and she promptly leaves. I finish the food before going back to my books.

Since I think I have a grasp on most of the Astronomy stuff I decide to move on to Charms. I opened the book and the first thing that caught my eyes was a spell called leviosa. It would make things levitate. I took out my wand and pointed at the book saying leviosa and I watched as the book shakily floated in the air. I then gently made it land and started to jump around in glee as I realized that I could truly do magic. I realize how stupid I was being at such a little thing and sat back down before I would make a fool of myself. Sure no one is here but I would die of embarrassment if anyone ever saw me like that. I look up at the clock to see it's already eleven so I decide to start just skimming the stuff to get the jist of things before dinner. I open up the Defense against the dark arts book and realize that first years are mainly reading and learning materials and I already know it would be pointless to try the spells with no one to tell me if I did it right or not. Next up alphabetically would be the flying pamphlet but I simply skip it. I skim the Herbology textbook and realize it's all about taking care of certain plants so I set it aside to read later. History of Magic's textbook is also set aside to read later and I was getting ready to move on until Slippy appeared once again with a tray of food. I thank Slippy again and she disappears. I look down in surprise and realize it's a sandwich and somehow it was made just how I like it right down to the ton of jalapenos on it. I make a mental note to ask how Slippy knew what I liked to eat.

I once again move back to my work as I eat. It's already twelve thirty and I want a chance to look over the last three subjects before dinner. I open up Magical theory to realize all it is reading so I set it aside with the others I plan to read from latter. Potions are next alphabetically but I want to save that for last so I can spend the most time on it. I open up the transfiguration book and a matchstick falls out and I read the section on it before trying to turn it into a needle. I try my hardest but only manage to turn it grey and hard, I hadn't been able to change the shape. I can feel it straining me to try and use this much magic so I stop and look at the clock once more. It was already two and I had no clue what time dinner would be so I decide to just look through everything for Potions until then.

I open up the book and start reading about a plant called Aconite. I grab some parchment and an ink bottle and quill from the pile of things and decide to take notes. Aconite is also known as monkshood and wolfsbane. The leaves are extremely toxic while the flowers are extremely useful in potion making. The roots are also helpful in potion making. One of the most known uses of Aconite is in a Wolfsbane potion. I decide to try and find out more on this potion so I flip through the text book only to find a few things out. One of those things was that it is a potion to alleviate the effects of lycanthropy. It does not cure it but if taken every day for a week before the full moon it allows the werewolf to keep their sanity while transformed. I realize with shock that not only witches and wizards are real but werewolves as well. Then there's house elf's and probably so many more things I haven't even learned about. I continue reading with renewed vigor at the realization of how amazing all of this is. I also learned that the Wolfsbane Potion tastes disgusting and that nothing can be done about it because adding sugar negates the effects. I also found out the finished potion has a light blue smoke and that it can be extremely dangerous if brewed wrong because of the toxicity of Aconite. I turn back to the page on Aconite and continue reading it to find out it is also used in the Awakening potion also known as the Wideye potion. This potion prevents a person from falling asleep and can be used to wake one up from slumber or concussions. This potion is used as an antidote to the Draught of the Living Death. Draught of the living Death is used to put someone into a deep indefinite sleep. It is extremely hard to brew just as all the previous potions mentioned. I look over the information before realizing the only things I needed to know was the use of the Aconite and that it is the same thing as wolfsbane and monkshood. I just couldn't help myself though it was just so interesting I had to keep reading. I already know this will be my favorite subject and can't wait to actually learn to brew. I'm pulled out of my thoughts as there is a gentle knock on the door before I quickly stand to go open it.

As I open the door I notice it is the man with the long white beard, Headmaster Dumbledore if I remember correctly. He has a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes as he asks if he can come in. I nod quickly before allowing him in and heading back to my seat at the table. I blush slightly at the fact that the table is covered with my notes and the opened potions book. I should have picked it up or been neater. I quickly glance at the clock and see that it is a quarter to five. Dumbledore smiles at me before asking how I am adjusting. I respond back with as little words as possible but still enough to avoid asking for clarification "I'm still a little shocked at the events but have seemed to transition quite well. I already have looked over all my classes and have taken an interest in a few."

Dumbledore nods and says "Ms. Lapis I know you had lived in an orphanage and then on the streets but are you at all aware of who your parents were." I look up and nod slightly before saying the names I had only ever seen on paper "Sophia Glen and Luke Lapis "The headmaster then asks me if I would be prepared to hear about them and I nod my head once more, I never knew them and I had long since stopped caring who they were but I couldn't help the curiosity. The headmaster then goes on to say "Both of your parents were pure blooded wizards making you a pureblood as well. Some people are very prejudiced against those that are not and have muggle blood. Your parents were part of a group called Death Eaters and they followed a man named Lord Voldemort. They persecuted those that were not pure blooded and committed many atrocious acts including murder. Your parents latter turned to the side of the light by trying to flee, in that time you were born. They hid you but were later captured and killed by Lord Voldemort. They were both the last of their line and as such you have inherited both of their vaults, those are basically what you would know as bank accounts. As they were both the last of their lines however you have no living relatives so you shall still remain a ward of Hogwarts." He takes a breath before finishing with "In order for this to work we will need honesty between you and the staff that will be acting as your guardians, I have been honest with you and told you everything I know and I ask that you return that kindness by always being honest with us. Understand?" I nod my head and Say "Of course" followed by a quiet "Thank you for telling me."

Dumbledore then looks at the time and says Dinner will be served in just a few minutes and you shall meet the rest of the staff." He gets up and motions for me to follow him into the common room. All around seated is those I can only assume are the professors at Hogwarts. All of them go silent as they see me following Dumbledore out into the common room. The headmaster doesn't even seem to notice though as he merrily claps his hands before saying "As you can all see we have a guest for dinner today" With a twinkle in his eyes he continued on "Well not so much a guest as a new resident. As many of you know it has been years since there was a ward of Hogwarts. Well this is no longer the case. I would like to introduce you to Lotus Lapis." Hushed murmurs traveled through the crowd as I stood next to the Headmaster.

After a minute Dumbledore got everyone's attention once more. "I would like us all to introduce ourselves to Ms. Lapis and she will do the same as well. Now let's see when you introduce yourself say your name, position and if you wish a fact about yourself." Dumbledore then turned to me smiling brightly as he says "My name is Albus Dumbledore and as you already know I am the Headmaster, One interesting thing about me is that my familiar Fawkes is a Phoenix." He then looked around the room expectantly as other professors followed his lead. All of the professors took their turn and I was starting to have a hard time remembering who was who. Dumbledore then looked at me before telling me to say a little about myself. I decide to be short and sweet so I state "I am Lotus Lapis and I only just found out I was a witch when I happened to be caught doing magi after arriving in London from my aeroplane flight." The headmaster then informs everyone that I will be catching up all of the first year classes so that I may start the year as a second year, where I would have been had I came to London a year earlier. He informs everyone that a schedule will be made with all the times I will meet up with professors after everyone has a meeting together on what the rules and expectations will be for me as a ward of Hogwarts. Dumbledore then claps his hands as trays of food appear on everyone's lap. He then says in a jolly tone "Now that that's out of the way let us eating."

I sat down in a seat next to Dumbledore when he motioned for me to sit. The table then filled with a couple of the more curious professors. They sat around and talked about their summers, students and new curriculum. One man however seemed to be getting on most of the other professors nerves. His name was Gilderoy Lockhart and he was annoyingly loud and boasted of a great many adventures. I may not know a lot about this new world I've found myself in but know no one could have done as much as he says because all of the skills he boasted of where on completely different sides of the spectrum. Not to mention he was a terrible liar and on his more exuberant tails he would almost always be tracing small circles on his palm. Judging by the other professor's reactions they were also aware that this man was spouting pure nonsense. From what I could gather from the conversation he was a new teacher this year and I couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't get one better than this annoying man.

I spoke up for the first time since dinner started to talk to the man who's voice was beginning to grate on my nerves. "Professor Lockhart you are simply outstanding, If only every wizard was amazing as you are." I start it out as pure flattery and this surprises almost everyone at the table that these would be the first things I have voluntarily said. The professor seems to have fallen for it though as he begins to speak "Alas dear child there can only be one wizard of my caliper" I quickly interject "Professor Lockhart It's my understanding you are the new DADA professor and not the charms professor it would be an honor if you could tell me a simple spell, I know I will not be able to get it right away as I am no doubt nowhere near as great a wizard as you were at my age but could you perhaps tell me the word to a simple charm, perhaps one that silences those it is cast upon?" Nearly all the professors are looking on curiously at the exchange and I can't help but notice that Professor Snape has a slight smirk as though he knows what I am doing. Professor Lockhart beams as he goes on "There is a silencing charm but it is extremely advanced magic for one your age, but I suppose I could tell you about it, I would hate to disappoint a fan. The word one must use is silencio while pointing their wand at the intended target. If done correctly it leaves the target temporarily mute."

I realize the best way to get this to work is to continue flattering him. "Oh my, that sounds so hard but I bet you do it with ease. I wish I could be as great as you, W-would you allow me the honor of trying to cast this charm on you? I know I'll likely fail since I'm not a prodigy like you were but it would be such an honor." He easily takes the bait by saying "This is a difficult charm for even some 5th years let alone a witch who just found out what she was but I suppose I could take you under my wing and allow you to try it out on me" I gently take out my wand and remember what it had felt like to do magic earlier and how that when I knew I would make the book float it had been so much easier. I take my wand out and use as much magic as I can muster before pointing my wand at the annoying man and saying "Silencio" without a single doubt in my mind that it would work. Lockhart simply looks at me before getting ready to tell me some drivel about how not everyone can be like him but to the surprise of almost half the table not a word comes out.

Professor Snape's smirk seems to grow slightly at the fact I had actually pulled it off and I smiled before announcing to the table in a barely veiled sarcasm that I knew Professor Lockhart wouldn't be able to pick up on "It's such a shame we won't be able to hear anymore of Professor Lockhart's stories, he must have been such a great teacher that I was able to pull that off" A few of the professors laughed as they realized that I had only been trying to shut him up discreetly. I suddenly am caught off guard by how exhausted I feel after casting such an intense spell. I nearly pass out but manage to stay seated while slowly finishing my meal. It must be from all of the stuff I had been doing. After I had learned my disappearing trick, no apparating, it got easier with practice but the first few times I had passed out shortly after along with bouts of nausea so I should have expected it but it still didn't help matters.

I gain back a little energy from the meal and am delighted my charm is still in effect for during the meeting on the rules and expectations I will have to follow. Everyone's trays are banished and Dumbledore once again stand up asking what rules anyone thinks should be applied. By the end of it they had basically said all the school rules plus a few other expectations they expected me to follow. These included that all Homework I have needs to be done in advance and that I should have one of the teachers look it over so I can make corrections before turning it in. Another was that they expected me to have at least an hour's worth of studying in the teacher's common room every day so that they know I am actually doing it. They also said that over holidays when students are allowed to go home that if I wish I may bring my friends into my room assuming I ask for permission first. They had been clear that unless given permission I should never be allowing other students into the common room and that when I do have permission I must not let them see the password. It was also decided that while in the common room I may call the professors by their actual name or last name depending on their preference and that I don't need to call them professor while in the common room, in class and such I still had to but not in the more casual social settings. The last but most important rule they gave was that if one of them asked me to do something within reason it was expected I would do it and be respectful. Overall I had no objections to any of the rules other than the fact that I would have so many people I would have to listen to.

Dumbledore then went onto what should be done if I break any rules and he began by asking me what I thought appropriate punishments would be. I sat and thank about it for a few minutes and began with "For something that's not as serious and is more related to something done at school I think I should simply get the detention I would get if I were just another student, however if it is not as minor I would say go ahead and ground me to where all I can really do is stay in my dorm room, library, this common room or my room here or simply shorten my time to hang out with friends by saying I have to be in my room by a certain time. For anything that is bigger you could always ground me to staying in my room here and not going to my dorm in whichever house I am placed while also banning me from things that are not school related." Dumbledore and the majority of the other teachers look surprised by the fact I was willing to come up with my own punishments without trying to cheat my way out by saying something easy that wouldn't actually bother me. He then looks at the other professors asking if everyone agreed to the listed punishments. Everyone agrees although they added to it that should something be proving ineffective they could modify the punishment. I had no problems with it and was starting to have a hard time staying awake. I had used a ton of energy casting that spell and now it was truly starting to get to me without having more food to snack on.

Dumbledore then dismissed all the professors that wouldn't need to help me catch up as they planned out when I would be meeting up with whom. I started to zone out as my vision blurred and I finally passed out from the exhaustion and from all the energy that was drained from that spell earlier.

Dumbledore

As we moved onto scheduling for the month before school to catch Lotus up I can't help but smile as I see her getting ready to pass out from over exerting herself. It's not very often such a young witch can cast a spell like that let alone stay awake throughout the last of dinner and her new rules. I'll have to make sure we don't plan anything tomorrow morning as she's likely to sleep till lunch. After she has fallen asleep I inform all of the staff to her situation in more detail so that there will be no confusion.

After all is said and done all of the professors had taken out their first year syllabuses, course work and notes on what exactly is said in lectures and then piled them together. They each gave a list of times they would be available for help if she came to see them. They also made adjustments to their syllabuses so that if she followed them every day she would manage to finish the courses three days before school starts back up. They also left instructions on where to leave the homework assignments to be graded. All and all it had been a very productive night. With that he dismissed all the teachers.

Dumbledore took out his wand and organized everything based on classes and levitated it to her bedroom and on her desk. He however had also added Hogwarts a History to the pile with a note saying if she wished to know more about the school that the book would be a good place to start. He also added the direction to the library on the note so that if she needed anything for researching her assignments. As he came back out to pick up the girl to place her in bed he was surprised to see Severus had already levitated her to bring her to bed. He raises his eyebrow at Severus and he states with a scowl "It's simply my way of thanks for getting that bumbling dunderhead of a professor to shut up." With a twinkle in his eyes Dumbledore left the common room to head to his own room that was connected to his office.