FicWad

Some things remain similar, others are drastically different. There is a method to my madness and those reasons will be clear when the time is right. After all, I can't reveal my hand all at once. Now on with the show.

Chapter Two: Letters and Surprises:

Some time had passed since that fateful night where Lily and James Potter had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. Nearly ten years as a matter of fact. It was exactly a week before the birthday of the Potter twins, even though only one had an idea that they had a twin and around this time the letters would be sent off for Hogwarts, for the first time in ten years the Girl-Who-Lived would be returning to the Wizarding World. Some were anticipating her arrival but others yet were skeptical that a witch could live up to the lofty standards that they expected from someone who had beaten He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Andromeda sighed as she walked down the hallway, after another futile attempt to have someone check up on Elizabeth, to see if she was as safe at the home of her guardians as Dumbledore claimed her to be. She hoped that Harry’s twin was happy and healthy, but something had caused her to be extremely skeptical about her circumstances. So every year ever since Elizabeth had been sent off to live with those Muggles, Andromeda had sent a request to the Ministry, asking someone to check up on her. And those in charge had told her that they would look into the matter, but they were extremely busy. It was months before she heard back and it was the same thing every year. It was a bunch of politically constructed reasoning why they could not do this, but basically they had denied her request time and time again.

Andromeda had even written to Dumbledore, who obviously knew where Elizabeth was since he activated the protections around the Dursley residence, to check up on her. Dumbledore responded, reassuring Andromeda that the Potter girl was safe, but never offered concrete evidence that eased her mind. Ever since Andromeda had told Harry the truth about his past when he was eight years old, he insisted on wanting to meet his twin. She had to tell him about Dumbledore’s roll in the girl’s living arrangements and her uneasy about Petunia and her husband, to completely reassure her adopted son that it was unfortunately out of her hands, legally at least. At times, she thought about trying to get Elizabeth through less than legal means, but decided against it. She would do Harry and Nymphadora no good if she had been sent to Azkaban.

Right now, Nymphadora was still sleeping upstairs, tomorrow she would leave for her first year of Auror Training. Andromeda decided to let her sleep, she would have to learn the hard way that she could not stay up too late at night as Auror trainees had to get up at four o’clock in the morning and work until ten o’clock at night for the first year of training, with short fifteen minute breaks for meals. It was a grueling career, but it paid well enough and N.E.W.Ts required for it allowed a person to transition into another career, should being an Auror not work out. As a mother, Andromeda worried about the dangers of being an Auror, but it was a consolation that there was not a Dark Lord currently plaguing Britain, so it was not like Nymphadora would have to fight anything too dangerous for the foreseeable future.

As for Harry, he was currently outside in the backyard, with his two best friends, Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley. His other friend, Luna Lovegood, was currently on holiday with her father. Over the years, Andromeda had mended the fences with her sister Narcissa, despite Andromeda’s distrust of Narcissa’s husband Lucius. Andromeda had only saw Lucius twice, as he was away with either his work on the Hogwarts Board of Governors or his advisory role, so it was not much of a strain on her recently repaired relationship with her sister. Draco and Harry had fallen into a friendship, after some initial distrust on both sides, as it seemed that Draco had no friends, unless one counted on the children of his father’s old friends, and Harry always seemed a bit reserved on who he trusted. Still both sisters agreed that Harry would be a good influence on Draco, as he had often had a bit of an arrogant attitude thanks to Lucius’s lofty expectations at what he wanted his son to achieve.

As for Ginny, well, Andromeda had introduced Harry to the Weasleys, thinking that he might hit it off with the youngest boy, Ron, as they were the same age. Perhaps it was the fact that Ron was an obsessed fan of the Chudley Cannons, a team Harry thought of as an absolute joke. Or perhaps it was the fact that Ron was obsessed with Elizabeth Potter or to be more accurate, the Girl-Who-Lived, despite never meeting her in his life. Of course, the fact that Harry squashed Ron in a game of chess the one time they played, causing Ron to throw a fit at being beaten in a game that he never lost. Most likely, it was a combination of all three factors that caused them to not hit it off. However, Harry had formed a friendship with Ginny, who had sympathized with Harry’s irritation of Ron’s immaturity. Plus they liked reading about magic and enjoyed flying, but were not obsessed with Quidditch like Ron was, so they had a bit in common.

It took a while for Draco and Ginny to become comfortable around each other, as Draco had been told by his father whenever he was around about all the families that were blood traitors and the Weasleys were at the top of the list. Ginny had also overheard some things that were not exactly too complimentary to the Malfoys either. Still, Harry was patient in helping the two work out whatever distrust they had for each other, after all, he did want his two friends to get along and thankfully within time they did. Luna had already been friends with Ginny, due to them being the only two girls in walking distance of each other and had meshed well enough with their group and also offered Luna friends to get through a tough time, the accidental death of her mother.

Right now, Harry, Draco, and Ginny sat in chairs in the background, as Draco and Harry were a little month away from attending their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even though Ginny had a year to go before she got to go, she still enjoyed talking about what classes she looked forward to, based on what she had learned from the experiences of her five oldest brothers at Hogwarts.

“Okay, we’re pretty much in agreement that Potions and Defense are the most useful classes, at least in the first year, with Runes and Arithmancy being up when we get to choose new one’s in third year, and History of Magic is the Wizarding World’s attempt to cure insomnia,” concluded Ginny. “So what house do you think you’ll be in?”

“Slytherin obviously, every Malfoy for the past nine generations has been in that house and most of them before that,” said Draco without really thinking, causing Harry and Ginny to both sigh in exasperation.

“Yes, that’s nice, but which house do you think you’ll be in?” asked Ginny.

“Really, it is hard to imagine myself to be in any other house, but Ravenclaw might not be all that horrifying,” admitted Draco. “What about you Harry?”

“You know what I think of the Hogwarts house system,” said Harry lightly.

“That you think it helps encourage the stereotypes that are already too common in the Wizarding World,” replied Draco. “Yes, I think that you might have mentioned it once or twice or a dozen times.”

“Well, Harry does have a point, there are people who are cunning who aren’t in Slytherin, smart people not in Ravenclaw, brave people not in Gryffindor, and plenty of loyal people who aren’t in Hufflepuff,” said Ginny. “Some people who go into a house, because there family has been there for generations. Mum expects that we’ll all go in Gryffindor, so both her and Dad have basically encouraged us to want to be put there.”

“That’s just the thing, all houses have their positives and there negatives, truthfully one can’t be better than the other,” said Draco. “Father even said as much, even though he concluded that Slytherin’s drawbacks are less of a negative than the other three houses.”

“So, back on the subject, I think I can easily go into any of the four houses,” admitted Harry, even though he was really wanted to Gryffindor, because his birth parents had been there and had a feeling that his sister would be told that, so she would insist to be sorted there.

“You know, Father almost didn’t allow me to go to Hogwarts, he wanted to send me to Durmstrang,” said Draco casually, in the same air of one commenting on the weather. “It is a good school, but it does have an emphasis on dark magic and is far away. Mother didn’t like that too much and put her foot down, about which surprised Father and even impressed him because this is the first time she’s ever questioned a decision he’s ever made. So much that he conceded in letting me go into Hogwarts, despite his reservations about Dumbledore.”

Harry just nodded, he did sympathize with Lucius Malfoy’s distrust for Dumbledore, even if they were for drastically different reasoning.

“But it should be an interesting year, because you know who else starts this year, it’s in the Daily Prophet today,” said Draco.

“Yes, Crabbe and Goyle, I know, the average IQ of the school is going to drop,” replied Harry.

“Not them, they aren’t noteworthy enough for the entire Wizarding World to anticipate her arrival, I’m talking about Elizabeth Potter, you know the Girl-Who-Lived,” said Draco.

“Draco, don’t tell me your crushing on her, I thought you had more sense that Ron,” replied Ginny and Draco looked like Ginny had mortally offended him.

“No, I don’t fantasize about people that I’ve never met in my life, but aren’t you just a little bit curious about her coming to Hogwarts,” said Draco and Ginny and Harry exchanged a brief look. If Draco knew what they knew, he would know that Harry was anticipating Elizabeth’s arrival, but for drastically different reasons. “Father’s even a bit intrigued, but there are those articles in the Daily Prophet, hinting that she might not be able to live up to her expectations and questioning the validity of her beating You-Know-Who. After all those years, there are some people that still think that her twin is the real savior and he’s being hidden somewhere by Dumbledore.”

“You know, she really shouldn’t have to live up to any expectations, she’s just a normal child like you or me,” said Harry in an irritated voice, he had been separated from his twin for ten years but he was feeling a great deal of agitating for the Wizarding World thinking they were entitled to anything from a girl who might not even know there world existed.

“We know that, they don’t,” said Ginny shaking her head. “To them, she’s just some symbol that they can sell newspapers with, not a real person with feelings.”

“It wouldn’t be this bad if she was a boy,” said Draco as Ginny and Harry glared at him. “Hey, I’m not defending it, I’m just telling you what they’re thinking.”

“We need to make sure that she doesn’t fall in anyone who is trying to befriend her for her fame,” said Harry and Ginny nodded, with Draco just looking thoughtful.

“Just as well, Father wanted me to try and befriend her at any rate,” muttered Draco, but something told him that the reasons that his father wanted him to get close to the Girl-Who-Lived were less than noble. He had tried to take Harry’s suggesting that he should try and think for himself in mind, and there had been occasions recently where he questioned his father’s motives but he still wanted to live up to his father’s expectations.

“So, Luna will be coming back any day now?” asked Harry.

“Yes, within the next day or two, thankfully Mum didn’t know that she and her father had left, I normally go to her house, and then we go here,” said Ginny. “She isn’t too comfortable with me being friends with Draco and she’s only starting to warm up to you Harry. She was fine enough with you and Ron being friends, but she doesn’t think it’s proper for me to be friends with two boys. Every time she thinks I’m at Luna’s but when we’re really here.”

“You were supposed to tell your mother that Luna and her father were going to leave, but it slipped your mind of course,” said Harry and Ginny nodded with a mischievous smile on her face. “It’s a good thing that she didn’t check up on you.”

“Hey, as long as I’m back before dinner, Mum doesn’t worry all that much, I mean I’m her innocent little girl who can’t do anything wrong,” said Ginny. “If Fred and George went to a friends house, she would be checking on them every five minutes to make sure they weren’t causing mischief all over the country.”

Harry laughed and even Draco looked amused. They knew all too well that Ginny’s twin brothers tended to have an obsession with causing mischief everywhere they went.

“Just a plus of perfecting the innocent younger sibling act I guess, I got away with stuff when I was younger that Dora would never have gotten away with,” replied Harry.

“I’m really glad I’m an only child,” muttered Draco by shaking his head. “If you two don’t get put into Slytherin, there’s obviously something wrong with the Sorting Hat.”

“Ah yes, the hat, I didn’t have the heart to tell Ron that all he has to do is put on a hat and not wrestle a troll like Fred and George have been telling him about,” said Ginny. “Of course Mum and Dad refused to tell us how we were sorted, something about being tradition.”

“One that few people follow anymore, I’ve know about it for years,” said Harry.

“Same here,” responded Draco but at that moment, the Malfoy family house elf, Dobby, appeared in front of Draco with a slight pop, bowing before all three of the children. “Yes, Dobby, what is it, can’t you see I’m talking to my friends.”

“Dobby begs young Master Draco’s forgiveness, but Master Lucius has requested for Dobby to let his son know that he is to Floo home right now, so he can prepare for the birthday party that Master has prepared for Young Master,” said Dobby before his eyes widened, when he realized that Harry and Ginny was there. “Oh, Dobby wasn’t supposed to let these two know, Dobby is most sorry, please don’t tell Master Lucius, bad Dobby, bad Dobby.”

Dobby threw himself on the ground, banging his head onto the ground, chanting “bad Dobby, bad Dobby”.

“Dobby, to your feet, you’ll end up giving yourself brain damage,” said Draco coolly and Dobby stopped, before he reluctantly got to his feet, casting Ginny and Harry fearful looks.

“Birthday party?” asked Ginny in confusion. “This is news to me.”

“It’s news to me to, I wasn’t invited,” stated Harry and Draco just sighed.

“I know you weren’t, I asked Father, but he said that there were enough people coming already, the Manor would be too crowded,” replied Draco. “Of course, technically it’s not a party, that would imply that I would have fun. Father’s invited a bunch of his old friends and their children over, many of them who are coming to Hogwarts too this year. It’s not going to be pleasant, all of them arguing about whose bloodline is purer.”

“No offense Draco, but when you put it that way, I don’t want really come anyway,” said Harry.

“Yes, it sounds dreadful,” replied Ginny.

“It is dreadful,” concluded Draco darkly as Dobby looked up. “Yes, Dobby, go home and tell Father that I will be along with the next five minutes.”

“Dobby will do that Master Draco,” responded the house elf as he bowed low, before he left with a pop.

“I better get going, good bye Ginny, Harry, I’ll be seeing you soon I suspect,” responded Draco, as he walked off, entering the house reluctantly to Floo back home, not even giving Ginny and Harry enough time to bid him good bye.

“I get the strangest feeling that Mr. Malfoy doesn’t approve of either of us or Luna for that matter,” remarked Harry.

“Brilliant deduction Harry, what exactly clued you in, the fact that all three of us are considered the children of blood traitors or the fact that every time Draco asks to invite us to Malfoy Manor, his father comes up with an excuse as you why we can’t be there,” said Ginny, shaking her head. “So, Harry, she is going to be coming, are you going to tell her?”

“Well let me just put it this way, Ginny, if some boy that you’ve never met came up to you and said he was your long lost twin brother, what would you think?” asked Harry.

“I would think he’s an absolute nutter,” admitted Ginny. “So you’ll work on slowly gaining her trust and then tell her eventually.”

“I will have to tell her eventually, Dumbledore’s advised against not tell her, but I’m not sure exactly how much I trust Dumbledore’s judgment,” said Harry. “Mum agrees with me, that the truth will come out sooner or later, but we’ve got to watch who we talk about it around. I mean, you only know because I accidentally slipped and told you.”

Ginny was one of the few people that knew that Harry Black was really Harry Potter, the supposed dead twin of Elizabeth Potter. The other individuals who knew of the secret as far as Harry knew was his mother, Nymphadora, Dumbledore, and Remus Lupin, an old friend of his parents.

“I know, I won’t tell anyone and I won’t tell Dumbledore that I know, we’ve been over this at lot,” responded Ginny with a sigh. “I just wish I could go to Hogwarts this year...”

“Yes, it’s a shame that they allow you in on your age, instead of maturity, otherwise you would get to go before young Ronald,” said Harry in a sympathetic voice.

“I’ll have to live with it, besides I can still go and visit Luna and both of you will write to me, to keep me updated on what I miss” said Ginny and Harry nodded.

“HARRY, YOUR SCHOOL LETTERS ARE HERE!” shouted Andromeda from inside the house and Harry sprung up to his feet, he had been expecting that this moment was coming soon. Ginny followed him.

“Exactly how many wrote to me?” asked Harry.

“Fifteen of them, Harry, there might be a few more coming, the Hogwarts letter is right here,” responded Andromeda, as Nymphadora had currently walked down the stairs. “Of course, that’s only if you want to go to Hogwarts, it isn’t a decision to be made likely, there are many other schools to choose from around the world, it’s not a decision to be made likely…”

“It’s got to be Hogwarts, of course,” said Harry, as all three of them knew the exact reason.

“Fifteen offers to attend magical schools, wow, Harry, that’s good,” remarked Nymphadora in awe. “I’ve only gotten about six or seven if I remember rightly.”

“Eight,” said Andromeda in an absent minded voice. “That’s about the average really, as other schools are really selective, more so than Hogwarts.”

“Makes sense, they accept anyone who shows a moderate ability of magical talent,” remarked Harry as he opened his letter, reading it, before he prepared to right back, accepting his place as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If he received his letter, Harry suspected that his sister would be getting her letter soon enough.

“Yes, tomorrow morning, we’ll go to Diagon Alley and get everything,” replied Andromeda.

Ten year old Elizabeth Potter’s eyes snapped open as she heard a rapping on the outside of her cupboard door. Reaching forward, she put on her taped up glasses, feeling the swelling underneath her right eye, a souvenir from her last run in with Dudley and his gang.

“Up, it’s time for you to get up!” screeched Aunt Petunia.

“Keep your hair on woman, I’m up,” said Elizabeth, as she moved over, even though she was much smaller than other girls her age, this cupboard was still cramped. The fact she was claustrophobic did not help matters either, but she wished she had not mentioned her fears to the Dursleys. It did nothing to move her out of the cupboard.

“Don’t smart off to me, I want you out now, you lazy girl, you need to cook us breakfast!” yelled Petunia and Elizabeth moved quickly, as she exited the cupboard. “Quickly now, my precious Dudley is being denied his vital nourishment.”

Elizabeth bit her tongue, she had a feeling that her cousin could not eat for several days and still not go hungry. Still, she did not mind cooking, considering the alternative would be that Aunt Petunia would do so and everything Petunia cooked tasted like cardboard, something that Dudley had forced her to eat when she was five years old. She moved over the stove, busying herself with the bacon and eggs, knowing that despite her doing all the work, she would only get enough to survive.

For ten years, Elizabeth had lived at the house of her Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and her rotund, dimwitted cousin Dudley. For ten years, she was the victim of constant belittlement, about how she was useless and should be grateful that the Dursleys took her in, instead of her walking the streets. Not to mention the constant bullying from Dudley and his gang and the taunting of the other girls about her clothes, her hair, and her scar. Personally, Elizabeth thought the scar was kind of cool, her favorite part about her appearance other than her vivid green eyes, which Petunia seemed to hate for some reason. Her glasses, her clothes, and her hair, that she could not tame no matter what she tried, she could do without.

“Hurry up there, I’m starving,” whined Dudley.

“Highly unlikely,” muttered Elizabeth, as she continued to cook.

“Watch your tongue girl, you should take a cue from Dudley if you want to be an acceptable member of society,” lectured Vernon.

“Only if I want to be as big as a house,” whispered Elizabeth, careful not to let them here her. The further she could get away from being like Dudley, the better. Dudley was a bullying git and got poor marks in school. Elizabeth had always gotten good grades and had got yelled at by her relations for upstaging their precious son. This only caused Elizabeth to strive to work even study even harder to get even higher marks in school, because this was her chance to make Dudley look bad, as he was one of the key reasons why she had no friends. That and those clothes that Petunia bought for her, when she realized that it would be awkward to just give her Dudley’s cast-offs. Calling them second hand would be given them too much credit, it would be more likely to call them fourth or fifth hand clothing.

“It’s about time,” said Vernon ungratefully, as Elizabeth walked the plates with the breakfast over to the table, with Dudley greedily piling the food onto his plate, Petunia and Vernon taking their portions. Elizabeth took only a couple of pieces of bacon and a bit of eggs, before Vernon glared at her. “That’s enough, you won’t be of any use to any man anyway, but even less so if you’re fat.”

Elizabeth’s eyes cast on Dudley, who was about four times her size, shoveling eggs into his mouth at a fast rate and was once again she was reminded about how hypocritical Vernon was. A part of her was hoping that he would choke, it would serve the fat little pig right. Just like when she had accidentally set that snake on Dudley and Piers Polkiss at the zoo, it brought her great amusement to see Dudley at the mercy of something that he could not bully. Of course, she got a week in the cupboard for it, but it was a small price to pay. The only injustice was that the zoo did not keep Dudley, thinking he was one of the animals.

As she ate her meager portion of the meal that she slaved over, watching Dudley already complete his second helping, about to move onto the third, Elizabeth wondered about her parents, wondering if they really loved her. Surely, they could have found better guardians for her than the Dursleys. Petunia and Vernon had told her that they were no good drunks that got themselves in a car accident and while Elizabeth wanted to believe that this wasn’t true, heavy amounts of alcohol was a plausible explanation how anyone could think that the Dursleys were suitable guardians for a child.

A knock on the door, was followed by the mail being pushed through the slot.

“Dudley, could you go get the mail?” suggested Vernon.

“Make Elizabeth get it,” said Dudley in a stubborn voice, as eggs hung from his lower lip, an attractive image to be sure.

“Get it then!” snapped Vernon his face turning purple and Elizabeth quickly rose to her feet, she could not stomach to see Dudley shovel anything else down his throat anyway. Moving over to the door, Elizabeth picked up the mail, seeing nothing but bills, a letter to Vernon, a letter to Dudley, some junk mail, and….this could not be right, surely, a letter addressed to her. Quickly, Elizabeth placed the envelope in her pocket, knowing that the Dursleys would immediately destroy it had they knew anyone had written to her.

“Letter for you, Dudley,” said Elizabeth passing it to Dudley before handing the other mail to Vernon, before whispering in undertone. “Didn’t know any of your friends could read or write to be honest.”

“MUM!” whined Dudley.

“To your cupboard now, I’ll let you know when you’re needed for chores,” stated Petunia, her eyes narrowing dangerous, which was what Elizabeth hoped for. Now she could open that letter in peace.

Careful not to look too eager, Elizabeth entered her cupboard, before she pulled out the letter to get a better look at it. Seeing the label, it seemed to be oddly specific, mentioning her cupboard, which meant that someone knew of her cramped living arrangements. Hopefully it was someone who was in the position to do something about the treatment she was in. She had complained about the Dursleys several times to people in power at school, even citing evidence. They said they would have the matter looked into but the next day, they always came back, yelling at her for spreading such lies to get attention. Even a few times, Elizabeth tried to run away from her relatives, but she found herself back at Number Four Privet Drive, with no memory how she got back.

Still she opened the letter.

Dear Miss Potter:

Congratulations, you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The term will begin on September 1/st/. Inside you will find a list of course materials and supplies. We await your owl by no later than July 31/st//. /

Professor Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Elizabeth put down the letter, in a numb shock. Surely this could not be real, there was no way this could be real. If she was a witch, surely she would have been able to turn Dudley and his gang into toads or something, when they had bullied her. It had to be some kind of practical joke, someone winding her up. She long since given up hope that anything good would happen to her to break the status quo. She would get up in the morning, get yelled at and insulted by the Dursleys, cook for the Dursleys, get yelled and insulted by the Dursleys, either go to school or do hours of chores in the summertime, get yelled at and insulted by the Dursleys, cook dinner, get yelled at and insulted by the Dursleys, do even more chores, get yelled at and insulted by the Dursleys, and then go to sleep ready to complete the cycle with the next day, with the occasional attempt to evade Dudley’s gang tossed in for variety.

“THAT GIRL, SHE CONTAMITATED MY SON WITH HER ABNORMALITY!” shouted Vernon, sounded absolutely enraged and suddenly, thunderous footsteps echoed from outside the cupboard.

“Oh boy, that can’t be good,” muttered Elizabeth under her breath as the door was yanked open and Vernon bent over her, looking absolutely enraged.

“You!” yelled Vernon.

“What have I done wrong now?” asked Elizabeth defensively.

“You know what you did, you ruined Dudley with your freakiness,” said Vernon. “You contaminated him, he’s infected…”

“Now, I haven’t been sick for quite some time,” argued Elizabeth. “Although the rate that Dudley was wolfing down that bacon today, I came pretty…”

“That’s not what I mean you stupid girl!” snapped Vernon. “He got a letter, from that place, I know you’ll get one too…”

“Oh, you mean Dudley got a letter from Hogwarts,” responded Elizabeth with an innocent smile and Vernon looked about to strangle her, so she thought fast on the best way to appease him. “Yeah, I did get one, it appears we’ve been the victim of the same prank. Kids these days, huh?”

Vernon stopped, before he breathed heavily, trying to calm himself down.

“Yes, a prank, it was a prank, I should have known,” said Vernon uneasily, but Elizabeth could not help but notice that he was sweating like a rhinoceros in a sauna. “Hooligans clogging up the post system with this nonsense, they should be given the switch.”

Vernon walked out, turning to his son, he seemed curious.

“No, Dudley, you’ve been the victim of a practical joke, son,” responded Vernon briskly. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to go and learn that rubbish even if it was real, you want to be a respectable, normal young man”

“It had to be real, where my room was on it,” replied Dudley stubbornly.

“Come on, popkin, it might be one of your friends trying to have a little fun with you,” begged Petunia, who did not want her son to turn into one of them.

“Or it could have been magic,” argued Dudley. “I have to go….”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT, DUDLEY!” shouted Vernon angrily. “GO TO YOUR ROOM IMMEDIATELY AND PUT ALL OF THIS NONSENSE OUT OF YOUR MIND. YOU’RE NOT ONE OF THEM, YOU’RE NORMAL!”

Dudley seemed shocked. His father had never yelled at him, only his cousin. He seemed scared and quickly made his way upstairs, as fast as his fat little legs could carry him.

“I’m off to work!” yelled Vernon. “Phone me immediately if any other abnormal things happen.”

“Of course Vernon,” said Petunia in a shaky voice, as she had never seen her husband so enraged, not even when the girl had broken all of the widow of their new car because of her freak powers, out of a fit of anger.

Elizabeth walked to outside, figuring out how she would tackle the list of chores that the Dursleys gave her. She planned on tackling the weeds first but right then, she was blocked by Dudley.

“Don’t you have a five year old that you should be wailing on right now?” asked Elizabeth.

“We need to talk,” said Dudley.

“Look, I have chores to do, so please leave me to it, do whatever you normally do,” said Elizabeth.

“You told Dad that letter is prank, but you know it’s real,” responded Dudley blandly and Elizabeth just raised her eyebrow.

“Trust me Dudley, it’s not real, I mean, you heard him, he’s always said there’s no such thing as magic,” said Elizabeth. “Now move, I have a lot of chores to do.”

“What if Dad is wrong?” asked Dudley, not moving.

“Trust me, he’s not, and even if he is, it’s not like you deserve the ability to perform magic,” said Elizabeth as she was losing her patience with Dudley. “You torment everyone enough, like you need anything else.”

“Yes, I could do more with magic, to put people in line, to make them pay,” responded Dudley in a dreamy voice.

“Now get out of my way, some of us actually have to work to earn our keep around here,” said Elizabeth and Dudley moved out of the way.

“It’s a wonder you have no friends,” said Dudley in a snide tone of voice.

“I have no friends, you have no brains, trust me, it evens out in the end, Diddy Duddydums,” remarked Elizabeth turning to allow Dudley’s mind to slowly process what she said as she moved outside to do her chores, in the hot baking sun, without anything to drink until she had completed her work.

Later that night, Elizabeth had washed her hands before dinner. Vernon had just returned from work, in a towering mood. Apparently he had been passed over for a promotion and the young Potter girl had the strangest feeling that this was going to somehow be her fault. Elizabeth had cautiously began to move towards the kitchen, but at that moment a knock on the door had brought her out of her thoughts.

“ANSWER THE DOOR, YOU USELESS GIRL!” shouted Vernon, who seemed to have the recent inability to talk in a normal voice, considering what had recently had happened to him during that day. Elizabeth quickly opened the door, to see a middle aged woman with wearing her hair in a bun. She wondered if she was a part of a cult, but there was also this funny impression that it might not be a good idea to cross her.

“May I help you, M’am?” asked Elizabeth.

“I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, I’m from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I wish to speak to Petunia and Vernon Dursley,” replied McGonagall calmly.

“I don’t think this is the best time to do so,” said Elizabeth, as she remembered Vernon’s towering temper but she was also curious, time had made her think that there was a possibility that the letter was genuine. The fact that the person who had sent the letter was standing before her made her convinced.

“I insist,” said McGonagall shortly, as she walked into the house.

“Whatever it is, we’re not interesting in buying!” shouted Vernon.

“No, I am not selling anything, I am here on behalf of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to explain to you about your son’s abilities, but of course you should already know, considering your niece,” replied McGonagall.

“Wait a minute, what should they already know?” asked Elizabeth but Mount Vernon had blown its top once again.

“I SAW YOUR LETTER, BUT NEITHER OF THEM ARE GOING TO THAT FREAK SCHOOL TO LEARN MAGIC TRICKS!” shouted Vernon. “DUDLEY’S GOING TO SMELTINGS WHERE HE WILL BE A RESPECTABLE YOUNG MAN AND AS FOR THE GIRL, SHE’S GOING TO STONEWALL HIGH AND…”

Vernon was suddenly struck dumb by a silencing charm.

“I will remove it when your husband is ready to talk normally,” said McGonagall to Petunia, who looked about ready to protest, but wilted.

“He’s right, they’re not being sent, my poor Dudley, one of those…people, just like Lily and her,” said Petunia who looked quite depressed at the entire situation.

“One of what people, precisely?” asked Elizabeth. “Because I could have sworn that you told me that there was no such thing as magic.”

“You told her that,” responded McGonagall as she turned to Petunia and Vernon. “That’s very foolish of you, you could have caused all of her magic to be suppressed inside herself and killed her!”

“All that Dumbledore told us in his letter was that she would stay here and if we had attempted to get rid of her, he would know,” said Petunia defensively, who felt it was a good idea that Vernon was silent, he would have said something about it being a good thing that it would have killed the freak. “She had her little fits regardless, so I don’t see the harm.”

McGonagall remained silent for nearly a minute. She would be having a chat with Albus before too long.

“So I am a witch,” replied Elizabeth to break the silence.

“Yes, Miss Potter, you are, and so were your parents,” replied McGonagall in a forced calm tone of voice.

“Yes my parents,” said Elizabeth who looked disgusted, perplexing McGonagall. “Some people they turned out to be, getting drunk and them getting themselves killed in a car crash, before having me to be sent here for ten years.”

McGonagall looked absolutely enraged beyond belief.

“They lied to you once again,” said McGonagall. “Your parents weren’t killed in a car accident, they were murdered, by You-Know-Who.”

“Sorry, I don’t know who,” responded Elizabeth.

“She means Voldemort,” supplied Petunia in a timid voice, causing McGonagall to wince. “That’s what Dumbledore said in the letter anyway.”

“So you lied to me again, YOU LIED TO ME!” yelled Elizabeth. “You knew all along that my parents were murdered, but you kept telling me they were drunks that got themselves killed in a car accident…”

“Yes, I feel that I need to explain this then, since everyone in the world knows the story and it’s not something you can go to Hogwarts not knowing,” replied McGonagall taking a breath. “Basically, to make a complicated story short, You-Know-Who found and killed your parents. He then tried to kill you but the strangest part was that something happened that caused his power to break. You must understand that You-Know-Who was the most dangerous wizard in a century and since he was destroyed trying to kill you, you were branded as the savior of the Wizarding World.”

“This Voldemort must have been a wimp if he was beaten by her,” piped in Dudley. “She can’t even take a punch…”

“Quiet yourself, Mr. Dursley,” said McGonagall sternly.

“I find it hard to believe I beat Voldemort, I mean I was only a year old,” said Elizabeth skeptically. “It doesn’t make any sense. How could I have defeated someone that powerful?”

“I’m not the one that can answer that question,” said McGonagall with a sigh. “Just know that you are famous and there will be those who will be out to use you because of you being associated with Voldemort’s defeat.”

“She can’t be famous, it isn’t fair!” shouted Dudley. “She doesn’t have any friends, she’s nothing but a loser, a nerd…”

“Mr. Dursley, that will be sufficient,” said McGonagall sternly. “Now onto the matter at hand, you have both been invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of the best schools of magic in the world. It is an honor to be certain, congratulations to you both…”

“They’re not going,” said Petunia calmly. “Especially Dudley, I won’t have him be contaminated any more…”

“Miss Potter will attend Hogwarts, it was among her parents wishes for her to do so should anything happen to them, so you can’t overturn that,” replied McGonagall briskly. “As for your son, that is in fact your call, neither I nor Albus Dumbledore can overturn that. Be that as it may, it is also my obligation to warn you about the dangers of having an untrained witch or wizard. There magic will continue to grow, but without a way to properly control it, it will become unstable and potentially lethal. I highly recommend that your son attends at least his first year so he can learn control, but once again that is your decision.”

“My husband will not pay for such an abnormal education,” said Petunia and Vernon nodded by her side, unable to speak still, but looking rather purple in the face, no doubt from a diatribe that could not get out.

“There is a fund that will take care of this for students who are not as well off, there might be some things that need to be bought second hand,” replied McGonagall and Elizabeth looked pleased, second hand was a lot better than what she had gotten all of her life. “I will return tomorrow morning at about nine o’clock to take these two shopping for their school supplies, of course you are welcomed to come along as well.

“We’ll pass,” said Petunia, as Vernon looked like he would have rather been hung up by his thumbs then step one foot in the Wizarding World.

“Very well then, I will be back tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, said McGonagall. “Good night to you all.”

McGonagall left the house, leaving the three Dursleys and one Potter alone. Dumbledore had intended to send Hagrid along in another week to have Elizabeth collect her things, but Minerva felt that since she was going to inform the Dursleys about their son’s magic anyway, she might as well have killed two birds with one stone. And what she saw did not paint the best picture of what was going on in that home at Number Four Privet Drive.

She was appalled at the treatment of Elizabeth. The girl had clothes that looked only slightly better than those that might be fished out of a Muggle landfill and she looked a bit small for her age come to think of it. The comments made by the Dursley boy also unsettled her and Vernon Dursley seemed to have severe anger management issues, amplified by the mere presence of his niece. The lies told about Lily and James, despite Albus writing them a letter explaining it, were absolutely slanderous. But, perhaps the most terrifying thing of all was that the letter that she had sent to the Potter girl was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs. Despite Dumbledore assuring everyone that the girl would be perfectly safe, Minerva wondered if he had really checked up on her at all and had just assumed since the protections were still intact, she must be alive.

If this was Albus Dumbledore’s idea of safe, Minerva McGonagall would hate to see how horrifying his idea of someone being in danger. She vowed to confront him about this once she returned to Hogwarts.

It appears that deleting and then re-posting the story had solved that odd glitch of the story not showing up on FicWad. The only part is that all of the reviews up to this point have been lost, but such is life.