This is a story about an American girl who has had a hard life. She was raised by the streets of south Dallas. Those lessons weren't always pretty. Her family life forced her into the foster care system. She's been in and out of trouble herself. This is the last group home that will take her before she's sent to juvenile center. This story begins the week before her 11th birthday. When a weirdly dressed man with half moon spectacles and a twinkle in his eyes.


Our Story Begins

Professor Dumbledor looked up at the building. It certainly didn't look like it was any place that should be called someone's home. He heard some loud music with a lot of base coming from the house but walked up the steps like a man on a mission. Her went to knock on the door and it swung open. The music hit him like a tidal wave. He walked into the house anyways. It was a long hallway down the middle of the house with various rooms off to each side. He stopped by the first room she saw, which seemed to the living room. There were 4 boys holding court and having a rowdy game with little game pieces that had black dots and lines over them. Dumbledor stepped into the room as one of boys slammed one of the pieces on the table.

"Thats how you play dominoes bruh!" He shouted standing up and slapping his partner on the hand. He noticed Dumbledor and started laughing. "Man Halloween don't come to the hood." He said sitting down to the round of laughter his friends let out. The stopped laughing when they noticed Dumbledor was still standing there. "Who you here for?" the boy asked rudely.

"I am here to see Jefenda Bryant." He said giving them a smile.

"Ain't seen her. Don't know her" he said with a shrug. When adults came here asking about someone and using their government name someone was in trouble. They went back to their card game and Dumbledor gave them a small bow and went back out into the hallway where he ran straight into someone. She looked up at him with a snarl on her face. She softened whens he say it was an adult and not a child

"Can I help you?" She asked cocking her hips to the side and putting her hands on them.

"Yes madame. I am here to see after Jefenda Bryant. I am Professor Dumbledor." He explained to her.

"Well Burn is upstairs on the fourth floor." She told him moving around him to go fetch someone for Ms. Jackson.

"I don't understand. What is Burn?" He asked her before she walked into one of the rooms.

"You must not be from round here." She chuckled she looked him up and down, and she figured that he really wasn't from Texas. "Burn is Jefenda. People call her that because anyone who messes with her gets burned." She told him as she walked away.

Sounds like Dumbledore may have met his match (burn, match? Oh forget it.)

Don't forget to explain why a school in GB is looking for a student in US. Too many authors leave that out.

He walked up the four flights of stairs till he reached the top. There was a solitary door at the end of the hallway. He walked up to it and knocked lightly.

"Leave me alone Diamond. I don't have your money!" Came a little angry voice. Dumbledor and open the door. It was an attic space with a dormer window at the end of the long room. There was a twin bed pushed up against a wall with a single night stand beside it. A small little girl with yellow braids in her hair was standing beside the window. She had on baggy jeans with rips in them and a little sports bra. She had cuts and bruises all over her tiny little body. Her braids were held out of her face by a green bandanna that was tied around her head like a headband. She turned around and looked at Dumbledor. She had a big gash on her cheek and her eye was black.

"Who is you?" She asked rudely.

"I am Professor Dumbledor Jefenda. I am here to offer you a place at my school." he said gently. "What happened to you?" He asked quietly.

"Don't call me that." She ordered him, "Don't nobody call me Jefenda. My name is Burn." She walked over to her bed and sat down on it and stared at Dumbledor. "Diamond thought I owed her money. I thought different." She told him

"Well at Hogwarts we call our students by their names." He said simply.

She looked at him with a twisted look on her face. "Is you one them dirty old men that likes little girls. You trying to kidnap me so I can end up on the news or something."

"No. I am the headmaster at Hogwarts. It is a school for children like you."

"Yeah the judge keeps trying to send me to one of those places." She jumped off her bed and looked at him. "I'm not going!" She shouted.

Dumbledor pulled out his wand while he walked over to Jefenda. "No it is not a place like that. It is a school that teaches young witches and wizards how to use their wands. You are a witch Jefenda." He pulled out a thick letter with green lettering on the front. Jefenda took it from him and looked at the address

Ms. Jefenda Bryant
Fourth floor Bedroom
403 Malcolm X Blvd.
Dallas
Texas

She tore open the letter and pulled out apiece of parchement

HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledor

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Bryant

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Pleae find enclosed a lost of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1.


Your Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress

She reread the note over and over again. She didn't believe it. "I'm a witch?" she asked.

"Yes my dear and after a few years at Hogwarts I'd wager you are a very good witch."

"You ain't lying about this?"

"No I am not."

Suspicious little witch. She won’t trust Dumbledore soon but she’ll come along if she thinks she can cheat him out of something.

He smiled as he watched the wheels turning in her little head. She paced from her bed to the window. He was staring at her and she didn't like that. She hated being watched. In her last foster home they had cameras everywhere and she hated staying there. "How come ya'll want me?"

"When you were born your name was put down for acceptance to our school." He explained to her simply. She walked over to her bed and pulled on her ripped t-shirt.

"So how do I know you ain't lying?" She finally asked running out of things to say to him. She was street savvy and never took school seriously enough to go even when she was forced. "Show me some magic." She demanded folding her scrawny arms in front of her chest. Dumbledor smiled at her and pointed his wand at her night stand. It transfigured into a poodle. The dog barked happily and jumped onto the bed with Jefenda. She screamed and jumped off the bed. He turned the dog back into her nightstand.

"Is that proof enough?" He twirled his wand and drew up a nice chair for himself to sit down on. Jefenda looked out the window, the sirens were going off somewhere in the distance. She would be glad when she was 18 and could get away from all this. She didn't want to believe the crazy white man in her room, but in her heart she knew she was different than the other kids. They picked on her and cut all her hair off one day at school two years ago and she had ran into the bathroom crying but when she looked in the mirror her hair had grown back. She couldn't explain that to anyone. She turned and looked at Dumbledor and he was smiling serenely at her. She didn't trust anyone, she couldn't afford to. Her life was too hard for her to stop and trust someone. She wanted to get out of her life though and Dumbledor was offering her a way out.

New reader, i love this story. but i feel very sad for Jefenda, her life sounds really harsh, specilly for a 10/11 year old.

im going to subscribe to this story as i love it sooo much

cant wait for next chapter

luv ya

xXEvangelineXx

"Is you being straight with me?" She asked almost at the end of her rope of refusing to go.

"I am afraid I am not familiar with your American speech. Please explain being straight with you." He asked her amusingly. He loved the way Americans talk. they were so straight forward and in your face.

She looked at him as if in the last 10 minutes they had been talking this was by far the most ridiculous thing she had heard. "I mean is this for real." She explained harshly.

"I assure you Ms. Bryant I would not have come all the way from London if I were not being honest with you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lemon drop and popped it into his mouth. He was just content to sit there with her all day. It seemed as though she didn't have any friends and he thought she would enjoy the company. A chime went off somewhere in the folds of his robes went off. It played a lovely little waltz tune and Dumbledor stood up as if on cue. "Ms. Bryant I am afraid I am needed elsewhere. But if you will accept your place at Hogwarts someone will be waiting for you outside tomorrow morning. Pack up all of your belongings, and meet them outside at 8 am sharp." He gave her a warm smile and swept out of the room and then out of the house.

Jefenda ran to the window and watched him disappear into thin air in the middle of the street. She blinked a few times. Then she went and sat back down on her bed. She picked up the letter and reread it till her eyes crossed. She didn't believe it but something inside her started stirring.

Someone kicked open the door to her room, she quickly slid her letter up under her butt and looked at her intruder. It was Glow. He was the son of a notorious kingpin in Dallas. He got the nickname because his father was killed before he was born selling some wax to someone. So him and his brother were called Mop and Glow.

"Yo Burn, what that white man want with you?" he asked walking into her room and looking at her. "Mop said he was here for like a hour or somein."

"None of ya business." She told him giving him a hard look. She stood up off her bed and popped her hips at him with her arms folded across her chest. He cleared the distance between her and himself in a manner of seconds. he grabbed her around the throat and pushed her up against the wall. "Let me go!" She screamed.

"You bumping ya gums like you ms get bad." He said looking her in the eye. "When I ax you a question you better answer." He shook her a few times, her head bumping up against the wall like a tennis ball. "What that white man want with you?"

She shook her head, she wasn't going to tell him anything. She balled up her little fist and went to punch him but he caught he with a slap across the face. He dropped her to the floor and she fell hard, her face stinging and her ears ringing. Glow bent down till he was right in Jefenda's face. "Don't be getting ideas in ya head. Don't nobody want you Burn." He punched her in the face and she went out like a light.

She rolled over and groaned. She didn't know how long she had been knocked out. She pushed herself up all the floor and stood up, she minced stepped over to her bed. She tried to breath, but it hurt, she looked down at her stomach and saw some footprints on her t-shirt it looked like Glow had kicked her a few times while she was knocked out. She felt her face and it was swollen and puffy. Her eye right eye was almost swollen shut. She got to her bed to find her Hogwarts letter torn into pieces. She gently picked up the pieces and the tears slid from under her closed eyes and splashed down onto her destroyed dreams. She looked over at her nightstand and it was over turned and her money that she had taped to the underside of it was gone. It had taken her six months of collecting and selling cans to get that $300. It was the only money she had ever had in the world and it was gone.

She threw the letter pieces into the air and she didn't care where they landed. She went to the bathroom down on the third floor. She peeked around the corner and made sure that everyone was downstairs eating and watching tv before she stole away into the bathroom to clean herself up. She jumped into the shower to wash up quickly. She ran back into her room and locked the door behind herself. When she walked back over to her bed there was the letter. A whole letter as if he had never been torn apart. Another hand written note was top of it. Thought you might need another one. She smiled in spite of herself. She slowly clutched the letter to her heart. Then and there she knew she was going to Hogwarts.

She knew Glow had her money, so waited till the whole house was sleep. She tiptoed down the stairs, stopping at that bottom step that creaked. She threw herself up against the wall and listened for anything. When nothing stirred she walked down the hallway toward the boys rooms. She stopped by Mrs. Jackson's bedroom to make sure she was sleep. She heard her slow jams CD playing which meant she was sleeping.

She made it to the boy's room, she pushed open the door the looked inside. Glow was climbing out of the window, she quickly closed the door and prayed he didn't see her. He would literally kill her if he saw her. She waited a few minutes and opened the door again. He was gone. She walked into the room and walked around the other boys sleeping in their beds. She went over to Glow's bed and dresser. She tore through all his belongings, her money was gone. He must have taken it with him. She spit into his bed and stormed back to her room.

She searched around in her closet till she found her school bookbag. The Wal-Mart tags were still on it. She ripped them off with her tiny calloused hands. She stuffed the few personal affects and he few articles of clothing into the bag. She went over the window and counted 6 floor boards away from the left corner of the window. She crouched down and pulled up the board. She reached around in there till her tiny fingers found what she as searching for. She pulled out a long silver chain with a locket at the end of it. She sat down on the floor and opened the locket. In it was a faded picture of a pleasant looking young black girl with a short afro and a big smile. On the other side was a sullen looking white man with deep green eyes. They were her parents. Her mother had given it to her before she was taken away and put into that nut house. Jefenda had visited her once a year ago and her mother had attacked her. She wasn't allowed to go back after that. She closed the locket and put it around her neck.

With her little bag packed she stood at the window till the first pink rays of the sun were showing. She had to get out of the house before anyone saw her. She tiptoed down the stairs and shot out of the door as fast as she could. She ducked behind the trash cans before anyone saw her. She had left out of the house at 6am so she knew she was going to be waiting for awhile. Someone was shaking her awake.

"Oi wake up." He looked down at the little girl and gently shook her awake.

Jefenda opened her eyes and stared up at the person. It was a man dressed in black robes. She snatched away from his hand and jumped up to look at him. "Don't touch me." She told him picking up her book bag and slinging it on her back.

"Are you ready?" he asked properly. He didn't like children all that much, but he was doing a favor for Dumbledor. "You have to hold on to me." He told her, she looked up at him like that was the last thing she wanted to do. "Or I can leave you here. The choice is yours." he told her holding out his hand for her to take. She threw him one last dirty look and then snatched his hand. "Right then." He said and then her turned on the spot.

Jefenda would have screamed in the world didn't press in on her. She felt her feet being ripped from the ground and then suddenly her feet slammed on pavement, and the drove her to her knees. She coughed a bit and looked up at the sky. The rain clouds were rolling in. It didn't look like she was in Dallas anymore. She looked down the street and it was a cobblestone road. Where were they?

"Come with me please?" The man asked motioning for her to enter into a store front that no one else seemed to notice. A woman didn't even seem to see them as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk. She followed him through the door, and they walked into a dark bar. She looked around everywhere at everything. There were a few people in there. none of them were paying her any attention which was fine. They looked shadier than the people they used to live with. She followed the man over to the bar where a toothless man was wiping down the dingy bar with a dirty rag. "Hello Tom."

Tom looked up, "Ah Mister Percy so good to have you back." He said. "And who do we have here?" He motioned toward Jefenda.

"This is Jefenda Bryant. She is starting at Hogwarts this year, and she needs a room." Percy explained. Tom nodded and lead them upstairs. Jefenda was looking around at everything. She had no idea where she was. They stopped into front of room number 4. He opened the door, and it was just a bed and wardrobe. She walked in and looked around. It was her own room and it was better than what she had left.

Wow!!! i feel soo sorry for her, at least shes out of where she was before.

cant wait for more

xXEvangelineXx

this is a really good story!

The bed was huge and there was a window that looked out onto the street they just left. The people were milling around and shopping. "You can stay here for the night tomorrow I will fetch you and we can shop for your school supplies." Jefenda looked up at him, did she look like she had any money for supplies.

"I aint got no money." She told him.

"That has been taken care of." Percy told her. "Tomorrow as soon as Gringotts opens we shall be off." He bowed and swept out of the room. Jefenda didn't want him to leave, she was scared in this strange place. And she could have sworn there was a man downstairs who's ears were smoking.

"I will have some food brought up for you." Tom said giving her a toothless grin before he too left the room, but he closed the door behind him. She stared at the door till her eyes crossed. She sat down on the bed and bounced a few times. She leaned back on the bed and put her hands behind her little head. It was so quiet, it was unnerving. She was used to booming music thumping down the street. People shouting and cursing at each other, or police sirens.

The knock at the door scared her out of her mind and she jumped out of the bed looking around the strange room. It took her a few minutes before she remembered where she was. She blinked a few times before she opened the door. She screamed and jumped back. It was the strangest little creature with big eyes and green skin.

"What in the hell!" She screamed, the creature bowed and walked into the room carrying a tray with a platter of food. The creature blinked at her and set the tray down on the drawing table near the window.

"Begging your pardon miss. Leevy is to bring your food miss."

She backed away into the dresser. "What is you?" She asked too scared to even make a run for it.

"Leevy is a house elf miss." She creature did a small little curtsy.

She eyed the house elf like Leevy was a officer of the law and she was there to arrest you and drag her back to her group home. The house elf bowed again and looked up at her with her big eyes. "So what is that food."

"Toad in the hole miss. Leevy makes it meself." She said brightly.

"What is that?" Jefenda asked looking at the food on the tray.

"Its yorkshire pudding and sausage miss. Very nice." Leevy bowed again and backed out of the room. Jefenda took her fork and poked at the food. It looked like a pan of bread with gravy and sausage. She took a tiny bite of it. It was really nice, she sat down at went to work on the food. She had never eaten like this. She usually had to fight to keep her plate. Mop or Glow was always taking her food and she often went to bed hungry. Or she had to go down the street to the grocery store and eat out of their garbage. She ate till her stomach her and even then she took a few more bites. She walked over to her bed and fell across it and went to sleep.

There was a light knock on the door and Jefenda sprang up out of the bed. She had overslept. "I'm up!" she yelled jumping out of the bed and packing up her bag again. She only had one pair or pants anyways. She opened the door and Percy was waiting for her.

"Ready to go?" he asked stepping aside for her to go ahead of him down the hallway. She got in front of him and walked down the hallway and down the stairs back into the main part of the pub. There was only one person down there with Tom, Jefenda guessed it was too early for these people to be drinking. If they were still in Texas the bar would be full of patrons that never went home from the night before. They walked out back into an ally, and Jefenda wondered where they were going. Percy pulled out a stick and tapped a few bricks and soon they began to dissolve into a dazzling street packed full of people.

"This is Diagon Ally," Percy explained with a sweep of his hand.

I love this story. It's similar to Harry's situation in the fact that she has no idea whats going on in the wizarding world! Keep it rolling. It sounds really good.

Jefenda's eyes got as big as saucers as she stepped through archways leading down the street. She couldn't stop her head from roving from storefront to storefront. There were a bunch of kids looking into a shop window, and they were looking at a broom. Jefenda wanted to laugh, "Ya'll like cleaning up that much?" she giggled.

"I don't follow." Percy said following her gaze to the shop. "Thats the Firebolt. It's the latest model broom out. You fly on it." He explained when he saw the look on her face.

"Like those witches in the movies do?" she asked.

"Yes sometimes muggles get it right."

"A muggle?"

"Yes, its what we call people who aren't witches or wizards." He talked as he kept walking down the street, the sun was riding high and it was casting fantastic shadows up and down the street. The air was filled with unfamiliar smells. For once Jefenda felt so free, no one was barking at her. Punching or hitting her. She was free to walk down the street without being rushed or pushed. They stopped in front of a huge white marbled building with white pillars in front. They walked up the the steps and there was a strangely dressed creature. Jefenda stiffened, but she didn't scream or try to run.
He was dressed in a uniform of scarlet and gold. They passed through the outer doors and entered into a vestibule. They stood facing another set of silver doors that was engraved with the following rhyme

Enter stranger, but take head
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn
Must pay most dearly in their turn
So if you sneak beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there


"Don't ever try to swindle a goblin." Percy warned while opening the door for her and following her through. They walked across the marble floor Jefenda's sneakers making a loud squeaking sound the entire way to the counter. There seemed to be another man waiting for them. It had long black hair and looked s if he used to be quite handsome.

"Do you have the papers?" He demanded from Percy. Percy nodded and produced a rolled up scroll with a large waxed seal on it.

"Straight from Professor Dumbledor Sirius." He told him. Jefenda didn't have any idea what was going on. Sirius broke the seal on the roll and started reading. He looked at Jefenda and and then kept reading the scroll. He seemed to reread it over and over again.

"Do you have the locket with you?" He asked Jefenda, she stared at him for a while before she understood what he was asking her.

"Yeah, so?" he asked rolling her neck at him.

"May I see it?" he held out his hand and gave her a warm look, she had seen those eyes before but she couldn't place where. She took the locket off and handed it to him. he ran his ran over it gently and opened it. His face hardened at the picture of the man but then it relaxed. "Did anyone ever tell you who this is?" He asked pointing to the picture of Jefenda's father, she shook her head no. "His name was Regulus Black, and he was my brother." Sirius explained.