The Heiress

Chapter One: The Discovery

Aeris Anthony had just turned one year old two weeks before Halloween. She didn't know, as her mother pushed her out the door in her stroller for her first time trick-or-treating, that the events of that night would irrevocably change her life.

***************

"Last house, kids," said Mr. Anthony on Halloween night as they approached the edge of the town.

"No!" wailed Peter. "I don't have enough candy!"

"Yes, you certainly do," said Mrs. Anthony firmly. "And I'm getting quite tired. It's time to go."

John and Tara Anthony were pushing a curly-headed baby in a stroller and towing an unruly four-year-old by the wrist in a thus far unsuccessful attempt to take them trick-or-treating. They lived in a little town called Godric's Hollow, a quaint place that reminded Tara of the fantasy stories she read as a child. She had not regretted for one second moving to the town after her marriage. She loved the people (some of them were a bit odd - but nice, really), the feel (she thought it felt like magic, but she never told that to anyone), and the look (like some people had haphazardly decided to throw down their bags one day and settle without a moment's thought to the practicality of it). So taking her children trick-or-treating for the first time, she thought, would be a grand adventure.

That grand adventure began the moment a clap of thunder abruptly shook the ground. Aeris's parents exchanged a startled look. They felt the change - the sudden bolt of - what could it be? - power that saturated the air the instant the green lightning fell from the sky. Neither could help but be drawn into it. It was so pulling, so gently hypnotizing. Each felt that they must obey this force, whatever it was, no matter what their logical objections. But the force was so subtle that neither of them could put words to what they were feeling - they could only subconsciously sense that the other felt it, too, and it must be obeyed.

Mrs. Anthony found herself saying, "Let's go one house more, shall we? It's not that much farther."

"Yay!" cried Peter, waving his pudgy hands in the air. "Candy!" Being four years old, he didn't notice the slightly hollowed look in his mother's eyes as she spoke, or the way his father obeyed her without even a single glance.

The party moved up the hill toward the large mansion that sat at the crest. It was the home of the Smyths - old, rich, stingy, and highly unlikely to give out candy. But still the Anthonys kept moving.

They finally reached the house. It was large and imposing, with an austere, unwelcoming look to it. Oblivious, Peter ran ahead, eager for candy. But instead of heading for the front door of the house, he unexpectedly veered to the right and ran into the house's large dark backyard.

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony, still under the effects of the invisible force, watched him go without reaction. Only when a sudden wall of yellow light illuminated Peter being thrown backward some two feet off the ground did the spell break.

"NO!" yelled Mrs. Anthony. "Peter!" She grabbed Aeris out of the stroller then ran with her husband to where their son lay motionless on the ground. "Peter!" she screamed. "Oh my God!! Peter!!"

Mr. Anthony reached Peter first. Peter lay unmoving on the ground, pulse barely registering, eyes rolled into the back of his head, facial features frozen in an expression of surprise.

"Oh my God," he choked as he knelt next to his son, shock and fear apparent on his face. "Tara, come here, quick. Peter - he's - oh, god, Tara..."

"Is he dead?" Mrs. Anthony ran to Peter's other side. She felt his neck for a pulse, pressed her ear to his tiny chest to listen for a heartbeat, looked at his pupils for signs of a concussion.

She stared blankly at her son. "I don't know," she whispered, "but if he has a pulse, I can't feel it." She looked up at her husband. "We need to get him to a hospital right away."

John Anthony sat in shock, trying to gather his last wits about him so he could help his son.

"NOW!!!" Mrs. Anthony screamed, bringing John out of his confused state.

But they never got to the hospital. The last thing Tara and John remembered was being suddenly surrounded by green light.

******************************

Aeris Diana Anthony's first memory is of a huge burst of green light.

********************

"Bye, Aunt Elizabeth! Bye, Amelia! I'm going to the café to study!" Aeris Anthony waved goodbye to her father's sister and her cousin before shutting the door to her aunt's London apartment and taking off down the city street. Aeris was visiting her aunt and cousin in London for the summer, as she had done nearly every summer since she was twelve. This summer she was taking a few university classes to get a head start on her education. Pointy Hat Café was her favorite place to study. It had huge armchairs, cheap coffee, and cute waiters. So well did Aeris know the path to the café that no thought was required on her part to get there, leaving her free to survey the world around her without distraction.

The world was full of little amusements and quirks, and Aeris never failed to find some new miracle every time she ventured into it. Even the walk to the café afforded some new delight each time she took it. Sometimes it was the little kitten hiding in the box in the alley, sometimes it was the bracelet she found on the ground outside a boutique. But today Aeris's discovery caught her completely off-guard.

She found a bar.

Aeris stopped short and gazed up in wonder. The sign above the bar read "The Leaky Cauldron". The bar was in a spot wedged between two businesses that Aeris had known for years. "They couldn't have built this overnight," she said out loud to herself. "Where on earth did this come from?"

Puzzled, Aeris decided to explore this new place. She looked around her, stepped up to the old door that looked like it should have been falling off its hinges, and pushed.

The door swung open easily, as if it were used often. Aeris gasped in wonder as she stepped inside. It was unreal - as if she'd walked into an alternate universe. The place was dim and dank, and the inhabitants were not all - Aeris had to do a double take and pinch herself to see if she wasn't dreaming - human. There was a short, pointy-nosed, ugly gobliny thing sitting on a stool at the bar, and a table of the same creatures on the other side of the restaurant. The waitresses were wearing black pointy witches hats. But, oddest of all, every human was wearing...robes.

Aeris rubbed her eyes and involuntarily stepped backwards until she hit the wall. "Hey, watch where you're going, missy," said a gruff voice to her right. Aeris looked down and saw the largest and hairiest man she had ever seen glaring at her. He also had only one eye. In the middle of his forehead.

"Sorry," Aeris squeaked. She half bolted to the middle of the pub, looking around wildly. She spotted an empty seat at the crowded bar and made for it. If she left now, she figured, she'd never find out where she was, and her curiosity was too strong for her to do anything other than stay.

She slid onto the stool between a woman with green hair and a friendly-looking man with a brown robe and brown eyes.

"Hello, love," said the scruffy bartender. "What can I get for you?"

"Um," said Aeris, digging in her purse for some money, "what can I get with this?" She put a five pound bill on the bar.

The bartender did a double take. "Don't yeh got any Sickles or Knuts with yeh?" He looked at Aeris as if she'd suddenly sprouted potatoes from her ears.

"Any what?" Aeris said, confused. "No! All I've got are pounds...you know, normal money?"

The man stared at her for a second as if he were about to tell her off for talking to him like he was a particularly slow five-year-old. Then, realization dawning on his face, he said, "Yeh...yeh're a Muggle, ain't yeh?"

At this seemingly extraordinary pronouncement the whole bar shushed and turned to stare at Aeris. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. She self-consciously leaned forward over the bar, looking over each shoulder at the crowd still staring at her, and whispered to the bartender, "Um... what's a Muggle?"

The bartender opened his mouth to answer her, but before he could say anything, the man with the brown eyes turned to her and said, "Excuse me, but what is your name?"

She turned to look at this odd man. "Aeris," she answered slowly.

"Where are you from, Aeris?" he asked.

Aeris hesitated. Telling a complete stranger in a bar with weird creatures and people who said things like "Muggle" where you were from didn't exactly seem like the best idea to her. But as she looked into the man's deep brown eyes, she felt instinctively that she could trust him.

"Dublin," she said.

"All your life you've lived in Dublin?"

"Yes. Well, no, actually," she checked herself. "I moved to Dublin when I was one and a half. It's the only home I've ever known. Right now I'm in London visiting my aunt and cousin for the summer vacation. I'm taking some classes at the university, too."

"Where did you live before Dublin?"

"Godric's Hollow. It's a little town south of Liverpool..."

The man inhaled sharply. "I know where Godric's Hollow is," he said in a tight voice.

Aeris was surprised. "You do? But it's so small! I've never met anyone who's ever even heard of it!"

"Oh, I've heard of it, all right," said the man. He sighed deeply, as if suddenly reminded of things he wished he could forget.

Aeris looked at him wide-eyed. "How...exactly...do you know about it, if you don't mind me asking?"

The man smiled. "My name is Remus Lupin, Aeris. Am I correct in assuming that you still believe yourself to be in normal London?"

"What?" Aeris asked. The absurdity of the question surprised her. "Well...of course. Where else would I be? It seems like this is just some place I never noticed before where weird people meet when they want to get away from stuff...."

"Look around you," said Remus. "Do you see anything normal?"

Aeris gazed around the room carefully. "No," she finally admitted. "I mean" - her eyes darted around the bar - "there are little green people here."

Remus smiled. "Indeed. Those are goblins."

"Goblins?"

"Yep. Goblins."

Aeris gazed at the man in amazement. "You're batty," she said. "There aren't any such things as goblins."

"All right," chuckled Remus. "What else odd do you see? That one thing might be explained away. But look around a little more closely, Aeris. What do you see?"

"Well...everyone is wearing robes." She eyed him. "Including you."

"Yes, yes I am. What else? Look at what people are holding."

Aeris gasped as she saw what Remus was referring to. "Everyone has WANDS!" she exclaimed. "It's like...everyone here is into witchcraft or something!" She shook her head. "I knew this place was for weirdos."

"Well, everyone here is into witchcraft," said Remus. "But not exactly in the way you might think."

"What do you mean?" Aeris asked warily

"You probably think either that witchcraft isn't real, or that it's just practiced by kooks who have some sort of weird evil fixation."

"Well...yeah."

"That's a common misconception. No, no, witchcraft as you think of it doesn't exist. What does exist is magic, real magic. Every person in this room is magical. They have the ability to perform magic that a normal non-magical person, or Muggle as we call them, cannot."

"Okay," said Aeris. "How do they get into witchcraft? How do they become able to perform magic?"

"They don't get into it, Aeris. They're born with it. In fact," he said, looking down at her with an odd expression, "everyone in this room is magical. Even you."

"I'm not magical," Aeris laughed. "This is so absurd. I'm going to get my coffee. Good-bye." She stood up and moved toward the door.

"Aeris, wait," said Remus. "Can I ask you just one more question before you leave?"

Aeris turned, exasperated. "All right, but it better be good. I have studying to do."

"Fair enough," said Remus. "My question is: Have you ever done anything odd? That is, anything that couldn't be explained by normal physics? Little explosions, healing quickly, things of that sort?"

Aeris froze. How did he know? How could he possibly know about the countless times a young Aeris had been in school, closed her eyes, and wished she were out on the playground, only to open them and find herself there? Or the times she had made a mistake when coloring something and it magically fixed itself? Or being sad when her aunt's dog Lady got run over one day while she was outside playing, and being amazed when Lady sat back up and trotted over to Aeris without a scratch? Or learning to cook and exploding everything when she was frustrated?

Every memory of her abnormality, of trying to hide it, of embarrassing herself, of tearfully explaining what went wrong this time to her father - all this ran through her head, yet all Aeris could manage to whisper was a tiny, "Yes."

"Ah," said Remus gently. "Like I thought."

Aeris just stared.

"Won't you sit down, Aeris? Have some coffee here for a change? There's someone I would really like for you to meet..."

About an hour later, Minerva McGonagall looked up as a tawny brown owl flew in the Headmaster's window with post for her. Perplexed, she reached up and took the parchment from the owl's leg, gave him a Knut, and unrolled the letter.

It was from her old pupil and former Hogwarts employee Remus Lupin. Minerva read:

Minerva-

I am currently at The Leaky Cauldron and have come across a most unusual young woman. The girl in question is Aeris Anthony, age 17. But the most puzzling thing is that I think she's a Muggle. She had no idea that she was in a wizarding place. She pulled out a five pound note and asked the barkeep what she could buy with it. It seems this girl has no idea about magic, yet she got into the Leaky Cauldron unaided!

I have explained barely enough to her to keep her here until you can arrive. I'm sorry to bother you, but I have absolutely no idea what to do with a Muggle teenager in a bar.

Please come at once. We will be waiting.

--Remus

A Muggle in the Leaky Cauldron? Could Remus have gotten confused? Only magical people could enter the bar. Only magical people could see the bar. Not Muggles. Could she be a Squib? Not possible - she would have known about the wizarding world. Then how on earth did she get in?

McGonagall knew immediately the importance of this young lady. She could not remember a single documented event in history when a Muggle could see anything magical. She stepped to his fireplace, the only one in the whole castle connected to the Floo Network, grabbed some Floo Powder, and said distinctly, "The Leaky Cauldron, London."

Aeris rubbed her eyes and sighed. She had been waiting here with Remus for about an hour for this McGonagall woman. She kept asking Remus questions, but he wouldn't answer them. Instead, she sat and waited while the bartender kept giving her butterbeers on the house. She'd had about five now, and wondered vaguely where the bathroom was. Deciding that finding the bathroom was a good excuse to stretch her legs and explore the bar a bit more closely, Aeris slid off her stool. She spotted the sign to her right, and made her way toward it. As she walked, she noticed the decorations on the wall. There were a few animal heads, numerous newspaper clippings....

Aeris stopped short when she saw the photographs mounted on the wall. The people in them were moving, shoveling and jostling each other aside, kissing, laughing. She shook her head and continued to the bathroom, wondering if she was losing her marbles.

As she returned, she saw a tall auburn-haired woman walking toward Remus. That must be Professor Minerva McGonagall, she thought. Finally.

Aeris drew herself up to her full height and walked directly back to her seat. "Hello," she said, addressing herself to McGonagall and holding out her hand. "I'm Aeris Anthony. You must be Professor McGonagall. Pleased to meet you."

McGonagall, however surprised she might be by this bold introduction, merely smiled. "Miss Anthony," she said briskly, "it's a pleasure to meet you. Remus has told me something very interesting. You are, according to yourself, non-magical?"

Taken aback by the woman's slightly prickly manner, Aeris took a deep breath before answering. "Well," she began, "I'm not quite so sure anymore. I used to think I was just a normal kid until I found this place and met Remus here."

"Ah, yes. Mr. Lupin." And she afforded him a small smile. She turned back to Aeris. "Now, Miss Anthony, have you ever shown any signs of magic that you know of?"

"Yes, I have. I didn't realize what it all was until Mr. Lupin told me. But yes, many times."

"Such as?"

Aeris listed some of the instances she had thought about earlier. McGonagall listened patiently while Remus drank more butterbeer.

"Very interesting indeed," McGonagall said when Aeris had finished. "Now, I would like very much to show you something."

Remus leaned over to Minerva and said quietly, "What about the Statute of Secrecy?"

She whispered back, "Probably nothing to worry about."

Aeris thought, "Uhhh..."

McGonagall again turned her attention to Aeris. "Miss Anthony, would you hand me your bottle of butterbeer, please?" Aeris obliged. "Now, Miss Anthony, what is your favorite small animal?"

Aeris was beginning to get used to odd questions, so she answered normally, "Miniature schnauzer puppies."

She watched in amazement as McGonagall pulled a wand from a pocket of her robes (which were colored a particularly beautiful shade of deep red, Aeris noticed), waved it at the bottle, muttered a word Aeris could not understand, and produced a miniature schnauzer puppy where the bottle had been not two seconds before. She calmly picked up the puppy and handed it to Aeris.

"Wow," was all Aeris could say as she cradled the soft animal in the crook of her arm. "You made a puppy."

"Indeed," said McGonagall. "What else would it take to convince you that what Remus told you about magic was, in fact, true beyond a shadow of a doubt?"

"That depends on what you can do," Aeris said. "How powerful your magic really is. How big a thing I can ask for."

Remus and Minerva exchanged amused looks. "You can ask for anything short of bringing people back from the dead," said Remus.

"Yes, yes. Well, almost anything. Some forms are quite complicated and require more than one person in a bar," added McGonagall.

"Okay," said Aeris. "Let me think. What's something that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that cannot be changed unless I knew about it?" She thought for a moment. "I know!" she exclaimed. "Something on me. I would definitely know if it was real or not if you changed something about me."

"You certainly would," said McGonagall. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about you...give me an extra finger on my right hand," said Aeris.

McGonagall made no reply, but again pulled her wand, waved it, and muttered a different word. And when Aeris looked down at her right hand, she counted six fingers.

She clutched at her hand, poked it, prodded it for a few minutes, and watched in amazement as her sixth finger finally retracted back into her hand. Finally she looked up, nodded, and said, "Okay, Professor McGonagall. I believe you."

**************

McGonagall breathed a silent sigh of relief as Aeris said, "I believe you." She knew better than most how especially rare and important this girl was. No Muggle had ever entered a magical place on his or her own. That begged the interesting question: where did she get her powers?

If only I can get her to go to Hogwarts, she thought. But that may be especially difficult. This young woman is 17, not 10 or 11 as most children are when they first leave for Hogwarts. She already has a life of her own. She may be going to a university soon. She may have a boyfriend or fiancé. It will be very hard to persuade her to leave this life and begin another at such a late age. But I must try. This young woman is too exceptional not to cultivate her powers.

I only hope she goes.

***************

Remus Lupin read the conflict in the Headmistress's eyes. He knew what she must be thinking. What an oddity Aeris is, thought Remus. A Muggle. Hmm.

************************

"All right, Remus," said McGonagall to Lupin. "I think we should start at the very beginning. What have you told her?"

"Just what I said in my letter - that magic is real, it exists, and is passed on by blood."

"Do you have any questions about this, Miss Anthony?" said McGonagall.

"No, Professor," she said. "Wait - yes. So a person with absolutely no magical blood in them can never become a - a magical person?"

"Witch or wizard, and that is correct."

"So, how does someone figure out if they're magical?"

"We are fortunate enough to possess a rather special magical quill that detects the birth of every magical person in Britain and its surrounding countries. When each person reaches the age at which they begin Hogwarts, they get a letter, directed to each person by the quill, at which point they decide to attend or not to attend Hogwarts. A Muggle-born will not know they are magical until they first receive their Hogwarts letter at age 11. On the other hand, a person born to a witch or wizard, even if they have one Muggle parent, will almost always be magical, except in very rare cases. A non-magical person born to magical parents is called a Squib."

"What's Hogwarts?" asked Aeris.

"It's a boarding school where all British - and a rare few non-British - witches and wizards go from ages 11 to 17 to learn to use their magical skills. I am the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy."

"There are schools? How many?"

"Quite a few, approximately one for every rather populous country," McGonagall answered. "Boarding school is the generally accepted form of schooling for young witches and wizards. Now, Miss Anthony, have you ever gotten a letter by owl post? Or ever had a lot of owls flying around your house around the time when you were eleven?"

This strange question perplexed Aeris. "No owls," she answered. "Ever."

McGonagall sat still for a moment, thinking. Aeris took this opportunity to study the two people sitting before her. McGonagall was a slightly older woman who nonetheless seemed to be in perfect health. Her blue eyes were keen and penetrating, and one got the feeling from looking at her that this woman tolerated no nonsense.

She turned her attention to Lupin. He was really quite handsome, she thought, in an older-man kind of way. His light brown hair showed hints of gray, and he had several scars running diagonally across his face, many looking very new, as if he'd been in a bad accident recently. His features were boyish yet plainly showed maturity and wisdom, his eyes especially serious and deep. The more she studied him, the more he entranced her. He was like a painting that one wanted to study forever so as not to miss any of its secrets.

She was startled from her thoughts by McGonagall saying, "That is very odd."

"What's odd, ma'am?" Aeris asked.

"Owl post is how wizards exchange mail," Lupin answered. "If you had been born a witch..."

"I would have gotten a letter, wouldn't I?" Aeris finished slowly. "But what if I wasn't home that day, or a dog got a hold of it? What if it never got to me? I mean, any number of things could have happened to it, right?"

"No," said Lupin. "The letters are enchanted to replicate and resend themselves indefinitely until the recipient opens and reads it. This ensures that no magical person will remain ignorant of his or her abilities. No, it is not possible that you did not receive your letter. The only logical conclusion is that one was never sent to you."

She looked back and forth between Lupin and McGonagall.

"So what does that mean?"

"It means, Miss Anthony, that we have a unique situation on our hands," said McGonagall. "Tell me, how open-minded are your parents?"

***************

The three had walked back to the apartment, even though Aeris suspected that they had more efficient ways of traveling. She shook away speculations of how they did travel as she opened the door to her aunt's apartment. Since her dad was back in Ireland, she decided to talk to her aunt and cousin first. It would have been difficult to leave the country to go see her father with these two people without them finding out. Plus, her aunt was a lot more receptive to new ideas than her father. Yes, Aeris reassured herself, this is the right way to do it. I hope. I mean, this is only one of the most important moments in my life. McGonagall had explained to her that, as Headmistress, she could invite her to attend Hogwarts even though the quill hadn't taken her name down. She had also said to her, "Miss Anthony, I know this all comes as a shock to you, but I must warn you that if you decide not to come to Hogwarts, you will most likely always feel that you have rejected the only opportunity to discover this new side of yourself. It does not do to deny one's magic. It invariably leads to unhappiness and regret."

"Aunt Elizabeth? Amelia?" Aeris called tentatively as she walked in the door, McGonagall's words weighing heavily on her mind. "Come on," she motioned to McGonagall and Lupin to follow her in.

"We're in here, honey," Aunt Elizabeth called back. They came walking out of the kitchen into the living room where Aeris was. Aunt Elizabeth was a brunette fortysomething with a round face that constantly sparkled as if it concealed a secret. She worked as an estate lawyer in a small law firm. Her husband, Everett Tallyrand, had died in a car wreck a few years before. They had a daughter, Amelia, a younger version of her mother, who was seventeen years old and one of Aeris's dearest friends. Her husband's death had caused Elizabeth to change concentrations from divorce to estate law. "I don't want to go to work every day and help people hate each other anymore," she had once told Aeris. "If I can spare someone any pain when someone they love dies, I want to do it. I know how hard it is." Amelia just walked around with a sad look on her face. She had become very cynical and bitter since the accident.

"Hello," said Elizabeth warily as she eyed her strange company. Amelia gave Aeris a startled look at the sight of the two strangers.

"Aunt Elizabeth, Amelia, I'd like you to meet Remus Lupin and Minerva McGonagall. I met them today on my way to the café."

Elizabeth shook both's hands cautiously, while Amelia hung back. McGonagall read the confusion in her face and the indecision in Aeris's and decided to start. "Mrs. Tallyrand," she began, "I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"School of what?" Elizabeth sputtered.

Aeris took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Aunt Elizabeth," she began, "do you remember the time when I was little and Lady got run over?"

"Yes," said Elizabeth. "It was so odd. I saw it happen...my schnauzer Lady ran out into the street one day and was hit by a car. It completely crushed her ribcage. Aeris was about seven. She saw it happen, too. She was so upset...she could barely breathe for crying. I started to run over to Lady, but..." Elizabeth shook her head. "It was crazy," she whispered. "Lady just...she got up, and trotted back over to Aeris like nothing had happened. Her ribs were fine, even though two seconds before...." She trailed off.

"Aunt Elizabeth," Aeris said, "do you remember when that cake we made blew up because you wouldn't let me have a second piece?"

Elizabeth could only nod.

"Miss Tallyrand," said McGonagall, "am I correct in assuming that over the years, many unexplainable things have happened when Aeris was upset or feeling strongly about something?"

"Yes," whispered Elizabeth, growing pale.

"And your brother has told you about similar occurrences when Aeris was with him?"

"What...how did you know that?" Suddenly she became angry. "Who are you? Explain yourselves or get out of my home!"

Aeris walked over to her aunt and held her by the arms. "Aunt Elizabeth," she said gently but firmly, "these are good people. They've helped me realize something about myself that I've always suspected - that I'm different than everyone else. Please - can you just let them say what they need to say? I know you don't like to think about things you can't explain, but this is so important to me." She saw the acquiescence in her aunt's eyes and knew her case would get fair consideration. "I'll get some tea, okay?" said Aeris, retreating into the kitchen.

Aeris rested her forehead against the stainless steel refrigerator and glanced at herself in its reflection. Her long brown curls framed a face with petite features - a crooked mouth, a soft jawline, pink lips. The most distinctive feature of her face, however, was her huge blue eyes - eyes that stood in stark contrast to her darker coloring. Aeris herself didn't know it, but people often remarked to themselves how intense her eyes were. She wasn't conventionally pretty, but her looks were full of character, and her vibrant personality eliminated any need to look more superficially at her.

Holy shrapnel, she thought. I think I might just vomit from the pressure of it all.

Aeris was amazed at how quickly she had adapted to all the strange ideas she had heard this afternoon, and how readily she believed them all. It was as if some part of her had been building up to this afternoon her whole life. One cannot hide who they truly are forever, she thought grimly.

That was why any initial surprise she had shown had quickly disappeared - she felt, more than she knew, that everything McGonagall and Remus had told her was absolutely true. It couldn't have been otherwise - even if McGonagall hadn't have given her that sixth finger, she still would have believed them. She had just wanted to let them know that she was a rational and intelligent human being.

Aeris grabbed some glasses from the cupboard and boiled some water for tea. What are they doing to my poor aunt and cousin in there? she thought. As she poured the hot tea into glasses, she spilled a drop on her hand. Aeris didn't notice as a red welt raised where the tea had spilled...and immediately faded away.

She walked back into the room with the drinks. McGonagall and Lupin were sitting on a couch opposite her aunt, who had a strangely calm look on her face.

"Aeris," she said, "I've just had a nice talk with these two. It seems you're something of a... a..."

"Witch," supplied Remus.

"Yes, a witch," said Aunt Elizabeth, shooting a look at Remus. "Although they don't know why you're a witch. But they want you to go to that school..."

"I have to go," said Aeris. "I don't think you understand how important this is to me. I have never understood this about myself, but it's always been there. Now it has a name, now I know what it is, and if I don't learn to use it I know I'll go crazy..."

"Calm down, Aeris," said Elizabeth. "I know you want to go. But it's really up to your parents."

Aeris shook her head wearily. "I know. I really wanted you to know first, though, I guess because I'm with you and because I thought maybe you could, you know, help them get used to the idea a bit."

"I need to get used to it first before I can work on them," Elizabeth said. "I still don't know how I feel about this. I mean, you'd be going to a school that no one knows exists with two people who wear robes and who no one has ever seen. And they're wizards. Well, they say they are, and what I've seen seems to prove it. But it's all just so farfetched."

"I know, Aunt Elizabeth," Aeris said. "But this is something I have to do."

Elizabeth sighed resignedly. "All right, Aeris. Let's go talk to your parents."

Winking at Remus, McGonagall asked, "Would you like a ride?"