New Destiny

Ella stared dully at the ceiling from the position on her bed. The day passed slowly, darkening the room as the hours ticked by. She didn't bother turning on the light. The letter was playing over and over in her head. Dear Miss Black... Pleased to inform you... Been accepted...

A sudden knock at her bedroom door stopped the movie. Ella sat up. "What do you want?" she snapped.

There was silence, then a soft, "May I come in?"

Ella thought for a moment. If she questioned her mother enough, she could find out why she lied... and if her father was a wizard. "Fine," she mumbled. "Come in."

The door swung open, revealing her mother, red eyed and carrying a bowl of steaming soup. "I brought you dinner," she said anxiously. She walked up to the bedside table, set the bowl next to Ella's alarm clock, and sat on the edge of the her bed.

"Tell me," Ella murmured. "Why didn't you tell me?" Her mother studied her for a moment, then inclined her head. "I was hoping, well, I didn't want you to..."

"Know I'm a witch?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Er, um, yes, but..."

"What other secrets are you keeping from me?" Ella demanded. "Was my dad a wizard? I bet so. And I bet you are, too. Aren't you? Yeah, I thought so," she said furiously, seeing the guilty look on her mother's face. "Why are you keeping all this from me? Was it because of Dad, or do you just want to keep me in the dark?"

"No! Ella, just listen to me first!" her mother said, looking ready to burst into tears. "Please."

Ella gave her a venomous look, and then threw her head back on her pillow. "Ok, Fine. HOWEVER, you have to answer all of my questions. All of them."

"I will," her mother promised. So she began her story, finally uncovering her past.

"Your father, Sirius, was a great man. We got married, and you were born a year later. We were happy, but it didn't last for long. About a week after his twenty-first birthday, everything fell apart. He and his friends, Remus, Peter, and James, were part of the Order of the Phoenix. James had a wife named Lilly, and a son named Harry. All of them were in danger from You-Know-Who."

"No, I don't," Ella interrupted, leaning forward.

"Well, that's what people called him. His name was... was... Voldemort." She shuddered. "Don't ever say that name out loud, ever. Anyway..."

"He found them. We don't know how, but he did. He killed James and Lilly, and then tried to finish it off by killing Harry, but when he tried to, he couldn't do it. It was amazing, some of the best wizards in the world were died because of him, and Harry, only a year old, managed to stay alive. After that night, You-Know-Who disappeared. Nobody knows where he is now, but I don't think he is died. I think he is waiting for his time to strike."

"But why didn't you ever tell me I was a witch?" Ella asked.

"I thought if you knew, you would control your magic and try to make life easier for yourself, instead of enjoying life the way it should be, with happiness, joy, and love, and with grief, sadness, and pain. You would just be living a fairytale if you could say you didn't want the cat to die, or the kids at school to tease you," she said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it.

"But what about Dad?" Ella asked.

"I heard he was sent to Azkaban, but I never found out why," her mother admitted.

"So you never bothered to find out? He's your husband!" Ella yelled.

"I know, I just know..." her mother started, but she then shook her head. " We'll talk about it when you're older. Anyway, you should get some rest, we should go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get your things; the date is only three days away."

"How do I get to Hogwarts?" Ella asked, pulling the covers up to her chin. She felt the facts given to her whirling around in her head.

"Why, the train, of course!"