Chapter 1

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a young girl lived in a small house in the middle of nowhere. That young girl was happy. She was learning magic from her father and reading books with her mother. She even turned into an Animagus. But then, one day, her mother decided to go into the small town a few miles away and get some supplies for the young girl's birthday cake. The young girl realized her mother forgot the ingredients list so the young girl decided to take it to her mother. While the mother was in town she ran into a Death Eater. The young girl watched in horror as the Death Eater immediately recognized her mother. The Death Eater cast the killing curse on the young girl's mother. The young girl couldn't do anything but wait until the Death Eater left. When he finally did the young girl ran over to her mother and checked her pulse. The mother had none. So the girl started to cry. After a couple of minutes, the young girl realized she had to tell her father. So she reluctantly left and ran home. After she told her father they packed up and left. The father told her about his past as a Death Eater.

Once upon a time that young girl was me. But since then, my father has died, and I have been living in the woods ever since. I stay in my Animagus form, a buckskin Gypsy Vanner, and eat grass and berries. But yesterday I got a letter accepting me into Hogwarts. My best option is to go. Even though my father has died Death Eaters are still hunting me. I've had a few encounters with them that I would not like to repeat so… I guess I should make my way to London.

Once I'm in London I decide to get some new clothes since my old ones are covered in dirt and um… Honestly? I have no idea what's on them. During my time on the streets, I have learned how to pickpocket, steal, and disappear. So stealing new clothes is pretty easy. It's not like I want to steal but I have no choice. It's steal or show up to the train in dirty rags. I walk down the street marveling at the huge city. I've been used to living in the wilderness for a while now. All I own is the clothes I'm wearing, my mother's charm bracelet, and my father's glass bead bracelet. Oh, and my father's wand. He died last year. Killed by a Ministry member. He thought my father was still working for He Who Must Not Be Named, or Voldemort, but my father had turned his life around. The Ministry man didn't know that, though, and killed him on the spot. The guy was horrified when he saw me watching from the shadows, crying silently. I don't know if he was horrified at what he did or that someone as "evil" as my father could have a family. Either way, I didn't stick around long enough to find out. I picked up his wand and ran. I ran until I was too tired to move, and then I cried. I think I cried for days but I'm not sure. For the first time, I was alone in the world. And it felt terrible. I was 10 at the time. Now I'm 11 almost 12. Going to meet a staff member from Hogwarts to take me shopping in Diagon Alley. Unlike other first years, I know a thing or two about magic. I have learned spells from my father so I could defend myself. I even learned how to fight through the pain of the Cruciatus Curse. That wasn't my favorite lesson. But I have not and will not learn the dark arts. If my father wanted me to know them I would know them. I look up and realize I'm at the spot where I'm supposed to meet the staff member. I take in my surroundings and find the best place to hide. I sit in the shadows of a nearby alley and wait.

I wake up to find an older woman standing by the wall on the other side of the street where I'm supposed to be meeting the staff member. I watch for a few minutes. She keeps looking around and checking her watch. I waited a couple more minutes. When it is exactly noon, the time it says I am supposed to meet someone, I step out of the shadows. She immediately spots me and waves. I cautiously cross the street and walk towards her, keeping 5 feet between us.

"Are you Amethyst Hellfire?" she asks. I can tell she already knows the answer. There aren't that many 11-year-olds with purple hair. But I nod anyway.

"Good. Do you have your list?" I'm confused for a second before I remember that the letter has a list in it with all the stuff I need to get. I nod again and pull out the letter. She takes it and examines it.

"Alright. You need to get pretty much everything. Let's get started." The woman pulls out her wand and taps on a brick in the wall. The wall opens up to reveal Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley has a bunch of magical shops where you can buy wands, cauldrons, books, and other things. The woman looks over at me, expecting a reaction, but my face stays blank. She turns away looking disappointed. I look around the Alley, noting a few suspicious characters leaning against lampposts, smoking a pipe on the sidewalk, and things like that. I see one person that looks a little different than the rest and my hand instinctively goes towards my wand.

"Where would you like to go first?" The woman says, breaking me out of my trance.

"Gringotts," I say and I could tell that surprises her.

"You… want to go to Gringotts?"

"Yes." My father told me before he died that I should go to his vault at Gringotts and everything that I will need for Hogwarts will be there.

"Very well then. Gringotts is down this way." We walk down the Alley towards a large building with pillars on the front and Gringotts carved into the stone above the door.

On the way, the woman introduces herself, but I'm not listening. I noticed the man that I saw earlier following us discreetly. I turn down a side street, pulling the teacher or whatever with me. Just as I suspected the man turns down this street too. I stop and pretend to look in the window of some shop with the woman giving me a weird look. The man stops, too, and looks at a shop that sells hats. I start walking away and now it's pretty obvious the man is following us. The woman is catching on to what I'm doing and is playing along. I turn into an alley with a dead end and walk down to the end. The man follows.

"What are you doin' in London Ms. Hellfire?" The man says. I don't answer. "We've been trying to track you but yer a slippery one. You made it a whole lot easier by coming to London." Again I don't say anything.

"What do you want with her?" The woman asks. I sigh. You never engage with these people.

"None of yer business." He casts Petrificus Totalus. It freezes her and she falls over. "Now for you." I pull out my father's wand but not before he casts Crucio. I feel an excruciating pain ricocheting through my body. I take a deep breath and focus on my wand. I cast Expelliarmus and then Petrificus Totalus. He was able to dodge my cast of Petrificus Totalus but he couldn't dodge Expelliarmus. He is shocked that I could duel despite the pain of the Cruciatus Curse, but the truth is I'm barely hanging on. The pain is intensifying by the second, but thankfully, he gets scared and runs away. I put away my wand before I collapse and eventually black out.