Without You

Adrianna looked around the room she shared with three other girls. She longed to be somewhere else, to have a family, but the reality was it would never happen. People didn’t care about older kids. They wanted babies and toddlers. The four girls in the room were destined to remain in the orphanage until they were adults.

“Adri,” one of the “teachers” drew her from her daydream of finally meeting a nice family. Adri looked up at the woman, and it hurt the woman to see the blank stare. “Come with me please.”
Adrianna followed her to an office. Inside was an elderly woman, dressed in an unusual dress with an even more unusual hat.

“Adrianna Prince, this is Minerva McGonagall, she wishes to speak with you, alone,” Madam Charmichael said, though she sounded as though she didn’t want to leave the girl alone. “I will be just outside the door.” When the door gently clicked shut, the woman in the chair stood up.

“Miss Prince,” Minerva started. “As that lovely woman informed you, my name is Minerva McGonagall. What she didn’t say, however, is that I’m in fact the deputy headmistress of a very special school.”

“What kind of school?” Adri asked uncertainly.

“A most exclusive school,” Minerva replied. “Now, this is going to come as a shock, but, Miss Prince, you are not an ordinary girl.”

“What do you mean?” Adri asked, her confusion growing.

“You might believe them to be tales and legends, considering how you were raised. However, it is all true. Magic, is real, witches and wizards are real. My dear, you are, in fact, a witch, and your name is down to start Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.”

“Wait, I’m not a witch, I can’t use magic or anything.”

“Have you ever done anything you can’t explain my dear?” Minerva asked suddenly with a knowing look. Adrianna stopped and thought back. Just the other day she could have sworn she made a bucket slid across the floor with her mind. She figured it must have been exhaustion from doing her chores all day and she just imagined it.

Minerva smiled and stood up, holding out an envelope with green lettering.

“That is your letter with your school supplies list. You don’t have to come, but I will need an answer. In a couple days an owl will arrive to your bedroom window. Just attach a note to him with your answer.” Adrianna nodded and Minerva stood up.

“Oh, one more thing, nobody can hear about this, well, perhaps your headmistress here since she is your guardian, however, no other child or adult can know.” Adrianna nodded again, and, in the blink of an eye, McGonagall had disappeared. Adrianna looked around as the door opened.

“Where did she go?” Madam Charmichael asked, looking around the office. Adrianna looked up at her, then back down to the letter. She was a witch? How was that possible? How was any of this possible? Stuffing the letter in her pocket, she walked back up to her room. The bedroom she would have for the rest of her life, just like the other three girls with her.

Just as McGonagall promised, an owl arrived at the bedroom window two days later. Adrianna had talked with Madam Charmichael, and the teacher told her she would leave the choice up to her.
The owl sat perched on the corner of her bed, waiting for her letter. Adrianna read over the letter once more, and made up her mind. She wrote her reply on a piece of paper and placed it in a leather pouch on the owl’s leg. The letter contained only one sentence.

“I will attend the school this year.”

Minerva looked up as the owl soared through her office window. She looked for a letter, but didn’t see one.

“Where is the letter?” She asked the owl. The bird just lifted his leg a little higher, and she realized it must be in the pouch. She opened it and found the small slip of paper, and read the single line. She smiled, knowing the girl would agree.

“I’ll inform Hagrid myself shall I?” McGonagall said to the owl, stroking its head before standing up from the desk. She turned just as a man entered the room.

“Severus,” McGonagall greeted the man.

“Minerva,” Snape replied back. It still caught her off guard when she seen the man. During the Battle for Hogwarts that occurred seventeen years ago, it was believed that Severus Snape had died at the hands of Lord Voldemort, a wizard whom was trying to take control of the entire magical world. Three months after the battle, while the teachers and some of the students worked to return Hogwarts to its former glory, the front doors opened, revealing a just released and newly healed Severus.

“How did you survive?” A seventeen year old named Hermione Granger asked. “We watched you die.” She was, of course, referring to her best friend, Harry Potter, and her friend turned boyfriend Ronald Weasley.

“You thought you did,” Snape replied to her. “Someone came by just moments after the three of you left and got me to St. Mungo’s just in time for the healers to hold off the poison.”

Harry, who was standing behind Hermione, walked up to Severus and held out his hand. Snape, knowing that Harry finally knew the truth about everything, accepted the gesture, and even gave him a faint smile. While he was still bitter towards his father, he knew the younger man was own person, and his resentment was for nothing now.

Minerva was brought back from her thoughts by Severus clearing his throat.

“I asked how many first years we were expecting this term,” Snape repeated.

“We don’t have an official count yet Severus, but of course I will inform you when we do.”

“What must you inform Hagrid of?” Snape asked. Minerva inwardly smiled to herself. Since his near death, he has tried to loosen himself up, though it doesn’t exactly work all the time.

“We just received a note from a first year agreeing to come and study with us. She grew up in a Muggle orphanage.”

Severus couldn’t help but to feel his heart begin to race. The last time a wizard child came from a Muggle orphanage that he knew of, the child turned into Lord Voldemort himself.

“She’s a little girl,” Minerva continued. She noticed the uncertain look in Snape’s eyes, so she continued. “She’s a sweet girl. No sign of evil in her at all. Not like what you’re thinking of.” Snape just nodded, though he wasn’t too convinced.

“Would you like to escort the girl to Diagon Alley yourself?” Minerva asked, seeing how uneasy he still was.

“Not hardly,” Severus replied before turning on his heal and walking from the room. Not long after he left another man walked in, though this one was about three times Severus’s size.

“Hagrid, I was just on my way to see you,” Minerva said. “Do you have time to run a new student to Diagon Alley? She grew up in a Muggle orphanage so she will have no idea about anything in our world.”

“Jus’ like young Harry,” Hagrid chuckled. “Sure thing Professor McGonagall ma’am.”

“By the way, you know Harry’s son starts this term as well don’t you?” Minerva asked, knowing how close the two men had remained over the years.

“Sure do, young James. I’ll invite him ter tea on his first weekend, see how he’s adjustin’ an’ all tha.”

“I’m sure Ginny and Harry prepared him very well.”

“Three weeks ‘till term, I think I better get the girl over there,” Hagrid said.

“Very well Hagrid,” Minerva said, turning back to her paperwork. “I must get to work on my lesson plans.” With that, Hagrid left the room, leaving Minerva to her work.