Ok, so this is my first fanfic. The idea has been spooking in my mind for some time now, and I've finally decided to write it down. Please let me know what you think :)

Disclaimer: I don't own One Upon a Time, or Harry Potter. I only borrow their characters and places and let them have some fun.

When Emma heard the doorbell, she had no idea it would change her entire life.

She was just getting used to her new foster family. Mother, father, and twin boys.

She liked it here, really. They were a little stiff when it came to traditions, but she would get used to it. It felt nice, actually, to pray before eating a meal, or to fill the dishwasher.

It made her feel included.

"Emma, honey, will you open the door, please?" she heard her foster mother call.

Another gesture she highly appreciated. She was entrusted with something she had rarely had the chance to do: Opening the door to her home.

She quickly ran down the stairs, yet trying not to be too loud because she didn't want to disturb her new family.

When she reached the door, she hesitated. She didn't want to let a stranger in. She took a quick glance through the loophole.

There was an elderly woman she had never seen before. Her dark hair was tied into a knot and she looked very severe. She was wearing a weird green and black dress, or was it a coat? But she didn't seem to be dangerous. Maybe she just had a question. Or she was at the wrong door.

Emma turned the doorknob, placing herself between the stranger and her home.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Am I speaking to Miss Emma Swan?"

Emma frowned at the strange and old-fashioned address.

"Yeah", she answered hesitantly.

The woman's thin lips curved a little into what seemed to be the attempt of a smile.

"Good afternoon, Miss Swan. I would like to talk to your parents."

"Will it eat me?" the boy asked, his voice slightly shaking, although he tried to sound confident.

"What?" his brother asked a little confused, still looking at the picture frame he held in his hands.

It was their favorite and most important possession, a picture taken at their parents' wedding. Their mother, the most beautiful bride in the world, her long, curly black hair plait around her head in the most artful manner, was wearing a blue and purple dress that stressed her deep blue eyes, something both boys had inherited. Their father wore a simple but elegant dark Dress Robe. They seemed so happy, looking at each other and then turning to the photographer.

"The monster, will it eat me?" Killian asked impatiently and turned his brother's attention away from the photograph.

"What monster? I thought you hadn't been afraid of Stripey since you were six years old!"

"I'm not talking about Stripey!" Killian protested defensively and a little embarrassed. As a young boy he had always imagined that a monster lived under his bed, but that had been ages ago. He was already eleven years old, after all!

"I'm talking about the monster in the lake! You said there was a monster in the lake!"

Liam smiled and kneeled down before him, taking his hands. "I didn't say 'monster', I said 'giant squid'. It is very peaceful, really. I even heard that once a first year fell into the water and the squid saved his life."

"Really?" Killian asked in disbelief. "That's cool!"

Liam smiled at him.

"You're nervous, aren't you? About Hogwarts?"

Killian gave him an unsure shrug.

"It's just… I mean it's really exciting, all the magic and stuff, but… It's almost too exciting. We just found a way to handle our lives here. I'm not sure I'm ready for another change."

Liam frowned at him with concern.

"Do you want to wait another year? It shouldn't be a problem, I can ask Professor French to delay…"

"No!" Killian interrupted him. "I'm going. It's my last chance to go to school with you. Besides, don't you always say that I have to get back on the horse right after falling, because if I don't, my fear will only grow? I guess it's kinda the same with this. If I don't go now, I might never go." A little quieter, he added: "And I don't want to spend another year in a muggle orphanage. Now that you're seventeen and I go to school we can finally have our own place, and I wouldn't have it any differently."

Liam smiled at him. "Me neither. Don't worry, you're never going back there, I promise! We can handle ourselves. Just the two of us. So…" He got on his feet again. "We should get going, don't you think? Next stop: Diagon Alley!"

"Liam…" Killian started before Liam could reach the chimney with the flee powder. "I was wondering… maybe…"

"What? You can ask me anything, Killian."

"I want to use dad's wand!" Their father, Bentham Jones, had died a few years ago. He had been killed by a few remaining Death Eaters, defending his sons.

After that, Liam and Killian, who was about six years younger than his brother, had lived in several muggle orphanages. Liam had gone to Hogwarts, but he had always come back during the holidays, although Killian knew he'd rather stay in the only place he called home.

But Liam had always made sure he could see Killian, his only living family member, as often as possible.

Killian remembered all the winter evenings when Liam would sneak into his room and quietly tell him stories about Hogwarts, about the teachers, the lessons, the friends he'd made, the adventures he'd had.

He was his brother, the closest thing he had to a parent, his only friend. Liam was everything to him.

Now he looked at him, both surprised and concerned.

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly.

This was another trait that Killian loved about him. He trusted him enough to let him make his own decisions. He didn't tell him what to do; he only made sure Killian considered his choices long enough.

"Yes. He was a hero, and the wand is almost all that is left of him. I think I would be… more confident if I had it with me."

Killian noticed that Liam momentarily frowned when he talked about their dad. It startled him for a brief moment, but it was probably just because he missed him, too.

"You should know that wands are… tricky things. Using somebody else's wand could be a lot more difficult, especially since you don't have any experience."

"I'm aware", he assured him.

"Fine", Liam agreed reluctantly.

He stepped to his desk and opened a drawer. He eyed the long, crooked wand and stretched out his arm to give it to him. Before he let go of it, he said:

"Blackthorn and Dragon Heartstrings, 14 ½ inches, not very flexible. Always know your wand."

Killian nodded and carefully took it. He thought that holding it would immediately fill him with awe, but instead he felt grief and anger. It had been found near his father's dead body. Had he used it, one last time, to defend himself and his family? And how could he, Killian, fill out the big footsteps left by his father?

"Let's go now", Liam said. Killian securely stored the wand away and followed his brother through the green flames.

"I am sorry, Mrs. …"

"McGonagall. I am Professor McGonagall."

"Yes… Professor McGonagall. You are suggesting that Emma needs to go to a special school for… special children. You must excuse me, but that sounds as if you thought there was something wrong with her."

Emma sat in the armchair, slightly leaning forwards, and watched her foster parents and the strange woman talk. Her whole body was tense.

She didn't want to go away. She didn't know what this school – Hogwarts (what an idiotic name, really!) – was, but she didn't care.

All she knew was that her foster father shot her a suspicious glance over his wife's shoulder every now and then as if she wouldn't see it.

Her foster mother still eyed Professor McGonagall, and Emma knew she was close to making her leave the house.

But it was only a matter of time until she also doubted her, and then they would throw her out and she would live in the next foster home, the perfect life she had imagined here blown away by this… freak.

"No, there is nothing wrong with your daughter, I assure you. Hogwarts is a place of magic."

"Magic?" her foster father spat out. "Are you sure it's not you who needs special treatment?"

"John…" his wife began, but she turned to Professor McGonagall instead. "Maybe you should leave now."

Professor McGonagall didn't move.

"Our ministry reported that your daughter possesses magical abilities. They must have shown a few times, but none of you knew what it was. It could have been something very simple, like a light bulb flickering when she was angry or scared, or something moving without being touched. Surely you must have witnessed something that you couldn't explain."

"No." her foster father said firmly. "We did not know anything like that about our foster daughter, nor did the foster home report any abnormalities."

With that last word he looked at Emma, and she felt that he was blaming her, that he thought she was a freak. Tears burned in her eyes and she jumped to her feet and left the room, not willing to let anyone see her cry. It wasn't until she reached her room that she allowed the tears to run down her face.

So that's it. She would go back into the system, with another note saying 'She is such a nice girl, but it just didn't work out'. And again, it wasn't even her fault. She had done everything right. She had tried so hard to be a part of this family, as with every family she'd had been in.

She heard a soft knock on her door and quickly wiped her tears away. Her eyes must be swollen. Damn.

"Emma?" somebody asked quietly.

She turned the doorknob and saw Zach and Max, the twins, her nine year old foster brothers. They looked at her with big blue eyes.

"You slammed the door. You know mommy and daddy don't like that." Zach said, but he didn't sound as if he was blaming her.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just… I was a little upset."

"We thought so", Max nodded. They stepped into her room, Max sitting down on her bed, Zach in front of it.

"What's wrong?" Zach asked.

Emma closed the door and then sat down on her chair.

"It's just…" She decided to tell them the truth. They would find out eventually anyway.

"There is this strange woman who is talking to your parents right now –"

" –our parents", Max corrected her. Emma smiled at him.

"Right. She thinks I have to go to a special school. She's crazy, but now your… our parents think I'm a freak and I'm afraid they will kick me out."

"They won't do that!" Zach exclaimed in shock, while Max looked at her with tears in his eyes.

"I don't want you to go!" he whispered. His brother shook his head. "Me neither!"

Emma couldn't help feeling touched by their love for her. "I don't want to go, either", she whispered.

Suddenly they heard voices in the hallway and a few moments later the front door slammed shut.

Zach jumped to his feet and took her hand.

"C'mon! It's already time for dinner! Let's help prepare it."

Max took her other hand.

"We'll show them you're not a freak!"

Emma laughed a little as they rushed down the stairs. She had to go sideways as they refused to let go of her hands.

"Okay, we're going to set the table, maybe you can help them bring everything from the kitchen?"

The twins disappeared into the dining room and Emma made her way to the kitchen. Right in front of it she stopped. Her foster parents were talking about what had happened, and she could hear their muffled voices.

"We have to trust Emma. She has done nothing so far to make us doubt her."

That was her foster mother.

"So far. How do you know this… woman didn't tell the truth? Think about it, Emma has been in so many foster families, yet she was always returned to the system"

Was returned. As if she was a piece of furniture.

"John, don't tell me you believe this woman! All this nonsense about magic! We should have thrown her out right away."

"Of course not! But Emma has been with us for only two weeks, and we already have people like this in our house! Did you hear her? She wants to come back tomorrow and take Emma to London to buy her schoolbooks. Having Emma in our house is endangering our children!"

"Our children?" Emma whispered, not able to hold back. The door swung open.

"Emma! Did you eavesdrop?"

"Emma, he didn't mean it like that", her foster mother immediately said.

"No, I think that's exactly what he meant."

Emma turned around and, for the second time today, she ran up the stairs and slammed the door. Only this time, she fell on her bed and cried into her pillow, and nobody came into her room. She was sure John stopped the twins from doing that..

Had she really believed she could have a life here? That finally, after eleven messed up years, she could find a family?

Her lamp flickered again. It had always had a loose connection. Unless…

It could have been something very simple, like a light bulb flickering when she was angry or scared.

Professor McGonagalls voice echoed in her head.

No, this was ridiculous. This woman had ruined her life. Which was why she wouldn't be here anymore tomorrow.

When Professor McGonagall came to her home… to this house again, she would only find a very confused family that couldn't explain the absence of the girl they had adopted not long ago, but would surely be happy to be rid of this problem.

Emma was the problem. So Emma would be gone.