All rights go to JK Rowling except for my character. Also all rights go to Pablo Neruda for the title of this fic. :)

Chapter 1

The day was July 29th, 1994, at approximately 10:22 in the evening. The sky opened its floodgates and rain began pouring on the streets of London, and in the dark of the night a young girl ran. Her breath came in short gasps, and her short brown hair flopped against the skin of her face as she glanced behind her hurriedly. Hanging by thick straps on her back was a small cargo backpack and a violin in a dark green case, slamming into her as she quickened her pace. Behind her you could hear the sounds of men shouting and cackling as she ran, taunting her about how she couldn't possibly escape them.

"The mudblood thinks she can escape!" a harsh voice shouted after her followed by more wild laughter.

Still the girl kept running. She risked another glance back and as she did so, she slipped and fell right into the arms of someone. Turning back around, she saw that it was one of the many goons who had raided her home and attacked the family she was staying with.

How the hell did he get in front of me, she thought desperately, And what the hell is a mudblood.

He had long stringy black hair with a ferocious looking face and a black cloak that revealed a rather hairy chest. He snarled at the girl as she tried desperately to escape from his grasp and drew her closer with a creepy smile on his face.

He got so close to her that she could smell his awful breath and she shuddered and began to cry. Then suddenly he stopped. His entire body froze but his eyes continued to move, widening in rage and glancing everywhere. Cries of pain and surprise echoed down the alleyway and suddenly everything was silent except for the quiet sobs of the girl who was stuck in that man's grasp.

All of a sudden bright white lights appeared in the alleyway and revealed several other people in cloaks of varying colors. A woman came up to the large man who had the girl stuck in his grasp and she gently helped pull her out. The girl collapsed on the ground, weeping and feeling utterly useless.

"Hey, hey you're alright! Listen to me you'll be fine. My name is Tonks, my friends and I are here to help. Can you tell me your name?"

The woman had put her arms around the girl, trying to warm her up from the freezing rain. She had stopped crying now and was shaking from cold and fright as she looked up at the woman with purple hair and kind eyes. She scanned the alleyway and saw one other person, a lanky man with a scar running down his face. He was looking at her expectantly, holding out what looked like a glorified stick in defense. The girl looked back at the woman. The tears that had been on her face were gone now, mixed with the rain that continued to pour.

"My name is Annabelle".

What happened next was otherworldly to Annabelle. The woman, Tonks, took one look at the other and then took Annabelle's arm. Suddenly it felt as though Annabelle was being squeezed through a very thin and long tube, not at all comfortable. When the squeezing finally stopped, she was standing in front of a rather odd looking house that was at least four stories high, her head spinning from whatever had just happened.

Annabelle stumbled a bit and clutched her head in pain, but was otherwise okay. However, this was when she began to panic. She quickly scanned her surroundings for a way to escape, but only saw marshes and open fields around her.

"Who are you people? What was that?" she demanded angrily, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"Please just relax, we're only trying to help you. You don't even know what you are, do you?" Tonks said, reaching out to Annabelle.

This only succeeded in bothering Annabelle further, who narrowed her eyes at Tonks and flinched away from her touch..

"What do you mean?" Annabelle asked very slowly, enunciating every word.

"You're a witch Annabelle, and those men were hunting you because of it." Tonks said in a very matter of fact tone.

Annabelle's feet had frozen at those words and her eyes widened in disbelief. She thought back on her life in this moment. You see, Annabelle had a very normal family, not at all magical. She grew up in America, Texas to be exact. She went to regular school and played the regular violin, and had regular friends. Sure she had a very strange connection to animals, and sometimes she found some rather odd looking creatures in the surrounding wooded areas back home that nobody believed she had really seen. But still, Annabelle's life had been very normal up until a few days ago.

"You people are insane" she said quickly.

Tonks smiled, which Annabelle thought was strange considering she had just told her she was insane.

"Have you really never done or seen anything that didn't make sense to you or your family? Made something move on accident, had a run in with something unexplainable?"

Annabelle paused. She had been staying in London for about two weeks now for orchestra camp and since she had arrived, she had been having the most peculiar experiences. For instance, when playing through a Bach partita, when it was time for Annabelle to turn the page of music, it turned itself. She stopped in confusion but immediately moved on, thinking that she probably had turned the page without thinking about it. She also could've sworn that she had seen the strangest animal yesterday when walking home, it looked like a green twig and yet he was standing on two very wobbly legs and walking. When Annabelle blinked, the little guy was gone.

Annabelle looked up at Tonks again, who was smiling warmly at her, probably realizing that Annabelle had come to this realization.

"Well then", Annabelle said, "What happens now?".

Hi everyone, thanks so much for reading! This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so we'll see how it goes. I was just going to write the whole thing and then post the chapters periodically, but after a while I started wanting feedback. So please feel free to review! Constructive feedback is always welcome. Thanks! :)