Taming the Dragon

Prologue

Marietta Grant left the hospital in tears. Her Aunt, who had raised her, had given in to the disease that had been eating away at her for two years. The nurses had called her this morning and told her that her Aunt was asking for her.

Flashback
Marietta sat down at her Aunt's bedside and took her hand, "I'm here Aunt Kate," she said to the woman in the bed.

Kate Grant slowly opened her eyes and looked at her niece. "I won't be with you much longer, Mari. I wanted to clear the air about your parents," she wheezed. "In the box under my bed is a letter, written in blue ink on parchment. When you were brought to me after your mother died, the letter was pinned to your blanket. It came from a man that knew your mother, I know nothing about her life in England. I was away at school when she was born, and I came here when I graduated. I spoke to her once a month, but I know very little. All she said about your father is that she loved him." She reached over and grabbed Marietta's hand. "She met him at school, she always called him her slithering snake. Find the man who wrote the letter, maybe he can tell you more about him."

Marietta squeezed her Aunt's hand, "It doesn't matter," she told her.

Kate struggled to sit up, "Promise me that you'll find him Mari. You were only eleven when the last letter came. I never opened it, I just scribbled a short note and sent it back with the owl that delivered it. Find that man, and maybe you'll find more people that knew your mother."

"I promise, Aunt Kate. I will go to England and find the man that sent the letter," she sighed.

End Flashback

Her Aunt had died twenty minutes later. She went through the rest of the week in a sort of haze, only eating when her fiends made her sit down, and only sleeping when she could no longer stay awake. The morning after the funeral, she pulled the box from under her Aunt's bed. She searched through it until she found the heavy parchment with the sapphire blue ink, she took the letter and crawled up onto her Aunt's bed. She gently opened the letter and began reading.

Ms. Grant,
Your sister had requested that you receive custody of her daughter should anything happen to her. I ask you to please care for her until such a time that her father is able to assist in raising her. At this time, he is unaware of her birth and it must remain that way for now.

If Marietta has any questions about her parents that you cannot answer, please refer her to me. Your sister left a substantial amount of money to Marietta, you will receive a check once a month, to help with deferring the cost of raising her. Please accept my deepest sympathies on the loss of your sister. She was a wonderful woman and will be missed by many.

Yours Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Marietta folded the letter and looked around the room. She was going to go to England and find Albus Dumbledore.

She spent the next week packing things and finding someone to stay at her Aunt's house while she was gone. "Are you sure that you want to go to England?" Lisa asked her.

"I promised Aunt Kate that I would find Albus Dumbledore and find out about my parents. My mother lived in England, and I'm sure that she had friends there. I'm hoping that someone over there will be able to tell me about her," she explained as she closed her suitcase. "I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, or if I'll even be coming back here to live. If I decide to stay there, I'll let you know before I put the house up for sale."

Lisa sighed, "If you decide to sell the house, I'll buy it. I spent a lot of my childhood in this house."

Marietta laughed, "It always seemed like you never went home." She hugged her friend, "Once you drop me at the airport, the house will be yours."

Charlie Weasley stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron and into muggle London. He was searching for a gift for his father, and something muggle was always a good choice. He wasn't watching where he was going, and walked right into someone, knocking them to the ground. "I'm so sorry," he said as he turned to help them up. He looked down and saw a woman with long brown hair, rubbing her elbow.

"No problem, I wasn't looking where I was going," she told him as he offered her his hand to help her up.

"Are you alright?" he asked as she brushed the hair back from her face.

"Yes, I'm fine," she told him, brushing the dust off of her pants.

He smiled at her, "My name's Charlie Weasley," he said holding out his hand.

She looked at the hand and then to the red haired man it was attached to, "Marietta Grant," she told him, shaking his hand.

"Well Marietta, my mother would be offended if I didn't offer to buy you some tea for knocking you down," he said.

She looked at him again, taking in the way his freckles were so plentiful that they almost looked like a tan and how his brown eyes sparkled with his smile. "I think that a cup of tea would be wonderful right now. I've been trudging around London all day, and I still haven't found who I came here to see."

He led her into the Leaky Cauldron and ordered tea for them, "Who are you looking for?" he asked.

Tom came over and placed cups of tea and a plate of biscuits on the table in front of them. "Albus Dumbledore," she told him.