Author's note: This is the second in a double update for tonight: if you missed chapter 4, go back and read it before this. :)

They went through the Floo Network, which was travelling by fireplace. Mostly it went well, with Professor Snape tersely explaining, "This powder is magical. If you throw it onto a fireplace that is connected to the Floo Network, and call the name of the place you want to arrive at, you can step into the fire and emerge wherever it is you wished to go."

He took a pinch of green powder and threw it onto the fireplace. "Say 'Hogwarts headmaster's office," he instructed, "and step into the fire."

Mattie took a deep breath and did so. Then there was a whoosh of green fire and she was suddenly deposited somewhere she'd never been before.

It was a circular room, dominated by a huge claw-foot desk and a red, throne-like chair. The room was filled with the crackling of the fire and strange noises coming from intricate silver contraptions scattered about the room. The walls were decorated with portraits of various people, who were—were they breathing? And, oh, that portrait was moving!

"Ah, welcome," a man's voice said, somewhere off to her left. Mattie whirled. Standing at an adjoining door was a man who seemed to be very old, if his long, waist-length white hair and beard was any indication. He wore purple robes patterned with stars and moons, as well as half-moon spectacles perched over a nose that looked like it had been broken at least twice.

"Miss Matilda Potter, I assume," he said, sitting at the red throne. His bright blue eyes sparkled brightly at her. "You're here at Hogwarts a bit early, aren't you? Lemon drop?"

Gobsmacked, Mattie looked at the small dish of lemon drops the man was holding out. "No, thank you," she managed. She wasn't about to accept sweets from a stranger!

The fire flared again, and Professor Snape stepped out.

"Headmaster!" he said, as soon as he was done shaking the soot from his robes. (Mattie looked down and saw her own clothes were soot-stained; before she could do anything about it, Professor Snape had already flicked his wand and cleaned everything off of her.) "This girl knows nothing about—anything!"

Mattie thought this a bit much. She'd fair marks in school, after all. But she didn't think it wise to say so, not when Professor Snape was so obviously on a tear.

"Really, Severus," the headmaster said. "You exaggerate, I'm certain."

"The girl did not even know what a wand was! Much less her role in defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"

He who what now?

"But really, where are my manners," the old man said, turning to Mattie. "Hello, Miss Potter. My name is Albus Dumbledore. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, if we're being exact, but you may call me Professor Dumbledore. How do you do?" He extended a hand.

Mattie took the aged hand and shook it. "Well, thank you," she said. "My name is Matilda Anne Potter."

Professor Snape gave a funny twitch.

"Headmaster," he said, "you must tell her about her history. You can't let her go to Hogwarts not knowing, and, and getting a swelled head from all this nonsense! Causing an earthquake, indeed!"

"You caused an earthquake?" Professor Dumbledore asked Mattie, interested.

"Not. The. Point," Professor Snape snarled.

The sparkle in the headmaster's eyes dimmed to a sad twinkle, and he sighed heavily. "You are right, Severus, of course you are right…sit down, Miss Potter…may I call you Mattie?"

"You may," Mattie said, flabbergasted.

"This is not an easy tale to tell, and I hope you will bear with me…are you sure you shan't have a lemon drop?"

xxx

So that was it, that was what happened, and that was why Mattie Potter was the Girl-Who-Lived. Because she'd survived when her parents hadn't.

"Love," Professor Dumbledore said gravely. "Your mother's love enacted a very powerful protection charm upon you, Mattie; she gave her life that you might live. Voldemort, using a curse that literally commands one to die, could not break such unflinching resistance, and thus his curse failed—and left you with only that scar."

Mattie was openly crying, now. Professor Dumbledore conjured a handkerchief of the same pattern as his robes, and handed it to Mattie. Professor Snape had not left the room, but he was standing as far away as possible from Professor Dumbledore and Mattie, his back turned to them.

"But sir," Mattie asked, sniffling, "why did the Death Eaters come after me?"

"Revenge," Professor Snape said suddenly, turning to her. "They wanted to stop you from rejoining the wixen world entirely, and I suppose they took the opportunity to do so when they found you at the zoo."

"But—they wouldn't have been able to kill me anyway, right?"

"Incorrect. Your mother's protection only works against the Dark Lord."

So she could still be killed after all. Mattie felt uncomfortable—she didn't like thinking of being killed, and of course she wanted to live and learn to become a great witch, but it had been rather odd to think that she couldn't be killed no matter what. She'd rather have had the option.

"And now!" Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands, as if clearing the air. "I understand you have some questions about the wixen world, all of which, I think, can be answered by this—" a pamphlet sped into his hand—"and these." Books piled themselves on his other hand, and he handed the whole lot to Mattie, who thanked him and immediately took to reading them. "If you take the time to study these before term starts, you should be quite up-to-date on wixen culture, Mattie. And of course, you can always buy supplementary materials at Diagon Alley."

"Diagon Alley? What's that?"

"Oh, for the love of the Christ Child," Professor Snape said. "This is what I meant about her not knowing anything about anything!"

"Severus," the headmaster said quellingly. "I had meant to send Hagrid with her on her shopping trip to Diagon Alley—he would surely be up to the task of informing Mattie about the world she now moves in."

"Hagrid? Hagrid? Hagrid couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it," Professor Snape sneered. "He would be yelling all over the Leaky to 'make way, make way, Girl-Who-Lived coming through.' "

"Well, who do you suggest should take her?"

"Minerva will assist the Muggleborns in acclimating to the magical world, will she not? Why not treat Miss Potter as just another Muggleborn?"

"Because she is not."

Mattie, who had been leafing through the pamphlet, You're a Wix, Matilda! immediately looked for the word "Muggleborn" in the glossary. According to the pamphlet, a Muggleborn was someone who was born to Muggle (she looked up the word Muggle, and it meant non-magical) parents, and grew up in the Muggle world. She wasn't technically a Muggleborn, because her parents were magic, but she did grow up in the nonmagical world…

"Am I a pureblood, then?" she asked.

"You are not," Professor Snape answered. "To be a technical pureblood, all your grandparents must be magical. Your mother was a Muggleborn; thus, you are a halfblood."

"So my father was a pureblood?"

"Yes," he bit out.

You're a Wix, Matilda! blinked at her, the Matilda changing colors a few times per second. Mattie suspected that if she handed the pamphlet to Professor Snape, the name would change to You're a Wix, Severus! "Oh," she said. "Where is Diagon Alley? Maybe I can go alone."

"Absolutely not," Professor Snape snapped, as Professor Dumbledore said, "I think not, my dear girl."

"Charity Burbage, then," Professor Snape said. "She's the Muggle Studies teacher, and well-versed in moving in both Muggle and magical worlds."

"But Mattie has no familiarity with Charity," Professor Dumbledore said. "Nor has Charity any superiority—she does not even have tenure, in fact."

"Filius."

"On holidays."

"Pomona."

"In the Caribbean, picking up some rare plants."

"Fine," Professor Snape snarled. "I can see where you are maneuvering me, Headmaster, and fine! I agree. I shall take Matilda Potter to Diagon Alley."

"But what a wonderful idea, Severus," Professor Dumbledore said warmly. "And you being childhood friends with Lily and Petunia. Do give her my regards—I hear she has a son about Mattie's age?"

Professor Snape snarled incoherently, but could not say anything else.

"Now off you go!" Professor Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And good travels!"

"To the Muggles," Professor Snape sneered. "And to Petunia, with whom I will have words."

xxx

Mattie was treated to another form of magical travel, which was Apparation. She would have hated it, if not for her wonder at being in one place when just a moment ago she was miles away!

"We were in Scotland," Professor Snape informed her, at her question of their location earlier.

They went up the driveway to Number Four. Professor Snape rapped, and Aunt Petunia opened the door.

"You!" she snarled, and Mattie automatically curled in on herself before realizing she was snarling at Professor Snape. "I should have known it was your kind that caused all that trouble at the zoo. And you!" Her hand shot out and grabbed Mattie, dragging her through the door and shoving her at her cupboard. "Didn't you promise no funny business? This is what I get for—"

"Actually, Petunia, the earthquake at Surrey zoo was purely natural causes," Professor Snape said smoothly. "The wixen were only there because Matilda Potter was injured."

Aunt Petunia turned to Mattie, worry flickering momentarily across her features. Mattie was mute with shock.

"And what are you doing here, anyway?" she asked Professor Snape rudely.

Professor Snape smirked. "Why, Petunia," he said, "isn't it nearly her eleventh birthday? What did you expect, that we would just not come to get her?"

"Ten years your lot ignored her, ever since you dumped her with us," Aunt Petunia growled, "and just as she's becoming—normal—you come and take her away? To what, get her blown up just like Lily?"

"Ah, yes, blown up just like Lily." How Professor Snape managed to make that sound like a hiss, Mattie didn't know. "All those years lying to Matilda about who she is and what her parents were. You couldn't have told her she was magical, Petunia? You couldn't have told the truth about how Lily died?"

Aunt Petunia began to laugh, an ugly sound.

"So this is what this is about!" she said. "You and your sainted Lily. How many years has it been? Ten years it's been, twenty, and you're still holding a torch!"

"And how many years has it been for you, Petunia?" Professor Snape said sibilantly. "Ten? Twenty? And you take out your anger against Lily on her daughter. Miss Potter, give me your letter," he commanded, and Mattie knew not to disobey. She pulled the letter out of her overalls pocket and handed it to him.

"Miss M. Potter, the cupboard under the stairs," Professor Snape read. Aunt Petunia went white. "What else did you do to her? Oh, I can guess. Dangerously underfed, miniscule for her age, and those clothes weren't even hers, I'd wager!"

"Hey!" Mattie cried out. "I'm no thief!"

"I did not say you were, Miss Potter," Professor Snape bit out. "Idiot Gryffindor! But those are hand-me-downs, are they not?"

Mattie held her head high, even as she heard Isobel Grange's voice resounding in her head. "They are, but I sewed them myself. They aren't ugly."

"No, they are not," Professor Snape agreed. "Lily and Petunia always had a talent for sewing. They had to, growing up as they did. And after all those promises of making it out, Petunia, you did the exact same thing to her daughter!"

"You and Saint Lily," Aunt Petunia sneered. It seemed like all she could say.

"Well, let me tell you right now, Petunia, this is going to change," Professor Snape went on ruthlessly. "You will give this girl a proper bedroom, and proper clothing, and you will feed her, do you hear me? And if you don't—" he waved the letter—"The Muggle authorities will find out how you treated this child. And believe me, the wixen have ways of convincing Muggles, even if you do try to clean up the evidence." He cast a glare at the cupboard under the stairs.

He pushed forward into the house, and opened the cupboard door. He looked at it intensely, and then waved his wand. It didn't seem to do anything that Mattie could see, but he nodded as if satisfied, then shut the door.

"I will return to take her to Diagon Alley when term approaches," he said. "And just so we are clear, I will be sending her owls every so often so she can report on what's been happening in this house. I will be watching, Tuney."

And with a crack, he disappeared.

Author's second note: You will forgive me, I hope, that I did not write a lengthy retelling of "Mattie, you are the GWL, and this is why." We all know the story, after all. :) I think this will be standard practice from now on: if things go the way they do in the books, we will skip over it. People do not read fanfiction for a retelling of canon, and I certainly don't want to write that!

Secondly, do leave a review on the way out!

Best,
tambuli