So this is my first Harry Potter story...be gentle xD

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No one ever really knows the severity of change that a surprise letter can do. I never really expected anything special to happen to me, especially not around in my hometown. Troy, New York is nothing like the ancient city it derives it's name from. The once proud city is dulled now, historical buildings still standing tall, pattered with bullet holes and the bodies of the drug dealers and their victims.

Uncle Bud knew that the neighborhood was getting worse, I'd seen the way he'd quickly scan the housing section of the newspapers. It would have been almost impossible for us to move into a safer home anyways, the safer towns had higher taxes, and the two of us were struggling as is.

I live with my father's older brother, Uncle Bud, here in Troy, New York. Uncle Bud looked like the stereotypical, elderly Irish man. He was massively tall, about 6'8 and was rail thin. He was in his early seventies, but was as spry as he'd been in his forties. His once golden-auburn hair had turned white, and his sea blue eyes always seemed pearly and watery with age.

I never expected something finally…great to happen to me. Don't call me a pessimist, but I was just working with the straight up truth here. I'd expected a normal life, even though my Uncle and the rest of my paternal family are amazing witches and wizards. I've known my family was magic ever since I was little and my dad would used to use his patronus charm to guard over me when I would play outside. Even though my whole paternal side was magical, my mom and her family were muggles. So, I assumed I was probably going to lack magic, but that didn't bother me much. I'd planned to go to college, do something with my art, and planned on scraping by on a meager artist's living.

So, imagine my surprise when one morning before I went off to start making jam and Uncle Bud went off to work, a solitary owl tapped at the window of our kitchen. Uncle Bud was up in a flash, his watery blue eyes widening at the sight of the feathered creature. I felt myself flinch as my Uncle opened the window and let the creature into the kitchen. I wasn't really comfortable around birds, ever since a sea gull attacked me at the beach once.

"This is for you, Toka." Uncle Bud said, his already watery orbs began to fill with tears. In his hands he held a letter, sealed with wax and a bit of magic. I recognized the symbol of my father's old school, and I shot Uncle Bud a shocked look. The elderly man smiled, smoothing back his white hair.

"Ah..I've been waiting for this day since you were very small." My Uncle said to me, for once seeming a little melancholy. "I remember when your father and I got our Hogwarts letters, he was around your age too."

Scurrying to sit at the kitchen counter, Uncle Bud placed the seemingly pristine letter into my dirty hands. Shaking, I slowly peeled the seal away and unfolded the letter. With wide eyes, I started to read:

"Dear Miss McHugh." The letter read, in dark, black ink. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term beings on September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31st."

I must have read and re-read the letter about five times before I looked up at my Uncle. He was scribbling on what looked like ancient parchment paper with..a quill?

"U-Uncle Bud? What's up with the quill?" I asked, eyeing the olden time quill. Sure, most of my family was magical, but I'd been raised in the muggle life style. I understood the simple basics of the magical world, but muggle sociology seemed much less confusing to me. Why not just use a pen and paper? An email even. It just seemed more practical to me.

"Yes, Toka. This school doesn't take emails or phone calls." Uncle Bud laughed; fastening the small piece of parchment shut with some twine, and attached it to the owl's ankle. The owl hooted happily, seemed to bow, and shot out of the kitchen like a rocket on meth.

"W-what did you send?" I asked, watching wide eyed as one of the owl's feathers fluttered to the ground. Uncle Bud smiled, handing me the metal bucket I used to pick berries for making jam.

"Your acceptance, of course." He smiled, cocking his head to the side. I saw him unconsciously pat the inside left flap of his jacket, where I knew he kept his wand tucked away. I dropped my dented bucket into the ground, denting it further.

"..Y-you're kidding, right?"

He wasn't joking.

"We're luck that your father and grandmother set aside funds for tuition and supplies for you." Uncle Bud said cheerily, as I clung to his elbow as the two of us walked the streets of Diagon Alley. I was still a little dazed from the Floo powder traveling. I've had the misfortune of using Floo powder to travel before, but I could never get used to the strange feeling of my body moving faster than the speed of sound via magic.

At least we were somewhere that I liked. Diagon Alley was hidden behind a pub in London, England. I asked Uncle Bud why no muggles had found the Alley, but he explained that muggles don't have the power to see magical things, unless aided by a witch or wizard. I didn't really understand, but since it was for the protection of the magical world, I didn't care too much. Sighing deeply, I looked around the Alley and watched as women and men strode around in fanciful capes and robes, looking regal with their noses in the air and their hands filled with packages.

"You have your list?" Uncle Bud asked, looking down at the slightly crumpled list in my hand. I nodded, clutching harder to his arm as a group of boys ran past us, screaming. Uncle Bud laughed, dragging us into a shop with a wide grin on his face.

"Diagon Alley hasn't changed a bit. All the same shops that your father and I shopped at are still here." Uncle Bud let out a melancholy sigh as a portly woman came spinning towards us, a tape measure around her neck. The plump woman was wearing a marbleized purple dress and her white streaked grey hair was piled high atop her head.

"First year robes and uniform?" The woman said, adjusting her glasses.

"Hello, Malkin." Uncle Bud smiled, nodding his head to the old woman. The woman, Malkin, jumped in surprise at my Uncle's voice before cupping her cheeks with shaky hands.

"J-james? Buddy, is that you?" Malkin whispered, rushing forward and hugging my uncle. Uncle Bud laughed, patting the woman's back and returning her hug.

"Please, I thought you learned in second year that I'd rather be called Bud than James. Malkin, this is my neice, Katoka. Katoka, this is Madame Malkin, we went to Hogwarts together and she'll be getting you your robes and uniforms." Uncle Bud laughed, nudging the old woman playfully. Madame Malkin giggled, patting Uncle Bud's shoulder as she stood on her tip toes. Malkin turned to me, her pale green eyes lighting up.

"Oh…oh..she looks just like Stuart. She's got that mother's eye of hers though." Madame Malkin said, eying me up and down. I mostly took after my father, but I did inherit one of my mother's eyes. My right eye was sea blue, just like Uncle Bud's and my fathers, and my left was the same golden color as my mother's. I grinned, shrugging my shoulders and puffed out my chest in pride a bit.

"Thank you." I smiled, cocking my head as Madame Malkin whipped her tape measure from her neck and began to wrap it around me at odd angles. She nodded her head before heading behind the seemingly countless racks of clothes and began digging around. I turned towards the front of the store when the bell attached to the door began to clang. A young woman and a boy stood in the doorway awkwardly, peering around the shop.

"Hello, there. Madam Milkin is busy for the moment, but please, come in." Uncle Bud said, speaking for the Madame. The woman, obviously the boy's mother, smiled shyly, cautiously stepping into the store.

"Not used to magic, m'lady?" Uncle Bud asked, smiling down at the boy. I hid behind Uncle Bud's legs for a moment, but when I realized that the boy was hiding behind his mother in a similar way, I peered out of my hiding spot. The woman laughed shakily, nodding her head.

"My name's Jenna Thomas, and this is Dean." Jenna said, hauling the boy out from behind her. He was short, just like me, but had a very long neck. His black hair was shaved close to his head, and his coffee brown eyes were wide with uncertainty.

"I'm Bud McHugh, and this is my neice, Katoka." Uncle Bud introduced us, as I tiptoed closer to the boy. He looked about my age, and maybe he was even going to Hogwarts too.

"Are you two shopping for first year..uh..robes and uniforms." Mrs. Thomas said, looking down at her son's list of necessities. She was clearly a muggle, which confused me. I thought muggles couldn't see anything magical, but I assumed it was because of her magical son.

"Yes we are, Hogwarts?" Uncle Bud smiled, cocking his head to the side. Mrs. Thomas sighed, but she smiled and nodded her head.

"Are you excited for school?" I asked Dean, who bit his bottom lip for a moment before slowly nodding. I smiled, making him smile back, revealing that one of his front teeth was missing. Giggling, I nodded Dean over to sit with me on one of the many waiting chairs.

"Where'sya from?" Dean said, the missing tooth making him have slight lisp.

"New York, you?" I asked, smiling at my new friend.

"London. You're getting all your school stuff today?" Dean asked, pulling out a small ball of fur from the inside of his jacket pocket. "This is my pet rat, Phil."

"Hi Phil." I said, reaching down to scratch behind the brown rat's ears. The little creature squeaked, rustling it's whiskers before crawling up Dean's arms and back into his jacket. "I don't have a pet yet, but Phil is a cute rat."

Dean smiled at me, just as Milkin came back with her arms loaded with simple, dark robes. Huffing, she threw them atop the countertop and gingerly hauled me to my feet and moved me in front of a full length mirror. Milkin helped me tug on one robe and it automatically began to shrink. Dean and I stared wide eyed at the robe around me, but Uncle Bud and Milkin just seemed amused by our faces.

"These are self-repairing, self-fitting, and self-ironing robes. They'll change into your house robes as soon as you're placed into one of the four Hogwarts houses. The fourth robe is lined with sheepskin, for the colder months." Milkin said, husking the robe off me before setting Dean up with his robes.

"So..the're grow wif' us." Dean lisped, wrapping the black robe around him. Milkin nodded, tugging a pointy, black hat over his head. His ears stuck out oddly, making me laugh until Milkin shoved the same hat over my head.

"Aren't these a stereotype?" I asked, pointing to the pointed witch's hat atop my head. Mrs. Thomas nodded, laughing as her son fiddled with his hat. Milkin shrugged, smiling as she pulled out a few white shirts, dark pants, sweaters, and dark skirts. She gave Dean and I five sets of uniforms that would go under our robes. I eyed the stiff looking white undershirt, deciding that I'd probably switch it out for a white tee-shirt instead.

"That should be it for you two." Milkin said happily, adjusting the clasps of the swishy black clocks that sat on our shoulders. Dean and I smiled at each other, spinning around in circles and making our cloaks swirl around.

"Mrs. Thomas, would you like to collect the rest of our children's supplies together?" Uncle Bud asked the dark haired woman, who smiled politely.

"We just finished our shopping actually." Mrs. Thomas said shyly, holding up a large bag of books. "But we'd love to meet you at the train station."

"That would be wonderful; I was actually worried about my Toka being on the train by herself." Uncle Bud said, smiling down at Dean. "It calms my soul that a fine, young man will be there with her." He said, making Dean dip his head in humility. I could see the huge smile on his face, and I knew that we would have each other to sit next to on the train.

"So, I'll see you then Dean?" I asked, high-fiving my new friend.

"Yew bet, Kato!" Dean smiled, slapping his hand against mine. We all walked out together, and said our goodbyes as we parted ways on the street.

"See, it's easy to make friends." Uncle Bud said proudly, happy that I'd already made a friend. I smiled, clutching onto his elbow as we went from shop to shop, picking up everything on my list. The last two supplies on the list, was a wand, and a pet.

"Now, I'm going to go get you a pet, don't you worry. Your uncle does know best." Uncle Bud laughed, handing me some magical currency that looked just like golden coins. "You go get a wand. Remember to tell Mr. Ollivander who you are."

"Okay, Uncle Bud." I said, reluctantly letting go of his arm. I skittered inside the store, eyeing all the small boxes stacked on top of each other in aged bookshelves. The man at the desk looked nice, even though his hair was really bushy and his glasses looked a little scary.

"Hello there." The man said, "Welcome to Ollivander's, you looking for your first wand?" The man, I assumed to be Mr. Ollivander asked, stepping onto a ladder and began to dig through the boxes.

"Yeah, I'm Katoka McHugh." I said, saying it as more of a question than a statement. Why would it matter if this man knew what my name was? Mr. Ollivander seemed to freeze, but turned around on the ladder to smile down at me. He snagged a few boxes before scrambling back to the counter.

"Yes, yes. I can defiantly see your father in you." Mr. Ollivander said, making me puff in pride at the second time someone compared me to my father in one day. As he was opening up some of the boxes, I noticed that one of the shelves of boxes had collapsed, and that a vase across the room was smashed into pieces.

"Someone break in?" I asked, eyeing the mess. Mr. Ollivander laughed, handing me a dark wood wand. It was small, maybe 8 inches and felt a little strange in my hand.

"Eight inches, ebony wood, with a unicorn hair core." Mr. Ollivander said, cringing a little as I twirled it around a little. I shrugged, handing it back to the old wand-maker. The next wand was about an inch longer, and was a lighter wood.

"Nine and a half inches, pear wood, with a phoenix feather core." He said, watching me once again shrug at the want. Mr. Ollivander tapped his chin for a moment before nodding to himself and picking a box that was at the bottom of the pile.

"This one..I think is a keeper. Ten inches, cherry wood, with a mermaid hair core." The wand-maker said, pressing the beautiful wand into my hand. I felt my hand warm with power and the wand seemed to perfectly fit into my palm. I spun it once, making the box the wand came from shut close with a small tap.

"As I said, perfect." Mr. Ollivander said, patting my head as I handed him the gold coins.

"When your father came in for his first wand, he tried to wield that very wand, but it was too powerful for him. He'd be very proud that you're handling the wand." The wand-maker said, smiling down at me fondly. Bushing, I thanked him and ran out of the store with my new wand tucked into the waistband of my jean shorts.

"KATOKA!" I heard Uncle Bud call for me, waving me towards him from a few shops down. Running over to my tall uncle, I spied the small cage in his hand.

"Toka, this is your pet owl. This is Trojan." Uncle Bud said, bending down to show me the bird. I froze for a moment, watching the cage. Uncle Bud knew I was afraid of birds, and I knew that awaiting me in that cage was a yellow-eyed demon foul that wanted to peck my face off.

Instead, there inside the cage was the smallest owl I'd ever seen.

"Oh..awwh.." I cooed, looking at the tiny owl. The little creature would fit in the palm of my hand comfortably, and had the most gorgeous white, brown, and black speckled feathers. It's big, black eyes watched me curiously, blinking slowly.

"He's a flammulated owl. He'll be about one pound when he's full grown, but he's magic, so he'll be strong enough to deliver packages." Uncle Bud said, a happy twinkle in his eyes. I started cooing to the small bird, who happily cooed back.

"I love him, thank you Uncle Bud." I smiled up at my uncle, who was looking worriedly across the street. The robe around Uncle Bud's feet blew in the warm wind, giving him a swooshing effect. Uncle Bud suddenly stiffened up, staring across the street. I wonder what his problem was?

"Uncle Bud?" I asked, tugging on his sleeve. I looked across the road, and saw a strange, pale blonde haired man. He was dressed in fancy looking robes, and had what looked like a walking stick. He was glaring at Uncle Bud from across the street with cold, grey eyes piercing. His gaze suddenly fell to me, and a cruel smile warped across his face. Uncle Bud scowled, tugging me closer to him before covering me with his robe to hide me from the blonde man. Peering over the edge of Uncle Bud's dark green robe, I saw a small boy beside the blonde man. He looked around my age, and was an exact, miniature replica of the bigger man.

"Katoka, let's go home." Uncle Bud said, holding his head high while turning us down the street. He still hid me under the side of his robes, just like he and my father always did when I was a shy child.

"Uncle Bud..who were those.." I said, walking too quickly alongside my uncle to bother looking back. Uncle Bud shook a bit, but it wasn't out of fear. Uncle Bud was fearless, I'd never seen him scared.

"Those were people you should never associate yourself with. Those people are the bringers of death." Uncle Bud said seriously, leading us back to the fireplace inside The Leaky Cauldron, where we would use floo to get back home.

Stay away from the two blondes.

Seemed simple enough.