Chapter 1 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 1 - Harry McGonagall (1/2)

Plot: Professor McGonagall has watched the Dursleys all day and can see what sort of people they are. When Dumbledore leaves Harry on their doorstep and disappears, she takes him away.

Pairing: H-Hr

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry McGonagall – Chapter 1 – Defying Dumbledore

”Good luck, Harry,” said Professor Dumbledore as Minerva McGonagall watched the baby lying outside the door of Number Four Privet Drive. The aged headmaster turned on his heel, and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.

McGonagall knew that she was expected to leave as well. She knew she was supposed to trust Albus' judgment, but she had watched these muggles all day, and they were the worst sort of people you could ever meet. She bent down to touch the baby's hand one last time, and he started crying. She quickly picked him up and he stopped crying immediately. She gazed into the infant's eyes that looked so much like his mother's and sobbed.

”How can that man just dump James' and Lily's child on a doorstep like a milk bottle when he's never even seen these people?” she muttered to herself. As images of what she'd observed coupled in her mind with what Lily had told her about her sister's hatred of magic and refusal to acknowledge she, James, and Harry as family, Minerva came to a decision to do something she'd never done before. Defy Albus Dumbledore. She looked at Harry's little face again and said sternly, ”I will not allow that man to ruin your life!” and disapparated away as people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: 'To Harry Potter – the boy who lived.'

-HM-HM-HM-

As Minerva walked toward the house pushing a buggy she had conjured, she knew she had to act quickly if she didn't want the Headmaster to know she'd taken the child. She'd spent the night in a muggle hotel considering her options. If she didn't show up at Hogwarts, Albus would know she'd kidnapped Harry, and she'd be living as a fugitive. If she brought the baby to Hogwarts, Albus would find out soon enough and send Harry to the Dursleys, probably firing her in the process. She needed to find Harry an appropriate home, at least for a few years. She may eventually disguise and take him in to live with her at Hogwarts, claiming that he was her nephew or something if necessary, but not for a few years. She couldn't give him to a wizarding family, because they would all know who he was. She did agree that the boy didn't need to grow up famous. There was only one person she could think of. She hadn't seen him since last Christmas, nearly a year ago, but she'd always gotten along very well with him, and thought that he and his wife were wonderful people. She was very glad that the Headmaster had called off classes in honor of recent events.

She knocked on the door of Number Eight Churchill Drive wearing a plain muggle dress. The door opened, and a dark-haired woman with brown eyes, who was in her mid twenties, opened the door and smiled. She was wearing maternity clothes. She was five months pregnant and showing it very much.

”Aunt Minnie?” she exclaimed, ”and a baby. Come in.”

Smiling at her nephew's wife, she said, ”Hello Cindy. I must say you look absolutely radiant. Is Mark here? There's something I want to talk to you two about.”

Cindy grinned at Minerva. ”Yeah. I'll go get him. Cute baby. Whose is he?”

Minerva sighed. ”That's part of what I need to talk to you two about.”

Cindy gave her Aunt-in-law a strange glance, but walked out of the room.

A few minutes later, a blonde man with blue eyes walked into the room and hugged the kidnapper. ”Aunt Minnie, it's good to see you again! Are you keeping those Gryffindors out of trouble?” He continued, not really expecting an answer. ”Cindy said you wanted to speak to us.”

”Yes Mark. It's a long story. You may wish to sit down.” Minerva looked at her brother's squib son (who'd told his muggle wife all about the magical world so that they could visit his family) and said, ”I've kidnapped this child, and I want you to raise him.”

”What?” exclaimed both Mark and Cindy.

”You see,” said Minerva, ”This is Harry Potter.” She then told the quick story of how Voldemort had killed the Potters and been vanquished, and how Harry would be famous, and how Dumbledore had wanted the boy raised by, ”the worst example of humanity I've ever seen. He hadn't even bothered to meet them. Just dropped him on their doorstep with a note! He may be a genius, but he hasn't got an ounce of common sense if he thinks Harry would be happily accepted into that home! Anyway, as soon as he'd left, I took Harry, and I was, er, hoping you would, well, give him a home here. I realize it might not be the perfect time with another baby on the way, but I do hope you'll consider it.” She looked at them nervously with pleading eyes.

The young couple looked at Harry, Minerva, and then each other. Mark finally spoke. ”Er, well, I was going to tell you at Christmas, but in January, we're moving to America for my job, so you wouldn't really be able to see him much.”

Minerva smiled brightly. ”That would be even better! They'd never think to look for him there!”

”Well, I think Cindy and I will have to talk this over. Why don't you watch television while we go to another room?”

”Tele-what?” asked the professor.

-HM-HM-HM-

After they'd set her up watching a soap opera, Mark and Cindy McGonagall walked into their bedroom and closed the door. He put his hands in his pockets and paced around for a few seconds before saying, ”Well, what do you think?”

”What do you think?” she countered.

He took a deep breath. ”Well, the things on the positive side are that we were planning on having more than one child anyway, and Harry does need a family. If no one has the slightest idea where he is, then he should be safe from the Death Eaters if they want revenge.”

”Not to mention how cute he is, but we'd have to do something about that scar. It's too recognizable.”

He sighed, ”Which brings us to the bad points. We'd not only have to hide his scar. We'd have to disguise him in other ways. Maybe change his hair color.”

She looked sad. ”You mean we'd have to keep dying his hair all the time?”

”No. I'm sure Aunt Minnie could permanently change it.”

She took a deep breath. ”But don't change the green eyes. I like them.”

”So do I,” he said, smiling.

”So, are we doing this?” asked Cindy.

”If we do it, we will be kidnappers,” said Mark.

Cindy grinned. ”We could just claim we found him on our doorstep the way Dumb-Old-Dork left him at the Dursleys.”

He began to smile as he considered it. ”We could have Aunt Minnie change his fingerprints and stuff so that they won't be able to identify him. Then we say we've grown attached to him and want to keep him. That way, we really will be his guardians.”

”What should his name be?”

He smiled at his wife. ”Well, I think we could stick with the name Harry, since he probably already responds to it anyway. It is a common name that shouldn't arouse suspicion. But I do think we should change the middle name, and of course give him our last name.”

Cindy smiled at him. ”We'll call him 'Harry Mark McGonagall.'”

Mark then kissed his wife deeply and then excitedly said, ”We're gonna have two babies!”

They went back to find Minerva immersed deeply in a program on the telly. When they walked in the room, Mark said, ”Aunt Minnie,” and she about jumped from being startled. ”We've decided to adopt him. We're going to name him Harry Mark McGonagall.”

The professor smiled the biggest smile of her life. ”That's wonderful! Thank you!”

-HM-HM-HM-

After McGonagall had transfigured Harry's fingerprints, toe prints (just to be sure), and hair (to dirty blonde), and was able to temporarily hide the scar with a glamour charm (for a few days with a promise to redo the charm whenever they needed her to until they adopted him) she accompanied them to the child welfare department, but didn't go into the office with them. She waited impatiently for over an hour until they finally walked back with Harry in Cindy's arms.

Without waiting for his aunt to speak, Mark announced, ”They were happy to let us keep the child while they run the fingerprints, and told us that if they couldn't locate a relative…”

”…which they shouldn't thanks to you,” interjected a grinning Cindy.

”…that there probably shouldn't be any problem with us adopting him before we leave for America.”

-HM-HM-HM-

Over the next few months, Minerva was getting owls from her dead brother's son almost every day. She'd made it a point to only have them come when she knew she'd be alone instead of at breakfast. As promised, whenever they were going to bring Harry to any kind of official meeting, Minerva visited their house the night before and hid the scar. Mark and Cindy planned on talking to some kind of muggle doctor about hiding Harry's scar permanently when they got to America.

Albus, in the meantime, hadn't mentioned Harry, so neither did Minerva. She'd gotten a book on Occlumency the day after she kidnapped Harry and was working on it in every spare minute she could find so that Dumbledore wouldn't find out Harry's whereabouts from her.

On the same mid-December day that the horrible news of the attack on Frank and Alice Longbottom was in the Daily Prophet, Minnie got the good news that Harry had been officially adopted. He now was officially 'Harry Mark McGonagall,' and the courts decided to claim his date of birth as August 12th 1980. Minerva was impressed that the muggle doctors had guessed it within less than two weeks of his actual birth.

-HM-HM-HM-

She spent Christmas break at their house, and brought a ton of toys and outfits for Harry, along with some baby clothes and toys for the expected addition to the family. She also gave them a magical two-way mirror that they could use to communicate with her. She magically hid Harry's scar for the last time as Mark and his family were about to go to the airport to fly to America. As they parted, the stern teacher started crying. She knew she'd miss them all.

-HM-HM-HM-

Within a few months of moving to Lansing, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where Mark worked, Harry's scar was now completely invisible, thanks to the work of a muggle doctor his adopted parents had taken him to. It was the day after McGonagall received this news that she was summoned to the headmaster's office.

She opened the door to find a very worried-looking Dumbledore, pacing the floors. ”Hello Minerva, would you care for a lemon drop?” he said absently. Fawkes was nowhere to be seen.

After McGonagall shook her head and sat down, the Headmaster sat back in his chair. ”I'm afraid I have terrible news, Minerva.”

”Ter…Terrible news? What's happened, Albus?”

”I managed to place a squib on Privet Drive to keep watch over Harry Potter a few days ago, and she has reported that he's not there. I personally went there myself, and I discovered that they never found Harry on their doorstep.”

For a moment, she thought she'd been caught, but wasn't about to make it easy for him. ”They didn't find him?” she repeated, sounding and looking as distressed as she could.

Dumbledore nodded sadly, and then he looked back up at her. ”Minerva, you spent the day there. Did you spot anyone unusual in the area? Someone who may have been watching us and took young Harry as soon as we left him there.”

Making sure her Occlumency shields were up as strong as possible in case he probed her mind, she answered, ”No Albus. I didn't notice anyone.” She would've added, ”except those horrible muggles you left Harry with,” but didn't want to remind him that she didn't approve of the Dursleys.

He buried his face in his hands. ”I fear that Death Eaters kidnapped him. Either to take revenge upon, in which case he's dead, or to raise him to follow their ways, perhaps even to be the next dark lord.”

Her eyes widened in shock. ”Surely you don't believe…”

”What else could have happened, Minerva? It's my fault, as Remus was gracious enough to point out to me when I informed the Order. I should have knocked on the Dursleys' door and personally handed Harry to them. That would have activated the blood wards. We hope that Harry's alive since no one has bragged about killing him, which the Death Eaters probably would do, but we just don't know. Even if he's alive, they could literally be anywhere on this planet, maybe even in a house under a Fidelius charm, by now.” He half grinned at this. ”They could be as close as Hogsmeade if they used that charm, and we'd never even know it.” He sighed, looking older than ever before. ”Well, you've listened to me ramble on long enough. You may go. If you think of anything at all, no matter how insignificant, let me know.”

-HM-HM-HM-

As Minerva left Albus' office, she felt terrible about lying to him and making him so worried, but she reminded herself that he deserved this for trying to leave Harry on a doorstep. She also reminded herself that it had been nearly five months since Harry had been left at the Dursleys, and he's finally checking on him. She knew that no residual magic would still be there by now to show she'd apparated with the baby if anyone bothered to check, so she was in the clear.

-HM-HM-HM-

Time passed by quickly, and before they knew it, on March 8th 1982, Harry's sister, Brianna Minerva McGonagall was born. She had brown hair and blue eyes. Aunt Minnie naturally had to spend the Easter holiday with them to meet the new addition to the family. She, of course, brought a ton of baby clothes with her, as well as a few presents for Harry.

-HM-HM-HM-

”Daddy, it's mommy and Brinnie!” said little Harry excitedly as Cindy McGonagall walked into the room carrying his eight-month-old sister. Mark was sitting on the couch in the living room. Harry still had blonde hair and no scar showing.

They'd been living in America for a year, and life was good. Today, Aunt Minnie was going to floo to O'Hare airport to spend Christmas with them. The trans-continental floo network only went to international airports so muggles wouldn't get suspicious of foreigners just showing up somewhere. People who used that were even given airline tickets. They simply went into an area of the airport similar to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and waited for their turn. Every ten minutes, the huge fireplace that fit twenty people would take everyone inside to a different airport. ”Good morning, Harry,” Cindy said, hugging her little boy.

”Mornin' mommy! Mornin' Brinnie!”

”Today your Aunt Minnie's coming to spend a few weeks with us.”

”Yay!” the little boy said, ”She brings presents!”

Mark laughed while Cindy tried to look stern. ”We don't like Aunt Minnie because she gives presents. We like her because she's a nice person.”

”And gives presents!” said Harry excitedly. This time even Cindy gave in to the laughter.

”We've got to go to O'Hare airport and get her,” Cindy finally said.

-HM-HM-HM-

After a drive through terrible Chicago traffic, they finally arrived at the airport and looked around until they spotted the older woman wearing a long brown dress with a matching hat. She was pushing a trolley with several bags on it. ”Aunt Minnie!” shouted Harry excitedly as he ran up to her, throwing his arms around the dignified woman's legs.

She bent down and returned the hug. ”Hello Harry. It's good to see you.”

”Didja bring presents?” he asked, grinning up at her with his puppy-dog eyes.

”Harry!” said Cindy as she and Mark walked up.

”Well, as a matter of fact I did, for both you and your sister,” said Minerva, ”but you won't get them until I've gotten a full report on your behavior from your parents.”

”I've been good, haven't I, mommy!”

Cindy smiled for about thirty seconds as her little boy awaited her ȧssessment. ”I suppose so.”

Minerva hugged both Cindy and Mark, who embarrassed his aunt by kissing her on the cheek. ”Mark, stop it.”

-HM-HM-HM-

True to her word, Aunt Minnie gave both Harry and Brianna one present each when they got home. Brianna's was a soft stuffed Hippogriff and Harry's was a working miniature train that was a replica of the Hogwarts Express. She told Harry's parents that she'd transfigured the train from rocks. They decided not to tell Harry about magic until he had his first accidental bout of it. He knew that Aunt Minnie taught at a school called Hogwarts that he'd go to someday, but had no idea of it being magical.

She was saving the rest of the gifts for Christmas day. Mark and Cindy found it funny the way the kids had their Great Aunt wrapped around their fingers. They had her doing things that people from Hogwarts would have never believed, such as playing hide-and-go-seek and tag. They even got her to play the 'tickle monster.' They greatly enjoyed Christmas where they were showered with gifts, and most importantly, love.

-HM-HM-HM-

Harry started kindergarten at five years old, and it wasn't long before he had his first experience with accidental magic. He'd made friends the first day with a kid named Matthew Burke, but they quickly made an enemy out of a bigger kid named Brian Popovich. He'd made fun of Harry because he needed glasses, so he and Matt decided to prank him. Brian was sitting down on a chair when Matt 'accidentally' spilled his drink, orange soda, on the floor in front of Brian. Harry was on the floor tying Brian's shoes together. While Harry was tying them, Brian noticed and grabbed Harry's hand and started squeezing it as hard as he could. Harry was scared that his hand would get broken, and all of the sudden Brian's hand started to hurt so he let go. Forgetting that his shoes were tied together, he got up and fell, landing face-down in the puddle of soda.

Unfortunately for Harry, the teacher had seen part of it, so Harry was in trouble. After school, while Harry was being grounded as his sister enjoyed the story, there was a knock at the door. Mark answered it.

A short, thin middle-aged man with black hair that was starting to turn gray was standing at the door wearing a gray suit. ”Hello. Mr. McGonagall, I presume?”

”Yes.”

The stranger extended his hand and Mark shook it. ”I'm Stephen Kirk. May I come in for a few minutes? It has to do with your son and what happened at school today.”

He sighed, hoping the other kid's parents weren't suing or something stupid like that. ”Come in.”

Once they were settled down in the living room, and Cindy had gotten them some tea,

Stephen said, ”To put it simply, your son performed accidental magic today, which means he is a wizard.” He paused, as though expecting an argument.

Cindy smiled. ”Well that explains it. We were wondering if he were a wizard or not.”

Mr. Kirk seemed surprised. ”You…you know about magic.”

Mark smiled. ”Oh yes. You see, I'm a squib from England. In fact, my aunt is the Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts. I guess Harry will be going there when he's old enough.”

”Really?” said the man happily. ”If your aunt teaches there, I suppose there wouldn't be much point in trying to persuade you to send Harry anyplace else when he's eleven.”

He chuckled. ”I'm afraid not. If I sent Harry to any other school, she'd never speak to me again.”

”If you're from England, then I ȧssume you've heard of the restriction for underage magic they have over there.”

”Yes,” he said, nodding.

”We in America think that's ridiculous. All we worry about is secrecy. As long as he doesn't perform the magic around muggles, we don't care. While we do have boarding schools like Hogwarts that start at age eleven, we also have schools where wizarding children are taught basic magic, as well as the foundations of many of the courses taught at Hogwarts. They meet from five to six p.m. on Monday through Friday, and on Saturday seven-thirty a.m. to twelve-thirty p.m. Each weekday is a different subject, and Saturday is all five subjects.”

”The first year classes are Latin, which is helpful in learning spells; basic wand handling, which includes safety and all the different wand movements; simple charms, simple transfiguration, and simple herbology. Some of them continue while others, such as wand handling, are replaced by classes such as potions, and eventually defense, although we wait until the children are ten to start that. If you started him now, he'd be well ahead in his classes, and might even be able to skip a grade at Hogwarts. Instead of going by ages, we start kids when they perform their first accidental magic. We find that teaching to control magic then helps prevent more accidents. Our first term starts two weeks after muggle terms, because starting school tends to cause accidental magic. Therefore by waiting those two weeks, we almost double our enrollment.”

”Well,” said Mark, looking at his wife, ”What do you think?”

”It sounds good, but maybe we should ask Harry what he thinks.”

”We should probably ask Aunt Minnie's opinion too. Mr. Kirk, could we get back to you?”

”Of course,” he said with a smile. ”I know that's a big decision. Here are some forms to look at,” he said, pulling out his wand and conjuring a brochure, along with legal-looking papers. ”Just let us know by the end of the week. I've also left instructions to the nearest wizarding neighborhood where you can buy wands and books, and anything else magical you'd like whether you choose to put Harry in Wentworth Witchcraft Elementary School or not.”

-HM-HM-HM-

That night, they talked to Minerva over the two-way mirror, who seemed very pleased about it. She was unaware of the differences in American wizarding laws. She'd always ȧssumed underage restrictions were the same everywhere. She was all for it, so they just needed to talk to Harry.

”Well, Harry,” said Mark nervously, ”Do you remember how that boy Brian's hand was hurting for apparently no reason?”

”Uh-huh,” said Harry, looking down like he expected to be in more trouble.

”You did it,” said Cindy.

”No I didn't mommy! I don't know how!”

”We know you didn't do it on purpose,” said Mark. ”You did magic.”

”I did?” he asked, amazed. ”How? Can you do magic?”

”I can't, but your Aunt Minnie can.”

Harry looked excited. ”She can?”

”Yes. Hogwarts is a magic school that you'll go to when you're eleven.”

His eyes were wide. ”Really? Can I see it now?”

Mark chuckled. ”Not for a while, but you're learning to read. When you're ready, you can read a book about it that Aunt Minnie gave us. It's called 'Hogwarts, A History.' Cindy rolled her eyes, knowing it would be years before Harry could read that tome.

”Can you read it to me tonight?” he asked pleadingly.

”Maybe,” Mark said, ”But for now, I have a question. Do you want to start learning magic now?”

”Yeah,” said the smiling boy.

”If you do, it means more school,” said Cindy.

”But it's magic school!” said Harry.

”Then you'll start in a week,” said Mark. ”Saturday, we'll get you a wand and other school supplies.”

”Yay!” he said raising his fists in air, victoriously.

”Oh, one important thing. You can't tell anyone about being magical or learning magic. That's very important. If you do, you'll be in a lot of trouble.”

”Ok, it's secret,” said Harry.

”Yes,” said Cindy, ”It's a secret.”

”Is Brianna magic too?” asked Harry.

”We don't know yet,” said Mark.

”You got to wait until she accidental magics someone like I did!” he said grinning.

Cindy giggled. ”Yes dear, we've got to wait to see if she does accidental magic.”

-HM-HM-HM-

Harry and Brianna (who they told since it wouldn't stay a secret in the house very long anyway – but she knew it was a secret she couldn't tell anyone) were fascinated by Little Salem, the local wizarding neighborhood about the size of Diagon Alley. This one was entered through an arcade. There was a game called 'Witch's War.' in a corner that was marked, 'Out of Order.' If you sat in it and leaned into the wall it was against, you'd fall through it, but land on your feet in an area unlike anything Harry had ever seen before. He was the first to bravely try, followed by Mark, Brianna, and Cindy.

They all looked around, intrigued by the names on the shops, such as 'Calumet Cauldrons,' as well as all the different types of creatures walking around. Mark chuckled when he noticed a restaurant called 'Magical McDonalds.' They soon saw a goblin walking out of there toward the local branch of Gringotts, which was going to be their first stop until Cindy noticed a Gringotts ATM machine by the entrance. You'd use your debit card from a muggle bank, and it would give you wizarding money (after charging a dollar fee). They took out enough for Harry's books and wand, along with plenty for anything else they might want to buy.

After they got the books and supplies, they walked into a 'Wand Locker' Outlet, which was apparently part of a popular American chain of wand shops. They were surprised to find a young woman behind the counter. Harry blushed when he saw the attractive blonde woman who was in her early twenties. Brianna noticed and giggled until he elbowed her.

The woman was very worried as wand after wand rejected Harry, who was getting more and more embarrassed, until finally she handed him a wand made of Beechwood and phoenix feather, nine inches. A few red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework when he held it. She said uncertainly, ”This doesn't seem to be a perfect match, but it looks like it will work. You may want to try another shop, but the nearest one is in Michigan.”

Mark smiled. ”I think we'll take this one,” he said while wondering if the perfect wand for Harry might be in England.

”Well,” the woman said, ”We normally charge nine Galleons, but I'll let you have it for eight since it's not a perfect match to this young man's exquisite taste.” She winked at Harry, who blushed and hid his face.

”Thank you very much,” said Cindy, smiling.

As soon as they left, Brianna started giggling madly and shouted, ”Harry's got a crush on the lady in there!” repeatedly until Mark caught Harry's fist that was about to punch his sister. Harry's face was completely red.

”Brianna, stop teasing your brother!” said Cindy, ”and Harry, don't try to hit your sister!”

”Fine!” the siblings said together with their arms crossed over their ċhėsts and matching angry expressions on their faces.

Mark then smirked at his son. ”Is that true that you liked the lady in there?” which caused Brianna to laugh so hard she fell as Harry hid his purple face in his hands while Cindy glared at her husband.

-HM-HM-HM-

Harry did pretty well in his new classes. He hated the Latin (which was currently concentrating on the alphabet) and herbology, but enjoyed charms, wand handling, and transfiguration. Brianna was easily impressed when Harry did his homework in front of her, magically sharpening his pencil. Mark (and Aunt Minnie when he told her) was surprised to find that Harry's school used regular paper and pencils and didn't require wizard robes. The pamphlet they'd read pointed out the fact that these peculiarities often alerted muggles that something was unusual. Besides, paper and pencils are easier to handle than parchment, quill, and ink, especially for younger children. When the kids are older they start using pens as well.

Harry tended to be at the top of his class at Wentworth Wizarding School while average at his regular classes. When his parents confronted him about it he said, ”Magic's more interesting and I'll be going to Hogwarts anyway.”

”Until then you'll be going to muggle school and you'll get your grades back up unless you want us to pull you out of magic school,” said Mark, bluffing. He knew he'd never pull Harry out of magic school. After all, that's the world he belonged in. He did however know that Harry would need reading, writing, and arithmetic even in the wizarding world.

”No! You can't take me outta magic school! I'll run away if you do!”

Mark grinned at the panic he saw in Harry's eyes. Cindy said, ”Then pick up your other grades to prove we don't need to.”

”Fine!” he said.

”Don't take that attitude with me, young man!” she said.

”Sorry, mommy,” said Harry, looking at her with his best pathetic puppy dog face.

She sighed and patted his blonde head while smiling. ”Why don't you run along and work on your reading?” He walked to his room without another word.

-HM-HM-HM-

Harry's muggle grades did improve after that, although he did require occasional encouragement in the form of threats and/or bribery. During the spring of Harry's second year, a few weeks after Brianna's fifth birthday, she did something she shouldn't have done. She wanted to try doing magic, so she borrowed Harry's wand without telling him when he'd left his room for a few minutes in the middle of doing homework. When he returned, he saw that his wand wasn't where he'd left it, so he immediately got mad and went straight to his sister's bedroom. When he quietly opened the door without knocking, he found her pointing his wand at a pencil, trying to sharpen it. She was so absorbed in her task that she hadn't noticed him yet.

”GIVE IT BACK!” he shouted, scaring her and causing a red light to shoot out of the wand that she'd instinctively pointed at the source of the noise. The blast hit Harry square in the ċhėst, causing him to go unconscious and fall to the floor, just as Cindy and Mark approached the room to see what the noise was.

As Harry collapsed, tears started falling from Brianna's horrified face. She dropped the wand and ran toward her brother. ”Harry! I'M SORRY!” she shouted as she took him in her arms in time to see her parents, who did not look happy at all. She started trembling, afraid she'd hurt Harry badly or even killed him. ”I…sorry….I took his wand….H-Harry surprised me.” At this point she couldn't even speak anymore. She just sobbed for a few minutes on Harry's unconscious form, leaning her head on his ċhėst. Her parents watched, not sure what to say. Mark bent down and checked Harry's pulse, smiling slightly when he felt one. ”Harry…Harry's gonna be ok, right, daddy?” Brianna finally said through her tears.

”I think so,” Mark replied, ”I'm gonna call the department of accidental magic though, just to be sure.”

”I'll do it,” said Cindy.

As she walked toward their bedroom to retrieve the 'other' phonebook, Brianna sobbed, ”I'm sorry daddy. Am I going to jail? I didn't mean it! He, he scared me…”

He gave his daughter a hug. ”I know, honey, and I love you, but I can't simply overlook the fact that you took your brother's wand. You will be punished after we find out how Harry is doing.”

”Yes, daddy,” she said with her head bowed low in penitence. ”I love you, too, and Harry. If anything's wrong I don't know…”

”We'll find that out now,” said a friendly-looking man with dark hair and a graying beard. He was standing with Cindy. ”I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Oliver Brown. I'm from the accidental magic department. We can apparate directly to the other side of a phone call. I take it that this pretty little girl here is the one who performed the magic on the boy.”

”Yes,” said Mark, moving with Brianna to give the wizard room to examine Harry.

”I doubt she's hurt her brother seriously,” he said as he bent down. He pulled out his wand and performed a spell on Harry. He then chuckled as he saw the results written in shining letters in front of him. ”How old is your daughter?”

”Brianna's five years old,” said Cindy.

”Amazing. She's performed a perfect stunning spell on your son. I'd hate to duel her when she gets older. She's going to be a very powerful witch.” He then turned his wand toward Harry. ”Enervate.”

Harry opened his eyes and saw a stranger smiling at him. He flinched and then noticed his parents there too, and he remembered what had happened, all the way to the point of the spell hitting him. ”BRIANNA! I'm gonna kill you!” he shouted as he got up.

”Now, Harry…” said Cindy.

Brianna in the meantime had gotten to a far corner of her room. ”I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!”

”Well,” said Mr. Brown with a grin, ”Since Harry's already going to magic school, you should have no trouble enrolling Brianna there as well. It appears you have a family crisis to deal with. I'll see myself off, and you'll get a bill in a few days. Bye.” He then disappeared with a soft pop.

Harry started to run toward his sister, but found the strong arms of his father were holding him back. ”She stole my wand and hexed me!”

”We know,” said Mark, ”and she'll be punished. But hexing you was an accident.”

”No it wasn't! I hate her!” he shouted and ran off to his room.

”Harry!” shouted Brianna, ”It was an accident! I didn't want to hurt…” Harry's door slammed shut and Brianna sat down in the corner where she'd been standing, and cried with her face in her knees.

”I'm sure he didn't mean it, sweetheart,” said Cindy, walking up to her daughter.

”Yes, he did! I was bad and now he hates me!” she said between her tears.

”I'm gonna go talk to him,” said Cindy, ”while I think about your punishment.”

”I'll do Harry's chores for a year,” Brianna declared, causing Mark to chuckle.

”Well,” said Cindy, ”I'm not sure about a year, but…”

”Two years!” cried Brianna, ”Maybe he'll forgive me then.”

”I meant that one year might be too long, Brianna. Your father and I will discuss it and let you know our decision.” Cindy then picked up Harry's wand from the floor and left the room.

-HM-HM-HM-

Harry sat on his bed fuming. He knew his sister could use her sad puppy-dog eyes, which she did even better than him, to get out of any punishment. She'd gone into his room, taken his wand, and hexed him. He admitted to himself that it had to have been an accident since she didn't know any spells, but she shouldn't have had the wand to begin with. He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock at his door. He ignored it, knowing it would either be Brianna or one of his parents telling him to forgive Brianna. His door opened.

”Hi, Harry,” said his mom. ”I brought you your wand back.” She closed the door as she entered.

”Put it on my desk, where I left it,” he said coldly.

”Do you know exactly what Brianna did to you?” she said, sitting on the chair by Harry's desk.

”She hexed me,” Harry said, ”On purpose no matter what she says!”

”I meant what spell she used.”

His expression softened. ”No, but it's like I fainted.”

”Exactly. It's called the stunning spell. Have they taught it to you yet at school?”

He put his head down. ”No.”

Cindy wore a fake worried expression. She looked around as though to make sure no one was listening in. ”I think she's been running off and learning dark magic so she can hex us all.”

Harry's expression changed from angry to surprised. ”What?”

”You were right to tell her you hate her. I think I'll tell her that, too.”

”Huh?”

”Your father thinks we should get her a wand and enroll her at your school, but I know better.”

”Y-you do?” Harry was getting worried about his mom's sanity.

”Of course. Look at what she did with your wand. We're just lucky she was still practicing. I'm sure she really wanted to kill you, and then everybody else.”

”Um…mom?”

”I think we should kick her out of the house now before she's too powerful. What do you think? Do you want to hex her a few times first?”

Harry was now clearly scared, and his mom was having a very hard time keeping a straight face. ”I, I don't think she's doing that. I, it was an accident. She wasn't trying to hurt me.”

”But she took your wand. It must have been her plan all along.”

”She was, was just curious. She wanted to know if she had magic. You can't kick her out for that.”

”Why are you trying to defend her? You said you hate her.”

As his mom's expression changed from fear to amusement to neutral, his face fell. ”I did say that, didn't I?”

”Yes you did, and she's right now in her room crying. I've never seen anyone as scared or sorry as she was when you fell down. She thinks she should do your chores for two years, and then maybe you'll forgive her. What do you think?”

He smirked. ”Well, two years without chores…”

”Harry!”

”All right, all right. I'll talk to her. But she did take my wand!”

”I know, Harry, and your dad and I will punish her for that, but I think that she needs to know you still love her…”

”Mom!”

”I know you boys don't like this kind of mushy stuff, but you know that you love your sister, and she needs to know that too! If you can say that you hate her, you can say that you love her!” She took a deep breath. ”She really looks up to you, and it really hurts her when you say things like that. You've got to learn not to say things you don't mean when you're angry. You can ruin a friendship that way.”

”I already said I'll talk to her, mom.” She then hugged her son.

”I knew you would.”

-HM-HM-HM-

Brianna was sitting in her room alone, still crying in a corner. The door was open because she didn't bother to get up and close it. This should've been a happy day. She found out she was a witch. Unfortunately her very first accidental magic had hurt her brother, and now he hated her. She looked up when she heard her door close.

Harry was standing there looking nervous. ”Hi, Brianna.”

”I'm sooo sorry, Harry! I'll never do magic again!”

”What kind of rubbish is that? Of course you'll do magic. You'll be going to my school. You'll probably do better that me, judging by that spell you accidentally sent at me,” he said with a smirk.

She smiled a bit when he admitted it was an accident. He walked up to her and squatted down. ”I'm still not happy that you took my wand…”