The Emerald Manor

Chapter 1

Cora watched as the rain drizzled outside of the enchanted window in her office. It had been overcast for days now, without a break of sunshine.

She muttered the charm in her head. She decided against changing the weather; the rain better matched her mood anyways.

She stared at the calendar on her desk, May 2nd, 2006. She moved to London one year ago today.

Cora had been living in and around Boston since she was 11. When she was bored, she'd go to Salem and have a laugh about the witch trials; that never actual killed any witches.

She still hadn't quite adjusted to living in London. The weather was intolerable at the best of times and the people were welcoming but distant; people in Boston were just distant. The wizards in London were all intrigued and wanted to know more about Cora and life in America. In Massachusetts, people never gave her a second glance. She would have liked it better that way.

In the States people used to say if you don't like the weather wait five minutes, here it felt more like five seconds. There had been one day in London when it rained, snowed, there was a thunderstorm then the sun came out. All in a few hours.

Drinking at the pubs could have been an Olympic sport in London. It seemed that both no-maj and wizards alike liked to partake. Boston bars had been the pub starter pack when comparing it to London.

At 25 years old, Cora had spent her entire life up until last year living in the United States. She grew up in Vermont with her parents and younger brother. She moved to Massachusetts permanently though after being offered a spot at Ilvermorny.

During her years at school, the stories of the wizard war waging on in Great Britain were a mere fairy tale. Nothing like that of the people that lived it. Moving to London made that clear. The way people spoke about the war here, still so much fear. Even now, 8 years later. People still shuddered talking about Voldemort and the things that happened.

The Heroic tales of a certain Harry Potter and the downfall of Lord Voldemort. Word spread quickly of Voldemort's death at the hands of the Potter boy in 1998, even in the America's.

Cora was 17 years old when Voldemort died. She was more focused on her schoolwork than with a foreign political uprising. Everything she had been studying for had led up this point. Her final exams.

Her scores on her JARVEY's had been exceptional, but leaving school left her with more questions than answers. After graduating Ilvermony she felt lost, unwanted, and retreated to the safety of her own mind.

She didn't work, shuffling through each day. Her anxiety was on the precipice each morning. She found herself making calming potions each morning, just to get through the day.

Refusing to lose the internal battle in her mind she had taken the Auror exam and training with the American Magical Congress. While she passed, her heart was never fully in it. She never took up her post as an Auror. MACUSA was based out of New York and the city made her panic, too tall and closed it. Even more so than Boston.

Her parents had abruptly kicked her out of their home at just 11, after finding out she could use magic. She grew up a No-Maj; in a family full of No-Maj's. To her knowledge there had never been another magic user in their family's history.

Her parents were not exceptional No-Maj's. Her mother had never worked; she stayed home taking care of Cora and her younger brother Robert. Robert was less than a year younger than Cora but much taller than her.

They were Irish Twins, born less than a year apart from each other. Many times, they had been mistaken as actual twins. They both had round faces splattered with freckles. Robert's hair was redder than Cora's, hers being closer to an auburn shade.