Where Your Loyalties Lie

Chapter One: I'm a What?

Katie's POV

My name is Katie Brown and I'm an eleven-year-old at Kennedy Prep in London, England, or at least I was before that all changed this evening. I was in my room being my typical pre-teen self, reading while listening to music that is louder than it should be, when a strange-looking guy came to our door.

He had, from what I could tell from my window view, a black robe on. Is it just me or is it weird for a grown man to wear a robe in public. Anyways, I jumped off my bed, skipped down the stairs, and opened the door to see what robe guy wanted.

"Good evening, Miss Brown. Are your parents home? I have some news to share with the three of you." The white-bearded fellow said. How did he know my name? Have I met this man before? Was he a relative of some sort? I had too many relatives to ever remember all of them, but this man didn't look familiar so I had no idea who he was.

My mother came up to the door before I could respond. "I'm Katie's mother. What's this about?" she asked.

"Mrs. Richard, my name is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts," the man introduced himself. I had never heard of a school called Hogwarts before and it appeared that Mom hadn't either. Despite this, she still introduced herself.

"Penny Richard," Mother spoke, shaking his hand. "Why don't you come in and take a seat?" She stepped aside and let him into our home. "Katie, dear, why don't you run and get your father, please?"

I obliged and hurried off to find Dad in the backyard. "Hey Dad! There's a man here that wants to talk to all of us!" I informed him.

"Alright, tell your mother I'll be there in a minute."

After we were all settled down in the living room, Mr. Dumbledore-or would he be Professor Dumbledore?- told us why he had come to our house.  "You know, I've been doing this for many years, and I have learned that there is not an easy way to tell this to people like you," the old man began. I felt myself getting nervous. What kind of school was this and why did the headmaster want to talk to my family? Were they going to ship me off? Would I ever see them again? What if it wasn't really a school, but some form of a children's prison? "Miss Brown, you are a witch."

What? "What?" I shouted. "That's not possible. Witches are only in fairytales!"

"Oh, they are very real, and you are one," Dumbledore insisted. "Tell me, have you ever made anything happen that you couldn't explain when you were feeling a strong emotion such as anger or excitement?" I thought about it. Mom and Dad had always joked about the night when I was eight and had a temper tantrum where all of the lights exploded and the power went out. Maybe it wasn't just a coincidence. Maybe I was the one who made that happen. "I know it's very hard to take in. This is why Hogwarts sends staff members out to explain things to muggle-born families instead of a letter like other witches and wizards.

"What's a muggle?" I asked.

"A muggle is a non-magical person." I nodded in understanding. Looking at Mom and Dad, it seemed that they were just as shocked as I was, but the three of us somehow found ourselves accepting this newfound knowledge. "You see, at the age of eleven, young witches and wizards may start their schooling at Hogwarts. I have your acceptance letter and school supply list right here." He handed me an envelope with a wax seal on the back. The seal had a crest of the letter H on it.

Opening up the letter, I read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Brown,