The Seven Stones of Merlin

Prologue

I remember it being a rather rainy Wednesday evening in Wool's orphanage. I was sitting in my shared bedroom, blocking out Martha and Bella's confusing conversation while absentmindedly playing with my Rubik's cube.

I solved it in forty-seven seconds.

There wasn't much to do at Wool's. After a series of particularly horrid events, the government had decided to cut all funds towards the orphanage, leaving the residents with a building in poor condition and nothing to play with but some broken board games and a pack of cards that had half the cards missing.

The perpetrator of the unspeakable happenings, Rabastan Lestrange, stuck around for a few months until one day when a strange man in a purple robe came and took the boy away. Nobody seemed to remember the man once he had left, not even Mrs Cole, who had let him in.

Nobody but me.

~𖣔︎~

I was only seven years old at the time, but I remember the day like it was just yesterday. A knock at the door was a rare occurrence as most of us children were misfits, unwanted. Which was why this knock on a seemingly mundane Wednesday made even Martha and Bella -the two most talkative girls in the building- fall silent.

I was at the top of the stairs in seconds, peering from the shadows at the oddly-dressed man standing in the doorway of the gloomy building. I watched as Mrs Cole's eyes became cloudy and dreamlike and a smile formed on her usually stern face. She greeted him and led the man into the living room.

Carefully, I tiptoed down the stairs, making sure to skip the creaky step near the bottom. I caught some of their conversation as I edged closer. Something about... Wait a second... Really? Why 

Lestrange?

Mrs Cole sounded very drunk as she told the man, Dumbledore, I think his name was, all about the strange boy who constantly terrorises the other kids at the orphanage. Rabastan Lestrange, the boy who murdered Martha's rabbit. Rabastan Lestrange, the boy who took Dennis and Amy into a rickety old house on a hill on a field trip and they haven't spoken since.

That boy had done some awful, awful things. The field trip incident had led to the government not funding Wool's anymore and had left poor Dennis and Amy traumatised. Why on earth did Mr Dumbledore want to adopt him?

Before I could catch any more of the strange conversation, though, Mrs Cole and Mr Dumbledore had started to walk towards the door. I quickly hid behind a coat rack, luckily cloaked by darkness as the adults passed and went up the three flights of stairs to the floor we had nicknamed 'Le strange floor'. Teenagers are hilarious.

I ran out from behind the coat rack, up the stairs and into the bedroom where Martha and Bella were still talking, believe it or not. When I entered, they stared at me as if they were expecting 

me to say something.

"So Ellie?" Bella finally said, "Who is he?" I guessed she meant Dumbledore. I sighed and said,

"Mr Dumbledore. I think he's a doctor. He's taking... He's taking Lestrange away," The girls shared a glance and suddenly broke out into huge smiles.

"What? Really?"

"Finally! He'll finally be gone!" They said simultaneously. I hadn't really thought about it that way yet. In fact, now that I thought about it, I was over the moon that we would be finally free of Rabastan Lestrange.

~𖣔︎~

The happiness was short-lived though, as soon we heard footsteps from the hallway. Lestrange sounded eerily calm as he ranted to Dumbledore about something called 'Hogwarts'. I had never heard such a daft word before, and could only guess that Hogwarts was the name of the hospital Dumbledore was taking him.

The footsteps and voices grew closer and I pretended to be asleep. However, as they got to the door of my bedroom the footsteps suddenly stopped and so did Rabastan's rambling. I shut my eyes and turned over so that my back faced the door. What were they doing?

Dim light flooded into the room as Dumbledore slowly opened the bedroom door. Martha, Bella and I kept very still and I heard Lestrange's sharp voice ask what Dumbledore was doing, voicing everybody's thoughts.

The purple robed man said nothing but "Elenora? I know you're awake."

What? How did he know my name? Who even is he? I clenched my fists and remained still in my uncomfortable bed.

He continued, "I know you can hear me, so you might as well sit up."

I turned slowly in my bed and stared up and Mr Dumbledore. I hadn't really taken a proper look at the old man until now. He had a long greying beard and half moon spectacles sat upon his wonky nose. His bright blue eyes shone in the moonlight and he smiled at me.

"My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore. It is very nice to meet you, Elenora." He held out his old hand. I sat up and tentatively reached out to shake it.

"I know you were listening downstairs, and I know that you must be very confused however, I shall explain all on the way," Dumbledore said with a smile.

I gave him a puzzled look and asked, "The way to where, professor?" I glanced behind the old man momentarily and saw Lestrange standing in the doorway looking sour. I quickly looked back.

"Hogwarts, of course! My dear girl, have you ever experienced things you could not explain? Ever done something that you were confused about?" I thought of the time I had accidentally turned Mrs Cole's hair purple, and that time when I spoke to a cat I saw wandering down the street.But this was the second time Dumbledore had mentioned Hogwarts. Surely he wasn't going to take me as well? I wasn't crazy! Was I? Could I actually talk to that cat or was I just hallucinating? Maybe I was crazy. Maybe I was just like the boy standing in the door frame of my bedroom. Then I had a thought.

"What does any of that have to do with you, Dumbledore?" I asked him, "What even is Hogwarts?"

"All will be explained, Elenora. All will be explained. However there is one thing I haven't told you yet," the professor said with a twinkle in his eye. He paused for a moment, supposedly for dramatic purposes. He seemed like that type of guy. I could never have guessed what he said next...

"You, my dear Elenora, are a witch!"

~𖣔︎~

A few minutes later our odd trio had arrived at Hogwarts. Turns out Professor Dumbledore was the headmaster of Hogwarts and it was actually a school and not some mental hospital. Not much was said on the journey besides Dumbledore awkwardly trying to make conversation.