Chapter One

A Penny Saved

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter, but I don't. However poor I am because of this misfortune, I will never stoop to eating instant ramen.

"Kirstin Cooper."

Kirstin inhaled a shaky breath, moving toward the intimidating woman calling names from a roll of parchment. Leaving the safety of the disorganized line of new students, she felt exposed. The whispers began. Her arms felt unsteady, her legs—her legs did not matter, they did not work anyway. The distance between the mass of nervous first year students and the stool beside the professor was unending. She placed her forearm crutches in front of her, standing on her ruined legs for a moment before swinging them forward. Set, swing, set, swing, set, swing…

Kirstin knew what the older students sitting at the four tables were whispering.

"What happened?"

"Are her legs deformed?"

"I feel sorry for her."

Kirstin hated the last phrase; she did not want their pity. Every time someone looked at her crutches with sympathy she was reminded of what she had lost. The future she had lost.

She sat upon the small, three-legged stool. A ratty, patched hat fell over her eyes, turning the world black.

"Ah, now here's an interesting one. I've never seen a student like you before."

Kirstin jumped. The hat had talked, in her mind. A slight uneasiness passed through her. Could the hat read her mind, hear what she was thinking?

"Of course I can. And what a marvelous mind you have! You could do well in Ravenclaw, very well. There is also ambition, a hunger, but I fear Slytherin would destroy you. You are very courageous, always facing odds, never backing down. That's good; you'll need it to live with those injuries. I think you'll be a GRIFFINDOR!"

Polite clapping ensued, and the black curtain lifted. Kirstin joined the table beckoning to her. She sat on the bench filled with people smiling kindly, her back toward the table. She rearranged her skirt, bunching extra fabric between her legs, and lifted each leg over the bench with her hands. The smiles around her faded; people looked away, uncomfortable, as if they had unduly witnessed something intimate and confidential.

The butterflies in Kirstin's stomach became smaller and disappeared as she watched dozens of students don the hat and join their new houses. Soon, hunger made her impatient. She stopped paying attention to which student went where.

"Mathias Selwyn."

The name jolted Kirstin back to reality. She looked up at the tall, dark-haired boy walking toward the hat with calm, sure steps. The hat yelled SLYTHERIN without hesitation. Most students' faces had shone with relief as they slid off the stool and hurried toward their table. However, the pale boy showed no expression and his confident strides did not change in pace. No polite smile was exchanged with his cheering housemates, only a slight nod of acknowledgement.

Kirstin thought of her strange meeting with Mathias. She had been shopping for school supplies with her uncle Dan, whom she had not known was a wizard until that day.

It was mid afternoon when Dan declared they had everything on the list.

"There's just one extra thing. You go eat some ice cream while I get it." He put two silver coins in her hand and hurried away, his robes billowing behind him.

Kirstin turned toward the ice cream shop adjacent a side street and looked down the dim alley. Knockturn Alley, according to the marker. A sign with a boiling cauldron hung from one of the nearby buildings.

She sometimes went to run-down, locally owned stores with her mom. The prices were often better and they carried eccentric stock mainstream stores did not. Kirstin decided to take a quick look.

The temperature was ten degrees colder in the alley. Crowded shops with crooked walls loomed over the narrow lane, blocking out the sun. Kirstin had a distinct feeling this was the more unsavory part of the wizarding shopping center. Men hid their faces beneath dark cloaks, and hags smiled at her with rotting teeth, asking if she needed assistance. A lady with frizzled brown hair and a large mole on her cheek whispered promises of new legs and beauty. Foul breath tickled the back of her neck, making her hair stand on end. At any moment she expected someone to lean out of a window offering her free candy.

A sense of relief washed over Kirstin when she pushed open the seedy shop's door with her shoulder. The lights were flickering, and she realized it was lit by hundreds of candles. Some sat in sconces, others floated in the air, like a ghostly candlelight vigil at a satanic church.

Kirstin's relief turned to uneasiness. The store was far from the mom-and-pop potion haven she had been expecting. She saw cauldrons and barrels of potion ingredients, but she also saw human hands, shrunken heads, and jewels that glowed red. Kirstin decided to leave. Straying away from the main alley had been a mistake. If she hurried, Dan might not even notice she had wandered away.

The door closed softly behind her. She turned, expecting to see another hag. Instead, she faced a tall man and his son. Both strangers had dark, sleek hair, and pale skin. The man told his son to wait for him in a soft, firm voice and walked toward the counter.

Kirstin and the boy stared at each other for a moment. He appeared her age, but his eyes looked much older. They glinted dangerously in the candlelight, watching, calculating.

She realized she was staring, and decided to break the silence.

"Hi, I'm Kirstin. Are you going to Hogwarts this year also?" Even she was not convinced by her weak smile.

His eyes were unblinking. When she began to believe he would not respond, he spoke. "You're a mudblood, aren't you?" His voice was barely above a whisper, but his words were clear. His inflection was one of indifference. She could disappear and he would not care, or notice.

Kirstin's eyebrows furrowed. "What's a mudblood?"

"A muggle-born." He said simply.

Kirstin shrugged. "I guess I'm a mud-blood then."

His eyes flashed with momentary amusement.

She welcomed the sign of humanity. "You didn't tell me your name."

"Mathias Selwyn."

"Are you a Hogwarts student?"

"Yes, I will be a first year."

"Me too. I'm really excited. I just found out about it today. I still can hardly believe magic exists."

He remained silent.

She fidgeted. "Well, I'd better get going. It was nice meeting you." Kirstin moved to the door without waiting for an answer.

"And you."

She stopped, her hand on the door. She pivoted on one crutch, facing him again. "I guess we'll see each other at Hogwarts." Kirstin gave him her most winning smile, and turned toward the door.

He watched her over his shoulder, expressionless as she struggled to open the door.

Kirstin turned her attention back toward the front of the great hall as an ancient wizard stood to speak. He reminded her of Uncle Dan, eccentric with mirth twinkling in his eyes. But the white-bearded man's eyes also held deep knowledge; power radiated from him, telling her not to be deceived by his frail body. The rules of the school were delivered in an amiable voice, and Kirstin decided she liked the man. His speech ended with, "Dig in!"

On the empty tables appeared numberless dishes piled high with mashed potatoes, roast beef, bread, chicken, and many other dishes. Kirstin resolved to try a bit of everything. She looked at her plate, loaded with a dozen varieties of food. The food was as good, better even, than her mother's cooking. She wondered if the school cooks would teach her some of their techniques.

Many of her earliest memories took place in the kitchen beside her mother. While her mother chopped vegetables, she gave Kirsten a blunt table knife so the three-year-old could chop her own. In the time it took Kirsten to cut one potato her mother had all of the ingredients chopped, measured, and ready to cook.

The kitchen had become Kirstin's favorite part of the house since the accident. Her father had found a tall swivel chair with wheels so she could roll around the tiled floor while being able to comfortably use the countertops.

Although Kirsten was only eleven, she had cooked with her mother for years. Her mother had recently begun to let her cook on her own. At first, she had worried Kirsten might hurt herself, but after supervising her a few weeks, she relaxed. Kirsten knew it was because her mother wanted her daughter to have control over her own life.

The thought of always having meals cooked for her saddened Kirstin. Cooking had become a hobby she enjoyed and took pride in. No one could ever give her false praise for a dish; her taste buds did not lie to her. Preparing a new recipe well was gratifying; personalizing and improving it was exhilarating.

Kirstin ate her food slowly, savoring the taste and attempting to identify the spices used in each dish. Beside her, a boy with shaggy blond hair appeared to be trying to eat a turkey leg in three bites. The leg was held in his right fist, while his left hand reached toward a roll. The students seemed to be competing in an absurd, undeclared eating contest. Kirstin wondered how many hotdogs the blond boy could eat in a minute.

She sneaked a look across the room at Mathias. The sight of him eating small, slow bites of food surprised her; part of her expected him not to be eating at all.

He stopped eating, his fork halfway to his mouth, and stared forward as if sensing something. He turned and held Kirstin's gaze with unblinking eyes.

She blushed and whipped her head back toward her plate. Embarrassment rushed through her. He probably thought she had some sort of ridiculous crush on him now, or that she was stalking him.

After desert had been cleared the students were dismissed to their dorms. The prefects gathered the first-years around them and led them to the dormitories. Kirstin stayed at the back of the group and began to fall behind after they had climbed three staircases. The gap between her and the rest of the students widened. She struggled to keep them in sight. After the last first year disappeared around a corner, she quickened her pace, afraid she would get lost. Her arms were shaking when she ascended the fifth staircase. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she rounded the corner. The prefect had stopped the group in front of a large painting of a heavy woman in pink silk.

"—can only get in with the password. For now it's dandelion." The self-important prefect said.

The picture swung forward to reveal a large hole; through which a cozy room decorated in rich reds and glowing gold could be seen. When Kirstin's feet rested on the plush carpet, warmth spread through her. It was the most beautiful room she had ever seen, and now it was her home. Overstuffed chairs sat next to the fire. A couch, coffee table, and armchairs dominated the center of the room. Pushed against the walls were small desks and tables.

After an information session, the first years were sent to bed. Kirstin fingered the velvet curtains that hung from her bed. If this was the kind of life kings had lived in their fortified castles, it was no mystery why everyone wanted to be royalty. When she had learned that Hogwarts was a boarding school, she had imagined cramped rooms with cinderblock walls and sparse furniture. Never had she imagined a school of such beauty and grandeur.

As her eyelids grew heavy, Kirstin felt the remaining anxiety melt away, replaced with eagerness for her new life.

The dream invaded Kirstin's sleep so often she no longer took part in it. Instead, she watched as Elise's face turned red from laughing. The dimples in her cheeks deepened as her smile widened.

Kirsten knew the younger version of herself sat beside Elise in the back seat of the car, making her laugh for the last time in her short life. Kirsten turned away and looked at the windshield between Elise's parents, waiting. The blinding headlights appeared seconds later. Then, the world went black.

Had she screamed in her sleep? She peered out the curtains surrounding her bed, but no one had stirred. The dim blue light from outside the diamond paned window made the room a land of shadows; filled with black outlines, missing the details that categorized the objects as dressers, beds, trunks, and pictures.

She had no pictures of Elise on her nightstand, or in her bedroom at home. They were unnecessary when she saw the poor girl with such clarity in her dreams.

The accident had occurred two years ago. No one else had survived. According to the emergency responders at the crash site, the remains of the car had been odd. The semi truck had smashed the car like a tin can; however, the area around her seat remained two feet longer than the rest of the car. The paramedics and doctors had called her "Miracle Girl", and many began attending church again.

She groped for her forearm crutches. Luck had not been completely on her side. The bones in her legs had been crushed. After five surgeries, the doctors said no more could be done.

But it wasn't luck. Kirstin reminded herself. She remembered when her uncle had said it was her magic that saved her.

Anger had welled up inside her. "If my magic was able to save me, why am I a cripple? And why can't it just make me better? Why can you do a bunch of magic tricks, but not fix my legs? Where were you two years ago?" She had said.

His face had filled with regret. "It didn't save your legs because the crash happened in an instant. Your magic was a reaction, one that you were unaware of. You didn't realize your life was in jeopardy until a split second after the semi hit the car. Less than a split second. However, when two objects collide at those speeds, it only takes a second for them to be destroyed."

She had seen the pity in his eyes. Don't say it. Don't say it. "I'm sorry." He said it. "I couldn't be sure you were a witch at the time. You can't just take a muggle into St. Mungo's—the hospital for wizards."

"Well then, why didn't you help me?"

"There are things I can't do. Mending bones—especially ones that have been shattered—is difficult at best. Healers have to be trained just like doctors do. I don't know if they could have even reset the bones properly."

Kirstin pushed away the memories, dwelling on her injuries always made her angry and irritable. In the month since learning about magic, she had trained herself not to hope magic could heal her. The disappointment would be devastating otherwise.

Like every other morning, she threw aside her blankets and swung her legs over the side of her bed. Taking a deep breath, she gripped her crutches tightly and threw her body into a standing position. Her feet were flat on ground, lightly touching the cold hardwood floor. She relished the difference in temperature between the soles of her feet and the rest of her body. Her nerves were intact.

Bending her elbows, she put extra weight on her legs until they were supporting more than her arms. Her legs trembled, but her arms, sore from journey to the dormitory, welcomed the break. She focused on her breathing, counting each slow, controlled breath. 40. Her legs ached. 50. She gritted her teeth. 60. She slumped back onto her bed. As with every other morning, she repeated the exercise four more times.

The other girls began to stir as Kirstin descended the stairs, freshly showered. She took her time as she traveled to the Great Hall. People began staggering bleary eyed into the hall after she finished breakfast. The witch who had called out names the night before sat a timetable in front of her.

Double potions was her first class. Kirstin smiled. Potions seemed similar to cooking. She pulled Whering's Potions Encyclopedia, 126th Edition out of her book bag. Dan had seen her looking at the book in the bookstore and decided to buy it while she "got ice cream."

The book had small, cramped writing, and explained the use of different potions and the properties of hundreds of ingredients. It reminded Kirstin of her mother's cookbooks, except the contents were not appetizing in the slightest. She imagined herself at a fancy dinner party. "Oh no thank you, I'm simply too full to enjoy a toadstool and salamander tongue soufflé." She spent the rest of the time in the great hall imaging dishes made with potion ingredients. Tofu and boom slang stir fry, and crushed millipede cupcakes dusted with fairy dust were two of her favorites.

When the hall grew crowded, Kirstin stored her book and left for potions, following directions one of the older students from Slytherin had given her.

Kirstin choked back sobs. She had been searching half an hour for the potions room. Had she taken a wrong turn? No, she had followed every turn, descended every staircase the boy had told her to take. A sneaking suspicion tugged at the back of her mind. Was she purposely given the wrong directions? Why? Because she was crippled? Or was he just mean? He had seemed so sincere and helpful. Was he laughing right now, telling his friends about the trick he had played on some stupid first year?

She had long since stopped trying to figure out where she was, instead, taking any staircase, trying any door. Finally, Kirstin heard a voice behind one of the doors. Before opening the door, she concentrated on breathing, blinking back tears of frustration and embarrassment.

Holding her head high, she opened the door, entering a large room filled with tables with cauldrons on them and people staring at her. She closed the door quietly.

"Ms. Cooper, how nice of you to grace us with your presence." The tall man writing on the chalkboard said before turning. He stared at her with menacing black eyes. He looked at her legs and arm crutches and back at her eyes. Only a slight twitch of his right eyebrow betrayed surprise. His eyes bore into her soul.

She held his eyes for a few moments, before lowering them and sitting in the closest chair. She took off her backpack and set her writing supplies on the table as quickly as possible. She looked at the board; they were covering shrinking potions. Kirstin had already read the first couple of chapters in their potions book, so she already knew why and how it worked.

"You will have one hour to make the potion. When and if you finish, pour your potion into a glass vial and leave it on the desk at the front of the room." The professor surveyed the room, and said in a dry, bored tone, "Don't burn down the building or melt any cauldrons."

The girl with chocolate brown hair sitting in front of Kirstin turned to her and whispered sympathetically, "I'll get your ingredients." She hurried away before Kirstin could protest.

Kirstin flipped her textbook open to the page with directions for the shrinking potion. She lit a small fire under the cauldron beside her, mindful to keep the flames blue, not yellow.

The girl dumped the ingredients on her table with a quick smile. "Good luck!"

Kirstin smiled, they would get along well. "Thank you."

The next fifteen minutes were spent chopping and measuring the ingredients, and putting them in bowls. She took care to slice the newt tongue into even strips, and grind the beetle eyes to a consistent texture, with no lumps.

Kirstin looked around the room. All the other students were in pairs. One student would frantically chop while the other added ingredients. Kirstin shook her head. Using that method guaranteed some ingredients would overcook while others were being prepared.

As she lined her bowls in the order that she would dump them into the cauldron, a shadow fell across her table. Professor Snape stood over her, watching her work. Goosebumps rose on Kirstin's arms, but she pretended not to notice him.

The water had heated to a rolling boil. She sprinkled the beetle eye powder slowly, so it would not clump. Kirstin had once made the mistake of pouring half a cup of flour into a sauce all at once, making it grainy and disgusting. No doubt the beetle powder had a different function than just thickening, but she wanted to ensure it would not clump.

After a minute of steady stirring, the potion turned the light purple color the book said it would. Each ingredient turned the potion a different hue. Ten minutes later, Kirstin brought down the flames, making them yellow. The lilac colored liquid simmered.

Kirstin looked around the room. Cauldrons contained lumpy yellow contents, green sludge, and smoking brown solids. The brown haired girl's cauldron was filled with light green liquid and billowed acrid smoke. Kirstin guessed she had let the dragonweed cook too long. The dragonweed turned Kirstin's potion from blue to teal in less than a minute.

She pulled out her potions encyclopedia. The articles on ingredients nearly always listed their opposites, which in this case was copper. How could she mix copper in? Then it occurred to her; the copper did not need to stay in the potion, it just needed to tone down the dragonweed. Kirstin did not know where she could find copper. She began fiddling with the contents of her pockets while she thought. Her fingers were turning the muggle change she had left in them. Pennies! They were copper plated! She had never been so happy that Britain still used decimal coins.

Kirstin took the change out of her pocket with her right hand and grabbed one of her crutches with her other hand. She stood beside the table in front of her. The girl looked up at her, face flushed from embarrassment, frustration, and heat.

"The potion turned green because the dragonweed cooked too long. Copper negates it." She put three pennies in the girl's hand. "Put them in your cauldron until it turns lilac, then fish them out. It should work."

The girl's hazel eyes looked hopeful. "Thank you." She whispered back.

Kirstin turned back toward her table and froze. The professor stared at her from behind greasy locks of hair. She continued toward her seat, one hand on the table, the other using her crutch. She sat and killed the fire beneath her cauldron. Careful not to spill any on her hand, she poured some of the potion in a small glass vial and corked it.

A pale, long-fingered hand reached over her shoulder, taking the container from her hand. "See me after class." His breath tickled the hair on the back of Kirstin's neck.

A pit of dread filled her stomach. Was she in trouble because she was late to class, or had she angered him by helping the student in front of her? She glanced up at the girl, who dropped the last penny on the desk beside the cauldron. When the potion was put in a vial, Kirstin knew it was not perfect, but at least it was purple. Even if she did get in trouble for helping the girl, Kirstin was glad she did.

Ten minutes later, the students shuffled out of the classroom. The girl stopped next to Kirstin's desk. "Do you want to walk with me to lunch?"

Kirstin smiled up at her. "I have to stay here a few extra minutes, so just go ahead and save me a seat."

The girl looked over her shoulder at where Professor Snape sat at his desk with guilt and put Kirstin's pennies on the desk in front of her. She mouthed an apology to her. "Thank you."

Kirstin waved it away. "No problem. I'll see you up there."

The girl hurried out the door.

"Ms. Cooper." Professor Snape gave the chair in front of his desk a pointed stare.

Kirstin moved toward the chair with reluctance. She sat and looked down at her hands, unwilling to meet his icy black eyes. Silence pressed down on her, heavy and smothering. Kirstin could not stand it any longer. "I'm sorry I was late, I left the Great Hall half an hour early, but the directions the Slytherin boy gave me weren't right. I followed them exactly, but I couldn't find the room. I "

"I expect you won't make that mistake again." His voice was cold and quiet, but not angry. Kirstin looked up at him, surprised and relieved. He seemed to be examining her, an interesting specimen. "You have an aptitude for potions rarely shown in students, especially impulsive and careless Gryffindors. The potion was perfect. The approach you took was methodical and meticulous. Students never prepare all of their ingredients before brewing."

Kirstin glowed inwardly with pride. "Well, I figure it's really similar to cooking. Mise En Place is the most basic cooking principle. 'Everything in its place', that way nothing overcooks because you're chopping something else."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. However, the trick with the penny went beyond cooking fundamentals. Problem solving is a key aspect to brewing successful potions, which you have innately. You also seem to understand the subtleties of potions, something which is rarely learned."

Kirstin flushed. "So, you're not mad at me for helping her?"

"I suggest next time you partner with her."

Kirstin understood. He was not pleased she had helped the girl get a grade she didn't actually deserve, but he did not blame her for wanting to help. She nodded.

"I would encourage you to consider a career in potions." He picked up his quill, signaling the meeting was over.

She stood and turned to leave, her mind swimming.

"And, Ms. Cooper," Kirstin stopped in front of the door and looked back where he sat at his desk, examining a paper he was grading. "Ten points to Gryffindor." She thought she heard him mutter, "That's the first time I've ever said that."

The brown haired girl jumped when Kirstin sat beside her with a loud thump. Her hazel eyes widened. "I'm so sorry you got in trouble. You didn't have to help me. Really, you should have just let me fail."

Kirstin pretended to glare at her. "And what? Not have gotten ten points for our house?"

The food on the girl's fork fell on the table with a splat. She wiped it up with inattentive strokes of her napkin, eyes glued to Kirstin's face. "Are you kidding me? Snape never gives points to Gryffindor. First of all because he hates us, and secondly because he's the head of Slytherin. What did he say?"

Kirstin shrugged. "Well, he basically called Gryffindors stupid, to begin with. Then he told me I was good at problem solving and understanding potions. He said I should do something with potions when I grow up."

The girl's plump, pink lips were parted in amazement. "So he didn't get mad at you?"

Kirstin gave her a crooked smile. "Next time we should be partners."

The girl raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "Wow. He must really like you. Anybody else, and he would have jumped down their throat. My brother says that he takes points away from Gryffindor for no reason."

"So, are you not a mudblood?" Kirstin tried to sound casual, as if she used the word all the time.

The girl froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. The area around them quieted; people glared at Kristin with revulsion, before turning away in dismissal. Kirstin's cheeks grew warm, bewildered yet still embarrassed; she wondered what she had just said.

The girl put her fork down carefully, leaving the food on it. "Do you know what that word means?"

"I was told by one of the other students that it meant someone was muggle born. I didn't know it was a bad word. Honest." Kirstin shot a glance toward the Slytherin table, looking for Mathias, who was not there. The revelation of the word's definition put his interaction with her in a different light. He had hardly spoken to her because of his perceived superiority, not because he was mysterious and quiet. Amusement had shown on his face because she had insulted herself! The reaction was not because he had liked her at all; she had looked stupid and validated his belief.

She clenched her jaw in anger and speared a piece of chicken with more force than necessary. Refusing to look at the pretty girl sitting next to her, she saw only the fork and knife that were sawing the meat into chunks.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't know what it meant. And no, both of my parents are magical. I'm Elle, by the way. Elle Piper. I can tell you're definitely muggle-born. What's your name, Ginger?" She gave a lock of Kirstin's copper hair a playful yank.

Kirstin smiled in spite of herself. "Kirstin Cooper."

Elle's hazel eyes glittered with mischief. "Kirstin Copper? You seem to have a thing for copper. That how you knew to use the pennies?"

"Cooper."

"I'm calling you copper."

Kirstin gave a rueful chuckle. "Maybe I shouldn't have helped you."

Elle gave a sage nod. "We have to make mistakes so we can learn from them. I can already see you won't make that mistake twice."

Kirstin heaved a dramatic sigh. "Yes. It's too late now. Look what I've done."

Elle's laugh was rich and throaty. "I think we'll get along well."

Please review, so I can better my writing. Thank you, and stay tuned for new chapters!