Chap 1: Unexpected visit

Chap 1: Unexpected visit

The window swung back and forth in its frame with a clatter. The wind whistled through it, making the small room even colder than it already was. A girl with long black hair and a small child in her arms rushed towards it and quickly closed it. "I was lucky again." she said quietly to herself, it could have gotten even colder and the heating was already whistling out of the last hole anyway. Whining a little boy of about three years hopped up on her knee and she picked him up with a sigh too. Then she went with the two children into the dining room of the orphanage and sat them on two chairs. "Thanks for your help, without you I think it would go haywire even more than it already does." A middle-aged woman thanked her, around 40 years old, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt and with her blonde hair tied back tightly, she took care of the 15 children who lived here. Claire was one of the oldest at 16 and helped wherever she could. Leandra, the director of the home, took good care of the children, even if there was often a lack of money and sometimes she did not know how to make ends meet. So far, however, they had still made it. "When do you have to go again?" she asked while feeding one of the smaller ones. "September 1st, as always. But this time I might be here over Christmas, the school I switched to is not that far away." she told and shared her meal with the little girl she had carried around before. "We will miss you, like every year. But at least you have the chance of an apprenticeship." Leandra just said and smiled confidently. Yes, the little one would go far one day. She was a very talented student. Shaking her head slightly, she thought of that private school to which her late parents had sent her when she was eleven, but if she learned everything there….
Glad to finally have some peace and quiet, she quietly closed the door behind her and collapsed onto the bed in her small room. The days here were exhausting with the kids, but she just loved them. Smiling, she grabbed a book from the bedside table and began to read. Just as she was digging into the first page, there was a knock on her window. A look of joy came into the girl's green eyes when she noticed the owl at the window. She had a letter on her leg. Claire quickly jumped up and threw open the window. The white barn owl landed on the edge of the bed and held out its foot. She quickly removed the roll of parchment from her leg and gave her an owl biscuit before it rose again and disappeared into the night. She closed the window, then tore open the envelope with the Hogwarts crest written on it in brightly colored ink. From Beauxbatons, she finally moved to the much closer school, to which she had always wanted to send her late mother.Excitedly, she pulled out a list of books and things she would need. A personal letter was also enclosed. She read it through curiously:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHERY AND WIZARD

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of the Merlin, First Class, Großz.Hexenmst.
Very big animal in the ministry, international association. D. Wizard)

Dear Miss Graham,
We are pleased that you have decided to complete your last two years of school at our School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We hereby inform you that we have accepted you.
Enclosed are two lists of the things you will need. The school year starts on September 1st, we expect your owl by July 31st at the latest.

With best regards

Minerva McGonagall
(Deputy Headmistress)

PS: When you send your owl, we will send one of our people over to accompany you to Diagon Alley.

She almost jumped in the air, she was so happy. At last she had her promise. Immediately she wrote a letter with her answer and sent her owl, Featherwing, on the journey with it. Thinking about what the next few days would bring, she went to bed.
The next morning they were having breakfast when the doorbell rang. Leandra was busy with the children, so she padded to the door and opened ...
Sirius was in a pretty bad mood when he stood in front of the door of the slightly dilapidated orphanage that morning. Okay, he lived only three houses down, but they didn't have to throw him out of bed in the middle of the night either. He had seldom seen such a stubborn owl. Still slightly annoyed, he now stood on the stairs and rang the bell. It would do his mood good not to find an inexperienced first grader to explain everything to, but he saw little chance that his hope would be fulfilled. But when a pretty young girl opened the door instead of a nun, his mood improved immediately. Even if she looked a little disheveled and somehow thrown out of bed, she exuded a grace that almost knocked him off his socks. Her long black hair was tied in a simple braid, but somehow stuck out in all directions. She was wearing a simple black T-shirt and short shorts, which was much too big for her. The look out of her green eyes was still a bit sleepy and at first she didn't seem to really realize it. "Good Morning!" he greeted her with a grin ...
"Tomorrow!" Claire stammered in response, slightly puzzled. What was this boy doing here so early in the morning? She stood in her sleeping gown and barefoot in front of him, he probably didn't have a very good impression of her now. Only when she noticed his grin did she also notice that she had been staring at him the whole time, rather puzzled."Um .. what do you want?" she finally asked, slightly embarrassed, after all, it was impolite to stare at people for so long. "I'm looking for Claire Graham." replied the boy calmly. He had half-length black hair that was slightly tousled and ice-blue eyes that looked at her mischievously at that moment. "This is me." she replied and looked at him carefully.
His mood suddenly improved when his hope of at least not dealing with a first grader was fulfilled. "I'm Sirius Black. Nice to meet you. Dumbledore sent me to show you Diagon Alley." he explained kindly. "Oh, come on in. I have to get dressed first." she asked him in through the door with a friendly gesture. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back." With these words, she left him standing in the hallway and ran up the stairs. Shaking his head, he went into the kitchen, from which he heard children's voices. When he entered he was already surrounded by them ...
Claire could hardly believe her luck, she was allowed to go to Diagon Alley and they hadn't sent a bad-looking boy of her age to accompany her. In no time she had put on jeans and a T-shirt and done her hair. She went downstairs and put on shoes and a jacket. Then she stepped into the kitchen, where she found the boy who had introduced himself as Sirius among the children. "I'm done, we can go." she said and waited until he came out with me. Leandra now looked after the children. "How do we travel?" she asked. "With flea powder. Do you have a fireplace here?" he asked, pulling a little sack out of his coat pocket. "Sure." She showed him the fireplace and with the help of the green powder they set off ...
She landed pretty roughly on her knees in the chimney of the Leaky Cauldron. Coughing lightly, she brushed the ashes from her clothes and climbed out of the fire place. Sirius stood next to her and looked around like he was looking for someone. "Are you looking for who?" she asked, still coughing slightly. As always, the young woman was annoyed that she was not allowed to Apparate yet.
The person addressed brushed the rest of the ashes from his clothes, he too had not necessarily landed softer and had bumped his knees. "Yes, we're still waiting for a few friends." he replied and looked around when the whistle whistled from the entrance. He turned and recognized James. "Hey Crown, Moony, here I am!" he called to his two friends who came closer and watched Claire closely. The little one was almost impudently pretty. "Padfoot, when did you bring that pretty one with you?" asked Krone and immediately introduced himself to Claire. "I'm James, but my friends call me Krone." "Nice to meet you." she replied with a smile. "I'm Remus, but I'm also called Moony." now Moony introduced himself as well. "This is Claire, she's doing her last two years at Hogwarts." Sirius explained.She was surprised, but also delighted to meet so many new people. The three boys had nicknames of their own, but they were nice, all of them pretty good-looking, and their ages. "Which school do you come from?" she asked the boy, who had introduced himself as Moony and somehow seemed to her the most sensible of them all. "Beauxbatons, but I think I'll like Hogwarts better. At least I don't have to speak French all the time." she replied with a grin. She had never liked French, even learning that language had been sheer torture. That's why she didn't have any accent in her pronunciation, she wasn't French either. "And why are you switching? Just because of the language?" James tried to join the conversation. "Partly, but my mum always wanted me to go to Hogwarts. But I was accepted into Beauxbatons first because my dad was French. So I went there first. Then I tried to switch to you guys and it worked." she told. “Let's go to Diagon Alley.” She wanted to distract, because even if she had never met her parents, she didn't like talking about them.
Sirius took the hint from the fence post and they all went to the wall behind which Diagon Alley was. The nice thing about someone who was familiar with the wizarding world was that he didn't go around with his mouth open and you had to explain everything to him. "Shall we go to Gringotts first or do you still have money?" he asked the group. All said no. When they passed Madam Malkins' house, Claire stopped. "I guess I need new robes, at Hogwarts you don't run around in blue silk dresses." she explained and smiled slightly apologetically. "I need new ones too, go ahead and get the books." suggested Sirius, he wanted to use the time and