Ayla Lupin

Prologue

Sunday 25th August 1991

She took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and opened her eyes. The heat of the summer sun felt warm on her skin, even though it was pretty late in the day. Ayla turned her head to the left and saw the book she was reading laying in the grass next to her. She closed it without forgetting to mark the page she was reading before falling asleep. Ayla got up and stretched.

"Ayla!" called a voice behind her. She turned around, faced her house and noticed her father at the front door.

"I closed everything, hurry up and go inside", he said.

"Yes dad! Do you need anything for tonight?", she asked, walking to the door.

"I'll be ok sweetheart, thank you", the man answered, smiling.

Ayla smiled back and hugged him tight. He kissed her on the top of her head.

"See you tomorrow morning", he whispered.

Ayla got inside the house, closing the door behind her. She heard her father pronouncing different spells to protect her and the house. She walked up the stairs and went in her bedroom. She sat on her little couch, in her "reading corner" as she liked to call this part of her room. She looked around, thinking how much she loved this room. There was a big window, with a desk under it. There was also a huge bookshelf, with all of Ayla's favourite books. The little girl loved reading more than anything. She was quite young, but her father already gave her his passion for reading. Thanks to him, she was also a music lover, and was pretty talented at playing piano. He was really proud of her, and loved her with all his heart.

Ayla wasn't actually his biological daughter, but he adopted her and raised her alone. He found the little girl when she was a bit more than a year old, on Christmas day, in 1981. He wasn't supposed to stay in France, but when he saw her little face, he couldn't resist. He learnt that the mother of this child just died from a disease due to the cold winter, and her father was unknown. A woman from the village rescued the baby, but she couldn't raise her. The young man decided to adopt her and bought a little cottage near the village. Since then, they lived in this house, in the middle of the French countryside.

The cottage was not huge, since Ayla's father wasn't really rich, but it was enough for them to live a nice life. Ayla went to school in the village, but she didn't have much friends. She was introverted, and when she learnt she was a witch, she felt even more isolated. Actually, her being a witch was a big surprise for Ayla and her father, since they had no information on her biological parents. But her father was a wizard, so she already knew this world.

Her father was from England, and studied at Hogwarts. He had an amazing friend group there, but unfortunately two of his best friends died before he came to France, and the other one was in Azkaban for a mass murder. His life was collapsing, which is why he left for France, and met Ayla there. She was his « little Christmas miracle », as he liked to call her.

A knock on the door stopped Ayla from being lost in her thoughts.

"I brought you your dinner Miss Ayla", said a little high pitched voice on the other side of the door.

Ayla opened the door and a tiny house elf entered the room. She was holding a platter with a plate of pasta.

"Thank you Bubble", Ayla said.

The little house elf put the platter on the desk, bowed and said "I'll wake you up when Master Remus will be back home, Miss".

Ayla thanked her and Bubble exited the room. The young girl sat at her desk and started eating. She was worried for her father, like every night of full moon. The man who rescued her was Remus Lupin, a talented wizard but also unfortunately a werewolf. Tonight was the full moon, so he had to go out of the house for the night and run to the forest. Ayla was always anxious during these nights, not for her own safety because she was locked in the cottage, but for her dad. She knew lycanthropy was hurtful and she sometimes even heard his screams through the night. She usually played some music to avoid that. Hopefully, the house elf Bubble was here if she needed help. Bubble was very important for Ayla. She lived with them for almost a decade, and was like a mother to Ayla. She learnt the little girl how to speak French, and it became their language to communicate with each other. Bubble was very caring and loved her masters. Ayla and Remus were very grateful to have her.

Ayla glanced at her nightstand and saw the letter she got a few days ago. Indeed, the young girl turned 11 on the 4th of August and she just received her admission letter to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. She was really excited to finally learn magic, have her own wand, make friends that could understand her. In a couple of weeks only, she would finally be a student at the prestigious French Academy.