The two children met by a twist of fate. (Name) just figured out her witchy powers and began to make things levitate, much to her parents' surprise. They were Muggles, non-magic folk. Thinking she was possessed by some sort of spirit, they kept her in. They didn't want to be considered "queer folk" within their little town.

And (Name) didn't like it.

Her parents were kind to her and did love her, but she knew they were ashamed of her, thinking her too much of a unique child.

So she decided to run away.

She was still young, around eight years old, but she knew the basics of running away. She left a note in her room and quietly tip-toed past her parents' room with her bag of supplies in hand. 

Then out the door she went, into freedom.

(Name) was quite proud of herself for attempting such a feat. She pranced down the dark road alone, with only the oil lamps and moonlight to guide her. She whistled and blew air and watched it puff up in the cold night air. 

She found a tree on the outskirts of her small town and slept there under its cover, using her bag as a pillow and a blanket to cover her.

As she slept, a small figure with bright red eyes watched her from the tree. It tilted his head in curiosity, then it climbed down to get a closer look.

It was a young boy, about the same age as (Name). He walked closer to (Name) and inspected her sleeping face. Finding her safe, he climbed back into the tree and awaited the dawn.

Morning arrived and (Name) had a rude awakening. A drop of dew from the tree had dropped onto her face. Groaning, she stretched herself out and looked around. Everything seems norm-.

"Good morning!"

(Name) screamed and that frightened the figure above, making him lose his grip on the branches. He fell onto the ground face-first.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" She reached over and helped the boy to his feet. He had a sort of dazed look upon him, with smudges of dirt on his face. He shook his head and grinned at her, showing sharp canines. 

"It's alright," he said "I would be scared too if I heard an unknown voice from above!" He brushed out some twigs in his strawberry-blonde hair and fixed his little hat. "My name is Vladimir Popescu! What's yours?"

"(First Name) (Last Name)! Nice to meet you, Vladimir!"

"Nice to meet you, too (Name)! So, why are you here?"

"I could ask the same for you!"

"Well, if you tell me why you're here, I'll tell you why I'm here!"

"Deal!" (Name) exclaimed excitedly. 

"So....why are you here?"

"Can you keep it a secret?"

"Deal!" He whispered-yelled, prompting small giggles from the two.

"I ran away from home," she said.

Vladimir blinked "What a coincidence."

"How?"

"Because I ran away too, from that town," he pointed in another direction where there lied another sleepy town. "But there's no such thing as coincidence, only fate" he flashed his sharp teeth with a smile.

"Why did you run away?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me."

"Fine then! But promise you won't tell anyone?"

"I promise!"

"Cross your heart and hope to die?"

"You can stick a needle in my eye!" 

They laughed again and found themselves very comfortable in each other's company.

"I'm...different..." She stated hesitantly.

"It's okay, I'm different, too!" Vladimir piped up.

"No, no! You don't understand! I'm different, but in a different way!"

"You're confusing me."

(Name) sighed and whispered to him.

"Do you believe in magic?"

"Yeah."

"Because I have magic..."

"Really? I have magic too!"

"What-"

"Let me prove it!" Vladimir looked around and decided to vent his attention on a leaf of the tree. He scrunched his brows together in concentration. A single leaf began shaking violently and fell off its branch. Vladimir reached his hand out and began to guide the leaf, making it swirl around (Name).

"That's so cool, how did you do it?" She asked excitedly as Vladimir guided the leaf into the palm of his hand.

"I'm a wizard." He said "And you're a witch."

"That's not a very nice thing to say"

"No! It's a good thing! We're magic folk! We can do magic!"

"But people think we're scary-"

"That's because they're Muggles"

"Mug-what?"

"Muggles! Non-magic folk! Don't you know all these stuff?"

"No?!"

"Have you heard of Hetawarts then?"

"No!"

Vladimir mentally facepalmed.

"It's a really cool academy where all the witches and wizards go to learn! That's why I ran away! I heard my parents talking about it and I wanted to go find it myself!"

"Are your parents magical too?"

He nodded. "Yes! Mom and Dad went to Hetawarts too! What about your parents?"

"Um...They're Mu.......ggles?"

"So you're a Mudbl-" Vladimir quickly covered his mouth. 

"Wait, what's wrong?"

"I-I almost said a bad word. I'm so sorry-"

"Well, I don't know it anyways, so you can ju-"

"No! No! I can't! It's a really bad word!"

"Oh ok then..."

The two stood together in silence. (Name) looked away in the direction of her town and suddenly felt a pang of homesickness. 

She could be having a delicious breakfast at that moment.

"Are you going home, (Name)?" 

"Yeah..."

"Well I'm going to go home too! Hogwarts might be too far away for me to reach..."

Vladimir suddenly hugged (Name), who let out a squeak of surprise.

"Let's see each other again, okay?" He exclaimed 

Without waiting for a response, he let go and pranced home, leaving (Name) alone by the tree feeling quite lonely...