...the dull and painful backstory...

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'I'M GOING TO TOWN,' Kiernan Margaux said to her partially intoxicated father, Alexander Margaux, who lay across the couch with one leg on the ground, keeping his body in place. He did not care much for Margaux or any of her interests, which she could never wrap her head around, but he always liked to feel like he was in charge. He looked at her, using his elbow to purch himself up at a higher level than she had been at.

'Why, it's not like you have anything to buy?' Her father smirked. As he spoke directly into her face, she got whiffs of the strong vodka that he had been drinking way too early in the morning. Not only did she despise the smell that had been wafting around the dump she had to live in, but she despised her father for ostracizing her every chance he got. She never understood what she could have done, in her 15, almost 16, years of living, to make him hate her so much. The poor girl never met her mother, not any memories that she could remember at least, and her father never told her what happened; He refused to talk about her every time that Alice's name was brought up. He thought a name is the least he could give her, not being able to elaborate any further on her mother's 'lifestyle' as he referred to it. So, the girl had to go her whole life without a mother and had no clue what had been the reason for her absence.

'I just want to go and meet my friend, please, I have done everything there is to do in this house and I would really like some fresh air.' Kiernan had never gotten so bold with her father as she asked his permission to leave. In truthfulness, she was quite terrified of the man as he was never really able to control his temper. A person would think it to be easy for a 45 year old man to understand boundaries when it came to disciplining a child, but he knew nothing of the sort. It was true, he had hit her before, countless times; this was only one of the reasons she had feared him so much. She had learned how he truly felt about her on her fifth birthday; nobody came to her birthday party, as she was not allowed to invite others to her home, and he had told her just how much he wished it were her instead of her mother. This is something nobody should ever have to hear, let alone a child on her birthday. After that day, ten whole years to follow it, those words would continue to haunt her. She would wake up, her pillows drenched with tears, because of how much she longed for another to care about her the way she, oddly, knew that her mother would have. She felt connected to her without ever having met her, but she could only dream of what it would feel like to have her mother take care of her after the life she had to endure with her father. This would all come to an end soon.

'Go. bring back some dinner.' Her father groaned as he threw his finger in the air, pointing towards the door. He laid back down on the couch with an exhausted expression painted across his face and almost instantly fell into a deep sleep. Kiernan was all too familiar with her grown father's antics and silently agreed to pick up dinner as she grabbed her long, black knitted scarf and gently draped it over her shoulder. It was not her intention to come back, let alone bring back dinner for her lazy father who had only given her ten pounds to last the week.

Kiernan waved goodbye to her passed out father and headed out the door quickly, with urgency in every step she took. She had remembered to leave her bedroom window open so she could sneak back in to grab her belongings. It would have been way too suspicious if she walked across the living room, lugging a large suitcase behind her, so sneaking in and out seemed like the smartest tactic to use in her situation.

She made her way around the small, sturdy house and found herself right in front of the window that had been sitting wide open, waiting for her. The young girl took off her long scarf and bent down to place it right by her feet to avoid it getting caught on the latch of the window, as it had the last time she tried to sneak out. She then put both of her hands on the seal of her window while swiftly jumping upwards for her feet to gain traction against the wall right below that window. As the girl wiggled her way into her small bedroom, she noticed that the door was still opened and hoped that her father would not wake up from the loud thud her raggedy combat boots left on the hardwood floor and quietly moved to lock the door.

Kiernan gathered all of the things she could carry, along with a single photo of her mother. It was the only thing she had that belonged to her because her father locked away everything else. Sometimes he does not understand that she is a part of both of them, not just himself.

After she had rummaged through all of her things, choosing only that of utmost necessity, Kiernan wiggled her way back out of the room and made sure not to leave a trace behind her. She knew that her father didn't care whether she lived or died, only using her to keep the house clean and, although he wouldn't admit it, to keep himself company. He was never nice to her, that was very clear, but she was all he had. Her father should have realized sooner just what he was taking for granted and now it is too late to take that back.

The sporadic teenager carted her suitcase quickly down the street, making absolutely certain that her father didn't know where she was going. Hell, she hardly knew where she was going. She did speak truthfully when she told her father about her plans on visiting her friend and that was going to be her first stop.

As the girl made her way into town, she had met up with her longest friend, Tobi Lovell. She was not in town often because she attended a boarding school that was super far away, but when she came back for holidays and such, her first stop was visiting her best friend, Kiernan. It had been ages since the two girls had been together and Kiernan was nearly chomping at the bit when she realized how close she was to getting to see her friend again.

Tobi Lovell was definitely the most quick-witted person that Kiernan knew and something about Tobi's view on the world had really interested her. She was also the most logical, always talking Kiernan out of doing something that she knew they both would get into trouble for.

Kiernan made her way around the corner when she noticed her dear friend, sipping a cup of coffee in the diner where they usually meet up. She was still pretty far, but could definitely tell it was Tobi from her long, almost white hair; this was something that always seemed to catch her attention first. The girl sped up to get to the small, retro-themed cafe and, with her suitcase in hand, she stumbled over the large curb that had clearly gone unnoticed. This was not the first time that she had tripped on that curb, she had been there plenty of times with no recollection of it being there each time. As the girl fell over, her suitcase jolted open and her belongings scattered across the cold concrete behind her. Her caramel face turned a light shade of pink with the embarrassment that she had been feeling as people walked past her, plastered on the ground, her bra and underwear laying right atop everything else and being the most visible for all of the passersby to see. Luckily, Tobi had noticed the girl quickly and rushed outside to help her.

'I am so sorry I hadn't noticed you sooner! Are you alright?' Tobi asked enthusiastically, while gently grabbing hold of her friend's arm in an attempt to pull her up. This did not work in her favor as Kiernan quickly pulled Tobi down next to her with a prominent giggle and a sad smile across her face. 'I'm fine! I just missed you so much. Ugh, why do you have to go to school so far away.' Kiernan exclaimed as she helped her friend get up, as well as herself. She quickly noticed that her knee had been bleeding from basically gliding across the concrete after her boot collided with 'that bloody curb'. It didn't help that her shoes began to fall apart because of how old they were.

Tobi helped Kiernan inside of the small cafe, slinging her arm around the back of her neck to help her take some of the pressure off of her bleeding knee.

When the girls got in, the both of them had realized that the suitcase was still out there. Having already picked everything up, the cafe owner swiftly rolled the case down the long, smooth aisle and Kiernan sighed in relief as she thanked the kind old woman for doing such a nice thing for her. Nobody really did nice things for Kiernan so when they had, she felt extra grateful. Those close to her only knew how this would affect her in later relationships. The girl opened up the suitcase to make sure all of the money she had saved up was still in the small pouch where she left it. Thankfully, it was and she let out another sigh of relief. She needed that money to buy herself some place to sleep that night and she was extra grateful that the kind old woman had brought it back to her for that reason. And, of course, her mother's photo.

Tobi soon realized that it was odd for her friend to be lugging around a suitcase just to visit her in the cafe and her face grew with a questioning expression. 'Why do you need all of that stuff, Kie?' She asked with a hint of worry in her tone. Kiernan didn't look shocked that she asked, but did not really want to tell her friend that she ran away. She decided to confide in her anyways. 'I ran away. This time for real.' Kiernan said as her face turned a familiar red color. Her friend examined her for a moment while she contemplated what to say. What exactly do you say when your best friend runs away from home and has no place to go? 'Where are you gonna go then?' Tobi sounded even more worried than she did before and grabbed her hand, trying to comfort her after realizing that she is probably just as scared for herself. 'I am going to stay at a hotel for a couple of days and then I will figure it out' Tobi's thumb brushed over her hand as she held it and she did not say another word. She just gave Kiernan a sad, off putting look.

The two girls concluded their night and Kiernan made sure to get out of the diner as soon as possible; sooner or later, her father would come looking for her and he knew that is the first place she'd be.

Kiernan Margaux had finally arrived at the hotel and she felt a sense of security knowing that her father would not find her there. Only God knew what he would do to her if he did end up finding her; Kiernan had an idea, but the reality may have been a lot worse than what the teen had imagined in her head. She walked up to the front desk and shyly asked for a room. 'Excuse me? May I please have a room?' The girl stuttered as she spat the words out very quickly in an attempt to not seem so obvious. The middle-aged woman that sat behind the desk eyed her curiously as she took her glasses off, gently placing them on the counter and directly next to the silly little bell that most places like that seemed to have. 'You look a little young, how old are you?' Kiernan's face was painted over with worry and guilt. 'I-I'm 18. Please, I'll pay extra,' The overwhelmed girl stuttered and bit her lip anxiously as she held out her hand with the money clenched in her grip, her hand lightly scraped up from her previous encounter with the bare concrete. The woman noticed her cuts and quickly became aware of the fact that she was in need of some help. She was well aware that the young girl had been under age, but she would let it slide as she had remembered herself being in a similar situation back in her youth. She gently took the money from Kiernan's hand, giving her change, and made sure to steer clear of her still tender scrapes that decorated her hand. 'Here,' she said as she handed the girl a key with a grey, oval shaped tag connected to the ring and a large bold number 3 written across it in black permanent marker. The young girl nodded her head in gratitude as she took the key from the woman's hands. 'Thank you so so so much!' Kiernan had said while still being ferociously awkward and overwhelmed from the rough day she had. The concrete being the worst part.

Kiernan walked up the creaky, carpeted stairs with the key in hand as she searched for room 3. To her surprise, it wasn't actually the third room closest to the stairs so that was just a bit confusing for her to work around. After walking through the narrow hallways for what seemed like way too long, the girl had finally found her room and had never been more excited. But, to be fair, she never really had anything of her own to enjoy. She became ecstatic thinking about all of the fun things she could do by herself, in her own space, at least for the next couple days.

The exuberant girl made her way into her room and knew, first thing, that she had to take a bath. Although that didn't seem very cleanly, she did not care; all she wanted to do was relax, in the quiet, and think about what her next plan was. Little did she know that her next adventure would choose her.

As she laid down in the tub, nearly sinking her entire body into the bubbly water, she drifted off into a daydream. This, she did quite often in attempts to escape from her tragic reality. The girl woke up as she felt water plunging into her nasal cavity; she had truly fallen asleep in the large, porcelain tub.

The feeling of unpleasantries up her nose lingered for the rest of the night when she decided it was time to get some rest in an actual bed. She drifted into a beautiful sleep; it was elegant and peaceful. It was something the poor girl hadn't experienced in a very long time.

The morning was bright and Kiernan woke up to odd clawing sounds coming from across her room. She searched around for a while to find where the sound had come from when she had finally located the disturbance. As she turned her head, she noticed a beautiful brown and black owl scratching against the glass as it fluttered its large wings. It looked like the owl was holding something in its claws and it took Kiernan quite a few attempts to figure out how to open the overly complicated window before she was finally able to do it. When the window finally swung open, the owl flew inside her hotel room, neatly dropped a letter onto her bed, and flew away.

Curious about the interaction that she had just shared with the strange owl, Kiernan eagerly hopped onto the bed where the letter had been gently placed on her pillow. It was very worn down, as if it had suffered through a lot to get to her, which is what she had thought in her head. 'Nothing happens without a purpose' she thought to herself as she lightly skimmed her fingers along the rims of the envelope before she, erratically, pulled it open from the beautiful wax seal that it had been closed with. The top of the letter read "HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY. HEADMASTER ALBUS DUMBLEDORE." 'This couldn't possibly be real,' Kiernan thought to herself and then continued to read the letter that she had placed on the bed beside her. "Dear Miss Kiernan Margaux, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students shall be required to report to the Chamber of Reception upon arrival, the dates for which will be duly advised. Please ensure that the utmost attention be made to the list of requirements herewith. We very much look forward to receiving you as part of the new generation of Hogwarts heritage. Yours sincerely, M. McGonagall."

Kiernan didn't know why this sounded so familiar to her but, within the day, she had been convinced. The girl didn't think of herself as anything close to magical, but a new home was exactly what she had been looking for. She hoped that the students and staff would accept her as she was. Little did she know, she was in for a not so subtle awakening. She thought back to something she had said before 'nothing happens without a purpose.' And with that thought, she knew that Hogwarts was where she needed to be; she would not have gotten the acceptance letter if she weren't meant to be there. She was just gonna have to figure out how to get there first.

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