It was three weeks into the summer holidays. Blair had successfully been able to avoid any confrontation from the other occupants in the orphanage, as well as Miss Wool. She hadn't uttered a word of magic regardless of the fact that she was now seventeen and allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts. Her wand and textbooks were all buried under her clothes that stayed in her unpacked trunk which itself was hidden under her bed. She only wore her Muggle clothes and did Muggle things. The only times that she'd come out of her tiny room was for meal times and 'playtime'.

The meals weren't pleasant because of the quality of food that they were given and the other children would avoid her as always. They were still under the impression that she was a freak who practiced witchcraft. They had gotten this idea from Miss Wool, the granddaughter of Beatrice Wool. The orphanage had been passed down to the vile woman after the founder's death and she had successfully continued on Beatrice's legacy of being the most dreadful and indifferent lady of all time.

Miss Wool had a special disliking for Blair because of her magical abilities. Beatrice Wool had spoken of a boy years ago who had similar abilities of magic and had warned her granddaughter of such beings. The boy would cause things to catch alight and hurt the other children whenever there would be children teasing him during playtime. Blair knew that this boy was Tom Riddle in his youth, but could do nothing to defend herself and explain that he was an especially dark wizard. She just had to endure Miss Wool's prejudice behaviour and keep her head low, keeping any sign of magic inside of her until she went back to Hogwarts.

Playtime was the hour and a half after lunch that forced all the orphanage's children to go outside and soak up the sun in the courtyard. Not that there was any sun around the building as the sky somehow sensed the depressing and awful aurora that came from its occupants. Most of the children there were too young to understand any different than how they were raised, and continued to tease Blair regardless of her older age. Once the children at the orphanage would turn eighteen, they were kicked out and forced to find another place to stay. Most would dread this time but it couldn't come any slower for Blair. She was ready to be gone from this place forever.

On the Tuesday of the fourth week of holidays, playtime had commenced after a ghastly meal of grey sludge that Blair had forced down. With a full stomach but with a now growing discomfort inside, she stood back against the wall of the building and watched the Muggle children play with what they were given. Miss Wool usually opened a shed that sat against the gate surrounding the courtyard and let the children take the limited amount of sports equipment for playtime. It consisted of run down footballs and broken cricket bats, but the children didn't know any different and played regardless.

While standing to the side, Blair thought about the six weeks that she had to go through before she could leave this place forever. She would finally turn eighteen by the time the next summer holidays came and she could pack everything and move permanently into the magical world. She had plenty of savings in her Gringotts bank to buy an apartment and finally start a career in potioneering. Her final year at Hogwarts would bring her so many opportunities that she could start a life that she had been only dreaming of. She had her friends to keep in touch with and a life time to clear the assumptions around the name Rosier.

Speaking of her friends, Blair had multiple letters come through addressed to her for the first time ever. The only mail she ever received were the book lists for each year and other school related letters that were compulsory in being delivered. Miss Wool despised the owls that delivered her school letters and kept a broom at the administration desk to try and swat them out of the air with. Many owls had gone back to Hogwarts with unexplained injuries and Blair felt immense guilt when she saw patches on their skin that should be covered in feathers.

Somehow, George had contacted everyone who was planning to send letters to Blair and tell them to use the Muggle post instead of the Owl post. Ever since her first letter that came from George two days after they had left Hogwarts, all of her post had come from the mailman that slipped it through the gate surrounding the orphanage. Miss Wool always had a scowl on her wrinkly face whenever she came to Blair's room and chucked her the packs of letter from her friends. But at least she was receiving them and not having to nurse any poor owls back to their full health. Blair was ultimately thankful for George's thoughtfulness and was ready to smothering him in affection the next time she saw him. Her replies were hard to keep up but she tried her best to routinely reply to the letters that came from George, Ginny, Angelina, Nancy, Mina, Poppy and even Fred occasionally.

Although the letters were comforting and kept Blair busy, they never informed her of the state of the current Wizarding world. She assumed that there was turmoil with the Ministry regarding the claim of You Know Who being back, but she couldn't access any of the Wizarding media because of the delivering owls that were bound to get swatted at by Miss Wool. She didn't have a subscription to the Daily Prophet because of that very reason, so she had been left in the dark for entirety of the holidays.

"Oi, freak!"

Blair was pulled from her daydream at the word that she heard frequently at the orphanage. She turned and saw a thirteen-year-old boy pointing to the ball that was next to her feet. He was short and round like the ball next to her, making her snigger to herself at the irony. She kicked the ball away from her and towards the boy, letting him glare at her as he picked it up before turning back to his group of friends to continue their game. Blair was tempted to charm the ball to start moving on it's own and scare the living daylights out of the Muggle boys. But she remembered that her wand was locked away in her trunk and she would get into infinite amounts of trouble from not only Miss Wool but from the Ministry for threatening the secrecy of magic.

"Rosier," another voice called and she turned around, meeting the hateful stare of Miss Wool herself. The woman stood in her boring, ugly grey dress and her tight bun that would have put Professor McGonagall's to shame. Her wrinkly face showed obvious disapproval at having to talk to the girl and Blair rolled in the satisfaction of having to be faced with her.

"Someone is here to see you. A mister... Dumblebee, was it?" the woman turned to look over her shoulder and Blair jumped in surprise at the sight of Professor Dumbledore.

"Bumblebee will do," he cheered and Miss Wool could be seen resisting the urge to sneer. He was dressed in his usual silvery robes that weren't in anyway Muggle acceptable, so it was no wonder Miss Wool looked to be ready to combust. But Blair wasn't paying attention to the woman as she stared at the Hogwarts Headmaster in astonishment. Why on earth was he here?

"Shall we speak up in your room, Miss Rosier?" Dumbledore questioned with his smile still on his face, making Miss Wool near fuming. She had never been ignored before and considering how 'poorly' dressed he was in her standards, she was insulted and felt small against him.

Blair wordlessly nodded and followed Professor Dumbledore back into the building, leaving Miss Wool outside to glare after them. He gestured for Blair to lead the way and she did so, climbing the old brown stairs that were in need of a polish. She brought him to her sad excuse for a room and let him inside, to which he thanked her for politely. Jasper, who had been sitting on the window sill and watching over the courtyard below, perked up at the sound of the door opening and meowed as he jumped down to the floor.

"Well I must say that it hasn't changed one bit since I came here over fifty years ago," Dumbledore commented as he sat down on the edge of Blair's single bed and looked around at the cracked wallpaper and dull, grey ceiling. He then turned to Blair who sat on her pillow with her legs crossed, staring at him with a puzzled and inquisitive look.

"How have your holidays been so far?" he asked and Blair resisted the urge to scoff.

"Bearable, I suppose," she answered. He nodded understandingly before becoming distracted as Jasper jumped up on to the bed sheets, his tail high in the air and swishing back and forth lazily to show he was friendly. Dumbledore beamed and raised his ring-covered hand, letting Jasper nuzzle his head into his palm and purr at the scratch the Professor gave him behind the ear. The cat wasn't short of attention as the man groomed him continuously, causing him to curl up on top of Dumbledore's robes and settle for a nap.

"How charming," Dumbledore commented and turned to Blair. "You were right when you said he was well trained. I can't imagine Miss Wool would allow just any cat to be in her orphanage."

"He usually hides on top of my wardrobe when she comes in. She doesn't know he's here," Blair replied with a prideful smile. She then remembered the odd appearance of the Professor and decided to finally ask. "Sir, what are you doing here?"

"I suppose I should explain myself," he pondered aloud and turned to Blair with his same caring look, but less distracted and with a need to say something. "I'm here to offer you a new home for the summer."

"You're adopting me?!" she shrieked and Dumbledore shook his head, amused.

"No no," he denied. "Unless you'd like to be known as Miss Bumblebee?"

Blair gulped and showed a sheepish expression, embarrassed for her sudden assumption. Adoptions weren't common in this orphanage as it's outer exterior and scary aurora of Miss Wool usually shooed any potential parents away. No one had been adopted in years, so the possibility that someone wanted to do so with Blair was mind blowing. She wasn't sure what it would be like to be the foster daughter of Professor Dumbledore, but supposed it was a better home than this one.

"I didn't think so," Dumbledore shrugged. "But I have found you a home that I think you'll quite like. You'll know most of the people there and you'll never have to come back to this place again. You'll be free to do magic as you please and even Jasper here can roam free. I've heard there is another feline there to play with."

Blair didn't bother questioning how he knew the name of her cat as she was more surprised at his offer of a new home. She couldn't think of a place that had people she knew there and the sound of another cat for Jasper to play with was even stranger. But there was no way Miss Wool would allow her to leave the orphanage without undergoing the process of adoption.

"Sir, that's very kind of you but-"

"Are you aware that this orphanage is planned to be demolished by the end of this month, Miss Rosier?" he cut her off and she shut her mouth immediately. She was shocked to hear such a thing and questioned how Dumbledore knew this before she did.

"N-No."

"Yes, a block of flats are said to be put in instead," he continued, looking down to Jasper who was snoozing away in his lap. "The children here are said to be moved to an orphanage located in Leeds. Very far from King's Cross station, I must say. They will have to recover all the children's records in order to enrol them there, and I happen to have yours here with me."

Dumbledore pulled out a beige file that was filled with pieces of paper. He had a cheeky sparkle in his eye and Blair assumed he had taken her file out from Miss Wool's office with some of his wandless magic. So now when they go to transfer these children, like Dumbledore says, there will be no recognition or data of Blair being one of them. And she was sure Miss Wool would be thrilled the find that she had magically disappeared.

"So, do you need help packing at all?"