Are you mad? Or are you mad?

In a cold white room, Alice was pondering quite hard about why she was here.

"I guess even at a young age, there would be unrest amongst the working class," Alice thought as she counted the money in her pockets to calm down. "It was a more brutish way instead of unionizing, but what can you really hope from some boys that were meant only to be muscle."

It was unfortunate that the parents of the two that were "assaulted" by her, were also part of the House of Lords. If they were more commoners, then Alice's parents would have swept it under the rug by now. The only reason that this wasn't headlined news was that the three sets of parents had agreed that the altercation brought shame to all of their families. Alice just had to see a psychiatrist since apparently being a money hoarder, along with hiring two boys for protection was not a normal middle school girl's behavior.

The issue was that Alice couldn't behave like a ten-year-old girl. She still has 60 years of memories from her previous life. Most of which wasn't exactly childhood. Her current family wasn't even normal. They never suspected her strange, adult-like behavior, because they were always pressuring her to behave this way, to begin with.

Alice was more curious about the wave of wind that caused her enemies to shrink. She knew that this was a weird alternate reality since she had died in the year 2020, but currently, she was in England in 1990. She never saw any signs of magic until that incident.

Her original goal was to get as much money as she could before it became 2002 and invest in Apple and Netflix stocks. Sure there would be a troublesome time in 2008, but Alice could ideally start a company with this knowledge and re-obtain her CEO role.

Now that she had the experience of shrinking people she didn't like and there's an odd owl pecking at the window, Alice was getting more clues to what universe that she was in. She went to open the window and received a fancy envelope with a wax seal addressed to one Alice Wright.

"Leave that sky rat alone," Mary-Ann said as she shut the door. Unfortunately for the owl, it lost a few feathers in that swift action and flew away. It has finished its duty so there wasn't any meaning to sticking around.

Alice carefully opened the envelope to read a familiar letter.

---

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Alice Wright,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

---

Alice was in the world of Harry Potter and in the same year as Harry. That meant that she was destined to experience war with the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

"I'm sorry to say this," the psychiatrist started as he looked at both Mary-Ann and Adam in the eyes. "Your child seems to have acute symptoms of a psychopathic disorder."

"She's a psychopath?" Mary-Ann asked, worried. "Doesn't that usually mean torturing of animals or killing people."

The first target that Mary-Ann could think of for her daughter was herself. She had always hated her mother, so why wouldn't Alice be the same way.

"No, no," the doctor said, shaking his head vigorously. "She doesn't seem violent from our talks. She actually is very against violence, which is why I think it's strange that she fought those two boys, but this is a problem we have to address."

"She doesn't know right from wrong," the doctor explained as he was going down a list on his clipboard. Each symptom was piling up as he tapped the side of the board before ending with a "...And she's narcissistic."

"And what's the problem with that?" Mary-Ann asked. "She loves herself as she should."

The doctor sighed, finally finding a possible root of this problem. "I suggest you send her off to boarding school. She might have a better chance to socialize and fit in if she spends more time with her peers."

He didn't want to say that the mother was a bad influence on her child. His personal belief was that Alice was too young to wear makeup like she's attending a beauty pageant every day. It was best to give the child some space while she was still developing.

"Can I go here then?" Alice asked as she held up the acceptance letter to Mary-Ann.

"Hogwarts?" Mary-Ann said out loud as she looked at the letter. "Well, it has a fancy seal and nice quality paper so it must be a good prestigious school. Hopefully, it can turn you into a proper lady. I'll talk to your father about sending this 'owl' out to them. It must be a special delivery business if it has such an odd name."

The doctor shook his head at the woman's shallow observation. It wasn't his job to mettle with family affairs so he considered his job done.

— — —

Nearly half a year went by, Alice had continued to run her candy business at school, but secretly as the teachers no longer approved. Her two former guards had avoided the sight of her and there were small whispers of her being trouble.

It was fortunate that sugar was like an addiction to some students so Alice still earned some money. The only difference was that she had to exchange the goods through word of mouth and a rarely used third-floor girl's bathroom. If a third party had looked in, they would have thought badly of the small eleven-year-old girl exchanging goods in tiny zip-lock bags.

By the time her summer had officially started, she had gotten rid of all of her candy. Alice did give a good amount to teachers and students when she said good-bye. It was to leave them with a slightly more positive look at the small girl. It worked as the student body sent her off with a smile.

"It's almost a shame that you have to leave this school," Adam said, examining the 'friends' that Alice made at the school. "Most of these kids are sons and daughters of my peers."

"I'm sorry, father," Alice said flatly as she sat on the leather backseat of the car. Before, appealing to political children interested her since she wanted to start her own business. It was good to have the names and connections of politicians to fully take advantage of the system, but now that she discovered that was within a magical universe that all seemed petty to her.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can make new friends at this school, your mother claims must be a prestigious school," Adam said. "Though I have never heard of a school called 'Hogwarts', I hope that it isn't 'Hogwash'."

Alice rolled her eyes at Adam's attempt at a joke. The two remained in silence until they arrived home.

---

One of the last hot summer days, a man in the darkest robes was briskly walking down the streets in a robe. The other people did not stare, because he wore a stern face that looked like he would cut them down with words. They were right.

Severus Snape was an impatient man. He couldn't believe that they would send him to pick up a muggle-born. Hagrid was already occupied with the Harry Potter, while Professor McGonagall was busy with a child named, Hermione Granger. There was a strange amount of muggle-born children that were to attend Hogwarts for the first time this year.

He insisted to Dumbledore that Rolanda Hooch would have been suitable for this inconvenience, but in the end, Severus couldn't resist the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes when he said that it would be a good experience for Severus to go out in the muggle world once in a while.

Severus was expecting to go to an orphanage, an apartment, or a small house to pick up the child, but he was brought to a home that he would believe belong to an old wizarding family. Severus marched forward towards the door, his robe billowing behind him. He was about to knock on the door when it was opened by the girl he was required to escort.

"Hello, my name is Alice Blair," the polished child said with a small curtsy. "Are you the one that would be escorting me to gather school supplies?"

"Severus Snape," the older man said, with a clear sign of confusion. He wasn't expecting the tone that the child was presenting. "Where are your parents?"

"My father is at work," Alice said. "And my mother isn't ready for guests. If you want to talk to them then we'll be here for a few hours. No guests are allowed inside when mother isn't ready. I suggest we just go."

Alice was already dressed to go out along with a small suitcase. It was about the size of a carry-on suitcase. She handed Severus a red-colored envelope that contained her tuition and supply money as requested from her letters from Hogwarts.

"Wouldn't they be concerned if you just left with a stranger?" Severus asked, annoyed at being ordered around by a little girl. "And you shouldn't give money to the first stranger that knocks the door."

Alice pursed her lips. She didn't want to say that Snape looked just like how he did in the movies, except his nose had an extra bump and his hair was extra greasy. The movie business's habit of prettying up fictional characters was amusing to her.

Alice stepped out the door and locked it with her key. She walked a few feet away from the house and gestured to the second-floor window for Severus to see that there was a silhouette of a woman waving goodbye. Alice waved back even though her face was flat.

"Come on now," Alice said as she dragged her suitcase closely behind. "Professor Snape, we're wasting precious daylight."

"You don't even know where you're going girl," Severus said, resolving to not bother with the girl's parents. He grumbled under his breath, "This child might be a Gryffindor."

Severus felt that this girl was going to be a hand full as they proceeded to go to the Leaky Cauldron in London. He thought that bringing her to the brick wall to incite some fear or wonder, but he was greeted with a "Come on now. What are we waiting for?"

The doll-like face did not even twitch at the side of the bricks unfurling and revealing Diagon alley. In fact, Alice did not even hesitate to walk forward towards Gringotts after Severus informed her that was where they needed to exchange her muggle money into for her tuition and supplies.

The girl did not look away from the goal. She didn't smile in amazement of the magic around her. She didn't even glance at the magic confectionery store that was selling chocolate frogs and jelly beans. Alice just wanted to get to the bank as soon as possible. When Severus asked why, she simply replied coldly, "There's no need to look at things that I cannot buy."

Severus thought for a moment that Alice's upbringing made her so lacking in emotion. This wasn't good at all. Emotions were important for magic. If she had no positive emotion, then she would rely on negative ones, but she seemed to have neither. If she were to attend school, she would be no better than a squib born into a wizarding family.

That thought vanished as he saw the tiny girl smile a toothy grin. Her eyes sparkling in a glided shine as Severus opened the large doors of Gringotts for her.

Alice quickly lined up in front of the closest available goblin with a cutesy voice said, "Excuse me. I would like to make an exchange and open up an account."

The goblin leaned over the counter at the unfamiliar girl. "How much are you exchanging?"

"I have the amount written here," Alice said as she took out an envelope and handed it to the goblin.

The goblin looked at the paper and lowered his glasses. "This is not a bank check," he said calmly. "Don't bring your play money in here."

"No, no," Alice said while shaking her head. "The money is here."

She tapped her suitcase firmly.

"I suggest you check in a private room," Alice said with a grin. "If I'm telling the truth, it's best for my privacy and you'll have another customer. If I'm lying, then you just wasted a few moments of your time."

Before Severus could interject, the goblin was already showing Alice the way to a small room off to the side. Since Alice wasn't a member already, there was no family vault that the goblin could take her, so he had brought her to a room for foreign wizards and witches to fill out paperwork.

"I have the funds here," Severus said. "There's no need for any of this. Just make the usual exchange at the front desk."

"How would I open an account with just the bare minimum?" Alice asked, shaking her head. "Even I want to buy some things other than books and pens."

That's when Alice took her suitcase and put it on the table. Severus was expecting her to have a suitcase filled with clothes and personal supplies for school, but instead when she opened it. It contained money.

The goblin raised his eyebrow. This amount wasn't that much in the big scheme of things, but this was plenty more than an eleven-year-old girl normally would have.

"Did you steal this from your parents?" Severus asked, seeing that most of the money was in coins and small bills. Amounts comfortable parents wouldn't notice if a child stole a little at a time.

Alice looked offended by the accusation.

"How dare you," Alice said with a hand over her chest. "This is my hard work selling cookies to my friends at school."

Alice's attention quickly returned to the goblin. "How much would this get me?"

"This will take a bit to count out," the goblin said as he examined the coins and bills. "If what you claim is true and all of these are not counterfeit, then it will be a little under 560 galleons more than enough to open a small vault with us."

"You got this from selling...cookies?" Severus asked. He was tempted to look into the girl's mind with Legilimency to find the root of this strange exchange.

"Sugar is probably the second most addictive white powder in the world," Alice said with a smile.

For a moment, Severus thought he was seeing two goblins making a deal.

"She's definitely not a Hufflepuff," Severus remarked in his mind.