Summary: Scorpius Malfoy was brought up in the knowledge that he came from an old pure-blood family. Hogwarts is going to teach him a great deal more. Will he be able to rise above his family’s tainted past, or will history repeat itself?

First place in the 2007 Autumn Challenge’s New Beginnings prompt.

Nominated for Best History/Mystery in the 2008 QSQs!

Canon compliant with all seven books, however, not compliant with all interviews given by JKR.

Summary: Two years after Voldemort's downfall, Headmistress McGonagall finds a puzzling decrease in new Muggle-born students. Consulting the magic Quill, she and Flitwick find even wizarding children being born without magical ability. Each year fewer students are listed. If the decline continues, within decades the classrooms of Hogwarts will be half empty. Concerned how far the problem spreads, McGonagall sends a message to the Quill schools of the other continents.

In Brazil, the world of magic is revealed to a young homeless girl. When Marissa cautiously accepts an education in the wizarding world, the choice will lead her to an object somehow tied to the unknown cause of the wizarding decline. But as she struggles to show any ability at all, she is unsure if she even belongs in their world. What role can a neglected street beggar have in events that wizarding schools of all the world may soon be part of?