She nods, shaking Professor Reynolds' hand next. Then: "I was informed you left your muggle guardians with Professor Reynolds' assistance. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"I'd like to talk to you alone for a bit, then," she says. "Perhaps Professor Reynolds can wait outside with Miss Tonks?"

The Professor nods. "I won't go far in case you need me."

"All right."

Auror Beck sits down, gesturing Ellie to a chair across from her as the door closes behind Professor Reynolds. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable, Miss Potter."

She takes a seat.

"Can you give me the names of your guardians?"

"Petunia and Vernon Dursley."

She scribbles something. "Thank you. Can you tell me what happened when you left them?"

"They had run away from the house to try to get away from the Hogwarts letters. We had gone to a vacation shack on an island. Professor Reynolds came in the middle of the night and gave the letter right to me. We left without waking them up."

Scribble. "Did you leave willingly?"

"Yes."

"Do you wish to return to them, at any point?"

"No."

"Do you have other family you wish to stay with?"

"As far as I know, all my other family is dead."

She glances at a piece of paper. "James Potter had no siblings, and your paternal grandparents died shortly before your birth, it appears. Your father did have some distant cousins - but far enough that custody does not automatically go to them."

"I don't really want to go to them."

She nods. "At your age, you do need to live with a responsible adult whenever you're not in school, and you need to have a guardian for certain legal matters, but that guardian doesn't need to be related to you by blood."

"So what are the options?"

"We can try to place you. We don't actually have a centralized child placement system - cases of complete displacement with no preferred carer are exceptionally rare. We'd most likely approach friends of your parents, first, especially ones with children around your age already, to see if they would take you. You'd be able to talk to them before anything was finalized, and you could reject them as guardians. If none of your family's friends are interested or able, we'd move on to well considered members of the community - usually not to an open case, though, especially given how high profile your name is."

"We can find temporary accommodation for you until it's time for you to attend Hogwarts - that would mostly just delay the guardianship question, though, but it would give you more time to think, and perhaps make friends your age that you could stay with."

"You can also name an adult you wish to be your guardian. It'd be subject to their and our approval - they must have a clean record with children, have a steady income, and be a citizen in good standing - but that's actually the most common outcome of cases like this."

"I think I'd like temporary accomodations, and consider more."

She nods. "We don't exactly have group homes... But you can stay with a member of our department or a Hogwarts professor, or in the Leaky Cauldron - subject to daily check ins."

Nod.

"Do you have a preference among those, right now?"