Disclaimer: i only own certain characters and ideas. the ideas and characters you recognize are not mine!

Our family has a huge secret. Not just that we are rich, or we come from very old money; it is so much bigger. Every woman in our family is a witch. Our family secret doesn't end there; my sister's and I are half white lighters, goddess incarnates, and The Charmed Ones. We got hit with the full force of this secret and it is one hard secret to keep.

I am a hard working, very loving, twenty three year old and I just found out my grandmother is in the hospital nearly dead. I don't want to deal with this. I am technically the oldest of three girls. I say technically because I have a twin and I was born first. I also have a younger sister who is sixteen. We don't talk, any of us. It's rather sad actually and now I have to tell both of them about our Gran, who raised us. My youngest sister is in boarding school in England, and there is only one way of getting a hold of her. I haven't used this method since I went to the school and I am not too happy about having to use it now. Getting a hold of my twin is a bit easier though. I have decided to contact my twin first since we are going to have a long conversation about contacting the youngest before we actually do it.

I sit down in my room, close my eyes, and prepare myself to make contact with my twin. We haven't talked since we graduated nearly 6 years ago. I clear my mind and I softly think "Samantha." I listen very closely and I hear no response. So I refocus myself and think "Samantha," a little bit louder. This time I hear "Riley? Is that you?"

So I quickly think "Of course it is me who else do you have a telepathic connection with?" I hear her laugh and I smile. I have missed this I really have. I am trying to think of a way to tell her about Gran, but nothing that is coming to my mind sounds right. All of the sudden I hear "Riley! Stop, I get it! Gran is dying." I curse myself for forgetting to close our connection before thinking all of those thoughts. I quickly apologize and explain that I have done this in a while. Then I hear "I'm coming over."

Suddenly I hear a 'pop' and there is my twin sister standing in front of me. Her eyes just as blue as mine but her blonde hair stands out more than my brown. She is nearly a foot shorter than me and has more delicate features than I do. Immediately tears swell up in my eyes and the scene goes all blurry and all I see is a mass of blonde hair rush into my arms. Once we finally let go of each other we sit down to talk. I know that we must talk about why we haven't talked in 6 years before we can talk about how to tell out little sister about Gran.

Samantha and I have a very special connection; we can talk to each other telepathically. Not only can we talk but we can share memories very vividly back and forth to each other. So that is what we did and I started with our first day of boarding school.

We were eleven when we went off to boarding school. This wasn't just any boarding school, this was a school for people like us, witches and wizards. Our school was located south of London and the only way to get there was by the school train. Every generation of witch in our family had gone there and we were no different. We arrived at King's Cross station and Gran helped us go through the barrier and platform 9 ¾. There it was the steaming scarlet red Hogwarts Express. We were in awe and I could hear all of Samantha's thoughts. We boarded the train, found a compartment, put all of our stuff in it and then went back out to say bye to Gran. The train horn screamed so we got back on the train and waved good-bye to Gran as the train began to pull away from the platform. We found our way back to our compartment and sat down. After about 5 minutes a girl with very bushy brown hair slid open our compartment door. She asked if she could sit with us so of course we said yes. She lugged her trunk into the compartment and sat down with us.

She smiled a huge smile and said, "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."

"Riley Wood"

"Samantha Wood"

"oh are you two sisters?"

"we're twins," I answered.

"oh wow! That is so very interesting! So what house to you girls want to be put in? Personally I want to be in Gryffindor but Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad either. I have been reading about the school since I got my letter and I cannot wait to get sorted and start classes. I have already read through all of our text books and have started practicing spells. You know, I never knew that I was a witch until I got my letter. My parents are both muggle so it came as a shock to us all when my letter came. When I was younger weird things constantly happened around me but no one could ever understand them, but once my letter came it all made sense. I am so excited. I wonder how long the train ride is going to be. Oh! Do you think I should change into my robes yet? I think I will soon. Oh my goodness, I have been rambling on and haven't let you girls talk. So what house is it that you want to be in?"

I opened my mouth to respond to her but right at that moment the compartment door was slid open by a rather frazzled looking young boy. His brown hair was a mess and his clothes were disheveled. His hands and face were very dirty and he looked like he was about to cry. He asked very exasperatedly, "have any of you seen a toad?"

Before either Samantha or I could answer Hermione piped up, "Oh no! Have you lost your toad? That could get you in trouble! I will help you look for him? What is your name? I'm Hermione Granger. Let me change into my robes and I will join you in your search."

I brought myself and Samantha out of the memory and she started to laugh. So did I, Hermione was always an overachiever and a pain in our ass once we all got sorted. Samantha went next in our memory share. I closed my eyes and let her memory fill my head. Immediately I saw our sorting ceremony.

All the sights and even the smells came back to me. The whole massive group of first years was standing in front of the head table. Also in front of the head table was a stool and on it, the Sorting Hat. I could feel Samantha's nervousness in the memory. Professor McGonagall calls out the first name and then the memory goes a bit hazy. I laugh because that is so like Samantha to no pay attention until it really matters. All the sudden I hear my name called and the memory becomes quite clear once more. I see myself walk up to the sorting hat and I remember in my own mind being very nervous. I watch as the sorting hat is placed on my head and then cringe as I hear it yell out "SLYTHERIN!"