Chapter One: An Unexpected Birthday Present

The Banks family weren't expecting a letter to arrive on their youngest daughter's birthday. Ms. and Mr. Banks had given up all hope years ago after visiting St. Mungo's and discovering that they were unable to have a child with magical abilities. They had come home from the hospital with a heavy heart and decided that rather than not having children, they would banish magic from their household all together so that their children could grow up oblivious from the world they couldn't take part in. The four Banks children Emily, John, Corbin and Kim wouldn't grow up with magic but at least they would never know they were squibs, muggles born from wizards and witches. Unfortunately, that all changed the day Ms. Banks spotted a snowy white owl fly past her window one late afternoon.

"Honey are you alright?" asked Mr. Banks.

Ms. Banks turned back to her husband, the match in her hand still burning.

"It's nothing," she said, almost to herself and turned to begin lighting the candles on the bright blue birthday cake.

Kim, her youngest daughter was smiling at the head of the table with a paper crown wrapped around her head. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a fishtail and her misty eyes glittered in the candle light. It was her eleventh birthday, the last eleventh birthday that would ever pass through the house and Ms. Banks was determined to make it as mundane as possible.

"Happy birthday to you," the family began to sing.

Corbin tried to lick the frosting while no one was looking but Emily, the eldest kicked him from underneath the table. John tried to mess with the lyrics and instead of singing Kim's name he sung her dreaded nickname which was 'Fishy Sticks'. Kim smiled all the way though which made Ms. Banks happy. She wasn't going to let one rouge owl ruin her daughter's most important day of the year.

Just as Kim blew out the candles Ms. Banks heard the distinct sound of a letter being dropped through the mail slot of the door. Her senses went on red alert. Just because she'd seen an owl fly up to her porch and they'd received mail on a Sunday didn't mean what she thought it meant. If anything it could be one of her old school friends who was still trying to make contact. After Emily had been born the Banks had tried their best to sever all ties between them and the wizarding world and that meant saying goodbye to all of their friends. They'd made new ones of course and now could hardly care less about magic, but every so often they'd get an owl or two.

"Mom can I have two slices?" said Corbin, his mouth already covered in blue frosting.

"If that's alright with your sister," she said wearily.

Ms. Banks couldn't take the tension anymore. She went into the next room and sure enough there was a letter sealed with red wax and the Hogwarts seal, sitting on the ground. Her heart nearly stopped in it's tracks. This couldn't be happening, Kim was a squib, there was no doubt about it. The nurse at St. Mungo's had confirmed it seventeen years ago just before Emily was born. All of Ms. Banks children would turn out to be Squibs, but here was the letter. The very same letter that had arrived on her eleventh birthday was now sitting on her foyer floor on her daughter's. Shakily, Ms. Banks scooped up the letter and read the address.

Miss K. Banks

1313 Little Anne Dr.

Starry Gaze. London

Kim's mother stared at the address, reading and rereading it several times before deciding it was legit. She was tempted to break the seal and read the scrawling print of Professor McGonagall again, if she was still the deputy headmistress, but resisted the urge and tucked the letter into her a cubby near the mantle where none of the children were sure to look. When Ms. Banks entered the kitchen again all of her children were eating the cake and none of them had time to look up as she exchanged a worried expression with her husband. Ms. Banks would have to wait a while if she wanted to talk to him alone.

"What do you mean a letter?" Mr. Banks exclaimed once the children had all left to watch the tele.

Ms. Banks gave him a look. "The letter," she said. "I saw an owl Harold, that's when I knew she was one of them."

"One of us," her husband reminded her. "Just because we act like muggles doesn't mean we're one of them."

Ms. Banks chewed her lip. She didn't like when her husband referred to the two of them as something other than average. She'd embraced normalicy a long time ago and didn't like the feeling that she didn't belong.

"But how," she said, desperate to change the subject. "She can't go to Hogwarts, she's a squib."

"Apparently we were wrong," said Mr. Banks. "Helga this shouldn't be a cause for stress this should be a celebration. Our daughter is a witch. We need to tell her about us and the other world as soon as possible."
Ms. Banks's temper flared. "No Harold. She can't know, none of our children can know about what's out there. It hasn't been that long since Harry Potter defeated You Know Who, the wizarding world is still dangerous. I don't want my child to be raised in an environment like that."

Mr. Banks sighed and wiped sweat from where he was balding on the top of his head. "Sweetheart, it's been seventeen years since the Battle of Hogwarts. I think the wizarding world is safe enough."

"You wanted this didn't you," Ms. Banks said, throwing her arms up in the air. "You'll finally get to use magic again. You know I saw you using magic last night to do the dishes. Just think if the children had seen that, they'd be scared to death. Kim may be a witch but her brothers and sister arn't magical at all so what are we suppose to do? Make one child feel special and the other's feel like garbage? When I was in school it was an embarrassment to have a squib in the family, none the less three. What if the other kids tease her?"

"Honey it's the 21st century," Mr. Banks argued. "Kids these days don't care if you're pureblood, muggle born or even half blood."

Ms. Banks took a deep breath and tried to calm the knot that was twisting itself in her stomach. "Fine then, if that's the case then we don't tell her that we were wizards," she said simply. "She'll go to school thinking she's muggle born."

Mr. Banks looked shocked. "How are we suppose to guide her through school? Who's going to take her school supply shopping? School starts in two months."

Ms. Banks wrapped her fingers loudly on the kitchen counter and let out a reluctant sigh. "I have an idea," she said. "You remember my brother Donovan right?"