Chapter 1
I was sitting down and listening to my iPod. I had just finished my summer work and was ready to stop the math problems swirling around my head. You see my mother wants me to be the smartest in school, so she gives me work to do during the summer. I couldn't do anything else until it was done. I had just turned 11 and I was behind in the work. I looked into the mirror on the wall of my room. My curly, black hair; tan skin; and emerald green eyes made me the black sheep in my family, where everyone had straight, blonde hair; blue eyes; and slightly tan skin from the sun. I live in a small town in Ohio, where most families were farmers. My family isn't a family of farmers, but we are out in the sun a lot, anyways. I wasn't always tan, in fact, I used to be fairly pale. Weirdly enough, I tanned much easier than my mom, my cousin, and the rest of my family. Maybe it's has something to do with the fact that I'm always outside playing soccer. I got up and walked downstairs. My mom motioned for me to take put my ear buds.
"Carmella, go get the mail." She told me. I put my ear buds back in and went out to the mailbox. I got the mail out and started to sort through it. There was an envelope addressed to me. I walked in and gave the rest of the mail to my mom and sat down to open the envelope.
"What's that?" My mom's boyfriend, Jason, leered at me. Jason is a major creep, who looked at me in ways that make me feel uncomfortable. He never did when my mom was around, though. I wanted to tell her, but she seemed happy and I didn't want to ruin it.
"None of your business. You know, since it's addressed to me and not you." I replied. My mom glared at me, but didn't say anything. I opened the envelope and read the letter. I reread it three times before I comprehended it. I got up and showed it to my mom. She read it and then she did something really weird. She started smiling.
"Hey, Jason, Honey, how about you go get us some pizza?" Mom said. He grumbled, but got up and left. She turned to me and smiled. She came up and hugged me. Then, all of a sudden, an old man popped up out of nowhere. He had a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes. He was wearing robes and a pointy hat. His eyes had wrinkles around them that let you know that he smiled a lot.
"Tamara, it's such a pleasure to see you again." He said to my mom. He turned to me and smiled.
"You raised her well, I see. She looks so much like her mother and father, and from what I hear her brother as well."
I looked at him funny. Why is he talking about my mom like she isn't here? And what is he talking about, when he said I look like my brother? I don't have a brother. I turned to my mom for answers.
"Sit down, Carmella." I sat down and looked at her expectantly. "Carmella, I'm not really your mom. I took you in when your real parents were killed. I'm cousins with your father. Our family is that of magic, only long ago a dark wizard took the power away from my grandmother. That is why she came to America. Her brother was lucky and didn't have the curse put on him. Your father is a descendant of him. Your real name is Carmella Elizabeth Potter." I stared at her like she was crazy, which I would say she was except for the fact that I saw the man appear out of thin air. I had a lot of questions, but decided to ask the one that I most wanted to know the answer to.
"What of the fact that this man just said I had a brother?" I said, pointing to the man. I was so confused and curious.
"I can answer this one. Carmella, you have a twin brother named Harry. We split you guys up, so that you guys would be safe and so that no one could exploit you guys. Harry lives with your mother's sister back in England, where your from. My name, by the way, is Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizarding."