Chapter One

Carlie Firedrake was a gifted American witch, with typical American interests. She loved rock and roll, aqua quidditch (a form of quidditch played in the water as well as the air,) and attended the Seaside Academy for Magical Learning. Her position of seeker on the Seaside aqua quidditch team is dearer to her than any of her possessions. In the past two years, she had built herself a reputation as the best seeker Seaside ever had by bringing them out of their eleven year losing streak, and never failing to catch a snitch in any match, win or lose.

Her obsession with music could be noted by anyone who had ever met her. She always had with her a magical sort of music player, which let you listen to any song you wanted. She also had more songs downloaded onto her school laptop (a requirement at seaside,) than any of her friends combined. Her stylish clothes, dark red hair, startling green eyes, and rebel personality made her one of the most liked and respected girls of her year. Her best friends Nikki Black and Andrea Heartford were more loyal and loving than anyone could ask for, supported Carlie weather she was right or wrong.

Yet, there was a way in which she was far more extraordinary than anyone knew. The first is that Carlie had an amazing gift for reading people's thoughts. She hadn't told anyone, except a few of her closest friends, but ever since she could remember she had always known things about people. In recent years she had progressed to seeing people's memories, as well as their thoughts. Sometimes she heard people's thoughts without even trying, particularly if they were angry or afraid. This made the truth of her identity all the more shocking. How it had been hidden from her all these years she never knew.

It was the summer after Carlie's second year at Seaside. The Firedrake house was in Santa Cruz, CA. It was near enough to the beach so that you could walk there, and Carlie had spent the majority of her time that summer surfing. You really couldn't live in Santa Cruz and not surf.

One hot day in early July, Carlie was cleaning out some papers out of her mom's filing cabinet. It was mostly old essays and report cards of Carlie's that were no longer needed. Why her mother wanted her to stay inside on a gloriously hot day like this she would never know. It was perfect weather for a little off shore qidditch practice, but her mom insisted that this was going to be a "mother daughter day." As Carlie was sorting out what could be thrown away and what had to stay, something about one of the many papers made her pause. It was a birth certificate, and it said "Alexandria Potter," and listed as the parents were, "Lily and James Potter."

It struck Carlie as odd that her mom would keep someone else's birth certificate in her house, particularly since Lily and James Potter were long dead. Carlie knew the story of the boy who lived as well as any other which or wizard, but as far as she knew, Harry Potter didn't have a sister. "Mom, what's this," Carlie called across her mom's room. Her mother looked over her shoulder, and froze. "That's….." she trailed off, at a loss for words. Carlie was getting a sinking feeling, the kind you get right before you open your exam scores at the end of the year.

"Mom, who is Alexandria?" she asked hesitantly. Her mother continued staring at her, her mouth open in shock as if someone had slapped her. Carlie decided that whatever this was, it was too important to leave the telling up to her mother. She slipped into the state of calm that let her read minds so easily. It didn't take long, her mother's emotional state made it simple to read her thoughts. "How can I tell her? What will she think of me for hiding her identity all these years? Oh Alex…" This confused Carlie even more. "Who is Alex, mom?" she repeated gently. Still nothing. It was as if her mother was unable to put into words what she wanted to say. "Mom?" That word seemed to break her trance. She looked up at Carlie with her pretty grey eyes and said, "I'm not your mother Alex." Her eyes started to well up with tears, but Carlie took little notice of the woman she once thought was her mother. The reality of who she was bore down on Carlie like the crushing weight of a wave after you wiped out.

She was not a Firedrake. She wasn't even Carlie, really. Her name was Alexandria Potter, and her parents had been dead for over a decade. And the woman standing before had hidden this from her. She had even changed her name so that no one could possibly guess who she was.

"Please try to understand," said Helen Firedrake desperately. "Your mother and I were good friends, even after I moved to California. When you and your brother were born, and they knew Voldemort was after you both, they sent you to me, asking me to keep you safe. I don't think they told anyone else about you, because they knew someone close to them was leaking information to Voldemort. When your brother somehow vanquished him, I didn't know what to do. There were many who believe that the dark lord was dead, but some thought that he would be back. I thought it would be best to let you decide what you wanted when the time came, so I have kept your parent's secret all these years, waiting for the right time to tell you. I'm sorry Alex."

Carlie had kept completely still through out the monologue. She was angrier at the woman than she had ever been at anyone in her life, but she knew that if she appeared upset then Mrs. Firedrake would anticipate her leaving. And she was leaving, no doubt about that. This was not her life, even if she had been happy here. Her real family was in Britain, and she intended to go there and find him. Her brother Harry would be having an unexpected visitor very soon. "So, I'm a twin? And my brother is in England, without the slightest hint that I even exist?" she asked quietly. She already knew the answer, but she had to play the part of a shocked kid for a little while longer.

"I suppose so," replied Helen Firedrake. "You have a right to be mad at me, I know, but I'm sorry, and you know the truth now." Her eyes searched Carlie's anticipating her next move. "I'm not mad," Carlie lied, "I just need a little time to think." Helen nodded her head in understanding. "If you want to talk about anything, just ask me," she said.

An hour later, Carlie was making sure she had packed everything she would need. It was times like these when her floppy black bag came in handy. It had an undetectable extension charm on it; Helen had given it to her as a present before her first year at Seaside. Most of her belonging were now in this bag, including most of her clothes, her school laptop, her music player, her favorite surfboard, her two best skateboards (which could also be used as hover boards when there weren't any muggles about), her guitar, the four way mirror she shared with her three friends, all her books (which included both muggle and magical novels,) her school things, her favorite pillow, and most importantly her nimbus two thousand water series.

Shelly, Carlie's otter, was looking at her curiously, probably wondering why Carlie hadn't let her out of her cage yet. "Well Shelly," said Carlie (she had decided to have everyone call her Carlie, as a memento of her Californian life,) "I'm packed. I can't believe I'm really doing this, but what choice have I got?" she took the little river otter out of her cage and stroked her sleek, glossy fur. She chittered in Carlie's ear, the way she always did when she knew her master was out of sorts. Carlie made sure that her wand was in her pocket, and as an after thought took her savings out of her sock drawer and tucked that in her pocket as well. Still holding Shelly, she lit a fire in her bedroom fireplace. She one last, long look around her room.

The pretty blue walls had been striped of their many posters, and it looked sadly bare. Would she ever see it again? She really didn't know. She grabbed a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fire. The flames turned green instantaneously. "Diagon Ally!" she shouted, and stepped into the whirling green flames, uncertain of what the future would bring.