Chapter One

"What?!?! You're sending me where?!" Rayna could not believe what she was hearing. Her parents, her pure Californian parents were sending her off to a boarding school?! "…In England." "It's in England?! Are you insane?! You're out of your minds! I can't believe this! Why on earth would you want to send me millions of miles, plus an ocean away from home?!" She continued her enraged outburst. I know there's something big you're hiding from me, and you want me away, so I won't find out until it's too late! Are you getting divorced or something?" She was on the verge of tears, now, screaming at her parents, who took it calm and quietly, waiting for her to finish. "Did something happen in the family that I have no right to know about?!" She paused.

What if there was something? Was she adopted? Had someone died? Was one of them a Wanted criminal? She had watched one too many episodes of Criminal Minds. Whatever it was, she definitely didn't like it.

"What if I don't want to go?" She inquired testily.
"We've already written to the Headmaster there and said you were attending. You will be sorted a week early so you don't have to go up with a bunch of first years."
"Well, it was a waste of time, sorry to say." Her father looked her in the eye.
"You are going. End of discussion. Got it?"
"Yeah, whatever. I at least deserve to know why you are doing this." Her mother sighed, and then looked at her father, who nodded.
"Well, remember Grandpa Joey before he died? He said he wanted you to be well educated. Don't you want to honor him?"
"Yeah, but do you have to send me out of state? We have good schools here. Send me to California Academy for Witches, if you want a boarding school. That's a good University."
"Grandpa Joey wanted you to go overseas, specifically to Hogwarts."
"Gee, thanks for telling me that earlier." Rayna added sarcastically.

By this time, her father had left the room, leaving her mother to try and break through the barrier of Rayna's stubbornness.

"Come on, honey. Imagine what it'll be like to attend a renowned wizarding school? You will have an excellent education, as well as so many more school mates and friends!"
"Oh, so, CAW isn't good enough for you?!"
Her mother was taken aback by this sudden outburst.
"Well, it's just that…Hogwarts is so much bigger and they offer more classes, and—
"No! You know what? Just shut up, okay? Shut up! I don't want to hear anymore about this, Hogwarts shit!"

Usually she was only like this when she was angry. She was furious. With that, she turned on her heel, and stormed up to her room, slamming the door. She buried herself in her myriad of pillows on her bed, and screamed as loud as she could. It was so loud that, though the sound was muffled, you could still hear it down in the kitchen. Her Siamese kitten, Shimsa, struggled to get up on the bed. In her anger, Rayna refused to help her pet. After about ten minutes of Shimsa's insistent meowing, with a frustrated growl, Rayna reached down and lifted the kitten up with ease, to place her on the bed.

"Shim, what am I going to do? I can't go to England! Imagine what hell I'd face when Alex found out. He'd be furious! And I can't just break up with him. Not after all that we've been through, no. What am I going to do?!"

Receiving only a meow from her pet, Rayna pushed Shimsa off her chest, where she had gotten quite comfortable.

"You're no help."

She got up and took a hot shower. Changing into her pajamas, she slipped under her comforter.

"I'll think of something…"

With those last words, she slipped off to Dreamland.
Rayna was fuming the entire way to the airport. As her dad unloaded her suitcase and small carry-on, she stood on the curb, arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently, glaring at everyone who passed.

"Here you go, Little Miss Sunshine."
"Whatever…"

With that, she stalked off.

"Hey, hey, hold on…you don't just walk off like that. We have things to make sure you understand." She resumed her position, rolling her eyes.

"What?" So they went over her itinerary.
"Okay, I get it now. Can I go?" Her parents paused, looking at each other, as if just realizing the hurt they were causing their daughter.
"Sure…"

She gave her parents a weak, sarcastic smile, before turning on her heel and moving towards the airport. In a last effort her mother called after her:

"We love you!" With her back still to them, she merely raised her hand to let them know she heard, with a final:
"See ya next year!" yelled over her shoulder. Tears fell from her parents' eyes as they watched their daughter enter the airport. Once she was out of sight, they got back in the car and drove home.

Meanwhile, in the airport, because Rayna's dad had gotten her ticket off the Internet, she checked in her luggage, and having received her boarding pass, and headed through the Security Check. Twenty minutes later, she was in the waiting area of her gate. Her parents had given her quite a sum of money so she spent a bit to purchase a couple of magazines, and a pack of gum.

She took a piece of gum and began to chew nervously. She had traveled as an unaccompanied minor before, but never out of the country. It was five hours to New York, then another 18 hours to London. She'd apparate, but she'd never apparated that far. What if she didn't make it? She didn't think she was strong enough for that distance. "All passengers in Gate 11D, American Airlines, to New York, boarding now." Upon hearing the voice over the intercom, Rayna gathered her things, and got in line. On the plane, Rayna found herself sitting next to a blonde, blue-eyed girl, about her age. The girl's cell phone rang, and she dug into her purse for it. Her phone was light blue, and had a golden B on the front.

Answering it, she said, "Hello?" Hmm, she has an English accent…"Yes, mum, I'm on the plane in California. Yes, I will call when I get to New York. All right, I love you too, mum. Say hi to dad for me. Bye."

The girl hung up, and leaned back in her seat. Is she going home to England? Only one way to find out… She extended her hand out to the girl.

"Hi! My name's Rayna Lauren. Call me Rayne." The blonde smiled, shaking Rayna's hand.
"Pleasure. Celeste Silverdrop. Call me Cel."
"I figured since we're going to be stuck here for the next five hours, it wouldn't hurt to introduce myself."
"Well, Rayne, I'm glad you did, because I'd probably be bored out of my mind."
"Ha! Hey, where in England are you from?"
"London."
"What a coincidence! That's where I'm headed!"
"Oh, really? What for?"
"Um, schooling…"
Celeste whispered, "You're a witch too, eh?"
Shocked, Rayna stuttered, "How—how did you know?"
"You have to be confident in your answer if you want to lie about something. Plus, I'm a Legilimens...sorry."
"Oh, that's all right. "
"So, when you say, schooling, you really mean…"
"Hogwarts…unfortunately."
"What do you mean by that? Hogwarts is the--"
"Greatest wizarding school ever, yeah, I know. I've only heard that a million times."
"What fault do you find with Hogwarts?"
"It's not the school, really, it's the situation I'm leaving in. I've made millions of friends at the High School for Witches and Wizards here, and I'm not one to easily leave them behind. On top of that, they don't know that I'm leaving. Well, maybe my teachers do, but they're not important. And my boyfriend too, he can be a bit over-protective, so, I know things aren't going to go well with my parents when he finds out."
"I see. Well, you'll love it there, I guarantee you."

During those five hours, they became good friends, and hoped to get together in London sometime. Before they got off the plane, the two exchanged contacts.

"So, call me when you land, if you land first, that is." Rayna said.
"And if you land first, you can call me."
"All right. I'll talk to you in 18 hours then. Bye, Cel!"
"Bye, Rayne! See you in London, hopefully!"

Rayna found her next gate, and reclined on an empty row of chairs. She had a one-hour layover there; she figured she might as well get comfortable. One hour later found her boarding the plane, finding her seat, and stuffing her carry-on in the overhead bin. Unfortunately, on this flight, she was seated in between two people that, let's just say, looked A LOT older than her.

"Great, I get to sit on my ass for 18 hours, wallowing in boredom…oh well, next and last stop, London."