My story starts early August, where I was barricaded up in the tallest tower of our four story home. I was writing a Lunar Love potion report for my summer assignment in Potions, one of my favorite classes. It had to be precisely 3 feet of parchment, no more, no less. I had nearly one more foot to go, my silver feathered pen digging so hard into the parchment, that I was sure to leave marks on my brand-new, fairywood desk. I was just about done explaining the properties of this specific love potion. I didn't mind writing about this particular area of potions at all. In fact, I was thrilled to find out Professor Pinnicle, our potions professor, had assigned us summer work to research potions that were activated by the moon, my potion being no exception to the rules. Holding true to its name, the lunar love potion could only be used during a lunar eclipse, which is why it's rarely used and usually ineffective. However it was one of the oldest love potions ever created, about nine hundred or so years old.

As I was nearly done, my elbow bumped against my crystal glass ink jar, and multicolored enchanted ink spilled across my light blue fairywood desk. "Oh, trollskins!" I muttered under my breath.

"Nichole Alicia Brooks!" My mother shouted three floors below me. I had forgotten about the Curse-word charm my mother had placed on our home long ago, when I was about 12 years old. I was a second year at Ilvermorny, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I had learned my first curse word. My mother took immediate precautionary measures and cast a spell on our home to ensure she knew when her kids cursed in order to scold them later.

Sure enough, a middle aged, thin witch appeared in my bedroom, with dark brown hair cut just below her ears. My mother.

"What did you do this time?" My mother sighed as her eyes searched my room for the mess I probably made. She's my mom, so she knows that I'm a natural born klutz, because once upon a time she was too. Her eyes squeezed shut as she winced, seeing the ink spill on the brand new desk I had gotten for my birthday. When her eyes closed, I could clearly see the thin, light scar that ran across her olive-skinned face. When I was little, she told me it was just a special birth mark. But I know better now. She got that scar from a werewolf fight thirty years ago, back when she was still an Auror for the Magical Congress.

My mother took out her long oak wood wand and soon the multicolored ink swirled back into its original container, and my desk was good as new.

"Try to be more careful next time sweetheart," my mother smiled as she poofed back downstairs into the kitchen.

"Thanks!" I hollered back into the cloud of smoke she left once she disappeared.

I sat down on my queen sized bed. Its bed spread was an enchanted picture of the beach. Waves rolled up and down the comforter, and sometimes the picture of the ocean would shift scenery, showing some ocean life and the occasional mermaid. I had a seashell head board that changed different colors, and sea themed fluffy pillows that covered my bed. Above the shell head board there was a huge poster of The Madrid Mermaids, my all-time favorite Quidditch team. They were the best in Spain, and an all-girls team.

On one side of my room stood a very large, magical book shelf. The books would change depending on what I needed at the time. Right now, all the books had something to do with love potions, as I was currently writing an essay on one. I glanced beside the bookshelf over at my fairywood desk. My brother had given it to me in March this year as a birthday gift, I had just turned 17. It had a drawer for every purpose, and the drawers would shift around every so often. Above my desk was a huge poster of the weird sisters. My all-time favorite wizard band. Although there music is out of style today, I still love it. I'm the biggest fan of classic rock.

On the other side of the room, my pet miniature Phoenix, Fireball, squeaked and rasped its claws on my window, asking to be let in. He had a blue enveloped tied to its feet, and I immediately knew who the letter was from. I quickly ran to the window and let in my feathered friend. He dropped the letter at my desk, and I sat down and began to read the letter from my long distance friend, who attends a wizarding school in Brazil called Castelbruxo. My mom said it would be a good idea to have a Pen Pal, in order to experience what life was like in another school such as mine. She suggested writing to her friend's daughter, Isabella. My mom and her mom had both attended Castelbruxo when they were kids, and they both agreed that their daughters would have no trouble getting along. Me and Isabella have been writing letters since I was a first year at Ilvermorny.

Dear Nicky,

I have some very strange news. First I would love to share with you my adventures from my sixth year at Castelbruxo, unfortunately that will have to wait. (Although I will tell you that I had the honor of becoming a Prefect). I will be able to finally tell you of my adventures in person, as I am traveling by port-key to your home in southern Pennsylvania. It's one of my many stops before I finally move to Edinburgh Scotland. My father got transferred there to oversee the transportation of 150 Scottish Red Back Dragons to Romania. Unfortunately this means that I have to move schools. Even in my Seventh year! I am extremely saddened by this, especially since I heard Hogwarts was the snootiest of all Wizarding schools. I truly hope those rumors are false, however the sinking feeling in my gut says otherwise. See you in two weeks!

Bella Perez Ronaldo Lopez of the Southern aisle

I placed the letter in a small purple box. I kept nearly all the letters that Bella sends me, in case I forget some odd detail of her life. Also, I love reading about the strange school located in the Amazons. I keep every detail and sometimes read the letters about Castelbruxo to my younger brother Ethan.

Ethan is six years younger than me. Which means this next week he'll be turning 11 years old. A huge deal in the wizard community, because this school year he will be attending Ilvermorny for the first time. I've already been telling him stories about the best wizarding school in the world, and the four houses he can be sorted into.

There's the Horned Serpent house, (the smartest bunch of the group), the Wampus house (known for the strongest, most athletic wizards), and the Pukwudgie House (known for kind wizards best in healing).

Of course the only house my brother was interested in joining was the Thunderbirds, the best house at Ilvermorny, my house. Thunderbirds are large bird-like creatures that create storms in their wake. The wizarding house is most likely to produce adventurous wizards, which was why it was the best in my opinion. I've been telling Ethan tails of Ilvermorny ever since my first year there, and he had been more excited than ever to finally go to school this year.

I opened on of the numerous drawers in my desk and pulled out some purple parchment. I always wrote in purple to Bella, because purple was her favorite color. I picked up a jar of my favorite, Golden Glitter ink, and began writing back to my friend.

Dear Bella,

I am sad that you are moving, but I am sure you will send wonderful letters of your new adventures in Hogwarts. It won't be all bad, believe me. My dad went to Hogwarts, and he isn't snooty at all (or at least I think so). I can't wait to see you in person again! The last time I saw you was probably third year. We can finally go shopping together like we always wanted too.

See you very soon!

Nicky Brooks

I folded up the purple parchment and placed it in a lavender envelope. Fireball spread his wings and snatched the envelope up in his claws. He loves delivering letters to Bella, mostly because he loves flying over the Amazon rain forest, where wild birds of his kind live and fly.

But as soon as I opened the window to let my Phoenix out, Fireball collided with a common brown owl. With a fluster of feathers and claws, the mess finally cleared and Fireball quickly perched back on my shoulder as he carefully observed our newest guest.

The brown owl cocked its head to the side and let out a small hoot. Then, it turned its head slowly to face me, its large brown eyes seemed to be peering into my soul. I shuffled nervously. Wondering which wizard's owl this was. Certainly no one I knew at Ilvermorny owned a common brown owl. I mean, there were a few kids that owned one, but none of them sent me letters. Most of my friends owned parrots or eagles, very few people owned owls at my school. And I was the only witch who had a Phoenix deliver letters for me.

The small brown owl let out yet another hoot, then flew straight for my head. I ducked, and the owl dropped a small cream envelope on my desk. I turned to face the owl as it excitedly flew in a fury of feathers and disappeared out my open window.

I crinkled my dark brown eyebrows in confusion. The envelope had a dark red wax seal binding it shut. I squinted my eyes and studied the seal that was embedded in the wax more closely. I had seen the seal before, in my father's mansion in the outskirts of Devon England. And again on multiple pieces of parchment belonging to my older brother Thomas.

It was the Hogwarts seal, I realized. I ripped open the letter in confusion. They probably had meant to send this letter to Thomas, who had graduated two years ago. They probably were just informing him of some reunion being held in a couple of years for all the graduating students or something. Yet when I opened the letter, it certainly wasn't for Thomas.

Hogwarts School

of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

Dear Ms. Brooks

We have thoroughly reviewed your letter requesting transfer, and due to your highly praised family history and academic record, we are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your response no later than next week, 20 August.

Yours sincerely,

Headmaster McGonagall

My stomach dropped and my heart beat fast inside my chest. What letter of transfer? I didn't remember sending one at all and I certainly didn't want to transfer schools. It's obviously some sort of mistake! There's no way this letter was meant for me.

I walked around my plush white carpet and paced around my room. I stopped suddenly and took a deep breath, leaning my head back and peering at my ceiling. My ceiling was a reflection of the sky, so it told me what time it was when I glanced up to find the sky to contain the beautiful colors of the sunset. It was around 6:00 pm which meant I could discuss this around dinner.

However I was anxious and ever so impatient that I had to find my mom right away. I ran over to my teal blue door. It had a small Madrid Mermaid mascot décor on my side of the door. The Madrid mermaid was a fierce looking woman with dark black hair and brown skin. She was wearing a chest plate similar to that of a gladiator's and had a mermaid tail made of gold. She held a spear in one hand and a wide, circular shield in the other. On the shield were five gemstones that popped out of my door. I had enchanted the stones in such a way so that depending on the order in which I pressed them, it would unlock my door. Things like this came in handy when your 11 year old brother tried to sneak into your room. Although it was pretty useless on the rest of the family, who had already learned how to apparate wherever they wanted to.

I pressed the emerald gem stone so that it sunk into the door. Next the ruby, then the amethyst, and finally, the aquamarine. The diamond in the center of the shield was solely there in order to confuse my brother even more, so that he wouldn't guess the password.

The mermaids blue eyes glowed, and my door swung open to reveal Dagger, eagerly waiting by my door, wagging his forked tail. Dagger is the name of our five year old, golden crup. A crup is like a dog, accept it has a forked tail and sometimes magical properties. Lots of wizards that live among No-Majes (non magical people) have to use a painless Severing Charm in order to cut the unusual tail so that the crup can blend in. But thankfully, we live in a tightly closed magical community in southern Pennsylvania, so we don't have to cut his tail.

To most No-Majes, our town is just a bunch of useless stinky farm land that an Amish community runs. But in the magic community, it's a small wizarding town consisting of about three neighborhoods and a local shopping center. A lot of wealthy wizard families live here, consisting of ancient Native American wizard families, and pure bloods. And on the other side of the town lives a lot of new-money wizards and half-bloods.

Needless to say, when I take Dagger for a walk around the neighborhood, he doesn't attract so much as a stare. (That is unless he starts barking at Mrs. Crumples' old black cat across the street).

I scooped up Dagger and carried him across the hall. The great thing about Dagger was that he was a golden crup breed. His appearance was similar to that of a golden retriever's, yet smaller in size. Plus, he glowed in the dark, which meant I could use his light across the hallway without needing to cast a lighting spell to light the floating candles (he also functioned as a great No-Maj nightlight).

I came to the end of the third floor which held my mother's room as well as Ethan's. I knocked on the dark oak wood door and it slowly creaked open. The room was barren and empty, which meant my mother wasn't in it. Her room was bewitched to only reveal itself to its owner. Meaning that if my mom walked into the room just now, it would spring to life with her furniture and belongings. This was because my older brother Thomas tried to swipe some floo powder from my mother's room when he was younger.

I put Dagger back on the floor and decided to visit my brother's room instead. I walked to the end of the hall and opened the leafy doorway and stepped inside. My brother's room was a jungle. Literally.

I walked along the forest floor and came to the base of an extraordinary large Brazilian tree trunk and gazed up. There was an extremely large, two story tree house atop its branches in which my brother lived in. I could use a quick revealing charm to conjure up the ladder my brother uses to cling the tree. However I didn't have my wand so I had to think of another way up. I walked around the back entrance of the tree house, where there was a long water slide coming out of the tree house' back door. I winced and began to attempt to climb up the water slide, but it was no use. Every time I managed to make it half way up, I would fall flat on my face and end up soaking wet.

"Ay! Mi hija!" My mom called down from Ethan's tree house. She and Ethan peered their heads out the window with goofy smiles on their faces. I squinted my eyes and studied Ethan's face more closely. It looked a bit tear stained, and his smile looked a bit strained. I thought it strange that he looked the slightest bit sad, because he had been filled with excitement all summer due to the fact he was to start school at Ilvermorny.

"Why don't you just Apparate up here honey?" My mother called down, her and Ethan giggling at my moment's stupidity. I rolled my eyes, but mostly at myself for not thinking more clearly. Soon enough, I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I opened them, I was on the first floor of my brother's tree house. I sat down on the couch and stared blankly at the Puddlemore United poster that hung on the wall, and watched a painting of a Common welsh green dragon fly around. My mother and Ethan walked down the spiral stair case and sat on the bean bag chairs around Ethan's No-Maj gaming systems.

"What's up Nicky?" My mom casually said, right after she performed a heating charm to dry my clothes that were wet from the water slide. But I had a feeling she already knew.

"I was writing to Bella today," I said, "and she told me she was going to Hogwarts for her seventh year. And then in the mail today I got a letter saying that I was transferring to Hogwarts, which I know is a mistake but—"

"Oh it's not a mistake Nicky," she said smiling. "We're moving to England!"

And as soon as those words left my mother's mouth, my heart stopped and my brother's tears started flowing again.