Dear Miss Cradey, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all the blah blah blah.

That was my first thought when I glanced over the letter.

Who am I exactly? That's a great question because I'm not really sure either. I'm not saying that I woke up this morning and forgot everything about me. No, that's not my issue. Let me just say this though, waking up and forgetting everything, it's awful.

Anyway, the name's Stephanie. As of two weeks ago, I'm an eleven year old living with my two sisters and three aunts. I wish I could give you a grand introduction on my live before now but, I don't remember any of it. For all I know I could have been a test tube baby or grown in some lab. I don't remember anything before, oh about the age of eight. I'm ninety-seven percent sure, however, I was not created by some scientist. The thing that convinces me the most would be my two sisters. Well, my family claims they're my sisters, sometimes I'm not so sure. Despite my questioning state, Alexa and Sage are really my biological sisters.

Alexa, Sage, and I look nearly identical. Okay, that's sort of a lie. Sage and I actually are identical. Born on the same exact day from the same mother nine minutes apart. I was born first, of course. We have the same golden blonde hair that flows down our backs with just a slight curl. We have the same faces, although mines a bit rounder and hers angular. Our eyes are both almond shaped. The two of us both have the same brilliant, light blue eyes. They look exactly like how the sky looks after it snows and the sun is out.

Alexa, on the other hand, is less identical than us. Being born a year later apparently gave us time for our hair to lighten. Alexa has the same length hair, except her's is a deep brown and much curlier. Her eyes are also a chocolate brown colour, much like our aunts. Alexa resembles the Halliwell's while Sage and I the Cradey's. I actually resemble the Cradey's more than Sage. My father had braces when he was little and always wore glasses. So, I too have braces and glasses. Thanks sir for passing me your great genetics.

The three of us also all share the same birthmark. The three of us have a pyramid of three stars on our left thigh. Everyone on my mums side of the family, the Halliwell's, all have similar birthmarks. What's really strange is, depending on how many sisters/siblings you have, that's how many stars are in the pyramid.

My sisters and I live with our aunts (our mum's sisters) Piper, Prue, and Phoebe and we have for as long as I can remember...which isn't saying much really. The six of us live in the Halliwell/Cradey manor that the 'sisters' grew up in. I guess the torch had been passed and it was our turn to live and grow there.

This was our newest living arrangement. Before my sisters, Prue, Piper, and I had lived in a small, three roomed flat in Sutton, while Phoebe was living in New York (doing God only knows what). Once our Grams got sick and was hospitalized the five of us moved into the Manor to help take care of her. Well, she wasn't technically our Grams, she was our mum's grams, making her our Great Grams; we all always called her Grams though. A year ago, however, she passed away and shortly after Phoebe moved back home.

I never cared much for Grams. While my genetics were fairly similar to Sage and Alexa's, this was one area where we differed. Those two loved Grams. She had her kind and loving moments, but I thought she was off her rocker half of the time. She always tried to make me sing these weird songs or make me drink these terrible concoctions. She claimed she was trying to market a new beverage to the masses and I was her 'guinea pig'. I was always the guinea pig, never Sage or Alexa, always me. I had no idea who she would have been marketing these drinks to, but I knew they wouldn't have bought what she was selling. The tasted from rotting cabbage to hairy, gorilla butt. I never told her that though.

As crazy as she was, she still scared the bajeezus out of me. Weird and strange things would always happen when I was around her. Windows would always shatter unexpectedly and objects would go flying across the room. She would always make up excuses like a change in air pressure, or silly neighbor kids throwing rocks, or my favorite, I was just loosing my mind. After a while those instances became just as normal as her wacky singing and terrible cooking.

One instance, however, really freaked me out. When I was nine years old I got the chicken pox (I was the last of my sisters). I stayed home with Grams while my sisters were at school and Prue and Piper at work. Grams fed me an herbal soup and sang some strange song to me. I was use to this kind of behavior, but what I wasn't use to was ending up with purple and blue pox. I took a nap for an hour or so and when I woke up, my pox were red again. I told her what happened and she said it must have been a dream. I nodded, trying to remember what happened first, falling asleep or looking like a child's dinosaur.

I kept my distance from her after that, though. On a few occasions, I gained enough mental courage to swear she was a witch; it was the only explanation that seemed to fit. If you can call it an explanation for sane people, that is. I told my sisters this theory and was surprised to hear them say I was right. My eyes grew wide as a small sense of panic and fear started to creep through me. I shook my head and calmed myself, quickly realizing they must be pulling a prank on me.

"Ha ha, you guys are funny. Trying to pull a fast one over me, aren't you?" I said, laughing slightly.

"No, Stephie, we're really not .Grams really is a witch. So are our aunts, but they don't know it yet," Alexa added with whisper. "I'm one, too, and Sage, and you." Alexa said seriously.

"Oh, c'mon, Lexi, don't be silly. There's no such thing as witches and magic, I was just being dumb. Besides, if we really were witches, you expect me to believe that our aunts wouldn't know their 'magic'," I said jokingly.

"Yes, she's not joking, Stephie. We really are witches. We all are. We used to do magic all the time with mum and dad when we were younger," Sage started.

"She's right. Only you and Sage forgot. You never took us seriously before when we tried to tell you. Sage finally accepted the fact. You were always too stubborn to listen, but now you know!" Alexa explained happily.

"Guys, stop it! I was just making that up about Grams. Witches are old and ugly and don't exist!" I said, starting to get frustrated.

"C'mon, Stephie. Didn't you ever watch The Wizard of Oz? Of course you did, because you loved that weird sequel. Glinda was a good witch and she was beautiful," Alexa counted.

"Alexa, stop it. Stop being so ridiculous. I thought it was all a joke at first but you guys are taking it too far. It's not funny anymore. There are no such things as witches, and comparing it to a fictional movie will not make me believe you guys are telling the truth. Stop being mean to me. I'm not the weak and frail girl I was a year ago...or at least I think I was. I'm not falling for anymore of your tricks," I nearly shouted. I stormed out and hid in my room until supper. I personally seemed to feel more separated from my sisters, but they both acted like nothing happened. Like I hadn't called them crazy.

I don't believe in nonsense. That whole conversation with my sisters, nonsense. This letter, nonsense. There's no magical wizarding school and there's no way I've been accepted to it. I'm not saying I don't believe in magic; David Blaine, for instance. He does some insane stunts. He and others like him may very well have some 'mystical powers'. I don't believe, however, that any old Joe has magical powers, and there are certainly not enough to fill a school.

All this talk of nonsense started on my eleventh birthday, when I first got that letter. Our aunts had planned a pool party for Sage and I. The day of our party, however, a huge storm rolled in. Typical English weather, right? Thankfully we had planned ahead for faulty weather and rented out an indoor pool for the day. Alexa was allowed to invite a couple friends, since it wasn't her day. Since it was our day, Sage and I were allowed to invite as many people as we bloody wanted.

Sage took the suggestion to heart, inviting nearly everyone in our elementary class. Any one she was friendly with she invited. Many of them showed up for our company, some only for free cake and a free swim. A few people, however, didn't show at all. You see, Sage can be a bit overly sarcastic. Both of us can, actually, but my filter between my brain and mouth works a little better. Sage's filter hasn't worked a day in her life. Most people just know that's how she is and move on. Some people, like the few who didn't show, think she comes off as mean and abrasive.

I invited only one person to the party, my best friend Samantha. The two of us met a year or so ago at school and had been inseparable since. My aunts always seemed to be upset that I didn't have more friends. That's why they rented out the whole pool and told us we could invite whoever we bloody wanted. The offer was more for me. Sammy...Sammy happens to be one of my only friends. It's not like I don't know anybody else; I'm friendly with a lot of kids and their friendly with me too. I just have problems getting close enough to people to consider them close friends. I dunno, I guess that's just me. I feel like...whenever I'm around people I don't know too well their judging me and can somehow read my every thought and fear, but not with magic though. I guess I'm afraid they'll misjudge me and think I'm a freak.

But whatever. I make do with the life I have and it's good enough for me. Shouldn't that be enough?

Back to my birthday and the party. The party itself went along swimmingly...no pun intended. Sammy and I stuck together throughout the party mostly. On a few occasions she got a few people together for a game of water volleyball or water gun fight. She knew I was sort of detached from the other kids, so every now and then she would try to instigate stuff like this so I might make other friends.

After the party ended and all the guest left, my family, Sammy, and I headed back to our house for the night and a birthday dinner. Sammy was going to stay the night with me tonight, then I was going to go to her house for the weekend. Once we were home, we popped in a movie as Alexa, Sage, Sammy, and I crowded together on the couch. We were still young enough that me and my sisters could still hang out together in the same group.

Just as the beginning trailers ended and the movie was about to start, Phoebe came running into the living room, Piper and Prue flanking her.

"Stephanie, Sage! Look, look, look, I've got the post!" she said waving around two envelopes in the air. I looked over at Sage, slightly confused. We get letters all the time, why was she so excited now? And why were we getting it so late? It was nearly six o'clock in the afternoon, who would send us stuff this late?

Phoebe handed a letter to me and one to Sage. On the back I noticed a seal in red candle wax. I turned it back over, looking for a return address to see who had sent the letter. The odd thing was, there was no return address. The only thing the front did say, in green ink, was:

Ms. S. Cradey

Second Room on the Right, Second Floor

1329 Prescott Street

Sunningdale

I looked around the room at the rest of my family, confused and hoping for answers to my unasked questions. Like, who knew exactly where my room was? Who would mail me a letter and call me Ms. Cradey? Ms. S. Cradey even? Who did I know who would address letters in icy green ink with a red seal on the back? What were they, some kind of old royalty? Unfortunately, no one in my family could read my mind so they had no idea what I was thinking. They just smiled at me and encouraged me to open the letter. I shrugged and tore open the envelope, pulling out a piece of parchment as another fell to the floor.

Dear Miss Cradey,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31st.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"What is this?" I asked gesturing with the paper.

"It's a letter from your new school. Honey, we hadn't told before now because we weren't sure how you'd handle the news," Piper started.

"Not to mention the fact we didn't even know about any of this until last year," Prue continued.

"Will someone please just tell me what you're talking about?" I asked looking at my aunts confused.

"Stephanie," Prue started, taking my hand, "you're a witch."

I wasn't really sure how to react. My first reaction was that this was a whole joke; I had the hugest urge to burst out laughing, but I somehow contained myself.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, sweetie, we're really not. I know this must be a huge shock to you, but you've got to believe us. You're sisters are witches. Piper, Phoebe, and I are witches, so was your mum. Your dad was a wizard. Our mum and Grams were witches, and many more on the Halliwell side. We come from a very long line of magic, and so do you," Prue explained.

"Right," I said indifferently. "You're pranking me, I'm sure of it. I remember Sage's recent phase where she pranked her rear end off. This has prank written all over it. You've probably gone as far as to set up some trick to freak me out, haven't you?"

"Stephie, this isn't a joke. It's real," Sage said.

"Sure, sure," I said waving her words away. "Go on and show me this 'magic trick' then. You've gone to enough trouble, might as well see what you've come up with. Go on then."

"Stephanie, this really isn't a-"

"C'mon," Alexa started a bit hurried. "Let me take care of this."

She stuck out her right hand, palm up, and clearly said 'wand'. The faint sound of wind chimes filled the air as light blue and white spheres swirled around her open hand. When the spheres disappeared, a thin wooden stick was left in her hand. My eyes widened slightly at this. I figured they would try to convince me by doing some lame card trick or finding a quarter behind my ear; not this. Not- real magic.

No. Magic isn't real. This was just a really good illusion; I mean, a really good illusion. How else could she have made this stick appear in her hand? I tried to think of any possible way that she could have made it look like the stick got in her hand. She hardly moved at all. One second her hand was empty and the next it wasn't.

"Alexa!" Piper started.

"What the heck was that?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly.

"That was nothing, watch this," Alexa said. She raised the stick in her hand and gave it a swish and flick while saying, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

A book that had been lying on the table shifted a bit before it started rising into the air. She moved her hand and the stick, and the book followed, floating in mid air. I took a step back, staring at the book suspended in the air like that's where it's place was.

"See, magic is real," Alexa chimed.

"Alexa! Stop that. Now!" Prue chastised. Alexa frowned before lowering the stick and setting the book back on the table where it belonged.

"What? She wasn't believing our verbal attempts to tell her that we're witches, so I took a more practical approach."

"You probably terrified her! You can't just go throwing her into the ocean with this and hoping she'll come up swimming! Do you want her to lose everything again?" Prue continued. I swallowed a few times, hoping to hydrate my throat again, while my head swam. I couldn't bring myself to accept that whatever just unfolded in front of me could have been real and I was apart of it.

Although it seemed there was no way around it. Whatever Alexa had just done...there was no way to prove or disprove it. I hated to say it and hated even more to think it, but what she had done was magic. Making that stick appear was nothing compared to this. The book practically flew for goodness sakes. If the book had just levitated off the table shakily, I would have suspected wires were at play. The book seemed to have floated flawlessly though. They would have had to hook up wires, test run the rig multiple times, and practice; there was no way they could have planned this, it was all on the fly. This was just one of those things that no matter how much I didn't want to believe it, no matter how hard I tried to deny it, I couldn't.

This was one of those things that no matter how much I didn't want to believe it, no matter how severely it went against everything I had believed previously, there was no way to deny it. This was real.

"She's going to have to get into the water sometime. What is she going to do, stay home the rest of her life and ignore her heritage from her parents? Live like a muggle while you three try to keep the world safe? You can't keep the magical world away from her forever! You can't just ship her off on a train to some unknown school for ten months for the next seven years. If she got there and still didn't believe us, she'd surely lose it!" Alexa defended.

"Guys, I'm still here!" I said with an edge. "I'm not deaf; I can hear you. Please stop talking about me like I'm not here."

"I'm sorry, sissy, but you've got to believe us. I can't imagine how difficult this must be to take in; I never forgot. You're going to have to believe at some point. Preferably before September 1st," Alexa said, calming down.

"If I happen to believe all this," I started slowly, calming down but my mind still racing, "and I agree to go to this school, why then?"

"That's when we'll board the train that'll take us to Hogwarts. Oh, Stephie, you have to believe us! Hogwarts is so spectacular! The grounds are beautiful and the classes are amazing! You'll be sorted, make all new friends, and-"

"I don't want any new friends. I have Sammy and she's all I need," I cut in.

"Well, yes, but...Sammy won't be able to go with us. She's not like us, she's a muggle. Er- a non magic person," Alexa explained slowly.

"Are you saying that- can we not be friends anymore?"

"No, no, no, not at all. Of course you can still be friends. You can write each other all the time, hang out during summer break, and even Christmas or Easter break if you come back home. She just...can't go to school with us," Alexa continued.

"So you're saying that, for ten months at a time, I can't see my best friend?" I inquired.

"If you put it that way, then yes," Alexa said softly.

"Then I'm not going," I replied plainly.

"You don't have to go, sweetie, but you really should. You don't really want to stay with us here," Piper started. "I know you don't want to leave Samantha, but you'll make new friends-"

"It's not that I don't want to make friends," I cut again. "I don't want to have to start completely over. It took me nearly two years to make and keep a friend. I don't want to go through that again in a completely new world."

"That's the good thing, Stephanie," Phoebe said. "No one there knows anything about you or your past. This is your chance to refine yourself and forget about the past. Besides, friends are like jello; there's always room for more."

"The only thing I've told my friends is that I have two amazing twin sisters who will be here the year after me. I would never tell anyone about what happened to you," Alexa said sincerely.

"Aren't you always the one protesting that you're not frail and weak anymore? That you're stronger than you were? This is your chance to prove it. Jumping into something completely new like this is brave. Not wanting to go sounds pretty weak to me," Sage countered. I clenched my teeth together and looked at her out of the corner of my eyes. You know those times when it's not the fact that the other person is right, but rather that they're using your own words against you to make their argument that makes you mad? That was me right now.

"I'm still not sure if I believe all of this," I said, trying to shift some of the attention to another part of me. "I can have until September 1st, can't I?"

"More or less," Prue started, looking over at her own sisters. "We'll have to go to Diagon Alley at some point and get you two your supplies; you should probably go with us then. Actually, you'll have to let us know before then. We have to mail the school back by July 31st whether you're going or not. The train leaves at exactly 11 o'clock on the first, so you'll have to be packed and ready the night before at least."

I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded. "I'm going up to my room now."

"What about the movie?" Sage asked.

"I'm not really feeling like a movie now," I said as I started up the stairs. I walked up and to my room in silence. I lay down on my head, my mind running. I hadn't noticed Sammy come in and sit on the side of my bed with me.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, speaking for the first time since I had the letter in my hand.

"I dunno," I said while staring up at the ceiling. I flipped over so I was propped up on my elbows, lying on my stomach facing her. "What do you make of all this?"

"You being a witch with magic, I know," she said calmly.

"What? How did you know?"

"One time when I was waiting for you downstairs I saw Sage trying to practice. She didn't have her wand so all she could do was try and make up silly incantations and try to orb stuff. I was just as freaked out as you were. When she explained things to me and at first I didn't believe her. But then when Alexa came home for the summer Sage had her show me stuff she learned. Then I had to believe," Sammy explained.

"What about me going off to this school?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine with out you. I know you must be scared, but it'll be okay, I'm sure. Besides, you won't be completely alone; you'll still have Sage and Alexa," Sammy offered. "Besides, I bet you won't feel so left out surrounded by a bunch of weirdos."

"I thought you said you were okay with the magic thing!" I said shocked.

"Oh I am, but I'm still allowed to tease you because you're my best friend," she said with a smile. We chuckled together quietly before getting into bed. As I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, I recounted the day's events. I had woken up this morning thinking I was just going to have a normal birthday, nothing out of the ordinary. I would never in my wildest dreams, or possibly nightmares, imagined getting a letter from a magical school and learning that I'm a part of a world I hadn't believed existed until now.

Maybe going off to this Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad. This could be my one opportunity to shape myself differently. I wasn't exactly miserable at school, I just hated how lonely I felt. Perhaps I would get there and be instantly popular, even though I knew nothing of magic. Maybe no one would have to judge me based on what had happened to me in the past. I could just tell them about my parents, and that would be that. My place wasn't at Madame Pirrie's Primary school, I knew that. Maybe my place wasn't at Hogwarts either. Then again, what if it was?