I met my true love, mortal enemy and pettiest rival on the same day. Little did I know that in time they would turn out to be the same person.

This momentous day on which we met was everything out of the ordinary. My parents were rushing up and down the stairs, in and out of rooms, carrying everything I would need for school.

From the kitchen where I sat and pretended to be eating my breakfast, I could hear them calling out to each other as they passed, talking about what they still needed to pack.

"Eat, eat!" my mother chided as she rushed past, carrying at least twenty rolls of parchment in her arms.

I kept swallowing, but my throat was sticky and my stomach full of butterflies. How could I eat? It was my first day of a magic boarding school, and I had never spent so much as two weeks away from home before.

Across the table sat my sister Petunia and I could tell that she was furiously pretending I wasn't there. I looked down into my cold cereal, feeling miserable. For the first ten years of my life, we had been the best of friends. I was delighted to be her younger sister, thrilled every time she styled my hair or pulled me onto her lap when we were watching a movie. She used to bring me shopping with her sometimes and whenever we were out in public, if she met someone she knew Petunia would proudly display me, saying "This is my sister Lily. Isn't she gorgeous?"

Even when I was too young to know what 'gorgeous' meant, I loved hearing her say that. I loved the way her voice swelled with pride, and how she would brush through my hair with her fingers, and how I knew it must be a good word by the way people would nod and smile at me.

And then the letter came.

Flashback

I was sitting at the table in our dining room, feeling full and happy. The fading sunlight tickled my cheek gently and I could hardly sit still with excitement, happily shredding the paper from packages stacked in piles around me. There were several from my parents, one from Petunia, and others from relatives or family friends.

In my lap sat a new book, "Pride and Prejudice" from my parents, with a note saying, You'll grow into this book someday. A gleaming silver bracelet from my friend Elle was clasped around my wrist. I was eagerly tearing off the wrapping of a gift from my grandmother, which turned out to be a beautiful mancala board complete with shiny playing stones, when my mother stood up, camera in hand, and trilled "Picture! Petunia, go stand by her!"

My sister walked over and enveloped me in an enormous bear hug, obscuring most of my face and hair. I squealed delightedly, beaming from ear to ear, and my mother quickly snapped the photo. She and my father were chuckling. Petunia then seized her gift from the pile and handed it to me. "Here, Lils," she said. "Open it!" I had barely touched it when suddenly a large barn owl flew through the open window.

My mother jumped out of her seat, running for the broom, my father began to choke on his coffee, and Petunia screamed, covering her head with her hands. I simply sat there, gazing wide-eyed at the large bird which was circling above us. I was the only one who had noticed what it was carrying in its talons. It was a roll of parchment with a fiery red seal.

The bird swooped once more over the chaos that had descended upon the kitchen and with a clatter it dropped the letter onto my plate. Then, just as my mother grasped the broom handle and came running back, it took off out the open window and into the twilit sky.

Petunia stopped her shrieks and three pairs of eyes turned toward me, then down at the letter on my plate. I gulped and picked it up, handling it gently as if at any moment it would explode. Then I carefully broke the seal. The parchment unfurled and I began to read. I had gotten no more than a paragraph in before I dropped the letter, where it hit softly against my dish.

I looked up with a panicked gaze at Petunia. She walked over to me and picked up the paper, perusing it. Less than two seconds later, her scream nearly frightened us all out of our wits.

"Baby! What is it?" my mother asked, terrified. Petunia didn't answer. She was staring at me, petrified, and backing away. The letter was still clutched in her hands. My eyes were filling slowly with tears as her gaze turned from horror to disgust and then contorted into deepest loathing.

"Mom...Dad..." she whispered, looking up at them at last. "She's a–a witch."

There was absolute silence. My mother was gazing at Petunia, mouth open, while my father stared at me, white with shock. A tear was running down my cheek as I looked up at my sister.

"Tuney…" I begged, wanting more than anything for her to grin, give me a hug and say that she was so happy for me.

But she turned away from me, as if the sight of my face was too repulsive to bear. Then in one abrupt motion, she yanked her unopened present from me and stormed out of the room. I heard the clang of the metal trash cans as Petunia hurled the gift into one of them. Then her footsteps pounded on the stairs and the slam of her door crashed into our silence.

"Lily..." my mother said softly, coming around the table to put her arms around me, but I jerked out of her grasp. Then I jumped up, knocking over my chair and dashing outside, slamming the sliding door behind me.

I ran to the alley between the houses where our garbage cans were kept and yanked the lid off the nearest one. There, sitting on the bottom of the empty can and looking as lonely as I felt, was a small striped package with the corner torn off, revealing the black velvet of the box. Against the dim silver of the trash can, with darkness falling all around us, the bright colors of the wrapping paper only made me feel more miserable.

I reached down and grabbed the package, pulling it out and sitting with my back against the can. Tears streaming down my face, I gently tore off the wrapping and found myself staring at a velvety black box—a jewelry box.

Slowly I pried apart the hinges and peeked inside. On a silver chain hung a shiny white flower, cupped by green leaves, with a tiny gold dot in the center. A water lily.

My hand closed around the necklace as two warm tears rolled off my cheeks into the dirt below. It must have cost Petunia at least two month's allowance. I curled up between the trash cans, huddled against the summer winds which were now growing cold, bringing with them the scent of coming rain. And that was how I sat for hours, crying like a baby, until my sobs turned to hiccups and the gentle patter of raindrops began to fall.

"Honey."

I opened my eyes stiffly and saw my dad's face come into focus. My entire body was soaked. I had fallen asleep, curled like a cat.

My father said nothing else. He simply bent down and put his arms around me. I buried my face in his neck and he lifted me up, carrying me inside. My mother did not speak either as we walked in, just tenderly kissed my forehead as we passed her. Dad carried me up the stairs and into my bedroom, laying me down on my bed and wrapping the sheets around me. I was overcome with exhaustion, but there was something I had to tell him.

"Daddy, I don't want to be a witch." My soft voice filled the room, and it sounded so miserable and heartbroken that I began to cry again. Perhaps I had been hoping that if I told him I didn't want magic, my father could take it away.

"I know, sweetness," he said quietly. And then he kissed my forehead and left the dark room, pulling the door closed gently behind him.