Noel was very proud to say that she was different. She had always been the odd one in her classes. The other kids were scared of her. She could do things that the other children could not do. Once she was being teased by a bigger girl when she was seven. Noel got angry and the larger girl's pigtails started being pulled by an invisible force. Of course, when the girl's friends told the teacher, Noel was the one in trouble for pulling the girl's pigtails.

Noel's mother, Haila, never got angry with her, though. "You're different, special. Just like me. And one day, you'll understand why and just how special you are," her mother had said wiping away one of Noel's tears. She said this to Noel's siblings as well: her brother, Davis; and her sister, Eliza. Noel's father, though, was did not share the same views. He suggested therapy to help her separate her imagination from reality, and to help her make more friends than just the strange girl from across the street, Jenna.

Jenna was just like Noel with the strange thing that happened to her. Haila always liked and approved of Jenna. She was only a year younger than Noel, but they got along so well while playing in the woods testing their strange abilities.

On Davis' sixth birthday, he started showing some of the same powers Noel and Jenna had. It was at that moment Noel knew that something was truly different about them, that she and Jenna weren't just imagining things. She also saw that her father noticed, too. And that her mother appeared to dread something that would be coming soon.

It was a wet, summer morning (Noel's favorite kind!) five months after Davis' sixth birthday. Noel was standing at the kitchen counter helping her mother prepare for Eliza's fifth birthday party that afternoon. Noel was in charge of the cake. She enjoyed baking. She enjoyed the measurements and the mixing and the creative decorating when it was finished. This particular cake would be green, Eliza's favorite color.

Noel had been hard at work mixing ingredients for the cake when she heard her mother gasp and drop her coffee mug. Haila had been looking pale to Noel for the past month. Noel was almost expecting something like this to happen at any time.

She put down her bowl and whisk, and turned around to her mother, running a hand through her long, unruly, dirty blonde hair.

"Mum?" she asked, "Is everything alright?" Haila said nothing but continued to stare out the window looking paler than usual. Noel followed her mother's gaze to see a barn owl waiting sitting on the flower box, waiting to be let in. She was awestruck at first but soon got over it when she realized that her mother was probably anticipating this. She walked over, opened the window, and allowed it to fly in. It perched itself on the back of a chair. Haila let out a small whimper as this happened.

The owl dropped a letter that Noel had just noticed it had been carrying. It flew off as soon as the letter hit the table.

Noel was frightened. "M-mum?" she asked, "W-what was that about?"

Her mother sighed. "I'm really glad your father was out for that." She looked at the mug she had dropped. "Get a broom and clean that up will you?" She sat down and put her head in her hands.

Noel folded her arms impatiently. "No. I want to know what that owl business was about. You obviously know with way you've been acting. Terrified and then brushing it off so easily. It brought a letter for…" Noel suddenly realized she didn't even know who the letter was for. She looked and immediately had a million more questions. "It's for me," she finished.

"Yes it's for you," Haila stated. She then took out a long wooden stick from inside her jacket, waved it, and the mug was cleaned from the floor. "Aren't you going to open it? It's your letter, after all."

It was Noel's letter, but she didn't want to open it without an explanation. However, she did anyway. Her mother seemed too exasperated to answer anything at the moment.

Noel slowly opened the letter, afraid of what she'd find. The envelope had had where her bedroom was written on it, and that's never a good sign. The letter was written in neat calligraphy. It stated that she had been accepted into a school named Hogwarts, which she had never heard of (and Noel knew all of the boarding schools in England). It included when she was to report and her list of supplies, but one thing stuck in her mind.

"Witchcraft and wizardry?" she murmured to herself, still loud enough for Haila to hear. "Mum?"

"Well, I suppose I should tell you before they get home," her mother had started, "I'm a witch. Yes, that means magic," she said reading her daughter's expression. "It also means that you and your brother and sister will have magical ability, too. Your father doesn't know, though. I never wanted to tell him. I was scared he'd leave me, and then you, Davis, and Eliza. He never seemed the type to accept wizardry." She paused and looked at Noel.

Noel was still processing everything. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to think it was some April fool's joke even though it was July. But it all fit. "So, I just saw you do magic a minute ago? With a … wand?"

Her mother nodded.

"Do you still keep in contact with other wizards? I don't see how you would."

Haila breathed heavily. "I cut off all contact from the wizarding world almost ten years ago. In fact, that's the first bit of magic I've done in years," she said gesturing to the mug.

Noel understood. She always understood after the first explanation. But one thing still bothered her, "So Dad's not magic?"

"No, dear. Dad's not magic. Unless he's hiding it really well. No, he's what wizards call a Muggle. They're folks with no wizard genes whatsoever."

Her mother looked at the clock. "Oh my," she exclaimed, "We still have to get ready for Eliza's party. We'll talk more later, I promise. But not a word to your father until after the party."

Noel nodded. There was no need to say anything anyway. It's her mother's job to explain this mess.

Seven loud children and seven hours later, the five members of the Miller family were seated at the table, three of them getting an explanation from Haila that they never thought possible. Eliza and Davis, Noel noticed, were trying hard to contain their excitement for their worried father. Noel would have had to suppress a giggle if her father wasn't so upset.

"So you mean to tell me that all this time, you were a witch and you didn't bother to tell me? And now our children are involved in this magic business, too?" He was practically shouting while Haila was on the verge of tears. Noel couldn't stand to see this even if her mother had kept a secret from her all these years.

She got up from the table and left. On her way out she heard the scrape of two more chairs. She didn't need to look to know that it was Davis and Eliza following their older sister.

Noel went to the living room and plopped down on the couch. Her younger siblings did the same on either side of her. Her father stomped into the room, angrier than ever, with her mother following at a safe distance.

"Noel!" he reprimanded. "We were having a conversation with the family and you just left. Why did leave like that?"

"Because Mum was just scared!" she shot back. "Mum is almost crying because she's scared of what's going to happen to us!" She didn't even remember getting up off the couch. "She was scared that you would leave her. Leave us." Now Noel was about ready to break.

Her father looked insulted. "I just feel betrayed is all."

Noel felt tears swelling in her eyes. "So you're saying you won't leave?" she asked quietly.

Silence.

Tears were now streaming down Noel's cheeks. "Daddy? You won't leave us, right?" she asked again. "We love you, Daddy," she added.

More silence.

Noel burst into tears and ran out of the room, up the stairs to her bedroom. Davis and Eliza had never seen her cry like that. Was she right? Was her father really going to divorce her mother leaving a torn apart family? What would happen to them? But in the morning it was worse than Noel ever could have imagined. A suitcase, half of her father's clothes and valuables, and quite a bit of cash was missing. And her father was, too.

A/N: Thanks all for reading this! I really hope you liked it. Expect more from Noel and her adventure at Hogwarts. She won't be interacting much with the main characters because I'm sure I won't do a great job on portraying their personality correctly. But worry not! They will be in here a little bit.

I can't promise a steady flow of chapters, but I promise to publish when I can. Enjoy the rest!