Janie McKailey

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"So ho was work today, Sarah?" Janie asked her older sister. It was summer and Janie was out of school, her sister on the other hand, had already graduated.

"It was okay, nothing new," Sarah answered. Sarah had medium length blonde hair, that fell to her shoulders. She also had pale blue eyes that were almost a grey. Janie looked exactly the same, except her hair fell to the center of her back.

But, Janie didn't look the same. Not really. She was a metamorphmagu, meaning that she could change the way she looked at will. Without the disguise that she put on, she had deep black hair, and dark eyes that almost looked black as well. She had a natural beauty to her. Janie looked the complete opposite of her sister, her mother, and her father. She hid that fact. Janie willed herself to look like the rest of her family.

"Mom has been working on her crafts all day, she keeps asking me to help," Janie told her sister.

"It's a good thing that I don't stay home with mom anymore," Sarah laughed.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Janie replied.

They heard the front door slam open, and their father coming in cursing.

"Honey, what's wrong?" they heard their mother's distant voice.

"Nothing. Is dinner almost ready?" he replied in an annoyed tone.

"Ready when you are," their mother answered.

"Good, I'll be down soon I am going to wash up." He walked up the stairs. Anger still noted in his steps. He saw Sarah and Janie standing in the doorway of Sarah's room.

"What are you doing? Sitting around all day huh? Go help your mother!" He snarled at Janie , then walked off.

"He's in a mood, isn't he Janie?" Janie nodded. She would have to be extremely careful. Janie held a secret , one that only a few people knew off. Those people were her, Sarah, and her two best friends James and Cal. They were the only people that knew, the only people that Janie wanted ever to know. Well, unless you counted her father, he knew.

"I better go," Janie told her sister. Sarah nodded.

"I'll come too." Sarah worried about her younger sister. Why could her father be so kind to her, yet so cruel to Janie. It made no sense, they were both his daughters. Sure Janie was a little more rebellious and wild. And Janie lived for danger, but that was who Janie was. The two sisters walked quietly down the stairs and helped their mom set the table.

Everyone ate in silence, John McKailey was in a very bad mood. And no one dared to ask why.

After dinner, Sarah and Janie cleared the table and washed the dishes.

"I wonder why he is so angry," Sarah told her sister.

"Probably something at work, but it's not like I care," Janie replied, disdain dripping from her voice.

"Well, let's go watch a movie, okay?" Sarah suggested.

"Fine." They walked up the stairs going towards Janie's room. Janie's door was the last down the hallway. They had to pass their parents bedroom to get to it. They heard yelling.

"I don't want her going back to Beaxbatons, she's cocky and arrogant. She doesn't listen. I don't want her learning more of that magic, so she can become even more out of control!" John yelled.

Janie and Sarah paused outside their parents' door, they couldn't help it. They were talking about Janie. See, Janie and Sarah weren't exactly normal French teenagers. They were witches. Though their dad was a muggle, or a non magical person, their mom was a witch.

"John, she is going into her fifth year, you can't take her out of school now," Karen, their mother, pleaded.

"Yes, I can. What makes you think that I can't. You going to go to him?" John yelled.

"John, no!" Karen yelled. They has heard this from their father before. Though they never understood fully what the comment meant.

"I love you, and I'm sorry I made that mistake. He's no longer a part of my life. I haven't seen or heard from him since we moved," Karen told him. "Janie's your daughter, so take her out of Beaxbatons if you want, but please reconsider it first."

Janie's mouth dropped open and she gaped at her sister. They were going to take her out of Beaxbatons, the magic school that she attended.

"But she's not!" John exclaimed back.

"Yes..." Karen started.

"No she's not! You saying she is mine, because I raised her, doesn't make her mine. It's his blood not mine running through her veins. That schoolmate of yours that you had an affair with. She is his daughter," he slammed his fist down and they heard his footsteps as he walked into the master bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Sarah pushed Janie towards Janie's bedroom.

"Janie..." Sarah trailed off. It all was so clear now. Why John was so mean to Janie, why he never really cared. It was because she wasn't his daughter. Janie was a reminder that his wife had cheated on him with another man. Janie's biological father was someone Janie's mother had an affair with when her mom lived in England. Was someone that their mother had gone to Hogwarts with.

"Don't Sarah, I'm happy that man is not my father. He's so cruel and horrible, and I hate him."

"I know," was her sister's quiet reply. "Janie?"

"Yeah Sarah?" Janie was overwhelmed and it showed in her tone.

"What are you going to do?" Sarah asked Janie. Sarah knew her younger sister all to well. She knew that Janie would sooner or later want to move into action.

"I don't know, but..." Janie didn't finish her thought.

"You want to find out who your biological father is and never again have to worry about the man, whom you thought was your father all along," Sarah finished for her.

"Something like that," Janie agreed. Janie really didn't know how she was going to do that though.

"What are you waiting for? Start packing. Go as far as you can tonight," Sarah told her.

"What?" Janie asked.

"Run away. Look Janie, I don't want you to leave, but if I told you to stay it would be selfish of me. And if you don't run, you'll continue to get hurt. Besides you'll never find out who your true father is if you never leave. We only have two clues though: Apparently he went to Hogwarts with mom. And that he lives in England. Start there, go to England. Go to Hogwarts." Sarah explained.

"Maybe your right. But, we also have another clue," Janie replied.

"What's that?" Sarah asked.

"My middle name, Lilian. Mom named me after her best friend., Lilian Potter. She had to know who mom was with," Janie told Sarah.

"Janie, mom's friend is dead. How can you ask a dead person?" Sarah was confused.

"I don't have to ask her, but now I know what type of questions to ask at Hogwarts. I need to ask for someone who hung out with both mom and Lilian Potter.

"Well, I'll help you pack." they got up, gathering things as they went.

An hour later they had packed all of Janie's belongings into a magical suitcase, it held everything, but it was small enough to carry like a handbag. They loved magic.

"Well, I guess it's time," Sarah exhaled.

"Yeah."

"Here," Sarah handed her some floo powder, "go to James' and Cal's place. They're not that far from London. Besides, they'll take care of you."

Janie nodded and they walked quietly down the stairs and to the fireplace.

"Call?" Sarah asked.

"Of course," Janie answered. She then hugged her sister, threw the powder into the flames speaking her destination.

She stepped out of the fireplace and into a dark room. It was the living room of thee small house that James and Cal shared. Janie took out her cell phone. Then dialed James' number.

"Hello?" came a groggy voice, it was nearly midnight.

"James?" Janie asked into her cell.

"Janie, it's you right? Why are you calling at this time of night?" Is everything okay?"

"Actually...no...well sort of," she responded.

"Where are you?" James asked.

"Um. In the living room," she told him.

"What living room? Yours?" he again questioned her.

"No, not mine. I'm in yours."

"Wait one second," he said.

Janie waited when she was suddenly drowned in light. James stood at the doorway that went into the hall. He was in a pair of black jogging pants and a white shirt. Apparently he had been sleeping, or trying to.

"Janes, what are you doing here?" Like her sister, James knew Janie inside out. He automatically knew something was wrong just by looking at her. So his voice was comforting and he used his nickname for her.

"I ran away, " she breathed out while dropping into a chair.

"What! Why?" he exclaimed walking over to her and kneeling on his knees in front of her.

"It was Sarah's idea, after hearing their argument," Janie said. James knew then tht it was a good thing that Janie ran away. Sarah wasn't irresponsible or an impulse thinker. If she thought it was a good idea, then it probably was.

"What did you hear during their argument?" James questioned her farther.

"He wanted to take me out of Beaxbatons and mom stood up for me. Then he yelled at her about her cheating on him. That I wasn't his, but that the guy mom was with is my father," she said all this in a monotone voice, like she was in shock or didn't care.

James was also in shock. John McKailey was not Janie's biological father. Joy overwhelmed him. Joy for Janie, but now was not the time for joy.

"Come on Janie, you can sleep in my room, I'll take the couch."

Janie fell into a fitful sleep.