Harry Potter and the Charmed Ones

Chapter 3

-Piper-

"Piper! Are you almost ready?"

I sighed deeply. I was sitting at my vanity, my brush clutched in my hand. I had been brushing my hair for the last ten minutes, it now reaching a state of silky softness, willing myself to stop and go downstairs where my family was waiting for me.

Phoebe and Paige had convinced me to accept the dinner invitation from the Weasley family when an owl – an owl! – had arrived on Thursday. The entire Weasley family was going to be there, which included, as Molly Weasley had informed us, twenty-six people. Combined with the Halliwell group of fifteen, it was going to be quite a gathering, especially considering the fact that half of them were children.

I groaned and put my forehead in my hands. Over the last few days, my worst fear had started to unveil itself – I was seriously considering moving to that Hogwarts school. I had convinced myself, when Kingsley brought it up, that I would never, ever agree to it and nothing that my sisters or Leo said was going to change my mind. But, just as they knew I would, I began to wear down. I had a dream one night, where I awoke to find Harry, with torn robes and blood running down his face, telling me that everyone was dead. The whole Weasley family, the entire student body, the whole Ministry. He was the last one left, he said, and it was entirely my fault. He has lost everyone all because I had been too stubborn to help. I arose that morning in a cold sweat.

I still did not know how I was going to do it. Wyatt, Chris, Melinda, and the rest of the kids could not get the education they needed from Hogwarts, and Wyatt was going to be a senior in high school – he could not get his degree from a magic school. I didn't know how they would react to being taken out of their current school and away from their friends. I could not move to England and leave my restaurant in the care of managers for who knew how long. No way would Henry be able to leave his job. I exhaled again.

"Coming!"

I grabbed a white cardigan and slipped it on over my silk yellow V-neck top before swinging my purse over my shoulder and jogging down the steps.

"I'm here," I said, slightly out of breath, when I reached the landing. The other members of my family were waiting impatiently at the bottom.

"Took you long enough," grumbled Paige.

I ignored my younger sister. "Is everyone else ready?"

"Have been for fifteen minutes," Wyatt said under his breath.

I held up a finger. "I heard that," I snapped.

"Are we ready to go?" Phoebe said.

Coop, Paige, and Wyatt, the designated transporters, all nodded. Coop wrapped his arms around his family, Paige around hers, and Leo, Chris, Melinda, and I held onto Wyatt.

The large Halliwell family materialized in the garden of a very tall, but slightly drooped, house. It was at least five stories tall and had a number of chimneys sticking out of the top. Before we could stare for longer than three seconds, a high-pitched scream erupted.

"MOOOO-OOOOM!" a little girl screamed. She was standing next to two long, wooden tables, a handful of silverware and napkins clutched in her hands, and she was staring, pale-faced, at the new arrivals. "MOM!" she shrieked again, dropping the assortment of forks, knives, and spoons. The girl looked to be about Prue's age and she had vibrant red hair.

Four people ran outside at the sound of the little girl's screams. "Lily!" a redheaded woman said breathlessly. Her daughter was the spitting image of her mother. "What's –" She followed her daughter's gaze to my family.

"Hi," I said nervously, my eyes flicking between the four adults outside. "Uh... I think we were expected."

Behind the redheaded woman's shoulders was Harry. "Ginny, it's The Charmed Ones," Harry said, putting his hand on the woman's shoulders. Two other women had also streaked outside at Lily's cries – one was a black girl with dark hair pulled into a bun and the other was Audrey.

The Halliwell family approached the five Weasleys cautiously. "I'm sorry about that," Ginny apologized, holding her hand out to shake. "My daughter, Lily, is easily frightened."

"Am not!" Lily protested, blushing. "They appeared from-from – blue light! It was scary!"

"I'm Ginny Potter," Ginny introduced, shaking our hands. "And I think you've all met Harry?"

Audrey approached Leo, Henry, and Coop, formally introducing herself, and the black woman held her hand out my sisters and me. "Angelina Weasley," she greeted.

"Mum! Dad!" Ginny called into the house. "Our guests are here."

There was a bustle of movement as a stream of people, most with red hair, stepped out of the house. We all stepped back, my eyes wide, at the sight of the massive family.

Greetings were made, and all of us met Molly and Arthur Weasley, their sons Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, and Ron, Ron's wife Hermione, Bill's wife Fleur, and Bill and Fleur's two daughters, Victoire and Dominique.

"It's going to be an eventful dinner," Molly beamed. She glanced down at all the children and said, "The rest of the kids are playing out front, why don't you go meet them?"

-Chris-

At Mrs. Weasley's words, Melinda immediately led our younger cousins through the garden and around the house, eager to make new friends. I took a few steps and waited for Wyatt, whose eyes lingered on Dominique.

"Mom, can't I stay with the adults?" he asked quietly.

Mom furrowed her brow. "Well, it's gonna be boring. I'm gonna bitch out how unfair this whole destiny thing is while they convince me to move here."

"But I –"

Mrs. Weasley smiled down at Wyatt, overhearing the conversation. "It's okay, Percy's daughter Molly and George's son Fred are your age, too. Seventeen, right?" Wyatt nodded. "They're with the rest of the kids."

"Go on," Piper urged.

Wyatt sighed and turned around, joining me and following Melinda's path to the other side of the house.

"You thought Dominique was hot, didn't you?" I said smugly. I could see why he thought so – she and the other girl, Victoire, had to be some of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen in my entire life.

"Shut up," muttered Wyatt.

We emerged at the front of the house and were met with a large mass of children playing with toy wands, broomsticks, and a whole barrage of other toys that Wyatt and I had never seen before.

"Hi!" a girl with curly red hair and round glasses said promptly. She, like most of her family members, was wearing faded jeans and an outdated sweater. Her red hair reached her shoulders, and she had a dust of freckles on her nose and cheeks.

We jumped slightly. "Hi." Wyatt smiled politely. "Uh... I'm Wyatt and this is Chris."

The girl smiled brightly. "I'm Molly," she said in a British accent. She thrust out her hand, beaming at us. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and I noted that her ears were a bit bigger than normal.

Wyatt shook her hand apprehensively. "Nice to meet you." Wyatt glanced over her outfit and then down at his, and I knew that my brother and I were thinking the same thing: our clothes really stuck out against her family's style.

Molly and I shook hands as well. "So, uh... you have a big family," I said bluntly. Wyatt elbowed me painfully in the ribs and I grunted in pain. "What?" I said through clenched teeth.

"You can't say stuff like that," Wyatt hissed back.

Molly, however, was unperturbed. "Yeah, we do." She shrugged. "But it's fun. Here, I'll introduce you to everyone." She turned around, where the Weasley children were playing with the Halliwells. "Let's see... there's Al, Rose, Hugo... Roxy and Lucy... and James and Louis and Fred. Oh, and Lily." She pointed at the same small redhaired girl that had screamed upon their arrival, who had just turned the corner of the house. "Victoire and Dom are helping with the cooking."

Wyatt and I nodded slowly, our eyes roving among Molly's many cousins. "I'm probably not gonna remember that," said Wyatt apologetically.

Molly laughed. "That's okay. You'll get to know us at Hogwarts."

I snored. "What'd you say?" I asked, stifling a smile.

Glancing between the two of them in confusion, Molly said, "Hogwarts. You know, Hogwarts School?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Wyatt. "The wizard school?" Molly nodded. "Yeah, my mom said something about that. I don't know if we're going."

Molly frowned. "My mum and dad said you were gonna go and that your mums would be teaching."

"Our mom? Teaching? Ha!" I let out a bark of laughter. "Maybe Dad, but my mom doesn't teach."

Shrugging, Molly said, "That's what my dad said."

"I know that my mom said if we move here, we'll be protecting you all," Wyatt said.

"Protecting us?" scoffed a boy with dark black hair. Two other boys were next to him, one a black boy with dark hair and the other with red hair, although a different shade than the rest of his family – it was more a strawberry blonde color. I recognized them as the group that Molly had referred to as, "James and Fred and Louis," but I didn't know who was who.

"Yeah," said Wyatt. "That's what my mom and aunts said."

The boy folded his arms across his chest. "Why do we need protecting?"

Wyatt and I exchanged glances. Our mother had told us about The Source being back, but had forbidden us from telling our sister and cousins. With a half-shrug, I knew that Wyatt was thinking the same thing as me – well, the Weasleys aren't our family.

"This huge evil demon wants to take over the magical world," I said frankly. "My mom and aunts are the only ones that can defeat him."

"Yeah, well," the boy scowled, "my dad beat Lord Voldemort. I'm sure he can defeat a... demon."

"I don't know who Lord Voldemort is," said Wyatt, "but my mom and her sisters really are the only ones that can vanquish The Source."

"The Source?" repeated the black boy, in unison with a much higher voice belonging to a young Halliwell.

Prue approached Wyatt and me with wide eyes. "The Source?" she said, again, softly.

We looked at each other again, biting our lips at our mistake. "Don't worry, Prue." I put my arm around the twelve-year-old. "You have nothing to worry about."

"But..." She swallowed, Molly and the three boys looking on. "The Source of All Evil is back. Does he wanna kill us?"

"Nah." I shook her comment off. "He just wants –" Wyatt stomped, hard, on my foot, causing me to cut off with a, "Ouch!" I glared at Wyatt. "No matter what he wants," I restarted, "We're gonna get him. Your mom, my mom, and Aunt Paige are the most powerful witches in the world, remember?" Prue nodded, still frowning. "Nothing's gonna happen to us."

"Okay," said Prue in a small voice. She broke away from me and ambled back over to Melinda and her new Weasley acquaintances.

"Mom's gonna kill us," I said to Wyatt.

Rolling his eyes, Wyatt said, "She's gonna kill you more, because you almost told Prue what The Source wants. Nice job."

"Hold on," Molly interrupted, and Wyatt and I remembered that we had a small audience. "Some guy who calls himself The Source of All Evil is out to get us?"

"It's a demon," I said, "and he doesn't just call himself The Source, he is The Source."

"What's a demon?" the boy with strawberry blonde hair asked.

"Is that a wizard?" the black boy questioned.

I sighed. "It's kind of hard to explain..."

"Your parents will explain it to you soon enough," Wyatt interjected. "If we go to Hogwarts, everyone will know."

Molly and the three boys glanced at each other, looking slightly apprehensive. In an attempt to lighten the mood, I cleared my throat and said, "So, what are your guys' names again?"

"I'm James," said the boy with the unruly dark hair. The black boy introduced himself as Fred and the final blonde boy as Louis.

Wyatt nodded. "Right. So, you guys are all cousins, then? How many of you are there, exactly?"

"Yup, all cousins!" said Molly brightly. "There's twelve of us in all."

"And how old are you guys?" I asked.

Molly and Fred established their ages as seventeen ("Almost eighteen!" said Molly happily), Louis as sixteen, and James fifteen.

"So Fred and I are going to be seventh years at Hogwarts," explained Molly, "Louis is a sixth year, and James is a fifth year. How old are you guys?" After hearing that Wyatt was seventeen and I fifteen, she said, "Oh, so when – I mean, if – you guys go to Hogwarts, Wyatt, you'll be a seventh year with me and Fred and Chris'll be a fifth year with James."

Wyatt and I stared at Molly as we nodded slowly. Most of what she was saying was barely registering with us, simply going in one ear and out the other. Fifth year? Fifth year out of how many?

Eyeing the rest of their cousins, Molly asked, "You have some young relatives. How old are all your cousins?"

"Erm –" Wyatt and I exchanged glances. Neither of us was that good when it came to ages. "Melinda is thirteen," I began. "And Prue is…"

"She's twelve," supplied Wyatt. "So are Tamora and Kat. And Henry is eleven."

"Patty's ten."

"And Penny's seven."

"They're not all old enough to go to Hogwarts," said Molly. "You have to be eleven. So Henry will be a first year. Prue and the twins will be second years, with Hugo and Lily, and Melinda will be a third year."

"How do remember how old all of your twelve cousins are?" I asked in awe.

Molly shrugged, a wide smile upon her face. "It's easy to me!" She glanced around at all the kids. "I hope you guys are all in Gryffindor! All the Weasleys and Potters have been in Gryffindor, so it'll be SO much fun if you guys are too!"

Wyatt and I, yet again, exchanged perplexed and exasperated glances. This night was going to be very long.

-Phoebe-

As the kids all rounded the corner of the house, the Weasley women herded all of us Halliwells into the house, with the Weasley men bringing up the rear. The Weasley kitchen was barely bigger than the Manor's, and clearly could not hold the nineteen people currently crammed into it.

"I propose that we men gather for a quick drink of firewhiskey before dinner," Bill announced loudly over the dull grumble of people chatting. "We all know how much Mum dislikes men in her kitchen, anyway."

The Weasley men all mumbled their agreement and began shuffling into the living room. Leo, Coop, and Henry followed a bit hesitantly and I figured why – what the hell was firewhiskey? If there was any noun that could have been paired with whiskey to make it sound worse than it already was, fire was the best one out there.

Left in the kitchen after the men were gone were Molly, her daughter Ginny, daughters-in-law Fleur, Audrey, Angelina, and Hermione, granddaughters Victoire and Dominique, and Piper, Paige, and I. It was still fairly crowded and I didn't see how any cooking would get done.

"Piper, Paige, Phoebe, you all sit down," Molly instructed immediately. "You are our guests so I will not let you help."

Paige and I heeded her words instantly, sitting down at the small table in the corner of the kitchen, but Piper remained standing. "Are you sure?" she asked timidly. "I'm a chef, after all –"

"I'm one hundred percent sure," said Molly firmly. "However, I would love to try some of your cooking sometime!"

"That's mum's way of trying to invite herself to your house," Ginny smirked.

"Is not!" Molly said unconvincingly, flushing magenta.

Piper smiled. "I would love to have you all over, but my house can barely hold my own family for dinner and we don't have all this land like you guys do."

"Well, you'll just have to cook for us while you're at Hogwarts," Molly said carefully, glancing at Piper out of the corner of her eye. Piper, however, remained quiet and instead just sat down, which I took as a good sign.

The eight Weasley witches were all bustling about the small kitchen, waving their wands so that the cooking was done nearly entirely by magic. Knives cut up vegetables on their own accord, spoons stirred contents in bowls with no hands guiding, and the substances were poured into pans without anyone touching them. My sisters and I watched them work in awe; it was so weird being in a place where everything was magical. Sure, the Manor was a fairly magic-filled place, but we had people coming over all the time that knew nothing of our magical abilities, so the magic was kept to a minimum. Chances are, however, that the Weasleys never have non-magical people over – in fact, they probably don't even know any non-magical people. Their entire, everyday lives include magic and that's something that will probably take a while for my sisters and me to get used to.

"So you're a chef?" Angelina said, directing a knife to cut four loaves of bread. "Professionally?"

Piper nodded. "Yeah. I own a restaurant and I'm the head chef there."

"I wish I was good at cooking," Hermione said. "I'm really bad… that's why Molly sticks me with the most mundane tasks."

"Well, one of the first things Ronald told me about your journey with Harry to find the Horcruxes was how the food was… unfavorable," said Molly, laughing.

Hermione grinned. "It was rather awful… when Ron and I got married, I worried about how we would feed our children."

"Is that why Rose and Hugo always eat so much at our house?" Angelina joked.

"It's the same story with us," Paige said, grinning at her eldest sister. "My kids always eat everything they can get their hands on at Piper's house – her food must taste extra good after eating the stuff my husband and I prepare for them."

"They'll love the food at Hogwarts," said Ginny earnestly. "It's the best. Well, after yours, Mum."

"Tell us about Hogwarts," I asked. "Do the kids live in dorms and stuff? And what kind of classes do they take? Is any of it general education, like math and science, or is it all magical?"

"It's all magical," Hermione explained, flicking her wand so that forty napkins folded themselves elegantly around forty sets of silverware. "And the students live in dormitories sorted by House."

"By House?" I repeated.

"There are four houses at Hogwarts," said Ginny, helping Hermione levitate the forty folded up napkins into two baskets to take outside. "Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Students are sorted into one of these four; there are different personality traits associated with each House."

"Like?" Paige prompted.

"Gryffindors are brave," said Angelina, "Ravenclaw intelligent, Hufflepuff loyal, and Slytherin ambitious. Some Houses have some untrue reputations but there's really nothing wrong with any of them."

"And you all went to Hogwarts, right?" All the woman nodded, except for Fluer.

"I went to a magic school een France," she said. "Beauxbatons. My cheeldren were all granted admission into both 'Ogwarts and Beauxbatons, but they all chose to attend 'Ogwarts."

"What House were you guys in?" I asked.

"Gryffindor," they all replied in unison.

"And your kids –"

"All Gryffindors," said Ginny proudly.

My sisters and I exchanged glances. "It seems like Gryffindor is the House to be in," Paige murmured.

"Once upon a time, it was thought that Gryffindor was the 'best' House," Hermione said, using air quotations. "But it really isn't. In the last few years, the Ministry has worked very hard to get rid of all the stereotypes on the Hogwarts Houses, because it got to a point where every person associated with certain Houses were labeled certain… things."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious to know everything about this magical world.

"Well, people would assume that everyone in Ravenclaw was a snobby bookworm and Hufflepuffs were all cowards. But the worst stereotype was given to Slytherin," Hermione explained. "Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters all came from Slytherin and it was in Slytherin that all the 'pureblood' stuff started, so almost everyone sorted into Slytherin was viewed as evil. Just because some bad people came out of Slytherin didn't mean it was an evil House. The discrimination reached its peak while we were in school but it has been significantly reduced since then."

It was hard for me to comprehend what she was saying because so many of her words made no sense. Voldemort? Death Eater? That horrifying title chilled me to the bone. And what was 'pureblood' stuff?

Paige, never being the one to hold back, voiced her confusion right away. "Wait… what? Death Eaters? Voldemort? Pureblood?"

"Oh, right," said Ginny, glancing around. "I forgot. Kingsley never got a chance to explain everything to you."

"Well, at least we know we'll have conversation for the rest of the night!" said Audrey, smiling.

"It would probably be easiest to start with the pureblood epidemic," Angelina suggested.

"For a long time," began Ginny, "it was believed that wizards whose blood was supposedly 'pure' were better than wizards who were half-blood or Muggle-born."

"Pause," I interrupted. "Can someone please tell us what Muggle means? I thought it was a clothing brand."

"Erm, no," said Victoire, smiling slightly. "A Muggle is a non-magical person."

"Riiiiiight," said Paige. "That makes more sense… kind of. Anyway, carry on."

"A pureblood wizard is someone who comes from a magical family," Ginny explained. "A half-blooded wizard is someone with one magical parent and one Muggle parent, or one pureblood parent and one Muggle-born parent, like Harry. And a Muggle-born is someone who has two Muggle parents. And for ages and ages, pureblood wizards were thought by many to be superior to other wizards and Muggle-borns were at the bottom of the food chain. Then, the year when Voldemort had near complete control of the Ministry, Muggle-borns were prosecuted for supposedly 'stealing magic' from a real wizard and many of them went on the run."

Our jaws all dropped. "What?" Paige cried incredulously. "That's the most – ridiculous thing –"

"It was awful," said Hermione. "I'm a Muggle-born and I was already on the run when all of this happened. It's gotten much, much better, however. There was only ever a small group of people that thought this way – it's just that they gained power for a while and started to enforce these ridiculous laws. It's completely changed now, though. The Ministry works, to this day, very hard to make sure that none of this discrimination is still around. Of course, there will always be people that feel this way but none of them are in a position to influence masses of people anymore."

"Wow," was all I could say.

"This talk is too heavy for me to handle," said Piper, putting a hand to her head.

"I agree," said Molly, stepping back and supervising the other women's work. "Let's go back to talking about Hogwarts."

"I agree also," said Paige, sitting up straighter. "What kinds of classes do the kids take there?"

"There's Transfiguration, Potions," Hermione began to recite, "Herbology, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Astronomy. Well, the required ones, after all."

"In your third year, you can start taking elective classes," Ginny said. "Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies."

"I'm gonna be honest with you guys," said Paige sheepishly. "I don't know what half of those are about." Piper and I nodded in agreement.

Audrey chuckled. "Well, Transfiguration is the study of transforming one object into another. It's pretty difficult magic, which is why students take it for at least five years. Potions is, well, all about mixing different potions."

"Our kids would do well in that," said Piper, and Paige and I nodded.

"Herbology is the study of magical plants," Angelina continued. "History of Magic is pretty self-explanatory… just the history of magic. Defense Against the Dark Arts teaches students how to defend themselves from Dark Magic. Charms is all about how to perform different spells and they get progressively harder the older they get. And Astronomy is the study of the stars and the planets."

"This all sounds really interesting," Paige said, frowning. "I wish I'd been able to go to this school."

"What about the other classes? The electives?" I asked.

"Divination is like fortune-telling." Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's rather rubbish, really… I don't recommend taking it. Care of Magical Creatures is also pretty self-explanatory. Muggle Studies has actually become one of the most popular classes since the war. I'm not too sure why but I think it's good that students like to learn about how Muggles go about their lives without magic. Ancient Runes teaches you how to read ancient runes and translate them into English. And Arithmancy is generally the study of numerology."

"I agree, these all sound really interesting," I admitted.

"And then, of course, there's the new class," Hermione said carefully, watching my sisters and me out of the corner of her eye.

"What new class?" asked Molly curiously.

"The class that they'll teach," said Hermione. "A class on Wiccan magic."

"Wiccan magic?" Angelina said. "You mean, wandless magic?"

"There's a lot more to it than that," said Piper, a hint of irritation in her voice only detected by Paige and me.

"Of course there is," said Ginny. "That's why it'll be great to have this new class. So many wizards scoff at the idea of using incense and candles to perform ritualistic ceremonies… but you guys know better than us that it's very real."

Paige nodded in agreement. "That's true. And it might be good for our kids to go to Hogwarts so they know that waving wands isn't just some stereotype."

I smirked. "I'm sure we can all agree that riding on a broom is silly, though."

The Weasley women exchanged grinning glances. "I guess no one's explained Quidditch to you, then?" said Ginny.

Piper, Paige, and I looked at them with blank stares. "Qui-what?" said Paige.

"Later," said Molly, clapping her hands together. "Dinner is ready! Victoire, Dominique, can you go fetch the kids? Hermione, go on and get the men. The rest of you, help me bring dinner out. Not you three!" she cried suddenly, as Piper, Paige, and I made to stand up. "You just go out and sit down."

"Are you sure you don't want us to help at all?" Paige offered. "We'd be more than happy to –"

Molly held up a hand, silencing my younger sister. "I won't hear another word. You are our guests. Go on!"

A stream of Weasley and Halliwell men entered the kitchen on their way outside and my sisters and I decided to follow them outside rather than protest against Molly – it was unlikely anyone ever won an argument with her. I sat down between Coop and Piper, with Paige and Henry on Coop's other side and Leo next to Piper. The table seemed to go on for miles – it was built to seat forty, which meant nineteen people sat on each side and one person on either end. The Weasley men sat across from us, leaving spaces for their wives.

Hermione, Ginny, Angelina, Fleur, and Audrey all came outside, their wands levitating various dishes of food. Molly followed, looking over the shoulders of her daughter and daughters-in-law to oversee their work. After settling the food down on the table, the five women returned inside to fetch the rest.

Victoire and Dominique rounded the corner of the house, the Halliwell and Weasley children following close behind. The many children settled themselves around the table – Wyatt and Chris sat near a girl and three boys that looked around their ages, and Prue, Tamora, Kat, and Melinda were chatting animatedly with Lily and two other boys.

Once all the food had been served, the Weasley women took their seats as well and finally allowed the children to serve themselves. I opted to wait until everyone else had finished serving themselves before I got my food. As Coop reached for some roasted potatoes, I asked, "So, how was the firewhiskey?"

He made a face as he spooned food onto his plate. "Still burning."

Few words were spoken over the next few minutes as everyone dug into the feast. I was immensely surprised at how good the food tasted; I snuck a glance at Piper next to me and saw the slight surprise on her face as well. This is good. Perhaps Piper and Molly could bond over their love of cooking. Although, it seems that Piper has seemingly decided to move to Hogwarts in September – or, at least, resigned herself to the fact that she doesn't have much of a choice.

"So, kids," Molly said loudly over the clink of silverware on plates, "your owls from Hogwarts should be arriving in a few days."

The Weasley children all nodded. "Dad, when we go to Diagon Alley, can I get a new broom?" asked a boy with jet-black hair eagerly.

Harry rolled his eyes at his son. "James, we bought you the Lightning Strike for Christmas last year. What's wrong with it?"

"Well – nothing," the boy admitted, "but the new Lightning Strike 5000 is even better –!"

"James," warned Ginny. "We're not buying you a new broom."

"They should buy me a new broom," Lily cut in. "I'm finally old enough to try out for the House team and I'll need something better than your old Cruiser, James."

"Hey, I've got a Cruiser!" the boy next to James said. "There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Enough!" cried Molly, ending the squabble.

"So you guys actually play sports while riding broomsticks?" Paige asked, in awe. "That's so crazy! I can't wait to see a game!"

"You can watch the games at Hogwarts!" said Angelina earnestly. "They're really exciting. And the Gryffindor team is pretty much dominated by us. Fred's a Beater, James is a Chaser, and Rose is Keeper."

"I'm a Chaser reserve!" a black girl cried. "I'll probably make the team this year, too, because Dominique graduated."

"And I'm trying out for Seeker!" Lily piped up.

"Good luck, Lil," said James snidely. "Keith McLaggen is a seventh-year and just because we know Oliver, Sabrina Wood isn't going to give you the position of Seeker."

"Well, I can be Seeker next year, then," Lily shot back.

"Lily, you can fly better than Keith McLaggen," Ron said loudly. "I look forward to seeing you take the position of Seeker right from under his nose."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ron."

"Hate to break it to you guys," I said, "but we don't know what any of this means."

"I wish we had more interesting things to tell you guys about our magic," Paige said. "But we don't come from an all-magical world like you guys do. We live among normal people and have to hide our magic."

"I'm sure you do!" Molly said enthusiastically. "If you didn't, there wouldn't be a new Hogwarts class about it!"

"Yeah, about that," Paige murmured, glancing at Piper and me. "How are we going to be able to teach a class?"

"You guys can do it," Coop said assuredly. "Paige, you meet with new charges all the time and are able to educate them about being witches or Whitelighters. And Phoebe, you have a Masters in Psychology. Piper, your husband is a teacher and you know every potion by heart. I'm sure teaching will come naturally to you all."

"Let's hope so," said Piper. "The last thing I need is to move to this school and be a bad teacher."

Ginny looked across the table to her mother. "I wonder if their kids will get owls about Hogwarts."

"I'm sure they will," Hermione said, cutting up her food. "They are attending, after all – right?" she said, glancing up at us.

Paige and I share a quick glance – Piper has been acting as if she's decided to go, but she had yet to give a straight answer. We look to her and she simply chewed her food silently. After swallowing, she said, "It's a possibility."

I know my sister all too well – she's too proud to say, "Yes, we're going," even though we most likely are.

"Well, when your kids get letters for Hogwarts, you must let us know," said Molly eagerly. "We can take you to Diagon Alley to get all their supplies – since, I'm sure, you don't know how to get there."

"We don't even know what it is," said Paige.

"That's what we're here for!" Molly said happily, beaming around. "We'll probably take you through the Muggle way – Flooing may be too much for your first foray into the magical community."

Flooing? I smiled. "I don't think I need to even say it."