I lay sprawled on my bed as I listened to my dad explain what happened earlier to my mom in their bedroom. I got up and peered out the crack in my door. A puzzled look was sketched over my mother's face. I didn't expect her to understand, how could she if I didn't?

I opened the door wider and my mom turned around and looked at me with gentle eyes. I smiled at her then looked at my dad who mirrored me with a crooked smile. It felt weird having a 17 year old and 18 year old as parents… especially since I'm 16 and will be frozen that way forever.

I talked a lot with my parents that night – not just about the incident, but about everything that came to mind. Around four in the morning we were interrupted by a loud tapping on the window. I jumped and made a high pitched squeaking sound while my parents showed no signs of being startled. Outside the window was a light brown owl with beady eyes and what looked like a piece of paper clamped in its beak.

"What is an owl doing here?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," my father replied as he stared at the creature. I had seen owls before, but none perched outside of our window. It must have been perturbed from simply sitting outside because it started to tap loudly on the glass, expecting to be casually invited inside.

"I think it wants to come in," my mother stated.

"What's that paper in its beak?" I asked, full of curiosity.

My father shook his head. "It must be lost. Let's just leave it be."

The owl didn't like that idea. Its furious tapping grew increasingly louder. "Can I just go see what it wants?" I asked, the tapping making it difficult for me to properly process thoughts without an owl somehow popping up in my mind.

My dad simply shrugged. I'll take that as a yes. He smiled at my thought and nodded. I opened the door and breathed in the cool Washington air as I closed it behind me. The owl noted my presence and quickly flew up into a high branch above me. I sighed. "If you came here to play tag, you can forget it." Was I insane? I was just talking to a bird!

The owl stared down at me with its black eyes and slowly unclenched its beak and let the paper float down to the ground at my feet. I bent down and picked it up and read the writing that was scrawled across it. It was an envelope addressed to me.

I looked up at the owl that was still looking down on me from the branch. "What are you doing with a letter for me?" I whispered. I examined the envelope more closely. It was sealed together with that wax stuff. Was this so important that they had to go to the trouble of sealing it? And who would be writing a fancy letter to me?

"Do you know what this is about?" I asked the bird.

I cautiously sat down on the ground and propped myself up against the trunk of the tree. I ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter that was inside.

Dear Miss Cullen,

On behalf of the whole magical community, we would like to congratulate you on recently discovering your magical ability. However, your discovery has been made considerably later than most young witches or wizards. Being the age that you are, there are no magical academies that allow someone of your age to come in as an amateur. The Ministry of Magic sees great things coming out of you, though, and requests that you come and be privately tutored by outstanding witches and wizards all within the walls of the Ministry.

Please send your response back with this owl as quickly as possible. Keep in mind that the Ministry is located in London and you would be staying there for extensive periods of time.

Sincerely,

James Potter

Ministry Trainee

I stared up at the bird that was perched above me. "What kind of joke is this? I'm already screwed up enough; I don't need to be getting letters from some British place telling me I'm magic! I swear if someone from school is pranking me, I'll kill them."

The bird continued to stare down at me. "So I'm supposed to believe you flew all the way over here from London?" I laughed as I got up and walked inside with the letter still in my hand.

"What's that?" my dad asked as soon as I walked in the door.

Crap. "Just someone from school's lame idea of a joke," I said. I looked out the window and sure enough, there the owl was – staring at me.

My dad took the letter from me and quickly read it to himself. "Who do you think came up with an idea like this?"

I felt stupid saying it. "Matt Newton, maybe."

At this, my dad laughed. "Mike's younger brother? If he's anything like Mike, I highly doubt he'd be intelligent enough to come up with an idea like that. Besides, even if he did, it would probably be written on notebook paper with a crayon."

I laughed. "That's mean dad."

He shrugged and looked back at the paper. "This would explain you disappearing into the forest, though."

I stared at him then looked at my mom, who was trying to read the letter over my dad's shoulders. "Wait. You mean you actually believe this?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I don't fully believe it, but I think it could definitely be possible. I mean, you're half vampire, would it really be so strange to find out you have magical abilities too?"

I frowned. "Couldn't it just be a second power that I just now discovered?"

"I don't think so," my dad said. "If it was, how would these people know about it?"

My dad was so smart and annoying at the same time that it made my head want to explode. So guess what? Apparently I'm half-vampire, a witch with magical abilities, and people see my past when I touch them.

It did make sense though. Because realistically, I was really only four, so technically it wasn't odd for me to start realizing it – I may actually be discovering it early. Before I had any more chance to think, I blurted something out that I would regret, "so am I going to London?"

Haha, well you can obviously tell I got lazy and rushed it at the end. Plus, I'm not a huge Harry Potter expert, but I do love the series. Anyways, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a Ministry Trainee... but I'm just gonna say there is :D