Harry Potter and the Charmed Ones

Chapter 5

-Chris-

I'll admit it. I have been counting down the days until September 1st for the last five weeks. Melinda, I think, is the most excited. She read all of her textbooks within a couple weeks and spent the rest of her time reading Hogwarts, A History and flipping through my textbooks and Wyatt's and Prue's and Tamora's and Kat's and Henry's. I don't think I need to guess which one of us will be most prepared for the school year.

Melinda and I also agreed that we couldn't wait to learn how to fly. We corresponded with the Weasley and Potter families through Elf and their many family owls, and one of the letters that Albus wrote to Melinda mentioned that flying lessons are only given to first years. James, however, promised to teach me, although I was a little nervous about that. James has been playing on the Gryffindor team for three years, so I had a feeling he would be pretty hard on me.

We haven't seen the Weasley and Potter family since the trip to Diagon Alley, mostly because of the time change and because we've all been so busy. Harry and Ron are something called Aurors at the wizarding government – I think James called it the Ministry of Magic – and they've been busy dealing with the new information of the wandless magical world. The rest of James's aunts and uncles have been busy with their various jobs as well. And my mom has been busy with the restaurant, getting it ready for her year-long leave of absence, making sure everyone knows how to reach her if anything goes seriously wrong and training all the new managers.

We did get a visit from Filius Flitwick, however – the Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts. He was very short, bald, and tiny, and Penny thought that his size made it okay for her to attempt to climb all over him.

He informed my parents, aunts, and uncles that there were two houses for them to stay in Hogsmeade village, which is the village right near Hogwarts. It's about a ten minute walk from the village to the castle, he said. It was later decided among the adults that Aunt Phoebe, Uncle Coop, Patty, and Penny would get the bigger house, while Aunt Paige, Mom, and Dad would get the smaller one. Uncle Henry would be remaining in San Francisco to work; however, Aunt Paige would orb home on some weekends to see him, and apparently he has a lot of vacation days saved up, so there will be a two or three week period down the road where he'll come and stay in Hogsmeade for a while.

Patty and Penny are very upset that they won't be able to go to Hogwarts with us – especially Patty, because she turns eleven in October, so she's only one month too young.

"Mom, can't I please go?" she would beg Aunt Phoebe on multiple occasions, calling for the same explanation every time – she was simply too young and could not go.

"Maybe next year," Aunt Phoebe would say.

Mom, Aunt Phoebe, and Aunt Paige spent a lot of time planning their curriculum, often letting Wyatt, Melinda, and I help. They were constantly flipping through Complete Encyclopedia of Demons and marking pages with color coded slips of paper: the pages marked by red were the really important demons that needed to be covered, the pages with yellow were less mandatory but still important, and the green pages were demons that could perhaps all be lumped into one or two lessons. They made notes on potions that they would teach students, and some potions that they would just talk about, such as the potion to Stop the Heart Beating and the Love Potion. They made a list of all the ingredients they would need to bring with them and just how much they would need. It seemed to take forever and it made me glad that I was not the one teaching it.

We all started regular communication with the many Weasleys and Potters, striking up friendships that would be helpful to us while at school. I corresponded mostly with James. Wyatt talked with Fred and Molly; Melinda with Albus and Rose; Tamora and Kat with Rose and Lily; and Prue and Henry both with Hugo and Lily. All of the Weasleys and Potters were in Gryffindor house at Hogwarts, and I made it my goal to be put into that house as well. I didn't know what I would have to go to get into Gryffindor house, but I was going to try anyway.

We ended up orbing to Grimmauld Place on August 31st in the middle of the night, our time, so that we would be tired enough to go to sleep on time. We slept all day the day before, and orbed to the Potter house at four in the morning on August 31st, making it noon in England. Even though we were kind of disoriented and tired, we were too excited to go to sleep.

Harry and Ginny had bought us all trunks to put our Hogwarts supplies in. Wyatt and I dumped all of our stuff in James's room and slowly filled and organized our trunks. James's trunk was at the foot of his bed, still basically packed from his previous years at the school, except for a few things – like his broom. It lay on top of the trunk, as if the boy planned on using it between that point in time and the next morning when we left for the train station.

That night, a disgusting little thing called Kreacher (a house-elf, apparently) cooked us a delicious dinner and afterwards, Ginny said we should all go to sleep as the train left at eleven in the morning.

Wyatt and I slept on the floor in James's room; Melinda, Prue, Tamora, and Kat slept with Lily and little Henry slept with Albus. Mom and Dad slept in the guest room, while Uncle Coop, Aunt Phoebe, Aunt Paige, Penny, and Patty slept in the drawing room.

We were roused abruptly at nine the next morning by Harry knocking loudly on the door. James groaned and threw a pillow at the door, but Harry's knocking continued until James finally stumbled out of his bed and, blearily wiping his eyes, opened the door.

"Oh good!" said Harry cheerfully. "You're awake!"

James dressed himself drowsily, but Wyatt and I were wide awake. We had gone to sleep right away the night before and were too excited to be tired. We were dressed and completely packed before James had even finished putting on his sweater. Deciding that we no longer wanted to repress our powers around this magical world, like our mother had advised us to do, we used our hands to levitate our trunks and Elf's cage down the many stairs of Grimmauld Place instead of lugging them.

Everyone else in our family was already in the main hallway by the time we got there. Melinda, Prue, Tamora, Kat, and Henry had their trunks and animal cages with them, while our parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins had their suitcases. Harry and Ginny were bustling back and forth from James's room to Albus's and to Lily's, making sure they packed everything and were ready in time. Finally, the Potter kids ambled down the stairs with their trunks, brooms, and owls, still yawning.

It was decided that, again, Paige and Wyatt would orb everyone to a deserted area of King's Cross station – the station from where the Hogwarts Express boarded. After we all board the train, Harry and Ginny would just transport themselves home through "Apparition," I think they called it.

After we materialized at the station, Harry and Ginny grabbed nine trolleys for us to load our stuff on to before leading us through the platforms. Apparently we were supposed to get to platform nine and three-quarters, although we walked along and I only saw platforms nine and ten, so I wasn't sure what was going on.

"Alright, here we are!" said Ginny, as she, Harry, and her children suddenly stopped.

We were facing a very solid brick wall. I glanced at Wyatt, who stared right back.

"Is this a joke?" I said blankly.

"Of course not!" cried Ginny.

"All you have to do," explained Harry, "is walk straight at the brick wall. It'll transport you to platform nine and three-quarters."

"Okay, this is a joke," scoffed Mom.

"Is this one of those things that only wizards can do?" asked Aunt Phoebe. "Because if so… will we be able to do it, since we're different types of witches?"

"I'm sure you will," said Ginny. "If anything, Kingsley will have fixed it so you can. They would have thought this ahead."

My family and I still glanced at each other uneasily. We were all thinking the same thing – which one of us will be the guinea pig?

James demonstrated first; he took his trolley and, starting from a good twenty feet from the wall, broke into a run straight toward it. I winced as he reached it, but instead of crashing, he vanished through it. We all gaped after him.

Albus and Lily then went through with their trolleys. Harry and Ginny turned to us, and Ginny said, "You're next!"

No one moved for a moment, and then, finally, I stepped forward. "I'll go."

My heart was beating hard in my chest as I gripped my trolley tightly. What if this didn't work? Well, I reasoned with myself, the worse that can happen is I receive a mild concussion and am extremely embarrassed in front of these passersby.

Deciding not to think about it for too long, I just started to sprint. I closed my eyes the nearer the wall came, not wanting to see myself crash –

However, the crash never came, and I opened my eyes to see a large, steaming red and black train, and a thick crowd full of young witches and wizards and their families. James, Albus, and Lily were off to the side, waiting for me.

"You did it!" said Lily.

"See? It wasn't so hard!" added James.

A few moments later, the rest of my family had joined us. It had taken a while for Aunt Phoebe to convince Patty and Penny to run at the seemingly-solid wall, but eventually they succeeded.

"Come on, let's get our stuff on the train," James said. "We can get a compartment and then find everyone else."

James led us onto the train and we pushed our way through the crowded hallways until we found two empty compartments. James, Albus, Wyatt, Melinda, and I shoved our trunks into one compartment while Lily, Henry, Prue, Tamora, and Kat claimed the other, and then we hopped back off the train.

-Wyatt-

"You guys have two compartments up front," Harry was saying to Mom and everyone else when we reached them. "Away from the students."

"Oh, good," Mom said in relief.

Ginny glanced around. "Where is everyone? Late, as usual…"

"We are most definitely not!" came an indignant voice.

Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo appeared at Harry's elbow, Rose and Hugo without their trunks.

"Perce, George, and Bill are further down," Ron said. "The kids are all getting on the train right now."

Rose and Hugo led us back onto the train; the rest of the Weasleys were a few compartments down from us. I sidled away from my brother and the Potter boys when I saw Molly and Fred.

"Hey," I greeted; I hadn't seen them in over a month, only communicating through letters.

"Hi!" said Molly, beaming. "Are you excited?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Kind of nervous though. I don't really know what to expect."

"Don't worry about it, you'll love it!"

The Weasley and Potter kids all hung out of the windows to say good-bye to their parents for the last time. Mom and Dad had vanished from the platform with the rest of my family, presumably to find their compartments.

After all the good-byes were said and hugs were given, Molly smiled at me apologetically. "Sorry, I've got to go up front for a while; I'm Head Girl."

I had absolutely no idea what that was, but I nodded anyway.

She poked her head into a compartment and said, "Louis, Lucy, come on, we've got to go."

Her strawberry-blonde cousin and younger sister exited their compartment and smiled at me. "Hello, Wyatt," said Lucy as they side-stepped me, and they, with Molly, disappeared down the train.

"Well," said Fred, "let's find somewhere to sit, shall we?"

There was a lot of flip-flopping throughout the Weasley/Potter/Halliwell compartments. James, Chris, Albus, Melinda, and Rose were all crammed in the compartment where I had put my stuff. Louis and Lucy had been in a separate one with their friends and Roxanne. Prue, Lily, Tamora, Kat, and Henry had been joined by Hugo in their compartment, and Fred and I were left to either sit alone in the final compartment to wait for Molly or find Fred's friends.

He led me further down the train, peering into compartments here and there, before finally being satisfied enough with the occupants of one to enter.

"Hey everyone," said Fred as he entered it.

There were three people inside; one was a very pretty, dark skinned girl with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. There was also a pale, blonde boy with mud-colored eyes and a girl with vibrant blue eyes and brown hair.

"Wyatt, this is Sarita Thomas," he pointed to the dark skinned girl, "Gary Macmillan," the blonde haired boy, "and Jessica Johnson. Everyone, this is Wyatt," he hesitated for a moment, "Halliwell."

The three people inside the compartment gasped. "Wait, you're the boy that saved the Ministry, aren't you?" the girl called Jessica exclaimed.

"And your mom is one of The Charmed Ones, right?" asked Gary.

I nodded, slightly unhappy that Fred had led me into a compartment where I would be ogled at. "Yup."

"That's so cool," said Jessica. Fred went and sat next to Sarita, and I sat across from him, next to Jessica. "I heard that you and your family might be coming here."

"Well, we knew The Charmed Ones were, because of that demon book we had to buy," said Sarita. "But I don't think anyone knew that their kids would be coming, too."

"My family wasn't allowed to tell anyone," Fred said.

"How many of you are there?" asked Jessica. "Wandless witches, I mean."

"Tons," I said. "It's a whole separate world. We're just in hiding. It's a lot different from this place. I don't know any other wandless witches except my family."

"Weird," said Gary. "So you have to live among Muggles and pretend to be normal?"

I nodded. "It's hard."

"Are you excited to be going to Hogwarts?" asked Sarita. "Do you know what house you want to be in?"

"Yes, and no," I responded. "I don't really know anything about the houses except that all the Weasleys are in Gryffindor. Are you guys too?"

They all nodded. "But all of the houses are fine," said Sarita. "My parents were in Gryffindor but my aunt was in Ravenclaw."

"And my dad was in Hufflepuff."

Jessica shrugged. "My parents are Muggles."

"I really don't know where I'll end up," I admitted, "but I'm not really thinking too much about it."

About ten minutes later, the compartment door opened and Molly entered.

"How was the over-achievers' meeting?" asked Gary.

Molly shrugged, sitting next to Fred. "It was the same as every year."

"Yeah, but this year you're Head Girl," teased Jessica.

"What's Head Girl?" I asked, deciding that I would just always voice my questions instead of keeping quiet.

"The Head Girl, and Boy," said Jessica, "basically make sure the students don't break any rules."

"And they're in charge of the prefects," Sarita said.

"A prefect is like the Head Boy and Girl," Fred explained, not even needing me to ask. "They patrol the school to make sure no one breaks rules. There are six in each house – a boy and a girl from fifth, sixth, and seventh year."

"Louis and Lucy are both Gryffindor prefects," added Molly.

"And you're Head Girl?" Wyatt asked.

Molly smiled and sat up a little straighter. "Yup! I was a prefect in my fifth and sixth years also."

"So… can we see your powers?" asked Jessica, staring at me. Gary turned to stare, too, and Sarita looked on with interest.

I clenched my teeth. I didn't want to explain, again, that no, I was not going to put my powers on display for people to gape at, but instead Molly answered for me.

"No!" she said defiantly. "He's not going to parade around his powers like he's the next Merlin. You don't see him asking to see us to cast charms for him. You'll see his powers in due time."

Jessica, Gary, and Sarita were all taken aback, and Fred smirked. I smiled at Molly and mouthed "thank you." She returned the gesture and worded, "Anytime."

-Melinda-

I shared a compartment with Chris, Albus, James, and Rose. James had made a big pronouncement that he was ditching his friends to sit with us, but Albus had rolled his eyes and muttered to me that none of James's friends really cared.

"I hope you guys are all in Gryffindor," James was saying. "It would be so awesome! Chris, you'd probably be in my dormitory."

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor," I said, but no one heard me except Albus and Rose. "I won't know anyone otherwise."

"No one really knows anybody when they start Hogwarts," Rose reminded me.

"Except you," I said. "You guys had your whole family."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but only Al was in my year, so even then I had total strangers in my dormitory."

"You meet people in your house quickly," Albus added. "And you have lessons with people from other Houses, so you meet them too."

"Yeah… you're right." Part of me really wanted to be in Gryffindor, because all the Weasleys were in it. But another part of me wanted to get to know everyone and, knowing the Weasleys, I felt like I knew half of Gryffindor house already.

"Maybe you'll be sorted into Ravenclaw," said James cheekily, elbowing Rose. "Rose'll be jealous."

Rose rolled her eyes but her ears turned pink. "Will not."

"Why would she be?" I asked ignorantly.

"Because Scorpius Malfoy is in Ravenclaw," explained James, snickering. "And Rosie looooooves him!"

"Oh, shut up!" snapped Rose, her cheeks now red as well but her eyes squinted in a glare. "Scorpius is the most annoying individual in all of Hogwarts."

"But he loves you, Rosie!" crooned James. "And you love him too!"

Rose glared death at her older cousin. "I hate you so much right now. And I really hate Scorpius."

Albus turned to me, smiling slightly. "Rose and Scorpius have disliked each other ever since we started. They're always competing academically. And then Rose became Keeper for the Gryffindor team and Scorpius became Chaser. And our families don't really like each other."

"Does she really like him?" I asked skeptically.

Albus half-shrugged and shook his head. "Nah. We like to tease her, though."

Almost as if on cue, someone knocked on the compartment door and it slide open. A boy with white blonde hair and gray eyes stood in the doorway. He smirked down at us.

"Oh, sorry," he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "I thought this was mine."

His eyes roved around to each face in the compartment; they lingered briefly on Chris's and mine, likely because he either did not recognize us or because he knew that we were children of The Charmed Ones. In any case, he said nothing. He nodded at Albus and then smirked again at Rose.

"Hello, Rosie," he said, and she glared at the nickname. "I'm looking forward to this Quidditch season. Hopefully you've improved, so you don't let in so many of my shots this year."

He shut the door behind him as he walked off, and James and Al burst into laughter. "Why are you laughing?" Rose demanded angrily. "He's so arrogant and self-involved and – and –"

"He just does it to mess with you, Rose!" laughed James.

"He's actually not that annoying," Al added. "I mean, yeah, he's a little arrogant and self-involved, but from the way Dad and Uncle Ron talk about his dad, he's obviously not that bad."

"Are you two friends?" I asked him.

He half-shrugged again. "Kind of. We've had a few lessons together."

Rose folded her arms over her chest and scowled. "Whatever. And for the record, he hasn't scored on me that many times."

The rest of the train ride went by surprisingly fast. I experienced another new aspect of this community: their sweets. Our compartment-mates bought a little of everything off the sweet trolley that came around the train and we got to try Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, and Licquorice Wands. I loved all of them – except the Every Flavor Beans. Chris and I were tricked into trying multiple ones, as no one told us that they really meant every flavor. I got coconut, brown sugar, and chocolate, until I got earth worn and nearly threw up. The compartment roared with laughter. Chris as well managed to get a few good ones before ending up with glue.

The Chocolate Frogs were the most interesting, because they came with famous witch and wizard cards. I ate five, and got the cards of Alberta Toothill, Circe, Queen Maeve, Mopsus, and Harry Potter, which earned gasps from around. Apparently Harry's card is really rare, and the only other person in the Weasley family to get one was Molly, "which is a shame," remarked James, "because she doesn't even care about the cards."

-Piper-

The train ride felt like it was days long, even though it was only hours. I just wanted to get to the school, to my new place of residence for the next nine months, and off this stuffy train with small compartments. Leo and I shared a compartment with Paige, while Coop and Phoebe took the other one with Patty and Penny. Paige somehow slept through most of the ride, despite the rumble of the students talking and laughing being louder than I thought it would be.

When we felt the train start to slow, Paige and I decided to put on our Hogwarts teaching robes. In his letter to us, Filius Flitwick said that our teacher dress code was not as strict as it was for the students – our robes did not need to be black, we just needed to have some. I decided to wear my deep plum-colored robes for the first night (of course, we bought multiple colors). Paige put on her emerald robes, and Phoebe her midnight blue ones.

After the train stopped, we waited until the rest of the students had got off until we exited. As expected, Filius Flitwick, along with another wizard, was waiting for us.

"Ah! There you are!" he exclaimed. Striding over to us, he said, "I shall escort you up to the castle for the Welcoming Feast. If we hurry, we'll be able to get there before the first years do. Oh, and this is Professor Neville Longbottom."

The young man with him smiled and shook our hands. "Pleased to finally meet you."

"Neville is here to show Misters Leo and Coop to their houses, as well as your young children," Flitwick explained. "Unless, of course, you'd like to attend the feast?"

Glancing at the sleeping Penny in Coop's arms and the equally as drowsy Patty, Leo shook his head and said, "No, it's probably best if take them to bed."

"Very well then." Neville smiled. "If you'll follow me."

Coop shifted Penny in his arms so that he could also hold Patty's hand and Leo, after giving me a quick good-bye kiss, grabbed her other hand, and they all followed Neville down the deserted station.

"Let's get going, shall we?" Flitwick beamed. He led us over to a lone carriage some ways away from the station, being pulled by what looked like a hairless horse.

"Gross," muttered Paige as we climbed in. "What is that that's pulling it?"

"You can see it?" said Flitwick, surprised.

"Of course we can," said Phoebe. I nodded.

"That's called a thestral," explained Flitwick, "and only people who had witnessed death can see it."

"Well, we've seen a lot of death," admitted Paige.

Flitwick nodded. "Most of the Hogwarts professors can see them, since the final battle in the Second Wizarding War took place here."

We passed through the Hogwarts gates and the huge Hogwarts castle slowly came into view. It was enormous and magnificent, even at night. I hadn't gotten that good a look at it the last time we were here, since we had vanquished a demon and I'd been too angry at the Minister of Magic to really take in the view. But I now noticed how truly radiant the castle was.

"Is this how the students reach the castle too?" asked Phoebe.

Flitwick nodded. "Well, the second years and older. The first years are taken across the lake by Hagrid – the gamekeeper – instead. And I believe your children are going across the lake as well."

Paige furrowed her brow. "Why?"

"Well, when the students go across the lake, they are kept away from the rest of the student body until the Sorting Ceremony," he explained. "Your children need to be sorted, so they will be with the first years for now."

We hopped off the carriage when we reached the castle, and Flitwick led us through the front doors into a humongous entrance hall. The hall alone could fit multiple Manors inside of it. We walked through the hall into another set of large double doors into a superb dining room. There were four long, vertical tables crammed with students, and at the head of the room was another long, horizontal table seated with staff members. All of the forks, knives, and plates were gold, and instead of a ceiling, the room opened up to the starry night sky.

Flitwick led us between two tables up to the front table, and only a few students took notice, most of them being too engrossed in their socializing to look around. The students that did notice, however, immediately turned to their friends to whisper.

In the middle of the table sat Antonius Ulvaeous, the Headmaster, in a large, gold chair. There were quite a few empty chairs on the left half of the table; Flitwick took his seat on Ulvaeous's immediate left and then gestured for us to take the three seats on his other side. I sat directly next to him, with Phoebe next to me and Paige on her other side. We looked down upon the school, where floating candles illuminated the scene. The table farthest to my left held many familiar faces and I concluded that that must be the Gryffindor table.

Neville Longbottom slipped into the Hall after a few moments, taking the spot next to Paige. And another few moments later, the double doors opened again and a gigantic man stood in the doorway, a sea of students behind him. The Hall instantly grew quiet as everyone turned to look at the new students.

The man – who must have been some sort of a giant – walked between the two middle tables to the front, right in front of the head table. The students all stopped walking when they reached the steps up to the table, and the man walked over to the side of the hall to retrieve something. He returned with a stool and an extremely ugly, dirty, and shabby wizard hat.

"What is going on?" asked Phoebe extremely quietly. I simply shrugged.

The hat suddenly sprung to life as it burst into song. I was so shocked that I barely comprehended what it was saying – something about each of the houses and their traits. When it was finished, the entire school burst into applause. I turned to stare my sisters, our mouths all agape. What the hell was this place?

The man cleared his throat and held up a scroll of paper. "When I call yer name," he rumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, "come up here, put on tha hat, and you will be sorted into one of tha four houses."

He started listing off names, starting with A, but I hardly cared. My heart was thumping anxiously until he got to the H's – even though I didn't really know what each of the houses stood for, still, I was curious to see where my kids were put.

Finally, the man boomed, "Halliwell, Christopher!"

It was easy to spot my kids over the others, as Wyatt and Chris towered over the eleven-year-olds, and even the girls were a bit taller. The younger kids all sprang apart as Chris made his way up to the front, and the entire school started to buzz with whispering.

Chris sat on the stool and the man placed the hat on his head. After about ten seconds, the hat roared, "Gryffindor!"

The table where all the familiar Weasleys were sitting erupted in loud applause; a louder cheer, I noticed, than the other students had received. Chris grinned and strode over to the table, taking a seat next to James Potter. The two boys high-fived.

"Halliwell, Prudence!" came next.

There was a short silence and I couldn't help but grin. "Which one?" came Melinda's giggling voice.

The men furrowed his brow and glanced back down at the list. "Er – Prudence Johnna Halliwell."

Prue's face was white with nerves as she walked slowly up to the stool. The hat was situated on her head, and a moment later, the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" The table cheered loudly again and my sister exhaled beside me.

"Prudence Melinda Halliwell!" was the next name. Light laughter filled the hall as everyone realized that, yes, Phoebe and I had both named our daughters Prudence. Melinda tried to hide her excitement as she took her spot on the stool and the hat was placed upon her head.

Another thirty seconds later, and the hat cried, "Ravenclaw!"

-Albus-

My heart sank considerably when the hat shouted out Melinda's house. The Ravenclaw table went wild with cheers, as they got one of the Wandless Magic Kids, but Melinda looked a little worried and maybe even a bit upset. She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, where Chris and Prue and my family were sitting, before slowly getting up and going over to the Ravenclaw table. She sat next to Scorpius Malfoy, who grinned down at her. She smiled back hesitantly before she made eye contact with me and frowned again. I half-smiled back, hoping to encourage her.

"Halliwell, Wyatt!" was called up next, and he also was sorted into Gryffindor. The Gryffindor table was going crazy. After seeing another family member sorted into Gryffindor, however, Melinda's face fell.

"Mitchell, Henry!" was called a few moments later and, to what I'm sure was Melinda's immense satisfaction, he was also sorted into Ravenclaw. She beamed at her younger cousin as he approached her table and she gave him one armed hug as he sat next to her.

"Mitchell, Kat!" was next, and she was sorted into Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff table exploded into cheers, standing up and cheering as Kat nervously sat down at a table without any familiar faces.

"Mitchell, Tamora!" was also was sorted into Hufflepuff. She and her twin sister looked relieved to have each other as Tamora bustled over.

I couldn't help but feel dejected, though. The one Halliwell that I wanted in Gryffindor was sorted into Ravenclaw. Not only were Melinda and I not in the same year, but we now aren't even in the same house.

After the sorting was completed, Professor Ulvaeous stood up and smiled down at the student body, waiting for everyone to quiet down. "Welcome back to another year!" he cried. "This year is shaping up to perhaps be our most interesting year so far. In addition to our new students, we have a new course added to our curriculum, as I'm sure you noted from your book list. Three new professors have been welcomed to the Hogwarts family to teach this class on Wiccan magic. Please welcome –" he started to say, but before he could finish, the doors to the Great Hall burst open. I craned my neck around and saw what looked like two dirty, shabby men standing in the threshold.

"Demons," Chris muttered immediately.

Most of the students had no clue that the men in the doorway were in fact demons and thus a threat to them. However, as soon as one exploded and then vanished – whipping my head around and seeing Piper standing up, with her arms outstretched, I concluded that the explosion was her doing – people started to freak out. Screams erupted throughout the Great Hall and some not-very-intelligent students tried to stand up and perhaps run.

The uproar suddenly grew louder and I glanced around; two more demons had appeared, one behind the Slytherin table and the other behind the Gryffindor table, just a few people down from where I sat. My heart rate spiked and Rose gasped loudly in my ear. One of the demons conjured up a ball of blue and white light and hurled it at the Ravenclaw table, hitting a second year girl and sending her flying.

"Wyatt!" shouted Piper from the head table, and I turned around in time to see him disappearing in an orb. He reappeared on the ground between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables, next to the injured girl, and Melinda bustled over to help.

I saw Piper wave her hands and blow up the demon that fired the energy ball, which was the one by the Gryffindor table, and Paige orbed over to the original demon in the doorway. With everyone staring, she grabbed a knife from the Hufflepuff table near her and stabbed the demon, causing him to erupt in a burst of flames before disappearing. Chris, in a dramatic act of finality, jumped up onto the bench and waved his hand violently, sending a knife on the table flying toward the final demon. He, too, disappeared in a ball of fire after being pierced by the knife, which then dropped to the ground.

The whole attack lasted a total of thirty seconds, but it was enough to take a full minute for the commotion in the Hall to die down. It was mostly younger students that were yelling, although quite a few students from Hufflepuff and Slytherin seemed beside themselves. Rose and I assisted in attempting to calm down the students near us, with help from Molly, Louis, and Lucy. It wasn't until Neville stood up and made the sound of a firecracker erupt from his wand did silence befall the students.

"... The Charmed Ones," Professor Ulvaeous finally finished to the hushed hall.

Piper was still standing up with her arms raised, as well as Chris on the bench and Paige near the doors, clutching the knife. They were all breathing heavily. Wyatt and Melinda slowly helped the Ravenclaw girl sit up, whose injury had miraculously vanished. As soon as everyone realized that the bloody wound was completely gone, buzzed whispers started again. Rose and I glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, as we, too, had not seen the Halliwell powers before.

"Hello," said Piper sheepishly. "I'm a Charmed One. Sorry about that. Just your typical demon attack."

"Oh, my God," breathed a student; the Great Hall was so quiet that everyone heard it.

I watched as, across the hall, Paige jogged over to Wyatt, Melinda, and the Ravenclaw girl. "How is she?"

"She's fine," said Wyatt, turning to his aunt. "The energy ball grazed her stomach."

"You-you healed me," the second year stammered breathlessly. She pointed a shaky hand at Wyatt, her whole body quivering. "With... with your hands. They glowed and... I was better." Everyone watched the exchange aptly.

Wyatt and Paige exchanged glances. "Um..." Melinda stepped forward and led the girl back to her seat.

"Did you blow up that guy?" another student called out.

Piper slowly lowered her hands. "I, uh..."

"You guys stabbed him!" a Slytherin pupil yelled. "And then they -"

"They disappeared! In fire!" a Hufflepuff finished.

Chris sat back down again, drumming his fingers on his golden plate and staring straight ahead, unfocused, as if trying to block off the stares of half the student population.

Paige vanished in a swirl of blue and white lights and reappeared behind her seat. "Paige!" I heard Phoebe growl, as the students began to twitter nervously again.

"What?" cried Paige defensively. "Our entire HOUSE could fit inside this room, and I'm not about to walk across it when I can orb!"

"But they're already freaked out enough!" exclaimed Phoebe. "We don't need to be showing them MORE magic!"

"Geez, calm down." Paige rolled her eyes. Rose giggled next to me.

"Phoebe, Piper, and Paige," Ulvaeous announced, and the girls jumped. "They are The Charmed Ones. But they will be better known to you as Professors Halliwell," he pointed to Piper and Phoebe, "and Mitchell." Paige raised her hand.

"Where are their wands?" a Slytherin girl shouted. "I didn't see them use wands."

A Gryffindor boy piped up, "What spell can blow up people?"

"I could use that," someone else mused.

"Now is not the time for explanations," Ulvaeous said. "First, let's eat!"

-Molly-

The food magically appeared on the five tables as it always does, but it took most of the students in the Great Hall a moment to actually reach for the food and start serving themselves. Everyone was a little shaken up by the demon attack that had just transpired. Even I was a little dazed. The only people I knew that had seen the Halliwells using their magic, until now, were Uncle Harry and my dad.

After making sure the Ravenclaw student was okay, Wyatt came back to the Gryffindor table and took his place across from me and next to Fred. Everyone was staring at both him and Chris, but the two boys tried to act normally as they served themselves food. Finally, Wyatt glanced up and saw me staring. "What?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't. After a moment, I said, "That – that was –"

"Really cool!" said James, clapping Chris on the shoulder.

"Not exactly the adjective I was going to use," I said, adjusting my glasses. Wyatt watched me expectantly, and I shrugged. "I just wasn't expecting something like that to happen, I guess," I admitted. "It kinda scares me."

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, if these demons can just get here to easily…" I faltered. "I don't know. Are we always going to be worrying about if a demon will just pop in when we're sleeping or sitting out in the courtyard or…"

Wyatt shook his head. "Demons don't work that way," he explained. "My mom and aunts have been fighting demons for so many years, and, trust me, that's not how it works. They don't just shimmer in at random times to attack. Usually we know beforehand, and even if they did come randomly, it wouldn't be in to students' dorms. And especially now, they're going to keep their distance for a long time, because they know for a fact that my mom and aunts are here."

I half-smiled. "I hope you're right."

"Of course I am," he said, grinning.

"Can we just talk about how cool that was?" asked James, changing the subject. "I heard that you guys were powerful, but I didn't know about all the awesome things you can do!"

"Yeah!" added Roxanne. "How did you mend her wound?"

"And you –" Louis said to Chris. "Did you move that knife with your hands?"

"Just one of our many powers," said Chris with faux-modesty.

"You can do more?" exclaimed Lucy.

Prue nodded. "Wyatt and Chris can do a lot. I can only freeze time and heart."

"Only?" said Hugo. "That's so cool!"

"Heart?" said Lily dubiously.

Shrugging, Prue said, "Yeah, it's cool, but it's nothing compared to what Wyatt and Chris can do."

"What can they do?" asked Lily curiously.

"Well," she began, "they can –"

"Prue," said Wyatt warningly to his little cousin.

Pouting, the second year said, "What?" As he continued to gaze at her, she sighed and said, "Fine." Turning to Hugo and Lily, she said, "My mom told me that I can't brag about Wyatt and Chris's powers to other people."

Chris turned around to glance at the Ravenclaw table. I thought he was looking at the second year that has been attacked, but instead he said, "I hope Mel is okay."

I followed his gaze to Melinda, who was sitting in between Scorpius Malfoy and her cousin Henry. She was talking to Scorpius as she ate, as well as a few students around her. "She looks fine," Wyatt said, who had also looked over at Chris's words. "If anything, we should worry about shy little Henry."

"Melinda looked a little upset at first," Albus piped up.

Wyatt shrugged. "She gets scared of situations kind of quickly, but then when she thinks about them and realizes that she's making a big deal of nothing, she calms down. I think it also helps that Henry is with her, too."

"I hope they join the Quidditch team," said James. "Then the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw games would be AWESOME!"

"I wonder what she and Scorpius are talking about," mused Rose, watching the pair.

James smirked at his cousin. "Jealous?"

Rolling her eyes, Rose said, "Yes, of course, any female that talks to Scorpius enrages me because I fancy him."

Once dinner and dessert were finished, and everyone was so full that they just wanted to go to sleep, Professor Ulvaeous stood up again. "I hope you all enjoyed your dinner!" he said pleasantly, once the hall had fallen silent. "Before you all go to bed – because I know you can't wait to get to sleep early so your first day of classes can arrive even quicker! – I have a few notices to give out, as per usual. First years and new students, please take note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden. Quidditch tryouts will be held next week; please contact Coach Wood if you are interested in playing for your House team." He smiled. "And finally, I hope you all will welcome our new students and faculty members graciously. There is a lot you can learn from them, and a lot that you can teach them. But enough of my chatter – off to bed now!"

-Melinda-

Even though part of me didn't want to be in Gryffindor, I will admit that I was petrified when Wyatt, Chris, and Prue were all sorted into Gryffindor and I put into Ravenclaw. At first, I was partially embarrassed – they all got into the same house as the Weasleys, and I was the odd one out in Ravenclaw. I felt tons better when Henry was sorted into Ravenclaw as well, and then Tamora and Kat ended up in Hufflepuff, but I still felt a little sad. Did that mean I would never really get to talk to the Weasleys or my brothers or my cousins during the year? Would I be spending all my time with my fellow house-mates?

As I talked with Scorpius Malfoy during the feast, I voiced to him these concerns. He laughed at me. "'Course that's not true," he chuckled. "You'll see them. Most people sit at their house tables for meals, but really, you could sit with them if you wanted. You'll have lessons with other houses in your year. And there's always time after lessons, before dinner, where you have free time and of course you can spend it with whomever you like. It's not as segregated as it seems. And according to my father, it's a lot more integrated now than it was when he was in school."

I sighed in relief. "Good."

"What year are you in, anyway?" he asked me.

"Third," I said. "I don't think any of the Weasleys are in my year. What about you?"

"I'm a fourth year," he said. "Are you going to try out for the Quidditch team? We have three open spots on the Ravenclaw team since our Keeper and two of our Chasers graduated last year."

I laughed and shook my head. "Probably not," I said. "I've never even flown before. And I still don't know how Quidditch works."

"I could teach you," he offered. "The first week or so of lessons aren't that busy, so there'll be time in the evenings."

"No thanks," I said. "Albus already promised he'd teach me."

"Albus Potter?" he repeated and I nodded. "Albus doesn't play Quidditch."

"No, but he can fly," I said. "And that's all I really want to know how to do. I don't have much of an interest in playing competitively."

Following Professor Ulvaeous's welcome speech, all the students stood up to retreat to their common room. One of the Ravenclaw prefects started shouting for the first years to follow him, while Scorpius turned to Henry and me and said, "Follow me."

"Aren't you a prefect as well?" I asked, noting the P badge on his robes.

"Yup. I'm helping though," he said, grinning. "And besides, the other prefects are taking care of the first years."

He led us, along with most of the school, up the main marble stairs. Once we had been separated from the masses, he turned to me and said, "So, you said your name is Melinda, right?" I nodded. "Why did Hagrid call you Prudence?"

"Prudence is my first name," I explained, "And Melinda is my middle name. I've always gone by Melinda, though."

"How come?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Well, when my older brother Wyatt was going to be born, they thought he was a girl and called him Melinda. I think they always wanted to have a daughter named Melinda, and even though they ended up naming me Prudence instead, they just always called me Melinda."

"And your cousin is named Prudence, too?"

I nodded. "Prudence is the name of my aunt who died before I was even born. Aunt Phoebe wanted to call her daughter Prue, and it worked out fine since no one ever calls me Prue."

"P names are big in your family, aren't they?" he smirked.

He led us up countless flights of stairs, and my legs were starting to ache. After a good ten minutes, we had finally ascended to what I assume was one of the towers, judging from the windows that showed how high we were. I glanced around the deserted stone hallway, wondering where exactly our dorms were, when Scorpius approached a wall that was blank except for a bronze, eagle-shaped knocker.

"What is a man's greatest treasure?" asked the eagle, and Henry and I jumped in surprise. We stared in shock.

"Wit beyond measure," Scorpius supplied.

"Very good." The stone wall melted away into an archway, and Scorpius led us inside. Since the room was, like I suspected, inside a tower, it was very wide and circular. There were large, arched windows and the midnight-blue ceiling was painted with stars. A fireplace was situated in one corner of the room, and tables, chairs, and sofas were spread throughout. A white-marble statue of a woman sat next to another doorway.

Most of the house had already gathered in the common room. Older students were already walking through the door by the statue, while a prefect stood before the gathered first years. "Dormitories are through this doorway," she said, pointing to the door. "The door leads to a hallway with two other doors; one for boys and one for girls. Through the doors are spiraling staircases that will lead to your dormitory, separated by year."

Scorpius, Henry, and I followed the crowd of first years through the door. There was a door on the left that led to the girls' dormitories, and a door on the right that led to the boys'. I turned to Henry and gave the little boy a hug. "Good-night," I said to him. He smiled back, a little hesitantly, as he turned to join the throng of boys heading to their dormitories.

I turned and smiled graciously at Scorpius. "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow!" I said as I headed up the stairs.

He nodded as we parted ways. "Good-night."