~Chapter 1~

"Chris, you annoying bastard! Give me back my wand!" The girl's yell split the warm night air.

"Give me a kiss and I will!" He yelled back at her.

"You're acting like a fourth grader. Now give Sonea back her wand," Sonea's best friend, Kristen, told Chris in her calm but slightly annoyed voice.

"I just need one kiss before she moves away from me forever. It's been almost four whole weeks of summer without at least one kiss from her," Chris complained. His dark brown hair fell in front of his brown eyes as he stopped running away. The mischievous look in them made Sonea stop as well. The last time she had seen that look was when he stunned her to try to get his kiss.

"Come on Chris. Hand it over," The warning note in Kristen's voice even frightened Sonea a bit. Standing up and letting her long blond hair fall to the back of her knees, Kristen pulled out her own wand. Her blue eyes flashed dangerously. "We can use magic outside of school now and I just found a new hex I'd love to try."

"Fine," Chris relented. He held out the wand for Sonea to take. With a quick motion Kristen made Sonea's wand fly into her hand.

"Thanks," Sonea said as she examined her wand. No scratches. Good. She glared at Chris. "At this rate you're never going to get that kiss," Chris shrugged.

"At least I'm trying." Sonea rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. I'm leaving. Gotta go pack. See ya, Kristen."

"Ya, bye," she replied. Without a goodbye for Chris, Sonea began the long walk home.

When she reached the front porch, a familiar feeling of sadness welled up inside of her. Leaving the house that she had lived in for her whole life hurt so much that it was almost a physical pain. With a sigh, she walked into her neatly kept house.

"Mom? Eric?" she called.

"Up here," her mom called down to her. Taking the steps two at a time, Sonea made her way up into her parents room past boxes lining the hallway. The walls seemed depraved no longer having pictures to cover their faces. The boxes were a testimate to the undenyable fact of chance. Sonea's room, right across from her parents, was already empty.

"I thought I was packing my own room." Sonea stated once in her parent's room. They both stood across from her next to large fire. "And I thought we were going to leave tomorrow." Ren and Eric looked at each other as if unsure as what to say.

"We're able to move earlier, so we took the opportunity," her mom explained. "It gives you another day to make some new friends."

"How can I make friends if we're moving to a place infested with muggles? I'm a witch! I'll be leaving them all to go to a school they can't know about at the end of this summer. Why would I want Muggle friends? One's obsessed with cleanliness at that!" Sonea was upset. She was sure she had at least half another day to say good-bye before having to move to some Muggle place.

"I'm sure the new headmaster will help you make some friends." Eric calmly said in his I-know-better-than-you voice that made Sonea want to scream.

"Yeah right," Sonea scoffed. "The only reason he cares is 'cause he said he knew my father and wants to 'discuss my future in greater detail.' It's only 'cause I'm a bit more talented than everyone else. He couldn't care less about me." Silence fell upon the family. Soon, Sonea couldn't take it anymore. Walking up to the blazing fire, she took a pinch of Floo powder and yelled "Magnolia Crescent" as she stepped into the now green flames. Without a look back, she let the fire take her through a ride like trip with enough twists and turns to flip her stomach.

As she stumbled out of the fireplace, she looked around what she assumed to be the living room. Plain white walls and a cream colored carpet was nothing she was thrilled about. A few boxes were in this room but her parents were sending most the Muggle way to "appear normal." Sonea left the room to go upstairs. Without any lights on it was almost impossible to see. Almost. Making it to the top of the stairs, she struggled to find which room might be hers. Going to the end of the hall she found a room with her queen-sized bed that had black sheets on it.

"Found your room?"

"Yeah," Sonea responded blandly to her mother. Not bothering to say another word, Sonea went to her bed and fell asleep the second her head touched the black cased pillows.
***

Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. Ding- someone finally opened to door to stop whoever it was from continuously ringing the stupid doorbell. Murmurs floated up from downstairs as Sonea opened her stormy gray eyes. A box of clothes was next to the open door to her room. Walking over to it, Sonea pulled out a black tank top with white and red skulls on it and a pair of black jeans. Without bothering to put on makeup or even brush her long (messy) hair, she went downstairs to where Eric was talking to some Muggle.
"-and stay away from that Potter boy. He's a lot of trouble. He's a hardened hooligan who goes to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"Really? But everyone here seems so nice." She rolled her eyes at her stepfathers back. He loved to keep people talking.
"Everyone but him. His brother however is a role model child. Oh!" The neighbor saw Sonea behind Eric. "Hello. I'm Mr. Thomason, you're neighbor. It's a-" he took a quick look at her outfit. "Pleasure to meet you." He held his hand out.
"You too." Sonea shook his hand once before dropping it. Turning around, she went to go find her mother. Wandering uselessly through the house, she finally found the kitchen where her mother was using magic to cook breakfast.
"Good morning, Sonea," Ren was in a very perky mood that morning. Not wanting to be the only one upset about the neighbors, Sonea decided to tell her mother about the Muggle at the front door. Her mother just laughed. "Don't worry. Eric's there to make sure he doesn't come in." Pancakes landed on three separate plates. "Oh, wouldn't it be nice if you could still do magic"
"What!" Sonea exclaimed. "Can't do magic? What are you talking about? I still can! Watch." But before she could even perform a single spell, her wand flew out of her hand.
"No, I know you still can do it. But you're not allowed to." Noticing the glare on Soneas face, Ren decided to explain. "The age limit for the Under Age use of magic is higher out here. So, you can't do magic outside of school anymore."
"Great!" Sonea said sarcastically. "The one thing that could make life bearable gets taken away from me! Thanks, Eric, for getting such a great job transfer!" With that, Sonea stormed out of the room. Not feeling like she wanted to be cornered, she went down a random flight of stairs and into her basement. It was much cooler there than in the rest of her new house. A few things had already been set up. A TV was against one wall with a couch across from it and a chair next to that.

Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.
Once again the annoying Muggle doorbell went off. Sonea wanted to cover her ears and scream. Its so much better when all of your neighbors are wizards, she thought. No stupid doorbells. Everyone just sends owls or just appears. Footsteps overhead and them coming down the basement stairs told her that someone was coming. But they weren't her mothers light steps or Eric's heavier ones. They were almost a cross between them. She turned around once the steps got to the bottom of the stairs. A tall man with white hair and a white beard who wore half moon spectacles stood looking around the room behind her mother.
"Sonea, this is Professor Dumbledore. He's the-"
"Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry."