CHAPTER 1

Arya opened the letter with trembling fingers. She hardly dared hope that it was what it was. Hogwarts was beyond her wildest dreams, and this was the acceptance letter. She had seen her half-sister, Kayla, get the same one the year before.

Kayla was only her half-sister because she was full human. Arya was half fairy and half human. She had been rejected by the fairy clan of her mother, the one she should belong to, so she had gone to live with her father in the human world.

‘We are proud to announce…’

That was all she needed to read. She knew she was in. Arya had known she had powerful magic but she wasn’t sure if it was the kind of magic that would get her into Hogwarts. Now that she was in, her heart felt like it had wings. And she couldn’t keep them in anymore.

Thin, glittering membranes sprang from her back, spreading to a span of five feet. They were sparkling, multifaceted wings. Her eyes clouded over, turning a pearlescent black. The wings beat once, lifting Arya from the ground in a cloud of dust, and another beat propelled her out the open back door.

She soared high up into the air, spreading her wings to their fullest extent. She flipped and twirled, venting her excitement the only way she could.

‘Arya!’ her father called. She looked down at the tiny pinpoint that was her father. She sighed, some of her excitement draining, and circled slowly down to her father. She knew she was in trouble now.

‘Arya, you know it’s dangerous to let yourself go in the daylight,’ he lectured as she floated lower on a downdraft. Arya alighted in front of him, her eyes clearing to their usual vivid green and her wings welding back into her.

‘I’m sorry, daddy, I was just so excited I couldn’t help it,’ she apologized. ‘I got in!’ she announced, jumping up and down, her arms above her head and he face bright with glee.

‘To Hogwarts?’ he asked, just as excited at the prospect. She nodded, squealing and twirling in a big circle. ‘That’s great, honey, that’s wonderful! We’ll have to go to Diagon Ally and get you books and your uniform and your wand and some money to get you through the school year. Do you want to stay there over the holidays?’ he rattled on. Arya stopped spinning, a little dizzy. She shook her head to clear it.

‘That,’ she answered, tapping him on the shoulder playfully as she walked past him and into the living room. ‘will depend on how many friends I have and if they are staying. And if you’re on my good side when the holidays come around.’

‘Okay, honey,’ he said, following her in. ‘Toad, owl, or cat?’

‘Mm…cat now, owl later. I’ll buy the owl myself,’ she said, tingly all over at the prospect of warm, cuddly pets. As a fairy, she had a great liking, and respect, for nature and the creatures that shared their habitat.

‘Great,’ her father said, hopping up, unable to stay in his seat. ‘We’ll go tomorrow. At Hogwarts, stay close to Kayla at first, work diligently, and have fun.’

‘That’s contradictory, dad. Work and fun just don’t mix,’ she laughed.

Arya ran a comb through her waist-length black hair, relishing its smoothness. She smiled at herself in the mirror above her vanity set. She had an exotic beauty to her, one that no one could ever place, and she knew it. It was fairy beauty

Arya had deep emerald eyes, the color of leaves after rain, under thin, sculpted brows and framed by thick, long lashes. She had a thin, majestic face with high cheekbones and a small, straight nose that turned up at the end a bit. She had full lips and straight, white, shining teeth. All of it was surrounded by glistening black waves of hair.

‘What’s the occasion?’ came a voice from behind her. Arya turned to see Kayla grinning at her, leaning against the doorframe. Kayla had hair the color of ripe hay, golden, cut so that it fell to her shoulders in tight curls. Her eyes were a dark, intelligent brown and she was very pretty, in the human way.

‘I’m coming with you this year,’ Arya said. Kayla looked confused. ‘To Hogwarts,’ she explained, as though her meaning should have been obvious.

‘Oh, that’s great! I want you to meet all of my friends. Oh, I hope you’re in Ravenclaw,’ she squeaked, flopping down on Arya’s bed, sighing contentedly. She had been bursting with curiosity but she had held it in for fear of Arya not being accepted. Now she could relax and celebrate.

‘I want to be in Ravenclaw but I wouldn’t complain if I was in Gryffindor,’ Arya said, collapsing on the bed beside Kayla and pulling her up into a sitting position. ‘Do you think people will like me? Will they notice…my difference?’

‘No,’ Kayla said reassuringly. ‘You would need to know about it before hand to notice it at all. People will love you. You’re beautiful and talented and nice and funny and sweet. You’ll be very popular at Hogwarts. Like me!’ she joked.

Arya sighed with relief. Kayla’s opinion carried a lot of weight with her and alleviated many of her fears. ‘Me and dad are going to Diagon Ally today. You can come if you want to,’ she offered. Kayla smiled and nodded. ‘Be ready in fifteen minutes.’

‘Okay. Hope I’ll see some of my friends,’ Kayla said, running out of the room to get ready. Arya put on clean clothes and some lip gloss, and checked her hair. Then she went out to the living room to meet with her half-sister and father.

Her father was searching around the hearth, having misplaced the floopowder yet again, and Kayla was lounging on the couch, waiting impatiently and twirling her wand in her fingers.

‘There you are, Arya! Took you long enough. I’ve been ready for like ten minutes,’ Kayla said, annoyed.

‘Uh, honey? Do you know where the floopowder is? I’ve lost it again,’ her father asked, glancing up briefly and then returning to his search.

‘Under the coffee table, dad,’ she said, pulling out the pouch of sparkly green powder and throwing it to him. He caught it on reflex and he nodded his appreciation.

‘Can we go now?’ Kayla whined, standing up and stowing her wand in the pocket of her pink cargo pants.

‘Hold your horses, will you?’ her dad said. He took a pinch of the floopowder, said, ‘Diagon Ally,’. In a blast of green fire, he was gone.

‘The honor is yours, Arya,’ Kayla said, chuckling, taking a step back and bowing to her. Arya rolled her eyes, took a pinch of the green sand, and stepped into the, now cold again, fireplace.

‘Diagon Ally,’ she said, speaking clearly so as not to be mistaken as to her meaning. Emerald flames sprang up around her, pleasantly warm and tingly. She was spinning fast so she tucked in her elbows and closed her eyes against the whirling soot.

The spinning stopped and Arya tumbled out into the hustle and bustle of Flourish and Blotts, the biggest bookshop in Diagon Ally. She stood and dusted the soot off of her jeans and pink floral tank top. Then she hurried over to Kayla, who was chatting animatedly to a girl with curly brown hair and dark blue eyes.

‘Hey, Kayla,’ she said cheerfully, bounding over to the pair of them. ‘Where’s dad?’

‘Over there buying your books,’ she replied. ‘Marie, this is my sister, Arya. Arya, this is Marie,’ she introduced, pushing Arya in front of her. Arya shook Marie’s hand, smiling timidly.

‘Hello, Arya,’ Marie said, smiling back at her. ‘Kayla tells me you’ll be coming to Hogwarts this year. Hope you’re in Ravenclaw!’

‘Me, too,’ Arya said. ‘Well, I’ve got to find my dad. See you at Hogwarts.’ She waved goodbye as she ran over to her father, who was standing in a long line of people waiting to check out.

‘Hey, sweetie, just getting your books,’ he said as she approached. He was panting from the strain of holding the tottering pile of spell books

‘Dad, you’re a wizard! Levitate those books or something before you hurts yourself,’ Arya advised, sniggering. Her dad did so, wearing a sour look on his face. He pulled some galleons out of his pockets, now that his hands were free, and transferred them to hers.

‘Go get your robes. Madame Malkin’s Robe Shop,’ he instructed. Arya nodded, pocketing the money, and walked out the door onto a crowded street filled with hundreds of people of all shapes, sizes and kinds. The air rang with voices and the sounds of shoes echoing on cobbled streets, but it was the shops that interested Arya.

There were apothecaries, bookshops, cauldron shops, Mr. Ollivander’s wand shop, pet stores, Gringott’s Wizarding Bank, every store that you could think of. Their windows held brightly colored displays, with brightly colored people surrounding them. The street was packed and it took a while for Arya to find Madame Malkin’s Robe Shop.

Arya pushed open the door and stepped into the brightly lit interior of the shop. There were racks and racks of robes and a squat, smiling woman dress all on mauve. Madame Malkin strode over and ushered her to the back of the store.

‘Hogwarts, dear? We have two young men getting fitted as we speak,’ she said, her voice pleasant and maternal. She stood Arya up on a stool, slid some robes over her head, and began to pin them to the right length.

On stools next to her were two boys. One had messy, black hair and emerald eyes, just like hers. The other had sleek, blonde hair and icy blue eyes. They were talking about their lineage, a subject that had always made her uncomfortable.