A/N: I must preface saying that I began writing this story a long time ago, so the early chapters are not the best. Remember my main character is 14 in the beginning and is such an awkward teenage girl navigating life. I promise she does not trip and stutter for very long haha! Enjoy :-)

The weather in England is so much different from what I'm used to. It is cold here all the time, and I haven't seen the sun the entire time I have been here. I grew up in the United States— in California specifically. A place where the sun radiates constantly on your face, and you always feel its warmth. I would always spend my summers laying on the beach and getting my sun kissed glow, while dipping my feet in the pacific ocean.

 But during the school year, I was in Texas — A place that is even hotter, and never rains. You can tell by looking at my family that we lived where the sun always shined.

When my father told me he was moving us to England it definitely came as a shock. My father was essentially the American deputy minister for magic. He would take over the job for the actual minister on several occasions and had to do plenty of top secret jobs. That is why we never asked too many questions when he got the assignment as the British deputy minister of magic.

Since my father makes the money that he does, we now were living in a private wizarding community right outside of London, called Hatsfield. It is very similar to the home we lived in, in the states—minus the sun and the beach. I actually didn't mind the weather here so far, it was different but I liked it. It rained a total of six days the entire school year, so feeling the soft droplets of rain on my face was a happy change.

In the two months we have been here I have automatically taken a liking to the bench swing on our wrap around porch. Every morning so far I would grab a warm cup of coffee and my blanket and enjoy a moment of solitude while re-reading some of my favorite books. Taming of the shrew being the current one in my lap. Having three older siblings, it was hard to find a moment of peace where we weren't messing with each other.

"Alisanna! Dinner's ready sweetheart!" My mother called out as she popped her blond head out of the front door.

 Everyone thought my mother was a Veela by how beautiful she was, she had long platinum blond hair and bright blue eyes. Being my Mother, she always knew where she could find me. It was either here or the Quiditch pitch out back.  

"Coming, Mom!" I responded and slid my bookmark inside my book before hopping off of the swing. My siblings have taken no interest in being out here, but for me it was a little piece of paradise. 

I smiled when I walked into our large dining room and took in my family. My sister's Aurora and Andriana were fraternal twins and were probably two of the girliest people you would ever meet. They were sixteen and two years older than me. They favored my mother in every way, with their bright blue eyes and shining blond hair. They were both tall and had very long legs. They were different than me, of course as most siblings are. I was more into Quiditch and often had more friends that were guys than girls—I think the quiditch connection helped. And yet somehow the three of us got along well enough. They were both currently gawking at a pair of shoes in a fashion magazine they had open on the table.

My brother Damian was fifteen and the middle child, he looked exactly like my father. They both had dark brown hair and almost black eyes with slightly tanner skin, probably from our inherited Greek genes. He was pretty much my best friend, we played and watched Quiditch constantly, and overall just enjoyed each others company the best. We both were very laid back and loved to enjoy the simple things in life. I laughed as he was trying to balance a spoon on the end of his nose while balancing on the hind legs of his chair.

And then there was me.

 I was the perfect balance of both of my parents in regards to my appearance. .I had light brown hair and light green eyes. I was tan from the sun, but that would definitely go away with the cooler weather. I was shorter than my sisters but still had long legs like my mother—hello short torso. 

 My family was everything to me, and although we knew we had it well off we never took anything for granted. I loved them all so much, and I would seriously die if anything happened to any of them. I was the baby of the family and even though it got annoying with how protective they became over me, I knew they mean well.

"Ok family, dig in!" My mother called out and took her seat at the end of the table across from my father. I had skipped over and tried kicking Damian's chair out from under him but he caught himself in time.

 "Nice try Ali!" He said laughing as he grabbed some of our mothers amazing lasagna. 

"Aurora and Andriana, put away your pornography!" My father called out with a mischievous smile on his face. Damian and I cracked up and the appalled look our sisters gave our dad.

"Dad! we need these shoes for Hogwarts!" Aurora exclaimed and the pair of them decided to try pouting their lips out and batting their eyelashes at him. It normally worked about 99.9% of the time. Our dad is a huge softy when it comes to his children.  

 "Hey turds, we have uniforms at Hogwarts!" I called out and tossed a tomato at them. Andrianna stuck out her tongue before tossing it back, my sisters were spoiled at our old school. We never had uniforms.

"You don't need any more shoes Andi." Damian said, but it was barely intelligible as his mouth was stuffed full of food. I giggled at him before digging into my own plate. 

"Are you kids excited to start Hogwarts next week?" My mother asked as she slowly took small bites of her food.

"Quiditch!" Me and Damian yelled at the same time, we smiled at each other before high fiveing. My dad laughed at us while my mother shook her head and muttered something that sounded like 'Damn heights'. 

"I can't believe I have four kids in three different years," My mother said with a tear in her eye. My Mom was always way too emotional when it came to all of us. I remember when I started my first year in America, my mother came up to school four times a week.She just cannot let go of her babies. Every time me and Damian played quiditch in our backyard she almost had a heart attack.

"Well you're the one who is fertile myrtle my love." My father told her with a loving smile and a quick wink. 

She tried to glare at him, but ended up smiling in the end. My parents had that sickly sweet marriage that is horrible to watch when you're a teenager, but it's that marriage you desperately want when you grow older. They were the perfect balance for each other, they danced in our kitchen when they thought nobody was looking, they still held hands and were always kissing each other. 

"Well kids we have some plans for you all tomorrow." My father called out as he folded up his Daily Prophet and tossed it on the ground, my mom coughed and motioned to the newspaper. 

My father laughed before picking his newspaper back up and setting it in his lap. My mother was an insane neat freak, and had a panic attack every time she walked into Damian's room that was an out right mess. Or the twins bathroom, as there were makeup smears everywhere and organization definitely wasn't their strong suit.

"Andi and Aurora, you're going with your mother to London to shop tomorrow." My father told the twins. They let out a loud screech before tackling my father in a hug. His eyes went wide and he shook his head.

 "Thanks Daddy!" they yelled in his ear causing him to wince. Me and Damian shook our heads at our sisters, who were with our mom now planning out outfits for school that wouldn't even matter.

"Are you two going to screech too?" My father whispered as he motioned at the girls. 

"I can't make any promises." Damian said with a smirk. I just smiled.

 "I'm taking you to the quiditch world cup in the morning," He said as he loosened his tie and tossed it onto the table when my mom wasn't looking. 

"THANKS DADDY!" Damian belted out mocking the twins, he did some weird butt shaking dance before jumping in our dads lap. 

"Oh my gosh we are going to have sooo much fun, there are gonna be so many boys!" Damian said in a girly voice and flicked his hand a little. My father just laughed loudly before shoving my brother onto the ground.

"Dad, you might as well have two sons." I said laughing as I started to clear the dinner table.

 "Well you're the prettiest boy I have ever seen." Aurora said ruffling my hair as we brought our plates to the sink, where my mother set them to magically clean themselves. We spent the rest of the night huddled in our movie room watching the muggle movies that we love, my mom ended up falling asleep like usual...she couldn't stay awake watching a movie to save her life.

I fell asleep dreaming of the days to come, of the Quiditch world cup and of Hogwarts. But there was a darkness there — a darkness lingering in my dreams that I was hoping wasn't something more.