Chapter 1: The Realization

It's cold. The cold confuses Angie because it's the middle of summer in Texas, it's never cold in Texas. For a moment, she believes it's the air conditioner, but she quickly remembers the air conditioner is broken. It's been broken for weeks, but Angie couldn't afford to fix it.

Angie tries to open her eyes, but a harsh bright light makes her regret her decision. She curses and yells at her younger brother, Sebastian, to turn off the light. A baby screeches into Angie's ears and she's puzzled. Her youngest brother, Danny, is nearly eight and there is no one younger than him living in her house.

The crying gets persistently louder and she screams in her head, who brought a baby over this early in the morning?

"C'est une fille!"

The loud man frightens Angie and just as she's about to scream back at him, there is a humming into her ear. It's a nice sound that instantly reminds Angie of her mother's voice. Angie opens her eyes, determined to find out who is singing, and this time the light is more bearable. A woman with golden hair came into Angie's view and a man standing next to her cooed.

The man whispers, "She looks just like you."

It was then that Angie realized that the baby was no longer crying and that the man's comment was directed toward her. What the hell?, She thought frantically in her head, am I a baby?

Angie attempts to get up, but she can't even move her head. She begins to whimper, this must be a dream.

This time, a baby's cry can be heard from all the way down the hospital's hall.

Angie spends most of her time in silence. It's humiliating for someone to change her, it is even more humiliating when the woman insists on breastfeeding her. Angie tries to keep her dignity and attempts to stop crying like some annoying child, but she has no control of her emotions.

Angie wants to wake up in her own bed and get her brother's ready for school. She wants to say goodbye to her Abuela as she heads off to the waitressing job she has. Most of all, she wants to visit her papa at the hospital and reassure him that she will continue to take care of her brothers when he is gone. It frightens Angie to think that her family may believe that she ran away because she couldn't handle her responsibilities.

I'm here she wants to tell them, but she is no use to them in this infant body. Tears roll down Angie's face, but she doesn't screech out like she once had in the hospital. She nods approvingly in her head. Good, I still have some control.

The woman with golden hair looks down into Angie's crib and frowns as she sees the tears on her daughter's face. The woman picks Angie up and rubs circles into her back. Finally, Angie lets herself be comforted by the stranger and hiccups softly into their shirt as she slowly falls asleep.

This is not a place Angie is familiar with and the strangers around her don't speak English. It's the two semesters of college French that allow Angie to make the conclusion that she is possibly somewhere in France. Overall, Angie feels like a baby when she can't comprehend the heated, fast French argument that the woman and man get into. She silently listens within her crib and tries to make out any words. Angie can't, it's been nearly four years since she last sat in her French class and the conversation around her is obviously not for her level of understanding. It's then, that Angie decides to ignore their yells and falls back to sleep.

The next day, the woman places Angie in a stroller and they leave the house for the first time since Angie was in the hospital. Angie looks around excitedly and embraces the outside world. The sky is a beautiful blue with no clouds and Angie enjoys the way the sun touches her skin. They're not outside for long, they enter a building with many rooms and they sit alone in a single room for a couple of minutes.

A man with a white coat enters the room and shakes the woman's hand. Angie's eyes widen, they're in a doctor's office. The doctor sits Angie up and makes her do certain things while writing things down. Angie can't help but squirm uncomfortably as the man touches her and questioningly looks at the woman, why am I here?

After a while, the doctor places Angie down and starts talking to the woman. Angie goes on her normal routine of ignoring and looks at the children's pictures on the wall of the room. They look annoyingly happy and Angie wants to roll her eyes.

A sob breaks the quiet room and Angie's attention gravitates toward the strangers. Am I sick? Angie strains to listen to the woman's ramble and curses herself for taking Spanish in high school for an easy A and not French. Still, Angie manages to understand the words 'help', 'baby', and 'cry'.

Angie's heart drops as she realizes why she is in a doctor's office. Angie doesn't cry, she barely acts like a baby. This whole time she kept thinking how undignified it was for a 21-year-old to be so useless that she wasn't acting like a baby. Angie has been silently mourning for her family without a single thought of the people around her. This woman was the mother of the baby Angie was currently in, of course, she's worried when her baby is acting strangely. Angie lets tears fill her eyes and starts to cry. The woman gasps and quickly holds Angie in her arms.

I'm sorry, I'll do better.

She doesn't think about her old life, not anymore. In the beginning, Angie would spend countless hours thinking about possible ways she could have ended up like this and only one solution made sense: reincarnation. She doesn't know much about it, she's sure the Buddhist believe in it, but she doesn't know the fundamentals. Angie's very Catholic Abuela nearly had a heart attack when she mentioned taking a Buddhist class, so she opted out. Now, she wishes she hadn't.

The fact is for someone to be reincarnated they would have to die. Angie's not sure what scares her more: the fact that she's dead or that she can't remember how she died. In the end, she decides it doesn't matter anymore. Her name is Robin Lavina and she is 10 years old, that's all that matters.

Robin learns her mother, Maryanne Lavina, was born in London but moved to Versailles to be with Robin's father. Her father, Louis Lavina, was born in Angers, France and he learned English for MaryAnne. Robin spends the first couple years of life struggling to learn French, but she manages. Maryanne spent countless hours reading fairy tales and all other stories to Robin. Without her mother's help, Robin sure she would still be lost in translation.

By the time Robin is 4 years old, she could have a full conversation in French and could even read chapter books. Her parents were impressed, so they decided to teach her some English. Robin sped through her English lessons and her parents were shocked.

Her father would often say, "My little bird is a genius."

Every single time it made Robin blush, but she loved the fact that they were so proud of her. When it was time for school, Robin thought about dumbing it down, but one week of coloring made her think otherwise. She skipped to Cours Moyen I (8ème) or better known as 4th grade. Many of the kids thought it was weird to see a 6-year-old in a class full of 9-year-olds, but they were very kind to Robin and made her feel welcomed.

When Robin was 8 years old, her parents decided to move back to England to live in the same area where her parents first met. The move wasn't difficult after all, English is Robin's first language, but Robin felt that France was a part of her and missed it terribly. Two years had passed, and Robin still found herself slipping into French when she was overly excited.

Robin is 10 years old and her life may be a little strange, she learned Robin was born the same year as Angie's parents, but it's great. Robin was born on December 21, 1979, during the winter solstice. With her birthday coming up, she gave no regards to her past life until her mother asked her to get the mail one day.

On the doormat was four letters. Two bills for her parents, one letter from an aunt in France, and one letter addressed to Robin. The letter was thick, and the words were in an emerald green ink. With a hammering heart, Robin turns it over to see the purple Hogwarts seal she had read about a lifetime ago.

"Did you get the mail Robin?"

Robin slips the letter under her shirt and places the three other letters onto the counter, "Yes Mum. I left them on the counter."

With that, Robin went into her room and ripped open the letter.

Dear Ms. Lavina,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September-

Robin stopped reading and rips up the letter before shoving it into the bottom of her school bag. Her thoughts turned to her parent's downstairs, I'll throw it away at school. They'll never know.

Despite all of Robin's interceptions, the letters kept coming. In fact, the letters were multiplying. Soon, Robin was sure they were going to find letters in their eggs like he did. Robin ignored the nervous feeling in her heart and went on her day.

Robin quickly runs home from school to intercept any more letters and sighs in relief when there was none on the doormat.

She laughs and yells out, "Mum, I'm home!"

"Come to the dining room, we have lots to discuss Robin."

She places her bag down and raced to the dining room, "Guess what Mum? We started talking about Euler's Theor-"

Robin pauses the moment she looked at her mother. Her arms crossed, her eyebrows furrowed, "What's this letter I've heard you've been getting?"

One did not want to anger Maryanne Lavina, the results were not pretty.

Robin decides to play dumb, "What letter?"

"I think she means your Hogwarts letter."

Robin's eyes widen at the person who spoke. Standing in all her glory was Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts.

Robin shudders, "Oh, that letter."

"Professor McGonagall says they have sent you at least 20 letters and you've insisted on getting the mail for the past week or so. You better start explaining now."

Robin looks down, "I thought it was some kids playing a joke, so I've been throwing the letters away"

Robin hated lying, she hated lying so much, but this was about something bigger than a small fib.

Her mother's face fell, and she gently grabs Robin's shoulders, "Have the kids at school been bullying you? You've always been younger than the other kids in your class."

Robin shakes her head, "No Mum. I just thought it was a harmless prank. Magic is not even real."

Professor McGonagall purses her lips, "I can assure you that magic is very much real. I can demonstrate with the permission of your mother."

Maryanne nods to Professor McGonagall and the Professor pulls out her wand. Robin couldn't help it; her eyes widen at the sign of magic and she feels the corners of her mouth lift in excitement.

Professor McGonagall commands, "Lumos."

The end of her wand lit up and with a simple, "Nox." the light was off.

"That Ms. Lavina is a Wand-Lighting Charm. Lumos is something you will learn in your first year at Hogwarts. I will be teaching you transfiguration."

Robins curiosity got the better of her, "What's Transfiguration?"

Robin secretly hoped it would will the Professor to try something and she was not disappointed. Professor McGonagall points her wand to the table and it turns into a pig. Robin's mother screams in fright and Robin's laughter filled the room. The pig was gone as soon as it arrived.

"Professors usually come to explain to Muggleborns what Hogwarts is after receiving a letter back from the pupil. We were a little worried when a letter never came back so we came to check up on you."

Maryanne questions, "Muggleborn?"

Professor McGonagall explains, "Muggleborn is someone born to non-magical parents and a Muggle is a non-magical person. Since Ms. Lavina won't be eleven until December, she won't be attending Hogwarts until the next term which is September 1st. When the time comes, myself or another professor at Hogwarts will escort your family to Diagon Alley where you will find all the supplies you need for the upcoming year."

Professor McGonagall turns to Maryanne, "Can I assume Ms. Lavina will be joining us next September?"

Maryanne nods, "I will need to speak to my husband, but yes. We would love for Robin to go to Hogwarts."

Robin clenches her fist as she begins to shake in fear. She didn't want this, and she couldn't do a thing to stop it.