Eleven years ago,  my sisters and I were born. As you can imagine, we drove our mother and father crazy. 

My name is Asteria, I'm the youngest of the triplets, with a reputation for being the extra kid that my parents weren't prepared to have. I always joke with my sister Fallon that she purposefully hid me from the doctors so that she didn't lose her spotlight. The oldest of the three of us, Ilaria, is much like me. Or should I say I'm a lot like her? Anyways, she constantly brags about being the favorite of us all, and it used to get on my nerves until I realized, she was probably right. Being the oldest has its perks I suppose. 

Today, was our eleventh birthday. A day we had been waiting as long as we could talk. Not only were we finally allowed by our parents to purchase a pet of our own, but we were finally old enough to be enrolled into Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had been a dream ever since we were small for us to all go to Hogwarts together. I would be sorted into Hufflepuff, Fallon into Ravenclaw, and Ilaria in Gryffindor. We were all certain those were the houses the sorting hat would place us in. As a matter of fact, back when we were just a few feet tall, we used to act out our sorting ceremony almost daily. Mother even bought us a brown, wrinkly hat to be our fill-in sorting hat until, in her words, "got the real thing"

Ah, good times. 

But now, all the times we imagined receiving our letters as children, seemed innocent compared to how it felt now. We were worried sick.

Later in the evening of our special day, we had Fallon staring intently out the window, her eyes fixed on the mailbox just outside. While I worked on a puzzle and Ilaria slept nearby. We collectively decided to stay awake until the clock struck midnight, marking a new day. And every hour, we would switch roles. One would sit on the couch and sleep, while the other stayed awake, just in case the person in charge of supervising the front lawn needed additional assistance. It was around eight pm, when Fallon let out a dramatic gasp, making Ilaria jump up from her slumber.

"IT'S AN OWL!!!" Fallon exclaimed, running outside, not even stopping to slip her shoes on. Ilaria and I followed close behind, our hearts beating in perfect harmony. By the time we reached outside, the owl that Fallon had spotted from inside had touched down to the mailbox. Effortlessly, he set the letters he held tightly in his mouth into Fallon's hand. Then, just as quick as he appeared, he was gone. 

"Well, don't just stand there and dilly dally, hand over our letters!" Ilaria demanded, growing even more impatient by the second. 

Fallon absently mindly handed us the remaining two letters as she held an intense gaze at the one marked with her name. 

"On the count of three," I said, "We shall open them together."

Surpsingly, Fallon and Ilaria agreed.

"One...two...three." We said together, and almost immediately, we tore the parchment open. 

Silence.

But only for a moment, before the three of us erupted into excitment.