Chapter Text
Prologue
It was 2 a.m. in San Francisco and in Prescott Street everyone was asleep; everyone but a family, the Halliwell family. They were normal people in the eyes of others in their neighborhood, but in reality they were a very special family, composed by witches, whitelighters and even cupids. In their world they were famous. The Halliwell sisters, bearers of the Power of Three, and then the next generation of Halliwells, had saved it in more than one occasion. They were known to be powerful and were feared by their enemies.
Many important events had happened in the house known as the "Manor", such as the birth of the third sister Phoebe Halliwell, the wedding of the second one, Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt, the birth of their first son, Wyatt Halliwell, and more recently the birth of the last member of the family, Persephone Polaris Black Halliwell, occurred already 11 years ago.
Persephone was a beautiful little girl with reddish-brown hair and stunning yet particular eyes. Indeed, she had a singular condition called Heterochromia, so her left eye was hazel, while her right one was grey. At the height of her left clavicle she had a peculiar birthmark shaped like a Triquetra. It was curious it had the precise shape of the Triquetra, which was the symbol representing the Power of Three, of the Charmed ones. The Elders thought it was a sign stating that little Persephone was destined to be an extremely powerful witch.
Her family described her as curious, witty, stubborn, brave and irreparably sassy. She was cheerful and funny with people she trusted and liked, but at the same time she could be extremely cold with people she didn't know or trust and even mean with people who threatened her loved ones.
Persephone disliked her name, she couldn't understand what her mother had been thinking when she had named her. She knew her mother had wanted to respect the Halliwell Family tradition, which consisted in choosing names that began with the letter "P" — even if said tradition hadn't been respected by her grandmother Piper and had been followed only by her great-aunt Phoebe. Persephone understood it, but why "Persephone"? It could have been Primrose, Penelope or Priscilla, but no. Her mother had decided for Persephone, the creepy queen of the Underworld, which was quite ironic considering that once her great-aunt Phoebe had really been the Queen of the Underworld. That much was enough for her to prefer people calling her Sephie instead of Persephone.
Her second name was completely another story. Children often mocked her at school for it, finding it weird — as if her eye condition wasn't enough. Despite this, Persephone honestly liked it and every time she remembered to write something on her diary she signed the page as "Polaris". This name was given to her for another family tradition, the Black family's, her mother's. For generations the Blacks had chosen names of stars or constellations for their children. Her mother, Electra Cassiopeia Black, was named after the third-brightest star in the Pleiads open star Custer and after the homonymous constellation in the Northern sky. Persephone was named after the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Littler Bear.
Persephone lived in the Manor with her parents and grandparents. Not long ago it had been them and her uncle Chris and her aunt Melinda, but recently they had moved out to be more independent... or so they said. In reality it was more the time they spent in the Manor than the one they spent in their own house. She didn't mind, of course; after all they were her dear family.
Indeed, Persephone loved every member of her family, at least the side of her father's, Wyatt Halliwell. Her mother's side of the family was not really likable, especially considering her mother had suffered because of them. However, every family had its black sheep — well, white sheep in this case — and the Black family was no exception. So, yes, Persephone had some Black relatives she loved, but they weren't many. The lucky ones were her aunt Andromeda Tonks, née Black and her cousin Nymphadora Tonks — and, for extension, her uncle Ted Tonks. There was also another member of the Blacks that she liked, even though she had never met him because of — let's say — a matter of force majeur.
It was almost absurd how many things divided Persephone's identity in two halves. She was part of two families with polar opposite backgrounds, one full of love, light and goodness and the other full of suffering, darkness and wickedness. Even her eyes were different the one from the other! But more important, she was part of two different magic worlds.
She was also the reason of the commotion that was currently taking place in the Manor.
"We're going to be late, sweetie" her mom said.
"I know, I know! I only need to find my crystal."
"Here, baby girl," her father said, handing the crystal pendant to her, "Why do you need it anyway? It's not as you're going to use it. It's something of our magic world."
"I know, but first of all, it's mine so I want it always with me and, secondly, you never know when scrying is needed" Persephone said with a smirk.
"Nuh-uh young lady! No scrying, no orbing, no exposing your Wiccan powers" her grandmother said.
"Yes, grandma," Persephone sighed with a pout, "but I can orb here when nobody's around, can't I?"
"Yes, Sephie, but be careful," her grandfather said caressing her cheek, "we don't want people to know about our magic world."
Persephone nodded and then hugged her grandparents goodbye. It wasn't a tearful farewell, but it had to be expected when they all knew the next night she'd already be back there to tell them all about her first day of school. Her mother took both hers and her father's hands and they were about to disapparate, when something came to Persephone's mind. "Wait! Sirius, come here!" A little black cat suddenly popped out of nowhere and came running to her. He purred as she picked him up in her arms.
"I still can't believe you named your cat Sirius" said her mother.
Indeed, the day Persephone had got her cat, she had immediately decided to name it Sirius.
"You want to call a cat as the brightest star of the Greater Dog?" her mother had asked her, emphasizing the word 'dog'.
"No, I want to call it like my uncle. It's not my nor his fault that a star was named after him."
"That's not— How is it possible that you two are so alike when you've never even met each other?!"
Persephone grinned thinking back to that day, then she took her mother's hand and they all disapparated.