Chapter Text
*Alex's POV*
"Ron! Ron!" I started screaming for the youngest Weasley boy as soon as I hit the garden fence of the Burrow. I knew he must have his letter by now. Or soon. "RON!"
I ran straight through the chickens in the yard, scattering them about with a thrown "Sorry!" over my shoulder. The back door was thrown open before I could reach it. I skidded to a stop on the back stoop next to the wellies that no one ever seemed to wear and bent over, out of breath.
"Oh, look who it is!"
"Our little Lexie!"
"The birthday girl!"
I tilted my head, still breathing hard, to look up at the twins. Fred and George looked back at me with identical grins. Though, to be fair, almost everything they did was identical. But they couldn't fool me, even if they could fool their family.
I held up a finger and bent back over my knees. It was a bit of a run from my house. I needed to catch my breath. The twins did not respect my need for a minute. In fact, they ignored my finger and scooped me up beneath the shoulders and dragged me inside.
"Hey! Fred! George!" It didn't sound very intimidating as I was laughing through the yelling, but the intent was there. I heard a similar shout from Mrs. Weasley before being deposited in a chair and joined on either side by the twins. I scanned the table and saw Ginny, Ron, and Mr. Weasley chuckling to themselves, and Mrs. Weasley attempting to hide a smile. Percy wasn't the type to laugh at "such frivolous nonsense" and instead was giving the twins a stern look.
"Hello, Weasleys. I hope I'm not interrupting," I said breathlessly with a grin. They all shook their heads. "Good, good."
Mrs. Weasley fixed a plate for me and set it down in front of me while the rest of the family chimed in their birthday wishes to me. I smiled at each of them before they mostly turned back to their food. I learned over Fred to my right and caught Ron's attention. The boy liked his food, it was hard to pull him from it.
"Guess what I have?" I asked. He snapped his head over to me and dropped his food. The others looked up as well, Ginny especially, as I knew she wanted to be going to Hogwarts with us. Ron grabby hands-ed at me. I whipped out my letter and held it out of his reach. Ron's eyes widened and swiped at it.
"Ah ah ah, Ronald, you have to wait for yours!" I sang as Fred batted his hand away. I pulled out the letter and began to read:
"Dear Ms. MacMillan, We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry --"
"Let me see it, Alex!"
"-- term begins on the First of September. We await your owl no later than the 31st of July--"
"Mum! Where's my letter?!" Ron whined. The others around the table chuckled as I continued to taunt Ron with my letter, the twins especially found it hilarious and were doubled over the table.
"It will be here soon, especially if Alex just received hers. The school only has so many owls," Mrs. Weasley placated Ron. I decided to show him mercy and stop my reading. Mostly because the letter really was quite short.
Ron threw himself back in his seat and began to sulk, a common habit of his and, quite honestly, one of the reasons we didn't hang out as much. I'd have felt bad if I didn't see the owl swooping outside the kitchen window. I simply held my tongue and started to eat the breakfast Mrs. Weasley had laid out in front of me before the owl tapped on the window.
Ron leapt to his feet and threw the window open so aggressively he almost knocked the owl out of the air. Luckily it was a Hogwarts owl rather than Errol, the Weasleys decrepit old pet. I held back a snort and almost gagged on the eggs I had been eating. George gave me a hearty slap on the back that only made me cough more.
"Aha! Not the only one now, Alex!" Ron shouted as he ripped into his own letter and the school's barn owl felt out the window with an indignant hoot. I waved him off as I continued to cough out one of my lungs.
"Well, I suppose that means the annual trip to Diagon Alley is in order," Mr. Weasley said as Ron began is own recitation of his letter as well as the shopping list for first years. He and Ernie had shocking similarities sometimes.
I nodded eagerly. I'd have to talk to my parents about the money to buy supplies, but it did little to dampen the excitement of actually starting at Hogwarts. They'd probably like not having to deal with me in Diagon Alley anyway.
I enjoyed Diagon alley. It was always bustling with all kinds of people, and Mrs. Weasley usually let us roam around a little in the places we enjoyed. Fred and George always insisted on dragging me into Gambol and Japes, but I preferred Flourish and Blotts. Endless magical books about any and every topic under the sun. Though I would never admit that to them. The twins would never let me live down being a "nerd."
"Alex, dear, do you think your parents and Ernie would want to join us this year? I'm sure they'd want to be there for your first time shopping for Hogwarts," Mrs. Weasley asked. My head snapped up. They most certainly would not, but the Weasleys didn't need to know that. I stabbed at my breakfast.
"Um, yeah, I can ask. We haven't made any plans yet," I said, smiling at her half heartedly. The twins turned to me, mischievous grins growing on their faces. I narrowed my eyes at them warily.
"Oh, yes, do bring Ernie along," Fred said.
"We'd be so delighted to hang out with him," George continued. I shook my head vehemently.
"Oh, no you don't. You'll turn his head into a pumpkin or something and then I'll never be able to come over!" I protested. Ernie was not at all up for the kinds of pranks the twins pulled. He and I were so unlike Fred and George, it was strange to think that we were twins sometimes.
They gasped in unison, hands to their chest in mock horror.
"We would never dream of pranking your dear twin brother," George said.
"We understand the bond of twins, and would never expect you to break it," Fred finished for them. I rolled my eyes, and smacked both of them on the arm. They only turned up the dramatics and started wailing about amputations and the pain in their arms. I returned to my food with a grin on my face, piling as much of Mrs. Weasley's delicious food on my plate as I could.
***
As breakfast finished, I brought my dirty dish to the sink, attempting to start cleaning at least some of the dishes before Mrs. Weasley bustled me off of it and Ron stole me away, the twins protesting behind us.
Despite being the same age, Ron and I didn't hang out quite as often as I did with Ginny and the twins. As the youngest of the boys, I think he had a hard time speaking up and making friends. But with our first year at Hogwarts starting and knowing no one else who was starting except Ernie, I thought we might be on our way to becoming better friends. Well I knew of other people, but no one I would want to be friends with.
We burst into Ron's very orange room (his favorite Quidditch team was the Chudley Cannons who repped a fairly, in my opinion, obnoxious shade of orange) and took places on the floor, our letters laid out before us. For awhile, we just stared at them.
"It doesn't feel real," I admitted quietly. We had been hearing about Hogwarts since we were basically born. It had taken on mythic proportions, though Charlie and Bill had started trying to temper our expectations before they left. All I knew was that I would be getting away from my family and their expectations for the first time in my life. Ernie was coming with me, but I would be able to build something for myself. I thought Ron might feel the same.
"I think I might be... scared," Ron said just as quietly. I knew he would never admit something like that in front of the rest of the family. I understood though and started nodding. We lived outside a Muggle village and were two of only four wizarding families in the area. The Weasleys didn't see the Diggorys or Lovegoods much though, and my parents didn't think the Lovegoods were worth associating with. I had been to the Diggory's house before, however. They were a good family, apparently, and their son, Cedric, was nice enough. He was a year older than the twins and a year younger than Percy at 14, though, and didn't seem to ever know what to say to me.
So Ron and I were going into Hogwarts with only each other. And Ernie, of course, but my brother had always been good on his own. My parents certainly thought he would have been better as an only child. My family knew some other pureblood families, some of whom had kids starting this year, too. But they weren't my friends. We would have to make our own. We would have to everything on our own for once.
"It's a new adventure. Or just school. Whichever way makes you feel better about it," I said. I didn't know which was better even for me. Maybe both.
"What if no one wants to be my friend?" Ron asked it so quietly, I was surprised I heard it. I smiled at him.
"Then it'll be me and you. And you know the twins won't leave you alone," I said. I didn't think it would be smart to tell him that I was worried about the same thing. But there were gonna be plenty of new kids at Hogwarts. "We're finally gonna learn magic, Ron. We'll get to do everything they can do."
Ron grinned widely at me. We sat there for awhile longer, discussing what we hoped Hogwarts would be like, what House we would be in. Ron's entire family was in Gryffindor, so I didn't think he had any reason to worry about where he was going. The twins, however, decided that would be the perfect time to barge in.
"Is Ickle Ronniekins worried about the Sorting?" George teased. Ron swipped up his letter and got to his feet with an angry look on his face.
"No!" he protested. I knew the twins weren't even close to done.
"You know the Sorting is super painful, right? It's a test to see if you can take it," Fred added, glancing over at George with a grin. I rolled my eyes at Ron's pale face. He really did make it easy for them.
"No, it isn't, Ron. They're trying to get to you," I said, getting to my feet with my own letter. The twins shook their head at me as Ron turned his head to look at me. I gave them an exasperated look. My parents had already told Ernie and I about the Sorting Hat.
"Why would you take her word for it? She hasn't been to Hogwarts either," Fred protested, trying to hold on to their joke. Ron's head whipped back and forth.
"It's just a stupid hat. They put it on your head, and it tells you what House you're in," I said. It ruined the magic of the first day a little perhaps, but Ron would worry endlessly if I let him believe what the twins said. They weren't so easily dissuaded though.
"I'm sure your parents told you that so you wouldn't worry," George stepped in, mock concern across his face.
"But it's really true, it hurts a LOT." Fred was giving me pleading eyes. They knew I knew I was right.
"You're really gonna take their word for it? Up to you, Ron," I said, shrugging and stepping toward Fred and George. "What do you two want anyway, barging in like that?"
"We've come to steal you away. We have pranks to plan," Fred said, grabbing my hand. George grabbed the other one and they started dragging me out the door.
"Bye, Ron!" I called as the three of us raced down the stairs, plans for chaos whirling in my mind.