Chapter Text
Sunday, September 1st, 1991
“Oh, poor thing!”
Fred turned to Angelina, she was looking out the window of the train compartment they were in, over the pile of braids Angelina was fixing on her head Fred could only see what appeared to be a dark brown bush or possibly a large cluster of stained sheep’s wool.
“What’s out there?” Fred pointed at the door.
“Some firstie, I think, with just such poor hair care,” Angelina stood up from the bench next to him and slid open the door. “Hey!”
A squeak left the small girl half-crouched half-ruffling around the small closet between compartments. Aside from the massive pile of bushy-kinky curls in an almost-afro that seemed to stick in all directions and couldn’t keep a consistent curl pattern or really even color, the girl had big whisky brown eyes and caramel brown skin and adorable buck teeth that only slightly dug into her bottom lip even with her mouth closed. She was already in her first-year robes but they seemed a little too big on her (being generous) 110 centimeters in height and they were slightly rumpled. She looked back and forth from the much taller dark-skinned girl in front of her to the compartment behind said girl, her wide eyes flicking over all five other occupants.
“Sorry!” The small girl quickly recovered, “I am looking for a boy’s— Neville, he lost his toad, Trevor. I think by the description he’s a European spadefoot — squat, very round, short limbs, large eyes, spotted pattern. Have any of you seen him?”
George looked at Fred and Fred shook his head, “ No -“
“-Not seen any frogs, toads-”
“-Lizards, salamanders-”
“-Fish or other slimy things-“
“-But Lee has a giant tarantula if you wanna see her!”
Lee smiled and shook his head at the twins, “Her name is Ezi. My older sister got her for my birthday.”
“Oh, I would love to see her!” The girl smiled at the other kids.
“Come in, my name’s Angelina Johnson, that's Lee Jordan," she motioned to Lee and then continued, "Meet the wonder-twins, Fred and George Weasley,” she pointed at the twins who both looked at each other like they had forgotten the other was there - shocked and appalled at the other.
Fred started, “Hey, you took my face!”
“Yeah, and you took my look!” George continued looking at their clothes, “Who let you in here anyway?”
“Ignore them,” The girl closest to the window had one hand on her tanned face and the other reached over the aisle to swat at Fred's right arm but ended up lightly hitting George’s left knee, “They will drive you up the wall and stick you to the ceiling if you let ‘em, I’m Alicia Spinnet.”
“Hello,” the small bushy-haired girl took a step into the compartment so that Angelina could close the door again, “I am Hermione Granger.”
“Nice to meet you, Hermione,” The other girl, pale with short black hair and bangs, nearest to the door (aside from Angelina) reached out to shake her hand, “I’m Katie Bell.”
“So a firstie are ya’?” Fred looked back at Hermione watching her take a moment to straighten up the front of her robes and put down her hair a little.
“Yes, but I have spent all summer reading everything I could find on Hogwarts and Wixen society,” Angelina smiled widely at the use of the correct term but let the girl continue, “I am from a family where no one but me can do magic— a Muggle family, that’s so weird to say, I am sure I will get used to it but I will not lie it is all a bit overwhelming!”
“Don’t worry kid,” Lee said slowly standing up from his seat between Katie and Alicia to reach for Ezi’s travel case, “My dad’s a Half-Blood, so’s Katie’s, and Angelina’s mum’s a Muggleborn too you fit right in here.”
“Oh really?” Hermione turned her head back to Angelina, “Are there any cultural differences or exchanges? Because so far everything I have seen or read seems really far apart from modern— Muggle styles and customs. Seems like everyone in the Wixen world looks like they just stepped out of a rather elaborate ‘70s movie about King Arthur or a BBC documentary on the Victorian era. I am fascinated regardless, given that everything is… well so fantastical !”
Angelina blinked a bit quickly the girl talked fast and she seemed much quicker to get into the weeds with a conversation. After three years of dealing with the twins seemingly having seven conversations within a few winks and nudges and Lee talking circles around everything from gossip to Quidditch to politics he heard from his mother and older sister, Angelina thought she was rather good at figuring out the rhetoric anyone was pushing but this girl— Hermione, woah was she something else.
“Yeah,” Angelina recovered a bit slower, making a quick glance at Alicia and then Lee who was pulling down Ezi’s cage and dropping it on Katie’s lap, “Mum’s always adding magic to muggle stuff and bringing muggle concepts to the Wixen world.”
“Uh-oh, they are using Wix again,” Fred whispered to George.
“Shhh, last time you made fun of it she took it out on me too.”
“Alright,” Lee said a bit louder than necessary as he opened the case, “Easy Ezi!”
A long spindle of hair stepped on the pale of his palm followed by another and another; Hermione’s already big eyes went wider. The phrase giant tarantula to her had brought the mental image of a Goliath Birdeater - Theraphosa blondi - a typical 12 inches, its life-sized picture comfortably fit one page of an insect compendium she read two summers ago. The spider— Ezi walked out of the carrier was the size of a small dog, a considerable length and presumably weight as Lee used both hands to let Ezi essentially climb into his arms.
“Oh, she is simply amazing!”
“Ain’t she something,” Lee walked a little over to Hermione which let Angelina sit back down next to Fred, “She’s from the Amazon; my sister was doing a study on Kayapo ritual rites and protective spellcraft. But Ezi here, crawled right into her bag and when she got back to the village she was staying at, Kazie found this darling, Ezi’s still quite young.”
“She seems so cuddly for a spider let alone a wild one,” Hermione leaned a little closer to look at Ezi’s many eyes, “How is she so much larger than the recorded record of her species? She is well beyond the standard foot diameter size!”
“Oh,” Alicia made a little jump by the window, “Of course, you wouldn’t know! Acromantula, they are an old species bred by wiza-” she stopped then picked up with, “Wix in the Punjab, but they are everywhere now even at Hogwarts.”
“Oh? I haven’t read most of the beastaries I picked up since it will not come up for quite some time, I assume.”
“Yeah,” Fred chimed in, curious beyond alright how much information this first wanted to absorb before she was even sorted into a house, has to be a Ravenclaw, he patted George’s left knee, “Me and Gred here seen ‘em too!”
“True,” George smiled at that, “Considered bringing one home to Ronniekins for a birthday gift.”
“Who?” Hermione turned a bit to look at the twins and realized with a start that unlike all the other twins she met they were truly identical. That surprised her, the same exact length and style of copper curls, the same set of hazel-brown eyes, and most concerning thing: the exact same pattern of freckles from their foreheads to their uncovered arms and legs. She took the precious few seconds it took for Fred and George to notice her discovery to attempt to find a single difference between the two and aside from one’s shirt being red and the other’s a pale salmon-orange and one’s shorts being beige khaki and the other’s a gray khaki there was nothing.
“Our younger brother Ron,” Fred grinned, happy to render the small girl momentarily lack for words, “He’s a firstie like you.”
She shifted on her feet, subtly trying to eye the twins up once more “Well, I will be glad to meet him then.”
Fred nodded at that, “Sure you will, Granger.”
She squinted slightly at the twin that talked back, taking note that he was the talker of the two, “Excuse the question— it might be rude but how come you two are exact copies of each other? I have cousins on my father’s side and they are identical twins, who everyone else says are perfect copies, but they have nothing on you two.”
Fred almost (key word almost) blushed at the strange sort of compliment. He turned to George who raised an eyebrow and the feeling of curiosity flowed through them like a rogue wave crashing over their heads. “Wanna tell her?”
“Sure,” George schooled his face back into their shared slight grin, “Guess it’s another thing you would never know about.”
“Hey don’t be mean, most wix don’t know about all the details, I used to think you two were just weird, still not totally convinced otherwise,” Angelina lightly bumped Fred’s shoulder with her own, “Again don’t let them give you the runaround, Hermione!”
“Just between you and me, Granger,” Lee leaned closer (making Ezi curious about the small girl too) and whispered conspiratorially, “They never truly get easier to tell apart.”
“Really?”
“Right,” George said reeling her back into the explanation, “We are what’s called Magic Twins, happens often in the wizarding -“
Angelina made a little coughing sound that interrupted him.
“- In the Wixen world, it’s a bit more common for twins to be born. Just twins, not triplets or whatever. Anyways - that’s because they’re conceived with a little extra help from magic,” he paused to look at Fred who now was slightly blushing, “Mum wanted a girl but ended up with two of us,” he shook his head as he tried to focus, “Anyways because of that we share a bond, our magical cores can sorta dip into each other when we were younger we did a lot more damage with accidental magic.”
“No kidding,” Katie snorted, “My family lived close by when we were babies, Fred started levitating once because of how intense they were both laughing, fell off the balcony, and broke a leg and two fingers. But that’s not all no- he took me with him, I landed on him but only broke three fingers.” She wiggled her right hand at Hermione to show they were well and long healed.
“Oh that sounds terrifying,” Hermione squeaked, “I used to float books and small objects a lot, thought I was like Matilda and could focus it. I tried really hard and I’m still only able to do it with something 3 pounds or less.”
“Impressive nonetheless,” George said genuinely impressed at her claim of focused but untrained wandless magic.
“Pounds,” Fred snickered quietly, not trying to be rude, “You use a lot of American words.”
“My father is Jamaican but grew up all over the Caribbean including Florida. He met my mother when they both attended Kings College in London, said he picks London over Miami any day,” Hermione said looking back at the twin talking to her, “Heard a lot more Americanism and French terms than British until I started school, and got mocked for it too.”
“Aw,” Katie grumbled, “That’s not fair.”
“Fairness doesn’t come into that often,” Lee said rather matter-of-factly while petting Ezi, “Kids can be cruel, I mean look at the twins.”
“Hey!” The twins both said at once.
“Can I pet her?” Hermione asked Lee quietly.
“Of course, you could hold her if you’d like.”
“Really?” Hermione replied and Lee nodded, slowly opening his arms so the curious Ezi could crawl over to her open arms. She was lighter than her size implied to be still heavy, a good 8 pounds just like a large cat she fed in her neighborhood. As Ezi crawled along her small arms and burrowed slightly into her arms the compartment door opened.
“Oh, sorry,” a lanky but still chubby boy with dish-water blond hair said, sounding both relieved and confused, “I was turning back around because I thought I saw him.”
“Sorry, was I taking too long?” Hermione asked as Ezi snuggled even closer to her, she’d almost expected her to start purring, “I got carried away talking to everyone in here. However, I stopped in 27 other compartments with no luck so far, sorry.”
“No— no,” The boy quickly shook his head and hands as if offended by the notion she was in the wrong, “I was going to go farther up front of the train but an older Slytherin looked at me and I got scared.”
“Fair ‘nuff,” Angelina said smiling at the boy, “Rotten teeth, slimy eyes, gross thoughts, and sickly opinions - most Slytherin would freak a first year out.”
“Whose this guy, Granger?” Fred asked.
“Neville meet Fred and George Weasley,” she didn’t really know which was which yet so motioned to both of them and moved on, “Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet. Everyone, meet Neville Longbottom.”
“We’ve met,” Alicia said looking at Neville, “My mum attends your Gran’s afternoon tea every week, took me along once or twice. Plus, she knew your mum.”
“Oh,” Neville’s eyes grew nearly as wide as Hermione’s, people normally tend to avoid mentioning his parents or who they were before landing in St. Mungos’ Janus Thickey Ward, “Wow.”
“Sorry if you don’t wanna talk about it you don’t hav’ta.”
“No-no not at all,” Neville looked ready to run, “Well tell your mum I’ll tell mine hello when I visit them next.”
“Of course,” Alicia nodded fast, looking and feeling incredibly thankful for her own family, “And tell your gran my mum really likes the lemon cakes she gets sometimes, swear on the way to the platform all mum could talk about was how rich and sweet they were.”
“Yeah,” Neville nodded and then looked back at Hermione, “So no sign of him?”
“No,” She shook her head, causing her hair to cover most of Ezi who was greatly appreciative of the dark hiding space, “I haven’t gotten that far to be honest.”
“No worries,” Neville shook his head and peeked back out the door, “Oh, good the Slytherin moved, I’ll keep looking up front you keep going in the back?”
“Of course,” Hermione said as she tried (and failed) to move Ezi off her, “Could you extract me from Ezi, Lee?”
“Of course,” Lee laughed, “She’s a lover, not a biter, wanna give her a pet-“ he turned to where Neville was but the boy had left, “Or not, I guess.”
“Spooked him,” Fred now laughed, watching Lee gently move Hermione’s hair and slowly pull a leg off of her shoulder, “Are we keeping her in the Dorm?”
“Where else am I gonna keep a secret pet?” Lee asked as he pulled another leg off Hermione’s arm, “Kenneth and Egbert might not love her but they can shove it.”
“Egbert might,” George said, “You saw how he squealed when everyone came to see her.”
“Good idea, I’ll hide her in his trunk later this week.” Fred laughed lightly, “Well, be seeing you, Granger. Good luck at the sorting.”
“I don’t think she’ll need luck,” Angelina laughed, “You’ll be a shoo-in for Ravenclaw.”
“No way she’s so nice, Hufflepuff is calling your name,” Katie smiled up at Hermione as Lee finally detached Ezi, “Or maybe Griffindor, we’d love to have ya!”
“Totally!” Alicia said with a big smile, “Not everyone’s brave ‘nuff to give Ezi a snuggle!”
“Oh, but she looks so sweet!”
“Wouldn’t hurt a fly— well okay she does hurt flies and a lot of them but y'know what I meant,” Lee laughed, “I’ll keep my vote until we’re there, who knows Slytherin could always need a little wildcard.”
“Oh and now who's being rude?!” Fred looked back and forth at Angelina and Lee, “That’s just cruel Ange, a muggleborn in Slytherin even the notion is so meanspirted.”
“Don’t worry,” Angelina ignored him while looking at Hermione, “You’ll figure out wherever they put ya!”
“Wow, thank you so much,” Hermione blushed a little turning to Lee first as he was going back to his seat, “Well, thank you for showing me Ezi, she is very pretty and quite sweet, and thank you everyone else for the chat but I have an amphibian to catch.”
“G’luck,” Fred smiled as she exited the compartment and closed the door, “She was interesting… ”
“T’say the least, a talker,” George said, “First one not to get a headache trying to tell the difference.”
“Think she made any headway?” Alicia looked between the twins, “She sounded smart enough to. I mean, of course, we still mess it up every now and then but it took me till May first year to even guess once.”
“Took me until February last year,” Katie said looking at them too, “Helped that Ange gave me some tips.”
“I mean it was mostly just Fred talks first and George is smarter.”
“Hey!” Fred playfully bumped her shoulder with his, “Rude!”
“She asked a ton of questions,” George said, bumping his brother still feeling rushing waves of curiosity and excitement, “Curious lil’ cat that one.”
“Don’t go pranking her just for her curiosity,” Alica said with a stern look, “She was very nice, and clearly overwhelmed but pushing through it.”
“Sounds like a Gryffindor to me,” Katie said looking at all her friends.
“Oh no - not getting me into the betting pool no no no,” Angelina shook her head firmly reaching up into her braids to pull out her wand and lay it in her lap, “I am not gonna lose another sickle to ya, Bell, I know your tricks!”
Katie sniggered at that, “Oh sure, Johnson, ‘fraid I’ll beat you outta your monthly allowance?”
“The girl that tripped up the stairs twice, and fell down two flights in the same week is gonna beat me?”
“Hey, to be fair she only broke one leg in that week though,” Alicia said reaching over Lee to pat Katie’s knee, “And she was just a ickle’lil’fristie.”
“More like sickle,” Fred shook his head at them, “How many times did you come down with something last year?”
“Three times before Hallow’s, including my birthday,” Katie groaned, “Really hope that doesn’t happen again, then another two times before Yule and five before Beltane and on Saint Paddy’s, then again right before end of term. Uck!”
“Still can’t believe Snape refused to make you a cure for that on Paddy’s,” George grumbled, “That’s what we should do first, Snape then the toilet seat for Gin!”
“Brilliant!”
The group continued to chatter as George stood to grab his and Fred’s robes from the bag he packed them in, when he stood so did Angelina who had already prepared her hair into a half up half down style for the feast. Fred took his robes from George as he was shrugging his own on, then sat back down. Alica stood up to grab her own and offered to grab Katie and Lee’s, while Lee declined since Ezi was rather snug against him and he ‘had time’ Katie agreed. They all were dressed with the exception of Lee and Fred by the time Percy opened their compartment door.
“Oi, you lot about 15 minutes out,” he squinted his eyes at Fred, “Get your robes on Fred.”
“Whatever you say Perfect Prefect Percy!” Fred gave a salute (with the wrong hand) and put them on as slowly as possible while still sitting on the bench.
“You two are determined to make this year difficult aren’t you?”
“Whaddaya mean Perce,” George grinned at his brother, “I was the first to put ‘em on ask everyone!”
“It’s true Percy,” Alicia nodded.
“Whatever,” Percy shook his head looking back at Fred who was still fumbling around with one loop and tie to keep the front of the robe closed, “Do you need assistance?”
“Oh, my hero!” Fred dramatically put the hand fumbling with the tie to his forehead as if he was really exhausted then shook his head and gave a mocking look at his older brother, “No, get outta here we’ll be fine getting to the carriages.”
“You better,” Percy said as he was about to leave before turning around and adding, “And this time don’t lie down in front of them to see if they would stop when going full speed.”
“Hey, it was an experiment, and it proved mildly messy or dangerous,” George defended himself and then looked back at his twin, who was, in fact, still struggling. “Oh, this is pathetic, actually.”
“No-no don’t help him this is funny to watch,” Angelina laughed.
“I concur,” Lee laughed as he began to put Ezi back in her case, “Alright, what’s it this time you two?”
“Hmm?” Percy questioned.
“Nothing,” The twins said at once and Fred (still wrangling the loops in place that he clearly was pulling too tight because he was stubbornly sitting on the slack) added, “No pranks till Snape, tomorrow.”
“Please for the love of all that is right and orderly in the world don’t prank the Slytherin Head of House on the first day of school, I have N.E.W.T.s level Potions and can’t stand his early year moods.”
“No can do Percy,” Fred gave up and let the long tie hang awkwardly out of his robe clashing with the much brighter red of his shirt that could still be almost completely seen out of the rumbled black and maroon of the Gryffindor robes, “That old bat needs some cheer-“
“-We waited ‘till Michaelmas last time.“
“Much too late, we thinks-“
“-At least we theorize -“
“-That an early start might turn the mood around.”
“Lighten him up-“
“-Brighten his spirits-“
“-Bring joy to his heart-“
“-Open his eyes to the beauty in the world-“
“Y’know if he’d ever get out of the dungeons!”
“Ugh,” Percy rubbed his temple pushing his glasses high on his face as he grunted, “You know I hate it when you do the double-speak, just behave!” And then he walked away all but slamming the sliding door.
“Touchy-touchy,” Fred sighed.
By the time the train came to the Hogsmeade station, the girls had all been up and ready along with George but Lee and Fred were tucking Ezi’s crate into a smaller bag and arguing if it was better or worse to shrink her. Fred having experienced a shrinking potion before argued that it’s not nearly as bad as that and ‘she’s a spider Lee, she’ll get over it’ and Lee felt like punching Fred on day one of the new school year wasn’t that fair of a possibility - they did this while both haphazardly throwing their robes on. George grumbled several times, which sent the subtle crackle of fire and smoke along their bond signaling his frustration which met the spark of Fred’s frustration. He kept mumbling things like ‘stupid old ass robe fuckin’ Charlie and his huge arms where-the-fuck is the right strap?’ and ‘Next time I see him I’m turning his arms to noodles, wet spindles of noodles, like freshly boiled angel hair.’
“Oh, please,” George grunted as he gave in and pushed Fred’s hands out of the way. In one fell swoop, he unknotted the mess his twin made of the robe and began retying him.
“Aw how sweet of you, George.” Alicia whispered so only the twins could hear her then turned back to Katie who was standing by her, “How about we clear the way for you guys and get a carriage, don't wanna be last pick!”
“Yeah, thanks!” Fred grumbled, “See if you can snag the one from last time, wonder if they actually - y'know do anything with them over the summer.”
“We’ll try,” Angelina said as she hooked an arm over Alicia’s shoulder and the other through Katie’s arm and pulled them out into the aisle just before a bunch of students started making their way out.
“We are so gonna lose them,” Lee sighed, “Hey, what about a Notice-Me-Not?”
“For the whole feast?” George asked as he finished tying Fred’s robe and patted his hands on Fred’s now (neatly arranged) robed chest a little too hard.
“Ouch!”
“Big baby.”
“Not on me, just on the little lady,” Lee lifted the crate up to Fred, “From experience, you're the best at Illusion stuff.”
“They call me the number one illusionist, it's true.”
“No one has ever called you that,” George said walking back to the door and watching his youngest brother walk out another exit far down the sea of students exiting the train - the red hair and height making him stick out amongst other first years and even most of the younger four years, next to him was none other than Harry Potter, both looking at nervous okay well Ron looking a considerably queasy. Before he could comment on it the two boys were pushed out lightly by the flow of students. “Hmm.”
“What,” Fred came back to his side resting his chin on George’s shoulders as he watched the ebb of faces, “See sum’in?”
“Just our darling Ronnie with none other than Harry Potter.”
Lee let out a low whistle, “Woah, imagine that, your kid brother makin’ friends with The-Boy-Who-Lived innit that something!”
“Don’t know for sure just yet,” George looked back at Lee from the other side to avoid colliding with his (lazy) twin still hanging on his shoulder - making note that his eyes sort of glazed over Lee’s right side and back to his face, “Looked like Ron might vomit from the nerves.”
“Now who's the poor baby,” Fred shook his head but kept it on his twin’s shoulder, “Scared shitless he’s gonna be a Badger!”
“Just won’t happen,” George said playfully then he slapped Fred in the stomach to get him to back off, “Let’s get a move on.”
“Ouch!”
George just shrugged and took advantage of the lessened crowd to get out into the walkway and then out of the train, he was quickly caught by his twin’s arm being thrown over his shoulder and said twin knocking his head into his. There was a buzz like a low rumble of thunder through their bond like a brewing idea and George knew shoving him earlier had just signed himself up for a pranking. It wasn’t easy to prank each other because even as their skills improved so did the clearness of the bond, if the books Bill gave him (that came from the Prewett Uncles) had anything to say on it at some point soon they’d start hearing and seeing each other's thoughts. He wasn’t apprehensive about that or anything don’t get him wrong, it’s nigh impossible to hide a secret from your own twin and heaven knows he and Fred basically already share everything else anyways. BUT (and yeah it’s a big but) there was a sense of loss that was going to come with being all but forced by their biological-magical core to share literally everything, he didn’t know how to feel about it for truth.
Before he knew it Fred had led him and Lee back to the girls, they were waiting in a carriage about five or so down the line, George thought Fred may have said something but he was still ruminating on the whole ‘I’ve gotta share my looks, clothes, toys, food, hobbies, books, equipment, feelings, and soon thoughts with this guy all my life ’ and it very quickly led to ‘What’s next, share a girlfriend? ’ when he got to sit next to Angelina this time. Of course, he knew that wasn’t out of the question, while not nearly as common as the Twin Thing, Triads happened. In fact, his Prewett Uncles were in a sort of Quad with two witches who were also together (as a couple, it was the late 70s/early 80s of course) but he had to shake that thought fast before he started sending sparks of electricity and pure energy down the bond, Fred wouldn’t let him get away with it one bit. He could see it now, he’d have to be living it down for years even if he felt the same way about whatever witch sparked the idea.
“Ain’t that right, Gred?” Fred tightened the arm around his shoulder pulling him out in the nick of time.
“Of course.” He agreed to whatever it was because what else was he here for?
The carriage pulled off as the five third-years and one second-year chatted about the new year, before they could conclude a small argument about potential second-year additions to the Gryffindor Quidditch roster Alicia jumped out before the carriage came to its complete stop.
“Oh how I've missed this place,” she was quick to help Lee balance out of the carriage and then started rapping her hands quickly on the outside of the carriage, “C’mon I’m not getting any younger and I need pumpkin juice like a kraken needs water!”
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist!” Angelina held her hands up as she got up rather quickly.
“If they get twisted I’m sure you’d be willing to unknot them for her,” Fred pulled his twin up and out to follow Lee and Alicia, also a bit faster than necessary.
“Fredrick Weasley!” Alicia’s tanned face went a little red, “You take that back!”
“Who? Me?” Fred said in a mocking scandalous tone, “George said that.”
“No I did not,” George said shaking his head once more, “My mother raised me better than to imply things about a lady’s undergarments and the proclivity of her gentlewoman friends to do anything with said panties.”
“Since when did mum tell you that?!”
Before George could respond with something he heard the rush of the crowd of students all becoming rapidly focused on one thing.
“What house do you think Harry Potter’s gonna be sorted to?”
“He was raised by Muggles, you know?”
“D’a here he and the Malfoy heir already got in a tussle at the end of the train?”
“Met James Potter when I was a babe once, his mum, therefore Harry’s paternal grandmother, was a Black and a Slytherin. It is in his blood, if he’s sorted to us then we’d have both sides of the coin.”
“I heard from Instio Walker that the scar’s even worse than they say it is in the papers.”
“You should’a seen ‘im on the platform, he was with the Weasleys I think. Quart’ of his face is that lightin’ bolt, all they ev’r said was his forehead but it's huge!”
“He’s a Potter, he’ll be a Gryffindor no contest there, guys.”
“Shame ‘bout his parents though, nasty business that ‘ole mess. Imagine it hunted by You-Know-Who while dozens of Muggleborns went missin’ or turned up dead, betrayed by Sirius Black, murdered on Hallowe’en— spooky stuff.”
“I had an aunt who was friends with Lily Potter, died just a month before Harry Potter became The-Boy-Who-Lived .”
At the last comment, there was a cacophony of people saying who they lost in the Wizarding War: some lost parents to Death Eater attacks, others had parents in Azkaban for those attacks, and some lost older siblings, cousins, and grandparents. Many lost several people when whole branches of families if not the whole tree were uprooted, names like the McKinnons and Bones were thrown in with Blau, Grünewald, White, Tann, Gough, Misra, and Cadwalader. No one said Prewett or Black, those two families were also all but dead but among them, the Weasley twins included, had been blood-related to them, just because they were dead on the male line didn’t take away from the marriage packs that interwoven most British Wixen families, purebloods in particular tended to have familiar faces of distant cousins in the family they were set to marry into. George was really praying to be lucky enough to marry out of the ‘Prueblood Family Wreath’; maybe he’d marry a muggleborn if Fred didn’t beat him to it.
“Bet he’s a mudblood lover, just another Mugglefucker,” Some Slytherin fifth-year said somewhere behind him, “I mean he was raised in the filth his dirty mother brought into the Potter line.”
George turned on the spot and tried to get a good look at the douchebag that said it, Fred still had his arm around George’s shoulder so they turned as a unit. As a hailstorm of anger rained down the twin-bond both ready to fight whatever prejudiced asshole said that. Before either of them could make a move for the smug bastard they both felt a hand on their necks.
“Keep walking,” Percy said in his best ‘I’m not telling you twice’ tone that sounded a lot like their mother’s hushed but stern voice, “Be better than them, no fighting!”
“Perce,” Fred turned himself and George, making Percy let go of them. Fred’s face betrayed their shared displeasure and quietly said, “You can’t let guys like that get away with saying stuff like that!”
“Shhhh,” Percy shushed him doing his best to not make a scene, and for the most part succeeding, as students just flowed around the Weasley brothers still chatting about Harry Potter and other similar sad things, “Today’s not about getting into political arguments (or worse fistfights) with other Purebloods, in case you two knumbskulls didn’t notice, we are going to watch The-Boy-Who-Lived become a normal member of the Wizarding world.”
For some reason the use of wizard over wixen made George laugh, “Yeah, okay Perce, we got it, no problem.”
“You better, couldn’t stand to see you two hurt,” Percy said the last part so softly they barely heard it, then as the three brothers continued to the Great Hall he spoke a little louder, “I have to go back out in the entrance with the other Prefects until we know everyone’s inside. Now go sit down and behave!”
“No promises, Perce,” Fred said, still a little more than upset.
George just nodded, and then they watched Percy walk around the steady flow of students.
“Prat,” Fred took his arm off George finally and walked down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.
“What’d Percy want?” Katie called to him from the end of the slowly filling table the space at the end saved for the potential sorted first years and at least two of the six Prefects of the House.
Angelina was already sat next to Katie leaving a space for one person and across from them was Alicia and Lee leaving room for one more.
“To be a prat at us,” Fred grumbled as he walked over to them.
“Told us not to get in fights with Blood Supremacists on the first day,” George followed his twin over and took the seat next to Angelina, “He’s still playing nice with them.”
“It’s all about his ability to fit in not-“ Fred looked at George then at his inability to sit next to him, “Hey, what gives?”
“Just walk around,” George pointed at the seat next to Lee and gave him a grin.
“No,” Fred said and then he took a step onto the still empty bench and another onto the table proper, “I’ll never ‘just walk around’ ”
“Messer Weasley!” The stern Scottish voice of his dreams called out to him.
“Yes, Professor McGonagall?” Fred asked in his most innocent tone possible as he put his hands behind his back and squared his shoulders, “Have I done something?”
“Every day you’re in the castle you test my patience,” McGonagall said under breath as she stood in front of the seat he was going for, “Get down from there or I will be forced to drag you down.”
“Promises-promises,” Fred tsked as he walked up to the edge of the table, dramatically scoped out the area, and then took a small leap onto the seat, “And I am down.”
“Do take a seat and stay, why don’t you,” McGonagall shook her head at him.
He twirled around and sat down bumping- well nothing he could see but probably Ezi’s carrier case. “Sorry,” he whispered to Lee then continued a little louder, “Alright, all seated and stayed.”
“Let’s hope I won’t have to pull you off the table in the future either, Messer Weasley,” McGonagall said with a smile that was a secret even to her face, but Fred could hear it, and she then left.
“She’s warming up to me,” Fred gave his friends a cheeky grin.
“You’re definitely warming something,” Alicia said with a laugh.
“What’s that mean, Spinnet ?” Fred lent back to look at her past Lee’s back
“Absolutely nothing, Weasley!” Alicia too bent back to look at him, sticking out her tongue for greater effect.
The two friends continued to make silly faces at each other while the rest of their friends chatted idly. Within minutes the tables of all four houses filled in while the head table had the professors save for McGonagall and Dumbledore. As the last of the stragglers and slowpokes filtered into the Great Hall the thousands of candles above them dimmed and Dumbledore emerged from the Entrance hall striding down the middle of the room to the head table. George waited out the few seconds before the plates and cutlery were summoned by watching the ceiling become the heavens above, the half-moon hanging loosely above the Slytherin table on the other end of the hall. Ursa Major was the easiest of the constellations to see as it was sprawled from the doors end of Hufflepuff to the head table end of Gryffindor right above his head. By the time he gave up trying to plot Cepheus from Cassiopeia from Cygnus, he looked down and the dinnerware was there. Percy had taken a seat next to him while Moira Nic Garmhaic, the seventh-year prefect with shoulder-length waves of strawberry blonde hair, dark green eyes under oval glasses, and hooked nose, sat next to Fred.
A hush fell slowly over the students as the side doors opened and the first years filed in, most of which were immediately taken with staring at the ceiling. Others out at the sea of students in front of them, searching the tables for their older siblings or relatives and friends. Angelina bumped George’s shoulder with her own and when he looked back at her she tipped her head.
Fred must have already seen who she was gesturing to because he pointed and said to Lee, “Look it’s your firstie!”
The bushy-haired girl, Granger, from the train, was whispering something to Harry Potter while pointing up at the ceiling.
“She’s not my firstie,” Lee said quietly, “If anything she’s Angelina’s with her being the one to pull her in the car.”
“I’ll gladly take her,” Angelina whispered to the group, “Mark my words, if she’s a Lion, I’ll fix that girl's hair before the end of our 7th year.”
“Think it’ll take that long,” Alicia leaned back to get a better look at Granger, her own long hair spilling back over her shoulders, “Never mind I forgot about the curl pattern.”
“The small miracles of dreads,” Lee shook his own head as if to demonstrate the efficacy of his chosen hairstyle.
George sat quietly, watching the first year turn to the toadless boy from before, who now seemed to have found the toad as it was partially balanced on his shoulder.
As the Sorting Hat was set on the small stool in front Katie quietly conjured a blank parchment paper and quill, “I’m sticking with Gryffindor for Granger.”
“Here here,” George said quietly before silence fell over the hall.
Everyone held their breath for the start of the song but didn’t hold it long when it started singing the aspects of each house's praises. With the final lines “So put me on! Don’t be afraid! And don’t get in a flap! You’re in safe hands (though I have none) For I’m a Thinking Cap!” the hall burst into applause. Fred and George whistled while the rest of their group clapped. Percy shot the two his signature glare but went back to smiling at the first years not seconds later.
As Professor McGonagall stepped forward with the roll of all 40 of the first year's names, Katie made a chart with just the letters KB / AJ / GW / FW / LJ / AS. Then she moved the parchment with the chart a little more in front of Angelina.
“Loser pays the winners the difference of lost guesses, I.E. whatever the second lowest point total is minus the lowest, is paid out to everyone but the loser. Anyone cashing out up front?” Katie looked at Angelina specifically but made the question quietly to the whole group.
“No,” Angelina shook her head looking mildly offended Katie was singling her out.
Fred snickered, “You did say you weren't gonna lose any more sickles to her on the train.”
“That implies I lose to her,” Angelina said looking back at Fred, “And I don’t lose.”
“Tell that to our losing streak in Quidditch,” Alicia said quietly then added a slightly louder, “I’m in.”
“Think we all are then,” Lee said watching as McGonagall began to unfurl the roll and tell the first years what to do.