Chapter Text
Alexandra MacMillan didn't remember much of her childhood. Looking back, there was only one fact that really mattered to her: the Weasleys were her family. Sure, Bill was much older than her, Charlie was always more preoccupied with his animals, Percy was, well, Percy, Fred and George constantly pranked her, Ron was kind of too intimidated to talk to her, and Ginny wasn't quite sure how she felt about having another girl in the house.
But despite all that, she knew they all loved her: Bill always made a point to talk to her at the dinner table, Charlie offered to show her some of his favorite animals, Percy didn't immediately slam the door in her face, Fred and George brought her in on as many pranks, if not more than they had done to her, Ron knew he could always ask her to play Quidditch with him, and despite Ginny's reluctance in front of her family, when they shut the door to their room, she spilled her heart out to Alexandra.
That was the only thing that was important for Alexandra, knowing she had the Weasleys to love her.
***
*Alex's POV*
My birthday means going home for the day. Well, I guess it was more going back to my family for the whole day. Not something I generally looked forward to, but was apparently "required" of me. Today, however, was the only birthday thus far that I was okay to be home for.
"Morning, Alex. Happy Birthday to us," my twin brother, Ernie said groggily as he took his seat across from me, still in his pajamas. I had already changed, not planning on staying very long past breakfast. I smiled at him and poked around at my sausages and eggs.
"Happy Birthday to us, indeed," I said back. Mother and Father hadn't come down to the table yet, but now that Ernie was up, I was sure they would be down soon.
"Rutly!" Ernie called for our house-elf, who brought out his plate of breakfast for him. His favorite pancakes with heaps of peanut butter and syrup. I had asked for my normal bacon, sausage, and eggs. The Weasleys would have a much larger breakfast planned. I grinned at the thought. I only needed to wait to get through breakfast, I could slip out after that.
Ernie and I sat in companionable silence as we ate our breakfast. Both of us were waiting in eager anticipation for what we knew would be coming today. We had finally hit our 11th birthday which meant today was the day we received our Hogwarts letters.
The owls still hadn't arrived by the time our parents came down for breakfast, settling into their places at either head of the table. Rutly brought their breakfasts out immediately.
"Good morning, are you ready for your letter?" Mother said. Ernie perked up and grinned, nodding. I continued to pick around at my plate, the only one who might be offended that I didn't finish my food was Rutly.
"I've been waiting all morning for it. Been up since dawn," Ernie said, looking between Mother and Father. Mother gave him a doting smile and Father chuckled good-naturedly. Neither waited for my answer.
"It'll come soon, sweetheart. And September 1st will come even sooner, you'll be off on your own," Mother said, her voice catching as she finished her sentence. I tried to keep my eye roll to myself.
Luckily, the heart to heart conversation was cut off by a tap tap tap on the window of our dining room. Ernie and I both snapped our heads over to look at the tell-tale sound of an owl arriving. Rutly walked over, unlatched the window, and let the owl alight onto his arm before walking it over to us.
Ernie stared as Rutly walked to him first, taking one of two envelopes out of the owl's beak and handing it to him: "Little Master MacMillan." Ernie took the envelope gingerly in his hands and continued to stare at it as Rutly made his way around the table to me.
"Little Mistress MacMillan," he said, handing me the second envelope from the owl. I stared at the address written in green ink across the front of the envelope.
Alexandra MacMillan
Third Room on the Left, Second Floor Hallway
53 Nutmeg Road Ottery
St. Catchpole, England
Ernie and I looked up at each other in awe at the same time, one of the few times our twin telepathy is in sync, before ripping open our letters at the same time. We already knew what they'd say but we had to look for ourselves.
Dear Ms. MacMillan,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
I scanned through the rest of the letter as quickly as my eyes allowed, which was pretty fast if I do say so myself, and moved on to the second slip in the envelope which had our book and supplies list on it: Hogwarts: A History, Book of Spells, Grade 1, etc. I knew what to expect, having heard from my parents and the Weasleys about Hogwarts, increasingly often in the past year especially. But it was still the most exciting moment in my life. I was finally going to Hogwarts.
"Well, dear, what does it say?" Mother said. I looked up and almost opened my mouth to respond until I noticed she was looking at Ernie. Of course. Mother also already knew what our letters said, but knew we were too excited about them to care that she was just playing along.
Ernie launched into a dramatic reading of the letter which was exactly the same as mine except that it started with "Mr. MacMillan" rather than "Ms." I read back over my letter and supplies list a few more times, almost having committed both of them to memory afterward. Father was now discussing Houses with Ernie animatedly, so I resumed picking over my eggs, knowing all aspects of this conversation had been covered in the last few months. Mother had been in Hufflepuff and Father had been in Ravenclaw, they were really the only two options for us. Gryffindor would, of course, be acceptable as everyone wanted to be brave. I personally wouldn't mind being in the same House as all of the Weasleys. We weren't really concerned about Slytherin, I don't think Ernie or I were ambitious enough or evil enough, if we were going by Mother and Father's ideas of the House, to be in Slytherin.
Ernie, Mother, and Father continued to discuss Hogwarts at length through breakfast while I kept myself busy thinking how my day with the Weasleys might go once I was able to escape. While I was generally able to slip out when my parents weren't looking, birthdays were an exception. On birthdays, I first had to get through breakfast and presents before I could go unnoticed. Whether I had to come back for dinner generally was decided during breakfast.
Finally, Rutly began to clear our plates away, confirming that I was done with my food before taking my almost full plate. I thanked him before he disappeared with a crack. Most pureblood families had a few house-elves, but we only kept Rutly as his family had been with the MacMillans for generations.
With the plates cleared, we all stood and began making our way to the sitting room, our normal birthday routine, where we would open our presents. Ernie, with much fanfare. Me, with not much more than a small smile. Though, it was still nice to be given presents on my birthday at all.
Ernie and I sat on a couch together while Mother and Father went to grab our presents from wherever they had hidden them. When we were younger, Ernie and I had made a habit of searching for our presents relentlessly every year. Our parents had to find increasingly and increasingly clever hiding places to avoid us finding them.
Ernie continued the conversation on Houses with me, once they left.
"What do you think, Alex? Where do you want to go? I rather think I'd do well in Ravenclaw, but I'm not all that certain I have the brains," he said. A thought he hadn't voiced when discussing with Father about Houses. I was certain Ernie hadn't wanted to come off less than confident to our father, who prided himself on raising a strong son.
"I'm sure you would do really well there. Of course, you have the brains to get in," I assured him. I also wasn't completely sure either of us prided ourselves enough on our brains to be Ravenclaw. But Ernie didn't exactly need to hear that. "I think I'd like to be in Hufflepuff like Mother. Loyalty is a vital trait even if it's overlooked a lot."
Ernie nodded quickly looking forward. I think he was nervous about the Sorting. Maybe about Hogwarts in general. I wasn't always completely certain what Ernie was thinking despite being twins. Fred and George always seemed to be in sync with each other, but Ernie and I never had been. Mother and Father seemed to understand him better than I did.
They both walked back into the room with our gifts, cutting off our conversation. From the shape of the two packages I was handed, I could already tell that they were both books. Not that I complained about books, I just found it a rather easy cop-out from them. Ernie's presents were often more personalized than mine: quills he had been going on about for awhile or merchandise from his favorite Quidditch teams. I don't think Mother and Father knew what my favorite Quidditch team was now that I thought about it (Appleby Arrows).
Ernie ripped into his presents, while I unwrapped mine a bit more carefully. As predicted, Ernie got mini flying figurines of his favorite players from the Wimbourne Wasps and my books consisted of a in depth history of Hogwarts founding and a large book of some of the most famous witches and wizards in history.
I knew better than to try and slip out while we were still discussing presents. I had tried once and been confined to the house for the rest of the day, unable to see the Weasleys until after lunch the next day. So I waited, somewhat impatiently, while Ernie messed around with his figurines discussing their best plays, previous teams, whether he wanted to go out for whichever House team he got Sorted into (he wouldn't, Ernie wasn't all that interested in actually playing Quidditch, he just rather enjoyed watching it. And talking a big game to Father who had been a Beater for Ravenclaw in his time).
I flipped through my book on the founding of Hogwarts, a subject I began finding more and more interesting as I skimmed the book. The connections between the founders seemed extremely unlikely, their collaboration being as successful as it is even more so. It was fascinating enough that I actually began reading and didn't notice the conversation ending until I felt Ernie jump up from the couch with a "Thank you, Mum! Thank you, Dad!" and running for the stairs, figurines in hand. I gathered my books with my own thanks to Mother and Father and began to head for my room. As I reached for the handle, I stopped and turned back to my parents.
"I was going to go to the Weasleys. To show them my letter," I said. Mother and Father gave noncommittal hums as they picked up their own books. I don't know why I kept going. "Their son, Ron, is starting this year too."
Neither of them gave any further indication that they had heard me, so I took that as my sign that I could go. I left the sitting room and sped walked to my room, knowing I would get chastised for running. "Unladylike", they would call it. I dropped my books off on my nightstand, held on to my letter from Hogwarts, and sped walked again to the front door. As soon as I heard it click close behind me, I started sprinting.