A/N: Hello readers! I couldn't get away from my Fandom with a capital F for too long, as you can see if you look on my profile. Potterhead forever. ;) Although this time, I wanted things to be a tad different. So this story will be centered around a Muggle. She will live the Golden Trio's adventures through her sister, and, as you will see, will take part in her own way in the Wizarding War. But all of that, later. Because right now, you are going to get acquainted with her right at the beginning.
Enjoy! And please give me some feeback, I love those. :)
Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own anything related to Harry Potter. I own, however, my OCs Alys and Emy Warren, and the plot.
Prologue: The letter
"Stop that, Ems!" the red-haired girl laughed, trying to push her twin-sister off of her while the other waved claw-like hands in front of her face.
Emy – for it was her name – moved back from her sister and her hands turned back to normal. Both were laughing really loudly, and after a short time, the door to their room shot open, showing the very red face of their mother.
"What did I say girls? Off to bed, now! And no more tricks tonight, Emily!"
"Yes Mummy" they both said in unison, and the door closed again.
The twins exchanged an amused glanced, then hopped onto their bed on each side of the window. Emy clicked her fingers, and the light went off.
"Will you teach me how to do that one day, Ems?"
Alys' sister peaked from under her covers and smiled widely, her eleven-year-old teeth showing in the darkness. "'Course Als!"
Alys smiled back and closed her eyes, content.
Emy and Alys Warren would have been considered ordinary girls by any of their neighbours. At eleven, their favourite activity was to run around in the street's gardens trying to catch butterflies or playing with their coloured chalks on the paved garage-way.
They were twins, but as different as night and day. Emy, who was slightly taller than her sister, had blonde hair and eyes as green as grass in summer. Alys, the most mischievous of the two, had deep auburn hair that turned red in sunlight, and baby-blue eyes.
Emy was different from her sister in another aspect. When she was five, some strange things had started to happen around her. She could make things appear out of thin air, or make windows explode, or – as during the most memorable birthday party they ever had – make people double in size. But her sister had long since accepted that her twin could do stuff that she couldn't, even if a small part still hoped that she'd be able to one day.
Their parents, History teacher James and nurse Amanda, had quickly pushed to the side the eventuality that their daughter was psychologically ill. They had witnessed her prowesses on more than one occasion, and had long since decided to pay a larger sum for their house insurance. Other than that, they treated Emy like any other girl her age.
The following morning, though, their quiet family life would take a turn that would change their lives forever.
It was close to ten on a Wednesday morning on the 2nd of August 1989 when the doorbell rang. James and Amanda, who were both on holidays, had gathered the girls in the living-room where they were all playing a game of Cluedo. So far, Emy was winning, but Alys sensed she had cheated, using some X-rays or something to scan the cards.
Amanda stood lazily and went to open the door.
Time froze when a deep voice announced "Missus Warren? Andrew Hopkins. I am hear to talk to you about Emily."
James froze, his hand over the card he had been about to pick. He exchanged a worried glance with his daughters, then stood too.
Both girls looked at each other for what felt like an eternity before he said "Do come in" and the door closed.
The man who entered their living-room was the most peculiar being they had ever set eyes on. His clothes were quite formal – a black suit with a black tie and shiny black shoes – but he sported a complex brown beard than ran on his cheeks, and blue spectacles. He carried with him a file on which were printed the letters MOM.
When his eyes fell on the girls, he smiled, but it did nothing to lift the mood.
Amanda cleared her throat. "I assure you, Sir, Emy has done nothing wrong..."
James added "Is this about school? Has someone complained about something?"
Alys took her twin's hand and squeezed. They both knew that Emy had done nothing out of the ordinary at school ever since she had turned the evil Daphne Buckley's hair yellow.
The man shook his head. "No, do not worry. I think we should all sit down so I can explain properly."
The parents showed the man to a chair, and the family sat, all four of them, on the sofa. Crowded like that, they looked like people who were interviewed in questioning for murder. How ironic when you thought about the game they had been playing!
The stranger smiled again and put his glassed onto the coffee-table before him. "Mr and Mrs Warren, girls. I am working for the Ministry of Magic."
"The-?" started James, before the man interrupted again.
"It may sound ominous, and a bit weird, I am sure, but it is the truth." His eyes fell on Emy, who still clutched her sister's hand. "Has Emily ever done something...strange? Something inexplicable?" All four exchanged a look. "I thought so. It is completely normal." He sat back down and smiled again. "Emily is a witch."
"A...witch." Amanda tried. She nodded to herself, but it was quite clear that she did not understand what was happening at all.
"Yes. And I am a wizard. Such are the names of those who have magic."
"You are...like me?" tried Emy in a small voice.
Alys felt a lump form in her throat. 'Like me'. What was she then? Her, her twin sister? She felt bitter and for a moment, quite enraged.
"I am." the man smiled once more. "I am here to explain to you what is going to happen as from this year on."
James and Amanda looked properly frightened. "What is going to happen? Is Emy going to leave here? Do you intend on taking her from us?" He looked as though he could fight on this matter, and so did his wife.
Their guest shook his head in amusement. "Of course not. Emy is going to go to school. A school for people like her. Witches and wizards her age. Children who need to learn how to control their powers."
"Such a school exists?" James seemed as dumbfounded as excited. As a History teacher, he was invariably interested in things he had no idea ever existed.
Another nod. "It is called Hogwarts. But I'm afraid it is a boarding school, so Emy will live there for the whole school-year. Except for the holidays, of course."
Emy squeezed her sister's hand harder, and Alys looked at her. They had never been separated. Ever.
She shook her head and looked at the man bringing such bad news in an affronted way. "I want to go with her!"
The man looked at her, surprised, perhaps, to see her there, such an ordinary child.
Amanda looked apologetic as she said "Emy and Alys are twins."
"Ah, I see." The man smiled again. "Don't worry, little one. Your sister will be able to write and to share all of what she will learn and do with you."
Alys made a face. She did not care about letters. She wanted to go, and that was flat!
Noticing the girl's stubbornness, the Ministry employee opened the file he had brought and took out several flyers. "These are for your information. It covers Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and any other sort of magical stuff you should know about. And this," he took out a letter bearing a singular coat of arms as a seal, "is for you." He handed it to Emy, who took it carefully, as if it was a dead baby bird, and stared at it until he spoke again. "It's a list of all the things you should buy for your first year at Hogwarts."
James and Amanda shared a look again. "But," she started, "where can we find...magical...stuff?"
The man smiled again – and it was beginning to make Alys very angry. "There is a place in London called Diagon Alley. If you could tell me of your schedule, I could arrange to accompany you. It is compulsory for Muggles to be accompanied the first time."
"Muggles?" James asked. "What is that?"
"That is how we name non-magical people. Nothing offending, I assure you." He took out a fob watch from an inside pocket and let out a little noise of surprise. "I should be going. There is another family I need to visit." He stood and stared at James. "When is it more convenient for you to go to London?"
Amanda looked down at Emy and Alys, who were both still in contemplation of the envelope, then back at their visitor. "Is Friday too soon?"
"Not at all! I shall be on your doorstep at precisely eleven o'clock. I will bring a car." He tipped his head and exited the room without another word.
Alys stared in the wake of the man, then glanced at her sister.
In that precise moment, they could not have been more apart.
Emy wore on her face a look of excitement that she would be excluded from. Her, the ordinary plain and boring girl from Poole. Her, the Muggle, as had said the Ministry man.
In that moment, she hated her sister for being different. And herself for not being so.
