Written for: Mathematics Assessment 1 of the Fanfiction, School of Imagination Competition; Prompt table 6: jalousie, Lee Jordan, photo album, magic, climbing, energy. Also, the title comes from a quote from Anias Nin: "Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

Hope you enjoy! :D Please review!

A dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks sat on the small bench in his family's garden and snapped his fingers, laughing joyfully as the grass in front of him followed his silent commands by bending and twisting into intricate patterns and plaits. He snapped his fingers again and the flowers beside the bench joined in the dance, coming together into rainbow boquets of color and varying pairings of colors.

A dark brown owl flew across the sky and to the small house he shared with his mother. Lee's eyes followed it with excitement, the plants in the garden falling back into inactivity with his lapse of concentration.

The owl disappeard around the side of the house (where the window to the living room was open for post owls) and Lee nearly shook with anticipation of what the owl was bringing.

What felt like an eternity of waiting on tenderhooks later, his mother's voice was heard through the jalousie in the kitchen above the sink, open as it was to let in the warm summer air.

"Lee! Your letter came! Your Hogwarts letter!"

Pumping a fist in the air, Lee grinned and sprinted inside. His father, who was a muggle and had left his mother two years prior, had said that his magic was fake, a trick and a sham. But this letter was proof. Proof that the magic he and his mother shared was real and tangible and alive in the world. In other people. That it wasn't some sort of cheap joke.

Hogwarts. He thought happily, taking the letter from his mother eagerly and tearing it open, hardly glancing at his name written on the front of the envelope or the red wax seal with a coat of arms embossed into it on the back. I wonder what it will be like.

Lee Jordan had grown up hearing tales of his mother's days at Hogwarts (in Gryffindor house she had said) for bedtime stories. He had heard about the lake and the planting of the Whomping Willow and the Quidditch pitch, where supposedly the best game ever was played.

So, as he glanced over the words written on the thick parchment, he know. It would be magical.

Thick smoke hovered above the station platform as more and more people filtered in, waiting to get on the train. Lee was practically bouncing with excitement, as he had been since breakfast earlier that morning, and redoubled his grip on his mothers hand so he could pull her through the crowd to the side of the train he had heard about in so many stories. His fingers hovered over the thin stick of wood in his pocket, remembering their trip to Diagon Alley a few weeks earlier. He had relished the chance to learn more about this secret and wonderful world and now was ready to learn even more, to experience it for himself.

"Mum! Hurry up!" he said, trying to get the trolley to go faster through the sea of people.

"Don't run people over honey!" Lee's mother said with a small chuckle. "They need to get to the train too!"

"But Mum! You were the one who said we needed to be early for me to get a good seat!"

His mother sighed theatrically and rolled her eyes, while steadily making her way between families on the platform.

Lee frowned, but perked up as the great red coloring of the train came up in front of them. He and his mother hefted his monster of a trunk onto the luggage car and he gave her a long hug, darting away from the kiss she tried to give him and waving enthusiastically.

"See you at Christmas!"

It was Lee's fourth day at Hogwarts, and it had not started out very well. He had woken up late and so had missed the rest of his dorm mates going down to breakfast. Having to shove down some eggs and sausage quickly, he was almost late to Charms class and had to sit by himself at a desk. Then, at break, a fourth-year Slytherin had shot a spell at his bookbag that caused it to rip. The boy and his friends had laughed and jeered, insulting everything from his skin color to his hair to his mother.

Almost crying due to frustration, Lee had gathered up his things the best he could and trudged back up to Gryffindor Tower, where he figured he would be able to find an older Gryffindor who could fix his bag.

He did get it fixed, but the time it took made him late to lunch, where he got even less to eat than at breakfast. From there he got lost on the way to double Defense Against the Dark Arts, and to top it all off, he was so behind on homework that he was sure it would take him years to complete it all.

Later, Lee was sitting on his bed trying and failing to do his Transfiguration homework for the next day. He groaned loudly in frustration and flopped back on his bed, hugging his pillow close to him. Nowhere in any of his mother's stories had she mentioned the almost excessive amount of homework that students received each day.

Thinking about his mother - the way she smiled as she told her stories, the way her nose crinkled when she was trying to solve a hard problem - made him feel very homesick all of a sudden. He wanted a hug from his mum, a cup of hot chocolate to sooth his worries away. Lee bit his lip, trying to hold back tears.

"Oi, are you alright?" Came a voice from the end of his bed. "Lee, right?"

Lee sat up quickly, using his just-too-long robes to dry his eyes. He was faced with two red-headed boys who looked exactly alike. He had seen them around the dorm (as they were first-year Gryffindors as well), but they had never spoken face-to-face.

He tried to think of their names, but only came up with a last name - Weasley. He did know that these were the two twins who kept making trouble for the teachers though. They were funny and playful and always full of energy.

"Yeah, my name is Lee... Jordan."

"Lee or Jordan?" asked one of the twins.

Lee flushed pink. "Uh... both? Um, well, my full name is Lee Jordan-"

"Then nice to meet you Lee!" said the other, grinning broadly.

"I'm George," the first one said. "And that's my brother Fred."

"Hey!" Fred said happily, waving.

"So we were wondering if you wanted to come down by the lake and climb some trees with us-" George started.

"Because our brother Bill says early fall is always the best time to climb they're already strong from the summer. And the crinkling leaves and smell of autumn and stuff." Fred finished.

"So, want to come?" George asked again, expectantly.

Lee bit his lip again in indecision. He really wanted to hang out with the Weasley twins, but he was already having trouble with Transfiguration and it was due early the next day.

"I sort of have Transfiguration to do..."

"Oh! We can help with that!" Fred exclaimed. "We already finished it! Do you want some help and then we can go tree-climbing? It'll go really fast, then we can go and have fun!"

"Really?" Lee asked, hardly willing to hope that his terrible day could turn out for the best.

"Sure!" George said loudly. "What are friends for, eh?"
Lee smiled at that. Friends.

"Grab that branch over there! No, not that one, the one beside it! Yeah! And then stick your left foot on that really big one-"

Climbing trees with Fred and George, Lee thought as he tried to help George climb a particularly tricky one from the ground, was definitely the most fun thing he had done in a long time. In the area where he lived there were few kids at all, and no boys his age. During his days he would usually find something to occupy himself, or his mother would do it for him. Now that he had experienced play with other boys though, he couldn't help but wish he had a twin (or at least a younger brother) to play with. It would have been much more fun to play knights and dragons if he hadn't been the only one playing.

Once George had gotten as high as he could, Fred followed him up and Lee climbed nimbly up the tree next to theirs.

"Say cheese boys!" came a voice from below them. Lee looked down to see another red head, older than the twins, holding a camera up to his face and smiled brightly as it flashed.

"Charlie Weasley," the older boy said, moving so he was under Lee's tree. "Second oldest brother to these two troublemakers."

"Lee Jordan."

"Nice to meet you, Lee. I'm glad that these two finally found someone their own age to go climbing with. I've been being annoyed every five minutes because they couldn't find someone to go with them!"

"Hey! We resent that remark!" called one of the twins, though both of them were laughing uproarously.

It was a Saturday afternoon in mid-November and Lee Jordan was getting antsy. The weather was very cold in northern Scotland where Hogwarts castle was located, but the lack of snow gave no reason to go outside. Lee was bundled up in two of his thickest sweaters and as close to the fire as he could get (the older years had claimed all the good spots) and though he was full of restless energy, he was freezing cold.

"Lee!" came a whisper-yell just loud enough for Lee to hear. He turned to see the twins looking very excited.

"H-hey g-guys," Lee whispered back, stuttering as he shivered. "W-what's up?"

"You've got to come and see what we just found!" whispered Fred, eyes alight with excitement. "Have a minute?"

"Definitely," Lee said, glad for something to do. An adventure as big as the twins made it out to be would get him moving and solve both his problem of excess energy and coldness at the same time. "Let's go!"

He followed the twins out of the portrait hole and through one of the secret passages they had discovered together - a moving staircase behind an old painting of a nun who was gardening - and took it all the way down to the second floor. That was the thing about adventures - or really any time - with the Weasley twins. There was always something to do or discover when with them.

Lee followed them down a few more well-used stairways to a basement corridor off the hall that led down to the dungeons and they ended up in front of a simple, still-life painting of a bowl of fruit.

"A bowl of fruit?" Lee asked, feeling the journey was a bit anticlimactic. "What's so exciting about a bowl of fruit?"

"Not the bowl of fruit itself, silly," said George, rolling his eyes grandiosely. "It's what's behind the bowl of fruit, obviously."

Lee looked closer at the painting, trying to make shapes out of the swirls of blue that made up the background of the painting.

"Honestly," Fred said sarcastically. "It's as if he's never been on an adventure with us at all." And he reached over to tickle the pear.

To Lee's surprise, the pear began to giggle, and the painting swung open (much like the Fat Lady's portrait at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, Lee thought to himself) to reveal a massive room filled with small creatures who were running around with different foods and dishes.

Fred and George entered the room, leaving an awestruck Lee behind until he collected himself enough to follow.

"What kind of place is this?" he asked incredulously, examining the controlled chaos with wide eyes. "And what are they?" he added, looking at the little creatures that were scurrying around.

"The kitchens," Fred said proudly, putting his hands on his hips. "Quite a sight ain't it?"

"And those are house elves," George said, gesturing to the elves. "They are basically programmed to work all the time, be it cooking or cleaning. It's right beneath the Great Hall, and they make all the food for all the meals."

"And if you need anything..." Fred began, trailing off as he got the attention of one of the elves.

"Does the little Masters be needing something?" said a very wrinkly and old looking female elf said, a friendly smile on her face.

Fred and George shared identical grins.

"Well we'd like to start out with some eclairs, a strawberry torte and three cups of hot chocolate..."

It was Christmas morning, and Lee was up very early - as he and his mother always were, per tradition, on December the small but cozy living room held a tree covered in homemade ornaments and popcorn chains and a golden star that was mere centimeters away from the ceiling. Presents wrapped in all sorts of colors and patterns with bows on them were under the tree's branches, ready to be opened.

"Pick one to start out with," Lee's mother encouraged, gesturing to the myriad of presents waiting to be torn open.

Lee examined the nearest presents to him and found a somewhat small gift that was clumsily wrapped in green paper. Scribbled on the top of the rectangular package were the words:

To: Lee, From: Gred and Forge
Happy Christmas!
(with a little help from our mum and Charlie)

Intrigued, Lee pulled the present toward him and unwrapped it, exposing... a book. The twins gave him a book?

Looking closer, Lee saw it was actually a small journal with dark brown leather binding and a blank front. Even more curious, he opened it up and found a note written on the first page.

To our dearest and first bestest friend, Lee.
Thanks for all the awesome adventures we've had so far! Hope more will be coming soon (and that you enjoy this photo album)! Happy Christmas from us, Fred and George Weasley!

He turned to the next page and found a moving photograph, much like the paintings at Hogwarts, that showed him and the Weasley twins laughing up in two tall trees. He recognized it as the one Charlie had taken during his first outing with the two of them.

He flipped through the other pages and found pictures of all their other adventures that had been public enough to be photographed, such as the almost House-wide snowball fight that came after the first snow of the year and the time they had turned Fred and George's older brother Percy's robes purple for a day for fun.

Lee was smiling brightly as he finished flipping through the album, and nearly jumped when his mother asked him a question. He had forgotten she was even in the room!

"Is it a nice present dear? Who is it from?"

"The best," Lee answered, grinning down at the first picture in the album again, remembering the first day they had met and how the pair of them had changed his day from depressing to cheerful in an instant. "from the Weasley twins; from my friends."