"but Mum... What if we don't fit in? All the other kids have known about magic for ages and..." I trailed off. It was going to be our first day at our new school and the Professor 'Gonnagel, or whatever her name was, had visited us at the start of the summer. At first we were excited but then we began to wonder; what would it be like? This new magical school that would explain all the weird things that happened to us was a complete mystery. Neither of us liked mystery, not really. My twin sister and I much preferred to be able to read the answers to our questions in a book. At least the 'Gonnagel woman had seemed nice – We had always thought witches were mean and evil. My sister and I made a pact the day she came. She seemed so nice, and brought so much light to the puzzles we had pondered over all our lives. We would always try to be like her, try to be the light.
The summer had flown by in a haze of ice-creams and cartwheels, daisy chains and spy-novels. It was nearing the last couple of weeks before school ought to begin again and Mione and I were enjoying the heat of the sun.
"Come out, come out, verever you areeee" I sang gleefully. I was pretty sure I knew where my sister was hiding, and I pumped the water pistol in my hands to build up the pressure. We had been quietly reading the latest Alex Rider novel to each other when mum suggested (basically ordered) that we actually go outside for once, and we decided to play pretend. "Come out Meester Rider... I vill find you and feed you to ze sharks!" I was aiming for a Russian accent, because all the worst baddies are Russian, but it kept slipping. I paused. I heard it. A giggle. I clipped the water gun to its strap on my back, and jumped onto the monkey bars, swinging my way along, and stealthily sliding onto the climbing frame. The decidedly girly sound had come from our tree house. I took my aim, although I couldn't quite see, and fired blindly with reckless abandon.
"AAAAAHHHH SARAH!" I jumped from my perch and sprinted the length of the exposed lawn, diving behind my base camp bush. "Sarah! You made me wet! Get out here now!" I heard the stomping of her feet as she climbed down the rungs of the ladder. I hesitated, wondering if she'd seen my hiding place already. "Sarah Eleanor Granger, you get out here right now or I'll tell Mum you didn't play fair!" I knew what that voice meant, and I knew if I wanted ice-cream for dessert I had to stop Hermione doing anything stupid.
"Allright! Allright, I'm coming out" I raised my hands above my head and slowly stood up. There she was, my evil twin sister, looking so smug. I saw it coming as she raised the pistol in her hands "Betrayal, sister mine? Is this what we have fallen to? We both read Dante last year; you know that the last circle of hell is reserved for traitors. You would sink to that level?"
"For you, sister dear, always!" And with a blinding impish smile, she pulled the trigger. I felt the cold stripe run from my waist, across my front to my shoulder. I let my body fall backwards and crumple, not reacting to the sickening thud when I hit the grass. I tried my hardest to lie deathly still in the long silence that followed. "Sarah? ... Sarah? I couldn't have accidentally magiked it into acid or something?!" Mione quickly slid into hysteria, and I rolled on the ground chuckling. "OH YOU!" Hermione proceeded to drench me in retaliation for my (perhaps) cruel joke, until we were both laughing our socks off.
"Girls! Snacks?" Mum's voice brought us out of our little moment of hilarity, and we sprinted into the house only to be ushered right back out again. "You're both absolutely soaking! Sit here and dry in the sun while I get you some choc-ices" After a chorus of gratitude, we sat and chatted about the recurring topic on our minds – the new school.
"Sarah..." Mione sounded more than a little hesitant "You don't think... After what happened today, I mean... D'you think magic could be used to do bad stuff?" Her two top teeth bit harshly into her lower lip and I felt my brow furrow.
"I guess so..." I answered slowly "But... if we control it like the 'Gonnagel woman said, then... It'll be our choice what to do with it. So we can use it to help people. And make sure we never use it badly." I stared off into space, thinking. There had been a time last year where my sister had been picked on by my friends. It had all been so snide and silly that we'd ignored it. Right up until some stupid little boy had said something to me about her teeth, asking why I hung out with a rabbit like her. I'd never been so angry; he was lucky he only got a chipped tooth and a nosebleed. Suffice to say they kept away from both of us then. But now, what Mione said had me worried. What if there were proper witches and wizards there who tried to hurt my sister? How could I protect her then? I promised myself that as soon as I could, I'd go to a magic library and learn the nastiest meanest spell ever, so I could protect her.
Just as I finished my promise, I heard my mother come back outside. "Oh my goodness!" I swung my head around just in time to see two huge owls land on the patio, one tawny and one snow white. The weirdest thing was that they had two green inked letters in their beaks!