Summary: Annette and Hugo share the same birthday, but they are very much different from each other. Hugo's an energetic planner. Annette's shy and is full of imagination (but is just about ready to face the facts: Harry Potter does not exist). But what happens when she and her brother find the famous Platform Nine and Three Quarters only to be a myth? And suddenly fantasy has become reality? Pretty soon they'll feel the weight of the universe on their shoulders.

Yet another fanfic made out of sheer boredom. There will be minor swear words every now and then, but nothing too graphic.

Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling. I only own my OC characters.

"I'll need something to look forward to."

CHAPTER ONE: Two Fans, One Problem

Above the sky the seagulls chirped, more than likely debating who was going to get the first fish that jumped out of the ocean. Annette Parkinson could tell that the two had started a race to see who would get at the edge of the water, but she noticed immediately the gleam of betrayal in its eyes. As the first seagull continued on the race, the second one arched his (or her) wings and dived into the ocean, catching the helpless fish. Perhaps the fish was getting excited over the race, or maybe he was going to greet the gull, but once the fish had realized the bird's intentions, it was too late. Poor fish. Poor seagull! He had just lost not only their bet, but his careless actions had just cost him a meal. Life could be so cruel.

"Anne!" called a boy.

She knew who it was, but continued to hang onto the railing as she looked towards the ocean. It was so beautiful, and yet it could still be one of the most deadly threats. It was a shame how so many people could be easily deceived, and she had seen a good share of betrayal, even for an eleven-year-old going on twelve. Well, not Anne personally, but her older sister, Carol Parkinson, had followed shyly among the rough cloud. How she never turned into one of those, "hooligans", Anne would never know, but it didn't really matter, did it? She was just glad that Carol was finally out of her burrow, and now they were experiencing the brilliance of their heritage, the place where their father was born and raised, Great Britain. Their mother was American, but has been so overwhelmed with work that she's decided to send the trio off to their grandmother, Claire, and their father agreed with the move (thinking that it would be a good opportunity for them to "expand their horizons").

"For Pete's sake, Anne did you hear me?" the boy hollered. His breaths started to calm down once his pace slowed into a natural walk, then, he climbed onto the railings, sat down, and looked down towards Anne.

"Sorry Hugo. What were you saying earlier?" she asked full-heartedly.

He grinned, staring into her eyes to make sure she had been listening to him with her full attention. Or maybe because he knew that she had been daydreaming, because he very well knew that his baby sister was always drifting in the clouds. Hugo was different. Instead of dreaming all day, he actually did the constructive work while his sister would explain her ideas and stories. Most of their friends had found it odd that these twins didn't share a whole lot in common, other than Harry Potter books, but could still find anything to talk about and got along very well. He guessed it had something to do with the law of opposite attraction, like magnets, a lesson he found very amusing. It could have also been their twin bond. But either way, he still had to tell her his news.

"Carol's finally given in. She's going to take us to see Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Maybe we'll even see J.K. Rowling! But it'll have to be after our lessons… shoot! I was hoping we could get there at eleven 'o clock. Oh yeah, Carol said that she took a photo of the Platform, but we'll need to get one with us next to it…"

As Hugo plotted things to himself, Anne's hazel eyes gleamed with hints of tan; almost making her eyes look as if they had shifted to a light brown. Once Hugo had realized that he was babbling (another trait the twins shared) he looked back towards her, his grin was even wider as he saw his sister's sudden perk of thrill, then jumped down to her side. She really was the baby of the family, and unless their parents decided to have more children it would stay that way. But Anne didn't mind being the youngest. Actually, she took advantage of her innocence, however, she would never abuse it. She wouldn't betray anyone just like the second gull had. Or were the gulls enemies? Before she could conclude her assumption, Hugo waved his hands in front of her. She broke off of her daze, realizing that Hugo was standing directly in front of her.

"So I'll try to see if I can't change Gram's mind about our lessons being switched. Shouldn't be too hard, so you just wait. Okay?"

She nodded like the little gullible child she was, but then decided to bring out a joke. "Got it. And if I see any owls?"

He laughed. "Make sure you get the letters. If they're ours, that is. But I get the packs of Chocolate Frogs."

She giggled. "Fine, but I get dibs if there's a broom."

"Sneaky little hobbit…"

They both roared with laughter, and as Anne wiped a joyful tear she spoke. "Wrong book, Golem."

"I sorry master…"

Their heads turned as they heard their names being called. Waving them over was a tall woman that bore a not-so-shocking resemblance to the twins. If the twins bore spitting resemblances to their parents, why would it be so shocking if their older sister had similar genetics? The only difference was of age and the fact that she could easily tower over the twins, but that was only because they were eleven and she had been nearly twenty. After she formally called out their respective names, the two sprinted towards her, knowing that today she had been in a bad mood. As soon as they were barely a foot away, she spun around and started to walk, knowing that the twins had been following like little ducklings.

The moment the three Parkinson children had arrived at their grandmother's house, the grandfather clock chimed four times. The twins separated from their sister, Carol, and quietly crept towards their shared bedroom, knowing very well that their grandmother had been in the middle of her afternoon nap. Since she wouldn't be up for at least another twenty minutes or so, the twins took this advantage of silence for some quiet free time.

They tiptoed up the stairs, careful that they had avoided any loose boards, and entered the room. Hugo pulled off his flannel hoodie, carelessly tossing it on the top of the oak bunk bed. Anne sighed, knowing that Grand wouldn't be pleased, but did the same with her lavender hoodie (only she had tossed it on the lower bunk).

As she did, Hugo climbed up to his bed and pulled out a black Discman from underneath his pillow, then plugged the ear buds into his ears, plopping onto the bed sighing as he listened to a singer that Anne could easily hear and recognized almost instantly by his strumming. She pulled out her white Discman from her bed, but then crawled up the ladder, tugging Hugo's foot (for he had blown his music up far too loud). Once she did, the volume of his music dimmed. She placed her earphones over her ears, then, began to bob her head as she listened to her music as she sat down on her bunk.

For the first few seconds of the song she sat soundlessly, but sighed and curled into a side-ways ball, realizing the obvious. Their birthday was nearly two months away, and when it passed, it meant that all of their fantasies of going to Hogwarts would have to end. Of course, they would still read their prized hard-covered books (all of them finally being out and in their possession, both of them had only gotten up to the fourth book) until they reached the end, but the wonders wouldn't be the same. What would happen if they had gotten a letter acceptance from Hogwarts? Would she be a good witch? She'd definitely be in Gryffindor. Maybe Hufflepuff. And what would it be like to go to a boarding school with no grandmother to nag either twin? Turning twelve would be the most disappointing day of her life, but she'd have to live on with it.

"Why go batty over a silly book? You have potential. Use it well," her grandmother would say. "Yes ma'am." Anne would probably reply.

Her grandmother was right. Why cry over a book? There were much better, and much worse things to worry about.

"Anne?"

She turned down her music.

"Yeah?" Anne asked.

Hugo was silent for a minute. She pulled her head out to see if her brother had still been lying on his bed, and he was. Once she was sure he wasn't going to move, she shifted back onto her bed.

"Never mind."

And they've been quiet ever since, raising each of their Discman's to block out the soft snoring of their zoned-out grandmother, as well as each other's music. The twins' ears were sore by dinner time, but neither of the twins complained since they weren't even suppose to have Discmans in the first place; Hugo had lost his one too many times, and to make things fair, Claire had taken both of them, but she had lost track of them (and she didn't care much about it too, seeing as they were such a nuisance) but Anne had found them in one of her shoe boxes by accident and claimed them. So every day they'd wait until Grams was asleep, pulled them out from underneath their pillows, and listened to them to block out her snoring.

"So, are you going to do anything tomorrow Grandma Claire?" Anne asked softly. Hugo looked up from his plate of meatloaf to the brunette; his brow rose up with curiosity.

Claire gazed her honey brown eyes towards the young angelic child. It'd been the first time she ever spoke up during dinner, so the old woman was taken aback. She'd been hoping that she'd get to know the younger granddaughter, but she found it very difficult to keep track of three children without any extensional assistance. Hughie was a strong and kind man, helping her raise her son properly (even if the child had been a little mayhem) and had passed on peacefully. She wasn't surprised when their parents had sent the children to her house. Jim had been working overseas while his wife struggled to keep her paycheck as well as her children in place. Annette had been the youngest of the three, by minutes, and the most timid daydreamer.

Claire smiled, "Oh, well the ladies were planning to go to tea, but I'll be canceling that. You two have your lessons, and Carol, I do believe you should start taking some. Italy is a nice country, but French is a requirement for college."

Carol swallowed a piece of broccoli as she looked towards Anne but looked back towards Claire, "I've already taken two fine art classes, so I'm all set."

"It doesn't hurt to have extra options. There are other schools than just NYC."

"I've already sent my application weeks ago, Grams, and I should be getting a reply soon." Carol said, forcing herself not to make it sound like a retort. Claire sensed a rise of tention in the atmosphere. She backed down, knowing things would end up badly if the conversation continued.

"Very well."

"… I want to go to the King's Cross Station tomorrow." Hugo blurted.

Claire looked towards him curiously. "Now why would you want to go to a station, when you're already here?"

"… I like trains. Never saw one up close, almost did back in Connecticut, but that was canceled. Carol had gotten the flu that day and all the attention was brought onto her."

Carol ignored Hugo's selfish complain while she gulped the last bite of her vegetables, then, pointed her fork as Anne watched (as a gesture for her to do the same) before she got up and went to the kitchen. "I'm done." She said before leaving.

"And it absolutely must be tomorrow?" Claire questioned. He nodded with a serious expression, but only Anne knew that it was his 'game face'.

"Eleven 'o clock, sharp."

"That's when the gathering begins… Carol?"

Carol dropped her dish at the sound of her name and came running in, rubber gloves with an apron. Her curls looked like they were about to spring out of her hair with shock. "You can't be serious! They've got lessons!"

Hugo glared at her, "You promised!"

"I said: We'll see if Grandma says yes."

"Well, I don't see why not. As long as the twins make up their lessons, it's not too hard to manage. You can use the car again, dear."

All three siblings stared towards their grandmother, then, looked back to one another. The twins grinned while Carol sighed with frustration as she headed back to finish cleaning her dishes.

It was very difficult for Hugo to suppress his excitement and Annette could tell from the shifts and jerks from the top bunk. She had finally lost it after the twentieth squeak, hissing irritably towards her few-minutes older brother. "Would you please stop tossing? I don't want to fall asleep when we get there!"

"I can't help it…"he whispered.

She sighed, turning her body to her side as she slipped the pillow out from under her head, covering her ears. The younger sibling gave up on blocking the sound and pulled herself out of bed, tiptoeing towards the door. "What're you doing? If you leave now, we won't be able to go to the station!" Hugo hissed.

"When you go to sleep, I'll come back!" Anne whispered. Which meant that she would probably have to sleep on the couch tonight. She closed the door lightly once she was in the hallway, ignoring her brother's plead. The girl couldn't tell what had gotten over her 'bold' actions, considering that she'd always silently put up with her siblings. Maybe she was getting into a new phase. Or horomones. Whatever it was, she took it with caution, knowing that someday she'd get in trouble with it.

The eleven-year-old hadn't been satisfied until she had finally reached the first floor without making any squeaks along the way. She huddled her stuffed sheep against her robed body, creeping towards the couch that would be her bed for the evening. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from outside, causing her to squeak rather loudly. She could tell that no one had heard her, or the bangs, for none of the doors of the house burst open. Not one single door of concern had whipped open. Why was that? Couldn't they hear any noise? It didn't make much sense to her.

Anne dashed for the window, keeping her body in a low duck as she pulled one of the curtains open. Her jaw gaped as she saw three rather unusual characters in the middle of the road, one of them towering over the two as he carried something incredibly tiny in his arms. She looked a few feet away from him and saw an old motorcycle, then, assumed that the engine was the cause of the horrendous noise. It purred idly, waiting for its keeper to take his claim once again.

'Keeper of Keys!' It hit Anne like a tornado, but then she shook her head. 'Harry Potter doesn't exist. Harry Potter doesn't exist.'

The old man who stood in front of the giant gave a pleased smile before he started to talk. Anne sighed, knowing that she couldn't hear what was going on during the conversation, but from the way he smiled, it seemed like a short greeting. For a second, Anne had thought he shot his eyes towards her, but even though she meantally screamed for her body to move, but her body was frozen. At the same time, she could tell he was sincere, but she knew that it was wrong to try and eavsedrop into other peoples conversations, which was why she begged her body to move.

All of a sudden, she felt like he had known everything about her. As if there wasn't a single secret that she had in her head that he didn't know.

'This is stupid'. She mentally scowled to herself. 'He's just imaginary.'

She went on with her logical assumption. I'm just sleeping in my room and when morning comes, Hugo will yank me out of bed. Or maybe I'm just imagining things. I'm really good at that, you know? My mum said that I use to have an imaginary friend named Rose, and I'd get offended when Carol would sit on her during dinner, or if a random person were to bump into her, I'd start getting really angry and yell at them. I might've been six… how old was Rose? Seven, methinks.

This is all a very vivid imagination. But it's not as original as usual... maybe it's because we're going to the Platform tomorrow.

And at the blink of an eye, the characters vanished from Anne's sight. She sighed with relief, glad to know that she was right. It had only been a silly imagination, and this she was sure of because she had pinched her cheek to make sure she was awake.

She crawled onto the couch, curling into a ball as she hugged her sheep, Lillian, and as she pictured them in her mind, she drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Hugo was as upbeat as ever. He practically dragged Anne out of bed, having most of her clothes set for her on her bunk. Anne groggily dressed herself, groaning as she realized that she had been dressed identically to his brother, but the only difference was that she was wearing a plaid skirt while he wore trousers. Both of their knitted sweaters were a navy blue (with their initials embroidered in the front) and short collared shirts. Anne had finally put her foot down, convincing him—before they left the car—that it was not necessary to wear ties for this occasion. He shrugged it off, letting her have her own way for once.

Anne staggered as Hugo led her towards the middle of Platforms Nine and Ten, but to their very deep disappointment, there was no platform. Hugo shot a glare towards Carol, "What happened to the Platform?" he asked. Carol shrugged, not really caring that her little brother was about to throw a tantrum. The twelve-year-old-to-be marched towards a uniformed man. The man placed a polite smile to the boy.

"What happened to the Platform?"

The British man blinked. "There are many platforms, son. Which one?"

"Which one?" He repeated with impatience. "Nine and Three Quarters! That one." He pointed to the wall.

The man furrowed his brows. "Think you're funny, do you?"

"Do I look like I'm having fun?"

"Son, there's no such platform around here. Go home to your mum and give 'er a nice hug. Go on, scoot!"