"Well, this is it."
"Yep…"
Polaris took Mira's hand in his, but she snatched away and marched in front, suitcase dragging behind her
Polaris sighed and followed behind Mira. This is always how it was between him and his twin sister, Mira. Mira would take charge, and Polaris was there to pick up the pieces and to make sure no one got hurt, he was the sensible one.
Polaris tried to look brave. "It's now or never."
"Yep."
She knocked loudly on the door, and then started pacing nervously up and down in front of the door. Mira was chewing her lip, and gave the floor her full attention. No one answered. Polaris knocked louder, then spotted the bell on the side, and pressed it, long and hard so it would hopefully ring throughout the house. A light flickered on upstairs. A curtain flickered, then another light, closer to the door. Mira stopped pacing, and started tapping her foot, and when Polaris looked over to glance at her, she was rolling her eyes and tutting impatiently.
A very scruffy, very tired looking man in a black dressing gown flung the door open clumsily. He needed a shave and a haircut, and he looked like he'd just tumbled out of bed. But, he was for sure their father; Mira thought he resembled Polaris a lot. Mira smiled faintly at the obvious similarities.
"Look, it's 2am and I'm trying to sleep, for the last time, I do NOT want to buy anything—"
"We wouldn't want to sell it to YOU anyway—"Mira spat, temper rising.
"No, please" Polaris interjected hurriedly "We're not here to try and sell you anything; we're here on a…sort of a family thing."
"You've lost me…"
"…We came here because you're the only family we have left…we're your children. My names Polaris and her names Mira, we're twins and-."
"That…that's not possible; there must have been some mistake. If this is your idea of some sick joke, then you can take your jokes somewhere else!" And with that, Sirius Black slammed the door in their faces.
"Yeah? Well, you're probably right! How could I possibly be related to someone who's face looked like merlins left saggy—"
"Mira!"
"Sorry."
Polaris sighed again and sat on the pavement outside number 12. What were they going to do? How was he going to keep him and his sister safe from harm, and keep them warm?
Mira was pacing again, muttering all kinds of words under her breathe which would have shocked their mother.
"Mum" Polaris breathed in practically a whisper. "Why did you let us down?"
Polaris and his sister had grown up in a different background then most average witches and wizards did. They had grown up with a mother who worshipped Lord Voldemort, but since Voldemort was killed, their mother had fallen apart and disowned her children. She'd kicked them out on the street, and they had come to find their father. Mira had previously attended Beauxbatons academy school for Witches and could speak fluent French, and Polaris had been at Durmstrang institute for Wizards, but both had been hoping to attend Hogwarts together if Sirius had accepted them into his lives…it didn't look like that was going to happen any time soon.
Suddenly, the door swung open to number 12. Both Mira and Polaris spun around. In the doorway, stood a different figure. A figure with messy black hair, glasses, and emerald green eyes.
"I heard what happened and couldn't leave you out here in the cold all night…and it looks like you've got no where else to go, come on in."
Mira looked at him for a second, and then waltzed in past the boy. Polaris was mildly surprised she didn't start up some sort of fight first and just trusted this boy instantly.
Polaris followed suit, keeping his eyes on the boy. He looked strangely familiar…of course, Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Polaris had read somewhere that his father was Harry's Godfather…
Mira was already looking through the cabinet in the living room. There were a lot of books about Quidditch here…boring…
Polaris spoke for both of them, perhaps a little bit more politely than if it was Mira speaking. "Are you sure? We wouldn't want to interrupt anything. Sirius didn't seem too happy with us."
"What would you be interrupting? It's two in the morning."
"How about your sleep?" Mira challenged Harry, not feeling bothered that he was the famous Harry Potter, like Polaris was.
"I wasn't sleeping anyway."
"How come?" Mira and Polaris watched as Harry ran his hand through his hair, and got a small glimpse of his scar. Mira got the impression that he was thinking about the scar as he did it.
"Just couldn't sleep."
"Right, well don't just stand there; you're making the room look untidy!" Mira exclaimed and perched herself in a big blue chair in the corner, feet on the coffee table and looking around the room.
"Doesn't seem like I want to get on the wrong side of your sister."
"No, you don't."
Polaris and Harry laughed together; Polaris knew that him and Harry would get along really well.
"Do you really believe that we're Sirius's children?" Mira piped up, looking directly at Harry. Mira, socialising with a stranger? He expected her to try and pick a fight with Harry, or at least totally ignore him, not that he was complaining. When his sister made things easy for herself, it made things a hell of a lot easier on him too.
"Yeah, well you both certainly look like him and it's a bit of a random thing to lie about…I don't think I ever caught your names?"
"You don't catch names; they're not snitches, Quidditch boy."
Harry couldn't help but smile at this girl's quick wit.
Polaris said, "Ignore her. I'm Polaris, and this is Mira."
Polaris shook Harry's hand and Mira punched his shoulder gently, in a grateful way.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Now I'm defiantly certain you're his kids. Going by the star theme with the names, hey?"
"Yeah I guess so, thanks again for taking us in Harry."
"No that's fine…how did you know I'm Harry?"
"Scar."
"Ah…" Harry smiled weakly and sub consciously touched his forehead.
"Nice place, I like it…. But how come there's nothing muggle here?" Mira asked quizzically.
"His family hated muggles. Sirius doesn't, he wants to decorate it so it with normal stuff so it's like home again."
Mira nodded. "I've noticed a lot of Quidditch stuff here…" Mira was staring at the amount of things that were related to Quidditch in the cabinet. She scoffed. "Quidditch players I assume?"
Harry's eyes shone proudly. "I'm the Quidditch Captain and seeker at Hogwarts."
"That sounds pretty cool." Mira was giving praise to Harry? What was wrong with his sister? She ran her finger along a unit "If… if he manages to accept us, I'd like to help him. You know, make the place feel more like home."
Harry smiled sadly at Mira and she returned his smile for a moment. Polaris decided he would break this silence.
"I'm guessing he doesn't know we're here?"
"No. You can sleep in my room tonight and we can explain everything tomorrow. When Dumbledore gets informed on the situation, I'm sure Sirius will come around."
"Thanks Harry. Not many people would have opened the door again." Mira said quietly.
He shrugged. "I couldn't leave you out there. Do you want something to eat? You must be really hungry."
"Mira?"
Mira looked from Polaris to Harry, and shook her head.
"No thanks Harry, we're pretty tired from the journey anyway, would it be ok if we just went to sleep?"
All three tried to be quiet. Polaris expected Mira to be loud going up the stairs, but she wasn't.
Harry's bedside light was on and next to it, the only thing on his bedside table, was a picture of a man and woman, dancing happily and quite obviously in love. The man had jet black hair and looked like Harry and the woman had long flowing red hair, and Harry's bright, green eyes.
This must be Lily and James Potter, Harry's parents.
Mira gulped uncomfortably looking at this photo. She thought she and Polaris were unfortunate by having a horrible mother and a father who didn't even know about them, but at least they were alive. Harry had no one, well apart from Sirius of course, so not all was at loss. Mira was glad Harry had Sirius; she didn't even feel the slightest bit jealous.
Mira felt a little bit less awkward whilst Polaris continued shifting from foot to foot. Harry pulled at the sofa in the corner, and it turned into a pullout bed. "Sorry, this is all I've got."
The twins sat down on the bed as Harry flicked off the light, and then laid down. "Better then the street. Thanks, Harry. I mean it. It was really sweet of you to help us."
Polaris froze. What on earth was going on? Why was Mira being so nice to a stranger? Normally she was rude to new people… was she planning something? No, she sounded 100% genuine.
"That's alright Mira, couldn't see you freeze to death."
Polaris heard Mira giggle and roll over in the bed…did his sister just GIGGLE?
"Yeah, thanks mate. You've really been a hand…tomorrows going to be difficult…"
"He'll be ok. We might need Dumbledore to come over to give evidence, but after that, he's great, honestly."
"Ah, Dumbledore. I've heard of him…" Polaris yawned, and felt his eyes slowly begin to shut.
"Good night Harry, Mira."
"Night Polaris."
"Night."