A/N: HELLO! My name is AlyssaBlack96 (well, I lie, that's a pseudonym but don't judge) and I'm writing my first fic. I don't post author's notes – except for this one – and am going to post it all at once as it's finished. Please enjoy and read/review.

Chapter One – Rose

Platform 9 ¾

Standing on platform 9 ¾, I stared across at my twin (non-identical) sister through the bustle and rush of Hogwarts students, parents and teachers saying their farewells and greetings and suddenly wished we were back home.

Of course, we couldn't go back home. Ever.

But I still wished wholeheartedly that we could. Standing by Cara's side, the whole world in motion around us, I missed our little home in rural England that much more. When my sister realised this (hey, we're twins, we know everything about each other – and I mean everything), she wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me forwards. Cara was stronger than she looked, as a beautiful (of course) blonde babe with gorgeous grey-blue eyes. I was her taller, brunette sister with curls and oddly mismatched eyes. One was green and one was brown.

I smiled at her as we reached the scarlet train, and took back my beautiful black cat's cage from her. She held our owl, Soren, and I held our cat, Lucy. Lucy Fur. I came up with the name. Together, we began to heave our trunks up the steps when a hand caught my arm and lifted it for me. I turned to see smiling grey eyes meet mine.

"Here, let me get that for you," the boy said, taking it out of my hands and – juggling it with his own – entered the train. He then put it down and reached a hand down for Cara's. "I'm Sirius, by the way, Sirius Black."

Sirius was tall and well-built, with soft black hair that hung down to his chin and made me want to stroke it. His features were refined in that way that made me feel like I was talking to a pure-blood, and his eyes caught me again. They were like miniature storms, the grey mixed in with black and blue and I felt like all the breath was shoved out of me.

Thank God Cara was there to save me from my own stupidity.

"I'm Cara White, and this is my sister, Rose," she said, reaching out to shake his hand. "Thank you for the help."

He grinned. "It is always my pleasure to help two damsels in distress."

And then my mouth worked without consulting my brain. "We're no damsels," it said, cheekily, and then my brain caught up and I blushed. He burst out laughing. "I didn't mean it like that," I muttered.

"So she does speak then? Rose White, I stand corrected, but you sure do blush like a damsel."

Before I could retaliate, another voice cut in. "Padfoot, have you found a girl to flirt with already?"

"Moony!" Sirius roared happily, jumping down from the train to embrace the newcomer, a tall boy with sandy-coloured hair and light brown eyes. Cara stared at him, wonder in her eyes. In that instant I could tell; he was the one for her.

I grinned wickedly at her and she shrugged, smiling a little.

"Hello, Moony," I said with a teasing lilt in my voice. "Is the name suggestive of certain, let-them-remain-unnamed, naughty past times, or just the favourite time of the day?"

The boy called Sirius burst out laughing as the boy named Moony frowned for a moment, then blushed. When Sirius caught his breath, he grinned at me. "You are bad, Rose White. I think I'm going to like you."

Another boy, a small, blonde, watery-eyed boy joined us then as another boy with glasses, brown eyes and black messy hair came over. "Are you making Padfoot laugh, new girl?"

"At my expense," Moony muttered.

Cara rolled her eyes and took the situation into her own (capable) hands. "My name is Cara White and this is my sister, Rose White. We're joining seventh year today."

The boy with the glasses smiled. "Hi. My name is James Potter, that's Remus Lupin" here he pointed to Moony "and this is Peter Pettigrew. Shall we get on the train?"

Sirius grinned again and bounded up the stairs, picking up my trunk with his. "Come on, or else the Slytherins will get our compartment," he said, before proceeding to drag both trunks away with him. I blinked after him for a moment, then glanced at Cara, shrugged, and followed. Behind me, the boy named Remus picked up Cara's trunk and dragged it after us.

When we reached a compartment that Sirius deemed acceptable, and we were all settled in, the boys turned to us and began to grill us over who we were and why we were there.

"So," James began, almost drawling. "You said your names were Rose and Cara White, right? You aren't related to Bernard White, the world-famous wizard who charmed his feet you they could never touch the ground and spent the rest of his life walking on his hands, are you?"

I glanced over and met Cara's eyes. There was mischief in them, so we decided to have a little fun.

"Oh, yeah, Uncle Bernie," I said, leaning back and putting my feet up on the seat. "He used to tell us the best stories of how he crept about-"

"-Peaking under women's skirts," Cara finished. "And he never got in trouble for it, either."

"Really?" Sirius said, sounding excited. "Maybe I should-"

"Don't try it," three voices told him simultaneously. My twin laughed aloud as he looked down, almost disappointed.

"Oh, cheer up Padfoot. It's not like you have much trouble getting girls to let you look up their skirts anyway," Remus pointed out.

He brightened up at that point and smiled. "Well, there is that."

I laughed at him.

"So, you two are obviously sisters and as you are in the same year, may we assume you are twins?" James asked, returning to the original point.

"You may," Cara said formally.

"When is your birthday?" Remus asked.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked him, curious.

"Moony is obsessed with his two favourite classes: Arithmancy and Divination. He's always calculating away in his head, trying to work out what people are really like inside. He probably wants to read your horoscope or something," James explained.

Sirius barked a laugh. "I don't get why he's so obsessed with them. They're a bunch of lies mainly."

Remus looked slightly insulted. "Actually, I just wanted to know when their birthday was because I wanted to know how old they were. But that's cool, we can insult me too."

"Sorry, mate," James and Sirius muttered together. My sister and I exchanged amused glanced and decided to move on.

"We're quite boring really," Cara said. "You don't want to hear about us."

"Yes we do," all four of them said together. I noted that the blonde – Peter – only ever seemed to speak when the others did. He was probably just shy. Poor kid.

Then Sirius opened his mouth and drew my attention back to him as he started to ask us more questions.