Sarah's eyes opened as something heavy fell on her, almost kicking all of the air from her lungs.
"Wha- Helena, get off!" Sarah grumbled, pulling the covers over her head as she tried to shake off her twin. Even after five years of sharing the room with Helena, Sarah was still not used to being woken up like this every now and then.
"Sestra!" Helena squealed happily, tugging the covers Sarah used to pull over her head and throwing them aside. "Sestra, get up! We will be late for breakfast! I don't want to be late for breakfast! Think about bacon and eggs!"
Still grumbling and complaining under her breath, fifteen-year-old Sarah Manning sat up in the bed, shuffling her bushy hair out of her face and scratching her head as she looked outside the window. The sky was pale blue and Hogwarts grounds seemed deserted, even though the temperature had fairly dropped even though it was only the beginning of September. Helena had already jumped out of her bed and had dressed in her robes, her scarlet-and-gold tie hanging loosely around her neck.
"Sestra, can you tie this? I want to look pretty on the first day." Helena was grinning widely as she approached Sarah who was tying her boots and looked up, the frown on her face only slightly apparent as her fingers fumbled with Helena's tie until it was properly set.
"You know you don't need to wear full robes every day Helena, yeah?" Her twin nodded, even though she didn't really seem to pay any attention. Even though they were already in their fifth year in Hogwarts, Helena still seemed happy that she was attending Hogwarts with her sisters. Sarah could still remember the Sorting ceremony several years back, and how excited Helena had gotten to be in the Gryffindor house with her twin, even though their other sisters were not in the same House. Separated at birth, Helena and Sarah, together with Cosima and Alison met only several months after they both got their Hogwarts letters. Mrs S told Sarah something about Helena being supposed to go to Durmstrang, but choosing Hogwarts instead since she was told that her sisters were going there.
Even though Helena had been very attached to Sarah from the moment they met, Sarah had grown used to having her around. And even though Helena had an awful habit of waking Sarah up for breakfast almost every morning, Sarah could still not help but smile when Helena put on her hat, causing her curls to fly in every single direction.
Sarah pulled her own dark robe over her plaid shirt and took the books she would need after the breakfast. Two hours of Defence Against the Dark Arts was the class Sarah was looking forward to, and Potions and Transfiguration after lunch as well. She had already prepared herself for Alison showing up at their table that morning to kindly remind them that this year was their O.W.L.s year, and that they needed to study more for their better future. Control freak.
Once they made their way down the staircase and into the Gryffindor Common room, Sarah scoffed at Paul Dierden, the boy from seventh year, and the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team who always acted like a complete arsehole and always seemed to have a comment or two about Sarah whenever they met in the hallways. Hey Manning, need help with those books? was the first one that morning and she just rolled her eyes before stepping out from behind the portrait, Helena closely behind her.
"Sestra, I can give him a curse of bogies, or something, yes?" Helena whispered in her ear, grinning widely as they walked down the endless staircase. "No, Helena, it's fine. I'll handle him, yeah?" She smiled lightly at her twin before they stepped in the Great Hall.
It was still fairly early, but she could already see Cosima leaned over a huge book while sitting at her Ravenclaw table. She was stressing out because of the O.W.L.s as well, but not in an obnoxious way as Alison did. She looked up from it as Helena called her name and smiled widely, picking up her books and coming to join them at a fairly deserted Gryffindor table, her books causing their glasses of juice to almost fall down when she dropped them.
"Shit, sorry." Cosima murmured apologetically as she sat down, fixing her glasses and taking a slice of toast with butter and taking a bite of it absentmindedly. "I've been studying Astronomy since last night, and I don't think I'll ever figure it all out in time."
Sarah looked at her over her plate, her eyebrows furrowing. "Cos. It's the first bloody day. You can relax a little bit, yeah?"
Cosima shrugged, taking another bite. "I guess you're right. How did you sleep last night? These things on my head are still poking me sometimes, but I hope I'll get used to them soon. I can't risk many sleepless nights this year."
Sarah looked at Cosima's dreadlocks and smirked. "They look good. And you won't be mistaken for any of us anymore. Must have been very painful making them, yeah?"
Her sister nodded. "You wouldn't even believe. My foster mom needed to hold my hand the whole time. I'm still pretty sure I could have used magic to make them, but you know, the whole illegal prospect of using magic outside of Hogwarts killed me, so I had to do it the hard way. Besides, the tattoos were totally more painful. And I look rad now." Cosima grinned widely, before her eyes traveled to Helena. "And you, Helena? You excited for O.W.L.s?"
The curly-haired sister shrugged. "Sarah will help with studying. I just want to go and pet unicorns. I heard they will be here this year at Care of Magical Creatures."
"Helena wanted to dye her hair blonde this year. I told her to at least wait until we're seventeen." Sarah interjected, laughing as she took a sip of the pumpkin juice. "She's pale as it is, she'd look like a bloody ghost if she did it."
"I like ghosts." Helena said with a shrug, burping loudly as she finished her over-filled plate and grabbed the nearest bowl of pudding and attacking it, causing Cosima to look at her and laugh out loud.
"Yeah, Helena and Nearly-Headless-Nick have become best friends last year after she tried to stab him as he accidentally poked his head through her plate." Sarah said, looking over at Helena and pushing her own pudding bowl towards Helena, knowing in advance that her sister would ask about it, anyway.
The two of them laughed as Helena finished the two bowls and stood up to look for more, but they both stopped abruptly as they heard a familiar voice behind them. Sarah cringed at the tone and she looked to the side, her smirk hiding the fact that she wanted to curse their fourth sibling away from the table.
Alison was standing beside their table, her hand leaned on the chair. Her hair was picked up in a ponytail with the silver-and-green bow which matched perfectly with the badge with a P on it, which was hooked on the front of her robe and which Alison carried proudly around. "I see that you're already studying for your O.W.L.s Cosima, very good. Sarah, you should look up to the two of us, since Helena is looking up to you, and actually give yourself a chance to pass these tests with acceptable grades. I myself already made notes for everything, and made a schedule by which I'm going to study every day of the week, yes including Sundays, and-"
"If you don't stop going on about yourself", Sarah cut her off, frowning now, "I am going to smack you over the head, I swear to Merlin."
Alison huffed and pursed her lips, but did not continue talking, but just sat beside Cosima, placing her own books beside herself and brushed her robe a little bit before leaning forward to the table to look over at her Ravenclaw twin. "Where is your Prefect badge, Cosima? You should wear it at all times so that first-years can come to you so you can help them."
Sarah couldn't help but roll her eyes but kept her eyes at her plate, refraining herself from snarky comments. She would need to have fresh mind for the classes later, and fighting with Alison only brought unnecessary stress upon her.
Cosima moved her robe a little bit to the side and showed the blue-and-bronze badge that was hooked on her tie. "Chill, Ali, I got it all covered." Cosima smiled over at her uptight sibling before finishing off her toast and taking a gulp of her pumpkin juice. "Where's Donnie? I'm kinda used to him hanging around you since last year."
Alison huffed once again and shrugged. "I broke up with him. I can't have a boyfriend in the year of O.W.L.s, are you insane? He takes too much of my time so I let him go. He's probably crying in the boys' bathroom. I couldn't care less, really. What?" Her eyes snapped towards Sarah who was chuckling, but looking at the ceiling who was as pale and cloudless as the sky outside.
"Oh nothing." Sarah said, grinning before looking down at her plate and finishing her breakfast. She always found Donnie a spineless Slytherin brat who always bragged about his parents' money and how he had an older brother in Chudley Canons. She ignored Alison's stare, but instead looked over at Cosima who leaned in closer to them.
"Oh hey, speaking of, I totally have a secret to tell you. I think I have a new crush." At those words, Alison's eyes lit up. She always had a thing for gossip, and even Sarah leaned closer on the table. Cosima never had any crushes, and occasionally had relationships with her books, or at least that's how Sarah saw her undying love of books. "Please don't tell me it's this year's Potions book." She commented with a smirk, causing her sister to roll her eyes.
"Ha-ha, Sarah. No. D'you remember that Beauxbatons exchange student Headmistress McGonagall was talking about last night?" At the positive answers from both Alison and Sarah, Cosima continued, her voice hushed and excited. "Well her name is Delphine and I just met her this morning. She's totally gorgeous and incredibly smart, and she'll be staying at the Ravenclaw tower. I'm not really sure how they'll figure all this out, but Delphine's technically a fifth year here and if she likes it she might actually stay." A wide grin spread across her lips as her cheeks flushed a little bit. "And she has the most adorable accent ever and shares my passion for Potions. Can you believe it? I can't wait for you to meet her."
Sarah leaned back in her seat, smirking at the piece of information she had just gotten. "Looks like Cos here has found her distraction for this year, yeah?" She flinched a bit when Cosima hit her with her foot under the table. "Bloody hell, Cos, alright, sorry." Sarah continued smirking though, even though Alison was shaking her head.
"The choice is completely yours, Cosima, but I don't think it's smart to get involved with her when you should be studying."
"Who said that we won't be studying? We totally dorked out to Potions and Transfiguration, and she told me their classes a bit different in France, and that she'd be grateful if I filled her in. She's a fifth year too, so we'll be studying together. Totally."
Sarah made air quotes and mouthed studying, at which she got another kick under the table. "Alright, alright. Sorry. Well I have DADA right now and I don't want to miss it, so I'll catch you lot at lunch, yeah?" Both Cosima and Alison nodded and Sarah stood up, beckoning Helena who was leaned on the table, rubbing her stomach before standing up and clung onto Sarah's arm, while she picked up Sarah's and her own books. "I carry this for you, sestra, yes? See you later, other sestras!" Helena chirped happily, and Sarah turned around and made a step before remembering something.
She turned around once again. "Oh I wanted to ask you both if you are going to Hogsmeade for Halloween this year? Helena wants to go to Honeydukes and I hear that Shrieking Shack will be insanely decorated this year."
Cosima nodded. "Yes, of course! I have to visit the Shrieking Shack, duh, and buy some stuff that I forgot at Diagon Alley."
At Alison's grimace, Sarah nudged her. "Oh come on, Alison, even you can get a break from the studying. We can have a little bit of fun, all four of us, yeah? And scare the living shite out of Donnie and Paul. Besides, it's two months away. You have plenty of time to study." Alison rolled her eyes and looked at Sarah scoldingly, but finally nodded. "Alright. I'll go. But only if we're back to the castle by the evening."
"Of course", Cosima said, grinning widely, taking her own books and standing up. "You know we never miss Halloween dinners." As all of them agreed that they would talk more about the matter over lunch, Sarah and Helena took off for classes, while Cosima and Alison returned to their tables. It was going to be a fun year.