DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN ANY OF J.K. ROWLING'S WONDERFUL CREATIONS! ONLY SERENITY, ELIZABETH, SERENITY'S FAMILY, AND ELIZABETH'S FAMILY.
THIS IS CO-WRITTEN HARRY POTTER FANFICTION.
ENJOY.
REVIEWS ARE LOVED.
"Serenity!" Wendy, Serenity's mother, called up the stairs, "Time for school!"
Serenity groaned. Just another two weeks and school will be out. She thought patiently, to get herself excited for summer break and get her mind off school.
Serenity, being Serenity, was already dressed and washed half an hour ago. She trudged down the stairs, backpack over her shoulder, ready to endure another torturous day with her fifth grade teacher, Ms. Hook.
"Serenity," Wendy said, "aren't you going to have some breakfast?"
"No," Serenity responded, making her way to the front door of her house.
"Eat something, Serenity," Wendy said, stroking her daughter's hair.
"No," Serenity repeated, swinging the front door open.
"Well, I can only try," Wendy sighed, retreating back to the kitchen.
"Whatever," Serenity mumbled, walking outside to make her short journey to the bus stop. Serenity lived in a small town, in the middle of nowhere, in the state of New Jersey, in the United States. She, and her best friend Elisabeth, both had the same views on their town. That is was boring. Nothing ever happened in Paricon, New Jersey.
Serenity sighed, and sat down on the curb by the bus stop. She placed her chin in her hands, and sighed once more. She wondered what Elizabeth was doing right now. Probably already walking to school, she thought, Probably having fun walking with friends and her brother.
Serenity was the only kid that when to Paricon Public School, that lived in the development. Or at least the only kid her age, which was eleven. There were girls who were nine, two, eighteen, and fifteen, while the boys were all immature and not to her liking.
While Serenity sat and waited on the corner of Golden Apple Lane for the bus, Elizabeth was having an even less enjoyable morning...
"Timothy! Stop it! That's annoying!" Elizabeth demanded, stamping her foot down. Her older brother and his friend, Finn, were throwing grass in her hair on their walk to school.
Elizabeth hated it when Tim did that, especially when Finn joined in. The school was only fifteen minutes away from their home, but it felt like an hour when Tim and Finn were there teasing her.
Just because they're in sixth grade they think they're so cool, Elizabeth thought sourly while plucking grass strands out of her hair. She stormed away from the two laughing boys. Elizabeth knew she could get to school by herself, it was just her mother who always insisted that Tim watch her.
She crossed her arms, and continued walking up the hill past the fire station with an annoyed look on her face. She couldn't help but wonder about Serenity. Serenity and she had become friends in fourth grade because they kept noticing strange things happening to them.
For instance, in fourth grade, Serenity's hair one time changed to a flaming orange when she was mad at the "popular girls," Emma and Suzanna, for pushing her off the swing set and calling her ugly. That same week, Elizabeth went to the Bronx Zoo with her family and when they were at the reptile house, she was able to talk to an anaconda. When she told her brother about it he just scoffed and called her crazy.
Another time right before the end of fourth grade, Elizabeth was mad at her History teacher for making her stay inside for recess, that during her next class every piece of chalk the teacher would touch would turn in a bug and crawl up her arm. While the in the next month, Serenity was mad at her little brother for stealing her books and scribbling in them, that all his toys disintegrated at his touch.
Then this year, Serenity made the toilets explode in the girl's bathroom and Elizabeth made the teacher's cell phone float high in the air and fly around the room making the teacher jump around after it.
Before Elizabeth knew it, she was standing in front of Paricon Public School for Grades PreK-8th. She made her way to the designated area for the fifth graders and kneeled onto the grass. She twiddled with a piece of grass between her fingers that she pulled out of her hair. It was well before school was supposed to start and Elizabeth was already bored.
I wonder what Serenity is up to? She thought, glancing around to see if she could spot a yellow school bus anywhere. Unfortunately, the only vehicles that were passed were garbage trucks and one navy minivan. Elizabeth sighed and returned her attention back to the grass, still curious when Serenity's bus was going to show up.
On the bus, things were not going well for Serenity. Her two friends that lived down the hill from her, had failed to show up and now she was sitting alone in a three-seater anxiously awaiting to see if her third friend, Harley, would show up or not. To add to that, a fourth grader named Justin was prodding Serenity's arm with a tree branch he found outside. At first she tried to ignore him, hoping he'd stop on his own seeing that she had not reacted in anyway, but Justin was stubborn, he continued poking her, this set of pokes more vigorous and rough though.
By the time they had reached the hill where Harley lived, Serenity lost her patience and the branch that Justin was holding burst into flames and with a yelp of surprise he dropped it and the flames went out as if by magic. He picked it up again and the second his fingertips brushed against the bark, it erupted into flames again. It went on like that for five minutes straight until Justin realized there was no point in putting up a fight and he just left it on the floor of the bus.
Harley's stop finally arrived and Serenity eagerly glanced over the seats to see if she could spot Harley's head anywhere. Immediately, Harley was spotted and Serenity made frantic hand movements to catch Harley's attention.
Harley quickly sat down next to Serenity and asked, "Michael and Laina didn't show up?"
"No. They ditched us," Serenity smiled. Harley laughed, and shook her brown curly hair out of her matching brown eyes. Serenity looked exactly like Harley except her hair was pin straight and she was at least a head taller than Harley.
The two girls chatted very animatedly throughout the rest of the bus ride (which wasn't that long since there were only two stops left), and before getting off the bus they did their secret handshake. The bus stopped in back of the school and all bus students had to rush to their first class, which for Harley and Serenity was their fifth grade homeroom, Ms. Hook's class.
Serenity had completely forgotten that Harley was standing next to her when she saw Elizabeth hanging her backpack up on her hook. Serenity made a beeline towards Elizabeth and poked her arm to get her attention. Elizabeth whipped around.
"Serenity!" She exclaimed, when she realized who had poked her. Elizabeth engulfed her friend in a huge hug and whispered, "It's so good to see you again. I felt so alone over the weekend."
Serenity pulled back and said seriously, "I need to tell you something."
Elizabeth's smile dropped into a straight line and she nodded understandingly. She knew what Serenity was going to tell her. Serenity was going to say that something weird happened to her again, and that always meant that something weird was going to happen to Elizabeth as well. The girls unpacked their backpacks in silence and took their usual seats in the back of the classroom next to each other.
Ms. Hook had begun attendance, Serenity's name came first and she announced a dull, "Here!" before slouching back into her seat and grimacing. When Elizabeth's name was called she said a "here!" in a matching tone to Serenity's.
First class was English, which always started out with a journal entry that the teacher assigned them. Today's was: If you had magical powers, how would you use them? Would you enjoy having those powers?
Serenity's first thought when she heard the entry was, I would use them to control the powers that Elizabeth and I were cursed with.
While Elizabeth was thinking, I would use them to get rid of all the funny things that are happening between Serenity and I.
Both girls knew, of course, that they couldn't write about their abnormalities and speak about it in public, so they decided on coming up with some sappy writing like, I would like to use my magical powers to help the hungry children of the world, or, I would like to use my magical powers to give all stray animals a home.
The rest of the school day was a blur to Serenity. All she could think about was telling Elizabeth about what happened on the bus and to finally have Elizabeth over to her house for the afternoon. When Serenity was excited about something, everything before that event she desired seemed to go quicker. With Elizabeth though, the school day went slower than a sloth.
Elizabeth couldn't stop wondering about the strange event that Serenity was going to tell her about and she couldn't wait to ride the school bus for the first time in her life. So, naturally for Elizabeth, the day went so slow, she caught herself falling asleep in certain classes. Particularly math and history.
At exactly two thirty three that Monday afternoon, the dismissal bell rang and over the intercom you could hear the school secretary, Mrs. Kammen, say, "All bus students please report to the buses. Thank you."
"That's us," Elizabeth whispered excitedly to Serenity, tugging on her sleeve.
"And you think I wouldn't know that?" Serenity joked. The girls giggled and sprinted down the stairs to catch the buses before it would leave. Making it just in time, and completely out of breath, Serenity found Harley next to a window in a three-seater alone.
"May we sit, Miss Harley?" Serenity asked, putting on her best British accent.
"Why of course, Miss Serenity and Miss Elizabeth," Harley replied in a matching accent, gesturing to the two empty seats next to her. So Serenity sat in the middle and Elizabeth by the aisle. They fastened their seat belts, and the bus began to roll away. Elizabeth was so excited, she was bouncing up and down.
"When's your stop Siren?" Elizabeth asked. Elizabeth had created that nickname for her friend when they first became friends and because Serenity was always obnoxiously loud.
"Umm... The third one, Izzy," Serenity said, turning away from her conversation with Harley.
"I told you not to call me that!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Fine, it's the third one, Elizabeth," Serenity smiled. Elizabeth's green eyes regained their happiness and she resumed bouncing up and down, her dirty blonde hair slapped her freckled cheeks playfully as she did so.
Elizabeth watched as a big, burly eighth grader trudged out of the bus, hitting his head on the top of the door.
Well he's not very smart. Elizabeth thought, shaking her head in dismay. One more stop to go, then we get off! Elizabeth caught herself thinking.
The next stop belonged to a little girl, probably in third grade, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She skipped all the way up the stairs and into the house, waving to the bus as it rolled away.
"Come on, Elizabeth, it's our stop now," Siren said, standing up, "Bye Harley!"
"Bye!" Elizabeth called over her shoulder, and Harley waved good-bye. As they walked out of the bus with Siren's little brother, Ty, a little dark-skinned girl named Mahi Chad ran up to Serenity.
"Serenity! My mom wants to know if you can baby-sit for me right now!" Mahi said eagerly. Serenity glanced sideways at Elizabeth, who was just down-right confused.
"I'm sorry, Mahi. I can't. I have a friend over today. Tell your mom that I could baby sit you any other time this week though." Serenity said. Mahi looked down sadly and repeated the message to her mom, who just nodded and mouthed, thank you anyways, because she was talking on the phone and couldn't say it out loud.
Elizabeth, Siren, and Ty walked in silence, until Ty burst out, "Siren, can I run home?"
Siren laughed, "Of course."
Elizabeth joined laughing and she and Siren watched Ty run full speed to the house. Siren's house was the townhouse farthest left at the end of Golden Apple Lane, which ended in a U-turn. Her house looked tiny on the outside, but it was huge inside.
Siren noticed that there was actually a car, her mom's silver Nissan Quest, standing in the driveway. What's that doing here? Mom's supposed to be at work. She thought.
Elizabeth and Siren walked up to the door which was open because Ty had opened it and forgotten to close it. As soon as Siren threw her backpack on the floor, she called, "MOM?! YOU THERE?!"
"What is it Serenity? Is Elizabeth here?" Wendy called back.
"Yeah, she's here! Why aren't you at school?" Siren asked in a normal voice because her mom came marching down the stairs to the front door. Serenity's mom was a high school teacher, and Siren knew she had work today because it was, after all, a Monday.
"I took the day off," Wendy said, running her fingers through her chocolate brown hair, "Now Elizabeth, would you like something to eat?"
"Um, no thanks. I'm not really hungry," Elizabeth replied with a smile. Wendy nodded and said, "Well in this house we do our homework first thing when we get back. So chop chop!"
Wendy clapped her hands and Elizabeth giggled, while Siren looked down in embarrassment. The girls made their way to the kitchen table where they found Ty already sitting there working on his kindergarten homework. The girls sat down and pulled out there English homework, which was called "One Big Paragraph." They had to use five spelling words in a paragraph and that was it. Siren personally thought that Ms. Hook was giving them homework that suited second graders, not fifth graders.
Half an hour passed and Siren and Elizabeth had moved onto their math assignment. Just before they were about to pull out their textbooks, Siren whispered, "Since my mom's gone I'm going to tell you what happened today."
Elizabeth dropped her textbook and leaned closer to Siren. Siren took that as an invitation to start explaining. She told Elizabeth every single detail about the incident with the flaming tree branch. Elizabeth just nodded intently every few seconds, and then looked at Serenity in astonishment.
"Whoa," Elizabeth breathed, "You know Siren, I think that this weird stuff that's happening to us is magic. You know, like the people from the Harry Potter series."
Siren laughed, "You really think so? As much as I want Hogwarts to be real, I doubt it is."
"But Siren, what else could it be? I mean, take Hermione Granger for example, she was from a "Muggle" family, like us, and weird things kept happening to her, like us, and then she got her Hogwarts acceptance letter and POOF! She's a witch!" Elizabeth fought back. She didn't know why Siren didn't believe her. She and Siren were the biggest Harry Potter fans known to man. They watched the movies and read the books fifty times. They knew all facts about all the characters. They had Harry Potter crushes, Elizabeth's being Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Serenity's being George Weasley (Oliver Phelps) and Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis).
"Um, I don't know Elizabeth. It's seems kinda far-fetched, you know what I mean?" Serenity said uneasily. How could Elizabeth actually believe that we could be witches? It's kinda weird of her. Like more than usual. Serenity thought, biting her lip.
"Elizabeth, if we're supposed to be accepted into Hogwarts, then why haven't our acceptance letters arrived yet, huh? We're both eleven aren't we?" Siren questioned, raising her eyebrows.
As if right on cue, two great big barn owls soared in through the window. Siren and Elizabeth screamed, and Elizabeth's chair tipped backwards, landing on the floor. Ty had started crying out of fright. The bigger, darker owl landed in front of Elizabeth, and the smaller, lighter one landed in front of Serenity. They were both holding letters addressed to the girls in emerald green ink.
"What's going on in here?!" Wendy shouted when she entered the room. She gave an ear-piercing scream when she saw the two owls sitting on her kitchen table.
"Shoo! Shoo!" Wendy waved the towel she was holding in the owls' faces and they flew away leaving the letters behind. The Austie family, plus Elizabeth, stared at the letters, not moving, barely blinking, barely breathing.
Serenity and Elizabeth exchanged frightened looks. Was Hogwarts really real? This was how students received acceptance letters to Hogwarts... Or is it just some joke that people decided to play on them? Siren reached out to pick up her letter, but Wendy smacked her daughter's hand before Siren could even brush her fingers against it.
"No Serenity. No." Wendy said firmly, "I'll open them."
Wendy picked up the one that read her daughter's name first. In bright green ink it read:
To Miss Serenity Ellen Austie
Bedroom,Top Floor on the Left
27 Golden Apple Lane
Paricon, New Jersey, United States of America
With trembling fingers, Wendy ripped the wax seal and took the letter out.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall
Dear Miss Serenity Ellen Austie,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1st.
Since you are from a Muggle (non-magical) family, a representative will come to your house this Saturday, the 18th, 2010 at precisely 11:00 in the morning to explain everything to your family.
Yours sincerely,
Headmistress Minerva McGonagall
Wendy looked at the other papers enclosed, and to her surprise there was a whole list of books and equipment that they apparently needed to buy. A wand? Cauldrons? Dragon hide gloves? Wendy thought, This can't possibly be real!
"Mom, what is it?" Serenity asked, frowning. On the inside though she was exploding with excitement. Did her Hogwarts letter truly come? Was she actually going to go to Hogwarts? Was Elizabeth going to go with her?
"Nothing Serenity," Wendy said, crumpling up the letter and throwing it in the trash.
Serenity kept her mouth shut, if her mother got like this, it was best not to say anything. Crumpling paper was one of the first signs of danger in the Austie household.
"Can I read my letter Mrs. Austie?" Elizabeth squeaked uncertainly.
"No. You're mother and father will be the ones to read it," Wendy said, grabbing Elizabeth's letter from the table. She put in in her back jean pocket and walked out of the room with her head held high.
As soon as her mother was out of sight, Siren turned to Elizabeth, "Elizabeth! You think those are our Hogwarts acceptance letters?!"
Elizabeth crossed her arms, "See? Look who's the one believing that Hogwarts exists now?"
Siren laughed, "You're right. I'm sorry."
"Serenity?" A small voice asked from behind the two excited girls. It was Ty.
"Yeah, Ty?" Siren said.
"What's Hogwarts?" Ty whimpered, still traumatized from the owls.
Siren looked at Elizabeth for help, and in response she shook her head 'no.'
"I don't know Ty," Siren lied shrugging. Ty didn't put up a fight he just slowly got up and out of the room. Siren sighed.
"I can't believe your mom threw the letter away!" Elizabeth whispered.
"I can't either," Siren said, then got up and went over to the trash can.
"What are you doing?" Elizabeth demanded through clenched teeth.
"My mom had no right to throw that letter out. It was mine. She could get arrested for doing that," Siren said, picking up a crumpled ball of paper from the top of the trash can. She unraveled it and she almost gasped with surprise. The letter was from Hogwarts!
"What is it Siren?" Elizabeth walked over to her, peering down at the letter. Once she got a good look at it, she gasped.
"Holy Hippogriffs!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Siren looked at her funny.
"You just got accepted into Hogwarts! That means that I did too! Oh I hope we're in the same house!" Elizabeth squealed jumping from foot to foot.
"What really matters if our parents would let us go," Siren said, finally looking up from the letter and into Elizabeth's eyes. Elizabeth looked crestfallen.
Siren was right after all. It really mattered if they were allowed to go in the first place.
A couple hours later, Elizabeth's parents arrived to pick her up. Wendy quickly ushered them downstairs into the family room. Both girls knew Siren's mom was going to talk to them about the Hogwarts letters. They snuck downstairs to eavesdrop.
"Isn't Hogwarts that place that the girls read about in their books? Um... Harry Potter?" Elizabeth's dad, Kevin, asked.
"Yes. That's why I think it's a hoax," Siren's dad, Mark, said.
"And that's why I have thrown Serenity's letter out," Wendy said. Siren smirked. The letter was now in her room, tucked inside Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, her favorite book in the series.
The parents when on and on about this, bickering back and forth. The last words were said by Jackie, Elizabeth's mother, and Wendy, and Jackie said, "Well I guess we're going to find out on Saturday at 11."
"Yes, but I wonder why they want to talk with us about it together. Like the Austie's and the Holly's. You have to come to our house then on Saturday, just in case," Wendy said.
There was a sound of feet moving and Siren and Elizabeth scurried up the stairs into the kitchen. They sat by the table to resume their game of UNO.
Right as the parents walked in, Elizabeth shouted, "UNO!"
She held up the card in triumph, Siren placed a blue card down, and Elizabeth ended the game by putting down her last card which was also blue.
"Elizabeth, honey, it's time to go home," Jackie said.
"Okay," Elizabeth said glumly, then, trying to weasel information out of her parents, "When will I see Serenity again, like to hang out?"
The adults exchanged uncertain glances. Kevin spoke up, "Well honey, we're going to come over here on Saturday morning, okay?"
Elizabeth smiled and, grabbing her backpack from the school day, waved to Siren and said, "Bye Siren! See you tomorrow!"
With that, the Holly's walked out of the Austie house and would not return until Saturday morning.
It was 10 o'clock on Saturday morning. It was the Saturday. The Saturday that a representative from Hogwarts was going to come to Serenity's house and explain everything about the school to the parents. Serenity and Elizabeth already knowing everything by heart.
Elizabeth and her parents were due to show up at 10:30, and the representative at 11. Serenity couldn't wait! All night she tossed and turned thinking about her new life at Hogwarts.
Elizabeth's night was basically the same as Serenity's, tossing and turning, not being able to sleep, thinking about Hogwarts.
Time went by so fast that soon Serenity's alarm clock read 10:29 A.M. and in the next minute, the doorbell rang. The Holly's had arrived exactly on time. Serenity practically galloped down the stairs and swung the front door open with a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Hi!" Serenity said exuberantly, "Come in!"
The Holly's walked in and then Ty, Wendy, and Mark came into view and greeted their guests.
"Girls and Ty, can you please go upstairs?" The trio nodded and Ty took off up the stairs.
"Elizabeth! Serenity!" Jackie called before they were able to start walking up the stairs. The girls spun around.
"In half an hour, a visitor might come. I want you two to be present and well behaved, understood?" Kevin said, raising his eyebrows. The girls nodded and ran up the stairs to Siren's room.
When Elizabeth closed the door securely behind her she burst out, "I can't believe the day is finally here!"
"I know!" Siren said, giddy with excitement.
"And to think, we're probably going to meet McGonagall, or Hagrid, or Sprout, or Flitwick in only a half an hour!" Elizabeth screeched.
"It's unbelievable," Siren breathed.
"You bet it is!" Elizabeth said loudly, her excitement still not wearing off.
The girls chatted for the next half hour, talking about what houses they would want to be sorted into (Elizabeth: Gryffindor, Siren: Ravenclaw), wands, spells, and wizarding places. They were cut off by the ring of a doorbell.
"It's them!" They both shouted in unison and ran out of the room. Serenity swung the door open and the first thing to meet her eyes were a pointed, black witches hat. Next she noticed the head underneath the hat. A stern woman's face with a lot of wrinkles. Her eyes went wide.
McGonagall. She thought, Professor McGonagall is actually standing right in front of me!
The first thing that caught Elizabeth's eye was a midget man, with a balding head and pure white beard. He was dressed in green robes and his face was radiating joy that was almost blinding.
Flitwick... PROFESSOR FLITWICK IS STANDING IN FRONT OF ME! She thought loudly.
The adults appeared behind them and Mark asked suspiciously, "Who are you?"
"My name is Minerva McGonagall, and this is Professor Filius Flitwick," Minerva said, gesturing to the short man beside her, "We are the Hogwarts School representatives."
Everyone's eyes went wide. Nobody believed Hogwarts was actually real. Nobody except Elizabeth and Siren at least.
"Well c-come in," Wendy said, shakily.
"Thank you!" Filius squeaked, excited to see his first Muggle house. He hobbled in and asked, "Where might we be sitting?"
"Uh-uh... Right down the stairs and to the left, I guess." Mark whispered, staring at Filius. He mentally slapped himself for that. Staring is rude.
In a single filed line, starting with Wendy and ending in Filius, the group marched down to the family room. Once everyone was settled (Filius having to get help to sit on the couch for his legs were too short to climb up onto them), the talk about Hogwarts began. All eyes were on Minerva and Filius.
"Well, I believe we should start at the fact that Miss Austie and Miss Holly will not be attending their former school should you choose to allow them to come to Hogwarts," Minerva said, pursing her lips, "The girls have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-"
"Excuse me, Mrs. McGonagall, but I am a high school teacher and I have never heard of such a school as Hogwarts," Wendy said, shaking her head and giving a dry laugh.
"Well no non-magical person would have heard of Hogwarts, Mrs. Austie," Filius piped up.
"Non-magical?" Kevin asked weakly, "Surely you're not telling us that our daughters are magical, as in they have magical powers?"
"That we are, Mr. Holly," Minerva answered, nodding her head, "Your daughters, Serenity and Elizabeth, have been chosen to go to Hogwarts to learn to control and use their abilities."
"We actually get to go to Hogwarts?!" Serenity squealed.
"If your parents agree to it, Miss Austie," Filius said.
"We are here to explain everything to you about Hogwarts, but I think the girls already know a great deal about it," Minerva said, peering at the girls over her glasses. The girls nodded exuberantly.
Then Siren asked, "How do you know about the Harry Potter books, ma'am?"
"A witch I know published those books, but put a pen name down, J.K. Rowling. She bewitched a Muggle's mind by the name of Rowling to believe she wrote those books. At first, everyone thought that the books would expose witches and wizards, but Muggles are naïve and can't believe in magic if it looks them straight in the eye," Minerva explained.
"Muggles?" Jackie asked.
"People that don't have a drop of magical blood in them," Elizabeth answered her mother quickly. Jackie looked at her daughter in shock.
"How do we know that you're not just playing a practical joke?" Mark asked, crossing his arms.
Minerva didn't say anything, she just took out a stick from her robe pocket, and proceeded to do something, until Mark interrupted her.
"A stick? What has that got to do with anything?" He laughed. Minerva looked at him, unaffected by his rudeness. She walked over to a cage that held Serenity's hedgehog.
"Miss Austie, if you would be so kind, could you please take your hedgehog out of his cage?" Minerva asked, kindly. Serenity nodded, and scurried over to the cage, excited to see magic in person. She gingerly took Oliver out of his cage, and held him in her hands. His little nose poked out, and he unraveled from his prickly, protective ball.
Minerva took her wand and tapped him three times, then she said, "Fera Verto."
Oliver twitched, then transform into a water goblet right before their eyes. The parents were wide-eyed and shocked, while the girls were astounded.
"Convinced?" Minerva asked, looking at Mark. He nodded slightly, mostly because he was scared what Minerva would do to him if he said no. Minerva took her wand out, tapped the goblet, and it resumed its original form as a hedgehog. Siren placed him back into his cage and walked back to her seat next to Elizabeth.
"Well, as you could probably tell by now, that is no ordinary stick Minerva is holding!" Filius said, pointing at Minerva's wand.
"It's a wand, isn't it?" Elizabeth blurted out. All eyes turned to her. She looked down with embarrassment.
"Yes Miss Holly, this is a wand. If your parents agree, both of you will be shopping for them at Diagon Alley," Minerva continued, walking back to the couch where she was sitting.
The speech went on and on, Elizabeth and Serenity already knew about everything.
"And where is this Hogwarts?" Kevin asked.
"Scotland," Elizabeth, Siren, Minerva, and Filius said.
"Scotland?!" Wendy screeched, standing up from surprise.
"Yes, Scotland," Filius nodded.
"I will not be sending my daughter to Scotland just so she can learn how to wave a stick and say funny words!" Mark said hotly.
"Please Dad!" Siren pleaded, "Please let me go! This is my dream! Or would you rather have me destroying everything we own because of uncontrolled magic?"
Mark sat down and thought about it. He didn't know whether he should ship his daughter to some freak school across the globe, or let her stay here and destroy everything or even hurt other kids because she was feeling a surge of emotion.
Imagine how her so-called "magic" would act up when she's a teenager... He thought, then shook the thought out of his head. He didn't even want to think about it.
"What are your thoughts on this, Kevin? Jackie?" Wendy asked Elizabeth's parents. Surprisingly, Wendy was happy to send Serenity off to Scotland, if it meant that they wouldn't be getting calls from school about Serenity or having their personal belongings destroyed.
Jackie and Kevin looked at each other, and Jackie said, "Well, it would be an interesting experience for our girls to explore..."
"So we think it would be best to allow Elizabeth to go to Hogwarts," Kevin answered. Elizabeth squealed and jumped up, dancing around with glee. Siren slouched into the couch. This was so unfair in her mind. Why could Elizabeth go and not her?
"Well," Wendy said, smiling, "We wouldn't want our daughters to be separated now would we?"
Siren straightened up, and asked hopefully, "Does this mean I can go?"
"Yes, this means you can go," Mark said.
"YES!" Siren exclaimed, and started dancing with Elizabeth.
"When does the Hogwarts Express leave for us?" Elizabeth asked.
"September 1st, 1991 at exactly eleven o'clock." Minerva said, smiling for the first time since she walked through the door.
The girls stopped dancing, and Siren asked, "1991?"
"Yes, since you two hold special talents that are very rare in the wizarding world, we would like you to go back in time, and start schooling in the year Harry Potter did as well. You also know a lot about the Battle of Hogwarts and you know who you could protect," Minerva explained. Serenity's and Elizabeth's eyes widened.
"Back in time? But wouldn't we need a time turner for that?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes," Filius said, pulling out a golden necklace from his robes.
"A real time turner!" Siren gasped.
"And we think you would be the best one to hold onto it, Serenity," Filius smiled, hopping off the couch and handing it to Serenity.
"Oh thank you!" Serenity said, smiling widely. She put the time turner around her neck. The parents said nothing. They knew that their daughters needed to do this. They knew that with their daughters' help lives would be saved. Siren marveled at the time turner. It was beautiful! Then she snapped out of her trance.
"Did you say we have talents that are rare in the wizarding world?" She asked.
"Yes," Minerva said with a nod, "Elizabeth, you are a Parseltongue."
"I can talk to snakes!" Elizabeth exclaimed in awe.
"And Serenity, you are a Metamorphmagus," Filius said, clapping with excitement.
"I can change my appearance at will!" Serenity said, smiling even wider, "Can I test it out?"
Minerva nodded in approval. Serenity closed her eyes in concentration. She wanted to have neon purple hair like Nymphadora Tonks from Harry Potter. A few moments later, she heard a gasp. She opened her eyes. It was her mother who gasped.
Excitedly, Serenity ran to the mirror in the hallway and gasped at her appearance. She had Tonks's hair! This was awesome! She tried it again to get her hair back to normal, and right before her eyes, her hair morphed and turned back to her original shoulder length, brown hair. She giggled and walked back into the room where everyone was waiting.
"Well now that that's settled," Filius said, "A man by the name of Neville Longbottom will come here to pick Serenity up, then take her to Elizabeth's house, then to The Burrow, where Molly Weasley has agreed to take her in for a couple hours before going back in time. He will come on August 29th."
"MERLIN'S PANTS!" Siren exclaimed, everyone looked at her, "I finally get to meet Neville! YES!"
"HOLY HIPPOGRIFFS!" Elizabeth shouted, "I'm going to meet Ron!"
"Well I'm gonna meet George too!" Siren said. The girls did one last happy dance, while Minerva and Filius discussed last minute plans with the adults.
And so Elizabeth's and Serenity's adventures begin at Hogwarts... 19 years into the past.