Angelina had wanted to come to Hogwarts her whole life. Nervously she kissed her mother and father goodbye. They were both arguing amiably about what house she would be in. Her mother was pulling for Gryffindor while her father insisted that his clever daughter could not be in any other house besides his own Ravenclaw. She smiled and waved, getting on the Express. Dragging her trunk and owl cage through the corridors she was looking for an empty compartment when she was almost knocked over by a pair of red headed twins who were running away from another tall red head with horned rimmed glasses.
"Fred and George, stop at once."
"At once?" The furthest twin asked, turning to glare at the tall boy.
"Who talks like that?" The second one agreed. He knelt down and helped Angelina to her feet. "Hi, I'm George." He said, "Sorry, it's Percy's fault." He motioned toward the boy with glasses.
"What gives you the authority to yell at us anyways?" The other twin demanded, glaring at Percy.
"I'm your brother, Fred." Percy replied.
"Oh yeah?" Fred challenged.
"Where's the proof?" George said. Percy sighed. Angelina grabbed her trunk and owl cage and opened the nearest compartment door. A girl was already sitting there and Angelina smiled.
"Do you mind?" She said. "They're probably going to be blocking the corridor for a while." Behind her one of the twins, it was probably Fred, had just implied that Percy might have been half shrew.
"You do realize you just called your mother a shrew?" Percy growled.
"How DARE you?" was it George? replied, throwing his hands up to his mouth in mock horror.
"That is our mother you're speaking of." Fred sounded horrified.
The girl looked at the boys and rolled her eyes. "Sure." She smiled. "I'm Alicia, Alicia Spinnet."
"Angelina Johnson." Angelina said, shutting the door behind her. She looked at the magazine Alicia was reading. "Is that the catalog for Quality Quidditch Supplies?" She asked.
"Yes." Alicia said, defensively. "I was...I was looking at the brooms." She sighed. "I guess it's silly; first years aren't allowed brooms...or to play on the quidditch team."
Angelina grinned. "Well, then we'll have to practice extra in our flying lessons so we're good enough to make it second year."
The voices outside got louder. Alicia frowned. "What the bloody hell are they all doing out there?" She asked, turning to glare at the boys
"They're brothers." Angelina shrugged. "I just hope they didn't scare Nike." She motioned to her owl. Alicia looked at the small yellow owl and smiled.
"She's beautiful." She said. "My parents didn't get me an owl. My dad thought it would attract too much attention in my neighbor hood." She flushed, looking back at the catalog.
"You live with muggles?" Angelina was fascinated. She knew why Alicia seemed nervous; many wizards chose to live in neighborhoods with other large wizarding populations or hid their houses with magic. Alicia's brown skin was flecked with red as she nodded.
"My...my dad is one." She explained. "My mum met him while traveling in Mali; she's a historian and she fell in love. His family used to be...well they were medicine men. She was trying to establish a connection between muggleborns and mixed magical families. He's a biologist. They're working to prove that magic is a genetic mutation." She put her catalog down, her chin held high. As a halfblood, she'd probably had to deal with antimuggle prejudice from wizards and racism from Muggles. "That way people will stop saying that either one is better than the other or that we're a different species."
Angelina nodded. "Sounds cool. I never really understood science, but it's amazing what muggles have done without magic. Do you have a TV?"
Alicia blinked. "...What?" She asked, slowly.
"A TV." Angelina prompted. "I snuck out to a muggle movie once, last year. It was called "The Princess Bride." They got a lot about magic wrong, but it was funny."
"I saw that one too!" Alicia grinned.
The argument outside got louder.
"Put those wands away at once." Percy shouted. "You don't know any magic."
"Doesn't seem too hard." Fred replied. The twins had their wands out and were both facing their brother. Angelina rolled her eyes and stood, knocking on the window.
"Are you done with your little measuring contest?" She asked, when they turned their attention to her. "Because we are not impressed." She crossed her arms and stared down the three boys. They looked down at the ground in shame.
"Terribly sorry, ma'am." Percy said.
"Ma'am?" Alicia said in disgust. "Does she look like a forty three year old mother of two to you?"
"Sorry-" Percy said.
"Quit while you're ahead." Angelina said, cutting him off. He turned as red as his hair and turned, putting his nose in the air and walked away. The twins watched him in surprise, then slowly turned to stare at the two girls.
"Marry us." Fred said. "Immediately."
"We've never seen anything like that before." George said.
Angelina scoffed. "In your dreams." She pulled the shades down on their faces and locked the compartment door.
"Johnson, Angelina."
Professor Mcgonagall called her name. Angelina was shaking, but she kept her chin up,
"Good luck." Alicia whispered. Angelina gave her a smile, hoping she looked more confident than she felt and slowly walked up to the hat.
"Hope you get Gryffindor." George whispered. She raised an eyebrow, and he ducked his head in embarrassment. His twin nodded his agreement. Angelina made her way to the stool and sat on it, gripping it tight. She felt the smoothed edges and wondered how many hundreds of students had sat in the same chair she was, doing the exact same thing. She gulped as the fabric covered her face. She wished she hadn't thought of that number. Now she couldn't erase the thought of their sweaty brows touching the inside of the hat. Did they ever wash it? Gross.
"I'm a magical hat I'll have you know." The hat's voice said in her ear. She'd been expecting it, but she still had to fight not to jump. "A brave one, I see. Well Ms. Johnson, I see that you are clever as well. You've got quite a sharp mind, but I also see bravery...and a strong sense of justice...Hmmmmmm GRYFFINDOR." The word rang out shaking the windows, and vibrating down in her bones. The hat was pulled off her head and she blinked, looking around the hall at the glittering plates and cheering students. The loudest group was the table at center right. The people were shouting and banging their cups, utensils, and plates on the table. She smiled and walked over to them.
"Welcome, Ms. Johnson." Percy said, moving to make more room.
"Is this the girl from the train, Perce?" Another red headed boy said, holding out his hand. "Charlie Weasley; thank you for thoroughly terrifying my little brothers." He grinned. "I have never seen the twins more in love." He jerked his head towards his two brothers. "They'll be coming along soon."
"How do you know?" Angelina asked.
"Everyone in our family's in Gryffindor." Another red headed boy said. "Bill Weasley."
"Spinnet Alicia." Professor Mcgonagall said. Angelina turned to watch her new friend take the stool. Whatever the hat decided, she didn't care; Alicia was nice and it wouldn't matter to her. She watched as Alicia squirmed slightly, but finally the hat shouted; "GRYFFINDOR."
Alicia's face emerged from under the brim of the hat and she grinned toward the table, slipping in the seat next to her.
"My mum was a Hufflepuff." She admitted. "The hat almost put me there."
"You'd look good in yellow." Angelina said. "It almost considered putting me in Ravenclaw."
"Blue's a nice color too." Alicia said, thoughtfully. The two girls grinned at each other.
"Weasley, Fred." Mcgonagall said. Angelina frowned as one of the twins climbed the stairs to the hat.
"Isn't that-?" She turned to the other Weasley brothers. Bill had his mouth covered in amusement. Charlie was shaking his head, patting Percy's back as he turned an interesting shade of puce. She'd been right. It wasn't Fred, it was George. The hat barely touched his head before it shouted:
"GEORGE Weasley is in GRYFFINDOR."
Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips as she held up the hat. George sauntered the Gryffindor table, high fiving his twin on the way down. The other Gryffindors were losing their minds, hooting and jumping out of their seats. Mcgonagall closed her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh.
"Fred Weasley. For real this time." She said.
Fred walked up and shot her a dazzling smile, before waiting patiently for the hat. Predictably it shouted Gryffindor. He sat next to his twin, conveniently across from Alicia and Angelina.
"That flying lesson was soooo-" Alicia gushed, waving her hands, trying to find the right words. Her face was flushed and she was bouncing with excitement.
"Boring." Angelina finished, looking longingly at the sky.
"Well, excuse me Ms. I Grew up in a Wizard Community so I learned how to fly before I was potty trained." Alicia retorted.
"They won't let us do anything real." Angelina sighed. "I meant call the broom up and hover? How long does that really take to learn?"
"Well Marcus Flint seemed to have a hard time of it." Alicia said. The two girls giggled, remembering their Slytherin classmate's face plant into the dirt.
"He slid right off." Angelina said, walking up the stairs, imitating Flint's expression as he fell.
"Helloooo Johnson, Spinnet."
The two girls groaned and turned to glare at the twins.
"What do you want Things one and two?" Alicia said.
"Just wanted to see what the prettiest girls in Gryffindor were doing on this fine morning." Fred said,pushing himself between them and throwing an arm around their shoulders.
"Our ears detected the sound of insults being thrown towards a certain Slytherin." George said, coming to stand next to Angelina. "We couldn't help but be intrigued." He waved over at Marcus. "Hiya, Flint. Ogle away, I know I'm gorgeous." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Shut up, Weasley." Flint said. "You couldn't afford looks if they were free and on sale." The other Slytherins laughed.
Fred and George both flinched. Angelina glared at Flint. He hesitated slightly before turning and laughing with his friends.
"So, you seemed like a natural on that broom, Johnson." George said. "You thinking of trying for the quidditch team next year?"
Angelina was about to come up with a snappy retort, but she realized that George was actually complimenting her; and that he probably wanted something to distract him from Flint's insults against his family. It was common knowledge that the Weasleys were very poor. Flint's insult had been a low blow.
"Yeah." She said, giving him a small smile. Relief and gratitude crossed George's face.
"Georgie and I are thinking of trying as well." Fred said. "The beaters are leaving at the end of this term."
"I hear that that 3rd year might be made Captain next year." Alicia said. "Oliver, something."
"Oliver Wood." The twins said in unison.
"Don't pretend you didn't know who he was." Fred shook his head. "All the girls think he's handsome."
"He's a keeper." Angelina said. She and Alicia laughed as the twins groaned in revulsion.
"Angelina." Alicia hissed, tripping over her slippers. "We're going to get caught."
"Why the hell did you wear those stupid slippers?" Angelina whispered back, pushing open the portrait hole. "I know we're sneaking out in our pajamas, but there is such a thing as too much commitment." She shook her head.
"Filch might catch us." Alicia said, following her out of the portrait hole.
"That's stating the obvious." Angelina remarked.
They stole down the stairs, making their way towards the entrance hall. "Ghost." Angelina threw her hand out and tugged Alicia behind a tapestry. They fell, tumbling to the ground.
"Bloody hell." Alicia coughed, getting up and dusting herself off before holding out a hand to pull Angelina to her feet. "Did you know this tunnel was back here?"
"No" Angelina said, looking around. Alicia stuck her head out and groaned.
"It's the Fat Friar and he's trying to engage the grey lady in conversation." She rolled her eyes, letting the tapestry fall back in place. "The Friar's liable to alert Mcgonagall because punishment will "build character" or some Hufflepuff responsibility crock." She leaned against the wall and slid down. "We're stuck here."
"We might not be." Angelina grinned. "This passage goes down, in the direction we were headed."
Alicia grinned. "Let's go."
Breaking open the equipment locker was surprisingly easy. "Convenient that Professor Flitwick taught us Alohamora, right Angelina?" Alicia asked, grabbing one of the cleansweeps and tossing a second one to Angelina.
They stepped out onto the Quidditch field. Alicia pulled a beach ball out of her pocket and inflated it. She'd asked her parents to send it to her and it had arrived that morning, much to her and Angelina's delight. They'd been planning this for ages and finally their plans had payed off.
"Announcing Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, Gryffindor's most notorious chasers." Alicia said, holding her arms open to the stands.
"And the crowd loses their minds as they score yet another goal." Angelina said, imitating an announcer's voice.
"Who needs Seekers when you've got these girls on your team." Alicia said, they grinned.
"Last one to the goal post's a pile of toadstools." Angelina said, grabbing the beach ball and kicking off. The night air was cool and she felt the wind whip through her hair, one of her many braids escaping from her hair tie. There was a loud smacking noise and the beach ball was flying out of her hand. Alicia was diving underneath to catch it. Angelina urged her broom downward in an attempt to catch up with her, Alicia grabbed the ball and swung around, flying straight for the goal posts. She scored, Angelina dove for the ball and caught it.
"Too slow, Johnson." Alicia taunted.
"Right." Angelina smirked. "Let's see how you do the second time around."
The girls played for two hours; well past midnight. They locked the equipment and walked up to the castle. Both of them were wired, and excited. Neither of them noticed the cat with the strange markings around its eyes that watched them go back up. It had been watching them for the entire game. Waiting until they got to the Castle before slinking back towards the Castle.
They were yawning, their heads practically in their porridge bowls. That was a testament to how tired she was, Angelina thought. She hated porridge. She poked it and frowned as it oozed around her spoon.
"You don't eat porridge." George said, sitting across from her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." She smiled. "Where's your shadow?" She asked.
"Fred's got some business to attend to." George said.
"Business?" Alicia groaned, lifting her head.
"Sleeping Beauty, and you woke without a kiss." George smiled.
"You can't have business, you're eleven." Alicia said.
"You're eleven." George retorted.
"And so am I." Angelina said, yawning. "What have we got first?" She asked.
"Transfiguration." George said. "Thanks for lending me your notes, by the way."
Angelina nodded. There was a sudden commotion at the Slytherin table.
"What you got there, Weasel?"
Angelina looked over. Flint and his friends were standing around in a semicircle in front of Fred. Fred was holding some type of smoking vial of liquid, it was glowing slightly.
"Weasel?" Fred asked. "At least try for some originality."
"What's he doing?" Alicia asked George. The other twin smiled and put a finger to his lips, before standing; clearly planning on joining his brother. Angelina grabbed his arm.
"You'll get in trouble." She whispered, glancing nervously at the staff table. They were ignoring the confrontation, but she could already see that Snape's eyes flickering to the Slytherin table.
George grinned. "I am trouble."
"I'm terribly sorry." A voice said loudly. "But you should know better than to run into people with potions." Flint was sputtering; his entire front soaked with whatever Fred had been carrying and his robes turning a bright canary yellow.
"Snape's coming." Angelina warned, suddenly alert.
"Johnson, sit down." Lorraine, a blonde girl in her year said, tugging at her arm. "There's nothing you can-"
"Hey Flint." Angelina said walking over to Fred; she didn't have a plan, but she couldn't let Flint and his much bigger Slytherin friends pummel him. "Pick on someone your own size." George's eyes widened as he turned and looked at her.
Flint tilted his head, grinning at her. "Well well well, it's the girlfriend. Tell, me Johnson, is it because the Weasleys are so poor that you need two of them?" George made a lunge for Flint, but Angelina grabbed him and held him back.
"Don't do anything stupid." She hissed, holding on to George as he struggled.
"Brawling in the dining hall are we?" Snape had arrived. "Miss Johnson. Misters Weasley, 5 points each from Gryffindor and you will go to your head of house after breakfast so she might assign you further punishment."
"So Flint and his goons get nothing?" Alicia shouted, standing up from the Gyrffindor table, outrage on her face.
"5 points from Gryffindor for your impertinence as well, Miss Spinnet." Snape said. "You may go."
They all left the hall together, walking to professor McGonagall's office. Alicia was nervous; she'd never gotten detention before. Angelina kept her head up and her eyes in front of her. Waiting until they were walking up the stairs, she hit Fred on the back of the head.
"What were you thinking?" She said. They were in the middle of one of the stairs, Fred stepped back and his leg sank into the trick step. He was stuck, unable to do anything, but cower in fear as Angelina glared at him.
"Angie." George said, coming to stand in front of his twin.
"DON'T call me that." She growled.
"You didn't hear what Flint said about you." George said. "About both of you." He looked over at Alicia. "It was..." He shook his head. "Fred and I couldn't let it stand."
Angelina and Alicia looked at each other. Angelina raised an eyebrow and Alicia sighed and shrugged, her meaning clear; they had been trying to stand up for them...even if they'd been going about it in the completely wrong way.
"We fight our own battles." Alicia said.
"If we need your help, we'll ask you." Angelina agreed. She, Alicia, and George. reached under Fred's arms to pull him from the trick step. "Come on, Mcgonagall's not going to be happy if we're late."
Fred and George shared a grin before saying. "She's probably having kittens over it."
Alicia and Angelina simultaneously dropped Fred's arms and left him in the stair.
"You guys can't just leave me here." He said. "Angie...'licia. OY DON'T LEAVE ME."
Mcgonagall ended up being lenient, only lecturing them that she expected Gryffindors to hold themselves to a higher standard than other students. She let the boys go first, stopping Angelina and Alicia at the door she remarked.
"The two of you look tired, I trust that you haven't been working yourselves too hard."
"No Professor." Both girls said, nervously. Not looking at each other to avoid an admission of guilt.
"Good." There was a glint of amusement in Mcgonagall's eye as she continued. "The Gryffindor team is shaping up to be quite good next year. I like our prospects." Waving them out of the office, she shut the door on their stunned expressions.
"Happy New Year." Angelina said, waving to the other Gryffindors as she entered the common room. She went up the stairs to her dormitory. "ALICIA."
"She's not back yet." Lorraine rolled her eyes. She was sitting on her bed, which had been outfitted with new pink sheets. Angelina snorted.
"Nice bed throw." She handed her a box. "Here, I got these for everyone." She looked around. "Where are Pillar and Samantha?"
None of the other girls had returned home.
"Pillar is talking to her brother in his common room." Lorraine replied.
"Isn't he in Ravenclaw?" Angelina threw herself down on her bed. Lorraine nodded.
"Did you know they don't even have a password?" She rolled her eyes. "All you have to do is answer some dumb riddle."
"Well at least it's sure to keep the Slytherins out." Angelina and Lorraine shared a smirk. "Open the box." She prompted.
Lorraine sighed. She was a pureblood, and while a little shallow, she had a good heart. "Chocolate?" She asked.
"My uncle lives in Belgium." Angelina said. "It's really good."
Lorraine looked at the box and licked her lips. "Well...I guess I can put off my post holidays diet for another week."
"That's the spirit." Angelina said, putting boxes on the bed of the other girls. "I'm off to find Alicia." She went to the stairs. Suddenly a loud siren noise sounded and the stairs turned into a slide. "What the hell?" She said, slipping as she tried to keep her footing, but fell. sliding down she fell on top of someone on the bottom of the stairs. "Who was the idiot?" she shouted annoyed at the common room. "Who tried to go up to the girl's dormitory?"
"You're crushing him." Bill Weasley stopped in front of her and looked down, grinning. Charlie stood next to him, stifling a laugh while Percy was shivering in indignation. Angelina looked down at George's sheepish face.
"Hey Angie." He said.
"Don't call me that." Angelina said, moving off him and hauling him out of the way of a girl coming down the slide. "What were you thinking?" She hissed.
"I got you a present." George said, rubbing his back. "Bill said the dormitory thing was a myth."
"Honestly, I didn't think he'd believe me." Bill said, holding out his hand to pull George up.
Angelina brushed herself off while Percy glared at Bill. Fred ran down the stairs from the boys dormitory. "What happened?"
"George learned a valuable lesson in the importance of following the rules." Percy said.
"Shut up, Percy." George said, pushing the wrapped present into Angelina's hands and walking away.
"Hey." Angelina slipped into the seat across from George at dinner. "I opened the gift." She said. "Chaser's gloves."
He nodded. "I got the chocolates...guess the same rules don't apply to the boys dorms." He muttered. He was clearly still embarrassed. Angelina pulled his plate away, forcing him to look up at her.
"So..." She said slowly. "I'm assuming you'll need help...getting Bill back?"
George grinned and nodded. Two weeks later Bill walked into the common room with green hair and went straight to where Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia were sitting on one of the couches.
"How did you learn this charm, Flitwick doesn't teach it until 4th year?" He looked impressed. "I can't get the counter charm to work."
"Don't be so closed minded, it's not magic." Fred said, grinning over at Alicia.
"It's hair dye." She said. "I had my mum send it to me."
"We put it in your shampoo." George said.
Bill laughed. "I should tell Mcgonagall to give you detention, but Merlin that was inspired."
"BILL" Percy was horrified.
"What?" Bill said. "I can't punish creativity."
Final exams came all too quickly. They passed with heists to copy Ravenclaw notes, trying to find the kitchens, and sharing care packages from their parents. Mrs. Weasley's home made fudge became the most coveted item in the first year snack pool. Fred and George had begun a snack empire, selling fudge by the tin to students in the other houses until Percy uncovered their operation and shut them down. All too soon It was the goodbye banquet.
"I can't believe Slytherin won." Alicia said.
"It's because Snape rigged it in their favor." Pillar said. "He's the worst." The other first year girls grumbled their agreement as Dumbledore gave his speech, congratulating the gloating Slytherin students. Marcus Flint kept looking over at them, giving them a smug look.
"Keep laughing." Angelina said. "We'll see what happens next year when we kick their butts on the quidditch field."
"Angelina, Alicia." Fred and George ran over as they got off the train.
"Here's our address." Fred said. "We'd write you first, but our owl's on his death bed."
"He's been on his death bed since the Spanish Inquisition." George agreed.
Angelina took the piece of parchment was holding out to her. "I'll think about it." She said. The boys nodded, then ran back to their family. Angelina turned to Alicia.
"So I'm coming to visit in July." She said.
"Bring a broom." Alicia said. "There's a field not to far from my house and my mom says she can do a concealment charm so no muggles stumble on us."
"We are owning that quidditch field next year." Angelina grinned. Sticking her tongue out at Flint one last time, she hugged Alicia and walked over to her parents.