Years ago, Josie and Ruth were sent to London for examining. Every time they were left alone, something unusual would happen. Snakes would appear from nowhere, things would levitate randomly. One day, they received invitations to a different kind of school called Hogwarts….
Ruth's POV
It took Josie and I a while to find Platform 9 ¾. In fact we even had to ask this family to help us. They had red hair, each and every one of them. How weird is that? I finally persuaded Josie we should ask them. They all had owls with them. I have a cat and an owl and Josie has a rat and an owl. This is my first year at Hogwarts. Josie's, too. We're sisters.
I was looking around for a place to sit on the Hogwarts Express. There was a friendly looking boy with round glasses and an odd looking scar. A girl was sitting next to him. So was the red haired boy. In the another seating compartment, there was an angry, stuck up looking boy with bleach blonde hair. Sitting next to him were two stubby kids with dark hair who were eating chocolates. I decided to poke my head into the compartment with the boy whose family helped us find the platform.
"Hi, is there room for two more?" I ask.
"Yeah, sure." the boy with the glasses smiled.
"Thanks. Um, hi! I'm Ruth and this is Josie."
"I'm Hermione. It's nice to meet both of you."
"I'm Ron, but we met when you two were looking for the Platform. And this is my rat Scabbers.
"Oh!" Josie smiled. "I have a rat, too. It's name is Plague!" she petted the pure black rat. "I was going to name it Black Death but…"
"Who are you?" I asked the boy in the glasses.
"I'm Harry Potter." he replied.
"Oh my god. You're Harry Potter!"
"Wait," Josie paused. "The Harry Potter? The snakes told me all about you!"
"The snakes?" he asked.
"The one you released from the zoo; they talk, you know." I said.
"But how do you know?"
"Well, when you can talk to the snakes…" she began.
"…you begin to learn things." I finished ominously.
Harry looked shocked that he wasn't the only one. A nice lady opened the door to the compartment and asked us if we'd like any candy from the cart. Harry bought the whole freakin' thing! I bought a few chocolate frogs from Harry. He offered them to me for free, but I declined. I explained to him that Josie and I were rich because our grandparents were killed by the Dark Lord, but they left their fortune to the next in line who could speak Parseltongue, like us. Not to mention, our parents are rich. Harry's story was similar. I didn't know that his parents had been killed. He seemed oddly un…screwed up.
Josie's POV
"So when did you get Scabbers?" I asked Ron.
"Well he was my brother's; I got him a year ago." he explained.
"When did you get Plague?"
"Just a few weeks ago." I said, fondly petting her. "Hey, Plague, wanna meet Scabbers?" I whispered to her. She looked at me as if to say 'okay'.
"Hey Ron, Plague wants to meet Scabbers?" I said looking up.
"Umm, okay." he said handing over the rat. They sniffed each other and then Plague bit him.
"Ron, that's not a real rat." I said plainly.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"He's an Animagus. How old is he?" I asked.
"He's ten now." he said, sounding frightened.
"That's a pretty long time, knowing your skill at spell casting, Ron. Also, he's missing a finger. If I remember correctly, Sirius Black was framed for killing Wormtail so Wormtail cut off his own finger to cover it up. After all, he is working for Voldemort." I said.
"What? No, Sirius killed a street full of muggles and then Wormtail to cover it up. Anyways, how do you know these things?" Ron said.
"We were curious on the topic, so we read up. So, no, Ronald. It was a cover up to get Sirius in jail and I can prove it." I said confidently.
"Fine, why don't you?" Ron said.
I force transfigured Scabbers. (If you're wondering where I learned such advanced magic, it just kind of came to me.) Ruth and I are very different than other people who know magic. The spells we need just pop up in our heads, but only if we absolutely need them. We've just barely escaped many situations that would have been quite unfortunate. We still have a lot to learn but we expect that it should be very easy.
"Wow that's N.E.W.T. level stuff." Hermione said.
"Oh yeah…" I started.
"…we do this all the time." Ruth finished. "Well okay; not all the time but some spells just show up in our heads. It's really quite nice." she explained further.
"Wow, so you're like Fred and George!" Ron said.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Are they like us?"
"They finish each other's sentences." Ron explained.
"I haven't decided if that's a compliment yet." I said suspiciously.
"Anyways, back to the criminal on the floor." Harry said casually.
"Yeah, so Wormtail did you fake your own death, cut off your finger and kill all those muggles just to get Sirius, who is also Harry's godfather, thrown in Azkaban?" I asked.
"N-n-n-no." he stuttered.
"Pfft! Sure, we all believe you. Tell me." I growled in his face, then jabbed my wand at him.
"I believe him." Ron said, cowering in his seat.
"Shut up, Ron." I grimaced.
"F-f-fine. I told Lord Voldemort—"
"Voldemort is a loser. Not a lord." Ruth scowled as she hit him upside the head. "Continue."
"I t-t-told him where Lily and James were hiding. He killed them and I made sure Sirius was thrown in jail." Wormtail confessed to everything I had accused him of.
"See?" I said after he finished.
"Wow." Ron said, still looking extremely scared.
"So, how do we explain this?" Hermione asked casually.
"Well, we say Ron's rat randomly transformed and threatened us. We were really scared and he told us he would kill us all and that he would retransform as soon as a teacher walked in." I paused. "It's foolproof. No matter how much he denies it, we're first years. No teacher is going to believe we're capable of such advanced magic. Okay, so you all are really good at looking scared, right?" I asked, they all nodded. "Okay a teacher's walking down the corridor. Ruth, go work your magic." I said. Ruth rubbed her eyes a little, then ran out into the hallway.
Ruth's POV
"Professor! Professor!" I shouted, running down the corridor, faking sobs that did not at all seem fake. "Ron's rat transformed and nobody knows what to do!" I started to cry a fake tear or two. "We're all first years! I don't want you to think I'm a liar, but he said that the minute we got a teacher, he would turn back into a rat. Is there a way you can turn him back to the guy?" I did my best to look pathetic and scared, but not overdo it.
"This is unnerving. I will take care of it immediately. You did the right thing, to tell me. What is your name?"
"My name is Ruth Maxwell. I'm here with my sister Josie Maxwell."
"Ah, I'm Professor McGonagall."
I led the Professor back to the compartment where Josie had transfigured Wormtail back into a rat.
"Plague bit the rat and it transformed. It was really scary." Josie started to breathe heavily, like she just finished crying. All our years as test subjects and the objects of studies made us extraordinary liars.
"Plague?" McGonagall asked.
"It's her rat." I said. Josie held up Plague.
"Oh well then…." McGonagall smiled.
"Ron, the school will provide you with a new animal because of the importance of this happening. You will not see Scabbers again, Ron. Any final goodbyes?"
"Goodbye, you ugly old rat."
Josie's POV
McGonagall left carrying Wormtail. Once the door closed I started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked.
"I just thought Ron was gonna call McGonagall an ugly old rat, not Wormtail!" I said laughing. Ron started laughing too. Soon we were all laughing hysterically. I almost fell on the floor and Ruth's cat Mimi, or Meemers as we call her, fell off Ruth's lap. Plague had to cling to my shirt I was laughing so hard.
"We should change into our robes." Hermione said after the laughter had subsided. We changed quickly and talked and laughed the rest of the way to Hogwarts. We got off the train once it had stopped, and stepped off the train.
"Hagrid!" Harry said to a giant guy who was telling all first years to come with him.
"Oi Harry, I see you've made some friends!" Hagrid said.
"Yes, these are Josie, Ruth, Hermione, and Ron." Harry introduced us all.
"Well it's nice to meet you, now let's get down to the boat, okay?" he led us to a few boats and we got in. They glided across the glassy smooth waters of the lake to the castle, which in the moonlight looked like a fantasy.
"It's beautiful." I whispered in awe.
"Yeah, way better than anything we've got in the states." Ruth grumbled.
"You're from the USA?" some brown haired girl asked.
"Yeah." we answered together.
"How did you end up here?" she asked.
"Well we got kicked out of the states. Apparently we're 'too dangerous.'" I said.
"I believe the term is National Threat." Ruth pointed out.
She looked scared by that.
"What? Just 'cause we did a lot of accidental magic and can talk to snakes and other stuff like that?" I said innocently.
"You can talk to snakes?" she said sounding really scared.
"Yessss." I answered in Parseltongue. She almost screamed.
"Sorry for scaring you." I said.
"That's okay. What's your name? Mine is Lavender." she introduced herself.
"I'm Josie and this is Ruth." I introduced us.
"Nice to meet you." Lavender said.
"Its nice to meet you too." I said. Then the boats stopped and we hopped off.
"Hey, need someone to carry your trunk?" a stupid boy with bleach blonde hair offered.
"I can carry my own stuff, I'm not a wimp." Ruth said.
"Yesss that'ss riiight sssshe caaan carrry her ooown sssstuffff." I whispered in his ear from behind. He squeaked like a rabbit and jumped a little. I laughed.
"Gosh you wuss that was just Parseltongue how scary can it be?" I asked.
"You're a Parselmouth?" he asked confusedly.
"No shit dipwad." I snapped.
"I was only trying to be nice. You evil scum. I hope you get in Slytherin." he said.
"And I hope you die." I said smiling.
"Ugh! Jos! You shouldn't get us kicked out of this place, too."
"I maintain that we both got us kicked out of the states. It might have been mostly me, but you are an accomplice."
"Fresh start, remember?"
"Right."
"Oh. Hello, Potter." Draco stepped up to Harry.
"Do I know you?" he asked. "Are you the one from Madame Malkins?"
"Does Princess Potter need someone to carry his bags?" Draco put out his lower lip sarcastically and then scowled at Harry. "He wouldn't want to ruin his manicure would he?"
"Really, do I know you?"
Ruth's POV
It was very nice of that blond kid with stubby friends to offer to carry my bags, but I seriously don't need his help. I'm just glad Josie is there to stick up for me. Sometimes, I'm too trusting. That's screwed me over several times.
In the hall, everyone but the first years sat at the tables. As Josie sat at the front of the hall, McGonagall moved the Sorting Hat towards her head. It touched a flyaway hair on top of her head, then decided.
"SLYTHERIN!" it shouted.
"No!" Draco shouted. "I've wished this on myself!"
Previously in the evening, Draco had been sorted into Slytherin. No shock there.
I was next. I walked up to the front of the hall and then sat down.
"This is hard." the hat said. "You have the heart and the loyalty of a Gryffindor, but the cunning and strategic skills of a Slytherin. Ooh…this is hard." the hat said.
"Decide! Please decide you stupid hat!" I whispered.
"It takes time, Ruth." the hat informed. "I have decided I will not separate sisters. SLYTHERIN!"
"Both of them!" Draco collapsed on the floor.
"Get up, you stupid spaz." Josie scoffed.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, thanks." he said, sitting up.
"A suggestion, cut down on the hair gel." I frowned.
"I'm sorry." Harry said, walking up to Josie and I.
"It's okay. I hope we can still be friends." she shrugged.
"I'm sure we will be." Hermione smiled. "Hey, will you two teach me forced transfiguration?"
"Sure, but no one can know." Josie said.
"Hey, Josie, thanks for letting me know about Scabbers." Ron smiled.
Josie's POV
"No prob. It's not like I was gonna let some murderer go unpunished for his crimes. I may act like a bitch sometimes, but when it counts I'm on the good side no matter what." I said.
"Good to know." Ron said. "I was worried."
"You don't need to worry about my sister…that much." Ruth informed him.
"Lotsa people do." I said shrugging. "I get used to it."
"Well, we should go to our common rooms, I guess." Ron suggested. We went our separate ways. I walked into the common room after Blondie.
"So, I heard you talking to Weasley earlier and you said you were on the good side. Why is that?"
"I dunno. 'Cause I don't want to end up like you." I said brushing past him.
"Oh, like a loser?" Ruth sneered.
"I thought you were nice." Draco complained.
"It depends. I'm tired now, so no, I'm not."
"'Night sis." Josie made a face at Draco, then followed me back to the Girls' dormitories.
"Stupid Draco." Josie muttered.
"He doesn't seem so bad."
"I think he's Dark, or at least not totally good…"
"He's eleven."
"We are too."
"Stop defending him."
"Make me."
"I will injure you."
"I can run faster than you can."
"I can jump farther."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well if you were running I could, you know, jump on your back and pin you down."
"Oh! Like that one time!" Ruth said starting to laugh.
"Yeah and then you were all—" but I couldn't finish because I was laughing so hard. Everyone was looking at us, and they all looked scared I was confused, but then I realized we had started speaking in Parseltongue and none of them could speak it or understand us.
"Quit looking at us like that! Just because we get kicked out of a country doesn't mean we're crazy." I said.
"You got kicked out of a country?" one girl who's name I think was Pansy asked.
"Oh and you didn't?" Ruth said.
"No. Why were you kicked out anyway?" she asked.
"Well according to the US government we're a threat to national security or something, but really they just got creeped out by our magic." I said shrugging.
"Wow. So, I heard you had some murderer in your compartment or something." she said.
"Oh yeah. Ron's rat was really like Wormtail or something and he threatened to kill us but a teacher saved us." I said, conveniently editing the truth.
"So I heard your rat bit him? Can I see her?"
"Oh, sure. Plague, where are you?" I searched my robes and found the rat. Pansy held out her hands and I set Plague in them.
"She's really cute. Why is her name Plague?" she asked, petting the pitch black rat.
"Well it has a historical meaning. Back in like the seventeen hundreds a plague spread through London and killed millions of people. The plague was carried by fleas which were carried by rats. I didn't want to name her Black Death, the name of the plague, so I just went with Plague." I explained.
"Oh, that's umm…interesting." she said as she handed Plague back to me. Ruth's cat jumped up on her lap and Ruth rubbed her back. Our owls were in their cages. Yin squawked. Ruth fed her a piece of owl food. Yang also wanted one so I fed her, too.
"Nice owls. What do you call them?" Pansy asked.
"The black one, mine, is Yang and the white one, Ruth's, is Yin."
"Why do you call them that?" she asked.
"Haven't you ever heard of the Chinese symbols yin and yang?" I asked. She shook her head so I explained the whole concept of good with a little bad, and bad with a little good. In the end I think she got it. We said goodnight and went to bed.
The next morning I got up and dressed in my robes. I met Ruth in the Common Room. We walked down to the great hall for breakfast. "Hi Harry, it's good to see you." I said, walking up to him.
"Oh, hey Josie, Ruth, good to see you."