I ran my hands softly through my hair and grimaced as I did so. It never seemed to turn out quite perfectly in my opinion. A knock on the bedroom door panged through my eardrum and caused me to perk up.
"Daaaaarling!" Carla nearly sang. That lovely old woman was a second-mother to me and had been since she found me on the streets when I was 7. "I hope you're ready to go! Don't want to miss the train, do you? You'll miss your 6th year entirely!" I laughed lightly.
"Well, Carla...I could stay home and knit with my darling mama!" I could hear Carla snicker lightly as she walked away from the door. A few moments later she shouted at me to hurry up. Carla was a Muggle, so she just made sure I Apparated to London on time. Right now, I lived in Rochester, Minnesota. Maaaany miles away! I was allowed to apparate simply because all of the magic I performed...since I never did use a wand...was undetectable by the Ministry.
I rushed my three sisters out the door with their trunks as Carla whisked me off. Because I lived in the country, I made it a habit to apparate in the backyard. My twin, Alex, was taller than me and a little thinner with reddish brown hair and bright emerald eyes. We were obviously fraternal because you looked nothing alike. Our personalities were different, too and your friend groups, too. She was in Ravenclaw and I was a Gryffindor, of course. Amber was in her 5th year, and was in Hufflepuff, she was sweet and quiet, but she hated the Weasley twins because of their pranks, so me and her didn't talk as much. Kima, the youngest, was in Slytherin. Of course, someone was bound to in the family! We were descendants of Slytherin! But...no one wanted to be the one to be in it...except Kima. Kima was in love with Malfoy and he with her. I disapproved highly, but my dear, beloved baby sister was going to do what she wanted, and I had long accepted that. Amber and Alex had not.
Arriving to London was a cinch, and so was board the Hogwarts Express. My four sisters parted, leaving to our own seperate compartments. I walked into one and saw Ron sitting alone.
"Hey, Ron! Where're Fred 'n George?" Before he could answer someone sprang from behind me and tackled me to the ground.
"GOTCHA, Casey!"Fred yelled as he sat on me. George walked in and laughed at the two of us. He sat down on my back next to Fred and ignored my gasps for air.
"Hello, Ickle Pumpkin!" Fred said playing with my curls with teasing in his voice. I held my breath and managed to make them levitate inches off my back...only enough to squirm out from under them. With a subtle hand motion, I let them down gently! Fred sprang up and hugged me.
"You're getting more and more talented, love!" Fred exclaimed.
"You sure are!" George agreed as he brushed himself off. "Any new joke ideas?" He asked, anticipating good news! I cocked an eyebrow as Fred released me.
"What do you think I am?" i said. "Of course!" I opened my pack and pulled out an old notebook with the pages filled with possible products for the twins' future store. The three of us planned and discussed the entire ride to Hogwarts. On the carriage ride to the school, Fred squeezed his way next to me as George found Lee and sat with him.
Fred looked at me with a twinkle in his eye...but not the usual mischievous one. He just looked happy. I chuckled and punched his arm lightly. "What?" I asked, smiling.
"Nothing." Fred said and looked away slyly. He glanced back at me, obviously wanting to say something.
"It's just kind of nice to see you again." His grin broadened and he put a friendly arm around my shoulders and squeezed.
"Oh, yes, just kind of, right?"
"Of course. No more than that...in fact, you're quite the bother." He joked, managing to keep a straight face. "I mean, look how annoyingly you convinced me to put my arm around you." As he finished uttering this, I laughed.
"You did it on your own accord, love." I reminded him.
"That's what it looks like to an innocent bystander...however; you and I both know you used those eyes. You looked at me, and I just couldn't help it. I am warning you, Miss. This behavior is unacceptable." He teased, gently tugging on one of my curls.
"Hmm." I couldn't help but smile at his charm. "There's nothing you can do about it." We both laughed because we both felt the chemistry and denied it. Neither of us knew what the other was thinking. Fred kept his arm on my shoulders and a smile on his face until we both reached the castle.
Sitting at the Gryffindor table awaiting our dinner, Fred, George, Lee and Q waiting impatiently for Dumbledore to speak. However, when he did...we all received a shock.
"I regret to inform you, Hogwarts Students, that there will be no Quidditch this year." Everyone gasped and Fred yelled something out. I was the top Chaser on the Gryffindor team, Fred and George were Beaters and Lee was the announcer for the games. We exchanged angry glances with the rest of the team as we all protested. Dumbledore raised his hands, so the hall silenced slowly.
"I am deeply sorry. However, Hogwarts is hosting The Triwizard Tournament this year!" As he explained what it was, Fred and George started scheming on how they could fool the judges that they were over 17.
"Oh, come on, guys! You don't really want to do that, do you? It's really dangerous..." I gave an incredulous look at the two.
"Like that's ever stopped you!" George scoffed.
"But...this is different! You could die!"
"Casey, love...I can die by looking at that git Flint's face any day that I'm here at Hogwarts! But that doesn't stop me from pranking him!" Fred reasoned.
"Oh, Fred, I'm serious. It wouldn't kill you to try to be a little serious for once. Maybe just once in your life?" The look on Fred's face made me take back your suggestion. "Well, fine. But, this is different, Fred. These tasks are dangerous. Besides, Dumbledore is NOT an idiot. You'll have to try really hard to get past these judges...whoever they are."
"Well...that's where you come in, right?" George questioned.
"I mean...he's right...we do have the talented Mistress of magic on our side..." Fred batted his eyelashes at me in an exaggerated fashion. "The beautiful...smart...talented Mistress of Magic..."
"Oh, shut it!" I laughed.
"He's right, Casey!" George said. "You can do almost anything. Please? Help us?"
"No! I am not going to assist you two in killing yourselves." I looked to Lee. "Lee, are you hearing all this?" Lee scrunched his mouth to the side without giving me eye-contact.
"It IS 10,000 Galleons." With Lee's statement, Fred and George cheered and patted him on the back.
"Thanks, Lee." I muttered sarcastically.
"Well, Casey, my dear, it is three against one." George grinned.
"You know what our motto is, love, don't you?" Fred asked. "One for all and all for one? So, you have to. No matter what!" When I refused to give in, Fred reached to my side and tickled me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't escape, and eventually he had his arms around my waist and pressed up against him.
"Agree, or I will squeeze the Hell out of you."
"Fine!" I yielded, smiling. "You're such a loser." I said to Fred.
"Au contraire," He smiled. "It looks like I just beat you, kid."
...
That night, I headed up to sleep after some more time with Fred and George. I wasn't really excited for Herbology tomorrow... I hated that class...it's the only class I just couldn't grasp. It was pointless, in my opinion. However, I was always excited to see my friends...especially Fred. It was always nice to see him. Not only was he my best friend, but I had a slight crush on him. I decided to ignore it and just stay friends with him, but with each day with him...I wondered if that was what I really wanted. I pulled back my shiny bob of spirals into a tiny ponytail and changed into a silky slip-dress to sleep in. Just as I was going to settle into bed, a slick black bird tapped on the window. I jumped up and saw that it was no owl...it was a mysterious, midnight hawk. It glared me...and I noticed it had a parchment. The bird grabbed my hand with it's talons as I opened the window. I took the parchment off quickly...because the bird creeped me out,frankly. The hawk flew out the window and I shut it quickly.
"What on Earth is that?" Angelina asked me from her bed as she brushed her hair.
"I'm not sure. A hawk of some sort...but, I've never gotten a letter from one of those." I remarked.
"That's strange." Katie Bell agreed from across the room. I nodded in agreement.
"Well, who's it from?" Angelina asked. I shook my head slowly. When I opened it, it was blank.
"Just from a great aunt..." I lied. "She's from Russia...they must do it that way or something." The rest of the girls shrugged and went on with their nightly routines. I stared at the blank parchment...wondering why on Earth someone would send this to me. I turned it over and still, there was nothing. I set it on my table and tried to forget about it. It would be a long day of first classes tomorrow, so I needed my sleep.
The blank parchment waited for me as it sat upon my bedside table.
I was never much of a fan of getting up early. If it were up to me, you'd wake up at noon every day and your day would extend until 4 in the morning. However, society's clock didn't agree with mine and I was forced to comply. I rose bright and early for my first day of classes and frowned at Angelina, who looked just as peeved to have risen at such a God forsaken hour. She grunted as if to agree with my grimace and trudged out to shower. I followed.
