A flash of lightning shattered Mallie and Sondra's bedroom window and the boom of thunder rattled the walls a split second after. The girls sat horrified, frozen with fear. There was a dark puff of smoke on the damp grass where the lightning had struck. From the clouds of rising smog a man whistled a tune. The startled Mallie came to her scenes and grabbed Sondra's sweat soaked shirt and jumped into the darkness of her closet pulling her step sister with her. From the tiniest crack in the closet door Mallie could see man pull out what looked to be a cigarette lighter. Mallie quickly held her fingers to her trembling ears and closed her eyes tight, thinking that the man was about to set off a bomb. A large black dog ran across the road and the street of Queens Acre fell into darkness.

When Mallie awoke, the terrifying memories flooded through her head. The lightning, thunder, that man and his horrifying tune.Sondra. Where was she?

"Sondra" she whispered, hoping that the man was far away. Mallie felt around her wishing with all her might that her sister was nearby, "Sondra". The only thing she could feel was the dirt between her fingers and the spiky weeds waiting for someone to put their hand down, if in fact there was someone. Minutes passed and not a word. The darkness flooded into her head. This was not the comforting dark that could be pierced by a flashlight, this was empty. Mallie tried to see the weeds that pierced her skin, and she tried to see the dirt the must make up a path, but she couldn't. She was alone.

Hours passed, or was it minuets, she couldn't tell, the darkness swallowed everything. But in the mist of the darkness came a light. Closer and closer it came becoming brighter with every second. The light was so bright that she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again she found herself lying in her own room, in her own bed, but the window was not shattered. She drifted off into sleep once more.

The second time Mallie awoke three people were bending over her they all had on weird black robes and funny looking hats that little kids ware when they play witches. Mallie jumped out of bed with great speed and ran to the door before any one could prevent her. As she reached for the doorknob the door was flung open and a tall man with slick back hair and an evil stare was standing in her path. From what she could see down the hall, this was not her house. Before Mallie could do anything but stare she was shoved into the room and the door locked. Once again she was left alone in. where, she didn't know.

. A boy with black hair, and a lightning scar on his forehead was shoved out of a large house, and a trunk and empty cage were thrown out after him "and don't ever come back again!" yelled the fat man that was standing in the doorway of the house. Mallie suddenly awoke from her dream. She had had many other dreams with Harry in them except this one was much clearer the others. It had seemed so real almost as if she were there with them.

Mallie woke to find her wrists and ankles chained to the bed in her "room". Without checking she knew that the window would not be broken. She jerked at the chains only to find a fierce pain shoot through her body. She screamed out from pain, and just a little bit hoping for someone to come to her rescue. But only to her horror did the door burst open. The most horrifying man with a snakelike face came into the room and stared at her. He shouted a word that Mallie couldn't understand and almost instantly 13 figures in black robes appeared before them. One kneeled before the snake- man and kissed his robes. The snake-man ignored him and turned towards Mallie. His piercing eyes seemed to see into her thoughts. He stared at her for some time until Mallie became bored, "Ya know, no matter how long you stare at me I still won't be able to read your mind. And even if I could I wouldn't want to, your thoughts are probably as dull as you look." Even though Mallie couldn't see their faces she could tell that the 13 figures were horrified by her comment. One of the figures cautiously stepped forward and said, "N-n-never i-i-insult Lord Voldemort!" A horrifying scream came from the figure kneeling at the snake-man's feet (or was his name Voldemort?? He certainly was no lord!!) Mallie suddenly seemed to be aware of what had happened when the man had screamed, another of the weirdos in cloaks appeared this one was old. He seemed kind, good, on my side if he was against the snake-man which it seemed clear that he was. Mallie was pulled out of her thoughts when the new arrival took her hand muttered something, lightning flashed, and they were gone from those horrid men and flying through the clouds, rain clouds. Mallie was worn out this had been the worse day of her life and from this and the surprise of flying Mallie passed out.

This time when Mallie awoke she was in her real room but something was different, something that was the emotion of the room not so much as the actual room. Sondra was in her bed, asleep, but there was something on her pillow. Mallie rolled over to get a better look and found that there was one on her pillow, too. It was a letter, and it was addressed to her in green pen that shimmered in the light coming through the repaired window. Mallie opened the letter with a quick glance at her sister.

To Ms Mallie Rainbell-Black 245 Queens Acre Windsor, England

Under our most sincere apologies, we inform you that your acceptance into Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been delayed for reasons of the safety of you and your fellow students. Although you have not attended the past four years, you will be attending 5th year classes while you catch up with your classmates. An explanation of what you have experienced will be provided upon your arrival. Enclosed is a list of materials you will need and also the address of someone who may help you to find what you need. Our up most apologies for the lateness of your letter,

Professor Albus Dumbledore Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

When Sondra had awakened the next morning, she found that she, too, had a letter for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The twins showed their letters to their parents, once, but their mother had ignored it and their father had just said, "Kids play pranks. Don't let them get to you." They had wanted to visit the "wizards'" house but their parents had ordered them not to try to go there. And so in the lazy days of summer the letters lay forgotten under the bed and Wizardry was far from the girls' thoughts. Though one day in August another letter written in green shimmering pen arrived:

To Ms Mallie Rainbell-Black And Ms Sondra Rainbell

You are to arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry upon the Hogwarts Express. The train will leave platform 93/4 Kings Cross Station at precisely 9:45 on Saturday, September 15. You have not yet visited THE BURROW so I suggest that you do and arrange to travel with them to Kings Cross.

The Best of Luck to You Both, Professor Albus Dumbledore

And So Their Journey Began

Mallie and Sondra stood at the gap in between the two platforms. They watched the people passing by and saw only ordinary sane people who weren't waiting for some mysterious train and looking for some platform that didn't exist. "We shouldn't have come." Sondra said under her breath. "Well we can't go back now; mom and dad would have found the note by now." Mallie told her "We should have at least gone to the Burrow then, at least we wouldn't be standing here like dorks!" "But we didn't, so what can we do now?" As they had been arguing a large group of kids approached. The group had 3 owls and some weird cloaks on. If Mallie hadn't been so interested in the snowy owl, she would have noticed the boy that owned the owl was the boy, Harry, from her dreams.

Many people passed by the place where Sondra and Mallie had chosen to wait, what for they didn't know. As the sat there, the man that had saved Mallie from the snake-man approached them. "You didn't go to the Burrow!" he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Of course we didn't.. hey how did you know that?" Sondra said suspiciously. "If you had gone to the burrow many things would be clearer," the man said, "but I haven't time to explain things to you. Mrs. Weasley would have helped you to understand but I guess that your fellow students will have to give the explanations. Well I must ." "You can't leave now!" Mallie exclaimed getting to her feet, "We have been left here with no reason, only to get on a train that doesn't exist that is supposed to leave from a platform that is no where to be seen! And it's all your fault" "Don't get angry. Here, just walk straight at the wall and, well, I guess it would be better if you closed your eyes." "You want me to run into a wall!??" Mallie exclaimed, "Are you crazy? There's no such thing as magic and well..NO" "Try and see, I'm sure that you will be quite surprised!" "Well fine then!!!" Sondra said, irritable.

The twins grasped each other's hands and, pulling their suit cases behind them, ran at the wall. As they approached the wall they slowed, expecting to find themselves to get bloody noses, but instead they found themselves in a world of wonders.

The train sat on top of polished tracks, smoke came puffing out of the top of the train in small bursts. Families hugged good bye as their children boarded the train. Faces stuck out of windows calling out to the people waiting on the platform. Sondra and Mallie pushed their way through the crowd to the train. Not thinking twice they boarded, shoved their suitcases onto one of the racks, and collapsed into two empty seats. "Where do you think we're going???" Sondra asked Mallie as three other students entered the compartment. "We're going to Hogwarts." Mallie whispered to Sondra as she stood up to face the newcomers, "Hi, I'm Mallie and this is Sondra" "Hello," Sondra said, bewildered by their strange clothes. "Draco, Draco Malyfoy's the name" the boy in the middle of the other two said, "This is Crabb and Goyal."

"You're a little old to be first years aren't you?" Malfoy said as the other two laughed. "No we're just big for our age" Sondra said jokingly "It's our first year, but we're taking first year studies." Mallie said with a glance at her sister. Just then a lady came to the doorway pushing a cart with all kinds of weird candies. Malfoy took a bundle of gold coins from his pocket and showed his wealth to the lady. "I'll take two of everything" he said with a smirk. Just then Mallie realized that they had been traveling long enough to be well out of London and charging along the tracks. "Well if ya'll need anything, I'm in Slytherin." Malfoy said, snickering, "enjoy the train ride!" And with that he, Crabb, and Goyal left the compartment.
The boy with black hair and that strange scar on his forehead sat on a seat in an empty compartment on the train speeding along the tracks. "Hi Harry," a boy with red hair and lots of freckles came into the compartment and dumped lots of candies and chocolates onto an empty seat and set next to a girl that Mallie had just noticed sitting across from the boy, was his name ... Harry? The red haired boy held out a handful of strange coins to Harry, "Here's the change"

Harry was glad to be getting back to school. It hadn't been the best holiday. Dudley kept running around the house avoiding him as usual but with one hand in has mouth. Dudley had lost a considerable amount of weight since Harry had last seen him, it might have been the diet that the nurse had give them the past year but Harry suspected that it had something to do with the tongue taffy that Fred had planted for Dudley to find. As the train sped along the rails, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat in silence, each knowing that the other was wondering how far you-know-who had gotten, how much his powers have risen, if Harry would be safe anywhere but Hogwarts, if Hogwarts was indeed safe.