A/N: This is a sequel to 'Twins with Matching Scars'.
Troublesome Twins
Chapter 1: Musings of a Teenage Boy
Harry Potter was no ordinary boy. He was a wizard for one thing. That made him pretty different. Yet, if he were to be honest with himself, Harry wasn't even a normal wizard. He was one half of 'The-Twins-Who-Lived'. He was famous across the wizard world. First for 'defeating' You-Know-Who when he was a baby. And then, because his sister and him were dubbed, 'The Chosen Ones'. All these titles are annoying. He thought. We don't even deserve them.
The Chosen One was currently laying on his bed. He had woken up early from another nightmare. He didn't even want to try to go back for a few peaceful moments of sleep. He sighed and slid out of his four poster bed, pulling aside the drapes. He looked around at the room he shared with three other guys, the same three he had for all of his five years at Hogwarts: Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and his best mate Ronald Weasley.
He yawned and walked over to the window, thinking about how quickly the years seemed to have gone past. At all the crazy adventures he had stumbled into, dragging his best mates and sister with him.
Speak of the devil. Harry thought amusedly. He watched at Harriet jogged down the great lake in the early morning. She did so every day, because she too suffered from nightmares like Harry, and exercising helped push the thoughts out of her head.
Her red hair was shining in the sunlight as she kept a steady pace around the lake and then the Quidditch pitch. Harry quickly got dressed in some old hand-me-downs from Dudley and went to go join his sister.
The autumn leaves crunched underneath her feet. The wind gently blew around her, shaking the tree limbs-they almost looked like they were dancing. The Great Lake shone and the Quidditch pitch shined. Harriet Lily Potter felt at one with nature as she jogged around the castle grounds. Her peace was disturbed however, when she heard someone running up towards her. The stranger's footsteps were silent, but not enough for the teen's sensitive ears. She slowed down pretending to be tired, and bent over as if she were putting her hands on her knees to breathe, but then quickly slid her wand out of the holster she had strapped on her thigh, hidden underneath her shorts. She spun around and pointed her wand at the intruder.
She saw the familiar green eyes and messy black hair of her brother and exhaled in relief. Harry had taken out his wand as quickly as her and they looked at each other, wands drawn. In a moment, they both slowly lowered them.
"You idiot." Harriet said, narrowing her eyes. "Were you trying to sneak up on me?"
"No," the boy said defensively, "I was trying to join you."
Harriet looked at him for a moment, to see if he was lying. Of course he wasn't, he was always a bad liar. Especially when it came to the person who knew him best.
"Race you once around the pitch." She challenged, partly to alleviate the awkwardness, partly in a way to say sorry. Harry nodded.
The twins lined up next to each other, and prepared for the impromptu race.
"Ready…set… go!" Harry said. The-Twins-Who-Lived took off, like two streaks of lightning. Harry was the fastest on a broom, but Harriet was the better runner, her feet sinking but never slipping on the wet morning grass. She soon past Harry and beat him.
She crossed the imaginary finish line and tuned around watching Harry run up to her. They both huffed and smiled at each other.
"I'm going to get changed, breakfast starts soon." The teenage witch said after catching her breath.
"But I just got here…" Harry whined making her laugh. She turned and began to walk back to the castle.
"There's something I need to tell you." She paused and turned around, her eyebrows raised in question.
"Seamus and I had a row."
"What?" She stepped a few paces closer.
Harry's green eyes narrowed. "Apparently, his mom is an avid reader of The Daily Prophet, and all the rubbish that they're writing about us, his mom believes-and he kind of does too. She wasn't going to let him go to Hogwarts this year."
Harriet's mouth was slightly opened and she stood there frozen. "That's-that's ridiculous!" she stuttered.
Harry nodded in agreement. Harriet paused, then cautiously said.
"Well… of course people who didn't see it, are bound to believe whatever the newspaper tell them. There has to be something we could do to tell our side of the story."
Harry looked at his twin suspiciously. "Like what?"
Harriet's eyes clouded over, as she got lost deep in thought. Harry paced back and forth thinking. He would pace, she would ponder-this was how they usually came up with their crazy ideas that led them on wild adventures. Suddenly, her eyes lighted up.
"An interview! We'll do an interview telling exactly what happened. We'll make sure our words don't get twisted up, like what happened during the Triwizard Tournament."
Harry shrugged noncommittally. "An interview?" He didn't like to be in the limelight.
Harriet rolled her eyes, "Come on? Do you have any better ideas? Things are just going to get worse if we don't meet the wizarding world head on."
"Really? Because I think ignoring the problem will suit me just fine."
"Well it won't suit me! You aren't fine either. Obviously not, or else you wouldn't have gotten in argument with Seamus over it, and you wouldn't have told me. Let's fix this. We need to do it together-"
"We do everything together."
"Yes. I know. But it would look pretty foolish of me to do an interview about both of us with only me there."
"I'll think about it."
Harriet smiled, as if it was a definite conformation.
"Okay, I'll see you at breakfast then." She then happily strode off, back to the castle.
Harriet walked towards the Great Hall, hips swaying and hair bouncing. She seemed to be in a good mood today. Yet she always seemed to be in a good mood, if you didn't know her well enough to tell the difference.
She entered the dining hall, where she instantly started to look for her group of friends. She went to the Gryffindor table, oblivious to the longing stares of half the male population there.
The boys at Hogwarts had started to finally realize what girls knew at the age of ten: the opposite sex isn't so gross after all. And of course, they all seemed to realize that by looking at Ms. Harriet Potter.
With her fiery red hair, which went past the shoulders and just seemed to be always gleaming and bouncing; her petite, porcelain like frame; her mesmerizing greenish-brown eyes that could never decide on an exact color; and the bright, confident aura that always seemed to surround her-not to mention the fact she got grades almost as good as Hermione Granger and was a stunning chaser on the Quidditch team; the girl was seemingly perfect.
If, of course, you ignored the fact that the greatest dark wizard of all time was after her, and she always seemed to attract trouble.
Harriet was slightly aware of the attention boys gave her, but she never let it get to her head. Her best friend Ginny Weasley's teasing helped with that.
There they are, Harriet thought.
She walked up to the corner of the Gryffindor table, where sat Ginny who was sitting across from Hermione and Ron. Both girls were currently starring in disgust at Ron, who was scarfing down food as if his life depended on it.
"Hey, guys." Harriet said as she took a seat next to Ginny and made herself a sand which of toast and eggs.
"Hello." Hermione said, a little distantly. She had resumed reading her book, and was becoming totally absorbed in it.
"Hi, oh- guess what Padma told me!" Ginny said, finally turning away from Ron, and almost bouncing with excitement to tell one of her closest friends something.
Harriet looked at her warily. She was usually the one jumping with excitement over gossip, being the more girly one.
"What?"
Ginny, pausing for dramatic effect, said in an excited whisper, "Padma said that Lavender heard Seamus and Dean talking about how Terry likes you."
The youngest male Weasley gave a big swallow and looked up at the two red heads.
"What?" He may or may not have harbored the tiniest of crushes of his best mate's sister. Really, he couldn't help it. And so hearing that someone else liked her to was a big enough of a shock to get him to pause, his piece of bacon halfway to his mouth. Hermione rolled her eyes, simultaneously turning the page of her book.
"Oh, go back to stuffing your face Ronald." Ginny snapped impatiently. Harriet blushed.
"Terry? Terry Boot?" Harriet whispered shocked. "I've only had about two conversations with him, my entire time at Hogwarts." Ginny and Hermione laughed. It was Ron's turn to roll his eyes now.
Ginny, much to Ron's annoyance, continued, "It's totally true! I told you he was staring at you the other day, but you wouldn't listen."
"Who was staring at you?" Harry asked, as he sat down next to Ron.
Ron gave a slight frown, "Boot likes your-"
"Shut up Ron!" Harriet cut in, throwing a bread roll at him, which he promptly caught and took a large bite out of.
Yet Harry had already put the pieces together. "Terry Boot fancies you?" Harry said a dark shadow crossing his face. He still struggled not to hex every boy he saw looking at his sister, or whomever she dated. She had only dated a few boys around the school. Cedric Diggory in their third year for a few months, and she had just ended a rather short relationship with a certain Dean Thomas, although she wouldn't tell Harry or Ron why. The only reason Dean was still safely walking around the school was because she had broken up with him, and didn't seem too sad about it.
"Shout it out louder would you? Listen, it's just Ginny gossiping. We don't even know if it's true. I don't need your fan base to overhear and then relay the news to Terry that I'm all giddy with excitement that he likes-"
"So you do like him?" Ron interrupted.
"No!" All three girls shouted exasperatedly at the red haired boy.
"I was being sarcastic." Harriet huffed. Ron blushed scarlet.
"So… if you don't like the guy..." Harry said steering them back on track.
"I don't. Now can we drop this?"
"Fine…" Harry agreed. Then his head perked up again. "Fan base? What fan base?"
Hermione and Harriet rolled their eyes. Ginny gave the slightest of blushes.
"The dozens of girls who would walk the ends of the earth for The-Boy-Who-Lived." Hermione supplied.
"Not dozens, hundreds." Harriet laughed. Harry's face went scarlet this time, making everyone laugh even more.
Soon Professor McGonagall was going around passing out timetables to her house. They all swapped around their new schedules, except for Ginny was a year younger than them. She went to go sit by some of her other friends to see what classes they got.
"We all have Defense together." Hermione said.
"I have Ancient Runes with you Hermione!" Harriet commented excitedly.
"Another year with Trelawney…" Ron groaned.
Harry sighed.
Breakfast ended, and the crowd dispersed, getting ready to start their first class of the day.
"I'm off to charms… have fun in history." Ginny teased. She turned and walked away with a dreamy looking Luna Lovegood.
Harriet grumbled. No one ever had fun in History of Magic.
As the group of four walked down the corridors to their first class of the day, Harriet saw one of her friends, Cho Chang.
"Hey, Cho!" the hazel eyed teen called out.
Cho, who was surrounded by her usual group of chattering friends-who had so vexed Harry last year when trying to get the Ravenclaw seeker alone- perked her head up and smiled at her. She briefly glanced at Hermione and Ron, and her gaze slightly lingered on Harry-or was it his imagination? He could feel his face heat up.
The group walked up to the Cho and her friends.
"I'm guessing that since you aren't running away from me in horror that you don't believe the lies the Daily Prophet is telling?" Harriet joked.
Cho gave a small frown. "No, I think that the Prophet went totally out of context. The obviously don't have the whole story." She replied sensibly, sounding more like a Ravenclaw than ever.
"That's what I've been screaming at anyone who'd listen." The redhead flipped her hair and the two girls giggled. Then, Harriet's voice took a much more serious tone. She turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"I'll catch up with you guys in class, save me a seat, yeah?"
Hermione, relieved that she didn't have to stay and listen to the conversation, which would risk being late for class gave a quick 'Sure,' and hurried on her way followed by Ron, and Harry who-somewhat reluctantly-left.
"How have you been this summer?" Harriet asked once they were out of ear shot.
Cho gave a tired sigh. "I won't lie, it's been tough…" Harriet nodded in agreement. "…Do you think we could talk? I'd really like to go over what happened with someone who was there, you know? Someone who…understands."
Both girls had dated Cedric, and they could each sympathize over what the other was feeling. Even though Harriet broke up with him, after the awkward stage passed the two had become good friends again. Which made his death even the more painful to bear.
Harriet's eyes slightly narrowed. "Is that why you've been getting closer to Harry lately? I saw you stop by his compartment on the train here."
Cho's eyes widened slightly. "Do you think I'm spending time with Harry to just get information out of him? Surely you think higher of me than that, Harriet?"
"You know he fancies you. I just want to make sure you're not taking advantage." Harry was her only family-biologically-and so Harriet was fiercely protective of her brother. Luckily, Cho realized that, and quickly assured Harriet that wasn't the case.
Once her worries were settled, she teasingly asked, "So…do you fancy him then?"
Cho gave an embarrassed shrug. "Er… well,-"
The bell rung, and Harriet muttered a curse.
"Saved by the bell." Cho smirked.
Harriet laughed, and they said their goodbyes, then ran off to their classes.
Meanwhile, the Golden Trio was having an important discussion of their own. The three walked down the hallways of Hogwarts, which were lined with talking portraits, and groups of students clustered here and there.
"An interview? She wants to do an interview?" Hermione asked.
Harry huffed. "Please don't make me say it again."
"Well you have to admit mate, it doesn't seem like too bad of an idea. Getting people to finally hear your side of the story." Ron said.
"Oh, come on!" Hermione argued. "Their words are just going to be turned against them-again!"
"Not if they word what they mean carefully."
"The Prophet will still have what they say pulled out of context. The Wizardry community isn't looking upon 'The-Twins-Who-Lived' favorably right now. I agree with Harry, they should lie low, and let things blow over. "
Ron replied indignantly, "I think Harriet is right."
"Of course you do." Hermione angrily retorted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you always side with her because-"
Harry finally snapped. "Cut it out, both of you! Continue your lovers' quarrel on your own time."
They both looked at him shocked. Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair. Ruining the futile attempts he made on taming it that morning.
"You guys argue all the time." The green eyed wizard muttered. "It's enough to drive anyone up the wall."
"Sorry," Hermione muttered.
"Yeah, sorry mate…" Ron said gruffly.
The trudged on to class, in silence.