Disclaimer: I don't own J.K Rowling's beautiful characters, nor do I own the world they live in.
Warning: I try to stay as true to the books as I possibly can, this means that my stories are full of spoilers.
Also, English is not my first language, I apologize in advance for possible grammar mistakes.
The rating will probably change when this story continues.
This is my first attempt at writing a story so I'm open to any criticism.:-)
Enjoy!
I squinted because of the brightness of the morning light combined with the smoke produced by a scarlet steam locomotive. Yet, when I opened them I felt my heart jump with happiness, it was September first and the Hogwarts Express was about to leave to my second home.
My name is Hebe Lufkin, I'm a pure blood witch, descending from Artemisia Lufkin herself, the first female Minister for Magic. I was about to attend my sixth year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Although I felt joyful when I saw the train, I couldn't ignore the aching feeling in my stomach that had been there during the whole summer. Last year, Cedric Diggory died during the Triwizard Tournament that took place at our school. Cedric was a year older than I was but I knew him quite well since he was very popular at the hufflepuff house. His death shook me enormously but what feared me the most were Dumbledore's words at his memorial.
Our famous headmaster stated that Cedric had been murdered by no other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, that he had returned and was very much alive. Dumbledore said so because Harry Potter told him and that's why many witches and wizards thought it was rubbish, they thought Harry was a lunatic and that Dumbledore was stupid to believe him. Our minister, Cornelius Fudge, even stated 'officially' that it were all lies, yet I was one of the few who believed Potter, even though that would mean that our wizarding world found itself in great danger.
I had never spoken to Harry before but when I saw him at the platform, accompanied by a great black dog, I smiled at him. He must feel so bad and lonely.
"Ooooh Hebe, is this it, is this the Hogwarts Express?" my little sister Hemera looked up at me with big eyes full of excitement and fear. I couldn't fight back a huge smile while I answered her.
"Yes love, this is the one. Hold on to me now, will you?"
It was my sister's first year at Hogwarts, she always wants to act brave but I knew she was positively scared. I grabbed her hand and held her tight while we rushed through the enormous amount of people at the platform. We already said our goodbyes to our dad at the muggle part of Kings Cross so she was my responsibility. The train set off and I knew I was in for another eventful year at Hogwarts.
My stomach grumbled with both hunger for the excellent start-of-term feast and excitement for the sorting ceremony. I was chatting at the Hufflepuff table with my best friends Julie and Hannah when the gigantic doors of the great hall opened and very scared looking first years came in, including my little sister. The great hall fell completely silent because everyone was waiting for the sorting hat to sing his song, which was different every year. When he sang his last notes ("I have told you, I have warned you…let the sorting now begin.") a muttering noise fill the hall.
"Did the hat just sing 'Hogwarts is in danger?" Julie asked quietly
"Yes he did, he's quite grumpy this year, isn't he?" answered Hannah, looking troubled.
I said nothing even though I didn't like the hats' song either. All my attention went to the trembling row of first years in the middle of the room since McGonagall took her list and called out the first name, "Abercrombie, Euan", who got sorted into Gryffindor. Not so long after Euan had been called I heard "Lufkin, Hemera", which made me shift into my seat. My sister walked forward, her dark blond hair held into a ponytail and her hands trembling. I closed my eyes and waited, it seemed like the sorting hat considered her for a few moments before he called: 'Gryffindor!'.
The long table next to ours applauded and cheered loudly yet I couldn't deny to feel a little bit disappointed; I'd hoped that she'd get sorted in my house but when her clear blue eyes met mine and I saw nothing but happiness in them, I knew it was alright. Gryffindor is a respectable house to be sorted into after all.
The feast that followed the sorting ceremony was brilliant like always. I was feeling happy, warm, cozy and most of all: at home.
People fell silent again when professor Dumbledore started his greetings, the warm feeling inside me grew even more with the sight of him - what could possibly happen with Dumbledore around? Everyone was surprised when a little, ugly, toadlike woman dressed in pink interrupted our headmaster. She was introduced as professor Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and she talked to us for what seemed like ages. It was the most boring thing I've ever heard and I don't think I was the only one, since most of the students were talking with their friends now instead of listening to her. I saw my friend Cho Chang at the Ravenclaw table, Cho was in her sixth year as well so we took many classes together. She seemed to be alright but I knew she couldn't be, Cedric was Cho's boyfriend after all.
The first week of the term was coming to an end before I knew it. The sixth year at Hogwarts was tough, every single teacher gave us a pile of work and studying to do in preparation to take our N.E.W.T.S next year.
It was nine o clock on Wednesday morning when I came out of the great hall and heading to my herbology lesson when my sister ran to me in panic. I immediately saw that something was wrong since her face was covered in… blood?
"Hemera! What happened?!" I cupped her face into my hands and tried to stop her nose from bleeding. She did nothing but cry out in panic.
"Tell me who did this to you sis!" I urged. She grabbed my hand and led me to two boys standing at the end of the hallway. To my great surprise I recognized them as the Weasley twins; tall and definitely ginger.
"What on earth did you two do to Hemara?!" I asked indignantly. "Why would anyone want to hurt her?" The twins looked at each other in surprise and then turned to my blood-smeared little sister. One of them kneeled beside her while the other one searched his pockets franticly.
"Did you eat the other bit of the candy, the purple end?" the one next to my sister asked. She shook her head and said,
"I forgot, I panicked when I saw that I was bleeding so badly...I …I think I must have dropped it."
The worried look on the twins' identical faces quickly turned into one of amusement. The one who was searching his pockets had found what he was looking for and gave a purple colored candy to my sister.
"Here you go, eat this and the bleeding will stop at once." he said. And so it did.
"Would anyone care to tell me what is going on here?" I asked agitated.
"Your little sister here bought some sweets from the Skiving Snackboxes Fred and myself created." The one who had to be George said while getting up to his feet again.
"Skiving what?" I asked confused. My sister looked at her feet, looking shy and embarrassed.
"Snackboxes. Full of sweets that make you ill."
"- Or make your nose bleed copiously." Fred said, smiling and nodding at my sister.
"- Nosebleed nougat." his brother added pleasantly.
"But why would you want to..."
"When you eat the orange part of the candy your nose starts to bleed so you're allowed to go to and see miss Pomfrey in the hospital wing-" George cut me of.
"-Yet when you're out, you eat the other part and 'voila' , the vomiting or bleeding stops-"
"-And you can enjoy a free hour."
The ginger haired boys' eyes twinkled with joy while they stared down at us.
"You two invented this?" I couldn't deny I was impressed, one had to be an extraordinary clever wizard to invent something like that. But before I could make a comment on their cleverness, I felt a sudden anger at my sister rise up in me.
"Hemera Lufkin, why would you want to skip lessons anyway? It's only your first week at Hogwarts, don't you ever do something like this again or I'll write dad!"
"Please don't write him sis" Hemera pleaded, "It's just..I..professor Snape..he..he scares me so much… ."
"Aha!" both of the twins said with a smirk. "It's the hair, isn't it?" Fred asked while a grin lightened up his face. My sister chuckled shyly.
"Well, I know that professor Snape can be a little scary but you have to…"
"A little scary? A little?" George chuckled, cutting of my sentence again.
"-A gigantic bat, he is." Fred continued.
"I like your attitude little one, you can always find us in the common room when you want some more nougat."
"- And you could try our puking pastilles as well."
"No she wont!" I said positively angry now,
"From now on you're going to all your lessons or I WILL write dad, end of story! Since you're late for your lesson anyway you can go to your common room now, but let this be the first and last time alright?"
Hemera was angry now too, "You're not my mum Hebe!"
"Yeah well, we haven't got one anymore have we, I promised dad that I'd look after you so I will!" I snapped back at her angrily, causing an awkward silence between the four of us.
Fred looked me straight in the eye. "Hey. Relax, breathe in and out. And if you still want to express your anger you should yell at us, not at her." he said with a hint of a smile in his voice.
I merely nodded while tears of anger, sadness and embarrassment began to form in my eyes.
"Yeah, we're the one's who sold it to her anyway." George added, "We shall take her back upstairs."
I almost ran outside to the Hogwarts grounds the moment the three of them had left. I didn't want to be mad at my sister, but when our mother died six years ago, I gained a motherly instinct over her and mothers wouldn't want their daughters to be skipping lessons, certainly not in their first year. The death of my mother still haunts me each and everyday, she died of a mysterious illness that couldn't be cured. Thanks to our strong and loving father though, the three of us turned to be alright, yet the empty feeling caused by our loss never disappeared and would never disappear completely. I closed my eyes and let the late September sun warm me up while I fought against the tears stinging behind my eyelids. Besides the sadness concerning my mother I felt extremely stupid. I couldn't believe that I embarrassed myself in front of the Weasley twins. They're known to every single person at Hogwarts, popular, funny and confident as they are.
"You're late Lufkin, I'd like to ask you not to be late in my lessons again." professor Sprout said sternly when I entered the greenhouse ten minutes late.
"I'm sorry professor." I sighed, "I got held up by a nosebleed."