Harry and Ginny Potter sat in the sitting room waiting for their three children to come back from their cousin's house. Whoosh! Laughter could be heard as James, Albus and Lily flooed into the sitting room. James' smile fell at the sight of his parent's stern faces.
"I didn't do it!" he said quickly.
Harry smiled wryly, "Whatever you did I'm sure we'll find out later, but right now we want to talk to you. We've just been down to the local muggle orphanage, and we were wondering how you'd feel about having a new sister."
Lily squealed in delight, "Yay! Another girl in the house! Now I won't be alone!"
Ginny laughed, "Well I'm glad, you see it that way. What do you boys think?"
Albus and James looked at each other. "It'll be awesome!" they chorused.
"Great. We're going to the orphanage tomorrow to see her. Her name is Phoebe-Lorraine and she's fifteen."
"Cool! She's my age!" James exclaimed.
"Ha-ha, we were wondering if you all wanted to come with us." They all nodded enthusiastically. Ginny smiled, "We'll be leaving at ten-thirty tomorrow morning."
Eyes closed, Phoebe hid round the corner of the orphanage. She could still hear Veronica bawling about her hair. Phoebe giggled as she remembered how she was imagining Veronica's hair pink and green, and then suddenly, it was! She hoped it would never wash out. Veronica was always very mean to her. Nobody liked Veronica, but they disliked Phoebe even more. Everybody thought she was weird; unfortunately strange things happened a lot. Just now was an excellent example. Her heart plummeted at the fact that this was probably the reason her parents didn't want her. Tears came to her eyes at the thought.
Suddenly a car stopped outside the orphanage. Wiping her eyes furiously, she looked at the people coming out of the car. There were two adults and three children. The mother had red hair down to her waist and brown eyes, the father had dark brown hair with bright green eyes with glasses. The oldest was a boy. He had dark brown hair like his father but his mothers brown eyes. The second was another boy, he looked like an exact replica of his father and the youngest was a girl, she had dark red hair and brown eyes. Phoebe felt jealously fill her. She wanted to be pretty like that little girl. She hated her short choppy brown hair, her caramel skin, brown eyes and the freckles on her nose. Loud and excited the family walked into the orphanage. Somebody was going to be adopted today, but it certainly wouldn't be Phoebe. She was planning on who to prank next when, "Phoebe-Lorraine! Get in here and meet these nice people!" Nanny Beatrice shouted.
Phoebe looked up shocked. Surely someone didn't want to adopt her? She made her way slowly into Nanny Beatrice's office. Nanny Beatrice was a short fat, old woman with a bad temper and more rotten teeth than Phoebe cared to know, yet when she was caught pranking someone; Nanny Beatrice made her clean and count her fake teeth until she was satisfied.
The family sat beaming at her.
"What?" Phoebe asked curiously.
"These nice people want to adopt you. I suggest you go and pack now."
Phoebe stayed where she was. She glared at Nanny Beatrice.
"You haven't told them, have you? The reason why nobody wants to adopt me? I'll stay there a week and then they'll send me back saying it's a mistake and they're sorry. You know that. You're just hoping someone will be able to stand me and you'll never have to see me again!" Phoebe stormed out of the room silently crying.
Harry and Ginny sat there shocked. The woman, who had introduced herself as Nanny Beatrice, waddled out of the room shouting at Phoebe's retreating back, spit and rotten teeth flying.
The door opened again, and in slipped a different matron. This matron was obviously new and much younger.
"Hello, I just came to ask if you were going to adopt Phoebe-Lorraine?" she asked quietly. Ginny nodded in confirmation. The woman sighed, "My name is Matron Celia and I'm guessing you're all wizards?" James looked at his siblings in alarm. "Guessing by your shocked and nervous faces you are. Don't worry, I'm a squib. I grew up living in an apartment above Diagon alley. But anyway, the reason nobody wants to adopt Phoebe-Lorraine is because she is a witch. She has powerful accidental magic. Most of the children are scared of her and my fellow colleagues just want her out. She doesn't help herself as she likes to use her magic to play pranks on the other children. She's never been to Hogwarts, because I can't hide the truth from anybody else. She's had a hard life, her parents abandoned her when she was two years old, and she has been back and forth from foster homes and here. Please if you really want to adopt her, don't send her back in a few weeks. Love and cherish as if she were your own. Thank you." The matron slipped out of the room.
Ginny looked at Harry in shock. "She's coming home with us." He said firmly. Nanny Beatrice came waddling back, apologising and asking if they wanted to adopt another little girl (while trying to fix her rotten teeth back into her gums). "No thank you, we really would like to speak to Phoebe-Lorraine in private thank you." Ginny said politely.
"Very well," Nanny Beatrice rasped, "I'll take you up to her room now." The five potters followed her up a set of narrow stairs and along a corridor of comfortably-sized, clean bedrooms, each with a window. When they reached the end they went into a small, dingy, dark bedroom, just big enough for Phoebe to fit her possessions in. The walls were covered in a thick layer of dirt and small scratches near the floor like tally marks. On the floor was a small moth-eaten mattress, a small bedside table with one drawer, on top of the table was a ripped book, a box of matches and a single candle. The floor was grimy and the wooden floorboards were rotting and in serious danger of collapsing. There was a dripping pipe running along the floor, spilling out across the floor like a plague. There was a scuttling of claws as a mouse ran through a hole in the skirting board.
Phoebe stared in surprise. She had expected for the family to have left or adopted another girl. When they had all crammed into her room, Nanny Beatrice shut the door and left. "Please, have a seat." Phoebe said sarcastically. She moved and sat on the floor so the family could sit on the mattress. When they had sat down she asked, "Why are you still here?"
"First I think we should introduce ourselves, I am Harry Potter, this is my wife Ginny and these are our children, James, Albus and Lily."
"My name is Phoebe-Lorraine, but I prefer to be called Phoebe."
"It's nice to meet you Phoebe."
"I'm sorry if I sounded rude before, but why are you still here?"
"We're still here Phoebe because we want to adopt you. Now before you say any thing, whats your favourite colour?" Ginny queried.
Taken aback by the odd question, she answered hesitantly, "Err, red and blue." Harry smiled and took out what looked like a long piece of wood. He held the piece of wood above his head and gave it a sort of flick. Suddenly the walls of Phoebe's room were red and blue. Phoebe sat gaping; she rubbed her eyes to see if it was real or if she was hallucinating. No, the walls were still red and blue.
"You're not that different from us Phoebe."
Phoebe stared at them in shock. She sat there crying, as the thought ran through her head, I'm not alone. Suddenly warm arms engulfed her she looked up into Ginny's face. She sat there as Ginny held her, Ginny explained everything to her, how she was a witch, how that what she did was magic and that she was very special. Once she had calmed down, harry said, "Now if you decide you want to come with us, you would go to a boarding school with James, Albus and Lily. This school is called Hogwarts; it trains young witches and wizards how to control their magic. You would start school in September so you would have the whole summer to get used to living with us. We live in a place called Godric's Hollow. It is a small village that is occupied by wizards and muggles. In the holidays you would either come home or you get the choice to stay at school. It's really up to you Phoebe. Would you like to come and live with us?"
A while later Phoebe couldn't believe her luck as she sat and watched as Harry and Ginny signed the adoption forms. Ten minutes later, she was sat in the back of the car talking and laughing with her new siblings. She liked Lily and Albus a lot and knew they would be great friends. But she had more in common with James than the other two. They both liked pranking, had the same sense of humour and their favourite hobby was listening to music and annoying people. When they got out of the car, her and James were nearly crying with laughter. Leaning onto each other for support they walked up to the house. It was a very pretty house. It was a fairly large white-washed thatched cottage. Vines grew up over the front. It had a pretty garden out front with lots of different flowers. It was a picture perfect cottage.
When she walked in, Phoebe saw that there was a decent size hallway with several doors leading off of it. The first door led to a sitting room, it had one large cream sofa with several little chairs dotted around the room. The second door led to downstairs bathroom. Lastly the third door led to a large kitchen with a wooden island in the middle. Obviously a wall had been knocked down to lead off into the dining room which held a long wooden table and several cupboards around the sides. Going back into the hall she went up the stairs. On the left was the master bedroom; next to it was Albus's room. The first door on the left was Lily's, them James's. They all had their names on their doors in neat gold cursive writing. At the very end, opposite the stairs was a door with her name on it. Hesitantly she opened the door. Inside was beautiful. In the middle was a large cream four poster bed with a canopy. There was a large window that made the room feel larger and lighter. Underneath the window was an antique dresser with a small stool. On the wall opposite the bed was an antique wardrobe and mirror.
Phoebe felt as if she was stepping into a dream, the cool wooden floor felt like bliss to her bare feet. She turned round to see the anxious faces of her new family.
"Do you like it?" Ginny asked nervously. Phoebe nodded her head too overcome to speak. They all let out a breath of relief. "Obviously you can decorate it however you like, we'll go shopping in a bit to get you something's for your room and of course a new wardrobe and we'll have to get your new school supplies…" Ginny started to mumble to herself as she walked off. Lily Albus and James came in and closed the door.
"Whats the matter Phoebe? You look like you really want to do something." Albus said concerned.
A crooked smile swept across Phoebe's face, "I do, THIS!" Phoebe shouted as she ran and jumped on her bed. Laughing she bounced up and down. Laughing at her childlike attitude, Albus, Lily and James joined her. They spent an hour laughing, chatting and just having fun.
"Phoebe! Lily! James! Albus! Come down we need to get Phoebe's new things." Ginny shouted up the stairs. They all raced downstairs, shouting and pushing. Phoebe being Phoebe tripped on her way down and bringing everyone with her. They all landed in a pile at the bottom of the stairs. Groaning at the fact that she had ended up with being at the bottom of the pile with everyone's weight crushing her. James moved so that his elbow dug into her ribs. Phoebe yelped and kicked out blindly at him; accidently catching Albus instead, who then in turn hit Lily. After a while they finally made it out of the door.
"Alright Potters," Harry said, "We're going to be side-apparating, Lily and Albus will come with me. So that means Phoebe and James will be going with Ginny. Okay?" everyone nodded. Phoebe grabbed James's hand as he grabbed Ginny's hand. Phoebe felt as if she was being pulled in several different directions at once down a very tight tunnel. The tunnel seemed to be constricting her chest making it more and more difficult to breath. Suddenly it stopped. Phoebe took a deep gulp of air, glad that she wasn't suffocating as she had feared. She opened her eyes to see different colours everywhere. She closed her eyes again. When she opened them everything came into focus. Phoebe looked in wonder at everything. There were shops lining the street. Everywhere was a blur of colour; people were laughing, chatting and shopping. Phoebe wished she had more eyes so she could see it all.
"Come on first we'll buy you some clothes." Ginny said as she dragged Phoebe and James into a clothing store. "Don't worry, Phoebe, Harry Lily and Albus are going to get your school supplies." Ginny explained, "Now whats your style?"
"Erm, a bit tomboyish and punky I guess." Phoebe mumbled. A few seconds later Ginny shoved a pile of clothes into Phoebe's arms and pushed her into a changing room. Phoebe admired the clothes. The first outfit she tried on was a pair of super skinny neon orange jeans, a silver short-sleeved top and a black denim corset style waistcoat to go over the top. She stepped out of the cubicle. Ginny clapped her hands, "Gorgeous! Right that's a keeper, go and try something else on, while I go and look at shoes and accessories." Two hours later they walked out of the store laden down with at least three bags each. Ginny seemed to be in her element, "Okay, next we'll look at furniture and stuff to put in your room. But first I'll send these back to the house." She waved her wand and the bags disappeared with a 'pop!'
They walked down the street for a while. James pointed out different shops to Phoebe and explained what was going on and what they were. As she watched James and Phoebe talking and joking, it reminded Ginny forcefully of Fred and George when they were younger and Fred was still alive. It saddened her to think of the brother she had lost, but it also made her happy that James had found what they call in the wizard world, a soul-twin. Everybody had a soul-twin, but not everybody found them, it was extremely rare if you did. They didn't necessarily have to look alike just very similar personality's and acted like normal twins. When they reached the shop, Phoebe went straight to the perfume section with Ginny. They spent ages laughing and trying different perfumes till they found one Phoebe liked. A very disgruntled James walked to the paint section trailing slightly behind Phoebe. He wasn't very happy, because Phoebe had found the most girly and flowery smelling perfume she could and tipped the bottle on him. So now smelling like a bunch of daisies, he helped Phoebe pick a deep red paint with a small pot of royal blue paint, they also found some blue and red cushions, a white duvet cover and some other stuff James didn't understand, or see why Phoebe needed them.
"Let's go to Uncle George's joke shop!" James shouted dragging Phoebe with him. "A joke shop?" Phoebe said excitedly, Ginny smiled and nodded at the two eager faces in front of her. James grabbed Phoebe's hand and they ran laughing to the joke shop. When they finally stopped, Phoebe looked up to see a giant orange shop in front of her in plain view from the street was the sign saying, Weasley's Wizard Wheeze's. As they stepped into the shop, Phoebe was amazed by everything. There were signs advertising, 'Skiving Snackboxes-puking pastilles, nosebleed nougat and much more!', also 'Extendable Ears-listen and find out what your parents are getting you this Christmas!' different coloured smoke and bubbles floated everywhere, kids running around, laughing and screaming as they squirted each other with 'Everlasting paint guns- turn your friends every colour of the rainbow!' (Phoebe had seen a sign for this as well). Suddenly a man with bright orange hair and a mischievous grin popped up in front of them. "Well, well, James. Who's this, your girlfriend?" the man said smirking. "Eew, no. I'm Phoebe," she started, "Our new sister!" James finished. The man stared in shock at the two. "Well, I knew Harry and Ginny were going to adopt, but to be honest I expected you to be younger. Oh well, doesn't matter. My name is George Weasley, but you can call me Uncle George and this is my joke shop!" he finished.
"Uncle George, we were wondering what products you had, because Phoebe here is just like us," James said. "A prankster at heart!" Phoebe said proudly. George Weasley stared in astonishment at the two kids in front of him. He hadn't heard anybody finish each others sentences like that since Fred was alive. He jerked out of his daydream and beamed at his new niece and his nephew. "Of course! We have lots here at WWW, I'll show you around and you can get whatever you want, you are family after all!"
Phoebe had never felt more at home. She was with people who liked her, who accepted her and who treated her like family. As Uncle George took them around the shop, chatting and cracking jokes with James and Phoebe, he couldn't help thinking how much like he and Fred they were. They spent an hour walking around and picking different joke products they wanted. At the end of that hour Phoebe and James heard, "James! Phoebe! We have to get Phoebe's wand now before we go home!" they ran to look over the banister and saw the rest of the potters standing near the door waiting for them. They ran down the stairs and where just leaving when, "Wait you forgot your stuff!" Uncle George stuffed several bags into Phoebe's and James's arms. They walked out of shop barely managing to carry all of the bags. Harry smiled and waved his wand. The bags disappeared. Phoebe sighed in relief. They walked down the street and stopped in front of a shabby looking shop with a sign saying, Ollivanders, makers of fine wands since 382BC.
Phoebe walked nervously into the shop. It was very dusty inside. Flickering oil lamps hung from the ceiling. Rows upon rows of small thin boxes lined the walls. The air seemed to tingle with magic; Phoebe could hear small voices whispering in what sounded like a different language.
"Hello, can I help you?" a dreamy voice said. Phoebe jumped and spun around. There stood a woman with long white blond hair, vacant blue eyes, and what looked like orange radishes dangling from her ears. Ginny smiled, "Hello Luna, Phoebe here needs a wand. Could you help?"
Luna looked at Phoebe, "Of course." Luna flicked her wand and a tape measure started measuring the distance around her head, then between her nostrils then her arm. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Err, I'm left handed."
"Here, try this." Luna handed her a thickset wand with swirls up and down the sides. Phoebe gave it a flick and the chair James was sat on disintegrated into dust. Phoebe, Albus and Lily roared with laughter at the look on James's face.
Luna smiled, "Funny, but unfortunately not the right wand, here try this." Over an hour later, they walked out of the shop. Phoebe holding her new wand. It was a beautiful wand. It was made out of mahogany, with a mixed core of phoenix feather and unicorn hair. It had a vine pattern engraved up the sides, with little rubies studded around the handle. They apparated back home, over the next few hours, Albus, Lily and James helped her put everything away in her room and taught her some basic spells. At dinner time they ran downstairs. On the table was a large pot filled with homemade potato and leek soup, with a plate of tiger bread next to it. Phoebe learnt that dinnertime was family time. Over dinner everyone told stories about what they had done, their plans for the rest of the holidays and just enjoying each others company.
The next few weeks were a blur for Phoebe, she joked, she laughed and she was the happiest she'd been in ages. One day she woke up by James bouncing on her bed. "James!" she grumbled. He ignored her and continued jumping. Annoyed by this, Phoebe kicked him. Next thing she heard was a muffled thump as James landed on the wooden floor. She smirked as she heard James's exaggerated groans of pain.
"Baby," she muttered grinning.
James shot up glaring at her, "I wouldn't say that if I were you, I mean we've only got an hour till the Hogwarts Express leaves."
Phoebe's eyes widened and she shrieked, "I've only got an hour? Get out James!" James left laughing just missing getting hit by one of Phoebe's pillows. She jumped up and ran to the shower. She washed her hair and ran back to her room. She quickly dried and curled her hair with a spell Ginny had taught her. Then she grabbed her denim skirt, a blood-red tank top, a black leather jacket and a pair of red converse that finished just below her knee. She put some multi-coloured bracelets on, a chunky studded belt, applied some mascara, electric blue eyeliner and she was done. She grabbed her trunk, stuffed her wand in her converse and raced downstairs. Five minutes later they were all stuffed in the back of the car. It was a very tight fit considering there were four of them in the back, and they had Phoebe's trunk on their laps and Lily and James owls behind their heads. When they finally made it too the station they had ten minutes till eleven, so with Phoebe' and James's trunks on one trolley, (Phoebe made James push while she sat on top) and Albus's and Lily's on the other they pelted into the station. James stopped in front of a barrier. Phoebe turned to look at him, confused, James just grinned wickedly and started running towards it. Phoebe started panicking; she looked around for Harry or Ginny to stop James. But they just stood there looking amused and shaking their heads. Phoebe turned around just as they hit the barrier; she squeezed her eyes tight expecting to be smashed into a pancake. It never came. She opened one eye cautiously and gasped in awe at what was in front of her.
There stood a gleaming red, old-fashioned steam engine; on its side in brass were the words, Hogwarts Express. She turned around to see the beaming faces of her family. Her family, those words always sent a warm glow in her heart; it was nice to know she had a family. They pushed their way through the families on the platform till they found the weasleys. Phoebe had met the rest of the weasleys at a family dinner at Grandma Molly's house two weeks after she had been adopted. Everyone had been very supportive and kind; they all seemed to like her and accepted her. Well, nearly everyone. One of her cousins, Rose didn't seem to like her. This made Phoebe feel bad because she didn't want to intrude and cause arguments. But James had told her, when she confessed how she felt, that none of the other cousins really liked her and only put up with her because she was family. This made Phoebe feel slightly better, but she still felt down that somebody didn't like her. She knew that nobody liked everybody, but at least Phoebe acted like she liked a person not downright tell them that she didn't, or in Rose's words, 'I don't like you, you're a disgrace to human kind, don't come near me and stay away from my family, your not wanted here.'
As they stood chatting with their cousins, Rose came up and glared at Phoebe. Phoebe felt her heart sink and stared at the ground. She felt someone put a hand on her arm; she looked up to see it was James, but he wasn't looking at her. He was glaring, openly, at Rose. Phoebe looked around to see Lily, Albus and Hugo (Rose's little brother) also glaring at Rose. She stared amazed that they would choose her over their own flesh and blood. The conductor blew his whistle and they hurried past a stunned Rose and piled onto the train. They waved out of the window, to their family's who were crying yet smiling proudly at the same time.
They walked down the corridor till they found an empty compartment. They sat down and spent most of the trip laughing, joking and teasing Albus about his crush (Diana Goldsmith). Later on a trolley came round and they all bought some sweets Phoebe's favourite were Bertie Botts every flavour beans. As they were eating and laughing at Phoebe's face as she ate a pepper flavoured bean, a boy about her and James's age walked in, he had white blond hair and grey-blue eyes. As their eyes met a spark ignited. Phoebe felt like she wanted to be more than friends with this boy. He felt the same. Who could this exotic beauty be? He wondered.
James stood up and snarled, "What do you want Malfoy?" Phoebe was shocked that James was so rude.
"Just come to see the new student. I'm sure she would rather hang out with more civilised people anyway." Whatever Phoebe felt for this boy took a step back as her anger that he had the nerve to insult her family, the people who loved her and took care of her. James had told her all about the Malfoy's, they were on Voldemort's side and helped him take control of the wizarding world. What she had heard about what Voldermort had done was awful but what made her mad was the damage he had caused her family. Apparently the oldest son, Scorpius Malfoy had broken the tradition of being in Slytherin, and was in fact in Griffindor, but that didn't make him any better. James said that he was still a foul stinking snake.
Phoebe stood, Scorpius's heart lifted thinking she really was going to come with him instead. But then he saw her furious eyes and wondered what he had done wrong.
"You foul snake! How dare you insult my family! Did you honestly think I'd come with you? Well, you were wrong! No one insults the people who took me in and care for me! Get out if you know whats good for you! GET OUT!" as she screamed the last words, Scorpius felt an invisible force push him into the corridor. He hit the floor with a thud. Everyone stopped and stared, wondering who had hexed him. He looked up and saw that the exotic beauty's eyes were glowing pure white. She shut the door and that was the last he saw of her on the train.
Phoebe slammed the compartment door shut. She turned round to see the stunned and shocked faces of her friends. Her anger suddenly deflating, she stared at them, worried that they didn't like her. James stared in shock at his new sister.
"That was amazing!" he cried jumping up and down on the seat. The compartment burst into noise as the all started exclaiming how awesome that was.
"Do your eyes always turn white when you're angry?" inquired Lily once the noise had died down.
Phoebe stared at her dubiously, "what do you mean?"
"Haven't you noticed it before? Your eyes glow white when you're angry." Albus said curiously. Phoebe shrugged her shoulders and pulled a funny face at Albus's back. James sniggered. The rest of the trip was filled with laughter, exploding snap and Albus having his eyebrows singed off.
"Phoebe, we should probably get our uniforms on, we're nearly there." Lily walked off and Phoebe hurried to catch up with her. The girls changing rooms where full of shouting, laughter and the air so clogged with girly perfume it made Phoebe gag. She shuffled between the giggling girls and went into a cubicle. She took out her uniform and hanged them on the hooks. Staring at her new uniform, she realised how boring and dull it was. A grin spread across her face as a plan formulated in her brain. She took her school skirt and her wand, and under her breath started muttering a spell she had found in a book. Once she had finished, she grinned and repeated it on the rest of her outfit. Once satisfied, she pulled it on. Grinning she looked at herself in the mirror. She'd modified her skirt so that it was a pencil skirt with designs of red up and down the sides. Her shirt was three quarters sleeves, tailor fitted, with designs of red across the hem and buttons that looked like rubies. Her cloak was also tailored, pinned at the sides to create a waterfall effect and reached just below her knees instead of her ankles. She reapplied her blue eyeliner and some pale pink lip gloss.
She opened the door and stepped into the busy changing rooms. It was still very loud, but some people stopped to stare with jealousy. Phoebe walked smugly over to the door where lily stood with her mouth hanging open with shock.
"Close your mouth sweetie, you might catch flies." Phoebe flounced off laughing. For the rest of the trip Phoebe sat in silence, extremely nervous.
James had noticed her being quiet and nudged her, "Don't worry, you'll be alright. It isn't that bad." she smiled weakly.
Suddenly the train stopped with a lurch. Phoebe not expecting the sudden stop fell forward and face planted the floor. She rolled over and groaned. She could hear James howling with laughter. With her eyes closed, she listened to the sound of his voice and kicked in that direction. She was rewarded with a satisfying thud as her foot came in contact with his shin. She sat up to see James glaring down at her. She grinned and followed Lily onto the station and over to Hagrid. Phoebe had only ever heard of Hagrid, so it was a bit daunting to meet the half-giant who looked as if he could squash with one hand. Lily smiled up at him and said, "Hey Hagrid, this is Phoebe our new sister." Hagrid looked down at her and Phoebe saw that he had black eyes that crinkled with happiness and laughter behind his wild beard. "Ello, there Phoebe. Its nice ter finally meet yer. Follow me up with the firs' years ter meet with Professor McGonagall." Phoebe walked up with Hagrid in front of all the first years chatting and laughing at the stories of Uncle George and Uncle Fred's pranks at school. The closer they got to the doors the more nervous she became. At the top of the stairs, Hagrid knocked on the door and left. Phoebe fidgeted nervously, waiting for the doors to open.
The huge doors opened, creaking and groaning. Light spilled into the entryway, like overflowing gold. In the middle stood a tall, yet elderly witch. She had a stern face and wore an emerald cloak. A grin spread across her face at the thought that this teacher did not take kindly to troublemakers, and the mischief she could get up to. The professor's eyes swept over the nervous first years and landed on the new grinning fourth year. "My name is Professor McGonagall; I am Headmistress here at Hogwarts. Right, all first years line up. Err, Miss Potter, could you please go to the back of the line, you will be sorted last." Whispers started the minute Professor McGonagall stopped talking, and fervent glances were thrown at Phoebe as she walked to the back of the line. She glared at a few first year girls, who squealed and turned back round. Grinning, Phoebe followed the procession into the Great Hall. Nothing could have prepared her for the beauty. A thousand candles hung in midair; the ceiling was bewitched to look like the night sky. Four long polished oak tables ran the length of hall, at the very end stood a table for the teachers.
They stopped when Professor McGonagall stood and faced the rest of the hall. Next to her stood a stool with a moth-eaten old hat sat on top. The hat was covered it dust and dirt and had obviously been patched up. Phoebe stared at the hat, bored. She looked around the hall and saw everyone staring at the hat avidly. She raised an eyebrow. What was the hat going to do, sing? She turned back round and crossed her arms. Just as everyone was waiting quietly, the hat started to squirm. Suddenly a rip at the bottom opened and it started to sing.
'Oh, I may not be that pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
This year is about loyalty and personality,
So keep yourself true at heart,
Never leave your friends apart.
This year is full of troubles and despair,
Yet fun and laughter is always here.
A new student will rise above all else,
The name of Potter will never fade,
With enemies new and old,
Together they must all unite,
To save us from a worst fate than before.
Now to sort our new students and
She who will fulfil her destiny
To be greater than Merlin himself!
The hat finished and resumed its post. Everyone stared at the hat in shock. Whispers broke out through hall. Students started shouting, asking what the hat meant. Professor McGonagall looked panicked and swept over to speak to one of the teachers who hurried out of the hall. Professor McGonagall turned back round and cleared her throat, "Umm, well, lets gets on with the sorting," she unrolled a piece of parchment and started to read out names. The first students name was "Alana Thomas!" She was a small girl with tanned skin and long golden brown hair. As she sat down on the stall, Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head and once more it started to move. It seemed to talking to her in her head. Suddenly the hat shouted, "Hufflepuff!" A table on the right burst into applause as Alana skipped down to her new House. Phoebe waited impatiently for her turn to be sorted. To try to pass the time, she decided to count all the candles in the great hall. Next thing she heard was, "Phoebe-Lorraine Potter!" Whispers broke throughout the hall. Phoebe rolled her eyes and addressed the hall, "Yes my surname is Potter. Its just absolutely fascinating to know that your all a bunch of gossiping pansy's, who cant keep their nose out of other peoples business." She turned and sat on the stool yet before the Hat covered her eyes, she sent the hall her trademark prankster grin. As she descended into darkness, all other noise was muffled. A little voice started to talk inside her head, "Well, well. So you're the one supposed to surpass Merlin. Well, I must say, you've definitely got his spirit," phoebe felt confused, what did the Hat mean? "Oh yes, Merlin was a prankster himself when he was your age. I remember sorting him into his house. Yes, very proud to be a Griffindor he was." Phoebe's mouth fell open with shock. The Hat chuckled. "Bit of a shock, ay? Well, I can't see much difference between the pair of you to be honest. Apart from the fact that you have seen so much pain and despair for one so young. And of course you have more magical potential than he ever could have dreamed of." The hat had brought up painful memories of when she was a child. Dark shapes haunted her dreams, a baby screaming, a little boy crying out for his mother and a high-pitched cackle of laughter and relish mixed with a woman's scream of pain, anguish and torture. Tears made glistening tracks down her cheeks. "Well I know what house to put you in...Griffindor!" the Hat roared out the last word for the whole school to hear.
The hat was lifted of her head and she blinked several times to adjust to the light. She hastily wiped her tears away, and skipped down to sit next to James, who was standing on top of the Griffindor table, cheering. She grinned as she surveyed her new house. Her eyes swept over the beaming faces of numerous Potter's and Weasley's, not to mention Teddy Lupin, who was her god brother. Still grinning her eyes were met by none other than Scorpius Malfoy's. They stared at each other for what felt like years, but were only mere seconds. In the end, it was James who got Phoebe to turn around. The rest of the time Phoebe spent filling up on the delicious feast, joking with new friends and laughing with her family. Yet at all that time she couldn't help but wonder about Scorpius. Once they had all finished, James showed the way to the Griffindor common room. As they were walking, they came across a huge staircase. As Phoebe looked up, she could see that several of the staircases were moving! And it was a very high staircase, going several hundred feet up and several hundred feet down. Phoebe cleared her throat nervously, "What floor is the common room on?" James grinned, "The seventh floor. It's right at the top. Come on, it's a long way to go, watch out for the staircases though, they like to move." Phoebe squeaked and went very pale. Her stomach felt as if it was a stormy night at the sea. Well she was guessing that's what it felt like, considering she'd never been to the sea before.
People pushed past her to get to their own common rooms. James had already set off thinking Phoebe was behind him. But she was rooted to the spot with fear. The one thing she had a phobia of, and she had to encounter that fear to reach the common room. Somebody stopped beside her and murmured in her ear, "Its ok, it's not as high as it looks. Just try not to look down. I'll walk with you if you like." The person walked round so that Phoebe could see them. Scorpius stood in front of her; with pain tearing at his heart, pain that she was so frightened and he could do nothing to help. She was looking at him through watery eyes that seemed to be screaming for help. He held out his arm with bated breath wondering if she would let him help her. Phoebe hesitated for a minute, thinking about all the things James had said about Scorpius, then grabbed his arm and started to walk with him slowly up the staircase to their common room. Scorpius was shocked, that she would trust him and at the surprisingly strong grip she had on his arm. He guided her up several flights stairs, telling her tales of Hogwarts and making her laugh so much she forgot about being so high up.
"And one time, me and James," Scorpius stopped suddenly. Phoebe stood on the step above to look at him. "What do you mean, you and James?" she enquired curiously, staring down at him. Was it her imagination or was he shrinking? Her brow furrowed as she puzzled this. She looked down at his feet, but his feet weren't there. She shrieked with surprise and Scorpius yelped when he realised what was happening. While helping Phoebe to get up the staircase, Scorpius had forgotten about the trick stair. Phoebe quickly seized his arm and tried to stop him from sinking further through the trick step. After a few minutes of struggling, Scorpius was freed from the step. They both collapsed onto the staircase, panting.
"Thanks." Scorpius said once he'd got his breath back. Phoebe waved her hand to say it was nothing. She leaned back and watched the paintings move, going about their business and occasionally a ghost float through a staircase. After a while they started to head off again.
"So…You never finished what you were saying about you and James," Phoebe raised her eyebrows at him, when he didn't reply she carried on, "Of course I understand if you don't want to tell me. I mean, just because you and James were going out doesn't mean anything, well not to me but I cant say for the rest of the school." She grinned triumphantly at his horrified face.
"Ok, ok, I'll tell you." Scorpius hurried on before Phoebe could suggest anything else. "In first year James and I were best friends. We did everything together, we played pranks, copied each others homework, you know that sort of stuff. And then I played a prank without James. It was all set off in the potions classroom. I had rigged one of the cauldrons to explode in whoever sat there's face. What I hadn't counted on was that it would be James. So when it exploded, he knew it was me because we had come up with it together. As it exploded the gunk on his face spelt out loser. After that he was convinced that he was the target and that I secretly hated him. So I never had any friends again." Scorpius smiled sadly at her. With a jolt she realised they had reached the entrance to the common room. Phoebe turned to look at him, "I'm sorry about what happened, Scorpius. I'll talk to James and try to sort it out. Maybe you'll get your best friend back." She kissed him on the cheek and turned to go into the common room but quickly turned round, "Thank you for helping me up the staircase." Told the Fat Lady the password (Voldy's gone mouldy) and disappeared inside the common room.
The next day, Phoebe woke up to see the top of her four poster bed in her dormitory. Phoebe loved her dormitory. It was a small circular room which she shared with four other girls. Her roommates were Lily, Alice Longbottom who was a fourth year, Alice's sister Mary-Ann who was a second year like Lily and unfortunately, Rose who was a third year. Well, there was a downside to everything. Phoebe nipped into the bathroom and had a quick shower. Phoebe quickly found Rose's shampoo and poured in some rainbow super-glue, another one of Uncle George's inventions. She put it back where she found it and walked out as if nothing ever happened. Once she was dressed she pulled her cloak on and grabbed a thick belt to tie round her cloak and waist. Applied some purple eyeliner and her pale pink lip-gloss, curled her hair and she was done. Phoebe grabbed her bag and skipped down to meet James in the common room. James was all ready to go when she got down, but Phoebe made him wait for Alice, who she had become really good friends with after they spent ages having a pillow fight and cracking jokes the night before. Alice was a very pretty girl, with a kind face, chocolate eyes and long brown hair with natural blonde highlights. She was also a huge bookworm and looked like she wouldn't ever break the rules. Until you got to know her that is. Under that kind face and childlike innocence, Alice hid a daring, sarcastic natural-born comedian. Phoebe knew James would just love her. When Alice came down, James and Alice were both impatient to get to breakfast, complaining that they were both starving. But Phoebe wouldn't go yet, not since she had just wasted an entire tube of rainbow super-glue. When the common room was filled with Rose's scream of horror, Phoebe turned to James and said loudly, "We're going to have to ask Uncle George for another tube of the rainbow super-glue." She then walked out with Alice and James crying with laughter behind her. Although Phoebe wasn't entirely cured of her phobia of heights, she felt a lot better walking on the staircase than she did last night, thanks to Scorpius. The thought of him still made her smile which, thankfully, the others didn't question because of her successful prank on Rose. As they sat in the great hall eating breakfast, Professor McGonagall came round with their timetables. Phoebe was delighted to find that she had every class with James and Alice, and what made her even happier was when Rose walked in with multi-coloured hair and the hall rang with laughter for several minutes.
After that they set off for their first lesson which was double potions with Professor Slughorn. James said that Professor Slughorn was alright; he just picked favourites and 'collected' talented students. When they reached the potions classroom, Phoebe saw it was one of the dungeons, yet was very spacious with lots of windows. Every wall was covered with shelves and cupboards full of glass jars filled with the most gruesome of things. There were several tables in the middle with a desk at the very end. Phoebe James and Alice grabbed a table for themselves near the back. Professor Slughorn as it turned out looked like he shopped in an antiques store. He wore an old tattered purple fez, a 1920's waistcoat with a little crystal pocket watch, a pair of trousers with braces, a patched lime green cloak and bizarrely fluffy rabbit slippers. When the class had all sat down he started talking. "Now this year, will be the hardest year you've had so far considering next year you'll be taking your O.W.L's. So for this lesson I want you all to brew a respectable solution of Sleeping draught. You can find the instructions on page twelve of your books. You have one hour." When he stopped everyone started running around trying to find the right ingredients. Once Phoebe had got her equipment and ingredients, she turned to page twelve of hercopy of Master of Potions grade four.
On the page was a moving diagram of someone falling asleep. It was a very complicated looking potion. Looking around she saw that everybody had already started. She hurriedly sorted out her ingredients and started step one of making a Sleeping draught, Step 1. Take two jumping stones from the stomach of a salamander and cut them to release the juice. Phoebe frowned. Looking around at everyone, she saw lots of people struggling to cut the jumping stones because, well, they kept jumping everywhere. It was odd. Phoebe thought that the rational thing to do if you couldn't cut them was to crush them. Shrugging her shoulders, she thought it couldn't hurt to try. Taking one of her jumping stones, she used her knife to crush the stone. It was surprisingly easy. Once she had added the juice to her cauldron, it started to sizzle and give off green sparks. Worried, Phoebe checked the book to see what she had done wrong. She was surprised to see she hadn't done anything wrong, the book said that's what was supposed to happen. Happy, Phoebe went on to the next step. Step 2. Put some Valerian sprigs, Lavender and some lionfish spines in a pestle and mortar, grind into a fine powder and add to cauldron. The lionfish spines were very long and very hard to grind with a pestle. Phoebe wondered if it would be easier to cut up the spines first. Sticking to her theory of it-couldn't-hurt-to-try, she took one of the spines and found to her delight that they cut like butter. After that it was very easy to grind up all the ingredients and add to the cauldron. The potion turned a pale purple-blue colour with haze coming off the top. Already she could feel the effects as she smelt the potion, she began to feel drowsy. Shaking her head, Phoebe quickly covered her mouth and nose with her cloak sleeve. Instantly she could feel her senses reawakening, she no longer felt drowsy. Hurriedly she went on to the last and final step, Step 3. Pour three drops of Flobberworm Mucus into the cauldron; let it simmer for thirty seconds then add one Hippogriff feather. Phoebe added the three drops and started to count to thirty in her head, but by the time she had got to twenty the potion was already sending out more mist and looked lilac. Confused Phoebe quickly added the Hippogriff feather. Crossing her fingers she hoped it wouldn't explode in her face. When it didn't and the surface of the potion turned into swirling patterns of different shade of purple, Phoebe grinned with delight that it hadn't gone wrong. As she peered at her imitation of a Sleeping draught, she could smell warm milk with a hint of cinnamon. Grinning she straightened up and waved her hand for Professor Slughorn to come and check how well she'd done.
When Professor Slughorn came over he exclaimed, "My goodness! It looks perfect! Let me just test it first." He waddled back to his desk and got a small cage. He brought it back over to Phoebe's desk and pulled a large toad from within the cage. He got a spoon from the side and dipped into Phoebe's Sleeping draught then fed some to the toad. Instantly the toad fell asleep.
"Amazing!" Professor Slughorn cried, "Astounding! That's the first time a student has ever brewed a perfect Sleeping draught in my class. Congratulation Miss Potter." By now everyone had gathered round Phoebe's table to see what was going on.
"Now Miss Potter I suggest you go get a phial and fill it up to the brim with this Sleeping draught. Well, once you've all cleared away you can all leave early because of Miss Potter's perfect Sleeping draught." The class cheered and hurried to put their things away. Phoebe walked out of the classroom wit James and Alice goggling at her.
"Please Phoebe, tell me how you did it!" exclaimed Alice who insisted she had inherited her fathers talent for potion-making (or lack there of). Phoebe giggled and shook her head. Wondering what to do with the rest of their lesson off (because it had been a double lesson), they headed up to the Griffindor common room. The height still gave Phoebe the creeps, but if she talked to James and Alice, then it kept her mind off the fact that she could fall to her death from a very dizzyingly tall flight of stairs. When they had collapsed into the armchairs in front of the sofa, they had no idea what to do next. Suddenly James sat up straight, with a mischievous gleam in his eye. Phoebe grinned knowing that he was coming up with a master prank.
"I have an idea, why don't we take the fever fudge that we got from Uncle George down to the kitchens and put them in bowls for the Slytherin table?" James said excitedly. Phoebe squealed and jumped up and down in her seat, clapping. They set off to the kitchens, with their pockets bulging with fever fudge.
They tickled the pear which giggled and turned into a doorknob. They walked into a room as large as the great hall; all the tables were represented by five long tables underneath filled with empty dishes and bowls. The little house-elves were running around, trying to get all of food ready for lunch. Suddenly they stopped, and a high squeaking voice said, "Mr Potter, Sir! How good to see you again!" a small house-elf with large green eyes and a pencil like nose came running at them, beaming. He was wearing the strangest assortment of clothes Phoebe had ever seen. Unlike the other house-elves in their clean white pillowcases with the Hogwarts crest tied like a toga, he wore a pair of children's football shorts, a tea cosy covered in badges as a hat, a tie patterned with snitches and a pair of mismatched socks pulled up to his knees. The little elf beamed jumping up and down on the spot.
"Hey Dash, this is my sister Phoebe and our friend Alice Longbottom." James said, Phoebe grinned at Dash, she had heard a lot about the mad little elf that looked uncannily like his father. She had heard so many stories of Dobby that it was like standing in the room with him.
"It is an honour to meet another generous, helpful Potter and another kind-hearted war-hero of the Longbottom family." Alice went red and mumbled under her breath as Dash bowed so low his nose touched the floor. Phoebe sniggered at Alice's discomfort.
"Dash can you help us with something please?" Phoebe asked once she had got over her fit of the giggles. Dash looked ecstatic to help and ran off to get what they wanted straight away. They sat down on their representative table and chatted until Dash came back. They filled five large silver tureens to the brim with fever fudge, puking pastilles and nosebleed nougat (Phoebe decided that fever fudge wasn't enough). They left the kitchens laughing, their pockets stuffed with cakes and pastries.
They went to their next class which was Defence Against the Dark Arts. They sat in the back row chatting and sniggering as Phoebe levitated one of the Slytherin's books above her head as she searched frantically for it. The door opened with a bang causing Phoebe to drop the book on the Slytherin's head. Crying with laughter, Phoebe didn't realise who the teacher was until they shouted, "Phoebe! James! Alice! Stop this at once!" phoebe stopped laughing enough to ask, "Why are you here Teddy?" Teddy looked very annoyed that they weren't listening to him, as Alice was laughing so much she was using James to support her.
"I'm here because Professor McGonagall has asked me to take over this class." They all stopped laughing at once. Teddy could give out the worst punishments ever (worse than Snape, Harry said), and they certainly didn't want to have to spend a detention with him.
Smiling grimly Teddy said, "Right time to split you three up, James you go sit next to Miss Goyle, Alice sit at the desk at the front and Phoebe, you stay here." Scowling, Phoebe slouched down her chair as James and Alice moved. For the first twenty minutes of the class Teddy had them writing about different curses. Halfway through this, Scorpius came through the door, he looked tired and ill. Phoebe smiled encouragingly at him. Teddy told him to sit at Phoebe's table and they spent the next couple of minutes talking. Phoebe didn't want to pry into his business, but she was extremely worried about why he looked so ill and tired. Once they had copied it all down ("Woops," Phoebe muttered looking down at the one sentence she'd written), Teddy got them to push the tables to the back and get their wands out. They stood and watched as Teddy explained that they were going to practise duelling. They watched impatiently as he demonstrated the formalities.
Teddy walked around sorting them into pairs, Phoebe stood on her tiptoes trying to catch Teddy's attention and signalling that she wanted to go with Alice. He ignored her. Poor Alice had to partner with "Stella Zabini". Teddy stood in front of Phoebe with a grin.
"Phoebe you can go with Amara Goyle." Amara was a pretty girl with long black hair and pale white skin and large eyes so brown they were nearly black. She was also extremely thin, almost anorexic and as far as Phoebe could tell was wearing a belt instead of a skirt. She was what Grandma Molly would have called a "scarlet woman". They all spaced out in the large classroom. Amara looked at her with contempt and superiority. Phoebe didn't like her at all. They held up their wands and bowed. All hell broke loose. Amara quickly proved she was more than a snotty little princess.
"Incendio!" she screamed with an oddly heavy accent. A great wave of fire took the form of a falcon and headed straight for Phoebe. Acting on pure instinct and adrenaline, Phoebe turned and shouted,"Aquamenti!" a phoenix shot from her wand. The two spells met in midair hissing and spitting. As the two element birds fought in the air above, as did their creators on the ground. A fierce battle was raging between Phoebe and Amara.
Scorpius watched on in horror and awe as he watched Phoebe fighting and slowly winning against Amara. Everyone had stopped duelling and were watching them fight. Teddy looked too stunned to even try to stop them. Scorpius was paralysed with fear at the thought of her getting hurt, because if Amara thought you had humiliated her, then she would stop at nothing for revenge. More than one person had ended up in the hospital wing.
People were cheering and James Potter was running around collecting bets. Scorpius hated him for it. Didn't he realise the danger Phoebe could be in? Of course there were only rumours about Amara putting people in the hospital wing; nobody had been able to prove it was her. But Scorpius knew it was true, because last year he had humiliated her in class. He could remember walking down the corridor one afternoon and just as he was about to turn the corner he heard something and turned around. A split second was all he had to see her face before he was engulfed by an orange light and next thing he knew he was in the hospital wing halfway through the year. He was terrified, because not only did Phoebe have a chance of winning, but she was.
Phoebe didn't take any notice of the people surrounding them as she battled Amara. Heart pounding, she aimed at Amara. She looked furious as Phoebe's curse missed her by about half an inch.
"Furnunculus!" Phoebe shouted again and this time her aim was true. Pimples erupted all over Amara's face. Laughter rang around the room as Amara dropped her wand to clutch at her face. Phoebe stood there panting, unable to believe that the Slytherin princess had just given up. Other Slytherin's were surrounding Amara and leading her out of the classroom, sending Phoebe dark looks over their shoulders. Phoebe was suddenly aware of everyone else cheering. James and Alice ran at her and hugged her, jumping and yelling. Amidst the sea of gleeful faces, Phoebe could see Teddy shaking his head yet smiling slightly, and right at the back she could see Scorpius's face, relived yet still tired and ill-looking.
Phoebe was still smiling on their way to dinner, because of her victorious defeat and their amazing prank which was about to take place. James and Alice were talking excitedly about it and rather loudly, which annoyed Phoebe because if someone listened they'd know all about the prank and would probably snitch on them. They all sat down at the Griffindor table, fidgeting and giggling with excitement. Halfway through lunch everyone was eating and had no idea what was about to happen, as the clock turned half past one, tureens of sweets appeared at the Slytherin table. They sat gloating at the other tables, because no one else had any sweets. Suddenly some of them feinted or began throwing up whereas other ran out of the hall screaming as they became covered in boils. Everyone was laughing but not as much as James Phoebe and Alice. They were all crying with laughter and James was rolling on the floor in stitches. It was a good end to the day.
It had nearly been a month since their jubilant first prank. Phoebe was sat in the corridor (History of Magic was too boring) flicking dungbombs at students and giggling quietly to her-self: as they ran off shrieking in little green clouds. Someone slid down next to her; she looked to see Scorpius smiling at her amusedly.
"Hey Scorp!" she greeted cheerfully, "Want one?" she offered him the bag of dungbombs which he graciously accepted. They spent the next hour chatting and pranking students.