"Yeah, we admit what we did was wrong"
"But honestly we weren't thinking"
"About anything accept for"
"How awesome it would be"
"And the look that would be on your face"
"Besides"
"You can't stay mad forever"
"Simply because"
"You know you love us!"
The twins said in unison. Alizarin and Carnelian are identical twins. They do everything together, even finish each others sentences and in fact, their mother can barely tell them apart.
"I do love you both." Their dad said sternly. "But if you keep making messes like this, we're going to have to make the choice not to send you to Hogwarts."
"But dad you can always clean it up with magic"
"And we've been talking about Hogwarts ages ago."
"So you can't just keep us from going."
The girls weren't worried in the slightest. Their dad's bark was worse than his bite.
"That's not the point. It doesn't matter about the magic. It's the point that you make the mess in the first place. I won't keep you from going to Hogwarts, but girls enough is enough. If this happens again, you are going to get punished."
"Okay dad"
"We're sorry."
The girls then yawned at exactly the same time.
"Alright off to bed, we have an early morning tomorrow." He kissed both of their blond heads and they ran upstairs into their room.
"Ali?" Carnelian asked her sister.
"Yeah Carne?" Ali answered.
"Are you excited for tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I really think it's going to be a lot of fun. I mean who knows the adventures we'll have? All the great pranks we can pull!" Ali smiled to herself.
"Yeah, I really think that Hogwarts is going to be a place we won't forget." With that Ali clapped her hands and the lights went out the two eleven year olds drifted into an anxious sleep.
"ALI, CARNE!" Their mother's voice rang up the stairs. Both rolled over and pulled the covers over their head at the same time. "IF YOU DON'T GET UP YOU'LL MISS BREAKFAST!"
Ali shot up first and Carne came in at a close second. They looked at each other and then they ran to their closets. Yes, each had a different closet. Ali pulled out a pair of dark wash jeans and a simple white shirt; she put on some white flip flops and put her long curly blond hair, identical to Carne's into a pony tail. That was Ali's style. Carne put on some light jeans and a dark blue polo with some white converse tennis shoes; she left her long curly blond hair, identical to Ali's, down. Their blue eyes sparkled identically as they looked at each other and then they ran down the stairs.
"Morning mom, dad" They said identically.
"Hey what about me?" Their 8 year old sister asked offended with a mouth full of pancakes. They laughed at the same time and smiled.
"Good morning Ridge." Ali said.
"Morning squirt" Carne said.
"Mommy I want to go to Hogwarts like them!" Ridge said after she swallowed.
Their mom laughed and their dad smiled over the daily prophet.
"One day you will honey." She said as she handed the twins their breakfast.
"Humph! I want to go now!" She said crossing her arms. Yes Ridge was eight but she acted like she was six. Why? Well most eight year olds go through the phase of wanting to be a baby again. She'd grow out of it soon enough.
The twins finished soon enough, actually they pretty much scarved their food down.
"Ready!" They said together.
"Okay, we'll go and get the car started and you can go and get your trunks." Their dad said and they all got up from the table. Carne and Ali came down the stairs minutes later dragging their trunks down the stairs.
They got to the bottom out of breath.
"You'd think that mum or dad would at least charm the chests instead of making us lug them out to the car." Ali said.
"You'd think that they weren't magic." Carne agreed.
They dragged the trunks out to the car and threw them into the trunk. Then they got into the back seat; Ali on the left, Carne in the middle and Ridge on the right. They talked pretty excitedly for the forty-five minutes it took to get to Kings Cross. Ridge eventually covered her ears and started humming tunelessly to block them out.
"Alright we're here." Their dad said hopping out of the car, their mom walked out after and then out comes Ridge looking around in awe. Ali and Carne get out and smiled identically. They got their trunks each into a cart and then stopped and they were both thinking the same thing.
"Mum"
"Where exactly"
"Is platform nine and three quarters?" They asked. Their dad laughed merrily and their mom smiled happily.
"Follow us." Their dad said holding Ridge's and their mom's hand.
The twins pushed their carts forward. They reached in between platform nine, and platform ten, but it seemed just plain ridiculous that there would be a platform nine and three quarters.
"I'm still not seeing anything." They said together.
"That's just because you have to go through it." Their dad said.
"You're telling us to go through a wall?" They asked in unison.
"Just watch." Then their dad disappeared through the brick wall. Their mom and Ridge followed. They gave each other an identical look of awe, amusement and uncertainty before they ran at the wall at the same time. They both closed their eyes expecting to crash but they were through. They came out the other side laughing hysterically. They looked all around, Kids everywhere, older kids and kids the twin's age. But most important was the giant train that said Hogwarts express. They put their trunks into luggage and then walked over to their mum and dad.
"Bye mum, bye dad." They said together giving them hugs. "You'll hear from us as often as possible we promise." They said, and then they bent down to Ridge.
"See you squirt." Carne said ruffling Ridge's hair. Ridge grabbed her around the waist and hugged her, tears started to form in her eyes.
"It's alright; we'll be back before you know it." Carne said.
"Yeah, don't worry okay little Bogart." Ali said hugging Ridge.
The whistle blew. Many were being rushed on.
"Better hurry." Their dad said. He kissed both of their foreheads and they ran on..
They were the last on and many were waving out the windows as the train started. Ridge ran after crying as did a small girl with red hair. They both stopped when they could run no more. They stood there crying.
As everyone else were settling in with people in compartments the two twin girls walked down the isle desperately looking for a room. All were full except one with twins that had red hair and a boy with dreads. They opened the compartment slowly.
"Oy" The boy with dreads said looking at the girls. "What are you doing in here?" He asked.
"We're looking for a compartment"
"All the others are full"
"We supposed you could spare"
"Though if not we'll have to set off a dung bomb in your compartment"
"You wouldn't be wanting that now would you?"
They said. The twins and the boy with dreads looked at them in awe.
"That's freaky. They do the exact same thing you guys do!" The boy said. The red headed twins looked at each other and then back at the blond twins slyly.
"Fine you can sit here"
"But let us warn you"
"This compartment doesn't need dung bombs to smell"
"Yeah we've got Lee to do that for us"
"Still we don't mind if you sit here."
The girls looked at each other and back at the twins and Lee, and then they walked in and sat down.
"First years aren't you?" Lee asked.
"Yeah"
"So does that make you guys?"
"Second years" All three said together.
"Name's Lee Jordan" The boy with the dreads said shaking their hands.
"And I'm Fred, and that's-"
"I can introduce myself, I'm George."
They nodded and then looked at each other and smiled.
"Well aren't you going to introduce yourselves?" Lee asked.
"Oh, right!" Ali said. "Well I'm Alizarin Richards."
"And I'm Carnelian Richards." Carne said.
"Talk about a mouth full each." Said George, or was it Fred? The girls couldn't tell.
"Can we just call you Al and Car?" The other red head said.
"Or maybe Blondie and Her Twin" One red head said. They both laughed identically.
"Sure, as long as we can call you that arrogant red head and look alike." Ali said grinning ear to ear. Carne snorted.
"Watch it, these guys are the top of the line pranksters. I'd suggest you don't give them a reason to prank you, though they probably will any way." Lee said smiling.
"Oh, so you're pranksters ay?" Ali said winking at Carne.
"We've been pranksters our whole lives. But we supposed you haven't any idea what the word prank means." Fred said.
"Oh we know." Carne said. "See when we pull fun, it's not just for fun."
"Yeah, it's a habit that we just can't seem to break." Ali said looking at her nails. "We wouldn't be about to kick the habit even if we wanted to."
George and Fred looked as though they were about to say something but a boy in robes opened the compartment. He had a badge that read Head Boy on his robes.
"We are half way there, just going around and telling everyone. You probably should put on your robes. By the way the trolley is coming by with candy if you want any." The boy said. He looked at Ali and Carne for a moment and then winked before leaving the compartment. Ali and Carne looked at each other and started giggling.
Not too long after the Head Boy left the lady with the trolley knocked on the door.
Ali got up to open it. "Anything from the trolley dears?" She asked. Ali and Carne started to pull some Sickles out of their pockets, as did Lee. Fred and George just sat there.
"Aren't you getting anything?" Ali asked. The red headed twins ears turned red.
"Mum packed us sandwiches." George said.
Carne rolled her eyes. "We knew you didn't have money or you would have gotten up, but aren't you going to get something? We have some sickles left over."
Fred and George perked up and got a few things and then the trolley left. They ate and talked and laughed for a while, all of their spirits up from the candy.
"We should probably get our robes on." Ali said chewing on a licorice wand. Carne nodded while playing with a chocolate frog. She shoved it into her mouth and stood up. Fred and George both snorted at the same time and started laughing and almost choking with their mouths full. Lee started to laugh too after he swallowed. Carne and Ali shrugged and started to put on their robes. They succeeded quite nicely only having to ask for a hand twice. The other three waited another few minutes before putting on their robes. When they did they all tried to at the same time and they had a great difficulty. Soon Lee sat down with his robe on, but Fred and George were still trying. Fred's head was sticking out of his sleeve and George put it on backwards. Finally after five minutes they managed to get on their robes in one piece.
"Did this happen last year too?" Ali asked Lee. Lee smiled.
"Yeah, it's such a small space and we all try to put out robes on at the same time and it never really works out. So are you guys interested in qudditch?" Lee asked. But before the girls could answer the train whistle blew and then the train stopped.
"Orderly fashion, OY I said orderly." A voice came from some girl with a badge. She was dressed in Hufflepuff robes. Head Girl. The Head boy seemed nicer about it, but he still made sure that everyone got off the train in an 'orderly fashion.'
Fred, George and Lee all walked out together. Ali and Carne looked back to check and make sure they didn't forget anything and walked together out of the compartment. They walked by that Head Boy and giggled when he smiled at them. They were eleven and like any other eleven year old girls, starting to enter this world of 'boys.' It didn't faze them in the slightest that he was a sixth or seventh year.
Once they were off of the train they looked for Fred, George and Lee.
"See them?"
"Nope"
"Oh there they are!"
The twins walked up to Fred and George and expected to follow them. But they found these plans to be impossible.
"Firs' years over ere'" A rough voice said. It was a very large man with a lantern. But he looked very kind hearted.
"That's Hagrid"
"He's gamekeeper here at Hogwarts"
"He looks big and mean"
"But he's really a great guy"
"Yeah he won't eat ya."
"Well you better go, and we've got to catch the carriages, so see you in the great hall."
"See ya." The girls said together. They walked towards Hagrid, molding into the group of first years.
All of the first years followed Hagrid into some small boats (Hagrid fit into on all by himself) and they made their way up to the castle. The girls looked around, the lake looked like glass, so calm, and it barely even moved as the boats went over it. They caught sight of a forest and a hut next to it, the qudditch field and even a small village. When the boats got close enough they saw the castle. They looked at each other with such wonder. It was magnificent. More magnificent then they even imagined. When all the first years finally reached the great hall everyone was already there and seated at their house tables. They all were looking around nervously. The Great Hall was huge. Hagrid led them up towards the front and everything seemed to get immediately quiet. There was a stole and a hat. And suddenly the hat started to sing a song. The girls jumped, with half of the other first years but soon stood in amazement.
Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
your tops hats sleek and tall,
for I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
and I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
so try me on and I will tell you
where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell brave of heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindor's apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And you won't get in a flap!
You're safe in my hands (though I have none)
for I'm a Thinking Cap!
The song ended and everyone started clapping, the first years slowly but surely started to clap as well after a few seconds. The Professor McGonagall started to call out names of all the first years, starting with Adam Aster. To the twin girls the sorting went by so quickly, and in a blur. The twins were nervous and shaking and not paying attention to anything but what was going through their minds.
Ali- 'It's time to think logically. Which one fits us best? Well we are brave and have a LOT of nerve sure. We are very loyal and though we aren't too patient we aren't afraid of hard work, because it's true we always try our best. We are cunning, but we aren't mean and I really don't want to become a dark wizard and I know Carne doesn't either. And well being true is very important and so is education. We are smart, but we aren't shy and I just can't see how that one fits out personality at all. I know that Carne isn't going to be thinking about which one fits us best. She'll be worried about us being in the same house. But I'm really nervous. Oh no, now she's in the S's.
Carne-'I don't think it'd be to our liking to be put in Slytherin. We're a little too nice and I don't want to be a dark wizard. I wouldn't mind Hufflepuff, but I don't think I'd fancy Ravenclaw. I don't think Ali would either. I wouldn't mind if we went to Gryffindor either because that's where Lee, Fred, and George are. I just really hope we are put into the same house. I'm quite nervous to be honest. Oh she's calling Ali's name.'
"Alizarin Richards" McGonagall's voice rang. Ali walked up and sat on the chair. The sorting hat was placed on her head; it slipped over her shut tight eyes.
"Mm, interesting. You are slightly hard to read. But you seem to know what is best for you and your sister. You have the cunning of a Slytherin yes, but you are too good hearted and you won't become very powerful in that house. As for Ravenclaw well, I don't think that would suit you, you aren't shy and though you are smart education isn't the most important to you. Hmm, tough now. Hufflepuff would be a very good choice because you are very loyal and hard working. I see you like to strive for the very best out come but you are far from patient. But you like to pull fun and you are brave. You have a lot of nerve and chivalry is important to you. You are outgoing and adventurous. Seems you have all the qualities of a…GRYFFINDOR!" The hat screamed through the great hall. The Gryffindor table screamed and Ali squeezed Carne's hand tightly and reassuringly before she walked to the table and sat down across from Fred, George, and Lee.
"Carnelian Richards" McGonagall's voice said. Carne closed her eyes and then gulped but she walked up and sucked it up. Now was not time to be a coward. She needed to be brave.
"Ah yes, your twin was hard to read but you are slightly clearer. You are worried that you won't be in the same house as your sister I see. You don't want to be in Slytherin ay? Hmm well you would do no good there. Ravenclaw would be a wise choice because you hold a lot in your mind and you go deeper into things but like so, the most important thing to you is not education. Hufflepuff is good, you are very loyal, though impatient at times and you get distracted easily though you are hard working, but it seems you'd be unhappy. Truly you are brave and kind. You, like your sister have quite a lot of nerve and you are daring, you lack no qualities of a…GRYFFINDOR!" The hat bellowed. Carne stood up relieved and walked down to sit with her sister.
The rest of the sorting took place, not taking too long and as soon as Kate Zeller was sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome, Welcome." He bellowed. Everything was silent and nobody moved.
"To another year at Hogwarts." He began to go over the rules, and regulation of Hogwarts. Straying to cast a look at Fred and George with a twinkle in his piercing blue eyes. After he had finished he smiled warmly, his eyes also smiled behind his half moon spectacles. "I hope we are entering a very great year at Hogwarts, and now let the Feast begin!"
The plates and cups and the table was suddenly filled with everything imaginable. Ali and Carne didn't hesitate to eat. They laughed and talked with Fred and George as they ate until they were satisfied and soon the plates and table filled itself with desert. They both had some pudding and soon when everyone was finished eating the head master stood up.
"I do hope you enjoyed the feast." He said. "Now if you would kindly follow your house Prefects to your common room. Have a wonderful night and we will all see you at class tomorrow morning." He said.
Every house followed out of the Great hall. The twins talked with the other twins and Lee all the way up to the seventh floor and the Gryffindor tower.
"Password" a fat lady in a portrait demanded the house prefects.
"Squiggle Piglet" The boy prefect said. They all entered and the prefects told the group of first years about the passwords and then the others the new password. The prefects also told the first years about boys not being aloud to go into the girl's dormitories.
After they finished with all of this Ali and Carne walked over by the fire and sat down on the couch next to each other. They started to whisper only to themselves about the sorting and what the hat told them, dinner, boys they saw and thought were cute. How the Head boy from Hufflepuff looked slightly disappointed when they weren't sorted into his house but how he kept smiling at them and many other things. But they were interrupted.
"You are in our seats" A voice said.
"And we suggest you move"
"Before we make you move."
Ali rolled her eyes and looked up at Fred and George.
"Please, I don't see your name's on them. We were here first, therefore we're sitting here."
"Ooh! Feisty! Okay, let's make a deal." Fred said.
"I'm listening." Ali said.
"You can stay there, only if you help us." George said.
"Alright, what is it exactly, that you need help with?" Carne asked.
"Earlier you two stated that you are familiar with the term 'prank'? " Fred asked.
The girls looked at each other and laughed.
"Familiar with it, we invented it!"
"Every prank"
"Every trick"
"We're very slick you know"
"If we decided to prank you, you would never know it was us"
"Unless we were to tell you"
"What about you guys?"
The boys looked on for a moment with amusement and then finally one snorted.
"Our plan"
"Is to make history at Hogwarts"
"We prank anyone"
"Everyone"
"Them, they and it"
"We'll be legends by the time we're gone"
"So if you are as good as you say you are,"
"Why don't you show us?"
The girls were already grinning as the boys finished.
"You want our help, fine"
"You want a prank war,"
"EVEN BETTER" They said.
The boys were smiling.
"Right then"
"It's on"
"Forget about helping us"
"It's war"
"Shake on it!"
The boys then spit into their hands and stuck them out. The girls looked at each other, spit in their hands and then shook.
"You're on!"
By then the whole common room were huddled around them. Whispers like, 'unbelievable', 'prank war', 'history', 'they must be brave', 'they don't know what they're getting themselves into', 'can't wait to keep up with this' and other whispers were carrying all over the common room. The girls then broke the shake turned on their heals and walked up to the girls dormitories.
They walked into the room they were assigned to, with three other girls and put on their pajamas. They crawled into bed and fell asleep, dreaming up wonderful ideas for this new war with the Weasley twins.
Mean while the whole Weasley versus Richards was spreading through Gryffindor like wildfire. This was something big. Everyone knew the type of trouble the Weasley twins were, but to challenge them in a prank war, well that would only cause more trouble and everyone was sure (everyone that knew) that it would go down into Hogwarts history.
Ali opened her eyes slowly to the sunlight shining in the room. She sat up and yawned and looked over to see Carne staring at her. The other three girls seemed to be getting dressed. Ali and Carne got their robes on and then walked over to the girls.
"Hi, I'm Ali and this is my twin Carne." Ali said. One of the girls with long wavy brown hair and brown eyes turned and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Sarah, and that's Lauren." She said pointing to a girl with short black hair that flipped out at the ends and green eyes; with gold thick rimmed glasses. She was slim and almost sort of lanky.
"Hey." She said smiling.
"Hi!" Ali and Carne said together.
Then another girl turned around. "That's really creepy what you two do. Finish each others sentences and do things at the same time." Her skin tone was dark tan and she had light brown paper straight, shoulder length hair. Her eyes were grayish blue. She was really pretty and sort of intimidating. "I'm Sage." She said. "But is that just a twin thing or?"
"It's a twin thing"
"The Weasley twins do it too."
"Oh yeah, we heard about that whole Weasley vs. Richards thing." Sarah said.
"Can I be honest?" Lauran asked. Everyone nodded. "I think that the Weasley twins are sort of, really, hot!" Ali and Carne looked at each other and snorted at the same time then broke into fits of laughter.
"What?" Lauran asked.
"Well, first they're sort of obnoxious"
"Sure they're really funny"
"But there's an extent"
"They are a riot, but still obnoxious."
"Second, they're flaming red hair"
"Kind of a turn off"
"Still cute, they can pull it off but still"
"Not so hot"
"Third, there are two of them"
"Sure there are two of us"
"But we won't do too well if both of us like the same guy"
"We don't know how alike the Weasley twins are"
"But sometimes twins have different tastes too"
"Yeah they may be oh so adorable"
"But I guess what we're saying is"
"You're so out of they're league." They finished together. The three girls stood kind of in awe and a little freaked out. But Lauran laughed.
"Well still, they're adorable and hot and funny, the complete package." She said.
"We better get going to breakfast, it's about to start and I'm hungry so I don't want to miss it." Sarah said. The five girls walked down to the Gryffindor common room to find Fred and George and Lee standing there.
"Can we escort you lovely ladies down to breakfast?" Lee asked.
"We're perfectly fine walking our selves thanks." Ali said. Carne nodded and she, her sister, Sage, and Sarah all walked through the portrait hole. Five seconds later Lauran came out in between Fred and George making her look incredibly stupid. The four girls lost a grip and laughed all the way down to the great hall and then they sat down and helped themselves to some breakfast.