Chapter the First
A black-haired boy knelt over the fire. He gritted his teeth and concentrated. Deeply. The flaming torch, as if by an unseen hand, lifted off the ground, and hovered about three feet above the ground. His emerald eyes burned with a fierce flame. A smile spread across his face. He jumped to his feet.
"Ruby! Ruby! I did it, I finally did it!" he cried.
A girl with reddish hair the color of the flames and bright blue eyes sat up. A wry smile hung on her lips.
"Good, Harry, but tell me, who's going to clean up this bloody mess?"
"You'll help me? Won't you?" begged Harry.
"Fine," said Ruby. With a snap of her fingers, the girl cleared the ground and extinguished the fire.
"Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight, sis."
A girl with hair the color of carrots was curled up on the ground. Harry kicked away a pile of twigs.
"Oi, wake up," he said to the girl. She slowly opened her eyes. Harry narrowed his. Ruby had taught him to hate and distrust outsiders.
"You lost?" he asked sharply.
"Uh-huh," the girl nodded. Harry softened a little.
"You can stay with us for a bit." Harry decided.
"Who's us?" asked the girl.
"Ruby and I. I'm Harry. Ruby's my sis."
"I'm Ginny. Ginny Weasley. Do you and your sister live all by yourself?"
"Yes. We always have done. Since our parents died, that is." Harry concentrated on polishing the wooden figure he was making, "How old are you, anyway?"
"Nine."
"I'm ten. Almost eleven. So's Ruby. We're twins."
Ginny nodded, "Don't you have any relatives that you could stay with instead?"
Harry grunted. "We did. Trust me, it was seven years of hell before we ran away two years ago."
"My family - I have to get back, they're probably worried sick - we were ambushed."
"Look, kid. Today you stick with us, tomorrow we rise and shine early, then get you to civilization. The police officers will help you find your family."
"Why don't we all go? I'd like you to meet my family."
"You see, Ruby and I have bent the law a bit. Sad but necessary. Poor kids can't be law-abiders. The law's just not on our side."
Ginny noticed the twigs hovering.
"You and Ruby are magical?" asked Ginny.
"Um, I, er -"
"That's great! My whole family is magical."
"Wait, what? There's a whole community? It's not just freakishness?"
Ginny laughed.
"Okay kid, let's go find Ruby and get some breakfast - I'm starving."
Okay! Well, I didn't think this was going to be a Harry! Twin fic, but, whatever!
