Twins in the End
By Kukaburry
Chapter 1 - Reflecting Pool
Avry and Mandy Saunders walked obediently behind their parents. Both wore matching floral print, cotton dresses and had their amber hair in identical pig-tails. The manicured lawn down the walkway foretold of high status of the people they were visiting. Their father, Henry Saunders, was a magistrate in the chambers of the Ministry so the girls knew what it was to be wealthy, but they had never seen such opulence in their five years of existence. A hefty charm had been cast over the property, disallowing any form of apparation or disapparation within the grounds which meant every guest had to walk a full kilometer in order to reach the house.
"Daddy I'm tired," Mandy's cry broke the companionable silence.
Henry bent down and patted little Mandy on the head. "Jump up on my back, cupcake," he said and turned around for her to jump on.
"Daddy, can I go too?" Avry asked.
"No, let your sister go first."
Avry pouted and pulled on her mother's arm. "Mum, pick me up."
Her mother shook Avry's arm off and stared down sternly. "You heard your father. You'll get your turn next. You have to wait."
Sighing, Avry kicked a stray pebble and stalked angrily on the side of the path, as far away from her parents as she could get. It was always like this, Avry knew she wouldn't get a chance to ride on her father's shoulders. Her twin sister always got what she wanted while Avry watched in jealous silence. If she complained she would be punished. 'Patience' was what her parents drilled into her head day after day.
"Where are we going?" Mandy asked from her perch on top of her father's shoulders.
"We're going to the minister of magic's house."
Mandy shook her head, confused. "But, why can't we floo?"
"Because we have to keep the minister safe. It would be bad if dangerous people could floo into his house."
"Why can't he shut off his floo from people he doesn't like?" Avry asked curiously.
"The floo system doesn't work like that, of course."
"How does it work? Why does it only connect certain houses."
"Avry, stop pestering your mother," her father said sternly. "Why don't you ask the minister yourself about the floo system?"
Avry bit her lip and sighed. She stared at the hedge rows and noticed how well-manicured and intimidating they looked. Her parents owned a large estate in Surrey, so it was not like she had never seen a large house before, but even this opulence boggled her five-year-old mind. She briefly glimpsed a large, stone fountain through the cracks of the hedge rows that had a Minotaur as the central figure. She turned to exclaim her fascination, but realized that her parents were now rounding a turn several paces in front of her.
She jogged a few steps to catch up and caught site of the extravagant house ahead. It sat proudly on top of a sloping hill and its many windows glinted gloriously in the morning sun. The entire house was made of a fine white stone and a dark trim of black marble made it look even more elegant. "Come, Avry, we can't leave you behind," her mother yelled from the top of the hill. She hadn't realized she had stopped walking to take in the grandiose view.
Once she crested the hill, her mother took her hand and led her to the entrance of the mansion. A butler met them at the door and led them through the hallway to the sitting room where a medium sized group had gathered. Everyone wore fashionable cloaks and dress robes for the occasion, especially a lovely woman in an emerald green dress holding the hand of a young blond boy who looked like he was going to start crying any minute. Avry decided that her new favorite color was emerald green.
"These are my daughters, Mandy and Avry." Avry was pulled back to the present by her mother tugging on her hand. She turned to face a jolly looking woman with round cheeks and a tiny nose.
"Hello," she said in time with her sister, adding in a perfect smile that her parents had taught her to give.
"Oh what little darlings you have," the woman bellowed jovially. "Such good manners. How old are you?"
"I'm five and a half!" Avry replied quickly.
"Darling," Her mother said in a tone that only Avry knew to be warning.
"I mean we're five and a half!" She corrected with a strained smile.
"How lovely." She admired their identical smiles and turned to their mother. "Before you know it, they'll be off to Hogwarts just like you." The conversation continued and Avry zoned out quickly, looking for something else to entertain herself.
Spotting a group of people with violently red hair near the back of the room, she realized there were far too many of them. Their less fashionable robes caught her attention and she wondered why they didn't dress as nicely as everyone else in the room. None of them had pretty emerald robes or dresses on, merely simple browns and blacks with lace trimming. "Look over there," she whispered to her sister. "They look weird."
"They look poor," Mandy observed. "And their hair is really red."
"Yeah they're really poor. But their dad works at the Ministry." She pondered this for a moment, wondering why a family at the Ministry would be so poor. When clarity continued to escape her young mind, she turned her attention to the large windows on her left. She could see the head of the Minotaur through the branches of a low sakura tree. The high-noon sun turned its horns a scintillating gold.
"Mandy. Avry. Come meet your father's work friends." Avry was dragged away from her perfect view and forced to act cute and smiley in front of several strangers for the next hour. Avry didn't mind being her parent's second half of a perfect pair of twins. She knew people liked twins and preened under the attention people gave her and Mandy. She enjoyed being the only set of twins she knew of.
A bell chimed loudly announcing the start of lunch. The adults were shown into a large, grand dining room while the children were ushered into a smaller side room with extra nannies to watch everyone. Plates of sandwiches and cups of juice were set down on several small tables throughout the room and the children all scrambled forward to get their shares.
Avry got pushed aside by a tall girl with black hair. Mandy had managed to squeeze to the front of the crowd to grab milk and a ham sandwich. "Mandy, get me one!" She tried to yell over the din, but she was just far enough away that her voice didn't carry. She watched impatiently as several children nabbed two or three sandwiches leaving fewer and fewer options for Avry to choose from. When the tall girl in front of her walked away with a full plate Avry realized that only one roast brisket sandwich was left on the table. She reached out just as a tall boy across from her took the sandwich for himself.
"Hey, that's mine!" She growled, stomping around the table to challenge the boy for the food. His red hair came into view as he stepped back into a patch of sunlight. He was one of the children from the poor family earlier and looked a bit thin for his height. "Never mind," she grumbled, "you can have it."
She looked around for a nanny or butler to ask for more food. The boy's hand shot out and caught her shoulder. "Here," he held the sandwich between his hands and ripped it down the middle. "You can have part of it."
"No, I can get another one," she said, embarrassed that he went through the trouble of giving her half his sandwich.
"If you're hungry, take it," the boy insisted. He held the second half out temptingly while Avry's stomach gave a mighty growl.
She held her hand out and accepted the sandwich gratefully. "Thanks." She took a large bite of the sandwich and looked curiously at the boy next to her. "I'm Avry," she said between chews.
"I'm Fred," he replied quickly, attempting to keep his half-chewed food in his mouth. "My dad works in muggle artifacts."
"Neat, my dad is a magistrate." Neither Fred nor Avry knew what that word meant, but both acted like they did. "I'm five and a half," Avry announced proudly.
Fred grinned, feeling superior. "I'm five and three-quarters."
A bell rang near the entrance to the kitchen, distracting both Avry and Fred from their competition. "More food is served. Everyone gets seconds," a short and curvy nanny announced with a platter of food in her hands.
Both Fred and Avry jumped forward into the crowd, bumping shoulders and elbows with every child next to them. The same tall girl from before appeared behind Avry's shoulder and pushed her way between Fred and Avry. Suddenly, Avry found herself lost in a sea of children without Fred or Mandy in sight. This time, Avry pushed her way forward and managed to grab a whole turkey sandwich and orange juice before shuffling to a back wall.
She scarfed down her food followed quickly by the juice and breathed a sigh of relief. A glint of sunlight hit her when she moved a step to the left and she remembered the minotaur statue outside. She wanted very badly to go outside and see it up close. Taking a look around, Avry noticed that the nannies and butlers had their hands full with unruly children. A look of pure innocence overtook her features as she made her way to the back door. No one would suspect a thing. Two steps from the door, Avry spotted Mandy sitting in a chair a couple of paces away.
"Mandy, come on," she whispered. "Let's go see the water."
Mandy thought for a moment then nodded her head obediently. "Okay, I'll go." She always partook in her sister's games since she could never think of any herself.
The twins inhaled the damp spring air as they galloped down the pristine grass hill towards the secret fountain. Mandy, naturally faster than Avry, touched the cool stone with her hand and yelled "First!".
"Not fair," Avry whined. "You always beat me."
"Then run faster," Mandy giggled. "Oh, I think I see a statue over there," she pointed through the hedgerow.
Avry, not interested in any other statue than the minotaur shrugged and watched Mandy scramble through the thick branches on her hands and knees. A warm breeze blew a few petals across Avry's face and onto the clear, reflective surface of fountain sending tiny ripples lapping against the stone sides. Avry leaned forward and plucked a small white bud from the water, admiring the silk texture.
"Hey this is neat!" A male voice spoke from behind her. Startled, Avry dropped the bud and jumped around. Fred, grinning like a school boy, stood staring at the large minotaur statue.
"How'd you get here?" She squeaked. "The nannies didn't see?"
"I snuck out earlier to find the minotaur fountain. My dad said it was neat."
Sighing in relief, Avry smiled at Fred in return. "It is cool. I saw from the front path." They both turned to take in the sight of the minotaur etched against the pale blue sky.
"Avry, Avry, the statue is so cool!" Mandy interrupted their dual contemplation. "It's a dolphin and a mermaid!" She yelped happily. "Oh, hi," she stopped quickly when she realized Avry was not alone.
Fred's eyes widened in surprise when he looked from Mandy's auburn hair, hazel eyes and round cheeks to Avry's identical features. "Wait, you're..."
"Fred! Did you find it?"
Avry snapped her head up and saw a tall boy waltzing down the hill towards them, red hair ablaze with rays of sunlight. Avry took in his tall, lanky figure and brown eyes and turned back to Fred. It suddenly hit her.
Avry and Fred yelled in unison. "You're twins?"
Hello, hello, hello.. and all that. Another story has crept its way into my brain. I'm going insane in the membrane with classes this semester so this is my stress relief. This is the holy hell of semesters guys, let me tell you. Any who I hope you all have been lovely and healthy and are looking forward to the next chapter for this and my other stories. Three incredibly difficult midterms next week – I'll be writing a crap ton let me tell you. :D