Author's Note: Hi and welcome back to old readers...hell newbies, to new readers :D!! Great to have you on board once more. This is a story i wrote a long, long time ago, before i knew about Harry Potter FanFiction and i'm just tweaking it a little bit as i go along. To keep you all amused while i have exams so i don't have to start a brand new story, there will be a new one as soon as all this school stuff is over though.
Diclaimer: If i owned this idea or this story do you reall think i'd still be writing on fanfiction and not be getting paid? lol obviously i don't. I do own the characters Amy Whitehouse, Sally Hoskins, Emily and Jess Orion, and many other characters that do not belong to Jk Rowling. Any characters that do appear that are from the HP series, belong to her and her alone.
Blurb: Before there was Harry, Ron and Hermione, there were James, Sirius, Remus and Peter...and the people that defined them; the girls! This is a story of the very beginning of it all. The years that helped the boys discover who they were and where their loyalties lay, and learn a lot about love. Where nine friends become bonded for life- however it may end- and get ready to make the move from Hogwarts to the real world!
Everyone is unusual but some people are more unusual than others…
***
Jessie is unusual in many ways. She has a twin sister, that's quite unusual. They live in a house, miles away from anywhere, not normal for girls of their age. Also her and her family were not at all alarmed to see an owl flying towards their house at breakfast time on a Sunday carrying an official looking envelope in its beak. This was because all of her family are witches and wizards and had been expecting their daughter's invitations to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since April, when both daughters had turned 11.
"This will be your school lists coming," said a pale woman with waist length black hair "They're a bit late this year, but you'll still have time to practice a few simple spells before you get there."
"Don't the Ministry of Magic have regulations on under age magic?" asked Jess quickly,
"Well yes," said a tall man sat at the table " But they can't detect under age magic when it's performed inside the house of an adult Witch or Wizard."
"Oh" exclaimed the twins together, despite being from a wizarding family there was still much they didn't know,
"So we can all go to Diagon Alley tomorrow." Continued the woman "Now, open your letters and see what they say,"
The letter read;
Dear Miss Jessica Orion,
It is my duty to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; term begins on September 1st when you will be required to take the Hogwarts express to Hogsmede station, via platform 9 ¾. The list attached tells you all the equipment you will need to attend the school, and the subjects you will be taking,
Yours sincerely,
Professor Minerva McGonagall
Deputy head
Head of Griffindor house
Hogwarts
Attached to the back of this letter was a second sheaf of parchment, it read,
Uniform
3 sets of black school robes
3-4 pairs of black or grey school trousers or
3-4 black or grey skirts
Some shirts
2 school ties
3 school jumpers
A witch's hat for formal occasionsSchool Books One thousand magical herbs and fungi by Donna E Fungi A years worth of planetary movements by Martha Sky
Things that burn bite and sting by Norbert Singed
Charms for beginners by Charlotte Wisp
Defence training for beginners by Simon Sneak
A concise history of Goblin Rebellions by Alphard Hammered
Potions for first years by B.
Transfiguration made easy by Hannah Herbert
Other
You also require;
A pet;
Rat, cat, bat, toad, owl or raven
One cauldron
One broomstick (Optional)
Potions ingredients
Trunk (To keep other school things in)
Wand
Subjects
Defence Against the Dark Arts
Transfiguration
Charms
Potions
Care of Magical Creatures
Herbology
Optional History Of Magic
Ancient Runes
Muggle studies
Arithmancy
Divination
Astronomy
Thank you and welcome to Hogwarts
"Was yours the same?" Emily asked
"Er…yes, I think so," Jess replied
Both girls went out of the room talking excitedly and spent the whole rest of the day discussing exactly what Hogwarts was going to be like.
***
The next day dawned bright and sunny, the perfect day for a spot of shopping, both girls were up and ready at 7 o'clock. They had donned Muggle's (non-magic people's) clothes and were both looking forward to getting their school equipment from Diagon Alley, their parents appeared beside them, they too had tried to dress as Muggles but had made a rather bad job of it, their mother was wearing a flowery blouse and bright pink combats, and their father a baggy, faded t-shirt and suit trousers. Looking rather odd the party set off to a tube station were they caught a train to the centre of London, the family stopped halfway along a deserted street and turned into a dirty old pub, Jessie looked up at the creaky sign swaying in the breeze, it read; The Leaky Cauldron.
The pub's inside was much the same as it's outside, old and dirty, and they moved swiftly through it exiting through a back door into a grimy yard no bigger than a broom cupboard, their mum reached into her pocket and drew out her wand, she tapped a certain brick just above a dustbin and the bricks began to move sideways out of her way to reveal the street beyond.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" exclaimed their mother
"Wow!"
Both twins gasped in excitement, never in their 11 years of being Witches had they encountered anything quite like this, it was a long diagonal street with exciting shop fronts glittering in the sun and small stalls set up here and there under awnings. Everywhere they looked Witches and Wizards were making purchases, and chatting to each other, some were sitting down under a sign that said Florean Fortesque's ice cream parlour, and consulting menus. It had a shop to suit everyone and for a moment the girls stared at it awestruck, and then hurriedly pulled out their lists.
"Well, we could get our robes first," Emily said excitedly "Look, there's Madam Malkin's."
"Ooh! Come on!" exclaimed Jess, who was practically jumping up and down with anticipation. All of them moved into the shop. It was a sea of different coloured robes and hats; there were some pieces of material spread on the floor with pins in them and others being sewn together by magically controlled needles.
"So…" said their mother looking over Emily's shoulder at her list "So…we need '3 sets of black school robes'" she looked expectantly at Madam Malkin.
After about half an hour they came out of the robe shop their arms laden with parcels, and their Dad suggested that he went to get their schoolbooks for them on his way to get some gold from the girl's joint vault at Gringots Wizarding Bank. So Emily, Jess and their Mum made their way to Olivander's wand shop.
3 ½ hours later they returned home laden with shopping bags and parcels, both girls were hot and tired so they took all their new school things upstairs to their room to unpack straight away before bed.
Jess took out her wand and laid it carefully on her bedside table, it was 9 ¼ inches long made of yew with phoenix tail feather core. Emily's wand was 11 inches, Mahogany and had Dragon heartstring core. Next she unwrapped all her books and placed them in the brand new trunk at the end of her bed, before moving onto her favourite parcel, favourite that is after her wand, she ran her eyes admiringly over the new Nimbus broom, they were an entirely new model and she hoped that not many people would have one yet. She put her potion ingredients inside her cauldron so she would remember where they were, and put both of these and all her uniform into the trunk. She opened the window wide so that her new owl and Emily's new raven could get out to hunt before she finally laid her Nimbus in full view from her bed and thought peacefully of all the moves she would practice for the rest of the summer so she would be the best chaser at Hogwarts when she got there.