I got this idea when I watched the last HP movie. And I just knew I had to write it, and publish it here, despite the fact that I'm not fluent in english. This is obviously AU, and Harry Potter and his world obviously belongs to JK Rowling.
Feel free to review, I love reviews :)
"Promise me you'll listen to your professors, and for Merlin's sake, stay out of trouble!" Mrs Fawcett said to her children, her voice filled with worry. Nate nodded eagerly while Addie looked down on the ground. The two eleven year olds had never been away from home for a very long time, but it was the first day of September and the twins were going to Hogwarts for the first time.
"I'm sure they will behave, Vicky", Addie looked disgusted when Gregory Pritchard put a reassuring arm on her mother's shoulder. Addie's mother and Mr Pritchard had been seeing each other for more than a year now, and Addie despised the man. No one could ever replace her father, who had disappeared many years ago under mysterious circumstances. John Fawcett had been a wonderful man and a loving father, but he hadn't sympathised with the government, and one day on his way to work, he had disappeared. Addie and her brother had been seven. Mrs Fawcett had mourned the loss of her husband for many years, but one of her friends had introduced her to the charming Gregory Pritchard, who had an important post at the Ministry of Magic.
"Of course, Gregory. I'm just being silly", Mrs Fawcett said and giggled like a school-girl.
"It's a natural instinct for a mother, darling. Jonathan and Adelaide will do well at Hogwarts, especially if they manage to get into Slytherin", Mr Pritchard said.
"Bye mother, bye Mr Pritchard", Addie said quickly, her brother repeated her words. The twins turned around and walked towards the train.
"Write tonight! Both of you!" Mrs Fawcett called after them. Someone who had been at platform 9 ¾ twenty years earlier would hardly recognise it this September morning. The Hogwarts Express was no longer red, since the colour was too much associated with Gryffindor, and Gryffindor was too much associated with the rebellion. The train was instead in a depressing, dark grey. People were standing close to their families, not socialising with people they didn't knew, and they all spoke quietly to each other. There were no screams, no laughs and no hugs. Some young children cried though, and their mothers desperately tried to cheer them up. The train was divided in five parts, one for each house and one for the first years. Slytherin House had nicer and bigger compartments than the other houses, and Gryffindor's had deliberately not been cleaned for the last couple of years. Addie and Nate boarded the train at the back, along with the other first years. A dark haired girl already dressed in her Ravenclaw uniform with a shining prefect badge on her cloak stood at the door and checked the tickets.
"It looks like all compartments are already taken", Addie said when they had checked the entire cart.
"We'll just sit with some other people then", Nate said and opened the door to the closest compartment. There was just one person there, a girl with honey-coloured hair and amber eyes who read a book.
"Can we sit here?" Addie asked and the girl looked up.
"Sure", she said and smiled. Addie sat down on the seat the girl was not occupying and Nate sat down next to his sister.
"I'm Addie Fawcett, and this is my brother Nate", Addie said. Nate had already picked up a book and started reading, ignoring both girls.
"I'm Emily Finnegan", the girl said. "What house do you want to be in?" She asked.
"Slytherin, I suppose. Doesn't everyone want to be in Slytherin?" Addie asked. Emily smiled again.
"I don't. I'd rather be a Hufflepuff. My mother was a Hufflepuff, so I think I want to be one as well", Emily said happily and picked up her book again.
"But Slytherins get a lot of privileges", Addie pointed out. Emily just shrugged, not looking up from the book.
"True, but most people in Slytherin are real jerks. Well, at least that's what my father says, and I'd rather be in a house where I can make friends than one where everyone is only looking out for themselves", Emily retorted. "If you ignore all the privileges the Slytherins get, and the fact that they are considered better than everyone else, which house would you rather be in then?" Emily asked.
"Gryffindor", Addie answered before she could stop herself. Nate looked at her horrified.
"Addie! Are you out of your mind? Mr Pritchard would kill you if he knew", Nate whispered angrily. Addie's brother was rarely angry, but she could see that he was close to getting there.
"Mr Pritchard won't know, and I won't be placed in Gryffindor, Nate. No purebloods are ever placed in Gryffindor unless their parents are traitors", Addie said and rolled her eyes. Her brother could be silly sometimes.
"Why would you even want to be in Gryffindor, Addie?" Nate asked. Addie shrugged.
"I think dad was in Gryffindor", she said slowly, her brother shook his head.
"No he wasn't! It's impossible!" Nate said upset.
"Has mother ever said anything else?" Addie asked annoyed.
"That doesn't necessarily mean he was a Gryffindor", Nate said and Addie snorted.
"If he had been anything else, mother would have told us"
"It has maybe escaped you're mind, but mother doesn't like to talk about dad!" Nate said.
"Whatever", Addie said and sighed. The last thing she needed now was another argument with her brother. In some ways, Nate had taken their father's disappearance much harder than Addie, despite her being daddy's girl. As a young child, he had been a curious boy, full of life, but when his father disappeared he had become more introverted, and was constantly grumpy. Like some pair of twins are, Addie and Nate had been closer than other siblings during their childhood, but Nate had distanced himself from his sister after the disappearance of their father, and the last couple of years the twins had argued more than ever, especially since their mother had met Mr Pritchard. Suddenly the door to the compartment was opened by a boy. He was dark haired with hazel eyes, behind him there was another boy, slightly taller with brown hair and blue eyes.
"Can we sit here? Some snotty girls threw us out from the other compartment", the dark haired boy asked.
"Sure", Addie and Emily said at the same time, and the boys sat down on the seat.
"I'm Jeremy Wood, and this is my mate Wes MacMillan", the dark haired boy said with a nod towards the other boy.
"I'm Emily Finnegan", Emily said.
"Addie Fawcett. And my brother, Nate", Addie added quickly, assuming her brother wouldn't bother present himself.
"Nice to meet you", Wes MacMillan said politely. Addie noticed that both boys were dressed in red shirts, a very peculiar colour choice in these days, but she didn't put anymore thought into it. The train ride went on without any incidents. Nate read during the entire journey, the other two boys played exploding snap, Emily fell asleep and Addie watched the changing landscape through the window. After several hours the door to the compartment was opened by the Ravenclaw prefect who had checked the tickets at King's Cross. She looked at the two card-playing boys coldly before she walked into the compartment and took their cards.
"Hey! What did you do that for?" Jeremy protested.
"Exploding Snap is not allowed at Hogwarts, nor on the train. But since you haven't been sorted yet, I won't dock any points. I will however confiscate this", the prefect said coldy and held up the stack of cards. "And you should change into you uniforms, we will reach Hogsmeade station in thirty minutes", the prefect said and walked away.
"Not allowed at Hogwarts…" Jeremy muttered grumpily. "Come on, Wes, Nate, let's leave so the girls can change first", Jeremy said and got up from his seat. Both boys followed him out from the compartment. Emily had woken up while the prefect had been in the compartment and searched her bag for her uniform.
"Did I miss anything while I was asleep?" Emily wondered and Addie shook her head.
"No, can you help me with my tie?"
When the train finally slowed down and then stopped, all first years had changed into their uniforms and had been told by a prefect to wait on the platform. The night was chilly, and Addie immediately felt unhappy when she stepped onto the platform.
"Why did I suddenly become so sad?" Emily said and Addie was glad she wasn't the only one who noticed there was something unnatural with the sudden unhappiness.
"It's the dementors. Dad told me about them, they feed on peoples' happy memories. Before the war they were only used to guard Azkaban, but now they're at Hogwarts as well", Jeremy said quietly.
"But why?" Addie whispered back.
"They say it's to keep the students safe, but dad says it's because they're afraid the rebellion…" Jeremy was cut off by a shouting voice.
"FIRST YEARS, FOLLOW ME!" The voice belonged to a dark-haired woman dressed in grey robes. Her age was rather hard to define, but Addie would guess she was somewhere in her forties, perhaps a bit older. She led the first years towards the Forbidden Forest. The small boats students used to take across the lake had been replaced by a walk through the forest to scare the eleven year olds. Years later Addie would understand that the Forbidden Forest wasn't particularly dangerous, since most of its creatures had abandoned it, but that night, Addie had never been more frightened. Most of the children were whispering worriedly as the witch brought them deeper into the forest.
"Why are we here?" Emily whispered in Addie's ear.
"I don't know. Maybe some kind of ritual", Addie whispered back. There was no ritual though, the witch just led the children around in the forest for thirty minutes or so, and every single first year was immensely relieved when they saw the castle. Hogwarts was not bathing in lights as it used to do, instead it was dark and gloomy and the grounds were empty. The witch led the group of students into the castle and across the entrance hall. She opened a door that led to an old classroom; made sure no students had been lost on their way there, locked the door and went away without a word. Talking erupted in the room. Everyone was talking to the person that happened to stand next to them.
"I wonder what she's doing"
"My mum said the sorting ceremony has always been in the Great Hall. Why are we here?"
"Did we really walk around in that forest for nothing?" A blonde girl with her hair in a pony-tail said to a dark-skinned brunette.
"I'm sure I will be in Slytherin", the blonde girl said loudly. "Father says he will be very disappointed if I end up somewhere else"
"Of course you'll end up in Slytherin, Carissa", the other girl assured the blonde. "My family has been Slytherins for generations, so I don't think I have to worry", she continued, sounding very snobbish.
"I know Melanie", the girl called Carissa said.
"Well it isn't my parents who both were Gryffindors during their years at Hogwarts", the girls' conversation had taken a quick turn.
"How dare y…"
"Girls, girls. The catfight can wait until after the sorting, right?" A boy who stood next to them said. He was pale with dark hair and long eye-lashes, his features were almost more like a girl's than a boy's. His hair was fairly long, and had he not worn trousers, Addie could've easily mistaken him for a girl.
"This doesn't concern you, Timothy", the dark-haired Melanie spat.
"Oh, but I think it does, Mel", the boy said with an amused smile playing on his lips. Melanie was about to answer when the door was opened and the witch came in with a very old hat in her hand. The hat had definitely been through a lot considering its state and Addie saw how Carissa looked disgusted by the thought of having it on her head.
Everyone had gone quiet when the witch came back, and for the first time since they had gathered on the station, she talked.
"I am professor Carrow", the witch started. "I teach muggle studies at this school and I'm responsible for the sorting ceremony. I can't see how any of your schoolmates may have any interest in watching your sorting, so we'll spare them the boredom", the witch said.
"Avery, Timothy", the witch said and the boy called Timothy who had spoken to Melanie a few minutes earlier pushed himself through the crowd. "Sit down on the chair", professor Carrow said bored and the boy obeyed. Professor Carrow put the hat on the boy's head and after a few moments the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!"
"No need to scream, you stupid hat", professor Carrow said. "You can go through the door on the far left", she said to Timothy Avery. On the other side of the room there was a wall with four doors. One with a snake, one with an eagle, one with a badger and one with a lion, representing each of the houses. The lanky boy opened the door with the snake, the rest of the first years stretched their necks to see what was on the other side, but the room behind the door was completely dark.
"Go on", professor Carrow said and Timothy Avery walked through the door. The door slammed behind his back the second he had entered the room.
"Bletchley, Phyllida!" The sorting went on. Phyllida Bletchley was also made a Slytherin and was followed by a Hufflepuff and two Ravenclaws. Suddenly, professor Carrow called Addie's name.
"Fawcett, Adelaide!" She said loudly and Addie made her way to the chair and sat down. Professor Carrow placed the hat on Addie's head. Addie jumped when the hat started talking to her.
"Fawcett, you say? I sorted your father many years ago", the hat said, but Addie was somehow knew that she was the only person who could hear it.
"Really. Can you just put me in a house, preferably Slytherin, but Ravenclaw would do too", Addie thought.
"You don't belong in Slytherin miss Fawcett", the hat said and Addie sighed.
"Put me in Ravenclaw then", Addie said impatiently.
"Well, you do have the brains for Ravenclaw. But I think you'll do better in… GRYFFINDOR!"