No, I have no idea what I am doing. This is not a new thing, as I never know what I am doing. The only thing I know is that if you believe I own Harry Potter or any other related copyrights, then you are a sad, misguided little person. You are a sad, misguided little person because if I owned Harry Potter or any other related copyrights, then I wouldn't be here on this site, would I? That said, please enjoy this story.
It was a beautiful day in mid-July when our story takes place. The sun was shining and people everywhere were enjoying the afternoon lazing about or having fun. Some sat and lounged in their yards on beach chairs, while others did something similar, only with a nice golden tan in mind.
Yet others were more active. Children could be heard, laughing and shrieking as they played, in pools, in yards and the neighborhood in general. Dogs could be heard, barking and wagging their tails as they were taken for nice walks where their owners hadn't been so keen before.
This was the sight for much of England on this beautiful summer day when our story starts, including a park in Dunnington where our story starts. In this park lies our topics, three children no older then eleven, whose lives where to change drastically on this lovely summer day. Of the three children, two were girls, and they were quite the odd sight to see, if you want an honest opinion.
The first girl was a lovely brunette, whose hair fell in bushy waves. By all appearances, she was having fun throwing a bright yellow Frisbee for the large German Shepherd cross, and coaxing the canine to bring it back for her to throw again, as it seemed inclined to just lie down and chew the toy if left to its own devices.
The second girl and the boy were why this trio was the odd sight to see. This was because they were what the medicinal world called conjoined twins. However, as far as anyone else was concerned, they looked much rather odder then just that, as they were conjoined in such a way to look like a two-headed person.
To make matters even more interesting, it was easy to see that none of the three children were at all related, even though the boy and the girl shared a body. They were all having fun together, though, as the twins laughed at the other girl while they sat in a swing.
"Hey Hermione, you want us to take over?" the boy, whose raven black hair was a perpetual rat's nest, laughed. His emerald eyes glinted in humor as he looked at the brunette throwing the Frisbee.
"Why would I want that? Amber's having too much fun on that swing!" she answered back, indicating the girl with a nod. Indeed, the strawberry blonde with laughing grey-blue eyes did seem to be enjoying herself as she made her shared body move the swing.
None of them, or indeed, any of the people of Dunnington, paid any mind to the three owls flying overhead. That was, they were completely unaware of the three owls, and remained so till the three touched down on top of the swing set, their talons clinking against the steel.
The blonde, Amber, immediately halted the swing as the boy looked up. The brunette, Hermione, glanced over at the pair as she finished wrestling the Frisbee away from the dog. Her mouth dropped.
The owls, seeing the attention being given to them, hooted and landed, each to a shoulder of the three children, and held out a leg. Upon each leg was attached some sort of parcel, a letter rolled up and tied to the leg with a purple satin ribbon.
Cautiously, Amber reached up and untied the letter from her owl, a regal looking black hawk owl, and unfurled it. Seeing that she wasn't attacked, the boy and Hermione followed suit. The three owls, relieved of their burdens, went back to the swing set bar again, seemingly waiting.
Each letter was the same, if addressed to a different person. Hermione's read
"Ms. H. Granger, Dunnington Park, Dunnington." The only thing to change on the twins' letters was the names. The boy's was addressed to "Mr. H. Potter" and the blonde's to "Ms. A. Slivermoon."
Amber, curious, turned the envelope—made of parchment of all things—over to reveal a wax seal. It was shaped like a shield, cut into four parts and held together by a large "H". On each section was a different animal, a lion, snake, badger and eagle. She opened it, and pulled out a letter, also written on parchment.
Blue-grey eyes quickly took in the letter, and gawked. "It says I've been invited to Hogwarts and that Hogwarts is a school for Magic." she told her companions. The other two quickly opened their letters to reveal that they had been invited too. It also appeared that the owls were their letter carriers, and were waiting for a response.
"What do you think?" asked the boy, as the trio exchanged glances.
"I think we should write back and ask for an explanation. If this is real, I want to learn magic, but I have no idea where to begin." said Hermione eagerly. Her eyes gleamed with the thought of learning new things. The blonde snickered.
"But should we send three separate letters when one will suffice?" asked he. Amber shook her head.
"No need. They haven't gotten the news about us yet, which is probably why our last names are different. I'll write back a response for all of us, and include the change in names."
That said, she turned to a black bag sitting next to the swing set and rummaged through it, bringing out a scrap of paper and a pen. She brought both over to the picnic table and wrote a short but seemingly well thought-out note and placed it back inside her parchment envelope. Crossing out her name and address, she wrote a new address.
"Ms. M. McGonagall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, unknown location."
Then she gestured for the owls sitting on the swing set.
"I'm sorry that we don't need the undoubtedly excellent services of all three of you, but since we're all siblings, only one letter really needs to be sent. I trust you to get this letter back to Ms. McGonagall in good standing." she told the owls, who all preened at the veiled compliment. The hawk owl held out his leg for the parcel, and the blonde re-tied it with the same purple ribbon, giving all three owls a stroke of the head.
"Now, off you go, you intelligent little beings you." And the owls hooted and took off, each stopping only to nuzzle each child in turn, Amber receiving an extra little nuzzle. The dog barked, and shoved his head into the blonde's hand. She rubbed its head, getting a particularly great spot behind the ears.
"Now what?" asked the boy.
"Now I suggest we take Starlight home and tell Mum and Dad what happened." replied Amber. Hermione nodded, collecting the trio's things and attaching the leash to the dog's collar.
And so they left.
Back at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall was eating lunch when the black hawk owl landed in front of her and held out his leg. The staff, whom were also present and enjoying their own meals, all looked over at the animal's hoots.
Minerva undid the ribbon, recognizing it as one of the ones she had used on the school letters, and took the envelope. The owl hooted again and took off. Several staff members snickered.
Minerva raised an eyebrow at the front of the letter, which bore a student's name, scratched out and replaced with her own in the same manner in which she had addressed the letter to start with.
"Something wrong?" questioned Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster, watching his deputy curiously.
"Nothing much. This is a first year letter, but this first year is apparently either sucking up or just very well mannered, because they've addressed it to M. McGonagall, Hogwarts, unknown location."
Giggles and snorts of laughter was her response. Pretending to ignore the others, Minerva slipped open the envelope to pull out what could only be muggle paper. It was only half length, and its jagged edges spoke of someone tearing off the other half none-too-evenly at an earlier time.
"Dear Ms. McGonagall,
We are pleased that you wish to accept us at Hogwarts, but we have no clue what you're on about. If this is real, we wish for you to come visit us soon to explain things and take us for our shopping. We would like very much to attend Hogwarts if it is not some prank, but would like to inform you of some name changes, as two of us have long since been adopted and no longer go by the surnames on our envelopes. We hope to hear from you soon!
Respectively Yours,
Hermione Granger, Amber Granger (Formerly Slivermoon) and Harry Granger (Formerly Potter)"
"So, who's the letter from?" questioned Albus.
"Three muggleborn students, although one is simply muggle-raised more then muggleborn. Hermione Granger and her two siblings, Harry and Amber."
"Harry and Amber Granger?"
"Yes. It would appear that both of them have been adopted, as her last name was Slivermoon, and his last name was Potter." At this, Minerva gave Albus a VERY pointed glare. "They have asked that someone go see them to explain and take them to Diagon for their supplies, and request that we respect the name changes."
"Since when did Potter change his last name?" demanded Snape nastily. Minerva glared.
"It's Granger, and I don't know. A while ago, according to the letter." She turned her attention to Albus. "So, who shall go inform them and take them shopping? And when should they go?"
"I think you and Severus should be capable of handling three teenagers in Diagon, as well as the education aspect of it." he replied, eyes twinkling. "You can leave whenever you have the time."
Minerva looked at her younger colleague, who was scowling darkly, and questioned him about the time. His scowl deepened, and he snapped that he'd to it whenever, and soon.
Minerva frowned, but nevertheless, headed back to her office to write a response, giving the trio of siblings three days to prepare for their arrival. Much to her surprise, she found the hawk owl waiting for her calmly in her office, and arched an eyebrow.
"Have you taken a liking to one of these children then?" she asked, not expecting a reply. He hooted and seemed to nod anyway. Minerva decided to ignore the owl's odd behavior and wrote out her letter, allowing him to take it when it was finished. She then decided to go make a change to the registry, making sure Slivermoon and Potter became Granger.
The Granger siblings had just finished filling in their parents when the hawk owl came back, landing seemingly rather happily on Amber's shoulder. Nuzzling the girl, he held out a leg for her, exposing yet another letter. The Granger parents seemed rather stunned to have their children's story verified in such a matter, while Amber thanked the bird and took the letter. She offered a couple of strokes as reward, making note of the places the owl seemed to really like having petted.
The boy, Harry, took the letter and handed it to an eager Hermione while Amber occupied herself with the owl, who seemed to have become attached to her. Hermione nearly ripped the letter in her eagerness and read it.
"There are two professors, McGonagall and a Professor Snape, who will be coming in three days around 10 am to explain and take us shopping. Professor McGonagall warns Harry to be alert, though, because Professor Snape hated his father and seems to have transferred this to him."
Harry sighed. "Well, I'll just have to set him straight, and hope for the best. I never even knew my father, and whatever happened between them happened probably before I was even a dream anyway. Amber, are you going to keep that owl as your pet?" he added this last part to his twin, noticing how attached Amber had become of the bird, who had yet to leave.
"No. Such a highly intelligent creature as this is not a pet. It will be up to the beautiful creature himself to decide whether or not he becomes my companion, although I suppose it's only polite to let the school know if he does. After all, they appear to have been using his superb services, and can let whoever leases him out know about it. I highly doubt he belongs to any of them though."
She looked at the hawk owl curiously, and added, "However, I would not be adverse to having him as a companion, myself. After all, it would be an honor to know such a beautiful and intelligent creature even just momentarily. To have him decide to be my companion would be nothing short of walking with the gods in person."
The owl hooted and nuzzled Amber's face, and seemed to make himself even more at home then before. Amber noticed.
"I take then, that you wish to stay?" she asked hopefully. A positive sounding hoot. "I thank you for choosing to grace me with your presence, and I hope to be a good companion for such an esteemed being as yourself." Amber accepted with as much grace as she could think of. She knew that owls, especially the owls that had delivered their letters, needed some respect, if not a lot of it.
"And just how exactly to you plan on taking care of an owl? It's not like you can feed it parakeet food from Wal-mart!" demanded Hermione.
"I figure that we'd use it to send back our acceptance letter, letting them know we'll be ready, and perhaps warning off this Snape person from displacing his hatred for a dead man as well. Besides, since he's been gone, I've taken a look at the school list, and it says dogs aren't allowed, and I wanted to ask about Starlight. Besides, I'm sure he wouldn't mind staying at this Hogwarts place for a couple of days until we can get our supplies and I can get everything proper for his care. You wouldn't mind, would you?" she added, addressing the last part to the owl who cooed at the girl and nipped her ear affectionately.
"I suppose so. Plus, we need to let them know about the owl anyway, and perhaps we should let them know about us, if you know what I mean." said Harry slowly, gesturing to himself/Amber. Hermione sighed, conceding the point, and nodded.
Amber glanced at their still silent parents. "Do you mind, Mum, Dad? We would really like to go, if it's possible, and the owl can make his own decisions."
"I don't suppose we mind, no, it's just that we still need time to adjust and get used to all of it. And we'll let the owl slide, since he's already made his choice, and who are we to stand in his way? Besides, if he becomes your companion, then we can use him to write letters back in forth, given that owls seem like the main communication between wizards." replied her mother.
Mr. Granger seemed to have sensed what Amber did about the owl, and looked the creature straight in his large golden eyes. "You won't mind taking our letters back and forth, would you, since you've chosen to stay with Amber?"
Again the owl hooted, and flared his wings. Harry had been writing a letter during the little side conversation, and finished it with a flourish just then.
"How does this look?" he questioned his partner, who looked the letter over. It was as polite as was possible, although he had inserted a message to Snape that just bordered on rude, and covered all the bases. Amber did not hold the rudeness of the Snape message against anybody, since it was hard to remain polite in those circumstances, and nodded.
"Will you kindly deliver this message to McGonagall? Afterwards, if they have nothing else to say, you can hang around Hogwarts until I have all the proper materials to treat you the way you deserve to be treated."
The Hawk Owl stuck out his leg, not minding in the least at his being used for letter carrying, and nuzzled Amber before flying out the same window he came in. Life then returned to semi-normal in the Granger household, while waiting for the day the professors came to see them.
Meanwhile, time enough had passed that the owl was delivering the message to Minerva during dinner. She looked supremely surprised to see the owl, but took his letter nevertheless and promptly offered him some ham before ignoring him. The owl took the offered meat and headed to the Owlery.
"What now?" demanded Snape.
"It's the Grangers. They must not live very far off, if their letters come within hours of each other like this." Minerva mused as she opened the envelope.
"To Ms. M. McGonagall and Mr. S. Snape;
We have received your correspondence, and eagerly await your arrival three days from now. We have only responded to this letter, as we have some things we would like to inform you of before you arrive. Please feel free to wait until our meeting to address any and all of these topics.
Topic one concerns the owl who has just delivered this letter. He has taken a great liking towards Amber and has just now decided to become her companion. He will be living at Hogwarts until we have gone on our shopping trip, wherein it seems safe to assume Amber will be able to purchase the things needed to properly care for an owl. We would like to offer our thanks in advance for allowing him to do so, and would like to ask that, if you know who leases out his services that they be informed. We will also gladly pay any fees in regards to his room and board.
Since receiving our letters, we have looked over the supplies list and have noted the accepted pets. While the owl has now just come under our ownership, so to speak, we have neither a cat nor a toad, but we do have one other pet. We wish to know if it is at all possible to bring our dog with us, as, while we are sure our parents will not mind looking out for her while we are away, we do not wish to leave her ten months out of the year if it is at all possible. I'm sure you understand.
To Ms. McGonagall, if you receive this letter first, please deliver this message to Mr. Snape: I will not stand for bad behavior in regards to my person because he has issues against a dead man I never knew. Please remind him that James Potter has been dead and rotting for a decade now, and that I am not him, no matter how closely related to him I am. Please also remind him that my mother was Lily, as he does not seem to have such a problem against her, or you have failed to mention it.
Finally, we would also like to inform you of a development you may not be aware about, which we did not see the need to include in our original response letter. Amber and I have known each other since we were about four years old, before meeting the Grangers. On what we considered Amber's fifth birthday, she and I preformed a feat of magic that bound us together in the most unusual of ways. Amber lived with a nasty man who was legally her guardian and he was going away and had every intention to take her with. We made a strong wish to remain together, and our magic responded to the simple statement by fusing us into one. You will undoubtedly be shocked at your first sight of us no matter what we do, but we are hoping to lessen the shock by informing you prior to your visit that since that day, Amber and I share a single body. We literally look like a two headed person, I being one head, and Amber the other.
We thank you for your time and energy, and can not wait to see you in three days. Until then, we hope you have a pleasant time.
Yours,
The Grangers."
Minerva stared. And stared some more. She could not believe it. She was dreaming, and she would wake up any minute now. Or she was being pranked, and any second now, someone would start laughing about her expression before apologizing.
"Well, Minerva? What does the letter say?" No one was laughing. And she wasn't waking up. A quick bite on the inside of her cheek proved that she wasn't dreaming at all.
"It says that they will be ready for us when we come. That owl who gave me this message was a school owl, but they are under the impression that someone is leasing it out, and wish for someone to inform them that it is no longer in their service. It will be staying here until Amber can get the supplies needed for an owl, as it has decided to be her familiar."
Everyone stared at her. "You're joking, right?" questioned Rolanda Hooch hopefully. Minerva shook her head.
"Oh, there's more. Like the fact that the Grangers own a dog and want to know if there is any way the dog can come to Hogwarts. They only ask because we don't have dogs on the list, which is mainly because wizards don't own dogs. They also have a message for you Severus."
"And what could they possibly have to say to me?" he demanded coldly.
"Well, I warned them ahead of time that you'd likely act dismally because Harry was a Potter, and they requested that I remind you that James Potter is, as they so bluntly put it, "Dead and rotting" and has been for 10 years. They would like me to inform you that Harry never knew his father and that he will not take your misplaced hatred sitting down. They also wanted me to remind you that, while James may have been his father, Lily was also a factor in his creation."
Several people snickered at that, and Snape glowered at his dinner, but Minerva decided to move on.
"They also wish to prepare us for the shock we are likely to receive upon meeting them, because Harry and Amber have known each other while Harry was still residing with his aunt and uncle. Amber, it appears, was under the guardianship of someone who mistreated her if nothing else, and when it became apparent that he was leaving and taking her with, they got together and ended up having a spurt of accidental magic."
"What's that got to do with anything?" questioned Filius Flitwick confusedly.
"Well, it would appear that the magic "Fused", to use their phrasing, them together as one person with two heads."
Everyone stared at her like she was nuts. She stared back. "I'm not kidding, here, read for yourselves!" and she passed the note around. The staff did indeed read it, including Snape, and they all stared in stunned shock. It was Dumbledore who finally broke the silence, regaining his wits first.
"Well, this Sorting will prove to be interesting, certainly. After all, Harry can't go to one House, of Amber's in another, now can he, if they share a body?"
No one answered, as everyone just stared. Dumbledore didn't seem to mind, though, as he went back to his dinner, seemingly thinking happy thoughts about the new year. The new year with a two headed person in the first year class.
And no one had anything to say about it.
Like I said earlier, I have no idea what the crap I am doing. I just had a thought after watching "Quest for Camelot" and thinking perhaps a little too hard about Devon and Cornwall. This led to thoughts about Zak and Wheezie from "Dragon Tales" and shifted into Harry Potter land. Now Harry's a two-headed person (Which can actually exist as conjoined twins, although in reality there is no boy-girl pairs), and adopted by the Grangers. I hope you enjoyed the Prolouge and I'll get Chapter 2 up VERY soon. As usual, all pleas for reviews apply.
Werewolf of Suburbia.