One stormy July afternoon, there was a girl sitting next to a window in her very cramped bedroom, very much hating the world. She hated the world for three reasons- Her cousin had just poured a bucket of muddy water on her and her bed, hew owl Lily had not returned to her in over a week, and no one had remembered her birthday. To Katherine, it seemed that no one in the world had ever cared about her. Her guardians, Violet and Charles, and their son, had never cared, and NEVER remembered her birthday. She looked nothing like her aunt and uncle, with long, silky brown hair instead of their blonde. Her forehead bore something unordinary that she didn't mention to many people. Her friends probably would have remembered that this hot and stormy July afternoon was Katherine's birthday, if they existed. She had no friends, but earlier this morning, Katherine has blown out her imaginary candles with her "special birthday breakfast" of cold tomato soup, sitting amongst her piles of imaginary birthday presents, wishing that her upcoming year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would change everything. As Katherine sat by the window, wishing somebody would magically take her away from her worries, a violet crash shook her window, followed by a ball of wet white feathers and a scream from downstairs.
"If you don't keep bloody quiet, I'll kick you out onto the streets, as well as that ruddy bird of yours."
Katherine was not startled by the scream as much as her owl, Lily crashing into her window after not seeing her for a week; she was threatened and insulted by her aunt several hundred times daily. As Katherine tried to pry the damp parchment from Lily's unclipped talons, she realized that it had a red wax seal on it, which made her all the more interested.
"You silly old bird, give me that letter."
Katherine's comment seemed to awaken the bird from its semi-conscious state, enough to let her remove the note from its grasp. With the letter in her hand, she reached instinctively for her pocket knife to open it up, not bothering to look at the front. After a few seconds of searching her bedside table, the knife had not found its way to her hand, even though Katherine was the most organized person in London, without an argument. She thought for a moment, and then realized what her cousin must have run from her room with earlier.
"I'll get you, you little brat! GIVE ME MY POCKET KNIFE!"
Ever since Katherine had been living with her aunt and uncle, the pocket knife had been special to her. It had been recovered from her parents' home after they were killed. Katherine had studied the knife over and over when she had nothing else to do, which was quite often, and had found an inscription in Latin on the blade. After a year of studying, she translated it to "A pair must not be separated, he'll be at school". After many more years of analyzing, Katherine still had no idea what the message meant, who it was from, and why she had it. She did know that no one was looking for her at school, because for the past 6 years, she had never had any friends, and what pair of anything shouldn't be separated.
Katherine ran down the stairs and burst through the etched glass double doors leading to the kitchen to find her cousin sitting calmly at the table.
"What on earth could you possibly be talking about?"
It annoyed her to no end when her cousin played innocent in front of his parents.
"You know you took it, TROLL. Give it here, it's MINE."
"Sit down and shut yourself up for a minute, girl. What exactly did you lose this time?"
She also hated it when her Aunt Violet butted into her life, yet alone accused her and called her "girl". Almost everything about Aunt Violet bothered Katherine.
"I DIDN'T LOSE ANYTHING, YOU STUPID PIG…"
"That is IT; I've had it with you, stupid girl. GET OUT, OUT I SAID!"
She knew what this meant, Katherine would have to spend the night out on the metal bench in the garden. It wouldn't be too comfortable, but surely not a far stretch from her old, lumpy, secondhand mattress which her feet hung over. As she glumly walked out the back door, something cold and hard hit her on the shoulder. She leaned over to pick it up quickly, only to find that it was her pocket knife, open to the inscription side of the blade. Suddenly, the knife started spinning, and the inscription turned bright green. Katherine was frightened, she had never seen anything glow and spin of hers before. Everything started turning green, but before long, it was black and white, then yellow, and with each color, the world seemed to spin faster and faster. A feeling of sickness to her stomach overpowered the fear and question in her mind. Before everything stopped spinning, the feeling in her stomach changed from sickness to sinking. Then it stopped.
Katherine blinked her green eyes twice, and looked around. She was on a train, or at least in a train cabin. Amongst her was a shiny mahogany trunk with her initials in gold, Lily in her cage, and a black robe, a white blouse, a black tie, and grey knee socks laid out on the bench next to her. Seated across from her was a tall boy with red hair, a girl with frizzy brown hair, and a boy with unkempt hair that looked remarkably like herself.
"Erm .. Hello? Would you mind telling me where this train is going?"
The girl was first to answer, "You can't be serious. The train station, Platform 9¾, Hogwarts Express, muggles, wizards, witches, the lot of it. You've been sitting here this whole time and now you ask where the train is headed?"
"OH? Hogwarts Express? Witches, wizards? Muggles? Do train stations have fractional numbers? How did I get here? I haven't been …"
"Woah, calm down mate." interrupted the red-haired boy. "You seriously don't know that you've been sitting here for over an hour? Anyways …"
The brown-haired boy began. "You're a witch, going to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry, THOSE are your robes, THIS is the Hogwarts Express, He is Ron, and SHE is Hermione. I suppose you'll tell us who you are?" Then the boy scratched his forehead, and Katherine blinked again. It couldn't have been …
"My name is Katherine. I'm not a witch … and I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Don't worry, I didn't know about magic either, until I got my letter. You didn't get one? Look in your trunk!"
At this, Katherine bent over the seat and unlatched the two gold clasps on her shiny trunk. The inside smelled like new leather. On top of a pile of clothes were a wand, her pocket knife, and a tattered envelope with a red wax seal on it.
"Go on, read it."
When she was finished reading the whole letter, Katherine began to understand.
"You know", she said, "I had a dream about this once, I never thought it would be ... real. I'm not dreaming, am I? Pinch me."
At this, the red haired boy, Ron, leaned over and gave her arm a quick pinch.
"Nope, you're awake, and so are we. I don't believe you told us your name."
"I did. My name is Katherine. And if I'm a witch, then I suppose THIS is my wand, and those are … school robes?"
"Yup."
At that point in time, their conversation was halted by a plump woman pushing a cart full of candy and snacks appeared at the entrance to the cabin.
"Anything off the trolley, my dears?" said the woman in a kind, motherly tone.
Ron looked at his feet and hid his lumpy homemade roast-beef sandwich while Harry dug through his pockets.
"I'm sorry. I didn't pack any money, I didn't really PACK anything. It sure looks good though." Katherine replied.
"Ok then, how about Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans for everyone, my treat?"
Harry took out a few sickles and handed them to the trolley woman in exchange for 4 packs of oddly flavored jellybeans. He handed the packages out and received a chorus of thank you's.
"Where did you get all that money from?" Katherine asked, before realizing that she sounded nosy and rude.
"My parents left it to me when they died."
"I'm really sorry." she felt even guiltier now.
"My parents are dead too. They died in a car crash when I was really little. Would you mind helping me open this?" She motioned to her box of jellybeans.
Harry quickly grabbed something out of his pocket and offered to help when Katherine realized what he was holding.
"I have a pocket knife EXACTLY like that one! Have a look. Only difference is that mine has some Latin inscription on the blade."
"Really? The company that makes them must put messages on the knives." Harry said coolly. "What does yours say, mine says 'A pair must not be separated, she'll be at school.' Isn't that weird? It's about my sister. When my parents died, my sister didn't end up going to the same family as I did. I have to live with my stupid aunt and uncle, they're the WORST! I hope I find her. It's a big school." Finishing, Harry scratched his forehead again.
"This sounds really odd. My knife says the same thing, only "HE will be at school." Katherine was starting to feel uneasy, and wished that Ron would pinch her again.
Ron added, as if he were psychic, "Should I pinch you two? Snap out of it."
Katherine sat quietly for a moment, and then when the pieces were all put together, she asked Harry what she needed to find out.
"May I see your forehead?"
He replied, as if he were used to this, "Oh, my scar, it's weird, I know." Katherine gasped loudly. She couldn't believe it.
"Are you ok? Do you need a drink of water; you've been quite out of it since you started talking. Maybe a walk down the hall?"
"I'm … fine." Katherine lifted up her bangs.
"NO WAY! This is bloody brilliant you two! You've got the same scar, that's scary even."
Hermione responded almost too quickly to Ron, "Can't you see? There's something we don't know, and no of us know it, but I think that I can figure it out. Katherine, what is your last name?"
She answered, "Butler. I live with my Aunt Violet and Uncle Charles Butler in London."
"Oh, then, I guess, it's just some very odd coincidence that …" Harry sounded almost disappointed in something.
"… My parents' last name was Potter; mine was changed when they died."
Everyone in the train cabin was silent. Katherine, though initially slow on the uptake began to realize that she might have not known that for 11 years, she had had no friends or family that cared about her, but a twin brother living in the same city with a terrible aunt, uncle and cousin all his own waiting for his sister to find him.
"You … you ... you're … my brother? I have a … twin? Harry Potter? Lily and James Potter? London, England? You've got … the same scar and … a …knife."
As Harry tried to respond to Katherine, they both broke out into the same tears of ignorance. Harry leaned over to hug Katherine.
On a stormy July afternoon, the wishes of a boy and a girl were granted. Someone finally cared.