The Owlery
AlwaysPadfoot
AN: Uneditted
Dirk Cresswell had been at Hogwarts for two days now and he had to admit that the classes were ten times more interesting than the ones he would have been taking at Brackenhall Grammar.
He couldn't quite get over the fact that magic was being used around every corner and sometimes Dirk couldn't help but stop and stare when he saw an older student using it. It felt as if he'd been sucked into a book or a movie like his brain hadn't registered that this was true it real.
Right now, Dirk was heading up to the Owlery. A stone tower, which at the top was where all the school owls could be found. Wizards used owls to send letters and parcels, it was a surprisingly quick way of contacting his parents and younger sister.
He'd never admit it aloud to anyone, but Dirk really missed his family - even his sister who was eight years old and really annoying.
He was the only person with magic in the family so it had been quite a surprise when Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration Professor, had turned up at his home with a letter to Hogwarts and a tale of magic to tell. At first they didn't believe it, apparently very little did, but Professor McGonagall proved it with a flick of her wand. Despite the initial shock, Dirk's Mum and Dad had agreed to let him come to Hogwarts.
So far Hogwarts had lived up to its expectations except for one thing: Dirk was finding it really difficult a to make friends. Two of the boys in his dormitory: George Jones and James Oswald, appeared to have already be friends, and the other boy, Oliver, he'd hardly seen outside classes.
Dirk climbed the last flight of stairs, wanting to get out of the rain that had only seemed to get heavier as he ascended the stone stairs to the Owlery.
As soon as he ducked through the last archway, he heard voices to the left of him.
"...You're doing it wrong, you tie it like this."
"I am not, I can do it Ali. This isn't the first time I've sent an owl."
When Dirk looked over at the two voices he was surprised to see Oliver from his dormitory fighting with a girl also wearing Hufflepuff robes. When he thought about it, he realised they'd been sorted together so they must be related.
Oliver eyes soon fell to Dirk, "Oh hey, you're Dirk right?"
"Yeah, Oliver isn't it?" he responded, before looking to the girl, "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."
"It's Alison, I'm his twin, unfortunately," she replied, taking the opportunity to take the owl off her brother and finish tying her letter to it. He scowled and let her take it and turned back to Dirk.
"So, you're a Muggleborn yeah?" He asked. Dirk nodded, "This must be all really ridiculous to you then."
"It's odd, but I really like it," Dirk answered, "It's only been two days though, I'll get used to the magic."
Alison had just let go of the Owl and wiped her hands on her robes whilst he picked a school owl out for his own letter.
"Have you made any friends yet?" She asked cheerfully as Dirk tied his letter to a nearby barn owl. He startled at the question a little and didn't really know what to say.
"Erm, well, not really, not yet." He decided to say before he let the owl jump onto his arm and then take off into the air. Alison looked at her brother, who pretended not to notice.
"Well, I'm unfortunately stuck with my brother here, for some reason we actually get along," she explained, causing her brother too hit her lightly, "So you're welcome to come and join our little group. He's not nearly as grumpy as he looks and besides it might get weird if my only friend is my brother."
"I think I'm going to like Dirk more than you Ali," Oliver muttered with a playful scowl, before he turned to him, "So, have you heard of Quidditch?"
Dirk spent the whole way down to dinner listening to Oliver passionately talk about the Montrose Magpies whilst Alison countered with talk about the Holyhead Harpies, both of which were Quidditch teams. He had to admit that it sounded like Quidditch was one only thing the two twins could agree on, in regards to how amazing it was, but that was about all they agreed on.
Over his years a Hogwarts, Dirk came to realise that Alison and Oliver Clearwater were quite the dynamic. Alison was clearly the more confident twin, but once you got him talking Oliver would come out of his shell more. They were both from a magical family, but that didn't matter to Dirk, in fact it helped him a lot when it came to facts he should know about the Magical World that he didn't know. All three of them became exceptionally competitive and by fourth year, they'd all acquired Chaser positions on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and were extremely hard to beat. For twins, the two fought a lot less than Dirk had expected, but the relentless banter was something he had to get used to almost immediately, not to mention try to keep up with it.
Dirk didn't quite realise how easy it had been to suddenly gain two friends in a blink of an eye, he didn't even do anything, not really, but whatever he did, he was so glad it happened.