Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter


The red train whistled one last time, before leaving the station and the waving people on the platform behind. Inside, many students were still searching for their friends or an empty compartment to spent the ride in.

Their excited chatter could be heard even through the closed door of a compartment in the front part of the train. Inside, a raven-haired boy stared empty eyed out of the window. He was already bored out of his mind and the train ride would take a couple of hours. Opposite of him sat a girl, her curly hair the same dark color as the boys, with grey eyes fixed on a book in her lap. She took no notice of her surroundings, concentrating solely on the words in front of her. Her brother would tell her, if anything interesting happened.

The boy and the girl were fraternal twins, looking very much alike, except for the fact that one was male, the other female. They had the same chiseled nose, a mouth with a plump bottom lip and big, grey eyes, with a slightly arrogant look.

"I-I'm sorry, is-is there a s-seat free in h-here?", came a shy voice from the door.

The boy looked away from the window and carefully studied the newcomer. He seemed to be a first-year, just like them. Brown hair, a little ... was that a toad in his hand? Who in Merlin's name had a toad as a pet?

"Sure, sit down," his sister finally answered the question, without even looking up from her book. Her brother gave her a look, that went completely unnoticed, and sighed wearily.

The boy still lingered in the doorway, looking uncertain and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

"Well, don't stand there like a statue. Come-on in," he invited the boy again, not overly enthusiastic, but the boy finally seemed convinced and entered. He sat down opposite of them and studied them with shy curiosity, before turning white as a sheet and trying to hide in a corner of the compartment.

"He is strange," the boy thought to his sister. Being able to communicate silently with your twin certainly had its upsides and it was driving their grandmother up the wall. Though, most people simply thought they were a bit crazy, when they broke into fits of giggling seemingly without reason. It didn't really matter, considering many of their family members weren't exactly known for being sane.

He observed the newcomer for a couple more seconds before adding: "Honestly, he looks like he's going to bolt for the door any minute."

"Whatever, be quiet and let me read," was her answer, but his sister did look up from her book to study the boy. She frowned and opened her mouth to say something to him but was interrupted by the opening door. This time, it was a girl standing there, with bushy brown hair and to large front teeth.

"I'm Hermione Granger, nice to meet you. You are first years to, right? Can I sit with you? This is the first compartment with first-years I've found. Apparently, mostly the upper years are at the front of the train. I've heard them talk about school and I am so excited. Of course, I have learned all of the books by heart, I hope that will be enough. Do you know what House you will be sorted in, I mean no one really knows before..."

"Does she ever breath?" the boy asked his sister.

The question remained unanswered, as the raven-haired girl only drummed her fingers on her book. She did that whenever something annoyed her or distracted her from reading.

"...what are your names by the way?" Hermione Granger finally concluded her speech.

"Merlin's beard, finally. I don't even remember what she said at the beginning, do you, sister dear?"

"I haven't been paying attention, so, no."

"Neville Longbottom," the boy in the corner answered, watching the twins carefully.

"Longbottom? Well, that certainly explains his behavior. You do look a lot like Auntie Bella, sister."

"Do not," came the sulky reply. There was a family resemblance. The dark, thick curls, the shape of the face and the inbreed arrogant look. But where the eyes of the infamous Askaban inmate were a cold black, the grey eyes the twins had inherited from their father held a sparkle of mischief and, if you looked close enough, you could even find a friendly warmth.

"I am Pollux Black and this is my twin sister, Cassandra," the raven-haired boy answered out loud, watching Neville's reaction out of the corner of his eye. The boy seemed to shrink further at the mention of their names.

"Black? I've read about the Black family. You're one of the..," Hermione started.

"Then you're muggle-born , aren't you?" Cassandra interrupted her. "Everybody knows about the Black family."

"Yes, I was so excited when I got my letter. Learning magic. Can you imagine? Of course my parents didn't believe it at first but then Professor..."

"Merlin's beard, why did she have to come into our compartment?" Pollux complained, "Does she ever stop talking? Is that some requirement for mudbloods I don't know about?"

"How should I know? I don't hang out with mudbloods regularly."

"... Ravenclaw wouldn't be bad either. What about you Neville?"

"Probably Hufflepuff," the boy answered, looking as if he wanted to be in another house but had given up hope.

"You're a Gryffindor," Cassandra answered, absentmindedly.

"Gryffindor? Honestly, Cassy?"

" Come on, he certainly isn't a Slytherin. Ravenclaw? No. Hufflepuff? Perhaps. Gryffindor? Well, he has yet to run out of the compartment. I'd certainly call that brave enough for Gryffindor but, perhaps... It's just a feeling."

Like her ancient Greek namesake, Cassandra had a talent for predicting the future, though, usually, she only knew something was going to happen, never when nor why or how. It was simply a fact that came to her mind, never a real prophesy. Most people simply called it a lucky guess.

"I don't think so. I'm not brave enough for Gryffindor," Neville answered sadly, his eyes trained on his arm where he was fiddling with his sleeve.

"We will see, Neville. Sometimes, you find courage where you least expect it," Cassandra said with a hint of a smile.

"Do you always have to sound as if you were at least one hundred years old?"

"Stop exaggerating, Pollux," Cassandra answered testily. "If you read more instead of annoying the poor house-elf, you would sound the same."

"I do read!"

"Quidditch statistics don't count as reading."

"I read more than just Quidditch statistics!"

"What Houses do you want to be in?" Hermione asked, looking at the Black children.

"Slytherin," the twins answered in unison.

"Perhaps Gryffindor, if we keep breaking family tradition like our father, but I'd rather not," Pollux added.

"Think of grandma's face if we did. That might be worth the trouble...," Cassandra mused. Just picturing her grandmother's face, if they wrote home and attached a red and golden tie to the letter, made her grin.

Pollux smiled at the thought but knew none of them would go through with it. Slytherin was the wisest choice - and the safest. The fun would only last for a few short moments, until their grandmother had figured out an appropriate punishment and Walburga Black could be quite creative with those.

"Doesn't Slytherin have a lot of dark wizards and witches? Why would you want to be in a House like that?" Hermione questioned them.

"Like Pollux said, it's tradition. Something valued very high amongst pure-bloods. Didn't any of your books tell you about that? And, not all of the traits Salazar Slytherin valued are bad. Determination, cleverness, resourcefulness, fraternity, those can be rather useful. Besides, wasn't Merlin also a Slytherin? I heard that even Muggles know about him. He was, after all, the greatest wizard of all times. Why not follow his footsteps?" Cassandra explained and Hermione launched into a story that Muggles told about King Arthur and his famous wizard Merlin. Absentmindedly, Cassandra wondered about the differences to the magical legend, when their compartment door opened again.

Pollux sighed: "Next time, we're taking a compartment at the end of the train. There is too much through-going traffic here."

Cassandra silently agreed.

This time it was two girls and a boy, all three of them seemed to be first-years. They were wearing their school robes already and were staring down at the four occupants of the compartment.

"Ups, wrong compartment," the boy said, swiping a strand of his chocolate brown hair out of his eyes.

"Seems like you have landed us directly in mudblood company, Theo," one of the girls said, after catching a bit of Hermione's story. The other girl giggled.

"Shut up and leave. I'm trying to read here and those giggles make it hard to concentrate," Cassandra growled at them, annoyed. She hated being interrupted during reading and after the first two times, her patients was wearing thin. Besides, calling someone a mudblood when you didn't know them was dangerous. He or she could be a half-blood or even a pure-blood simply interested in the Muggle legend of King Arthur. After all, even pure-blood children knew about King Arthur. You could easily alienate someone, who might be of use in the future.

The twins certainly weren't fans of muggle-borns, of that their grandmother had made sure, but they didn't outright disrespect them, either. Muggle-borns just had to learn a few rules pure-bloods and most half-bloods were raised with. Like, don't tell Muggles about magic and certainly don't let them see you doing any spells, even if they are family. It had ended badly for more than one witch or wizard. In fact, trying to stay away from them in general was the best solution. There were always one or two Muggles that noticed how the magical people stuck out of the crowd. Then again, perhaps muggle-borns knew how to fit in. They wore a lot of those jeans and whatever else Muggles wore instead of robes.

"Oh, well, what do you know, two Blacks in mudblood company. You don't see that every day. Wouldn't your grandmother be proud of you?" the girl answered. Millicent Bulstrode was her name, Cassandra finally remembered. They had met her at one of Aunt Cissy's birthday parties, ... or was it Draco's? She couldn't remember. The resemblance to her father had been highly visible and that was not a compliment. Cassandra shuddered to think that the grandmother of her grandmother had been a Bulstrode as well. Luckily the Black genes seemed to be dominant.

"The other one is Pansy Parkinson, remember her?" Pollux supplied helpfully.

"The one with the tea stain on her robes?" Cassandra asked, studying the dark-haired girl.

"Yep. I thought you'd remember such a pug-face."

"Why should I? There is nothing special about her."

"What would your father say, if he heard about your absolute disregard for manners and proper etiquette?" Cassandra asked sweetly, pointing at the tea stain on the other girls robes. "Do me a favor and get out now. I'll have to spend the next seven years with you around. Let me enjoy the last minutes without giggles and clothes and boy talk."

Perhaps she could have handled the situation better but Cassandra simply didn't have the nerves for it. She had had to listen to the girl's mindless blabber for over an hour once and had decided then and there nothing - absolutely nothing - the girl might be able to help her with in the future, was worth this torture.

"You better... Ugh! Is that a toad? Get it away from me!" Pansy Parkinson screeched and kicked the poor toad, that had jumped off Neville's lap, away. It flew out of the compartment and landed somewhere out of sight.

"Trevor!" Neville shouted, alarmed, while Pansy hurried away from the animal with Millicent and Theo, Theodore Nott, hot on her heals.

Neville left the compartment to go collect his toad but came back a couple of minutes later, looking terrified. "I cannot find him anywhere! What if he's hurt? I've asked people but no one saw him."

Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him out again: "We'll go through the train and see if we can find the toad. He has to be somewhere."

"We'll stay here, perhaps he'll come back on his own," Pollux murmured after they had already left. His sister simply raised an eyebrow.

"I certainly won't go through the train asking if someone's seen a toad," he said, shuddering at the mere thought.

"Never said you had to," Cassandra answered, understanding her brother's reaction. Owning a toad... well, it certainly did nothing for your reputation among the other students.

"I hope so. I mean, a toad? Come on, who owns a toad nowadays?"

"A Longbottom, apparently. Though I honestly don't know why."

"Or why he's so panicked about losing it. I would be happy to be rid of it."

"Perhaps he has a reason why he loves it so much. And now, let me read."

With that Cassandra left her brother mulling over reasons, why someone could want to own a toad.

"Perhaps we should change into the school robes," the boy suggested after a while, standing up and grabbing his trunk. His sister sighed, carefully marked her book and followed his example.

When Neville and Hermione came back later, the boy looked devastated.

"No luck?" Pollux asked. He really did not like toads but seeing the other boy so sad made him sympathize. "He'll come back, don't worry. And if not, I think they check the train for any lost belongings, before it goes back to London. Someone will find him. Don't worry."

"Do you know who we met on the train?" Hermione suddenly asked, the excitement audible in her voice.

Cassandra sighed but looked up at her expectantly.

"Harry Potter, can you believe that? He's in a compartment further down, close to the end of the train. He is famous. I've read about him in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and..."

"Harry Potter," Pollux said, lost in thoughts. "Last time we met, we were all babies. I still have a picture. I think it's from his first birthday. It was amongst our baby stuff. Snatched it, before grandma could get rid of it."

"You know him?" Hermione asked, bewildered. She seemed not to have expected this.

"Mhh. He's a distant cousin. His grandma on his father's side was a Black. Dorea Potter nee Black, wasn't it?" Cassandra mused. "I wonder how much longer it's going to take until we arrive."

The sky outside was darkening and both twins were beginning to feel hungry. They hadn't eaten anything since breakfast early that morning. A woman had passed with a trolley of sweets some time ago but sweets weren't really good for filling an empty stomach. They only made you sick, if you ate to much of them.

"I've asked the driver, while we were looking for Trevor. We'll be there soon," Hermione supplied.

"Good. I've already finished my book and now I'm bored," Cassandra said with a sighed.

"YOU are bored? What about me? You had your bloody book. I couldn't do anything in here. No playing pranks on the house elf..."

"Poor Kreacher will be happy to have you out of the house."

"You're my sister! You're supposed to support me," Pollux whined, giving Cassandra his best puppy-dog eyes. The young witch shook her head at his behavior but gave him a smile. Her brother knew she would always help him to get out of trouble, just like he would do his best to help her.

"What were you reading?" Hermione asked, trying to read the title of the book in the Black girl's lap upside down. "It isn't one of the books on the list. I know all of the covers."

"No, we both had to read those books when we were kids," Cassandra said. The school books were far too boring for her by now. If one had the books of the library of the Black family at their disposal, books for beginners had nothing new to offer. "This is Asiatic Anti-Venoms. Quite interesting if you like Potions. They have a very fascinating way of how to add the ingredients. You know, if you've read Magical Drafts and Potions..."

"Come on, Cassy. Not everybody is so interested in Potions as you are," Pollux interrupted her, knowing very well how much his sister could talk about Potions. He had to suffer through her lectures whenever she found an new book in the Black library.

"I know. You are the one that doesn't stop talking about dragons once you've started - even if nobody is listening."

Just like his sister was mesmerized by potions her brother loved everything that had to do with the fire breathing creatures.

"Dragons are fascinating creatures. You like them, too."

"I like snakes, thank you very much. And cats. No fire breathing," Cassandra shuddered at the thought. "You can get burnt all you like. I'm not going anywhere near a dragon."

"What does fire have to do with anything? They only try to burn you if you threaten them. Isn't every being entitled to be able to defend itself? Besides, many snakes are poisonous. Isn't that just as dangerous?"

The twins continued squabbling about it under the astonished gaze of the other two occupants of the compartment. The bickering was a regular occurrence in the Black household, albeit never in the presence of Walburga Black. Or, at least not out loud.

They continued until train began to slow down.

"Looks like we've arrived."