A young girl sat quietly, alone in her small, almost empty bedroom. Her knees hugged into her chest on a uncomfortable wooden kitchen chair that was placed just in front of her unbalanced, wobbly desk. Skimming through a overly large photo album that held very few pictures. A sad smile played on her lips as she came across a moving photo of her and her twin brother, Harry, as babies.
Their parents held them closely, spinning around happily at a playground despite their matching red noses and snow on the ground. Their eyes so deep in love as they glanced at each other then down to a child they each held. The smiles shining so brightly even the pure, freshly fallen snow couldn't match it.
Inhaling through clenched teeth, she flipped the page slowly. Trying to ignore the burning behind her eyes and instead focusing on her breathing, in attempt to calm herself down. She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry over them anymore. She had to be strong, not only for herself, but for Harry as well. Not to mention, they wouldn't want them to live their whole lives reminiscing about the past, they would want them to live with their noses to the future.
The next page caught her off guard, she couldn't help but release a small chuckle just under her breath. She had almost forgotten this one was in there. The sudden warmth from the photo filling her like a cup of warm pumpkin juice on a snowy day.
The moving picture was of her best friends, Fred and George, as they were pinching her rosy cheeks while she stood between the red heads that towered over even her tall stature, looks of mischief shining in their matching blue-green eyes and a smirk on both of their freckled faces. Her lips, however, in a pout and her hazel eyes only giving a disapproving look to the identical twins.
Hermione, Ron and her brother laughed on either side of them at their playful antics. It was all good fun but she was sure to chase them down the hall and give those mischievous twins a kick in the bum once the photo was finished. It was suppose to be a normal smiling photo with all of them for the end of the school year, but the twins being the twins, had to give it a twist.
She laughed quietly, just remembering their faces when she was seething at them, was priceless. They bolted before she couldn't even get a word out to them, resulting in a full on chase around Hogwarts. They almost ran people over too many times to count and poor Neville Longbottom practically got tackled by all three of them.
One twin ran into him and fell to the floor, on top of him no less, and the others tripping on the road block that was George and Neville. He was alright though, they all had a laugh at the situation and continued on their way. Of course, after a scolding from Professor Snape about running in the halls, that is.
A sudden, loud screeching sounded from just outside her room, she jumped from her seat in surprise. Paying no mind to the table as it wobbled from the impact of her knees hitting it as she stood. With worried eyes she ran across the hall to a white door with multiple locks on it, luckily, they were unlocked at the moment. "Harry, you alright?" She knocked twice before opening the door to reveal none other than her twin brother.
"F-fine, but I don't know what's wrong with her Ame, Hedwig, please calm down!" He said to the owl in front of them, attempting to stroke her feathers soothingly through the cage as she continued to screech and bite her cage bars.
The sister sighed as she walked towards them. "I'm sorry Hedwig, but you know we're not allowed to use magic outside of school." Harry nodded before speaking, "Besides if uncle—"
"POTTER!"
They winced in unison as their uncles angry voice echoed throughout the house. He must not have known who was the stirrer of chaos as he only used their surname, but either way Harry closed his eyes and sighed. "Now you've done it, Hedwig." He said moodily.
Making their way into the kitchen, there stood the woman of the house, their aunt Petunia. As she was adding final touches to a towering cake as it was covered in white and purple frosting and had cherries all around it. She was humming happily as they opened the door. Then doing a double take, immediately paused at the sight of them. "He's in there. Vernon." She calls out to their uncle to get his attention, nodding in the direction of the living area for the twins to go towards.
Turning the small corner that separated the kitchen and the dining area from the living room, they see their uncle fixing the tie of their cousin, Dudley. The older man looks over at them with warning. "I'm telling you, if you can't control those bloody birds, they'll have to go!"
"But shes bored, Uncle Vernon. if we could just let her out for an hour or two." She pleaded.
He laughed dryly. "Ha, so you can send secret messages to your freaky little friends? No ma'am." He continues to turn Dudley, fixing the boys tie in the mirror. "But we haven't had any messages! From any of our friends.." She trailed off the end sadly. She's gonna kick the twins bums when they meet next. Sure they expressed how much they dislike the act of writing to people. But she pressed on until they agreed to do it for her, though she had yet to receive any. "Not one." Harry mumbles in agreement, as if he could hear her thoughts.
Finished with Dudley's tie, their uncle finally looked towards them, scratching his head in irritation.
"Ha," Their cousin turned with a snobby look. "who'd want to be friends with freaks like you?" He slammed his shoulder into Harry's as he walked by the pair. She could only glare as he walked past. Dudley had always been rude to them, especially to Harry, likely because he's a boy. But she could never understand what got his nickers in a knot. Perhaps, it's because they took his playrooms as bedrooms. That she guesses, she'll never really know the answer to. But it's not that she cares that much to go asking either..
"I think you should be a little more grateful." Their uncles voice piped up. Catching their attention once again. His glare sending daggers. "We've raised you both since you were babies. We give you the food off our table and even let you have Dudley's second and third bedrooms purely out of the goodness of our hearts-"
"-not now Bumkins, its for when the Maysons arrive." They turned to glance at their aunt shooing Dudley's hand from wiping frosting off the cake, though they rolled their eyes as she turned to grab more cherries from the bowl and he swapped one of the red fruits from the cake anyway.
"Which should be any minute now!" Uncle Vernon shouts with his hands up, motioning everyone to join in the front room. Once everyone shuffled in, she leaned against the wall beside Harry.
"Lets go over our schedule once again, shall we?" He clasped his hands in excitement. Looking towards his wife. "Petunia, when the Maysons arrive you will be..?" She hopped on the spot, like she knew the million dollar answer to her husbands question. "In the lounge!" She says pleasantly, spinning as if to introduce guests to her house. "Waiting to welcome them graciously to our home." She sang.
"Good, good!" He says happily. "And Dudley will be..?"
"I'll be waiting to open the door!"
"Excellent!"
They all exchange smiles, pleased with each others answers. But the air changed as they all glanced at the twins, who are looking bored against the wall. "And you..?" Vernon said carefully.
"We'll be in our bedrooms." She responded.
"Making no noise and pretending we don't exist." Harry finished monotone, reciting what they had been told to do an endless amount of times at dinner for the past week.
"Right you will. And Amelie don't forget to come down to serve the cake. We got a good bargain on that dress and the rumor is that the Maysons always wanted a daughter, With any luck this might leave a good impression on them, and given you are on your best behaviors this could be the day I make the biggest break of my career. And you both will. Not. Mess. It. Up." He glared, namely at Harry. Nodding, Amelie tugged on her brothers arm and they headed up the staircase.
As they both entered Harry's room, she heard the doorbell ring from downstairs and she hung her head against the doorpost, eyes closed and sighed. She missed Hogwarts and her friends terribly, and being in a room with those three reminded her that they don't belong in this house.
She belonged at Hogwarts with Harry, chatting over meals peacefully and lazing about in the common room together. She belonged with Fred and George, spewing jokes and watching over their pranks, figuring out what weird item or potion they should work up and sell next. She belonged with Hermione, chatting about boys and having study dates over a steaming cup of pumpkin juice.
Even, dare she say it, she belonged with Seamus, Neville and Dean, messing around in class and sharing a 'hello' as they passed each other in the halls, they weren't close, but even they understood her and Harry better than their uncle and his family sometimes. But at least she had Harry and their owls for company, she supposed..
She hummed in question as she felt a gentle tug on the bottom of her shirt. Keeping her eyes closed and staying in place against the wall as she knew it to only be Harry. Though only silence caught her ears.
Yet another tug got her to turn around in question and even slight irritation at him not just using his words. "What are you on about, Harr-" She froze mid-sentence. The sight before her, was none other than a small creature jumping on Harry's bed quite happily as if it had no cares in the world.
It noticing the stares, turned to them carefully. Politely fixing the dirty old beaten rag that clothed his body. (And she wasn't trying to be rude, it actually looked like a dirty old beaten rag.)
"Mr. and Ms. Potter! such an honor it is!" His tiny stature bowed while his big brown eyes scanned the floor with joy in them. Her eyes widened and she quickly went to close the door. She would have locked it too, had it not been for the fact the the locks on Harry's door was on the outside not the inside.
"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but, who are you?" Harry said carefully, inching towards the creature.
"And please, just Harry and Amelie is fine. Mr. and Mrs. Potter is our parents." She cringed as she went to stand by her brother.
"Well Dobby, sir. Dobby the house elf. and to call Mr. and Ms. Potter by their first names is something I could never even think of, Miss."
She only sighed. Formalities never sat well with her. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why she got along so well with the Weasley twins..
"That's fine, Sir Dobby- and not to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for us to have a house elf in our bedroom." She sat on the foot of the bed. Dobby hesitated. "S-sir? Ah and y-yes, ma'am! Dobby understands. Its just that Dobby has come to tell you- ah, it is difficult miss. Dobby wonders where to begin.."
"Well, why don't you sit down first?" Harry suggested, sitting beside his twin and looking towards Dobby in curiosity. Just what did this house elf have to inform them of so urgently?
"S-sit-sit down?" To say Dobby was surprised would be an understatement. He was on the verge of tears and he started to breath heavily with big widened eyes. He screamed out something incoherent before stumbling off the bed to the corner.
Shocked that the reaction was the complete opposite of what he wanted, Harry started getting worked up too. "Dobby shh, sorry- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything!" The house elf froze immediately. "Offend Dobby?" He turned in surprise. "Dobby has heard of both the Potter's greatness sir, But never has he been asked to sit down by a wizard..L-like an equal."
To that she raised a brow. "Are we not?"
"W-well, you can't have met any decent wizards then." Harry smiles awkwardly, glancing at his sister who met his gaze, both equally flustered at the sudden situation. "N-no, I haven't." The house elf lets out a small laugh then freezes. "Wait.. that was an awful thing to say." He frowns and scatters towards the dresser, grabbing the end of a lamp and starts banging his head on it repeatedly. "Bad Dobby, bad Dobby, bad Dobb-"
"H-hey now! Stop that!" Her eyes widen as she tries to take it from his grip, a surprisingly strong one too. "Dobby please stop!" Harry pushed her hands aside and tried to stop him in place of her.
She hesitates on what to do and snuck down the stairs, peeking into the lounge. She cringed as she noticed that the banging was very loud from below too. "Oh don't mind that! Its just the-the cat." Her uncle chuckles awkwardly to the guests on the sofa.
She sighed and ran back upstairs. thankfully, Harry seemed to have Dobby come to his senses again. "A-are you alright, Dobby?" She bents down to check his forehead for any signs of damage. There was a bruise starting to form and she tsk'd at him. Looking into his sad eyes. "Dobby had to punish himself ma'am, Dobby almost spoke ill of his family ma'am." He starts pushing the desk chair, climbing to sit on top of it. "Your family?" Harry tilts his head curiously, Amelie doing the same.
"The wizard family Dobby serves sir. Dobby is bound to serve one family forever.. If they ever knew Dobby was here.." he shivered before moving to the next topic, "but, Dobby had to come, Dobby has to protect the Potters. To warn them, the Potters must not go back to Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. There is a plot, a plot to make most terrible things happen." He's eyes scanned the room worriedly.
"What terrible things?" Harry asked a little louder than before.
"Who's plotting them?" Amelie piped in quickly.
Dobby cringes with grinding teeth. "Dobby. Cant. Say." He's fingers and toes curled as he seemed to be fighting himself over something, mumbling words that can't quite be made out to the twins. "Okay okay, I understand you can't say, it's okay, don't worry!" She pats his head, trying to awkwardly calm him down. He groans loudly before jumping up onto the desk and starts banging his head on the end of the lamp stand.
"Dobby!" Harry whisper-yells at him as he continues to growl in pain and hit himself with the hard object. The lights from the lamp reflecting everywhere in the tiny room as he swung it back and forth. Her eyes widen and, flustered, she quietly goes down the staircase once more to see if they notice the noise. Vernon was in the middle of telling a story that everyone laughed dryly at. 'Gross.' She mumbles. He suddenly paused as the noise intensified on the top floor and everyone's head turns at the sound of groaning upstairs.
She gulps and she tried to hide herself deeper into the stairwell, thinking of an excuse to use for the noise. Suddenly, she hears footsteps nearing the staircase. Cursing under her breath, she bolted back up the stairs and into Harry's room with the single slam of a door. She fights with Dobby to get the lamp away, grabs him by his beat up and worn shirt-thing, taking a mental note to give him an old shirt of hers before he leaves and gently tosses him into the closet. "Stay quiet Dobby." She whispered, slamming the closet door just in time for the room door to swing open in rage.
"What the devil are you two doing up here?!" Their uncle turns to face her, whom was closest to him. Harry standing near the desk on the opposite side of the room. "And what are you even doing in here? You should be getting into that dress!"
"I-I was just-" The closet door slowly creaked open, to which she immediately placed her hand onto it to hold it closed. Vernon noticed it a moment then slowly dismissed it. "You were just ruining the punch line of my golf joke, that's what you were doing!" "Sorry.." She mumbled, giving him a nervous smile as she had to push the closet door closed for a third time. Cursing mentally because Dobby keeps trying to open it as their uncle gave it a odd look before turning his glare to Harry.
"One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born boy." Harry nodded quietly. As Amelie fists balled up at the threat to her brother. "Go get dressed- And Harry fix that closet door!" They both nodded with a "Yes sir." Simultaneously. Having seemed satisfied, their uncle closed the door and went down to entertain his guests once more.
With a loud sigh, she began to open the closet. Dobby had seemed much calmer than when they had put him in, much to their relief. The house elf slowly stumbled out of the wooden box until he noticed a sock on his head. Curiously, he lifted it to his nose and gave it a smell. His face scrunched up to something awful and he tossed it away from him onto a random piece of floor. Amelie was grossed out by the action but didn't feel to mention it. Boys will be boys, she supposed..
Looking at them completely distracted with each other, she quickly slipped into Harry's closet and closed the door to change into her dress that she had to serve cake to the guests in. She spent most of her days in Harry's room with him, so she just so happened to have the dress in that room too. It was almost pitch black with the closet door closed but she wasn't going to risk losing any privacy for a tad bit of artificial lighting. She walked back out to sit on the bed with Harry, as if nothing had happened.
"You see? this is why we have to go back!" Harry said in annoyance. Amelie nodded in response. "We don't belong here, our home is Hogwarts and our friends are waiting for us there." Harry hummed in agreement.
"Friends that don't even write to the Potters?" The house elf asked almost angrily. She attempted to stutter out an excuse for her friends, "Well w-we.. expect..There's been a-" "Wait, hang on!" Harry stormed up to him, easily towering over the small elf. "How did you know that our friends haven't been writing to us?" He asked expectantly. She blinked at the sudden realization. Oh yeah, good point.
Dobby had all kinds of busted on his face. He started to back up into the dresser behind him. "T-the Potters mustn't be angry with Dobby.." He reached behind him to reveal a variety of coloured envelopes stacked messily with two crossed rubber bands to hold them together. The twins gasped loudly.
"Dobby hoped if Harry and Amelie thought their friends had forgotten them, the Potters might not want to go back to school.." He hugs the notes tightly. "Give me those..now." Harry said, glaring daggers. "No!" Dobby hurriedly puts them behind his back once more before rushing out of the room.
They both looked at one another with widened eyes. "The guests Harry!" She warned just before they both took after him. The house elf bumping into various walls in a hurry as he made his way down the staircase, where he had stopped in the doorway of the kitchen, just next to the living area with all the guests.
A new found smile on his face as the cake their aunt had spent all morning baking had floated into the air with a snap of his fingers. "Dobby.." She carefully called out to him. "You don't have to do this.." Harry warned as he crept up to the elf.
"Harry and Amelie must say they're not going back to school!" Dobby points at them like a parent scolding his child. "We can't, we don't belong in this place!" Amelie pleads, "Hogwarts is our home!" Harry finishes.
He looked utterly disappointed, "Then, Dobby must do this Sir, ma'am, for the Potters own good!" The cake started to float away, to the living area. She gasped and made a dash for it. Though, all too late. As it landed square onto the lady guests head. Amelie's eyes widened at the position she was it.
Her arms were just above the lady, as if she had dropped the cake onto her intentionally. She gasped as all the eyes landed on her in surprise. "I- I am so sorry!" She mumbled hurriedly, looking at everyone's angered faces. "This is not what it seems like." She finished before bolting out of the living room. Once she made it to the safe haven that is Harry's room she glanced down at her now messy pink fluffy dress. Vernon is going to have her wand for this, he made sure to mention just how expensive this dress was and told her not to mess it up. The dress was only for her to serve the guests. But now, it's completely covered in frosting and cake bits.
Just as she attempted to wipe the smeared frosting off, the bedroom door slammed open and in stormed her uncle utterly seething. Dragging an innocent Harry by the arm and forcing him into the room, along with the cage of her owl. "Sheya!" She caught the cage as Vernon tossed it to her.
She shared an apologetic look with Harry for leaving him before looking towards their uncle. "You and this bloody annoying bird just about cost me my promotion thanks to your ways!" He growled, "stay in here and think about what you've done! You won't be going to the pesky school of yours anytime soon, you two!" He yelled out with one last slam of the door. The last thing to be heard was the multiple locks being put to use.
She sighed heavily. "The house elf?" She asked Harry. He too, sighed as he took off his shoes and started to make a make-shift bed on the floor with a blanket and a pillow. "Gone. He left just after the cake thing." She huffed at the news. Laying on the bed as Harry got comfortable on the newly made bed below her. They were in for a long night, but this wasn't the first time they had to share a room, plus this one was much bigger than the broom cupboard under the staircase from before.
As they both started to doze off, they heard a loud grinding sound just outside their window. Glancing over, they found their uncle Vernon on a latter, attaching rusty orange bars onto their window. He noticed them and grinned. "Good luck getting to that rotten school of yours now!" He laughed evilly.
Amelie sighed, "Goodnight, Harry."
"'Night, Ame."