Disclaimer: I claim nothing involving the Harry Potter franchise as my own, as it all belongs to the fantastic J.K. Rowling, and the only characters I claim ownership of currently are Roxanne and Andromeda.
Authors Note: I'm happy to say this chapter is a lot longer because I didn't post as quickly as I'd hoped, so I wanted to give a little more to read..hopefully most chapters will be similar lengths to this one to get into more detail and interesting things. Oh, and thank you to those who favourited and followed this story, too. Enjoy!
Lux, Veritas, Virtues.
Chapter Two: Emerald Eyes.
It wasn't long after the horrendous events of that morning that the entire family were sat around the long, mahogany dining table in the grand hall of the Malfoy manor. The twins both sat next to each other on one side, keeping as quiet as mice, whilst their tattle-tale brother sat opposite them, not looking up at the twins. Their mother, a woman with flowing blonde hair and equally as icy eyes as her husband, sat on one end of the table, and their father sat on opposite end. These were their usual placements during lunch and dinner times, with little to none conversation.
Amongst the deafening silence, the family ate their luxurious meal. The house elves had prepared a delicious feast of nut roast. Although the twins were both strong believers in freedom and were disgusted at the slavery, over the years they'd learned that it was easiest to keep quiet and seethe inside after a heated argument with their father and in return, a few lashes aimed towards Roxanne. There was nothing they could possibly do about it.
In their own way, Roxanne and Andromeda were enslaved to the household themselves. Never free, forbidden to ever leave, forced to stay forever. The girls would have done anything to get out of the Hell they'd resided in for the past eleven years, however it wasn't that easy. It's not like they could run away, they'd surely be found. Besides, how would two eleven year old girls survive on their own and provide for themselves in the big, wide world?
Without warning, a great brown Hawk owl suddenly flew into the large, long room and perched upon the top of Lucius' grand master chair. It sat awaiting its orders; yet another creature enslaved under the Pureblood family. Lucius raised a thin, pale hand and the obedient owl dropped the elegantly sealed letters that were neatly stacked in its break into its masters awaiting palm, before being shooed and speeding off through the large, glass-stained windows.
The head of the family clicked his tongue as he read the names etched upon the parchment, before gently removing his wand from his robe and flicking it. The letters floated off in different directions towards their expected receivers, and the twins eagerly accepted their letters, thankful for the arrival of the one thing they'd been waiting for since they'd discovered it. The girls read the names on the fronts of the sealed letters and swapped. Ripping the seal off, both sisters grinned in excitement as they read their acceptance letters to themselves.
Dear Miss Malfoy,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
You will find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term will begin on September 1st, we await your owl no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress.
With a happy smile, Andromeda looked towards her sister, who sported a positively enthusiastic grin that lit up her emerald eyes like wildfire. The red-headed mayhem maker spotted her bookworm twin sister smiling at her, and she winked mischievously. They'd already planned to cause a lot of trouble during their years at the magnificent school of wizardry, Hogwarts, with the help of Roxanne's imagination and Andromeda's smarts. It would be soon that their devious plans would be put into action.
Looking over to her brother, Roxanne watched carefully as he read his own letter. The year before he'd been accepted to Hogwarts, much to the disappointment of the twins. They'd really hoped that he'd have been a squib, it was unfortunate that he wasn't. But, what a twist in the tale that would have been if the heir of the Malfoy family had been a squib, what a joke. However, that was not the case and it wasn't gleeful knowledge knowing that they'd have to spend their years at Hogwarts with their daddy's boy brother keeping an eye on them.
"I don't see why I should allow you to be accepted to Hogwarts after the way you've been behaving," their father suddenly announced, tone cold and sturdy, "however it would be shameful to the family name to keep you behind."
Their mother, who usually cared about what all other very respected Pureblood families thought, spoke up. "Oh, imagine the gossip, Lucius, she'll have to go."
Although her mother was not always the kindest of women, she'd always gone out of her way to make sure Roxanne and Andromeda had the best of what they could get, which wasn't always very much as their father didn't approve or like the twins very much. Narcissa was quick with the rules and sharp with her tongue, however she was never abusive. She'd always wanted to be the perfect mother to the perfect children, which allowed her to make sure her children were looked after. However, she also wanted to be the perfect wife to a proud, rich Pureblood, which meant that she'd never disagree with her husband.
However, the twins had noticed in the past that Lucius did seem to prefer Andromeda, as Roxanne was always been beat upon for most things. This meant that Narcissa was usually given the opportunity to grant Andromeda a little more happiness. She never understood why. It was nice knowing though, that despite their fathers rash, nasty actions, her mother was always there to rely on, because although she was never one to argue with her husband, Narcissa would always say the most simple yet sneakiest of things that would make sure that everything would work out well for them, whether she meant to or not.
Either way, whether this time their mother meant to grant the twins happiness with her methods, both girls were thankful for their mothers genuine constant worrying. Lucius slowly nodded his head in agreement that the consequences would be grave. The family didn't want to go down in the chain of hierarchy, just because gossip believed their child was out of order, or worse, a nasty little squib. That was considered just as bad as being Muggleborn in the stereotypical Pureblood world.
"Well then," Lucius began, resting his arms upon the table and leaning forward, glaring daggers of warning, "you two better behave at Hogwarts or there'll be words," he threatened, and by 'words' he really meant something a lot worse. A lashing or two probably, or he may even go further to completely remove them from their education.
The girls nodded, chorusing, "yes, father." Although this was a little white lie, but as long as the twins were never caught, who would know?
He relaxed into his chair, although a part of him did not trust their word. He knew his daughters too well to believe their promise of good behaviour. "Good, now, I expect you to be awake early in the morning," he announced calmly, "we shall be getting your school supplies tomorrow."
The ecstatic twins grinned at each other in secret silence, excited with the thought of school supply shopping tomorrow and their inevitable future at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This was going to be an exciting year, they could tell already.
The next morning, the girls woke bright and early, visibly over the moon about the oncoming events of the day. The twins had been dreaming of the day they'd be able to shop for their school supplies, but mostly they were exciting for the choosing of the wand they would use for the rest of their lives. Since the moment they'd discovered their parents wands, seen their parents perform magic, they were hooked, fascinated, and continued to be in awe of magic up until this day, despite being around it twenty-four seven.
After dressing quickly in flat, leather boots, black jeans, and a simple white shirt, with a plain black robe over the top, Roxanne met her sister in Andromeda's large Victorian bedroom, and waited forever while her sister got ready. Whilst she was the brainiest of the two, she was also the most fashion indulgent, and liked to keep up the latest trends. She was the biggest girly girl Roxanne had ever met, which is what made them even more different, as Roxanne's style varied more towards the punk, vintage, or rock 'n' roll styles.
Once Andromeda was dressed in cute little beige flats, a plain black skirt, and a simple, pretty pink vest top, they made their way towards the family living room, where there stood a large, open, grand fireplace made from the finest, smoothest marble and filled nearly an entire dark, wood-panelled wall of the wide, Victorian-furnished room. Their parents and brother were impatiently waiting for the twins to hurry their steps, and the girls practically ran over to them, buzzing with excitement.
The family stepped one by one into the fireplace, grasping a grainy, glittery silver powder in the palm of their hands and throwing the Floo Powder upon the ground, yelling the place name of their destination clearly and loudly. They suddenly disappeared into thin air, as bright, green flames ignited out of nowhere and swallowed them whole, like a black hole stealing a victim. It suddenly spat them out however, at their desired fireplace.
The family arrived in a dingy little black market shop, with all kinds of disgusting objects loitered everywhere, from rotting heads in glass jars to beautiful yet poisoned necklaces. It was a dark magic shop that the father of the household favoured and frequently attended to secret business within. Lucius was in need of the shops services today, however it did not take long and he demanded his family wait outside. Where they really needed to be was Diagon Alley, a large shopping street for wizards and witches of all ages, and there just happened to be a short cut around the corner of where this horrible shop was located.
Exiting the dodgy shop once the business had been dealt with, the family rounded the empty alley way's corner and headed into the busy, cobble-stone streets of the infamous Diagon Alley, where long rows and rows of different, strange shops were lined up and down and around corners and down more streets. At the end of all of it, an enormous white building that looked to be made of perfect marble stood tall and proud, with the words 'Gringotts Bank' written across in gold, swirling letters underneath a cute balcony.
That was their fathers current destination, however they were told to make use of themselves and head to Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions in order to pick up their new school uniforms. Whilst their father departed in the opposite direction, towards the grand bank, Narcissa led her children down the street. The twins were in awe of the heaving streets, full of all kinds of funny looking wizards and witches, young to old. They rarely visited Diagon Alley, not since they were little, so this was almost a new, exciting experience.
Catching sight of a fun, mischievous looking shop, Roxanne nudged Andromeda as they walked past and pointed towards it. It was a prank shop, and younger children and teenagers were excitedly running in and out with all kinds of weird contraptions. The twins looked at each other with grins, almost as if they were reading each others thoughts. That was definitely a shop they'd be indulging delights in some day or another.
When they arrived in Madame Malkin's, a funny little witch greeted them and forced them to stand on wobbly stools while she jabbed at their robes with a little silver pin, poking and prodding them accidentally every now and then. Andromeda swore she'd been jabbed at least twelve times by the time her robes were finished being pinned, and she was really bad with handling pain, so she really did not appreciate it.
Halfway through their brother's robes being pinned, who was complaining and nagging a lot, may it be noticed; their father came back with four pouches filled with Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, which was the currency in the Wizarding world. He handed his son one of the little coin pouches, and cautiously handed the twins a sack each, uncertain whether to trust them with it. However, at the end of the day, he wanted this shopping trip to be over fast and simple, so the children buying their own school supplies would send things along a lot faster.
"Now don't you waste that money, it is for your supplies," their father informed them, eyes narrowed at the twins, warning them through the nasty gleam in his cold eyes, "I am giving you exactly one hour to gather everything you need before you must meet us back here. If you are not here by then, I will not be pleased, not very pleased at all."
The girls nodded their head in unison, secretly jumping for joy in the back of their minds at the thought of being able to explore without anybody telling them what to do, before taking leave of the robes shop. The first place they definitely needed to be was Ollivanders, the greatest, most well known and respected wand shop of them all. The first job Roxanne had wanted to complete had been to purchase a wand from the moment she'd woken up this morning, however Andromeda wanted to run along to Flourish and Blotts, which was the typical book shop for wizards and witched. She'd wanted to raid that shop from the exact moment she'd learned of its existence.
However, she agreed to gather her wand first, as it was in fact, the most necessary item on their list, and after the way Roxanne had lately been feeling, she wanted to allow her sister the happiness she deserves. Therefore, Ollivanders was their first destination. They entered the dusty, dark shop as the rattling door creaked open with a deafening shriek, alerting their presence to the shop owner, Mr Ollivander. He came sliding out, a cheery yet eerie grin on his old, wrinkled face, and ushered them over to the front desk.
"Now, now, who do we have here?" A gleam in his creepy blue eyes sparkled, as if he knew a deep secret, "the Malfoy twins, my, my. How pleasant to see you both in my shop at last," he announced happily, and winked at the twins. The girls were confused, was the ancient man getting at something? It seemed as if he knew a secret they didn't.
Brushing it aside, Roxanne announced clearly to the shop owner, "we're here to get our wands, Mr Ollivander," she told him excitedly, clasping her hands together as if announcing the most interesting idea ever.
The senile old man nodded knowingly before disappearing behind the large, wooden shelves behind the slowly collapsing front desk. He was gone for a while. Andromeda wondered silently whether he'd made a runner, however silly that sounded, and eventually sat down in a comfy yet slightly torn and beaten chair in the corner of the box room, while Roxanne lingered by the desk. Mr Ollivander eventually did come back with a big pile of black boxes gathered in his arms, and threw them all upon the fragile desk that groaned at the weight.
Both twins rushed to grab a box each and pulled open the lid to reveal wands that were both different in different kinds of ways, such as a differences in core or wood or length. However, none of the wands the girls picked up worked for them, sending boxes and books flying everywhere across the room. Until, Andromeda flicked a proudly straight wand with a small, circular knob on the bottom and strange little Aztec symbols etched into the light wood. The wand sent a sudden shower of gold and blue sparkles from the wooden tip. She squealed with glee as she flicked it again, sending off another burst.
Mr Ollivander smiled, pleased with the wands choice, before fetching it from her and placing back in its little black box with its red velvet inside. "That, my dear," he began slowly, his voice filled with ancient knowledge about everything to do with wandmaking, "is a 14 inch, willow wood, unicorn hair wand, and it's one of the most obedient wands in my shop. It's certainly most useful for charms and transfiguration. You two will get along perfectly." It was adorable in a way, how the old man thought of the wands as people with feelings.
It was just Roxanne's turn now for a wand to pick her as its rightful owner, and she'd been through a fair amount of useless wands that weren't at all right for her. That is, until she came across an awkwardly bent wand with what seemed like wild jungle vines twisting around the firm, strong yet somewhat fragile wood. The wand looked to be her perfect fit, looking just as unruly as she was, and when she flicked it, a parade of silvers, blacks, and red shot from the end. Roxanne fist-pumped the air in achievement.
Although Ollivander believed the wand made the right choice in an owner, he was also a little concerned as the wand was certainly a tricky one. He took the wand from the excited girl, placed that back in its box, and then carefully handed it over to her. He knew that a wand chose the wizard or witch for certain reasons, but they varied from anything such as personality to simply the way they held the wand. However, it was mostly based upon personality. He wondered if this child was a wild card, like her father had been.
"How..odd. That wand," he began slowly, making eye contact with the young Malfoy, "is a twelve inch yew, with the core of a dragon heartstring. I believe, although it may carry a few tricks up its sleeve, that it may serve you well," and he paused for a moment to think and his eyes glazed over in thought. "However, don't let that wand control you," he murmured, almost to himself. And once gathering payment, he was gone within a blink of an eye.
Looking over to her equally as confused sister, Roxanne raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "Well I can't say he wasn't a strange man," she said, wondering what the old wandmaker had meant by 'tricks.' If it was of the mischievous sort, they'd surely have no problems working together. After all, the wand chooses the wizard, why would a wand choose a wizard it wasn't compatible with? Shaking her head, she announced with a sigh, "come on, let's go to your book store then and get that other with."
With Andromeda bubbling from excitement, the twins exited the dusty, shoddy wand shop and made their way down the winding street to Flourish and Blotts, the best Wizarding book store in the country, whilst examining the other fascinating shops as they went. When they arrived, there was a large crowd jostling outside the thick, heavy doors, attempting to all shove themselves inside. What was the occasion, they wondered. The girls managed somehow to manoeuvre themselves through the busy crowd and slip inside the building.
Many banners were pasted up on the walls and pillars and bookshelves, a golden blonde, pearly-white, grinning man as the face of them, proclaiming that the one and only Gilderoy Lockheart was doing an exclusive, one time only book signing for his new autobiography, Magical Me. Andromeda squealed in excitement, she'd read a many great deal of his other books and the chance to meet him in person would be amazing. Roxanne on the other hand, groaned. She'd been into reading when she was much younger, but she'd become much less of an avid reader, unlike her sister, when she grew older. Her opinion on Lockheart's books were that they were just a load of toss, nothing more.
Unfortunately for the book-loving twin, the book signing was slowly coming to a sudden end. "Ugh, I'll never manage to buy the books and then get them signed in time," she sighed, frustrated, knowing that the task would be nearly impossible.
However, it was just her luck as two gangly, ginger twins wearing what seemed like knitted hand-me-down clothes, as they were both scruffy and patched in places, walked past them, carrying a pile of new books each, and had heard Andromeda's worrying exclamation. One looked at the other with a mischievous sparkle in their eyes before they paused in front of the girls. They were both pretty young girls, why wouldn't they be gentlemanly?
"Do you want our books?" one asked, offered the books to Andromeda as if it was the easiest thing in the world to give away expensive books.
The other one nodded encouragingly, "our mother forced us to go get them for our brother and his friend, but we were just going to mess with them anyway," he informed, nothing to hide as a smirk fell upon his lips and he chuckled to himself.
Andromeda stared at the boy in shock, not expecting the kindness. "Oh, no, I couldn't," she refused politely, but her instinct struck. "I mean, I'd have to pay you back, I can't take them for free, it wouldn't be fair." Unlike her manipulative, persuasive sister, she knew the differences between what was right and what was wrong, and taking the books without payment was most definitely unfair.
One of the gangly, freckled twins was just about to reply before a sneering voice interrupted their conversation, "its bad enough famous Harry Potter is here without you two getting involved with these sorts of barbaric people," Draco said, eyeing up the twin boys as if they were mere dirt under his expensive shoes.
Before either of the twins could retort to his spiteful remarks, a messy, dark-haired boy with bright green eyes appeared, dumping his books into a little black cauldron a ginger girl, who seemed around the same age as the sisters, was carrying tightly. He mumbled to himself as he shoved his hands into his pockets, staring at the floor, and bumped into Roxanne. She would have fallen to the ground if he hadn't suddenly caught her arm.
"Wow, I'm so sorry," he apologized sincerely, before spotting the Malfoy heir glaring at him, threatening him, daring him, to keep his hands on his sister.
He quickly detached his hand from the Malfoy girl as if she'd burnt him to the bone before narrowing his eyes back at Draco, unafraid of any possible conflict. Not before however, recognizing how incredibly alike the girls' and his eye colour was – a dazzling, bright emerald that made your being feel as if your soul was being stared into. He found it insane that somebody else's eye colour would be the exact to his, if not holding a little more fire within as it felt like his soul was being torn up as she stared back. He would have continued to watch in shock, had the Malfoy boy not intercepted his attention with his speech.
Roxanne had too, noticed the similarities between she and the boy who she quickly realized was Harry bloody Potter, as her brother called him always. She acted as though it didn't phase her yet noticed that it had bothered him, whilst keeping it in the back of her mind that it was an odd thing to discover somebody with such close similarities. She'd never encountered anyone, especially nobody in her family, who had the same eye colour as she. It was a little unnerving, to be quite frank, yet she pushed it aside. It was ridiculous and pointless wondering and contemplating over something so silly and small.
Grabbing her sister, she whispered how she wished to leave before any conflict arose between the group consisting of the young Malfoy heir, the Potter boy, and what she'd heard her brother call them, the Weasley family. Agreeing, Andromeda grabbed Roxanne's hand before escaping through the way they'd entered the building. However, not noticing that a certain twins eyes had been watching Andromeda the entire time.
Authors Note: And there it is, the second chapter. I'm sure there's one or two little bits of foreshadowing in there for you to work out;) I'm hoping I'll get these out faster, possibly day after day instead of every few days, but with handling my YouTube on top of school work, it's a struggle, but we'll see! Look out for the next chapter, guys.
