Twins

*Flashback*

George and Fred Weasley stood at the platform, holding hands to reassure themselves they were not alone. They were about to start their first year at Hogwarts and they were extremely nervous, but also excited to be on their own, away from half of their family. After Molly said goodbye to the elder Weasley sons she turned towards the twins with a look of resignation in her eyes.

"Well off with you two" Mrs. Weasley said. "Try not to lose Gryffindor too many points with your behavior."

The twins looked at each other with sad eyes. They were leaving home for the first time and all they got was a warning about their behavior?

"Yes mom" the both muttered, turning to walk away. But then George had a terrifying thought and turned back.

"Mom?"

"What Fred?" Molly said, already half turned away, not even looking back.

He didn't even bother to correct her. "What if we're not in Gryffindor?"

"Don't be ridiculous! You ARE Weasleys aren't you?"

The twins stayed quiet, looking at the ground in front of them.

"AREN'T YOU?" She asked again, her voice getting loud and her eyes going dangerous.

"Sure mom" said Fred.

"Whatever you say"

"Then you have nothing to worry about, all Weasleys are Gryffindors. Now go on. I'll send you a letter sometime this week. Make sure to behave."

As she turned her back on the twins they turned and looked at each other, even more nervous. Was blood enough to make them a part of their family? What would happen if, despite what she insisted, they weren't sorted in Gryffindor?

Hermione

Hermione sat back and waited for the twins to answer her question. It felt like she was waiting for them to decide whether or not to answer. Finally, she got her response.

"Well according to our mom all Weasleys are lions." Fred said slowly.

"So, you're Gryffindors?" Hermione asked, not getting why that had been so hard to admit.

"No." Said George. "We're not."

"The sorting hat decides what house you're in. It takes your experiences, wants, needs and personality into effect and then puts you in the right house." Fred explained. When we were first years I went up to be sorted and it didn't go well. The hat said everything was conflicting, my past, what I wanted, what I needed. I was what they call a hat stall, have you read about that?"

Hermione nodded, fascinated.

"I just sat there talking to the hat, well, thinking to it really. It said there wasn't an obvious place for me like everyone else, said I was 'different'. I could hear people whispering and everyone was staring at me like I was a freak. I was up there for a long time. I started freaking out and just told the hat to put me where it thought I'd do best now, I said "somewhere I can prove myself". So, it made a quick decision. I was put in Slytherin."

"When I went up pretty much the same thing happened. The hat didn't want to split us up, so it put me in Slytherin too." said George.

"Our mom was furious and the whole school was shocked. They had already written us off as the latest Weasleys, red-haired and short tempered. Our mother sent us a howler the second she found out."

"What's a howler?" Hermione needed to know, although with a name like that she had a bad feeling she knew.

"It's a big red letter that screams at you and then explodes in your face." said Fred.

"It basically said that this was all our fault and she would 'fix it'. She complained that even away from home we were still causing her nothing but trouble and grief." Summarized George.

"Said we couldn't even sit under a hat right" added Fred

Hermione was horrified at this. "So, what did she do?"

"She came in to talk with Dumbledore. We had to come too but we aren't given a chance to talk."

"Good idea on her part because we were fine in Slytherin."

"Basically, the sorting hat told them why it took so long to sort us, and she managed to convince it to resort us. But it wouldn't until the next year. Apparently, it refuses to switch students around midyear and Dumbledore agreed."

George continued where Fred left off. "We came in for our second year determined not to be in Gryffindor. In case you haven't noticed our mom doesn't really…. appreciate us. It's a long story but it didn't use to be as bad. We kind of stopped trying after our first year, and so did she. She wouldn't even have us home for holidays, we always stay at the castle. Before we left last year, she told us we had better be Gryffindor or else."

"We walked in with the first years and when they called me up I had a long conversation with the hat about our mom and what we wanted out of our second year. It took even longer to sort us than the first time. But it finally decided on Ravenclaw."

"the same happened with me, except right before it came off it said, "see you again next year". Like it knew what would happen." said George.

"Your mom?" guessed Hermione?

"Spot on. The hat agreed that since we fit in with all the houses it would keep resorting us if we wanted. And our mom chose for us."

"So where are you going this year?" she asked nervously, she wanted to be in their house. She didn't know why but she felt like she needed to be with them.

"We don't know. The hat will decide." said Fred.

"That's the fun bit, surprising everyone, including ourselves." said George. He was trying to be funny, but Hermione could tell he was worried. She knew what he was thinking. Would their life really change if they were finally sorted into Gryffindor?

Both twins tried to hide their worry from Hermione, but they couldn't help but think of their mother's last words to them.

"I don't want to see you again until you're in Gryffindor, where Weasleys belong."

Hermione

When the train arrived at the station the twins pointed Hermione towards a towering man and told her they'd see her in the great hall. They both hesitated a minute before they each gave her a quick hug and raced to find an empty carriage. Hermione walked behind the other first years to the boats and looked around, her thoughts on the sorting. She couldn't decide what she wanted more, to be where she truly belonged, or to be wherever the twins were this year? She couldn't help but shake the feeling that they might be the same thing. This is crazy, she thought. I can't base a decision like this on two boys I barely even know. I'll let the hat do what it thinks is best, she decided, and let whatever's meant to be happen.

When the extremely large but friendly Hagrid led them up the steps to the castle he turned around a did one more headcount and then turned to the door and rapped hard on it three times. The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Hermione's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of Hermione's house into it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Hermione could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on one poor boy whose cloak was fastened under his left ear, and another whose black hair looked like a birds nest.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

Hermione looked around at her classmates, searching for someone like her, someone she could see herself being friends with. No one really stuck out, not like the twins had.

She gave up and kept her eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead her to her destiny.

Then something happened that made her jump about a foot in the air - several people behind Hermione screamed.

What the -?

She gasped. So, did the people around her. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony Is about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Hermione had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them made all the first years nervous, most looking down at their feet.

Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Hermione couldn't believe it, a part of her had thought the twins might have been joking when they said a mind-reading hat would choose her fate. Apparently not.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

Hermione searched the hall as the sorting began with Hannah Abbott, a kind looking girl with long pigtails. She couldn't find the twins already familiar faces. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. Trying to stay quiet, she turned around and couldn't help but smile up at the twins. Of course, they would have joined the first years to be sorted. She already felt better somehow, knowing they were behind her. When her name was called she walked up to the stool and sat down, determined to face whatever was to come.