AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, here's chapter two and I am currently hitting my friend over the head while she pokes in the neck. Yeah, don't ask. Oh, and the dialogue's not going to follow the dialogue from the book.

This has been the longest punishment Uncle Vernon ever gave us. By the time we were allowed to leave it was summer vacation and Dudley ran over Mrs. Figg on his first (and most likely last) ride on his racing bike.

Harry and I were setting the table for breakfast when Dudley cam in with his Smelting uniform. Smelting is the school Dudley's going to attend in the fall. It consists of a large straw hat (they're called boaters), orange knickerbockers, and a knobby stick (for some strange reason). Uncle Vernon said something about this being the proudest moment of his life, Aunt Petunia burst into tears, and Harry and I bent over laughing so the Dursley's wouldn't see us.

The next day however, when we walked into the kitchen Aunt Petunia was cooking something grayish in a pot and it gave off the worse smell.

"What is that?" Harry asked while I hid behind him and pinched my nose so I didn't have to smell it.

"Both of your uniform." Our aunt said. We peered into the pot and sure enough there were some of Dudley's old clothes being dyed gray.

"We didn't know it'd have to be gray." We said in unison.

"Don't be stupid," Aunt Petunia snapped at us. I shrank into Harry. "This way it'll look like everyone else's."

"Oh." We didn't know what to say to that 'logic'. When summer break is over Harry and I are going to Stonewall High (the local public school), away from Dudley. We could have friends this time. Even though summer break was meant for relaxation, Harry and I couldn't stay at the house most of the time. Dudley and his gang spent their time there, so we wandered around town so we wouldn't get beaten.

"Dudley," Uncle Vernon said without taking his eyes off the newspaper. "Get the mail." We were all eating breakfast at the table when the sound of the mail going through the mail slot reached us.

"Make Harry and Hermelinda get it." Dudley complained as he banged his Smelting stick on the table legs. 'The lazy bum…'

"Harry and Hermelinda, get the mail." Harry and I shared glances as we always do before giving our answer.

"Make Dudley get it." We replied together.

"Poke them with your Smelting stick Dudley." Figures. We dodged Dudley's swings at went out into the hallway to get the mail. I sighed and picked up the letter before flipping through them. 'Bill, postcard from Aunt Marge and…what?' I stopped as I saw the last piece of mail that came.

"Hermelinda?" Harry noticed my abrupt halt and asked. "What's wrong?" He walked over to me with his concerned big brother look and waved a hand in front of my face.

"H-Harry," I stuttered out. "There's a letter for us." I showed him the cream colored envelope that had our names and address in green ink:

Mr. H. Potter and Ms. H. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

"Whoa." Harry said while staring at the letter in amazement.

"H-how do they know about our cupboard?" I whispered nervously.

"I don't know." Harry replied.

"Oi, hurry up you two!" We heard Uncle Vernon shout at us and we walked in the kitchen. "What were you two doing? Checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke and I placed the bill with the postcard in front of him. Our uncle took the postcard (after giving the bill a glance and throwing it to the side) and mentioned that Aunt Marge's sick.

"HARRY AND HERMELINDA HAVE A LETTER!" The little tattle-tale. Our dear uncle snatched the letter from my hands and started laughing.

"Who would want to…?" He trailed off and turned a nasty shade of green and then purple. 'Creepy…'

"P-Petunia!" He cried out for his wife and they started talking about the letter as if it's a bomb. Dudley gave his dad a sharp tap on the forehead and demanded to read the letter.

"We want the letter," Harry and I said together. "As it's ours!" Uncle Vernon sent us out but we wouldn't budge.

"WE WANT OUR LETTER!" It was the first time I actually yelled at them and it didn't go over too well. Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry and Dudley by their collars and me by my waist as well as throwing us out. Harry and Dudley had a silent fight over who got to listen through the doorknob while I got on the floor to listen through the crack between the door and floor; Harry joined me a bit later. Uncle Vernon was pacing and Aunt Petunia was standing still. Uncle Vernon was ranting ("Watching us…" "Strange ways…" Something along those lines) he didn't give away much information so Harry and I got up and went to our cupboard.

Harry was messing around with our stuff and I was lying down with my head on his lap. Even though we have no money and have no idea who our parents are, we each have something that reminds us of them that's been with us since we can remember. I have a silver chain with a lion charm in it. Harry had a black leather necklace with a matching silver lion charm. We believe it's from our parents; Harry's from dad, and mine from Mum.

We have little statues that I love collecting. I find them everywhere; on the sidewalk, beneath I tree I climbed, hidden in the grass. All weird places like that, I don't know how though. We each have a favorite, Harry's favorite is a snowy white owl with large amber eyes and a piece of blank paper in her mouth (which is kind of weird if you ask me), and mine is a female lion cub with blue eyes and is chasing a butterfly. I was jerked out of my thoughts as Uncle Vernon did something he has never done; he's visiting us in our cupboard.

"Where's our letter?" Was the first thing that came out of us when he opened the little door.

"It was addressed to you both by mistake," 'Mistake…?' "I've burnt it." Harry stiffened and shot up in a sitting position.

"It wasn't a mistake," I said.

"It had our cupboard on it!" Harry exclaimed. He was always the fighter between us.

"QUIET!" He bellowed. I shrank against Harry and Uncle Vernon cleared his throat while looking around our 'room'. "Speaking of the cupboard," He began again, "You two are getting a bit too big for it. We're thinking of moving you both into Dudley's other room." (Yup, Dudley's so spoiled that he has another room for all the stuff he's either broken or got bored if it). We took all of our things and got it upstairs in one trip.

I could hear Dudley downstairs complaining to his mother about us being in his room. I ignored him and started to clear away some of Dudley's junk. I frowned at the bent (and now cleared) shelf and turned to Harry.

"Do you think you could fix this Harry?" I asked with a tilt of my head. Harry was clearing off the bed and gave the shelf a pensive look.

"Hm, if you can get some nails and a hammer, then yeah." Harry replied and started to clean out the dresser. I can take the hammer and nails from the store. Stealing, I've never told Harry about how I get our stuff (besides the statues, I find those) but I'm pretty sure he's already known for a while. Besides, I only use it for important stuff, like our blankets, pillows, and my sewing kit (which I use for our pants and some holes in our sweaters).

We finished fixing the room and backed up to review our work. The bed was neatly made, the dresser had both of our clothes in it (with extra room still leftover), my statue collection lined up neatly underneath the shelf (at least until Harry gets to fix it), and all of Dudley's junk is in multiple trash bags outside the door. Harry heaved a sigh, sat down on the edge of our new bed, and rested his arms on his legs.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a worried expression and sat down next to him.

"The letter." He replied. My expression softened and I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Any other day we'd pray to be up here," Harry said with a shake of his head. And I finished:

"But now we'd rather be in the cupboard with that letter.

(LB)

I think Dudley's broken. It's the morning after the day Harry and I moved to the smallest room. Dudley's in shock; he threw his biggest tantrum yet and didn't get his room back. He screamed, whacked Uncle Vernon with his Smelting stick, kicked Aunt Petunia, threw his turtle through the garden house, and made himself sick. Yet, he hasn't his room back. The mail came and I was about to go get it but Uncle Vernon sent Dudley instead.

"Here's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter and Ms. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive-'" He was cut short as Uncle Vernon, Harry, and I made a dive for the letter. Harry jumped on Uncle Vernon's neck as he tried to wrestle the letter from Dudley (and since I was small and quiet enough); I crawled underneath them all and got the letter. It was a plan Harry and I (mostly me though, I might be quiet but Harry often says I have an evil mind) came up with last night. As soon as I grabbed the letter Harry took out an envelope we found around the house and pretended to accidently throw it into the fire. I slipped upstairs as Dudley laughed at Harry's "mistake" and Harry acted as though he was disappointed. I locked the door behind me and waited until Harry comes up and we can finally open the letter. 'Who is this? How do they know where we're sleeping at? Can they get us away from here…?' I was jerked out of my reverie and heard Harry call out to me.

"Hermelinda, it's me. Open the door; do you still have the letter?" I stood up, walked to the door, unlocked it, and gave Harry a grin.

"Of course I do!" I told him in a 'duh, it's obvious' voice. He knows how I get whenever one of my plans works and grinned back.

"Great, now open it already! I wanna know who's so interested in us." He said while sitting on the bed and taking off his shoes.

"I'm opening it, I'm opening it!" He can get so bossy sometimes. "Sheesh, and don't put your shoes on the bed, I just changed the sheets!" I scolded him like a mother and he rolled his eyes in response. I pulled the paper out of the envelope and started reading out loud:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter and Ms. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted

at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please

find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no

later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Harry and I stayed staring at the piece of parchment for a good minute before shaking our heads simultaneously. I turned to Harry with a nervous expression.

"H-Harry, do you believe this?" I was a bit suspicious about this letter but if you really think about it, it explains a lot. How we get away from bullies, how the clothes shrank (without getting into the washer) when we didn't want them, and how the snake got lose in the zoo.

"I honestly don't know." I was shocked. Harry was the one between the two of us that always knew what to do. If he didn't know then I certainly don't. "It explains a lot, but really…magic?" he whispered out the last word in disbelief. He shook his head in doubt. "What's the other letter say?" I looked in the envelope and saw another piece of parchment. I pulled it out and read out loud again:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothing should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade I)

by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transformation by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

by Phyllida Spore

Magical Draughts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad OR any other trained animal

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"H-Harry…there's two tickets." I took out the two tickets and handed one to my twin. "Platform nine and three-quarters…is that even real?" I turned to Harry and he stood up. "Harry?"

"Hermelinda, let's go ask the Dursley's." He seemed so sure of himself whenever he gets like this. This is why I admire him but this time he must be out of his mind.

"Are you crazy?" I hissed at him. "They'll just laugh at how stupid we've been, believing this dung!" Harry just took my hand, the parchments, and led me downstairs. Uncle Vernon was poking happily at the fire before he turned to us and paled.

"Oi! What's that in your hand boy?" Uncle Vernon bellowed out furiously. Aunt Petunia ran in from the kitchen to see what's wrong and Dudley came in to see whether or not we'd get in trouble. I gripped Harry's hand and shrank besides him as I always do.

"It's our letters," Harry stated calmly. He's going to get us in such trouble. "from Hogwarts." Aunt Petunia stiffened and Uncle Vernon turned his trademark red; Dudley just stood there with a blank look.

"How'd you get that letter?" Uncle Vernon demanded to know. "It fell in the fire!" Oh no, please don't tell me Harry's going to…

"That was a blank envelope." He's really done it now. Uncle Vernon's about explode. "Are we magic or not?" Even though I'm scared half to death right now, I want to know the answer.

"Yes." It wasn't Uncle Vernon who answered this time, it was Aunt Petunia.

"You know?" I blurted out. "All this time you knew! And you never thought to tell us?"

"Knew!" I winced as Aunt Petunia's ever famous shrieked rached my ears. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a ltter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school- and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was-a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" Harry gave me hand an assuring squeeze as I started to tremble. It was Uncle Vernon who yelled at us like this, not Aunt Petunia. How long has she kept this inside? She took a deep and continued. "Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you two, and of course I knew you two would be just the same, just as strange, just as-as-abnormal-and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you two!"

Harry and I stiffened and as soon as I found my voice (Harry seemed to get his back as well) we yelled back in unison: "Blown up? You told us they died in a car crash!" This was beyond mind-boggling. Harry dragged back up the stairs and into our room.

"Start packing Hermelinda." Harry told with such authority in his voice that I started grabbing our clothes with no questions.

"Harry, where are we going to go?" I asked him after we finished packing the shared trunk on wheels, putting on sweaters and socks that we couldn't fit into the trunk, and placing my statues in a carefully makeshift backpack out of blankets.

"We're going to try and contact the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall." He was in his 'I'm in charge and I'm going to protect my sister' mode. I grabbed his hand once more and he led my downstairs, past the Dursley's (Uncle Vernon yelled at us once more but we kept going), and into the street.

(LB)

I didn't know how long we've been walking but I do know how tired I am.

"Harry," I asked from behind him. I've trailed behind a while ago since I was getting very tired. "Can we take a break?" Harry turned around and noticed how tired I am and led us to the grass next to the sidewalk so we can relax.

"Sorry Hermelinda." Harry apologized with a sheepish grin. "But we should keep going if we want to find a place to crash for the night." Harry got up and looked around. He seemed so sure of himself but we both know there's no way we'd be able to get in touch with anyone from Hogwarts, let alone the Deputy Headmistress. He knelt down in front of me with his back turned to me and motioned for me to get on. I did. Harry supported me with one arm and rolled our trunk with the other while I had the blanket/backpack that held my collection. I let my head drop on Harry's shoulder but it snapped back up when a house finally came into view. It had paint peeling off, the door was half off its hinges, and the roof had holes in it. It didn't matter. We had a place to stay for the night.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, tell me what you think! Let me know if I portrayed Harry okay and what you think of Hermelinda. Oh, her name means protector of power and I noticed how close it was to Hermione after I had already posted the first chapter, epic fail, I know (^-^")