*20 months late with Starbucks* Please don't kill me?
September second, 1971
John searched his trunk for the matching sock. His first day at Hogwarts was not going well so far. He and the other five boys with whom he now shared a dormitory had stayed up late the previous night – so late that John had now overslept. Now, he couldn't find his damn sock.
"Under the bed," came a voice from across the room. John glanced up, seeing that the voice belonged to (an annoyingly fully dressed and ready to go) a boy with messy black hair and hazel eyes that twinkled behind square frames.
"Thanks ... James, right?"
"Right," he grinned. "See you at breakfast."
With that, John was left alone with a boy who he thought was called Frank, who was trying to simultaneously brush his teeth and tie his shoelaces. John located his elusive sock, finished getting ready and left the dormitory before Frank. Harriet and a blonde girl whose name eluded him waited for him in the common room.
"Never let it be said that I'm not an awesome sister," said Harriet, smiling at him. "C'mon, we still have some time for breakfast."
"John," he introduced himself to the girl, falling into step with her as they walked.
"Alice," she returned, a smile gracing her round face.
"Made friends, I see," he added to Harriet.
"I don't see any of yours, baby brother."
"You are three minutes older than me."
Alice laughed. "You two are cute. It must be nice to have someone else growing up."
"Not really," said Harriet, at the same time as John said, "Nice?" This only caused the blonde to laugh harder.
Reaching the Great Hall, they found the rest of their year. Lily was leaning her head against Molly's shoulder; the other girl unperturbedly eating her porridge as the redhead dozed. Mary sat with them, eating toast and chatting to a third year who she obviously knew. James and Sirius were laughing at something one of them had said, and Peter and Remus were sitting relatively alone. Frank hadn't arrived yet.
"See?" Harriet beamed, evidently proud of herself. "Plenty of time."
No sooner had they sat down, however, than their head of house, Professor McGonagall, made her way down the table, handing out timetables to everyone. John grabbed a slice of toast. He had it buttered when Frank finally arrived, sitting beside him with a yawn. McGonagall tutted as she approached her new first years. Lily jerked awake.
"I am aware that the start a new school is an exciting time, but I would rather not have you falling asleep in your classes. Let's see … Potter ... Black ... Evans ... Hooper ... McDonald ... Watson ... Watson ... Fawley ... Longbottom ... Pettigrew ... and Lupin." She cast an analytical look at them, before her lips quirked into something that may have resembled a smile. "I think you'll do well."
"Thanks, Professor," Harriet muttered, when she was gone. She glanced down at the timetable. "We don't have her 'til Wednesday."
"Herbology first," Alice added, glancing up at the ceiling. It wasn't raining, but the sky was quite grey, which didn't make John eager to go outside. He scanned through the timetable. Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, Potions with the Slytherins, Charms with the Ravenclaws and History of Magic for all three houses. Harriet had been right; they didn't have Transfiguration until first thing on Wednesday morning, when they would see more of their strange head of house.
"We'd better get going," said John, glancing around the Great Hall and noting that some people had already left. Harriet and Alice nodded. Lily was asleep again, and Frank had joined her, face drooping dangerously low to his toast – which had a generous covering of jam. Alice nudged him with her elbow. James lamented the loss of the sight of him with jam on his face.
The eleven of them left the castle and made their way down to the greenhouses, joined by the Hufflepuffs. Their fellow first years smiled at them, and attempted to make conversation. John wondered if it would be stereotypical to assume that all Hufflepuffs were friendly, as a boy who had introduced himself as Carl commented on the weather. How had Harriet thought that he might become one of them?
He was glad that he and his sister had not been separated. Twins were split up by houses all too often, he knew. But he and Harriet hadn't been. He was glad to be a Gryffindor; he appeared to be surrounded by good people. People he could imagine becoming close friends with over the seven years they would spend together.
James, the impromptu leader of their group (he had earned his place by walking ahead of the others as they dawdled) located Greenhouse One. Professor Sprout had not arrived yet, so they lined up outside.
Lily grumbled, hanging her head and tucking her chin into her robes so as to conserve as much heat as possible. "We're going to have to do this every Monday morning for the rest of the year."
Harriet patted her on the back. "It'll get warmer."
"Not before it gets colder."
While the Gryffindors grumbled tiredly, the Hufflepuffs chatted away to each other. Stereotypical or not, it wasn't normal to be that chipper first thing on a Monday morning.
Professor Sprout, as head of Hufflepuff house, was also cheerful as she provided them a refuge from the cold. "Morning, chaps!"
They filed into the greenhouse, standing on either side of a long bench. Professor Sprout introduced herself to them and explained what they would be doing.
"Split up into pairs," she instructed them. "A Gryffindor with a Hufflepuff, please."
Harriet sighed, slinking away. Carl occupied her seat, happily taking up the conversation again. He seemed a genuinely kind person, so John made an effort to reply. They would be planting puffapod seeds; nothing too taxing for their first lesson.
"You'll be dealing with puffapods again in third year," their professor informed them, as they gathered the equipment they'd need. "They'll have grown enough by then."
John and Carl successfully planted a handful of seeds into the four pots they'd been allotted; John learning that he had two siblings, both already in Hogwarts, and Hufflepuff.
"I've only got Harriet," John replied, pointing with his trowel.
"She's loud," said Carl, wrinkling his nose.
John laughed, "Don't I know it."
After Herbology, they made their way back to the castle, and then parted at the staircase. The Hufflepuffs had Charms with the Ravenclaws, whereas the Gryffindors had to descend to the dungeons for Potions with the Slytherins.
The Slytherins, whose first period must have been in the castle, were already in the classroom. The Gryffindors filed in, taking the remaining available seats. Lily broke away, sitting next to a boy with long black hair and a sallow face.
"She mentioned having a friend," Harriet murmured, as she and John sat together. Molly, sitting at the next bench with Alice, glanced around at the Slytherins.
"I'm guessing inter-house friendships don't usually happen?"
"They do, but Slytherins usually keep to themselves. It's the whole 'evil' vibe."
"Surely they're not necessarily evil."
"I beg to differ," Sirius grimaced. "My entire family are Slytherins."
Professor Slughorn called the class to order. He too, was a jovial man, explaining to them what they would be doing over the course of the year. He had brewed several potions to show them, promising them that they would know how to successfully do the same by the end of the year. They took notes down from the chalkboard, and then they were dismissed.
"Is it lunch time?" asked Mary, searching for her timetable.
"I think so …" James stood on his tiptoes. "Yeah, everyone's heading to the Great Hall."
They followed the crowds to where there were soups and sandwiches waiting for them. They sat, ate and talked, until it was time to leave for Charms.
The Charms classroom was located on the third floor, and was found fairly easily after Harriet eventually elbowed her way through the other first years and asked a prefect – Lisa Blackwell – for help.
The Ravenclaws, who were apparently as clever as their house boasted, were waiting outside the door when the Gryffindors approached. Molly struck up an awkward conversation with one of them – a tall, haughty boy with dark curly hair.
"Do you know him?" John asked her, when she apparently gave up in her attempt and moved to stand by him and Harriet.
"I met him on the platform yesterday," Molly replied. "He helped me through the barrier. I thought I might say thank you, but ..." She hung her head.
John frowned at his newfound friend – at least he hoped she was his friend. She was certainly Harriet's. She looked a little dejected, as though she'd been hoping to befriend the boy.
"Excuse me."
The boy turned to him. John suddenly realised he hadn't asked Molly for his name. Instead, he introduced himself.
"John Watson."
The boy did not volunteer any information about himself. instead, he cast cold blue eyes over John and asked, "Identical or fraternal?"
"I'm sorry?"
"You have a twin." It was a statement, not a question. "Identical or fraternal?"
He blinked, fighting the confusion. He'd come to defend Molly, and make the boy apologise to her, but ... how did he know?
"Fraternal," he found himself answering, looking at the other Ravenclaws as if one of them would tell him what was going on. "I'm sorry, how did you—?"
"Brother or sister?" he interrupted.
"Sister," John replied, frowning. "Harriet."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl in question lift a hand to wave, smirking at his plight.
The strange boy nodded his head towards her. "She's older than you are – barely. You've always felt in her shadow."
John shook his head. "How do you know all this?"
"I don't," replied the Ravenclaw, his lips curving upward into a smirk. "I observe."
The door to the classroom opened then, cutting off any further questions that John could formulate. Instead, he turned back to his sister and Molly. "Who was that?"
"That," said Molly darkly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Was Sherlock Holmes. C'mon, let's find a seat."
Their teacher, and head of Ravenclaw house, Professor Flitwick, was a tiny man whose chair was stacked with books in order for him to see over his desk. He began the class by taking the roll call, and, like Potions before it, they took notes from a chalkboard. At the end of the class, they began practising the wand movement for the first charm they would learn: Lumos.
"I wonder if all spells are Latin," Harriet mused, as they walked to History of Magic, their last lesson of the day.
"Have you read Hogwarts: A History?" asked Molly, and so began a conversation that John could have no part in. Instead, he fell into step beside Remus Lupin.
They made small-talk and sat next to each other when the class began – as Harriet and Molly were still chatting away.
John was surprised to find that their History of Magic Professor was a ghost. He began to speak in a droning voice, explaining to them what they would be studying for the next five to seven years.
It made John want to sleep, but he shook out of his stupor in order to make some attempt at notetaking.
Eventually, he gave up, scrawling a note to Remus that read, How can you manage this?
The boy smiled, saying to him in a low tone, "My dad listens to this radio programme. I'm telling you, if you can listen to that without falling asleep, you can listen to anything."
John nodded, only half aware of what Remus had said. He vaguely noted James Potter flying paper aeroplanes – the Muggle way, since they had yet to learn such an incantation – and Professor Binns threatening to give "Perkins" detention.
The bell signalling the end of the day cleared the fog from his brain, and he happily shuffled to the Great Hall with the other students.
"So," Harriet grinned at her brother, piling her plate high with potatoes. "That was the first day of the rest of our lives, huh?"
Lily laughed. "Seven years, Harriet."
She waved a hand in a 'same thing' expression. "What did you think?"
John found himself smiling, nodding, and saying. "I like it."