Warning: Rohini use swear words. But what's new here...

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Mrs. Figg, their batty old neighbour, came panting into sight. Her grizzled grey hair was escaping from its hairnet, a clanking purse was swinging from her wrist and her feet were halfway out of her tartan carpet slippers.

"Mrs. Figg! You shouldn't be outside so late." Rohini said, picking up her wand and hiding it behind her back.

"Don't put them away, you two!" she shrieked. "What if there are more of them around? Oh, I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

"Who?" Rohini asked, confused.

"What?" said Harry blankly.

"Uurg…" was Dudley answer.

"He left!" said Mrs. Figg, wringing her hands. "Left to see someone about a batch of cauldrons that fell off the back of a broom! I told him I'd flay him alive if he went, and now look! Dementors! It's just lucky I put Mr. Tibbles on the case! But we haven't got time to stand around! Hurry, now, we've got to get you back! Oh, the trouble this is going to cause! I will kill him!"

"Wait, did you just- How do you know about Dementors, Mrs. Figg?" Rohini asked, frowning. "Are you…"

"Are you a witch?" Harry finished, and the twins exchanged a shocked smile.

"I'm a Squib, as Mundungus knows full well, so how on earth was I supposed to help you fight off Dementors? He left you completely without cover when I'd warned him—"

"A Squib! Why did you never tell us?" Rohini said. "If you're a Squib, you knew about us being, well, us!"

"Of course I did, my girl." Mrs. Figg scoffed.

"This Mundungus has been following us? Hang on-it was him! He disapparated from the front of our house!" Harry realised.

"Yes, yes, yes, but luckily I'd stationed Mr. Tibbles under a car just in case, and Mr Tibbles came and warned me, but by the time I got to your house you'd gone- and now-oh, what's Dumbledore going to say? You!" she shrieked at Dudley, still supine on the alley floor. "Get your fat bottom off the ground, quick!"

"You know Dumbledore?" said Harry, staring at her while Rohini helped her cousin back on his feet, grunting at his weight.

"Of course I know Dumbledore, who doesn't know Dumbledore? But come on- I'll be no help if they come back, I've never so much as Transfigured a teabag."

"Harry, I wouldn't mind some help over there." Rohini grimaced and Harry seized one of Dudley's massive arms with a grunt.

Dudley seemed to be on the point of fainting. His small eyes were rolling in their sockets and sweat was beading his face.

"Come on, Big D." Rohini said, pulling her cousin's arm around her own shoulder, sagging under the weight. "Damn, he's as heavy as Hagrid!"

Mrs. Figg tottered along in front of them, peering anxiously around the corner.

"Keep your wand out," she told the twins, as they entered Wisteria Walk. "Never mind the Statute of Secrecy now, there's going to be hell to pay anyway, we might as well be hanged for a dragon as an egg. Talk about the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery... This was exactly what Dumbledore was afraid of-what's that at the end of the street? Oh, it's just Mr. Prentice... Don't put your wand away, boy, don't I keep telling you I'm no use?"

"It's alright, Mrs. Figg." Rohini said, trying to calm down the old lady. "It's ok Harry, I can carry him myself now; better have one of us ready to cast a Patronus, just in case."

"Ok." Harry said, letting go of Dudley.

Rohini huffed, and with great efforts managed to stay on her feet, though she feared her spine would snap under Dudley's weight.

"Did Professor Dumbledore ask you to keep an eye on us?" Rohini wheezed.

Mrs. Figg gave her a quick look above her shoulder.

"Yes; been my duty for the past fourteen years. I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, you were too young. But oh my word," she said tragically, wringing her hands once more, "when Dumbledore hears about this-how could Mundungus have left, he was supposed to be on duty until midnight-where is he? How am I going to tell Dumbledore what's happened? I can't Apparate-"

"I've got an owl, you can borrow her." Harry said.

"Still, Dementors…" Rohini said, her expression growing grim. "They must be on his side, now; probably didn't take long for Voldemort to-"

"Don't say his name!" Mrs. Figg shrieked, horrified. "MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

There was a loud crack and a strong smell of drink mingled with stale tobacco filled the air as a squat, unshaven man in a tattered overcoat materialised right in front of them. He had short, bandy legs, long straggly ginger hair and bloodshot, baggy eyes that gave him the doleful look of a basset hound.

Rohini's nose twisted at the smell, and she covered her nose with her t shirt.

"'S' up, Figgy?" he said, staring from Mrs. Figg to Harry to Rohini and Dudley. "What 'appened to staying undercover?"

"I'll give you undercover!" cried Mrs. Figg, starting to hit the man with her purse. Judging by the clanking noise it made it was full of cat food. "Dementors, you useless, skiving sneak thief!"

"Dementors?" repeated Mundungus, aghast. "Dementors, here?"

"Yes, here, you worthless pile of bat droppings, here!" shrieked Mrs. Figg. "Dementors attacking the kids on your watch! 'And you off buying stolen cauldrons! Didn't I tell you not to go? Didn't I?"

"I-well, I-" Mundungus looked deeply uncomfortable. "It ... it was a very good business opportunity, see..."

"A very good opportunity?" Rohini cut him, bemused. "You want to know what's a good opportunity? The fact that Harry was forced to use underage magic, something I'm sure our little friend the Minister will have the pleasure to notice!"

"See? This girl is smarter than your little, pea sized brain!" Mrs. Figg pointed out, still swinging her purse at Mundungus.

"Keep your 'airnet on!" said Mundungus, his arms over his head, cowering. "I'll tell Dumbledore right now! I'm going, I'm going!"

And with another loud crack, he vanished.

"I hope Dumbledore murders him!" said Mrs. Figg furiously.

"Maybe changing him into a bat will be enough." Rohini said wisely.

"I'll take you to the door," said Mrs. Figg, as they turned into Privet Drive. "Just in case there are more of them around... Oh my word, what a catastrophe ... and you had to fight them off yourself ... and Dumbledore said we were to keep you from doing magic at all costs... Well, it's no good crying over spilt potion, I suppose ... but the cat's among the pixies now..."

"So," Harry said, "Dumbledore's ... been having ... us followed?"

"Of course he has," said Mrs. Figg impatiently. "Did you expect him to let you wander around on your own after what happened in June? Good Lord, boy, they told me you were intelligent..."

Rohini snorted and Harry gave her a nasty side glance.

"Right ... get inside and stay there," Mrs. Figg said, as they reached number four. "I expect someone will be in touch with you soon enough."

"Thanks, Mrs. Figg." Rohini said. "Sorry for all the troubles we gave you tonight."

"Oh, girl, this isn't your fault." The old lady said, gently slapping Rohini's cheeks. "It's all Mundungus' fault, this little- but enough worries for tonight, yes… goodnight!"

"Hang on, don't go yet! I want to know-" Harry tried to say, but Mrs. Figg had already set off at a trot, carpet slippers flopping, string bag clanking. "Wait!" Harry shouted after her.

"It's late, Harry." Rohini said, shaking her head. "Let's keep the questions for later; we have a biggest problem to deal with right now." She pointed out, nodding at Dudley.

Scowling, Harry opened the door to number four and held it for her.

"Diddy! About time too, I was getting quite-quite- Diddy, what's the matter?"

Rohini looked sideways at Dudley and ducked out from under his arm just in time. Dudley swayed on the spot for a moment, his face pale green... then he opened his mouth and vomited all over the doormat.

"Urg, gross!" Rohini complained, stepping away.

"DIDDY! Diddy, what's the matter with you? Vernon? VERNON!"

Uncle Vernon came galumphing out of the living room, walrus moustache blowing hither and thither as it always did when he was agitated. He hurried forwards to help Aunt Petunia negotiate a weak-kneed Dudley over the threshold while avoiding stepping in the pool of sick.

"He's ill, Vernon!"

"What is it, son? What's happened? Did Mrs. Polkiss give you something foreign for tea?"

"Why are you all covered in dirt, darling? Have you been lying on the ground?"

"Hang on-you haven't been mugged, have you, son?"

Aunt Petunia screamed and Rohini grimaced.

"Phone the police, Vernon! Phone the police! Diddy, darling, speak to Mummy! What did they do to you?"

"For Merlin's sake, he wasn't mugged!" Rohini shouted, annoyed.

"Then what happened?"

"Him." Dudley finally said, pointing vaguely at Harry whose face screwed up, bracing for the explosion.

"BOY! COME HERE!" Uncle Vernon shouted, grabbing Harry and Dudley by the arms and pulling them into the clean kitchen that had an oddly unreal glitter after the darkness outside. "YOU TOO!" He barked at Rohini.

"As if I was going anywhere." Rohini said shortly.

Aunt Petunia was ushering Dudley into a chair; he was still very green and clammy-looking. Uncle Vernon was standing in front of the draining board, glaring at Harry through tiny, narrowed eyes.

"What have you done to my son?" he said in a menacing growl.

"Nothing." said Harry, though both twins knew perfectly well that Uncle Vernon wouldn't believe him.

"What did he do to you, Diddy?" Aunt Petunia said in a quavering voice, now sponging sick from the front of Dudley's leather jacket. "Was it-was it you-know-what, darling? Did he use-his thing?"

Slowly, tremulously, Dudley nodded.

"I didn't!" Harry said sharply, as Aunt Petunia let out a wail and Uncle Vernon raised his fists.

Rohini stepped between her brother and her uncle, her own fists clenched.

"I didn't do anything to him, it wasn't me, it was-"

But at that precise moment a screech owl swooped in through the kitchen window. Narrowly missing the top of Uncle Vernon's head, it soared across the kitchen, dropped the large parchment envelope it was carrying in its beak at Harry's feet, turned gracefully, the tips of its wings just brushing the top of the fridge, then zoomed outside again and off across the garden.

"OWLS!" bellowed Uncle Vernon, the well-worn vein in his temple pulsing angrily as he slammed the kitchen window shut. "OWLS AGAIN! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY MORE OWLS IN MY HOUSE!"

But Harry was already ripping open the envelope and pulling out the letter inside and Rohini hurried to his side, a dreadful feeling making her heart pound.

The letter read:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle.

The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand.

As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 a.m. on the twelfth of August.

Hoping you are well,

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

Rohini froze, her breath stuck in her lungs. No, it couldn't be possible.

"No way." She said aloud, shaking her head. "No freaking way!"

Harry said nothing, his eyes fixed on the letter. Rohini barely noticed his hands were shaking.

"We need to leave." Harry finally said, looking at Rohini with a strangely resigned expression. "I can't stay here; I can't- I can't be out of Hogwarts, wandless."

"Harry, wait!"

"Where d'you think you're going?" yelled Uncle Venon. When Harry didn't reply, he pounded across the kitchen to block the doorway into the hall. "I haven't finished with you, boy!"

"Get out of the way." said Harry quietly.

"You're going to stay here and explain how my son-"

"If you don't get out of the way I'm going to jinx you." said Harry, raising the wand.

"Harry, don't-" Rohini started but stopped when she saw the look inside her brother's eyes as he glanced at her.

"You can't pull that one on me!" snarled Uncle Vernon. "I know you're not allowed to use it outside that madhouse you call a school!"

"The madhouse has chucked me out." said Harry. "So I can do whatever I like. You've got three seconds. One-two—"

A resounding CRACK filled the kitchen. Aunt Petunia screamed, Uncle Vernon yelled and ducked and Rohini grabbed Harry's wrist, forcing him to lower his wand.

A dazed and ruffled-looking barn owl was sitting outside on the kitchen sill, having just collided with the closed window.

"Isn't it Percy's old owl?" Rohini asked.

Ignoring Uncle Vernon's anguished yell of 'OWLS!', Harry and Rohini crossed the room at a run and wrenched the window open. The owl stuck out its leg, to which a small roll of parchment was tied, shook its feathers, and took off the moment Harry had taken the letter. Hands shaking, Harry unfurled the second message, which was written very hastily and blotchily in black ink.

Harry-

Dumbledore's just arrived at the Ministry and he's trying to sort it all out. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE. DO NOT DO ANY MORE MAGIC. DO NOT SURRENDER YOUR WAND.

Arthur Weasley

"Oh, thanks Merlin." Rohini sighed, dropping on the closest chair, shaking; it was just too much trouble in such a short period of time. Then, she waved at Harry. "Come on; Harry please, just sit down and wait. Please."

"Right," Harry said, "I've changed my mind, I'm staying."

He flung himself down at the kitchen table and faced Dudley and Aunt Petunia. The Dursleys appeared taken aback at his abrupt change of mind. Aunt Petunia glanced despairingly at Uncle Vernon. The vein in his purple temple was throbbing worse than ever. Rohini stood up and started the electric kettle to boil tea.

"Who are all these ruddy owls from?" Uncle Vernon growled.

"The first one was from the Ministry of Magic, expelling me," said Harry calmly. "The second one was from my friend Ron's dad, who works at the Ministry."

"Ministry of Magic?' bellowed Uncle Vernon. "People like you in government? Oh, this explains everything, everything, no wonder the country's going to the dogs..."

"Or maybe you Muggles are just incompetents to start with." Rohini breathed between her teeth.

"And why have you been expelled?"

"Because I did magic."

"AHA!" roared Uncle Vernon, slamming his fist down on top of the fridge, which sprang open; several of Dudley's low-fat snacks toppled out and burst on the floor. "So you admit it! What did you do to Dudley?"

"He did nothing to him." Rohini said, feeling Harry getting angry again. "We were attacked, and Harry used magic to protect us. Without him and our "thing" as you call it, Dudley would have lost his mind and soul. So be a bit grateful that we didn't bring you a vegetable as a son!"

"All dark," Dudley said hoarsely, shuddering. "Everything dark. And then I h-heard ... things. Inside m-my head..."

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia exchanged looks of utter horror. If their least favourite thing in the world was magic, closely followed by neighbours who cheated more than they did on the hosepipe ban, people who heard voices were definitely in the bottom ten. They obviously thought Dudley was losing his mind.

"What sort of things did you hear, popkin?" breathed Aunt Petunia, very white-faced and with tears in her eyes.

But Dudley seemed incapable of saying. He shuddered again and shook his large blond head. Rohini was taken aback; Dementors caused a person to relive the worst moments of their life, so what would spoiled, pampered, bullying Dudley have been forced to hear?

"Horrible," croaked Dudley. "Cold. Really cold... felt ... felt ... as if ... as if..."

"As if you'd never be happy again." Harry supplied dully. Rohini shuddered as she knew exactly how it felt. Feeling extremely cold herself, she made three cups of tea, one for Harry and one for Dudley; she might despise her cousin, but she also felt pity for him on this instant.

"Yes." Dudley whispered, still trembling as he took the cup from Rohini's hands.

"So!" said Uncle Vernon, voice restored to full and considerable volume as he straightened up. "You put some crackpot spell on my on so he'd hear voices and believe he was-was doomed to misery, or something, did you?"

"How many times do we have to tell you?" said Harry, temper and voice both rising. "It wasn't me! It was a couple of Dementors!"

"A couple of-what's this codswallop?"

"Dementors." Rohini said before taking a sip and grimacing as she burnt her tongue.

"And what the ruddy hell are Dementors?"

"They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban." said Aunt Petunia.

Rohini dropped her cup and hissed as it shattered and the hot liquid splashed everywhere, burning her naked legs.

"Shit!" She cursed, grabbing the closest tea towel; it was definitely painful.

"Rohini, are you ok?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine!" Rohini snapped as she started picking up the broken pieces of porcelain. "How d'you know that?" She asked her aunt, astonished. "Thought you wanted nothing to have to do with our kind?"

Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsy teeth.

"I heard-that awful boy-telling her about them-years ago." she said jerkily.

"If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?" said Harry loudly but Aunt Petunia ignored him. She seemed horribly flustered.

Rohini felt both stunned and revolted. Except for one outburst years ago, in the course of which Aunt Petunia had screamed that their mother had been a freak, she had never mentioned her sister a single time.

Uncle Vernon opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it once more, shut it, then, apparently struggling to remember how to talk, opened it for a third time but only a strange sound left his lips.

Uncle Vernon looked from Aunt Petunia to Dudley to Harry to Rohini as if hoping somebody was going to shout 'April Fool!' When nobody did, he opened his mouth yet again, but was spared the struggle to find more words by the arrival of the third owl of the evening.

It zoomed through the still-open window like a feathery cannon-ball and landed with a clatter on the kitchen table, causing all three of the Dursleys to jump with fright. Harry tore a second official-looking envelope from the owl's beak and ripped it open as the owl swooped back out into the night.

"Enough-effing-owls..." muttered Uncle Vernon distractedly, stomping over to the window and slamming it shut again.

Ignoring her painful legs, Rohini read above Harry's arm:

Dear Mr. Potter,

Further to our letter of approximately twenty-two minutes ago, the Ministry of Magic has revised its decision to destroy your wand forthwith. You may retain your wand until your disciplinary hearing on the twelfth of August, at which time an official decision will be taken.

Following discussions with the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Ministry has agreed that the question of your expulsion will also be decided at that time. You should therefore consider yourself suspended from school pending further enquiries.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

Rohini sighed loudly. Harry's fate was still uncertain, but at last his wand wouldn't be broken, not for now.

"Well?" said Uncle Vernon. "What now? Have they sentenced you to anything? Do your lot have the death penalty?" he added as a hopeful afterthought.

Rohini's eyes flashed.

"YOU SON OF-" Rohini shouted as Harry caught her by the waist. Screw the whole controlling her anger thing. "You think death is funny, do you? You can't wait for the day you'll put us in a coffin, huh? Well guess what, you dirty son of a bitch! Almost happened four times already! That's right, four times! And I swear to god that we're going to outlive you, you little-"

"Rohi, calm down!" Harry said, forcing her to sit down. "It's ok, calm down-"

"It's NOT ok!" Rohini shouted. "Do you want to die, just like Cedric? Just like mum and dad?!"

"Of course not!"

"Well, me neither!" Rohini said, her shoulders slouching.

Silence followed her outburst.

"I've got to go to a hearing." finally said Harry. "Well, if that's all, Rohini and I are going to bed."

"NO, IT RUDDY WELL IS NOT ALL!" bellowed Uncle Vernon. "SIT BACK DOWN!"

"What now?" said Harry impatiently. "I thought you were tired of our faces?"

"DUDLEY!" roared Uncle Vernon. "I want to know exactly what happened to my son!"

"FINE!" yelled Harry, and in his temper, red and gold sparks shot out of the end of his wand, still clutched in his hand. All three Dursleys flinched, looking terrified but Rohini barely blinked; on this instant, she was internally suffering as she tried to keep her own power under control, feeling her legs burning more and more where the tea had touched her; her skin wasn't pretty to look at.

"Dudley and I were in the alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk, Rohini and her cat with us," said Harry, speaking fast. "Dudley thought he'd be smart with me, I pulled out my wand but didn't use it. Then two Dementors turned up-"

"But what ARE Dementoids?" asked Uncle Vernon furiously. "What do they DO?"

"I told you-they suck all the happiness out of you," said Harry, "and if they get the chance, they kiss you-"

"Kiss you?" said Uncle Vernon, his eyes popping slightly. "Kiss you?"

"It's what they call it when they do it. Sucking the soul out of your mouth." Rohini said clenching her fists as the burning sensation finally got tamed a little.

"Fought 'em off, did you, son?" said Uncle Vernon loudly, with the appearance of a man struggling to bring the conversation back on to a plane he understood. "Gave 'em the old one-two, did you?"

Rohini grunted.

"You can't give a Dementor the old one-two." said Harry through clenched teeth.

"Why's he all right, then?" blustered Uncle Vernon. "Why isn't he all empty, then?"

"Because I used the Patronus-"

WHOOSH. With a clattering, a whirring of wings and a soft fall of dust, a fourth owl came shooting out of the kitchen fireplace.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE!" roared Uncle Vernon, pulling great clumps of hair out of his moustache, something he hadn't been driven to do in a long time. "I WILL NOT HAVE OWLS HERE, I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS, I TELL YOU!"

But Harry was already pulling a roll of parchment from the owl's leg and Rohini recognised the familiar, comforting handwriting of Sirius.

Harry, Rohini

Arthur has just told us what's happened. Don't leave the house again, whatever you do. Keep calm, especially you Rohini.

We'll meet again soon, I promise

Harry crushed the letter and Rohini gave him a knowing pat on the shoulder; if she was the one waiting for a trial, she would be furious at the situation, too. Not that she wasn't, of course; but she was scared for Harry, first.

"So, as I was saying," Harry kept going, probably hopping the Dursleys will let them go upstairs soon, "I did the Patronus Charm to get rid of the Dementors. It's the only thing that works against them."

"But what were Dementoids doing in Little Whinging? It's you," said Uncle Vernon forcefully. "It's got something to do with you two, I know it. Why else would they turn up here? Why else would they be down that alleyway? You've got to be the only-the only-"

"Because they're just like you." Rohini said coldly. "Because they want us dead."

"He must have sent them…" Said Harry quietly, exchanging a knowing look with Rohini. "Lord Voldemort."

"No need to call him a Lord. He is nothing but vermin." Rohini spat.

"Lord- hang on," said Uncle Vernon, his face screwed up, a look of dawning comprehension coming into his piggy eyes. "I've heard that name ... that was the one who..."

"Murdered our parents, yes." Harry said dully.

"But he's gone." said Uncle Vernon impatiently. "That giant bloke said so. He's gone."

"Well, not anymore. I saw him come back to life." Rohini said heavily, a strange coldness invading her bones as Cedric's face flashed through her mind.

It felt very strange to be standing here in Aunt Petunia's surgically clean kitchen, beside the top-of-the-range fridge and the wide-screen television, talking calmly of Voldemort to Uncle Vernon.

The arrival of the Dementors in Little Whinging seemed to have breached the great, invisible wall that divided the relentlessly non-magical world of Privet Drive and the world beyond.

"Back?" whispered Aunt Petunia.

She was looking at the twins as she had never looked at them before. And all of a sudden, for the very first time in his life, Rohini fully understood that Aunt Petunia was their mother's sister. Rohini saw the understanding and the fear as her aunt realised what was implied here.

"Yes." Rohini said, nodding. "He… well, let's say Harry and I have a huge killing target on our back, again."

"Hang on," said Uncle Vernon, looking from his wife to Harry to Rohini and back again, apparently dazed and confused by the unprecedented understanding that seemed to have sprung up between them. "Hang on. This Lord Voldything's back, you say."

"Yes."

"The one who murdered your parents."

"Yes."

"And now he's sending dismembers after you?"

"Looks like it." said Harry as Rohini nodded tiredly.

"I see…" said Uncle Vernon, hitching up his trousers. He seemed to be swelling, his great purple face stretching before their eyes. "Well, that settles it," he said, his shirt front straining as he inflated himself, "you can get out of this house, you two!"

Rohini blinked quickly. Surely she hadn't hear him well?

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me-OUT!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, and even Aunt Petunia and Dudley jumped. "OUT! OUT! I should've done this years ago! Owls treating the place like a rest home, puddings exploding, half the lounge destroyed, Dudley's tail, Marge bobbing around on the ceiling and that flying Ford Anglia-OUT! OUT! You've had it! You're history! You're not staying here if some loony's after you, you're not endangering my wife and son, you're not bringing trouble down on us, if you're going the same way as your useless parents, I've had it! OUT!"

"Don't you dare-" Rohini said, grabbing her wand and putting it right under Uncle Vernon's double chin, "Don't you even dare trying to kick us out!"

"You heard me!" said Uncle Vernon, bending forwards now. "Get going! You were all keen to leave half an hour ago! I'm right behind you! Get out and never darken our doorstep again! Why we ever kept you in the first place, I don't know, Marge was right, it should have been the orphanage. We were too damn soft for our own good, thought we could squash it out of you, thought we could turn you normal, but you've been rotten from the beginning and I've had enough-OWLS!"

The fifth owl zoomed down the chimney so fast it actually hit the floor before zooming into the air again with a loud screech. Rohini raised her free hand to seize the letter, which was in a scarlet envelope, but it soared straight over her head, flying directly at Aunt Petunia, who let out a scream and ducked, her arms over her face. The owl dropped the red envelope on her head, turned, and flew straight back up the chimney.

Rohini stepped closer.

"It's addressed to you." She told her aunt in a dull voice. "Mrs. Petunia Dursley, The Kitchen, Number Four, Privet Drive."

The red envelope had begun to smoke.

Aunt Petunia was trembling. She looked wildly around the kitchen as though looking for an escape route, but too late-the envelope burst into flames.

An awful voice filled the kitchen, echoing in the confined space, issuing from the burning letter on the table.

"REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA."

Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint. She sank into the chair beside Dudley, her face in her hands. The remains of the envelope smouldered into ash in the silence.

"What is this?" Uncle Vernon said hoarsely. "What-I don't-Petunia?"

Aunt Petunia said nothing. Dudley was staring stupidly at his mother, his mouth hanging open. The silence spiralled horribly.

"What does it mean?" Rohini asked, exchanging a confused glance with her brother.

"Petunia, dear?" said Uncle Vernon timidly. "P-Petunia?"

She raised her head. She was still trembling. She swallowed.

"The boy-the boy and the girl, they will have to stay, Vernon." she said weakly.

"W-what?"

"They stays." she said. She was not looking at Harry or Rohini. She got to her feet again. "If we throw them out, the neighbours will talk." she added, as she was rapidly regaining her usual brisk, snappish manner, though she was still very pale. "They'll ask awkward questions, they'll want to know where they're gone. We'll have to keep them."

Uncle Vernon was deflating like an old tyre.

"'You're to stay in your room." she said to the twins. "You're not to leave the house. Now get to bed."

Rohini started to leave but stopped as Harry didn't move.

"Who was that Howler from?"

"Don't ask questions." Aunt Petunia snapped.

'Are you in touch with wizards? What did it mean? Remember the last what?"

"Go to bed!"

"How come-?"

"YOU HEARD YOUR AUNT, NOW GO UP TO BED!" Uncle Vernon screamed, and Rohini grabbed Harry by the arm, whispering at him to just go and the twins made their way upstairs, locking the door behind them.

"Don't do any more magic, stay in the house… What are we, kids?!" Harry said angrily.

He kicked his school trunk as he passed it and Rohini sighed, rubbing her face tiredly.

"Teens, technically. Though I suppose we do look like kids to adults-"

"I'm not in the mood for your witty comments, Rohi." Harry snapped.

"And I'm not in the mood for your tantrum, yet here we are." Rohini snarled back.

Harry threw himself down on his bed without undressing and stared at the dark ceiling. Rohini stayed on her feet, her back leaning against the door.

"Goodnight, then?" She said tentatively, but Harry only turned her back at her. "Wow. Fuck you, Harry." She grumbled before dropping on her own bed, turning her back to Harry's back in return.

In the ambient darkness, a deafening silence planning above them, Rohini couldn't ignore her throbbing legs she had accidentally burnt earlier, and the way the palm of her hands were slightly glowing, as if she had fire in her veins. A fire she couldn't control.

'Well, maybe I'll accidentally burn this stupid house to the ground.' was her last though as she pushed her head into her pillow, though the rationalist part of her would later admit she was glad it didn't happen; there was enough troubles already with one twin on trial.