Author Talk: I'm back and yes sorry it took so long but I truly suck at updating.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter... yet. I just need J. K. Rowling to reply to my many emails and letters and then we'll see.

Claimer: I just realised I do own something. Like Jace and the plot and St Lucians and Dame and uh... You know what I'm gonna let you read the story now

Chapter Two

Courtesy of: the Potter Twins

Present Day

It was one of those days. Jace had woken up, saw the date on the calendar, closed her eyes and went straight back to sleep. If she could have, she would sleep through it. Sadly that was not to be; as she woke up to hear the three words that should never ever be put into the same sentence:

"Happy Birthday Dudley," either Vernon or Petunia said.

Ugh no, no, no, no. Harry looked at Jace who was groaning aloud.

"Get out of bed," he said throwing a pillow at her which she caught and threw back.

"Harry. Do me a solid and bring a knife or gun or something," Jace replied.

"No."

"But, Harry―"

"If I have to go through the unspeakable horror that is Dudley's birthday, then so. Do. You." With that he dragged her out of bed and she fell on her trunk. Not the nicest of landings Jace thought as she rubbed her sore butt.

"Fine," Jace pointed at him. "Changing. Out." She flicked her finger towards the door. Harry grinned and left.

Jace came out in her usual attire (jeans and T-shirt) and walked past Harry straight towards her impending doom. In the living room. Oh god.

Jace and Harry entered the room to see Dudley open something he would break in mere seconds. Jace did that every time Dudley was given something, calculate how long it will be until he breaks it, how long it will take to fix and then how much it will sell for. Selling other people's things isn't bad if you need the money. And she had… the first time.

The others were just easy money.

So far Dudley had gotten a camera (13 minutes), a laptop (an hour), robotic action figure (barely 2 minutes), remote controlled cars (already broken he just didn't know yet), build your own world set (3 days) and so on. (3 days is a new record everything else is under that.)

Jace knew how it went: it was Dudley's day so she and Harry had to pretend to not exist. Then during "Dudder's" birthday trip with a friend, they would be sent to Mrs Figgs. An old lady who though she pays Jace for doing random chores and such may be quite insane as she spends quite a lot of time talking to herself. But then so do a lot of people she knew and they were geniuses. At least to Jace, they were.

The phone rang. Harry stopped listening in on his sister's inner monologue and turned his attention to his aunt who was answering the phone. At first she seemed to be content then she got really happy but then her face contorted into a mask of horror.

She said "goodbye" then slammed the phone down. Which brought all attention to her.

"M- Mrs Figgs has had an accident – broke her leg – and now she can't take them," she pointed her finger at the Potter twins like they were a terrible monster or vermin or something.

"What was she doing to break her leg?" Vernon asked.

"Pushed by unruly ruffians," Jace couldn't help but notice that the last bit of the sentence seemed to be aimed at them but… it was probably Paranoia. Wouldn't be the first time.

"Yes, kids these days," OK that one was definitely pointed at them. "Nothing like our Dudley," Vernon sighed. Jace tried very hard to resist the urge to laugh very VERY loudly. Oh, the irony. Dudley was a Brat and/or a Prat (capitals intended) but the best adjectives for use to describe him would be Stupid, Bullying, Arrogant, Spoiled, Uncaring etc. She sometimes wondered whether it was really her and Harry who needed glasses.

"I agree," Petunia said. These People Are Freaking BLIND.

"So what shall we do about them?" Vernon said, hissing.

"We can stay here!" Harry and Jace said in unison. It was their opinion that anytime not spent with the Dursleys was time well spent.

"So we can come back to the house half burned down? I do not think so," Petunia hissed.

"Can't anybody else take them?" Dudley whined.

"No Duddy-baby, everyone else is booked up," Petunia said gently.

"B-b-but they c-can't come th-they always ruin everything," he cried latching himself onto his mother but while his parents weren't looking he stuck his tongue out at the Potter twins.

"I'm sorry Dudley but there's nothing we can do," Petunia said staring death rays at Harry and Jace. 'Not like it's our fault,' Harry thought.

So that's how Harry found himself squashed into the back seat with Jace, Dudley and Perry Rossney, Dudley's right hand man –or was it boy? But whatever it was did not merit the fact he was squished -or was it squashed?

God, Harry make up your mind. It doesn't really matter whether it's squished or squashed anyway considering the fact they mean the bloody same thing.

'Jace. Invading my mind again, are we?'

No response.

'Fine but how would you know? It's not like you have a dictionary or… Jace sometimes I am under the impression that God swapped your human brain for something else like a calculator or dictionary or something?'

She didn't answer.

She didn't answer for a while.

Harry… I sometimes worry about you.

He couldn't help it. He had to laugh. Jace glared at him while the Dursleys plus Perry gave him looks obviously questioning his sanity. He pinched himself to make sure it was real. But really this was genuinely happening. Hah. Jace was wondering about his sanity. Oh… Wait. Maybe he should be a bit worried…

Harry! I'm being serious about this. Okay, I mean seriously how stupid can you get?

"Hey!" he said out loud. Again the Dursleys plus Perry gave him looks questioning his sanity while Jace just sighed in exasperation.

"Um… uh… yeah I mean, I-I just saw something that reminded me of my dream," Harry said thinking fast while cursing his inability to lie perfectly and keep his thoughts to himself. "That uh there was a flying motorcycle and then that billboard appeared and it had a bike on it so―" He was going to say "so I thought why not go ahead and shout "hey" at it," which would probably have caused Jace to laugh a lot louder than she already was, though she was trying to keep the sound to a bare minimum (emphasis on trying). But then Uncle Vernon decided to explode. Like, literally. Okay maybe not literally… But it sounded like an explosion.

"MOTORCYCLES CAN'T FLY," Uncle Vernon boomed.

"N-no it was just a—" Harry tried, he really tried to explain but Jace knew how it would turn out so she tuned out everything until her uncle's rant faded to simple "BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH."

So it ended with "Sorry," said Harry. And the ride to the zoo passed quietly and uneventfully, as did the zoo trip.

Until they got to the reptile area that is.

It was the last bit before they had to go home. Jace had enjoyed everything especially the part when Perry and Dudley wet themselves when the female lions growled at them for trying to get near their babies.

But now they were in the reptilian area. Jace was immediately pulled towards the lizards section as she loved lizards and all animals for that matter. For that her brothers would always tut-tut at her and say "You don't love them enough to become a vegetarian for them or their survival." Damn Harry making her feel guilty.

She turned to look at Dudley and Vernon, who she realised were standing in front of the snake―oh a Boa Constrictor. This should be interesting. She inched closer to hopefully witness Dudley and Vernon repeat Dudley and Perry's earlier… um incident.

But she was disappointed to find that the Boa Constrictor was pretending to be asleep.

And try as they might they could not get it to 'wake up'. So the two of them left the snakes and, sadly, without incident.

Her brother, who had been standing right beside Vernon and Dudley, had moved in front of the snake which had opened an eye. Harry got down on his hunkers and his lips moved a few times but she was too far away too hear him.

Then Harry turned around and beckoned her towards him. She walked over to him and mimicked his position.

"Look at this," Harry said and pointed to the Constrictor.

She had almost said "Yes, Harry it's a snake. How amazing," but the Boa Constrictor decided to start talking.

"Who is thisss?" the snake said (or is it hissed?).

"I'm Jace," Jace replied automatically, before what had just happened sank in. A snake. Just talked. To her. She could practically feel her face lighting up. "Can you understand me?" she asked.

"Yesss. Now I have a quesss-tion. You have different names yet you look the sssame assside from your hair, your voices are similar but not exactly, your personalities differ in certain assspectsss and your eyes have ssseen different things in different ways. Pray tell, what new-fangled magic is this?" the snake … let's just go with hissed.

Harry and Jace were taken aback. Harry wondered when the last time the Constrictor had talked to people was, considering that the way it spoke was in a very "The Days of William Shakespeare and Other Great Poets of His Time" fashion. But what surprised Jace was the fact that the Boa C. had never seen twins before—or heard of them for that matter.

They both ignored the fact it had called it magic.

"We're twins," Harry replied after a short pause.

"Twins?" the snake asked. Jace realised that the Boa C. probably didn't know what the word 'twins' even meant. So she went on to explain Twineology—was that even a word?

She suddenly heard Dudley's voice saying "Look Dad, the Freaks made it move. The snake's awake." And felt the force of a miniature elephant knock into her and Harry, causing them to fall over onto the floor. Jace's butt had been sore already so landing on the hard floor did nothing good for her. Or the fact that she and Harry's anger levels were steadily rising causing their minds to join and their individual thoughts became blurred.

Her usual calculated thinking was replaced by pure rage and she knew that it was the same for Harry. And then—

Screams of "Snake!" filled the air and some children made a rhyme for it as they couldn't understand the 'danger' of the situation.

"The snake, the snake,

The snake has escaped!

We don't know how he did it?

The glass has gone with it

So the slippery snake knows:

It's time it goes."

The glass had disappeared. They didn't know how but they knew it had something to do with them. The thought was proved when the snake when passing them hissed "Brasil Aqui vou eu ... Obrigado amigos," which Jace translated as "Brazil… Here I come... Thank you, friends."

The twins just hoped the Dursleys would remain oblivious.

The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass…" he kept asking himself, "Where did the glass go?"

And for all the entire world neither twin could help him find the answer to that question.

'Frankly,' Harry thought/spoke to Jace, 'it's a miracle the guy hasn't fainted yet but I'm glad he hasn't.'

True—Oh Harry! You jinxed it. Look at him— he's slumped in a chair.

'There is a difference between fainting and slumping in a chair while conscious,' Harry told her.

She was silent for a moment before she suddenly said—

I bet you anything he's on the inch of cardiac arrest.

And he almost took that bet. Almost. But he knew Jace better than that, also they were still on the terms of another unfinished bet which meant if they were to go by the Rules then if Jace won either of them first she would get to collect her reward and part of the other bet's some. Plus she hadn't clarified what 'anything' was so it meant she would take the best from him. Dang. He had really wanted to take that bet since he had more chance of winning than in the other one. But still; he couldn't take the consequences if the risk played out badly for him.

'No dice Jace.'

Darn. They both looked at the keeper who was now standing up from his chair. He didn't look near the inch of cardiac arrest. He was escorting numerous hysterical women and men with their still chanting children outside.

Oh. Guess it was good thing that you didn't take me on in that bet. I would have lost. She stood up dusting herself off from the fall and breaking the connection.

Meanwhile Harry was in inner mental turmoil. Damn his thinking. No. Damn Jace; it was thanks to her that he got this from spending so much time exploring their mental connection. Of course something from her would rub off on him.

He stood up and followed Jace, Perry and the Dursleys back to the car while glaring ice daggers at Jace. Which she ignored.

Sometimes he hated his sister.

Once they were all back in the car and Harry was being squished/squashed again, Perry and Dudley were telling high tales of how the snake had attacked them in so many new ways (some that even a new kind of alien hybrid snake couldn't do in the space of barely 3 minutes). It would have been interesting if Jace hadn't known they were outrageous lies or if she hadn't seen the snake slithering by them doing absolutely nothing except snapping at their heels or hissing at them. But the worst was when Perry calmed down enough to say "Jace and Harry were talking to it, making it open its eyes. Weren't ya?"

Oh God. Jace swore that when Perry was in a dark alley all on his own, with no witnesses, she would most definitely kill him in the messiest most painful way she could imagine. And she had a very broad imagination.

Vernon contained himself until they were back in the Dursley household. He was so angry he couldn't form proper sentences.

"Go – cupboard – no meals – Now!"

They went to the cupboard to avoid being physically hurt.

They both thought about the time they had spent with the Dursleys. Miserable. Ten years for Harry. Six for Jace. Jace twirled a strand of her white hair around her finger. (AN: OK I should probably explain the hair. Jace likes to earn money so she found a Hairdressers store where you get paid £15 for letting a newcomer hairdresser do your hair. She's been doing it since she was ten as that's the age limit. The Dursleys tried to stop her and on one occasion they shaved her bald thinking she couldn't do it if she didn't have hair but it grew back with the dye in it but you could still wash it out after a few weeks.)There had been many times when she would pray and hope some new family member would come get them. But apparently the Dursleys were all they had. Harry glanced at his sister playing with her hair. He was glad he had her. But there would always be those times when she scared him. Like three weeks after she was back and Vernon had slapped her for supposed cheek. He remembered how she had smiled and offered Vernon the other side of her face. He remembered the conversation they had had after. But most of all she remembered the last thing she had said to him then.

Flashback

"Hey." He had asked cautiously. She didn't turn around.

"Jace." She still wouldn't turn. This annoyed Harry.

"Hey!" She turned around and while Jace was crossing her arms Harry realised he hadn't thought it through. His main goal had been to get her to turn. After that: Blank.

"Um…" God… he really hadn't thought this through, "I sort of saw you w-with Vernon and I uh—"

"You were wondering why I reacted like that." It wasn't a question. Or a statement.

Harry, your such an idiot. She won't answer that question. I mean you even needed her to finish the sentence. He continued futilely on.

"Uh yes that. I mean why because you… he hit very hard… it would have made… eh… fall over… or… at least kn-knocked a few teeth out. Eh um I meant… no… I mean that.. l-like then you went and offered him your other cheek. L-like you were unfazed. So I was just wondering eh why you did that. Because it must have hurt... even if just a little." Harry thought over everything he had just said, He had sounded painfully nervous. He mentally shook himself; it was normal to be nervous about a girl – his sister—who he hadn't seen or talked to since they were little. He had figured the slap had really hurt her and she was just being brave. But what happened next surprised him.

She had reached out and stroked a side of his face with her hand; he flinched instinctively at the close contact.

"Harry," she had said her voice and eyes soft as her fingers gently caressed a side of his face, the side that Dudley had heavily bruised days earlier. It was in the process of healing and was practically unnoticeable, yet she had. Noticed, that is. "I've been through four years in a place worse than my definition of Hell. No. It upgraded Hell." Her eyes clouded and she looked away from him, drawing her hand back to her side. "Anything that injures me or could kill me and, heck, should kill me is nothing. This is absolute zero, nil, naught, nada, nothing compared to that. Harry. Nothing at all."

Flashback End

He had eventually gotten her to confide in him. Most of her secrets. He knew despite everything she still didn't fully trust him. But she didn't fully trust the air they breathe.

He looked at his sister again. She had stopped twirling her hair and now had her eyes closed.

Sleeping. Jace looked normal sleeping. Like your average eleven year old girl minus the white hair and the fact she was holding a weapon— under her pillow so you wouldn't notice.

Harry decided he should get some sleep too.

The following morning was when the first letter came.

The letters that changed their lives.