The Parent Trap

Chapter Two

-dutchtulips-

By the time it was after the Christmas holidays, Amy and Holly's feud was still raging on. Though they tried to avoid each other whenever possible (though it wasn't easy because they lived in the same House) they never missed a chance to play a prank on each other.

Professor McGonagall however was not particularly amused by their behavior and the endless amount of points she'd taken from them had yet to halt their antics. So on this particular day when she'd arranged group work in Transfiguration, it was clear to her to put them together.

Of course, neither Amy nor Holly was much pleased about this. As they sat together at the double desk, attempting to turn table-tennis balls into globes of the world, they suspiciously were quiet, gaining a raised eyebrow from Professor McGonagall.

Holly glanced at Amy out of the corner of her eye, then picked up her wand to wave at her table tennis ball. After a few tries she hadn't much luck yet, and then midway through raising her wand once more, Holly was surprised as it turned into a large rubber chicken.

Shocked, she dropped it and let out a yelp as Amy rocked with laughter. Turning to her, Holly grumbled, "Ha, ha. Very funny." She picked up her real wand and sent Amy's table tennis ball skittering across the floor.

"All right! That's enough from the two of you!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed over the classroom commotion. Turning to Amy and Holly, she said, "Your behavior is shameful! You know what this means - detention! For the both of you! And you won't be leaving this room until I give you your detention slips," she added as the bell rang.

Amy and Holly glared at each other as they were marched up to McGonagall's desk.

* * *

Two nights later, an exhausted Amy - from scrubbing bedpans in the hospital wing - and a physically drained Holly - who had wittled away the hours by sweeping up the owlery - were both dragging themselves up to bed together, not even bothering to trade an insult. After Holly gave the password, the portrait frame swung forward to admit them and the pair of girls slowly climbed through.

Going up the staircase, Amy tripped on the carpet runner and nearly lost her balance, but Holly hopped up a step to help her. "You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right. Thanks," Amy replied gratefully.

"Sure." Holly smiled back as they went up the rest of the way without any further words.

As they both dropped down on their four posters, Amy brushed heavily against her nightstand, accidentally knocking a wooden box to the floor, which scattered photographs every which way. As she got down on her knees to gather them up, Holly did so as well, giving her hand.

After a moment, Holly asked tentatively, "Did any of them get ruined?"

"Only a few from one of my dad's Quidditch games," she replied, half-despressingly.

"Your dad is on a Quidditch team?" Holly inquired.

"Yeah!" Amy said brightly. "You didn't know? I figured you might have known by my last name."

Holly shifted a bit, sitting Indian-style on the rug. "Well, I guess I don't get to see very many Quidditch games. I don't think my mum likes it a whole lot. Or maybe it's just because she's busy all the time. I don't know."

Amy laid the pictures she was holding aside to talk to Holly. "Really? Where do you guys live?"

"Oh, right here in England. In Bristol. There's a wizard neighborhood there where we live," Holly replied. "How far away do you live?"

"Oh, me and my dad live just outside of Manchester. Our house is really nice and behind it we have a big orchard where me and my dad like to play Quidditch in," Amy told her. "I've got a picture of it here somewhere."

Holly nodded, then got up and sat on her four poster, feeling a bit cold. After Amy had gathered up the rest of her pictures, she went to her trunk and pulled out a bag of Chocolate Frogs. Turning to her, she asked brightly, "Want one?"

"Sure, I love Chocolate Frogs. I always liked to eat the legs off first." Holly giggled.

"Really? That's the way I like to eat them, too." Amy crossed over to Holly's bed and sat across from her, unwrapping the candy she'd plucked from the bag. Relaxing a bit with her, she asked casually, "So what's your dad like? Do you get to talk to him a lot or is he always busy like your mum?"

Holly took a frog. "I, uh, I don't really have a dad. Well, I reckon at one time I did, but. . .my parents divorced a long time ago. My mum almost never mentions him, either. It's like he just Apparated and never reappeared again."

Amy nodded. "I know. It's nuts the way nobody stays together anymore."

"Ditto," Holly put in.

There was a moment of silence as the girls munched the Chocolate Frogs. After a few minutes, Amy spoke again. "How old are you?"

"Eleven. But I'll be twelve next year, on June twenty-sixth."

Amy coughed. "So will I."

"Wow. How crazy is that?" The other girl proclaimed.

"It's out of this world."

Silence again. Holly chewed her lower lip for a moment, and then asked, "Amy, what's your mum like?"

She shrugged, and then said quietly, "I dunno. She and my dad spilt up years ago. I don't even remember her, but I know she was really beautiful."

"How do you know?" Holly whispered.

Amy got up, picking up her photo box. "Well, a real long time ago my dad gave me a picture of her to have, that they had taken before they were married, and I still have it." She paused, going for the silver jug of water under the window. "Do you want some water? I'm little thirsty."

"Not at a time like this!" Holly exclaimed, jumping up.

"At a time like what?" She was confused.

"Think about it, Amy! You only have a dad, and I only have a mum. You've never seen your mother, and I've never seen my father. You have only one picture of your mum, and I only have one picture of my dad!" Holly was ecstatic. "But then again, yours is probably a lot nicer one than mine. Mine's only a half of a picture, ripped in half. . ."

Suddenly Amy rushed to her picture box again, pulling out a picture and holding it to her chest. "Mine's just like yours. Torn right down -"

" - The middle," Holly finished for her, going into her trunk and emerging moments later with a photograph, which was also torn. Letting in a deep breath, she said, "Okay. On the count of three we'll show them to one another, all right?"

"Yeah," Amy managed to muster. "One. . ."

"Two. . ."

"Three!" They said together, and held out their pictures to each other. Slowly they moved to stand next to each other, fitting the photos together like puzzle pieces.

Each girls' eyes respectively grew twice their normal size as they looked down at the now-full picture, showing Hermione on the left, Ron on the right, both sitting together at a table and smiling happily at the camera.

Amy blinked. "That's my dad!"

Holly almost laughed as she looked at the left side of the photograph. "That's my mum!"

The two girls turned towards each other, their eyes still wide. Clutching her heart, Amy said, "So, if your mum is my mum. . ."

Holly was smiling. "And your dad is my dad. . ."

"And our birthdays are both on June twenty-sixth," she picked up. "Then you and me are. . .sisters, Holly!"

"Amy, we're not just sisters! We're twins!"

The two girls wrapped each other in a bone-crushing hug.

* * *

It was almost near dawn but Amy and Holly were lying awake. They had been for sometime now, each girl's mind reeling over the other half of their family they never knew they had.

"Hey, Holly?" Amy whispered. "What's mum like?"

Holly thought over her answer a moment before responding. "Well. . .she works at the Ministry of Magic, in London. She's head of the Department of Wizard Architecture office, and she designs homes and shops for witches and wizards. But she really likes to design castles."

"Castles? Neat," Amy said.

Suddenly Holly thought of something. "You know what's weird, Amy? Neither Mum or Dad ever got married again. As far as I know, Mum doesn't even notice that men exist."

Amy laughed at that. "Yeah," she agreed, "Dad's never been close either." They were quiet again, both of them thinking that over.

Holly was starting to feel drowsy, and was just about to let her eyes close when Amy bolted upright in her bed. "I have got the best idea!"

She sat up to look at her sister. "What?"

"Well, you want to know what Dad is like, don't you?" Amy was beaming. "And I've been on tooth-and-nail wanting to meet Mum. So, you know what I'm thinking? I think we should switch places!"

Holly was beside herself. "What?"

"We can pull it off! We're twins, aren't we?" Amy smiled mischievously.

"But. . .Amy, we're totally exact opposites of each other!" She exclaimed.

"So what? You teach me to be you, and I'll teach you to be me!" Her sister pressed.

Holly was deep in thought. "And if we switch, sooner or later, Mum and Dad'll have to unswitch us!"

Amy was nodding. "And when they do they'll have to meet again. . ."

"After all these years. . ." Holly was beginning to get the idea. "Amy, you're brilliant!"

She smiled. "Naturally."

* * *

To Be Continued