The Twins of Peace- Chapter Four:
The following weeks spent with Remus and Hayden passed normally into August. The two of them started to instruct Adrian and I on basic magic letting us use their wands, as we didn't have them yet. Dad came round when the full moon happened early August, and we had him to ourselves for a week before Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley came to stay until school began.
I was quite ready to use my perky 'hello how are you doing voice' with the three, because I wasn't quite sure I'd like them. This proved somewhat true at first. I got on well with Harry and Ron for the first week but was slightly annoyed by Hermione. Every time she saw Adrian her eyes went sort of wide like she was having some lurid daydream.
"It's not really out of character." Harry said one afternoon when I mentioned it to him. He, Ron and I were sitting at the base of a tree a ways out in the woods. Hermione was with Adrian and Hayden in the study, while dad and Remus were off doing who knows what. "Last year she had a thing for Viktor Krum a Quidditch player for Bulgaria. She was supposed to go see him this summer but her parents said absolutely not. I think Hermione's just growing up."
Ron nodded in agreement as he snagged some raspberries from a bush. "As she yelled at us last year, she is a girl after all."
"So am I." I said. "Doesn't mean I'm going all gooey eyed over some guy."
"I just think you're being protective. He's your brother after all. But Hermione's a really good person. You don't have to worry." Said Harry in reassuring tones.
"You should've seen the last two ditzes he went out with." I went on. "First there was Courtney. Nothing in between the ears in that girl. Then there was Tatiana. Ugh, she was a nightmare. She had brains but they were used solely for making people, me, miserable." I didn't mention that I'd done my best to make her life hell too. "She saw dad and tried to mace us."
"Huh?" asked Ron.
"Muggle stuff that blinds you." Explained Harry. "Trust me, Hermione has brains. She's the top of our class. Not stuck up or anything. It's only the Slytherins really who don't like her, but they don't like anyone mind you, so it doesn't really matter."
Taking Harry and Ron's advice to heart I started to drop some of the ice out of my tone when I talked to the girl. She didn't hold a grudge or asked why I'd taken so long to warm up to her, and surprisingly turned out to be a very good friend.
*~*
The day we were to go to Diagon Alley for supplies the dark mark was seen at three in the morning floating above a department store in muggle London. Remus, who was supposed to take us shopping, had to leave in a rush with dad in tow leaving the five of us with Hayden and a note of explanation.
Hayden woke late that morning and came downstairs groggily and still partially asleep. We were all downstairs around the table eating brunch and talking about this latest development. Hermione passed Remus' note to Hayden who woke immediately upon breaking the seal and reading it.
"Is it bad?" asked Harry tentatively.
"Err," Hayden paused before answering. "Not as bad as it could be. Two deaths, so it's relatively tame compared to what we've seen in the past. You five will have to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron by yourselves. I have to go pick someone up before shopping. Can you promise me you'll be in the pup at eleven o' clock exactly, you can Floo there?"
"Yes." We all chorused together very sincere.
Hayden pulled his wand from his bathrobe and muttered something to change his clothes to crimson robes under which he wore jeans and a tee shirt. He ran his hands through his cropped brown hair obviously not really caring but trying to get it in some sort of order. "Remember, eleven o' clock, and don't go wandering off. Stay in the pub, have some lunch or something."
"Who are you going to pick up?" Adrian said through a mouthful of toast.
"A friend of a friend. She needs some supplies so I invited her along. I'll see you soon." He walked over to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder in the already roaring fire. "Wiccan's Citadel." He was gone with a whoosh through the fire.
We had only an hour before we needed to leave so we quickly finished eating and exited the kitchen to get properly dressed and ready. I returned to my room to slip on a robe and brush my hair. I finished this pinning my hair up into a bun and sat down on the window seat with my walk man and slipped in a CD. Even with the loud beats and cursing Jay-Z was surprisingly helpful in letting me forget the dark mark in London. The seen out side the window was nice too. There was the river running through the yard and all sorts of animals running around the woods that I could see. And a blanket, moving quickly across the yard.
I saw the moving blanket and fell of the seat. My CD player crashed to the floor and my head phones snapped when I landed one them. I cursed silently before scrambling back up to look for the mysterious blanket. It was there, farther away now though. Now I saw that it covered a person. They were wearing black jeans and combat boots and black coat that stuck out of the blanket. I couldn't see their face, because their back was too me and I suspected the face might've been covered by the blanket. The person was running faster now and made a sharp right in the woods now completely disrupting my view.
"Well then." I said to myself shaking my head. "Wonder what all that was."
"Piper we have to go… are you talking to yourself?"
I jumped and turned around. Hermione was standing at my door giving me an appraising look. I slowed my breathing taking a quick look back at the window. "No," I turned smiling pleasantly. The moving blanket would not be mentioned. "I'm cool."
*~*
"You guys, this is Willow Rosenberg. She'll be your new History of Magic professor this year at Hogwarts." Hayden was introducing us to a red headed woman who couldn't have been much over twenty. She looked nice but shy in the manner of a young child. She gave us a smile that reflected my assumptions.
Hermione stepped forward first, holding out her hand. "I'm please to meet you Professor Rosenberg. I'm sure you'll be a welcome change from Professor Binns."
The woman took her hand and replied, "Thanks, but you can call me Willow or Will." Her voice was soft and American.
"I'm Adrian." Said my brother. "That's Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Piper. Where're you from?"
"Sunnydale, California. I came to England with a friend."
Hayden motioned for us to follow him through the Leaky Cauldron. I momentarily forgot the newcomer to our group and I looked at the people in the pup. Some were human, or at least humanoid, but some were totally unrecognizable. Form Remus and Hayden's teachings I could discern a few goblins and maybe a hag but I wasn't completely sure.
We walked outdoors to a small space that held a trash bin and some littered garbage but was otherwise blocked by a brick wall. Hayden pulled out his wand and tapped what looked to me like random bricks on the wall. As he pulled his wand away the bricks started to rearrange, spreading out to create a tall archway that led into seemingly another world.
From the muggle side Diagon Alley looked amazing but somehow not real yet. One by one we stepped through the archway and when I went through I stopped right after coming through. The place wasn't big, in fact it was sort of cramped but I'd never seen odder or more colorful stores in my life. And there were more witches and wizards than I'd of course ever seen in my life.
"Wow." I said to Adrian who was standing next to me.
"Yeah." He said quietly. "It's…" He didn't finish, just get staring around.
"Ahem," Hayden cleared his throat "I figured Willow, you could take the girls and I'd get the boys if that's alright with you?"
"Of course. T-That's fine." She nodded fervently. "Hermione? Piper?"
We both nodded. "It's cool." I said.
"Good." Said Hayden. "We'll meet at three."
They left hurrying towards the Quidditch supplies store while we girls headed down the opposite direction at a leisurely pace not quite sure where we wanted to go first. We all had out money. Remus had accessed dad's account and gotten money for us and Hermione's parents had entrusted her with enough for school things and one of two things for herself.
As Olivander's Wand store came into site Willow spoke up. "How about here? Piper and I need wands."
"Ok Professor…Sorry, I mean Willow." Said Hermione.
"It's ok." Said Willow. "I'm just not used to the whole authority thing yet. I'm more of a sidekick type y'know? I've taught before but that was only temporary and I was 16."
"Where did you go to school?" I asked as we entered the shop.
"Sunnydale High. I've never gone to wizarding school before. I never even practiced this type of magic before a few weeks ago. That's why I'm teaching History of Magic. Minimal magic required. Also I've had some bad magic experiences I went magic cold turkey."
"So why are you teaching?"
"You and Adrian. I'll be assisting your protector. We're old…sometimes I don't know whether to say friends, acquaintances, enemies…oh well, as long as he's protecting you two he's a friend, and a valuable one."
Hermione's eyebrow furrowed. "Adrian and Piper explained about the," she looked around for Mr. Olivander who hadn't put in an appearance yet. "Twins of Peace thing, and their protector, but who is he?"
Willow smiled. "I can't tell you his name or a physical description, but he's defiantly one of those people who stands alone. If you do meet him, trust me, you'll never meet another one like him."
I was pondering this as Mr. Olivander made a rather theatrical entrance from a row of shelves. He was short, and very old. He wasn't wearing robes but dusty slacks and a gray shirt topped with a vest. Thin glasses were perched on his nose. On his head his gray hair stood up all over the place like he just didn't care anymore. I looked at a sign on the wall over his counter, Ollivander's: est.: 974 AD. My eyes went back to the man. Could he be that old? It was possible, but I wasn't sure, and thought it best not to inquire.
"Miss. Black you are right on time. Miss. Rosenberg I expected you a little earlier, but you've made it and that is what matters. The now, not the then." Mr. Olivander said in greeting. Willow looked at me, eyebrows raised. I just shrugged and watched Olivander as he moved back to the shelves pulling off boxes. He came back and set one pile in front of me and another in front of Willow. "Wand hand raised please."
We both raised our right hands and Mr. Olivander began the very long process of buying a wand. I think we'd each waved about twenty around by the time it was done. I'd broken at least five flower vases and the people in the pictures on the wall had retreated from the frames after Willow singed yet another canvas on her ninth wand.
It was thirty minutes later when I picked up a ten-inch, white ash, Sphinx hair wand. I waved it and red, green, and black sparks shot out of the tip. The shopkeeper nodded approvingly. "It is perfect for a child of peace that her wand would shoot sparks the colors of rivaling houses."
"How did you…" Hermione stood up quickly from her seat.
He held a hand up. "I know much about each person and each wand that come and leave through these doors. For instance." He looked at Willow, whose wand had just shot silver and gold sparks. "That is eleven inches, oak, with two hairs from a druid priestess' head. And Miss. Rosenberg practiced the Wiccan arts until something drove her to use them for evil, she then vowed to toss away magic but was persuaded to teach at Hogwarts by her old friend and mentor."
"Yes." Willow confirmed. She looked shaken at the words and gulped. "We'll take these thank you."
I slipped my wand into my robe pocket after paying. Willow hurried us out of the store as quickly as she could, and back into the street. There her face regained some of the color it had lost and her breathing became normal again. "I'm sorry, but I don't like talking about that point. I made with the bad magic and it gives me the wiggins to think about it. I'm trying to get it behind me."
"Completely understandable." Said Hermione seriously. Now we entered Madam Malkins Robes For All Occasions. "Ugh, Ferret Boy is here."
"Huh?"
The only other one in the shop our age was a boy standing on a stool being measured by an older woman. Most noticeable about him was his almost white blond hair. I had to blink a few times to assure myself it was that blond. He was more muscular than Harry and Ron but not in a way that said 'I'm on steroids'. The look in his eye was like the one I got at times when I was totally bored and sitting in a class that I didn't want to be in and I started daydreaming. He was tall as well, a good four inches about me. Almost to Adrian's height. He was actually quite good looking, or at least part of my mind thought so because I could feel my legs go slightly to mush and my cheeks turn red. For me this was a quite rare happening and my feelings seemed directed at the wrong person, because from the look Hermione was giving him, this guy was off limits. The boy was now glaring back at Hermione with equal vehemence.
"Granger," he said, almost spat. "What trash have dragged in now?"
My jaw dropped. Great maybe the third guy I'd ever had a crush on in my life was an ass. "Dragged?" I said. "Actually Peroxide Boy we're here with Professor Rosenberg. Right Hermione?"
The boy looked over to Willow who was standing by the door still reliving herself from Olivander's words. But on cue she looked up and smiled at him. "You might be?"
"Draco Malfoy." He answered. Some of the sneer left his voice when addressing her.
"Well Draco, lets try to keep house rivalry contained to school please." She said sweetly but firmly. Draco scowled at her but it shut him up and the three of us went about our business.
But unfortunately for me and my sanity I couldn't get the asshole out of my head. His face just floated through at random times for the rest of the day. And curse my damn hormones, but my sub-consiousness kept telling me what a cute face it was. The fact that I agreed bothered me to no end. Then there was also his name. Draco…it sounded Latin maybe.
"Willow," my head shot up suddenly as we were headed back to the Leaky Cauldron at the end of the day. "Do you know Latin?"
"Some."
"What does Draco mean?"
"Dragon." Said Hermione and Willow at the same tine.
I squeezed my eyes shut as a phrase that had haunted my dreams since our first night at Remus' came back to me. 'Befriend the dragon for he is one that will help you in your ultimate goal' Life, I decided, was a bitch and needed to be taken into some remote forest and shot.
*~*
Hermione and I corresponded with Willow for the rest of the summer until it was time to go to Kings Cross station and board the Hogwarts Express. The odd moving blanket didn't reappear again until that morning, and I wasn't even sure if I really saw it, or if my mind was wondering. Still I said nothing to anybody and nobody brought it up.
Adrian and I knew from experience how hard it was to get five teenagers packed and into a car. Trying to get to the station was ten times worse than what we'd experience before. As we piled stuff into two cars owls screeched and bottles and vials broke. Once we were finally on the road we had to turn back because Harry had forgotten, of all things, his broomstick and that would not have boded well. Adrian and I then realized we'd both forgotten batteries for our CD players, which were vital because electricity was ineffective at Hogwarts. Hayden was nice and made a pit stop at a convenience store where Hermione developed a craving for twizzlers so as I came out she went running in.
We reached Kings Cross with five minutes to spare. I had time to give quick hugs to Remus and Hayden and pat dad on the head, for he was in dog form, then promising to write Harry grabbed my arm and yanked me onto the train as it started pulling out of the station.
The only empty compartment was in the very back of the train. We made ourselves comfortable in a hurry so no one could try and take it. I took out my new headphones as soon as we were settled and turned on my music.
"Are you sure you want to use up the batteries so fast?" asked Adrian.
"Hayden'll get me new ones. He said so."
"He's not going back to the states?" Inquired Ron. "I thought he had a book shop or something."
"He sold that dusty place." I answered. "He'll be a watcher soon anyway, working with Remus probably and his friend Giles."
"Have you two met any of these people besides Willow?" Harry grinned. "They seem to be an entity within themselves. The way Remus and Sirius talk about it, the people Willow was hanging with have saved the world hundreds of times."
Hermione nodded. "Not hundreds but a few times they've prevented upcoming apocalypses."
"You used apocalypse in plural…that's not good." Said Ron shaking his head.
"No it's not." I said laughing. "She had a odd bunch of friends. An ex-demon with bunny phobia, our protector guy who's supposedly a vampire, the slayer… Sorry AJ" I added as an after thought as my brother shuddered. Thoughts of the slayer still bothered him immensely. "It was only her friends Xander and Giles who were completely human with no powers of anything. Her girl friend was a witch also, but she was shot."
Everyone was quiet for a while at the thought of death. Especially Harry. He looked dark and very troubled. "It's weird to be going back this year." He finally said. Ron and Hermione murmured their agreement. "And it must be bad for you two." His comment was directed at Adrian and I. "I mean, Pettigrew's already gotten you once, you have to be worried."
"I'm more worried about the hole in our heritage. Dad absolutely refuses to talk about his side of the family." Said Adrian. "We know about our mom, and that we're a fourth vampire, what could possibly be so wrong with his family that he won't talk about it. Leandra was nuts I'll admit but it can't all be that bad."
"It might help," said Hermione beaming at Adrian. "If you knew some more about your mothers side and what having vampiric blood in you can do. I can help you research it when we get to Hogwarts if you'd like."
"Sure." Adrian was giving Hermione an equally mushy smile. "That'd be nice."
Ron, Harry and I looked at each other, then back to the others. This could either be billed as incredibly sweet or just gross and sappy. "Adrian," I said finally. "Can I have your Eminem CD please?"
"What?" it worked and the mushy eye contacts were broken. "Oh yeah, here Piper." He elbowed me not so subtly in the ribs as he handed it me and whispered. "Bitch."
"Thanks." I stuck my tongue out at him. The CD lay forgotten on the seat, as I didn't even like Eminem to begin with. Of course Adrian knew this and that's what the bitch had come out.
Adrian and I didn't speak with each other for the rest of the ride with the exception of the time when we had to change to our school robes and I gave him an extra hard shove out of the compartment muttering a long string of curse words in Spanish.
*~*