DISCLAIMER:: I do not, I repeat, do not own any Harry Potter characters
mentioned in this writing. Nor do I won any Lord of the Rings characters
should they be mentioned. *confused look crosses face* Don't know why they
would, but just in case... I do, however, own Arwyn Star and her mother,
Morwen Star and if I ever catch anyone using either of them, I will be
v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v. angry!!!!! I am
bandogurl!!! Hear me roar!!! Grr... Argh...
One: Arwyns and Stars
Fred looked at his reflection once more as he got ready to meet the girl who would be staying with his family until school started.
"Fred, relax. She's probably just your average girl," Fred's twin, George, said as he spotted Fred critiquing his person for the fiftieth time that morning.
"She's from California."
"True, but still. Average girl, our age."
"I know, but I want to make a good impression," Fred said nervously as he adjusted his shirt once more.
"Why? She'll think highly of you, lowly of me, then you'll disappoint her when you start pranking her. Disappoint her from the off, then she'll know what to expect. It's all common sense."
"You're very confusing today, did you know?"
Fred turned to the mirror once more and examined his reflection carefully. He was a red- head, as the rest of his family was, and he enjoyed every minute of being identified as a Weasley just by his hair colour. His build was stocky, he was on the shorter side of the spectrum in his family, which isn't completely horrible, but sometimes he wished he was a bit taller. Like now, when he couldn't reach his coat, which had somehow found it's way to the top shelf of the closet.
"Ron? Could you help me? I can't reach my coat again."
Fred's younger brother ran into the room, as they were running a bit behind schedule. Ron, taller than Fred and George, pulled the coat down for him. He looked at his elder brother with a slight smirk on his lean face, "Who're you trying to impress? Arwyn?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Fred? Ron? C'mon, we're late!" Mrs. Weasley's voice carried well up the stairs after many years of practice.
The two boys ran down the stairs and into the the car their father had been able to buy with the raise in his paycheck. There were six of the nine Weasleys going to pick up their foreign exchange student. Luckily, there was enough seats to accommodate them all.
~*~
Once at the Leaky Cauldron, Fred started looking for for Arwyn. He had imagined a girl with a love for Tolkien books. How could she not, with a name like hers? Of course, it's spelled differently from Arwen Evenstar's, he thought.
Tom, the innkeeper, waved the Weasley's over to a small booth, where two unfamiliar women sat.
"Molly, Arthur, guys, this is Arwyn Star and her mother, Morwen," Tom said, indicating to the silent occupants of the booth.
Arwyn smiled and said, with a very New Zealand accent, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. I can't tell you how happy I am that you are letting a firecracker like me stay with you. I hope that you will let me know of anything that you'd like me to do to help around the house."
Fred's mouth fell open with shock. Not only was her accent the strangest one he'd ever heard, but she looked nothing as he expected. Quite the opposite, actually. He had expected a nerdy looking girl, with horn- rimmed glasses and her nose in a book. What she was, truth to tell, was gorgeous. He first noticed her eyes. They were the greenest he had ever seen, but that wasn't the strange part about them. They had no pupil, nor any white. They were pure green. Fred wondered how Muggles didn't notice this. Her hair, a red to rival his own in colour, if not better, fell to her waist, though most of it was twisted into an intricate design on the back of her head. She stood no taller, nor shorter than the twins, and seemed a little stronger. A little.
Ginny, Fred's younger sister, closer his mouth before Arwyn could notice. "My name's Ginny. Where are you from, Arwyn?"
"I was born and raised in New Zealand, but spent the past few years attending the Downyville Academy of Magical Arts, in California."
Her clothes were difinitely Californian. She wore a camouflage skirt that reached her knees, over white tights. Her shoes were lace up boots that reached her ankles. Under an U.S. Army jacket, she wore a white shirt. The only magical thing about her apparel, that Fred noticed, was the little Snitch pendant strung on a silver chain, hanging around her neck.
"Well, I think we'd better get going. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Star," Mr. Weasley said, to the still silent woman, who did not respond.
"You'll have to excuse her from not speaking. She can't," Arwyn said. She turned to her mother and began signing, "Good bye, mom. Don't let Aunt Evelyn get you down."
"Don't forget to write. Take care of yourself, Arwyn. Love you," her mother signed back. They hugged and Arwyn followed the Weasleys to the door, where she paused and waved once more to her mother.
"Tom put your things in the car, so don't worry about them, Arwyn," Mr. Weasley explained as they walked over to the vehicle.
"No worries here. Thenk you, Mr. Weasley," Arwyn replied as the seven of them climbed into the Weasley's eleven- seat van. Arwyn sat next to Fred, who seemed a bit stricken.
"I'm George. Do you play Quidditch?" George asked as Mr. Weasley began driving them home.
"Why?"
"I just saw the Snitch you're wearing and wondered if you played."
"Yeah. I do. You?"
"Fred and I do. We're Beaters on our school tem. Which position do you play?"
"Seeker. My team was up for the country championships last season."
"What happened," this question came from Ginny.
"We were sabotaged by one of the other teams in the organization. Cursed our brooms, they did. Half my team thrown from them when they couldn't hold on any longer. My keeper was hurled into the Whomping Willow on the edge of our practice field in Downyville. Broke half his bones. Literally. Didn't have a back up for any of the positions since the Academy is so small. Had to forfeit the match."
"I take it you were captain, Arwyn?" Mrs. Weasley asked from the front seat.
"Yeah. Shame, really. Steven really had a future in Quidditch going for him. Can't play anymore. Doctors won't let him."
"Wait, you said half your team was pitched off their brooms," Fred said. "What happened to the rest of them?"
"Well, Steven, as I just told you is hospitalized. Nancy is recovering from her coma. Jacqui isn't trusting her broom. She'll never fly again. Um... Kirk has given up Quidditch to pursue music. Which is good for him. Being a Beater, he's had way too many blows to the head. Bobby is still playing, despite the serious breaks he had in his arm. Bless him. Sonya is still missing. I've been searching for her since last February. The Ministry of Magic in California has taken her for dead. And Scott is nuts."
"You said half your eam. That was all of them but you."
"Oh, you're right. I guess I lied. Sorry. But them's the breaks."
"Kinda morbid, aren't you?"
"You'll get used to it."
~*~
"Fred, she's just a very dark, depressed witch. There's nothing wrong with that. Half the girls at Hogwarts are the same way. It's commonplace."
"George, why would she have any reason to be dark and depressed? She's good enough to play for England, from what she told us on the way home!"
"Most of her team can't play anymore. You heard her. Spouting off about the horrid positions they're in like it was no big deal. Gt used to it. She's probably a suicidal with an anti- suicide spell on her. People have problems."
"Actually, I'm not dark, depressed, or suicidal. I just come off that way," Arwyn said, leaning on their door frame, in her pajamas-- bottoms and spaghetti strap shirt both with snitches flying in every direction.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you come off that way? Kinda odd, don't you think?"
"Why did you act like a heaven sent angel, Fred? I know you're not."
"Huh?"
"Look, I can read people very well. You thought I'd be a total nerd: horn- rimmed glasses, nose bried in the Battle of Helm's Deep. I like Tolkien, but not just because of my name. Truth to tell, I don't even like Arwen Evenstar. Her role in the films is far too large to be accurate with the book. Kinda annoying. Anyway, you clearly are a trouble maker, just as George is. Don't try to hide it. I can find it. But, it's all right, don't look so glum. I can take a joke better than anyone. Good night, boys," and with that said, she left.
Fred and George looked at each other, bewildered.
~*~
The twins awoke the next morning to find their room spider webbed. There was honey on their toes and mustard on their faces. Across the hall, they could hear Arwyn and Ginny singing to something the twins didn't recognise.
"Um... George? I think we've been had."
"Couldn't agree with you more. Let's go find out attacker, shall we?"
"Yes, let's."
They managed to wiggle their way out of their room and across the hall to Ginny's. They opened the door to find the two girls, still in their pajamas, singing at the top of their voices to wha seemed like an animal activist's album.
After a few lines of the song, "Um, girls? You okay?" George asked as Fred tried to comprehend what he was seeing.
The two girls stopped singing and the music stopped as well. They looked at the twins who darkened their doorway.
"Yeah, we're fine. We're actually having fun on a dull Saturday morning," Ginny said, smiling at her brother's appearances.
"What are you listening to?" Fred asked when he regained his senses.
"A CD."
"What's that?"
"Compact disc. They're all the rage in Muggle music. They're played with a CD player," Arwyn said, pointing to the electronic box by the window.
"Electronic? But those don't work here," George said, walking over to the box.
"Hate to burst your bubble, but the magic concentration isn't very high here and I enchanted it to work anyway. Same a my cell phone, my laptop, my Palm Pilot, my hair dryer, my curling irons, my electric curlers, my printer, and my radio," Arwyn grinned broadly at the dumbfounded Weasleys. "What? They're the essentials of my lfe!"
She pulled out what looked like a TV remote-- the Weasleys knew what those were, their father had a television in the garage-- pressed a button and the music began playing right where it left off.
"What is this? The Animal Activist's Album? And who's Johnny?" George asked.
"No, goose. It's Sarah Brightman's Dive CD. Johnny, as she told you is every creature that's being hunted for their pelts, teeth, and meat. Understand?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Kids, time for breakfast!" Mrs. Weasley's voice once more carried up the stairs, penetrating the sound of Ms. Brightman singing "Johnny Wanna Live."
The four of them met Ron on the landing and the five red- heads walked into the kitchen.
"Fred, George, what are you covered in?" Mrs. Weasley inquired, watching her seventeeen- year old boys sit down at the table.
"Honey and mustard. We were pranked last night."
"Well, I won't say you don't deserve it, but by whom?"
"Well, I would assume it was Arwyn. She's new here and no one else pranks other in this house," another Weasley boy said, entering the kitchen and sitting directly across from the accused.
"Percy! Mind your manners!"
"Forgive me, Ms. Star," Percy said, miffed.
"Now, Percy, what makes you think I did it, just because I'm a guest? For all you know, it was Ginny."
"Was not!"
Percy smiled at Arwyn, "She didn't do it. She makes too much noise when she's getting things out of the icebox."
"What's an icebo-- wait, refrigerator. Gotcha. Well, maybe it was Ron. I heard he's got an imagination quick as a jackrabbit!"
Ron turned bright red.
"See?"
"Ron, you owe your brothers an apology. Percy you owe Arwyn one."
"No, that's all right. I understand. Percy's just jealous. Molly? May I take this outside?"
"Of course, dear. Have a good breakfast. Ron? Don't you have something to say to the twins?"
"Sorry."
Arwyn smiled as she exited the room. Fred saw her smile and followed her out. He found her in the garden.
"May I join you?"
"Sure."
Fred sat down next to her. He noticed all her hair had been coiled into quite a few rings of French braids, circling her head.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?" she hadn't noticed he was staring at her hair.
"That. With your hair. I wouldn't have the patience."
"It takes me two hours to do something like this. I enjoy it. I mean, if I could wait long enough for it to get this long, I can stand two hours of grooming every morning and evening," she said, looking at him through those strange, glittery eyes.
"How long is it?"
"Six feet. I've been growing it out since I was a baby. Never had a haircut," she said, taking a bite out of an apple.
"Six feet? Wow, mine's only--"
"Four and a half inches at longest. Yes, I know. But, why are we talking about hair? Honestly..."
They ate in silence for a few moments.
"You going to go out for Quidditch?"
"No."
"Why not?!?" he couldn't believe she wouldn't.
"Don't wanna chance hurting someone."
"How do you mean?"
"Every year I play, someone on the team gets seriously injured. It's like I have a curse that follows me around everywhere."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not just Quidditch. Everything I do collectively with a group, someone other than me gets hurt. I don't want it to happen at Hogwarts. I've heard such good reviews on safety, save the two years the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and the Triwizard Tournamnets," tears flowed down her cheeks, breaking Fred's heart.
Fred pulled Arwyn into a hug, which seemed to clam her quite a bit. No one should have to endure this, he thought.
"Don't worry, our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, will know what to do."
"Dumble dore? Albus Dumbledore?" she asked, pulling away from him.
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, no," she stood and started pacing. "This is not good. Not good at all. What am I going to do?"
"What's not goo? Arwyn, what's going on?" Fred said from his seat on the grass.
"When I was little, a Death Eater cursed me to stop at nothing to destroy Albus Dumbledore!"
One: Arwyns and Stars
Fred looked at his reflection once more as he got ready to meet the girl who would be staying with his family until school started.
"Fred, relax. She's probably just your average girl," Fred's twin, George, said as he spotted Fred critiquing his person for the fiftieth time that morning.
"She's from California."
"True, but still. Average girl, our age."
"I know, but I want to make a good impression," Fred said nervously as he adjusted his shirt once more.
"Why? She'll think highly of you, lowly of me, then you'll disappoint her when you start pranking her. Disappoint her from the off, then she'll know what to expect. It's all common sense."
"You're very confusing today, did you know?"
Fred turned to the mirror once more and examined his reflection carefully. He was a red- head, as the rest of his family was, and he enjoyed every minute of being identified as a Weasley just by his hair colour. His build was stocky, he was on the shorter side of the spectrum in his family, which isn't completely horrible, but sometimes he wished he was a bit taller. Like now, when he couldn't reach his coat, which had somehow found it's way to the top shelf of the closet.
"Ron? Could you help me? I can't reach my coat again."
Fred's younger brother ran into the room, as they were running a bit behind schedule. Ron, taller than Fred and George, pulled the coat down for him. He looked at his elder brother with a slight smirk on his lean face, "Who're you trying to impress? Arwyn?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Fred? Ron? C'mon, we're late!" Mrs. Weasley's voice carried well up the stairs after many years of practice.
The two boys ran down the stairs and into the the car their father had been able to buy with the raise in his paycheck. There were six of the nine Weasleys going to pick up their foreign exchange student. Luckily, there was enough seats to accommodate them all.
~*~
Once at the Leaky Cauldron, Fred started looking for for Arwyn. He had imagined a girl with a love for Tolkien books. How could she not, with a name like hers? Of course, it's spelled differently from Arwen Evenstar's, he thought.
Tom, the innkeeper, waved the Weasley's over to a small booth, where two unfamiliar women sat.
"Molly, Arthur, guys, this is Arwyn Star and her mother, Morwen," Tom said, indicating to the silent occupants of the booth.
Arwyn smiled and said, with a very New Zealand accent, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. I can't tell you how happy I am that you are letting a firecracker like me stay with you. I hope that you will let me know of anything that you'd like me to do to help around the house."
Fred's mouth fell open with shock. Not only was her accent the strangest one he'd ever heard, but she looked nothing as he expected. Quite the opposite, actually. He had expected a nerdy looking girl, with horn- rimmed glasses and her nose in a book. What she was, truth to tell, was gorgeous. He first noticed her eyes. They were the greenest he had ever seen, but that wasn't the strange part about them. They had no pupil, nor any white. They were pure green. Fred wondered how Muggles didn't notice this. Her hair, a red to rival his own in colour, if not better, fell to her waist, though most of it was twisted into an intricate design on the back of her head. She stood no taller, nor shorter than the twins, and seemed a little stronger. A little.
Ginny, Fred's younger sister, closer his mouth before Arwyn could notice. "My name's Ginny. Where are you from, Arwyn?"
"I was born and raised in New Zealand, but spent the past few years attending the Downyville Academy of Magical Arts, in California."
Her clothes were difinitely Californian. She wore a camouflage skirt that reached her knees, over white tights. Her shoes were lace up boots that reached her ankles. Under an U.S. Army jacket, she wore a white shirt. The only magical thing about her apparel, that Fred noticed, was the little Snitch pendant strung on a silver chain, hanging around her neck.
"Well, I think we'd better get going. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Star," Mr. Weasley said, to the still silent woman, who did not respond.
"You'll have to excuse her from not speaking. She can't," Arwyn said. She turned to her mother and began signing, "Good bye, mom. Don't let Aunt Evelyn get you down."
"Don't forget to write. Take care of yourself, Arwyn. Love you," her mother signed back. They hugged and Arwyn followed the Weasleys to the door, where she paused and waved once more to her mother.
"Tom put your things in the car, so don't worry about them, Arwyn," Mr. Weasley explained as they walked over to the vehicle.
"No worries here. Thenk you, Mr. Weasley," Arwyn replied as the seven of them climbed into the Weasley's eleven- seat van. Arwyn sat next to Fred, who seemed a bit stricken.
"I'm George. Do you play Quidditch?" George asked as Mr. Weasley began driving them home.
"Why?"
"I just saw the Snitch you're wearing and wondered if you played."
"Yeah. I do. You?"
"Fred and I do. We're Beaters on our school tem. Which position do you play?"
"Seeker. My team was up for the country championships last season."
"What happened," this question came from Ginny.
"We were sabotaged by one of the other teams in the organization. Cursed our brooms, they did. Half my team thrown from them when they couldn't hold on any longer. My keeper was hurled into the Whomping Willow on the edge of our practice field in Downyville. Broke half his bones. Literally. Didn't have a back up for any of the positions since the Academy is so small. Had to forfeit the match."
"I take it you were captain, Arwyn?" Mrs. Weasley asked from the front seat.
"Yeah. Shame, really. Steven really had a future in Quidditch going for him. Can't play anymore. Doctors won't let him."
"Wait, you said half your team was pitched off their brooms," Fred said. "What happened to the rest of them?"
"Well, Steven, as I just told you is hospitalized. Nancy is recovering from her coma. Jacqui isn't trusting her broom. She'll never fly again. Um... Kirk has given up Quidditch to pursue music. Which is good for him. Being a Beater, he's had way too many blows to the head. Bobby is still playing, despite the serious breaks he had in his arm. Bless him. Sonya is still missing. I've been searching for her since last February. The Ministry of Magic in California has taken her for dead. And Scott is nuts."
"You said half your eam. That was all of them but you."
"Oh, you're right. I guess I lied. Sorry. But them's the breaks."
"Kinda morbid, aren't you?"
"You'll get used to it."
~*~
"Fred, she's just a very dark, depressed witch. There's nothing wrong with that. Half the girls at Hogwarts are the same way. It's commonplace."
"George, why would she have any reason to be dark and depressed? She's good enough to play for England, from what she told us on the way home!"
"Most of her team can't play anymore. You heard her. Spouting off about the horrid positions they're in like it was no big deal. Gt used to it. She's probably a suicidal with an anti- suicide spell on her. People have problems."
"Actually, I'm not dark, depressed, or suicidal. I just come off that way," Arwyn said, leaning on their door frame, in her pajamas-- bottoms and spaghetti strap shirt both with snitches flying in every direction.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you come off that way? Kinda odd, don't you think?"
"Why did you act like a heaven sent angel, Fred? I know you're not."
"Huh?"
"Look, I can read people very well. You thought I'd be a total nerd: horn- rimmed glasses, nose bried in the Battle of Helm's Deep. I like Tolkien, but not just because of my name. Truth to tell, I don't even like Arwen Evenstar. Her role in the films is far too large to be accurate with the book. Kinda annoying. Anyway, you clearly are a trouble maker, just as George is. Don't try to hide it. I can find it. But, it's all right, don't look so glum. I can take a joke better than anyone. Good night, boys," and with that said, she left.
Fred and George looked at each other, bewildered.
~*~
The twins awoke the next morning to find their room spider webbed. There was honey on their toes and mustard on their faces. Across the hall, they could hear Arwyn and Ginny singing to something the twins didn't recognise.
"Um... George? I think we've been had."
"Couldn't agree with you more. Let's go find out attacker, shall we?"
"Yes, let's."
They managed to wiggle their way out of their room and across the hall to Ginny's. They opened the door to find the two girls, still in their pajamas, singing at the top of their voices to wha seemed like an animal activist's album.
After a few lines of the song, "Um, girls? You okay?" George asked as Fred tried to comprehend what he was seeing.
The two girls stopped singing and the music stopped as well. They looked at the twins who darkened their doorway.
"Yeah, we're fine. We're actually having fun on a dull Saturday morning," Ginny said, smiling at her brother's appearances.
"What are you listening to?" Fred asked when he regained his senses.
"A CD."
"What's that?"
"Compact disc. They're all the rage in Muggle music. They're played with a CD player," Arwyn said, pointing to the electronic box by the window.
"Electronic? But those don't work here," George said, walking over to the box.
"Hate to burst your bubble, but the magic concentration isn't very high here and I enchanted it to work anyway. Same a my cell phone, my laptop, my Palm Pilot, my hair dryer, my curling irons, my electric curlers, my printer, and my radio," Arwyn grinned broadly at the dumbfounded Weasleys. "What? They're the essentials of my lfe!"
She pulled out what looked like a TV remote-- the Weasleys knew what those were, their father had a television in the garage-- pressed a button and the music began playing right where it left off.
"What is this? The Animal Activist's Album? And who's Johnny?" George asked.
"No, goose. It's Sarah Brightman's Dive CD. Johnny, as she told you is every creature that's being hunted for their pelts, teeth, and meat. Understand?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Kids, time for breakfast!" Mrs. Weasley's voice once more carried up the stairs, penetrating the sound of Ms. Brightman singing "Johnny Wanna Live."
The four of them met Ron on the landing and the five red- heads walked into the kitchen.
"Fred, George, what are you covered in?" Mrs. Weasley inquired, watching her seventeeen- year old boys sit down at the table.
"Honey and mustard. We were pranked last night."
"Well, I won't say you don't deserve it, but by whom?"
"Well, I would assume it was Arwyn. She's new here and no one else pranks other in this house," another Weasley boy said, entering the kitchen and sitting directly across from the accused.
"Percy! Mind your manners!"
"Forgive me, Ms. Star," Percy said, miffed.
"Now, Percy, what makes you think I did it, just because I'm a guest? For all you know, it was Ginny."
"Was not!"
Percy smiled at Arwyn, "She didn't do it. She makes too much noise when she's getting things out of the icebox."
"What's an icebo-- wait, refrigerator. Gotcha. Well, maybe it was Ron. I heard he's got an imagination quick as a jackrabbit!"
Ron turned bright red.
"See?"
"Ron, you owe your brothers an apology. Percy you owe Arwyn one."
"No, that's all right. I understand. Percy's just jealous. Molly? May I take this outside?"
"Of course, dear. Have a good breakfast. Ron? Don't you have something to say to the twins?"
"Sorry."
Arwyn smiled as she exited the room. Fred saw her smile and followed her out. He found her in the garden.
"May I join you?"
"Sure."
Fred sat down next to her. He noticed all her hair had been coiled into quite a few rings of French braids, circling her head.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?" she hadn't noticed he was staring at her hair.
"That. With your hair. I wouldn't have the patience."
"It takes me two hours to do something like this. I enjoy it. I mean, if I could wait long enough for it to get this long, I can stand two hours of grooming every morning and evening," she said, looking at him through those strange, glittery eyes.
"How long is it?"
"Six feet. I've been growing it out since I was a baby. Never had a haircut," she said, taking a bite out of an apple.
"Six feet? Wow, mine's only--"
"Four and a half inches at longest. Yes, I know. But, why are we talking about hair? Honestly..."
They ate in silence for a few moments.
"You going to go out for Quidditch?"
"No."
"Why not?!?" he couldn't believe she wouldn't.
"Don't wanna chance hurting someone."
"How do you mean?"
"Every year I play, someone on the team gets seriously injured. It's like I have a curse that follows me around everywhere."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not just Quidditch. Everything I do collectively with a group, someone other than me gets hurt. I don't want it to happen at Hogwarts. I've heard such good reviews on safety, save the two years the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and the Triwizard Tournamnets," tears flowed down her cheeks, breaking Fred's heart.
Fred pulled Arwyn into a hug, which seemed to clam her quite a bit. No one should have to endure this, he thought.
"Don't worry, our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, will know what to do."
"Dumble dore? Albus Dumbledore?" she asked, pulling away from him.
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, no," she stood and started pacing. "This is not good. Not good at all. What am I going to do?"
"What's not goo? Arwyn, what's going on?" Fred said from his seat on the grass.
"When I was little, a Death Eater cursed me to stop at nothing to destroy Albus Dumbledore!"