(A/N: Oops. Mistake in Chapter 3... I said Jamie and Evan were 9 and 7... they are actually only 8 and 6... sorry about that, everyone. Reviewer responses at bottom.)
Chapter 11: Facing Down Fear
Helen looked around the room she had been ushered to. Three bunk beds, wardrobe in the corner, florescent light on the ceiling, no windows, nothing on the walls except white paint. Five of the bunks looked slept in. She slung her duffel onto the sixth one, a bottom bunk neatly made up with grayish sheets, a gray scratchy blanket, and a thin pillow.
I feel like I'm in a Dickens novel. Her mum had told the family the stories of David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby, and Helen had read Oliver Twist for herself in the school library. Poor little orphan girl, left by herself in the cruel world...
Then she chuckled at her dramatics. No, Dad was the poor little orphan if it was anybody. I have a family.
She climbed onto the bed herself, opened her duffel, and dug to the bottom, pulling out Griffy and a Flavor-Changing Everlast from her secret bag. She popped it into her mouth and smiled. Strawberry to start. Yum.
The taste brought back memories...
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Hand in hand, Helen and Ruby approached the shimmering barrier in the doorway. "Should we try it?" Ruby whispered.
"I'm gonna try it," Helen whispered back.
"Sirius tried it once," Ruby told her. "It tickled him until he was red all over, then it spit him back out."
"I'm gonna try it anyway. I want to know what's back there."
Ruby gulped. "I'll go with you, if you want."
"No, you stay here. I'll go."
Helen raised her shoulders and marched through the barrier.
Nothing happened.
She stared around her. Everywhere she looked, there were cauldrons full of interesting mixes and cages with funny creatures in them. "Ruby!" she called. "It's all right, come on through!"
The barrier let Ruby through as well, and the girls danced for a moment in glee before setting out to explore. They both knew they shouldn't touch anything, but there couldn't be any hurt in looking.
Some of the mixtures in the cauldrons smelled delicious. Others made them recoil and hurry past. One kept changing colors, and every time it did, the smell changed with it. Helen and Ruby stood fascinated by that one until –
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The girls squealed as they rose into the air. Their identical Weasley uncles stood up from behind the next row of cauldrons, wands in hands.
"How did you two get in here?" asked one of them.
"We came in," said Helen.
The other one sighed. "We know you came in. Where did you come in?"
"Through the door in the shop," Ruby said. "It let us in."
"It let you in, did it?" One of the uncles scooped Ruby into his arms. "Well, I don't know why it would. It's only supposed to let us in, and tickle anyone else who tries to get in without our say-so." He tickled her, making her kick and squeal.
"Maybe we should get them into the business, George," said the other one, who must be Uncle Fred, catching Helen as he ended his spell. "If they're already good enough to pass our wards at what, six years old?"
"No, that's not it. There must be some reason – got it!"
"What?"
"The spells aren't set to keep everyone out except us, remember – that was too hard, we couldn't get them to recognize us reliably. So we set them to reject everyone who wasn't a twin."
Uncle Fred frowned. "Your point is..."
"That crack you made a couple years ago is coming back to haunt us. Helen and Ruby are apparently twins enough to pass the wards."
"That doesn't make any sense. Helen is a twin, but not Ruby... no, wait. Wasn't there some question about that?"
"Yeah, I remember." Uncle George sighed. "I guess that's what happened, then."
"What?" demanded Ruby.
"Yeah, what's what happened?" Helen seconded.
"We're probably not the people who should tell you girls this story," said Uncle Fred, carrying Helen out into the shopping area of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, with Uncle George and Ruby right behind. "Oy, Ginny! Lose something?"
Her mum came hurrying over with Sirius and Jamie behind her, Evan in the baby-pack on her back. "Did you two try to get back into Uncle Fred and George's workshop?" she said, hands on hips.
"Not tried," said Uncle George, putting Ruby down. "They actually made it."
Her mum looked well and truly surprised. "How?"
"We're not sure," said Uncle Fred, "but if it's what I think it is, then what you and Harry suspected when Ruby was born is true."
"Oh. Oh, dear." Her mum bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.
"And since Helen is a twin as well, the wards let them through. We have obviously got to find a better way of shielding our workshop," Uncle George said.
"Yes, you do," said her mum, slightly acidly. "Especially since there will be another set of Weasley twins arriving any day now."
Uncle Fred and Uncle George exchanged startled looks. It seemed they hadn't known Aunt Hermione was going to have twins.
Helen giggled a little. She and Ruby had known for weeks.
When they got home, their mum sat down with them to explain. Helen knew she was a birth twin, but she hadn't known Ruby was supposed to be too. The reason Ruby wasn't was that Ruby's birth twin had died.
Ruby cried a little, but it was hard to feel sad over a might-have-been twin brother or sister when there was a living twin sister sitting beside her. Helen hugged her and promised to be the best twin ever...
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And I've made good on that. I hope. Helen looked up. Someone was coming.
Five girls exploded into the room in a burst of noise. Helen curled up around Griffy, hoping they wouldn't notice her.
"Hey, looka the new kid!"
Crud. "Hi. I'm Helen."
"Ooooh. She's Helen," said the first girl to the second, in mocking tones.
"Ooooh. She's Helen," repeated the second to the third, and so on. By the time they were done, Helen's name sounded like the stupidest thing imaginable.
Better just keep my mouth shut. Helen watched as some of the girls climbed onto their beds and others leaned on the wardrobe or sat on the floor.
"Hey, Hel-en," drawled one of them, emphasizing the first syllable. "Got anything interesting in the bag? Any food?"
"Food?" "Somebody say food?" "Who's got food?" The girls crowded around.
Helen started to shake her head, then remembered something. There's probably no chance of making friends here. Maybe I can scare them off me. "Yeah, I got food. What'll you give me for it?"
The girls hooted. "What'll we give you for it?" asked the shortest one, who seemed to be the leader. "We'll let you off the new-kid punishments for a day or so. We won't make you lick the floor until tomorrow, and we can put off shutting you up in the closet for a couple days."
That decided Helen. "That sounds like a fair trade," she said, and plunged her hand into her bag, emerging with a handful of candies. "Here, start with these."
The girls pounced on them. Each stuffed one into her mouth. Do they get that little to eat around here? For a second, Helen felt horrible about giving them her uncles' Limping Lozenges. It lasted until she remembered about the closet.
Weasley products worked fast. It wasn't long before the girls were wincing every time they took a step, unable to walk normally. Helen watched them warily, hoping they wouldn't realize that even though they couldn't move very fast, there were five of them and one of her, and they could probably still trap her and beat her up.
"Ow!" complained the ringleader girl as she tried to get to Helen's bed. "I... yow... I can't walk! What did you... agh... what did you do to this stuff?"
Helen held her head high, keeping her fear locked down. They're bullies. The only way to deal with them is to show no fear and be in control of the situation. "It's magic. My uncle taught me how to do it. Leave me alone and I won't do it again. Bother me, and you'll find out just what else he taught me."
She glared at each of them in turn, staring them down. The ringleader was last, and even she dropped her eyes after only a few seconds.
Helen felt a surge of triumph. I did it! I faced them down! Take that, Goldenrod Academy!
But beneath the triumph was the ever-present fear. She knew she was unlikely to be able to do it again. My supplies are low. I was going to stock up when I went home for good.
Which I will do. And soon.
She had to keep believing that. Nothing else could be allowed to matter.
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(Reviewer responses:
JeanieBeanie33: Umm, yes, I'd say you have.
gallandro-83: Thanks for the tips. For Dudley and Marcie's behavior, reference Vernon and Petunia – they would love to get Harry out of the house, but if there's any hint of him "getting away", they hold on like bulldogs. (Best example in CoS) No, it's not rational... never has been, never will be... human nature seldom is.
JeanMarie: Thanks!
Ghost: Thanks for the compliments, trombone bunny, but remember, I know where you live.
athenakitty: Have you been on Jeopardy recently, or is your question mark key just stuck? The answer to all is the same: Keep reading, you'll find out. (And you don't even know yet what the "waves" are doing at the Dursleys'... hee hee)
emikae: OK, thanks. One other than this, or just this one?
Kraeg001: Your enthusiasm is incredible, and your comments highly enjoyable. I dedicate this chapter to you.
Thanks everyone! Keep R&Ring!)