Chapter 5
Shortly after she left a tall redheaded boy speaks loudly that his brothers has told him that they will have to wrestle a troll before they are accepted into Hogwarts, and he actually seemed like he believed it. They are lead into the great hall in a single file, and after the hat sang the silly and boring song, the sorting began.
Both the boy and the girl they had met on the train were sorted into Gryffindor. Soon professor McGonagall called out, "Potter, Erika." and the entire student population becomes hushed, lots of whispers go through the houses. "Potter? As in one of the-twins-who-lived?" "Erika Potter? Then her adoptive brother must be here too right?" "Wonder if her brother is here too?"
Erika walks calmly over the stool, sits and put the hat on her head.
"Hum, how do you do that? It's only been like this when the headmasters had put me on to give me instructions. How am I to decide your house if I can't see your thoughts."
'So you decide on which house one is put by checking the thoughts of people without their permission? Do you know that there is a law against that? You could get disenchanted if it were to be reported. Anyway... If you put me and my brother in different houses I will report you. Now decide what house I'm going to.' She sends these thoughts outside of the mental walls she has built up to protect her mind.
"Eh... Um, Slytherin, no need to threaten me." The hat was silent for a while. "Are you not supposed to walk over to your houses table?"
Erika sighs, 'You have to shout it out loud first like you did to the other students.'
"Oh, yeah you're right. SLYTHERIN!"
Erika gets up from her seat and walk over to the end of the Slytherin table while everyone in the hall stared at her. After all students and teachers had discussed the fact that a Potter has been sorted into Slytherin for more then five minutes, Harry called out to professor McGonagall, "Professor, could we get on with the sorting, please?"
McGonagall stared at him blankly for a short while before regaining her composure, she calls, "Potter, Harry." and he walked over to the stool and put the hat on.
"Not again! How am I to sort you when I can't read your mind?"
'I'm sure my sister told you this too, but you will sort me into Slytherin as you did with my sister.' Harry stated to the hat.
"I will, I will." the hat says quickly. "I don't want to be disenchanted, so, SLYTHERIN!"
Harry got up and walked over to sit by Erika. After five minutes of stunned silence and then five minutes of heated discussions the twin Potters bellow out, "Professor McGonagall, the sorting!"
The sorting continued and is quickly finished. When everyone has taken their seats the headmaster stands up and says loudly, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we eat I have four things to say, Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment and Tweak. Tuck in."
After the food had appeared, been eaten, cleared away and Dumbledore has had his yearly speech the students are lead to their houses by the prefects. When they reached the common room, the prefect showed the first year girls down one stairs and the boys down another one. The common room cleared within minutes as everyone had gone to their beds, left in the room was just the twins. Not wanting to sleep in separate rooms they curled tight together on one of the couches and fell asleep.
Early next morning they get up early, straighten their robes that they had worn during the night as well as they can and walk to the great hall to eat breakfast.
"Seems like we are a bit early, I guess that we will have to go to the kitchen to eat before the rest of the students." Harry said when they arrived at the empty hall.
Erika nods and walks up to a painting, "Could you please tell us how to get to the kitchens?" The painting nodded and pointed in the correct direction. After several more pointers from paintings, and once from an enchanted armor they arrived and tickled the pear that opened the door to the kitchen.
After they step in they are soon overwhelmed with more food then they could ever manage to eat at one meal. When they have finished eating they left the kitchen and walked outside the castle.
"This is boring, I wish we could duel." Erika stated after they had wandered around the castle for almost an hour.
"Me too, we have to get another wand. Perhaps we can make one on our own? Let's check the library." Harry replied and they enter the castle again and quickly find the library with the help of some friendly portraits.
"What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Madam Pince asked looking like she has just gotten out from bed, which she probably just had.
"We thought to look for some books concerning wand making, we only have one wand between the two of us and it would help if we could get another one. Could you perhaps help us find the books?"
"Those books are in the restricted section because it is dangerous to make wands, you would have to get permission from one of the professors."
"Is there any books about the wand cores and woods that we can look through then? We'll come back for the other books as soon as we can get the permission."
After placing the books that Madam Pince found for them into their bags they headed to the Great Hall where the other students just had started to eat. They sat down at the end of the Slytherin table ignoring all the looks they got. After taking a toast each they got bored and pick up a book each to read.
After breakfast was almost finished the heads of the houses gave out the time tables to all the students, getting theirs they see that almost every single class they have are together with the Gryffindors and that the first one today is Potions. They stood up and walked down towards the dungeon level that the class, according to the time table, is supposed to be.
Outside the classroom they got the trunk out just long enough to take the required potion books. As they are fifteen minutes early they settle down to read. One minute before the class was to start the twins stopped reading and stood up beside the door, ready to get in as soon as the door is unlocked and opened. Half a minute before the start the door was unlocked from within with an almost inaudible click and the twins opened it, walked inside and sat down at a bench in the far back.
When the bell signals the start professor Snape strode in through the back door and says loudly, "Ten points from Gryffindor for being late for first class." He totally ignores the fact that the five last persons to enter were Slytherins.
The professor makes a roll call, he gives nasty glares to every Gryffindor while he just looked at the Slytherins, with an exception of the Potter twins whom he gives an even angrier glare. After finishing the call he gives a speech that by the sound of it is the same as last year, and every year before.
After staring silently out over the class for a minute he turns towards where the twins sit, "Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" At the question the bushy-haired girl from Gryffindor, Hermione, raised her hand.
"Who, professor?" Erika asks.
"I said Potter!" the potions master growls.
"Professor, we are two with that name here." Harry replied.
"You." he points at Harry.
"You get a potion known as Draught of Living Death, professor."
"Where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar?" This time he asked Erika.
"Professor, I would check in a butchery, a bezoar came into existence due to a malfunction in the innards of an animal, the one that works best for potions is from a goat. It protects from some poisons."
Snape looks angrily at the twins, he had not thought that they would know that much about potions, "Then, which color should the Strengthening Solution have when it is finished? And what do you do after you put in powdered Moonstone in a Draught of Peace?" he asks first Harry then Erika. As Hermione had clearly known about the bezoar as well as the first question her hand shot up now too, but she brought it down just as fast again when she realizes that she does not know it.
"Turquoise, a clear turquoise, professor."
"I have never done it, professor, but to get it to work I would stir three times counter-clockwise to get it correctly."
The rest of the lesson passed with the twins being ignored by the professor and they easily made the simple potion that he wrote up on the blackboard.
When the class had finished the twins walked out while putting the books into their packs. Not even having time to walk twenty steps from the door Hermione came running to them, "Where does it say that about the Draught of Peace and Strengthening Solution? I have not seen it in my potions books."
"Don't worry, Hermione, you don't need to know that until fifth year. They are not mentioned in the required books until then. It seems as Professor Snape just wanted to have the satisfaction of us not knowing the answer." Harry said with a smile.
At that she quickly hurried over to her year mates as the two houses' first years make their way to transfiguration class.
Seeing that the door to the classroom was open when they arrived the twins went inside and sat down in the back and got out their transfiguration books then continued to read the books they where reading before last class. When the rest of the students arrived the twins overheard an argument between a tall red headed, the one who spoke about a troll before the sorting, and Hermione, he told her that she must not consort with the enemy. Though he does not use that complicated words, the ones he used was; "You must not speak with those slimy bastard snakes."
Professor McGonagall, also Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, entered the classroom and seeing that everyone is present she starts the class. After having a long speech about the dangers of transfiguration she gave out matches for them to turn into needles.
After having grown bored at transfiguring the matches to and from a needle, having done so five times each, the twins put them aside and started reading a fourth year transfiguration book and a optional seventh year medical spell book.
When about half the lesson had passed they were pulled from their reading by an angry call from the professor McGonagall. "Potter! Five points from both of you for reading in class. You were supposed to try to transfigure the match into a needle."
The twins look up from the books and Erika gets her wand out, she points it at the match and says the required word, the match changes into a silver needle without anything showing that it had been a match just moments before. She then hands the wand to her brother who does the same thing on his match yielding the same result before they go back to their books.
At the end of the lesson Hermione manages to turn her match pointy and silver colored but it still retains its wooden grains. "Very good Hermione, ten points to Gryffindor for a good transfiguration." the professor says proudly.
"But professor, should you not give points to the Potters too? They made the transfiguration faster then me and did it better." says Hermione, not because she wants the Slytherins to get points but because it is not fair that only she gets it when they are better.
The professor does apparently not want to answer to that but says instead, "The lesson has ended, hurry so that you don't get late to next class."
Most of the students in the class are happy at being let five minutes early but none understands why they would have to hurry when they have lunch before next class.
While most of the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years go to the great hall to eat the twins go to the kitchen for a quick snack before heading to the library for some reading.
They have sat silently reading for about ten minutes when Harry speaks up. "It says here that one of the best materials for a wand is not wood but bone, that is, only if the bone is given freely."
Erika thinks on this for a moment, "The best bone would be humerus I think, it's about the right length."
"Yes, I agree. And we could remove it with this spell from the medical book and regrow it with some Skele-Gro."
Erika gets out a notebook and a lead pencil and writes out all the ingredients needed for the potion and marks the ingredients they have. "We have all but the hairs from a fire salamander, but we can get that from the school supplies in potions lessons."
"Let's also submerge the bones into a bone strengthening potion. It says in 'Beginners guide to Necromancy' that to get the strongest bones you must keep it in that potion for half a year while renewing it every week."
Suddenly the bell signaling the start of class sounded. "Bugger," the twins exclaim at the same time and they throw their books into their bags and run as fast as they can towards the greenhouses.
They arrive seven minutes late and have five points taken from each of them. During the rest of the double herbology lesson they earn together twenty points for correctly answered questions.
They eat their dinner in the kitchens and go to study in the library until just before curfew. At eleven they fall asleep cuddled, as usual, in one of the couches in the common room.
During the last lesson before dinner the next day they are told to report to the headmaster's office after they have eaten dinner and they are told the password to get in and the way to get there.
After a quick visit to the house elves' domain for a bit of food they walk over to the gargoyle guarding the stairs up to the office. It takes almost fifteen minute from them arriving to when the headmaster comes.
"Ah, I see that you have arrived, please sit down." Albus says with his unnaturally twinkling eyes. "Have a lemon drop?"
"We'd rather stand, and no thanks." Harry replies. The twins stand before the desk holding each other's hand.
The headmaster shrugs and begins, "It has come to my attention that you two have not eaten in the great hall since the start of year feast, would you care to explain why? It is very important that you eat enough."
"If it is any of your business, we eat in the kitchens," Erika answers calmly.
The headmaster tries to take on a concerned expression, "But everyone else eats in the great hall, if not for anything else, you should eat there too just to talk and get friends."
"That everyone else eat there is the biggest reason that we don't. We want calm and quiet where we eat and we already have the best friends we could ever get." When the headmaster raises his eyebrow at the lat, Harry just adds, "Each other."
Dumbledore nods an, "There are one more thing I request to know, Where do the two of you keep your luggage?" The twinkling of his eyes increase and the twins can feel the attacks against their Occlumency shields.
"I suggest that you stop your Legilimency attacks on us if you don't want us to report you to the Unethical use of Magic Office for the use of unconsented Legilimency on minors. And to your question, you have nothing to do with our luggage."
After having that said Erika lets go of her brothers hand, turns around at the same time as him and grabs his other hand instead. They walk together out from the office.