Harry's Twin by Gemzgurl

After they got home, Hermione showed Lei her bedroom. Lei looked around the room, awed at what she saw. Of course it was neat, tidy and organized, as was like Hermione, but there were three large bookshelves filled with books of all kinds. Some were magical, some just ordinary muggle-type books. There was a small keyboard in one corner of the room, which Hermione happily declared that it was her practicing board. She explained to Lei that she'd been playing the piano for a long time now, and she kept the keyboard in her room so she could practice in there sometimes. There was a full-sized piano downstairs.
There was a wooden desk against one of the cream-colored walls that was piled high with some schoolbooks, parchment, ink and quills. When she went over to look more closely at the desk, Lei saw that it held another book: French for the Beginners. She looked over to Hermione with one eyebrow raised, and Hermione just gave a half-shrug, seeming a bit embarrassed. Right beside the desk was Hermione's school trunk, sitting with its top open, revealing neatly folded robes, scarves, skirts, white shirts and ties. There was also a book bag and a needle and thread tucked in the trunk.
"What are these for?" Lei asked, pointing to the needle and thread.
"Oh, those. My book bag breaks sometimes in during the year and I decided that I would start bringing a needle and thread to mend it if it were to break when I should happen to need it." Hermione shrugged and smiled. "I've been carrying them around since my third year at Hogwarts, when I was taking a wide variety of classes that required books that kept ripping my book bag."
Just then, an orange cat came sauntering into Hermione's room, purring loudly and rubbing against Hermione's legs. The mangy little fellow wasn't much to look at, with clumps of fur missing and only one eye, but Hermione picked it up and cooed, stroking what was left of its fur.
"This is Crookshanks, Lei," Hermione said, cuddling with the cat as if it were some adorable kitten. "You know, my cat that I was telling you about."
Lei went over and scratched behind the cat's ear, which made him purred even louder as he rubbed his head against her hand. "Well, somehow I didn't quite expect him to look like this, but he's friendly. I quite like him."
After meeting Crookshanks, Hermione took Lei on a grand tour of the house, showing her inside every room. In the dining room there was a grand piano, which Hermione ran her fingers over happily. Lei asked to hear a few songs on it, and Hermione eagerly agreed to play them for her. Not very long after that, it seemed, Kathia called to say she was on her way to come and get Lei. That's when Lei started getting really nervous.
Kathia seemed like a very nice woman, sure, but Lei wasn't sure how to react around her. After all, she'd only spoke with her for a grand total of four minutes. What if Kathia didn't like her after she got settled in? What if Romeo and Phoebe, the parrots, didn't like her? Which of course was being simply silly. After all, why wouldn't Romeo, Phoebe and Kathia Johannes like her? Oh, yeah, that's right: it was easy for some people to dislike her after two minutes of talking to her, just because she said that she was Harry Potter's twin sister. Not that she had anything against Harry, or anything ridiculous like that. She knew that Harry had had a hard life, and that he didn't even realize she existed (until she wrote that letter to him). But that didn't mean that she didn't resent being the forgotten child, however. It was complicated, just like everything else in her life.
At a knock on the door, Mrs. Granger came walking into the foyer and swung open the door and invited Kathia inside. Kathia came in, but "only for a moment," she said.
"I'm afraid that I can't stay for long," Kathia apologized. "But it's almost feeding time for Romeo and Phoebe, and they get really cranky when they don't get fed on time, the silly things. You ready to go, Lei?" She turned her attention to Lei when she entered the hallway.
"Yeah. Bye, Hermione. Thanks for letting me stay, Mrs. Granger. I really appreciate it." Lei patted Crookshanks on the head as he rubbed against her legs. He wasn't so bad to look at once you got used to him.
After exchanging goodbyes, Kathia and Lei were out the door and getting into the car.
"So, what brings you to England, Lei?" Kathia asked conversationally.
"My foster parents were killed and I had no one to stay with. I have, ahem, distant relations here in England."
"I'm sorry to hear that your parents were killed. That must feel awful. But I know something that'll cheer you right up. Three somethings, in fact." She grinned over at the young girl, who raised an eyebrow in puzzlement as the car pulled into Kathia's driveway.
A few minutes later, Kathia was unlocking the oak door and opened it a tiny crack. In a whirlwind of feathers, the door was shut in their faces. Lei stepped back several feet, right off the concrete porch and into the yard in surprise. Kathia only made a tsking sound and tried to open the door again, only to have it slammed in face for a second time.
"Now you listen here, you little monster, you are going to let me open the door right this instant," Kathia commanded. A throaty laugh came floated through the door, the sound loud and harsh in Lei's ears. Kathia sighed and said in a more gentle tone, "If I can't get in the house, I can't feed you, now can I?"
She tried the door once again, and this time it opened right up, as Kathia thought it might. Using food threats was the only way to get through to those parrots of hers. She beckoned the frightened girl standing on the lawn to come inside the house. Lei came in slowly, as if reluctant to meet the birds that kept slamming the door on them.
What neither of them noticed was a single, white daisy in Kathia's flower garden that was frozen solid.
"Naughty, naughty, Kitty," cackled a hoarse voice from the corner of the couch. A large scarlet macaw sat on top of the couch, staring at them through glittering black eyes. "Kitty left us all alone, didn't you, Kitty?"
Another cackle alerted them that another bird, a blue-and-gold macaw, was sitting on top of a birdcage that was hanging from the ceiling. Next to that cage was another one.
Kathia pointed toward the scarlet macaw, and said, "Lei, this is Phoebe, the red parrot. And that one over there that is standing on top of his cage is Romeo. Phoebe, Romeo, this is Lei. She's going to be living with us from now on, okay? Make her feel welcome." She bent down to whisper in Lei's ear, "I'm going to be in the kitchen, working on their dinners. If you need anything or if they start bothering you, just holler."
And with the words of warning left hanging in the air, Kathia went down a hallway to Lei's right and disappeared into a room, presumably the kitchen. Lei gulped as both pairs of black eyes focused on her. She looked from side to side as if looking for somewhere to escape. She looked down at the floor. By the door were a few blue and yellow feathers. So Romeo had been the one who had shut the door in her and Kathia's faces.
A sudden flapping of wings and there was an enormous amount of weight on Lei's shoulder. Phoebe stuck her face right into Lei's, her beak touching her nose. Lei's eyes went wide in shock as those black eyes twinkled menacingly at her. She swallowed hard again and felt glad that Kathia hadn't wanted to leave her alone with these creatures and opted for Hermione's house.
"Ah, the girly is feeling abandoned, is she?" squawked the bird on her shoulder loudly. "You're not alone, little one, little girl, my little flower."
Lei gaped at the bird. A sudden flood of memories washed over her, but they were so mixed up that she didn't know where they had come from or even what the memories were of. All she clearly got was a soft voice cooing, "My little one, my little flower."