Of Fame and Family
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Chapter 1
A playbill was held by every occupant, displaying on its front a moving picture of two lovely young ladies – identical in their angelic faces and demonic expressions – in a showy stage pose, standing beneath a fluttering banner that read: "The Odd Folks of the Ophelia Opera House proudly present".
And then, in bold, curling print, the performers' pseudonyms were written: "The Lind Sisters".
Music burst and resounded from the halls of the Ophelia Opera House – though it was not opera, curiously enough.
But it was not all that curious to the Odd Folks of the Ophelia Opera House because of the nature of the renown of their visiting performers.
The Lind Sisters had been selling out shows all across Britain, performing shows in which they incorporated cabaret-styled Muggle dance and song within a play with brilliant magic displays and the like.
Of course, it enchanted its audiences the world over (wizards alone, of course), and rave reviews and becoming the talk of the town followed them.
There must always be an exception to any generalization, of course, and this one's stood quietly at the back of the Opera House, on a barstool on which she was spinning half-heartedly.
Elisha Lind was not jealous.
She was angry, that her family seemed to bend over backwards and leave what they were doing at the drop of a hat nowadays, all for the twins.
She was irritated, that she had to be dragged to all sorts of locations without so much as a note the night before to tell her so.
She was sleepy and worn out and sick with a vivacious cough.
But Elisha Lind was not jealous.
Not even a little bit.
---
"Quit being a whinge and suck it up! It's not so bad settling under our shadow," Lola harped as she applied a generous amount of white sparkling shadow to her eyelid.
Elisha had somehow found herself in the dressing room of her sisters', and how fortunate she felt.
Lisa, who was seated beside her and staring at her reflection in her own vanity, sighed in a mock-despondent tone. "Oh really, Ellie, you're such a drama queen."
Elisha picked at a loose string on the long sleeve of her rugby shirt and glowered.
It wasn't very attractive, she'd admit, but it was damn better than voicing her opinion – they'd only attack it with perfectly manicured claws.
"Oh honestly, don't mope," Lola cooed smoothly, "It's no wonder you've never had a lad of your own."
"I have too," Elisha countered, wrinkling her nose at her own comment.
Yes, Elisha, because that's the way to win an argument. Why do you insist on being a little twit?
"Who?" Lisa prodded, sparing a condescending glance at Elisha, who still leaned against the wall, looking down at her fiddling hands. "That silly little prat with the good hair? Oh…what was his name?"
"…John? Oh, I forget…No, wait, it was Julian!"
"Yes, yes, that Julian boy…we paid him to take you out because we wanted a night on the town."
Elisha's eyes twitched with tears.
This cruelty was a new development – the fame had done things to them.
As juvenile as it sounded, she wasn't sure she loved them anymore.
As stable as sibling love is supposed to be, she was not really one for unconditional love, whichever direction it went.
"Well, not that this hasn't been oodles of fun but we've got a brilliant show to put on," Lisa purred, slicking back a sweep of long white-blonde fringe to the side.
Lola and Lisa even had better hair than she did – lighter, softer, more fluttery, more everything.
Their eyes weren't brown like hers; they were the prettiest shade of green.
They also had a complete set of intimidating, straight, white, adult teeth.
Everything Elisha didn't have, everything Elisha was almost sure she didn't want – except for the teeth, maybe.
The twins grinned at each other and sat up in synchronization.
Looking back at their pouting little sister, they both winked and sashayed their way away.
Elisha's eyes let loose the tears she'd been able to keep at bay.
---
"You know your sisters would have seen you off if they could have, Elisha," Mrs. Lind cooed in the direction of her daughter, who was sulkily dragging her feet somewhere behind her while they made their way across Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
"Yeah, I know they would have," Elisha replied, in a tone more befitting of a mother humoring her daughter for the sake of keeping a storm at bay than the reality of the reverse.
She recalled her conversation with the sisters in question only a few hours before.
"Don't tell Mum and Dad, Ellie"…
"Mum, Dad, there's something I have to tell you," she told them quietly.
"I mean, with all their rehearsals and work and practicing and, well, you know, all that jazz, it's difficult for them to get away."
Mrs. Lind refused to stop talking.
Maybe she hadn't heard.
So Elisha repeated herself a tad bit louder, "Mum, Dad, I have something to tell you."
Now Mr. Lind began to speak. "I'm sure the minute we get to the hotel, they'll be whining about how much they miss you."
A bit louder, she said again, "I need to tell you both something."
"…You know them, all work and no play, but they'd be here if they could. I'm sure they…"
Louder.
"…This being the first time they've missed sending you off, except for those few years they got sick or had plans…"
Louder still. "I've got to tell you something!"
Both her parents, as well as a few passersby surrounding them, turned round to face her with a start. "What are you talking about, Elisha?"
"Mum, Dad…" she began, but found she couldn't finish.
"Don't tell them; they'll hate us forever, Ellie"…
So what if they hate those stupid sisters of hers; they'll probably find some way to blame her anyway.
It would probably blow up in her face…
Maybe it wasn't worth it after all.
"I think Booger is sick." She pointed her wand at her cat, which was skinny looking and spared them all a very convenient sneeze, which illustrating her fib by sheer happenstance.
"I'm sure we'll be able to owl you a potion to help that. It's just a bit of a sniffle," eased her mother with a tender smile.
Elisha sighed, pursing her lips in frustration.
I could have told them; Lisa and Lola weren't even here. Good job taking a stand, ninny.
She looked up at the Hogwarts Express – red, black, and gold, with billowing smoke rising through the gap in the ceiling above.
---
"Hm…now what number was our compartment?" James muttered offhandedly, shuffling through the sea of first years coasting along the side of the platform.
"The sixth one down on the left side." Remus bustled along sheepishly, apologizing profusely in every which direction for an accidental push or shove.
"Thanks very much, Moony, my old mate," said Sirius cheekily, strutting right through the fearful, ickle firsties.
Peter skittered along behind them, receiving facefuls of elbows and arms.
"Come on now, Peter, don't fall behind or you'll be left behind!" James had put on a teacher-like tone as he called to the lagging blonde boy.
"Who the bloody hell are you?"
All four Marauders stood inside the compartment now, standing and looking very intimidating.
"Elisha Lind," she muttered with a frown.
"As in the Lind Sisters? Lisa and Lola Lind?" Peter raved, "As in Britain's Flirtiest Flauntiest Femmes? As in England's Most Damnable Dancing Dames? Merlin, I love them! Been to all their shows. They sing like angels!"
"Did he come up with those alliterations just now?" Elisha asked, impressed.
Sirius, James, and Remus traded a stare at Peter's starry-eyed rhapsodizing.
"How embarrassing," James muttered.
"I swear. Honestly, you can't take him anywhere!" Sirius rolled his eyes.
"No, not as in the Lind Sisters," Elisha lied, kicking herself off the ivory pedestal Peter was ready to build for her - or more,forher sisters - with his bare hands, "Sorry."
"Well, it's not a very common name," Remus mused, "There must be some kind of relation."
"And if not, I guess it would be totally cool to share a name with them," Peter added in, "I mean, their show is brilliant – rave reviews from the toughest critics!"
"Enough with the show, Peter!" the three exclaimed in tandem.
The fair-skinned boy blushed an abnormal shade of red.
Elisha scratched her forehead in an irritated way – she hated these sorts of situations.
She bit down on her lip with slightly-buckteeth, noting the gap where the canines should have been and weren't.
At fifteen, she didn't even have all of her adult teeth – something that irked her.
Sure, the darling little dimple on one cheek made up for a little, but really, it wasn't compensation enough for suffering the teasing when she happened to grin enough to show her teeth.
"Well, we do have some relation."
"Really?" Peter cooed with a glazed, star struck expression. "How?"
"Could we get away from the subject, please?" she bit, running a hand through her hair distractedly.
Darting eyes found Remus, and he offered her a weak smile.
James cut in, voice possessing a very professional tone. "Well, lovely to meet you, Elisha Lind. You're in our compartment."
With the utmost finesse and subtlety, he'd just verbally pushed her out the door.
Elisha began to pick up her trunk with a scowl before Remus gave her a smile and gestured to Sirius to say something.
"That's alright, I'm sure we could all fit," Remus said after concluding that no matter how many gestures and urges, Sirius was considerably too distracted by the horde of giggling girls walking past behind them.
"Really?" Elisha appeared to be on the defensive.
"Yeah, sure." Peter plopped down beside her and smiled, rat-like features taking on a pointier appearance.
"Thanks." She didn't seem overly grateful.
James had a bit of a frown on as he sat with a loud thump in front of her.
Sirius, having recovered from the female passerby, stood with a rather perplexed look.
"What's your name again?"
A rattling sound was heard reverberating from within the train, and shortly after it came to a complete stop.
"What's going on?" Elisha whispered, looking around as if they knew anymore than she did.
"I don't know," Remus said quietly, looking out the window at the dark, stormy scenery.
Suddenly, the door to the compartment burst open and a young woman, with red hair and the prettiest profile she'd ever seen, held her head in.
"The train's been attacked!" she shouted exasperatedly.
"By what?" Remus asked
"They don't know what it is. No one does."
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A/N: I was bored…forgive me for this, but it does have a plot. I don't know why or how this came to me, but the whole "my sisters are cooler than me and I'm a bitch because of it" is just too appealing a personality to resist.