The Patterson Twins And The Return Of The Apprentice
Chapter Two
Surprises
Eleven year old Selena Patterson hadn't been happier. For about the 40th time, she re-read the letter she had just received. 'Dear Ms. Patterson, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'
"Gosh, Selena! It's not going to change if you keep reading it," Selena's twin sister, Apolla said with a grin before looking through her own letter.
"Isn't this wonderful? We'll get to go to school, make new friends, get into trouble without mum know, and use magic everywhere!" at this last thought, Selena burst into a fit of happy giggles, causing her to fall off her chair. Apolla fell into hysterics.
Though they were twins, the Patterson girls were quiet different. Apolla had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, which had some unknown power to bring their mother to do whatever Apolla wanted, which also became a huge advantage to the sisters as they grew as professional mischief makers. She was about a half inch shorter than her twin, bust was definitely louder.
Selena, on the other hand, had long black hair and lovely green eyes. She was a little crazy at times and believed in her sister more than other sibling relationships. Around her neck was a shining necklace with a crescent moon made of pure silver, the opposite of her sister, who's necklace was made of pure gold and was in the shape of a sun. They were not only the "sweetest accessories ever!" as put by Selena, but the two sisters were able to contact each other by holding the object at the end of their necklaces and saying the others' name. This had helped them in the past few years when they wanted to be sneaky or when they were bored and grounded in different rooms.
The sisters had known about magic even since either of them could remember. Their mother had made sure that her children didn't grow up completely clueless, and had even taught them some spells for later use; for example, when they got wands. Mrs Patterson had not felt it safe fore the girls to be running around with wands, considering the major power the both of them possessed, even more concerning Selena.
Mrs. Patterson felt it best not to tell her girls about the mysterious power their deceased father had passed down to them. Selena had been given more power than Apolla, which Mrs. Patterson didn't need to have an argument between the girls about being favored. Selena had been given more power on accident. That was how it was meant to be, but she wished she could change that.
"Selena! SELENA!" Apolla screamed, jumping back into the kitchien sink.
"Wha-?" Selena, who was still laying on the floor, realized her hand which was grasping the leg of the table for balance to get up had become extremely hot. Looking at her hand, she saw fire shooting everywhere. She had just set the kitchien table on fire. Again, jumping away from the incinerating table, Selena looked at her sister for help. Apolla looked down and just happened to see their mother's wand laying by the sink. She picked ut up.
"What's that water spell, Selena?"
"I don't remember! Do something, Apolla, or mum'll kill me!"
Apolla bit her lip, her mother's wand raised and pointed at the table. She gave it a flick, but the fire seemed to become stronger.
"I know it's like Aqua something..." Selena said suddenly, trailing off though, fore, "Aqua something" was no use in their situation. Suddenly, Apolla's face lit up.
"Brilliant, Selena! Aquamenti!" Apolla exclaimed, water came shooting out of the tip of the wand, amercing the table and eventually stopping the fire, "Selena, you owe me,"
Selena figured maybe it was because she was a witch that she could suddenly do strange things, such as set the kitchien table on fire. It bothered her, though, that Apolla never had this severe of incidents happen to her. Selena just couldn't control her magic sometimes. She wondered if it was some kind of magical disability, but knew that when she went to Hogwarts, she would have the chance to get that all situated. There were only a few more days now, until they would be heading off.
It seemed that the table had just been unnoticeable when Mrs. Patterson came running into the kitchien. Apolla hastily placed the wand back onto the counter.
"It sounded very loud down here. Is there something going on?" Their mother said with the raise of her eyebrow.
"No, mum," Apolla said quickly.
"We're just very excited about our Hogwarts letters!" Selena said with a grin.
"Speaking of which," Mrs. Patterson began, "I just received an owl from a friend of mine, Pravus Greyson. He shall be taking you to Diagon Alley for your supplies,"
"You aren't coming?" Selena asked curiously.
"No, I'm not feeling up to it, deary,"
Selena and Apolla looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Their mother never got sick.
"When is Mr. Greyson coming to take us?" Apolla asked.
"Around 2 pm. Oh! Look at the time!" Mrs. Patterson pointed to the muggle digital clock sitting on a table in the living rom. It was 1:45.
"You have 15 minutes! Get yourselves looking representable! Selena, what do you have on your hands? Apolla, go help your sister," and with that, Mrs. Patterson stormed out of the room and upstairs to her room.
"Something's wrong with mum," Selena said automatically, "'Looking representable'... who is this Greyson fellow anyway? Why haven't we heard of him all these years?"
"Maybe she's just being mum," Apolla said, her face filled with concern and worry, "I mean, take a minute to think for once, Selena. We're heading off to Hogwarts. She won't see us all year. She's probably worrying about the two of us," The girls stood in silence, lost in their thoughts. Finally, Apolla let out a sigh.
"Come on, Selena. Let's get the soot off your hands,"
"I feel like a kid sister, Apolla,"
"Sorry," Apolla said turning on the water from the kitchien sink. Selena stuck her hands under the cold water and washed the ashes away from her fingers. Apolla looked at the table leg, now stained with black ash. Apolla picked up her mother's wand, then handed it to Selena.
"Shall you do the honors?" Apolla said with a smile.
"I shall!" Selena said, taking the wand, "Wait, what am I shalling?"
"Fixing the table, of course," Apolla said pointing at the damaged table leg, "Mum was too daft to notice the first time. If she comes in here again, she bloody well would see it," Selena cleared her throat and pointed the wand at the table leg.
"Reparo!" She said as a blue light came out the wand. The light hit the table and the table disappeared in a puff of smoke. Selena and Apolla looked at each other, then back where the dining table had once been. Selena raised an eyebrow.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"You said 'Reparo', not Oculous reparous,"
"Oh. I guess I still have some more learning to do before school," Selena grinned, "Oculous reparo!" and with that, the table was back to normal.
2:– came and went. At about 2:30, Apolla came back from her position of keeping look out at the front door. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't think Mr. Greyson is coming,"
"Then how are we going to get our supplies?" asked Selena, who for this past half hour had been completely silent. Apolla knew this was from nervousness.
"We'll wait a bit longer," Apolla said with confidence, though her posture showed none. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping her foot to an unheard rhythm, "If he doesn't show up, we'll ask mum if we can use Floo Powder and go ourselves," At that moment, there was a faint 'pop' from the front door and in walked Mr. Pravus Greyson. He was panting slightly and looked rather distraught.
"The Patterson, I presume?" Pravus asked, bowing at the sisters.
"Yes. I'm Apolla, and this is Selena," Apolla introduced politely.
"Selena..." Pravus mumbled, staring at Selena. His eyes were widened, as though Selena were some incredible figure.
"Yes, that is my name," Selena stated blandly.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Pravus had suddenly snapped out of his trance and was back to business, "You can call me Pravus, by the way. There was a meeting with Dumbledore on who was to take Harry Potter for his supplies, we're still trying to get him to open a letter without the stupid muggles taking it away. We may see him and Hagrid while we're shopping. I heard from your mother that she wasn't able to take you girls... So, tada!" after saything what he had to say in one, quick breath, he threw his arms up into the air to make his appearance seem dramatic. The girls stared at him blankly, still trying to process what he had just said.
"Harry Potter is in our year?" Apolla asked, realization striking her face.
"You know Dumbledore? The guy from the letter?" Selena made inference to her Hogwarts letter.
"Yes, Harry Potter is in your year and I am an... well... call me an assistant,"
"Cool!" Apolla and Selena shouted at the same time.
"Now, now, settle down. Harry doesn't know he's one of the most famous people in our world, he shall find out today. Don't go wandering after the poor boy,"
"Man, living with muggles must be torture!" Selena exclaimed.
"No, just like wizards, there are good ones and bad ones. Let's keep you two good, ok?" Pravus winked and indicated to the fireplace in the living room, "Shall we be off them?" Letters slowly wrinkling away in their hands, the girls grinned, and nodded.