Chapter one: New And Unwanted
oOoOo
Kasei sighed and leaned back in the backseat of the car, glaring at her twin sister who had called shotgun two steps from the car. Now she sat watching the houses flash past and tried to ignore her little brother who was humming placidly to himself much to her annoyance.
"Will you shut up, Braiden?" Kasei asked, trying to remain calm. She didn't want to be like her sister, explosive at every small thing. Her dad watched her in the rear-view mirror for a moment and then moved his gaze to his son.
"She's right. You really need to be a little more silent." Braiden smiled mischievously at Kasei and she knew he was going to say something mean. Sure enough he couldn't keep his smart mouth shut.
"How can I be silent when she's so ugly?" Suddenly Hailey turned around in her seat, her eyes blazing.
"Yeah, well, we look like you, you retarded little fruit so shut the hell up." Kasei tried to hide her smile and turned her attention to the London scenery as a fine trickle of rain rolled down the glass of the window she sat next to, she lifted her hand and placed a finger upon it, tracing the drop as it inched down the glass.
"Hailey! That's enough, Braiden, sit back in you're seat and zip it." Their father hissed, for Braiden had inched forward in his seat and now had his fist clenched in the air, ready to hit Hailey, but Hailey had returned to her book and sat silent once more looking as if she were concentrating as hard as she did in her potions classes.
Kasei tried hard to look at her misted reflection in the window. She and Hailey were so different from each other yet so much alike in body. They both had naturally beautiful brown hair but Hailey's was now black and Kasei had hers etched with streaks of a very bright red. They had the same face and figure, though each disguised them in different clothes.
Kasei liked to wear loosely fitting comfortable cloths and loved sports. She was on some Muggle sports teams like Basketball, baseball and volleyball in elementary. She'd had to quit when she went off to Wizard school and had joined the Quidditch team.
Hailey had been much like Kasei in many aspects until the death of their mother a year before. She'd blamed herself and slowly grew darker. Now she pretty much stayed shut up in her room with books and paper, reading and writing. she turned around in her seat, her book shaking on her lap with the weight transfer.
"You'll be in Hufflepuff." She said. Braiden glared at her. All three had received their acceptance letters the week before and in two weeks they'd be on their way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hailey had been studying a book they picked called Hogwarts: A history.
"Hufflepuff's the worst house." Braiden whined, looking at his dad. "but I bet You'll be in Slytherin."
"Well, as long as they have a good Quidditch team." Kasei said brightly, hoping desperately not to be in Slytherin, the tales she'd read over Hailey's shoulder while she wasn't looking weren't very nice ones. Most of those who were decidedly put into the Slytherin house became Wizards who rived on evildoings and whatnot.
"When this book was made," Hailey said, flipping over the book to check the date. "Slytherin had the best Quidditch team. And That but only was a few years ago." Hailey turned around and began reading again and a sudden thought occurred to Kasei.
"Do brothers and sisters go in the same house?" She asked.
Braiden looked over at the back of Hailey's head, his eyes wide. Then he smiled. "I hope not." He said maliciously. "Two ugly people in the same house as me? That's evil."
Kasei and Hailey turned to him at the same time. "Yeah, you'll make up for it fine on your own. You're ugly enough." Then they both looked at each other and smiled. Braiden sat back in his seat and sulked, his arms crossed over his chest. Kasei thought maybe her sister was showing the long hidden side of her until the smile faded and the sad look replaced her once more, turning once again to the statuesque look as she positioned herself exactly the way she'd been and reading again.
"Well, now that you three have quit." Her father began, but Kasei interrupted with a quick witted comment.
"We haven't quit yet." She said, looking at Braiden once more. "You're a retard."Kasei giggled.
"And an idiot." Hailey joined in. Their father glared at them and then pointed ahead. They were moving down a quiet residential street and their new house, complete with moving van out front, was parked there as if they lived normal muggle lives, a very unlikely happening.
"Look, it's huge." Braiden slowly let out in an awed sort of whispery sound.
"Do we have to share the same room?" Hailey asked, closing her book and watching the large house coming closer. "I hate all the Quidditch posters and soccer teams and, not to mention those posters of David Becky or what ever."
"Beckham!" Kasei snapped, pausing. "Or Becks, if you mind." Even though Hailey's back was to her, she knew she'd just rolled her eyes and was mimicking her. She kicked at the back of the seat as hard as she could, making Hailey turn and give her the most evil glare that Kasei had ever seen Hailey manage.
They pulled into the driveway and Braiden was the first out. His father yelled at his retreating back, saying something about 'not getting out before the car completely stops' but none of them were listening, especially the youngest of the three.
"I get first dibs of rooms!" Braiden yelled, running up the stairs. Kasei hated that little creep and sprang out after him, rolling her eyes.
"Not a chance you loser! I'm older!" And she took off, leaving Hailey who still sat in the car, staring at the big house through the front window, playing with her long black hair. Her father watched her for a moment.
"What?" He asked. Hailey shook her head.
"Did we have to move?" She asked in a snake sort of hiss of words. He sighed ever so deeply.
"I'm an Auror, I move where the ministries tell me, you know that. And we have to move on, it's… what you're mom would have wanted." Hailey snorted and got out.
"Unfortunately, we don't know that. Do we?" She paused, "She would have wanted us to be happy. Not move across the world and go to school with people we don't know. Why couldn't we stay in the United States? You could have gotten a job there."
"Maybe we'll be happy here." Her father pointed out. "Maybe we were sent here for a reason." Hailey snorted again, kicking the tire of the town car.
"Oh yeah. Kasei's supposed to change an evil boy's heart around with her quick wits and charming personality. Braiden's supposed to be the hell raiser and what about me? Find someone like me and together we'll see the light?" She looked at her dad who was still watching her silently. "Right? This is all supposed to...what? Work out in the end? Destiny? Fate? You really believe that? Mom was supposed to die for a reason? That she was supposed to leave us like this?" Hailey almost had tears in her eyes, but she pushed them back and scowled.
"There's a reason for everything." Her dad replied. Hailey slammed the car door and left, walking up the stairs and into the cool shade of the house. It smelt like her grandmother's house, cinnamon and banana and...old. Wrinkling her nose, she made her way up the stairs and found Braiden in the first room on the left.
Braiden was jumping and when he saw Hailey he smiled, kicking his basketball at her. She caught it deftly. "Look at this room." He practically cried with joy. "It has a bathroom! Really!"
"That's the master bedroom, twit. It's dad's." Braiden shook his head.
"I called first dibs, it's mine stupid." Hailey raised and eyebrow and threw his ball at him. He wasn't able to catch it. It hit him in the right shoulder and bounced into the bathroom. "I hate you." He said, going off to retrieve it. Hailey shrugged and moved on towards the next doorway, slightly ajar.
"What ever." She said. Kasei was in the next one; she could see her through the small crack in the door. She sat in the middle of the floor, huddled up with her legs to her chest. Hailey pushed her way in and looked around. The room seemed big enough with a walk in closet and enough room for all Kasei's stupid posters. "Not bright enough?" She asked sarcastically. Kasei looked up, surprised, but pensive at the same time.
"Oh." She said, "It's you. Why do you have to be so down on yourself and mean to us all the time?" Hailey crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe, pretending to look at her nails as if she cared about them.
"What are you talking about." Hailey asked, her voice showing her bitterness. Kasei pointed to the window and Hailey could suddenly hear the sounds of her dad and the movers outside. "You heard what I said?"
"Every word." Kasei answered almost as bitterly as Hailey was acting, standing up and moving across the room to shut the window. "What if maybe that's what we will do? Maybe that is our destiny?" Kasei turned around. "I saw the same thing you did that night. Why do you have to keep bringing up Mom's accident?"
"Because it was my Quidditch game! Not yours. If I hadn't played she'd still be alive." Kasei sighed in light frustration.
"I went too; I wanted to see you play." Kasei said, "So how do you know it wasn't my fault? I talked mom into taking us instead of dad." Hailey scoffed.
"Still." Hailey muttered, turning around and moving to the door. Before she could get there, however, Kasei grabbed her and held her shoulders tight, making Hailey look at her.
"Its not you're fault. It was fate." Hailey rolled her eyes and shrugged her off.
"There is no such thing as Fate, if fate was real… then exactly what I said to dad is the truth, yet I highly doubt even part of it." she turned and left without another word, leaving Kasei to be by herself.
oOoOo
That night they sat around the table, all quiet except for Braiden's clanging cutlery and the sounds of his open mouth, chewing. Across the table Hailey and Kasei glared at each other, both wondering how the other could be so impossible and knowing the other was thinking the same thing, they had no reason to think other than that because of the looks on each others faces, not that they exactly knew, as a twin thing.
"Well, tomorrow I'll take you to Diagon Alley to get you're stuff." Their father said. "You know, books and robes and stuff like that."
"What color are our robes?" Braiden asked through a mouthful of takeout. They still hadn't got the old stove to work. The timer would ring but it wouldn't cook anything.
"You should think of getting a new stove first." Kasei said softly. Hailey actually began to giggle. Everyone looked up at her, surprised and she closed her mouth quickly.
"Yes, well..." Her father gave the stove and evil look and sighed. "I hate Muggle appliances. You're mother, you know..." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the stove, and waved it, uttering a spell under his breath. The stove glowed blue for a moment and the timer began to buzz louder and more excitedly. "Silencio!" The sound abruptly stopped.
"You didn't answer my question." Braiden reminded him. "What color?"
"Black." Hailey answered, playing with her food, remembering Hogwarts: A History. Kasei sighed.
"Black is so depressing." Kasei pointedly said to make her sister look evilly at her, though not meaning it really. Hailey looked up through her curtain of black hair.
"Well," She said, eyeing her sister's hair. "you look like you're bleeding from the head." They both glared at each other. Their father, sensing danger, cleared his throat and mentioned half-heartedly that they go to bed. Braiden quickly squashed the idea.
"Our beds are still on the truck." He said. Their father cursed and together they got up to get the beds. At the door, Braiden turned and made a girlish pose. "Oh no." He said in a high pitched voice. "Black makes me look so fat."
Hailey through a bean at him and he left. Kasei sat looking down at her plate and picking at it like she'd lost her heart or something. "What?" Hailey asked. Even to her own ears it sounded snappish.
Kasei didn't look at her but said in a low tone, "I planned to change it when we got back to school anyway." She said, lifting her fork and taking in a mouthful of food .
"What?" Hailey asked.
"My hair." Kasei said, finally looking up. "Can't use magic until we go back to school." Hailey sighed and diverted her attention to the kitchen around them, not wanting to look at her sister. Kasei put down her fork and pushed back her chair to go help her brother and dad move in the beds.
oOoOo
Kasei lay in bed that night, thinking about the conversation that she'd heard through the window between her dad and Hailey. She knew Hailey was depressed but she hadn't known to what extent. She knew Hailey blamed herself for their mom's death but it wasn't her fault.
Rolling over she tried to see her mom, all the memories of her pushing against Kasei's brain. She remembered her first Quidditch game and seeing her mom in the stands, cheering next to her dad and Hailey. She focused into her mother.
She remembered the first day Hailey and her had spent apart from each other. They had been five and Hailey had been put into the hospital because she had got a really bad flu. Kasei could still remember hiding in her mother's arms that night, taking in her scent and wondering how the Boogieman would stay away that night. Hailey had always kept him away.
The day Hailey and her went to the Los Angeles Magic School. They were at the barrier that led to the grounds, saying good bye to their parents and Braiden who was to young to come. He was seven. She'd told her mom it would be okay as she sobbed into her father's shoulder. As they'd walked up the path to the school, Hailey had put her arm around Kasei and said she'd always be there for her.
The day her mom died, they'd been going to Hailey's Quidditch game. An old man had a stroke at the wheel and veered into their lane, blindsiding them and sending the car rolling where three more cars hit it. The two girls survived but their mom died at the hospital. Kasei could still hear her mom's screaming, mingled with Hailey's and her own. If she concentrated she could still hear the shriek of impacting metal. It seemed to take the car forever between flips. She could remember the deafening silence in the car. And, when the car came to a blood curdling halt...all was silent. Kasei could remember being upside down, her hair hanging limp above her and the seat belt cutting into her chest and lap. Magic was supposed to be Magic, but it did nothing for her mom, which had once made Kasei believe giving magic up and going back to muggle ways was what she wanted to do.
Hailey. Good old Hailey finally moved in the front seat and Kasei was sure everything was all right. Tears had suddenly started falling down Hailey's face, mingling with her brown hair as she reached across and tried to wake her mother. Kasei felt tears sting in the corners of her eyes as she remembered the scene. Wiping away at the wetness.
She'd ripped off her seat belt and fell onto the roof. Slowly she'd tried to climb over the seat but Hailey had stopped her. Rolling over, Kasei watched the blank wall above the many boxes, crying. The rescuers had come too late. Her mother hadn't woken.
She could remember her dad coming to their room in the hospital and telling them what had happen to their mom. That was the last time they'd seen her.
oOoOo
Hailey stood at the window of her room, looking down at the car. She'd been thinking her mom for a while and the accident but now her thoughts moved to her dad and the conversation they'd had upon arriving.
She wished she had her family's faith that everything happened for a reason and everything would work out. She suddenly felt guilty and wished she hadn't blown up on her sister. If she did have their faith, would she actually believe what she had said down at the car? That she came here to help someone? To make a difference in herself and the other person?
Maybe, She thought, I'll meet a handsome prince on a white hippogriff who'll sweep me off my feet. She smiled to herself, yeah right. Then at the thought of this, she remembered that Kasei had to leave behind a boy in L.A. All love stories came to a dreadful end. Someone left or died and life just sucked again.
She sat down on the floor beside a pile of books and rifled through them, pulling out an old yearbook. On the inside was something her sister had written to her just before their mom died. She read it with a slight smile. "I wish I had you're looks...even though we're twins. I wish I had you're brains...even though I'm smarter. I wish I had you're boyfriend...but I'll take him soon. I wish I had you're faith...because my heart isn't as whole as yours. That bastard...(don't show mom). I wish I had a spell, to turn his ass green. I love you, see you next year! Or tonight. LOL, love you're mirror image, Kasei."
Hailey thought back to the young man Kasei had been so smitten with. Kasei had had her heart broken by the gorgeous red head punk rocker kid. Hailey had always thought he was a bit of an idiot, Kasei could do better. Hailey threw the yearbook over her head, thinking about the message. Kasei had wanted Hailey's faith...because she wanted to believe she could get over Lucas and do better and that they weren't meant to be together.
Under the yearbook was one of Kasei's stupid Teen Witches magazines. Hailey, who couldn't sleep, decided to look through it for kicks. She leaned back against her bed and opened it, flipping through the pages until she came to the middle. There were moving pictures of twenty people. At the top, a banner headline read, 'Top 20 male heart throbs of this year.'
Looking down, she saw a picture of Gilderoy Lockhart and cringed. Kasei had, thank god, never had a thing for him.
"Paul Wilardson, drummer for the Warlock Posse." She read. "Busted thirty-three drums in one concert, all time record. It's said he has live toads inside and that's what makes the unique sounds. That's not why we like him though, his sexy smile and deep eyes remind us of why he can rock our world any day." Hailey looked at the picture, scoffing. He really was not that rockin'.
Scanning down she found a picture of a guy she found attractive. Pierre Thistle, now he was sexy! He actually looked semi-normal compared to some of the others around here. The only thing different about him was the antlers growing out of the side of his head. "Like a buck." Hailey muttered, almost in a giggle"
Her eyes caught on the wizard above him. He had dark hair and his eyes shifted from one side of the picture to the other. There was something so dark and mysterious about him, even though she'd never met him she could see a flash of something in the eyes behind his glasses. "Harry Potter." She read quietly, pausing to again look at his face in deep thought. "The boy who lived."
oOoOo
Harry and Ron were sitting up in Ron's room throwing a stuffed Quaffle back and forth across the entirety of the room, which wasn't that far anyhow.
"you know mate, I don't know what could possibly go wrong this year." Ron said thoughtfully as he paused with the stuffy in his hands, then throwing it once he finished his thought as if he couldn't do two things at once.
"don't say that, anything could happen…" Harry returned as he caught the quaffle and quickly passed it on as if it burned his fingers. Ron paused with it in his hands again, nodding.
"yeah, you're right, I mean Ginny being involved in our second year and all, and now with Sirius…" He cut himself off as he realized what he was saying would not make the mood any lighter, and Harry wasn't in a very light mood as was. He tossed it to Harry. "whatever it is though, I think we can handle it…" he said, with no idea of what exactly WAS to come to challenge Harry and his friends this year.
"mhmm" Harry muttered as they continued their game silently for a few moments.
"yeah, just be thankful you didn't have to spend the summer as a guinea pig for Fred and George." Ron said, at least getting a half grin from Harry in return.
"yeah mate, I do feel sorry for you" Harry returned. "luckily you're not left with any of the side effects to go back to school with." Harry chuckled as he realized his fault. "except the bloody memories." Ron's eyes widened as the stuffed toy hit him in the face. "oh, sorry mate." Harry apologised as Ron picked up the toy and whipped it at Harry with a little more force, yet Harry caught it with a grin, happy to be spending his last couple weeks of summer with his 'family' as he liked to refer to them.
"I don't think those will ever go away, unless we found a very strong memory charm." the two boys chuckled, Ron a little less heartfelt than Harry.
A soft knock upon the door sounded and Ron grunted a slightly unwelcome 'come in' to whoever it was. Ginny popped her head inside and looked at her brother pointedly ignoring Harry's stare.
"mum says to get some sleep, or at least to be a little quieter." Ron and Harry looked at each other, they had not been making much noise at all. "I think she doesn't realize that the twins are home, but you better anyways, she seems in a bit of a distracted way lately, doesn't need any more trouble than she can handle."
As if beckoned by the mention of their devious selves, a giant 'pop' sounded and the twins appeared in between the beds that Harry and Ron were sitting in.
" 'allo boys.. Ummm… and Ginny." Fred said, his twin stepping carefully towards the door, a mischievous grin.
"g'bye Ginny" George said as he closed the door, gently pushing her out with it.
"well boys, have we got some news for you." the twins looked at each other mischievously and then both sat down on the ends of Harry or Ron's bed. "dad slipped up and mentioned something about Harry while talking to a ministry official outside of the shop… a ministry official who just happens to be new 'round 'ere." Fred mentioned as if it was some profound finding.
"last time your dad was acting like this, was when Sirius was after me." Harry mentioned with a furrowed brow.
"but we all know that cant be the case." Ron said thoughtfully, and very slowly as if wondering if he should even say it. Fred and George had no interest in the topic anymore.
"then they mentioned something that made Fred and I reconsider our quitting of wizarding school." they both snickered.
"fresh meat boys… fresh meat."
