This is my first book, please be patient with me.
Disclaimer: I don't own the amazing world of Harry Potter and some of the stuff I write might be unconsciously stolen from good books that I read. Also, please can whoever that reads this be my beta (someone that makes sure the book is actually good) and please type all reviews in the comments. Two more things: unexpected plurals will usually mean the twins and -: Things that are inside this punctuation means they're communicating silently :-
Chapter 1: Miss Figg
Perdita:
Dodge-block-punch-kick-kick-kick-punch-ground-pound!
"Girls!" Came the cry from upstairs and I took advantage of my sister's momentary distraction to use my special ability: a one-hit-kill sniper rifle that takes five minutes to reload.
"Yes!" I shouted victoriously. It's rare that either of us won at any fights against each other: video game or otherwise since we have a sort of psychic connection that allows us to know what the other one is going to do before they even do it. We are identical twins which, according to our parents, means that we have a special connection that we must treasure: according to us, it means that we have a special ability to mess with people's minds.
-: Perdita did you even hear anything that mum just said or did you just use mum as a distraction to kill me? That was so Slytherin of you. :- Puell (full name Puellae) sighed mentally using our connection to communicate and rolled her stormy grey eyes in exasperation. She had felt my guilt when she asked the question.
-: Oi! There's nothing wrong with Slytherin. Stop acting like an innocent little Hufflepuff. We both know that it's Slytherin that gets the prejudice from the other houses these days! :-
-: Smooth. Using my house against me to defend yours. Anyway, we've got to get ready to go to Miss Figg's :- My eyes lit up with excitement and I scrambled upstairs. Arabella Figg was our neighbour, a very young woman that looked as if she hadn't even left school, but she said that her family had disowned her when she was eleven for something that had happened when she was born and since then she has practically been adopted by our family. This intrigued us as this, along with her stories made her sound like a squib from the Harry Potter series. Bella had a wild imagination and told us the most amazing stories, pretending that she was a young Mrs Figg from our favourite book series: Harry Potter! But she never lets us speak about anything to do with the characters in it around her.
We have many things in common but nothing as much as our love for all things Harry Potter. We're mad about it. We have dreams of what it would be like to go to Hogwarts (after all, if we did go to Hogwarts, it would be during the summer that had just started that we're getting our letters) and anyone that told us that magic isn't real instantly regretted it, since we have spent years perfecting the most annoying lecture known to humanity... and our martial arts skills. That's another reason we love going round to Arabella's: in exchange for posters that we draw for her, she gives us defence lessons whenever she's babysitting us which is almost every week-day morning because our parents are always very busy running their shop.
Our parents are the proud owners of a carpenter's store but this means that we are only allowed into the store in the afternoon as, more often than not, there are woodchips flying around in the morning because that's when our parents use the electric wood-cutter.
We're very good at everything we do, (according to our parents) especially art which means that when we do help out in the store, our parents usually set us to work on the orders that require more intricate carving or request small pattens to be carved into them.
Somehow, as soon as one of us can do something, it seems that the other instantly knows how to do it as well even if they have never even heard of it before. This also happens if one of us gets a cut or puts face paint on: the other will feel the pain or look as if they also have face paint on. This was more effective on me so we used that to our advantage: I would always do the more dangerous things or Puell would always do learning courses, but it can also work to a disadvantage since, unless our costumes didn't require face paint, we had to wear the same things when we were little and went to fancy dress events or, even now at Halloween (although that does help when we're trying to swich identity and we usually try to wear the same things anyway.)
At Arabelle's, Puell set to work drawing the start of the poster while I start learning a new move, because it can be dangerous to try moves that you don't know, in the room that Bella has cleared out specially for practising a combination of different martial arts. Once I've learnt it, we switch places.
I instantly recognise the picture Puell has been drawing (a picture of the four marauders at a clearing with a pool and waterfall in the forbidden forest during the full moon) even without the connection that allows us to communicate without making any noise. She has drawn the clearing with a very light hand, leaving me to place the four animals wherever I want.
That's how we usually do it: Puell drawing the setting all mystical and beautiful looking, while I learn the move first, and then I would draw in whatever living creatures or plants that she had planned in the same style while adding a touch of comedy as well. Then I would go over it all in pen and finally we would colour it in together. This time I have to draw a wolf, a dog, a stag and a rat.
I decide to draw the three big animals drinking in the pool while Wormtail desperately clings to Prongs' antlers trying not to fall in. I managed to time my drawing just right so that, by the time Puell had finished learning the move, we are ready to colour it in with the chalk pastels that we always bring round. Arabella went to have a shower while we coloured in the poster and then put it in her laminating machine.
Arabella came into the room balancing three cups of milk and a plate of 'magical' sweets although we have never seen them do anything particularly magical unless you count tasting way nicer than any other sweets we've had before. She sat down and shut her eyes remembering a story to tell us. When she opened again, it was to see us sharing a beanbag between us and looking up at us with large, expectant eyes. She chuckled.
"What story is it today, Bella?" I asked.
"Today is the story of Merlin and the injustices of humanity. Long, long ago when the great wizard Merlin was at the height of his powers, muggles and sorcerers lived in harmony and kingdoms were but a few years old, some very brave were-wolves approached Merlin and asked him to help them because muggles and sorcerers alike were discriminating against were-wolves. Merlin told them that if were-wolves everywhere did a thousand good deeds during a year and a day from then, then they must meet him at this very spot and he would do everything in his power to stop the dirty prejudice of humanity. The news about Merlin's promise spread quickly and all over Britain, anywhere you looked, you could see were-wolves helping people but, no matter what happened, people carried around knives made of silver and used them to kill any were-wolves they came across (were-wolves were instantly recognisable by their golden eyes). A year and a day had gone by and the last of the brave were-wolves went to the spot that they had first approached Merlin and met him there. Over ten thousand good deeds had been performed but Merlin had been watching everywhere and had seen unspeakable acts committed by his kind after their lives had been saved so, as a punishment, he decided to suck all the magic from the world but, all the world's magic is too much for one person to bear. Not even Merlin could hold it all in so his human form exploded into a trillion pieces and his soul left the earth, taking all the magic with it."
Bella looked down and saw our faces staring up at her, Puell's in pity and sorrow mouthing "Those poor were-wolves." and mine in horror and disgust mouthing "Those cruel and twisted wizards."
"Come on: your parents should be taking a lunchbreak by now so you can go and work in the store soon." But neither of us moved.
"Why would people do that if the were-wolves were helping them?" I was the first to find my voice and it came out as a horrified whisper.
"Because they were scared." Bella said simply.
"But that's no excuse. Those people deserved more than just having their magic taken away. They deserved to be treated exactly how they treated the were-wolves!" This time it was mild, always-good-tempered Puell that spoke in a unique outburst, her voice rising in anger and she filled the word 'people' with so much disgust than I had ever thought I would hear coming out of my older sister's mouth as if she were ashamed to be able to associate herself with humanity even though it was just a story.
At our house/shop all five of us shared a delicious prawn salad and then Bella left to go to her afternoon job at the corner shop that she worked at every afternoon. About five minutes after she had left, we heard the doorbell ring. Puell and I went into the store to tell whoever that was there, that the store was shut and we saw a tall woman with a tight bun and an old-fashioned dress walked into the store.
