Out of the Shadow

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Harry and I stepped downstairs on the morning of our shared birthday to a chorus of the Happy Birthday song. We both stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for our Mum, Dad, Sirius, and Lupin to finish embarrassing us. I was pretty sure they have been doing this to us since we were born, but neither Harry nor I were mean enough to stop them.

For most of our lives our family was constantly looking over our shoulders. The Dark Lord had been on the hunt for Harry. When we were only two, my mother had taken me with her to visit an old friend of hers, so Harry staid home with our dad. However, that night Voldemort showed up and attempted to kill Harry. No one was able to figure out why he only knocked our father unconscious instead of killing him, and the even bigger mystery of that was how Harry survived.

What ever happened that night, Voldemort fled, and our lives returned to normal. Mum rushed over and hugged us both tightly, and I thought I caught of glimpse of tears building in her eyes. "We're only eleven." I said to her and she gave me a warm smile. "Oh, I know sweetheart, but it's a big deal. You'll start Hogwarts this year." Dad walked over and clapped Harry on the back. "Future Gryffindors." I looked up at my mum in horror.

"Are you not going to love us if we aren't in Gryffindor?"

Mum shot Dad a glare as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "Absolutely not sweetie. You're Dad is just reliving his glory days." Behind us I heard Sirius laugh. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had been my father's best friends since the day they stepped onto the train for Hogwarts. Sirius was now not only my fathers' best friend, but Harry's Godfather, and Lupin was mine.

I always had an amazing relationship with Lupin. He was a protector, and a teacher, always allowing me to explore my curiosity. We were rushed into the kitchen for a large breakfast and we all sat around the table to eat. I sat there listening to the small discussions around the table. Dad, Harry and Sirius talked about Quidditch, while mum talked to Lupin in hushed tones. I loved my family, and I loved my brother, and, in this moment, I couldn't believe that anything would ruin what we had right here.

Before too long it was the big day; we were off to Hogwarts! Harry and I rushed along in between passerby's rushing to the platform. "Harry! Holly! Wait." We heard Mum calling out to us from a few yards behind. To avoid getting in too much trouble we stopped and waited for them. I always smiled when I saw my parents together, holding hands. I always hoped I was lucky enough to find someone who made me as happy, otherwise I'd be stuck with Harry forever.

As we reached platforms 9 and 10 we noticed a heard of red-heads filing though the barrier. "Good morning, Molly!" my mother said happily as we approached. The older woman turned and gave us all a warm smile. "Lilly, James. Lovely to see you again." She looked down at us and smiled. "You must be the twins! Ready for your first year?" She asked us; and Harry and I nodded in unison. "It's Ron's as well." She said gesturing to a lanky red-haired boy. Before long we rushed on to the platform and Dad helped us get our trunks tucked away.

I stood on the platform beside my mother bouncing on the balls of my feet. The train before me was amazing, and I literally couldn't wait to get on it finally. With Harry beside me our father knelt to our level. "All jokes aside, kiddos. We are so proud of you both. Behave yourselves, have fun and learn as much as you can. Hogwarts is an amazing experience."

"Daddy?" I asked starting to feel a little nervous again. He looked at me and smiled. "You sure you won't get mad if I'm not in Gryffindor?" I asked again. My dad wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. "Any house will be lucky to have you. You just do what you do best, and you'll be amazing. I won't love you any less. Do you understand?" I smiled at him and nodded. With one more quick round of goodbyes Harry and I took off for the train.

We found an empty compartment and settled in. After a moment there was a small knock on the window, and we looked up to see the red-haired boy from earlier. Ron. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." He asked shyly. Harry and I nodded, and I moved over to sit next to Harry. I tucked my legs under me and rested my head on my hand.

"So, you guys are twins?" He asked. I noticed Harry nod out of the corner of my eye. "I have twin brothers, but they look exactly alike." Ron added. This wasn't the first time someone was surprised that Harry and I were twins; we were not identical. Harry had our father's black messy hair, and our mother's green eyes, and I had my mothers dark red hair and our father's hazel eyes.

"My names Ron Weasley by the way."

"Harry Potter."

Ron gasped and I instantly rolled my eyes. "Seriously? Do you have the scar?" He asked as Harry showed it to him. "Wicked!" Ron added. "This is Holly." Harry added when I didn't introduce myself. I just gave Ron a nod.

The rest of the ride we chatted with Ron and bought out as many treats as we could. Just then a girl stepped into the doorway of our cart. "Have any of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one." The three of us shook our heads. "Oh! Are you doing magic?" She asked Ron who was threating his pet Rat with his wand out. Ron cleared his throat and tried the spell one of his brothers gave him. It didn't work.

We reached the station and heard a loud booming voice calling for all first years. Together Harry, Ron and I followed the rest of the scared kids into little row boats. We sat down with Hermione and the scared boy named Neville, who had yet to find his pet toad. On the short ride across the lake; Hermione and I traded information we had learned from books, and my parents, on the school.

The inside of the school was even more amazing then my parents had mentioned. I couldn't stop looking around at everything. We all stopped on the stairs leading up to the great hall. Standing at the top of the stairs was an older witch in green robes and a large pointy hat. Harry and I exchanged a look. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Soon you will be stepping though these doors and sorted into your houses." I tuned out the rest of what she said as a small croaking noise pulled my attention to the floor.

"TREVOR!"

A small dark-haired boy jumped and reached for the slimy toad that was now sitting in front of the teacher. She glared down at him and he apologized. We stepped into the great hall and were met with voices of the older students. I felt my heart race as we approached the front of the room. There was a stool and an old hat perched on top. Harry and I knew how this process worked, but it didn't make it any less nerve-wracking.

I listened as a handful of others were called before us. Ron was sorted into Gryffindor, same as Hermione and Neville. A boy named Draco Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin. He was a greasy looking kid, who sneered at Harry as he passed us. "What's his problem?" I asked Harry who shrugged. "Harry Potter!" the woman called him next. Shaking slightly Harry approached the stool.

I tried to tune out the random gasps and whispers that flowed from the older students. Harry was known as the boy who lived, everyone knew who he was. After a while the hat shouted. "GRYIFFINDOR!" and Harry rushed over to the loud cheers. "Holly Potter." The room died down again as I approached the hat. The woman placed it on my head and I instantly heard it whispering in my ear.

"Another Potter! I see a long line of Gryffindor's in your family; but you don't want to be like them. Do you? No, you want to find your own way. I can see the wit flowing through your mind. RAVENCLAW!" The hat cried out and I froze in my spot looking for Harry, his green eyes working as my anchor. He looked surprised, but I turned and smiled at the rest of the Ravenclaw table was cheering for me. Maybe the hat was right, and I was ready to become my own Potter.

After the feast and announcements from the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, we headed off towards the common room. I fell in step with a shy looking girl with blonde hair, and glasses. "Are you excited to be in Ravenclaw?" She asked me nervously pushing her glasses up on her nose. I nodded. "Very much. My parents were Gryffindors, and so is my brother. It'll be nice to take my own path." The girl smiled and nodded.

"I get that! My parents were both Hufflepuffs. My name is Rhea Randall, by the way."

"Holly Potter."

We walked together chatting away so intently that I didn't even think twice about my brother, sitting in a tower in another part of the school from me. Rhea told me all about the things that excited her the most. "Potions? Wow." I thought when she told me that was going to be her favorite subject. "What about you?" I thought about it. "I don't know. Charms maybe? Or Transfiguration. I really want to do well enough that I can take Animagus classes!"

The door to the Ravenclaw tower required the answer to a riddle to get in. Once inside I couldn't hide my amazement at its beauty. The room was wide and circular and draped in blue and bronze. The ceiling was painted like stars that reflected in the dark blue carpet. There was a large statue of Rowena Ravenclaw near the door that lead to the bedrooms, and the walls were lined with tables, chairs and bookcases. Rhea and I rushed up to the bedrooms and were happy to find we were roommates.

Rhea and I settled in and were soon accompanied by three other girls. The first one introduced herself as Helen Monroe. "I was named after my ancestor, Helena Ravenclaw." I looked over at Rhea who was hiding a smile behind her hand. The other two were much nicer. Vivian was a small girl who looked as nerdy as Rhea did, with glasses as thick as her hair. Ashley was a tall girl, with dark hair cut short. She was quiet, but nice enough if you engaged with her.

We spent the rest of the night listening to Helen talk about everything she already knows, and basically how important she was. The next morning on the way to breakfast I moaned to Rhea. "I didn't think she'd ever stop talking about herself." Rhea nodded. "I wanted to get along with everyone, but I think she is going to be tricky."

I nodded as we sat down. The food had appeared, and we were happy to dig in right away. Our head of house, Professor Flitwick came around and passed out our schedules. Together Rhea and a put our heads together and looked over everything. We had transfiguration first with the Gryffindors. I hadn't thought much about Harry since we got split up, and I made a mental note to tell my parents about the sorting. Would they be upset that Harry and I were separated?

Rhea and I walked down to the transfiguration classroom and grabbed two seats together. There was a single grey cat sitting on the desk, but no professor, so we sat down and put out heads together again whispering to each other. Just then the classroom door burst open and Harry and Ron rushed in. I raised an eyebrow at my brother, but he didn't catch it. "Could you imagine the look on McGonagall's face if we were late?"

Just as the words left Ron's mouth the cat jumped off the desk and transformed into the professor in question. Rhea gasped and I had to push down a laugh. Not exactly sure if I wanted to laugh at Rhea's shock or the look on Ron and Harry's faces. After a moment the classroom calmed down and class began. I had loved transfiguration as much as I thought I was going too, and I was so excited that I didn't even mind that we were heading to Potions next.

Once we reached the dungeons though, my happy mood had left me. I don't know what made me forget that Professor Snape was the potions teacher. Our parents told us a little about him. Mum didn't mind him, until he joined the Dark Lord. She had said they were friends, but then again, my mum didn't have a bad word against anyone. Dad however, bullied Snape at school. He didn't lie to us about that, and I had a feeling Dad told us just incase Snape took it out of us.

Rhea and I sat as far away from the front of the room as possible, dispute Rhea's hesitation. I knew potions was her subject, but I needed to gauge Snape before throwing myself in his line of sight. I had explained to her my hesitation, and thankfully she respected my choice. "I promise, if he doesn't single me out then next time we can sit where you want." The door closed behind us and I found myself sitting up a little straighter as a black cloak whipped past us.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. When I opened my eyes, I found two cold, black eyes staring back at me from the front of the room. I sat frozen in my seat, not allowing my emotions to show on my face. I watched the black eyes softened before turning cold again and sweeping across the rest of the room. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was going to have to remember to thank the Gods that I inherited my mothers looks.

As we were finishing eating up dinner that night, I excused myself from Rhea and rushed over to Harry's table. "How did potions go?" I asked him as I sat myself down to face him. Harry looked at me. "Did it go that badly?" I asked grimacing a little. "He instantly called me out, called me a celebrity." I snorted at that and Harry's face grew stern. I shrugged it off. "What did he to you?" Harry asked me. "Nothing." Harry looked shocked.

"Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing. I mean he looked at me for a while, probably longer then he should have, but never said a word to me."

"Aren't you lucky."

I gave Harry a small shrug. Just then two more guys joined our end of the table and looked at Harry and I expectantly. "Fred and George. Ron's brothers." Harry started. "This is Holly. My twin." The boys were smiling, and I felt myself blush. "Isn't it weird you look nothing alike." One said. "And got sorted into different houses." I instantly felt anger bubble in my gut, as if they just accused us of not being proper twins. I crossed my arms. "Oh, she is mad now, George." Fred said.

I huffed and without another word I stormed off towards the Ravenclaw tower. I was so wrapped up in my own personal rain cloud to notice Peeves, the poltergeist, following me until something wacked me in the back of the head. "Ow!" I said turning around but seeing no one. I growled to myself until I turned around again and noticed Peeves hovering not to far away from me, laughing.

I did my best to ignore him, but apparently grumpy pre-teen girls were his target tonight, because I was making him very happy to say the least. He knew he was winding me up. When I finally felt I could bare him no longer I opened my mouth to scream at him when a tall, lanky body stepped in between us. "Come on Peeves, we know you can do better than this. I heard Flitch is actually relaxing in his office." George's teasing voice rang out above me as I gazed up at his red hair. Why was he doing this? I kept asking myself.

Thankfully that was enough to encourage Peeves to leave me alone. Once he was gone George turned to face me with a wicked smile on his face. I instantly crossed my arms again. "I had it under control." I said simply. George laughed and I felt heat rise into my cheeks. "I'm sure you did. But we wanted to talk to you." Fred appeared at his side. "We were hoping to get a Potter on our side."

"Your side? For what?"

"Hogwarts is too ridged, don't you think?"

I raised an eyebrow at the twins. I didn't think anyone in the Weasley family was evil. I know I wasn't, but I didn't really know the Weasley's. Our parents were friends, but we had never hung out with any of them. "What do you mean?" I asked unable to hide my curiosity. Fred and George gave me wicked smiles. "We just want to have fun." I could feel a smile tugging at my lips, and I had to take a mental step backwards. I know I had control of this situation, they literally hunted me down.

"You'll have to give me time. I need to see what you two are made of before I decide."

I side stepped the twins and continued walking towards the dormitory. Once inside I went straight upstairs to find Rhea laying on her bed doing her homework. "What happen to you?" She asked looking at me. "Nothing. I mean nothing serious. I think the Weasley twins just asked if I wanted to help them pull pranks on the school." I said sitting on the edge of her bed. Rhea sat up looking excited. "That is so cool! They are legendary here." I raised an eyebrow at her. "Seriously? How do you know?"

Rhea shrugged before pushing her glasses back up her nose again. "I heard the captain of the quidditch team complaining about them. Apparently, they are incredible beaters as well. Either way, I pushed him for some more information on them and they are just legendary! What did you say?" She asked excitedly. I shrugged. "I said I needed to see their work before I decided. I don't think I've ever pulled off something so…legendary before. It makes me nervous, but I know my dad was a trickster in his time here too."

Rhea leaned back on her headboard. "I wonder why they asked you and not Harry." She said pulling my next thoughts right out of my head. "I'm sure they did, everyone goes to Harry first." I said trying to bite back my annoyance. I sighed heavily and picked myself off the bed. "I'll see if they ever approach me about it again." I threw myself on my bed and joined Rhea in finishing up some homework.