Chapter 4. Bonding time
The trio sat on the floor of the twins' flat, an empty bottle of firewhiskey laid sideways, the night was proving to be a unseasonably hot, so the twins were now just in their pants and undershirts, and Anna had discarded her tunic leaving her in a her tights and a long black tank top.
"No way! You became at animagi at TWELVE?!" George was wide eyed.
"Sure did, end of my first year." She took another sip. "My brothers basically forced me to do it. They were concerned for my safety because of the whole Seer thing."
"Why?" Fred asked dumbfounded.
Anna looked a little sullen as she answered "Because historically this power is more a curse than a gift. They were the ones that told me not to tell anyone about either thing."
"Did we get to meet them?" George asked.
"I don't think so, they were out by the time you guys got in." She took a sip before she mumbled. "…and they weren't Gryffindor's."
"What house were they in?" Fred asked, curious.
"Francis was a Slytherin and August was a Hufflepuff." She said with a little mortification.
"Damn, I don't know which one is more embarrassing." Fred snickered.
The three of them laughed.
"It gets better, Dad was also Slytherin and Mum a Hufflepuff." Anna said between giggles.
"Yikes!" Fred laughed.
"Maybe you were adopted" George said casually.
"I wish…Alas I'm the spitting image of my mum with my dad's hair and eye colour. But neither's personality." Anna said dramatically.
"Any of them a Seer?" George asked, curious.
"Seems to happen to women on my dad's side, most ended up badly. So, I never told them." She said sullenly, taking another sip.
"Your folks don't know you're a Seer?!" Fred asked, shocked.
"No, only my brothers. Only eight people in the world know, including you guys, and you swore not to tell anyone else." She gave them a stern look as she said it.
"We haven't." George quickly stated.
"Good." She said, taking another sip.
"But not even your parents?" Fred insisted.
"Mum passed away when I was little and Dad…" She took a sip. "…Dad's a Death eater, he tried to recruit my brother. Francis got to find out You Know Who likes using Seers, even torturing them to get them to have visions, even though it doesn't work like that. He never got the mark, that's why he and Auggie were so keen to keep me safe. Francis even pulled Auggie out of school the day of his 17th birthday and they fled to America. He thought Auggie was too much of a pushover to resist dad once he graduated."
"Why, didn't he take you with them?" George asked.
"I still had the trace on me. Dad would've tracked us down." Anna said morosely.
The two twins sipped their glass looking somewhat concerned.
"Don't worry about me boys, most of the times my visions keep me out of trouble, and I can always fly away if the going gets tough…Plus, I got the heck out of my dad's house the moment I turned of age." She said with a proud smile.
"Have you ever thought of joining us in the Order of the Phoenix?" Asked Fred hopeful.
"We could really use all your skills there." George added.
Anna's face fell again. "I can't."
"Sure you can, we can vouch for you." Fred said optimistically.
"I literally can't, my dad forced my brothers and me into blood packs when we were children, we can never attack people with dark marks directly." Anna said sullenly.
"No way!" The twins said in unison.
"I'm useless in battle. Right now, being a healer is the best I can do to help, but I can promise you I will always do what I can to help the cause." She took another sip. "Guess not all families can be Gryffindor legacies like you guys huh?" She said clearly trying to change the subject and lighten the mood.
The twins were experts at deflecting with humour and knew exactly how to do it.
"We think it's rigged." Said Fred nonchalantly.
"What is?" She asked, genuinely confused.
"The whole house selection thing" George explained.
"Why?" Ana asked, suspecting a punchline.
"Ain't no way Percy was a Gryffindor." Fred said, smirking.
"That's right Percy is your brother! I always forget he's a Weasley."
"So does he." George deadpanned.
"The git." Fred added.
The three of them laughed again. Anna felt grateful they got the drift to change the conversation and relaxed once more.
"He's not so bad…You know, I loved messing with him when I snuck into your dorms after hours. I think I made him cry once." Anna said reminiscing.
"And what, do tell where you sneaking in after hours to the Gryffindor boys' dormitory for?" Asked George cheekily.
"Please, tell us you weren't shagging Ronald." Fred said horrified.
"What?! Of course not! Besides, Percy had already left, by the time I met Ron." She said teasingly to Fred's horror.
"I'm kidding! I was shagging the Mahoutokoro exchange student 2 years ago." She said with a blush and sipped her glass.
Fred spitted out his drink. "Sato!? You shagged Sato?!" He almost screamed.
"The chaser for the Japanese National Quidditch team?" George asked, baffled.
"He wasn't on the team yet." Anna said looking down at her drink.
"The blue haired guy they put in Gryffindor that year?" Fred asked just seemingly making sure he had the right guy.
"He was right next to our room!" George suddenly realized.
"You were shagging next to us and we didn't notice you?" Fred asked, appalled.
"Why would you notice a barn owl?" Anna asked rhetorically.
"What on earth did you see in him? George asked, genuinely baffled.
"He wasn't even famous yet." Fred spat out.
"He was very discreet." Anna said cheekily.
"That's because he didn't speak a lick of English!" Fred said angrily.
"Oh, believe me, by the end of the year he was fluent." Anna said defensively.
"What? You planning to finish healer training and go to Japan to find him?" Fred asked again bitterly.
"No, we're just friends." Anna said sweetly with a smile.
"That shag." George murmured, sipping into his drink.
"He was in a new school, a new country, he didn't know the language well, we became great friends, and eventually a little more. But we both knew it was just while he was here, when the year was over, we said our goodbyes and we're still good friends, nothing else. His parents are old school, they already chose a wife for him." Anna said looking out the darkened skyline lost in thought.
Fred downed his entire glass in a huge gulp bitterly before abruptly waving his wand and summoning nonverbally two vials of the experimental amortentia, one flying to his hand while the other flying to his twins'. George's eyes went wide, instantly understanding his brother's state of mind and fearing his imminent embarrassment.
"Well I'm itching to test this out...Bottoms up." Fred loudly announced and swigged down the entirety of the vial. George reacted a fraction of a second later downing his own vial in camaraderie.
Anna looked back at the boy's taking a split second to understand what was going on.
"No wait! I still don't have the antidote for that one." Anna uselessly said watching their Adams' apples bob down with the contents of the vial.
"Oh boy." She swallowed heavily; she was way too drunk for this.
Author's note: Please let me know if you are enjoying the story so far... I have lot's of ideas for this story and depending on it's response I can make it longer or shorter. Please review.