"Excuse me, Professor?" Vieara tugged softly at Dumbledore's robes. He turned.
"Yes? Miss Black is it?"
"No actually, it's not. I want to correct it. You seem to have made a mistake when it comes to Sophia's and my names. See, our last name is Ivanova."
His eyes clouded for a second. When he spoke, it was in a very soft voice. "Can you two please come into my office and I'll try to explain everything?"
Vieara shrugged, then nodded and pulled Sophia's elbow. They followed Dumbledore to a gargoyle.
"Fizzing Whizbee." He said. The statue jumped aside, revealing a corridor. They followed the professor into his office and sat down in the two chairs which faced his desk.
"Did your mother ever tell you who your father is?"
They shook their heads solemnly.
"His name is Sirius Black." He waited for some sort of reaction. But the girls sat still as statues, waiting to hear more.
"They went to Hogwarts together, your parents. Your mother transferred here in her fourth year from Rosalind. They were the biggest troublemakers I'd seen! Inseparable. Except when they fought. Thankfully, it wasn't often, but when they did, she ended up with green hair and cat ears, he with a pig snout and tail."
The twins laughed. Why didn't I think of a pig snout? Vieara thought. It would go well with Adrianne's blue eyes.
"Anyway, your mother got pregnant with you just at the end of school. Your parents' best friends, Lily and James Potter were expecting a baby too. He was born in July and named Harry Potter."
The girls gasped.
"Voldemort was after him. There was a prophecy that predicted his downfall, and he thought it pertained to either Harry or you two. So he tried to kill the three of you before you could be a threat to him. He began with Harry. You two weren't born yet when Voldemort attacked the Potters and met his downfall in Harry. After the Potters found out that Voldemort was after them, they wanted to have the Fidelius Charm performed. It would hide them completely. The secret of their whereabouts would be placed inside of one person. Unless that person told Voldemort where they were, he could stare at them without actually seeing them. Since your father was their best friend, naturally…"
Vieara began to nod slowly. "He was that person for them."
"Secret Keeper. The person is called a Secret Keeper. Yes. He was. And they were attacked less than a week after the spell was finished."
"He told." Sophia said numbly.
"Yes, and the next day, another of the Potters' friends tracked him down and tried to take his revenge on your father." Dumblebore grew quieter and more solemn. "Sirius Black killed him and thirteen others. He has been in prison, in Azkaban, since. I'm sure your mother only tried to protect you. But I believe that you have a right to know who your father is. But who he was does not change who you are."
"It said I was a smaller copy of him."
"Excuse me?"
"The hat. The Sorting Hat." Vieara stared at him without seeing.
"But he wasn't only what he became in those last few months. He was smart too. He had a sense of humor, he had many many charming, alluring qualities."
"Sure. And he was a great liar, apparently."
"So my name is Sophia Black?"
"You names are Sophia Artemisa Pandora Black and Vieara Audacia Marauda Black."
"So, we have to change our names?" Sophia asked.
"Well, you don't have to. You could if you wanted to."
"No thanks." Vieara said, eyes still wide with disbelief.
Dumbledore nodded. "But I have something from your father. For you two."
They looked at him curiously. He went to a large cabinet and pulled out a package. It was addressed: To my daughters, from Sirius Black.
Sophia took it, thanked Dumbledore and herded her sister out of the office. They silently went up to their dormitory and into their room. They still had twenty minutes of breakfast left before their first class of the day.
"You open it." Vieara muttered.
Sophia untied the string and unwrapped the package. It contained three books and a notebook. She gazed at the covers. A Nursery of Fairy Tales, The Pantheon: An Idiot's Guide to Mythology, Troublemakers Throughout the Ages, and a plain old black notebook with a few pages torn out. She opened the notebook first, expecting a journal or some sort of diary. Instead, writing appeared on the first page.
The Infamous Marauder Sirius Black (aka Padfoot)
Presents
Double Trouble:
Sophia flipped the page.
Table of Contents
Part I: My Life
Chapter 1 Before Hogwarts
Chapter 2 First Year
Chapter 3 Second Year
Chapter 4 Third year: Remus' Secret
Chapter 5 Fourth Year: your Mommy!
Chapter 6 Fifth Year: Meet The Blacks (My Wonderful Family)
Chapter 7 Sixth Year: Record Number of Double Detentions is Broken
Chapter 8 Seventh Year: You! (Are you old enough for this?)
Chapter 9 Diagon Alley
Chapter 10
Part II: The Guide
Chapter 1 Tools of the Trade
Chapter 2 Sneaking Out
Chapter 3 Mischief Aiding Spells and Charms
Chapter 4 Hogwarts and its Grounds
Chapter 5 Good Cover Ups and Excuses
Sophia turned the page again. By now, Vieara was fascinated and looked over her shoulder. But the page was blank. Come to think of it, it didn't say any page numbers in the table of contents. Vieara looked puzzled. She stared at the notebook.
Sophia gasped suddenly. "Oh my, it's two minutes until Potions!" They hurried off and followed the rest of the Gryffindors to the dungeons. They sat down next to each other while the teacher ignored the class completely. When the hand of the clock turned to nine, he stood.
"This is Potions, one of the most practical and hardest areas of magic. With the right potions, you can change your appearance, kill, poison, or heal. There will be no fooling around in this class! Understand? I warned you!"
The class nodded silently, a bit frightened.
"Aster, Calliope?"
The pigtailed girl raised her hand slowly. Her murky brownish green eyes looked wide with fear.
"Black, Sophia?" His eyes glittered with hatred.
She raised her hand.
"Black, Vieara?" His face showed pure loathing. "My, my! Two of you."
That Potions class was as bad as bad could get. Snape picked on them when they didn't know the answers, and made fun of them when they made a mistake. On the other hand, he treated the Slytherins, who they were taking classes with, quite differently. He especially seemed to favor Adrianne Malfoy. But what seemed to anger him more than Vieara's sharp glares and mumbled curses, was Sophia quietly ignoring of his insults. When she was the only one who produced a decent potion, he looked as if he might combust of suppressed rage.