The carriage ride was as jolting as ever, reminding them why Muggles had invented cars as they rattled in their seats. But the ride seemed to fly by and before they knew it they were getting out of the carriage and standing in front of the Hogwarts entrance. Small clusters of students were hanging nervously around, some chatting softly between themselves.
George noticed they all talked with American accents, a sound so strange at Hogwarts he almost shook his head in wonder. Izzy stopped moving forward and scanned the crowd anxiously, her hands wringing together. George knew the moment she had found her friend. Her whole body stilled and then strung itself tighter than a watch spring (his dad would be proud of him for that one) as an enormous grin took over her face.
His looked in the direction she was staring towards and noticed a small girl standing apart from the crowd, her back to them as she surveyed the lake, the lights from the torches flickering off her extremely long blonde dreadlocks.
It seemed Izzy could not contain herself any longer and she blurted out a loud cry.
"Shawn!"
The girl looking at the lake spun around immediately.
"Belle!" she cried at once and then she was off, running as though her life depended on it. As a whoosh of air went past him George realized that Izzy had taken off as well and they met each other in the middle with an audible thud.
Their arms wrapped instantly around each other and Izzy lifted Shawn up into a spinning hug. Shawn laughed joyously as she was set on her feet. For a few moments they just stared at each other grinning like fools, then Izzy reached out and twirled her finger around one of the two undreaded streaks that hung around her face.
"Hey princess." she murmured so softly he could barely hear her, a soft smile on her face. Shawn grinned up at her- she was at least 5 inches shorter than Izzy, the top of her head just clearing her shoulders.
"Hey cupcake." she responded just as softly. Izzy let out a short laugh and slowly dropped her hand away. Fred and George glanced at each other. She'd said they were best friends, but if they didn't know any better they'd swear this was a much more intimate moment. Their contemplation was interrupted when Izzy spoke again, this time in a normal voice.
"There's some people I'd like you to meet. You'll love them." she said.
"Really? You met new people and you actually like them? This I have to see" Shawn responded, her eyebrow arched. With an arm slung over Shawn's shoulder, Izzy steered her towards the twins.
She stopped right in front of them and they got their first really good look at this Shawn person they'd heard so much about on the train. Her slight figure and small, delicate face with its happy grin gave her look of a pixie. Her hair only added to the wildness, thick dreadlocks of blonde falling in long ropes to her hips, except for the two regular pieces up front that waved softly in the breeze coming off the lake. Her hazel eyes were warm as they looked up at them but Fred noticed a distinct glint of steel in there as well.
He had a feeling that Shawn was just as protective of Izzy as Izzy was of her.
"Shawn, this is Fred and George Weasley. George, Fred, this is Shawn" Izzy announced, pointing at each twin respectively.
Once upon a time this introduction would hardly have counted for anything as the boys could've switched places on them at any time, but these days there were noticeable differences between them.
George's bright red hair was longer, flopping over his eyes in the wind, and it hung shaggily to just past his missing ear. Fred had decided to keep his hair short, leaving the scar running through his left eyebrow-the only evidence of his near death- starkly visible.
Shawn's eyes lit up just as Izzy's had when they first introduced themselves.
"The Weasley twins!" she exclaimed in surprise with an accent that matched Izzy's. "Belle, I am impressed!" and she did indeed shoot her an impressed look. She thrust her hand towards George and shook it with two firm pumps when he reciprocated.
"Shawn Vulpis, very pleased to meet you, really" she said earnestly, sticking her hand out for Fred. When Fred took her hand and kissed her knuckles as he had to Izzy,
"The pleasure is ours." he said again.
Shawn's eyes shot up to his, two tiny spots of pink appearing high on her cheeks as Fred grinned charmingly at her. She giggled a little nervously and dropped his hand, though it seemed a bit reluctant.
Izzy and George were looking back and forth between them, much as Fred had been with them earlier. But the moment seemed to pass when Shawn shot a question at Izzy.
"Ready for the Sorting?"
She asked this with a knowing smirk on her face that suggested she was fully aware of how nervous the taller girl was about the whole thing. Sure enough Izzy paled a little and gave her a dirty glare.
"No." she said forcefully. "But it must be done and I'll be damned if I survived a war just to be intimidated by some old hat."
Her declaration was met with snorts of laughter all around. With a sigh she released her hold on Shawn and addressed the twins.
" You two had better get inside, I think the feast is about to start."
When they looked around, sure enough the crowd had thinned and now there were only about a dozen people standing around, all looking rather nervous as they waited for Professor Flitwick (now Deputy Headmaster to Headmistress McGonagall) to collect them for the Sorting.
The twins shot the girls identical grins at their anxious expressions.
"Right you are, Izzy" George said, putting emphasize on the nickname. She twisted her lips in amusement.
"Save us a spot at the table?" she asked him softly, her lovely blue-gray eyes locking with his deep aqua ones. "Just in case, you know."
"'Course" he replied, just as softly. He couldn't seem to look away from her, she was staring at him so intently.
"Besides," interjected Fred loudly, throwing an arm around his twin and breaking the spell. "Can't chance you sitting next to and getting cozy with some other dashing English blokes." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
The girls burst laughter that was absolutely identical. Fred and George grinned- they seemed to very nearly be female, American versions of themselves and they couldn't help but laugh as they were finally given a small idea of what people experienced in their own presences.
"Meet you in there then." said Shawn. She seemed to be talking to Fred in particular, but it was difficult to tell.
"Good luck" the twins chorused together, and turned to head into the school. At the threshold, George looked back to see them both watching them with the same tilt to their heads, the one he had seen when Izzy first popped unexpectedly into their compartment and their lives. He shot Izzy a wink, at which she blushed furiously.
Before he had fully turned, he faintly heard Shawn asking " You let him call you Izzy?" with such incredulousness he got the impression that most people got hexed for using that particular nickname. He didn't catch Izzy's reply, but smirked to himself all the same. So he was the only one she allowed to call her that, huh? And looking rather elated, he followed Fred to the Great Hall and the Gryffindor table.