(A/N: Hi! No, I did not drop off of the face of the planet; school and work are just horribly time consuming. Thank you to the people who reviewed. Anyhoo, I still somehow don't own Harry Potter. Enjoy this chapter!)

Chapter 9: Yes, I'm your sister….Now, what's your name?

"….GRYFFINDOR!"

My head was spinning. Quickly, and none too gracefully, I put the hat back on the stool and walked over to sit next to Harry and Hermione who were smiling. Next to them were some familiar red-heads, the oldest of whom was gaping at me. More on that later.

Ron was walking up to the hat at the moment. He placed the hat on his head and after a short moment, it cried, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Our table cheered and clapped once more as Ron walked over while some Zabini fellow got sorted into Slytherin. When Ron got to the table, is when all heck broke loose.

"But-what-how- What the bloody hell is going on here?" blustered a completely confused Percy who was looking between Ron and I. The twins looked mystified at Percy's language which made me giggle as I seem to do at the worst possible times. Percy glared, still wanting an explanation.

"It's a long sad story, but in a nutshell: While our mom was pregnant with Ron and I she was hit by a stray curse. That curse transported me to the doorstep of a non-magical American family and sent mom into labor with Ron. Professor McGonagall said that mom never told any of you because she was too heartbroken." I said all of this in a ripping-off- a-bandaid sort of way in one breath.

Percy's jaw hit the table. The elder twins snickered and muttered, "So worth it…" Percy's head snapped towards them.

"What do you mean by 'so worth it?'" he asked suspiciously, eying the elder twins.

"We met Kayla earlier on the train." they smirked in perfect synchronization. (I wondered if Ron and I would start doing that at some point.)

"And you didn't bother to tell me this because….?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

(Insert Percy's facepalm) "Shouldn't have asked." He grumbled. "Anyway, this isn't something you two should be joking about."

"Well pardon us for needing some time to get used to the idea ourselves." Scoffed Fred.

"Also, why don't we grab some food before Ron eats it all." Suggested George.

Food had just appeared all across the hall. Harry's and my jaws dropped. I quickly grabbed some fries, mashed potatoes, steak, and chicken legs. The others stared at me.

"What? I'm hungry!" I said before hastily scooping mashed potatoes into my mouth in a not-too-ladylike fashion.

"She's definitely Ron's twin." Snorted Percy of all people. (What? He just seems so…goody goody)

"Oi whassat supozzt oomean?" exclaimed Ron through a huge mouthful of chicken.

Hermione and I just looked at him. Then I went back to my frenzied scarfing down of food while others talked. After a while, people started talking about their families. This Seamus boy's mom didn't tell his dad that she was a witch until after they were married. I frowned at that, it seems that he was pretty lucky his dad took it well. If Seamus' story upset me it was nothing compared to Neville's. It was appalling! His grandma and other relatives were constantly trying to force the magic out of him! From what he said, he's lucky to be alive. They should have accepted him for who he was. The exact opposite of what the Smiths did with me….and moving on before I start brooding.

Hermione was talking about lessons with Percy. She seemed interested in transfiguration. I threw in my two cents there.

"I think I'm looking forward to potions the most. I mean, it just seems like something creative right?" I said, and then I frowned when the elder twins (seems like that's how I'm going to refer to them in my internal musings) choked on their drinks and started laughing.

"What?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Snape hates all of us Gryffindors and so potions is pretty much the worst class here besides history of magic." George explained. Fred pointed to this greasy old-ish teacher that looked like a bat who was talking to a nervous dude in a turban. Harry looked too then winced and yelped,"Ouch!"

"What's up?" asked Percy concernedly.

"N-nothing." Harry replied oh-so-convincingly, however I just decided to drop it.

By then the dessert had appeared. I was in heaven. I got some pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, and some orange jell-o. Man was I glad this place had plenty of food, I could get used to this. Just then, Dumbledore, (who I recognized from Harry's first chocolate frog card) stood up and gave the start of term speech. All of it seemed like typical start of the school year stuff except for mentioning that a third floor corridor was off limits to "anyone who did not wish to die a most painful death." Harry asked Percy what that was about and he didn't know but he thought he should because he is a prefect. Geezum, this 'I'm a prefect' junk is gonna get old.

A bunch of canes were suddenly floating over us. Percy explained that it was Peeves, a poltergeist. He then tried to get the poltergeist to stop throwing canes at us and leave. He threatened him with the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost. And after dropping all of the canes on Neville, he did leave. Percy didn't appreciate me jokingly pointing that out, he led us on huffing once again about being a prefect.

We followed Percy up stairs, through hidden passageways, and- Oh, I'm going to get so lost for a long time before I remember all of this. I simply have no sense of direction. We stopped in front of a picture of a let's just say "fluffy" lady in a pink silk dress and Percy said that the password is "caput draconis."

We walked into a huge, circular room filled with red armchairs and couches and a huge fireplace. It looked really cozy. Percy pointed to a staircase that led to the girls dormitories and Hermione and I and the others went up. As my not-so-often luck would have it, Hermione and I were placed side by side. I grinned at her wishing her a good night. After that, I plopped down on my bed and was out in seconds. It had been a looooooooooong day.

(A/N: Once again, I am really sorry about the long pause in updating. This is just the first time after starting work at WalMart as a cashier where I haven't collapsed on my bed from exhaustion. Before that, I had many end-of-semester essays to complete and my computer decided to delete most of an 8-page one the night before it was due. I'll try and update quicker next time, but it would help if people reviewed more! Thanks for reading and sticking with me!)