2 – Start at Hogwarts

"Anna!" a voice called. "Anna!"

"Aha," Anna mumbled and slowly opened her eyes.

Her mother was standing at her doorway, trying to wake her up. She smiled widely.

"Breakfast in five minutes," she said. "I'll go wake up Edward."

Anna mumbled a 'yes', and got out of bed. She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a top and then combed her hair. Then she went down for breakfast. Just as she was about to enter the kitchen, someone flung their arms around her.

"What's up, Ann?"

Even before Anna had turned she knew who it was. She had known that voice since she was born and could recognise it among a thousand others. She turned and grinned at her twin brother, Edward.

"Hey, Ed!" Anna said and entered the kitchen.

Edward was the complete opposite of Anna. Where she had her long, brown and straight hair, and brown eyes, he had really blonde hair that was only two inches long but if it grew longer it would be curled and he had sky blue eyes. Even their figures and heights were different; Edward was more than a head taller than Anna and very muscular and broad shouldered. Anna just considered herself as little and curved. Actually, if people didn't know, they'd think they were anything but siblings.

"How was summer at the Evans'?"

Anna had just gotten home from the Evans' last night where she had spent the last three weeks along with Mary. Edward had already gone to bed when she got home and they hadn't spoken to each other since she got back.

"Fine," Anna said. "We had fun. How about your summer, which I wasn't a part of?"

He shrugged. "Fine I guess…"

"Okay…"

"You didn't make a lot of trouble did you?" he asked a raised eyebrow.

Anna sighed deeply; Edward was very protective of her and always tried to make sure she didn't get into trouble. No wonder actually, she was very good at causing trouble around her and placing herself in very embarrassing or stupid situations. And she had to say that he did a very good job. As Anna was in Gryffindor and Edward was too, he could keep an eye out for her all the time. That had resulted in him dragging her away from the first boy she ever kissed while they were kissing for the first time. Anna was sure she could ever have been more embarrassed.

"No I didn't," Anna said after a few seconds.

He eyed her suspicious. "Sure?"

She nodded. "Aha!"

"Good," he grinned.

Their mother came over and poured some eggs onto their plate followed by some bread. "Ready to go to Hogwarts today?" she asked. "For the last time?"

Both Anna and Edward nodded.

"All your things have been packed?"

"Uhuh," Anna mumbled.

"And this year you won't forget anything?"

"No," Edward said.

She smiled again. "Good. Be ready in twenty minutes when we leave for King's Cross."

Anna sighed. She and Edward had past their apparition's licence just before the summer vacation, but their mother and Sean, their mother's boyfriend (their parents were divorced), had insisted on taking them there.

So, as they lived in London, they walked to the station twenty minutes later. They were at the station, ready to go through the barrier twenty to eleven. Edward first, then Anna and at last their mother and Sean.

"Then have a good year and behave yourselves," their mother said and hugged them for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Of course mum," Anna said. "You know I always do."

"And Edward, you look you for her, right?"

Anna opened her mouth to defend herself. "Wha-?"

"I always do, mum," Edward interrupted, nodding.

She smiled. "Then off you go."

Anna and Edward parted with their parents before they parted from each other a little longer down the platform.

Anna had only walked a few steps when suddenly, out of nowhere, someone flung their arms around her, and she almost screamed in shock.

Mary yawned as she slowly sat up in her bed. She ruffled her hair once before she got out of the bed, dressed and headed downstairs to have breakfast. Isabella, her little sister, already sat at the table. Her father placed three plates at the table and smiled at her.

"Have you packed?" he asked. "We're driving in half an hour."

Mary nodded. "Of course," she said. "I always do as early as possible."

He smiled again. "And you, Isabella?"

Isabella nodded. "Yeah! I'm so excited."

Mary understood that. It was only Isabella's second year at Hogwarts and she hadn't even been sure she would get to go there in the first place because they were muggles and Mary had gotten her magic power out of nowhere. Of course they all prayed for Isabella to have the same talent, but doubted it. Isabella's letter had arrived the same day as their mother died. At least she died happy, Mary thought every time she remembered it. Something that was also stuck in Mary's memory was that it was the day they had arrived in England exactly seven years ago. Their father was born in England, but when he started to date their mother he moved out of England.

Isabella got up. "I'll just go up and check everything is okay."

The two others nodded. Isabella stormed up the stairs and left Mary and her father alone.

"You'll look out for her, right?" her father asked.

Mary nodded. "Sure. But it's kind of hard as she's not in Gryffindor."

"Just try."

Mary nodded. She really was proud of her sister. She had come from a muggle family and right into Ravenclaw where she received top-marks in every class. She was probably the best one in her year. It was a shame they hadn't shared that talent. Mary would love to be smart, but wasn't. She had to work really hard for her grades, but Isabella didn't. But one thing Mary was happy they had in common, was their looks. They both had extremely blonde hair and blue eyes. Isabella just had chosen to let her grow down to her waist while Mary's didn't even make her shoulders and she sometimes wore it very curly, but other times she straightened it with magic. They were often told they looked like their mother, which they both were happy to hear as their mother was a beautiful woman.

Half an hour later all three of them sat in the car, ready to leave for King's Cross. It would take a little over than an hour to be there because they lived so far away from London.

As Mary entered the platform with her sister and her father, she looked around. She couldn't see Lily or Anna.

Her father hugged her sister. "Behave and do your best," he said to her.

Isabella nodded. "You know I always do," she said.

"And you too, Mary," he said.

Mary nodded as she hugged her father goodbye. Then she grabbed Isabella's hand and walked away. They father disappeared again in the crowd.

"Oh!" Isabella exclaimed. "There's Caitlyn. I got to go!"

Mary hugged her sister before she ran away. She straightened up and looked around. She smiled as she spotted Anna and Edward in the crowd. They said goodbye and parted just as Mary and Isabella had done seconds before. Mary began to run towards her. She flung her arms around Anna as soon as she was behind her.

Anna jumped up in shock and turned to Mary.

"Mary!" she exclaimed.

"Anna!"

Even though it had just been last night they had seen each other they were still happy to be together again.

"Seen Lily?" Anna asked.

"Nope," Mary said and shook her head.

"Let's go find her."

Mary grinned and followed Anna through the crowd. As Anna stopped suddenly Mary bumped into her.

"What?" she asked.

"Lily," Anna just grinned.

Mary looked past Anna and saw Lily stand in the middle of the crowd looking around with an irritated look at her face.

"Let's go scare her," Anna said.

Mary smiled and both girls started running.

'Beeeeeeeep!'

Lily groaned loud as the alarm clock kept beeping. She slammed it hard on the top.

"Sod off," she mumbled and fell asleep again.

'Beeeeeeeep!'

Lily slammed the alarm clock again later. She rubbed her face in her hands and slowly sat up in her bed. It was complete darkness in her room so she grabbed her wand and flicked it at her curtains. They folded up at once and the sun beamed Lily right in the eyes.

"ARRGH!" she exclaimed, covering her face with her hands and pushing herself backwards, falling over the edge of her bed. "OUCH!"

Lily's feet were still on the edge of the bed while she lay almost on top of her own head on the floor. She cursed under her breath as she dragged her feet down and slowly sat up. This day had not started well at all. She looked at the alarm clock; it showed 10.30.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed and almost jumped up.

She took a look at her half packed trunk before she waved her wand of that too and it started to pack itself. Then she grabbed a skirt and a top and pulled both things on. She ran into the kitchen.

"I'm up, I'm up, I'm up!" she yelled out. "Don't worry mum!"

She stopped as she saw a note on the table. She walked over to it and red.

'Lily.

We're meeting early at work today so we assume you can apparate to the station yourself when it's time. Don't be there late.

Mom and Dad.'

"Well. I'm bloody late now," Lily mumbled to herself before she grabbed a piece of bread and ate it while going back to her room.

She quickly ran a comb through her long red hair to make her look more presentable, put on a slight brush of mascara (at this point she leaned a bit forward to the mirror and studied her sleepy emerald green eyes in the mirror, scowling). She kicked a green skirt her mum had bought to her aside; she hated green. Then she attached her Head Girl badge to her chest and found her jacket, grabbed her trunk and apparated to the platform.

Next she found herself on platform 9 ¾ where students ran each other over with their owls and trunks, and said goodbye to their parents.

Suddenly a grinning boy ran straight into Lily with his back at her. He turned in the next second and Lily found herself face to face with none other than James Potter. His hazel eyes were as always shining with trouble and mischief.

"Hey Evans," he said in the voice he always used when he talked to her, running a hand through his hair. "Looking stunning this morning."

"Shut up," she said and turned. "See you later."

"Yeah. We will. Sooner than you think."

Lily frowned but didn't turn back to him; that was exactly what he wanted her to do. She looked around her, but couldn't find Anna and Mary as she looked for. She sighed and slowly begun to move towards the train.

Suddenly someone jumped up at her back and she almost fell backwards. She screamed. The person laughed and jumped of her.

"I surprised you there?" Anna grinned.

"Yes you did!" Lily said.

Mary laughed at Lily behind Anna. "Maybe we should get on the train now?" she asked.

Lily nodded. "Let's do that."

Lily, Mary and Anna jumped of the Hogwarts express at Hogsmeade station. Anna took a deep breath of the fresh air, feeling the cold air fill her lunges. Lily pushed her way past Anna and Mary; she was still in a bad mood. She had found out as she arrived as the Prefect's compartment, to give out announcements as Head Girl, that James Potter was Head Boy. She had returned in a worse mood than ever. Mary and Anna didn't dare talk to her when she was in that mood so had kept quite until Lily had started talking to them.

Anna looked at the first years making their way towards Hagrid. They were about to travel over the lake in the boats. Personally, Anna was glad she didn't have to do that again. One time was bad enough.

She spotted Edward. He was walking along with the girls Patricia and Susanne, their fellow Gryffindors as well, who Lily, Mary and Anna didn't like very much. And then another Gryffindor seventh year boy, Jack Zellar. She scowled and looked away from them again. She watched as the Marauders made their way through the crowd towards the carriages, pushing a couple of third years violently out of the way. Sirius Black laughed evilly and flicked his black hair out of his grey eyes which sparkled with trouble and indifference towards the smaller ones. He followed James into the compartment close succeeded by Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

Anna shook her head. She had never really talked to any of them for more than five minutes, and to be honest she really didn't care about them. She couldn't get herself worked up about the troubles and disasters they made like Lily could. She only talked to Sirius and James because she was seeker at the Gryffindor Quidditch team with James as Captain and a chaser, and Sirius as beater. She didn't think she'd ever had a conversation with any of them that wasn't about Quidditch.

"Coming Anna?" Lily called and Anna returned from her thoughts.

"Yea," She said and jumped up and sat down next to Mary.

"Looking forward to a new year?" Mary asked grinning.

"No," Lily said, and the two others felt her bad mood slowly returning. "A whole year with Potter to bother me and ask me out. A whole year of torture!"

Anna laughed. "Relax, Lils, he's-"

"No I won't," Lily interrupted her. "He lives to make my life like hell and-"

"Honestly, Lily!" this time it was Mary who interrupted Lily. "You have to admit that there must be something about him since he was made head boy."

Lily mumbled something Mary and Anna couldn't hear and they exchanged smirks.

The girls, that meant Anna, Lily and Mary, had made it a tradition to stay up late the first night at school. It had been ever since first year where they had stayed up down in the common room all night. It was actually Lily and Mary's fault. You see, Lily and Mary came from muggle families and when they first started at Hogwarts they knew nothing about the magical world. At the first night they were simply too excited to sleep and sat up and talked until Patrice got mad at them and told them to shut up. Anna, on the other hand, didn't mind and when Lily and Mary moved down to the common room she followed. They all sat down and Anna, as a 'pureblood' witch, started to tell them everything she knew from the magical world. They listened intensely and then told her things about the muggle world. From that night, the three girls were inseparable and every year they stayed down in the common room, just talking to long past midnight and only got three hours of sleep.

This year was no different. As Anna dumped down in her chair with the blanket her grandmother had crocheted for her, Mary sat down across from her also with a blanket but also holding a ball of yarn and two knitting-needles. Lily pushed an armchair over next to Anna's and sat down in that one with her notepad and leafed to the empty pages where she started to draw.

"What's up with the needles?" Anna grinned at Mary.

She looked up at her, surprised. "It's for my jumper, Anna," she said as if Anna was stupid. "You know… my goal."

"Oh."

"Hmm…" Lily said thinking.

Anna looked at her. "What is it Lils?"

"I'm just thinking about my flying thing… I need a teacher," she said and looked hopefully at Anna.

Anna grinned inwardly; she wouldn't give her that satisfaction that easily. She obviously hoped she'd agree. Mary looked at her, eyes shining and she knew they were thinking the same thing.

"I'd love to Lils," Anna said after a few seconds. "But I haven't got the time. You know… with all my own goals."

"Anna!" Lily begged.

She shook her head. "Ask someone else. We have plenty of good flyers in Gryffindor."

Lily groaned. "Please?!"

Anna ignored her and looked out of the window pretending to think hard about something. "What about James? He's an excellent flyer and would love to."

Mary's eyes had widened. It was clear she expected an explosion by now from Lily. But it didn't come. Anna had closed her eyes afraid of what Lily might say or most likely, yell now, but nothing came. She slowly opened one eye and looked at her.

She was taken by surprise. Lily sat with a raised eyebrow and looked at her as if I had just told a very bad joke.

She sighed. "I won't even respond to that, Harrington," she said.

Mary and Anna laughed.

"So how's it going, Mary?" Anna asked her as she saw her trying to put some of the yarn at the needles.

"Terrible," she said miserable. "I don't think I can do this."

"Of course you can," Lily said in her encouraging voice. "The paper says so."

"Yeah right. Like I'll ever succeed this! And then there's the dancing part!"

"That's not hard," Anna said.

"Then you teach me!"

"No way!" she said quickly. "You know I can't dance."

"But I have to learn how to dance!" Mary complained.

"Yeah…I could teach you," Lily said and got up and made some weird dance moves.

Anna laughed as Lily sat down again but Mary looked more worried.

"No, I'm serious," she said. "I have no idea how to do it all. With steps and stuff."

"Hmm…" Anna said thoughtful. "Maybe we should find someone for you?"

In the same second Sirius, Remus, Peter and James almost tumbled down into the common room, or more precisely James tumbled while Remus tried to hold him back and Sirius and Peter just laughed at them. James slowly got up, brushing some dirt of his cloak.

"You want to learn how to dance, Mary?" he asked.

Mary blushed, but nodded. "Uhuh…"

"Maybe you want-"

"Prongs, stop!" Remus interrupted. "Honestly!"

James just grinned even wider. "Moony here is pretty good at dancing," he continued and took a glance at Remus.

Sirius and Peter burst out laughing and Remus turned the shade of a tomato. He looked down at his feet.

"Really?" Mary asked.

"Uhuh," Remus said and blushed (if possible) even more. "My mom made me go every week from when I was 4 to 10."

At this moment Anna felt like copying Sirius and Peter, and begin to laugh, but kept it in to not make it even worse to Remus. Lily on the other hand sat up seriously and with a thinking expression.

"I think it's a great idea. If you agree Remus?"

Remus shrugged. "Sure. I could do that."

"WOOHOO!" James exclaimed. "Because of me!"

Lily shot him a nasty glance. "Because you were an idiot! He didn't ask for you to come here and say things like that. Try to feel a bit for other people!"

James smile seemed to fade for a second before it was up again. "Say what you want, Evans, but some day you'll see I'm not just a self-absorbed idiot. I'm James Potter."

Lily growled and Anna pushed herself a bit away from her; Lily was dangerous at the moment.

"Well," Sirius said, trying to change subject. "We were on our way out, weren't we Moony?"

"Oh, yeah," Remus said, slowly returning to his normal shade. "We'll talk about that dance-thing another time, okay Mary?"

Mary nodded and smiled faintly. The boys headed for the portraithole but Lily stopped them.

"Where do you think you're going?"

They all turned around.

"Err…" James said. "Out!"

"It's eleven!" Lily hissed. "You as head boy should know you have to stay in the tower after nine!"

James shrugged. "Stop me if you hate it that much."

As Lily didn't make any attempt to get up and stop them Sirius slowly moved out, followed by Remus, Peter and at last James.

As the portraithole closed Mary fell backwards in her chair, groaning loudly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Lily and Anna exchanged glances before smiling at Mary. Anna was the first one to speak.

"At least you're started at your things. Lily and I have a longer way than you at the moment."

Mary nodded. "But Remus!" she complained. "Why him of all people?"

Lily frowned. "You don't like Remus?"

"Yes. I mean, we're good friends, but it'll be so embarrassing when I first start to mess it all up!"

Anna grinned. "Relax, Mary. You'll do fine!"

Mary groaned loud again. Anna, on the other hand, had fallen silent. She couldn't help but think she had to get started soon. She looked at Lily, she seemed to be thinking about the same things and Mary seemed to finally have started at the jumper.

"Oh, look!" she said with big eyes. "I've begun already!"

Lily and Anna laughed of her utter surprise and she blushed. Suddenly Anna thought of something and slowly stopped laughing.

"Um, girls?"

Mary and Lily looked at her. "Yeah?" they both asked.

"About that list…" she said slowly. "We won't tell anyone, will we?"

Mary frowned and Lily looked neutral.

"No…" Lily said after a couple of seconds. "We can't tell. We must not tell."

"I agree," Mary said.

"It's our secret," Anna joined.