Five Years Later
An elbow nudging her in the ribs awakens the sleeping eleven-year-old, who pulls away from where she was leaning against the window to glare at her snickering twin brother and his best friend Draco. "Not nice," she grumbles in her natural Arabic, causing Draco to roll his eyes.
Harry rolls his eyes in response as he grins. "The snack trolley is about to come by," he informs her in the same language.
She perks right up at that, already pulling out the money-pouch to gather a couple of galleons. "Chocolate Frogs, Ice Mice, and Drooble's Best please," she asks as the trolley lady opens their door.
"Here you are dear," she coos as she hands over a couple of each candy, earning a blush from the girl, who still has no idea of just how adorable everyone around her finds her.
"Thanks," she mutters, before returning to her seat, but leaning with her back against Harry's side as Draco collects licorice wands, Bertie Bott's, and a blood pop for himself, and a couple of butterscotch and acid pops for Harry, who shares his sister's chocolate frogs.
Harry groans as he finds who his card is this time. "That's the tenth Dumbledore card I've gotten!"
Ivy snickers at that. "Let's see who I got this time…" she answers, pulling open the box only to scream and throw the box, candy and all, into the seat across from her in horror. "Im… Imh…" she stutters, and Harry pales.
Unable to believe it, he takes the candy box from a wary Draco, and stares at the face of his previous life's father, and source of this life's nightmares for both him and his sister.
Draco stares between the horrified twins. "What is it?" he asks quietly, glancing at the door to their compartment to make sure nobody is there.
"He's the reason Papa died," Ivy whispers.
"He killed our Aunt and Uncle and kidnapped us less than three hours after we met in Cairo," Harry elaborates with his side of the story. He shares a look with his sister, who nods and stands on the seat, reaching into her trunk to pull out their Twin Books, hidden within their satchels, charmed to be featherlight by Ardeth. She offers the bag with the black book to her brother, keeping the one of gold for herself.
"What are those?" Draco asks, unable to see the contents of their respective bags, but unable to deny his curiosity.
Ivy stares at him in silence as she retakes her seat. "Something we must protect," she murmurs, keeping both hands on the book.
A knock on their door draws their attention, the twins flinching minutely as it slides open to reveal a girl with bushy brown hair and slightly large front teeth. "Excuse me, but have any of you seen a toad recently? A boy named Neville lost his."
"And who are you?" Draco sneers, earning a nudge from Harry.
"I am Hermione Granger," she informs them. "Who are all of you?" she inquires right back, if not with a little bit of a bite to her words.
Ivy kicks Draco lightly as he opens his mouth, taking the duty of introductions from him. "This is Draco Malfoy, Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, an ancient pureblood house. I am Ivy Potter, and this is my slightly older brother, Harry, Heirs to the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of Potter, Black, Peverell, Evans, and Heirs to Ancient Egyptian Royalty."
The muggleborn's eyes widen almost comically. "Wow!" she breathes. She tries to speak, but she stands there gaping, looking more like a fish out of water.
Draco smirks at her. "Father was rather amazed at most of those finds." He then recalls the reason for the other girl's appearance. "But no, we have not seen a toad anywhere."
She blinks, then blushes lightly. "Oh, right… thank you anyway…" she seems reluctant to leave, and Ivy takes pity on her, offering a smile. "You see… nobody will let Neville or myself sit with them… so I was wondering… might we join you?"
"Sure," Harry agrees quickly, getting up to sit next to Draco so the girls can have one side of the room as Hermione promises to return with the other boy in a moment. "Draco, do try to tolerate her. You tolerate Alex, Rick, and Evy well enough, it won't be much different."
The blonde gives him a dry glare. "They are a totally different case, Harry! They are of a long line of Squibs, and thus know the proper etiquette, and Alex is the first one to use magic in that line in over two centuries. This Granger girl is obviously a muggleborn, and therefore does not either know or respect those who have grown up purely in the wizarding world, not to mention how she is to interact with people of our standing!"
Ivy rolls her eyes at their friend's dramatics. "Well, that's what we can teach her in that case. I honestly think there should be a class for anyone who didn't grow up in this world so that they can integrate easier."
"Or we just pull them into our world when they are clearly not just muggles," Harry murmurs.
Draco stares between them. "I never really thought of that."
Ivy smiles as she ignores the rest of the Chocolate Frogs, favoring a piece of the gum she loves so much. Hermione arrives soon after, pulling along Neville and introducing all of them, though he and Draco choose not to converse as much.
The only muggleborn takes notice of the identical satchels the twins hold. "May I ask why you have those in your laps instead of put away?"
The two tense, hand's tightening on their packages. "We must protect these, with our lives if we must," Harry answers quickly. "Nobody is to read what is held within."
"Why? What are they?" Hermione asks as the door opens again.
They turn to find a tall, gangly redhead with a dark smudge on his nose standing in the doorway, sneering at Draco, who does the same in return. "I heard a rumor Harry Potter was around here." He looks straight at Harry, who stays calm and is grateful that his hair is long enough to hide his scar, before his eyes flicker over to Ivy. "Is it true?"
"No, he isn't in this compartment," Ivy answers slowly. "Might you introduce yourself?" None of the other children notice the eyes of the twins shining slightly, slightly darker than they had been moments before.
"I'm Ron Weasley," he answers snootily, frowning in confusion and anger. He would kill Fred and George for lying about the Potter boy being in here. "Who're you lot?"
Ivy blinks slowly. "My name is Rania of the Temple of Anubis, this is my brother Ammon, High Priest of Anubis, and these are our friends, Heir Neville Longbottom of House Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Heir Draco Malfoy of House Malfoy."
Hermione blinks in confusion, sharing a look with Neville and Draco, the three of them confused at the change in speech and name of the twins. None of the three knew what was going on with them, but came to a silent agreement that they should just play along. Maybe it was just something they came up with to throw off anyone looking to be friends just for their fame. Being the Boy-Who-Lived was something of a bittersweet situation, with more bitter than sweet in the making of the title. Being his sister, and the fact Wizarding Britain had labeled her as the Lost Daughter, she was also something of a celebrity, seeing as she had been presumed dead after being gone for so many years.
Ron's eyes widened at the mention of Anubis. "You mean that Ancient Egyptian God? Jackal head and all? Dark God of the Underworld and all that tripe?"
They bristle at that, and a pair of large jackals appear before the twins, growling at the redhead. "It is not a joke, and the Gods of Olde take offense to such comments as those you have to offer," Ammon growls, an unrecognizable accent making it difficult to understand him perfectly.
"You offend us, his Favored and most trusted, with your remarks. Leave us," Rania growls. The redhead, having gone a rather unappealing pasty white, flees their compartment. With much lighter expressions, the twins lightly scratch the ears of the jackals. "Please convey our greetings to Our Lord," Rania whispers to the beings.
"As well as our gratitude," Ammon adds to his own jackal.
With a puppy-like yip from each, they vanish.