Chapter Three: King's Cross Station
The rest of the month was spent planning. Their mother planned for the trip to King's Cross. The twins planned with Maria to get her on that train. Forrest and his dad planned to learn as much as possible and maybe get a contact within the magical world. In between all of this, the twins were working on the next arc in their long running dungeons and dragons campaign. It only involved the pair since the rest of the family either didn't like dungeons and dragons or didn't want to play with them.
They took turns at being the dungeon master and each held campaign secrets of their own.
"Who is Rax Vier's best minion?" Michael asked.
"The lich." Nathaniel replied.
"He has a freaking lich?"
A pile of muggle items was packed with the wizarding school supplies at everyone's behest. The twins wanted all kinds of Knick knacks for every situation and packed accordingly, their father wanted defensive items and notebooks for research and information gathering, mother wanted basic hygienic supplies, a few books and letter writing stuff. The end result, eight bulging backpacks that the children took turns trying to hold all at once.
The family instantly took to Odin with eagerness unmatched. Their other pets however, five dogs, three cats, a bearded dragon, and a small flock of chickens acted unusual towards the black bird. Usually they would mess around with any new animals until they were rebuked or played with. This would last months until the new friend was accepted.
Not in Odin's case. They steered clear of him after he got annoyed and emitted a ferocious shriek that terrified the lot of them.
Michael and Nathaniel loved him unconditionally and fashioned a tiny dagger out of a tough bit of wood, some rubber bands and thread, and a sharp piece of scrap metal they found whilst digging in the yard for one of their games. When they showed it to their dad, he scolded them for not making a proper sheath to go with it and helped them fashion one that would fit.
Odin loved it.
Their mother did not, but she didn't argue. The crow was rather intelligent after all.
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The meeting at King's Cross was quick and informative. McGonagall was replaced this time with a sneering oily haired man in black muggle clothes. He tersely introduced himself as the potions master, Professor Snape.
Due to his pale complexion and jet-black hair, Michael and Nathaniel had a quick discussion to determine who would get the chance to ask him if he was a vampire.
Nathaniel won with a quick rock paper scissors game and walked over to the man bouncing with excitement…or tics. Difficult to tell from an outside perspective.
"Are you a vampire?" He asked with jubilation apparent in his voice.
As he yelled this loudly, other muggles looked over for just a second before going back to their business.
The other muggleborn children erupted into chatter about how that was exactly what they were thinking, one clearly jealous that Nathaniel asked before he could.
Professor Snape scowled at him, staring down the tiny human child in front of him. Nathaniel was well known in his family for a total lack of understanding social cues and just stared back up at him, gleefully awaiting his answer.
"No, I am not." He spat out, tucking away the majority of his annoyance behind the glare he sent.
Now Nathaniel was blind to social cues but even he could tell when someone was sending angry eyes at him…most of the time.
"Nope, he's clear guys!" Nathaniel yelled, "His teeth are normal!"
And he walked back to his mother and brother, who snapped his fingers in disappointment. Their dad would have gone with them but he had been called in to work to find a broken gas pipe before it could get worse and he, very sadly, couldn't join them.
In honor of his sacrifice, at least that's what the excuse was, the twins decided to screw around a bit. Soon, both of them walked amongst the muggleborn children, whispering their idea and spreading the fun.
Exactly five minutes after the last child had been included, the nearby clock chimed the hour and all of the kids turned suddenly to stare, wide eyed, at Professor Snape.
He flinched back in surprise before scowling at the entire lot, particularly at the twins. He hadn't missed the two little troublemakers whispering to the group.
They're just like those Weasley brats! Severus thought.
As the silent assaulting stare game continued, the potions master hid his discomfort well, but it was beginning to become noticeable to the entire station.
As muggles passed, some of them took a photograph and laughed, while others just laughed.
No child blinked when he turned to them, only allowing themselves to assuage their watering eyes when they were out of direct line of sight. The silence continued as Professor Snape continued to try catching the children blinking, the parents mostly just trying not to laugh.
Eventually, the children began to break one after the other until finally it was just Alex. Alex Sykes, who stared intently into the eyes of Professor Severus Snape.
Snape hid the pain of dry eyes totally, not even a tear fell from his deep black pits.
The boy had done admirably, but the first tear fell from the face of the child, until finally, he blinked.
The more perceptive of the muggleborn noticed the quick smirk that passed his features before his face flashed back to his natural scowl.
He went back to telling everyone how to get onto the train, casually waving his stick to prevent muggles from listening in.
The twins argued later about exactly what hand movement he had made but had little progress on agreeing.
As the meeting finished up and the group started to split up and leave, Michael had an idea. His father had suggested it the day before in passing but now was the perfect time to implement it.
He told Nathaniel and with eagerness, they once again flitted amongst the muggleborn, speaking their idea. It was received with almost unanimous support. Each child or family with an owl (or crow in the twins case) would send nonstop letters to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry to add a sword fighting class option for students.
The drive back home was a slog but Michael and Nathaniel did not let that stop them from excitedly talking about absolutely everything.
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The wait was way too long or way too short depending on who you asked. Nathaniel couldn't wait to get started, but Michael wanted time to make sure they had everything they wanted. They continued sending letters each time Odin returned until they received something positive. It was a long wait, but wait they did, and come did the time to go to Hogwarts.
Odin, they decided did not want to be in a cage the entire trip, so they just sent him straight off to Hogwarts to await their arrival. With his trusty dagger, sheath, and note explaining the situation, he was off.
The entire family took them to the station, all eight children and all two parents. Several kids had brought their own backpacks as well despite the parent's insistence otherwise. Mother had already been told not to inform extended family about magic otherwise their massive amount of aunts and uncles probably would have come as well.
They stepped into the station and quickly passed through the barrier half an hour earlier than the train was set to leave. The twins started a distraction while their three older siblings snuck onboard the train by running up to an older set of red-haired twins and introducing themselves and loudly conversing with them.
The platform was filled with parents saying goodbye to their kids and students fighting, sometimes literally, for different compartments.
The twins, once the distraction was over, split up, Nathaniel to find a compartment, and Michael to find their friends. Meanwhile, their mom was already in the train not only looking for her missing kids, but also making sure everything looked safe. Their dad was talking to other parents asking about magic in general, having already discovered the kids had gone onboard. He was blown off more than once but laughed it off each time. He wasn't one to get upset that easily. Very much different from his youth.
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Forrest was having the time of his life. He had not only successfully snuck aboard the train, he had raided the candy cart with Grace before she ran off with her half of the goods. Now he was sitting in a compartment by himself gorging himself on magic sugars and hiding about thirty galleons worth of it in his backpack.
He was midway through this one jelly bean that tasted like bacon when the compartment slid open and a kid around his age, thirteen, walked in.
Doing a double take, he asked, How'd you get all this candy?"
"Grabbed it." Forrest managed through a mouthful of wriggling chocolate.
"Did you not pay for it yourself?" He sneered, "Are you poor?"
Forrest just shrugged.
"Well, I am Adrian Pucey. What house are you in?" He questioned.
"I'm not actually going to Hogwarts, my little brothers are." He said simply.
The pureblood made a sound of disgust, "A dirty muggle on the Hogwarts express? Give me all that candy , only a REAL wizard should be allowed to eat it!"
Forrest turned his head sharply to glare at the boy, "No, and I'm not dirty, I just showered before we got here."
"All of you muggles are stupid, filthy ingrates!" Adrian insisted.
Forrest Henderson stood up, letting the Candy in his lap slide off. Even though he was only thirteen, he was very muscular. His father encouraged a healthy, athletic sports life that most of his children, especially Forrest, took to heart.
Adrian, feeling threatened, started to pull out his wand, but Forrest snatched it and swiped at the other kid with a right hook that smacked into his jaw, sending him into the wall and directly into sleepy time.
Panicking, he gathered as many desserts as he could fit into his backpack and dashed out of the little room and down the train corridors until he was caught by his angry mom.
He surrendered but got away with the sweets and as a bonus, still had the wand. I'll have to ask Michael and Nathaniel about any spells they learn so I can practice too!
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Grace quietly shook as her brother was dragged away by mom. She was beneath one of the seats in the compartment that had just been searched and only got away because Forrest had drawn their mother's attention away from her hiding place.
Sneakily, Grace got up and peered through the crack in the door to watch her mother bring Forrest back outside the train and she dashed off to find a better hiding place, noticing Maria doing the same. Perhaps there was room to hide in the front of the vehicle.
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Maria sat with a group of final year witches and wizards, totally in her element. She talked and gossiped and learned and informed. She was going to love it at Hogwarts.
Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
"Maria! Get your butt out here, RIGHT NOW!" Her mother shouted opening the door and grabbing her. She took Maria back to her father where the rest of the children were listening to him talk to a small circle of magic folk. He had their attention completely and totally in his story about a fight he and his brother had a while back when they were younger. One or two wizards with wired snake crests on their clothing sneered at him as they walked by, muttering snide comments. Each time that happened, her father would look directly at the wizard and chuckle before going back to his story. Maria narrowed her eyes. She would have to try again next time.
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Nathaniel heard pounding outside the compartment as someone ran past the door. Choosing not to put much thought into it, he took out his books and started practicing immediately. He decided to be the one to find the compartment so he could get an advantage over Michael in experience. Some spells from Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes worked but most didn't. He got the tickling spell down pretty quickly as well as the repairing spell from the school book before someone entered his compartment.
She was a pretty asian girl with long black hair. She was about to turn and leave, having not found what she was looking for, but Nathaniel was not one to be rude. So, he introduced himself and helpfully asked if she had done any spells yet, suggesting that they could work together on some.
The girl turned back towards him and gave a small frown, "You sound like a Hufflepuff." She said.
"What's a Hufflepuff?" Nathaniel asked, "I haven't actually looked at anything except spells and potions so far."
"Definitely not a Ravenclaw, then." She looked annoyed at his general presence, "Ravenclaws are the smartest and best students in Hogwarts. Gryffindor are the bravest and most reckless. Slytherin are the cleverest and most ambitious. Hufflepuff are the useless ones, the throw aways."
Nathaniel took his turn to frown, "So, I'm assuming you're going to be Ravenclaw?"
"Of course I will." She said, almost offended he would ever think otherwise.
"Well, in that case, I'm going to be in Hufflepuff and beat you in every class!" He stated, using the same matter-of-fact tone she had.
She just laughed at him, mockingly, "I need to find my friend, I'll see you at Hogwarts, throw away."
And the girl left.
Nathaniel took to new determination in his spell practice as he waited for his twin to get back.
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Where are youuuuuu? Michael thought as he walked through the corridors, having already changed into the school robes despite his brother insisting it wasn't necessary. He looked around, carefully peeking into compartments hoping to find Alex and that explosion girl. The first compartment had two male students who slammed the door shut on him before he could say a word.
Rude, he thought as he continued on.
The next couple of compartments had very loud girls all chatting away and shooing him off without answering any of his questions. He was getting rather frustrated.
A voice ring out behind him, "Oh hey, aren't you one of the twins I saw at Ollivanders?", Michael turned to see the girl he was looking for walking around the train with a boy he assumed to be her older brother.
The older brother did not seem impressed to learn that this was one of the twins his sister had talked about a few nights before.
His older brother vibes practically wafted off of him, "So, you're one of the two guys that like explosions and swords?"
Michael answered honestly and obliviously," I'm Michael, who're you?".
"Jason." Answered the boy as he gave Michael a discerning look. The young girl who inadvertently turned a local wand store three steps away from a crater happily announced herself next.
"I am Tessa Eekins!" She then held out her hand as she was taught to, when formally presenting herself.
"Will both of you be sharing a compartment on the way to walmorts or what?" The brusque Jason asked, crossing his arms and scowling.
"Hogwarts." Both eleven year olds simultaneously corrected him.
"Whatever, enjoy the ride." Jason walked down the train and hopped off. Almost running over Alex Sykes on the way. Alex ran over to them and happily stepped into sync with the trio.
Tessa, Alex, and Michael started to walk around, looking for the compartment he said Nathaniel picked out. They met a large boy wearing green and silver robes who had three smaller students flanking him. They stood in the way.
Michael often got angry at people who unnecessarily slowed him down. "Hey, move out of the way."
"Oi watch who you are talking to, this is Marcus Flint. He's the captain of the slytherin quidditch team!" grumbled one of the uglier ones with a large forehead.
"The heck is quidditch? I just wanna go back to my small room thingy."
Marcus looked annoyed. They didn't know who he was and didn't recognize quidditch even! It was practically his job to inform them how things worked.
"Are none of you pure bloods?" He scoffed, "You three know nothing about what REAL wizards do! Here's some advice, do what your house purebloods tell you to, and you'll be fine."
Michael had about enough with his already short temper as he couldn't find Nathaniel and he knew for certain Nathaniel was trying to get ahead of him with using magic.
So, to quickly diffuse the situation and get rid of some pent-up frustration, he did as his older brother Marcus would usually do on the trampoline to embarrass them.
Michael leaned forward and flung his small leg behind Marcus Flint's knee. Shoving the large boy while kicking back, and pulling his legs out from under him, Michael shoved the Slytherin Quidditch Captain onto his back.
Marcus wheezed as all of the air in his lungs whooshed out. He struggled to breath as Michael walked over him, followed closely by his friends. Flint's buddies were too preoccupied with making sure he was alright to hex the eleven year old.
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"Incendio! Incendio! Incendio!" Nathaniel shouted, viciously pointing his wand at one of his brother's socks he had taken from a bag.
"INCEN-"
"Ah ha!" Michael shouted, slamming open the compartment door, "You were practicing spells without me!"
"Lumos!" Nathaniel shouted in surprise, jabbing his wand in Michael's face.
Michael jumped back in shock at the bright, sudden light, right into Alex and Tessa, knocking them into a pair of older students walking by.
Michael stood up and cursed at Nathaniel, "I knew you were practicing without me!"
"You would've done it too!" Nathaniel shot back.
"No I wouldn't!"
"Yes, you would!"
"Both of you stop it!" Tessa yelled.
The twins fell silent. They respected the explosive potential she showed in Ollivander's shop enough to listen.
She looked like she was about to say more, but settled for a heavy sigh and took a seat.
Alex walked in grumpily.
"Did you know that those two were prefects?" He asked, "They just threatened to take away points from any house I joined!"
"House?" The twins and Tessa asked in unison.
"Oh yeah, this girl I saw earlier said something about houses." Nathaniel said, with a snap, "She said Gryffindor is brave and reckless, Ravenclaw is smart, Slytherin is clever-"
"Well you're not going to Slythering." Michael interrupted smirking.
"It's Slytherin!" An offended student said as he passed by the open doorway.
"Slytherin." Michael corrected as he bashfully closed the door.
Nathaniel rolled his eyes, part as a tic and part because it was needed, "and she said Hufflepuffs are useless."
"That doesn't make sense," Tessa said, "Why would they have one group be useless?"
"Well, just in case Michael showed up." Nathaniel responded.
Michael kicked his shin.
"All joking aside." Nathaniel continued, "She was a huge jerk! I wouldn't want to be HER friend!"
"We'll figure it out when we get there." Alex shrugged.
Suddenly the door opened, and a lanky, red haired student named Percy told them that they needed to get changed into their robes.
"Are we supposed to be naked under the robes?" Nathaniel asked.
"Because that would be gross!" Michael finished.
Percy looked flabbergasted. He had no reply and silently continued his duty, closing the door behind him.
"Alright, let's take turns." Alex suggested, "You can go first Tessa."
The boys left the compartment to wait for Tessa to finish changing, pondering what life would be like at their new home away from home.
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The rest of the ride was filled with eager spell practice and taking turns questioning the others about random facts from the schoolbooks.
At one point after everybody had changed into their robes, Nathaniel turned to Michael, "I totally forgot, can you remind me who killed the blue dragon?"
Michael looked into one of his notebooks to see which character had taken the item that proved he killed it before answering, "Howard got the item, but James got the kill."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Outside the door, a sixth year student looked in curiously, and asked, "Dragon?"
"Yeah," Nathaniel said, "He was reminding me who killed Sal'KiTath, the dragon."
He looked startled, "You know someone who killed a dragon?" He asked.
"Yeah, my friend got the kill on it, but I gave it a good amount of damage with my bow." Michale answered.
"It was really annoying." Nathaniel said, "They keep somehow surviving the dragons I send after them."
The sixth year grew pale, and a whisper of dark lord passed his lips before he took off down the corridor.
Michael yelled down the corridor, "No, he isn't the dark lord! Our friend is! I'm still technically good!" After him.
Nathaniel and Michael noticed the looks from their friends, and Michael explained.
"James is kind of genocidal."
Alex looked excited but Tessa just sighed again and curled up to nap against the window.
It was a long train ride, but they were almost sad to see the end of it.
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The train came to a stop and the twins leaped up from their seats to begin piling on their backpacks, each boy holding six, three on each arm.
The red haired guy from earlier, Percy told them that their luggage would be taken by it while rooms for them and that all they would need is their wands.
Michael and Nathaniel ignored him for the most part and grabbed some books, notebooks, and pencils before heading out, the rest of their packs lying all over the ground.
Alex and Tessa shared a look, giggled and stepped over the backpack barricade to follow their friends.
They didn't have to look far, for right outside the nearest train exit, a large student with the most hideous teeth stood in the twins' way, refusing to let them pass.
Michael and Nathaniel looked up at him, the two foot difference highlighted. They rushed it the aid of the boys, but an older set of twins stepped in first.
"Really Flint?" One asked, "Bullying ickle firsties now?"
"Very snakey." The other said, "Picking on someone half your size."
Then in unison, "We'll have to remember to give you special attention this year."
Marcus Flint stepped back, he hastily excused himself with as much dignity as he could and dashed over to a bunch of horseless carriages.
"Nice to see you again." The red heads said to the younger pair, "Goodbye."
Michael watched them leave as Nathaniel turns his attention to the massive man calling for first years to join him.
"Dude," Nathaniel said, elbowing Michael, "Goliath!"
"Nice to have a reference!" Michael agreed.
They rushed over to question him on the walk to the boats.
Alex and Tessa joined them in a boat as Hagrid ordered everyone to.
The boat ride was graceful and serene. The night air was pleasantly chilly, and the water didn't splash as the boats moved of their own accord. Michael pointed out a colossal silhouette in the water and the began whispering in excitement and a little fear.
"Nothin' to worry abou'." Hagrid assured them, "The gian' squid's 'armless!"
Reassured, they took to each side of the boat and let their hands slide through the water as they moved, totally missing the beautiful castle sight that left Alex and Tessa speechless.
The unfortunate boys would have loved the sight if they had looked up whatsoever.
The evening sunset splashed across the cloudy sky, highlighting the castle's majesty and architecture. The massive towers lit up with torches that shown from every window and the dark stone of the walls promised safety and solidarity.
Too bad the twins were hyper focused on finding that squid.
The trip ended without any issues, nobody even fell in the lake this time.
Hagrid took the students up to the gates and ushered them in, Michael and Nathaniel touching absolutely everything in sight. The normally hyperactive boys were twice as bad as normal and kept ticcing. Michael and Nathaniel both stomped and kicked the ground with every step. Michael grunted heavily as Nathaniel punched his stomach, forehead, and under his chin.
The other children didn't even bother disguising their confusion and sometimes disgust at their "antics".
Neither twin noticed.
The half-giant stopped the group at a large door, and told them to wait as he entered.
And Michael and Nathaniel did wait… all of two seconds after he left to attempt to climb the walls, pillars, statues, and suits of armor. Not in that order.
"Why are you doing that?" A blond boy asked.
"Because it's fun." Nathaniel said.
"Why else?" Michael finished.
"You're twins, aren't you?" The Asian girl from the train asked.
In synchronization, they responded loudly, "Nope, we haven't met each other before today!"
Most of the students looked taken aback while others clearly didn't believe them.
Alex jumped in, clearly enjoying the situation, "Yeah, actually the one on the right is MY twin." He added helpfully.
Tessa pretended not to know them, but she gave them both discreet smiles to show that she was rather amused.
It was at that moment that McGonagall opened the doors and sent the students in, pulling both twins along with a wordless spell. She didn't even blink.
After making sure everybody was inside, she closed the doors with two swishes and a flick of her wand.
Once inside, the twins were treated to the sight of a grand feasting hall. They squeed and their stomachs hungered.
Nathaniel dashed over to the nearest table as Michael ran to one on the opposite side. Nathaniel asked a rather dour, green and silver robed student.
"When is the food happening?"
Before he could respond and before Michael could reach the other table, McGonagall summoned them both back to the group.
"Whoooooo!" Michael shouted joyously and Nathaniel screamed as they flew through the air backwards at a rapid speed.
"Stay still." McGonagall scolded.
"Yeah, Nathaniel," Nathaniel said to Michael, "Stand still and shut up."
Michael kicked Nathaniel in the shin.
Before they could come to blows however, Alex put his arms around the their shoulders, "Come on twin brother and guy we've never met before." He said, "Let Professor McDonald do her job!"
The twins acquiesced, looking to McGonagall for any funny reactions. She had already stopped paying attention and placed an old but raggedy hat onto a stool.
The entire room was dead silent for the next five minutes. Everybody sat at the edge of their seats, waiting for something. Eventually McGonagall sighed and started calling out names.
"Anthony, Anthony." She called.
A kid with a disgruntled look on his face walked up to the stool followed by snickers.
Begrudgingly he took his seat and McGonagall picked the hat up, ready to place it upon the new students head
Poor guy, the twins unknowingly thought in unison even as they giggled.
The hat wasn't even in contact with his head before he screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Every single kid jumped in fright at the sound, Michael yelped, and Nathaniel muttered, "Yeah, that makes sense."
Nathaniel nodded as the other first years looked at him, totally befuddled.
A few more students were called up, before "Chang, Cho." Took her seat.
"That's the jerk girl." Nathaniel whispered to his twin.
"Got it." Michael nodded sagely.
She went to Ravenclaw and Nathaniel immediately made Michael promise to not go there. After another name went by, they extended that promise to Alex and Tessa.
They clapped uproariously when Tessa went to Hufflepuff after nearly eight minutes of silence.
Then, eventually, Michael took his turn.