10 All Aboard!

It was September 1st, and the twins were on their way to King's Cross Station in order to reach the train for Hogwarts. Their mother was driving them there because she insisted that she would want to do something mundane with them before they left for Hogwarts. As she drove, she was talking to the twins, worrying over them before they had even gotten to the station.

"{Mom, we'll be fine, if there are any problems, we're surrounded by professors of the highest caliber, and you met one, remember?}" Oriana said calming and reminding her mother of what was at the school.

"Yes, yes, I know. She was truly wonderful, to think that you can turn one object into another, truly a marvelous application. Think of all the things it would solve if we were able to do it!" Sandra said, reminded of how Professor McGonagall visited them for dinner. She also remembered on how she was adamant of taking the leftovers with her.

"But, as marvelous as it may be, I am still your mother." Sandra continued, "It is part of the job description to worry about your children, and as unfortunate as it may be, also to make sure to let them grow by themselves. So let me mother you for a while longer." She finished with a sad smile that changed when she reached back to ruffle their hair.

"[I believe we're here.]" John said, after a few more minutes of driving. They looked outside to see a large train station, with 'King's Cross' in a dark sea green on the front. They got out and grabbed their belongings, the twins with their bags and a trunk they loaded onto a trolley, with their mother holding her purse following behind them.

"Where did the letter say we should go?" Sandra asked the twins as they looked onto the letter they got a week after McGonagall's first visit.

"[It says we should go to platform nine and three-quarters,]" John started, "{But there is no such platform.}" Oriana said as she looked around.

Sandra was ecstatic when she heard 'nine', when Oriana finished, her smile had frozen. She was about to say something before she spotted a group of oddly-dressed redheads stumbling about, with four different trolleys, loaded with chests and owls. "Your letter said to have a toad, cat or owl right?" she said as she started to follow them.

"Yes, why?" they replied as they followed their mother, who walked with a purpose.

"Because they have owls, and chests, and dress like it's still the 1950s." she said as she pointed out the group to the twins.

"We've seen them before." John said, and both of the girls looked at him with questioning looks. "They were on their way to Madam Malkin's as we walked out of Twilfitt & Tattings, remember Oriana?"

Oriana let John control their walking as she looked through her memories. She saw what John was talking about and nodded her head as they sped up to catch up to them. When they noticed the other group had stopped, Sandra approached the woman before asking her a question. "By any chance do you know of Diagon Alley?"

The woman stiffened, before slowly turning around to face her. when she did, she nodded almost imperceptibly, making Sandra sigh in relief. "Oh thank god, we thought we'd never find the platform."

"What platform?" the woman asked in return.

"Nine and three-quarters, my children need to be on the train before 1 or else they won't be able to get to Hogwarts." Sandra answered, motioning to the twins who were behind her. The woman looked back, and saw the twins.

"I don't believe you, there is no such platform or school." She replied as she subtly took out her wand. "Now explain how and why you know of Hogwarts." she finished as she pointed it at Sandra.

The twins noticed the wand, and got very angry. Oriana's rings started to glow, and a disillusionment charm and Mundane-repelling charm went up around them, along with three orbs, two red and one blue. John's collar started to glow, along with the studs on his gauntlets as three shields went up, one of the stone floor in front of Sandra, a glowing shield behind it, and a rainbow bubble shield around the three of them.

"Tell us why we shouldn't hurt you for pointing your wand at our mother!" The twins shouted, their arms raised to cast more spells. The woman paled at the show of power, but stood firm, and put her wand away and her hands in the air.

"Sorry for that, there have been times where muggles have figured something was wrong, and we had to obliviate them before something bad happened." she said as she stepped away.

"[Mom, stay still.]" Sandra nodded, and she began to float away from the earthen shield as it fell back in place, and the rainbow shield and spell orbs fizzled out. Sandra floated behind the twins under the gaze of the red-headed group, as the glowing shield turned into a small steel shield, and started to orbit Sandra as she landed behind the twins. The glow receded from the twins armaments and they started to stand holding hands again.

John, wanting to defuse the situation, reached over with his free hand to shake the woman's.

"Now that that is over, let's start introductions. My name is John, this is my sister Oriana, and that is my mom Sandra." he said, as he stepped back, motioning to the girls in turn.

The woman, shocked by his change in demeanor, froze, before doing the same. "My name is Molly Weasley, and these are my children, Percy," The tall one nodded, "Fred and George," they made a funny pose as they were introduced, "Ronald," the small boy whined, "Mum-" before being cut off, "And my youngest, Ginevra." the girl whined similarly to her older brother as she was brought forward.

The twins blinked and looked at each other, when the other two saw this, they did the same, before both turned to face the other group. "Are you twins?" Fred asked, "Because you look like me," George continued, "And me," Fred went on, ""When we have a good plan in mind."" they finished in sync.

John and Oriana looked at each other, before giving a mischievous smile as the Forge duo felt a small chill. When they turned back they spoke. "{We are twins.}""[Just not any set of twins though.]""{We are}""[Siamese Twins.]" they said, as they showed their fused hands. "[So]""{We}""[Are]""{Always}""In sync." they finished.

The Weasley twins looked at each other, before asking, "Are we that headache inducing all the time?" Agreements came from the rest of their family.

"We might want to hurry, or else we'll miss the train." Sandra cut in, pointing at a clock on the wall.

The groups spared it a glance before panicking, as the time was 12:55. "Follow me! And Hurry!" Molly shouted as the rest of her family moved with her to run toward a wall. When they reached the wall, the Weasley twins ran headfirst -into- the wall, much to Sandra and the Concords' surprise. The brothers followed and then the rest of the girls, leaving them alone.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sandra asked as she held John's hand, leading them into the wall.

On the other side, they saw a cluttered station filled with people dressed erratically, with witches hats, top hats, frocks, swimming trunks, and all covered by robes of varying colors. Aside from the bizarre fashion, a big red steam train was the most prominent thing in front of them.

"C'mon! Bye mom!" John shouted as he dragged Oriana and their chest with him to the train. Oriana waved goodbye as they left Sandra behind them in front of the wall. When they boarded the train, the whistle blew, and started to pull away from the platform as they searched for an empty compartment.

When they did, it took them a few interrupted conversations and apologies before they found an empty compartment, where they set their luggage in the overhead, and plopped down on opposite sides of the compartment, with their feet holding them together.

They started petting the air, releasing their spirits as they let out a sigh of relief. They organized themselves to where they were comfortable, before a hiss from Juju^(7) alerted them to the presence of a toad in their compartment.

"{Who are you?}" A croak resounded from the toad as it shivered and responded.

"{Trevor. Nice name. Where's your owner?}" Another croak, less feeble this time around.

"{He left you behind, and you managed to hop on just in time. Well, that's irresponsible.}" An indignant croak sounded.

"{He's naturally forgetful, sounds like our uncle.}" The toad had long since hopped out of its corner to the middle of the floor. Oriana picked it up and said, "Well, stay here, your owner will most likely come looking for you." She then set the toad on top of Oslo^(7), who was acting as a pillow for John. They rested there for a while, before their door opened to an old lady who was pushing a trolley along the corridor.

The Lady paused before saying anything, observing the animals. "Would you like some sweets dears?" she finally asked.

The twins looked at each other once again before saying, "What do you have miss?"

"I have Pumpkin pasties, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Drooble's Best Blowing gum, Licorice wands, and other things, what would you like?"

"I would like three Cauldron Cakes and two Chocolate frogs." John said, looking at Oriana to pay. Oriana, who had the Money bag indignantly looked at John before paying the witch, who then strolled along. John gave the frogs to Oriana, because she loved chocolates, and took the cakes for himself, as he loved just about anything sweet.

After their small meal, they went into a blissful slumber, which was interrupted by a girl who opened their door abruptly, only to gasp at the sight of the animals crowding the compartment. The twins, who had laid across the benches and were connected through the animals, fell off out of surprise, before standing up in a fighting position. They then noticed the girl, who had brown curls of frizzy hair framing her head, and was dressed in simple jeans and shirt.

As they relaxed out of their stance, a boy walked up behind her just to have the same reaction. The girl then said, "Have you seen a toad?" in a slightly overconfident tone.

"Why do you ask?" Oriana asked in return.

"Neville lost his toad." she answered back, motioning to the boy behind her, who waved.

"Does he go by the name of Trevor?" John asked, as he got comfy on Oslo's belly once again.

"Yes! That's him! Have you seen him?" Neville asked, pushing the girl aside in his excitement.

"Oslo, give Trevor to Neville please." John asked the bear. Oslo made a rumbling sound, scaring the duo in the doorway as he raised a paw to his head let the toad hop on. When it did, he moved his paw in front of the girl, who was taken aback. Neville, completely unfazed at the act, grabbed the toad and hugged it.

"Neville," Oriana started, calling the boy's attention to her, "Keep better track of Trevor. One, that is not a good thing, and two, had it not been us," she continued, motioning to the reptiles and carnivores around her, to which he paled, "Something bad could have happened to him. Okay?"

He nodded furiously, before leaving. The girl was about to leave as well before being stopped by John calling to her. "What is your name?"

She froze, but answered anyway, "Hermione, Hermione Granger."

"Make sure to knock next time, for all you know, we could've been changing." He said, and the girl blushed at the thought, before nodding and leaving as well.

As they settled back down to sleep for the rest of the ride, they were disturbed by a commotion that sounded next door. "What now?" as they got up to look out into the corridor, only to see a pale boy with platinum blonde hair along with two big oafs running behind him away from an open compartment.

When they went to investigate what happened, they found a pale boy with freckles, deep green eyes, and dark hair looking at a rat that was being held up by a redhead they met earlier, Ronald.

"What happened Ronald?" John asked with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes.

Ronald turned to face them with surprise as he put down the rat. "Just some pompous little git that decided to bother us."

"Name?" Oriana asked.

""Draco Malfoy."" Ronald and the other boy said simultaneously.

John and Oriana looked at each other, frowned, before looking at the new boy, who was pinned under their scrutinizing gaze. "What's your name?"

"It's Harry, Harry Potter." he answered cautiously.

"Nice to meet you, my name is John, and this is my sister Oriana." John said, extending a hand to shake. Harry shook it, and both parties were shocked by an electric feeling that rose up their spines. They looked at each other, and Oriana was about to say something before getting interrupted by a familiar voice.

"What is going on?" Granger reappeared, sporting robes this time around.

"From what Ronald told us, a little git, Draco Malfoy, came and disturbed them, until the rat bit one of them I believe." Oriana said, motioning to the rat in Ron's hands. Harry nodded, confirming Oriana's story.

"Call me Ron, I never liked my full name." the redhead said, and Oriana and John nodded.

"Either way, we are about to reach the school, so we need to get dressed in our robes." Hermione said as she turned to walk away. She stopped, before leaning back into the doorway, "Boys, stay out of trouble, and Ron." He looked up. "You have dirt on your nose." She then walked away.

"I honestly hope she's not in the house I'm in." Ron said venomously.

"She's just used to being the sharpest tool in the shed." Oriana said, "When we get there she'll realize that there's bigger fish to look out for." John nodded, while the boys watched with questioning looks as they walked back to their compartment.

When they arrived, the spirits were waiting for them. "Alright," John started, "We need to get dressed and you all need to go back until we get our dorms sorted out." A small cacophony of disagreement sounded from the spirits, before John raised his hand to silence them. "Not everyone knows that you're in our care, and not only that, some will try to dispose of you just for walking in front of them." he continued. "They also have magic, and while I know that some of you can cast a single spell, that's not enough to keep you safe, so the dorms is the only way of keeping you safe."

A more subdued sound of disagreement swept through the compartment as they started going back. "Florence, Oslo, Juju, you will stay out and act as our familiars, okay?" the twins said, when they saw the trio coming toward them. They nodded their heads and went to the side to allow the twins to change into their robes. when they finished, a voice resounded throughout the train.

"We will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes, please leave your luggage behind as it will be taken to the school separately." The twins looked up for the source of the voice, and when it finished, they shrugged and left their packs clipped to each other. They then sat and waited the five minutes before slowing down and stopping, as they looked out the window, all they could see was a gray sheet of rain falling onto it.

When they looked into the corridor, there was a crowd around the door, which they joined as they went out. Before John stepped outside, his Gauntlets slightly glowed, before the glow became luminescent shields that hovered above them to block the rain that had slowed to a mist as they climbed and sat on Oslo's back. Oslo followed the crowd of kids before everyone heard a voice coming from a lamp, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" before the lamp illuminated a tall man that looked as if he was a giant, which the twins assumed might be possible, as they have heard of them.

"C'mon, follow me! Watcher step now!" the man shouted as he lead them down a path that was slippery due to moss and rain. "Yeh'll get yer first sight of Hogwarts round the bend!" He shouted once more. As the group walked along, some finally noticed the slightly glowing shields in the air that blocked the water. When they tried to get under, they would then notice the twins with a snake and cat riding on a bear. They would then stop attempting to get under the makeshift umbrella.

After a bit, they heard a large collective, "Ooohh..." come from the front of the crowd as they reached a turn. When the twins reached a turn, their eyes widened and their mouths opened as they took in the breathtaking sight of a castle, set on top of a cliff near the lake, with the moon partially hidden behind the tallest turret.

As they continued down the path, it suddenly stopped at the edge of the lake, with a small fleet of boats sitting on the shore. "No more'n four to a boat!" the man shouted once again. He climbed into his own boat, and the twins noticed Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville climb onto a boat as everyone else picked their own.

The twins looked for one that was empty, because they feared with their weight alone they might capsize the small thing, not to mention the others. When they did find one, Oslo joined with them, and the twins took a step on the boat, only to hear a devastating 'Crack!' come from below their two feet.

Everyone looked over, to see them looking down at their feet, as the man walked over and said said, "Whas' wrong?"

"We may have broken the boat." John chuckled nervously.

"How in the nine hells did you break a boat lad!?"

"We're not the usual first years. Professor McGonagall can attest to that." Oriana supplied.

The man looked at her, before sighing and saying, "'Ight then, guess I'll carry yeh meself." He said as he attempted to pick them up. He thought he was lifting them until he realized he was still bent over looking at the ground.

"It's alright Mr..." John started, fishing for a name.

"Hagrid, jus' Hagrid." the man supplemented.

"It's alright, we'll make our way across." John continued

"But I'm s'posed ter take yeh over!" Hagrid said, sounding scared.

"It's alright." Oriana said, "We'll make our way across and explain the situation to Professor McGonagall ourselves, you won't get in trouble."

Hagrid looked at them once more, before getting up, nodding, and then made his way to his boat. "Everyone in?" He shouted, looking at everyone else. "Right then, Forward!" he said, and the boats pulled away, leaving the twins in the dark.

John relaxed his hold over his body, and let Oriana take control of it. They then fused together into their Shiva form, and Oriana shifted their body into that of Monty^(6) the black crocodile, before following the small fleet of boats through the water. They heard a muffled "Heads Down!" as they went in to a cave, {I think we go to the end.} Oriana told John.

[Go for it.]

Oriana sped up, moving past the boats, until they found a small dock, where they climbed up, and then shifted back to holding each others' hand. Their clothes, which they had taken off before shifting, had gotten wet, so John let his shield expand on his arm, before setting it to heat up, drying the clothes. They got dressed, and sat on the edge of the dock, with their feet nearly touching the water.

After a minute, the boats appeared, with Hagrid in the lead. When he spotted them, his mouth gaped open as they waved at him. "How did yeh ... yeh know what, I'll ask yeh later."

He helped everyone off the boats, who looked at the twins with surprise, before calling out, "Oy, You there!" he pointed at Neville. "Is this yer toad?"

Neville gasped, before stretching out his hands and catching "Trevor!" in his hands.

"Alright now! Follow me!" Hagrid said as he lead all of them through a passageway in the stone. At the end of the passage, they came out in the shadow of the castle, and most of the others craned their necks to see the top as they were led up a flight of steps to a large oak door.

Hagrid looked back and said, "Everyone here? Alright then." He knocked on the door thrice, and the door swung open.