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Author: Lady Chi Story: Double Trouble Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-OotP Status: Completed Reviews: 3 Words: 54,062
For Risa, a.k.a. Shinou, my partner in crime, who provided me with the soundtrack for this chapter. God bless you. Jessica sat in the nearest car to the back of the train with her brothers, pondering her next chess move. Across from her, Mick shoved up his glasses and grinned. A younger, red-haired version of their father, Mick had inherited his Uncle Ron's talent for chess. "You don't have a move," he said in that soft, patient way he had. "You could just save yourself a lot of pain and trouble and order your king to remove his crown now…" "Brian Michael Potter," Jessica said, looking up from the board to stare her brother straight in the eyes. "Shut up." Mick grinned. "I'm just trying to help you out." Jamie regarded them with his deceptively serious looking green eyes. "Jessica, if Mick says he's got you beat…" Jessica made a frustrated sound. "…Then you can be pretty sure there's some other move on the board that he doesn't want you to know about," Jamie finished. Jessica looked up at Jamie and they laughed conspiratorially. Mick smiled. "I'm just trying to make your defeat less painful." "Of course," Jessica retorted. "I need your help like I need a hole in the head." "Don't you think it's a bit odd that no one has…" Jamie started, but then the car door slid open. "Excuse me, but do you blokes have room for two others?" Jamie ran a hand through his jet-black hair, as if considering. Then he grinned and said, "Yes. Come right in." Sliding the door open to enter, a young boy in his second year with a Gryffindor crest on his robes entered the car. "We had a bit of trouble getting our trunks put away," he said. Behind him, a young girl with no crest on her robes entered the car. "This is my sister, Delia. I'm Gareth Williams." "Hullo Delia, Gareth," Mick said, and prodded the chess pieces with his finger. "Your move, sister mine." "I would move if you would shut up," Jessica whispered in between clenched teeth. "Honestly." Gareth wasn't much taller than the Potter boys, who were small for their age. He had golden hair, and slightly crooked teeth, and once he saw that Jamie was reading "The Adventures of Sherwin Homel," the wizarding version of Sherlock Holmes, he settled right in. "That's a great book," he said conversationally. "It is," Jamie agreed. "I'm James Potter. Call me Jamie." "I'm Brian Michael Potter," Mick said, "but that's a bit tedious, so call me Mick." Gareth laughed. "That's true." "I'm Jessica Potter," Jessica said, "and I would say a bit more, but making my brother look ridiculous at chess is taking all of the concentration of I've got right now." Delia chose to sit next to Jessica, and watched the game with avid attention. "So," she said at length, "what's the object of the game?" Mick looked up, startled. "I'm trying to capture her king." "It's a bit more complicated than that, Mick," Jessica said, and blew the strand of hair that had fallen into her face out of the way. "The pieces can only move certain ways, and in certain amounts. Sometimes it can take hours to play, sometimes it takes only minutes." "With her, most of the time it's minutes," Mick interrupted. Delia blinked. "She beats you that quickly?" The car erupted into laughter. "I like you already," Jamie said, and wiped his eyes. "Wait a minute. I just made the connection," Gareth said. All of the Potters inwardly cringed. Here it came. "You're Harry Potter's kids, right?" "Yes, that's right," Jamie said proudly. Most of the time, when people talked to them about their parents, they were grateful and respectful, but some were just mean, and those that remembered Jessica was not the Potter's biological child sometimes attacked her, as well. "That's cool," Gareth said, Delia nodded, and that was that. Jamie, Mick and Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. These confrontations could be awkward, and they wanted their first day of school to go well. "You're triplets, right?" Delia asked, resting her chin in her hand. "For all of our purposes, yes," Mick answered evasively. "That is, as far as we're concerned, we are." "That's all that matters," Gareth said. "What do other people know?" "Not much at all, I've found," Jamie responded, and half smiled. Delia tucked her legs up on the seat. "Where do you think you'll be Sorted to?" "Gryffindor's good, but all of the houses are decent. Except for Slytherin. They seem to be nasty blokes," Gareth said. "I think I might end up in Ravenclaw," Delia muttered. "That wouldn't be so bad, would it?" Gareth looked at her sharply. "No, it wouldn't. It doesn't matter what house you get sorted into, Delia. You'll be at Hogwarts, and that's what counts, no matter what Dad says." "I'm not sure what House I'll be in, either," Jessica commented, and ordered a pawn to move forward a space. Much to her distress, Mick captured it with his knight. "You'll be in Gryffindor, like the rest of us," Jamie said fiercely. But underneath it all, even he was wondering if he had what it took to be in the same house that the rest of his family had been Sorted into. "I hope so," Jessica whispered. "Does the train ever stop?" Mick wondered aloud as he forced Jessica's queen to surrender to his castle. "We'll get there eventually," Gareth said and stretched his legs out. They ached, and he had a feeling it had to do with the fact that he was growing. "Eventually," Jessica sighed. "I just want to get the first day over and done with." "It's not so bad," Gareth, the voice of experience, said. "It's a little bit intimidating at first, but you'll get used to it. Besides, almost everyone understands what you're going through." "Almost everyone?" Delia squeaked. "There are gits at Hogwarts, just like everywhere else." Jamie and Mick glanced at each other. Jamie almost licked his lips in anticipation. "We can't wait to get through the first day, either. We've got to scope out the territory." "We've got to insure certain…artifacts that have come into our possession still work properly…" Mick continued. "There's the secret passageways, the teachers," Jamie sighed. "There's so much to be done, and so little time to get it done before we gain a reputation." "What about you?" Gareth turned to Jessica. "Are you in on their plots?" "Only the more dangerous ones," Jessica drawled. "I don't jump into things that don't involve life-endangering experiences. It's just not worth it, otherwise. Gareth grinned. "You're going to like Hogwarts, then." "That's what Dad tells me," Jessica said with a grin. "He was the same way, but not by choice, the way he tells it." "The way Mum tells it," Mick interrupted, "Dad was always jumping into those situations. According to her, he had a choice, it was just that he didn't always think it through. She thinks we're supposed to learn a lesson or something from all of that." Jamie shook his head. "Parents." The rest of the car agreed with him. "Something from the cart, dears?" A plump woman entered the compartment pushing a tray full of sweets. "No, thank you," Gareth said, and waved his hand. "We'll take some of that," Jamie said and stood. "What should we get?" Jessica jumped from her seat, and so did Mick. They made small talk and jokes as they inspected the candy and made their decisions. "I can't believe you bought those," Jessica said to Mick. "Why? What's wrong with Every Flavoured Beans?" "They're absolutely disgusting, that's what's wrong," she retorted crossly. "Just because they made you sick that one time…" Mick threw back. "I had the flu, and you gave me a vomit flavoured one!" "I didn't know you were sick!" Jessica sighed and rolled her eyes. "Even the smell of them makes me queasy." Mick shrugged. "Sorry. Don't sit too close to me, then." Delia smiled. "Bertie Botts'?" "Of course. That's the only kind there is," Mick said and popped one into his mouth. "Banana cream! Wicked…" "We apologize for him," Jessica said, and patted Mick's knee. "He can't help himself, you know. The doctors think it has something to do with not getting enough oxygen to his brain during the delivery process." Jamie shook his head. "We all know the truth, though. He was like this from the very beginning, even before birth." Mick displayed his teeth in something that might have been a smile. "Keep in mind, James Albus Potter, that I know where you sleep." Shrugging, Jamie popped a bean into his mouth and held it on the tip of his tongue while he talked. "That doesn't worry me so much. It's the fact that you know where I eat that bothers me. What's even more disturbing than that fearful thought is that you know where the kitchens are located. I shall be watching myself carefully." "That's a bit too easy, don't you think?" Mick asked. "I'd give me a bit more creative credit than that." Jamie shook his head. "I know your mental limitations. I'll be watching my food." "I could use a sneak attack," Mick countered. "I could have Jessica, um, do something…" "Like I said. I'll be watching my food." Turning to see who was poking her in the side, Jessica found herself face to face with Delia. The pretty brown-haired girl seemed just a bit scared. "Are they serious?" Jessica fought the urge to laugh in the obviously naïve young girl's face. "No. Jamie and Mick may make fun of each other, but they would never hurt each other, and if one of them is threatened by an outsider, they're on it right away." "Gareth's like that for me, but he says I don't have to worry about him." "We all need someone to worry about us," Jessica said. "I just happen to have two brothers to do that for me. You've got Gareth, and he's got you." "Yes, he does." Delia turned, suddenly thoughtful. "That was odd," Jessica muttered to herself. They finally stopped, and when they got off the train, a tired and worried Remus Lupin met them. "First years! First years follow me, please!" "What's going on?" Delia asked Gareth. "It's nothing, Delia. It's just a boat ride. It's tradition. I'll see you up at the Great Hall, okay?" "All right." Delia looked only slightly doubtfully. "Come on," Jessica said a little impatiently, "you can ride with us." "All right," Delia said again. Jessica reflected that if she was going to hang with the Potters much longer, she was going to have to develop more of a backbone, though the comment about beating Mick at chess was really well done. From the boats, Jessica got her first real view of Hogwarts. She'd seen pictures of it, of course. Her mother and father had scrapbooks full of pictures of everything from Quidditch to snowball fights to swims in the lake. For all of the wonderful things she'd heard about it, nothing compared to seeing the castle for herself, finally. It was lit up, so that each individual tower could be seen plainly, and the light from the castle itself reflected on the lake water so that she couldn't see her own reflection in the water. It was large, it was majestic, it was somehow intimidating, and this was to be her home until Christmas. "What do you think of it?" Remus, or Professor Lupin, as the children were expected to call him at school, asked. "Oh, it's marvelous!" Jessica breathed. "I can see why Dad and Mum liked it so much." Jamie and Mick exchanged glances. "It looks like a challenge," was Jamie's verdict, a statement that made Remus laugh. "The lights are wonderful," Jessica continued, "and it's so large, and it just feels right to finally be here." Remus's face lit up with a rare smile. "I'm glad you feel that way. It will make your life easier, at least." "Are you going to be there for the Sorting?" Jessica bounced a little in the boat, a motion that made some of her classmates a little angry. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world." "I hope I'm in Gryffindor," Jessica whispered in what she thought was a tone that no one could hear. "You're a Potter," Remus said simply. Jessica nodded. "Yes, I am." They were guided into a hallway, and Remus told them to wait until the Deputy Headmaster came to tell them more about the Sorting. At first, the first years were quiet, but then one student started talking to another, and soon the conversation level had risen to a gentle murmur. There was a sudden silencing when several clicks announced the arrival of someone. "Welcome to Hogwarts," he said, and sneered at the Potter children. "Being here is a privilege, not a right granted to you by your parents, no matter who they are, or how special you think you are. The Sorting is important as it will tell you which House you will be living in during the next seven years of your life. "I'm Professor Severus Snape. Follow me, please." If you're enjoying this, please take a moment and join my Yahoo! 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