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Chapter One: Dodging Dungbombs

Birdcage in one hand and a satchel slung over her shoulder, Verity Stone watched with apprehension as child after child disappeared into a wall at London's King's Cross station. She was an odd sight to behold, a young girl of seventeen dressed in a normal fashion of jeans and a tee shirt but the owl was far from ordinary, who carried an owl as a pet? With a deep breath, she took the handle of the trolley in front of her, loaded up with a heavy looking trunk, and ran at the wall, disappearing from view, to Muggles at least. Gasping as she appeared on the other side, Verity had to wait a moment for the steam to clear before she took in the view of the impressive Hogwart's Express, this was a far cry from the delicate carriages of Beauxbatons back in her beloved France. The thought of her old home send a shadow scudding across her face for a moment before she steeled herself and plastered a default expression back on, hiding her true emotions from the public, she would not start a new school with the title of Crybaby.

Handing her trolley to the porters, she hoisted her satchel up on her shoulder once more and began to walk down the platform, searching for a carriage. That proved to be more difficult than she imagined. She found herself dodging falling trunks, escaped pets and distraught parents on top of all the students still milling around the platform.. Finally reaching a door which wasn't clogged by family traffic, Verity swung herself up onto the train just to bang into someone taller than her. The unpleasant feeling of falling rushed up from her stomach as she began to tip backwards off the train once more, her honey brown eyes glued to the red headed boy who she had bumped into. But before she could fall much further, he leaned forward and scooped an arm around her waist, dragging her back upright and flush against him.

"Sorry about that. You okay Love?" His voice was a pleasant average tone, it matched the grin which lit up his face.

"Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, that was really clumsy of me."

Before the boy could answer her, another boy appeared beside him causing Verity to blink in confusion, her eyes flicking between the two of them.

"Knocking another girl off her feet Fred?"

"They just can't resist me George."

Twins. That was going to be confusing. Someone slammed the door closed behind her, the force sending her staggering against the boy called Fred. He promptly fell into his brother George, and all three of them ended up in a heap on the floor.

"Ugh, I think I've broken something..."

"Yeah, my vial of fairy dust..."

Verity stared as her satchel began to rise of its own accord, or rather the contents were just dragging it into the air, very dubious contents. Struggling to untangle herself from the mess of limbs, she tried to lunge for the bag but missed, ending up on top of George with a small shriek. A tearing noise made them all look up, three pairs of brown eyes staring as half a dozen dungbombs ripped themselves free of the fabric. With a flick of her wand, a skilful feat considering she was half upside-down, the brunette whispered harshly as the pranking tools disappeared along the corridor into the Slytherin section of the train.

"Latet Occultus! Rixei!"

The dungbombs immediately vanished as Verity threw the invisibility charm at them, knowing that the effect only lasted a minute or two and quickly followed it with a Tripping jinx.

"We need to go! Before they realise those came from this direction!"

Getting to her feet, she reached for two hands, helping the boys to their feet and yanking them into a nearby compartment which was thankfully empty. She chucked her now ruined bag on the bench and propped her booted feet up, yanking a bottle of juice from the front pocket as the twins sat down. A minute later and the screams started, with several students running along the corridor of the train with hands held over their mouths. She couldn't help but wince at the scene, that had been her entire supply of dungbombs, it would be at least a month before she could get more.

"Oops..."

"Oops? You just created pandemonium with a few simple charms and some dungbombs!"

She cringed and suddenly found the laces on her boots very interesting, her red varnished nails picking at the strings. The laughter came out of nowhere, causing her head to jerk up in surprise. The twins were roaring with amusement, Fred was actually tearing up while George fought to breathe properly.

"W-what? What's so funny! I'm out of dungbombs now, how am I going to raid the kitchens without a distraction?"

Fred wiped his eyes and held out a hand to her, his cheerful face beaming. A little nervous, she took the hand and was rewarded with a yank into a three-way bear hug.

"That was brilliant. Who are you and can we keep you?"

"Uh, Verity Stone...not sure which house I'm in yet."

Twin grins grew bigger as they regarded the new classmate in their laps, brown eyes twinkling with mischief.

"I think you're safe with that. We're Fred and George Weasley, welcome to Hogwarts."