"Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

"Daddy, daaad! We're going to Hogwarts aren't we!"

Hermione and Ophelia had been waiting for a while to get their letters from Hogwarts, and now that they had them, Hermione could not wait to send their responses. If her father heard her, she could not say since Hermione was already making her way downstairs with her sister's answer as well as hers on the parchment in her hand. "If you are looking for me, I will be at the owl office to send our answer!"

Once outside, she went north-east passing Gringotts, zigzagging between witches doing their shopping. Slowing down a bit in front of Pandora house she wondered if she should go tell her or not. Hermione made to walk in the direction of the wand shop when she saw him, that boy she's been dreaming about for as long as she could remember.

"Come on mum can't we go get my wand? There is no point in waiting, we know I'm going to Hogwarts next year, I could start practicing!"

His mother laugh could effectively convey easily her amusement but also how she knew her son would be using the prospected wand for so many things other than practicing and starting his magical education early. She saw Hermione looking at them and winked before continuing with the boy.

"As I said to you James, you will be getting your wand after you get your letter, not before."

It made Hermione smile and she was unsure if she should continue on her way or go introduce herself, when the boy mother turned her way.

"Hello dear, are you looking for your parents? Are you lost?"

Hermione smiled at that. "Thank you, ma'am, but no. I know my dad is at home and I'm not lost, I was walking myself to the owl post. Me and my sister just got our Hogwarts letter you see, I can't make them wait."

"Of course, my dear. I am Dorea Potter and this is my son – "

"Harry, I know, I think I know him."

Mrs. Potter frown a bit at Hermione words, while Harry turned her way.

"I'm James actually."

It was now Hermione turn to frown, looking more intensely at James, she could see the difference between him and Harry, but still, they looked almost the same. Not so sure anymore, she just smiled all the same. "Nice to meet you two. I'm sorry, but I must be on my way. I will see you again at the shop or at Hogwarts."

Without waiting for any answer, she continued on her way, leaving the Potters a bit confused.

They just got their letters, finally! Hermione had already run off to post them, she should be back soon, the owl office was not so far off from home. Ophelia had already put her new books on the shelves, she picked up a muggle yellow dress to wear for her birthday.

"Ophelia, have you seen your sister? I heard her earlier, but I didn't quite catch it, I was in the lab." Ethan called from the kitchen, closing her drawer she made her way to him. "Uh, yes, we got our Hogwarts letter this morning and she already went to post our answer. She said we were going, so I hope you changed our plan about going to France for a while, because Hermione just decided it was just not the case. But anyway, I was just not interested. Oh, by the way, what were you doing it the lab today? We finished every order yesterday, did we not?"

She saw his shoulder tense while her poured her some tea, that was interesting, he was not usually secretive about the special orders.

"One of our regular made a special order and he wanted to get his potion as soon as possible. He also asked me to be discreet, which mean, no more questions."

They looked at each other for a few minutes, Ethan getting tenser by the minute, when suddenly Ophelia smiled, excited.

"Oh yes! I remember, is it the search for the werewolf? Sorry, I know you can't talk about it, I just did not think he would already have asked you to work on it. Although it kind of make sense. I'm sorry dad, but I pretty sure you won't find anything. You are not looking at right place… But everything will be fine all the same. You should tell it to your customer, says to him that everything is going to be fine if he stops worrying."

Still smiling, the girl went back to her room. Looking under her bed, she picked up her money jar and to a handful not really looking how much. She put her money in a small pouch which she put in some unshaped bright purple bag (a gift Pandora gave her a few years earlier. No one think it beautiful anymore, but she still uses it). Coming back in the kitchen, she waved her still shocked father.

"I will be at the ice cream parlor, I want some. I don't really care for the time, we just got our letter from school and it is my birthday. Have a good one daddy."

And just before she went out. "Wait! How do you know about the project?"

"Oh, Pandora talked to me about it a few weeks ago. We were talking about someone who is supposed to meet us this summer at her dad's shop and she mentioned how you were going to work on some special order for some time this year. Do not worry about it."

And she went for her ice cream, leaving Ethan worried for her and her friend.

Summer 1971

The summer was so hot, it was disgusting. Ophelia did not see her sister all that much that summer. Hermione said she wanted to start ahead on her books, she already had her books and bought her wand for a while. Ophelia did not, her father gave her the money with a little extra if she wanted to get herself a familiar or something else. She had kept the money since he gave it to her, along with her allowance and some extras she made after helping her father with his potions or helping at the wand shop.

She had started thinking about looking for her school things, she wanted to make it an event with her best friend Pandora. Ever since they met at her mother funeral the two girls had become inseparable. Ophelia loved Hermione, she was her twin and while they had a special relationship, with Pandora it was something else. They were kindred spirit. They understood each other as they understood themselves. And they had decided to shop together for their things that summer. It was how they found themselves sitting in the stairs at Ollivanders wand shop one too hot afternoon in July.

"They are late. Are you sure they were coming today to get their wand? Who would want to get out today? Even the cooling charms dad cast in the shop does not seem to be working. How is it so hot anyway?"

Pandora didn't look impressed with her friend but helped her anyway while the other girl was putting her hair up in a messy bun on top of her head with what seems to be an amulet made of seashells and crow feathers. It gave her an odd look.

"They are coming. They must be nervous I did not send them an invitation, they would not have come. Wild animal tends to get nervous when they feel hunted…"

"As they are not hunted… Or wild, why are they late?"

At the same moment, the bell at the door rang and a boy came in with his father. The boy had sandy hair, he looked a bit pale with a scar in his face, starting at the hairline and ending at his collarbone, his eyes were green and sometime, it was possible to see flecks of gold in them. While his father walked to the counter to wait for Garrick, Ophelia spoke up. "You are late!"

Remus looked at the girl who just spoke before looking around himself, beside the girl at her side, which she obviously was not speaking to, there was only himself and his father. He stares at the girls for a few seconds before remembering himself.

"I'm sorry? I did not realise I was."

The girl frowned. "We probably forgot to tell you. We usually do."

He didn't know what to say, the two girls were at the stairs. The one who spoke had her brown hair on top of her head with seashells and feathers in them, she wore a silver beaded charmed bracelet and was clad in a short blue dress with silver stars and moons on it. Her eyes were the same golden his sometime became when he was agitated, although she did not seem to be and her eyes were not changing colors either. The other girl had long blond hair with big silver blue eyes, she too, was in a dress, sunny yellow and she sported a bracelet made of what seemed to be leaves and nuts. They had a strange aura around them that made him nervous and calm at the same time. Remus was saved from answering them when the wandmaker came at the counter.

September first

"Is it alright if we sit with you all? Most compartments are already full or with too many people for us…"

Hermione knew they were not alone after they changed, but she did not really pay much attention to who exactly were following. As soon as they boarded the train, Pandora said they should change into their school robes so they would not be caught later. One thing she knew was that when Pandora or her sister said to do something, you usually did it, they just knew.

And now, there was a vaguely familiar boy with a red haired girl asking to come in. The boy was tall and he looked like he could use a few hearty meals, his skin was so pale, it looked like marble. It gave such contrast with his dark eyes and black hair. The girl was not as tall as the boy, but she was most definitely taller than either of the girls already in the compartment. She had long fiery hair and emerald eyes, Hermione smiled to them.

"Hello, yes you can come in. I'm Hermione, this is my sister Ophelia and our friend Pandora." She pointed to the girls while doing the introductions, they both smiled, but neither said anything. Turn out; the girl was Lily Evans and the boy Severus Snape. For some reason both those name seemed to be familiar to Hermione, it been happening a few time. As if she knew them or been friend with someone who spoke of them often, she could not explain the feeling. Maybe it was just something in her family, being a bit weird and outcast.

The castle was even more beautiful than he thought it would be. It was good to be away from Spinner's End. The train ride had been uneventful which he was grateful of. Lily found them somewhere to sit, with three other girls, two of them were definitely twins, but even if they looked alike, it seems like the similarity ended there. The other one he saw when he went with Lily for their wands, her father owned the wands shop, she made him uneasy with the way she had to look at you as if she already knew who you were, but it did not matter because they had all been nice even if he did not want to speak with them and that made him happy.

The sorting had already begun, he realized it because everyone had just stopped talking, there was something about a Black boy being in Gryffindor, shocking.

"Amelia Bones"

"Hufflepuff!"

Severus just could not bring himself to care, he just wanted to be in the same house as Lily, hopefully in Slytherin, but mostly, he wanted to be with her.

"Lily Evans"

His attention snapped back in the present to watch Lily sit with the hat in front of the great hall, she was jittery he could see it in her movements.

"There is an awful lot of Gryffindor this year. I think I'm happy not to be one, I don't think I would like being with so many people all the time."

It was one of the twin girls; he could not remember her name.

"How can you know? Most of us haven't been shorted yet. You have not been sorted yet."

She looked at him for sometime, long enough to make him a bit nervous and then she smiled, she had a nice smile, it did not seem forced nor mean.

"I'm sure you can guess which house you will be in and I'm sure you must know which houses you won't be in."

"Gryffindor!"

The twin was right, he knew he would not be in Gryffindor and it made it all the more difficult because now there was no way he would be with Lily. He was forced out of his thought by the golden eyed twin girl beside him when she whooped at her blonde friend walking to the Ravenclaw table, he forced himself to pay attention to the rest of the sorting ceremony, they were less than ten now, some Pettigrew and Potter went to Gryffindor too. She was right, there was a lot being sorted to Gryffindor.

"Hermione Reeds"

There was the other twin, so the one beside him was… He could not remember, he was pretty sure it was Shakespearean too.

"Gryffindor!"

He could not restrain himself this time, he groaned, while the Gryffindor table busted in applauds again. Would everyone he knew be in Gryffindor? It would be surprising to get twin in different houses even if the girl thought it would be the case.

"Ophelia Reeds"

Severus looked as the girl danced her way to the front of the hall, some people laugh at her, and even he couldn't help a twitch of his lips. Her name was Shakespearean, he knew that much and it seems she, too, knew some when the Sorting hat called her to be –

"Ravenclaw!"

She smiled at him before making her way to her friend already in Ravenclaw.

"Severus Snape"

It was his time and as he waited to be sorted he thought that maybe, it would not be that bad in a different house than Lily, maybe he would be able to make other friends... Maybe Hogwarts would make everything better than Spinner's End.

"Slytherin!"