Of Earth and Sky

I'm too sexy for my shirt

Too sexy for my shirt

So sexy it hurts...

'Cos I'm a model you know what I mean

And I do my little turn on the catwalk

Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah

I shake my little touche on the catwalk

It's Not Cheap; It's Vintage!

Diagon Alley was extraordinary. If not for Cassie's cool head Alex would have been lost in an instant. There was more to see in Diagon Alley then Alex could conceivably wrap her head around. Each day they came home to the Huntington family wing of the Leaky Cauldron, Cassie laden down with shopping bags, and Alex's head spinning. Although she usually required some of her mother's headache tonic, she would always look forward to the next day.

After the first day the twins didn't spend much time with their cousins. For, the trip was more about spending time with parents than with each other. The Huntington family tradition of the Diagon Alley trip was created so that Huntington parents could spend the last days of their children's childhood with them. Soon enough the cousins would go off to school where they could see each other as often as they liked, but their parents would only see them on holidays and summer break. Alex rather enjoyed the time with her parents, but Cassie seemed to be more embarrassed than glad of their company. Michael and Carlton seemed to share Cassie's opinion of family time, but Olivia appeared to not mind her parents company. "They're buying me all sorts of stuff," she explained one night in the room she shared with the twins, "who am I to complain?"

Carlton spent his days getting into as much trouble as possible. Occasionally the twins would spot him ogling the new Nimbus 2001's, or trying to discreetly sneak off toward Knockturn Alley. Luckily Aunt Lucile knew Carlton like only a mother could. He had gone only a few steps away from her before she had grabbed his ear and was dragging him back to look at some new potion resistant cauldrons. Needless to say, Carlton usually came back to the Leaky Cauldron cross and plotting his next day's escapades.

Michael likewise did his best to get 'accidentally' separated from his parents. He had found a group of older Hogwarts students who were quite emo and into the same dark depressing muggle music that Michael found so fascinating. "They are the most enlightened people I've ever met!" Michael gushed, his morose persona lifting for an instant as he described his newfound idols.

Carlton jumped up and down, an expression of false rapture playing across his face. "Oh yes!' he exclaimed giving Michael an enormous hug, "They are absolutely fabulous! Their views on how fucked up the world is, and the dark prospects of the human race are so refreshing!" Carlton dropped Michael from his bear hug and smirked mercilessly, "God Mikey, sometimes you are so gay!"

Olivia promptly smacked Carlton upside the head. "Congratulations Carlton," she said acidly, "You've managed to be ignorant, repulsive and completely not-funny all in two sentences! Oh wait, that's no different from the usual rot you spout."

Michael nodded, pouting, "Yeah. I am so not gay! And you said the f-word. I'm going to go tell Aunt Lucy!" Carlton stuck his tongue out at Michael, and he bristled angrily, "And don't call me Mikey! My name's Michael!"

"Now children," Cassie strode gracefully between Carlton and her other two cousins, "no need to be hostile. I have been waiting ages for this trip. I'm sure you all feel likewise." The others all nodded, grudgingly. Cassie smirked evilly, "Right. So you all can argue however much you want. However if you do it anywhere near me I will use a hex I learned from cousin Penny on all of you." She picked at an imaginary speck of dust on her impeccable robes, "Really. I've been dying to practice on someone. I'm not particular, anyone will do. I've had to practice on spiders, and now I'm pretty sure I've got it down."

Olivia, Michael and Carlton all said a hurried good night and quickly disappeared into their separate rooms.

Cassie turned to face her twin, grinning evilly. "I know, I know," she held up a hand modestly, "I have such spectacular people skills." She sighed heavily, an almost tearful look in her eye and feigning accepting a bouquet of flowers, "I really couldn't accept such an award! Really, all I want is world peace; oh, and an endless supply of shoes."

Alex shook her head, smiling wistfully, "Good God Cassie, sometimes I have to remind myself you're only eleven."

Cassie giggled in a very un-mature manner and wrinkled her nose in a way that their parents said was sweet, "Yeah I know. I'll make all those third year boys mouths water. The looks on their faces will be priceless when I tell them I'm only in first year."

Alex stood up straighter and through back her head to make herself appear taller, "Hey! What about me? We're identical twins, remember?"

Cassie sighed again and patted Alex comfortingly on the shoulder. "Only in appearance, I'm afraid. I'm sorry Alex but you just don't have my personality." Alex wilted slightly, and Cassie smiled genuinely, "Besides, we've only just turned eleven. I'm sure we won't be interested in boys until at least next year. It's just fun messing with their heads is all."

Comforted slightly, Alex followed her into their room. Olivia was still fuming on her bed, but as soon as she saw Cassie came in she pulled the hangings around her bed and pretended to sleep while the twins got ready for bed.

*

The next day Mr. and Mrs. Huntington approached the twins, a rather haggard look on both their faces. "I'm sorry dears," Mrs. Huntington said, obviously out of breath, "But Daddy and I have been called away quite suddenly. The ministry needs to consult your father and I on some important matters, so we'll be going into London. Your aunts and uncles will look after you, but we trust you two to stick together..."

"What your mother means is," Mr. Huntington cut in, "is that we're letting you go out into the Alley today by yourselves. Now listen to me, don't go near Knockturn Alley, and stay together."

Mrs. Huntington tugged lightly on Mr. Huntington's robe sleeve, "I'm sorry darling, but they expect us to be at the department in five minutes, we have to get to the apparating point now." Mrs. Huntington swiftly hugged her daughters, "Good bye darlings, and please, don't get into trouble while we're gone..."

"Branwyn..."

Mrs. Huntington nodded, "Yes I know Charles. Good-bye girls. Have fun!" And with that Mr. and Mrs. Huntington swept out the door, leaving their twin daughters to finish breakfast by themselves.

"Well," said Alex after a long silence, "Now we finally get to explore the Alley ourselves." Alex only had to see the grin creeping across her twin's face to know that it was going to be a day to remember.

*

"Hurry up Alex!" Cassie called over her shoulder. The twins were busy navigating through the crowds in the Alley. As soon as Cassie had found out that they would be spending the day without adult supervision she began writing down a list of shops she absolutely had to go to. Almost all of these shops were cloths shops.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Alex cried, her arms laden down with bags. Cassie held a large amount of bags as well, but years of heavy shopping with their mother had trained her much better than her more academically inclined sister.

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Come on Alex, the next one is just around the corner," Cassie stopped outside a very shabby looking shop. The gold paint on the sign was almost entirely worn away so they could only just make out the name 'Madame Carmen's Wizard Consignments.'

Alex dropped her bags on the sidewalk and raised an eyebrow. "Cass, you can't be serious..."

"Oh but I am," Cassie smiled genuinely, "There's some stuff in here I won't be able to find anywhere else."

She led the way inside the dingy shop. Inside was a mix of outdated wizard and muggle clothes. There was a hundred armed hat rack full of old-fashioned hats and shelves upon shelves of shoes. In the center of the room were racks and racks of robes in every cut and color imaginable, as well as muggle trousers, t-shirts jumpers and any other article of clothing imaginable. Alex's mouth dropped open as she stared at the amazing array of merchandise.

Cassie's smile widened visibly, "Told you Alex! Now come here and look at these. I'm telling you every plausible fashion critic has been saying that vintage is in this season."

Alex plucked a humungous red velvet hat adorned with a very long white feather from the rack. As soon as she tried it on it fell over her face. "Cassie." She cried, her voice muffled by the hat, "Cassandra, I need some help here..." As she stumbled forward hands out in front of her she tripped over a stray shoe and bumped into a girl.

"Um, do you need some help?" The red haired girl carefully lifted the hat off Alex's head.

"Thanks!" Alex took the hat and hung it back on the rack. "Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me; I'm Alexandra Huntington." Alex stuck out a hand for the girl to shake.

"Ginevra Weasley."

Alex smiled, "Of course, no one actually calls me Alexandra, it's Alex."

Ginevra smiled, "I know what you mean. It's Ginny."

Alex nodded, "Nice name. At least it's better than Alexandra Cornelia Huntington." Cassie appeared from behind a rack. Alex grabbed her arm and dragged her over.

"Alex, I've just found these splendid muggle trousers called jeans. They're amazing..." It wasn't until then that Cassie spotted Ginny. "Oh, hello."

"This is Ginny Weasley." Alex said in her best mannered voice, "Ginny, this is my sister Cassandra, well, Cassie."

Cassie smiled, "Charmed, I'm sure."

Ginny blushed, "Same to you."

Alex smiled. She liked this girl. She was around the same height as the twins, with bright red hair and a small spattering of freckles across her nose. Her clothes looked slightly worn, but she radiated a persona that immediately made Alex forget about her appearance. The girl smiled shyly.

"Um, are you two twins?" she asked, obviously a little embarrassed.

Cassie nodded. "Yes. And believe you me, it's not all it's cracked up to be." Cassie took in Ginny, looking over every inch of the girl. She stopped when she reached her jumper. It was fairly worn and had a small hole in the elbow. Cassie put a had on her shoulder, "God Lord child, you are so lucky you have met me." She looked heavenward, "God obviously sent you to me so I could aid you in your current fashion crisis!"

Alex giggled as Cassie dragged Ginny over to a rack and started pulling clothes, wizard robes and muggle clothes, off it. Each item she held up against Ginny, squinted and wrinkled her nose. "Nope. Not that one." Soon there was a large pile of discarded clothing.

"Is she always like this?" Ginny asked quietly as Cassie moved over to another rack.

Alex nodded sadly, "If she put as much thought into her studies as fashion she would be top of the year in no time."

Ginny looked a little confused, "Are you two second years?"

"No, no!" Alex laughed, "We've only just turned eleven. However some of our Aunts and Uncles have been tutoring us since we were four. We've studied, well; I've studied all sorts of things. Cassie studies Witch Weekly.

The two girls shared a laugh while Cassie pulled a forest green robe out of the rack and smiled, satisfactory all over her face. "I've found it." She grabbed Ginny's wrist and pressed the robe into her hands. "Go, try this on. Oh, wait," she grabbed a couple of pairs of jeans and several t-shirts. "These too. Now go."

As Ginny disappeared into the dressing room Alex turned to face her sister. "Well, isn't this fortunate!" She said happily, "Now we'll know someone other than relatives in our year before we even get to Hogwarts!"

Cassie nodded, "I quite agree. And she's nice, for all her lack of fashion sense." They waited for a few more minutes before Ginny emerged from the dressing room.

"Wow." The twins exclaimed in unison. Cassie nodded a smile of victory on her face. "Yes, I think this will do just fine."

Ginny twirled and the hem of the robe flew out slightly. The dark green fabric was light and the pattern of leaves had been charmed to shimmer slightly even without light. She looked in the mirror, and put a hand up to shield her amazement. "Oh Cassie, it looks wonderful!" Ginny disappeared back into the dressing room and tried on the rest of the clothes Cassie had picked out. Alex and Cassie nodded with approval every time she emerged from the dressing room. Ginny turned to face the twins, blushing slightly, "I've always had to wear secondhand clothes because my family can't afford new ones. I never thought I could find such beautiful things in a secondhand place."

Cassie put a loving hand on Ginny's shoulder. "First of all, it's not cheap, it's vintage. And second, you're only as beautiful as you feel." Cassie stepped back and struck a pose, "For example, I think I look fabulous, thus I do look fabulous. It's a kind of attitude. You can be the prettiest girl in the world, but if you don't act like it no one will see you that way.

Ginny hugged Cassie fiercely. Cassie looked extremely surprised, but after a moment she softened and patted Ginny on the back. "There now, that's quite enough. You just needed someone to point you in the right direction."

Alex had been thinking for a moment. "Ginny, did you say your name was Ginny Weasley?"

She nodded, releasing Cassie.

"Any relation to Percy Weasley?"

Now Ginny looked slightly confused. "Well, yes he's one of my older brothers, and why are you two giggling like mad?"

Cassie took in a deep breath to try and calm her laughter down, "Well, let's say we have a relation who's um, involved with him."

Alex nodded, trying, but failing to keep a straight face, "Yes. I think he's the one shagging cousin Penny."

Comprehension dawned on Ginny's face, and she too started to giggle madly. "You two are related to Penelope Clearwater?"

The twins nodded and broke into gales of laughter. All three girls laughed so long and hard they ended up lying on the floor of the shop.

"Ginny? Ginevra Weasley! What are you doing rolling around on the floor like some kind of animal?"

Ginny sat up quickly and blushed fiercely. The twins sat up as well, their laughter fading at the sight of this red-haired woman who was obviously Ginny's mother. "Um, mum, these are the Huntington twins, Alexandra and Cassandra. They're cousins of Penelope's."

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Well dear, have you found what you need?"

Ginny smiled, "Yes mum, all thanks to Cassie. She dug through and found all these fabulous things hidden in the racks."

Alex stood up and offered a hand to Mrs. Weasley. Cassie immediately followed suit. "Pleased to meet you Mrs. Weasley." Alex said in her best mannered voice. "We'll be starting at Hogwarts this year with Ginny."

"Well it's nice that Ginny has found some students her own age. Ginny we've got to get over to the Leaky Cauldron. Your father, the twins and Ron and Harry and Hermione are already there. After that fiasco in Flourish and Blotts earlier today I think we had better get some relaxing time."

Cassie had already gathered up all her bags. "We'll go with you. Our parents should be arriving back from their ministry meeting soon and they'll be expecting us to be back at the Leaky Cauldron when they get back."

Mrs. Weasley smiled in a very motherly fashion. "Well, I suppose you two had better come with us."

And so the twins went with the Weasley's back to the Leaky Cauldron. Alex was very happy. It wasn't so bad, being away from their parents. Plus she had found a new friend. Not to mention an absolutely fabulous pair of jeans.

*

The four of them walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Olivia and Carlton were engaged in a heated argument with Michael adding the occasional scathing comment. Apparently Carlton had stolen Olivia's copy of Magical Me and accidentally spilled Alex's headache tonic all over the cover. The Lockhart on the cover was no longer smiling toothily, but cowering in a corner and wringing out his robes.

"Hey you all!" Alex nearly bounced as she walked over to her cousins. "This is Ginny Weasley." Ginny smiled shyly and waved a hand in greeting at the three other children.

Cassie dragged on Ginny's arm. "Well, now you met our family. Not very interesting. You'll have plenty of time to chat with them at school. I want to meet your family."

Ginny walked over to a large table full of Adult wizards and older students. She cleared her throat and all of them turned to face her. She blushed slightly. "Um, these are my new friends Alex and Cassie."

The twins smiled, "Hello!"

Ginny relaxed a little. "This is Fred and George. They're fourth years, and obviously twins." The twin boys with shocking red hair waved, and then turned back to talking amongst themselves.

"They're real practical jokers." Ginny whispered to Alex, "Always developing new joke things like joke sweets and wands."

The oldest boy at the table stood and shook the twins' hands. He looked very prim and wore horn-rimmed glasses. "Percy Weasley, pleased to meet you." Percy became immensely annoyed when the twins immediately began to giggle uncontrollably. "Honestly," he muttered as he took his seat, "Girls these days, so immature."

Ginny grinned evilly, "The twins are cousins of Penelope Clearwater." Percy immediately blushed fiercely. Even his ears turn a violent shade of red. He did not speak to anyone for the rest of dinner.

Alex smiled. She knew it was rather mean, but she got a kick out of embarrassing people. It was one of the few traits she shared with Cassie.

A red-haired boy who appeared to be only a little older than Ginny looked over at them. He hadn't noticed the girls before because he had been deep in conversation with a bushy haired girl and a boy with messy black hair and glasses. "Oy Gin, who are your friends?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ron, I've just spent the last ten minutes introducing them. These are Alex and Cassie Huntington. I met them in a shop today. They'll be in my year."

Ron nodded and turned back to his friends. The bushy-haired girl smacked him upside the head. Alex already liked this girl. "Ron!" she exclaimed in a very exasperated voice, "Ginny just introduced you to her friends, you could at least acknowledge their existence." She smiled kindly and extended a hand for them to shake. "I'm Hermione Granger. You've met this completely unmannered oaf called Ronald Weasley, and this," she gestured to the dark-haired boy, "is Harry Potter."

Alex only missed a beat as she quickly glanced up at the lightning shaped scar on the boy's forehead. "Um, wow, pleased to meet you."

The boy shook their hands politely. He had a nice handshake, the handshake of a person who did it often. "Nice to meet you too. Ginny, if you wouldn't mind, Ron, Hermione and I have something very important to discuss. We'll tell you about it later, but now why don't you and the twins get to know each other better."

After the girls had retreated to a secluded corner of the pub Cassie nodded approvingly. "That was very tactful. He didn't tell us to go away, or that we were too young to hear about it. He just told you that he'd tell you later. Very diplomatic."

Alex nodded in agreement. "Yes I completely agree. But I suppose he's had lots of practice."

Ginny shrugged. "Actually I don't talk to him that much. Hermione tells me everything. She's really nice. Plus she keeps my idiot of a brother in check."

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley called, "Ginny darling, we've got to go home. Lots to pack you know! You'll see your friends on the train. Say good-bye."

Ginny rolled her eyes and ran to catch up with the rest of her family. "See you!' she called right before she disappeared into the fireplace calling, "The Burrow!"

"I like her." Said Alex calmly as they sipped Butterbeer.

Cassie nodded. "Me too. Me too."