The Loony Lunaris Twins

Danielle Lunaris woke to something or someone tapping lightly on her head. Rather than swat away the annoyance she turned over and stuck her head under her pillow. Taking the challenge, the obnoxious something moved to tap between the sleeping girls shoulder blades. The dark haired girl groaned and peaked grogilly out from under the pillow. "It can't be morning already," she complained to the tapper. There was a tutting noise from the edge of the bed and a blonde girl of about the same age said, "I'm afraid so. Now get up before I have Mom conjure up a bucket of ice water to wake you up."

The bleary-eyed eleven year old sat up and stretched. With a couple loud pops she cracked her knuckles and the blonde girl cringed. "You know I hate when you do that," she said pointedly.

I know Eri old girl, that was the point," Danielle said as she stood and stretched a bit more.

Erica Lunaris walked to the door and said, "Guess this means I get all the hot water, Dani old girl," and ran out of the room.

Dani didn't rush out of the room. Instead she walked up to the full length mirror she shared with her twin. Even though they were twins they looked nothing alike. Dani stood there examining her long, black hair. Like her mother's, it was curly at the ends but the rest was impossibly straight. Her eyes were an indecisive shade of bluish-greenish-grayish-hazel and she had a slightly pointed pale face. She had the straight skinny figure of an eleven year old girl and stood at least three or four inches shorter then her sister.

She wondered every once in a while how they could possibly be twins. Her sister had straight blonde hair cute at her shoulders and bright blue eyes. Her face was shaped exactly like their father's with prominent cheek bones and the smallest dimples in each cheek when she smiled. Erica had a bit more color than Dani and had a few freckles dotted across her nose and cheeks. She was also tall and skinny but taller and looked a bit nearer to the brink of adolescence.

Dani smirked into the mirror as she realized her sister must've woken her up simple to get the shower first. What her sister didn't know was she had snuck out of the room the night before and taken a shower to make sure she wasn't doomed to a cold shower the morning before they left for school. She turned to the vanity and brushed out her hair. She loved having it long and loved being able to do almost anything to it. This morning she settled for it down and changed into the uniform they had to wear at the new school. She wasn't particularly fond of skirts but she knew she'd have to live with it so she changed without complaint.

She was just slipping into her knee-high socks when Erica entered towel drying her hair with a smug look on her face. "Aren't you going to take a shower?" she said, wrinkling up her nose at the thought.

"I did last night actually," Dani said without looking up.

Erica chuckled and said, "Good one." She brushed her own damp hair as Dani finished putting on the uniform. It wasn't long before both twins were ready to head downstairs for breakfast. Dani dragged her trunk along behind her down the stairs, her mind somewhere else, as Erica picked hers up and carried it down carefully.

"I hope you don't have anything valuable in there," she said. Dani paid no attention and they made their way to the bottom of the steps. Once they reached the lower level of the house they sat their trunks beside the door and went into the kitchen. Their mom was bustling about preparing breakfast so the twins sat down at the table to wait.

Erica sat down and started sipping at her orange juice while Dani, always the caffeine addict, popped open a can of coke to wake her up. They waited patiently for their mom to finish and then ate quickly. "You two took too long to get ready! We're going to be late!," she said and ushered them away from the table. Dani took her time sipping her soda and walked out of the house, dragging her trunk behind her. Erica was hurrying but in her hurry to pick up her trunk she dropped it on her toe with a yell. "Let me get it!" their dad said and picked up the trunk from the girl. She hopped to the car on one foot, rubbing the other, while Dani sat her own trunk by the car. Their dad put the trunks in the car as the girls sat in the back. Soon they were on their way to the train station.

When they arrived, Erica was still rubbing her sore toe and was complaining loudly that it was broken. Their parents helped them put their trunks on the train and gave them last minute hugs and kisses. Dani acted embarrassed as her mom gave her a big hug and said, "Oh! We'll miss you two! Behave and we better not get any owls about you!" Finally it was time to get on the train.

Once settled, Dani looked out the window and said, "I hope Salem's School for Witchcraft is ready for us." Erica laughed and said, "For their sake, I hope so too."

4 years later...

"MOM! WHERE ARE MY DRESS ROBES?"

"I DON'T KNOW ERICA, CHECK IN YOUR CLOSET!"

"I JUST DID! I ONLY FOUND DANI'S!"

"ERICA YOU IDIOT, THOSE ARE YOURS!"

Dani searched frantically through her drawers, trying to find her own dress robes. Erica was "freaking out" as Dani said because they were switching schools and she didn't want to leave her friends. Dani wasn't too disappointed in the change. She was actually quite excited because the new school was one of the top schools in Europe. She hadn't been popular in their old school, which hadn't really bothered her, but she hoped the new school would be better.

"Ah, here they are," she muttered to herself and tossed them on top of the mess of things packed in her trunk. She sat on it to get it shut and started dragging it down the stairs. "Come on Dani, we've got to get to the station or we're going to miss the train!" yelled her mother. She grinned and shook her head. Her mom was always worried about being late.

Erica was already in the living room looking peeved. Dani sat down and popped open a can of soda. "You're addicted," Erica pointed out and Dani shrugged. "I can't help it," she said and took a sip. "You know they probably won't have it there," Erica said. "I know how to turn any liquid into Coke," Dani said triumphantly. "Where'd you learn that?" her mother said having just entered the room. "I made up the spell myself," Dani said once again sipping at her soda. Her mother tutted and shook her head and said, "Okay Erica, you go first."

Erica nodded and stepped up to the fireplace. She stepped in holding her trunk and after throwing down some Floo powder said, "Platform 9 3/4!" There was a rushing sound and the fire blazed momentarily and then she disappeared. "Now you Danielle," her mother said, taking the soda from her hand. Dani gave her an evil look but stepped in anyway and threw down her own bit of powder. "Platform 9 3/4!" she said loudly and clearly. She felt the familiar spinning and heard the rushing of wind in her ears and before she knew it she was tumbling out of a fireplace.

She fell forward and landed on a burly looking older student and he turned to look at her. She blushed slightly and muttered an apology and went to look for her sister.

"Remind me why we had to come here again?" Erica said huffily. Dani sighed and said, "Mom took the job offer to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Don't be so selfish, Eri. You know Mom was looking for an opportunity like this." Erica nodded, still looking a little angry, and they made their way onto the train. Their mom was going straight to the school using the floo powder and Dani didn't see why they couldn't do that themselves. "Dumbledore isn't going to want a couple students running around the school while everyone's getting ready for the rest of the student's arrivals," their mother had said in a tone that meant she better not hear the question again.

"Here's an empty place," Dani said and walked in, sitting her trunk against the wall and falling back into the seat. She hated travelling by Floo powder and she was still feeling a bit nauseus from the spinning. Erica sat down and opened up her trunk. She took out her headphones and discman and started listening to something and banging her head. "You're going to go deaf," Dani pointed out but Erica just shook her head and pointed at her ears and went back to headbanging to the music. With a sigh Dani took out her most recently acquired book (Potions for the Brewing Inclined) and started to read.

With a lurch the train started and the twins kept to themselves. It was a couple hours later when there was a knock on the door. Dani sighed and, being the only person in the compartment without music blaring in her ears, opened the door. There stood an elderly witch with a tray full of different snacks and candies. "Anything from the cart, dear?" she asked. Dani said, "One moment please," and went in to get Erica. Erica acted mad for a minute but at the thought of snacks jumped up and grabbed her purse. Dani filled her arms with every kind of sweet she could and Erica picked out what she thought wouldn't rot out her teeth but sighed in defeat and grabbed a handful of candy. They thanked the witch and paid her and went back into their compartment to get back to their original positions and snack.

"I'm listening to Evanescence, wanna listen too?" Erica asked while opening up a cauldron cake. "Sherrr," Dani said through a mouthful of chocolate. She had bitten into a chocolate frog and was looking at the card. She jumped up and yelled, "YES!" Erica looked at her funny and she said, "I GOT AGRIPPA!" Erica shook her head and said, "You're hopeless." Dani grinned and stuck the card in her trunk for safekeeping and continued snacking.

A few hours later their stomachs were rumbling again and they were about to go find the witch with the snack cart when the train slowed and eventually stopped. "Looks like we're here," Dani said looking out the window. Erica sighed and said, "I miss my friends." Dani rolled her eyes and stuck her wand in the pocket of her robes and walked out into the packed hallway. Somewhere along the line Erica and Dani lost each other in the crowd. Dani decided against waiting around and getting lost further in the huge crowd of excited students and stepped off the train. She looked around and saw a huge man yelling, "First years! First years over here!" "Maybe I won't have to go up to the castle alone afterall, I'll meet Erica there," Dani thought.

She walked up to the crowd of first years and thought, "Wow, was I this short back then?" Just a few moments later Erica joined the group and said, "I thought I'd lost you for good!" Dani laughed and said, "You haven't gotten that lucky yet."

Once all the students were off the train the guy introduce himself as Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper, keeper of keys at Hogwarts, and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. "No more than four to a boat," he said and all the kids piled into the boats. Erica and Dani ended up in a boat with two first years who introduced themselves as James Arrant and Michael Morris. The boys were perplexed as to how two 15 year olds were being sent to the school with the first years but after a brief explanation by Erica they were satisfied and chatted quietly to themselves.

Hagrid took the time to yell, "Ye'll be gettin' yer firs' view o' the castle up ahead," and everyone turned to look. Dani's mouth dropped open at how huge the castle was. "I bet they could fit about three Salems in there!" Erica said in amazement. It was true, their old school had been a lot smaller than this. "I hope I don't get lost," Dani thought idly. The boats stopped with a bump at the edge of the lake and Dani scrambled out. Erica climbed out behind her and they walked with the first years up to the castle.

Hagrid knocked three times on the huge door of the castle. It opened and there stood a old woman who Dani decided she didn't want to cross. "I got tha firs' years for ye Minerva," he said motioning towards the group of scared looking students and the two older students who stood there just looking amazed. She opened the door and motioned for us to follow. She gave a speech on how important the sorting ceremony is which I zoned out for and looked around. Erica was listening intently but I thought she was goofy. The old woman introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house. After her speech she walked up to Erica and Dani and said, "I assume you two are our new defense teacher's daughters?" We both nodded and she said, "Your mother asked me to tell you good luck. Welcome to Hogwarts," and left the room.

"She seems cool," Erica said. Dani shrugged and said, "What do you think of this sorting thing?" Erica took her turn to shrug and then whirled around when there were a few screams from the other side of the room. The two older girls sighed and saw a few ghosts flying into the room. "You'd think they'd never seen a ghost before," Dani muttered to Erica. Erica nodded fervently and it was only a moment after the ghosts left the room through the other wall when McGonagall entered the room and said, "It's time." Dani took a deep breath and followed her into the next room.