Sisters; Can't Live With Them, Can't Prank Without Them

Look out, the fuzz!

Melanie rushed down the stairs.

"Where are my contacts?" she demanded, brandishing an empty box.

It was late afternoon of August 31st, the day before we were due to go to Hogwarts and Mum had just come home from work. Okay, so librarians work occasionally. Melanie had discovered my trick, only a few hours before, while packing. And the fact that she only got up at two in the afternoon helped as well. I may have said my efforts were ineffective and pointless at the time but I never mentioned the long term.

"I don't know," I said, "Have you checked in your eyes?"

I know that sounds like a cool line. It took me over a month to think up.

Melanie gave me a look before turning back to Mum.

"Mum! I need them. I can't go to Hogwarts wearing glasses. I need to make a good impression on my first day. I don't want everyone to think I'm a geek."

She glanced at me there. I sneered at her and turned back to my book.

"Nothing wrong with glasses," I said without looking at her. "Harry Potter wore glasses."

"Who?"

I put my book down. "Mum, she can't go to Hogwarts and not know who Harry Potter is. She'll be laughed at. I mean some people may pity her for being Muggle born, but to be honest I can't see anybody she considers 'cool'," -I waggled my fingers around the word cool- "even speaking to her. There are some people just not suited for the Wizarding world."

"Oh really?"

"I'm afraid so."

My sister grabbed a chair and sat opposite to me at the kitchen table. "Go on then," she said. "If you're so smart, teach me."

"Well," I said with my hands in front of me in a business like manner, "you know about Voldemort-"

"No."

I put my head on the table. "It's impossible. I cannot teach this girl. She'll be eaten alive."

Melanie turned back to Mum and seemed to forget the conversation entirely.

"Mum, I really really need my contacts and I can't find my box anywhere."

"Don't worry dear," Mum said, "We can go first thing in the morning. The train's at..."

"Eleven."

"And specsavers open at..."

"Nine."

"We can pop in and get you some."

"But I'll have to go out wearing my glasses," Melanie protested, "I'll be seen by people."

I realise what I should have said now. I should have said "Better than not seeing them" but I just didn't think of it at the time. Lione would have thought of it on the spot. Or something twice as funny. Instead I was annoyingly practical.

"But Mum! It'll be Saturday morning! Town will be choc-a-block."

"Yeah Mum!" cried Melanie, agreeing with me for the first time in a decade. "We have to go NOW."

The doorbell rang and mum went out to answer it. Melanie leaned over to me and hissed,

"There's no such person as Harry Potter, is there."

"There is," I replied. "He's the most famous person in the entire Wizarding world. I know his daughter."

"He's married?"

"Yes."

Melanie looked crestfallen. "Who to?"

Even if I had known I couldn't reply because at that moment Mum walked in with two policemen. It's a strange thing having a police officer in your home. You making a mental list of all the crimes you've ever committed and coming up with excuses and alibis. Or you start trying to remember if you'd heard anything suspicious recently and debating with yourself whether you should tell him about the argument about garden gnomes the neighbours had last week. You even start wondering if you'd committed any murders recently. You know you haven't (unless you had, then you'd be in much greater trouble) but you suddenly come over a wave of guilt for anything you may or may not have done in your entire lifetime. Were you Jack the Ripper? You get to the point when you're readying yourself to confess to that eventually.

"I hate to bother you Ms..."

"Bower. Elizabeth Bower."

People always go so formal around police officers as well. I'm amazed Mum didn't give her middle names and time and place of birth.

"Ms Bower. We're here in inquiry to the disappearance of Tedila Hammet. Have you heard of her?"

"Teddy Hammet? Yes, I know her parents. She's gone missing?"

"Unfortunately yes. She disappeared some time last night between the hours of," He checked his notebook. "Eleven PM and Nine AM when her parents checked on her. According to Mr and Mrs Hammet she is a relatively early riser so may have got up, gone for a walk and got lost. In that case this is just a formality and we should get her home and dry in no time. But in either case-"

"Either case?" interrupted Melanie, "You only mentioned one case." The policemen turned to look at her. "Sir."

"There is of course the possibly case that Miss Hammet has not disappeared for any reason of her own choosing. If any of you have seen of heard from the child it would be much appreciated."

We all shook our heads. The other officer, who had been silent up to now, piped in.

"Is there a Mr Bower?"

"Er... yes," said Mum. "But you can't talk to him, he's in America."

"Hmm," the officers chorused.

"How long has he been in America?" the first asked.

"Two months now," said Mum. "He's on a business trip. He's an astronomer."

"Quite."

"Are you linking it with the other disappearances?" I asked.

They stared at me; I shuffled uncomfortably in my chair.

"Not as such." They turned back to Mum. "Thank you very much for your co-operation, Ms Bower. There is one more thing I was wondering if you could help me with. Do you know a Miss," He flicked his notebook a few more pages over. "Caitlyn Bower."

"Yes," said Mum, "she's my daughter."

"Is she here?"

"Yes, she's upstairs."

"Can you call her please?"

"Caitlyn! Can you come down here please?"

Caitlyn toddled down the stairs carrying a crayon picture of me, Melanie and her all dressed in black robes and black hats and carrying wands. She placed it on the table and sat down looking at the two men curiously. The quieter one glanced at it inquisitively. The other one looked directly at my baby sister.

"Miss Caitlyn Bower?"

Caitlyn has never been addressed in that way. She looked at me inquiringly. I nodded. She turned back to the officer and nodded as well. The Policeman glared at me suspiciously.

"Melanie, Joseph, Maybe you should go upstairs and pack."

Both men looked up at my mother.

"Going somewhere Ms Bower?" the quieter one asked.

"No, My children both attend boarding school. They leave tomorrow."

That sudden attention to detail again. She probably would have given the time of the train and how we were going to get to the station if they let her.

Melanie left the room. I slid next to Caitlyn. Instinctively our hands came together.

"Miss Bower-"

"Caitlyn," I corrected automatically, earning myself another glare.

"Caitlyn," he continued, "do you know Tedila Hammet?"

Caitlyn glanced at me again. It's strange how different people react to the police in different ways. Caitlyn was never that shy.

"Teddy," I told her.

She turned back to the policeman and nodded.

"How do you know her?"

"She's in my class at school. We made a giraffe."

They did. It had stripes.

"When did you last see her?"

Caitlyn shrugged.

"Have you seen her during the holidays?"

She nodded.

"When did you see her?"

"Yesterday."

"And what did you do?"

Caitlyn glanced up at me again. I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Where did you go?" the policeman persisted.

"The Park," she replied. "We went on the swings and the round-a-bout was a rocket ship."

It was. Thanks to me.

"Was Tedila-"

"Teddy."

"-Acting strange in any way?"

Caitlyn took a deep breath. I could already sense that whatever she said in the next few minutes would have no relevance what-so-ever.

"When she fell off the Rocket ship she cried and Domino, who was also there, called her a girl and she said she wasn't and he said she was and she said she wasn't and he said she was 'cos she had really long hair and she said she was going to cut it all off so she wasn't going to be a girl anymore and he said that that wasn't all and that all boys had-"

Here she burst in to giggles. The Police officer didn't appear to see the joke.

"What?"

"He said that all boys have," she lowered her voice in to a whisper, "willies." She giggled again.

"Hmm."

The policeman turned back to Mum.

"Could you tell me if this... 'Domino'... is real or a insubstantial companion?"

"A what?" Mum stammered, obviously nervous that not having a clue about what the officer was talking about was a crime.

"An imaginary friend," I informed her.

"Oh no," said Mum, trying, and failing, not to sound too relieved. "That's Domonic Fenn at number twenty six. They call him Domino like they called," I couldn't help notice the past tense that slipped in there. "Tedila, Teddy and Caitlyn, Cat. They're short names that they've been calling each other since they could first talk and they've never really-"

She was starting to get hysterical. I had to stop her.

"Mum, I don't think that they want to know the histories of their nick names."

The officer gave me a look I couldn't quite identify. "Yes, well. Thank you for your co-operation, Ms Bower. That will be all."

They both made to leave. Caitlyn slipped away from me and tugged at the coat of the quieter officer.

"Are you an Auror?" she asked.

"An Auror?"

She nodded. "My Brother's a wizard," she told him. "So's my sister now. They go to wizard school together. My Mum isn't one though, or my Dad. My Brother says that Aurors are like police officers but for wizards. Are you one?"

For the first time since they came in to our house, the quieter policeman smiled. They left. For the first time ever, I was the first one to speak.

"Well that was strange."

***

It was late that night and I was still packing. Someone once asked me how I could have such a wonderful memory and still be packing in the early hours of the morning I was due to leave anywhere. Well the answer is simple. Only very strange people are completely packed days before they have to leave to go on holiday/home. If I knew anyone like that I would be very worried indeed. Stupid people forget things and have to buy them in Airport gift shops. I consider myself a normal, fairly sane, packer. In other words I am still grabbing stuff as we go out the door. But my brilliant memory does come handy even at that point. I never have to go back for anything and I have never ever forgotten something. Whereas most people seem to have a tradition that they have to leave something behind wherever they go on holiday it has never happened to me. May I say hurrah?

So I was packing. I had packed all my clothes and was deciding what else I should take. Aside from all the essential clothes and cauldrons and things of course. A few reading books, my thesaurus of course, how could I go without it? I chucked in a few of Caitlyn's pictures, which I vowed would never leave my case. My hand came to rest on the box of contact lenses. What would be the point in taking them? I wasn't planning on handing them back to Melanie. It wasn't as if I had to keep them hidden from Mum; she never dared venture in to my room. I'll have you know that when you've got a brilliant memory the old "But when it's on the floor I know exactly where it is! It's when it's on a shelf that I lose things..." excuse actually works. Not that I would lose things if they were on shelves...

I gazed at the box and considered things. I weighed up the situation, then overruled myself and chucked the box in to my case. You never knew, could come in handy some day.

***

As we pushed the trolley along the platform of Kings cross station making our way to the divide between platform 9 and platform 10, I had to make sure Caitlyn didn't fall off it.

"Why are we bringing Caitlyn?" I asked Mum.

"Because I don't trust her to leave her with anyone else."

"But yesterday you said she was a nuisance and that you didn't want to take her within five miles of the Wizarding world. That until she could calm down and wouldn't embarrass you, you were going to keep her locked up as long as she doesn't go up her high horse and ask everybody around if they're wizards."

Mum stopped and snapped at me. "Do you have to remember everything I ever say?"

"It's one of his defining qualities," added Lucy. "Just like I'm talkative, Lee's smart and you're a Jerk."

"Yes," I said.

We went through the barrier to Platform 9. I located the guys in the crowd and made my way towards them.

"I still can't believe it," Lucy was saying. "They must have been about an inch away from each other."

"But Italy was just that bit closer," said Gregory.

"But it was right in front of my eyes!" Lucy protested, "They were this close." She held up her hand with her fingers about half a centimetre apart.

"Still," said Lione, "Italy were twelve goals ahead."

"So it was crucial."

"So we won."

"Stop being so smug. Just because you're part Italian."

"One quarter."

"You were never so proud before Italy won the world cup."

"But it was still there. Hey Joe."

"Joseph," I corrected.

"Whatever," Lione replied with a flick of her hair.

Lione Davies. Everyone called her Leigh though which is the female version of Lee. Except us of course who called her Kettle or Gregory who called her Lio. Gregory Weasley. We call him Asher and Lione calls him Greg. Just to get back at him for Lio, I think. Lucy Malfoy. The only nickname she will accept is Air Jet because she hates all others. I suppose I should do some descriptions here. Gregory is the tallest with the red hair distinguished amongst all the Weasley family (or so I've heard). Lucy is the shortest with brown hair. Lione has black hair and the palest green eyes you've ever seen. The year before they went what she called 'Italian' green but they changed back thankfully. But it was creepy there for a couple of months.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?"

I winced. Melanie had crept up behind me.

"Guys, this is my sister Melanie. Mel, this is Lione, Lucy and Gregory."

She completely ignored the girls but gave Gregory a detailed look up and down. She shrugged and moved off.

"What was that about?" asked Lucy, "Because, if you ask me, which you haven't but I'll say it anyway, your little sister was checking Gregory out."

"Ew, no!"

"So that's the bratty sister you've been going on about," said Lione.

"Oh Joseph's been complaining about her all summer," Gregory told them.

"Lucky you," moaned Lucy, "Lione was bragging to me all summer. 'My team won, my team won'."

"You think that's bad?" remarked Gregory, "You weren't sitting next to her."

"Have you guys heard about these kidnappings?" I inquired, changing the subject.

"I know," said Lione. "Poor Matthew."

"Matthew?"

"Matthew Gosley? Gryffindor second- sorry, third now. Gryffindor third year. Friend of Robin."

I could have sworn Gregory's eye twitched. It's strange but Gregory seems to have hated Robin since the first day they met, I don't know why. Robin Little is this Gryffindor in the year above us who has a very obvious, huge crush on Lione.

"Hang on," I said. "Is Matthew Gosley related to Helen Gosley?"

"Cousin."

"And isn't there a Hufflepuff prefect called Hammet?"

"Abigail, yeah."

"Guys, aside from Ainsley Font, all those little children that have been going missing are all the relatives of Muggle-born Wizards."