Starting Over

By stargirlvlg

Chapter 1: Separation anxiety

"GET UP NOW OR YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HOGWARTS!"

Lydia bolted upright and hit her head on the ceiling. The pain hardly registered though, even as she clutched her head. Nor did the less-than-proper words her brother was aiming at her baby sister for making him "bloody deaf." Her mind registered only one thought: She was going to Hogwarts this year!

Her twin brother, Leon, on the bottom bunk, seemed to be having the same reaction. "Lyd! Lyd! Y'hear that? We're finally goin' to Hogwarts!"

She broke out into a wide grin and stuck her hear over the rail to see the boy below. "Yep!"

Leon, grinning like an idiot as well, turned to his little sister, who was still and said, "Y'know, you can go away now. We're awake."

Lydia watched as Helen's eyes widened in disbelief. How dare he be so rude to her! She was a good sister! The dark eyes than narrowed into the most intense glare the girl could muster (which only made her look like a snobby little brat, Lydia thought) and she wheeled around and stomped out of the room, her raven pigtails bouncing behind her. As testament to the seven-year-old's wrath, the door slammed shut on its own.

Both twins giggled a bit at their sister, before Lydia climbed over the rail and dropped to the floor. She pulled her brother out of bed by the arm and started swinging him around, singing, "We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts!"

Leon soon cottoned on and swung with her, singing as well. "We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts!"

"We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts! We're going—"

"Not if you don't stop singing and get ready, you're not," said an amused voice from the (once again open) door. The twins snapped back to reality and saw their mother there, already fully dressed in what the twins were delighted to see was Muggle clothing. A wrinkled knee-length denim skirt and a rather threadbare red-and-green striped jumper hung loosely on her tall, thin frame. Her long black hair was held back in a loose bun, and her chocolate eyes sparkled with amusement and slight impatience.

"Muggle clothes, Mum? Wicked!" "Do we get to dress up too?" the twins asked excitedly.

Eleanor smiled and said, "Of course. Can't have the Muggles knowing we're 'different,' can we?" She sighed. "Now come on, wash up. I'll have your clothes laid out by the time you're done."

Leon grinned. "Race you to the washroom, Lyd!"

Lydia matched his grin. "You're on!" And they raced off, an ignored shout of "Don't run in the halls!" floating after them.

Eleanor sighed and waved her wand, their Muggle clothes extracting themselves from their dresser drawers. With a few more waves their trunks (which, despite her insistence that they be packed the night before, had remained empty) were fully packed.

"I got here first!" proclaimed Lydia triumphantly, panting.

"No, I did!" Leon retorted, also panting.

"No, me!

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"No, actually," said a voice from the doorway, "I did."

The twins turned to him. The one who spoke was a few years older than them and, like the rest of the family, had black hair and dark eyes. Right now, his hair was slightly wet and hanging in his face, and he was wearing only a bath towel.

"You weren't even racing, Josh," accused Leon.

Josh sighed. "Just get in here and wash up, or Mum'll start screaming."

The twins traipsed into the bathroom, and Josh went out, closing the door behind him. While Leon occupied the washbasin, Lydia began absently undoing the plait in her hair that she had overnight, while staring at herself in the mirror.

She supposed she looked pretty average for an eleven-year-old. She, like the rest of her family, had straight, raven black hair; hers was the longest, easily reaching past her buttocks to her mid-thighs. Her round eyes were a light brown that set her and her twin brother apart from the rest of the family, with their dark eyes. Her skin was smooth (though she supposed that would change in a year or two) and light, but not particularly pale. She had also inherited her mother's tall, slender build, and was already 154 cm tall.

She didn't particularly like her looks; they were too plain, too colorless. She would much rather have curly red hair and freckles like Ginny, or blond hair like Draco's mum. But she didn't; she was black-and-white and would only stand out by being a head taller than everyone else.

She then turned to Leon, who was now brushing his teeth. He looked exactly like her: the same dark black hair, though his was short; the same strange light brown eyes; the same tall, thin build. They were identical in every way, except she was a girl, and he was a boy.

Would they be seen as individuals at Hogwarts, or as a single entity? There were far too many people, like their parents' friends, and some of their extended family, who thought of them as 'the twins,' instead of as Lydia and Leon. Would people see her as Lydia at Hogwarts?

Leon finished with his teeth, and surrendered the washbasin to Lydia, looking at her strangely. "Oi, Lyd," he said, "you're being awful quiet all of a sudden…"

Lydia snapped out of her reverie and turned to him. "Oh…sorry," she said. She smiled to show nothing was wrong. "Just…thinking."

Leon mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "don't hurt yourself," which earned him a smack upside the head and made Lydia's contemplative mood vanish completely.

It came back full force forty-five minutes later just as she was polishing off her toast and eggs. This time, however, Leon seemed to be feeling it too.

It had just struck her that she would be leaving home. Of course, she had always known that she would live in the castle, but it never really hit her before now—she was leaving. She wouldn't be sleeping in the bedroom she shared with Leon; she wouldn't see her little sister or baby brother or parents every day, she wouldn't play in the yard with her siblings, she wouldn't do any of the things that had filled the first eleven years of her life.

In the back of her mind, along the special connection she shared with Leon, she knew he was thinking the same thing. So, as he swallowed his last bite of toast, she stood up and asked her father, "May we be excused to fetch our trunks?"

Glenn, without looking up from the Daily Prophet, replied, "No need, we'll get them for you."

"Please, can we fetch them ourselves?" Lydia asked.

Curious about her reaction, Glenn looked at her, his dark eyes gazing at her with concern. He must have understood, for he nodded before returning to the Prophet, saying, "Alright, whatever you want."

Sharing a look, the twins climbed the two flights of stairs and returned to their room for the last time. It was cluttered and very obviously lived-in, but not nightmarishly so; posters of the Appleby Arrows and various wizard bands covered the walls and ceiling; little flying figurines with silver robes were on a shelf; the rest were lined with books and magazines of every kind that had spilled over onto the floor. Light was spilling into the room from the large window on the far wall; the treetops and a clear blue sky were visible beyond.

For several moments the twins just stood unmoving in the doorway, taking in a last glimpse of their old life before they were forced to start over in a new place. Then, a magiacally magnified shout rang out from downstairs, "Children, we're leaving! Let's go!" and the moment was broken. Slowly, they took their trunks and made their way downstairs, leaving their haven behind.

Author's Note: Wow, depressing much! I honestly didn't expect this chapter to be so serious when I started. It just kinda…came out. But it makes sense; I mean, eleven-year-olds leaving home for boarding school? There's gonna be some separation anxiety.

Please tell me what you think! I'm not a review whore, so I'm not gonna beg or threaten you, but I'd really appreciate feedback.