❝The cat goes round and round,
They will never be able to find their way out of this maze❞

»»-----　♡　-----««

King's Cross Station was busy as usual; muggles pulling their trolleys, carrying their bags, and dragged their feet across the cement pathway to their destined location of where the trains stop and go.

Among these crowds were two (H/C) haired children, beaming up at the people who passed them by with admiration sparkling through their lively (E/C) eyes.

"Woah! So many people here today!" A certain twin exclaimed, tiptoeing themselves to make them look taller as they scanned the crowd; many of which, were children who seemed to be on the same age as them. "I miss going to a normal school already!"

(Y/N) Rosewood whined and dramatically leaned themselves on their twin brother's shoulders, whose name is Alem Rosewood.

"Get off of me, (Y/N)." He said as he rolled his eyes and pushed his twin off of him. "You only miss going to a muggle school because you like messing with the teachers there."

"(Y/N)!" Aurelia gasped, looking down at her oldest child with a surprised and somewhat offended look.

"Alem!" (Y/N) flushed, their cheeks becoming red in embarrassment. "You said you wouldn't snitch on me!"

"Oh, don't worry," Alem silently chuckled, "It's not like we're still attending the school."

"You better tell me what kind of tricks you were doing to these teachers, (Y/N)." Lawrence scooped his oldest child off of the ground and ruffled their hair. "Depending on the severity, your punishment when you get back home will differ."

"Aah! No! I wasn't doing anything that bad, I swear!" (Y/N) exclaimed as they tried to pry their father's hands off of their head. "Please don't hide Walter from me again! I can't bear to see him disappear for two entire days, especially if I don't know where he's gone to!"

"Mistress, should we interfere?" Wallace walked up from behind Aurelia, watching the two chaotic Rosewoods bicker dramatically. "It seems that we're getting some attention from the muggles."

"Oh, Wallace." Aurelia nodded and acknowledged his presence. "Please do. As much as I love seeing my two idiots bickering, we're already behind schedule."

"I'm going to have to apologize to those teachers before we head home." Aurelia face-palmed with a sigh. "Alem, why have you not told me about this before?"

"I apologize, mum." He smiled up at his mother. "But, I do assure you that (Y/N) hasn't done anything that caused these teachers any harm; the teachers mostly saw it as playful teasing of an eleven year old child."

"Still, you should have told me; harmless or not, I don't want any of you causing any trouble to teachers or any of your peers." Aurelia sighed once again.

"I understand, mum." Alem said with a nod before turning his head over towards (Y/N), who was throwing small punches towards Lawrence's stomach. "Hey, (Y/N)! Did you hear what mum said?" He yelled.

"Yes, I heard it!" They replied as they continued to punch, but Lawrence doesn't even seem affected and could only laugh at his child's attempts to hurt him.

"But, Ms. Biggs clearly deserved to get those nasty zits after she embarrassed Alem in front of the whole class!" (Y/N) added, "What kind of a teacher does that to a student?"

(Y/N) then paused, surprise and realization flashing through their eyes for a brief moment as they lowered their arms and scanned the area quizzically.

"...Haven't I already been in this scenario before...?"  They mumbled to themselves as they glanced down at their small hands. Lawrence looked down at his child, wondering what has gotten over them but didn't say anything as it doesn't seem to look that serious.

"So, Alem," Aurelia glared at her son. "You were saying that they were 'harmless'?"

"Well, I might've lied about some of it being harmless?" Alem scratched his cheek and looked away guiltily. He couldn't deny that what (Y/N) did was too far - I mean, slipping in a potion that can get you nasty zits on someone's morning coffee isn't exactly something he condones, but knowing that (Y/N) did that for Alem,

Well, you could say that he has some exceptions.

Aurelia sighed then her eyes glanced up to the large wall clock that was situated on one of the pillars. It read 10:40 AM.

"(Y/N), it's almost 11 AM. We need to get to Platform 9 3/4." Aurelia said, snapping (Y/N) out of their daze and immediately gripped their trolley.

"Yes, mum!" They grinned, and immediately brushed off any sense of deja vu they felt at the moment.

'It's probably nothing...' They thought to themselves as they walked through the station, looking for a specific spot that can get them to Platform 9 3/4.

Once they stopped at the specific spot, Lawrence gently patted Alem, who seemed to be very nervous with his lips curving down to a frown when he stared at the brick wall that was a few feet away from him.

"It's best for you to do a run if you're nervous, Alem." Lawrence smiled. "I was just as nervous as you when I first saw the entrance to the platform; I almost found it ridiculous that we had to run through a brick wall to get there."

"Pft." Alem let out a chuckle before taking a deep breath and run towards the brick wall as he pushed his trolley. His eyes were shut, fearing for the impact that might welcome him if he screwed things up.

Fortunately, the impact never came.

"Alright, (Y/N). You go next." Aurelia nodded at the last twin that was left to go to the platform. They gulped and their grip on the handle of their trolley became tight.

"I just have to run, right?" They asked, looking up at their dad.

"Eh, you don't have to run, but it's recommended for you to do so when you're nervous." Lawrence replied with a shrug.

(Y/N) lets out a small whimper, but took a deep breath, just like Alem did, to calm themselves down before running towards the wall. They quickly shut their eyes closed and expected their body to be slammed on the wall, but they felt themselves passing through it.

They stopped and opened their eyes, suddenly surprised at the completely new area that they were transported in. (Y/N) looked behind them and saw the same brick wall, before looking back in front of them with an excited smile.

"That's... so cool!" They squealed happily and they couldn't contain the wide large grin that was present on their face.

"Contain yourself, (Y/N)." Alem sighed as he walked up to his twin, pushing his trolley and tried to balance the cage of his newly-bought owl, who was named Garrett.

"But I just can't help it! I'm so excited to go to Hogwarts!" (Y/N) gushed out like a fan that just saw their favorite idol waving at them. "I can't wait to get sorted to Ravenclaw and meet Professor Dumbledore in person!"

"I highly doubt that you'll get sorted to Ravenclaw with that tiny brain of yours, (Y/N)." Alem laughed. "You'll fit well in Gryffindor, though it'd suck if I have to be in the same house as you every single day."

"You clearly sound like a Slytherin, Alem." (Y/N) sighed as they crossed their arms. "You don't sound like you'd fit in Gryffindor, to say the least."

"Hey, I may not sound like it, but I'm very brave!" said Alem, offended that (Y/N) just told him that he'd fit in Slytherin. He clearly doesn't want to be in that house.

"Says the same guy who cried during the middle of the night because he thought that the pile of clothes in the corner was an actual person." (Y/N) said and rolled their eyes. Their words made Alem blush in embarrassment.

"T-Those clothes... looked very much like an actual person! It doesn't help that you said that there weren't any orange hoodies on those piles, when clearly there was!" He exclaimed.

"Alem, I've told you this a million times before; we don't own orange hoodies so it's impossible for you to even see one on those piles." (Y/N) sighed, placing their hands back on the handle of their trolley to get to the train. "You most likely saw it on the wrong light or something."

Alem was about to open his mouth to speak, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked up and saw Lawrence laughing down at the twins.

"Let's go, troopers! You two have a train to catch!" He said and walked Alem towards the Hogwarts Express. (Y/N)'s breath was almost taken away by how astonishing it was to see the Hogwarts Express in person.

They've always been excited to go to Hogwarts ever since they received their acceptance letter. They practiced spells as soon as they went to Diagon Alley and bought their wands from Ollivander's.

"Oh, I missed seeing the express - reminds me of the first time we met, dear." Aurelia giggled from behind them, looking at the train with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Don't remind me, dear; I'm still embarrassed by it." Lawrence blushed as he looked away with a cough. Aurelia could only giggle once more once she saw her husband's adorable reaction.

"Ooh ooh, what happened?" (Y/N) looked up to their parents, eager to learn more about how they met in Hogwarts. "You never told us about how you two met!"

"Well, it's..." Aurelia seemed to ponder if she could tell them right now, since it's almost time for the train to depart.

"(Y/N), mum and I will tell you and Alem once you get back home from school." Lawrence patted (Y/N)'s head and gave them a gentle smile. "For now, you two need to board the train - you don't want to miss your first day of school, do you?"

"Oh, that's right! It'll leave in a few minutes!" said Alem as he came to a realization and turned to face the three adults in front of him.

"We'll... see each other again in Christmas, won't we?" He asked, hopefully. Alem knew how his parents were often very busy working at the Ministry, even in Christmas, but there were rare occasions where they get to stay home and celebrate it with the twins, Wallace, and Walter.

Aurelia and Lawrence turned to look at each other, unsure of whether they should make a promise to their youngest child or not.

(Y/N) frowned, and knew that their parents couldn't make such a promise to him. When they were gone to do some work to the Ministry, it's always (Y/N)'s job to keep Alem company. They always made sure that he wouldn't feel lonely whenever their parents were gone.

Besides, they couldn't blame Aurelia and Lawrence; it's what happens when you have a job. You don't always have time for everyone, and (Y/N) understood that. Plus, they respect their parents for, at least, trying to make some time for them.

Alem has always been a boy who never had, somewhat, of the luxury to make new friends. Of course, other than Zeke Miller, the Rosewoods' neighbors who lived across the street. However, it was only because of (Y/N) that he was able to be friends with him.

Being able to be friends with everybody is something that (Y/N) is good at; they do have a lot of friends in their old muggle school, whereas Alem never really had one. He never knew how to make friends as he always had his mind stuck in an imagination and his nose stuck in a storybook.

Granted, (Y/N) also had a lot of peers who ridiculed them and never got along with some people due to them showing signs of being able to conjure magic. Alem is no exception of this treatment, and as a result, his chances of making friends became more less.

(Y/N) and Zeke were the only friends he's ever gotten, and he's slowly come to the realization that it was better for him to be associated with people who he already knows and cares about.

However, the constant work of his parents made him worry that they might neglect him. Of course, Alem knew that there's no chance of them doing this, but he can't really help feeling that way.

"Alem, we can't promise you that we can see each other at Christmas," Aurelia said, apologetically. Her sad look only went further when Alem frowned. "But, we'll try to get out of work and spend our Christmas together as a family, okay?"

Aurelia leaned down and kissed Alem's forehead. Lawrence patted his son's head, grinning down at him to make him feel reassured.

"Don't worry, Alem." Lawrence's grin loosened and soon became a gentle, soft smile. "Just remember that your mother and I love you and (Y/N), always."

The Ravenclaw kneeled down and gently pulled his children into his arms. "We wouldn't forget nor trade you two for anything else in the world."

Aurelia teared up at the sight before her, covering her mouth and kneeled down as well. She wrapped her arms around the three, knowing that this'll be the first time that her only children will be away from her for such a long time.

"Please remember to write to us, you two." said Aurelia. "But, never forget to be kind and have fun; Hogwarts is an adventure you'll only get to experience once in your life."

(Y/N) teared up and hugged their parents tightly, not wanting to let them go. Alem was surprised for a moment, but then hugged his parents as well, fully knowing that they wouldn't forget him and (Y/N) and would always love them.

(Y/N) suddenly realized that someone was missing, and they lifted their head up and saw Wallace standing there with a smile on his face.

"Wallace, what are you standing around there for?" (Y/N) said, as they sniffled and let out a single tear drop down to their chin. "You're also a part of the family; come and join us!"

Wallace was surprised nonetheless, but smiled once more. It was inevitable that the young (Y/N) would be this kind towards a squib like him.

He walked up to the family and hugged them, feeling safe and grateful to the Rosewoods for giving him an actual family,

something that he's never had since he was born.

"I'll miss you too, Wallace."  Alem started to sob and bury his face to Wallace's neck to hide his tears.

"I'll miss all of you!" (Y/N) started sobbing loudly and clung to Aurelia, wanting their mother to come with them to Hogwarts.

The train's chute started to let out a steam aggressively, creating a loud blaring noise that indicated the departure of the train in a few minutes.

(Y/N) and Alem retracted from the hug, wiping any tears they've gotten before looking up at Aurelia, Lawrence, and Wallace with a smile.

"We'll see you again soon, mum and dad!" said (Y/N) as they grinned and turned to Wallace. "You too, Wallace! Tell Walter and Zeke goodbye for me!"

"I will, young mistress/master." Wallace bowed down to the wishes of (Y/N), who nervously chuckled.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that, Wallace?" They asked, jokingly since they do know that there's really no way for Wallace to stop addressing them as such.

"Well, no matter how many times you may tell me, I can never stop addressing you that." Wallace replied, making (Y/N) chuckle once more.

"Now, go on and have fun!" Lawrence waved at his children, who was now pushing their trolleys to the train and entering it, but not without taking one last look at their parents and Wallace.

(Y/N) smiled sadly, as a thought suddenly came into their mind;

'This is the last time I'll ever get to see them...' which shocked them to say the least. (Y/N) felt as if this really was the last time they'll ever get to see Aurelia, Lawrence, and Wallace.

It wasn't just them, they also felt like this would be the last time they'll ever see Zeke and feel the things they're feeling right now.

"(Y/N)?" Alem asked worryingly.

"Huh?" As soon as they turned to face Alem, tears started pouring out of their eyes uncontrollably. They frantically tried to wipe them off but the tears kept coming and coming.

'This is the last time I'll ever see Alem too...'

"Hey," Alem grabbed a hold of their hand, making them look straight into his eyes. "Everything will be alright."

(Y/N) stared for a moment but then blinked in realization as memories flashed through their mind and the doors of the express closed. They looked down at the hands that Alem held, seeing flashes of dirt, blood, and the crumbled walls of Hogwarts strewn all over their vision.

Even if it was for a brief moment, it was enough for (Y/N) Rosewood to know that their time was slowly running out. This was the last fleeting moment they had left with their family, but even then, they still felt like they could've done more than just saying goodbye, knowing that their family wouldn't even notice that they were gone forever.

Having accepted their fate, (Y/N) Rosewood slowly pulls up a pained smile at their brother, gulping and anxiously praying that another certain (H/C) haired person would be able to save them.

"I know it will be, Alem." (Y/N) Rosewood replied bitterly and retracted their hand away from Alem's grasp. "I know it will be."

Suddenly, time seemed to stop; nothing moved and everything became eerily quiet. (Y/N) Rosewood sighed, and watched as everything suddenly became dark around them.

"Your time is up, (Y/N)." A voice piped from behind them, but they didn't bother turning around to see who it was since they already knew.

"Eris..." (Y/N) Rosewood chuckled bitterly and hugged themselves as an attempt to warm themselves up. "You really couldn't have waited until the last minute, could you?"

"It'll interfere with the other one's entrance." Erised chuckled, tucking some of their strawberry white hair behind their ear. Their features weren't that of a child's anymore, rather they got taller and harboured the features of a teenager.

Their voice wasn't childish, but rather they sounded more mature and grown up. Their orange hoodie became bigger to fit their body, and their hair became longer.

As for (Y/N) Rosewood, their appearance changed as well; they weren't their eleven year old self anymore. Instead, they looked to be the same age as Erised and wore a dirty grey t-shirt with the denim jacket that Zeke got them for their 11th birthday.

They wore denim pants and black shoes. They looked so worn out, dirty, and their hands were even covered with smudges of dried up blood.

Their hair was disheveled, and light was completely drawn away from their eyes.

"The other one?" (Y/N) Rosewood chuckled bitterly again as they sat down on the void, looking up at nothing. "It would be a goddamn miracle if they were able to do this all in one go."

"Well, this other (Y/N) is pretty much a selfish asshole, so I'm with you there." Erised inserted both of their hands on the pockets of their hoodie.

"You really had to pick the worst one as my replacement." (Y/N) Rosewood almost teared up in despair, holding their head and trying to wonder if this will even work out in the end. "How much are you willing to torture me, Eris?"

Erised paused, then turned to look at their childhood friend with a gentle smile that almost made (Y/N) Rosewood feel creeped out.

It was that smile; the same smile that the child managed to keep (Y/N) Rosewood company when no one was there to talk to them.

The same smile when (Y/N) Rosewood brought them to this world.

The same smile when they reached out their hand when they felt helpless and desperate.

"Just enough to make you regret abandoning me, (Y/N)."

»»-----　♡　-----««

A/N:

I was actually thinking whether or not should I publish this filler chapter because it's short, and I know that most of you guys want me to just get on with the main story already.

I'm still very very anxious and silently hoping I wouldn't get dragged for publishing a filler chapter like this, because it starts right after the first chapter.

Also, I wrote this in a day.

3k words worth of chapter. In one goddamn day.

Really just goes to show how much I prefer writing chapters that reach 10k words lmao

I promise I'll be posting chapters for the main stories soon, so please don't worry.

Think of this as a .5 chapter, but I swear, there's a reason why I added a filer chapter like this ;w;

I do hope you guys like it, and I'm excited for the theories you guys will come up after this chapter.

I know that most of you are concocting up theories for the story, and I just smile everytime I read them because the endings and the ideas I already finalized for the book are slowly waving back at me.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I've recieved fanarts from two readers and I'm like, "HOLY SHIT IM CRYING"

Honestly, everytime I receive a fanart, I just start tearing up and scream for about a minute because of how beautifully drawn they are and how you guys actually took the time out of your day to draw something for me and for the book.

I can't say it enough when I say "thank you" because the artists of the fanarts I get deserve more than that (they deserve the whole world)

Erised fanart by Lilylove5435

HELLO PLEASE I LOVE THE WAY YOU DREW (Y/N) AAAAAAA DJAJDHD PLEASE THIS IS SO GOOD AND THE WAY YOU DREW CEDRIC OHMYGOD

I LOVE THIS SO SO MUCH AND THANK YOU FOR DRAWING THESE LIKE AAAAAAAA THESE ARE SO GOOD

PINK HAIRED (Y/N) SUPREMACY

PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING THEM A FOLLOW OR JUST COMPLIMENT THEIR ARTWORKS! THEY HAVE AN ART BOOK AND I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU GUYS GIVE THEM THE LOVE THEY DESERVE

Erised fanart by sleep247

HELLO OMG I JUST RECIEVED YOUR FANART A WHILE AGO AND NEVER MANAGED TO REPLY BECAUSE I WAS BUSY DOING SCHOOL WORK SO I'LL BE GUSHING ABOUT THIS HERE

*BREATHES* PLEASE I LOVE WHITE HAIRED ROSEWOOD TWINS AND IM SIMPING FOR THEM EVEN MORE. I BELIEVE IN WHITE HAIRED ALEM SUPREMACY.

THE WAY YOU DREW IT IS SO GOOD??? LIKE HOLY SHIT??? (Y/N) LOOKS SO AWESOME HERE LIKE JFJSJD PLEASE STEP ON ME

AND ALEM, OH LORD, WHERE DO I BEGIN. HE JUST LOOKS SO DAMN GOOD WITH THAT SIDE PROFILE

AAAAA ALL IN ALL, I LOVE THIS SO MUCH AND FJSJDJF YOU DESERVE A FOLLOW AND EVERYTHING ELSE PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING THEM A FOLLOW AS WELL THROUGH THEIR SOCIAL MEDIAS

THESE ARE THEIR SOCIAL MEDIAS;
Instagram; @anggimochi
Twitter; @anggimochi
Facebook; Anggraini Prasetianty

I'll be seeing you guys in the next chapter soon,

which will probably reach another month or two. I'm so sorry-