The first thing Calysta Potter did after coming to her senses was squeal loudly and nearly squeeze Jeff Evans to death. He already meant so much to her, seeing as he was related to her mother, and he was a wizard, and he was already her best friend, seeing as they both thought alike.

"I don't believe it," she said, for the second time. "How are you a wizard?" she whispered. 

Jeff, grinning madly, held out his palm out to her, a small piece of paper perched atop his skin. "I've always been able to do this," he explained, as the piece of paper slowly floated upwards and back down, as if it were being levitated by an invisible thread of string.

Calysta beamed, showing him how she could change the color of the beads of the bracelet she wore on her wrist, from black, to blue, then pink, and finally red.

"Sweet!" Jeff praised her, clapping her on the back. "Now, shall we test our magic on the fat lump?" he asked with a wicked grin.

Calysta sadly shook her head. "I promised Aunt Petunia I wouldn't cause any havoc," she grumbled miserably. 

"Aw man," Jeff clicked his tongue. "Anyway, let's go downstairs, I'm starving!"

Calysta nodded, hurrying down the stairs in hopes that she wasn't late, lest she'd have to face Aunt Petunia's most boring lectures on etiquette and manners.

Barbecue at night was a blast. Calysta had really hit it off with Jeff, and could easily declare that by far, this was the best night she'd ever had. The pair discovered that they both a knack for wreaking havoc wherever they went. What made it worse was how they both knew that they would have each other at Hogwarts, and as far as they were concerned, they didn't need anyone else. It would be so much easier to make friends now that they had each other.

Harry, although enjoyed Jeff's company, and found him to be rather amusing, deemed him to be a bit cheery and way too bubbly for his liking. Not that it bothered Calysta though. Although she loved Harry to bits, it came as quite a blessing that she had just made her first real friend.

For once, she felt like she belonged.

After a long night, Calysta helped Aunt Petunia clean up and tug everything away, while Uncle Edward sat on the couch watching Dudley's dull soap opera. When Calysta made a move of going upstairs, Uncle Edward summoned her and invited her for a walk outside. Calysta made a move to wake Harry, who'd fallen asleep on the chair in the kitchen, but he shook his head and motioned the outdoors to her. When outside, Calysta felt it rather chilly, but enjoyed the prickling on her skin, as she walked alongside her uncle.

"Jeff tells me you're going to Hogwarts," Uncle Edward broke the silence. "And from what I observed tonight, you two seem to get along really well..."

Calysta's lips curved upwards into a smile. "Yes, well he found out Harry and I were going to Hogwarts quite accidentally... Harry hadn't managed to hide his acceptance letter very well..."

"Ah, I see," the redhead's eyes twinkled with amusement. "You look like your mother," he observed. "Lily. She was my favorite of my cousins," he said fondly. "The second youngest cousin I had, but my favorite by far.."

Calysta smiled, holding the hand of her uncle, whom she already felt so familiar with. "What was she like?" she asked.

"She was very, very headstrong and stubborn," he chuckled. "But very kind and loving to everyone around her. When I heard of her death, I was devastated," he admitted.

Calysta could only listen with bated breath.

"Jeff got accepted to Hogwarts, and another wizarding school in America, but when Professor Dumbledore wrote to us, explaining that he knew Lily and James, I knew I had to send Jeff to Hogwarts..." he trailed off. "I'm so, so sorry about your parents," Edward said honestly, bending down to Calysta's height. "And you let me know, that if there's anything, anything I can do to help you, write to me. Both you and Harry."

Calysta had balancing tears in her eyes as she nodded with a smile, giving the older man a hug. "Thanks Uncle Ed," she whispered. "I'm glad you chose Hogwarts. I'll take care of Jeff."

Uncle Ed patted her on the back. "I've never really liked Vernon," he scoffed. "Nasty, showoff," he muttered, shaking his head. "But I suppose Petunia and Vermin are just right for each other.."

Calysta giggled at her uncle's nickname for Uncle Vernon. 

"Your mother chose well though," he grinned. "Meeting James Potter was something I'll never forget. Lily first introduced us during the Easter holidays of her last year at Hogwarts. Of course, I never knew she went to Hogwarts until after Professor Dumbledore told me."

The brunette was smiling the whole time she talked to her uncle, deciding she liked him a whole load better than she liked Uncle Vernon.

As they reached the house, Uncle Edward sent Calysta a wink before she bid Jeff farewell after Aunt Petunia told her to go to bed. Promising she'd send Tempest with a letter to him regularly, she no longer felt nervous about going to Hogwarts. Instead, she was very much excited.

On the last day of August, right before the twins left for Hogwarts, Calysta had written to Jeff, telling him she'd meet him on the train to Hogwarts. Realizing she had no source of transport to take them there, she barged into Harry's room to ask him exactly how they'd get to London.

Harry wasn't in his room. She grimaced. His room was littered with bird droppings and a couple if dead mice his owl had brought in. She really wished she could slip it into Dudley's next meal... 

Oh wait, that's right, she could. Picking up the dead mouse by is tail, she wrapped it in her old handkerchief (which Aunt Petunia insisted she used, but she found the idea of a handkerchief far too gruesome, so she'd never bothered to use it), before slipping it into her pocket, grinning madly. 

When she went downstairs, Harry was already there, talking to the Dursleys, who had agreed to take them to London tomorrow. 

"Er — We need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts," Harry was saying. 

Uncle Vernon grunted.

"Would it be all right if you gave me and Cal a lift?"

Grunt. That probably meant yes.

"Thank you."

Turning around, he was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. 

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

Calysta rolled her eyes at his attempt of a lame joke, and Harry said nothing.

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.

"It's in Scotland," Calysta spoke loudly. 

"We just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," Harry read from his ticket. 

Their aunt and uncle stared.

"Platform what?"

"Nine and three-quarters," Calysta chirped.

"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."

"But there is magic," Calysta interrupted again. "So there's also a platform nine and three-quarters. It's just not visible to muggles like you," she said matter-of-factly, quoting what she read in Hogwarts, a History, word for word.

Uncle Vernon sent her a dirty glance.

"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.

"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings." 

 Calysta fought to hide her smile, as she linked arms with Harry and headed back upstairs, chattering excitedly. 

"I'm really looking forward to Hogwarts," Harry told her, as he packed his books messily into his trunk, right on top of his clothes. 

"Er, Harry, do you need help packing?" She asked softly. "By the time we get to Hogwarts, your trunk will contain only broken things," she explained. 

"Nothing's fitting in there," he told her. "Good luck.."

Calysta folded all his clothes and put them in at the bottom, organizing his trunk to make sure all the space was utilized. "There, everything fit," she said proudly. 

Harry gave her a smile, hugging her tightly and ruffling her hair, causing her to scowl and brush it out of her eyes. 

"Cal, I want you to promise me something," Harry said solemnly. "I've been thinking about this for a while, and I know you don't like it when I tell you things, but don't be mad at me..."

Calysta took a few seconds to process his words before nodding.

"I'm glad you get along with Jeff.." he began. "And I know that you two are more than capable of ending up in trouble together..."

Calysta giggled. Harry glanced at her and shook his head, before continuing. "I just want you to be careful at Hogwarts... Be careful not to do anything that will get you into trouble.."

Calysta snorted at that, already finding it difficult to obey that rule. 

"But I just want you to promise me that you won't forget me.. at Hogwarts I mean," Harry finally said, looking away. "I know you're a much more friendly person than I am but.. don't let your friends take you away from me.."

At this, Calysta looked up at him softly, the edges of her lips curving upward as she gave her twin a tight embrace. "How could I ever forget you, Harry?" she asked softly. "You're my twin."

"You know what I mean.."

"Promise," she affirmed, hugging him tightly.

The twins woke up excitedly the next morning. Harry had woken up at five, and went up to the attic to wake his sister up, who grumbled at him to go away, and that it was much too early. He couldn't go back to sleep, so he got ready into a pair of jeans, with the notion that he'd change on the train.

An hour later, Calysta had woken up, taking rather long to get ready. Debating on whether to wear jeans or shorts, she settled on wearing a t-shirt with rainbow stripes and shorts, paired with a pair of rather worn-out trainers.

Packing her trunk, and checking if she'd left anything behind, she made sure Tempest was shut in his cage, before packing her backpack with books to read on the train ride. 

Two hours later, Calysta was wedged in between Harry and Dudley (Dudley refused to sit next to Harry), her trunk loaded into the booth with Harry's, as Uncle Vernon drove them to London.

They reached London at half past ten, with an hour left before the Hogwarts Express left for Hogwarts. Uncle Vernon dumped their trunks onto a luggage cart and wheeled it for them right in between platform nine and ten. Calysta knew he wouldn't do something this nice unless there was a catch to it. Narrowing her eyes at Uncle Vernon, she knew exactly what he was up to, the moment his lips curved into a nasty grin as he looked in between platforms nine and ten repeatedly.

"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they, you little imp?" he focused the last word on Calysta.

He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.

"You don't see it, do you, you big imp?" she said loudly, pretending to smile as she looked in between platform nine and ten. Of course, she saw nothing, but Uncle Vernon didn't need to know that. He scowled.

"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing.

"Do you see the platform?" Harry was saying.

She shook her head and frowned. "Was just trying to get Uncle Vermin's ego down," she explained.

"Uncle what?" 

"Uncle Vermin. Uncle Edward said mum used to call Uncle Vernon Vermin and I think it suits him quite well, don't you think?"

Harry merely shook his head and laughed. 

Calysta turned around, feeling rather forlorn and a bit lost. What on earth would they do? All they had was their owls, a bag of gold, and their trunks, which they could barely lift.

"What if you have to do something like Diagon Alley?" Calysta wondered aloud. "Like tapping a brick or something?"

Harry shrugged, his mouth rather dry, glancing at the clock. They had only ten minutes to get onto the platform.

Calysta gulped, looking around desperately for anyone that looked even remotely like a witch or wizard.

At that moment a group of people passed just behind them and she caught a few words of what they were saying. 

"— packed with Muggles, of course —" 

Harry swung round, meeting Calysta's eyes. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him — and they had an owl. They were both thinking the same thing. 

"Let's follow them," Calysta whispered, tilting her head in the woman's direction. Harry nodded, turning his trolley around as he moved to follow the woman.

They stopped and so did Harry and Calysta, just near enough to hear what they were saying.

"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand. "Mum, can't I go . . ."

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. The twins watched, careful not to blink in case they missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of them and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. 

Calysta scowled. "Bummer!" she groaned, using an American phrase Jeff had taught her. 

Harry eyed her strangely.

"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? 

Cal burst out into a fit of giggles. These were the type of people she admired. She made a note to befriend them at Hogwarts.

Oh, I wish I had a twin... she thought. Wait, I already do.

Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier — he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.

There was nothing else for it.

"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman. Calysta stood a few steps behind Harry, close enough to listen, but far enough not to attract too much attention.

"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too. "She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose. 

"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, uhm... my sister and I.. We don't know how to —" 

"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded, Calysta joining in.

"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"Er — okay," said Harry. He turned back to Calysta, who nodded encouragingly.

He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. He walked briskly to the wall, and Calysta watched him as he picked up speed. And then he was gone.

A grin curved up her lips, and the woman smiled at her, beckoning her to go after him.

"Go on, dearie," the red-haired woman spoke.

Calysta nodded, closing her eyes and running straight into the wall, rather nervous. She thought she'd crash, when.... she didn't. Opening her eyes, she gasped as she saw the scarlet steam engine and a large signboard that read Hogwarts Express. 

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. 

She could see Harry a few feet ahead of her, staring at the platform in wonder. Tapping his shoulder, she grinned widely, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Let's board the train, shall we?" he asked, placing an arm around her shoulders as they boarded the train.

They pressed on through the crowd until they found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Harry put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot, while Calysta was struggling to drag her trunk too, hissing in pain when she too, ended up dropping it on her foot.

"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins they'd followed through the barrier.

"Yes please," Calysta grunted, trying to lift the trunk.

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" 

With the twins' help, Harry and Calysta's trunks were at last tucked away in a corner ofthe compartment. 

"Thank you," Calysta chirped, tying her hair up into a ponytail.

"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Calysta's lightning scar. 

"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you — ?"

They looked at both Harry and Calysta closely.

"Oh, they are," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to the twins. 

"What?" said Harry.

"Harry and Calysta Potter," chorused the twins. 

"Oh, them," said Harry. 

"He means yes, we are," Calysta interjected. "Pleased to meet you," she grinned wickedly, holding out her hand for them to shake. "I do admire your work," she said in a business-like tone.

The twins gawked, before shaking her hand.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mum."

With a last look at the Potters, the twins hopped off the train. Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying, and Calysta took the seat opposite him. 

Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. "Ron, you've got something on your nose."

 The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. 

"Mum — geroff." He wriggled free. 

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. 

"Shut up," said Ron. 

"Where's Percy?" said their mother. 

"He's coming now." 

The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny red-and-gold badge on his chest with the letter P on it. 

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —" 

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. 

Calysta knew what he was doing. She'd done the same thing to Dudley millions of times when she was trying to tease.

"You should have said something, we had no idea." 

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. 

"Once —" 

"Or twice —" 

"A minute —" 

"All summer —" 

"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. 

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins. 

"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly.

 "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there. "She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. 

Then she turned to the twins. "Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —" 

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." 

"Great idea though, thanks, Mum." 

While watching the redheaded twins' drama, she giggled, already planning the pranks she could play with them.

"It's not funny. And look after Ron." 

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." 

"Shut up," said Ron again. 

He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. 

"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" 

The Potter twins leaned back quickly so they couldn't see them looking. 

"You know that black haired boy and the little girl who were near us in the station? Know who they were?" 

"Who?" 

"Harry and Calysta Potter!" 

Harry heard the little girl's voice. "Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see them, Mum, oh please..." 

"You've already seen them, Ginny, and the poor children aren't something you goggle at in a zoo. Are they really, Fred? How do you know?" 

"Asked them. Saw their scars. They're really there — like lightning." 

"Poor dears — no wonder they were alone, I wondered. They was ever so polite when they asked how to get onto the platform." 

"Never mind that, do you think they remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" 

Their mother suddenly became very stern. "I forbid you to ask them, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though they need reminding of that on their first day at school." 

"All right, keep your hair on." 

Something told Calysta they just said it to keep their mother quiet.

A whistle sounded. 

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. 

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." 

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." 

"George!" 

"Only joking, Mum." 

The train began to move. They saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved. 

They watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. 

Calysta felt a great leap of excitement. She didn't know what she was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.

Hogwarts, here I come, she thought.

{ this book would be so much shorter if i was following the movies and not the books... i would have cut all the weasley action, but... everyone loves gred and forge. comment please, vote, share, and follow. it helps, trust me. }