The Unusual Cases: A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Olivia Hall woke up with a start. She took a moment to clear her head
before she shook her twin awake. "Winter! Don't you want to finish the
book? Don't you want to be done with the series?" she hissed. Winter turned
around, still lying in her bed to look at her twin. "What? At-" she stopped to
check her bedside clock. "It's six in the morning!" But Olivia knew how to get
around her sister! "You know what Winter?" she said loudly, making a great show of walking out of the door. "I am going to take the PB and J sandwich all to myself. Mom did say that there was enough jam only for one sandwich!" Winter was out of the bed and streaking past Olivia in a fraction of a second. "The PB and J sandwich is mine! PB and J rule! I love whoever invented them!" she yelled on her way to the kitchen. And for a moment, Olivia did agree with her twin, you could always make Winter do something for a PB and J sandwich! She did a silent salute to whoever invented them!
Olivia settled for toast and marmalade. The two sisters had cappuccino (Olivia handled the coffee machine). They took their breakfast trays up to their joint bedroom and Winter challenged Olivia to see who would finish the series first. Both of their eyes zoomed over the pages, lost in the realm of magic wondering who would win the final battle. And fifteen minutes later, "Finished!" cried Olivia, triumphantly.
"Aargh! I was on the last page! I knew that you would finish first though!
You're a born speed reader!" groaned Winter.
"Appreciate the praise! Now finish the book and then we can go see Jess, she
is leaving for boarding school next afternoon!" said Olivia, airily. So within fifteen minutes, the twins were out and walking to their friend Jessica's house (who was also their neighbour). Jessica's mother opened the door for them and told them to wait for Jessica in her bedroom as she was just finishing her packing. She seemed to be very agitated and distracted. So the twins went up to Jessica's bedroom and heard her ticking off a checklist. "Wand, check! Robes, check! Parchment, check! Quills, check! A History of Magic, check! Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, check..." came
Jessica's voice.
"What on Earth is that all about?" asked Winter in a suspicious voice.
"She's making it sound like she going to Hogwarts!" replied Olivia.
"Well, it's a mean trick then! She knows we love Hogwarts!" whispered
Winter and without warning, stepped into Jessica's room and said very loudly, "Well Jess! The trick's over now! Unless Hogwarts really exists!"
Olivia and Jessica groaned at the same time, Jessica because her secret had
been discovered and Olivia because her sister made her so mad all the time. However, following Winter's example, stepped into the room and picked up the wand from the top of the half-packed trunk. She gave the wand a swish
and a feeble vapour of smoke appeared and vanished. The twins' eyes grew wide with surprise. "So Hogwarts exists and you never bothered to tell us? Knowing how much we yearned to go there!" said Olivia in a quiet and accusing voice. Jessica nodded, seeing no way out of this and muttered something that sounded like, "International Statute of Secrecy!" Without another word they ran out of the Walters' house. They got to their own house and took out their bikes, threw some snacks into a backpack, scribbled a note to their parents about going for a short bike ride and were ready to set out. "Hold on! I'll take Philosopher's Stone along with me! It states the way to get into diagon alley!" yelled Olivia. She backtracked into her bedroom and threw the book into her backpack. The twins set out to the nearest underground. They paid their money and got through the underground system quite easily. They got onto the road and started looking for the "Leaky Cauldron". They found it, however it shimmered a lot. "Does it look like the Leaky Cauldron is shimmering to you too?" asked
Winter.
"Yeah! It's probably because we have less magic than usual. You can't deny
that we've got no magic!" replied Olivia. They stepped into the Leaky
Cauldron, trying to draw as little attention to themselves as possible. They creeped into Diagon Alley behind a noisy group of wizards. And, finally they were in their dreamland! "Where do we go first? I want to go to
Ollivander's!" exclaimed Winter.
"And we'll pay him in pounds?" replied Olivia,sarcastically.
"I meant after Gringotts, of course!" said Winter, sheepishly.
"Really?"asked Olivia, testily but, she let the matter drop. So they set out for
Gringotts. They exchanged their muggle money for galleons, sickles and knuts. "Ollivander's then?" asked Olivia. Winter gave a quick nod and they sped off. When they entered the shop, their breaths became quick and
shallow. "Ah! Hello! I am guessing you are twins?" said Mr. Ollivander when
he heard the tinkling of the bell as the twins entered. "I shall measure you
and then we shall try a few wands and pick the best!" The twins thought Mr. Ollivander was quite weird. Mr. Ollivander browsed between shelves and was picking out a couple of boxes. The twins definitely did not like those self measuring tapes because they measured some very unimportant places such as between their nostrils. Finally, the measuring was done and they started trying wands. It was quite a long process and finally they had decent wands. Olivia's was Ash wood, Unicorn hair core, 14 and ½ inches and hard flexibility. Winter's was Alder wood, Unicorn hair core, 13 and ½
inches and quite flexible. Back at Hogwarts, Mr. Ollivander reported to
Professor Granger, "Headmistress, I have sold two wands to twins. They
have Unicorn hair cores from Hogwarts' Unicorns. The twins names were Olivia and Winter Hall." Professor Granger frowned, "I remember sending Hogwarts letters to no Halls! Alas, now I see my mistake! I seem to have overlooked them! They must have found out through Jessica Walters! Mr.
Ollivander, you may leave! Please send Ginerva in while you leave, I have a job for her!" Mr. Ollivander exited and minutes later a confused looking Ginny stepped in. "You have a job for me?" she inquired. Professor Granger nodded and told Ginny. Ginny nodded and said, "I'll go tomorrow morning!" The twins meanwhile, unaware of their good fortune, were having the time of their lives in Diagon Alley. They poked their noses everywhere! They bought two snowy owls (named Twist and Twilight), robes from Madam Malkin's, a whole lot of owl treats, broomsticks (Firebolt 6), candies and tons of jokes from Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Finally, after they were laden with wizarding objects, they headed home.