The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 1 - Year 3 Begins

Delilah Potter was an unusual girl for many reasons. First, she hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. She also really wanted to do her homework, but was forced to do it in the dark of night. Oh, and she happened to be a witch.

It was nearly midnight, and she was doing her homework with her twin brother, Harry.

Delilah was sitting up, using a flashlight to see her copy of A History of Magic leaning against her pillow. She moved the tip of her quill onto a piece of parchment, and continued to write her essay about witch-hunting from the medieval time period.

She found a nice paragraph about Wendelin the Weird and how Muggles were afraid of magic but burning had no effect on wizards because of the Flame-Freezing Charm.

Delilah put the quill between her teeth and reached for her ink bottle that was on her nightstand. Slowly and carefully, she unscrewed it and dipped her quill in it.

She began to write carefully, pausing every now and again to make sure the Dursleys were still asleep. If any of them woke up to the sound of her or Harry's quill, they'd both be in for it, probably locked in their room for the rest of the summer.

The Dursley family of number four, Privet Drive, was the reason Delilah hated the summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their son, Dudley, were Delilah and Harry's only living relatives other than each other. They were Muggles, and had a very medieval attitude toward magic. Delilah's magic, and anything to do with it, was never mentioned in the Dursleys' household.

For years Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hoped that if they kept Delilah and Harry downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of them. To their furry, they had been unsuccessful. These days they lived in terror of anyone finding out that Delilah and Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most they could do, however, was to lock away their spellbooks, wand, cauldron, and broomstick at the start of summer break, and forbid them to talk to the neighbors.

That separation from their spellbooks had been a real problem because all of their teachers at Hogwarts had given them a lot of holiday work. Some of the teachers would give anyone who didn't do it detention for weeks.

Therefore Delilah and Harry seized their chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were in the front garden admiring Uncle Vernon's new car, Delilah had crept downstairs with Harry, picked the lock, grabbed their stuff, and hid them in their bedroom. As long as they didn't leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys would never know that they were studying magic by night.

The Dursleys already were in a bad mood with them. Well, mostly Harry.

Ron Weasley had called, but instead of talking normally, he yelled.

Uncle Vernon was the one who unluckily answered. Delilah and Harry were in the room at the time.

"HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I — WANT — TO — TALK — TO — HARRY — POTTER!" Ron yelled so loudly that Uncle Vernon jumped back and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm.

"WHO IS THIS?" he roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. "WHO ARE YOU?"

"RON — WEASLEY!" Ron bellowed back, as though he and Uncle Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a quidditch field. "I'M — A — FRIEND — OF — HARRY'S — FROM — SCHOOL —" The idiot. He very well knew what the Dursleys thought of Hogwarts, yet he still had brought it up.

Uncle Vernon's small eyes swiveled around to Harry, passing right over Delilah.

"THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!" he roared, now holding the receiver at arm's length, as though frightened it might explode. " I DON'T KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! NEVER CONTACT ME AGAIN! DON'T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"