Harry Potter's Twin Sister

Espith and Her Prince

A chilly breeze was snaking its way through the streets of Diagon Alley, and so Hazel leaned into the warmth of a sunbeam that was pouring through the window. She was sitting in the very same booth that she and Draco had been in earlier that morning, only this time, her brother sat besides her. 

It took a bit of magic from Florean Fortescue to make the booth's seat large enough for a man as big as Hagrid, who was sitting across from the Potters, looking rather uncomfortable. 

"So," he said, fiddling with his gloves. "D'you get your birthday presents."

"Oh, yes, Hagrid, they were lovely," said Hazel, who was genuinely happy to see the gamekeeper.

"They'll come in handy this winter," said Harry, who was still upset with his sister, but didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings.

Hagrid nodded and smiled, and didn't know what else to say, not wanting to ask them about their fight. Instead, he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

"Heard you blew up your aunt," he said, immediately regretting it.

The Potters, though, didn't seem to mind, and the three of them chatted quite easily. Harry told Hagrid about the new Firebolt broomstick in the quidditch shop, and Hagrid asked Hazel if she planned on trying out for the Hufflepuff team that year. 

It was still quite early in the morning, but the streets of Diagon Alley were slowly starting to fill up with customers. Harry's eyes would routinely flick outside to scan for Ron or Hermione, and he asked Hagrid if he could join him when he went to the Magical Menagerie. The two men left Hazel to complete her shift in Florean's, which gave her a chance to admire Draco's gift some more. 

Logically, she knew that Harry was right, at least a little bit. Draco was a bully, and sometimes she couldn't stand to be around him when he was with his friends. Draco could be just as immature and jealous as Harry. She wished they could both just grow up. 

She decided to eat her lunch in the Leaky Cauldron, and the innkeeper, Tom, offered to take it up to her room for her, but she felt like people-watching and so she decided to sit at one of the tables in the back. The inside of the Leaky Cauldron was dark and warm, and it reminded her of the Hufflepuff common rooms, except without all the plants. Sitting at the large tables around the room were all sorts of witches and warlocks, and even one hag, who ordered a plate of raw liver and coughed a bit through her balaclava. About halfway through her meal, Hazel watched as a strange man walked in through the door. He moved stiffly, like he was carrying a great weight on his shoulders, but all that was strapped to his back was one large sword. He ordered a standard hot meal with beer, and dropped his coins on the bar counter. Tom carefully scooped them up and went to backroom to wash them, as they were partially covered blood. The man sat down backwards on a barstool and lent his back and elbows against the bar counter. He scanned the rest of the room, and his eyes lingered on Hazel, who hadn't bothered to avert her gaze. She picked up her meal and carried it over to the seat next to him, ignoring his glare as she did so.

"Are you some kind of knight?" she asked nosily.

He ignored her.

"That's a cool sword you have there," she said, pointing to the hilt that was sticking out behind his back.

"It's a dadao," he said gruffly.

"A what?" she asked with a mouthful of chicken.

He said nothing.

"So," she said, swallowing her chicken and starting again, "have you killed many people?"

This question seemed to catch him off guard, because he turned to her with a look on his face that said 'how old are you?', but before he could tell her to go away, she said, "Me, personally, I haven't killed anyone, but I did recently blow up my aunt."