Harry Potter and the Rise of Magicks

1. CH1: The Twins' Punishment

Notes: Well, this was supposed to be my first NaNoWriMo attempt, but since it’s obvious I won’t be able to do it on time, it’ll just last whatever it takes for me to reach 50k words.

I have several warnings about what this story is and what it isn’t. This story takes place ‘some time’ after Deathly Hallows, but it doesn’t have any real spoilers to any of the books. It could be considered an AU, and it will look like that at first, but it’s not. Another thing: while there will be some romance (five pairings, to be exact,) it won’t be the focus of the story. Several pairings won’t happen until the very end, maybe the epilogue.

Oh, and one more thing: there are no Original Characters in this story. I know, it will seem otherwise. But trust me. :)

With that in mind, and not wanting to bore you any longer, go on and read it.

Rattle Town was a very small community, in the middle of the Californian desert. It had several hills surrounding it, and a dried lake to the east. There was nothing special about it, or about its habitants.

Surely, there were peculiar characters in town. Such as the man with the eccentric shop, the poor family that lived off their tiny farm, the orphanage with the children of those who died in the last civil war, the gas station and motel complex owned by an arrogant family, and the Mexican immigrant who had become homeless.

It was very late into the night when two teenagers arrived to a shop known for its weirdness. It was owned by the Loweys, a very unusual family whom most Rattlers regarded as insane. Xander’s Secret Base contained various models of UFOs, life-sized aliens, books about government conspiracies, and all that kind of things.

Russell and Jeanette Wayne were fraternal twins, both aged sixteen. The boy was lanky and tall, with dark red hair and bright blue eyes. His sister was short and a bit chubby, her hair was much lighter than of her brother’s and her eyes were honey colored.

They were orphans, like many children across the country. Their parents had died during the civilian war, many years before. The Wayne twins weren’t originally from Rattle Town, but eventually ended up in the Rattle Orphanage. Adoption rates were never favorable; much less in such a small place, so most orphans grew up without families until they were seventeen, when they would legally become adults.

That cool night of August, Russell and Jeanette had left the safety of the orphanage to cause some mischief. They were a pair of rebellious teenagers, and that was a known fact by the authorities of the institution.

Both wielded spray cans in their hands, and snickered to each other, as they began painting the walls and windows of Xander’s Secret Base. Half-way through their artistic expression, they were interrupted by an odd sound behind them.

Russell let out a surprised shout and was quickly silenced by his sister. But she too looked terrified. Their faces twisted into frowns when they saw what had caused their fright.

“Hummy!” Jeanette hissed, half-exasperated half-relieved. “What are you doing here?”

A little dark haired boy with vivid green eyes stood before them, chewing his lower lip and holding a hairy blanket in his arms. He seemed no older than nine years. “Jean, Russ; are you abandoning me?” he asked, his eyes filling with tears.

Jeanette’s eyes softened at such heart-felt question. She crouched to his level and hugged him. “Of course not, Hummy,” she whispered. “We would never leave you. We’re siblings now, remember that.”

Russell rolled his eyes, visibly uncomfortable with sentimental scenes. “Yeah, what she said,” he muttered. He turned around and continued with his previous activity. “Want to help?” he asked after a while.

Hummy, whose real name was Humphrey Peterson, looked at their handiwork skeptically. “Is that even legal?” he asked. “I don’t think Hilary would let me do that…”

Jeanette chuckled, and silently agreed with him. Hilary Gray was another orphan, a couple of years older than Humphrey, who was obsessed with rules and doing everything perfectly. The little boy always followed her around, and believed blindly in everything she said. She was a good girl, but not very fun, in Jeanette or Russell’s opinions.

“Ah, don’t mind about her,” the older boy said distractedly.

Humphrey didn’t seem convinced. “I wanna go back,” he muttered.

“We’re almost done,” Jeanette said cheerfully, spraying more paint on the windows. “Just a little bit more…”

“Hey!”

The three orphans nearly jumped six feet into the air, startled by the angry voice coming from the side of the shop. An old man, thin and with a very unkempt appearance, leapt from the shadows and glared at them. “It’s Old Fernandez!” Russell exclaimed, turning around to flee the scene. “Run for it!”

Jeanette took Humphrey’s hand and the three of them started running in the general direction of the orphanage. “Russ! Hummy can’t keep up!” the girl shouted, trying to pull the younger boy along.

With a muttered curse, Russell slowed down long enough to pick up the boy. “God, you’re heavy, Hummy!” he grunted.

They stopped at the front of the orphanage and their hearts nearly stopped. There, at the entrance, were Mrs. Umbrella, Miss Elliot and Hilary Gray.

“Where have you been?” the old fat woman, Mrs. Umbrella, snapped at them. She was the director of Rattle Orphanage and was known for being unfair and easily angered.

Miss Elliot was one of the teachers, she was kind, but she could be very volatile when she wasn’t in a good mood. She was a pretty woman, slim, with reddish brown hair and lively green eyes.

It was a fact that Hilary Gray was a teacher’s pet, and Miss Elliot was her favorite teacher. The girl looked like your typical nerd, long and wild brown hair, dark brown eyes, and large front teeth.

The old man stopped right behind them before Russell could come up with an excuse, huffing and gasping for air. “You!” he shouted, pointing at them. “You painted Mr. Lowey’s shop with your garbage!”

Mrs. Umbrella looked vivid. “They did what?”

It occurred to Russell that painting buildings in the middle of the night wasn’t such a good idea, after all.

The sun shone brightly on Rattle Town. Russell and Jeanette were sulking as they cleaned up the mess they had done on the front of Xander’s Secret Base. Mr. Lowey hadn’t said much about it; he didn’t get angry or yell at them. Instead, he laughed at the paintings, took several pictures and decided that the best course of action was for them to clean it up.

“He’s completely crazy,” Russell muttered, looking through the window at the various UFO-related items. Mr. Lowey was currently re-arranging his merchandize, and talking to someone whom the boy couldn’t see from that angle. “Is he talking to himself?”

Jeanette sighed, tired of her brother’s complaints, but looked up anyway. She was at a much better position to see who Mr. Lowey was talking to. “Hm, it’s just a girl. Probably one of the crazy kids that like this crap.”

The boy huffed, and kept washing the windows, disappointed with the boring answer he got from his sister. “Could have been funnier if he was talking to one of his alien costumes,” he muttered. Someone giggled behind him, and he turned around. It was Humphrey, clutching a teddy bear and smiling up at the Wayne siblings.

“Told you so,” he said, giggling again.

Russell frowned and went back to his duty. “Yeah, yeah, Hilary is always right…” he mumbled angrily.

“Of course I am,” said another voice, bossy and rather arrogant. “When I saw Hummy leaving I knew it was because of you two! How could you risk his life by exposing him to your vandalism?”

Jeanette and her brother shared a look and rolled their eyes at Hilary’s exaggeration. “I’m sure he won’t turn out to be a serial killer, Hilly,” the older boy said lazily.

“Don’t call me that!” the girl screeched, her long brown hair seeming wilder than before. “You’re a brute boy, Russell Brutus Wayne!”

Jeanette and Humphrey giggled quietly, but Russell’s face turned red in embarrassment and anger. “Shut up, little squirrel…” he grumbled, though he didn’t mean it with malice. Both he and the young girl were used to insulting each other. It occurred to Jeanette that both seemed afraid of becoming attached to each other, in case either of them were adopted and separated. Or maybe they were just too different.

“That isn’t very nice,” a new voice said, though it did not carry a scolding tone. The four orphans turned to the front door of the shop, where a young teenage girl stood. Her messy long hair was golden blonde, and her large eyes were an amazing mix of silver and electric blue. “You’re the kids who painted my dad’s shop, right?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. But instead of looking upset, she seemed amused. “Those things were rather funny. What were they?”

Jeanette looked at her brother and realized he was staring blankly at the stranger. She elbowed him roughly, and he shook his head. “Huh… What?”

The girl laughed, while his sister and Hilary rolled their eyes. Humphrey looked slightly confused, as did Russell. “The paintings, what did they mean?” the girl asked, looking at the older boy.

“Well, they’re…” he looked at the graffiti, which was starting to fade from all his washing, and shrugged. “This is a gnome,” he said, pointing at a small, humanoid-looking figure. “It gets into people’s gardens and eats their plants and digs holes.”

Jeanette snorted, knowing the graffiti was not a gnome, just the residual painting that had coincidentally formed a little figure. But the girl seemed convinced that they had painted a gnome. “Right, they call them garden gnomes,” she added, her tone was sarcastic, but Mr. Lowey’s daughter seemed too gullible to catch on.

“I see,” the blonde murmured, looking at the ‘gnome’ thoughtfully. Then, as if realizing she had spaced out, turned to them and smiled. “By the way, my name is Phoebe Lowey. What’s yours?”

“I’m Jean, he’s Russ, Hummy, and Hilly,” Jeanette said, introducing them all.

But Hilary didn’t seem very pleased with her nickname. “Our names are Jeanette, Russell, Humphrey, and I’m Hilary.” Phoebe snickered as the little girl puffed her chest, proud of her answer.

“I like my name too; I don’t have a pet name. Kids at school call me other things, but I don’t really like those names,” she explained. The four orphans blinked, not knowing what to say. “Well, would you like to take a break? My dad sent me to tell you he has some snacks for the three of us; more like five now,” she said, looking down at Humphrey and Hilary.

They followed her inside leaving the buckets and other items outside, knowing no one would steal them. Mr. Fernandez was near the shop too, and he was the self-proclaimed guard of the neighborhood, so there wasn’t any need to worry about things getting stolen.

Ángel Fernandez was an illegal immigrant who had landed on Rattle Town during the Mexican civil war, which happened a decade before the American crisis. Everyone said the reason he ended up in the small town was to earn money for his father, who was very ill and couldn’t cost the medical treatment in Mexico.

But Ángel’s father died before he could send his first check, and so the man had lost all will to live the American dream. He eventually lost his mind, or so people thought. He became friends with Mr. Lowey and his family, and was known to be a fierce believer of UFOs.

The five children went into the back of the shop, which had a small kitchen for employees (even though it was just Mr. Lowey working there.) On the table was a plate full of cookies, and three glasses with cool milk. Phoebe took two more glasses, and also filled them with milk.

There was complete silence as they sat and ate cookies. Only Hilary seemed uncomfortable by this. The others were munching and drinking quite happily. Russell, as usual, ate as if he wouldn’t see food ever again. “So,” Hilary broke the silence, politely pushing her glass away. “You believe that there are extraterrestrial entities visiting us?”

Phoebe smiled and nodded. “Oh, yes. They are out there, watching us.” Humphrey let out a frightened whimper. “Oh, but don’t fear!” the girl said quickly. “They don’t want to hurt us, they want to save us!”

Hilary couldn’t help snorting. “From what? It doesn’t look like we’re in need of salvation.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow. “It would be very arrogant of me to agree with such claim,” she said, her tone a bit less friendly than before. “We, humans, are destroying our planet, and in doing so, we’re destroying the continuity of our species. The Grays are taking samples of our DNA so they can clone us when we’re extinct.”

Jeanette covered her mouth, in an attempt to keep from laughing out loud. Hilary was looking at Phoebe with a horrified expression, unsure if the older girl was joking or being serious. Russell had covered his face in his large hands and his shoulders were shaking. Humphrey, on the other hand, seemed to have been turned into a believer. “Wow,” was all he could say.