Chapter 1
August 1986
London, Little Village Shelter
In a small room, you could see two children sitting on the bed. They were as alike as 2 drops of water. The same light hair color, blue eyes, aristocratic pallor, the same joyful expression on their faces, and even their name was the same. Vega Black.
However, there was one difference between them, and it was that they were of different genders. However, perhaps the most important thing about them is that they are both one person. And no, it was not as a result of some anomaly that one person was split, but one unlucky or perhaps, on the contrary, lucky hit girl was thrown into two bodies at once. One mind. One soul. Two bodies.
My reincarnation was too unusual, not to mention one soul for two bodies, I don't remember my family or even myself from my past life, only a huge amount of the most diverse information and what relation the past? past? me had to it.
At first, it was extremely unusual for us, because there were two of me, because we had to control two bodies at the same time, which is why we periodically scared the teachers with a rather eerie level of synchronicity of both the sounds we made and our movements. But, fortunately, thanks to the simultaneous work of two brains, we quickly learned to multitask and by the time it was time to learn to walk, we were able to perform actions independently of each other, which allowed the teachers, by the way, of a pretty decent orphanage in the very center of London to breathe a little easier. However, even so, in most cases it was easier for us to perform actions synchronously, so, for example, our movements when walking still remained eerily synchronous, which is why other children avoided us.
However, in addition to the inconveniences, we quickly discovered the advantages of our existence in this form. The speed of thoughts. We had two brains working simultaneously, connected to each other by an incomprehensible connection, because of which sometimes, if we did not make an effort to act synchronously, then we managed to achieve an effect in which we processed information and thought so quickly that our surroundings seemed to slow down by about half, and perhaps even more. And based on our last name, naturally, as we have seen enough stories about time travelers, we assumed that this was magic, and the world we ended up in was the world of Harry Potter. But we only received real proof of this today.
And the reason for this was our first magical emission. What led to it, you might ask? Because in Europe, it is common practice to separate twins so that they can better develop their individual qualities, and now that we are 6 years old, they are going to put us in separate rooms. Naturally, we were absolutely against it. We are not like ordinary twins, and we have long been accustomed to falling asleep hugging our other half. Against this background, we had such a quarrel with the head teacher that a magical emission occurred, which stunned the poor woman who was simply trying to do the best. And when she woke up, they calmly gave us one room for two.
And now we were sitting in high spirits, thinking about what miracles await us ahead. After all, we are obviously wizards.
"Maybe we should try going into the leaky cauldron?" We muttered before immediately dismissing the idea. "No, that's too dangerous."
Even if we can confirm that we are the heirs of the Black family, there is a very high probability of falling into the hands of a not very bright wizard, and even worse, perhaps, would be to stumble upon the Malfoys. If we really are those same Blacks, then this means that we stand between them and the Black family legacy, and, oddly enough, they kill for less, especially the Death Eaters. And what is no less important, we six-year-old children simply do not have the opportunity to leave the orphanage unnoticed.
- Maybe we should try calling Kreacher? He's the Blacks' house elf, after all. - We suggested out loud again. - But that might not work either.
It's worth starting with the fact that we have light hair, and from the Blacks we only know one blue-eyed blonde and that's Narcissa Malfoy, although in the films she wasn't particularly beautiful and looked more like an old woman, and they also dyed her hair black, as if without this they wouldn't be able to accept her as a former Black. In general, if we turn out to be part of the exiled branch of the Black family, then they won't answer us, and if we really are descendants of that very family, then we can only hope that Kreacher will answer the order, unknown descendants.
"Okay, nothing to lose," we sighed before getting out of bed.
- We Vega Black, descendants of the most ancient and noble Black family, command that Kreacher appear before us. - We said with pathos worthy of purebloods.
-…- a minute later we were still standing in silence, hoping for a miracle, but it seemed it was not meant to be.
-… doesn't answer. – we said, upset. – And how are we supposed to prepare for Hogwarts without Kreacher? We don't want to be completely helpless.
- Maybe we should try again?
- Yes, that's what we'll do.
- Kreacher, we order...
10 minutes later
- Kreacher, please come, - we begged, almost crying.
"Cotton"
- Who called Kreacher? - With a light pop, a rather creepy, wrinkled, long-eared little man with gray skin and a very creaky voice, like stones rubbing against each other, appeared in front of us.
- We are Vega Black. - We didn't hesitate to answer.
"Another half-blood bastard will betray…" the disgruntled house elf began, before suddenly falling silent upon seeing us.
- Kreacher greets, descendants of the most ancient and noble Black family. - the old elf bowed to us, which was quite surprising, considering what he started to say upon his appearance.
- You changed your shoes quickly. What is the reason? - we asked.
"Is that an order?" the elf asked.
- … Yes. – we answered after thinking for a bit.
- The blood traitor has many degenerates from Muggles. Sometimes they manifest magic and seek help, and magic brings Kreacher to them. At the request of Madam Narcissa, Kreacher told the head of the noble Malfoy family about them. He personally got rid of the mudbloods who disgraced the name of the noble and ancient Black family. - As if nothing had happened, the Elf told us extremely shocking information.
Hearing this, and looking at each other, we saw how pale our faces had become. We thought that calling Kreacher was not dangerous!
- Kreacher, this is an order, you are not to tell anyone about us without our permission! - we ordered with a hint of panic in our voices.
- Kreacher will carry out your order, but Kreacher must say that the noble Malfoy family would not refuse to help the pure-blood offspring of Master Regulus.
- Regulus Black? He is our father? How did you know? - we asked.
- It's magic.
-…- I don't think our name is Harry Potter, and his is not Albus Dumbledore, but so be it.
- Okay, if our father is Regulus Black, then I think I understand why we are in an orphanage and, perhaps, we were even lucky that we were born, if Voldemort found out that he went against him, then his death and that of his loved ones in most cases would be a matter of time.
- Kreacher. We need books on magical theory for training, bring them.
- No, it's not possible. - There was an immediate refusal.
- Huh? - This was the answer we least expected.
- Why?!
- Young wizards under 11 are not allowed to visit the Black family library without an adult.
- But we don't want to enter it, we just want to get a book from there.
"Such tricks won't help," the Elf answered adamantly.
- Just give us books for first-year Hogwarts students, no matter where they come from! That's an order, Kreacher.
- … will be done, - said the old house elf before disappearing with a click.
"I hope he doesn't abandon us," we muttered, noting that it was already dark outside and no one had come to send us to bed yet.
- It doesn't matter, we don't need reminders to go to bed anyway. - We said, after which we changed into pajamas and while my sister was preparing the bed, my brother was setting the alarm on the wind-up clock, because tomorrow is our first day of elementary school. Once everything was ready, as usual, we quickly fell asleep in each other's arms.
September 1, 1986
We woke up because of the alarm clock ringing and although we have one mind for both of us, and we are also twins, but it is at such moments that the difference in our bodies manifests itself. While my sister was able to get up more or less calmly and turn off the alarm clock, my brother's body still wanted to sleep and even continued to do so and I will tell you that it is a rather strange feeling when your mind is half asleep. I hope I can avoid split personality. I do not want to share my body with anyone, even if I have two of them.
Suddenly, my sister's gaze caught something that made us wake up completely. On our table by the window, there was a stack of slightly worn books. "The Theory of Magic" read the inscription on the cover of the red book at the top.
"He really did bring them," said the sister, voicing our thoughts, and we were truly glad.
"But we'll have to wait until the evening," we sighed before hiding the books in the desk drawer.
It's time to get ready for school.
The school we were sent to was considered quite good and thanks to the fact that, unlike other children, we already had knowledge at the university level, we were able to get in there on a budget, otherwise we would have had to study in a regular state school, however, if our orphanage had not been sponsored by the Queen, there would have been no budget places. They exist exclusively for orphans whose education, in the case of good test results, is paid for by the crown. Perhaps someone is wondering why we are so eager to get into an expensive private school if we will still leave for the magical world at the age of 11. Well, everything is quite simple here. This school has the best fencing club, which accepts exactly 6 years old and, unfortunately, we are not so brilliant as to independently create a program for our physical development, which will not harm our childish bodies. Still, we do not have illusions that magic alone will be enough to gain power in the magical world. After all, there are spells that no shield can protect against, and in such moments the best way to survive is physical training.
When we were taken to school, we were met with a problem, albeit a little unpleasant, but still unavoidable. We were assigned to different classes. It was inconvenient, but we still came to terms with it and decided to treat it as a training in multitasking. The first day of school, unlike what we knew about schools from our past life, turned out to be no different from other school days, we immediately had only a short acquaintance with the teacher, and then the most ordinary lesson.
Classes at our level were a bit boring, except that the teachers, constantly seeing how we finished assignments earlier than others, immediately gave us more difficult problems. Because of which we sometimes thought about dealing with them more slowly, but still gave up on it, because it still helped us in developing multitasking. Due to thinking about two different subjects at the same time.
We didn't really interact with other kids, only when they approached us, we answered calmly without trying to develop a conversation, because of which they quickly lost interest and left us alone. So, at a fairly calm pace, the lessons of our first day at school finally ended, and we finally got the opportunity to do what we came here for, namely, join the club.
We had no problems with joining, because even at the stage of proposing school options, we asked for only one thing, that they teach fencing well there. So all the necessary documents about our health were with the right people, the only thing that caused concern was that our abnormal connection was perceived as a mental disorder and I'm afraid that if we had somehow begun to resist dividing us into different classes, then we might not have been allowed to join, but as it was, we got an experienced fencer as a teacher who in his time more than once became a leader in world championships, and has extensive experience in mentoring, having raised many promising fencers. We were not the only ones who came to this school for the sake of studying with him.
It is quite natural that from the very first lesson no one would allow us to spar. Today we only learned how to handle a sword correctly, and we were also taught the correct gait. After all, when retreating and attacking, you will need to make rather sharp and fast jerks, so if you do not master the basics correctly, you can get injured. And of course, where would we be without such an important topic as safety precautions.
Unfortunately, our first lesson at the club was mostly theoretical, but nevertheless interesting, because what kind of world of magic is it without swords?
- Have you made any friends? - That was the question the teacher greeted us with as soon as we returned to the shelter.
"No," we answered calmly.
- Have you tried meeting others?
- We talked to other children.
- But you didn't make friends with anyone?
- It's not interesting with them.
- Haaah, what to do with you. - the woman sighed heavily. Perhaps it is worth telling a little more about her, because, in fact, it was she who was responsible for us from the very first days in this world. Her name is Lisa Carter and she is a brunette of about 40 years old. We heard that she is infertile, although she always wanted to have her own children, even with her ex-husband she divorced because of this and in the end she decided to work in an orphanage, fortunately, in such a decent institution as ours, which was located not far from the Tower of London, there were quite good conditions not only for the children, but also for the caregivers, who could easily afford to put aside most of their salaries. - Go change, and don't forget about dinner.
"Okay, Madam Carter," we replied, calmly heading towards our room under the watchful eye of the teacher, although as soon as we were out of her sight, we immediately broke into a run.
After all, school is just a necessary routine, but magic is a real dream.
Once in our room, despite the desire to start with the spell book and try to use them without a wand, we still decided to start with the theory. After all, you never know how magic works in this world, suddenly starting to experiment we will harm ourselves or, even worse, only one of us will remain. And so, in order to most quickly and well assimilate the information from the book, we used a trick that is available, perhaps, only to us.
While the sister picked up a book to read, the brother calmly lay down on the bed and closed his eyes to redirect most of our mental resources to one twin.
In this state, we could easily afford to read faster so as not to miss important information.
- Heh, sometimes it's really hard to imagine how others manage without something as useful as a second body. - The sister grinned, finally opening the book.
Magical theory, as expected from a book for first-year students, did not contain any particularly complex or advanced theories. Basically, everything was focused on safety precautions, such as not using untested spells on yourself or others, as well as a sea of water about what is required for magic and, of course, where would we be without this warning, that dark magic corrupts the mind and in general dark magic is bad.
"So, that's what it all comes down to, huh?" Sister said, closing the book she'd read in one breath with a soft slap.
Based on what we read, we were able to roughly form our own picture of understanding. The creation of spells is based on will and reason. Reason sufficient to be able to imagine the result, as well as will sufficient to keep your thoughts from moving to something else, and although this is only mentioned in passing, emotions are also important, under the influence of which spells can become stronger or not work at all without them.
And also, finally, the reason why magic is taught from the age of 11 is clear, as well as why in books and films purebloods were not shown to have any real advantages over others.
Until the age of 11, magic is in a state that is quite susceptible to development, but at the same time it is extremely unstable, especially against the background of a child's psyche. And the probability is too high that when trying to cast a spell, such a child's thought will jump to something like an explosion, obeying which unstable magic can harm both the child himself and those around him.
- However, this also unties our hands, we have adult minds, which means we can try to learn magic before Hogwarts. Right? - we said with slight doubt at the end. Still, this assumption is based only on the fact that we have knowledge at the university level.
- It's interesting, if we remember everything in such detail, except who we were. Were we smart? - This question was really interesting.
"knock knock"
- Vega, come have dinner. - a girl's voice was heard behind the door after a short knock.
- We're already on our way!
The orphanage we found ourselves in, frankly speaking, sometimes seemed unrealistic, especially against the background of the information we received from our past life. We always had decent, though not rich, food and clothes, our own rooms, educational prospects due to the sponsorship of the crown and pleasant teachers, and we were not even particularly burdened with work. There were only days of duty that were competently distributed during which we were engaged in cleaning, preparing food, working in the garden on the territory of the orphanage and other household things. Naturally, as we once learned, not everyone can be content with such things, but only the best. Each of the orphans must maintain a certain level of academic performance, as well as moral qualities, in order to have the right to stay here, especially if you were sent to a fee-paying school. Those who study in a state school have lower requirements, especially if there are successes in sports. However, if an incident were to happen that would disgrace the shelter or cause serious problems for it, such a child would immediately be transferred to another shelter, where the conditions are much worse, and the best child from there would be accepted in his place. However, in addition to this, the shelter has its own rating, the last place in which is also subject to replacement from another shelter once a month, and from the moment we went to school, we also became part of it.
This was done so that children would grow up competitive and better suited to adult life. Making it clear that a good life requires effort.
And yet, no matter how good this shelter is, it still remains a shelter. Now we were sitting in the dining room, quietly having dinner, and they decided to remind us that rotten people can also adapt, and sometimes much better than good people.
- Black, I heard you threw a tantrum in front of the teacher yesterday. - We heard the gloating voice of the boy who sat down in front of us with his tray. - This is probably your last meal, so are you ready to never meet again?
- It doesn't concern you, Corner. We were able to come to an agreement with Madam Carter. And we've already joined the fencing club, and the teachers are very complimentary about how quickly we learn the material, but you should be worried, we heard you got a D4 in English today, although for your school it should be at least a B2 in all subjects. - We answered, not even trying to fight the synchronicity of our answer.
- Horrible freaks, how did you even know about this? - grimaced our classmate, who went to school at the age of 5.
"It's enough to listen to what others are saying," we answered calmly, continuing to eat slowly.
- Damn. You think you can always do everything perfectly? - Corner hissed. - With the kind of freaks you are, I bet they'll start hounding you tomorrow and let's see how you can hold on to the ratings without the ability to fight back.
Having said this, he suddenly jumped up and carried a tray of food into the kitchen, which he never touched.
Well, we talked about rotten people, but in fact Michael Corner is not bad, it's just that although our conditions are great for orphans, the competition really puts pressure on him, and getting a bad grade at the very beginning of the school year automatically sends him down the rankings, so he decided to take out a little resentment on us. After all, unlike the others, we are foundlings who have lived here almost since birth, and we also went to school not like most at 5, but at 6, which naturally gave us a head start.
- I feel sorry for him, but life isn't fair to everyone, - we muttered, wondering if he was by chance the same Michael Corner who, according to the books and films, studied at Ravenclaw, yet if you look at the year, then he, like us, should be the same age as Harry Potter.
By the way, we mentioned grades and how they are given in Russia and Belarus is significantly different from England, there was a five and ten point system, but in England it is letter-based from A* (excellent) to U (extremely unsatisfactory) and in some schools, like ours, two grades are given at once - a letter grade and in addition a numerical grade from 1 (active work and interest in the subject) to 5 (the student does not try at all). This is considered a more suitable system for accurately assessing students.
10 minutes later we were back in our room looking at the book of spells, or to be more precise, the "course book of spells and incantations."
"Luckily, it's only our first day in first grade, so we haven't been assigned homework yet," we muttered, allowing our sister to rest for once while our brother read.
The beginning of the book, as in the theory of magic, began with safety precautions. Which the brother, having quickly looked through and not having seen anything new, skipped, moving on to the page with the very first and at the same time the easiest spell. Namely, the spell of light Lumos.
The essence of this spell is to manifest a ball of light on the tip of the wand, which will simply shine. It was decided to start with this, since no movements of the wand are required for it, but simply imagine light on its tip and pronounce the spell.
Naturally, we didn't have a wand, so we decided to imagine how the light appears above the palm.
- Lumos, - the brother cast the spell, looking intently at his palm.
-…- the brother silently looked at his palm, on top of which there was not even a hint of a light.
- Once again, Lumos.
- Lumos!
- Lumos!
…
- Lumos. - The brother repeated the spell again with a disappointed sigh, without any result.
"Maybe I should use a stick after all?" he muttered thoughtfully before walking over to the table and picking up a pencil.
He took it just as shown in the book, imagined a ball of light on its tip and finally cast the spell.
- Lumos!
This time it was different, we felt a momentary warmth in our brother's chest, and then a small flame lit up on the tip of the pencil.
- We did it! - we exclaimed joyfully, already dreaming about how we would master the entire school curriculum before Hogwarts began.