Home [Linny]

[ANDREA WARREN]

They were back at Hogwarts again. Back to the freedom that the walls held. Not that there were much boundaries for Drea at home. Honestly her Mum didn’t notice her all that much, she was too busy looking out for Linny, her twin sister. Drea didn’t resent her for it though! No, she understood the reasons behind her mother paying more attention to her twin. It didn’t mean she liked it though. She loved her sister, Linny was her best friend. Drea got Linny, she understood her, she didn’t even notice the Asperger’s anymore. That was just Linny.

Andrea knew that a lot of the students struggled coming back to Hogwarts, leaving home. She also knew that others struggled going home from Hogwarts. It was that underlying question of where home was. Annie never had that issue. She went where Linny went- and where ever that was, was home. She didn’t need anyone but her sister, not really. They were a team.

Being in different houses was hard for them initially, for almost all of first year Drea would sneak to her twins dorm at night, sharing the bed, so as Linny wasn’t alone, or afraid. She loved her sister, and she knew that Linny was dependant on her, what Linny didn’t know was that Drea was probably just as dependant on her. “Hey Linny,” The younger twin smiled, walking into the hall and sitting down at the Ravenclaw table, ignoring her own house table just feet away. “Did you get an owl from Mum last night about her and Dads plans for going on holiday next month?” She asked, knowing her sister would want to know about their parents whereabouts if her Mum stopped sending her a letter once a week.

[LINNEA MICHELLE WARREN]

Linnea was focused on the article she was reading in the Prophet, not quite noticing that the corner was dipping into her cornflakes as she did so. This morning's letters - there were three - were lying in a small pile next to the bowl, unopened and unread. The article itself was on a recent disaster involving misused Transfiguration and someone's left armpit, an accident which was apparently puzzling Healers everywhere. Linn frowned, a tiny crease appearing between her eyebrows as she did so. The problem was obvious. It was...

Someone sat down next to her and started talking. She felt a flash of irritation from being interrupted before she looked up and spied her sister. Linn smiled then, although secretly she couldn't help regretting that Annie couldn't have waited two more minutes until she'd been able to complete her thought.

"Letter?" she asked vaguely, looking from her sister's face to the small pile on the table. "Oh. I should have probably read those, huh?" she said with an awkward smile. She reached for the letter at the top of the pile, changed her mind, and lifted her newspaper again. Yes. The problem was clearly...

She could feel Annie looking at her. She lowered the paper again, folding it up this time. This was one of those moments, wasn't it? One of those where you had to stop what you were doing because someone was talking to you, so you weren't being rude. Of course it was; she usually remembered that. Linn blamed the fact it was so early in the morning.

She went for the letter again and picked it up, ripping open the envelope and tossing it aside. She scanned it quickly, then tossed the letter along with the envelope. "Yes, I did," she answered, rather unnecessarily. "Malta? Why are they going there?"

[ANDREA WARREN]

Drea rolled her eyes at her sister, it was clearly still early, Linny wasn't ready to be sociable yet. She seemed intently focused on the Prophet article she was reading. It wasn't something that Drea could understand. She really wasn't one to read the morning paper. Occasionally she could snoop in it to find out gossip if there happened to be a scandal, but otherwise she wasn't really fussed about the goings on in the wizarding world. She was sure Linny would inform her of anything important.

Andrea waited for her sister to fully give her her attention, rather than vaguely acknowledging her and turning back to the paper, she was aware that her sister wasn't quite listening to her yet. She was a lot more interested in whatever drivel was in that mornings Prophet. Charming, Drea was sure. Andrea watched her sister's face as she finally processed what she had said, the letter from their mother. Drea smiled and rolled her eyes when her sister mentioned that she should read her post. "You really should, you bampot," Her sister teased with a grin. "Else, I might steal it and I happen to know you have a letter from Gran in there that has a couple of Gallons in it. I got mine earlier." She said with a smirk.

She watched as her sister opened the letters, pausing on the one from their parents, her face screwed up. "I have no idea, because Dad liked the idea of Malta?" She said with a chuckle. "Just be grateful we don't have to go, from what I've heard of Malta it isn't as amazing as it's made out to be." she said, grabbing the letter off of her sister, scanning it and rolling her eyes. Linny always got a longer letter than she did. A longer, more interesting letter at that. A longer more interesting letter that asked about how she was doing rather than just relaying information. "How are you anyway? Sleep well?"

[LINNEA MICHELLE WARREN]

"But..." Linn started, then sighed, shaking her head. It was one of those things, she supposed; one of those things she would never understand, not in her lifetime. She enjoyed holidays as much as the next person, but to go on holiday just for the sake of being somewhere else? A holiday with a purpose, that was different; going to America specifically to meet a writer you were fond of who was appearing at a convention, fine. Going to Spain to take part in a guitar competition, understandable. Travelling to France for the annual Transfiguration championships, reasonable. But to go abroad just to 'relax'? A person could relax just as easily at home and, especially for Muggles, a lot more cheaply.

The Galleons in the second envelope went straight into her pocket: she was sure that Annie would thank their grandmother for both of them, because no doubt she'd forget. The third letter was from a friend at home, a Muggle girl who was proudly boasting that she'd conquered owl post at long last.

"No, not really," she answered, eyes straying to the folded paper, the temptation to start reading almost overwhelming. "I had another Jeff dream"

Jeff was a boy that Linn had fallen for, back in their town, when she was about fourteen. Having spent to whole of summer obsessing - and she was obsessed - imagining, and wishing, she had finally been talked into telling him how she felt...and had been rejected. Not unkindly, not at all, but Linn still found herself occasionally having dreams about him where she woke up feeling quite wistful and sad. Her friends didn't quite understand why she even still remembered his name, but she couldn't help it. She didn't want him anymore, she just couldn't stop the dreams. The only person she even bothered speaking to it about anymore was Annie.

"Did you?"

[ANDREA WARREN]

Drea watched her sisters confusion, she wasn't quite sure where it stemmed from, and she wasn't going to ask. The girls were completely different, chalk and cheese. But Drea didn't know any siblings, twins or otherwise, closer than she was was Linny. Drea was a bit jealous of her parents going away, just the fact they got to see somewhere different. Andrea longed to see a little bit of the world, something beyond the walls of Hogwarts and the town where she and Linny were raised.

She wanted to go places just to see them, meet the people, learn the culture. She found different people and how the acted and reacted incredibly interesting. A part of her wondered if it was because of Linny, Linn was different from other people and maybe that was why Drea strived for something different, out of the norm. Annie made a mental note to write to their Granny and thank her for her interest in their lives and the galleons, making promises about seeing her in the holidays which they may or may not follow through on.

Drea frown and patted her sister on the shoulder when she mention the 'Jeff Dream'. Drea hated that boy. She knew she didn't really have a reason to. He let Linny down easy and wasn't an asshole to her like some of the other kids back home were. But she had wanted Linny to get something she wanted back then. And Jeff was what she wanted. The boy had haunted her dreams ever since. "That sucks, Linny. He's not worth your dreams though, you know that." She told her sister, a sad smile on her face. "I slept fine, wish the girls in my dorm would stop sneaking in and out at three am though. It's messing up my sleep pattern and I'm going to get bags. When I do it I'm going to be sure and wake them all up." She said with an evil smirk, knowing that most of that information Linny would probably find either boring or irrelevant.

[LINNEA MICHELLE WARREN]

Linnea sighed. "He didn't do anything wrong, Annie, you know that," she said in gentle rebuke, but didn't push the subject any further. She knew her sister's feelings; even Linn was socially aware enough for that. Silly as the misdirected hatred might seem to Linn, she supposed she was no expert.

Annie started talking about the girls in her dormitory causing Linn to flounder mentally for a few seconds as she always did when there was an abrupt, unconnected change in a conversation. But she caught on quickly; this complaint was a common one. She was interested in gossip, yes, but the noisy girls hadn't provided any. Perhaps she would find out later why they were all out so late.

At the mention of the vague, veiled threat, however, Linnea smirked. "What are you planning, sister?" she asked, her own grin matching the one on her twin's face, emphasising how identical they were despite some physical differences. "If it's too complicated, I might need to help you out."

[ANDREA WARREN]

Drea sighed when her twin rebuked her, she didn't like it when Drea talked down about Jeff. But Drea didn't like what Jeff did to Linny so they could both just deal, couldn't they? Andrea knew the reason why Linn didn't like it when she talked down about the boy, it was because she didn't quite get why Drea hated him. Socially she didn't quite understand.

Andrea saw the look of confusion on her sisters face when she started talking about her dorm mates, but she kept on anyway, Linny was smart enough to keep up, Annie wouldn't talk down to her, she had seen too many people- people who weren't nearly as smart as Linny- do that. It aggravated her somewhat. Linny was far from stupid, she was crazy intelligent, Andrea paled in comparison, it was just because of her, somewhat inept, social skills.

Drea laughed at her sister and her enthusiasm to help her with her plans to waken up all her dorm mates. When they grinned they were identical. The only differences in their hair and makeup, it was quite brilliant. "I was just planning on going out with a boy until late then waking everyone up when I came in." She said with a chuckle. "I assume thats what the other girls have been doing, why what were you thinking?" She asked, thinking that if her sisters idea was better and more disruptive, she was in.

[LINNEA MICHELLE WARREN]

Linn couldn't help but feel mildly disappointed. She'd been picturing something involving maybe cream pies, buckets of water and silly string, with a little Transfiguration thrown in. Ooh, and maybe a couple of (temporary) potions. She knew that she was perhaps a bit childish in this. "Oh, you know," she explained, "The usual stuff, something out of one of those American movies with the pranks and stuff."

They used to play pranks together, when they were younger. Linn was obviously a lot younger than her sister was now, in some mental aspects, so when Annie had grown out of some things, Linnea had gotten more and more into them. Drea sometimes participated, but...well, it wasn't ever really the same.

She picked up a spoon, taking a bite of her now soggy cornflakes. She preferred them that way, always had. "What boy?" she asked as the rest of Andrea's speech made its way into her mind. "I didn't know you had a boy."

[ANDREA WARREN]

Drea smiled when her sister said that she had been thinking pranks, like something out of an American film. She smiled, fondly remembering the days back in second and third year when the twins had been prank masters. Many a person would walk around with the wrong coloured hair for a day if they had upset her or Linny. She used to love to set up pranks in their dorms or in the common room, they had managed to hit many an older students with cream pies back in the day. But times had changed, and Drea had grown up a bit, it made her slightly sad that her sister wasn't quite where she was yet.

She did understand though, she half wished that she could be back in Linny's mindset. Things were so much simpler back in their days of pranks, sleepovers, and funny American films. Now, honestly Drea was sure that the reasons the girls in her dorm were coming home so late weren't exactly innocent. Drea rolled her eyes when her sister seemed shocked about her mentioning a boy. "No specific boy Linny, just any boy." She told her. "Someone to keep me entertained for the night, a date or something." She said, knowing that she wouldn't be 'entertained' like her flatmates. "So just to be clear. I do not have a boy," She said in a mock horrified voice. "Would it really be so bad if I did though?"

[LINNEA MICHELLE WARREN]

"Oh." Linnea felt rather stupid now. Of course Andrea didn't have a boyfriend; Linn would have known before she'd been told if Annie had even considered a relationship. She felt herself colour slightly as her sister teased her: Linn might not be at that stage, nor would she probably ever be, as far as she could tell right now, but she did know and was totally and fully aware that other girls and boys her age did.

"Of course not," she protested when Annie asked if it was such a bad thing. "You know you can do what you like, Annie. I was just...surprised.

Her sister had boyfriends before, and although she had found it strange at first every time, she always got used to it. She was sixteen, she knew that people her age and older - and some younger - were getting boyfriends and girlfriends and making out and having sex and whatever else they did; Linn just wasn't there yet. It made her feel a little wistful, to be honest. She was...well, she was a bit jealous. She kind of wanted that kind of companionship. She loved her sister, but it wasn't the same. She wanted...she wanted someone for her. Someone that was all for herself, someone she could take care of and who would take care of her, without always having to rely on Annie for backups.

Yes, that would be nice. But she wouldn't have a clue how to go about it. "Annie..." she started after a few moments of contemplative silence. She stopped. "No, never mind."