Twice the Trouble.

"Bonjour ladies! What will it be today?”

We turned and smiled at the man. Glancing at each other, we linked arms and skipped to his stand.

“Bonjour Mulet! How is the market?” we said in sync.

“Eh, not bad. ‘Et could be better.” Clapping his hands together, he said, “We have magnifique pasta, with chips! Or maybe you are in ze mood for a more hearty salad with a side of salmon? ‘Et is still fresh!” he smiled.

Grinning, we— alright let me just tell you now, we speak together, if we don’t you shall know when. Jot that down, because there will be a quiz later! Just kidding!— said, “Merci, Chef Mulet, but we already have a wonderful meal ready for us at home. But maybe we’ll have lunch tomorrow!” Waving, we continued walking. On the way, my twin tripped. “Chontelle! Are you okay?” I asked her worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but, what’s that? It wasn’t there when we walked through here a couple of years ago.” She told me, looking up at it.

“What’s what? I don’t—“ I stopped mid sentence. “See it,” I muttered. “What’s the sign say?” Saunta’s eyes squinted. “It looks like . . . . it looks like it says, ‘The Tipping Potion’.”

“What a funny name,” I mused out loud. I felt a tug at my wrist, and turned my attention to Saunta. “Come on Jazze! La mère is not going to be happy with us if we are late!”

“Right,” she ran and with one last glance at the oddly placed shop, I took off after her.

Ϟ

“La mère!” we both called. “We’re home!”

“Glad to hear it, now go wash up. Dinner’s on the table.” She said stepping out of the kitchen.

“Oui, La mère!” quickly, we washed our hands then skipped back down for dinner.

I sat down and picked up my salad fork. “La mère? Have you ever heard of the shop, The Tipping Potion?”

Mother looked up sharply. “Where did you hear that name?”

I looked up, startled by her reaction. “Well, Chontelletripped, and I stopped to ask if she was alright, she said she was, then asked me what something was. At first I didn’t know what she was talking about. But then I saw it too. It was like magic. One minute it wasn’t there, the next it was.” I explained, taking a bite of salad every sentence or so.

“So it’s still there. . . . interesting,” She murmured, sipping her glass of red wine.

Looking out the window, I saw the most beautiful white swan accompanied by a large, majestic black swan. I smiled, enjoying their beauty. I watched as they got closer and closer. They were so close that they were about to run into the glass. I didn’t want them to get hurt, so I leapt to my feet, and yanked up the window, the same time my twin asked me what was wrong.

I stepped back just in time, if I hadn’t, I would’ve gotten knocked over by their rather large wings. I watched the two birds land in our dinner, skidding to a stop, causing some of the goblets and platters La mère prized to fall to the floor, shattering in little pieces. I was about to close the window, when two more birds came out of nowhere. Instincts kicked in and I ducked. Peering out the window, with only my eyes, forehead, and the bridge of my nose sticking out, I waited for the next attack. I saw something move, so I ducked yet again, my back to the wall. Following the owls were two black ravens, and following them, were two parrots. I was about to close the window, when mother spoke. “Do not close that window. They will need it to leave. ”

Turning around, I saw that the other birds had joined the table. Pecking and gobling the food on our plates, the birds all held out their legs. Looking further, I noticed that they had letters tied to their legs. Reading the first one in sight, I realized it had my name on it.

Opening up the l, I read to myself.

Dear Ms.Merqui.
We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted into The Night School for the Gifted. If you wish to come, please send a swan to us by September 23rd. Inclosed below is a list of things you will need.

I gor the other three and read those as well. They were the same except for the fact that in each letter, there was a different school’s name. Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beuxabatons all offered for me to go to school there.

“Chontelle, did you get accepted into Hogwarts, Durmstrang, Beuxabatons, and The Night School for the Gifted?”

She shook her head. “All but The Night School for the Gifted. I was instead offered The Daytime Academy.”

“Mother, what is going on?” we asked confused.

She sighed. “I knew this was going to happen one day. I just didn’t realize how soon! I mean, you are only nine years old! Well,” she pointed to our chairs. “Sit,” I’ll be right back.” We looked at each other questioningly. We each shook our heads and sighed. “Mother placed down a box kind of like a shoe box, only much skinnier, and not as tall. “What’s that?” I asked looking it.

She opened the lid. “This,” she lifted the object up. “is a wand.”

Scrunching my face up, I objected. “Its just a stick. What can it do?”

Mother pointed her ‘wand’ at the broken glass pile. “Reparo,”

I watched in amazement as the glass shards came to life, fitting their selves back into their designated spot. Right before my eyes, one by one, they fixed themselves, and were set lightly on the table.

“I take that back. That was wicked!” I exclaimed.

Mother smiled. “Whichever school you may choose, you are to get the requirements for them then I’ll send an owl back to them, telling what school, or schools you have chosen. If you pick The Daytime Academy, or The Night School For the Gifted, you can go to two schools.”

We looked at each other, using our twin telepathy. Looking back at mother we said together, “Hogwarts.” Then we each said our special school after that.

“Well alright then. Get your things. We’re going to The Tipping Potion.”

We hugged each other excitedly. “We get to go to magic school!”

Ϟ

We had just entered The Tipping Potion. People noticed us and they bowed. I was confused, but smiled at them all. I watched my mother’s expression carefully. Her jaw was set, and she was gritting her teeth.

Shrugging off the feeling, I followed mother with Chontelle at my side. Looking around, I saw large beautiful shops. I wanted to go look into each one, but mother trudged forward still, and I obediently followed. We stopped first at Gringotts and made a withdrawal after going on what felt like a wild rollercoaster ride.

Another wild rollercoaster ride and we were on our way to another shop. Once again, everyone in the room present either bowed, or looked afraid at the sight of us.

I was really confused about it all, but I ignored it. We entered a shop that was named Oakley Woods.
I was handed a black and silver wand with a moonstone on it, while my sister was handed a white and gold wand with ruby incrusted in a box. I’ll get your books from Spelman’s. You two go into Lackley’s and get robes. Tell her your schools, and she will set you up.; Mother told us.

“Oui, mother.” We went into Lackley’s as told, told her our schools, and gave us robes. Chontelle got ruby red robes with a black ribbon in the middle. And then plain basic black ones. I was given silver robes with a ribbon in the middle like Chontelle’s, I too was given the black robes for Hogwarts as well.

I could tell this lady was afraid of us too, and I didn’t know why. Mother came in, paid Ms. Lackley, and then we left. Our last stop was at Gerbrets Animal Emporium. When we walked in, all of the animals screeched, squealed, hissed, or growled at our entry. I was saddened by this. I didn’t like others being afraid of me. I walked around looking into the cages. I stopped at one cage. I was sure there was nothing in it, so I walked on. I finally came to the end, and sighed when I still hadn’t found anything. I walked by that mysterious cage again. I looked into it, and this time, icy, steel blue eyes stared unflinchingly into my own bright purple ones. The creature stepped out into the light. Holding his head high, he analyzed me. Like he had made a decision, he nodded his head once, and flicked his tail at the bars of the cage, and made a sweeping motion, slicing the bars in half. He jumped onto my shoulder, and nipped my ear.

I looked back at the cage and saw something I hadn’t noticed before. On the cage, it said ‘Warning, potentially poisonous baby dragon.’

I looked at the creature on my shoulder. Its leathery wings were folded in tight, and when I looked at him, he looked at me. He scales were a dark midnight blue, almost black color. He had spikes on his neck and tail. He had two knife-like things sticking out on his tail. I think that’s what he used to cut the bars in half. He also had spikes on the valley between his wings. If he grew larger, they would be big enough to hold on to, if you were riding him.

“Twilight.” He whipped his heard around staring me directly in the eye. He shot out a 7 foot flame of fire. “Whoa! I take it you like that name.” He nodded and rubbed his small head on my neck. I stroked his head softy, careful of his spikes, and walked back to the counter. I walked out of the right aisle at the same time Chontelle walked out of the left. He faced each other as did our pets. Our dragons hissed at each other. Hers was a blood red color. Twilight took flight into the air, and her dragon did the same. The landed on each other, gripping on with their talons. They were fighting and starting to draw blood. I could take it anymore and yelled out, “Stop it you two! Stop it right now! That’s my sister’s!” and Chontelle yelled the same thing. They hissed at each other, before wedging their selves back onto our shoulders.

Mother looked at us in shook, as did the man at the counter. “Mother?” I stepped closer to her. “Wha’s wrong?”

She gulped before answering.

“You just spoke in dragon.”