Research and answers
The next few days seemed to be uneventful as the twins continued to keep their heads down as the summer progressed. It was three days after the zoo incident when Dudley got his acceptance letter for Smeltings. Vernon was in a great mood seeing his son in the uniform of his old alma mater. It was an uncanny day as Mariposa finished cooking the food and drying a few dishes as the mail clinked through the slot. She voiced that she would get the mail. She gathered it up and saw the two thicker envelopes were for harry and herself. She dropped them and carefully slid them beneath the door as she opened and closed the door to give herself an excuse about why she was slower.
"Girl what is taking so long?" Vernon called as Mariposa came into the dining room.
"Apologies uncle, the mailman left a letter that was not ours and was rather urgent to get to one of our neighbors. I just returned it to him is all, nothing but junk mail mostly," she said carefully as she saw him narrow his eyes.
"Alright, if your done either get to your room or go outside and do something productive," he said
"We were going to clean the attic today I thought," she said as Harry watched her.
"No, I don't think that will do today, go make less of a nuisance of yourself," he said dismissing them.
The twins nodded and went to their room for a moment to put on shoes. Mariposa put a finger to her lips as she saw her twin realize the letters. She carefully tucked them away beneath her shirt. She carefully stood up, smoothing her outfit, then the two left No.4 Private Drive for the nearby park. As they were leaving, they heard the order to return in time to prepare dinner.
"Are we going to the library?" Mariposa asked, her hands folded behind her back, careful of the letters in her shirt.
"If you wish, butterfly, I have no preference." Harry replied, letting her choose.
Mariposa nods, as they head to the library. Once they had arrived, she politely asked for a private room- which they went into the room. Once inside the room she closed the curtain before setting the letters side by side. "I found these in the mail this morning, and realized that these were for us."
Harry looked at the letters and stated. "Well they know what we're going through, look at the address."
'Harry J. Potter
Cuboard under the stairs,
Number 4 Private Drive,
Surley, London, England'
This drew Mariposa's attention allowing her to inspecting the letters closer. Anger flashes through her eyes, as she then takes up her letter, breaking the seal. She let the outter shell of the letter fall to the table. As she read the beginning words of an acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She looked across to her twin. "This looks like an elaborate hoax."
Harry looks at her and says, "Do you think I should open mine?"
This gives Mariposa pause, should they even entertain the idea? However there was a nagging feeling that there would be trouble should he not. "Go ahead and open yours, let's see how far they're willing to go. If we spot any discrepancies then we know it's a hoax."
And so, the twins spend the next hour and a half combing over the Acceptance letter, and supply list, searching for anything different between the two, beyond their names. They're searching ends up fruitless.
When they packed the letters away they noticed the time. They were late. Cold dread went through Mariposa as she looked at the clock.
"Ric were late," she said in a hushed voice as he looked up and nodded.
"We better go if we get home soon I can take the blame, don't fight me on this, you can start cooking and I'll join you once I'm free," he said preparing his twin for what was to come. He watched her nod after smoothing down her clothes.
It was the known thing in the house that Harry was always the trouble maker in Vernon's eyes even if he wasn't. So Mariposa bit her lip but nodded. She would do as her twin asked but she would get her own revenge later on she just didn't know how yet. She took a deep breath as they began to make their way back to Privet Drive to face their punishment.
It was immediate Vernon growled the only warning they recieved. "BOY!" Harry let himself get drawn up to the red walrus that was Vernon when he was upset. "Why is dinner not almost finished?! Where do you get the idea that you can hold up our dinner?!" He raged at Harry as Mariposa carefully slipped into the kitchen and began to work on getting the pots and pans she needed to make the dinner that had been thought up. She decided to change up a little as she began to work on prep work.
"At least one of you knows your place," Vernon sneered as he began to throw Harry around and cause the bruises that seemed to litter their bodies when ever they pushed their luck to far. Mariposa nodded staying silent as she worked on getting the pots and pans hot. She tried to keep her emotions in check but as she listened to her brother get thrown around and yelled at she just wanted to make things difficult for Vernon. She looked at the butter she was breaking down to fry the steak in. Thoughts crossed her mind about grabbing Harry and running but she knew they had no where else to go even with these letters. It would have to be something that waited until they had more information.
All we need is a safe place to stay once we get the information. A place they can never find us again. She thought as she continued cooking. She saw Harry thrown into the kitchen floor and told to clean and once he was done he was to go back to his room without supper. Vernon looked at Mariposa and said "You may have a plate if you get everything to the table no later than 6:15." She blinked as she looked and saw it was 6pm already. She wouldn't make it she could tell but food when they hadn't had anything all day was almost a proper incentive but her twin was being punished so she wasn't sure what to do as she watched Vernon leave the area. Taking a deep breath she felt Harry move behind her and say. "You get something, one of us should eat today," She felt her heart break at the words as she nodded.
Carefully she set out the plates on the table as she plated the steaks, mash and gravy. She also had roasted off a few veggies to fill out the plates and on her uncle and cousin's she smothered them in gravy as well. She had only grilled a small bit of chicken for her aunt instead of steak. It was the way they were as she settled the plates on the table.
"Very good girl, now go make your plate and eat in the kitchen," Vernon said as he sat down smug that one of the twins was at least doing as told and could carry the smells into the small room to torture the other. Mariposa nodded and fled back to the kitchen she had a few grilled veggies and a small piece of chicken. She quickly ate the meat and began to eat her vegetables so they would think she only had the vegetables to eat. When they came back in she was washing her plate. As she finished she carefully went back to what was her shared room.
Once inside she looked over Harry and could see the color starting to bloom over his arms from where he had been gripped to hard. "Harry," She said softly he held his hand up. "Nothing I couldn't handle, now lets go to bed we probably will be locked in until tomorrow" Harry said Nodding Mariposa carefully changed her clothes then laid down beside her twin careful not to touch anywhere that could have been hurt.
The next day Mariposa found herself doing more of the chores so that Harry could heal. When Vernon went off to work and Dudley went out with his friends Mariposa found it was the perfect time to talk to their Aunt.
"Aunt Petunia can we talk for a moment?" She asked as she looked at the older woman who had just fixed one of t he pillows on the couch again. She saw the woman stiffen and nod motioning for them to sit at the cleaned dining table.
"Let me get something really quickly," Mariposa said as she went back to her room and grabbed the two letters. She knew this would be a make or break moment of how they were going to be treated. It was a gut feeling that she had as she saw Harry providing Tea to their Aunt as she returned.
"What is this about?" Petunia asked as she watched the twins warily. So Mariposa had a feeling she knew what was about to come forth as she laid down the two letters.
"So they did come, I guess I should have expected it," Petunia stated wearily. "What Questions do you have?" She asked them as she looked at them with a resolve that seemed to be out of place.
"First is this a hoax?" Harry Asked. The answer was a head shake of no. "Hogwarts very much exists and was your parents Alma mater, They were just as pecular as the two of you have shown to be at times, Things that should not happen that can," Petunia looked at them then nodded.
"So we have Magic that's what Uncle Vernon hates about us?" Mariposa asked to the point. "I do believe so," Petunia answered.
"We need to go there so that we can get away from him," Mariposa started. "Tell him if he doesn't know about the school that it is a special school that will take us for ten months of the year and he will go for it as long as he doesn't have to pay correct?" Mariposa continued.
"I will see what I can do," Petunia started then realized what the address stated on the letters. "I will also see if we can get you two moved to the smaller bedroom, I will take you to the special shop area to get everything you need tomorrow, I expect your chores to be done once we return from shopping," She stated understanding that this would be a good way to get them out of this place and to somewhere safer quicker.
The twins nodded understanding as they stood took the letters back and put them away. They returned to their chores as if the conversation never happened and they were not dreaming of getting away.