prologue
"Ben..." he slowly opened one eye, squinting at the familiar fiery red hair that he's always been jealous of, "Ben!" Ron became more agitated and raised his voice at his unresponsive twin.
"Okay, okay. I'm up." Ben mumbled in reply with his head still sunk deep into the warm comfort of his pillow. Getting up was always the worst part of his day, leaving the security of dream-world and entering the harsh reality of it all; being attacked by your younger, fraternal twin isn't the best wake-up call either.
"You better be," Ron grumbled, landing gracefully off to the side of the bed, "Everyone's waiting for us. Don't you know what day it is?" Excitement laid thick on his voice giving him a high-pitched croak that to anyone other than Ben would just sound like a shriek from a dog whistle.
"Yeah, yeah I know," Ben sighed and tried to make his voice sound as sarcastic as possible (something he always struggled to do because of his honest nature), "It's your birthday, whoopty doo!"
Yanking his lazy brother's pillow from underneath him and letting his head slam violently onto the hard mattress that lay below he chucked, "Our birthday."
"Right," moaned Ben, lifting his index finger into the air to stress the point he was making, "I always seem to forget that part."
Ron only rolled his eyes at the awakening boy that stood before him, "Come on then!" the joy still noticeable in his tone. Darting out of their shared bedroom, the youngest leaving his brother to linger in the quiet for just a second more before they would have to face the painfully happy faces of the rest of the Weasley clan.
Standing up to examine himself in the mirror, Ben noticed his darkened blond hair, resting in slight curls over his ears. His baby-blue eyes pierced through his reflection; tainted slightly with bloodshot red from hours of tossing and turning in his sleep. He never really knew why he had blond hair, every person in his family is ginger- even his adopted great-ant Mildred. Ben looked nothing like a Weasley, and everyone in his family knew it.
His skin was a pale shade of white, from spending most of his time sitting in his shared bedroom reading books- passed down to him and Ron by their older siblings. The books he enjoyed most of all were the ones that his father- Arthur- had snagged for him from his job at the ministry as head of misuse of muggle artefacts. The books muggles wrote always put a smile on Ben's face, taking him into new worlds that he'd never been to before and introducing him to people that would otherwise have never noticed the small, shy boy- all from the comfort of his worn-out sheets. The thought made him grin slightly.
A sharp bang knocked him out of his daze, Ron giving him a sympathetic look, "It's just a couple of us- Mum, Dad and that," Ron exclaimed, trying to ease Ben's mind. Ben was anxious when it came to large groups of people, and Ron knew it. Ron had always been the one to draw Ben away from crowds when he noticed it was all becoming a bit too much for him, making up some excuse about this and that. He had always been the one to give him a hug to calm him down, or carry around a book for him to read- just in case.
"Yeah," Ben said, trying to reassure himself the way Ron did, "It's just them." Taking one glance back at himself he thought, 'I'm ready.' and took a deep breath before following his twin out of the room.
As Ben walked down the crooked steps of his family home, he examined the room that lay before him. A sea of red bobbed up and down in suspense as they were all waiting for the twins. The room filled with light and cheeriness, 'Great,' he thought slightly panicked, 'Not a single place for me to hide.'
The Weasleys weren't a very wealthy family, so when Ben noticed the small amount of presents laying on the coffee table, he was not surprised nor disappointed. You see, Ben wasn't really the one to enjoy receiving gifts, all the attention on you, everyone urging you on, trying to determine what your reaction will be. He was always grateful for his gifts of course, but this gratefulness came after everyone had left and he could thank the giver in private.
Yelps of happiness caught Ben by surprise. Everyone was there, Mum, Dad, Ginny, George and Fred, Percy, even Charlie and Bill decided to drop by- knowing perfectly well what was going to happen, what the twins were going to receive. It was their eleventh birthday, and for witches and wizards, one's eleventh birthday is one to be remembered, it is the day when they are invited to attend a magical school.
In Ben's case, this school was supposed to be Hogwarts. He had heard a lot about the boarding school, as all his older siblings attended. From what he had heard all his siblings loved Hogwarts, though he knew that for him that wouldn't be the case. 'A boarding school,' He thought, oh how just thinking about it would make his heart-rate quicken and his palms dampen, 'Packed with new people, new teachers, new classes...'
"Bennie!" his mother- Molly- squealed, sat facing him with a wide smile, "Do you think you're going to get in? To Hogwarts I mean." waiting anxiously for a response. Her little Bennie was eleven and about to open his letter welcoming him into Hogwarts! She couldn't believe how quickly the years had passed and how proud she was that her blond-haired, blue-eyed little boy was going to attend the same school that she had.
"That's unless we finally find out that little Benniekins is a squib!" Fred butted in, earning him a slap on the back of his head from Molly and a chuckle from his twin.
"Ben isn't a squib!" Molly snapped giving her son a sympathetic look, "Do you think you'll be lucky enough to get in?" Her eyes blinked, hoping that what Fred said wasn't true.
Ben looked at his mother terrified, terrified at the possibility that he was going to get into Hogwarts, "However small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance is there," Ron chimed in just in time; quoting the only book he had let Ben read to him- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which wasn't one of Ben's usual reads but seemed like the right choice when Ron kept bugging him to read him something.
"Yeah," Ben agreed, "The chance is there..." The thought of Ron having his back comforted Ben slightly and made a slight smirk appear on his face.
Ripping open his letter excitedly Ron gleamed around at the rest of his red-headed family, "I GOT IN!" he screamed with absolute delight, "I GOT INTO HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!" The whole house was jumping up and down now, all ecstatic that their youngest boy had been excepted.
"Oh," They all stoped their celebration to acknowledge Arthur's realisation, "What about you Ben?"
All eyes glared at Ben once more, leaving him feeling uncomfortable at all the attention. He lifted up his carefully opened letter and stated, simply, "Uh, yeah. I got in too." All celebration abruptly continued. Everyone gathered around the youngest twins and smeared them with hugs and words of congratulations.
Ben just sat back on the broken sofa and watched as his twin soaked in all the praise he was receiving. He felt out-of-place as though he didn't belong in the family of red-heads that danced and laughed before him. He had always felt different but sitting here, witnessing the happiness that they all shared, he felt sadder than he ever was before.
The rest of the 'special day went smoothly for Ben, he had been gifted a couple of muggle books and spent most of the day cramped up in his shared bedroom admiring the front-covers and reading through the first chapters- smiling at the joy they were bringing him.
A rhythmical knock came at the bedroom door before a lanky read-head poked his head round it, "All alone?" He asked chuckling, Ben nodded at his older brother. Charlie came and sat at the end of the bed before asking, "Mind if I join you?"
"Go ahead, but I can't promise I'll be much fun." Ben replied calmly before returning to examining the illustrations on the front cover of another gifted book 'Little Women'.
"What, is that like about short witches or some thing?" Charlie asked raising an eyebrow and laughing softly.
"No," Ben replied sharply, feeling annoyance for his brothers pitiful attempt of a joke but still thankful that he had someone to talk to, "It's a novel, written by muggles." his smile grew wider as he was explaining the book to his brother, "Dad gave it to me, he says it's about some muggle women after the civil war." Charlie's expression began to change and he looked intrigued at his brother's words, "He also says it's got some romance in it but I don't mind about that."
Charlie tensed up a bit and asked, "Isn't that for girls?" his voice almost at a whisper.
Ben's heart almost stopped completely and he replied calmly, "No, I've read muggle books with romance in before and it doesn't really matter what gender you are."
The smile appeared back on Charlie's face, "How many muggle books have you read Ben?"
"You ask as though I should be embarrassed," He looked at his tall brother perched at the end of his small bed, analysing his face for any sign of disgust. When he realised that there was none to be found, he answered Charlie's question, "I'm not sure how many muggle books I've read, probably too many to count."
Charlie chuckled. This simple sign of enjoyment was all Ben needed to be filled with happiness. He had never made anyone laugh before and having someone smile at his comment just made Ben think for one second that he was as loved as his younger brother Ron.
That night Ben did what he always did, he ventured out of the crooked old house (being mindful of all the squeaky steps and croaking doors) and found his way outside. He had done this every night for as long as he could remember; he found comfort in the icy air and the subtle breeze that drifted through the fields at night.
Ben began to run. Not out of necessity or to get anywhere more quickly, but just because he could. He ran with his arms outstretched, gliding his fingertips along the long blades of grass. He ran until his mind became blank and his feet grew tired. And when that happened he stopped running.
He had ran through the fields and now found himself in the woods that surrounded them. He walked a bit further till he found the clearing that he visited every night. This is where he practiced. What he practiced, he wasn't sure. He had never told anyone about his little adventures every night, he was too scared that he would call him weird or a freak.
He made himself focus on a pile of rocks he had placed in the clearing years before, and before he knew it they began lifting up and flying around. He had gotten better at controlling them after the years of practice he had put in. He imagined them flying in a snake-like pattern, gliding in-between the trees and they did just that. He watched as they followed what his mind told them to do, and after a few minuets of them forming different patterns above his head, Ben placed the rocks down- stacking them one on top of the other in the same neat pattern he had found them in.
Ben sat down, he always became tired after practicing every night but he knew couldn't fall asleep here, not after last time when he had woken up to his Mother's screeching cries of terror after finding his bed empty.
So Ben walked back to the house and walked back up to his shared bedroom, still being mindful of the squeaky steps and croaking doors and he fell asleep while wondering about how much his life would change now that he had to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
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