AUTHORS NOTE: I don't like posting Authors notes at the beginning but I've realised recently that a lot of readers start reading the first chapter and then abandon. Please don't! I know none of the main characters are in this chapter yet, but I really wanted to introduce my originals, especially Amy Cassidy, the main character. So please keep reading! I promise you won't regret it! Also: REVIEW!!

CHAPTER 1: The Beginning

'SNAP!'

Card. Card. Card. Card. Card. Card. Card. Card-

'SNAP!'

Card. Card. Card. Card. Card-

'SNAP!'

'BOOOOM!'

Amy Cassidy and her friends rolled around laughing at the surprised expression on Bethany Young's face.

'Yeah, yeah... Hilarious guys...' Bethany ran her hands over her face to inspect the damage. 'Oh great! My eyebrows are singed!'

Her friends just howled hysterically.

'Guys!' Bethany said desperately. 'A little help?'

'Sorry, Beth.' Amy took a deep breath trying to calm down. 'Come here...'

Bethany moved closer.

'Close your eyes.' Amy instructed. Bethany obeyed, and Amy waved her wand over her face, a small smile tugging at her lips.

'OK. All fixed.'

'Thanks Amy.' Bethany said gratefully, opening her eyes and looking around at her friends who all seemed to be holding back grins.

'What?' she said worriedly.

'Nothing, nothing.' Eddie Carmichael said hastily, after a fleeting look at Amy.

'No, seriously guys.' Bethany said looking around at her friends. 'What's wrong? What have you done?' she said accusingly, looking at Amy.

'Me?' Amy said innocently, batting her eyelashes as her friends smothered their laughter.

'Yes, you.' Bethany said narrowing her eyes. 'I've seen that innocent look before and I've known you too long for it to work on me.'

'I don't know what you're talking about Bethany.' Amy smiled sweetly.

Suddenly the train jolted to a stop.

'Oh look. We're here.' Amy said stuffing the Exploding Snap cards and the remains of the Chocolate Frogs into her satchel. The others followed suite, repacking belongings, checking pets' cages and chatting. Every few moments someone would glance at Bethany and smother a giggle as she desperately tried to see her reflection in the compartment window.

'Come on!' Amy said as she checked that Figaro, her black and white cat, was safely enclosed in his cat-basket.

She led the way out of the compartment as Bethany was rummaging in her bag for her mirror.

'I think you might just make it.' Jacob Clearwater commented as they stepped off the train onto the smoky and busy platform.

'AMY!!!!!'

'Or not.' Daisy Brocklehurst smirked.

'I think I'd better go find my parents before-'

'Amy!! Get back here right now!'

'-that.' Amy said glancing behind her. She could see Bethany pushing her way through the crowds.

'See you guys!' Her friends grinned as she made a run for it.

'Amy Sophie Elaeth Cassidy! Get back here right now and make my eyebrows the right colour!'

Amy quickly slipped through a gap in the crowd of students and made her way to the front of the queue where the porter was letting students through the barrier a few at a time.

'Nearly there...' Amy thought, glancing behind her to check Bethany wasn't near. 'I might just-'

'Oh no you don't Cassidy!' Someone grabbed the back of Amy's T-shirt and pulled her out of the queue.

'So close...' Amy thought with a sigh, turning round to face her friend.

Bethany glared and pointed at her eyebrows.

'Fix. Now.'

Amy smiled innocently.

'But what is there to fix Beth? They look lovely!'

'I don't want lovely.' Bethany growled. 'I want normal! Normal as in blonde! Not blue with red stripes!'

Amy chuckled.

'You've got to admit it was a good one though...'

'FIX IT!'

'I can't.'

'WHAT?!'

'I've gotten off the train.'

'Your point?'

'I'm not seventeen.' Amy grinned.

Bethany's eyes widened as she realised what Amy was getting at.

'YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GO OUT THERE LIKE THIS?!'

Amy winced at the volume of Bethany's screech.

'It's not so bad, Beth.' Amy tried to reason, edging away from Bethany's increasingly purple face. 'Um...'

'Time to exit I think...' she thought.

Bethany's ears were slowly turning the same colour as her face, and this, Amy knew from experience, was never a good sign.

'See you Beth!'

Amy made a dash for the barrier dragging the trolley with her trunk behind her. She quickly slipped through the barrier, empty now that everyone had left.

She looked around, trying to spot her dad through the crowd of parents greeting their children.

'Amy!' Conary Cassidy waved at his daughter.

'Dad!' she hurried over to him and threw her arms around him.

'Where's mum?' she asked, looking round.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Bethany appear out of the barrier, pushing her trolley in front of her. She had her hand held up, as if shielding her eyes from the sun, though Amy knew he was really hiding her eyebrows from any Muggles.

Amy quickly turned her eyes back to her father's face, eager to avoid another confrontation with Bethany. She knew her father wouldn't be too pleased if he found out she'd been playing tricks on people again. As a serious, ex-Ravenclaw Ministry official, he disapproved of anything that could distract Amy from her studies.

Suddenly she noticed the harrassed and worried expression on her father's face. And was that fear in his eyes?

'What's wrong?' she said, starting to sense something was not quite right.

Her dad's hair was all messed up, as if he had been running his fingers through it regularly, not at all like his normal brushed and combed tidiness. Looking closer, Amy could see dark shadows udner his eyes, and his face seemed paler than usual, as if he hadn't slept in a while.

'What's wrong?!' she asked a bit more desperately.

Conary looked worried, and pushed his hands through his hair again as he said,

'It's your mum Amy.'

Amy suddenly felt as if she couldn't breath.

'What's wrong with her?' she managed to gasp.

Her dad shook his head.

'She was in a crash.'

And in that moment, Amy saw her world coming crashing down on her.

'Can I talk to her?' Amy asked the nurse as she stopped outside the door to her mother's room.

'Of course.' The nurse smiled. 'She's in a deep unconscious state-'

'A coma?'

'Yes.' The nurse nodded. 'But most people can still hear the people around them, even if their bodies can't respond.'

Amy nodded silently. The nurse smiled encouragingly as she opened the door. Amy stood there a moment, just taking in the small room.

It was a small room, painted a dingy pale yellow that was obviously supposed to be bright and comforting. To the right from the door was a large window showing the gloomy grey weather of London. There was a sofa under the window with a blanket folded neatly over the top and a chair next to the bed.

She barely registered the brilliant-coloured flowers arranged decoratively in navy vases around the bed.

She didn't noticed the large amount of bright get-well cards sent by family and friends.

She didn't notice the large quantity of boxes of sweets surrounding her.

All her attention was on her mother's pale face.

Slowly, she stepped closer to her mothers bed, her eyes not moving from her face.

'Mum...' Amy whispered drawing close enough to see the soft wrinkes in her mothers pale face.

She raised her hand to gently stroke her mothers cheek.

'I need to go and talk to your dad. I'll be back in ten minutes okay?' The nurse said, tactfully leaving Amy alone with her mother.

Amy didn't even hear her.

She lowered her hand and just looked at her mother. She had never before noticed the sweetness of her mothers features. The soft heart-shaped face. The clear, overly-pale skin. The laughter lines around her mouth and eyes. The soft black ringlet curls exactly like hers.

She knew as well that if her mother opened her eyes, she'd see the same inexplicable sweetness in her mothers blue eyes, so like her own.

She lowered her hand and gently took her mother slim white one in her own.

And suddenly, she understood why her mothers face looked so sweet.

'I love you mum.' Amy whispered softly.

Her mothers eyes didn't open, but her thin pale lips curved gently upwards as she breathed her last word.

'Amy...'

Dear Bethany,

Thank you for your owl. It helped a lot.

I'm really sorry for turning your eyebrows blue, and I hope you managed to get them fixed. It seems a really stupid thing to have done knowing now that my mother was dying as I did it.

I've realised a lot of things I've done this year are pretty stupid. I'll be keeping that in mind next year when we go back to Hogwarts.

The funeral is on Thursday, I really hope you can come. I've written to Daisy as well. I think I'll need a friendly face around somehow... Let me know if you can make it.

Dad and I are going to stay with Uncle Morathy, Aunt Sylvie and the boys, in August, so if you can't come to the funeral I doubt I'll be seeing you until September 1st.

Hope you summer is better than mine.

Amy

'What do you think she means by-' Bethany checked the letter again, "I'll be keeping that in mind next year when we go back to Hogwarts".

She looked around worriedly at Daisy who was staying with her to be able to attend the funeral.

'It sounds like Amy is going to be changing.' Her friend looked just as worried as her after listening to the letter. 'And I don't think it's going to be for the better...'

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! OK this is the Introduction/Chapter 1 of my Fred & George fic. Chapter 2 is being edited and it will be up as soon as possible! Hopefully on Thursday before I leave on holiday. PLEASE REVIEW!!

Disclaimer: All characters except my own aren't mine. They're JK Rowling's.