#finn .

She hadn’t thought to warn them of that part of Vegas. She always figured they’d stay where the tourist were, that they’d know there wasn’t any money to be had where the lights died down and the shadows ruled. Even she only ventured out there once in a blue moon. 

But she was there that day. She was the one who found their bodies as she slipped down a familiar alley. The green hair was a dead giveaway, but she refused to believe it was true until she saw their faces. But then there was no denying it. They were gone, just like that. 

There would be no more adventures together across the town. No more cheating at the casinos. No more tourist watching from the rooftops. No more secret kisses from Nate when Nick wasn’t looking.

Finn didn’t know how she got into the mess that she did.

Some random prince had thought that just because she could do magic that she could somehow magically turn straw into gold. How did that make sense? How do you go straight from pulling a rabbit out of a hat to spinning straw into gold? It didn’t make any sense. The man was crazy. He probably wasn’t even a prince.

She was just going to not do it until the so called prince threatened her with death otherwise. Which was incredibly rude, for the record, but it did get her attempting to spin the straw, though she found the task as impossible as she had thought it would be. Only after she had given up did a man mysteriously appear in her room, smirking down at her. 

She chucked a shoe at him. Not her proudest moment.

He offered her a deal: he’d turn the straw to gold but he got half. And she owed him twice as much once she was out. She was skeptical, but agreed, and was shocked to wake the next morning to a room full of gold. She didn’t think it was possible. He may have been a better magician than she was.

The next day the prince was back again, demanding twice as much be done before morning. That night, the mysterious man was back again, but this time with a hat. She liked him better without it. The same deal was offered: he’d turn the straw to gold but he got half. And she owed him twice as much once she was out. Once again she took the deal, not really in the mood to die, and once again the straw was done by morning.

The third day, same deal from the prince, and the third night, the other man was back again, this time without the hat. He offered her the same deal he had the previous two nights, but this time, she was ready with a counter offer.

“How about you get me out of here and we take all the gold with us instead?”

He stared at her, then blinked out of the room. Two minutes later he returned, but with another copy of himself, this one wearing a hat. Finn only then realized that she had met two different men instead fo the same one all three nights. Nice. She’d never suspected a thing.

She told them so, and they seemed pleased with themselves. It was another thirty minutes of discussion before they agreed on who exactly got what, but they made it work. Every one of them seemed pleased when they shook on it.

Finn made an entrance at her wedding. She who always had to be the center of attention made sure that she had the eyes of everyone when she poofed in through Hoopa’s rings instead of walking down the aisle. Apparently her reputation as a magician hadn’t quite made it to everyone in the audience, as she heard quite a few gasps of surprise.

Slytherin’s Head of House took a deep breath, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stymie the headache he could feel forming. In front of him stood three of his students, all wearing the same innocent-but-absolutely-not-innocent grin. “Tell me again why  the sixth floor bathroom is gone.”

“That is a great question.”

“We really couldn’t say.”

“Coulda been Peeves.”

“We did see him around there yesterday.”

“Acting real sneaky too.”

Professor Kent cut in. “Peeves has been detained for the entire afternoon. Try again.”

“Well, it wasn’t us.”

“Insulting that you even suspected such a thing.”

“Do you know how hard it is to make entire rooms disappear?”

“We tried it in the dungeons.”

“Didn’t work.”

“Well, maybe if you had done the swish right it would have.”

“What? It was obviously your flick that was wrong!”

“Might have the pronunciation wrong too.”

“I hate it when you team up.”

“Why aren’t you used to it?”

“You two team up on me just as much!”

“He has a point.”

“But it’s fun.”

“Enough.” He groaned, putting his head in his hands. How he was going to explain this to the headmaster, he didn’t know. “I better not find out you were involved. Go back to the dorm.”

“Aye aye, Professor.” 

“I’d check with the Ravenclaws. Heard they don’t like that bathroom.”

“I bet it was a Hufflepuff.”

“Nah, they don’t have it in them.”

“You haven’t seen—“

Finn Card was a halfblood witch who grew up always knowing that she was going to Hogwarts one day. Her dad did, after all, so she would too. She was raised on stories of the castle, of the secrets, the passages, the hidden things around every corner. So when she was eleven, and her turn finally came, she was practically bouncing in place at King’s Cross as she waited for the train.

It was only when she was looking for a compartment and passing the other groups of students that she realized she wasn’t going with any other kids that she knew. It was the first day of school all over again, which was fine. She’d make sure that, by the end of the year, the whole school knew her name.

Most compartments were full, but she managed to find one near the end of the train that had only two boys in it. Twins, with green hair, one with a hat. They seemed like first years, like she was. Perfect.

Without asking for their permission, she entered the cabin and took a seat next to the boy without a hat, smiling brightly. “It’s crowded out there. Hope you don’t mind sharing.” Not that she really gave them a choice.

They were suspicious at first, but warmed up when she shared her snacks with them sometime during the ride. By the time they reached the school, their conversation was more natural, as if she’d known them all her life. They parted for the Sorting, but soon enough they were joining her at Slytherin’s table, sliding in on either side of her.

At first, she couldn’t tell them apart at all. They were twins, and she barely knew them, but they captured her attention in a way few before them ever had.

Then she learned to tell them apart by the hat. When there was a hat. Nate seemed to enjoy harassing his brother by taking it, which Finn helped with, of course. A simple Hoopa portal had the hat going wherever she wanted. It was always returned, and she had trouble telling them apart when the hat was away, but it was a game she enjoyed nonetheless.

Not too long after, she learned to tell them apart by their Pokemon. Despite all their physical similarities, the two preferred vastly different types: electric and fire. There wasn’t a single green Pokemon to be seen, which honestly surprised Finn a little. But it fit them. Both of them.

It was only after she’d spent weeks and months around them that she learned to tell them apart by their smile. While she had previously thought they were completely identical, she was starting to notice that Nick’s smile was just a little calmer, that Nate had just a touch more mischief. It was then that she started to realize that she had a preference for the mischief. She started to realize they’d become very separate people in her mind.