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Witch Weekly · June 2, 2019 – 4:27 PM

The Twin Solution

The untimely death of first year student Céleste Bénet has brought several issues to light, including leading some parents to question whether Hogwarts teachers are providing adequate supervision to younger students, whether the prefect system is a functional way of enforcing discipline at the school, and whether potentially dangerous knowledge should be more restricted at younger grade levels. One issue that no one is talking about in polite conversation, however, is that of twins.

Miss Claire Benet, surviving twin of Céleste Bénet.

Twins have long been known to be terribly unlucky (and those with red hair moreso than most). This is not the first misfortune to befall the Bénet family, as the two girls disappeared for several weeks last year before being found onboard the Voyager which had set sail in search of the legendary isle of Avalon.

While some consider this merely an old wives' tale, recent news has proven the bad luck to be anything but fictional. Everyone will recall the terrible fate of Topaz Urquart, daughter of then Minister for Magic and twin of Ruby Urquart. The werewolf bite will not only to continue to affect Miss Urquart her entire life, but it also lead to her father's resignation from the Ministry, quite a shock to the family's reputation and, we presume, their finances.

Miss Topaz Urquart, unfortunate teenaged werewolf

Shortly after the misfortunes of the Urquart family, another twin made headlines. Annabelle Scrimgeour, who many argue was cursed (either literally or metaphorically) from the start, went missing, then reappeared bruised and battered at the hand of her own father. The fallout resulted in Argus Scrimgeour first being imprisoned and then later perishing. As in the case of the Urquarts, the family's reputation and finances have yet to fully recover from this series of events, and it seems likely that Annabelle Scrimgeour may never be fully reconciled with her mother or remaining siblings.

One might argue that the Bénet family with the tragic death of their daughter was actually more fortunate than the Urquarts and the Scrimgeours, as it seems unlikely this tragedy will follow them for years to come.

However, that remains to be seen; it is entirely possible that new circumstances may arise surrounding Céleste Bénet's death to cast a cloud over her surviving family members.

Miss Annabelle Scrimgeour, societal outcast

One can hardly deny the characteristic bad luck that follows twins, although experts disagree as to its cause. Some believe that multiple children being born at once is simply unnatural, and the bad luck is nature's way of correcting a mistake. Some believe that a woman's body is not capable of properly nourishing two babies at once, leading to deficits of body or character that may take years to fully come to light. More skeptical minds prefer to think that the fault lies with the parents' resources: "no one has time to properly raise two children simultaneously," argues Ezeriah Gould. "Which is where you get these tragedies popping up. All of these things could have been avoided with proper supervision from the parents or the nurses, but it just isn't feasible all the time."

Fortunately, Mrs. Dalia Pershings of London has offered a solution: arrange orphanage care for one half of a pair of twins. "Depending on the age of the child, you can sometimes raise them to believe they're the only one. Statistically, you're at least 34% less likely to experience a family calamity if the twins are kept separate. There's a lot of negative energy that twins have, and keeping them together just allows them to feed off one another — it keeps growing until there's a breaking point," she explained. Mrs. Pershings believes that the Scrimgeour ordeal was only staved off until after their Hogwarts career had ended because the girls had been kept separate for much of their early childhood.

Her establishment offers parents the opportunity to leave one twin behind, with absolute discretion regarding the family's reputation. Her institution primarily accepts twins, but will also make allowances for other children who seem to be 'cursed:' "We specialize in bad luck. There's a luck charm on every wall in the orphanage. We really take these things very seriously — which is why we expect a higher fee than your typical child boarding establishment."

Although parents are not permitted to visit their children after drop-off due to the possibility that they may unintentionally act as a conveyor of negative twin energy, thus negating the purpose of the home, children are able to be returned to their original families in the unlikely event that the twin who has remained in the home perishes.

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Issue #214 - The Twin Solution