-1When Your Day is Weird Enough…

A Fan fiction by KR

Chapter 1

Claire Davids, people would say, was about as normal as you could get. She was average height, average weight and lived a pretty average life for an American eighth grader. She was not one of those perfect people one reads about. She was not a person who always looked stunning, always did everything right, and always saved the day in the nick of time. On Claire's favorite website, , these people are known as "Mary-Sues".

However, something was about to happen; something that no one, not even Claire, would expect.

It all started one very warm, bright, sunny afternoon as Claire was lying outside, smiling to herself, and reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She loved to read, after all, and she had read quite a selection of books. She loved reading adventures, such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and teenage books, like The Princess Diaries books, and even the classics, such as Jane Eyre and Gone With the Wind. Anyway, it just so happened that on this particular day, Claire was reading on the roof of the shed she had helped her step-dad build three years before. On top of half of the roof was a clubhouse, complete with stairs leading up to a balcony connected to the shed roof.

The warm sun beat down upon Claire and she smiled, remembering how, not even a month before, 40 degrees had seemed warm. Right then it was 80 degrees and Claire was perfectly fine. Sighing, she returned to her book. However, after about five minutes, she was interrupted by one of her cats, Fuzzball, sitting on her book and purring like a little motor.

"Fuzzball!" Claire exclaimed. "I was at a good part!" Fuzzball didn't seem to care. She just continued to purr. "You're a very uncooperative cat, you know." However, Claire wasn't really angry at her pet. She moved her off the book and sat up. The furry cat climbed onto her lap and resumed her purring as Claire returned her attention back to her book. She had just relocated the spot where she had left off when she was interrupted again.

"Claire! Bree's on the phone!" Scott, her eleven-year-old brother, yelled. Claire sighed and got up, holding the book and Fuzzball. She headed towards the house and left the cat on the back porch. She went inside and picked up the phone.

"Hi Bree!" she said into the receiver.

"Hello, my younger sister," Bree answered. "Claire, Scott has informed me that Mom isn't home yet."

"No, she's still at work."

"Well, it is imperative that she calls me. What time does she get off work?"

"She'll probably be home around 10:30," Claire said.

"Well, be sure to tell her to call me. Bye, Claire."

"Bye." They both hung up. It was at this time that Claire realized that she had left her book outside and brought in the cat. After seeing this, and noting that Fuzzball was playing with the dogs, she let the pets out side and went to the back step to get her book. However, it wasn't there.

"Scott!" Claire yelled, as she returned to the kitchen. Her voice was loud enough to wake the dead. Her brother came in from the living room.

"What?" he asked.

"Have you seen my book?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, I accidentally left it outside and I brought in Fuzzball when Bree called. It's not on the porch. Can you help me look for it?"

"But I'm watching Sponge Bob!" Scott whined.

"Tell you what: you help me find my book and I'll pay you fifty cents," Claire bribed.

"Alright, but you have to read my next chapter and help me fix the mistakes," Scott bargained. He had started a new piece of fanfiction on and he was not too good with grammar. A lot of authors were very picky about spelling and grammar, and they sent bad reviews if you did not have a pretty good grasp of such concepts.

"Ok, I'll help. Now come on!" Claire said. They went outside. Claire decided the best place to look would be the shed. After all, that's where she'd been reading. As she climbed onto the roof, however, a very interesting site met her eyes. In the very center of the sloping roof, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire stood on end. Sitting primly on either side of it were two of Claire's other cats, Goatee and Jar-Jar. They looked at her as she took the book.

"Hey, you found it! Can I have my fifty cents now?" Scott asked.

"But I didn't leave it here, and I definitely didn't leave it standing on end, Scott," Claire said.

"You mean some how it got here and stood up? Cool!" Scott was one of the few people Claire knew who had a bigger imagination than she did. "Hey, maybe Goatee and Jar are Animagi and they took the book and put some spell in it. Maybe it'll transport us inside the book!" Scott said hopefully, referring to the witches and wizards who could turn into animals it the Harry Potter books. Claire gave him a skeptical look. "It was just an idea!"

"Whatever. Let's go inside. It looks like it's going to rain. Wait a minute! When I was out here before there wasn't a cloud in the sky!" Claire declared perplexedly.

"You don't think that there's going to be a tornado do you?" Scott asked fearfully.

"No of course not. There probably won't even be a storm," Claire said. However, by the looks of it, there was definitely going to be a storm. Goatee and Jar Jar had went inside the clubhouse. As a few raindrops fell, Claire and Scott hurried inside. Scott went upstairs to the family room while Claire let the dogs inside, and then went up to her room. She brought out the Harry Potter books, knowing that if there was a storm, Scott would be scared. She took the books to the family room.

"Alright, here's the plan," She said to Scott as she sat down on a chair. I'll let you pick a book. Then I'll open the book and go to the nearest chapter. I'll read that one chapter, then we'll switch books, ok?" Scott nodded and picked Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Claire opened the book to the chapter entitled "The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters". She read the whole chapter, and Scott didn't notice that there was a thunderstorm outside. Then she let him pick the next book. He picked Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He had already read this book, but he liked it so he wanted to hear from it. As Claire opened the book, a piece of carefully folded paper fluttered to the floor. She unfolded it.

"What's that?" Scott asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the Animagus cats put it in here," Claire said, semi-sarcastically. Scott glared at her.

"What's it say?" he asked.

"I don't know. It looks like Latin or something like that."

"Wait, I get it! You put that in there so we could play a new game you've thought up, right?" Scott asked excitedly.

"I didn't put this in here!"

"Sure. Just read it out loud so I understand it, too."

"Fine," Claire said. Then she read it. At first she read slowly, because she had never learned Latin. Then, however, the language came easier to her. When she finally finished, nothing happened.

"Ok, now, what's supposed to happen in the game?" Scott asked.

"I don't know. I told you, this isn't a game!" As soon as Claire finished saying this, the room began to shake.

"What's happening?" Scott asked.

"I don't know!" Claire answered. Suddenly, while still clutching the paper, she blacked out.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was no longer in her living room. She looked around and quickly spotted Scott, who had just opened his eyes, too. They were sitting in chairs at what seemed to be a train station.

"Whoa! Where are we?" Scott asked. Claire just shook her head.

"Scott and Claire, come on you're going to be late!" their mom yelled. It was then that Claire saw it. Next to her was a trolley, just like the ones in the Harry Potter movies. On the trolley was a trunk, a cage containing an owl, and a few other things. Scott had a similar trolley next to him.

"Mom! Where are we?" Claire asked.

"You know perfectly well we're at King's Cross in London. Bring your trolleys and follow me."

"Did you say London?" Scott asked.

"Yes I did, and why your father made you and your sister come here I'll never understand. It was no doubt his mother's idea. 'Just because we're purebloods we have to go to the best,'" their mother mocked. "Of course, Bree didn't go to Hogwarts and she turned out just fine, thank you. Scott, come on! Claire hurry up." Scott and Claire exchanged a look. What was their mom talking about? They followed anyway, though.

"Now, Claire, you're meeting Professor McGonagall on the platform. For some reason, they want you to be sorted again, even though your father told them that your old house was just like Gryffindor. It's your third year! I don't understand why your father made you transfer! Now, here we are," their mother said as they reached the barrier, or at least what they assumed to be the barrier. "Claire, you'd better go first. I'll take Scott after you. Now get going!" Claire looked at the wall. It looked very solid. However, she walked briskly towards it. Just as she was sure she was going to crash, she was standing on another platform. She moved out of the way as her mom and brother came through.

"Miss Davids," a severe looking woman, who was without a doubt Professor McGonagall, said. "Please follow me. You must be sorted." She led the way to a bench were no one was sitting. Claire sat down. McGonagall got out the old Sorting Hat.

"Go away," it said. "The ceremony isn't until tonight!"

"This is the Sorting Hat. Put it on, please." Claire took the hat and put it on.

"Wait! Who are you?" it asked. "Ahh, so that's why you're here. You don't know yet. Let me see. Now, don't tell that brother of yours but Professor Dumbledore asked me to put you two in Gryffindor." He said the last word out loud. Professor McGonagall took the hat.

"Thank you Miss Davids. I must be off now though. I assume I'll have you in my class however. Good day."

"Bye," Claire said, as McGonagall walked away. She returned to her brother.

"Mom had to go," he said. "Ernie called." He made a face as he mentioned their step-father.

"Oh. Hey can you believe this? We're going to Hogwarts!"

"Yeah but we don't have magic," Scott said sadly.

"I assume in this dimension we do. We can test it on the train. I'm in Gryffindor by the way."

"That's cool. I bet I won't be." This would have been a good assumption under normal circumstances. Scott was afraid of a lot. He thought that every bee's only goal in life was to sting him and that if there were gray clouds in the sky and it was a little windy there was going to be a tornado.

"Hey, don't worry," Claire said with a smile.

"I wonder what book we're in," Scott mused.

"We might not be in any book. This could just be something completely different," Claire suggested. "In any case, we'd better get on the train. Where's our stuff?"

"Mom transported it onboard. We're in the third compartment from the end," Scott said. They began to walk towards the train. They passed a group of people.

"Give us a look Lee, go on," someone said as they passed. Claire looked at Scott.

"First book," they whispered in unison, as this was a line in the chapter they had just read. That meant that Harry Potter had to be nearby. They looked towards the other side of the group of people. Sure enough, there he was. They hurriedly got onboard the train.

"So we're in the book, right, not the movie?" Scott asked.

"Maybe it's a combination of the two," Claire said. "Shh! Listen!"

"Harry Potter!" the Weasley twins said outside of one of the neighboring compartments. Scott and Claire looked outside the widow.

"He's in the compartment right in front of us!" Scott declared excitedly. Claire just nodded. The shock of being inside a Harry Potter book was beginning to affect her. What if they did something and it messed everything up? Suddenly, she thought of something. She opened her trunk.

"There's something written here!" she said, pulling out a letter with spidery green writing on it. "Hello, if you are reading this, you have been successfully transported inside this book. Do not be alarmed! Everything will be fine. If you get a call from anyone who knows this isn't the way things are supposed to be, hit the purple button on the side of your phone! Everything you do will have no effect on the actual books, as long as you succeed. Professor Dumbledore will explain everything." Claire finished reading and looked up.

"This is great!" Scott declared. "We can do anything."

"But what does it mean, we have to succeed?"

"I don't know. Hey," Scott said. "We're not sitting still anymore! Let's go talk to Harry and Ron!"

"We need an excuse," Claire pointed out.

"Have either of you seen a toad?" Hermione Granger said, opening their compartment door. "A boy named Neville's lost one."

"No sorry, we haven't," Claire said. Just then, a noise that sounded like a cell phone ringing came from her trunk.

"It's coming from you're trunk," Scott said.

"I know that!" Claire said. She opened her trunk and saw a cell phone that looked exactly like Bree's. The caller ID displayed Bree's name.

"Hello?" Claire said.

"What did you do?! One minute I'm waiting on a customer at work and the next I'm sitting in a huge living room, waking up to Matt and Evan arguing about Quidditch! I immediately recognized that as that weird sport from that Harry Potter movie you guys made me watch. Now what did you do?!" Bree was obviously not happy.

"Um, hi, Bree," Claire said, hitting the purple button. It was obvious that Bree was the person that the book had been referring to. "So, you know that this isn't normal?"

"Of course this isn't normal! The fact that no one else seems to notice isn't important! Now, what did you do?" Claire told her about the book.

"That's weird. Here's what I've learned. Dad's rich for some reason, and apparently he decided to send you and our dear brother off to his old alma mater. Now, that's all I know, but if I find out anything else, I'll call."

"Ok, I will too." They hung up. Hermione was looking at her funny.

"Technology isn't supposed to work here. Why does you're phone work? Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Claire Davids and this is my brother Scott." Hermione gasped.

"You're the American exchange students! That means, your father must be David Davids of Double David Inc.!" Hermione said. "He's the one who invented the MagiChips!" She got out a newspaper article. "Have you seen this?"

"No," Claire said truthfully. Hermione handed it to her. The article was entitled Founder of Double David Inc. Sends Two Kids to Hogwarts. It featured pictures of them with their dad in front of a huge mansion, and with their mom in front of their house. The article mentioned the very expensive product MagiChips, small paper-thin stickers that were enchanted to allow things that normally had to be within a certain range, or could not be taken into areas that had too much magic, to be able to overcome these obstacles. It was placed "Under what Muggles call Batteries" and was inconspicuous so Muggles couldn't find it. The article also mentioned Grandma Davids and Aunt Judi, who were living with dad. When the article mentioned Ernie, Claire was not surprised to learn that he was a supposed supporter of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Claire finished reading and handed the article back to Hermione.

"I'm Hermione Granger by the way," she said. "I have an idea. You don't know anyone do you?" Scott and Claire shook their heads. "Well, you could come and meet the guys in the next compartment. That's where Harry Potter is!"

"Well, I think that's a great idea! Thanks Hermione!" Claire said. "Just let us change into our robes first. Is there a bathroom on this train?"

"Yes at the end of the hall."

"Well, I'll be right back," Claire said. Hermione waited outside the door as Scott changed. Claire came back soon and they went to the next compartment.

"Three boys just rushed out," Hermione said. She opened the door. "What has been going on in here?" she asked. Ron and Harry proceeded to talk about Scabbers. Then they glanced at Hermione.

"Can we help you with something?" Harry asked.

"Well, first of all, you'd better change into your robes. We'll be arriving soon. Also, these two are the new transfer students from the US. I thought it would be good if they met someone."

"Wait, you two are the kids of the inventor of the MagiChip?" Ron asked excitedly.

"The what?" Harry asked. Ron proceeded to explain, in detail, about the MagiChip.

"And the Muggles don't even know it's there!" he said in awe. He glanced at them. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"Whatever," Scott said. They left the compartment.

"I've got to get my stuff ready. I hope I'll see you again!" Hermione said.

"See you!" Claire said. She and Scott reentered their compartment.

"Can you believe it? We're in a Harry Potter book!" Scott said.

"Now Scott, I think there's some things we need to work out about this," Claire said,

"But we can do that with Professor Dumbledore, right? I mean after the Sorting Ceremony," Scott pleaded.

"I guess," Claire agreed. For the rest of the ride, they discussed the fun that was in store for them. They also tried out a couple of simple spells. They worked. However, as soon as they put their wands away, a message echoed through the train.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." Five minutes seemed to take an hour. Five minutes later, the train slowed to a stop. They were finally there!