Everything was silent. The leaves didn't rustle, the twigs didn't snap under my shoes, even the stream that bubbled under the little cement blocks, that worked as a dam, flowed noiselessly. The only things that echoed off the trees were the chokes and gasps that erupted from my throat as I ran down the leafy path around Ridgewood Lake.

This lake was the home of my good friends, granted they may not be your ordinary school chums. My best friends were much more than human. Vinette, a water nymph, beautifully delicate with scaly blue skin and eyes as black as licorice jelly beans. A kelpie named Soobie, when in his common form of a horse, has deep emerald fur, eyes like pearls, and stands five feet tall at the shoulders. Flicka Faye, or Flick as I call her, is no larger than one of my fingers with flowing pink hair that looks like it was made of clotted cream and deep pink eyes. And finally Melinda who has always been there for me even when I was younger than my now eleven years. She is the swamp witch of eternal youth with a never changing face and violet eyes. Her white hair could be described as being the color of starlight except that it's always knotted and clogged with colored streaks and dirt. She was the one who would always tell me about the magic. Witches and wizards that secretly lurked around every corner hidden from non magical people, or muggles, as she called them and me.

I knew they could help me with what I had just witnessed. I saw something unnatural, unearthly, some kind of horrible magic. I could see the mouth of Melinda's cave that was dug deeply into the side of the tree covered slope of land. I followed the stream that flowed from the lake, deeper into the woods. My head begin to swim with the green glow that the sun produced as it shone brightly through the trees and threw patches of light against the large rocks that supported the mouth of the cave. The color under the trees only reminded of what I had seen.

"Melinda!...Melinda!" I shouted, voice trembling, down into the cave. I could feel the panic that had consumed my body begin to fade slowly from my shaking fingers and hands. I could still see the green flashing at the back of my mind, "...MELINDA!"

"I'm coming, hold on," Melinda's voice echoed from somewhere in the darkness. My thin, knobby knees knocked together as I wiped the tears off my cheeks. The shouting of my fathers friend, Mr. Coville, and the screaming of his son still vibrated in my ears. Soobie's glossy pearl eyes and velvet green nostrils surfaced from the stream running by the cave completely unnoticed by me until I heard the splashing of Vinette climbing onto his head. Flick had landed on my shoulder, and I knew that she could felt my body tense up under her soft, cream-colored feet. "What is it Maggie," Melinda walked into the day light, her frizzy, wild, white hair full of streaky colors and a birds nest, her smooth skin caked in dirt, her violet eyes searched my face. Her concern caused something, the twang of fear perhaps, and the tears started to flow from my eyes again. All of what I had seen came flooding back to me like a tidal wave

"Maggie what happened," Melinda, I knew, had never seen me cry before and I could see she didn't know what to do. She brought me inside the cave, Soobie, Vinette, and Flick followed. "Okay Maggie look at me," I turned my head to her but my vision was quickly blurred from tears. "Tell me what happened."

I tried to explain what had happened. How I heard the yelling upstairs so I had went to investigate. And standing in front of the guest bedroom door I heard the word Crucio shouted in a violent, booming voice and seeing a flash of horrible green light. I had counted a total of six. After each chant and flash there was a whimper or a scream.

Melinda sat there and listened intently to me retell my story, searching through out her mind for an explanation.

I knew that my parents and Mrs. Coville wouldn't be back until one o'clock so there was no one home to help me. So I hid behind a door when it stopped and listened to the thuds down the stairs. Rushing into the room I ran over to my friends side and felt the tears start and finally after I pulled myself together enough to stand up, I ran here. Melinda looked around from me, to Flicka, to Soobie and Vinette, and back to me.

"Well...no muggle should ever have to witness that let alone a witch or wizard." And she gave me another lecture about magic. But this time it was about the three unforgivable curses including the cruciatus curse. I sat there and stared into my hands.

"So their wizards," I kept staring into my hands.

"In fact they're a very powerful wizarding family," Melinda whispered to me.

"So he'll be okay," my words sounded hysterical in my ears.

"I don't know the unforgivable curses have different effects," Vinette to me from her seat on Soobie.

"But this one isn't bad right?" I whispered wiping a tear off my cheek.

"He should be fine," Melinda said.

"Okay..." I was still so scared, I know I could trust my friends but there was no way I could control my emotions, and I burst into tears once more. This was too much for me to handle all the unanswered questions in my mind, if some wizard families hated muggles why would they stay with my family and me? Why were they so nice? Maybe that's the way they were? A thousand more similar questions roared through my brain.

"Maggie its okay," Vinette lightly touched my shoulder, when I sniffled she quickly pulled it back; I looked at her.

"Listen Maggie, we don't know how to handle this sort of thing," Soobie said quietly.

"...Ill see you guys later," I got up from sitting on the edge of Melinda's bed and began to walk out of the cave.

"Maggie wait," I turned back and saw Flick in front of my face her tiny voice sounded like bells. "We want to help really, but can't."

"I know," I looked down at my shoes.

"I want to go with you." Flick shot towards me on her smokey wings, Soobie's eyes grew wide as he looked over at her.

"No Flick we can't let any of these muggles see any of us, I don't like the idea," Soobie was right, no matter how much I wanted Flick to come with me, and we all knew it.

"Wait,I may..." But Melinda cut herself off when she ran down one of the many tunnels of the cave. After standing a few minutes and listening to Soobie rant about how Flicka coming with me was not the best idea, finally Melinda ran back up, I could see new dirt and twigs that had collected in her hair from running, "You can use this," out of breath Melinda held up a large amulet on a long bronze chain.

The amulet was made of bronze with a glass cover that was elegantly engraved with vines and leaves with small gems and a small latched door on the back. Inside the latch was a key to open the glass front. "Flick can stay in the amulet and no one will be able to see her."

"That's brilliant," I couldn't believe it, Flick was able to come with me even with what had happened earlier lingering in my mind, I couldn't believe it, I was speechless. I knew that muggles weren't supposed to see fairies but it didn't matter anymore. Flick carefully climbed into the amulet and I took off out of the cave running and skipping in one smooth motion.


Once Maggie was out of sight Melinda turned to a table in the dimly lit cave. "You should have told her you know," Melinda turned to Vinette standing on the table her height of one and a half feet almost equal to Melinda sitting in the finely carved chair. Melinda looked at Vinette's pale blue skin then to her briny deep blue hair and long ears, trying to avoid her gaze and finally looking into her black eyes the color of oil spills.

"Tell her what?" Melinda said with a mere smile on her face. Even with a calm look her head was spinning, how could Vinette possibly know about him?

"You know...why you actually have the amulet for Flick."

"Oh..." Melinda's mind stopped with relief, "No, we have to wait until shes seventeen, remember what the queen told us?"

"Yeah...but...how," Vinette started, Melinda cut her off.

"No, this is the one thing we have to keep from her."

Soobie stood up from the ground, "Why can't we tell her, we pretty much threw the idea of the wizarding world at her. She's already eleven."

"If we tell her the visions will come to early, we have to wait until she is at least seventeen before we tell her." Melinda had explained this time and time again, and Vinette, Soobie, and Flicka Faye never seemed to understand.

"We can't tell her understand," Vinette and Soobie nodded quietly, "Thanks." Melinda sighed

Soobie trotted out of the cave followed by Vinette, Melinda sank back down into her chair. She was relived they hadn't asked about something she had found out long ago when Maggie was only a very small girl. Melinda caught a glimpse of the boy and his parents that stayed with Maggie and her parents during the summer. Right away she knew who they were...The Malfoys.