THE CIRCLE
Chapter 1: Unexpected Encounters
Disclaim: I don't own Harry Potter, Jo does!
Unexpected Encounters
"Come on, train," I muttered under my breath, my right foot tapping impatiently onto the blue carpeted floor. "It's 10.45... why haven't we left yet?"
I had just landed back in Melbourne after months of travelling across Europe and East Asia and my patience was running at an all time dangerously low level. I had missed my connecting flight from Singapore due to some weird storm in Ho Chi Minh City and hadn't properly slept for more than a day. On top of that, the man at the train cafe bar had just informed passengers the credit card machine was broken... and I had fifty Euro cents left in my wallet and was in desperate need of a coffee.
I sighed and opened the backpack, rummaging through layers of important (and not so important) things I had hurriedly chucked in there before leaving Vietnam the day before. It was sheer luck the very last of the coffee flavoured lollies from Rome had found its way to the bottom of one of the side pockets. "This will do," I thought half-heartedly while the train finally jerked forward.
So there I was, on board of a rather empty regional train, a book on my lap (not even sleep deprivation can stop me from reading a good story!) and inwardly hoping the next three hours would fly as quickly as possible.
My parents, who were currently on holiday in Europe, had asked me to look after their house and I was looking forward to having a fixed address for a couple of months without constant nagging about my plans for the future. I think both of them were trying to avoid the nagging as well, with hope that on their return, I would had finally found myself. And by finding myself, they meant finding myself a job.
Australia had been my home for four years at the time, yet I felt no roots, no real attachment to the country. I loved its nature, the never-ending horizons, the stunning variety and mix of cultures. However, as always, the lack of personal connections was what got to me. I couldn't and did not want to fit in. I was born in Northern Italy, a land where winters are cold and foggy and summers hot and humid. Where life can be chaotic and competitive, yet deeply entrenched in the culture and history of each individual village or town. Although I grudgingly loved my country, I had openly embraced my parents decision to go away, to leave everything, to find a new home. My father and my mother, tired of a corrupt government which neither helps nor cares, had ached to go on their adventure to find a new purpose in life.
I had only ever wanted to escape.
I was on page 25 when two young men and a girl holding a very small child entered my carriage and noisily occupied the seats around me. I tried not to show how annoyed I really was. The carriage was almost empty, for heaven's sake!
Frowning slightly, I kept my attention to the book while, unnoticed, I cast inquisitive looks at my travel companions.
The girl sitting in front of me was rather pretty. Her long dark red hair framed her pale face nicely while her startling green eyes were shining brightly towards the child on her lap. He seemed to be one year old, perhaps slightly older. His untamed black hair was identical to the young man's sitting beside the girl.
"Lily, Harry and James," I thought with a smile. "James" was looking outside the window, his hazel eyes curiously lit at the sight of the colourful Melbourne suburbs crowded with people and fast cars. The second man, the one beside me, was lounging casually on his seat and yawning profusely. I noticed the red-headed girl kicking his right leg and glaring at him as if to say "seat properly and behave". With the corner of my eye, I saw him grinning and mouthing something back at her. I couldn't see his face, but he was tall and had long black hair falling over his eyes. Sirius, I thought.
As you can imagine, I had been a Harry Potter fan for years back then. Having read the first book of the series at twelve, now at twenty-two, I considered myself a Peter Pan of sorts, never wanting to grow up. Imagination had always been the most important thing in my life.
"Oi, Prongs! Do you want anything from the bar?" the guy I had named Sirius in my head asked his friend with an unmistakable British accent. But…Prongs? Really? Was I hallucinating?
"We just got on the train, Padfoot!" 'Prongs' replied back shaking his head in disbelief.
"I don't know what to do," 'Padfoot' whined. "Muggle trains are boring and full of boring Muggles reading boring books!"
'Lily' shot him a murderous glare and then looked at me apologetically. I shrugged at her then turned towards 'Padfoot'.
"Well, if Muggles were Wizards they would probably avoid trains, Mr Bored To Death," I said sarcastically, shutting the book I had been reading.
"Oh, are you a squib?" he asked me surprised, while 'Lily and James' groaned under their breaths.
"Are you making fun of me?" I shot back at him with a laugh. "Impersonating Sirius Black at your age?"
"How - how do you know my name?" He seemed genuinely shocked. His friends seemed startled too, however it seemed they had been expecting it. Yeah, right. Millions of people had read Rowling's books, there was always a chance of meeting people who were obsessed fans...right?
"Are you Jemma De Angelis?" 'Lily' tentatively asked me. 'Prongs' and 'Padfoot' both stared at me expectantly waiting for an answer.
I had an incomprehensible urge to laugh but could only manage to stare at them agape.
That name.
Jemma De Angelis.
The magic fairy princess, ruler of Fantasia, a character I had created, drawn, imagined, dreamed of for years as a child.
My magic nickname.
The name that first freed me, then caged me, caged me in a reality I had never wanted to accept. How could they possibly know it? The only person who could have known that name was a long lost childhood friend who lived twenty thousand kilometres from where I was at that moment.
"So?" 'Padfoot' questioned me impatiently. "Is it you?"
I looked back at him weakly. Was I Jemma De Angelis? No, that wasn't my name. Yet, Jemma was me, the part of me that had always yearned for magic.
However, these people believed to be fictional characters...
"That - that is my name, I guess," I managed to say.
"You guess?" 'Padfoot' replied amused. I glared malevolently at his handsome arrogant face.
"Jemma De Angelis is not my name. It's a nickname. And no one knows it."
"Well, we do," said 'Prongs' while 'Padfoot' let out a muffled chuckle.
"I've already worked that out for myself, thanks," I said turning to the black-haired man in front of me. I couldn't believe it. Was this a joke?
"Who are you really?" I asked them quite annoyed.
"I'm Lily Potter," the red-head said. "And these are my husband James, our son Harry and, as you know, the git there is Sirius Black."
Silence.
I started laughing. They eyed me nervously, not knowing what to do. When I managed to calm myself down, I realised their faces were serious.
"Come on!" I exclaimed. "How stupid do you think I am? You're book characters…you can't possibly be real? Or am I dreaming? Has the jet-lag finally got to me?" I remember babbling crazily, a thousand mad explanations of what was happening crossing my mind like lighting bolts.
"Jet-lag?" 'James' asked puzzled.
"It's what Muggles call the effect long plane flights have on your body due to the time difference between countries," 'Lily' promptly explained to her companions.
"What?" The two men didn't look like they'd understood.
"James, Sirius, you're so daft sometimes!" "Lily" complained rolling her eyes. 'It's the same for us, we left at night but here it's midday, so we're tired, aren't we?"
"I'm not tired, just bored," had been 'Sirius' cheeky reply.
"Never mind," I interrupted, trying to keep a clear mind. "You're very good actors, all of you, ok? It's enough now. Who sent you here to prank me?"
I looked at each one of them again, hoping for one of the three to start laughing and shout 'It's a joke!' at my face, but I didn't get any reaction. "James" and "Lily" turned serious once again and their friend suddenly lost that air of careless cheerfulness that had so annoyed me at first.
"It's not a prank," the red-head quietly sighed. "We've been sent to find you. It must be a great shock but the books you read about my son are real…it's what's going to happen to him -to us- if you won't help us."
I was speechless. Nah, the real Jemma De Angelis must be sitting in another carriage…they had got it wrong. Wait, was I already hoping they were really Lily, James and Harry Potter and Sirius Black?
"Ok," my voice didn't really sound like it used to. "Help you? How can I help you? I'm just a Muggle!"
"No, you're not," Sirius said.
"Yes, I am."
"No, you're-"
"YES, I AM!" I almost shouted. I swear that that must have been the only time in my life I had wanted to convince someone I was perfectly normal.
"Let me explain first!" Lily said firmly, her raised hand halting me from speaking. "Dumbledore explained to us that he received a letter and a special Time-Turner from you, the future you, telling him to ask James and I to come to this day, this precise time, this train, this carriage and find you, Jemma De Angelis. You're the only person with the power and knowledge to help -"
"I hardly doubt it," I muttered rather loudly interrupting her. "Millions of people have read the books."
Lily looked at me with a half smile. "We came here to find you."
"You're magical like us!" James eagerly said. "You sent the letter to Dumbledore!"
I was skeptical. My brain had been working at double speed for minutes just to find a counter argument.
"If I were magical," I said calmly, "I would've attended a school like your Hogwarts."
"Not correct," Lily immediately responded. "You grew up in Italy and the Accademia delle Arti Magiche doesn't accept Muggleborns."
"That's not fair!" I exclaimed immediately, then thinking about her words I realised she knew I was Italian. "How do you know where I'm from?" I then asked surprised.
"Your accent," Sirius mumbled. I glared at him.
"It was in the letter," Lily said, eyeing Sirius wearily.
I didn't know what to say.
"But I'm not Jemma De Angelis!" I voiced loudly, my eyes staring at each one of them in turn.
"You've just said you were!" James pointed exasperated.
"I - yes…"
"You don't make any sense at all, d'you know that?" smirked Sirius yawning widely.
I had the intense urge to throw the book in my hands at his over-stuffed arrogant head, yet I contained myself and turned my eyes to Lily.
"Didn't you say Dumbledore asked you and James to find me, did you?" I asked.
She and her husband nodded.
"So, what's the clown doing here?" I questioned, pointing at Sirius frowning.
He looked at me offended, yet didn't say anything.
"Sirius was at our place when we came back from the meeting with Dumbledore and James tattled -" Lily said.
"Hey!" James exclaimed annoyed. "I trust him!"
"Yes, I know," Lily remarked weakly. "Anyway, Sirius heard about this and decided to tag along...I hope Dumbledore won't be mad," she added as if in afterthought.
Had Dumbledore really suspected Sirius from the start or had he just tried to be extremely careful? Wait, was I believing in this madness?
"There's still the question wether I'm magical or not," I sighed knowing that was where this story was going to end. Yet, I was hopeful.
"Have you ever done anything you couldn't explain?" Lily asked curiously, probably thinking at her own accidental magic when she was a child.
Had I ever done magic?
"No," I answered sincerely.
"Are you sure?" asked James sounding unconvinced.
"Yes, I am…" I told them. "Well, not that I can remember... I might have dreamt of things that later happened in real life but that's about it! I'm as normal as it gets!"
Yes, for sure. A person dreams about the future and I called it normal.
"Yet you feel you don't belong to the Muggle world," Lily stated almost reading my thoughts, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
"I - I don't know…" I blurted out.
It was then that Sirius suddenly took his wand out of his pocket.
"Try a spell," he told me, handing me the wand.
"What?" I gasped. "I don't know any spell!"
"Weren't spells mentioned in the books you read?" James questioned curiously.
"Yeah, I - I'll try one," I stammered and took Sirius' wand.
I pointed it at a small red stuffed dragon sticking out of Lily's large green bag and said clearly 'Wingardium Leviosa!'.
To my enormous surprise, the dragon slowly levitated and stopped in mid-air when it reached our eye-level.
Utter shock.
"You're one of us, Jemma," Lily beamed at me, catching the toy and putting it back inside her bag.
"And not many of us can manage that spell the first time," James added positively.
"And even better, you did it not using your personal wand," Sirius told me with a smile when I handed him back his wand.
My heart was hammering like crazy, yet I did manage a faint smile.
I was a witch! I could do magic!
"Do you know who's the spy?" Sirius asked me suddenly. James and Lily, who had been trying to rest a bit, quickly opened their eyes and stared at me looking interested yet fearful.
"Yes, I do," I sighed uncertainly.
"Is it Remus Lupin?" Sirius asked.
I glared back at him incredulously.
"Do you honestly believe Remus is the spy?"
Sirius lowered his head and nodded guiltily. James and Lily seemed happy for a moment then the realisation of who the spy really was hit them like a bullet.
"Peter?" Lily asked tentatively, glancing at her husband whose fists had clenched angrily.
"Yes," I managed to say.
"Damn!" Sirius exclaimed forcefully looking at his friends. "If we had gone on with the plan of switching Secret Keepers, he would've found you and - and…"
I felt a pang of sympathy for Sirius at that moment, the young man who was meant to spend twelve years in the wizard prison of Azkaban, then escape and finally die three years later by the hand of his deranged cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. I awkwardly put my left hand on his shoulder and finally, I believed their story. This wasn't a trick, this was real. The sleeping baby on his mother's lap was indeed Harry James Potter, my favourite hero, the Boy-Who-Lived.
Could I have been possibly given the chance to change it all? Did I have the power to?
'I'm going to help you, but I don't know how.' I finally said. My voice hadn't wavered and I was determined, yet, how on earth was I going to help them?
AN: Hello everyone! Please read & review! Any constructive comment is well accepted!
Love, JemmadA