Jimmy O'Bannon felt the anxiety grow within him as he approached the plain, wooden building along Boston Harbor. Had things been normal, he would have been excited at the prospect of seeing so many of his friends for the first time in over a year.
But things were far, far from normal.
"Are you okay, Jimmy?"
He turned to the woman with coiffed black hair and thick glasses walking next to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." That had been the fourth time this morning his mother, Ellen O'Bannon, had asked that question. It made him a bit angry. Not at her. More at himself for not being able to mask his true emotions around her.
"You just seem . . . I don't know, like something's wrong."
"Nothing's wrong, Mom." God, how I wish that were true. "It's just, you know, this is my last year at Salem. I just . . . got stuff on my mind, you know?"
Mom seemed to buy it, like she did all the other times over the summer he'd lied to her and Dad about being fine.
"Well, here we are." A tall, balding man with a black and gray beard nodded to the rickety door with a CONDEMNED sign on it.
"Yup," O'Bannon simply replied to his father, Douglas.
He hesitated for a split second before reaching out for the door handle. Would his friends believe him about Lord Voldemort's return? Fred and George Weasley had written to him about the smear campaign Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and The Daily Prophet were doing to Harry Potter in England. A couple of times in July and August similar articles ran in the international section of The All-Seeing Eye. The same was true for wizarding newspapers in France and Bulgaria, the other nations who had representatives at Hogwarts last school year.
Fudge isn't taking any chances, O'Bannon thought as he opened the door and stepped into darkness. The dumbass Minister of Magic apparently wanted to make sure any international students connected with Harry couldn't champion his side of the story in their native countries.
O'Bannon felt he had an uphill battle facing him at the Salem Witches Institute.
The sunlight returned. He and his parents stood on a pier lined with old-fashioned light poles. Sitting in the water was a large, slender, wooden ship with masts of blue and silver. The center mast displayed the outline of an owl's face with a red letter "S" in the middle. Underneath it were words in fancy script.
SALEM WITCHES INSTITUTE. EST. 1695.
The pier was crowded with witches and wizards, young and old, and a smattering of Muggles. He pushed the trolley containing his luggage toward the Salem Schooner, the smell of salt water in the air.
"Jimmy!"
He turned to see a girl with olive skin and dark hair hurry over to him.
"Ursa!"
"It's so good to see you again." Ursa Oberlin hugged him. "Merlin's beard, we all missed you last year."
"Hey, I missed you guys, too."
"So how was Hogwarts?" she asked.
"It was . . . something, that's for sure."
Ursa bit her lip. "Um, Jimmy. I've been seeing some stuff in The All-Seeing Eye. What's all this about Harry Potter making up -"
"Hey, it's a long story, Ursa." The words couldn't tumble out of O'Bannon's mouth fast enough. But there was no way he could let Ursa finish her sentence with his parents around. "I'll tell you all about it once we're aboard the schooner."
She curled her lips in a pout. "Okay. But I'm gonna hold you to that."
"Sure. No prob. I'll see you onboard."
Ursa flashed him a less-than-enthusiastic smile and strode across the wooden planks of Pier SWI to rejoin a small knot of girls next to a lamp post.
O'Bannon tightened his grip on the handles of the trolley and continued toward the Salem Schooner.
"Is there some reason you brushed off your friend like that?" Mom asked.
"I'm not brushing her off, Mom. I just gotta get to the schooner. The thing's leaving soon."
"It doesn't mean you have to be rude to people," She told him. "And why did she want to ask you about your friend Harry Potter?"
"I told you. He's famous in the Wizarding World. Especially after he was in that Tri-Wizard Tournament. I mean, that's like the Super Bowl and Stanley Cup combined for this world."
Mom fixed a hard gaze at him. O'Bannon tried not to swallow, to not give her any more fuel for her suspicions. Hell, she'd been suspicious of him all summer. What the hell did he do to cause that? Hadn't he'd been careful whenever he talked about Hogwarts around his parents? He only brought up the positive experiences; forming the Triad hockey team, the Yule Ball, the Tri-Wizard Tournament . . .
At least, the first two tasks. He didn't say a damn thing about the third task. He didn't tell them about seeing the lifeless body of Cedric Diggory on the Quidditch field. And he certainly didn't utter a single word about the person, the thing, that killed the Hufflepuff boy.
Lord Voldemort.
"If it's so exciting, why not tell your friends about it?"
O'Bannon's jaw clenched as he fought down his mounting irritation. Why the hell couldn't Mom just let it drop? "There's a lot to talk about, and I'd rather do it on the schooner."
Mom opened her mouth to say something else, but Dad put a hand on her shoulder. "Jimmy's right, hon. The ship's leaving soon. We better let him get aboard."
Thank you, Dad.
He pushed his trolley across the pier, weaving past several students and their relatives. One of the wheels caught a groove in the wood, causing his trunks to rattle, along with the cage containing his gold and black Crested Owl, Espo. The bird twittered. He continued on.
"Excuse me," he called out to a pair of small boys in front of him. They just gawked at him, not moving.
"Um, could you move, please?" O'Bannon waved his hand in front of him.
The stunned-looking boys moved aside. O'Bannon rolled the trolley past them just as they turned their gazes to the other witches and wizards around them.
Gotta be First Years. Definitely Muggle-born. O'Bannon shook his head, wondering if he looked the same way his first time on Pier SWI.
Probably. Witches and wizards had always been make believe to him, until the day Headmistress Esmeralda came to his house and showed him otherwise.
Cedric Diggory flashed through his mind again, along with the name Lord Voldemort.
Moments like this, he wished witches and wizards were just make believe.
"Jimmy! Hey, Jimmy!"
A short, gangly boy with dark hair bounded over to him.
"Jimmy! Welcome back!"
"Hey, Isaac." O'Bannon extended his hand, which Isaac Pinder shook vigorously.
"Glad to see you back. We all missed you. The hockey team sucked without you."
O'Bannon felt some of his tension melt from his lean, athletic frame. He thanked God Isaac wanted to talk about hockey instead of Harry and You-Know-Who.
"C'mon," he replied. "I'm sure they weren't that bad."
"Not as good as when you're there. Oh, when are tryouts?"
"Isaac, we haven't even gotten to Salem yet. Don't worry. When I get a date, I'll post it."
"Great. I've been practicing all summer. This is the year I make the team. You watch."
O'Bannon forced a smile and nodded. Isaac had been saying that for the past two years. Unfortunately, he didn't have even a quarter of the talent of his older brother Paul, who still held the single season and career scoring records for the Blazenrowe Hall hockey team.
"Well, good luck."
"Okay. Thanks. See you later." Isaac started to turn, then suddenly whirled back around. "Oh. I almost forgot. Everyone's dying to know what happened over in England. With the Tri-Wizard Tournament, you know. And all the stuff with Harry Potter -"
"Yeah, look, I'll tell you later." The words shot out of O'Bannon's mouth at a machine gun pace. "Long story, you know. And we gotta get on the schooner."
"Oh, um, okay."
Looking crestfallen, Isaac turned back to his trolley and pushed it toward the ship.
"Jimmy?"
O'Bannon closed his eyes and softly groaned. Slowly, he turned around. Mom had developed an even harder gaze.
"You really need to stop doing that. It's rude."
"Actually, what I need to do is get on the schooner." He clenched his teeth the moment after he said it. Now he really sounded like he was trying to hide something.
He pushed his trolley as quickly as possible, not giving Mom a chance to respond.
O'Bannon frowned. He hated lying to his parents, but better they remain ignorant about this part of the Wizarding World than fretting every minute of every day that You-Know-Who or one of his cronies would cast a Constricting Spell and crush the life out of him.
He picked up the pace as he approached the ship, smiling as he did. Much as he missed his friends at Hogwarts, he felt glad to be returning to Salem. Hanging with Jared Diaz, Rosa Infante and Artimus Rand again, rejoining his dorm's hockey team, as captain no less, and having History of Magic with Miss Venatici, unarguably the hottest teacher in school.
"Well look who finally made it," a short muscular Hispanic boy with a wild tangle of black hair called out near the gangplank connected to the Salem Schooner.
The girl next to him smiled. She was a bit taller than the boy with thick black hair down to her shoulders, smooth, tanned features, a slender figure, and earrings that reminded O'Bannon of rock candy.
"For a second we thought you decided to skip town and go back to Hogwarts," said Rosa Infante.
She dashed over to O'Bannon and gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek. Jared Diaz followed and tapped knuckles with him. The cousins then greeted O'Bannon's parents.
After a minute of small talk, O'Bannon said, "Well, the schooner's gonna leave soon. We better get going."
He hugged Dad, and did the same to Mom. She planted a kiss on his cheek and squeezed him tight.
"You be careful, okay?"
"Always."
"And if anything's wrong, let us know, okay? We may not be wizards, but we're still your parents, and you can come to us with anything."
O'Bannon bit his lip. He so wished that was possible. Unfortunately, when it came to Harry's plight and You-Know-Who's return, his parents couldn't help him one bit.
"Everything's fine, Mom. Don't worry. I'll see you for Thanksgiving, okay?"
For a moment, he didn't think his mother would let go of him. Finally, reluctantly, he sensed, she released him. O'Bannon smiled and pushed his trolley toward the Salem Schooner.
"I hope they get out of here before anyone else metions Harry Potter around them." O'Bannon glanced over his shoulder at his parents.
"You still didn't tell them?"
He turned to Jared. "What the hell am I supposed to say? Mom, Dad. Guess what? The Wizarding World's version of Adolf Hitler just came back from the dead, and now there's gonna be a big wizarding war. I say that, they'll chuck my wand into the Charles River and we'll all move to someplace like Montana."
"Yeah . . ." Rosa glanced around before continuing, keeping her voice low. "Well me and Jared have been getting grilled since we got here. Everyone's asking us if you think Harry Potter really lost his marbles."
"So what did you tell them?"
"Just what you told us when you got back from England. That you believe Harry when he said You-Know-Who's back and he was the one who killed that Diggory guy."
"So what do they think?"
The corners of Jared's mouth twisted. "Most of them are buying what they read in The All-Seeing Eye."
O'Bannon grunted. "Which they're just regurgitating from The Daily Prophet, who are just regurgitating everything the Minister of Magic over there says." He scowled and added, "That dumbass."
The three stopped as a line formed to board the Salem Schooner. All around them parents and other relatives hugged and kissed students good-bye. The most suffocating hugs came from the parents of the First Year Muggle-borns. Some of the kids wanted to wrestle away from their parents' grasp and rush aboard the schooner. Others looked as though they didn't want to let go of their mothers and fathers.
All the Muggle parents appeared nervous to the point of trembling.
O'Bannon lowered his eyes. Nervous. Those parents would be bloody terrified if they knew what they were sending their kids into. He thought back to his very first History of Magic class, which dealt solely with Lord Voldemort and all the terrible things he did during the Big War.
It gave him nightmares for a week. Him, Rosa, Jared and every other First Year. O'Bannon realized why no witch or wizard spoke the name Voldemort.
And now he was back, and these Muggle-born Firsties would enter a Wizarding World with a dark storm on the horizon.
He chewed on his lip. God, how he wanted to yell at them to leave. To forget about Wizarding World, to be ignorant of the name Lord Voldemort and the atrocities he committed. They'd be better off in Muggle schools, where their biggest worries would be passing their driver's test and getting a date for the prom.
O'Bannon frowned. Deep down he knew that wouldn't save them. Voldemort killed plenty of Muggles in the Big War. He'd probably do the same in the upcoming one. And if he won . . . well, O'Bannon doubted the son-of-a-bitch would be content with just ruling the Wizarding World.
"Take your luggage Sirs, and Madam," he heard a gravelly voice.
O'Bannon looked down. A servant elf in a small white sailor's suit stood next to his trunk.
"Yeah, sure."
The elf straightened himself up and held out his hand. O'Bannon started to give him a curious look, then shook his head. After his forays into the Hogwarts kitchen with Fred, George and Lee Jordan, he'd grown so used to English house elves he nearly forgot how to deal with American servant elves.
O'Bannon dug into one of the pockets of his robes, as did Rosa and Jared. They each produced a couple jade pieces and dropped them into the elf's hand.
The elf examined his tip with its huge eyes. It then canted its brown, oversized head and growled.
"Oh, Sirs and Madam are too generous to Pulpin." The elf didn't even look at them as he spoke.
Pocketing the jade pieces, Pulpin raised his index finger. Trunks and owl cages floated through the air and followed the elf onto the Salem Schooner.
O'Bannon shook his head. "You know, I always thought it was bullcrap that the Brits treat their house elves almost like slaves. But at least they're more pleasant to be around than our servant elves."
Jared chuckled. "It's like my dad says. 'You could tip a servant elf with your entire bank account, and he'd still think it wasn't enough.'"
O'Bannon grinned as the line started to move. His grin widened as they approached a chubby old man with a thick gray beard and a black pirate hat. He smiled as they approached, revealing a mouth of missing teeth. The few that remained were a dark shade of yellow.
"Rosa, Jared . . . ah, Jimmy O'Bannon. Welcome back, son."
"Thanks, Skipper." He extended a hand, which Cepheus Oliveira, captain of the Salem Schooner, took in a vice-like grip and shook heartily.
"Did you have a good time in England?"
O'Bannon sighed, fighting a losing battle to maintain his smile. "It was good."
"Glad to hear it. It's nice to have you back on the schooner. I even had one of the servant elves set aside your usual cabin for you." Cepheus pulled a folded piece of parchment from under his weathered peacoat and unfurled it. It revealed a diagram of the Salem Schooner's interior, with the names of students undulating in the cabins they occupied.
"Thanks, Skipper." Jared threw him a salute. "You're awesome."
"Oh please. You've been some of my most favorite passengers in the thirty odd years I've been on this old girl." Cepheus' brow furrowed. His head whipped left, then right. "Say, where's Artimus at?"
"Oh, I saw him over by the harbor master's shack." Jared nodded back down the pier. "His dad's been lecturing him for the last ten minutes."
Cepheus grunted. "Well, after having all four Rand boys sailing on this old girl, I can pretty much guess what Ulysses is telling his youngest."
"Yeah." Rosa's nose crinkled. "'Do you really want to graduate with grades lower than all your brothers? Do you want to be known as the least successful Rand in the history of this family? Blah, blah, blah.'"
O'Bannon stared back at the pier, trying catch a glimpse of Artimus through the crowd of wizards and witches. Rosa's comments stroked embers of anger inside him. While he loved Rosa's and Jared's parents, he'd never warmed up to Ulysses Rand. The man fostered nothing but competition among his four sons, always pushing them to outdo each other. It was a strategy that did more harm than good to Artimus, who already had a youngest sibling complex anyway. He noticed the same thing with Ron Weasley back at Hogwarts, constantly living in the shadows of brothers who were smarter, more successful and more popular than him.
It made O'Bannon grateful to be an only child.
"Well, when he gets here, I'll tell him you're in your usual cabin."
"Thanks, Skipper." Rosa smiled at him.
The three started for the gangplank when Cepheus called out.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Jimmy, you'll love this. We actually have a couple exchange students from Hogwarts on board."
O'Bannon's eyes lit up. Excitement pulsated through his veins. "No way."
"Yup. Cabin . . ." Cepheus consulted the schooner's diagram. "Two-Oh-Three. Why don't you pop in and say hi?"
"You better believe I will. Thanks."
O'Bannon darted up the gangplank, Rosa and Jared hot on his heels. He threw open the nearest hatch and descended the stairs.
"I can't believe this. We're gonna have some Hogwarts kids with us. This is too cool."
"Any idea who they might be?"
O'Bannon looked back at Rosa as she stepped onto the second deck. "I don't know. I didn't get to know everyone there." His face scrunched up. "Weird. You'd think if it was friends of mine they would have owled me and let me know they were coming."
"Maybe they wanted to surprise you," Rosa offered.
Jared rubbed his hands together. "I hope their girls."
"Why? So they can laugh in your face when you ask them out?"
Jared gave his cousin a sharp, dismissive wave, then turned back to O'Bannon. "Maybe it's those Indian twins you told me about. What's their names?"
"The Patils. Parvati and Padma."
"Yeah. Or maybe it's that Angelina Johnson. I about drooled on your team photo when you pointed her out to me."
"Or maybe it's a couple hot guys." Rosa waggled her thin eyebrows. "I'm in the market for a new boyfriend."
Jared snorted. "You're always in the market for a new boyfriend."
Rosa slapped him upside the head. Jared winced as she went on.
"Maybe it's your buddies Fred and George. They sound like they'd be a blast to hang with."
"Ha!" O'Bannon turned halfway around to face Rosa. "You don't know the half of it."
He picked up his pace as he neared Cabin 203. The sliding door was open. He stopped and peered inside.
There were two girls, both blond. The one closest to him had her hair braided up. The other let hers fall to her shoulders. Both of them had their backs to him, staring out the porthole.
O'Bannon smiled and turned back to his friends.
"Sorry, Rosa," he whispered. "You're SOL."
He beamed at Jared and high-fived him.
"Ladies!" Jared practically jumped into the cabin. Both girls jerked in surprise and whipped around in their seats.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Jared Diaz, and this is my good friend, Jimmy O'Bannon. On behalf of the Salem Witches Institute's Greeting Committee, I bid you welcome to our fine institution."
"Oh please," Rosa muttered behind him.
O'Bannon ignored her. "So. How would you like to come up on deck with us? We might catch a glimpse of some . . ."
His voice trailed off when he noticed the patches on both girls' robes. An electric shock ripped through his body. His mouth closed tight. He drew a slow breath and narrowed his eyes.
"Yo, Jimmy. You okay, man?"
O'Bannon didn't answer Jared. He continued to focus on the patches, which showed a serpent amidst the backdrop of green and silver.
No friggin' way.
Both girls were Slytherins.
TO BE CONTINUED