Nike Rouge came from a family of tennis players. Her dad, Chris was a coach and her mom, Sarah for the ATP. You can say that her life revolved around it.
Then one day, the bomb was dropped in the form of a letter. Not just any letter, an acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"This can't be happening!" Nike said.
"Honey, it is…" Sarah calmly told her daughter.
Nike looked from her mom to her dad. Secretly hoping that someone would pop out and proclaim that this was all an April Fool's joke. But sadly, it was mid-June when this happened.
"Honey, sit down please" Sarah said.
"I prefer to stand, thanks" Her voice was cold and hollow.
"Nike, this will not be easy to accept. I know I had trouble accepting it for weeks" Chris said.
"Accepting what?"
Sarah and Chris looked at each other then at Nike.
"Sarah…you better tell her." Chris whispered.
Sarah fidgeted a bit and let out a huge sigh.
"Nike,
I'm a witch…" Nike looked at them as if they were rotting
cheese.
"Mom! Dad! No! There is no such thing as-----"
"---magic?" Chris finished for her.
"Please tell me that this letter is not true!"
"It is…watch" Sarah flipped her wand out of thin air. She pointed it at the unclean plates on the breakfast table.
"Evanesco" She muttered.
Nike stood in awe as her mother made the plates disappear with a flick of a tree branch. She just let the chair behind her catch her from the shock she experienced.
It's impossible! She thought.
"Wait…does this mean that dad is a wizard?" Nike inquired.
"No, I'm not. Only your mother has magical blood." he answered.
Sarah was quiet. She looked happy. Very pleased indeed.
"Mom? Are you OK?"
"Yes, dear. I'm very happy. But I wonder, why your letter only arrived now. It should have arrived when you were 11, not when you are 15" Sarah said.
Nike blushed.
"Ummm…do you remember what happened to the Wimbledon quarterfinal match of Andy Murray and Gael Monfils?" she asked sheepishly.
"Yeah…Monfils had to retire because he ran out of racquets, but he didn't throw any of it"
Nike remained silent. "No…you didn't!" Sarah shrieked.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen. I just wished that something would happen and Andy would win. And the next thing I know, Monfils was retiring from the match. I didn't think that it was magic! I just realized it now!"
She didn't seem happy about how things are going.
"OK…where on earth are we?" Nike asked as her mom dragged her into a shabby looking bar called the Leaky Cauldron. Weird name! She thought.
"We are in London…" Chris supplied.
"Ummm…that helps dad that really helps" She retort, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"We're going to have to buy your books and everything you'll need at Hogwarts and mind your tone, Nike Marie" Sarah said.
"WHAT! Who said that I was going to that mental institution! I am most certain that I will not point a tree branch at things and mutter stupid incantations for ten whole months!"
The whole place went silent at her response, actually it was only one family. Sarah faced her daughter and husband.
"I thought you wanted to be a witch." Sarah said.
"Mom, I was three back then…and I thought that I could fly."
Chris looked amused at this conversation. He couldn't help but snigger a bit.
"Nike…I'm sure you'll love the wizarding world. I did when I first discovered it. And you'll really love their candies. Give it a shot, will you." Chris said.
"But dad, my tennis career. Wimbledon. I already won the juniors…I want to win the ladies' game." she wailed.
Before Sarah could response, an elderly lady with ginger hair approached them.
"I apologize for such intrusion but I heard your conversation awhile ago and maybe…Nike will enjoy the wizarding world and Ron and his friends all of whom are in her age, I suppose, can show her around after lunch." She said.
"That would be lovely, thank you very much Molly"
"Don't mention it Sarah…and come and join us for lunch. There's plenty of room for all of us"
"So…you and Sarah are cousins then?" Chris said to Molly.
"Yes and it has been awhile since I have seen her here." Molly said.
Nike was busy poking holes at her mashed potatoes to even care about everyone in the table, particularly a boy with messy jet black hair, striking green eyes and a lightning blot scar on his forehead.
"Oh dear Sarah, she doesn't seem to take the news in a good light." Molly said.
"I know…she's fallen in love with the muggle world, particularly a muggle sport, tennis." Sarah said.
Arthur Weasley's head immediately shot up.
"Tennis? That sounds fascinating…does it have something to do with electicity?" he asked.
Chris chuckled.
"Arthur!" Molly hissed.
"Let me snap Nike out of trance" Chris volunteered.
Nike was now busy arranging her peas and carrots into a tennis court, when she heard someone.
"How would you rate Andy Murray's performance against Marat Safin in last year's Wimbledon semifinal match?" someone asked, clearly it was her dad.
Her head immediately shot up and her eyes were sparkling.
"Murray did fairly well but his confidence level went down during the fourth set along with the rain delay. He missed a couple of important break points that could have given him the match and a spot in the final round. His serve has matched of those of Goran Ivanesivic, and his serve and volley game was exceptional---" She stopped talking when she heard someone laughing. She found out that it was her mom.
"What?" She asked, obviously irritated.
"I told you she was mad about it." Chris answered.
She blushed when she finally realized that her dad did it to snap her out of trance. Then only did she find out that she was sharing a table with 5 red heads. Wow, what a great way to know who your children are, she thought, and a mousy haired girl and a boy with remarkable verdant eyes.
Chris nudged her.
"Two words ice queen, man-ners" he whispered.
She just rolled her eyes at this.
"Hi, I'm Nike" she said. Then she turned to her dad and shove him an are-you-happy-now look.
"I'm Hermione Granger." The mousy haired girl said. "Across you is Harry Potter, beside him is Ginny, Ron's sister and beside me is Ron and beside you is Bill, Ron's brother" she continued,
She just smiled at them and continued assembling her tennis court.
"Strange." Ginny blurted out.
"What's strange?" Nike asked.
"OUCH! Harry!"
Ginny was about to comment why Nike did not recognize Harry at all but Harry accidentally stepped on Ginny's foot.. But it went unnoticed by Sarah, who was intently listening to her daughter's first interaction with wizards and witches.
"So, my suspicions are correct, you are Harry Potter. I knew it by your eyes; they were once your mother's. I've known Lily and Prongs during the fifth year; you can also say that I was quite close to Padfoot and Moony, not Wormtail, he gives me the creeps. I'm really sorry about him. It's nice to see that the Marauders left an heir to their throne." Sarah said.
Everyone's eyes were on Harry and Sarah.
"How did you know all these things?" he inquired breathlessly.
"You'll know soon" she said simply and gave her husband an understanding smile.
Silence enveloped the whole table.
"So, are you interested in Quidditch?" Bill asked, trying to change the topic.
"What?" Nike uttered.
"Quidditch, the best wizarding sport" Ron declared. "Because it's the only one."
"WHAT? THE ONLY SPORT? NO TENNIS! No football? No Owen? Beckham?"
Obviously, the lot was taken aback by her reaction.
"Nike, you'll love Quidditch. I played Chaser when I was at Hogwarts. It'd be great if you play it as well, I'll buy you a broomstick later. This will be so exciting!" Sarah said.
"WOAH! Rewind and freeze! Broomstick? On mid-air?" she revolted.
Harry laughed. "What do you expect?" he added.
"Basketball…" Nike joked. This caused to make Harry laugh even more.
It has been a while since Harry laughed so genuinely and upon hearing Nike's laugh and seeing her smile, he absolutely forgot about Voldemort, forgot the fact that his parents were dead, forgot everything that he will face, forgot his anger towards his friends and the Order, forgot the death of Cedric Diggory, and completely forgot about his affections for Cho Chang. For once, he felt happy, without a care about the world around him. And to add to that, Nike felt the same way too.
