Headmaster's Office, Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry, Great Britain.
"I agree, Minerva. It is a most unusual situation indeed," said
Professor Dumbledore, the aged headmaster.
"It's very unusual, Albus. Why would they suddenly appear on the
lists at this age? Both of them and from the same town, too,"
replied Professor McGonagall who had just brought in the potential students
roster.
"I remember that we decided to not contact the girl last year because the
school term was already underway when her name appeared. Of course, now
our term is nearly complete. You said the boy's name appeared just as suddenly
yesterday. I wonder what has changed?" He pondered.
"And what do we do about it? They are obviously older than first
years, yet we can assume they know nothing of magic. They are American
and have nearly completed their Muggle education. How would we place
them?" Minerva seemed greatly perplexed, while she paced in front of
the headmasters desk.
"Humm…" Professor Dumbledore suddenly sat straighter in his
chair and lights seemed to gleam in his eyes. "Minerva, how would you feel
about an accelerated summer program for two American teens from Roswell,
NM? Over this summer, we could teach them the basics. Next summer,
we'd teach them an intermediate level.
"What a great idea!" She exclaimed and appeared to brighten at the
suggestion. "I do enjoy a challenge.
"I believe they would. And I will cover Defense Against the Dark
Arts classes at least for this summer."
"What if we send them an owl first, offering the program. One of us
could go later as an ambassador to meet with them and their parents, to answer
questions and discuss their options. I wonder...should we take the
sorting hat and go ahead and find out where they would belong once they get
here? Then we can arrange for tutors from their houses."
Dumbledore nodded to himself as he thought of the plan. He then smiled as
he looked at Professor McGonagall.
Within that hour, owls were sent inviting a Miss Elizabeth Parker and a Mr.
Kyle Valenti to attend a special summer session at Hogwart's School in Great
Britain.
Roswell,
NM, USA – Two days later.
Liz Parker sat on her balcony with her feet up after a long, tough
Saturday. It had only been three days since she heard that devastating
message from Max's real mother. Only three days since her heart was
stomped for trying to follow her dreams. Thus far she had managed to
avoid Max, for the most part.
She'd watched Kyle wandering around in a stupor at school. He was shot
three days earlier and revived by Max Evans, just as she had been eight months
ago. "Maybe I should go and talk to him," she thought.
"After all, Max healed us both. We're the only ones, in fact, to
experience that and it sets us apart from the others."
If she were honest with herself, she'd examine exactly how different she felt
since Max saved her life, but right then she wasn't interested in brutal
honesty. If Kyle called, she'd be glad to talk, but she was too tired to
call him herself.
"Only
one more week of school to get through until summer vacation," She
thought, and was comforted by how right that sounded and felt.
In the twilight she heard a sudden flutter of wings as a letter, addressed to
her, fell into her lap.
Kyle Valenti sat on the couch as he flipped channels and tried to ignore all
the strange things that had happened to him just that day. If he thought
any further back, he feared his brain would explode. Or at the very
least, he'd be carried away in a straight jacket by men in white coats.
The day started ok, even with his father giving him chores to do. He
figured it would help him not to dwell too much on the lunacy of the past
week. His Dad had asked him to check the gutter on the north side of the
house. It had pulled loose over the winter and needed to be hammered back
in place. In the meantime he had gone to the grocery store.
Kyle had almost finished reattaching the gutter when he
dropped the hammer. "Oh crap! No! Get back here!"
He shouted. As quickly as it had fallen, it returned to his
hand! Shocked and scared, he muttered more than a few curses at Max
Evans, as he let go of the
hammer. Forgetting that he was on the ladder, he tried to step back and
began to fall himself. "Oh God, this is going to hurt," He
cringed. But it hadn't. He bounced twice, as if on a trampoline.
Landing on his feet he stared for a moment at them and at his hands, then he
ran into the house for a bag to keep from hyperventilating.
Panicked, he picked up the phone to call..."Who do you call when the world
goes weird? Max?" He'd asked himself.
message. "She must be working." He had thought, and
grabbed his keys to drive there. Instead he drove to the High School and
spent the rest of the afternoon running laps around the track.
Once he returned home he put away the ladder. He pretended not to see the
hammer lying there and left it to rust. "I'll just buy another
one." He thought.
His father had grilled steaks for dinner. They planned to watch the
baseball game afterwards, but halfway through dinner Jim, as the local sheriff,
was called out to a major accident on the highway. This left Kyle alone with the
TV's multiple boring channels and his chaotic thoughts.
A little while later he heard a strange tapping on the glass
of the backdoor. He walked to the door and opened it. No one was
there. As he turned back into the house, a falling envelope hit him in
the head. He glanced back outside and saw nothing, but he heard the muted
hoot of an owl in the distance.
As he was closing the door, he saw the envelope. It had fallen into the drain
tray of the plant by the door, one edge in the water. He pulled it out
and saw, through the blurred and running ink, that it was addressed to him.