Huge thanks to my invaluable beta CallMeBunny.
Disclaimer: If you think that I own Harry Potter, well then you need to get your head examined by a doctor!
Year 2015.
Somewhere in India. In a room in a girls' hostel for undergraduate students.
"Shit!" she woke up suddenly. "Rhea, what's the time?" she asked her roomie.
"9:30." Rhea replied.
"9:30 pm! We missed dinner! Oh no!" she fell back on the bed.
"Sorry, Aamaya! I thought you didn't want to have dinner so I didn't wake you." Rhea said.
"Hmmm, its fine. Not your fault. Honestly I didn't expect I would sleep for so long. I should stop taking afternoon naps." She replied. 'More like evening nap.' she muttered to herself.
"When did you fall asleep?" Rhea asked.
"Around 5:30, I guess."
"So late! And what were you doing before that?" her roomie asked.
"Reading Harry Potter of course!" Aamaya replied matter-of-factly.
Rhea just rolled her eyes.
"You and your Harry Potter obsession!" she said.
"Wrong! Me and my Remus Lupin obsession!" she laughed and corrected her.
"Go and order something fast, before the gates close, if you want to eat something." Rhea said.
"Hmm I think I'll go down and get something from Snack Point. You coming?" Aamaya asked.
"Nah, not hungry."
"Okay, then." she said and left the room.
When she went out of her hostel, Aamaya saw the roads quite empty. It was not surprising as it was a Saturday night and most of the students were outside the campus, enjoying the first Saturday of the new term. She made her way to the food joint and placed her order.
She absentmindedly fingered her locket while waiting for her order; a locket which she had been wearing since forever. For being so lenient regarding their religious views, her parents were quite strict when it came down to the locket. She was never supposed to take it off, not until her parents told her that it was fine to take it off. Apparently her life was in danger and some religious Guru had charmed it to protect her. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes. 'Seriously, how could you believe such nonsense, mum! You never believed in the other stuff that they say!' She thought to herself.
"Order 51!" someone shouted from inside the store. She took her order and left the place.
While on her way back, it started raining heavily. Seeing that there was nothing underneath which she could take shelter, she started running. She could just see her hostel block when she slipped on the slippery pavement and fell down, hitting her head. She tried to get up and that's when she saw that her locket had broken and it was emitting a strange light. In that instant, a flash of lightening suddenly lit up the entire place like morning and then flung the place into pitch darkness.
In the darkness only the packet of food remained on the pavement with no sign of the girl that had been there a minute ago.
The only unusual thing was the woman hiding behind a nearby tree. As soon as she saw the empty pavement she smiled and placed her wand back inside her pocket.