A.N. Sorry for not posting anything for these past months. The truth is that not only that I've been very busy but also had some unhappy events in my life. Actually, the only good things that happened in this past months are that my elder sister got married (Hurray!!!) and that my parents managed to renovate their apartment. I know that some of you would have preferred that I updated Revenge and I promise I will do that. It's just that I had this story planned for a long time and I just didn't have the time to write it. The good news is that by writing this story I remembered the joy of writing (I know, it sounds strange :D) Now please read and tell me what you think.
For those who don't know Revenge, don't worry: this story is separate from it.
The meeting of two friends
"What? You can't be serious!" Charlie Weasley exclaimed.
"Oh...but I am." A young man answered. He was tall, dark haired with brown eyes.
"Come on, Feanor. I mean, you can't send me there!" Charlie continued exasperated.
"I'm afraid I can. And besides, you were the one that wanted to make the bet."
"Yes, but I thought you were going to make me clean your shoes, or something like that!"
"And where would the fun be?" The other man added smiling.
"But you're the professor! It's your job. I'm sure that Mr. Romendacil won't agree." Charlie tried to reason.
"Oh… I wouldn't count on that. I'm sure he'll find it amusing."
"But…"
"No buts, a bet is a bet."
"It ain't fare."
"But it is."
"I hate you."
"That's your problem."
In a last desperate attempt Charlie added " Oh come on… I've been here for three months. I can hardly speak Romanian and you want me to go to a muggle family and explain them that their daughter is a witch?"
"Exactly."
"But I don't know how to explain in Romanian!!!" Charlie burst.
"That is why I'm giving you this." And Feanor gave the other man a piece of parchment. "I've already translated in Romanian what you are supposed to say."
"And what if they put me questions?"
"That's why you'll take the dictionary with you."
"You're joking right?"
The other man shook his head. "But it will take me an eternity to find the words in the dictionary. Not to mention the grammar. Those verbs are impossible!!! I can't understand how you learnt them."
"You could start by going on time at the Romanian classes." The other man answered grinning.
"Hey…I have a very demanding job. I need to sleep." Charlie said to his defense.
"Well, all I know is that you'll go there, like it or not."
"Tell me again, where am I supposed to go?" Charlie said ……
"You are supposed to go to the town of Ramnicu Valcea. It's a small town. The girl's name is Monica Popescu. She's the first witch in the family. She has two older sisters…"
"Isn't that a bit strange? She's a witch and her sisters aren't?" Charlie asked surprised.
"Yes, it's strange but not impossible. Anyway, you might be happy to hear that she has studied English for three years."
"Is there a chance that her English will be better then my Romanian?" Charlie asked hopefully. The other man shrugged.
"Her grammar will probably be, but I can't say anything about her vocabulary."
"Oh, that's reassuring." Charlie said darkly.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Charlie was standing in front of a wooden door, at the third floor of a block. Getting there had been a real adventure but the difficult part only now came. He read what was written on the door."10. arh. Adrian Popescu. Whatever arh. stands for." He commented bitterly. He checked the address again to be sure. He took a deep breath and praying that they were not home, he knocked at the door." At first no one answered so as much as he hated it he knocked again.
"Imediat!" a women voice cried.
"Imedia, imediat…what did it mean? Oh yeah, right away!" Charlie thought. The door opened and a plump lady with dark short curly hair stood there. They looked at each other in silence for some time before the lady asked.
"Cum va pot ajuta?" At this Charlie panicked.
"Er…aduce scrisoare pentru domnisoara….Monica Popescu." And he gave the woman the letter. The woman took it and read what it was written on it. At the same time Charlie took out the parchment from Feanor and prepared himself to read it. To his amazement, the woman didn't put any questions.
"Intra." She said gesturing him to enter.
Charlie guessed that she had invited him in. He entered the house his heart beating fast. What have I gotten myself in?
"Monica, Adrian!" The woman shouted gesturing Charlie to go further. The young man entered the small over crowded with furniture living room and sat on one of the armchairs. Two persons came in: a tall man with short white hair and a begging of a bald and a ten years old girl with dark long hair, black eyes and a little to thin. They both looked at him curious but said nothing and sat on the sofa.
"Ti-a adus asta." The woman said giving the girl the letter. Monica took it and studied it surprised and then opened and started to read it aloud. When she finished she asked.
"Ce inseamna asta?" Charlie quickly took out the parchment and started reading it. He had no idea what the girl had asked him. His reading was awful as he didn't know how to read some of the letters. Why did I have to skip those classes? From now on I'll always go to them. After the first two phrases he was interrupted by the girl.
"Do you speak English?" She asked timidly.
"Of yes. You saved me!" Charlie exclaimed happily.
"Er..could you give me that paper…the one in your hand." The girl asked unsure.
"Oh, this? Yes, yes, take it" Charlie mentally slapped himself for not thinking about this before. The girl took it and read it aloud. When she finished she was grinning but then she seemed to think of something and asked: "Is this a joke?"
"What? That you are a witch?" Charlie asked. The girl nodded.
"It's true. Everything. You are a witch."
"Super!!!" The girl exclaimed.
"Unde este scoala?" Mr. Popescu asked.
"Er… este in munte?" Charlie's answer was more like a question. He wasn't sure he'd said it right or that he understood the question correctly.
"In the mountains?" The girl asked.
"Yes. In the Fagaras mountains to be more exact."
"Super. Can we ski there?"
"Ski? What is that?"
"Err…it's a sport…you know…err." The girl stopped as she didn't know how to explain it.
"Is it a muggle thing?"
"Muggle?" The girl asked confused.
"Oh…That's how we call people that have no magical powers. I believe that in Romanian they are called Incuiati. I don't know much about them. Everyone in my family is a wizard."
"Super!" After this the girl started a short talk with her parents. "Oh…I forgot to ask you your name!"
"Oh yes…I completely forgot. I'm Charlie Weasley."
"From where are you?"
"I'm from Great Britain."
"And what are doing here?" The girl asked amazed.
"I study dragons."
"Dragons? Can I see them?" Monica asked enthusiast.
"Not without your parents' permission." Charlie answered seriously
"Pot sa vad dragonii, pot, pot?" The girl asked. Her parents looked at each other for a moment and then they nodded their heads.
"They said I could!! Can I see them now?"
"Oh no…not now. You can see them when you start school." At this the girl looked disappointed. Meanwhile a ginger tabby cat jumped into Charlie's lap and began to purr.
"He likes you! He never comes to strangers!" The girl exclaimed.
"What's he's name?"
"Mitzu."
"Well, err… I was wondering if you would like to go shopping now." Charlie asked. The girl translated the question to her parents. They looked worried at each other and after a few moments they answered the question. By the look on the girls face it was clear that it wasn't what she wanted to hear.
"They said that I can't go now. They want to know if you could take me next Friday." The girl said with a disappointed voice.
"Yes, we can go but only in the afternoon. But why can't you go now?"
The flushed badly before murmuring: "They don't have money now."
"That's not a problem. I was given this money for you." Charlie said taking out a bag of money.
The girl told that to her parents but they categorically said no and that they will have money next Friday.
"Well… I guess I should go now. See you next Friday at 3 PM. Alright?"
"Yes. Bye."
"Buna ziua." Charlie said standing up.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"So, how was it?" Asked Feanor.
"Not bad. The girl knew English and she saved me." Charlie answered taking a piece of chocolate.
"Really? How is she? Do you think she'll be a trouble maker?" The other man asked smiling.
"She's sweet. Really talkative. I don't know about the trouble maker part. She doesn't look like the kind of person who likes to get into troubles, although her enthusiasm about seeing the dragons … Hard to say."
"Why didn't you go shopping?"
"Her parents didn't have the money right now. They didn't look too pleased when I wanted to give them the money from Argeleb." Charlie answered.
"Argeleb gave you money?" Feanor said surprised.
"Yes. He said that after the revolution most muggles are always short on money. I'm sorry for them. They seem to be nice people."
At this Feanor frowned. "And what did Argeleb say about this?"
Charlie shrugged: "He said to keep the money anyway and give it to the girl. Now I know why she looked so familiar!!!"
"What?!" asked Feanor surprised. Charlie was by the fireplace. From the mantelpiece he took a photo of a young lady.
"She looks just like her!! Only the eyes are different, but otherwise she looks just the same."
"Are you sure?" Feanor asked. He was now next to Charlie.
"Yes. By the way, who is she?"
"She was my dearest cousin." Said the man looking at the moving picture. "Ciudat…" He whispered.
"Did you say something?"
"No…"
"So, is you cousin available?" Charlie asked seductively.
"She' dead."
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Wow!!!" Was the girl reaction as she saw the busy wizard street. "What is that?" She asked pointing at a little boy running after a brown frog.
"That's a chocolate frog. They are bewitched to move."
"Super!"
"Come and I will show better things." The girl followed him turning her head from left to right an left again, trying not to miss a thing.
"First stop, Gringotts." Said Charlie stopping in front of a big white marble building.
"What is this?!!"
"This is the wizards' bank"
"Why do we have to come here?"
"Well, we need to exchange your money."
When they entered the large bank the girl's eyes went even bigger as she marveled.
"What are those?" She asked curiously.
"They are goblins." The young man answered smiling.
"Goblins…" The girl whispered.
By now they had approached one of the goblins. The girl was smiling at him and looked at him curiously. The goblin gave her a superior look as he took the muggle money from Charlie. This made her smile fade and she turned around watching the wizards around her dreaming of when she would be big. She didn't notice that Charlie had given the goblin only half the muggle money she had. He had decided to complete the expenses with the money Argaleb gave him and give the rest back to the girl.
"Come." Charlie said bringing her from her reverie.
"Why was he so…er…" the girl began her question but didn't finish as she couldn't remember the word.
"Unfriendly?" Charlie said. "Yeah, well goblins aren't known for being friends with humans. There have been many wars between wizards and goblins."
"Why?"
"Er…The goblins want more rights and the wizards don't want to give them more rights."
"But why?"
"You're a very curious girl, you know that?
"Mum and dad always say that." The girl said smiling.
"Well, neither wizards nor the goblins can be qualified as saints. You understand what I say?" Charlie added as he saw the confused look on the girls face.
"Not everything but don't worry."
"Anyway, Bill says they are not that bad once you get to know them"
"Who's Bill?" the girl asked confused.
"He's my older brother. He works as Curse Breaker at Gringotts in Egypt."
"You have a brother?"
"I have more then one. There is Bill, the cool bookworm."
"Bookworm?" Monica asked.
"Someone who spends a lot of time reading and learning." Charlie explained. "Then there's me, Percy the boring bookworm. A very annoying guy. He's in fourth year at school. The twins, Fred and George, are always fun to be with although sometimes they can drive you crazy. They always get in troubles because of their pranks. Although they are only in second year, they managed to get in more detentions then me and Bill together and that says something. What?" Charlie finished as he saw the confused look on the girls face.
"Could you stop talking so fast? I don't understand all you say."
"Oh, sorry. Well where was I? Ah, yes…Then there is Ron, the youngest of my brothers. He's very timid and manages to get into troubles even when he doesn't want to. He'll go to Hogwarts next year."
"Hogwarts?"
"That's our school of magic. The last one is Ginny. I dare to say she's mum favorite child although she'll never admit it. She's the first girl in the family in generation. She's a really sweet child. She's been very sad when Bill left for Egypt. She really likes him. She can't wait to go to Hogwarts but has to wait for another two years for that.. Oh, we arrived to our next destination: the uniform shop"
"Uniform? I hope I don't have to wear a skirt!"
"You won't need one. And why wouldn't you wear one?"
"I hate them." Charlie started to laugh as he saw the girl's disgusted face. "They are so girly. Bleah"
They entered the shop and a tall woman with pale eyes and blond hair greeted them. They said what they wanted and the woman started taking measurements. This only excited the girl more as the … moved by itself and after that needles started to sew. The robes were dark blue.
After this they went to buy her a wand. An old man greeted them.
"Good day."
"Good day." Answered Monica and Charlie together.
"How can I help you?"
"We want a wand." Monica answered.
"I'm sorry, I don't have ants." The man answered.
"Not ants, wands." The girl corrected the man.
"I said I don't have ants." The man answered.
"I want a wand." The girl said lauder pointing towards a wand.
"Why didn't you say that in first place?" The man asked.
"But that's what I said."
"What did you say? I didn't hear you."
"Nothing."
"Which is your wand arm?"
"My right." The girl answered raising her right hand. The man studied her for some moments before going to the back of the store. He came from there with half a dozen boxes. He opened the first one and gave the wand to the girl.
"Wave it." The man said. The girl did as told but nothing happened. At this the man gave her a new wand, but still nothing happened. When she tried the third wand a couple of weak sparks appeared that you couldn't actually qualify them as magic. Non the less the girl was excited.
"I did magic, I did magic!!" She said jumping around. Charlie didn't have the heart to tell her that what she did couldn't be qualified as magic. Instead he smiled at her and so did the shopkeeper.
"Much better now. I think I know what you need." He went to the back of the shop and brought her another box. The girl took the wand and waved it producing a cascade of red sparks.
"A temperamental wand, if I might say so. Twenty-seven centimeters, willow with vampire hair."
"Vampire hair? Are there such things?" She asked bewildered.
"You're muggle borne aren't you?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Yes."
"Well, vampires do exist, but they are not evil like the ones in the muggle stories. Oh, no…they are misunderstood. If you get to know them, you'll see that they are true friends. Of course, you'll get to see that by yourself pretty soon."
"What?!"
"Once a wand of this kind finds it's owner, a bound is formed between the owner of the wand and the vampire who donated the hair. In your case the name of the vampire is Raul. Nice lad. He comes form a noble Spanish family. He has a beautiful sister." Said the man. He was looking past Monica and Charlie like he remembered something. After some moments he regained himself. "Be careful with this wand. These are strange wands; very powerful for both transfiguration and charms but mostly for dark magic. Ten galleons."
Charlie gave him the money and they left the shop.
"What's with the vampire?" Charlie asked curious as this was the only word he understood from the conversation.
"He said that my wand has Vampire hair!"
"Vampire hair? That's strange. But if they have made wands with Veela hair I souldn't be surprised." Charlie said thoughtfully.
"What's a Veela?" Monica asked again.
"They are beautiful women that dance naked in the woods attracting men who fall under their spell and disappear for ever."
"Oh, I've heard about them!! We call them Iele. I didn't think they were real…"The girl said fascinated.
"What else did he say about your wand?" The young man asked curiously.
"He said that it was good for tra..tra…trans…"
"Transfigurations?" Charlie suggested.
"Yeah, that's it. What does it mean?"
"It means that you can transform things. For example you can transform a pencil into a glass."
"Super! I can't wait to learn that."
"What else did he say about your wand?"
"That it is good for er…I don't know the word." The girl said blushing.
"Don't worry." But the girl had stopped and took an old romanian-english dictionary from her bag and looked in it.
"Charms!"
"Congratulations. My wand is also good for that." Charlie said proudly. The girl smiled delighted.
"The man said that it is good for Black Magic, too."
"Dark Magic?" Charlie said frowning. "You should be careful about that. It's a bad thing. You'd better stay away from that."
"Hmm…ok. He said that I'll soon meet a Vampire called Raul. The hair is from him."
"Really?" Charlie didn't put more questions as they arrived at the book shop.
The girl was fascinated by la large number of books.
"I wish I could buy them all." She said sadly.
"You can buy and other books then those from the school list, but not the entire shop." He man said grinning.
"No I can't. I don't have enough money." She said sadly.
"Don't you worry about that. You have more then enough money. You pick up whatever you want." He said to the girl. This brought a big smile on the girls face.
Half an hour later Charlie had about twenty books in his arms an the girl another five.
"Are you sure you want them all now?" Charlie asked disbelieving.
"Yeah!"
"If you say so!" Charlie said as he put the books on the counter. The shopkeeper gave them a surprised look as she saw the large number of books. She put a shrinking spell on them so Charlie could carry them more easily and after Charlie paid for them, they left the shop. On their way to the Ingredients Shop they passed next to a pet shop. The girl stopped and looked at a black owl that sat in a cage in the window.
"It's so lovely!" The girl exclaimed. The bird sensing that it was admired opened its wings as to show how beautiful it really was.
"You can have it if you want." Charlie said.
"No, I can't. Mum said she doesn't want anymore pets in the house." The girl said sadly without taking her eyes of the bird.
"You can talk to you parents and explain them that wizards use owls to deliver post. It's the only way you can talk with them from school. If you convince them, you can buy one next time you come here."
"I guess… But what if they sell it…I want this one." The girl sighted deeply as she took her eyes of the bird and walked away.
"I'm going to ask the shopkeeper not to sell the bird for now, ok?" And with this he entered the shop.
The girl was left alone on the street. She was looking at the people around her when suddenly a ball of dirt hit her in the head.
"Ouch!" She exclaimed suddenly as she turned around to see who threw it. Another one hit her in the stomach. She crouched slightly and hardly stopped her eyes from watering because of the pain as this time the ball also contained a small rock. The one who hit her was a boy about her age with dark blond curly hair. He was shorter then her and skinny. He had a wand in his hand a nasty smile on his face. Before she could react, he magically threw another dirt ball at her but she managed to deflect it with her arm before it hit her in the face.
"That's what you deserve, mud-blood." He said quietly so she was the only one to hear him. She didn't know what t meant but she was sure that it was a bad thing.
"I'd stop that if I were you." She said menacingly.
"Or what? What will you do to me? You are inferior to me by birth." He said smugly. The next moment he was on the ground yelling as the girl gave him a powerful slap. She was preparing to hit him again when she got a slap over face which made her eyes water.
"How dare you touch my child you…" A woman yelled raising her hand again.
"Don't you dare touch the girl!" A thundering voice commanded. The next moment, Monica felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She raised her head and saw an older man with long black hair and friendly brown eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked kindly. The girl nodded whipping her tears. There was a big red spot on her left cheek, were the woman had slapped her.
"How can you take her side?! I demand that you expel her right away." The woman said outraged.
"Then I would have to expel your son too, taking in consideration that he started it."
"How dare you say that?" By now people had gathered around.
"I've seen your son starting it. The girl warmed him to stop but he continued and also called her bad names. And all this time you just stayed there and watched your son throwing dirt balls at the girl. I warn you that I do not tolerate this kind of behavior at Deceneu."
The woman was red in the face from anger. Her son was now next to her giving dirty looks to the girl who gave him the same looks.
"Just because you are headmaster of Deceneu School, doesn't mean that you can tell people what to do!" The woman said and turned angrily. Her son raised his wand but before he said anything the girl shouted:
"Tentaculus!" A yellow light escaped from the tip of her wand, hitting the boy in the head. A dozen tentacles grew from his head. This made the watching people laugh.
"How dares she!!!" The woman shouted angrily. She took her wand out but the man had stepped in front of the girl. "If you insist we can duel right here and right now." The woman seemed to consider the possibility but then she lowered her wand. She took her son by the arm and said menacingly: "You won't be headmaster for too long." And with this she disapparated with her son.
"Argeleb, what happened?!" Charlie said as he came running out of the shop. "I was inside and didn't hear anything because of the noise. Oh my!!! Are you alright?" He asked as he bent down to study de red spot on the girl's face. The girl quickly nodded.
"It looks that our little friend already managed to get herself into troubles." The man explained what happened. When he finished, the girl asked with a trembling voice.
"Am I in troubles?"
"No, you're not." The girl sighted in relief. "Will you have problems because of me?" She asked worried.
"No. Don't mind her. Her husband and her tried to get me sacked since the day I became a teacher. It will pass with some ice." He added in English. Charlie was still checking the girl for further injuries and cleaning the dirt from her head. He was afraid of how her parents would react at seeing their daughter with a bruise while he took care of her.
"Oh, yeah." With a quick move of his wand he conjured an ice-bag and pressed it on the girls cheek.
"Now tell me, where did you learn that spell?" Argeleb asked the girl.
"I learned it when I gave a quick look thru one of the books I bought." The girl said flushing.
"Really? Then you're a great young witch to be able to conjure a spell like that from the first time." This made the girl flush even more as she looked at her feet. Argeleb smiled and looked at her proudly but no one noticed it. "But I'm afraid that until the age of fourteen you are not aloud to do magic outside school. If you do that, I will be forced to expel you. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." The girl said sheepishly.
"Now Charlie, I believe you still have some shopping to do and to take the girl home."
"Ah yes. Goodbye." Charlie said standing up with the bag of ice.
"Good afternoon Sir." The girl said.
"Good afternoon."
The rest of the shopping went quick as Charlie desperately tried to finish as fast as possible before the girl could get into another fight.
To Charlie's horror, when they arrived at the girl's house, her parents noticed the small bruise on the girl's left cheek and asked about it. The girl told them what happened but missed the part with the woman slapping her, blaming one of the dirt balls for the bruise. To his surprise, the girl's parents didn't throw him out the door, but instead invited him for diner.
After dinner Charlie left, declining their offer to stay there over night, saying that he had to meet a friend and promising to come back on Sunday.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"So, how is she?" Feanor asked as he drank from his wine.
"She's such a sweet girl. You should see her. Very curious. She started asking me everything she could think off. Oh…and she has a strange wand."
"Strange wand?"
"Yeah, with Vampire hair!"
"Aren't those a little too temperamental?" Feanor asked surprised.
" I guess so. What I know is that they are good for charms, transfigurations and Dark Arts. But don't worry, I warned her about Dark Arts." Charlie quickly added as he saw Feanor frowning. "She managed to amaze even Argeleb today. Managed to conjure a correct spell from the first time." With this he told Feanor about the accident in the wizarding world.
"So that's why Argeleb was in such a good mood when he returned." Feanor said more to himself.
"He was?"
"Yeah…And how did her parents react when they heard about the accident?
"They didn't say anything about it. They smiled at her an invited me to dinner. They asked me to stay over night and tell them more about the wizarding world but I refused and so they invited me Sunday at lunch."
"They showed that much interest?" Feanor asked surprised.
"Yeah…Although her parents gave me the impression that they already knew those things…I don't know why, but they just gave me this strange sensation. There was even something sad in their eyes. And Mrs. Popescu for a moment twitched when the girl mentioned Argeleb's name."
"That's strange…"Feanor whispered. "So, Sunday you're going again. You should bring something to them, a pie or something."
"I'll do that. I'm also buying that owl for the girl. Her parents agreed in the end that buying an owl would be a good idea. She's going to be very happy. She even decided to name the owl D'Artagnan if it's a he." Charlie said smiling.