Enchanted By a Nightmare
A/N: So I've wanted to write this one for awhile and since the new movie's coming up, I've decided to get into the potter mood so enjoy and review!
Disclaimer: I own Remy and the real world scenes but not the Potter universe. Silly!
Chapter One: The Wizard's Guinea Pig
Remy Price fingered her denim mini skirt while trying to explain to her parents what she was about to do.
"Look, it's like one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, they'll connect me to the system and I'll be out for twenty four hours but it'll feel like a year to me," she said running a hand through her jaw-length curls.
"Remy, I cannot believe you did this, signed up for some wack-job project without telling your family," her mother, a stout, fair haired woman with a large nose, exclaimed her cheeks flushed.
"Mum, this invention could change the world and I'm going to be one of the first to try it. Besides, they needed someone who had never read the books."
Remy had been embarrassed to admit to the tall man who worked for VFA or Virtual Fantasy Adventures that she had never read or seen any fantasy books or movies. It just wasn't her thing, you know, wizards… creepy old dudes with Weird hats, that kinda thing.
Remy had been working at Lovin' Lyrics, a small music shop in the mall, for about a month when she had met Jack. Tall, dark, and handsome, her older boyfriend was your stereotypical bad-boy, complete with a smirk and leather jacket. His was the highlight of her summer, but it was simply a summer fling soon to be forgotten by the man who sped away on his shiny red motorcycle, taking her heart with him. There was no fight, no cheating, and no betrayal. She wanted to make her first love last but he simply fell through her fingers like sand at the beach, warm and new but gone too soon. That is why she cut her hair to a patch of curly blonde locks atop her head and that is why she signed up for VFA to forget Jack.
"I'm not going to let my daughter become some guinea pig, you met this strange man outside in an alley and your going to let him mess with your brain," her mom exclaimed throwing oven mitt clad hands into the air. Remy grabbed her leather jacket and slipped it on over her thin striped t-shirt, preparing to leave. The tall man wearing a black suit next to the sixteen year old girl spoke for the first time, resting a hand on the older woman's shoulder.
"Mrs. Price, you have nothing to worry about, I'm a highly trained professional and this experiment is completely government- run, with state of the art technology and safety protocol." Henrietta Price simply blinked at the VFA manager and put her head in her hands.
"We have been training your daughter for this past week and she'll, without doubt, enjoy her time in our fantasy simulator. If she gets injured in the simulation, her physical body in the real world won't be affected. Miss Remy cannot be harmed but we need your permission, if you may," he pushed a small sheet of white paper across the coffee table and handed the frantic woman a pen. Her white hands shook as she clasped the blue plastic worried eyes glancing up at her daughter.
"Please Mum," Remy pleaded clasping her hands together and placing them over her heart, as if she was saying a prayer. The blonde girl smiled when she heard the click of the pen but the grin faded when she saw a single tear roll down her mother's cheek.
"So," Remy began glancing at the man sitting to her left, "I'm going to get to be a wizard. I won't have to wear one of those ridiculous hats all the time, will I?" The man was close to pulling out the few salt and pepper stands of hair he had on top of his head. This had been the tenth question the girl had asked since they had pulled out of the Price's driveway in his sleek BMW. He clenched his jaw and through his teeth answered, "Miss Price, please understand that information about the experiment is strictly confidential." This earned him an eye-roll from the teenage blonde who instead pulled a thin black book from her messenger bag. Someone's having a bad day, Remy thought as she flipped through the hand-written wizarding world encyclopedia.
"I got to get me one of those," she said with a whistle, gazing at a picture of a golden time-turner and thinking of the many times she was late for algebra. Before she could ask her driver about the device, he pulled into a small gravel drive way in front of a sleek skyscraper, its windows reflecting the setting sun. As soon as she swung one leg out of the car door, she was starting to re-think her decision. She gazed at her polka dotted tights that she wore under her skirt for a moment before hoping out of the car and into the summer evening.
"Miss Price, do hurry, I wish to be punctual," her escort clipped checking the time on his shiny watch.
"Al' ri' already, I'm comin'" she called pulling her hair into a purple velvet headband. If she was going to be asleep for a day but be in dreamland for a whole year, Remy wanted to look good. Her ballet flats made no sound as she jogged up to the building watching as a small man wearing a white lap coat ran up to the two of them. His eyes widened when he saw the pretty young guinea pig standing next to his boss. He fidgeted, pushing back his thick glasses while trying to find the proper greeting.
"Mr. Barnes, Miss Price," he addressed the pair with a nod, "Welcome to the VFA headquarters, shall we begin?" With that, he led the pair into the revolving door of the building and down a flight of iron railed steps. His fingers drummed along the
Clipboard in his hand and Remy could tell the little man was nervous. She would be too if she was testing what could possibly be an evolutionary invention for the first time. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they entered a small white room where a tall dark haired woman dressed in a grey lab coat checked her heart rate, blood pressure, and reflexes. Remy thanked the woman as she slid off the metal table and was about to rejoin Mr. Barnes when the lady's maroon nails clasped her wrist. The nurse peered at Remy with dark eyes in which she could see a trace of sympathy.
"Good luck," she whispered, "and beware of the Dark Lord." Remy gave her a wavering smile, unnerved by the woman's urgent tone, and eased from her grip and out of the door where the little man with the clipboard was waiting.
"Excuse me," she asked as they hurried down the white corridors. The scientist stops walking and turned to face the girl with calculating eyes.
"Who is the Dark Lord? I know I'm not supposed to know anything about the game before the project but…"
"Please Miss Price," he said softly placing a hand on her shoulder and leading her into yet another white room, this one containing a white metal capsule the size of a human body, "no questions, please change into these robes and prepare yourself." The man handed her a black jumper along with a black hooded robe and a pair of mary-janes. He shut the door and Remy was left alone in the cold lab, a pile of odd clothes in her arms. If she was just going into the machine mentally why would she have to dress up like this? With a shrug of her shoulders, she slipped into the robes and put the rest of her clothes into her bag. She was about to call the small scientist back into the room when she heard whispers coming from the large vents above the door.
"Bernard dropped off her belongings at the platform an hour ago; they'll be there when she arrives."
"I hope the process isn't too painful. She seemed like a sweet little dear."
"Can't you just perform the spells and cut the scientific act,"
"Muggles need science; they rely on logic, not magic."
Remy's brow furrowed. What the hell was a muggle? As far as she knew, she'd be going into some virtual video game like that Spy Kids movie where she'd be some girl Merlin with dragons, magical duals, and what not. As she sat down on the edge of the body capsule, she twiddled her thumbs and noticed that there was no turning back now. The metal lab door swung open and the nurse and the little man walked in with fake cheery expressions plastered onto their faces.
"Hello Miss Remy, are you ready to begin?" the little man asked, clasping his two twitching hands together. Remy nodded, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat. He guided her to lay back in the padded capsule her yellow curls standing out against the white fabric. She shivered as he placed multi-colored wires on her forehead and wrists. He leaned over her his pointy nose nearly touching hers and she could smell the coffee on his breath along with sharp unpleasant cologne.
"Now, Miss Price, when you arrive at the station, you will see Mr. Barnes waiting for you and he will explain things further about the, er, game. Please try not to injure yourself while in the simulation and enjoy your trip." With that, his face disappeared and the capsule hissed as its top closed over her body. Claustrophobia enveloped Remy as she tried not to squirm around the wires, trying to keep her breath even. Her vision grew hazy even though she didn't remember taking any knock-out meds, and a circle of fuzzy darkness surrounded her vision. Through the haze she felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if someone were trying to take out her heart. She would have gasped if she had the energy to as she saw a white glow radiate from her chest and form an orb above her head. She watched her crazed hallucination with lazy curiosity, the pain in her chest ebbing away. The white orb of light started to shift to form something, a shape of some sort. Two hooves appeared from the glow along with a long silver tail and main. A hallucination of a horse hovered above Remy's head but unlike most equestrian mammals this horse didn't shine with pride or glory instead it stood there with a bowed head and kind eyes like a sacrificial lamb. It also had a twirling silver horn on its forehead. A unicorn, she was hallucinating seeing a unicorn! Remy had enough of this nonsense and was about to close her heavy eyelids when the seemingly gentle beast of her imagination charged. Its sharp horn pierced her chest sending a surge of sharp hot pain into her brain, creating fireworks of colors beneath her eyes. The heat, the flames sped through her body reaching her fingertips and toes, pounding in her temples. She would have screamed if only she wasn't so tired…
Theodore Walters lowered his wand as he saw the glow fade from inside the capsule, waiting a few seconds before approaching the device. His heart pounded in his chest as he punched in the code to open the system. With a hiss the top slid from above the enclosure and a smile broke out over the little man's face when he saw that the girl was no longer inside and that the decoy wires were left behind. His twitching fingers danced together as he let out a cackle, tossing his head back with a grin. He had killed two birds with one stone. He had just transformed a muggle into a wizard by extracting her soul and sending it back into her body as a magic holding patronus. He had also sent this newly turned witch back in time to when the famous Harry Potter was a young fifteen year old boy without the use of a time turner. Things were turning out to be rather fantastic!
A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed that first little installment. You can visit my profile page to see a picture of Remy and to read my other Potter fanfics! Thanks for reading.
TheDreamerBehindTheMask