Chapter 1

What a mess

I know this may seem to have little to do with the original characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione, etc.) at first, because this story is about the same world, only new adventures with new characters in a later time. The story will include the characters of the original books and some of them will play a big part in this story.

Damian Gaspari was sitting in his room when his mother called him to come downstairs for dinner. He sighed and closed the book he was reading, A History of Myths and Why Muggles Believe Them. He had borrowed the book from his older brother who didn't need it anymore as he was going to drop the subject next year. Damian was almost eleven and this was the first year he would be attempting his new school. It would be his birthday in three days now and he was already looking forward to buying his new school supplies for the nearing term. His mother had promised him they would go to Diagon Alley on his birthday to buy him everything he needed for school and maybe even an owl or a cat.

Mrs Gaspari had prepared a special dinner, because Uncle Caleb and Aunt Sophie would be eating with them to celebrate Damian's 11th birthday. When he heard his mother call him he quickly looked at the clock on his bedside table, it was already 6.30pm, like usually he had completely forgotten the time as he was reading. The sun was still shining outside his window, it was mid-August and it had been a very warm day. He took in the mess that was his room in a worried look; he had promised his mother he would clean the room before their guests would arrive. He never understood why, would his aunt and uncle be eating in his room? No, so what was the point of cleaning it up to make it a mess again before the week was out?

When he came downstairs the first thing he saw was a green kind of smoke and he heard his father shout "Dominique, Sarah! Why won't you take an example of your brother, he never blows up the kitchen and doesn't try to set the garden on fire!" "But there was a gnome running through the kitchen dad." Dominique tried to make up a quick lie for the mess he and his sister had created, "we were only trying to get it out before Aunt Sophie and Uncle Caleb get here." Sophie added to her brother's lie. "Do you two even know what a gnome is?" "But of course my dear daddy," Sarah said "The Gnome is a common garden pest found throughout North America and northern Europe. Its body is out of proportion, its head is too big, and it has sharp claws and bony feet. It grows up to about 12 inches tall." Mr Gaspari looked at his daughter in amazement; sometimes he forgot she was only pretending to be blonde as her hair. "Aright," he said, "and where is that gnome of yours now, if I may ask?" "It ran outside!" the two of them said at once. Damian smiled as he saw the colour his father's face turned into.

"What are you laughing at?" Mr Gaspari asked him in a tone that was supposed to be kind but sounded a little bit aggressive after all. "Nothing dad, I'll go look outside to see where the gnome ran off to." "We'll come with you!" his brother and sister said quickly, but before they could get to the door that went outside Mr Gaspari stopped them, "You two aren't going anywhere until this mess is cleaned up!" Grumbling Dominique and Sarah turned to go and help their mother clean up. Snickering Damian walked outside through the door to their backyard. He could just overhear his parents saying "They're just kids Balthazar, let them play." "You don't understand Agatha, we have to punish them if they do something wrong, they won't stay kids for the rest of their lives." Damian walked to the shed on the other side of the garden, took out a little golden ball and started turning it around between his fingers.

Suddenly the little ball spread its wings and started flapping them to his fingers, trying to escape from his grip. Damian let the little ball fly off but only just far enough so he could still catch it. He kept repeating this over and over without really noticing what he was doing. He kept thinking about Diagon Ally, what it would look like, how it would feel to be so close to the secret world he would truly become a part of when he would start his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "Damian, would you put that snitch away and come inside? You're aunt and uncle are here!" When he heard his father's voice calling him, he almost jumped, he had been so plunged in his thoughts he completely forgot what he was doing; he almost let the little ball escape.

His aunt and uncle had arrived and they had brought him some presents for his birthday. "Look how big he is Caleb, my God, what are you feeding those kids Agatha?" His aunt was good at exaggerating things, he had grown about two inches over the summer but he was still only 4.7 feet tall. In comparison with his brother he almost felt like a midget. Dominique had grown a lot over the summer and was now 5.4 feet tall, he had turned 14 the week before he returned from Hogwarts and was this starting his fourth year at Hogwarts. His sister had turned 12 in February and was now 4.9 feet tall, which meant he was still the smallest of the lot.

Damian had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, the same eyes his mother had that seemed to look straight through you. He was small en slim build, he usually looked very calm even though he was stressing about all kinds of things most of the time. Being the youngest member of the family made that all his parents' hopes on having at least one child at school that doesn't get in trouble all the time were on him. His brother had made his first potions class a living hell as he had dropped his quill in a Slytherin's cauldron, which had exploded only a few minutes later. His sister was way too preoccupied with her looks to really do a lot for school, which made her grades sink deeper and deeper through the year. "You are twelve, what does it matter what you look like or what others think, just make sure you have a future young lady" Mr Gaspari had said, "or we will take measures, do you understand?" "Yes daddy." Damian wondered if his sister would actually change her behaviour during the new term.

As he took place at the kitchen table his aunt gave him some chocolate she had brought from the muggle chocolatier in the town they lived in. She also gave him a book titled From Spice to Mice, The Art of Transfiguration. His uncle had brought him a glass spinning top that started spinning quietly as he placed it on the table. "A Sneakoscope" his uncle explained, "it will start spinning, whistling, and lights up when it detects someone untrustworthy." His uncle and his father were both Aurors and therefore colleges, they both worked on The Department for Muggle Abuse and Illegal Use of Magic. Uncle Caleb had told Damian what being an Auror meant when he was seven, "An Auror is 'a Dark wizard catcher'. They are an elite group of witches and wizards, loyal to the Ministry of Magic, whose mission it is to fight against and capture the forces of the Dark Arts." Damian had wanted to become an Auror ever since.

Happy with his new presents he thanked his aunt and uncle and went upstairs to put them on his desk. On the way back from his bed he almost tripped over an old booby-trap Dominique had once set up to catch the Sleep Monster under Damian's bed, or as they had called it back then, "The Snoosh". He laughed as he thought about how stupid the two of them had looked, protecting their sister by building her a blanket fort and hanging over their broomsticks, hovering 2 feet above the floor, waiting for 'The Snoosh' to come out from under the bed. And of course, their uncle Caleb had loved to 'help' them, making his niece and nephews run around wearing a colander on their heads and shouting at them "The Snoosh is coming for you, you woke him and now he is going to get you!"

When Damian came back downstairs, everyone was already in the backyard, because of the good weather Mrs Gaspari had decided they would be eating outside. Uncle Caleb had transfigured an extra table and chairs to sit at and Mr Gaspari had magically covered the table and muttered a charm which made the empty plates disappear from the table and appear in the cupboard, clean and shiny as if they were new. During diner uncle Caleb told Damian a lot about his own time at Hogwarts and about the professors. The more Damian heard, the more exited he felt about finally going to Hogwarts. He couldn't wait to learn all about Defence against the Dark Arts and Transfigurations, he was even looking forward to his first Potions class, even though Dominique and Sarah had told him that the teacher was always taking side for the Slytherins as he was the head of Slytherin House.

At the end of the day when everyone had eaten enough, Caleb and Sophie were planning on going home and thanking Mrs Gaspari for dinner, the garden suddenly came to life. In the red light of the sunset behind the trees sheltering the backyard, three gnomes ran over the grass, chasing each other. At this sight Dominique and Sarah forgot their bulging stomachs right away and started chasing after the gnomes. While they were wildly running, aiming stunning spells at the gnomes, Damian, Mrs and Mr Gaspari were saying goodbye to Caleb and Sophie. Only a moment after his aunt and uncle had disappeared from sight the garden filled itself with the same green kind of smoke that had earlier that evening appeared in the kitchen, followed by the sound of Mr Gaspari's voice, "Dominique! Sarah!"