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It was the break of dawn and Venetia Neal,
was just arising from a bad night's sleep. All night she had been having
aweful dreams of the 6th year of Hogwarts for Harry. Images of Voldemort's
defeat over Harry had flashed through mind making her toss in her sheets.
Usually dreams such as this wouldn't have bothered her much but due to
the fact that she was only inches away from Harry himself she experianced
all the pain he did. Luckily, this was only a dream, and the only damages
she came out of it with was messy hair and an acheing back.
As she shoved her dog, Toby, away from her face,
she swung out of the bed and attempted to get herself to the kitchen counter.
As she fixed herself a plate of crackers and grabbed an appitizing pop
to match the "well balanced meal" (what do you expect she's American) she
thought about her dream, or shall we say nightmare, and decided to tell
her best friend, Radley Jade Drake, about her Potter dream. Knowning that
Radley was a big Harry Potter fan, she knew that her friend would be most
excited to hear the dream.
Meanwhile.... Radley was just opening her eyes to
the horrific sounds of her mother screaming at her to wake up. "I'M UP!!
BE QUIET.. AND DON'T YOU DARE TURN ON THE GOSPEL MUSIC!!!!!", she screamed
back. (this was an aweful trick her mom used often). She slept for about
five more minutes then pulled herself up off the floor (yes she sleeps
on the floor.. no shame, the dog stole the bed even though she has a bunk...
hmmm!!) She grabbed a pair of one day old clothes and flung them on (hey..
no one will notice.. its a monday.) She went to her bathroom which she
shares with her mother (she skipped out on the bathroom with her sister
for obvious reasons.. if you don't know.. you don't want to!!) and made
an aweful attempt at fixing her hair. She then ran down the stairs and
grabbed her messenger bag flinging herself into her sister's explorer.
She too has the most wonderful morning meal: nothing. Her makeup she applied
on the way to school.
AT SCHOOL:
Venetia and Radley meet up at school in their usual
circle of friends. (Let's not get into that.. too much time wasted) Venetia
shared her story with the group but as she figured only Radley seemed interested.
Hyper as usual (she sleeps in late.. yet she's hyper in the morning???)
Radley had all kinds of questions for Venetia. Venetia, being somewhat
the quiet type (Radley usually does the talking..it'd take too much energy
to shut her up) just answered the ones she cared. She knew her friend was
psyched about the contest she had entered, the "Win A Week With Your Author"
contest, and knowning that Radley had pick J.K Rowling for the author,
she tried to fill her in with all the juicy parts of her dream. After chatting,
they then seperated at the bell to go to their classes.
The day passed rather slowly and the two only meet
up a few times. Nearing the end of the day, when the two shared a biology
class together, the PA system called both of them up to the main office.
The two trudged toward the office fearing the worst.
"Oh hello you two.. Mr.K is waiting for you in his
office.", the secretary told them calmly. Both girls were still a bit nervous
but they gave a quick nod back at her. They slowly rounded the corner to
his office and entered.
"I'd like you ladys to take a seat.", Mr.K stated.
The girls sat and shot nervous side glances at one another. Then Venetia
jumped out of her seat and started talking as fast as she could (not very
fast but still slighty misunderstud) "Mr.K if this is about me going into
the guy's bathroom and yelling at that teacher for being a pervert, I had
no idea I was in the wrong bathroom!! Untill... I saw those weird looking
toilets.. I thought they were sinks at first."
"Umm.. no.. that's not quite why your in here Miss
Neal.", he replyed akwardly. Radley tried to stuff her laughter back down
her throat. Venetia on the otherhand, was trying desperatly not strangle
her as she sunck back into her seat.
"I have just recieved an important call from the
Barnes and Noble Associates. They have finished their drawing.", he continued.
Radley immediatly shot out of her chair and looked at Venetia with an excited
grin.
"I won didn't I!! Didn't I!!! And you said I wouldn't
win!!", she spat.
"Well with the 500 entries you sent in, I decided
you might have a chance after all!! By the way.. what am I doing here??",
she redirected the conversation to Mr.K.
"Well.. I guess there must be a mistake.. they said
that both of you....", Radley immediatly cut him off, "No Mr.K, no mistake..
Venetia, I sent in 500 entries all right... but only 250 were for me. The
other 250 were for you!!! I'm not gonna be bored on my trip to England!!"
Venetia sat there with an awestruck look upon her face. She then stood
up and started screaming with her friend.
"I can't believe it!! I'm SOOOOO excited!! YESS!!"
After the girls settled down, Dr.K told them when
they would be leaving and the other arrangments. They were to leave in
a week. The two were so happy that they couldn't sleep all night. They
spent as much time together over the week talking about the trip. A week
in England without their parents. They couldn't wait.
IN ENGLAND:
"This is my niece Harmony,"
Rowling introduced, "She's staying with me for the week. She and my daughter
switched for a week. Harmony also loves my books and knows much about them.
So I thought she'd be a perfect tour guide. I'll be away at shoots and
signings for half of the week so she'll be showing you around the city.
I hope you don't mind." Rowling finished.
Venetia and Radley had already fallen
into deep conversation with the girl and were having so much fun they quickly
agreed. Two other contests winners that had won also chose J.K for their
author. They were to go to the shoots and signings with her while Venetia
and Radley spent the other half with her. Then they were to swap positions.
After the girls dropped their luggage off at the
hotel, Harmony took them through the subway to London. The three traveled
the city for hours, exploring the stores, cafes, and memorials. They were
having possibly the best time in their lives.
THE DISCOVERY (in otherwords, the part the story gets better!) :
Just as Harmony was taking them accross what was
most likely the busiest street in all of London, Venetia spotted a thin
shop that looked rather interesting. It was a thin two floored building
with what looked like a small alley behind it.
"Hey Harmony, let's go there. We could get out of
the busy street. Doesn't look like anyone else is going there", she suggested.
Radley flung herself in the direction of the small shop.
"Cool... yeah Harmony!!", Harmony just looked at
the two with a disbelieving expression. "What shop? There isn't anything
there....." she stated with satisfaction. "Or at least it shouldn't be...",
she muttered under her breath.
She really had no choice but to follow the other
two since it was two against one. When they came up to the shop, an old
paint faded sign clashed with surrounding beauty of London. It read, "The
Cracked Barrel". Being the hyper one, Radley burst out laughter and directed
it straight toward Venetia. "
"Great choice Venetia, what a name that is! I bet it's
the only shop in London that runs off of donations!!"
"Well, you know you wanted to check out the shop
too!", she retorted crossly. (She was used to Radley's sarcasm but somethimes
it grated on her nerves). Radley stoped laughing after she heard that.
The two walked in part way before they realized Harmony wasn't daring to
enter.
"Come on Harmony. Unless you steped into quick dry
cement, you have no excuse not to come in for a sec.", Radley joked. Once
all three were in they looked around the place.
There were elegant tables and booths all throughout
the shop. At the front there was a long curved counter with glasses and
bottles of liquid behind it. It seemed that the whole room was died in
a mahogany color. There were two business like men at the counters on two
long legged booth chairs. The girls didn't have to be told that this was
obviously a bar. As Venetia started to exit, she heard a voice behind her.
"Ahhhh.. Hermione. How nice to see you again. And
who are your two friends? Are they going to be attending Ho-", the bartender
was then cut off by Harmony whose face was growing red quickly.
"Umm.. no sir. They aren't. This is Radley and Venetia
and we really need to get home now", she rushed. Radley was still standing
there with a look of curiousity on her face.
"RJ.... come on. We're leaving now", Venetia tried
tugging on Radley's jacket but Radley didn't budged (she's "somewhat" stubborn).
As Venetia had known for quite some time, when Radley was curious, there
was almost no way of stoping her.
"I wanna' see what's in the alley. There might be
a poor little kitten. Pleeeeeeaaaasssseeeee!!" she begged. Venetia, what
with faulty resistance, gave in almost instantly.
"Well I doubt that there will be any "poor little
kittens", and even if they were, cats hate you! But I dont really care."
Harmony wasn't too easy. Radley had to beg for almost 5 minutes before
she reluctantly gave in.
The three strode the length of the bar and out the
door. There they say a long dim alleyway that lead to what looked as nowhere.
Radley turned to her side as a rather strict looking mad exited a hidden
passage. His eyebrows were lowered and his mouth formed a strict line to
produce a rather disturbing image. As Venetia was concentrating on the
man which to her seemed oddley familiar, Radley moved towards the wall
space the man had exited from.
"Cool.. a hidden passage!", she stated with awe.
"Let's see where it goes." Venetia was not so keen on continuing. She would
have been much more thrilled if it hadn't been for the odd man.
"Did you see that? He was wearing robes... doesn't
anybody else find that odd.", she spoke. Radley, not so good on listening
to other people, "Sure whatever", she shrugged it away like it was one
of the most normal events that could take place. As Radley began to enter
the passageway Harmony caught up with her.
"Umm... yeah.. it's odd. But... umm.. it's... Carrnnnaviil
day!! Yeah.. everybody dresses up.. and... does a giant roleplay!! Umm..
they're supposed to be from my aunt's books. I forget about this.. I'm
sure glad you found it." She stated with less ease. Venetia, reluctant
to follow (what with the guy still on her mind), slowly approached the
entrance... well.. at least she tried to go slow, but Radley yanked on
her arm and pulled her through.
Once all three were inside they took a look around.
They found theirselves on a beutiful cobblestone road. Small shops lined
the path up to a large white building. A multitude of people were pacing
their way around the road, trying to collect their children, books, and
other random items. A vast majority of them were huddled near one store
in particuler. It seemed to be a broom store. It looked as though all the
people, parents and children alike, were covered from head to toe in all
sorts of robes. Red robes, green robes, canary yellow robes, but the most
common, black robes. The two american's swirled into their visions of what
Diagon Alley might look like and realized that this was practicly perfect!!
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PLEASE READ:
ain't it annoying how no one reviews??
why don't they when they have nothing to lose??
you take all your time, effort, and care
to write storys and its just not dang fair
you'd like to know just how the public thinks they are
doesn't matter if they're flames from near or afar!!
next time you read, please do review,
for us authors take time on these stories for you!!
AND THOSE 3 DREADED WORDS: TO BE CONTINUED
