Alohomora
Open The Door
A/N : Yes, it's me. Anyway, I decided to answer Flourish's April fanfic challenge although it was too late! It was a good idea. All characters except Rob, Amanda, Kylie, Candy and Alicia belong to me. This first chapter is not too good, but... what can I say? I'll develop it later on!
N.B. : Alicia is not Alicia Spinnet. Her name is Alicia Blake. She just popped into my head.
The Gryffindor common room was almost empty, save a few students who were staying back for the Christmas holidays. Harry and Ron sat lazily by the fire, playing Exploding Snap. Hermione was, as usual, in the library, but she had promised to come and join them in a few minutes.
'I bet the first thing Hermione says when she comes in will be "We're nearing the exams and you two are still playing Snap?"' Ron said, tossing his cards on the table. Harry rolled his eyes.
'You're obsessed with her, aren't you?' he said.
Ron stared at him. 'No!! What are you saying?'
Harry groaned. 'Yeah, right, for the past few days it's been Hermione this and Hermione that.' He imitated Ron: '"Hermione says you get better results with porcupine quills." "Hermione should come out here and let go of those books for a moment." "I bet the first thing Hermione says when she comes in…"' He looked hard at Ron, whose ears were turning bright red.
At that very moment Hermione walked into the room, a pile of books in her arms. 'We're nearing the exams and you two are still playing Snap?' she uttered, gazing at the messy pile of cards on the table. Ron and Harry began to laugh. 'What's so funny?'
She sat down next to them. 'My parents sent me a letter by owl – their first,' she continued, taking an envelope out of her pocket. 'I haven't had time to open it yet.' She carefully slit open the envelope, Harry and Ron watching with little interest.
'Gosh, Hermione,' Harry teased her, 'it's so busy these days that we haven't been able to read our letters because we have to study so much. It isn't like we're having holidays.' She rolled her eyes at him, and continued to slit open the envelope. Taking out the letter, she began to read it. Harry gathered the cards into a neat pile and tapped them with his wand. They began to whisk from one end of the deck to the other, as though someone with invisible hands was shuffling them.
'Self-Shuffling?' Ron asked interestedly. 'Nice one.'
'Uh-huh,' Harry said, gathering them up when they stopped. He began to deal out the cards.
A sudden gasp from Hermione stopped him in the middle of putting down his first card.
'What's wrong, Hermione?' he asked.
Her face had gone paper-white and the hand holding the letter was trembling. 'Hermione,' Ron asked, 'is something the matter?'
'My – my parents,' Hermione said in little more than a whisper, 'the – n-news…'
Harry snatched the letter from her hands while Ron pestered her on the cause of her shock. He read it. It was a rather short epistle:
Dear Hermione,
How are you? We've been rather busy today – had a cartload of children coming to get their braces fixed – holidays and all that – but we decided to write you anyway because something serious has happened.
When you first went to Hogwarts you stressed that we must never tell anyone about the 'wizarding world'. Unfortunately, last night on the news we heard that practically the whole world had found out about it. Ted Juniper, the news reader, gave a report on it. Minister of Magic has contacted Tony Blair – what's his name – Fludge or something like that.
I hope this news isn't too shocking for you, Hermione, but we felt you ought to know if it is really that important to you that the wizarding world remains a secret to the rest of the world. But surely if there are other children from normal families in Hogwarts, many people know about this world anyway?
Hope you're keeping well. Hope to see you soon – Mum and Dad.
'Oh,' he said, stunned, gazing at the letter. 'Oh.'
'You see?' Hermione said to him. 'The whole world knows about this! This is terrible! This is…' she trailed off. Ron grabbed her wrists.
'What is it?' he asked her once again. 'You still haven't told me…' Harry gave him the letter. He read it through with an open mouth, then turned to Hermione.
'Is it true?'
Hermione rounded on him. 'Of course it's true! Why else do you think my parents would go so far as to send me this letter? By owl?' Ron took two steps back, and Hermione glared at him.
'Maybe we should go and see Dumbledore,' Harry suggested.
Candy settled comfortably onto the sofa, flipping on the television. She flicked past the sports channels, coming at last to the news. She yawned slightly, tired from the events of the day. She had gone for track practice, run around and around the track, and then had a meeting with her school newsletter staff.
' …groundbreaking news,' she heard the news reader say. 'Dragons have been sighted flying through the whole of the country. A Miss Matilda Thompson swears she saw one land in her back garden very briefly and then fly away into the sky and past the other houses.'
Candy sat, stunned, glued to her seat.
'An owl arrived in Mr. Tony Blair's house this afternoon and dropped off a letter – yes, a letter – for the Prime Minister himself.' The news reader grinned. 'It was addressed to him by a Mr. Fudge, the Minister of Magic.' His grin widened, and then he sobered. 'Quite a few people have been injured by the flames breathed by these fairy-tale creatures.'
'Mum! Dad!' Candy hollered from her seat. 'Come watch the news!' There was no reply, so she turned back to the screen and watched.
'Apparently the sudden outbreak of these dragons was the outcome of an experiment that went awry,' Ted Juniper went on. 'Wizards and witches do exist, after all – they live in the 'wizarding world', and this experiment was meant to create a tame dragon which did not breathe fire. Unfortunately, this experiment produced four dozen dragons which breathe even deadlier flames than the ordinary species.
'And now we come to an extraordinary conclusion – there is a world where wizards and witches do exist. They have magical solutions for many human problems. Although much of the community is expected to feel rather apprehensive dealing with these people, government officials, including the Queen Mother, are working to come to an agreement with the Ministry of Magic. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather reports.'
Candy got up rather slowly, her head spinning with excitement. She went to her room and flung the window open, hoping to see a dragon or two fly by. But although she stared for almost an hour, she saw nothing but curious little birds flying past her window – one or two stopped to perch on the gate.
While Harry, Ron and Hermione were heading for his office, an owl dropped a letter on Dumbledore's head. He recognised it at once – a letter from Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Frowning, he opened it.
Fawkes screeched from his perch. Dumbledore put a finger to his lips and began to read the letter. It was an outpouring of worry and pleas for advice. He shook his head slowly. 'The Muggles have discovered us!' Fudge had written. 'We were on the news… I've contacted the Prime Minister of Britain… This is terrible. The whole world knows about the wizarding community!'
Sunlight glinted off Dumbledore's half-moon glasses as he pondered the outcome of their current situation. It would be far, far too difficult to attempt Memory Charms on the whole world. What –
Minerva McGonagall marched into his office, with Harry, Ron and Hermione behind her. 'They wanted to see you, sir,' she said. Dumbledore stood up, and she took a seat in the corner, leaving the three to stand in front of Dumbledore.
'What seems to be the problem?'
Meekly Hermione held out her letter.
Dumbledore read it through, muttering to himself and nodding at times. Then he returned it to Hermione, and asked them to sit down.
'I have just received a letter from Fudge,' he said. 'He tells me the same thing. He has sent an owl to the Prime Minister – this is urgent. The rampage of dragons may never stop. Already I fear they are reproducing.'
'Sir,' Hermione said in a small voice, 'sir, if there are so many Muggle-born children in Hogwarts, will it really make a difference if the rest of the population finds out about us?'
Dumbledore sighed heavily. 'Yes, it does,' he said quietly. 'It does. The Muggles will come to us for magical ways to solve all our problems – so the newsreader said, even – and we'll be overflowed. Some will hunt us down, killing every one of us that they can find. Some, of course, will accept us, but there are precious few who –' He paused, and went on. 'I will just say this – it is a terrible thing to have Muggles know about us.'
'Will this affect Hogwarts, sir?' Harry asked, a cold feeling rising in the pit of his stomach. Would it have to close down? Would he have to return to Stonewall High? He didn't think he would be able to live. He felt almost like Tom Riddle.
'Who knows, Harry,' Dumbledore said, sighing heavily. 'Who knows.'
'Mum, witches and wizards do exist,' Candy pestered her mother. 'I heard it on the news yesterday.' Her mother, in the middle of driving, shook her head.
'Candace…'
'But I heard it!' Candy pestered. 'Is it true, Mum?'
'How would I know, Candy? If you want to get to Alicia's house without any accidents, you'd better sit still in the back seat now.'
Mutinously Candy crossed her arms. They pulled into Alicia's driveway without any problems, other than a scratch on the bumper of the black Volvo. Alicia was one of Candy's best friends.
'Hi, Alicia!' she called. 'Alicia!'
A tall, black-haired girl ran up to the car, taking Candy's bag. 'Hello, Candy!' she said. 'Hello, Mrs. Stewart. Thank you for bringing Candy over.'
'Did you watch last night's news?' Candy demanded as soon as her mother had pulled away from the house.
'Yes, I did! I can't believe that witches and wizards really do exist…' Alicia replied, taking Candy into the house. 'They sound horrible. I mean, who would want them around us? They'd be playing tricks on us and doing that sort of thing – nasty spells to help them win everything, too.'
Candy sat down with her friend, running her fingers through her long blonde hair. 'I think they sound great. But I don't think my mother is going to believe it.' Alicia laughed and handed her a can of Coke. 'Anyway, Alicia… you told me there was a surprise for me upstairs.'
'Oh, right!' Alicia said, tugging her by the wrist and leading her up the stairs. 'Keep this quiet, OK? I don't think my mother would want to know that I bought it.'
Once they were in her room, Alicia opened a little brown box that she kept on her desk. Inside was a strange, old-fashioned silver key with blue wings on it. It lay still and silent in the box.
'I bought it at the school fair a while ago,' Alicia told her, her black eyes gleaming. 'Isn't it beautiful?'
Candy picked it up. 'It's heavy!' she commented. 'But it's nice-looking. What are the wings for?'
'I don't know,' Alicia said. 'They're decorations, I suppose.' At that moment the wings began to flutter ever so slightly. 'Look, Candy!' The girls bent over the little key, prodding it gently.
Suddenly the key began to rise in the air, high above the heads of the two astonished girls. It flew around the room and veered dangerously close to the window. 'Catch it, Candy!' Alicia cried, anxiously jumping up and grabbing at it. The girls jumped and snatched, but the key was too quick for them.
The key flew down low near the cupboard, and quick as thought Candy slammed her palm onto it. It was squashed against the cupboard. She took it in her hand, but it began to wriggle, and she stuck it into the cupboard lock to keep it from falling out of her hand. Idly, she turned it, and the cupboard door actually locked.
'Wait a minute – how did the key fit in there, in the first place?' Alicia said, staring at it. 'How did it turn, then?' Candy turned it again with shaking fingers, and pulled open the cupboard door.
Inside the empty cupboard there was a strange button that said, 'Push Me'.
Candy reached for it, but Alicia grabbed her hand. 'Wait, Candy! It might be a trick! Don't ever push that kind of button!'
But Candy turned to her friend with shining eyes. 'Don't you see, Alicia?' she said. 'This is obviously magic! Who knows what could happen to us? It's an adventure. Please?'
Without further ado she pushed the button, and it disappeared. Then four more buttons appeared on the back wall. They were red, blue, yellow and green – the red said Gryffindor, the blue Ravenclaw, the yellow Hufflepuff and the green Slytherin.
'What do you think these are?' Candy asked Alicia, but her friend shrugged, fearful. Candy pushed the first button.
The room began to darken. Alicia screamed and held on to her friend. Just before everything went black Candy grabbed the strange key from the lock. The floor was spinning. The girls felt giddy and sick. Bright lights began to flash around them. And just as suddenly, the room went dark.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione returned to their common room, they were greeted with a strange sight. The three others who had stayed back for the holidays were gathered round two unconscious girls lying in a heap on the floor.
'Who're they?' Ron breathed, kneeling down beside them. Hermione shook the shoulder of the black-haired girl.
'Wake up,' she said.
The girl opened one eye, screamed at the sight of Hermione in her school robes, and promptly fainted again.
Harry shook his head, laughing a little. Hermione looked so indignant that he couldn't help it. Ron stood up and looked at Hermione. 'What's wrong?' he asked, and Harry snickered.
He shook the blonde girl. 'Hello,' he said in a loud voice. 'Are you with us?' One of the other boys, a seventh year called Rob, snickered. The other two, who were girls – a girl called Amanda and another called Kylie – rolled their eyes.
She opened her eyes. She was actually quite pretty, Harry thought, but he wouldn't say she was as pretty as Cho Chang. She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment, then sat up. She was very thin and rather small.
'Where am I?' she asked. Harry groaned. Amanda and Kylie pulled her to her feet, and she gazed at the fire, at the pack of cards, at the strange robes that the others wore. 'Wait a minute – don't tell me I'm in the wizarding world?' she said, in a strangely excited voice. Harry nodded, frowning.
'Wow!' she uttered. 'You all were on the news yesterday!'
'You're a Muggle?' Rob asked her, wide-eyed. 'I mean… a human? And what do you mean, on the news?'
'The nightly news,' the blonde girl said, frowning in her turn. 'Didn't you lot know? Yes, I am a human – aren't you? – and the whole world just found out that you existed last night. My name is Candace, by the way… what's a Muggle?'
'Oh, no,' chorused Amanda and Kylie.
Hermione was still trying to awaken the black-haired girl. 'Hel-lo,' she said very loudly. 'WAKE UP!'
Finally she marched off, leaving the others staring after her.
Ron moved over to the black-haired girl. 'Hello,' he said, much more softly than Hermione. 'Wake up.' Rob laughed at him, but turned back to the blonde girl. Amanda and Kylie clustered round the unconscious girl and shook her.
'Stand back,' came Hermione's voice, and instinctively they all moved back. Cold water splashed down from the bucket in her hands onto the black-haired girl's face. She spluttered, and opened her eyes.
'Finally,' said Hermione, 'you're awake. Who are you?'
The girl stood up to face her, reeling a little, and Ron caught her. 'Who are you?' she asked when Ron let her go. 'What am I doing here?'
'You're in Hogwarts, my dear girl,' Hermione told her, 'and I'm Hermione Granger.'
'I'm Alicia Blake,' the girl said. 'Where's Candy?'
Hermione pointed.
Alicia turned back to her after a moment. 'Where – what is Hogwarts? Where am I anyway? Am I still in England?'
'Yes,' Hermione said. 'Are you a Muggle?'
Harry took her away at that point and let Candy explain to the flustered Alicia. Then he took the girls to Professor McGonagall.
