Hiro Nakamura stared in wonder at the sight before him.
Birds were frozen in mid-flight, their wings resembling something like the fan dances of centuries past. A young boy looked on in shock as his drink fell from his hands, the brown liquid arching like a long sheet of ice down to the ground.
He wasn't exactly sure how it started, but knowing he could somehow do this was really, really great. Concentrating hard, he made everything go back to normal. The birds continued their flight, and the boy cried out as his drink finished falling.
"Hiro!" The shorter boy turned in time to see his friend, Ando running up to him excitedly.
"Hey, you want to go play that new computer game I just got back at my house? You can stay for dinner."
"Sure, my dad is working late tonight, so I don't think he'd mind too much."
Turning in the direction from which Ando came, the two of them set off for a night of computer games and pizza.
"Come on Mum, it's only fair that Ron has to dress up with us." George Weasley admired himself in a full length mirror, fluffing up a ridiculously old looking tie as he said it. His twin brother, Fred, agreed. Ron Weasley looked on in disgust.
"Mum, I don't see why we have to do this in the first place. We've all seen Bill and Charlie in dress robes, I know they've seen us, so why do we have to dress up just for them?"
Their mother, Molly, rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew all her children would complain in one manner or another. Fred and George had by jinxing the ties so that when one tried to tie them in a knot, they screamed like someone was torturing them. Ginny had outright refused, preferring more Muggle-like clothing, and now Ron was looking like he'd rather take all his Hogwarts exams at the same time that wear his dress robes.
"It's a special occasion. You all know that we don't get to see Charlie much because he's in Romania. I'd like to get a picture taken..."
"That's it," exclaimed Fred, "she has an ulterior motive."
"Well, you never know with Mum." added George.
Ginny, the youngest, appeared by the door. "We've got to get going. Everyone else is waiting."
The five Weasleys rushed downstairs to be greeted by Aurthur, Bill, Percy and Charlie.
"Everyone ready?" asked Aurthur. When everyone nodded, they all grasped hands and with a loud POP, they apparated away from the Burrow.
Ando and Hiro munched on pizza while they played the newest version of World of Warcraft.
"Wouldn't it be great," Ando said, "if magic really existed?"
"Who says it doesn't?"
"Oh come on, Hiro, no one can make someone disappear. People don't usually fly or have lightning bolts come from their fingertips. You can't freeze time whenever you want to."
Yeah, well, maybe other people can't...
The last thing Hiro saw was Ando waving his hands about as he explained how no one could do all these fantastic things.
Then he was gone.
"Hiro?"
The Weasley family had returned from their family photo session. All had gone well with little incident, save for Fred and George confusing the poor photographer by telling him they were the other twin. It didn't help that Bill had encouraged them with good natured humor. The poor man probably had twitch by the end of it.
"I'm just saying, the two of you really shouldn't do that. You could make someone angry if you're not careful."
"Mum, everyone who knows us knows that we're just trying to get a laugh, that's all." George said.
"If they don't, we don't really want to be friends with them anyway!" Fred began putting up some of the dishes as he helped Ginny clear the table.
Without warning, a boy suddenly appeared on their table, knocking off some plates and crushing others under his weight. He looked around the twins age, Asian, with neat clothing and glasses. He also looked horribly confused, but that quickly turned to panic as he faced nine people pointing wands at him.
"D-d-don't m-m-move." Despite trying to be brave, Ron's voice and wand trembled slightly. The other Weasley's looked on threateningly.
"Oh. Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt your meal...I'm sorry, but can you tell me where I am?" The boy had an accent, and appeared unarmed. After briefly looking at one another, each Weasley slowly put away their wand, but not out of reach in case it was needed. Molly, seeing that the boy was confused, went into mother overdrive.
"Oh you poor dear, not knowing where you are! You're in the Burrow, our home in England. I'm Molly Weasley, this is my husband, Aurthur, and our children Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Percy, Ginny and Ron."
Hiro's eyes glazed over. He was in England. If he didn't know any better, those sticks they had pointed at him were wands.
He was in England!
"Mum, he's coming around."
"That's pretty cool he could Apparate like that without that popping noise."
"I don't think he was Apparating son."
Groaning, Hiro sat up. Those nine faces were there still, so he must still be in England.
"What is Apparating?"
"It's like what you did, just with a popping noise." Ron handed him a butter beer, while Mrs. Weasley looked him over for bumps or scrapes.
Waving her off, Hiro introduced himself, stood and looked around. The Burrow, as he remembered Mrs. Weasley calling it, was pretty small, but it seemed quite comfy and none of the occupants seemed to mind it being cramped.
"Those sticks you were pointing at me, they're wands, aren't they?"
"Yes, dear. We're wizards, and witches, of course." Molly said, after Ginny cleared her throat at the mention of being called a wizard.
Registering the look of shock on Hiro's face, Fred looked a little worried.
"Aren't you a wizard? You just popped in here like that..."
"No, I'm not anything like that. I can just move from one place to another and stop time. I can't do anything else. I'm not even sure how I got here, really."
"Well, what's the last thing you remember talking about before you showed up here?" Ginny was looking at him intently.
"My friend Ando and I were playing a video game where the characters use magic. Ando said it'd be cool if magic was real and we got into a discussion how magic may or may not be real...then I was here."
"Well, Hiro, magic is indeed real, but not much is known in the Muggle world." Mr. Weasley patted the confused boy on the shoulder. "It's probably best that you don't really talk about us whenever you get back home."
The rest of the day went by in a blur as the Weasley children showed Hiro around the Burrow and the surrounding area. He learned about a boy named Harry Potter who had achieved celebrity status among wizards and a girl named Hermione Granger, but whenever Ron talked about her, he'd stammer and turn red, all which amused Ginny to no end. Hiro wondered what it would take for him to return home. He was pretty sure Ando was freaking out, calling everyone who would know where he could be.
Later that night, Hiro sat outside on the grass staring up at the sky. It was a clear night and he could easily see almost every star all around.
You can't do this in Tokyo. Too much pollution.
"Hullo, Hiro."
Hiro turned slightly to see Ron come up behind him. The taller boy sat a few feet away.
"Nice night."
"Yes. I can't see this many stars back home. Too many buildings."
"Where are you from? We forgot to ask what with all the confusion."
"Tokyo, the capital city of Japan. It's very crowded..."
Hiro began telling Ron about his home. The city that was awake all the time, how people resembled ants leaving the train stations and crowding the streets. He talked about his father, constantly working in order to provide for Hiro. He told Ron about his mother, what little he remembered about her. Mentioning Ando brought a smile to his face as he told of a few adventures the two of them had around Tokyo.
"You and Ando sound like Harry, Hermione and me, but not as dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
"Yeah. Dangerous. Once, we took on a giant living chess set in order to rescue the Sorcerer's Stone..."
Ron started to tell the story to a silent Hiro. When Ron turned to ask him if he was keeping up, he was in for quite a surprise.
Hiro was gone.
"HIRO!!!"
Hiro blinked. He was back in Ando's room. He dropped to his knees, but not fast enough to escape Ando's rib breaking hug.
"You're back!! How did you do that? Where did you go?"
Not knowing what to say, Hiro simply said one word.
"England."