Characters: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Wendy, Storm, Kevin, Nathan, Alex, Julian, Shiloh, Lachlan, George Weasley, Angel, Liam, more Weasleys, etc.
A/N: The story revolves around Wendy and her awakening, as the HP books revolve around Harry and his. There are many other central characters, none more central than my favorite couple
Chapter 1 – The Find: Wendy arrives at her Uncle's house. Storm, Kevin and Wendy go to a fleamarket, where Wendy picks out two soot blackened felt paintings for her birthday gift
The Story Begins
Hurry up sweetheart," her mother called up the stairs. "Your uncle Kevin will be here any minute. You don't want to keep him waiting."
"But I need to find it," whined Wendy. She was on her hands and knees pulling things out from under her bed. She found her old retainer, bubble gum wrappers and her Legolas Teeshirt. Finally she pulled out what she had been looking for, a charcoal pencil. She stowed it in her backpack. She picked up her suitcase, flung the backpack over one shoulder and her sketch pad under her arm and ran downstairs.
"Now Wendy, you will be staying with your uncle for two weeks. I don't want you to spend all your time drawing."
She handed Wendy a small package wrapped in pink and purple striped paper. "This is for you sweety. You know I'd do almost anything to be with you on your birthday, but..."
"That's OK mum," Wendy interrupted looking at her shoes.
"There's Kevin now. Be good. Mind what he tells you and promise me you won't come back with bright red hair again. I like your black hair."
"OK mum." She ran out, threw her bags into the boot and got into the front seat.
"Hello uncle Kevin."
"Hi darlin'," Kevin leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Brought your sketchpad and pencils I see."
Before they had gone a block, Wendy was already hard at work sketching a picture of her uncle. Drawing had always come easily to her. She never had to think about how she was going to sketch something. When she pictured an object clearly in her mind, the pencil seemed to move on its own.
Uncle Kevin looked very much like Wendy. He had dark black hair and blue grey eyes. His hair was long and pulled back accenuating his receding hairline.
Well Windy, don't expect your gonna get much sketching done today. Gonna take you to a flea market. Gotta get you a birthday present. Eleven isn't it?"
"Huh?" she asked, concentrating on her sketch.
"It's your birthday in 12 days. Your eleventh isn't it?"
"Oh……yea."
"Well the flea market is the perfect place to find a present. Can get anything there."
Soon they pulled up to a huge white house with a wrap around porch, surround by a black wrought iron fence.
The front door opened onto a small hallway with several doors to each side. As they walked, Wendy peered into each room. A storage room was behind the first. She stopped when she came to the second. It seemed to be the kitchen. A man was sitting at the wooden table, tilted back in his chair, his bare feet on the table. He was wearing blue jeans, an open white cotton shirt and a cowboy hat. His long blond hair fell across the back of the chair. Under his breath he was reading a book called Kwikspell Favorites.
Kevin smiled, "That's Storm. He went to the states on holiday last summer and now he thinks he's a cowboy. Let's stow your stuff upstairs and then we'll come down and meet him. He's coming with us to the market today anyway."
At the market
Kevin and Wendy were rummaging through a booth of trinkets. Storm was off looking for interesting gadgets. They had looked through almost every stand in the market. "Haven't you found anything yet?" asked Kevin.
Wendy shook her head.
Then she saw the booth. It had piles of animal print blankets, old lava lamps, Indian cotton sheets and hung from the back were several paintings on black felt.
"That's Elvis," said the merchant proudly. "The king. Personally picked this one up in a sale outside Graceland. Was told that it was once on display in the mansion…… Here is one of Krishna. Painted by devotees in the temples of India…..Or maybe you'd like one with a lion, king of the jungle."
"Well, if you don't want one of these, I have a few more in boxes under the stand."
He pulled the boxes out and set them on the table, taking pictures out one by one, showing each to her. There were poker playing bulldogs smoking cigars, pool playing bulldogs, white Persian kittens, and many others, but none that she wanted.
"I have one more box, but the pictures came from an old estate that burnt down. Was able to save a few things, there's a bit of fire and water damage. Let's take a look, shall we?"
The box contained 6 pictures painted on black felt. "This one is of a lady in a what seems to be a blue satin dress." He continued until he came to the last two. The frames were cracked and sooty, there were water spots and the subject was so blackened that it was hard to tell what had been originally painted on them.
But she thought there was something beautiful about these paintings. She didn't know why exactly, but she liked them. She walked over to the table and laid them side by side, stepped back, folded her arms and smiled.
"At last!" sighed Kevin. "Pick one and lets get out of here."
"You don't need to take just one, little bit," came a voice from behind her. "Get both of them. One from me and one from Kev." It was Storm. "Care for some, little bit?" he asked holding out a bag of candy.
Wendy loved that Storm called her 'little bit', a pet name he had given her.
"I wouldn't take one," said Kevin. "Storm has a terrible taste in candy. Those are the worst jellybeans I ever had. "
Storm shrugged and pocketed the sack. "Look what I found," he said excitedly, holding out what seemed to be binoculars. This gadget will allow you to repeat things and slow things down. Let me show you."
He handed Wendy the binoculars. "Look into them, at me. They should only magnify what I am doing." He made faces at her. She giggled.
"Now turn that dial on the side." Again he made faces, but this time Wendy saw it in slow motion. "This is so cool." Storm then showed her how to replay everything.
"Amazing," she said excitedly, "How does this work?"
Storm smiled and winked "Magic, little bit, magic".
Wendy liked Storm. He was the most interesting person she had ever met. He had all kinds of contraptions around the house. They spun, whirled, smoked and some even sang. But best of all Storm believed in magic. She thought she did too.