A Child of Two Worlds, Part 1

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home

2015, Winkfield, Birkenshire, England

Eve waited. They had agreed to meet at his home. The heat outside was enormous. The hottest summer she had witnessed thus far. Hopefully they would arrive soon! Her very best friends. Special friends. With special abilities.

It was so long ago that she had first seen their powers. Back when they were small children. They were inseparable. She, the normal girl and the two with magical powers. Until their ways did part. Eve remembered feeling desperate. And a little jealous. A private school in a medieval castle! How did she long to go with them! Yet she wasn't meant to as it wasn't a school for people like her.

And so she had accompanied them to the station to say goodbye and to welcome them back during June. She was surprised that they used an old style train. Not brooms or flying carpets.

Eve checked her smartphone. They should be here soon. They hadn't had the time to be with her this year as they had spent the whole time buying things and packing for their journey. And booking some sort of key.

Suddenly she heard it: two faint popping noises and there they were, like they had appeared out of thin air! David, dressed in a navy-blue robe stretching all the way down to his feet. Alexandra's was purple along with a pointed hat of the same colour. Apparently this was the formal clothing of this secret society. They really looked strange and out of place in these kinds of clothing like they had frozen in time. Luckily the street was deserted as most neighbours were either seeking refuge from the heat in their houses or hanging out in the capital.

The three of them embraced each other and David led them to the house. As his parents were still at work, the only one greeting them was the family cat, Ellie, who received them with an affectionate meow.

As David opened the door to his room on the first floor, Eve gazed around confused. It was not the unusual items that were displayed throughout the room that let her to be taken aback. She had seen them before, those things attesting David's career at a magical school: several framed photographs which were moving and showed a beautiful Scottish landscape or David and Alex along with five other people dressed in blue and bronze coloured robes holding brooms and standing around a sort of silver cup. Or the badges pinned on the wall showing David's career as Prefect and Head Boy of Hogwarts.

Curious name for a school.

No, what Eve had noticed was that the room appeared to be bigger than before as being stretched out.

"So, what did you want to show me?" Eve asked.

David quickly looked to Alex and smiled slightly. Then he took out a small stick and pointed it at his rucksack. Eve stared open mouthed as a small bundle emerged out of it and unfolded in midair until the three of them were standing before a small tent.

So that's what they wanted to show me! How they were sleeping on their journey. A tent, how magical!

David made an inviting gesture towards the tent.

"After you!"

Eve shot a puzzled look at him but followed his invitation and moved to the entrance. It seemed rather tight. They would need to squeeze together inside, she thought. Opening the zip, she crawled through the entrance and found herself in front of a door. She stood up. She could actually stand in here, like at the entrance of a residential home. Entirely by itself, the door opened.

As if in a trance, she stepped through and into the dark. She stopped. Didn't dare to go further. She heard a strange noise like the cracking of a fire and sure enough the room was illuminated by several candles and old-fashioned lamps from the times before electricity had been invented. They gave a cosy feeling to this room that seemed to be a mixture of a lounge and study. She seemed to have re-entered the late 19th century. A crackling fire in a rather large flue spread a comfortable warmth throughout the room. A small table with a chess board stood before it alongside two comfortable armchairs. Along the walls were shelves containing perhaps a dozen books. Next to them were old style filing cabinets in two categories: "wizarding world" and "muggle world". On the individual drawers there were small labels with names of different countries. On the other side of the room there stood two desks with ink pots, rolls of parchment as well as folders. Eve also spotted a magnificent collection of newspaper articles and magazines, some she recognised, others appeared to stem from the wizarding world. Two typewriters could also be found, one was in the process of typing by itself!

Eve moved closer to the shelves examining the books. There were history books, normal and magical alike, books about potions, "herbology" and transfiguration. As both the witch and the wizard were going in and out of the tent, bringing in various things with them including two brooms labelled "Nimbus 2000", Eve continued to explore the tent.

To the right there was a locked door labelled "potions lab". To the left she could find a kitchen, a real old-fashioned kitchen with a small cooker on which stood cauldrons and kettles. The shelves were packed with packages containing herbs, spices and other things some of them clearly magical. A table stood in the middle of the room.

The door across the entrance to the tent led to a real greenhouse! Being rather large, countless exotic plants and fungi grew here, each of them had a small sign in front of them with strange names she had never heard of. One of them stuck out: it resembled a large gib slug rather than a plant. The sign said "Bubotuber".

Ok...

According to another sign in front of a small pond one could find gillyweed. Glancing up, Eve noticed that several small trees seemed to be the home of an insect of some sort. No, wait, it only had four limbs. And a surprisingly humanoid form! The small green creatures gazed up to her with small blackeyes showing mild curiosity.

Alex entered the greenhouse and pointed her wand to several watering cans which all began to hover and move to the different plants to water them. Catching Eve's astonished stare she smiled.

"Well, you've found our branch of bowtruckles, all right."

"What do they do?"

"They're tree guardians. Very useful little beasts. Come on, I'll show you the rest of the tent."

"Of the t..."

Being so amazed by all the magic, Eve had totally forgotten that she was standing in the middle of a enlarged tent the size of a small house. They went back to the study an climbed a staircase.

"How...how does this work exactly? Bigger on the inside?"

"Undetectable extension charm," Alex simply said.

Yeah, of course, what a silly question, Eve thought sarcastically.

According to them, David and Alex hadn't shown her any magic before now as they apparently had not been allowed to perform magic until now. At first. Eve had thought of this as a lame excuse.

On the upper floor one could find a total of three bedrooms and one bathroom. Eve still couldn't believe what she saw.

"So, what do you think?" Alex asked.

"It...well, it is unbelievable! Truly magical!"

Alex had to laugh at this. Then her face went serious.

"Listen, we really could need you here, Eve. You know, your knowledge of computers and technology. As you can see, we have three bedrooms."

"You want me to join you?"

Alex nodded. Eve looked around. It was tempting, enchantingly tempting. Travel around the world in a magical tent together with a witch and a wizard. However there was one small problem...

"I can't. I would love to go with you but...I still have one year of school before me."

"Well, this may be far more important than any of our education."

She turned. David stood at the landing.

"Not only for us wizards but for the other humans as well. The world is changing, Eve. A rediscovery of the magical world is unpreventable, it will come. It might take decades, a century even. But it will come. And then both sides have to be prepared. Us wizards as well. And we need to make the first step before it is too late."

"The first step being?"

"Information. On the advancements to come. Artificial intelligence. Biotechnology. The improvement of humankind. The creation of human gods. How we are going to deal with this will be of vital importance to both our worlds. You are far more powerful than you think you are. Changing faster than you could even imagine. If we fail to see the implications, it might be the last thing we ever do."

Eve gazed at David for a moment.

"Then allow me to do things from my end, David. I would love to go with you. But if you want my help, you going to have to wait for a little while longer. Then, maybe, I could be of even greater help to you. You know what I fancy. And if I can do it the proper way, then you'll have more from me than you have now."

She turned to Alex.

"I realise what you're getting at. Then let me help you in my own way."

They both looked at her.

She looked back.

Eve, in the middle of two people with supernatural powers. How could people like her be possibly more powerful than they were?

When she left the house she looked back on more time, glancing at the house she had visited so many times. It hurt to turn down the offer. They saw each other so rarely. And as she made her way to her own home, she wrestled with herself on whether she actually had made the right choice...


Thanks for that nice review, NotMarge! :)

Please review and tell me if you have any ideas. They might find their way into the story.

Next up, the beginning of the journey!