Chapter Two: Damien Returns

Ruthie laid in her bed a smile slowly spreading across her face. The sun warming her from her cheeks to her toes. She opened her eyes and threw off her covers. As she stepped on to the hard wood floor a chill ran up her spine. She crossed her room and opened her bureau pulling out a pair of jeans and a light blue short-sleeved shirt.

When she was finished getting dressed she walked over to her desk and picked up her wand placing it in the inside pocket of her jacket. She placed her hand over it for minute, as if to reassure her that it would keep her safe. All of a sudden a sharp whining noise began to fill her room. She pressed her hands over her ears and headed towards the noise. It was the sneakoscope that Ron had given to her for her birthday.

"Stop!" She screamed at the inanimate object that continued to whine incessantly. She grabbed it and stuffed into her trunk. She released her ears as the noise had dulled to a soft vibrating sound. She shook her head rolling her eyes she glanced around her room as if to check that nothing was there. Shaking her head again she left her room and went downstairs into the kitchen. She ducked as what looked like a giant fly flew at her face. She looked around and glared at her younger brother's Sam and David. The two smiled at her. She grabbed the flying object as it headed back at her. It was a miniature Quidditch player. She walked over and dropped it in Sam's breakfast.

"Hey," Sam whined shooting her a nasty glare. Sam and David were six so Ruthie hardly ever had any patience for their nonsense. She was a third year at Hogwarts and they were still stuck in London pretending they could do magic.

"Ruthie," Her mother called to her. Ruthie closed the cabinet that she was opening and followed her mother's voice.

"What Mum…" Ruthie's voice trailed off. "Damien!" She screamed and ran over to him flinging herself into his arms. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him all summer, but he had gone on vacation for the past two weeks so she hadn't seen him for a while. She wanted to give him a kiss but she refrained, as her mother was right there. Damien had grown a lot over the summer. He was almost a head taller then Ruthie and he had cut his hair so that it no longer covered his face, which Ruthie had thought was cute. His dark brown eyes looked like they were even darker and Ruthie could have sworn they were as dark as his pitch-black hair.

"'ey," He said smiling at her.

"You look so different!" Ruthie said checking him out. His face went still when she said that.

"Well, I'm going to go check on the boys," her mother said leaving the room. Damien watched as she left.

"I don't think so," He walked past her into the hallway.

"Oh, well…" Ruthie stopped and shut the door so she could turn to face him again. "It's probably just cause I haven't seen you in a few weeks"

"Yeah," He looked around the hallway. All around him pictures of children were looking at him blinking curiously. He stopped at a picture of a little girl with curly brown hair. The picture looked at him and smiled waving.

"So…" She said to get his attention. He looked at her waiting for her to continue. "Right. So are you going to Diagon Alley with us."

"I guess so when are you going?" He said walking over to a table fidgeting with the objects on it.

"We're leaving in about an hour to go meet up with Harry, Hermione and Ron so we can—"

"Actually I just remembered that my parents wanted me to go home and help Jamie get ready for Hogwarts." Damien looked up at her for a moment before looking back down at the table.

"Oh…" Ruthie frowned making a face. "Well…that's cool…I forgot it was Jamie's first year… I bet he's real excited?" She looked at him hoping each sentence would spark his interest.

"Yeah he is… I better go…" He looked up and walked over to her. "Oh wait before I forget" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box wrapped in shiny paper that changed color every few seconds. Ruthie looked at it as he handed it to her.

"I got it while I was in Albania," He said shrugging. She looked up at him smiling. She carefully began to unwrap the paper and placed it on the table. She opened the box setting aside the top. Inside gleaming up at her was a thin silver chain. At the end was a small silver whistle.

"Oh… it's beautiful…" Ruthie gasped. He reached in and picked it up and turned her around so he could put it on.

"It's a Mistle," He whispered in his ear as he pulled her hair aside and pulled the chain around her neck. "It whistles a lullaby whenever the one who gave it to you is coming." She turned and faced him.

"I love it!" She smiled and leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. "I love you"

"Love you too," He smiled and walked out the door. Ruthie stood there beaming, her fingers placed gently on the whistle.