Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling, the amazing genuis that she is. (Except for killing Fred...) I can only dream about being as cool and awesome as her. So, I'm going to post this on every chapter. Yeah.
Chapter 3; Whisper
"A book," Fred stated in disbelief as another person pushed forward, mumbling about their disappearing keys. Rena rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that you read me out of a book," he answered after Rena had nodded her head, trying to think of how to describe this. It was hard enough for her to believe.
"You're from a magical world, right? Then this shouldn't be that hard to believe." She squinted at him through the glaring sun. Fred just stared back, the look of doubt still on his face. They were walking along the main road of Rena's neighborhood, slurping up the melting remains of their strawberry ice cream, and watching Fred pull pranks on the unfortunate passers by. It was then when he'd asked how Dylan had known who he was. And Rena was having difficulties explaining it.
"Well…you know Harry Potter, don't you?" she asked, trying to think of the time in the story she'd read him out of.
"Of course," he answered flatly as he flicked his wand behind his back, and another cup of coffee rose slightly into the air, causing a large man to run into the glass window of the book store from surprise.
"I've…never really met him myself, but everyone knows Harry Potter." He continued. "He destroyed You-Know-Who, he did!" But Rena was no longer listening, as she watched the man step back from the window, shaking his head, and revealing the large sign announcing the new shipments of books. Including the fifth Harry Potter.
"Come one," she whispered as she grabbed his wrist, steering him towards the book store, discarding their ice creams along the way.
"I wasn't finished yet!" he started, but was instantly cut off from the blast of cool air inside the store. Quickly, Rena dragged him up to the front counter, carefully avoiding the various shelves covered with different types of stories. Finally, Rena let go of Fred's wrist, and he slunk off to the side of the desk, and started inspecting a tall bookcase. Rena breathed in the scent of the shop. The book store was very different than anywhere else in town. It was very dark, yet in a pleasing sort of way, and always smelled like the lavender candles were spewing out as much fragrance as possible. It was Rena's favorite store in the whole town.
"Well hello, Rena!" came the loud greeting from a plump, extravagantly dressed woman with bright red sunglasses and chopped, bleached blonde hair, sitting at the front desk. Rena knew her as Mrs. Wisser, but she'd always told the younger children to call her Whisper, even though she only had one volume. Loud.
"Hi Whisper," Rena replied cheerfully. "I'm looking for a book," she added quickly. Whisper paused and looked around, then turning back to Rena.
"Well, sugar, it appears you've come to the right place, seeing as this is a book store." Rena smiled wider at the overly exaggerated sarcasm in her voice, and Whisper grinned back, pinching Rena's cheek. "Now, what can I do for you, honey?" she asked. "Gregory Maguire's recently come out with a new book. I know how much you enjoy his…" Whisper paused for a moment. "Dark writing style. I can pull a few strings, and maybe you could have it! Half price." Rena rolled her eyes, but was easily tempted by Whisper's offer. Rena looked back though at Fred, who was now poking at a book shelf twice his size, and remembered what she was here for.
"Actually Whisper," Rena started. "I'm looking for the first Harry Potter book." Whisper stepped back, surprised.
"Really, hon? I thought you hated those books!" she quizzed as she disappeared below the counter, and then appeared again with a shiny, paper back version of the Sorcerers Stone. "Why the sudden change in interest?" Rena opened her mouth to reply as she reached towards the book, but was cut off abruptly by a large crash. Quickly, she turned around to face the sight of a slightly frazzled Fred, and the knocked over bookcase, its contents sliding all around the small store.
"Whoops," he murmured as he bent down to pick up a few of the fallen books.
"Fred…" Rena hissed as she hurried over to him. "What did you do? I didn't even know it was possible to knock over a bookcase!" And back to Whisper she called, "I'm so sorry! My friend is very…eh," Rena looked at Fred, who was muttering something under his breath, as he carefully pushed up the tall bookcase. "Clumsy," she finished, settling on the best word. Fred was still muttering though.
"Not my fault they make the bookcases so bloody tall. Had to jump, just to reach the middle shelf." Rena shook her head, silently laughing, but when she turned around to tell Whisper that she'd clean the whole think up, she came face to face with the bright red, square sunglasses.
"No, it's fine sugar." She said loudly. "In fact, I'll clean up this mess for you, and you can take the book for free if…" Rena turned her head, awaiting the catch. Whisper lowered her voice so Fred couldn't hear. "If, you introduce me to your boyfriend."
"Oh, c'mon!" Rena hissed back. "First Dylan, and now you? For Pete's sake, he's not my boyfriend. I hardly even know him." She added truthfully.
"Well sweetie, you don't bring a boy in here everyday. And he is cute." Whisper added, almost too loud.
"He is not," but Whisper cut through again.
"Oh, yes he is. Look." Whisper angled Rena back towards Fred, who was just putting the remaining books on the highest shelf he could reach. And Rena watched. It wasn't that Fred was drop-dead gorgeous. But he wasn't horrendously ugly either. He was, as Whisper had said…cute. He was fairly tall; Rena guessed around 5'7'', a few inches taller than her. He was pretty skinny too, and an abundance of freckles streaked across his nose. His thick, flame red hair was just long enough to brush the tops of his eyebrows, and when he turned back towards her, she noted again of his dark blue eyes.
"I guess he is," she murmured, but quickly shook herself out of her dreamlike state as he walked back over to her and Whisper.
"So…this book thing, right? What again are we looking for?" he asked. With a sharp push from Whisper, Rena stumbled forward.
"Um, yeah…it's on the counter," Rena said pointing first at the opposite side of the store, and then, realizing her mistake, pointed back towards the counter. "That way," she mumbled. As Fred stepped over to the counter, Whisper strongly elbowed Rena.
"So...what's his name?" she asked softly.
"Fred," Rena hissed back as she watched him jump up onto the counter, settle in, and pick up the book. After reading for a few seconds, he called out, loud enough for the whole store to hear.
"What kind of last name is Dursly? That's the stupidest last name I've ever heard." Rena rolled her eyes, and Whisper murmured back. "He's quite…loud…isn't he?" Rena nodded agreeing, but before anyone could say anything more, she walked over to Fred and stole the book out of his hands.
"So Whisper, how much for the book again?" she asked, wanting to get out of the store as quickly as possible. All eyes were on her and Fred, and Rena never liked being the center of attention.
"I told you honey. It's free!"
"Are you sure?" Rena quizzed again, searching for the small wallet in the deep pockets of her Capri's.
"I'm positive sugar!" Whisper called, and Rena smiled, relieved. Turned out that she didn't even have her wallet. And she hadn't really wanted to spend money on a book she already owned.
"Thanks Whisper." Rena said, grinning as she led Fred back to the exit of the store. Whisper blocked her path though, as he walked in front of her.
"I still want a proper introduction," Whisper added with a twinkle in her eye. "Sometime." Rena nodded, still smiling, and before Whisper could say anything more, she walked to the exit and stepped into the blazing sun, the book still tightly clutched in her hands.
"There, right there!" Rena exclaimed excitedly as she finally flipped to the page she'd been reading before the door had appeared. "Look! See! You're right there!" and she pointed to the small text on page 92, where the Weasley's were getting onto platform Nine and Three Quarters. They were sitting on a bench, just a few shops away from the book store. Fred was staring at the page with his eyes wide.
"I-I said that," he murmured, running his fingers against the neatly typed words. Rena nodded slowly, once again reminded of the insanity. "I remember it now! Dad had just dropped us off, and we were running late because Percy, the big oaf, was shining his prefects bad. And George and I taught Ron this rat spell." Fred coughed for a second. "Well, we made it all up…but he still believed us! And I was running to the platform, when suddenly everything-everyone froze. And the next thing I know, I'm in that bloody hallway. And…" Fred spread his arms wide, stretching to the sky. "Now, I'm here." Rena just stared at him, befuddled.
"And you're not surprised anymore, scared even at all at the thought that your whole life…well Harry's life, but your whole world has been written down, and anyone can read it?"
"Nope," he said simply, and then continued after seeing Rena's questioning stare. "I mean, magic happens around me all the time. You said so yourself. I'm from a magical world. And me, really being from a book, it's not that surprising. I mean, I didn't believe it at first, but now that I see it's real, it doesn't seem so strange. I mean, we could be in a book right now! Who knows?" But Rena still looked bewildered. "Besides," he added, reaching for the book. "Now, I can know what to look forward to this year." Instantly though, Rena tugged the book away from him and jumped off the bench, in the process, forcing his hand to slam against the back of the bench.
"Ow!" he screeched, and massaged his now slightly bruised hand. "Blimey, what was that for?" he asked, the irritation obvious in his voice. But Rena was hugging the book to her chest, showing no sign of giving it up.
"Are you insane?" she asked, her voice hushed, for many people were staring at their odd scene. "I can't let you read your life! Do you know how…" Rena paused, searching for the right words. "Horrible that would be? You'd no longer be…surprised by anything, or shocked. What's the point of living if you already know what's going to happen?" Rena let the words pour out of her like wild fire. Then, both of them were silent for a while.
"Damn," Fred finally said, running his fingers through his hair. "Those are some deep words." Rena chuckled softly.
"Yeah," she murmured. Again, there was a long pause.
"So…if I can't read the book, can you at least tell me if anything interesting happens?" he asked, peering over the edge of the book.
"Sorry," Rena started slowly. "I can't." Fred only nodded. She continued quickly though.
"It-It's not that I don't want to. It's just that…I haven't read any of the books in a really long time. I can't quite remember well…anything." She gave a small sheepish smile.
"That's fine," Fred said, smiling back, as he leaned back on the bench, crossing his arms behind his head. Then though, he stood up, grabbing his wand again. "So, what muggles..." Rena glared at him. "Er, people can we mess with?"
"You know, I should really try to put you back in the book…" Rena suggested lightly. But Fred wouldn't give up.
"Oh come on…er…"
"Rena," she whispered softly.
"Sorry. C'mon, Rena. I'm the only one who can do magic in this world. There's no Ministry of Magic to tell me not to use it! Think about it." Rena was quiet for a bit, but even she could feel the smile growing on her face. "Pwease?" he pleaded. "Or is ickle-Renakins too afraid to use magic?" That pushed Rena over.
"Ok!" she breathed out. "Only one condition though."
"What?" he asked as he quickly stood up, his wand already in his hand.
"Never call me ickle-Renakins again." Fred snorted as he laughed, and then they just stared at each other chuckling.
"So," Rena finally said as she caught her breath. "Who do we mess with first?"
Yup! There's chapter 3! Did you enjoy it? Did you not? Well that doesn't matter, review anyways. But be nice. Please. :D Until next time. Expect a new chapter in about 2 1/2 weeks.
SunBleach
