Chapter 3: Déjà Vu

Erica and Andrea entered the kitchen silently and saw their father sitting alone before the dining table. His face seemed calm but there was no smile upon his face. They stood clueless for a while before Andrea nudged her sister and motioned for them to sit as well. Erica followed. James cleared his throat silently before he began.

"Well, we'll be heading to Diagon Alley in a couple of hours and for sure the place would already be packed with people by the time we get there, most probably because of the time of the year," James looked down on his arms which rested on the table, "And I just want to make sure that the both of you won't be getting into trouble again," he slowly lifted his gaze up then looked straight into Erica's eyes for a while, before they shifted to Andrea's.
Their eyes both narrowed in shame and Erica looked down to her foot as Andrea bit her lip guiltily, muttering, "Yes dad,"

James grinned, "I am not angry girls, I knew you had the tendency to completely lose your focus and to stray away from us the last time we went there, but I really want you to know how strict I and your mom are with this,"

Erica looked up and nodded immediately, her eyes were ironically filled with both sincerity and guilt.

"Stay close girls, always. It doesn't matter if we are meant to stay inside a shop for hours or what or if you just wanted to wander around a bit, always stay close, okay?" James explained slowly, emphasizing on every word he says, "Hold on to our hands or on the end of our coats, promise us,"

"We'll make sure dad, we promise," Andrea whispered and Erica nodded beside her.

James began to stand up, his lips twitching to form a smile, and when he saw that her two daughters had smiled back, he said "Good," in a loud manner, sudden excitement rung simultaneously with his word. He reached for the cupboard above the sink which was behind were he was sitting earlier and pulled out a small pouch, then he headed straight to the living room, walking slowly past Carmen.

Erica and Andrea stood up and looked at each other, sniggering, before they headed back to the living room where three of their cousins, together with their Aunt and grandfather, were.

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Three hours of packing had past when everyone finally circled the fireplace. With all of their luggages ready and placed in a corner, they decided they were ready to head off to Diagon Alley.

Rose Weasley-McFarren, the rather plump woman with the bushy red and flaming hair who was also James' cousin, held Jacob's arm tightly alongside two other smaller children— a boy and a really tiny girl— and Harry was at the rightmost. Andrea and Erica stood in between their Aunt Rose and their grandfather while James and Carmen stood in the middle in front of them. James held a small bag of fine white powder.

"Who goes first?" James announced, lifting the bag of Floo Powder above his shoulder.

"I guess Jacob should go first, followed by me and my niece and nephew," Rose McFarren nodded at Jacob, who walked towards the fireplace immediately, took a handful of powder, dropped it off and vanished in an instant.

Not long after, Rose took a step forward, and so did the two children beside her. In her face crossed a friendly beam as she looked back at Andrea and Erica.

"Okay then," James motioned his arm to them then to the hearth.

The children stepped into it at once followed by Rose, who reached into the pouch of Floo Powder, and dropped it on their feet at once, saying loudly, "Diagon Alley."

They disappeared in a puff of grayish-green smoke and flames. James' eyes fixed on Erica and Andrea. Erica looked at their grandfather.

"Go ahead, I'm not going," Harry smiled at Erica as Andrea walked straight to the fireplace.

"I'll go first dad," Andrea tiptoed so as to grab a handful of white powder, and without looking back she bit her lip and stepped into the hearth. She faced them, her eyes focused on her mom, before her lips formed a grin and bellowed clearly, "Diagon Alley!" releasing the powder from her hand at the same time. She vanished immediately behind the green flames.

It wasn't long before Erica and their parents stepped out of the same hearth where Andrea had come out. It was in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the wizard books were being sold. The fireplace was inside what seemed like the storage room, and from where they all stood they could hear the voices of the people on the store. There seemed to be a lot, as they have expected.

Carmen pulled Andrea's hand to her coat. She obediently grabbed the end of it and her other hand reached out to hold onto Erica's, who already started her own way out of the storage room.

"Get your books first since we are already here in Flourish and Blotts," James said as he pulled the wooden door open, making it creak loudly enough for the shop owner to notice them come out of it.

It revealed a whole room full of bookshelves, wizards, witches, and their children, all seem to make their way through the moving lot. The shop owner's desk was circled mostly by women, most of them holding a parchment on one hand and an arm of a child on the other.
James stopped and turned to face Carmen and the two girls, "I'll just go visit the Muggle tea shop just outside Diagon Alley, though, I have to meet with your Uncle Hugo in there, we'll be here in a while," he continued, as he strode ahead of them, making his way to the door that lead out of the shop.

Andrea was looking around, amazed, when Jacob approached them. His mother, Andrea noticed, was nowhere in sight.

"I thought we were supposed to stay close to our parents?" Andrea snapped, as Jacob stared out far into the crowd, his toes tiptoeing, as if looking for something.

"Well, not for me. I hadn't caused my mum any kind of trouble—like getting lost, for instance—while we were in Diagon Alley, so the rule doesn't really apply to me," Jacob beamed at her, Erica snickered.

"Thanks for pointing that out," Andrea rolled her eyes as the four of them made their way in between bookshelves.

"Mom, it's so hard to walk around shops if we're holding each other like this," Erica complained, as she squeezed her sister beside her, trying to avoid walking through the bookshelves.

"Better be this while aware of your way than being able to move freely when you're completely lost," Carmen whispered, tightening her grip on Andrea's wrist.

"Right," Erica sighed, dodging once again from being hit by someone's elbow.

They all stopped behind the counter where four to five lines of people stood waiting. Jacob heaved a sigh and lifted himself to his toes once again to steal a quick glance above the crowd, "This is going to take long," he lifted an eyebrow and continued, "I wish we could bump into someone we know,"

"My dad said Uncle Hugo will be here," Andrea looked around, starting to hope they will, indeed, find someone else they knew.

Jacob took a few steps forward and started looking around again, obviously taking advantage of his height.

Andrea was just starting to do the same before… "Ow!"

Jacob looked behind her and saw Andrea reaching below her robe above her socks, she scratched furiously.

"Ants," Jacob knelt before her as his eyes followed the trail of the ants, Andrea looked down as well.

The ants had one trail and it lead toward where Andrea's left foot was, and now they were climbing up her shoe to her leg.

"You hadn't stuffed expired sweets in your robe's pockets again, had you?" Jacob looked up at her, as he remained in a squatting position in front of her.

"No, these ants are simply being ridiculous at the moment," complained Andrea, who began stomping her foot on the ant trail, "I wouldn't be doing this to you if you weren't persistent on climbing up my leg," she muttered.

"Wait… Andrea?" Jacob stood up, looking behind her. Andrea stopped and looked at him, and when Jacob didn't shift her gaze to her, she turned to look at where he was looking at, and she saw nothing but a couple more bookshelves.

"What is it?" Andrea asked, stomping her foot once again.

Jacob turned his gaze on her, "Where's Erica?"

Jacob had asked Andrea the question rather loudly that Carmen looked down at them immediately, Andrea's jaw dropped at the sudden realization of her sister's absence. "I was just… I was just holding her close to me a while ago," Andrea stuttered, her head turning here and there looking for her sister.

Jacob straightened up and looked across to where the door was, "No wonder I thought she was being silent all the time, she's gone,"

And with that, Carmen pulled the both of them to the door and out, her heart and mind racing at the thought of her daughter. "Where did she think she was going again?" she asked and both Andrea and Jacob just shook their heads.

"Let's go separate ways, I'll go here Aunt Carmen, and you and Andrea can go that way," Jacob said as he shook Carmen's hand from his wrist softly, his eyes moving fast with his head as they scanned the path stretching both to the east and the west.

Just then, a big manly voice rung amidst the crowded path, "We're here!"

A large man appeared a couple of feet away from them, behind him followed James Potter. He was beaming as he made his way to the three of them, saying "There you are! We, you know, with your Aunt Cissy and your two other cousins, have been waiting for you! I think they're in Madam Malkin's shop!" he bellowed.

"Hey, have you gotten your books yet? We're going to buy robes for you immediately if you have," James said as he and the man with him had reached them.

Carmen did not respond and both Andrea and Jacob just managed to fixate a smile on their faces at the sight of their uncle, who grinned back.

"What's the matter?" James suddenly asked at the sight of Carmen, who continued to look around furiously, and not long after a short moment of silence, he asked, "Where's Erica?"
Carmen stopped and looked at him, "She was just beside us a while ago. James, we were all holding each other when suddenly she was gone—"

"Dad, I was holding her tightly. I just had to rub my leg once so I think… I think I let go of her, but I didn't think she was—"

"It is okay honey… we'll look for her—" James tapped Andrea's head lightly as he gazed further into the other alleyway.

"We'll go with you—" Carmen started but Hugo cut him off.

"I'll go with James," he said as he put his hands inside the pockets of his jeans, he was already focused on the same direction.

"That's right, Carmen, you stay and look after Andrea and Jacob," James smiled at her weakly.

But before the two men started their way to the path that meets Knockturn Alley, a lady with a straight blonde hair emerged from the crowd, pushing a cart. A boy—who looked like he was just around fourteen or fifteen— and a young girl—who didn't look a lot younger than him—followed behind her, each helping themselves with tarts.

"Hey Janna, Arvin… there they are!" the lady spoke excitedly at the sight of the lot and headed towards them, both of the youngsters followed her eagerly.

"Anna!" Hugo bellowed, the worry in his eyes was now obvious like the way it is with the rest of the lot. "You're just in time. We need you to stay here with Carmen. James and I are going to look for something," he said.

Anna stopped before all of them, her blond hair flowing graciously behind her, her eyes fixed from James, to Carmen, and to Hugo, before she said, "Okay," with earnestness in her voice.

"James, maybe we just have to wait," Carmen started, her voice seeming weak. "Maybe she'll come back here, at this very place. Maybe she hadn't gone too far and is coming back in a short while,"

James didn't fix his attention to her but the expression on his face showed the great amount of concern he had for both his wife and his lost daughter, he hesitated for a while. "Knockturn Alley is just a couple of turns from here and we couldn't risk not looking for her immediately. If she suddenly strays to that alley without knowing what she's getting herself into, she would never find her way back to Flourish and Blotts. Don't worry Carmen, we'll look everywhere for her, we promise," he looked into her eyes and Carmen nodded.

"Who's lost?" Anna asked Hugo softly, both Janna and Arvin leaned closer to them, their faces wearing the sincere expression of worry and uneasiness.

"Erica," he sighed as he started following James who had already gone a couple of feet ahead of him.

But just not far long ahead, James stopped, peering closely into a narrow lane that stretched between two shops of sweets. Behind a big box that sat on the floor, he thought he saw the foot of a child. Without any hesitation, he hurried towards it, pulled the box away, and saw a girl lying unconscious on the floor, her black hair covering her face, and despite that James was sure that the girl who lay before him was his daughter.

Hugo bellowed behind him, "Oh dear, what is she doing in here?" James and he knelt down beside her. James lifted her from the ground and laid her onto his lap. She looked pale and weak. He cleared the hair from her face with his fingers and he began jolting her weakly, "Erica? Erica, wake up. Daddy is here, wake up." He continued nudging her on her shoulders but she didn't open her eyes, nor did she move a bit.

"Is she okay?" Hugo looked closely and touched Erica's forehead.

"I… I don't know," James hesitated.

Carmen and the rest spotted where James and Hugo had entered the lane, and knowing that something was wrong, they followed.

Carmen and Anna both took a couple of steps into the lane as they reached it while Jacob, Noah, and Jamie stayed close behind, trying to take a peek. Andrea ran toward where her father and her uncle knelt to find her sister lying unconscious on her father's lap. Her eyes widened as she knelt beside them.

"What's wrong dad? What happened to her? What happened to Erica?" she asked, her arms trembling to support herself as she leaned over closer to her sister.

"We don't know Andrea, but it looks like she had only fainted," James looked at Carmen who just returned to the look of anxiety to him.

Andrea reached for her sister's hand and squeezed it. "It's warm," she whispered to herself.

"Carmen, Anna, go find Rose and return back to our house for a while. We can come back here again tomorrow or on the other day. I think we have to take Erica to the hospital for a while, to be checked and just to be sure, we'll send you a mail immediately," James muttered as he held Erica's head closer to his chest.

"Daddy, I want to go with you," Andrea whispered, tears were starting to form in her eyes slowly when Hugo wrapped his arm behind her shoulders.

"Don't worry too much, okay? Me and your father are going to take care of her," he whispered to her ear, Andrea stared at him and she smiled.

"You promise?" Andrea asked, a tear flowed slowly down her cheek.

"Promise," he patted her shoulder lightly.

James smiled at Andrea as he began to stand up, lifting Erica slowly, letting her hand dangle below her carelessly. Andrea reached for it with both hands, clasped it lightly, and laid it on Erica's stomach, her eyes meeting her father's for a split second.

"Andrea, come on," Carmen stretched an arm and Andrea ran for it. "Tell us what happened, let us know immediately, okay?" she told James, as she felt Andrea's fingers quiver softly against hers.

James nodded. And with that, they exited the lane.