Emerald Moments
Chapter IV
Disclaimer: Anything you think you've seen before doesn't belong to me

Previously in Emerald Moments: He took a calming breath and explained how a giant red bird appeared from thin air in his room. "I… I think it was a phoenix," he ended uncertainly.


Laura Carter looked at her son. "A phoenix? As in the mythical Egyptian bird that bursts into fire and is reborn from the ashes?"

Sebastian nodded his head. "Yeah, if the burn marks on my desk chair are anything to go by." He shuffled his feet a little and glanced around the small room. It was well furnished in dark colors; deep blues and reds complimented the red hue of the wood furniture. "Should…" he hesitated slightly, "should we ask Dr. Peterson about it?"

"It wouldn't hurt to mention it to him. He might know why it visited you." Laura stood and walked into the hall. "When's your next meeting with Ted?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"Hmm… I'll give him a call so he can look into it before then." Bastian was about to head back upstairs when Laura called to him. "What are your plans for this afternoon?"

"Depends on the weather. If it clears up Mike, TJ, Dave, and I are gonna head to Alki Beach, if it doesn't we're going to Pike Place Market and maybe the International District."

"Alright, let me know and please call if you're going to be out too late." Bastian nodded and climbed the stairs.


As it turned out, the weather didn't clear, so Sebastian and his buddies hopped on the bus and took off towards downtown Seattle.

They arrived at the familiar market and made a beeline for the Starbucks. Growing up in Seattle gave him an appreciation for coffee, and Bastian made it a tradition to visit the original Starbucks every time he went to Pike Place. He glanced at the sign, it was a comfort to see the original design, the siren as she was meant to be without the editing to make her politically correct.

With their drinks in hand, they started wandering the stalls. Passing the many jewelry vendors, they stopped here and there to look at the different items for sale. Bastian spotted several things he thought would make good gifts and things he might come back and buy later. Dave bought a fresh honeycomb and the four boys stopped to eat it while they watched the tourists. TJ nudged Bastian and pointed out a small boy standing next to the Pike Place Fish stand. He was looking at a particularly hideous fish that no one in their right mind would buy, let alone contemplate eating. The child pulled on his mother's sleeve and asked about the fish. When the boy stepped to get a closer look, the fish suddenly jumped and opened its mouth wide. The child screamed and leaped back to his mother. Sebastian and TJ burst out laughing as the fishmonger behind the stand shot the mother a sheepish look. She glared at him and pulled her son off in a huff.

"Tourists," Bastian and TJ said together. They both remembered their first encounters with the jumping fish, it was something every Seattle kid went through at one point or another.

"Oh, that reminds me," Bastian looked at Mike. "My mom asked me to pick up some salmon for her, don't let me forget, okay?" The other guys stated mocking him, calling him mamma's boy and generally being asses. Bastian scowled and glared at his friends.

"Sure, X, we won't let you forget the salmon," Mike said when he noticed the look on Sebastian's face.

They stood watching the fishmongers toss fish around for a few more minutes, then headed into the lower levels of the market. They visited a few shops, the comic store, the magic shop, Holy Cow Records, and the used book store before heading back to the surface to get Bastian's salmon and head back to the bus tunnel.


Two days later found Sebastian at Theodore Peterson's office at the University of Washington. He had met the old man almost ten years ago when he started having weird experiences. Laura had ignored the strange happenings until she walked into the room and found seven-year-old Sebastian Xavier floating three feet above the kitchen counter holding the cookie jar. The next day she and Jack asked some discrete questions and were told that Dr. Peterson was someone who could help. They had made an appointment with the history professor, unsure as to how a man with doctorates in history and linguistics would be able to help their floating child.

When they met with Ted for the first time, he listened to the stories of Sebastian's actions, and explained to the worried parents that there was a whole second world out there that they knew nothing about. Dr. Peterson told them he was a wizard and gave Jack and Laura the proof they needed to believe this second world truly existed. They set an appointment to bring in Sebastian the next day. Theodore Peterson had taken a shine to the boy and offered to teach him the ways of the wizarding world.

"So, Dr. Peterson, have any info on my mysterious friend?" Sebastian asked after greeting the older man.

"There are several different explanations for your visitor: first, you're one of the few who is lucky enough to be chosen to bond with a phoenix, second, the bird's name was Fawkes and Albus Dumbledore is looking for you, and third, it wasn't Fawkes, but someone else who has a phoenix familiar is trying to locate you."

Bastian looked confused. "Who's Albus Dumbledore and why would he be looking for me? Or anyone else for that matter?"

"Albus is headmaster at a school in Scotland called Hogwarts. As to why he would be looking for you, that's something I would have to look deeper to find." Dr. Peterson stood. "Well, we can talk about this at length later, should we continue with your lessons?"

"Sounds good," Bastian replied as he also stood. "What're we doing today?"

"Potions, boy, you should know the schedule by now, it hasn't changed in six years." Sebastian looked sheepish and just mumbled something about having a lot on his mind.

The two men made their way to the back of the cluttered office where Dr. Peterson pulled a wand from his sleeve and tapped the wall. A door appeared in front of them and they walked into the hidden room.

The room was moderately well lit and completely ordered, the exact opposite of the chaos of the office they just left. There were bookshelves lining three walls, with the back wall filled with potions ingredients and equipment. The middle of the room was empty except for an outline on the floor shaped like a dueling strip. The floor itself was stone, as were the walls and ceiling. If you looked closely, you could see a faint shimmer in front of the bookshelves, a shield to protect the books in case of explosions and other accidents.

Dr. Peterson pulled a potions book off the shelf and flipped to a marked page. "We're making the Ferox potion, what is it?"

Sebastian thought for a moment. "Ferox, ferocis; courageous, high-spirited, arrogant. In the right amounts this potion will give the user courage, but too much will make them arrogant and violent." He looked at the older man, "Is that right?" In addition to teaching Sebastian about all things wizard, Dr. Peterson made sure he knew Latin, Arabic, and Greek, both ancient and modern.

"Exactly, let's get started." He listed off the equipment and ingredients needed while Bastian pulled them off the shelves. They set up the lab and started brewing.


Halfway around the world, someone else was working in a different potions lab. He pushed the greasy black hair back from his face as he studied the book in front of him. Headmaster Dumbledore had requested that he make this potion, and that no one know about it. As a master in his chosen field, he had no difficulty knowing exactly what this potion would do. However, Professor Severus Snape could not understand why the aged headmaster would request this particular potion.