Hi guys!
Just a quick word in advance: I have absolutely no intentions of downplaying the severity of Coronavirus in any way with this story (this only concerns the beginning of the first chapter)! We're all in lockdown in my country and my prayers go out to everyone who's fighting the illness or has suffered in any way because of the virus!
This is something to, hopefully, brighten the mood a little. It's not much, but I hope it helps. :)
Lockdown. A very unusual word to start a story with, yet it is entirely appropriate for what's happening all over the country; heck, the entire world. Without providing some background information, lockdown sounds like the entire planet is ruled by a cruel and oppressive government, but the root of the matter lies entirely elsewhere: COVID-19. Sounds like a robot from the Fallout series? Could be, but to clear things up for those of you who - by some miracle - have not heard of it, COVID-19 is just another term for Coronavirus. Does that ring a bell? Well, it should. If it doesn't, I strongly recommend turning on the news; it's all over the place. Quite literally.
Being infected doesn't automatically seal your fate, so to speak, as most patients experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and require little to no medical treatment. Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with a properly functioning immune system, either due to their advanced age or underlying medical problems. Which brings me back to the beginning; lockdown. A harsh measure, but one that seems to be necessary to minimize the risk of spreading the virus even further and putting other people's lives in danger.
However, I don't want to dwell on the disease that's responsible for ruining my vacation plans this year and actually start with the story I've been meaning to tell...
Before I delve further into the events that may or may not have occurred after a power outage one evening, there's one particular question that's been bothering me ever since Corona was first mentioned on TV:
Why does everyone keep buying tons of toilet paper? You can't eat it, you can't drink it, you can't cure anyone with it... you CANNOT survive solely living on toilet paper! So why, why do people raid the stores for it?
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I was bored. Seriously bored. The kind of bored that made you come up with silly ideas, like signing you and your best friend up for an online RPG you'd be sure to lose interest in once this entire crisis was over.
"You do know that I haven't even read the books," Julie said skeptically, while steering her character towards the entrance of the Leakey Cauldron.
Her voice sounded strangely hollow through my headphones but since we were no longer allowed to leave the house unless it was to go shopping or to work, meeting each other was out of the option. At least in person. So, we'd opted for a different solution, one that would satisfy both our social needs and rid us of endless boredom; an online RPG. To be more specific: a Harry Potter online RPG. Not one of those games where role-playing was confined to a variety of forums and the highlight of the day was to complete your weekly homework - no, we're talking Skyrim-like adventures here. In short: a bunch of Harry Potter nerds were given the freedom to design their personal Hogwarts student and then set lose to cause chaos in an artificial magical world.
"Which is exactly the point," I countered happily, following her through the door. "You asked me to come up with something new, et voilá! Here we are - oh, you've got to go right, past the barkeeper..."
To me, this was paradise. From what I gathered so far, there was little you couldn't do - from buying pretty much everything in every store to hexing people on the street or interacting with them. I sighed happily.
"Jeesh, Harps, if you need a moment alone, let me know before my head is irreparably damaged!"
I giggled.
We'd reached the brick wall that would lead to Diagon Alley and a message popped up on my screen.
"To enter Diagon Alley, count three up and two across, and tap me three times," Julie read and I could outright hear the frown in her voice. "What?"
I sighed. "The brick, Jules, you've got to find and tap it..."
Since we were traveling as a group - of two, mind you - we could apparently split some tasks between the both of us, while others had to be carried out by each individually. Julie was new to the franchise, I had to remind myself about every two seconds, whenever she took ages to understand what she was supposed to be doing. At least it felt like an eternity to me, but patience was not a trait I possessed in abundance and my rather small stock of it was running dangerously low.
"You make it sound so easy," she complained when we finally stepped through the doorway, completely lacking in awe for the scene before her. "So, where to next?"
"That's because it is," I countered, slightly wounded by the fact that my best friend didn't appreciate magic in the slightest. "We've got to go to the stores to buy our school supply, I think..."
Gringotts was not a mandatory stop in the game, as I'd found out earlier, because each player was given an equal amount of 500 Galleons in the beginning to complete their shopping for first year supplies. Not being entirely familiar with the economical mechanics yet, I wasn't sure if you could earn money by completing tasks or applying for a job - but Julie and I hadn't even gotten as far as buying our wands, so there was still enough time to discover finances at a later point.
Jules was not really into the magical world, that much was clear from the moment we'd entered Diagon Alley and she happily let me take the lead on our shopping trip with the occasional comment about how little sense some features were making in her eyes.
"What's the sense in using owls to send letters?", she asked after leaving Eyelops Owl Emporium with a grim-looking barn owl in tow.
"Jules," I replied, trying not to have an emotional breakdown. "It's a game in a magical world. You weren't this annoying when we played Skyrim last week..."
"Yeah, that's because Skyrim is actually a good game," Julie said fatter-of-factly. "Harry Potter is a lot of running around in a crowd of people, completing a shopping list that's longer than my grandmother's yearly food supply demands. Where's the action?"
This time, I actually rolled my eyes. "Patience, little grasshopper. Discovering Diagon Alley and the magical world is precisely the charm of the series! Besides, I thought you didn't like fighting a lot."
"I don't," Julie said, following my character to Ollivander's, the last stop on our little shopping tour. "But I do appreciate a good plot, Harps, which, might I add, there's zero of here. Nada. We're just buying a bunch of weird items..."
"That we'll probably be needing later," I set her straight, entering the little shop. "Come on, this is the fun part!"
As it turned out, wand shopping was indeed a little bit more interesting than the previous part and Jules actually enjoyed basically destroying the entire interior of Mr. Ollivander's shop.
"Do you pride yourself mostly on your intelligence, dueling skills, creativity or resilience?", she read the question out loud. "Intelligence, what else!"
I snorted, amused about her sudden enthusiasm, and in-game Ollivander promptly handed her a rather crooked-looking vine wand that spitefully conjured a herd of wood-eating sheep heading directly towards his precious wand supply on the shelves. Okay, maybe the game wasn't quite as realistic as I'd first thought, because Harry actually only managed to break a couple of things and not have the shop owner attacked.
„Holly with a Phoenix feather core, 11 inches, nice and supple," Jules read the final result. „Whatever that means... Oh! Congratulations, Ms. Richards, you share the same wand configuration as Harry Potter and 0 other players! That's good, right? I mean, Harry Potter being the hero here... Does that mean I'm invincible now?"
„Yeah, keep on dreaming, Jules," I laughed, shaking my head. „I'll jinx your arse off first chance I get! Harry Potter's wand or not, I'm going to hex you into limbo!"
„Challenge accepted," Jules said playfully, before adding: „Come on, Harps, let's see your secret super weapon that's supposedly going to beat my Harry Potter wand."
Julie usually wasn't one to brag, not when she was in the presence of other human beings - well, apart from me, that was - sit her in front of a computer screen, however, and she turns into a completely different person.
„We'll see who's laughing after I'm done here," I replied.
„Less talking, more action, missy!" Julie urged, making her in-game character jump up and down in front of mine and effectively blocking my view of Ollivander.
„Stop fooling around, Jules," I chuckled, trying to find a way around her. „Stop it or we'll never get to Hogwarts!"
That actually made her cease with jump-assaulting my character, and now it was my turn to answer questions about myself. Maybe I'd gotten a little bit too excited about receiving my first wand, because the result was... disappointing...
„Willow with a Unicorn hair core, 14 inches, reasonable flexibility," I read out loud, disappointment lacing my voice. „Congratulations, Ms. Monhagan, you share the same wand configuration as Ronald Weasley and 313 other players!"
Why did I always get the less important items in games? First Skyrim, now Harry Potter...
„Isn't Ron Weasley the tag-along who never seems to get things right?" Julie asked with a hint of satisfaction.
Growling, I replied: „I thought you haven't read the books..."
„I didn't," she replied smugly. „But I've watched the movies... No jinxing me into limbo, then, I take it?"
„Oh, shut up!" I countered, about to tell her that wands weren't everything, when the lights in my room suddenly flickered.
On the other end of the line, I heard Jules sigh. „Please don't tell me we're about to have a blackout! Isn't the flipping virus enough right now? We're confined to our own four walls, the least they could leave us is electricity..."
Apparently, the local power supply had different ideas because as soon as Julie had finished her sentence, the world around me was plunged into darkness. Literally. And for a moment, I though I'd gone completely blind because I couldn't even see the screen of my iPhone anymore - which had been in perfect working order only a second ago and should still be illuminated.
„Jules?" I hesitantly asked into the darkness. „Julie, are you still there?"
No answer.
„Oh, damn it!" I cursed, blindly searching for my phone. „Come on..." I muttered. „I know you're here somewhere..."
To my utter surprise, my hands were no longer running over the smooth surface of my desk but rather something akin to linen. I frowned, halting in my movement.
„What the heck?" Grabbing the material with both hands, I gave it a quick squeeze; it felt like a blanket.
Come to think of it, I suddenly realized that I was no longer in a sitting position but lying on my back, my head resting on something pillowy and warm. The rest of my body was wrapped in what had to be a blanket, consequently placing me either in a bed or on a sofa.
Had something happened after the power outage? Had I lost consciousness in my room and been found by my family and put in bed? It was the only logical explanation to my current situation, albeit one I had a slight problem with; I couldn't remember blacking out, which usually was the case. Sure, I'd lost track of how long I'd been out loads of times but I could always recall the exact moment I'd lost consciousness.
As the minutes passed, my eyes slowly adapted to the darkness around me and I was actually able to make out a couple of silhouettes in the room. The door - closed - had to be opposite of the bed I was lying in, which in itself was correct; what wasn't, was the fact that I didnt have to turn my head slightly to the right to face it. The second difference I immediately noticed was the sloping ceiling. I did not have a sloping ceiling. In fact, there wasn't any such construction in our entire apartment.
Heaving myself into an upright position, I surveyed the room cautiously. My heart rate had picked up the moment I realized that I was definitely no longer in my home, fear creeping into every inch of my body, forming a lump in my throat.
Something was moving in the dark, along the walls and the ceiling. This was not my room. I didnt know where I was. Who'd brought me here, and why... I couldn't breathe...
Tears gathered in my eyes as my entire body began to tremble, my breath coming in short, desperate gasps. A panic attack. I was having a panic attack.
Don't panic, Harps, I told myself, my gaze flickering from one moving shadow to the other just to make sure they weren't moving in on me. Who knows who else is in this house... if they hear you cry, they might come looking for you - so, shut up!
I bit down on my lower lip. Hard. Hard enough to draw blood, its metallic taste lingering bitterly in my mouth. Julie would've called a pessimist by now, but I'd rather see myself as a realist. I might be all sassy hidden behind my computer screen, but there was no magic in the real world and no life bar in the upper right-hand corner with 1000 health points that enabled your body to withstand twenty gunshots before dying.
The shadows were still moving. And I was still frozen like a statue. One of us had to give; and it would probably have to be me, seeing as the shadows could be just that; shadows.
Okay, Harps, I mentally encouraged my trembling self. You can do this. There's only one way to find out where you are...
There was a nightstand right beside the bed and even though the chances of finding my phone on it were astronomical - I mean, what kind of kidnapper would leave their victim's best chance of calling for help well within reach? - I blindly stretched out my hand, keeping my eyes trained on the mysterious shadows.
When my fingers finally closed around a familiar shape, I almost cried out with relief. My phone; I'd found my phone. It was still there. In tact and fully functioning.
Not wasting another second, I turned on the flashlight - and froze. Those weren't shadows moving along the walls; they were posters! Dozens of them decorating the entire room from floor to ceiling.
„But... that's impossible!" I breathed, staring open-mouthed at scene before me.
Slowly, I pulled back the bedspread - which was of the same bright orange as the rest of the room - and tip-toed over to the nearest poster.
A group of fourteen people smiled back at me, some of them waving towards the camera, others shielding their eyes from the harsh light emitted by my iPhone.
The Chudley Cannons, 1989, the title read.
I frowned. The Chudley Cannons? Then, suddenly, it was like someone had pulled a switch in my head; moving posters... Moving posters, the Chudley Cannons!
Mouth still agape, I carefully sat down on the bed before the world decided to pull the rug out from under my feet - again. From a logical standpoint, this could not be real.
Okay, Harps, I told myself. There are three possible scenarios right now. First, you've lost your marbles and this is all a spectacular hallucination. Second, you're either dreaming or in a coma and your mind tries to compensate your current state of paralyzation by creating a scenario you'd feel comfortable in. Third, you've been transported to a different world and are now inhabiting Ron Weasley's bedroom.
Didn't the game associate me with Ronald Weasley's wand? But that just wasn't possible! People didn't magically turn up in fictional places after playing video games. Things like these might be happening in fanfictions or movies but not in real life!
The silence in the room was suddenly disturbed by a loud buzzing sound and I nearly jumped out of my skin, until I realized that it was just my phone ringing.
„Julie," I whispered, a smile playing at my lips. „Jules?"
„Oh, oh my god, Harps, is that you?" Her voice sounded different; uncertain and hoarse as if she'd been crying. But that wasn't what was bothering me...
I frowned, checking the display of my phone again just to make sure it was her number.
„Are you okay?" I asked.
She sniffed. „No." A short pause, then she added: „You sound different."
„So do you," I added slowly.
There was another break in the conversation, neither of us entirely sure what to say or how to react. It was obvious that something weird was going on, that we were both in a completely unfamiliar environment and quite possibly no longer inhabiting our own bodies. The thought had entered my mind as soon as Julie had mentioned my voice, but it was leaving me strangely unaffected. Could shock do that to you? Perhaps the big mental breakdown I was expecting was waiting to make a big entrance in a few hours when I least needed it.
„Where are we?" Julie finally asked, sounding slightly frantic. „I mean - what the hell, Harps! One second, I'm sitting in my bedroom with my headphones on and the next, I'm locked into a tiny cupboard with enough dust in it to get chronic bronchitis! What the f** is going on!"
My head was spinning, my brain connecting bits and pieces with every new information flowing its way - connections I wasn't quite ready to process yet, but somehow had to in order to calm down the raging storm inside my mind.
„I... I don't know," I stammered, reaching up to pull my hair, only to discover that it was no longer there - at least not in its original form. It was short. Too short for my taste and taking a deep breath was all I could do to no panic. „Listen, Jules, I think... I think we may have been transported to a different world -"
„A different world." Julie deadpanned."This is not the right time for jokes, Harps."
Sighing, I replied. „I'm not joking, Jules. Do you remember what the game said about our wands?"
Julie was obviously trying to keep it together when she replied: „Harps, I'm on the verge of a major freak out. I'm not in the mood for games!"
„No, no, listen!" I explained, attempting to keep my voice down as to not alert anyone else in the house that I was awake and talking on a communication device that was not going to be invented for another twenty years or so. „Right before the power outage, we went to buy our wands at Ollivander's, remember? Mine was a match to Ron Weasley's, yours to Harry Potter's!"
„So?"
„Don't you see?" I answered. „You woke up in a tiny cupboard, a cupboard Under the stairs, Jules! Just like the one Harry sleeps in in the books! And I... I came to in a room that's covered with moving posters of the Chudley Cannons from floor to ceiling, just like Ron's bedroom in the Burrow!"
Silence.
„Are you seriously trying to tell me that we're both characters in a book series that was written over twenty years ago!?" Julie hissed angrily. „Are you out of your mind, Harps? That's bollocks and you know it! No, no - we were knocked out and kidnapped by some lunatic who's holding us hostage and probably already demanding ransom for our release..."
She was ranting now, and I let her blow off some steam before interrupting her grand theory of torture and murder.
„Kidnapped by someone who'd leave our phones right within reach?" I asked incredulously. Jules stopped ranting. „You could've easily called the police first, you know. But you didn't. You called me. Do you know why?" It was a rhetorical question, so I didn't pause to wait for a reply. „Because deep down you know that that's not what happened."
The more I talked, the more confident in my theory I became. Where that sudden burst of confidence was coming, I had absolutely no idea; but it was there, and I was infinitely grateful for it. This was unfamiliar terrain for my best friend - technically speaking, it was for both of us but I'd read the books so often I roughly knew what to expect - and if she really was trapped inside Harry's body, there were certain things she needed to know.
„You don't believe me, do you?" I said.
„I'm trying, Harps," Jules replied with a sigh and I could only imagine what it must feel like to be locked away in a tiny cupboard. „I'm just having a hard time believing that something like magic is supposed to be real."
„Trust me, so do I," I said with a low chuckle. „Just because you read about it on the internet doesn't mean you actually think it's real, you know."
A snort. „You sure as hell don't sound like a sane person at the moment, Harps." Then she sighed. „Okay, let's suppose you're right... God, I can't believe I'm even saying this... Do you have any proof?"
I grinned. Now she was starting to think in the right direction.
„Apart from the fact that we no longer sound like ourselves and have woken up in completely different places? Harry Potter's got a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead," I said, leaning my back against my pillow. „If I'm wrong, your skin should be smooth like a baby's bottom up there... If I'm right -"
Julie gasped and the grin on my face doubled in size. Bull's eye. Just because I couldn't wrap my head around what was actually happening right in front of my eyes, didn't mean in the slightest that I wasn't as giddy as a five-year-old on crack about it.
„H-how is that even..."
„How much more proof do you need, Jules?" I asked somewhat smugly. Now that I was aware of my current location, my body and mind no longer saw the need to panic; the Weasleys would never harm one of their own children, that I was dead certain of. „I've got moving posters in my bedroom! I just don't understand what our phones are doing here... I mean, it's 1990 - or, at least, it should be... They had no iPhones in the twenty-first century!"
„Who cares!?" Jules exclaimed. „I'm bloody glad we have them here! I'd be lost without you!"
That reminded me: „Ah, yes, erm, there are a few things you should probably know about the Dursleys..."
„Like what?" Jules replied slowly, sounding suspicious. „Please don't tell me that I'm going to die first thing in the morning."
I rolled my eyes. „Don't be ridiculous, you're Harry Potter! The entire series is named after you, you can't die before facing your arch enemy in a final battle." I paused for a second. „Okay, brace yourself, Jules, here it comes: your aunt and uncle hate you for being a wizard and your cousin is a bully, taking every chance to beat you to a pulp, if you don't get away fast enough."
„And that's supposed to be reassuring!?" Jules exclaimed.
„Never said it would be..." I mumbled.
Julie groaned, which was probably accompanied by an exaggerated roll of her eyes. „Anything else I need to know?"
„Yeah," I said with a nod. „There's actually quite a bit..."