Chapter 3
Jordan's Discovery
The day of the wedding, nerves were definitely running high, and some things definitely went wrong.
To start, Lukas spilled his drink on his dress-pants, meaning that he and Mr. Haney had to rush out to get new ones. Then, Renee, while smoking a cigarette to pass off nerves, accidentally caused all of their dresses to reek of smoke, which Jane nearly cried over. To top it all off, May almost snapped the string of Jane's corset, which was built into her wedding dress, while tightening it, which caused a lot of swearing and running around in panic at what to do, until Mrs. Haney ran into the room and fixed it.
Finally, at five o'clock in the afternoon, all of the bridesmaids were finishing up with their hair and make-up. It was very basic, brown shadow with gold on the lids and red lipstick, and their hair was up in elegant buns with curly bits of hair framing the face, but they all looked gorgeous and very neat together. Especially when they went outside to take pictures with the bride, and the bridesmaids with the groomsmen, and finally the whole party together with the bride and groom themselves, Rachel couldn't help but wonder how soon she would experience something like this again.
The ceremony was beautiful but took a little longer than Rachel had expected, and she was swaying slightly in her heels as Brendon and Jane finished up their vows and put on their rings and kissed, and then it was time for the bridesmaids and the groomsmen to help the staff of the house put the chairs away and make space for the dance floor.
Rachel had just finished putting some comfy chairs at a table with nameplates for the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and various family members when Lukas flopped down in a chair beside her, his tie hung loosely around his neck.
"Can you believe how tiring a wedding, of all things, can be?" he groaned, taking off his glasses to rub his nose.
"But it's fun," said Rachel, going to itch her head before realizing that she shouldn't mess up her hair until tonight at the beach. "And our sister is married to a rich man now."
"Yeah, and they live all the way in America," said Lukas. "Oh, crap."
He hurriedly fixed his tie as the guests started streaming into the room again, the smell of the food that had been set out buffet-style drawing them in. Rachel quickly straightened up and fixed her dress and went to the older guests that needed help being guided to their seats.
Finally, at long last, they could go for food. Rachel loaded her plate with expensive beef and expensive sauce, along with mashed potatoes, and found that it wasn't nearly as good as the food at Hogwarts. She was itching to go back to England and see her friends in just two more weeks…
Rachel was seated at a table with Lukas, Jordan, Jasper, and Renee. They had a lot of fun during dinner, talking about embarrassing stories of Jordan's time at boarding school (he said that there were four statues of strange animals in his school's entrance hall, and spooked Jeremy by imitating a roar from one of the creatures), and then Lukas lapsed into the story of how Rachel and her friends went after a useless stone three years ago, to which Rachel countered that she, at least, wasn't too sick to even move just two years ago.
Jordan, Jasper, and Renee were thoroughly amused with the 'crazy' stories Rachel and Lukas told about each other.
After dinner was done, Jane and Brendon went to the center of the dancefloor and started to dance, soon joined by other people. A pretty girl with silver hair invited Lukas for a dance and Jeremy approached a particularly manly girl, her hair just as short as Jane's. Jasper and May headed off into the crowd.
"Not too fond of dancing?" Jordan asked Rachel, who was still seated and plucking at the hem of her dress.
Rachel looked up and pulled a face, "I'd rather not trip over my heels."
Jordan laughed and held out his hand, "I'll be sure that won't happen, darling."
Rachel blushed and accepted Jordan's hand, letting him pull her to her feet and guiding her to the dancefloor. Over the music, they could hear Alexis crying "Jabe! Jabe!" and they laughed.
"So," said Jordan, spinning Rachel about, "that school of yours sounds interesting."
"So does yours," said Rachel.
Jordan hummed, "I'd say so. How's your friend Harry doing?"
"Harry?" mused Rachel. "He's fine. Probably imagining some weird stuff…"
"Yeah," said Jordan, and his hand rested on Rachel's wand, which she had stuck into the side of her dress. Rachel froze very briefly.
"What kind of wood is your wand?" asked Jordan in a whisper.
"P-pardon?"
"What kind of wood is your wand?" repeated Jordan, still quiet. "My wand's Dogwood."
"I—I don't think I'm following," said Rachel.
Jordan stopped dancing and lead Rachel out through the side doors. Outside were few people; here and there, somebody was smoking, and Rachel saw May's lemon-yellow dress flash by as she and a boy hurried off somewhere.
Jordan pulled Rachel toward the wall, out of sight of everybody else, and turned to smile at her.
"My wand's Dogwood," said Jordan again. He dug into the inside of his vest and produced a long, thin wand. "I was asking what yours was."
"Pear wood, but how—"
"Harry Potter," said Jordan. "The moment I saw his name on that letter, I knew you were a witch. Also, I saw your Herbology and Charms textbooks in your bag."
"Oh," said Rachel. "Yeah, I probably should've thought that one through before just dumping things in there. It was fine on the aeroplane, nobody noticed, but at the house…"
"Don't you worry," said Jordan, taking out a cigarette and lighting it with a red lighter. "I won't tell. I'm the only wizard in my family, Brendon isn't one."
"Jane isn't a witch," said Rachel. "But Luke, Jer, and I are."
"I figured," said Jordan. "Sorcerer's Stone, huh?"
"You heard?"
"Of course I did," scoffed Jordan, offering Rachel a drag. Rachel denied with a shake of her head.
"Well, I really did go and save it," said Rachel. "With Harry, and my friends Ron and Hermione. My cat's with Ron right now, so is Lukas' owl."
"Smart," said Jordan.
"So, what school did you go to?" said Rachel.
"Ilvermorny," said Jordan. "It's up near New York."
"Are there more schools than just Hogwarts?" asked Rachel.
"Of course," said Jordan. "There's one in Japan—Mahoutokoroh, and in France is Beauxbatons. Somewhere up in the north of Europe is one too, and probably in Africa too, somewhere, but that's all I know."
"Cool," breathed Rachel.
"You going to the Quidditch World Cup this summer?"
"If Ron's dad manages to get tickets—he works at the Ministry of Magic, he'll probably be able to get some."
Jordan nodded, smiling, "I'll hope to see you there, then. I'll let you know when I've come to England."
They stayed outside for several more minutes, talking about Quidditch, and Jordan surprised Rachel by telling her that he's got an old Nimbus 2000 that he's got from his last year as Seeker on his schools' Quidditch team. Since he doesn't use it anymore, Rachel can have it, and Jordan will make sure to get it to her before summer ends. Lukas is very jealous of this when she tells him when they've returned in-time to see the father-daughter dance. They then dance a little longer, and once Rachel's legs are tired out, Jane tells her that they'll be heading to get desserts soon.
The small restaurant at the beach was packed with guests that night. They had delicious ice cream and fudge that reminded Rachel of Mrs. Weasley's fudge, and Alexis had her cheeks covered in apple sauce.
Rachel, Lukas, and Jeremy took to the bathrooms to change into their swimsuits and were relieved when they went into the cool water, their feet hurting from the night's events. Rachel made sure not to get her hair or face wet, not wanting to look like a fool the rest of the night. Jeremy and Lukas, however, wasted no time in splashing salty sea water into each others' faces.
"Rachel, catch!" called Lukas, appearing with a ball after a quick sprint to the restaurant. Rachel jumped up and caught the ball, then tossing it to Jeremy, who, in turn, tossed it to Lukas again.
They played the pass-the-ball game for some time before heading back to the restaurant to get changed back into their normal clothes. Mrs. Haney insisted for Lukas and Jeremy to gel down their hair again after roughly drying it, a sight that made Rachel snort when she saw it.
Celebrations lasted until late into the night, and once the last guests had left the restaurant, they thanked the staff at the restaurant, grabbed as much of the sweet desserts as they could carry, and walked through the nice gardens back to the rented house, where the staff had finished up cleaning the ballroom, which was now dark.
Rachel headed upstairs to get changed, finding Renee and Havannah already wearing jeans and shirts and talking over some drinks with some guys that had attended the wedding. Rachel disappeared into the bathroom to get changed and to put down her hair. She didn't bother brushing it through, thanks to the great amount of hairspray that knotted it all together, and bid her good-byes to her fellow bridesmaids while doing a last sweep of the room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything.
Downstairs, they had to be quiet, for Alexis had already fallen asleep, drooling onto Mrs. Haney's fancy dress. They got into the car and headed back to the house, which would be theirs for a week while Jane and Brendon were in Cuba for their honeymoon. Jordan slept at the house too, as he lived there until he could support himself.
It was past midnight when Rachel had finally gotten her hair fully washed and her face cleaned, which was red from all the rubbing she'd done at the make-up. She said good-night to her family and Jordan, and headed right to bed.
The following morning, Jordan woke up Rachel, Lukas, and Jeremy early, telling them to get dressed quick and get downstairs with money and bags, and to not bring their wands.
Rachel was quite tired, having been up late last night, and came downstairs fully-dressed and yawning. Lukas and Jeremy were already there, sitting on the couch and nodding off to sleep again, but Jordan was wide awake.
"All right, wake up!" said Jordan excitedly, clapping his hands together to wake Lukas and Jeremy. Both shot up immediately.
"What are we doing up so early?" yawned Jeremy. "I barely got any sleep last night…"
Rachel looked at the clock. It was a little past six in the morning.
"You'll find out soon," said Jordan. "It's about a two-hours' drive—"
"Do we get to eat breakfast at all, or not?" said Lukas huffily.
"We will," said Jordan. "We can pick up some while driving.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll find out," said Jordan with a smirk. "C'mon, children, to the car!"
"Did you sleep at all last night, or are you usually this energetic on five hours of sleep?" said Rachel, as they followed Jordan outside and to his red Honda Civic.
"I have my ways of getting energized," said Jordan. "Hop in."
"I call front seat," said Rachel.
"Not fair," Lukas huffed.
"Sorry Luke, gotta be faster next time," said Rachel, smirking.
They stepped into the car, and when Jordan turned it on, 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts blasted from his Walkman.
"Can you turn that down?" said Lukas. "I'm still trying to wake up here."
"Nothing like some nice tunes to wake up, Romeo!" said Jordan, backing the car out of the driveway.
"My name's Lukas!" Lukas yelled back over the loud music.
They stopped for breakfast at Denny's and ate while they continued to drive. Rachel got to choose what songs they listened to, and they all sung along when 'Footloose' played.
"Do Mum and Dad know where we're going?" asked Lukas after they passed Wheeler Ridge.
"Don't worry, they do," said Jordan, turning down 'Take On Me'. "I cleared it with them yesterday at the wedding."
"So will you tell us where we're going?" asked Jeremy, leaning forward in his seat to look over Jordan's shoulder at the road.
Jordan pointed at a sign at the side of the road. It read, Bakersfield, 40 KM.
"Bakersfield?" Lukas read. "What are we doing in Bakersfield?"
"You'll see," said Jordan with a grin. "Just about twenty minutes until we're there. It's just outside Bakersfield."
"What is?"
Jordan sighed, "I'm not going to ruin the surprise, Squirt," he told Jeremy. "Just wait, all right?"
They drove until they reached Hosking Road, from which they turned left onto another road. They took another left and another left until they reached a cul-de-sac, and there, Jordan parked the car by a large white-and-red house with a brown roof.
"Lukas, you might want to scoot over to the middle seat," said Jordan, "my friend Abel is joining us."
"Where to?"
Jordan didn't respond, and running down the driveway was a tall, skinny boy with black hair. He threw open the car door and the boy sat down.
"Morning," said Jordan. "These are my siblings-in-law, Rachel, Lukas, and Jeremy."
"Good to meet you lot," said the boy, grinning. He addressed the confused Haneys, "I'm Abel. Jordan and I know each other from school."
"We were both in the Wampus house," said Jordan. "We dated for some time."
"You're gay?" said Lukas curiously. Rachel noticed Jeremy shifting uncomfortably.
"Didn't I tell you?" Jordan said, laughing. "Yeah, I am."
"Remember Rosie?" said Abel.
"Terrible," Jordan said, leaving the cul-de-sac.
"Who's Rosie?" asked Rachel.
"My first and last girlfriend," said Jordan. "She only dated me because she liked my hair."
To prove the point that he had nice hair, he shook it out of the bun it was in and let it fall down his shoulders.
They drove for a little while, and Jordan took an exit off the main road onto a dirt road, where they hobbled until they stopped just outside a small group of cabins that stood so closely together that Rachel could barely see past them.
"Welcome to Norbury!" said Jordan enthusiastically. He parked his Honda Civic off the road next to a couple other cars and stepped out.
"Norbury?" asked Lukas.
"Yes, it's the only wizarding community in California," said Abel.
"Can't Muggles see it, then?" said Lukas.
"Muggles?"
"People without magic," Rachel explained.
"Oh, we call those No-Majes," said Abel. "But they can't see it. It's magically protected so the No-Majes see it as old cabins nobody lives in anymore."
"Like Hogwarts," said Lukas, sounding amazed.
They walked toward the nearest cabin, which had a fence surrounding it. Smoke puffed from a chimney on the roof.
Jordan opened the gate with his wand, and that was when Lukas became curious again.
"Why couldn't we bring our wands?" he asked.
"Witches and wizards your guys' age aren't allowed wands outside of school," said Jordan. "If they catch you with a wand, you'll get in trouble. We had to leave our wands at school over summer until we were seventeen."
"Stupid," muttered Lukas.
They stepped onto the main street of Norbury, and Rachel was amazed. Surrounding them were small shops with all sorts of magical items. Directly to their right was a small shop with all sorts of magical instruments, which they went to first.
Jordan and Abel told them all about Norbury (Abel's great-great-great-grandparents had founded the place) and almost every shop-owner knew Jordan and Abel and were very excited to meet the three Haneys. When they had finished looking around several shops, and when Rachel, Lukas, and Jeremy had bought a few things for their friends and for themselves, Abel showed them to an ice-cream shop with delicious ice-cream.
It was a nice trip, and when it was time to head back home, Abel promised to keep in touch. They brought him back to his house, and then started the drive back to the house. Rachel couldn't wait to tell her friends all about the wizarding community in America.