CHAPTER 4: FIRST CONTACT WITH MAGICAL WORLD

Duddley pov

Roughly a year! That's all it took for Mom to meet her match in Mr. Robin. Though it helped that he was privy to our secret, it was mainly them liking each other. One summer we were escaping from our kidnappers, and the next summer we are watching my mother getting married to our teacher. Phew! Time down goes fast, doesn't it?

Harry and I stood at the altar as the 'best boys'. I was the ring bearer of course. The marriage was wonderful and now Mr. Robin is my Papa. They've both left for their honeymoon today, leaving Harry and I in charge of the house. Of course, that was after a lot of begging and assurances from our side and lot more of rules, worry and warnings from Mom's side.

Harry would take over cooking and gardening and I would take over cleaning of the house. Other than that, since these were summer holidays, we don't have any other obligations than doing our homework and relaxing. Harry, with his being active and funny, was a fun company to spend time the month with.

Two days before the parents returned …

"Hey Harry"

"Hmmm…."

He was cooking in the kitchen and I was sitting in there doing my homework, which I just finished.

"Let's go out tomorrow."

He turned towards me, "Where? You know that Aunt said not to go on adventures."

"This is not an adventure Harry. We will eat our dinner at 'Mc Donald Kids Treat', play there for a while and go for a movie in the attached theatre, that's all. We could even book a taxi that would stay dedicated to us. I have enough pocket money saved for that."

"Hmmm... let's do it the other way round. Let's go for the afternoon movie and then dinner. We could then come back before it's too much late at night."

:: Hey, I want to come to this trip too. ::

"Paladin, you won't understand anything. And people will just get frightened and hurt you in the 'Treat'."

:: No, I'll stay out of anyone's way. Harry, please, spell me to understand the movie; you could make me invisible and I could travel in one of you cloaks. I want to see what you do for fun. I could also be our extra protection. ::

"Okay then, I'll go message Mama, with all the necessary reassurances."

The next day…

'Kung fu Panda' was fun. Even Paladin liked that there was a snake that was super strong. After that we went down to the 'eat n fun' in the same building. That was a fun zone for kids with a cafeteria attached. We had lot of fun there, even Paladin, who insisted that he would jump along with us on the jumper. But alas! We could not make this trip without an adventure.

It happened when we were returning back. Our taxi broke down on the way, but we were almost near the house and knew the locality well. So we decided to walk the ten minute distance, instead of waiting for another taxi.

"… haha and Paladin had to slither out the way in a flash or he would have been in the picture. Just imagine what the reaction would have been when they saw it after it was developed."

:: Whatever, they should be proud to have me in a picture with them. You don't get to see a King Cobra every day. ::

"Yes, your mightiness."

Suddenly, Paladin hissed and looked towards a sideway.

:: I sense danger here, let's walk home fast. ::

We nodded and did so, but had to stop when we heard the muffled voices. They were coming towards us, so we immediately hid in a bush.

"So what is the price we can fetch for him?"

"Easily a thousand galleons. I mean it is still a baby, it would fetch a lot."

"I have cast all the necessary charms. No one would hear it, see it or sense it. To be on the safe side, I am keeping him in the muggle world. But we don't know the charms of a unicorn. It is sedated now, but who knows if it can send any signals. So I want you to fetch the manager of that potions shop immediately."

"Yes sir, I would be back in ten minutes and will complete the deal."

"And remember your oath, one word of this transaction to anybody and you will find yourself dead."

"Yes sir."

There were two sounds of faint cracks. Paladin hissed.

:: A unicorn? Really? They exist? ::

"You've never seen one in the forest?" I asked him.

:: I've heard tales of them from other snakes, but never did one stroll along. I will have to see this. ::

And before we could stop him, he slithered out into the sideway. We remained hidden, just in case.

:: I could not find it. Harry, try and see if you could disable the charms. ::

Harry nodded and we all went into the sideway again. Harry closed his eyes and stood there for a while. Then he held out his hands and I could feel him sending power into something, which started getting lit like a film covering something. It became star bright for a second and then exploded, throwing us back a few feet.

There was a small bundle there. We rushed to it and opened it. Wow! In it was a small unicorn, looking so innocent, pure and with a golden sheen even though it was white. I could have just stood there watching it, but Harry whispered urgently.

"Guys, break out of the trance. We need to move. Now!"

I nodded and took my eyes off it with difficulty. We closed the bundle and lifted it into our hands. God! It was heavy. And to our dismay, we heard the crack again. Means, they are back. Harry started murmuring,

"Oh no! We need to leave; we need to leave, but how? What does that crack do? God, please help."

I was standing there holding the bundle with Harry. In the next moment, I felt like I was being squeezed like toothpaste out of its tube, all of my body was being pressed into a tiny dot. And then I was dumped on the ground again. I looked around in terror if we had been attacked, but we were at home. How?

I looked down and saw the bundle and Harry lying on the ground. Harry was panting like mad there.

"Get up you git. You and your magic. Couldn't you have found a more comfortable way to come home?"

Harry stuck out his tongue and looked around, "where is Paladin."

:: Under here, let me out. :: came a hiss from the sack. We lifted it to find him under it.

:: What was all that squeezing? Never do that again, understood. ::

But Harry was opening the bundle and it revealed a small creature. It was like a baby horse, but with short flowing silky hair all over it and a small horn on its nose. It had wide eyes, which were closed now. It shone and I couldn't take my eyes off it again. Harry placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

I nodded. "I love your world. Make sure to send me pictures of everything you see when you go there, promise?"

We spent the night with it in the hall, but it never woke. I knew I was sleeping and dreaming of dancing cakes, because I felt a nudge that was not of the cakes. Then the nudge came again and the cakes started fading one by one. Third nudge and I had to open my eyes. And then they widened because I was looking into a big beautiful eye of the unicorn. It then went to nudge Harry awake. Paladin was beside him, just hissing.

When Harry was finally awake and all three of us were together in front of the unicorn baby, it looked at us in the eyes. I could feel images forming in my mind in succession; a beautiful green forest, a flowing river in between, many adult unicorn grazing peacefully, a couple of young ones jumping around in fun and the watchers feeling happy watching them, and finally a specific unicorn. For the last one, I could feel the yearning this one had. Harry knelt down,

"Is that your mother?"

It nodded. I accepted and then grimaced,

Ugrh, it's not an IT.

"Umm sorry, but are you a boy or a girl? Sorry, but I don't want to label you can IT anymore."

Harry smiled at me and the unicorn showed us the picture of two kid unicorns. One of them had pointed horn and golden hoofs. Another had rounded horn and silver hoofs. There may be other differences, but these were the ones I noticed.

"Okay, so is the one with golden hoofs a boy?"

The unicorn nodded.

"So you are a girl?"

She nodded. I smiled, "Thanks!"

Harry smiled back at her, "Do you know where you all live? Can you go to your family on your own by magic or something?"

The unicorn's eyes saddened and it showed us another image of being put in a sack.

Oh! Bad luck. No sense of direction or location.

It then showed us another image. In that, an adult was standing at a spot. It looked around, nodded and then walked into the bushes and soon emerged beside another unicorn. Then a young one came to the spot and just kept looking around.

"Oh, so you develop that ability when you grow older. Anyway, even if you could go, the world is not safe for you anyway. Anyone can see you."

She shook her head. An image appeared where there were two clusters of people and a unicorn in between. The ones wearing pointed hats were pointing towards the unicorn, but the other were just ignoring it as if there was nothing there. This surprised me,

"Do you mean that non-magicals cannot see you? Then how can I do?"

I response, unicorn disappeared in front of me.

"Hey! Where is she?"

Harry looked at me in amusement, "Right in front of you. You could see her only if she wishes so."

She appeared again and I could not help myself from running a hand through her mane.

"So what should we do?"

Another image, in this there was a pair of unicorns, male and female, standing in the edge of a forest and we were delivering the kid to them.

I did not understand, but Harry did.

"I got it. You can call your parents to come to you. But its better they only come till the edge of a forest and you want us to deliver you to them. Am I right?"

She nodded. I sighed, "Well, then I guess you are going to meet my parents too. They are coming home today. Will you meet them? I promise they are good people."

The unicorn nodded and looked in amusement at Harry as he shouted,

"Ahh! They'll be in an hour. I thought to make pancakes for everybody. I'm late." And he rushed off. Paladin and I just laughed and went through our morning routines.

Our parents arrived two hours later and we were ready for their welcome. As soon as they entered the house, they were showered with colorful ribbons and glitters. Then we shoved them into their bedroom telling them they should come down only after they are ready. We arranged the living room in the meanwhile.

Author's Note: Seriously guys, please review. I am left wondering if you like my story or not.