Harry made his way through the noisy, tight-packed crowd at the London Underground. He inserted his ticket and lazily stepped onto the train ("Mind the gap!"). As soon as he was seated in a remote corner, safely out of talking-range to anyone, he pulled out his palm-pilot.
"What exciting new adventures in the world of First Union banking do we have today, he thought to himself.
There was a conference at 1:00, a lunch-call at noon, and a presentation at 4:00. He put the palm pilot away, disgusted with it for some reason. Then he had a funny thought, almost like a memory, of a really strange clock that didn't tell time, but told where everyone in the family was at that moment. He was interrupted from his deep reverie as an attractvie young woman, about his age sat down beside him.
"Beautiful day today, eh?" she said.
Harry grunted, annoyed because she had made him forget what he was thinking about. It had been a very interesting thought, too.
Suddenly the woman beside him gasped and fainted. Instinctively, Harry pulled her up and supported her as her eyes opened and closed, coming in and out of focus. Harry looked around the train, but no one seemed to have noticed.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
She had a look of terror on her face, and her large brown eyes were filled with tears as she pointed to the newspaper on her lap. Harry looked down curiously and read the headline:
"CLOAKED LUNATIC GAINS SUPPORTERS IN THE U.S."
Beneath the headline was a black-and-white photograph of a very tall, very thin man in a long black cloak, holding a stick. He was the strangest-looking person Harry had ever seen. His nose was flat and had two slits. Harry glanced down at the stick that the "cloaked lunatic" was carrying, and was suddenly arrested by a very strange sensation. He had seen that stick before. He looked closer at the "cloaked lunatic" and thought that those horrible, cat-like eyes seemed somewhat familiar too. He began hungrily reading the article, but was barely a paragraph into it when the train came to a hault and he ralized this was his stop.
He gave the article back to the woman, who seemed to be perfectly healthy now, and stepped off the train.
"Wait!" came a voice behind him.
He turned around, annoyed, but also somewhat glad to find the woman from the train chasing after him.
"Yes?" he said, still walking towards his office building.
"So you're just going to LEAVE me??" she panted, running beside him to keep up.
"What?" Harry said, utterly bewildered.
"You aren't going to DO anything?"
"What the hell would I do?"
"You don't remember either, do you?" the woman asked, frowning slightly at Harry's confused and frusterated expression. "Did that man in the article look at all familiar to you, Harry?"
Harry suddenly dropped his brief case and stopped walking.
"How do you know my name?" he said quickly.
"I...I don't even know. I just KNOW it somehow. Do you ever feel like you have amnesia or something? Like your whole childhood that you remember now is a lie, that you're a completely different person than you THINK you are? Do you ever see an object that reminds you of something, and you strat thinking about it and suddenly you get this weird, fantasy-like sensation that you're forgetting something REALLY important, like your whole life? The picture of that man in my newspaper did that to me just now, and I had a fairly clear memory that shocked me. That's why I fainted. Amd I making ANY sense?"
Harry shuddered a bit and turned away from her, suddenly feeling very lost in the world. The fact was, he knew exactly what she meant. And that realization was not very comforting.
"Look," Harry said softly, "I guess I kind of do know what you mean, maybe. I felt that 'sensation' when I saw the stick that the guy in your newspaper was holding."
"I think it was his wand," said the woman.
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Listen, I really need to get to work...."
The woman rolled her eyes and sighed wearily. She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card and handed it to Harry.
"That's got my number and everything on it. Harry, please call me. I have a gut-feeling, we were supposed to meet on that train today."
With that, she walked away and Harry watched her until even the blaze of her red hair was hidden in the London crowd.
He looked down at the business card.
GINNY WEASLEY
CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
898-9090
"What exciting new adventures in the world of First Union banking do we have today, he thought to himself.
There was a conference at 1:00, a lunch-call at noon, and a presentation at 4:00. He put the palm pilot away, disgusted with it for some reason. Then he had a funny thought, almost like a memory, of a really strange clock that didn't tell time, but told where everyone in the family was at that moment. He was interrupted from his deep reverie as an attractvie young woman, about his age sat down beside him.
"Beautiful day today, eh?" she said.
Harry grunted, annoyed because she had made him forget what he was thinking about. It had been a very interesting thought, too.
Suddenly the woman beside him gasped and fainted. Instinctively, Harry pulled her up and supported her as her eyes opened and closed, coming in and out of focus. Harry looked around the train, but no one seemed to have noticed.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
She had a look of terror on her face, and her large brown eyes were filled with tears as she pointed to the newspaper on her lap. Harry looked down curiously and read the headline:
"CLOAKED LUNATIC GAINS SUPPORTERS IN THE U.S."
Beneath the headline was a black-and-white photograph of a very tall, very thin man in a long black cloak, holding a stick. He was the strangest-looking person Harry had ever seen. His nose was flat and had two slits. Harry glanced down at the stick that the "cloaked lunatic" was carrying, and was suddenly arrested by a very strange sensation. He had seen that stick before. He looked closer at the "cloaked lunatic" and thought that those horrible, cat-like eyes seemed somewhat familiar too. He began hungrily reading the article, but was barely a paragraph into it when the train came to a hault and he ralized this was his stop.
He gave the article back to the woman, who seemed to be perfectly healthy now, and stepped off the train.
"Wait!" came a voice behind him.
He turned around, annoyed, but also somewhat glad to find the woman from the train chasing after him.
"Yes?" he said, still walking towards his office building.
"So you're just going to LEAVE me??" she panted, running beside him to keep up.
"What?" Harry said, utterly bewildered.
"You aren't going to DO anything?"
"What the hell would I do?"
"You don't remember either, do you?" the woman asked, frowning slightly at Harry's confused and frusterated expression. "Did that man in the article look at all familiar to you, Harry?"
Harry suddenly dropped his brief case and stopped walking.
"How do you know my name?" he said quickly.
"I...I don't even know. I just KNOW it somehow. Do you ever feel like you have amnesia or something? Like your whole childhood that you remember now is a lie, that you're a completely different person than you THINK you are? Do you ever see an object that reminds you of something, and you strat thinking about it and suddenly you get this weird, fantasy-like sensation that you're forgetting something REALLY important, like your whole life? The picture of that man in my newspaper did that to me just now, and I had a fairly clear memory that shocked me. That's why I fainted. Amd I making ANY sense?"
Harry shuddered a bit and turned away from her, suddenly feeling very lost in the world. The fact was, he knew exactly what she meant. And that realization was not very comforting.
"Look," Harry said softly, "I guess I kind of do know what you mean, maybe. I felt that 'sensation' when I saw the stick that the guy in your newspaper was holding."
"I think it was his wand," said the woman.
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Listen, I really need to get to work...."
The woman rolled her eyes and sighed wearily. She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card and handed it to Harry.
"That's got my number and everything on it. Harry, please call me. I have a gut-feeling, we were supposed to meet on that train today."
With that, she walked away and Harry watched her until even the blaze of her red hair was hidden in the London crowd.
He looked down at the business card.
GINNY WEASLEY
CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
898-9090