***
I'm...I'm Harry, he stammered. She smiled out him and gave him a knowing look.
I've been watching you swim and you looked like you needed some help. Dudley let out a guffaw at this, but Miranda stayed focused on Harry and continued.
Do you want me to give you some pointers? Harry stared in awe. This beautiful creature wanted to help him? A small part of his mind wondered why, but he ignored it. Miranda held out her hand to him and he reached towards it, closer, closer, almost there.
yelled an angry voice. Harry jumped and quickly pulled his hand back. He turned around and found himself staring into the red face of his Uncle Vernon.
Time to leave, he said.
But Miranda... Harry protested, weakly.
roared Vernon. Harry sighed.
Sorry, Miranda, he said to her, Maybe, I'll see you next summer.
Bye Harry! she called after him, as Vernon dragged him off.
She waited until he was gone before she let the smile drop from her face.
she growled. A giggle broke through her thoughts. She looked down at a small toddler playing with a plastic toy. The child noticed her stare and looked up, smiling at her angry face. Then all the child saw was darkness.
***
An old woman sat in an airplane reading a book. To any other passenger, she looked perfectly ordinary. Probably on her way to Europe to take one last journey before travel became to much for her in her advanced age. But even if a passenger knew better, even if they could break the magical shields around her, she would still remain the same. Old, withered, and alone. The only change they might notice would be within the book title. The woman was not reading a paperback detective mystery. She was, in fact, reading a quite unusual book. A leather bound book that looked quite old and whose title was stamped in gold in the front. A title reading, Curses and Countercurses. One might wonder if she herself had a curse set upon her and was searching for its counter. This was not the case. For some curses cannot be broken, no matter how powerful the breaker. Few people considered immortality a curse, but Tritza knew better.