Chapter Two
Graduation
July 1997
***********
It
had been 2 years since his first trip to London. Since he found the book that
changed his life. He had reread
the book he had found more times then he cared to admit especially to his
professors whose classes he barely passed. It took him a while to accept that
it was a genuine autobiography of sorts and not a work of fiction as he had
tried to convince him self after the first 3 times reading. In fact it would still be an argument
in his mind if it hadn't been for that part of the scroll he had found
with it which clearly came from a different source. There had only been a full
paragraph and the first line of the second left on it for him to read but it
seemed to give an heir of legitimacy to the book.
But aside from hurting his grades,
the book had done something else. It had given him a breath of fresh air, some
hope for the future. To read about this boy who repeatedly but others best
interest ahead his own despite all the hardships he had faced, losing his
parents when he was still a baby, having someone try to kill that same night,
and being this constant target of evil. Through it all he persevered and seemed
to continue to triumph. Maybe
there was some hope for Jeff. After all he had it hard but nowhere near as bad.
His parents may not have had any faith in him but least no one tried to kill
him. That he knew of anyway. He had just graduated from the
University of Michigan with a degree in English, and was on his way home to his
apartment in what he fondly called "The Cultural Wasteland" also
known as Long Island, New York.
He had been driving what seemed
like an endless trip but the end was actually very near. Making a right off
Hempstead Turnpike he was there. Just a block down was the parking lot to his
apartment complex. He parked his
car, which was covered in band stickers he had collected over the year, got out
with the bag that carried the book and his laptop (and Apple Powerbook he had
picked up back in December). He
finally reached the hallway to his apartment and to his surprise there was a
man standing outside his door. He had never seen this man before, he was sure
he would have remembered him. He was wearing an odd-looking trench coat. It was
odd because in solid color or pattern it seemed to be made up of several
different patters and material for that matter. It also had extremely baggy
arms. There was also and abnormally large hood on it, which seemed to start
somewhere on his arms and came down almost covering his eyes.
As
Jeff started to approach him the man held up his hand to stop him, bent over
and left a envelope at the foot of the door, stood up, turned and walked to the
other way down the hall way.
Jeff stood stunned for several
minutes very confused by what had just happened. He finally walked up to the
door, picked up the envelope opened the door to his apartment put down his bag
and headed straight for the kitchen. He needed a drink. He poured himself a
generous amount of his favorite, well actually the only scotch he would drink,
Glenmorangie. Sat down on the
counter, which had come to be one of his favorite places to sit in world. There
was something very comfortable even if the tile always seemed to be cold even
in the hottest summers. It had always been a good reminder that he was in HIS
home, not his parents that he never felt comfortable in.
He down half his glass of scotch
and opened up the letter and read it. It didn't take to long.
It
was easily the creepiest letter he had ever received and considering who had
seen leave it, things only seemed to get creepier. There was very in life that
was as creepy or odd as this. Well of course the incident in London was
one…
Just then it hit him, the book, he
was positive that there was something in there that could help him. It had
become his bible, Dead Sea Scrolls and something else of that religious nature.
In fact the wizarding world, or more specifically Harry Potters life, was his
religion now.
As he was flipping through the book
the doorbell rang. His first reaction was that, the oddball had returned but
quickly disregarded that and went to open the door. Standing at his door was
tall well built man who appeared to be in his 30s though Jeff had never been
very good at guessing ages.
"Hello
Jeff"
Jeff
stood ever more confused by the events of the day looking at the stranger who
looked friendly enough. "Uh
hi. Can I help you?"
"Actually,
I am here to help you, could I come in?" the man said with such an air of
confidence it seemed to put Jeff at ease.
"Um
well…sure" He led the stranger in to his living room and offered
him a seat.
"Sorry
about the mess but I just got home from school just now." Jeff sat back
in his giant couch. It actually took up half the room but he wanted something
like that when he picked it out. Somewhere he could seat and read for hours in
comfort and evenfall asleep when he got to lazy to go to his room.
"Not
at all, you should see the mess in my place, next to it your apartment is
spotless. Well let me start by introducing myself. My name if Trevor Anderson,
I work in London for special agency. I have spent the last 2 years tracking the
movements of members of a cult, a rather sinister cult at that. Until three
months ago they only existed in London. Actually I don't know how long he had been here because he had
sneaked out of the country. Took me a while to track him to the U.S. just
outside of Ann Arbor Michigan where when I caught up with him, I found him
spying on you. I have kept a closer watch on him since finding him again and
yesterday he came out here and I just saw him leave that note at your door, I
decided to give you a minute to read it before ringing the bell. So may I ask
what was in the note"?
A
smile came across Jeff's face like never before. "Excuse me for a
second" He got up, grabbled his bag opened it up and put it o the table
in front of Trevor. "Now could you tell me the truth"?
Trevor
face went blank as Jeff's Math notebook. "Um uh,
where..how…where did you get that?"
Jeff
explained the story of his trip to London. He had never told anyone the whole
story before. He was sure his friends would think him insane if had told of the
kid disappearing into the wall. He had just told them he found it lying on the
sidewalk.
"So
this is all true, its not just some fantastic work of fiction?" He said
excitedly.
"Well,
I don't suppose were going to be able to whip out two years of your life
so well, yes, yes it is all true. Well some of it was written out of context by
the author but for the most part yes it is accurate."
Jeff
sat there half stunned half more excited then he had ever been. His mind bowled
over with questions upon questions. " Wow" was about all Jeff was able to mutter though for
several minutes.
"Well
so here is the truth. I am not a wizard, but I do have a working relationship
with the Ministry of Magic and the Head of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore. I had
meet Albus 17 years ago before Lord Voldemort meet Harry that fateful night. I
was working in London as building security just a few doors down from the Leaky
Cauldron, er the place where you had your little encounter. I left work late one night and suddenly
I was pulled into the I thought was going to be the wall and it turned out to
be the entrance to the bar. Dumbledore had pulled in for several reasons. He
had been looking for someone outside the Wizarding world that he could stay in
contact with, someone who both had an open mind to new possibilities and
someone who might help track down Death Eaters, er the "cult" I
spoke of, who were trying to keep hidden in the Muggle world. After the Dark
Lord fell he convinced the head of the Ministry of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, that
it would useful to keep a Muggle on "staff" though it was decided
to keep my job secret, known only to the three of us. Dumbledore though he never seemed to sure of it wanted to
keep an emissary to outside world so that someday wizards and witches could
live more openly with muggles though he never shared this opinion with Fudge.
He simply told him that should Voldemort come back it would be necessary to
have outside contact. Also I might be able to help track Death Eaters who went
into hiding after the Lord Voldemort was defeated and Fudge agreed. Well 2
years ago just a few months before your trip to London Voldemort rose again. I
don't know why that Death Eater I am tracking came to the U.S. or why he
followed but I am guessing that note might have some indication."
Jeff
went to kitchen to get the note and another glass of scotch. If he had ever had
a better excuse to drink he could not think of it. His dreams were coming true
but to the tune of a Death Eater following him. He wasn't sure whether to
be thrilled that his dreams were coming true, or terrified that his dreams were
coming true. Either way he was sure it called for some scotch.