-- Chapter 3: Visions --
At that moment, in a place many thousands of miles away, the sun was rising, and a wizarding family was beginning their day. This family was what many wizards would tell you was one of the old wizarding families. The Clorics could indeed trace their bloodlines back many thousands of years, but rather unusually for a pureblood wizarding family, they where not at all over-obsessed with the purity of their line.
Quite the opposite in fact. Artemis Cloric and his wife Alicia had five children. The oldest, Claire was now 23. Claire was exceptionally gifted at magic, like all the Clorics, so it had come as a shock to many in the wizarding community when Cloric announced that Claire would not be attending the local wizarding school when she turned 11.
You see, Cloric wanted all his children to grow up as individuals, and that meant letting them make their own decisions about what they wanted to do in their lives.
Claire had always desired to help muggles, and so, she turned her back on magic and enrolled in a muggle high school. Seven years later she graduated top of her class and then went to medical school and graduated from that as a doctor. Claire frequently had interesting discussions with her mother, as her mother was a nurse at the local wizarding hospital.
There was also the 4 other children, two of whom were currently at the local wizarding high school, the third had gone on an wizard exchange trip to the states and then permanently transferred there while the fourth was still too young to decide. Luis, the oldest boy was a rather powerful wizard who had recently turned 18 and had just arrived back from the states after graduating, Neolyte was a quirky 16 year old who attended the local school 'Kiwi College of Witchcraft and Wizardry' which their family had attended for generations, then there was Trinity who was 15 and obsessed with divination; and for good reason, she was a rarity - a true seer, and lastly there was Saul, who was six.
The Clorics house from the outside looked like a tasteful and mainly normal farming house. What you would expect for a house that had fields and paddocks around it for miles upon miles. It had a yard separating it from the many paddocks surrounding it, which the Clorics also owned - and a tall line of pine trees separating and obscuring the yard from the paddocks. Leaning against the house where ten broomsticks, although several of them had fallen over into the snow caked yard. Also piled against the side of the house, which might have looked slightly suspicious if one of Claires muggle friends was to visit, were a large number of wooden crates, with the words "Caution!:Boggart" painted on the sides in yellow paint.
Artemis was standing in the middle of the living room area at the front of the house, currently being fussed over by his wife.
"Dratted feathers!", she said clearly annoyed. Artemis had his arms stretched out and all around his feet where white feathers. Alicia picked up another feather with a wave of her wand and carefully directed it onto the edge of his cloak, where she performed a simple pasting charm that held it in place. All the edges of his black cloak had a single decorative line of white feathers around them, except for the cuffs. The hat he was wearing had a white feather on it and the words "Kiwi College of Witchcraft and Wizardry". Artemis was the DADA Professor there.
Trinity and Neolyte were also in the room, hurriedly cramming toast into their mouths and pulling their similarly feathered school cloaks over their shoulders. It was a day school rather than a boarding school, so they had to be at the pen by 9am each day, to be let through.
Suddenly Trinity stood shock still.. she had stopped looking at the ranch-slider door she was walking towards and was instead concentrating on a sudden vision in her head.
"Hurry up Trinity! ..We'll be late!", said Neolyte between bites of his toast, turning to see why Trinity had stopped.
"Shhhh..", said Trinity, "I've just seen something.. its a boy".
"Well duh!", said Neolyte, "I'm standing right in front of you".
"What is it Trinity? Is it a vision?", said Mrs Cloric, coming up behind her daughter and putting her arm around her. Trinity went a shade paler as she watched the boy, who was obviously in some kind of distress.
"I think so.. he seems to be having some kind of a fit on the ground.. and screaming - he looks like he is lying on a dirt track there is slushy snow there..", Trinity screwed up her face trying to concentrate on the image in front of her.
Claire had just walked into the room yawning and looked mildly surprised at this. "Well none of the muggles around here suffer from epilepsy", she stated, "Why don't you try the crystal ball, you might get a clearer idea of where he is?".
But a look of comprehension had already dawned on Trinity's face.. "purple flowers..", she muttered, "Mum, he's lying in the lane going past our Butterbeer hop field".
The spinning feeling had stopped, but it was not for a long time that the darkness slowly began to fade into a lighter shade of grey. There was a low buzzing in the background. After a while the buzzing seemed to separate up.. until it became recognisable as words.
Harry slowly regained consciousness. The severe pain of Voldemorts never-ending Cruciatus curse had left him. As he lay there his memories of the events preceding the curse began to come back to him, and he slowly remembered everything. If the pain has stopped, he thought to himself, and I'm not crazy - which I don't think I am.. then I must be dead.
Harry opened his eyes, and saw above him a distorted haze. Oh great, he thought dismally.. I'm a ghost, but I don't have my glasses on, so I'm going to be looking at a blurred world for the rest of all eternity.
As he lay there staring up at the blurr above him it began to come into focus. He saw he was looking at the blurr through his glasses.. and as he watched some more the blurr slowly came into focus. It was a ceiling of a room in a house.
The talking he could now hear clearly was coming from off to his right. He turned his head gingerly to the side, realizing then that he was lying tucked up in a bed.
A wavey blond haired girl of about 20 was standing at the other end of a rather large room. She was chatting animatedly to a boy who looked about Harrys age. He had short blond dreadlocks and a grin that seemed to go right up to his ears. As Harry strained to try and catch what they were saying, he saw that the room he was in was definitely that of a wizards house. The girl was standing in front of a bubbling cauldron on a platform beside a fireplace. On the other side of the cauldron was a bookshelf, which was very high and seemed to take up most of the rest of the wall. When he looked down past his feet he saw a ranch sliding door - currently open. There were two boys standing out in the yard, surrounded by tall pine trees. One of them had the same blond hair as the girl in the room, the other, had brown hair. The blond haired one was about 18, the brown haired boy maybe 16 or 17. Harry tried to sit up slightly to see what they where doing.. they had their wands pointed at something odd hovering between them.
"ACCIO!, ACCIO!, ACCIO!", they were both yelling loudly. It seemed to be some kind of duel. The brown haired boy had an slightly odd accent in his voice.
"I see you have finally come around, Harry Potter", spoke a voice from behind and above Harry. Harry jumped slightly at this and turned his head to see who it was that had spoken. The other two people in the room hadn't moved but there was a man standing at the head of his bed. He moved around now into view and crouched down so that Harry could see him.
He looked about 50, and was perhaps the father of the blond children, judging by his own fair hair. There was a sick looking phoenix on his shoulder.
"Fawkes", whispered Harry.
"Sorry.. what did you say?", said the man with a concerned look on his face leaning closer.
Harry saw then that it wasn't Fawkes. This phoenix had slightly different markings on its wings and head.
"I'm sorry.. I thought for a minute that he was Professor Dumbledore's bird Fawkes", apologized Harry.
"Ah", said the man raising his eyebrows slightly. "Dumbledore.. yes I sent him a Kea over a week ago. Might not reach him for about another week though, you are a long way from home".
"Pardon.. you sent him a what?", said Harry curiously.
"A Kea. It's a type of parrot. Our Morpork is currently out on an errand, and anyway, the Kea will reach the United Kingdom faster - it has a larger wingspan than any owl".
"I'm not in the U.K. anymore?", asked Harry confused.
"You didn't know? No.. you are in New Zealand, we found you unconscious in the lane beside the hop field.. driven completely crazy from the Cruciatus curse, I'm afraid. But we -"
"I'm not crazy!", said Harry outraged!
"No, no of course you aren't!", said the man quickly, "My oldest daughter Claire and my wife Alicia came up with a potion from scratch.. seems like they invented the only known cure for the insanity left over from the Cruciatus curse".
"Then.. then that means you can help Neville!", said Harry thinking quickly, "His parents need that potion too.. they don't even recognize him since Voldemort tortured them".
"Is that what really did happen to you?", asked the man quietly, "Had you been tortured by Voldemort?".
"Yes", said Harry, not wanting to talk about it, and slightly surprised that the man had said Voldemorts name, "Will you send some to Nevilles parents?".
"I'm sure I'll let you take some back with you for him. We weren't entirely sure what had happened, but now-"
Suddenly there was a loud BANG! from outside and Harry turned his head to look out the door quickly, and the man stood up.
"Boys!", he said with annoyance in his voice. "Harry here is trying to get some rest".
Both boys where standing in the middle of the yard looking rather stunned. Surrounding them on the ground were several hundred wrapped lollies and bits of a bag. It seems that they had been trying to have some kind of summoning competition to get the bag first, and it had tried to go both ways and finally burst.
"Harrys woken up then?", said the blond boy shaking his head and stepping inside. The other boy swayed slightly, then followed.
"Pleased to meet you!", he said holding out his hand, "I'm Luis Cloric".
Harry took his hand, and then turned to the man, about to ask him..
"I'm Artemis Cloric, Luis's father", he said quickly, realizing that he hadn't introduced himself. "And Luis is my oldest son. Neolyte over here-", he motioned to the boy by the cauldron who had now come over to join them with the girl, "He is my second oldest son, while Claire here is my oldest daughter. I also have a fifteen-year-old daughter, whom was responsible for finding you, and a six-year-old son called Saul. Trinity, Saul and my wife Alicia are down at the village right now", he explained.
"Humph", said the brown-haired boy standing beside Neolyte.
"Oh yes", said Artemis, "This is Luis's friend from school - Michael Columbo. Luis transferred to Salem Institute in the states last year", Artemis explained.
Michael stepped forwards and seized Harrys hand shaking it vigorously, "Pleased to meet ya, real pleased! Call me Mike - Neo's told me all about ya!", he said with as wide a grin as Neolytes.
Harry went slightly red, they were all looking at him smiling.
"Would you like something to eat, Harry", asked Claire kindly.
Harry suddenly realized that he was very hungry and nodded his head, "Yes please", he said.
After Claire had rushed off to the kitchen to get some food Artemis helped Harry out of bed and he went and sat down on one of the comfortable chairs in the middle of the room, while Mike and Neolyte banished the bed Harry had been lying in into another room. His bed had been put in the living room as a temporary precaution so they could keep an eye on him while he was ill.
"You will have to share the guest bedroom with Mike, if you don't mind, Harry", Artemis said, "You will stay here until we receive word from Dumbledore about how you are to travel home".
"Do you know.. how I ended up in the lane? Does Voldemort know where I am?", Harry asked worried. Harry noticed too late, that he had said Voldemorts name again, but it didn't seem to make much of an impression; only Mike shuddered.
"There is no danger", Artemis reassured Harry, "I've had a heavy Fidelius Charm about this place ever since I got appointed as DADA professor 17 years ago at the local school here".
Harry stared at him, and then asked, "You aren't related to Clairol Cloric who founded the International Wizarding Conference, are you?"
Artemis smiled broadly, "Many wizards wouldn't know about him; you are quite a knowledgeable young man. Clairol is my Great Grandfather - He was quite a powerful wizard in his time - then he settled down here in New Zealand, and the Cloric family have lived here ever since".
"It's only because I had to write an 8 foot essay on him for my History of Magic assignment", Harry confessed.
"Well I am impressed, it seems they teach History better at Hogwarts than they do at Kiwi College", said Artemis.
"So you are one of the old wizarding families around here then.. are there many wizards in New Zealand?", asked Harry curiously.
"Yes, New Zealand has quite a large community of wizards now, and like yourself I am descended from an old wizarding family, but on both sides", stated Artemis.
"Myself?", said Harry startled, "I'm descended down a long line of wizards?".
"Good gracious yes!", said Artemis shocked, "Don't tell me Dumbledore hasn't told you yet.. well I guess he has his reasons".
Just then Claire walked in carrying a large white thing which looked kindof like a cake.. and several jugs of what looked like -
"Butterbeer!", said Harry, distracted, as he really was very hungry.
"Yes", she said.. "and I whipped up a Pavlova too", she announced setting the white cake thing down on the table and pouring the Butterbeer into tall glasses.
Harry took the glass of Butterbeer that Claire handed him and drank - it immediately gave him a nice warm feeling inside.
"Its home-made", Neolyte told Harry. "We have a field of Butterbeer hops out back".
"Butterbeer hops?", asked Harry curiously, "I've never seen those before".
"They were originally brought over by Cloric.. also a keen gardener", explained Artemis as he cut the pavlova, "They have a rather stunning purple bloom in summer".
Suddenly Harry realized.. "There's a picture of your field in a muggle tourist phamplet isn't there? I was looking at it the night before I was abducted thinking how nice it looked in New Zealand. Then later, when I were abducted I wanted to escape.. I thought of the place in the picture."
"Yes.. the muggles sometimes notice the flowers.. sometimes they get photographed, but they don't see them for what they really are", Artemis said, "Sometimes when a wizard is in great danger and there is no way of escaping, he finds himself with more power than he would normally possess. To apparate a short distance is more than what many wizards are capable of, but you did what few wizards have ever dared to do since it is extremely difficult and dangerous to apparate half-way around the world".
Later that afternoon while Harry was tucking into his sixth piece of Pavolva (which kept regenerating on the plate everytime he took a piece). He was just hearing what life was like at school in New Zealand from Neolyte and Artemis when 3 people walked into the yard through a gap in the pine trees.
"Ah, here's my wife Alicia, Trinity and Saul back now", stated Artemis standing up. "I'm sure they will be pleased to see that you have recovered, they were very worried, especially Trinity".
Harry looked at the three entering the yard curiously. Trinity looked like her mother who had wavy blond hair, also like Claires, although, Mrs Clorics hair was short, and Trinitys long hair wasn't tied back like Claires. Trinity was slightly taller than her mother. Saul resembled his father Artemis remarkably for a six-year old.. it made him look an bizarre miniature, and he had the same broad ear to ear smile on his face that Harry had seen on both Neolyte and Artemis.
As soon as the door was slid open, Saul rushed in and Harry saw at once what he was smiling at. He had made a beeline for the plate of Pavlova on the table and was scooping up a piece.
"Saul!", examined Mrs Cloric crossly, "You shouldn't be hungry! You just had a large ice-cream in town, and its nearly dinnertime now!".
Saul didn't appear to be listening though. Apparently he was too much of a fan of Claires cooking to care about spoiling his dinner.
"Mmmuph", he finally said, mouth still full and everyone laughed.
Later that night after a pleasant dinner of chicken and cashew nuts with vegetables, Harry watched as Neo (he had told Harry that only his parents called him by his full name), and Trinity spread their homework out on the table and began to work on it. Neo was writing about Diricawls for his Care of Magical Creatures class, while Trinity was studying a crystal ball intently and making notes about what she could see, and then referring to the appropriate page in 'Unfogging the Future'.
"Can you actually see anything in there then?", Harry asked after a while, when he had watched Trinity repeat this process several times.
"Oh yes", Trinity said matter-of-factly. "I usually see visions without the crystal ball, but it helps me see visions more clearly, and it is a useful aid if I want to watch a vision over again, or show it to another person", she paused, and then went on, "I had a vision of you a couple of weeks ago - that's how we found you".
"Oh", said Harry, "The divination teacher we have at Hogwarts fakes it most of the time, I think".
"Does she?", Trinity giggled. "The one at our school does too! I once saw Macualy Wisply falling off his broomstick in the crystal ball during a divination test and my teacher, Professor Lightly came over, peered in it and told me I was making things up and gave me a G minus. Later that day during lunch hour, Macualy fell off his broomstick and broke his leg. Dad went up and told Lightly that I deserved a A+ for my prediction".
"Well that's good", Harry said. "Being able to actually see things in a crystal ball is quite rare though, isn't it? Sometimes I've had visions, but only when I'm asleep, and I've never seen anything in a crystal ball before".
"Would you like to?", Trinity asked, continuing, "I've got some crystalline powder here somewhere..", she said turning and riffling through her full school bag.
"Some what?", said Harry.
"Crystalline powder. What happens is I look into the crystal ball, and then when I see something interesting I can share my vision with you by putting some of it in my hand, rubbing it round 3 and a half times, then you take my hand with the powder in it and look into the crystal ball too. You will see the same vision in the crystal ball that I'm looking at whether or not you have a seers gift.. it would even work on a muggle".
"I'd like to try that", said Harry interested, wondering whether the unformed blobs that he had always seen in divination class, where actually just that, or whether there was in fact something more that could be seen in a crystal ball.
"Here it is", said Trinity drawing out a small velvet drawstring bag full of purple powder. "Right, I'll just cast around the crystal ball for a minute, and then when I've found something I think you will find interesting, I'll tell you to take my hand after I've taken the powder".
With that Trinity leaned over the crystal ball and started gazing into it more intently with her blue eyes than Harry had ever seen Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown or even Professor Trelawney do before.
After about half an hour Neo sighed, looked up from his homework and said, "Just show him anything.. you have homework to do before tomorrow after all, and its getting late".
"I don't mind what you show me", Harry confirmed. "I just want to see if crystal ball gazing ever gets beyond dark blobs..".
Neo grinned, while Trinity said, "I just wanted to show him something good that's all.. there's only one half decent vision tonight here, and I don't know what it means, so there's no point really... I was trying to work it out before. It's just a man and a boy talking, a snake on the ground, and a red sun setting behind them."
"That will do!", said Harry.
"Alright then", said Trinity taking up a handful of the powder without removing her gaze from the ball. She rubbed it into her hand 3 and a half times, and put her hand out for Harry to take.
Harry took Trinitys hand and felt a strange prickling feeling rush up his arm, neck and then to his eyes. He felt as if he was suddenly looking through a purple tinted glass. "Look into the ball now Harry", instructed Trinity as she took her wand, pointed it at the crystal ball and said "DÉJA VU!".
Harry did as he was told and suddenly as he stared into the ball the purple haze cleared.
Standing on a patch of grass in full colour in the crystal ball was a man and a boy - Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco.
They appeared to be in deep conversation. Harry wished he could hear what they where talking about, but crystal ball gazing is just that - gazing, he wouldn't know what they were saying unless they suddenly decided to write their words down and hold them up. Behind them the sun was starting to set, and a very large snake slithered into view.
"It's kindof boring, huh?", said Trinity beside him. "Do you want to keep looking? I stopped about here before".
"Keep looking! Keep looking!", said Harry urgently, "I know them, they are the Malfoys.. Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, he helped kidnap me before".
"Well if you are sure..", said Trinity, clearly sounding worried by this new information.
When the snake had slithered to a stop in front of Lucius, Harry recognized it as Nagini - Voldemorts snake. Harry realized that the Malfoys must be going to meet Voldemort there.
Suddenly Voldemort apparated into view. Two other Death Eaters then appeared beside him as well.. Goyle and Nott.
Lucius then took Dracos right arm and rolled up his sleeve. Draco turned quite pale as Nott produced a knife and cut Draco in the arm so that he bleed. Then Voldemort took his wand, and placed it against the cut on Dracos arm. He must have then said an incantation, because suddenly there was a yellow flash, and when it cleared, Draco had a tattoo of the Dark Mark on his arm. It immediately began to glow red as Voldemort took his wand away and pressed his finger to it.
"TRINITY!", Artemis said very loudly. Suddenly the image Harry was seeing dissolved and Harry looked up to see Artemis standing there looking very cross indeed.
"Harry woke up only 7 hours ago after being sick for 2 weeks, and I walk in to find you showing him only knows what in that ball. He is far too weak to be using crystalline powder to share your visions. I expected you of all people to have more sense. I hope you weren't showing him anything shocking."
Trinity shook her head going very red, clearly not trusting herself to speak.
"It was nothing, really", lied Harry, "I feel fine, I don't feel weak or anything".
"Even so, its late, and I think you should go to bed now and get some of your strength back. Today has been quite exhausting for you. Mikes already asleep.
Harry didn't see the point in arguing. After all, he reflected, he did feel exhausted, even if he wouldn't admit that out loud.
Artemis showed him to the spare room he was sharing with Mike, and handed him some pajamas. Harry went in there and got into his pajamas quietly in the dark, so as not to wake Mike.
The next day Harry woke up to find the sun already up and Mikes bed on the other side of the room had already been abandoned. Harry quickly dressed and went out into living room to find a note on the table.
Harry -
Mike and I are in the field in front of the house playing a game of Snowditch, everyone else is at either work or school. Feel free to make yourself some breakfast and then you can come out and watch if you want.
-Luis
Harry wondered briefly whether Snowditch is just Quidditch played when there has been a snowfall. But no, that would be silly. It would still be Quidditch. He walked over to the kitchen and hurriedly made himself some toast and spread a thick layer of stuff on it titled 'Marmite' -kindof like jam, but brown in colour.
Harry then took a spare coat and scarf off the coat rack beside the ranch slider, and stepped into a pair of gumboots. He doubted whether anyone would mind him borrowing them, there where such alot of spares lying about anyway.
He slid open the door and stepped outside into the freshly fallen snow. For some reason it was quite a different kindof a cold than that which he had experienced when it had snowed at Hogwarts, not unpleasant though. Harry tramped across the yard leaving large footprints and came to the line of pine trees. He then walked parallel with the line of trees until he came to a gap and walked through it. On the other side of a snowy dirt road there was a fence with a paddock on the other side of it, and there was Luis and Mike... being chased by a dozen snowballs in the air.
"Hi Harry!", yelled Mike, swooping down out of the air and landing with a thump in front of him.
"Do you fly? We can teach you how to play Snowditch if you would like, although, there aren't enough of us for a proper game - but we can play one when the others get home from school.. and with some of the local kids".
Luis landed beside Mike before Harry could reply.. Harry could see that he was a much better flier than Mike, and didn't thump down at all when he landed. "My brother Neo and I invented Snowditch a couple of years ago when we had a particularly heavy snow fall", he said enthusiastically.
Harry was reminded of Oliver Wood just then listening to Luis. "Sure", Harry said, "I'd really like to learn to play Snowditch, I play Quidditch for the team at school, but I never get to play during the holidays, since I live with muggles".
"You live with muggles?", said Mike curiously. "I'm muggle born.. my dad always thought there was something odd about me.. I mean.. odder than the family in general, which is kindof an odd family. He's actually a police detective.. so was particularly clued up to noticing things.. and when I got my letter he was pleased as.. he thought I might have had something wrong with me before that. He's very accepting though, my mum didn't believe I was a wizard for ages though.."
"My Aunt and Uncle hate me because I'm a wizard", Harry said, "They tried to stop me from going to school, and didn't tell me I was a wizard until I found out when I was 11".
"That's terrible", gasped Mike, clearly shocked. "My father would never stop me from going to the school I wanted to go to.. actually.. he's really keen on me to become an Auror now.. that's like the wizarding equivalent of a police detective he reckons", Mike said grinning and rolling his eyes skywards.
"ACCIO NIMBUS!", said Luis just then, pointing his wand towards the gap in the trees, though which Harry could just see the house. A broomstick came flying towards them and stopped in front of Luis. "Here you are, have you flown this model before?".
"I used to own one like this", Harry said, remembering flying his old Nimbus 2000, before the day the whomping willow smashed it up. "I fly a Firebolt now though".
"Wow - Really!", said Luis, clearly impressed. "The Moutohora Macaws, that's our national team here in New Zealand, they fly Firebolts. They're meant to be the best broomsticks ever".
"Just one thing", said Mike, looking slightly confused. "If your Aunt and Uncle hate you so much, and didn't want you to go to school, and you are an orphan, then how on earth did you get the money to pay for a Firebolt?".
"My godfather brought it for me", said Harry, not really wanting to have to go into all that about Sirus.
"Oh", said Mike. "Well why didn't he tell you that you were a wizard before you were 11 then?".
"He wasn't around then, I only found out about him in my third year of school, that's when we met", explained Harry.. hoping the questions would stop. He was beginning to feel like he was guilty of something.
"That's enough Mike", said Luis grinning. "It's bad enough staying at your parents place in Los Angeles, with your father asking us one thousand questions about our lives, without you doing the same thing to poor Harry here!".
"Oh right", said Mike apologetically, "Sorry. It runs in the family".
About ten minutes later Luis had explained to him all about Snowditch, with Mike adding his bit every now and then. All it seemed to involve really, were the bludgers being replaced by as many snowballs as your team could enchant to go after the opposing team during the course of the game. Luis demonstrated to Harry how to enchant a snowball to follow Mike, and then, if he was to play the part of beater, how to clear the snowball out of the air. Beaters where the only players in snowditch who where allowed to clear snowballs out of the air. All the rest of the game, Seekers, Keepers and Chasers roles were the same.
Of course, with only three of them in the air, they didn't have a proper game, but Harry was still enjoying himself immensely, Harry played on Mikes team, and Luis was the only player in his own team, taking on all the roles at once. After about 15 minutes Harry caught the snitch, and they decided to go inside and warm up.
"Lucky Dad's not home", Luis said, after they had changed their clothes and were sitting round the fire drinking hot chocolate. "He would have thrown a fit if he had seen how wet you where when you came in. He thought you might not have been going to recover for a while there last week".
Harry said nothing, and watched as Mike got out a piece of old parchment and pointed his wand at it.
"I SEEK U!", Mike said. Harry could see writing rapidly appearing on the parchment.
"Hey!", exclaimed Harry, "Is that the Marauder's map? I have one just like that, but that's not what you say to get it to work."
"The what map?", said Mike, "No, this is a piece of parchment Luis and I enchanted last year to keep in touch during the holidays. It was my idea. You see there is this thing my mother is addicted to on her computer. She uses it to talk to people all over the world, its called ICQ, and well, I thought, what a good idea, wouldn't it be cool if there was a wizarding version? So Luis and I made one, and now I can talk to all my friends in the states during these holidays, and talk to Luis when I'm in the states and he's still here at home."
"Yes, we are thinking of perhaps selling them to wizards who have friends overseas", said Luis.
"How does it work?", asked Harry.
"Well all you do is choose a name from the list that appears and circle it with your wand. Then you dictate or write with a quill on the parchment what you want to say, and the message arrives immediately on the other wizards parchment for them to read", explained Luis.
"That's really cool", enthused Harry, "Could I buy one off you? I'd like to keep in touch with you when I go back home."
"Better than that - we will give you one free", said Mike, taking a clean piece of parchment out of his pocket and handing it to Harry.
"Hey thanks", said Harry grinning.
At that moment, in a place many thousands of miles away, the sun was rising, and a wizarding family was beginning their day. This family was what many wizards would tell you was one of the old wizarding families. The Clorics could indeed trace their bloodlines back many thousands of years, but rather unusually for a pureblood wizarding family, they where not at all over-obsessed with the purity of their line.
Quite the opposite in fact. Artemis Cloric and his wife Alicia had five children. The oldest, Claire was now 23. Claire was exceptionally gifted at magic, like all the Clorics, so it had come as a shock to many in the wizarding community when Cloric announced that Claire would not be attending the local wizarding school when she turned 11.
You see, Cloric wanted all his children to grow up as individuals, and that meant letting them make their own decisions about what they wanted to do in their lives.
Claire had always desired to help muggles, and so, she turned her back on magic and enrolled in a muggle high school. Seven years later she graduated top of her class and then went to medical school and graduated from that as a doctor. Claire frequently had interesting discussions with her mother, as her mother was a nurse at the local wizarding hospital.
There was also the 4 other children, two of whom were currently at the local wizarding high school, the third had gone on an wizard exchange trip to the states and then permanently transferred there while the fourth was still too young to decide. Luis, the oldest boy was a rather powerful wizard who had recently turned 18 and had just arrived back from the states after graduating, Neolyte was a quirky 16 year old who attended the local school 'Kiwi College of Witchcraft and Wizardry' which their family had attended for generations, then there was Trinity who was 15 and obsessed with divination; and for good reason, she was a rarity - a true seer, and lastly there was Saul, who was six.
The Clorics house from the outside looked like a tasteful and mainly normal farming house. What you would expect for a house that had fields and paddocks around it for miles upon miles. It had a yard separating it from the many paddocks surrounding it, which the Clorics also owned - and a tall line of pine trees separating and obscuring the yard from the paddocks. Leaning against the house where ten broomsticks, although several of them had fallen over into the snow caked yard. Also piled against the side of the house, which might have looked slightly suspicious if one of Claires muggle friends was to visit, were a large number of wooden crates, with the words "Caution!:Boggart" painted on the sides in yellow paint.
Artemis was standing in the middle of the living room area at the front of the house, currently being fussed over by his wife.
"Dratted feathers!", she said clearly annoyed. Artemis had his arms stretched out and all around his feet where white feathers. Alicia picked up another feather with a wave of her wand and carefully directed it onto the edge of his cloak, where she performed a simple pasting charm that held it in place. All the edges of his black cloak had a single decorative line of white feathers around them, except for the cuffs. The hat he was wearing had a white feather on it and the words "Kiwi College of Witchcraft and Wizardry". Artemis was the DADA Professor there.
Trinity and Neolyte were also in the room, hurriedly cramming toast into their mouths and pulling their similarly feathered school cloaks over their shoulders. It was a day school rather than a boarding school, so they had to be at the pen by 9am each day, to be let through.
Suddenly Trinity stood shock still.. she had stopped looking at the ranch-slider door she was walking towards and was instead concentrating on a sudden vision in her head.
"Hurry up Trinity! ..We'll be late!", said Neolyte between bites of his toast, turning to see why Trinity had stopped.
"Shhhh..", said Trinity, "I've just seen something.. its a boy".
"Well duh!", said Neolyte, "I'm standing right in front of you".
"What is it Trinity? Is it a vision?", said Mrs Cloric, coming up behind her daughter and putting her arm around her. Trinity went a shade paler as she watched the boy, who was obviously in some kind of distress.
"I think so.. he seems to be having some kind of a fit on the ground.. and screaming - he looks like he is lying on a dirt track there is slushy snow there..", Trinity screwed up her face trying to concentrate on the image in front of her.
Claire had just walked into the room yawning and looked mildly surprised at this. "Well none of the muggles around here suffer from epilepsy", she stated, "Why don't you try the crystal ball, you might get a clearer idea of where he is?".
But a look of comprehension had already dawned on Trinity's face.. "purple flowers..", she muttered, "Mum, he's lying in the lane going past our Butterbeer hop field".
The spinning feeling had stopped, but it was not for a long time that the darkness slowly began to fade into a lighter shade of grey. There was a low buzzing in the background. After a while the buzzing seemed to separate up.. until it became recognisable as words.
Harry slowly regained consciousness. The severe pain of Voldemorts never-ending Cruciatus curse had left him. As he lay there his memories of the events preceding the curse began to come back to him, and he slowly remembered everything. If the pain has stopped, he thought to himself, and I'm not crazy - which I don't think I am.. then I must be dead.
Harry opened his eyes, and saw above him a distorted haze. Oh great, he thought dismally.. I'm a ghost, but I don't have my glasses on, so I'm going to be looking at a blurred world for the rest of all eternity.
As he lay there staring up at the blurr above him it began to come into focus. He saw he was looking at the blurr through his glasses.. and as he watched some more the blurr slowly came into focus. It was a ceiling of a room in a house.
The talking he could now hear clearly was coming from off to his right. He turned his head gingerly to the side, realizing then that he was lying tucked up in a bed.
A wavey blond haired girl of about 20 was standing at the other end of a rather large room. She was chatting animatedly to a boy who looked about Harrys age. He had short blond dreadlocks and a grin that seemed to go right up to his ears. As Harry strained to try and catch what they were saying, he saw that the room he was in was definitely that of a wizards house. The girl was standing in front of a bubbling cauldron on a platform beside a fireplace. On the other side of the cauldron was a bookshelf, which was very high and seemed to take up most of the rest of the wall. When he looked down past his feet he saw a ranch sliding door - currently open. There were two boys standing out in the yard, surrounded by tall pine trees. One of them had the same blond hair as the girl in the room, the other, had brown hair. The blond haired one was about 18, the brown haired boy maybe 16 or 17. Harry tried to sit up slightly to see what they where doing.. they had their wands pointed at something odd hovering between them.
"ACCIO!, ACCIO!, ACCIO!", they were both yelling loudly. It seemed to be some kind of duel. The brown haired boy had an slightly odd accent in his voice.
"I see you have finally come around, Harry Potter", spoke a voice from behind and above Harry. Harry jumped slightly at this and turned his head to see who it was that had spoken. The other two people in the room hadn't moved but there was a man standing at the head of his bed. He moved around now into view and crouched down so that Harry could see him.
He looked about 50, and was perhaps the father of the blond children, judging by his own fair hair. There was a sick looking phoenix on his shoulder.
"Fawkes", whispered Harry.
"Sorry.. what did you say?", said the man with a concerned look on his face leaning closer.
Harry saw then that it wasn't Fawkes. This phoenix had slightly different markings on its wings and head.
"I'm sorry.. I thought for a minute that he was Professor Dumbledore's bird Fawkes", apologized Harry.
"Ah", said the man raising his eyebrows slightly. "Dumbledore.. yes I sent him a Kea over a week ago. Might not reach him for about another week though, you are a long way from home".
"Pardon.. you sent him a what?", said Harry curiously.
"A Kea. It's a type of parrot. Our Morpork is currently out on an errand, and anyway, the Kea will reach the United Kingdom faster - it has a larger wingspan than any owl".
"I'm not in the U.K. anymore?", asked Harry confused.
"You didn't know? No.. you are in New Zealand, we found you unconscious in the lane beside the hop field.. driven completely crazy from the Cruciatus curse, I'm afraid. But we -"
"I'm not crazy!", said Harry outraged!
"No, no of course you aren't!", said the man quickly, "My oldest daughter Claire and my wife Alicia came up with a potion from scratch.. seems like they invented the only known cure for the insanity left over from the Cruciatus curse".
"Then.. then that means you can help Neville!", said Harry thinking quickly, "His parents need that potion too.. they don't even recognize him since Voldemort tortured them".
"Is that what really did happen to you?", asked the man quietly, "Had you been tortured by Voldemort?".
"Yes", said Harry, not wanting to talk about it, and slightly surprised that the man had said Voldemorts name, "Will you send some to Nevilles parents?".
"I'm sure I'll let you take some back with you for him. We weren't entirely sure what had happened, but now-"
Suddenly there was a loud BANG! from outside and Harry turned his head to look out the door quickly, and the man stood up.
"Boys!", he said with annoyance in his voice. "Harry here is trying to get some rest".
Both boys where standing in the middle of the yard looking rather stunned. Surrounding them on the ground were several hundred wrapped lollies and bits of a bag. It seems that they had been trying to have some kind of summoning competition to get the bag first, and it had tried to go both ways and finally burst.
"Harrys woken up then?", said the blond boy shaking his head and stepping inside. The other boy swayed slightly, then followed.
"Pleased to meet you!", he said holding out his hand, "I'm Luis Cloric".
Harry took his hand, and then turned to the man, about to ask him..
"I'm Artemis Cloric, Luis's father", he said quickly, realizing that he hadn't introduced himself. "And Luis is my oldest son. Neolyte over here-", he motioned to the boy by the cauldron who had now come over to join them with the girl, "He is my second oldest son, while Claire here is my oldest daughter. I also have a fifteen-year-old daughter, whom was responsible for finding you, and a six-year-old son called Saul. Trinity, Saul and my wife Alicia are down at the village right now", he explained.
"Humph", said the brown-haired boy standing beside Neolyte.
"Oh yes", said Artemis, "This is Luis's friend from school - Michael Columbo. Luis transferred to Salem Institute in the states last year", Artemis explained.
Michael stepped forwards and seized Harrys hand shaking it vigorously, "Pleased to meet ya, real pleased! Call me Mike - Neo's told me all about ya!", he said with as wide a grin as Neolytes.
Harry went slightly red, they were all looking at him smiling.
"Would you like something to eat, Harry", asked Claire kindly.
Harry suddenly realized that he was very hungry and nodded his head, "Yes please", he said.
After Claire had rushed off to the kitchen to get some food Artemis helped Harry out of bed and he went and sat down on one of the comfortable chairs in the middle of the room, while Mike and Neolyte banished the bed Harry had been lying in into another room. His bed had been put in the living room as a temporary precaution so they could keep an eye on him while he was ill.
"You will have to share the guest bedroom with Mike, if you don't mind, Harry", Artemis said, "You will stay here until we receive word from Dumbledore about how you are to travel home".
"Do you know.. how I ended up in the lane? Does Voldemort know where I am?", Harry asked worried. Harry noticed too late, that he had said Voldemorts name again, but it didn't seem to make much of an impression; only Mike shuddered.
"There is no danger", Artemis reassured Harry, "I've had a heavy Fidelius Charm about this place ever since I got appointed as DADA professor 17 years ago at the local school here".
Harry stared at him, and then asked, "You aren't related to Clairol Cloric who founded the International Wizarding Conference, are you?"
Artemis smiled broadly, "Many wizards wouldn't know about him; you are quite a knowledgeable young man. Clairol is my Great Grandfather - He was quite a powerful wizard in his time - then he settled down here in New Zealand, and the Cloric family have lived here ever since".
"It's only because I had to write an 8 foot essay on him for my History of Magic assignment", Harry confessed.
"Well I am impressed, it seems they teach History better at Hogwarts than they do at Kiwi College", said Artemis.
"So you are one of the old wizarding families around here then.. are there many wizards in New Zealand?", asked Harry curiously.
"Yes, New Zealand has quite a large community of wizards now, and like yourself I am descended from an old wizarding family, but on both sides", stated Artemis.
"Myself?", said Harry startled, "I'm descended down a long line of wizards?".
"Good gracious yes!", said Artemis shocked, "Don't tell me Dumbledore hasn't told you yet.. well I guess he has his reasons".
Just then Claire walked in carrying a large white thing which looked kindof like a cake.. and several jugs of what looked like -
"Butterbeer!", said Harry, distracted, as he really was very hungry.
"Yes", she said.. "and I whipped up a Pavlova too", she announced setting the white cake thing down on the table and pouring the Butterbeer into tall glasses.
Harry took the glass of Butterbeer that Claire handed him and drank - it immediately gave him a nice warm feeling inside.
"Its home-made", Neolyte told Harry. "We have a field of Butterbeer hops out back".
"Butterbeer hops?", asked Harry curiously, "I've never seen those before".
"They were originally brought over by Cloric.. also a keen gardener", explained Artemis as he cut the pavlova, "They have a rather stunning purple bloom in summer".
Suddenly Harry realized.. "There's a picture of your field in a muggle tourist phamplet isn't there? I was looking at it the night before I was abducted thinking how nice it looked in New Zealand. Then later, when I were abducted I wanted to escape.. I thought of the place in the picture."
"Yes.. the muggles sometimes notice the flowers.. sometimes they get photographed, but they don't see them for what they really are", Artemis said, "Sometimes when a wizard is in great danger and there is no way of escaping, he finds himself with more power than he would normally possess. To apparate a short distance is more than what many wizards are capable of, but you did what few wizards have ever dared to do since it is extremely difficult and dangerous to apparate half-way around the world".
Later that afternoon while Harry was tucking into his sixth piece of Pavolva (which kept regenerating on the plate everytime he took a piece). He was just hearing what life was like at school in New Zealand from Neolyte and Artemis when 3 people walked into the yard through a gap in the pine trees.
"Ah, here's my wife Alicia, Trinity and Saul back now", stated Artemis standing up. "I'm sure they will be pleased to see that you have recovered, they were very worried, especially Trinity".
Harry looked at the three entering the yard curiously. Trinity looked like her mother who had wavy blond hair, also like Claires, although, Mrs Clorics hair was short, and Trinitys long hair wasn't tied back like Claires. Trinity was slightly taller than her mother. Saul resembled his father Artemis remarkably for a six-year old.. it made him look an bizarre miniature, and he had the same broad ear to ear smile on his face that Harry had seen on both Neolyte and Artemis.
As soon as the door was slid open, Saul rushed in and Harry saw at once what he was smiling at. He had made a beeline for the plate of Pavlova on the table and was scooping up a piece.
"Saul!", examined Mrs Cloric crossly, "You shouldn't be hungry! You just had a large ice-cream in town, and its nearly dinnertime now!".
Saul didn't appear to be listening though. Apparently he was too much of a fan of Claires cooking to care about spoiling his dinner.
"Mmmuph", he finally said, mouth still full and everyone laughed.
Later that night after a pleasant dinner of chicken and cashew nuts with vegetables, Harry watched as Neo (he had told Harry that only his parents called him by his full name), and Trinity spread their homework out on the table and began to work on it. Neo was writing about Diricawls for his Care of Magical Creatures class, while Trinity was studying a crystal ball intently and making notes about what she could see, and then referring to the appropriate page in 'Unfogging the Future'.
"Can you actually see anything in there then?", Harry asked after a while, when he had watched Trinity repeat this process several times.
"Oh yes", Trinity said matter-of-factly. "I usually see visions without the crystal ball, but it helps me see visions more clearly, and it is a useful aid if I want to watch a vision over again, or show it to another person", she paused, and then went on, "I had a vision of you a couple of weeks ago - that's how we found you".
"Oh", said Harry, "The divination teacher we have at Hogwarts fakes it most of the time, I think".
"Does she?", Trinity giggled. "The one at our school does too! I once saw Macualy Wisply falling off his broomstick in the crystal ball during a divination test and my teacher, Professor Lightly came over, peered in it and told me I was making things up and gave me a G minus. Later that day during lunch hour, Macualy fell off his broomstick and broke his leg. Dad went up and told Lightly that I deserved a A+ for my prediction".
"Well that's good", Harry said. "Being able to actually see things in a crystal ball is quite rare though, isn't it? Sometimes I've had visions, but only when I'm asleep, and I've never seen anything in a crystal ball before".
"Would you like to?", Trinity asked, continuing, "I've got some crystalline powder here somewhere..", she said turning and riffling through her full school bag.
"Some what?", said Harry.
"Crystalline powder. What happens is I look into the crystal ball, and then when I see something interesting I can share my vision with you by putting some of it in my hand, rubbing it round 3 and a half times, then you take my hand with the powder in it and look into the crystal ball too. You will see the same vision in the crystal ball that I'm looking at whether or not you have a seers gift.. it would even work on a muggle".
"I'd like to try that", said Harry interested, wondering whether the unformed blobs that he had always seen in divination class, where actually just that, or whether there was in fact something more that could be seen in a crystal ball.
"Here it is", said Trinity drawing out a small velvet drawstring bag full of purple powder. "Right, I'll just cast around the crystal ball for a minute, and then when I've found something I think you will find interesting, I'll tell you to take my hand after I've taken the powder".
With that Trinity leaned over the crystal ball and started gazing into it more intently with her blue eyes than Harry had ever seen Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown or even Professor Trelawney do before.
After about half an hour Neo sighed, looked up from his homework and said, "Just show him anything.. you have homework to do before tomorrow after all, and its getting late".
"I don't mind what you show me", Harry confirmed. "I just want to see if crystal ball gazing ever gets beyond dark blobs..".
Neo grinned, while Trinity said, "I just wanted to show him something good that's all.. there's only one half decent vision tonight here, and I don't know what it means, so there's no point really... I was trying to work it out before. It's just a man and a boy talking, a snake on the ground, and a red sun setting behind them."
"That will do!", said Harry.
"Alright then", said Trinity taking up a handful of the powder without removing her gaze from the ball. She rubbed it into her hand 3 and a half times, and put her hand out for Harry to take.
Harry took Trinitys hand and felt a strange prickling feeling rush up his arm, neck and then to his eyes. He felt as if he was suddenly looking through a purple tinted glass. "Look into the ball now Harry", instructed Trinity as she took her wand, pointed it at the crystal ball and said "DÉJA VU!".
Harry did as he was told and suddenly as he stared into the ball the purple haze cleared.
Standing on a patch of grass in full colour in the crystal ball was a man and a boy - Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco.
They appeared to be in deep conversation. Harry wished he could hear what they where talking about, but crystal ball gazing is just that - gazing, he wouldn't know what they were saying unless they suddenly decided to write their words down and hold them up. Behind them the sun was starting to set, and a very large snake slithered into view.
"It's kindof boring, huh?", said Trinity beside him. "Do you want to keep looking? I stopped about here before".
"Keep looking! Keep looking!", said Harry urgently, "I know them, they are the Malfoys.. Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, he helped kidnap me before".
"Well if you are sure..", said Trinity, clearly sounding worried by this new information.
When the snake had slithered to a stop in front of Lucius, Harry recognized it as Nagini - Voldemorts snake. Harry realized that the Malfoys must be going to meet Voldemort there.
Suddenly Voldemort apparated into view. Two other Death Eaters then appeared beside him as well.. Goyle and Nott.
Lucius then took Dracos right arm and rolled up his sleeve. Draco turned quite pale as Nott produced a knife and cut Draco in the arm so that he bleed. Then Voldemort took his wand, and placed it against the cut on Dracos arm. He must have then said an incantation, because suddenly there was a yellow flash, and when it cleared, Draco had a tattoo of the Dark Mark on his arm. It immediately began to glow red as Voldemort took his wand away and pressed his finger to it.
"TRINITY!", Artemis said very loudly. Suddenly the image Harry was seeing dissolved and Harry looked up to see Artemis standing there looking very cross indeed.
"Harry woke up only 7 hours ago after being sick for 2 weeks, and I walk in to find you showing him only knows what in that ball. He is far too weak to be using crystalline powder to share your visions. I expected you of all people to have more sense. I hope you weren't showing him anything shocking."
Trinity shook her head going very red, clearly not trusting herself to speak.
"It was nothing, really", lied Harry, "I feel fine, I don't feel weak or anything".
"Even so, its late, and I think you should go to bed now and get some of your strength back. Today has been quite exhausting for you. Mikes already asleep.
Harry didn't see the point in arguing. After all, he reflected, he did feel exhausted, even if he wouldn't admit that out loud.
Artemis showed him to the spare room he was sharing with Mike, and handed him some pajamas. Harry went in there and got into his pajamas quietly in the dark, so as not to wake Mike.
The next day Harry woke up to find the sun already up and Mikes bed on the other side of the room had already been abandoned. Harry quickly dressed and went out into living room to find a note on the table.
Harry -
Mike and I are in the field in front of the house playing a game of Snowditch, everyone else is at either work or school. Feel free to make yourself some breakfast and then you can come out and watch if you want.
-Luis
Harry wondered briefly whether Snowditch is just Quidditch played when there has been a snowfall. But no, that would be silly. It would still be Quidditch. He walked over to the kitchen and hurriedly made himself some toast and spread a thick layer of stuff on it titled 'Marmite' -kindof like jam, but brown in colour.
Harry then took a spare coat and scarf off the coat rack beside the ranch slider, and stepped into a pair of gumboots. He doubted whether anyone would mind him borrowing them, there where such alot of spares lying about anyway.
He slid open the door and stepped outside into the freshly fallen snow. For some reason it was quite a different kindof a cold than that which he had experienced when it had snowed at Hogwarts, not unpleasant though. Harry tramped across the yard leaving large footprints and came to the line of pine trees. He then walked parallel with the line of trees until he came to a gap and walked through it. On the other side of a snowy dirt road there was a fence with a paddock on the other side of it, and there was Luis and Mike... being chased by a dozen snowballs in the air.
"Hi Harry!", yelled Mike, swooping down out of the air and landing with a thump in front of him.
"Do you fly? We can teach you how to play Snowditch if you would like, although, there aren't enough of us for a proper game - but we can play one when the others get home from school.. and with some of the local kids".
Luis landed beside Mike before Harry could reply.. Harry could see that he was a much better flier than Mike, and didn't thump down at all when he landed. "My brother Neo and I invented Snowditch a couple of years ago when we had a particularly heavy snow fall", he said enthusiastically.
Harry was reminded of Oliver Wood just then listening to Luis. "Sure", Harry said, "I'd really like to learn to play Snowditch, I play Quidditch for the team at school, but I never get to play during the holidays, since I live with muggles".
"You live with muggles?", said Mike curiously. "I'm muggle born.. my dad always thought there was something odd about me.. I mean.. odder than the family in general, which is kindof an odd family. He's actually a police detective.. so was particularly clued up to noticing things.. and when I got my letter he was pleased as.. he thought I might have had something wrong with me before that. He's very accepting though, my mum didn't believe I was a wizard for ages though.."
"My Aunt and Uncle hate me because I'm a wizard", Harry said, "They tried to stop me from going to school, and didn't tell me I was a wizard until I found out when I was 11".
"That's terrible", gasped Mike, clearly shocked. "My father would never stop me from going to the school I wanted to go to.. actually.. he's really keen on me to become an Auror now.. that's like the wizarding equivalent of a police detective he reckons", Mike said grinning and rolling his eyes skywards.
"ACCIO NIMBUS!", said Luis just then, pointing his wand towards the gap in the trees, though which Harry could just see the house. A broomstick came flying towards them and stopped in front of Luis. "Here you are, have you flown this model before?".
"I used to own one like this", Harry said, remembering flying his old Nimbus 2000, before the day the whomping willow smashed it up. "I fly a Firebolt now though".
"Wow - Really!", said Luis, clearly impressed. "The Moutohora Macaws, that's our national team here in New Zealand, they fly Firebolts. They're meant to be the best broomsticks ever".
"Just one thing", said Mike, looking slightly confused. "If your Aunt and Uncle hate you so much, and didn't want you to go to school, and you are an orphan, then how on earth did you get the money to pay for a Firebolt?".
"My godfather brought it for me", said Harry, not really wanting to have to go into all that about Sirus.
"Oh", said Mike. "Well why didn't he tell you that you were a wizard before you were 11 then?".
"He wasn't around then, I only found out about him in my third year of school, that's when we met", explained Harry.. hoping the questions would stop. He was beginning to feel like he was guilty of something.
"That's enough Mike", said Luis grinning. "It's bad enough staying at your parents place in Los Angeles, with your father asking us one thousand questions about our lives, without you doing the same thing to poor Harry here!".
"Oh right", said Mike apologetically, "Sorry. It runs in the family".
About ten minutes later Luis had explained to him all about Snowditch, with Mike adding his bit every now and then. All it seemed to involve really, were the bludgers being replaced by as many snowballs as your team could enchant to go after the opposing team during the course of the game. Luis demonstrated to Harry how to enchant a snowball to follow Mike, and then, if he was to play the part of beater, how to clear the snowball out of the air. Beaters where the only players in snowditch who where allowed to clear snowballs out of the air. All the rest of the game, Seekers, Keepers and Chasers roles were the same.
Of course, with only three of them in the air, they didn't have a proper game, but Harry was still enjoying himself immensely, Harry played on Mikes team, and Luis was the only player in his own team, taking on all the roles at once. After about 15 minutes Harry caught the snitch, and they decided to go inside and warm up.
"Lucky Dad's not home", Luis said, after they had changed their clothes and were sitting round the fire drinking hot chocolate. "He would have thrown a fit if he had seen how wet you where when you came in. He thought you might not have been going to recover for a while there last week".
Harry said nothing, and watched as Mike got out a piece of old parchment and pointed his wand at it.
"I SEEK U!", Mike said. Harry could see writing rapidly appearing on the parchment.
"Hey!", exclaimed Harry, "Is that the Marauder's map? I have one just like that, but that's not what you say to get it to work."
"The what map?", said Mike, "No, this is a piece of parchment Luis and I enchanted last year to keep in touch during the holidays. It was my idea. You see there is this thing my mother is addicted to on her computer. She uses it to talk to people all over the world, its called ICQ, and well, I thought, what a good idea, wouldn't it be cool if there was a wizarding version? So Luis and I made one, and now I can talk to all my friends in the states during these holidays, and talk to Luis when I'm in the states and he's still here at home."
"Yes, we are thinking of perhaps selling them to wizards who have friends overseas", said Luis.
"How does it work?", asked Harry.
"Well all you do is choose a name from the list that appears and circle it with your wand. Then you dictate or write with a quill on the parchment what you want to say, and the message arrives immediately on the other wizards parchment for them to read", explained Luis.
"That's really cool", enthused Harry, "Could I buy one off you? I'd like to keep in touch with you when I go back home."
"Better than that - we will give you one free", said Mike, taking a clean piece of parchment out of his pocket and handing it to Harry.
"Hey thanks", said Harry grinning.
