Chapter 2 - Waiting Up

The sea green eyes of Talia Fletcher burst open in an instant, not having the slightest clue of what she had just witnessed. Talia gazed at herself, noticing that she was lying with comfort, on her green sofa chair and a massive dark-blue book was hovering her chest like blankets covering a bed. It was just a stupid nightmare, she thought, and her heart softened a bit.

Her hands grabbed the book and she held it up to read again. It was titled "Jinxes: Intermediate," Showing various jinxes, their descriptions, the counter jinxes, and the effects. Talia flicked the pages, and yawning, she put the book down on her mini desk and stood up.

Her new room was facing her. They had just moved in a few days ago. It was hard to move from a place she had called home from she had first been born.

Her room was the first one to be organized completely, proving her to be a neat freak. The room was rather spacey, but all of Talia's belongings made it look cramped. Her queen-sized bed was cornered off to the front of the room, being across from the door. Talia preferred everything soft, so she had covered it with several extra mattresses. Next to it were three huge wooden storage cabinets bewitched to look like clothes' drawers. The cabinets actually contained all sorts of books she had, a bunch of photos, and two quaffles she had managed to sneak in.

On the blue walls were posters of quidditch teams (Bulgaria and Poland), basketball players, and photo frames of her and family and friends.

Next to the sofa chair was a giant dresser topped with a large square mirror. Talia stared into it, receiving a youthful face and slim body with emerald green eyes, a long nose, and medium lips. She hated her simple face, and there were only two things she fancied about her body. Her black hair was one thing, which went a little past her ears and had red highlights in it. The second thing was a mysterious tattoo, or rather birthmark, right above her chest. It was a snake, curved, with black spots on its brown surface. Talia had learned a long time ago that it was a boa constrictor. This was an unexplainable mark that no one knew why it was on her, but the day she was born, it had been present at the same spot.

Talia grabbed her strawberry lip-gloss of the dresser and dabbed her dry lips with it. She couldn't survive without her strawberry lip-gloss.

A picture on the left side of the mirror caught her eye, and she stared at it intensely. It was a picture of her mother, and she was smiling graciously with vivid green eyes and black hair, just like herself.

Wish you were here Mum, Talia desired deeply.



That was the weirdest dream ever, Talia thought. She couldn't recollect that much, only small flashes of it. There had been two women, both with black hair and dressed in green robes. They had been dueling, and one of the two women, both with black hair and dressed in green robes. They had been dueling, and one of the two women had said something about a prediction...

Her head was hurting like something had just been planted inside it. There was also a grumble in her stomach and she remembered she hadn't eaten anything for hours.

Before Talia knew it, she was in the kitchen and had started to open cabinets. She finally settled with a dark chocolate bar and popped popcorn (a muggle snack that she loved.)

Carrying her chocolate and popcorn, she marched to the family room. It was small compared to others in their new house, only having a vanilla-colored sofa in the middle.

Talia remembered the first day in her new house like It was just moments ago. Her heart had been bumping off the ceiling, and there'd been a nervous-sort of feeling inside her.

Outside, she had Apparated (with unease) right in front of the house and had stared at it. In her eyes, she had seen a massive Corinthian-styled house with a vibrant periwinkle glow coming from it. It was accommodated with at least twelve windows, or so she reminisced. There were two entrance doors, one in the middle of the house, with a golden frame surrounding it, and a tinier one on the far right side, near the flowerbed.

Talia collapsed on the sofa and started to stuff herself like a pig. Her head hurt, and eating made it fairly calm.



It was past midnight, but there were still rumbling noises occurring outside. A few kids had been blowing fireworks and throwing Dung bombs at houses, as well as her brother, Marc. She had a craving to join the fiesta, but how would you just go up to a crowd of teenagers and-



"What are you doing Talli?" A voice popped into Talia's brain. It was Fred, her uncle.

"Eating, obviously," she replied grumpily. Her head still ached, "Fred, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Talia?" The thought of being called Talli made her feel like a little kid.

Her uncle smirked and sat down next to her, "About as many times its gonna take you ter call me Uncle Fred." He grabbed a handful of popcorn and with a muffled voice, he said, "Mind If I turn on the TV?"

Talia shook her head. Even though Fred had lived together with Talia, her father, and her brother, he always acted as if he was an outsider. He was a Muggle, but her father's brother.

She always thought her uncle looked funny, almost an inch from being bizarre. He was a tall man, a bit on the chubby side, with brownish red hair that always glowed like a light bulb. His big and round hazel eyes, along with a wide nose never did seem to suit his high-cheekboned face.

Most of the time, he wore Muggle clothes, from T-Shirts and jerseys and shorts and jeans. Along with this was a little orange watch that was always glued to his wrist.

Talia's attention now turned to the TV, which they had just bought recently. Talia quite appreciated Muggle electronics.

A game show was premiering on the television, from which a man with gray hair had just come out of a violet-colored car.

"Where's Dad?" Asked Talia, as warm chocolate touched her lips.

"Yer Dad's still at Grimmuald Palace." Said Fred. Talia was expecting him to elaborate, but when he didn't, she said, "What is he doing there in the middle of the night?"

She always got anxious when someone was discussing GRIMMUALD Palace, as well as herself. It was the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret committee working against You-Know-Who. Her father had been in it for more than twenty years, along with Talia's other uncle, Mundungus. She would do anything to join it, but her father always said no, even though she was of age.

But when You-Know-Who had fallen, she, her mother, and her father had moved to Poland...

The thought of her mother made Talia depressed. Again, she wished Mum were here in their new house.

"...Still in there 'cuz they need guards around the house, and in the secret tunnel ways and rooms. The Potter boy is living there right now. Someone tried ter kidnap him, Adam, er, told me. How should be back around 2 or 3."

"Harry Potter?" Whispered Talia, alarmingly. She knew a quite lot about him, from tons of books and Daily Prophet articles. He was the only one who had ever survived from You-Know-Who's killing curse, leaving behind a scar on his forehead.

Talia was anticipating to meet him, and she would at Hogwarts, because they would be in the same year. She had transferred from Durmstrang to Hogwarts.

But Talia had to admit that she half expected Harry Potter to be conceited and stuck up. Years of being in the public eye would do that to you, Talia thought, and snorted quietly.



"Yes," said Fred, "Dunno much about him, though. He must be ruddy important if they need 34 lookouts, mind you-"

"Thirty-four!" Talia exclaimed.



"Yep."

A short plumpy woman had just won a motorbike in the show. She was jumping up and down, resembling a miniature rabbit.

"But he's in the house, isn't he? Why do they have to look after him in there?" Asked Talia.

An unconcerned look appeared on her Uncle's face, "someone tried to take him. I don't know much about it. So are ya nervous about going ter Hogwarts?"

Fred had changed the subject on purpose. Either Dad had told him to keep his mouth shut or he didn't know much about the affair. But, then again Fred never did like to meddle with the magical world, but he loved to see magic. Talia was surprised that he ever knew who Harry Potter was.

"I dunno, I guess." She replied, truthfully. She was trying not to think about Hogwarts that much , but the day was only a few weeks away. Talia had gotten her acceptance letter, a few days ago, along with the supplies she needed.

She noticed that Fred was observing her carefully, "Well, I know Marc isn't. He'll blend right in, and hopefully you will-"

A sudden noise came near them that made Talia and Fred jump. Some popcorn spilled onto the sofa.

"YOYO-AAA-YEYE-AAA-"

Talia rolled her eyes. It was her annoying 14-year old brother, who had a Continual Samogram on. It was a little joke device that kept on making the same sound you wanted it to, but magnified ten times. It was a little circle-shaped ball, which was now rolling towards Talia and her Uncle, getting louder and louder. Both of them covered their ears in a nanosecond. Marc, however, was wearing Magical Ear Plugs and was chortling with delight. Talia saw him walk near her.

Out of the blue, Fred started to laugh. The ringing in her ears had abruptly stopped, and Talia uncovered her ears.

Fred's eyes were pointing to Talia's head that was covered with light red dust. Her head was heating up like a tikki torch.

"What the...?" She shoved all of the dust out of her hair. It sprinkled on the floor, burst into tiny flames, and after a few seconds it vanished into thin air.

"Stop it Marc!" She screeched. "Just because you can't use magic doesn't mean you have to contaminate everything with joke-store rubbish!"

But, apparently, Talia's brother hadn't heard a word she had mouthed.

"I'm just bored, sis." He said plainly. She always pondered if Marc was her real brother. Sure, they looked alike, except for Marc's chestnut brown hair (from their father), but he had the maturity of a mental five-year old.

Now Marc was in front of the television set, highering the volume bit by bit.

The smile had vanished instantaneously from Fred's face, because now he stood up and started to yell at the top of his lungs, "STOP IT MARC! YOU'RE GOING TER BE IN-"

Talia pulled out her wand that had been attached to her belt, pointed it to the television, and shrieked, "Silencio!" The TV was still on, but no sound whatsoever was coming out of it.

Her brother did not give up so easily, because the next minute he was pulling out a Dung bomb from his jeans pocket.

Oh no, he doesn't, she thought as again, she pointed her wand at Marc and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" In a flash, Marc's arms and legs jointed together and froze. He thudded onto the floor, with his eyes rolling all around in shock.

"Bloody brilliant," Fred mumbled, "that was always one o' me favorite spells, but yer gonna get in trouble for doing that."

The buzzing noise from the Samogram was still circling her head, and the last thing she had needed was have her brother blast a Dung bomb in the middle of the living room.

"I don't care. At least it shut him up. He was getting on my nerves all day. In the morning it was the fireworks outside, and then the Ultimate Ear Shockers, have no clue where he got them from... and now!" She pointed to the frozen figure.

Fred shrugged his shoulders and sat back on the sofa, "He's always like that, but you seem grumpy. Anythin' wrong?"

"No." Talia lied. Se fell onto the sofa and remembered something. One of the women had used the same spell she had struck Marc with.

It was almost a quarter to three when her Dad came home. She was still awake in her baggy magenta shirt and shorts. After about fifteen minutes she had shouted the petrifying spell, she had muttered the counter curse. In punishment, Marc had again pulled out of one of his Ultimate Ear Shockers. It was a small straw stick that roared if it was put near your ear. This had made Talia feel on the edge for another twenty minutes, give or take a few.

But then, to her surprise, Marc had gotten tired and went upstairs to go to sleep.

Fred also called it a night when the game show had ended (it was back to its normal volume". She was the only one up, watching a taped basketball game, waiting for her Dad to come home. Her desire to join the order was, but she didn't know why. It would never happen, but at least she could find out what was happening.

Mr. Fletcher walked in the house from the back door (located in the kitchen) and came into the family room. His eyes were droopy, surrounded by wrinkles on his over-worked face. Hi was still dressed in purple robes from the morning when he'd left.

Talia rose to get him a glass of water. When she cam backs, her father was examining a piece of wide parchment. Talia edged forward to see it, but her Dad caught her glance and rolled up the parchment up in a flash. She knew it was a map.

"Dad, why do you need to watch the house all night? I thought it was well protected."

Her Dad glanced at her, "It's not. I mean it is, but it's being watched." He gulped down the water slowly.

"Are you watching Harry Potter?" Said Talia.

He was so surprised that the water from his mouth almost regurgitated.

"Who told you that?"

"Fred." Said Talia.

Her dad nodded, with a I'll-deal-with-him-later look

"I can't really talk about it. It's confidential." He said.

Talia started to protest, "But if you're in the Order, then maybe I could-"

"No, Talia," Her father said firmly, but tiredly, "For the thousandth time, you cannot join the order." Talia opened her mouth again, but he interrupted, "I know you're of age, but it's dangerous."

She didn't believe this was the least bit fair. She was of age, giving her the authority to join if she wanted to.

"We'll have to go to Diagon Alley to get your supplies tomorrow. You better go to bed." He suggested.

Talia stomped off upstairs, annoyed by the babyish treatment she was receiving by her father, but also rather excited to go to Diagon Alley the next day...