A/N: I may extend this and repost.
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Zelgadiss awoke the next day to discover two more letters, duplicates of the one he received yesterday, on his desk. After an initial fright at the thought of someone being in his room, he struck upon the idea that this may be a practical joke designed by one of his ungrateful siblings. He examined one of the letters again, frowning. The idea that one of his siblings could design a joke with this level of sophistication was, quite frankly, terrifying.
After briefly wondering if he should tell his parents about the letters, Zelgadiss dismissed the idea as ludicrous and left his room to throw the letters in the trash. Becky, the dog, looked up at him hopefully, happily smacking her tail against the walls.
"Shoo," Zelgadiss scowled. She smacked her tail harder against the walls, and then leaped at him, tearing his letters out of his hand. She gleefully 'shooed,' letters now with their rightful owner. "Becky!" Zelgadiss yelled, running after the lab mix. Now he actually wanted the letters. Becky didn't have far to go in the little house, and she slid into the kitchen and behind Zel's mother's legs, thumping her tail against the oven door. She peered back at Zelgadiss through his mother's legs; muscles tensed and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. Zelgadiss glowered at her in response.
"Oh, what's that you have there, Becky?" Naturally, Mrs. Graywords retrieved the letters easily from Becky's mouth. Zelgadiss decided to disappear, and headed out into the blazing light of summer.
*
One unavoidable fact about summer is that it gets hot. Fairly soon after leaving the little 1950's era house, Zelgadiss began to regret the idea. The air was humid, the sun was cheerfully baking anything its rays touched, and Zelgadiss just knew that if he stayed outside too long he would die a very miserable death. When he considered the idea of going back home, though, he realized that prospect was worse. He wasn't sure why it was worse, but it was.
After an hour of dodging sunlight through shade trees, Zelgadiss decided that it wasn't worse. He abruptly turned about and headed back home.
As soon as Zelgadiss stepped inside the house he knew it would have been better to bake outside. There was that feel of impending doom that hangs in the air of a house before a parent gives a lecture. His mother stared at him with a serious look on her face, which is never a good sign.
"Where did you get this letter, Zelgadiss?" she asked, holding up a slightly chewed and damp official Hogwarts admissions letter.
What letter? Zelgadiss briefly considered saying. "Um…" he said instead. Mrs. Graywords Waited. "I got one of those yesterday from the mail, and two were on my dresser this morning. I think it's a prank."
Mrs. Graywords frowned at the letter as if trying to threaten it into giving up its secrets. "You have no idea where it came from?" she asked, looking hard at Zelgadiss.
"No," Zelgadiss said irritably.
"Well, I called your father, and he said he was coming home straight away. I don't know what this is about, but he sure seems to think it's serious. I hope he isn't going through this for no reason."
"I don't know what it's about," Zelgadiss asserted, and then collapsed on the couch. The air-conditioning sure felt good.
"Stay here." Mrs. Graywords gave Zelgadiss one last scrutinizing look and then retreated to her room.
Zelgadiss leaned back and stared at the ceiling. He just wanted this over with, and fast. Suddenly he jerked forward, feeling like he'd been kicked in the stomach. "Becky! You're not a lap dog!"
Thank you so much, reviewers!
MoroTheWolfGod: Well, I suppose he's a little like Hermione in character, but the characters are pretty much just going to be themselves. That's hard enough on the world. ^_^
KellyChan: Of course he did! We can't leave him untortured, now can we? ^_~
