Thanks for all the reviews, you guys! It's way helpful. Keep reviewing, please!!!! Chapter 4 After many introductions and some minor chit-chat, Frances finally made it upstairs. She thought about what she had heard, about the Volde- you-know-who guy. Why can't I just say his name? She somewhat understood, that he is way more powerful than any... muggle. Muggle was such a strange word. Who had thought of that word? Muggle. Hmmm. Then, suddenly, she didn't want to think about it anymore. She had never been involved in anything so... deep, she supposed. Frances took out my iPod and listened to some music and almost fell asleep when suddenly shook violently by a girl in her dorm room. She opened her eyes with a start to look at a girl, Lavender, was it? Frances took off her iPod, after putting it on pause, and stared intently at the girl before her. "Yes?" Frances asked, calmly. "What is that you got there?" Lavender asked. "Oh, it's an iPod." After noticing the look of confusion of Lavender's face as tthe rest of the girls, except for Hermione who was studying, stopped talking in their tight circle to look at her. "An iPod?" Lavender asked. "What's that?" "It's a thing you listen to music on. Here, try it." Frances gave Lavender the iPod and put the volume lower, just a tad, before turning it on again. Knowing this is probably any of them had dealt with such a contraption, Frances thought it best to give Lavender some forewarning as she turned it on. "Okay, it's going to be sudden-" Lavender shrieked. Frances, taken aback, put it on pause again. "I told you. Do you want to try again? This time you'll be prepared." Lavender nodded her head. Frances pressed play, and some faint music could be heard. Frances smiled, and started to bob her head up and down. "Drop-kick Murphies, they're pretty good, huh?" The other girl smiled and nodded. Then she joined in the bobbing of their heads. Padma came over. "What is it?" she asked. "Music," Lavender responded. The other girl, Parvati, came over as well, and finally, even Hermione came over. "A CD player, I've heard of," Hermione declared. "But never an iPod. What kind of music do you like? You hear of those American bands, N*Sync, and such?" Frances made an odd facial expression that resembled sucking a lemon. "I, uh, don't like them much," Frances tried to put nicely. "Well, I like them. He went on a solo career, didn't he? I mean, Justin Timberlake. My parents buy the CD's, and I listen to them at home every summer." "Yeah, I don't like him much either." "Really?" Hermione sounded surprised. "I think he's quite... dreamy." "I think he's alright, he looks a bit like a girl. And anyway, Orlando Bloom is the best." "Who?" Padma asked. "An actor." "Oh," Parvati responded. "I think I've heard of him as well. Lord of the Rings, right?" "Yeah, great books. See, he's better than JT, and he doesn't even do crack." "JT?" Hermione asked. "Justin Timberlake," Frances explained. "Oh, of course." "What's crack?" Padma said. Frances looked at Padma incredulously. She saw the same look as she studied each of their faces. Hermione's was one of trying to remember. "I think I might remember, is it some kind of... no, I can't recall." "Crack is marijuana." A look of enlightenment came across Hermione's face, quickly followed by confusion. "I've heard of that, too, but I don't remember..." "It's a drug. Please tell me you know what a drug is." Again, blank faces, except for Hermione. "No, no, this one I definitely know." "How do you know some of these things and they don't?" Frances asked. "My parents are muggles. Some, like Malfoy, call me a mudblood. Don't let them call you that, it's a terrible name." Frances understood, as there were names for that in muggleland as well, for blacks, for women, for everyone. Then she got a bit angry, but couldn't get too angry as it didn't mean too much to her because it wasn't an insult to her, really, as she realized she, too, had been called that vile word. "I've already been called a mudblood," Frances said. "By who?" Parvati asked. "Snape." "Of course," Hermione said. "Of course. Ooh, I hate him." "We'll definitely have to do something about it, but can we PLEASE get back to what drugs are?" Lavender asked. Frances nodded her head wearily. "Yes, it's these substances, some you snort, or sniff, like coke, I mean, cocaine, some you take as tablets, like ecstasy, some you chew on, like grass, that's marijuana, crack, weed, grass, pot, a lot of names for that. Cocaine has a lot of names, coke, dope, and so on. Well, you take it to make you feel good. It gives you a high, a good feeling. Since you like that feeling, you want to take it again, and again, and again, it's addicting, and the only time you're happy is if you're high of drugs. Heroine's the worst, that's a needle injection. Addicts even steal from family to get the drugs. And sometimes it gets mixed up with rat poison, that's mostly coke though, and you can die or get a snapped brain from your first try. They got a lot of stuff like that. It's bad for you, and addicting." "Oh my god," Lavender gasped. "How terrible," Parvati said, astounded. Padma remained quiet, thinking, as Hermione nodded her head. "Yeah, I know. Isn't it terrible?" Hermione interjected. "Pretty sad stuff. What a place we live in, huh?" Frances asked them all. They nodded their head in agreement. "And that Voldemor- you-know-who guy, he sounds worse." "He is," Padma responded. The conversation veered onto what Lord Voldemort does, and they finally went to sleep late, knowing they could wake up whenever they wanted, it is, after all, Easter Vacation. "Where is my baby?" the woman asked, hysterical with tears. "Where is she? Who expects us to believe this?" The man sat down and wept. The children in the room had never seen this man cry before. The two younger ones, both girls, went to comfort the man, as they also were crying. The older boy, he went to the window of the room, obviously a hotel, and looked out. He was thinking, very deep in thought, and obviously not very happy. His eyes were sad. Where was his sister? Where was Frances? There was obviously no such thing as Hogwarts, no such thing as wizards, as witches, as any of those things. Magic did not exist. This went on for twelve hours, more, as the two younger girls, Frances' sisters, cried themselves to sleep, and the father and mother stayed up worrying as the brother tossed and turned, but sleep was not to come for awhile to any of them. Miles away, in her bed, Frances awoke with a start, and a burning sensation was under her chin, on the right side, a bit near the front. She looked in a mirror, and there she saw a red scar in the shape of a heart. Okay, I have a lot of explaining to do, but I promise it will all fit, so sit tight! I promise it will all make sense, or I'll at least try. Thanks for reading and reviewing!