CHAPTER TWO: A SMALL WORLD


"I know you did it, Malcolm."

"Ron, I don't even know what you're talking about."

"That tickle spider. I recognized it from Zonko's Joke Shop."

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders. "It must have been Reese. I've never even been to Zonko's."

[Not that I haven't tried.]

Ron stuck out his hand accusingly. "It was you," he smirked. "I know you . . . ooh . . . ooh . . ."

Ron began to laugh as he suddenly started to claw at his shirt. He was laughing so hard he fell over, gasping for air. While rolling in the dirt he managed to tear his shirt off and reached into his armpit. He pulled out the rubber spider and threw it on the ground. He grabbed a rock and proceeded to pound the spider into a pulp, grunting in satisfaction each time he smashed it.

"RONALD WEASLEY," his mother yelled. "What are you doing? What have you done to your brand new shirt?"

"It's my fault, Mrs. Weasley," Malcolm quickly admitted. "I was showing Ron how to play Tarzan and the Apes, and I guess he got carried away."

"What? No? Mom?" Ron forced out, still trying to catch his breath, but it was no use. Molly Weasley grabbed her son by the ear and dragged him back to the Burrow.

[I love living next door to these people. I think I'll see what Ginny is doing.]

*

"This is wonderful," Ginny said as she looked out over the beach.

Malcolm smiled, "I can't believe you've never been here before. It's only a couple of miles from your house."

"Too many muggles." Ginny gave a wide grin. "Mum doesn't think it's safe to be around muggles."

"That's only because she met Reese."

"Speaking of."

Reese ran up to Malcolm and Ginny. "I need a favor. I was with the two of you the entire time."

"Sure."

"Thanks," Reese said and continued to run in the other direction.

Ginny frowned. "Why are we making excuses for your brother?"

"We're not. I just told him we would. It's easier than being honest, and it's a lot more fun."

"Is Dewey going to show up, too."

"He's coming by with Ron." Malcolm smiled.

"But Ron is grounded because of that Tarzan thing."

Malcolm's smile grew wider. "Then I guess Dewey won't be coming. What's the matter?"

Ginny looked at Malcolm in surprise. "You set this whole thing up. Getting Ron grounded. Having Dewey wait for him. All of it."

"Let's go swimming," Malcolm suggested.

Malcolm made small talk as they walked to the water, so that Ginny would not notice Reese calling out their names as the policeman escorted him off the boardwalk. "Here's a good spot to leave our towels."

"Careful," a familiar voice said next to them. "You're kicking sand."

"Draco?"

Malcolm looked down and saw Draco Malfoy lying on a beach towel, sunning himself. Draco adjusted his sunglasses and waved hello.

[He's got a great tan already, and school hasn't even been out a week. I've got to find the spell that does that.]

"What are you doing here?" Malcolm asked in surprise.

"I told father I was talking a few weeks off to go to the beach."

"And he let you?"

"Not really. He always thinks I'm lying about things like that. He probably thinks I'm at Crabbe's."

"Doesn't your mum care?" Ginny asked.

"No," Draco replied. "Should she?"

Ginny remembered everything she knew about Draco's family. "It would be something new if she did."

"Well, I don't care. I'm fifteen. I'm rich. I'm at the beach. And I plan on lying here until the end of August." Draco stretched leisurely, then paused. "Malcolm? What are you and Ginny doing here?"

"We live here. Near here."

"Oh," Draco nodded. "Small world. Is anyone else here? At the beach?"

"Reese was here but he got arrested about fifteen minutes ago."

Draco smiled. "It's going to be a beautiful day. If you'll excuse me, I need to take my before noon nap."

Ginny snorted. "Didn't you finish taking a nap?"

"That was my late morning nap. That was to get me warmed up for the rest of the day. Have fun. Don't let me bother you."

"MALCOLM, IS THAT YOU?"

[Oh no, I recognize that nasal tone. It's a Krelboyne. I don't know how they found me.]

Malcolm carefully looked over his shoulder to see a tall dark haired nerd staring at him. "Lloyd?"

"It is you, Malcolm," Lloyd said excitedly. "This is such a small world. Who would believe it? When we heard you blew your house up we all thought we'd never see you again." He leaned in and whispered. "I think the police are still looking for your brother."

"No they aren't, Lloyd. That's an outright lie."

"Sorry, Malcolm," Lloyd said quickly.

"Yes," Ginny chimed in with a grin, "They arrested him fifteen minutes ago. The police already found him."

[She said that to embarrass me, but it won't work. Lloyd is a Krelboyne.]

"Malcolm," Lloyd asked carefully. "Who is she? Are you with a girl? You're with a girl, aren't you?" He added excitedly. "You're actually with a girl. Wait until I tell everyone. Malcolm and, uh. some girl sitting in a tree K I S S . . ."

"LLOYD," Malcolm shouted, as several dozen people in the immediate area began to stare at him.

[That's why you can't embarrass me in front of a Krelboyne. Being with a Krelboyne is already an embarrassment.]

Malcolm resigned himself to the situation. "Lloyd, this is Ginny. We go to school together."

"School? You mean the Hogwarts Institute for Emotionally Unbalanced Teenagers."

"We like to call it a school," Malcolm said as people around him began to stare again, and then slowly move away.

"Oh, right," Lloyd said, giving Malcolm a clever wink.

"Excuse me," said the voice on the ground directly between the two Americans. "I'm Draco Malfoy and I am also a fellow student of Malcolm's. I admit that I may be emotionally unbalanced, but why are you wearing a jumper at the beach?"

"A what?"

"A sweater," Malcolm explained.

Lloyd looked down. "It's so I don't get wet."

Draco grinned in a surprisingly friendly manner. "Then why are you at the beach?"

"For, uh, my health."

"Really? Then for the sake of your health, you should move. You're blocking my sun. Why don't you walk around me and stand on the same side of me that Malcolm is on?"

"I . . . I don't want to impose."

"No imposition at all," Draco said, as he reached over and twisted Lloyd's big toe. Lloyd immediately moved.

Draco continued smiling. "Thank you for stopping by, Malcolm, Ginny. Please take your friend and leave."

Malcolm led Ginny and Lloyd to the boardwalk, all thoughts of swimming gone. After walking halfway there, he told them to wait and walked back to where Draco was lying.

"HE'S NOT MY FRIEND. HE'S A KRELBOYNE."

[I know people are staring again, but that felt good.]

*

"Are you, you know?" asked Lloyd as Malcolm walked away.

"I'm a student aide," Ginny told him. "I help out with the less dangerous cases."

Lloyd gave a look of relief and surprise. "That means he's really ok then?"

"He's safe, if that's what you mean," Ginny said, sporting the Weasley grin.

"Do you think you can talk him into helping us out."

"Us?" Ginny asked as Malcolm could be heard yelling at Draco.

"Yeah. The Krelboynes. We're involved in the Academic Olympics and Malcolm is really good at numbers. Uh, he is still good at numbers?"

"Oh yes, but he doesn't always see them as numbers, if you know what I mean.

"I do," Lloyd lied nervously. Ginny widened her grin.

"What is this Olympics about?"

"It's great. The smartest students in the state get together and fight it out, brain to brain."

"We're not supposed to encourage Malcolm to fight," Ginny admonished.

"Who am I fighting?" Malcolm asked as he walked up.

"NO ONE," Lloyd shouted. "It's OK. Relax. Relaaax."

[I know what you're thinking but this is a normal start to a conversation.]

"I'm relaxed. So, who's fighting who."

"That should be whom is fighting whom," Ginny corrected. "Good grammar leads to good thinking."

Malcolm and Lloyd both gave quizzical looks at Ginny.

"Yes," Lloyd said quickly, "Good grammar is important."

Malcolm gave Lloyd and Ginny a quizzical look. "Who cares about grammar? I was only asking what you were talking about?"

"The Academic Olympics," Lloyd said, looking at Ginny to see if there were any problems telling this.

"That garbage?" Malcolm muttered. "Are you guys actually entering again?"

"We made it to the state finals," Lloyd bragged. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Do you think you could help us?"

"You want me to be a part of that stuff? No way."

Lloyd fell to his knees and began begging while Ginny looked at Malcolm who assured her that this was also normal. "Please, Malcolm. We'll lose without you. The other teams will murder us. We'll be outcasts."

"Lloyd, you're a Krelboyne. You're already an outcast. And no, I don't want to be in the Olympics."

"Wait a minute," Lloyd said as he pulled out his cell phone. He pressed speed dial and handed the phone to Malcolm. "Here, talk to Stevie."

Malcolm rolled his eyes and took the phone. "Hi, Stevie."

"Malcolm . . . is that . . . you?"

"Yeah, I ran into Lloyd at the beach. He's the one who called you."

"But . . . you're supposed . . . to be . . . hiding."

"Hiding? You've got to be kidding. I can't hide. I'm living next door to Ginny. Draco's spending the summer at the beach. And my first day here I run into Lloyd. I might as well wave a banner saying 'I'M MALCOLM."

"Excuse me," a police officer said. "Did you say you were Malcolm? Do you have a brother named Reese? Could we talk to you for a minute?"

"Do you mind? I'm on the phone, long distance."

"This is important."

"Hold on," Malcolm said, then spoke into the phone. "Stevie, the police want to talk to me about Reese. I'll call you back."

"Just leave . . . the line . . . open. This . . . I gotta . . . hear."

[Why not. It's not my phone.]

"I know what this is about, Constable," Ginny said. "Reese was with us the entire time."

"Oh?" the officer said in an unfriendly fashion. "Then perhaps all three of you should come with me."

"I didn't do it," Lloyd cried as he stood up.

The police officer led them to a station a short distance away and showed them to the detective sitting at a desk. In a chair next to the desk was Reese. "Sir, these three claim they were with this young man at the time of the incident."

Reese turned to look at Malcolm and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "Ix-nay on the excuse-ay."

The detective looked at Reese in disgust. He then looked at Lloyd. "Why are you wearing a jumper?"

"I, uh, don't want to get wet."

"Then why are you at the beach?"

"You're not going to twist my big toe, are you?"

"I wasn't planning on it." The detective turned to Malcolm. "Is he always like this?"

"Uh," Lloyd said quickly, "You should ask her. Malcolm's not very good with questions."

Malcolm looked at Lloyd in surprise. The detective shrugged his shoulders and turned to Ginny. "Are they always like this?"

"As long as I've known them."

"And you are?"

"Ginny Weasley, Sir."

"And do you live near here? I don't recognize you."

"My parents do. I'm visiting for the holidays."

Lloyd interrupted. "She helps out at the Institute, I mean the School."

"Lloyd," Malcolm asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Institute?" the detective asked with arched eyebrow.

"This . . . is great," Stevie said from the phone.

"That's Stevie," Malcolm explained. "He wanted to listen in on the conversation."

The detective nodded. "I am happy to see that someone is amused. Miss Weasley what is this institute?"

Ginny tried her best false smile. "It's called the Hogwarts Institute for Socially Disoriented Children and Young Adults. We're a private institution in Scotland."

"And you work there?"

"I'm a student aide."

"And these boys are here because?"

"Their parents moved next door to mine recently."

The detective frowned. "All three of these boys are brothers?"

"No," Lloyd said.

"Yes," Reese said. "Dewey is lying."

"Who's Dewey," Lloyd asked.

"You are, Dewey. Don't deny it or we'll have to send you back early." He turned to the detective, "I didn't do it, Sir. I was running because I needed to get help for my brother."

"Help?" the detective asked. "Where were you getting help?"

"Uh . . . uh . . ." Reese said informatively.

"Draco . . . Malfoy," Stevie said from the phone.

"Draco Malfoy," Malcolm said. "He also helps out at the school, uh, Institute. He came down with us. He's on the beach somewhere."

"Did someone say Draco Malfoy?" Arthur Weasley said as he walked into the station. "Dreadful boy. You don't want to deal with him if you can avoid it. Completely untrustworthy."

"And you are?" The detective asked.

"Arthur Weasley. I'm with the Ministry. I was looking for my daughter." He looked at Ginny. "I knew you'd be here. This is what happened the last time you were with Malcolm." He turned back to the detective. "What did they do this time?"

"This one," pointing at Reese, "was running from a group of other lads who were chasing him. They didn't say why. I thought to bring him here for safe keeping. When the ice cream fell out of his swimming trunks I sent the word out to look for his brother, and we found this lot."

"I'll take care of them," Arthur offered.

"What about these two," pointing to Lloyd and Malcolm. "Are they safe?"

"I'm not safe," Lloyd cried, "I'm an American. I'm only here because my parents thought it would broaden my horizons. I want to go home."

"This one is safe," Arthur Weasley said, as he patted Malcolm on the shoulder.

"You talked to Mom?" Malcolm asked and Arthur nodded.

The detective hemmed and hawed. "Well, because you are an adult, I'll leave them to your care."

"It was . . . nice . . . meeting you," Stevie said from the phone.

"Is that one of those Phelly tones?" Arthur asked as they left.

"A Cell Phone, yeah," Malcolm said. "It's Lloyd's."

"Amazing. What will these muggles think of next." Arthur said as he took the phone from Malcolm.

"Muggles?" Lloyd asked.

"Non- ma ah English folk," Malcolm explained. "It's local slang."

"Thank you, Malcolm," Arthur whispered. "I should be more careful."

"Why should he be careful?" Lloyd asked suspiciously.

"It's a local thing," Malcolm said quickly, pausing to look both ways before crossing the street. "You don't use it around people who aren't local. With me and Reese it's OK because we moved here."

"It's like a secret word," Lloyd said in understanding. "So, will you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The Academic Olympics. You owe it to me, especially after my mom sees the phone bill."

"I can't."

"I know. You're supposed to be in hiding. It's no problem. The police said that it was probably a gas line explosion."

"What was?"

"You're house," Lloyd replied uncomfortably. "That's why Stevie said you were hiding, right?"

Arthur handed the phone to Reese and joined in the conversation. "That might not be a bad idea, Malcolm."

[What?]

Arthur continued casually. "Stevie explained it to me and it sounds like a wonderful idea. May I talk to you privately."

Arthur took Malcolm to one side. "We're a bit involved in trying to get things together, Malcolm, after what happened to Harry Potter . . . and to you. But this could help us. We were trying to think of a way to hide someone while we had someone else take their place. If you went to this Academic whatever, we could use this as a practice."

"Let me get this straight. You want me to go with the Krelboynes next week so you can have someone pretend to be me."

"To see how well it works," Arthur acknowledged. "We'll need your parent's approval, of course. Malcolm, it is a small thing, but it could be important in the long run."

Malcolm nodded as he subconsciously rubbed the area on his chest where the scars crisscrossed (before Madame Pomfrey removed them).

"I'll do it," Malcolm said with resignation. He walked over to Reese and grabbed the phone. "I'm going to do it, Stevie."

"Do . . . what?"

"The Academic Olympics."

"Why? . . . I don't . . . even . . . want to . . . do it."

"Then remind me to hit Lloyd when no one is looking."

Malcolm handed the phone back to Lloyd. "I'll do it."

"You will? You're not just saying that. Like you say that wizard stuff."

"Really, Lloyd. I'm willing to do it. Mr. Weasley convinced me that it would be a good idea."

Lloyd looked skeptical. "Do you promise?"

[What is with this guy. He keeps trying to get me to agree and when I do he doesn't believe me.]

"Look, Lloyd," Malcolm said as he raised his right hand. "I solemnly swear on all the powers of wizardry that I have that I will take part in the Academic Olympics." As Malcolm finished speaking, he felt a sudden surge of magic rush through him. He looked around and saw Ginny and her father staring at him.

"Malcolm," Ginny said in surprise. "You made a Wizards Oath. Now you have to do it."

"Have to?"

"The way Harry had to take part in the . . . tournament."

"Does that mean that he really will do it?" Lloyd asked Ginny.

"Yes," Arthur replied. "And your friend Stevie gave me all the information we need. Malcolm will be there on time. It was nice meeting you, Lloyd." Arthur ushered everyone through the phantom hedge that blocked the Burrow from being seen from the street, and rushed them all inside his house.

"You've done it, Malcolm," Mrs, Weasley said testily after her husband explained everything. "You couldn't leave it as a simple yes. Your mother will have a fit when she gets back and finds out what you've done."

"I didn't realize what I was doing," Malcolm said, knowing it was a terrible excuse.

*

Lloyd couldn't believe his luck when Malcolm said yes. They were sure to win the Academic Olympics now. Then the regionals, and hopefully the nationals and, dare he dream, the international competition. He looked around and noticed that he was suddenly alone on a country road. He couldn't see or hear Malcolm or Reese or their friend anywhere.

He fell to his knees and cried out, "I'M LOST!"