Author's Comment: I thought it would be just too mean of me to post yet another chapter (chapter 2) and at the end still not have the HP characters introduced to you all. So I continued on to write this next chapter, so they could be posted at the same time. Hopefully that alleviated some pain for some of you :)
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Chapter 3: The Confrontation and Introduction
Tony took in the sight of the girl standing in front of her.
She had a thick mane of brown hair, being blown about roughly by the relentless wind, as she struggled to keep it out of her face. She pulled some back just in time to feel a fat drop of rain land unceremoniously on her nose. She looked skyward, a little worried.
Why anyone would come outside in this cold was beyond Tony.
"What, are you crazy? Or just…" Well, according to her, there was no alternative. "…crazy?"
Behind the girl stood two boys. Tony guessed them to be about 15 or 16. But then, she was never very good with guessing ages.
One of the boys had unkempt black hair, and round glasses. He looked as if he'd just been ordered to march into battle and he had no idea just what he was supposed to be fighting. Tony almost smiled at this.
Next to him stood a tall red-haired boy, with a spattering of freckles and a wary look on his face.
At first that appeared to be all of them, and Tony was about to speak to them when she noticed another.
He was standing further back, as if he was trying to disassociate himself from the other three as much as possible, without actually dooming himself to having to spend the night in the cold. He had white-blond hair, which Tony could see had been gelled back, although the wind had loosened it. His expression was surly, and he looked as if the world had just done him a personal injustice.
Strangest of all were their clothes. They weren't regular clothes at all. They each wore cloaks, and the surly blond in the back was clad in black from top to toe, so he almost blended effortlessly into the shadows.
Rather intimidating, really.
"We just need a place to stay. Can you tell us where? Or give us something to keep warm with?"
Tony's mind snapped back quickly to the situation as she realised the girl was talking to her.
A boisterous laugh and a voice projected over Tony's shoulder.
"Oh, man, you're joking, right?"
Tony turned to see Trina behind her, and to her confusion, Trina appeared to be addressing her.
"What?" she said, dumbly.
"You got some friends of yours to dress up as Harry Potter characters and come down here for a joke," Trina surmised.
At the mention of the name, the boy with the round glasses coloured slightly. He looked downward, and reached his arm up to his glasses to wipe away the raindrops that had landed there.
"I don't come out in the cold to freeze to death for someone else's amusement," stated an unimpressed drawl. The blond at the back had stepped forward to speak, and now had a frustrated and impatient look on his face. "Now, you could stand there and question our existence until we're quite dead from our blood freezing in our veins," he continued. "Or you could do the decent thing and let us in were it's presumably not raining, and holds some semblance of warmth."
The other three looked suitable flustered and embarrassed at his blatant rudeness, and they appeared to be tensing in anticipation of the door being slammed shut.
Instead, Tony's face drew into a frown. She stared at the blond for a moment, with apparent disdain, before taking a few steps backward to allow for them to come in.
Apparently, this was all the invitation they were to get.
It was invitation enough.
All but the blond boy gratefully scrambled inside, automatically gravitating towards the heater.
"Feel free to stay out there if you like," Tony offered. "But this heater isn't going to heat the whole of Hastings, so you have 10 seconds to get in here, if you're going to. 10…9…8…"
Despite his previous confidence, the blond looked unsure. He had a choice.
"…7…6…5…"
Sacrifice his pride, or sacrifice his health? Apparently it was worth thorough consideration.
"…4…3…"
He looked almost longingly into the dimly lit caravan with the heater.
"…2…"
Decision made, he quickly approached the door and pulled himself into the caravan, just before the door was shut on, "1".
The four newcomers had sat on Trina's sleeping bag, with the fan heater pointing up at them. Initially Trina looked a little resentful, but had to admit there was nowhere else for them to sit.
"Before you comment on the state of this room," Trina defended herself, "let me say that it's not mine."
Tony looked incredulous.
"And I might add, then," she said, "that hers is usually worse."
She leaned down to the other berth that was laden with clothes and paper, and with a one-armed flourish, swept it all on the floor under the table.
"And that's how we clean up around here," she stated, as if giving a formal presentation.
She went back to her bed to sit on it and Trina resignedly sat on the other berth, all the while eyeing up the sleeping bag the four were sitting on, as if by staring at it hard enough it would give them an electric shock so they would get off it.
"So what's the story?" Tony said, leaning back against the window and putting a pillow over her feet. "You're here because…? Well, who are you first?"
She had to admit an uncanny likeness to four of the Harry Potter characters, but presumed that to be a deliberate show, as Trina had guessed.
The boy in glasses opened his mouth to speak, but Tony had beaten him to it.
"No, wait, let me guess," she said.
Trina glanced questioningly at her friend. Tony gave a subtle shrug back, motioned to the computer, and raised her eyebrows in silent speculation, before returning her attention to the newcomers.
She pointed to each of them in turn, as she surmised, "You're Harry, you're Hermione, you're Bon-"she was quickly cut off by a loud cough from Trina, accompanied by a warning glare.
"I mean," Tony amended, "you're Ron. And I'd assume that the arrogant, loud-mouth, Dracula-wannabe here, is Draco Malfoy."
The blond looked particularly indignant. The remaining three looked at each other, unsure.
Trina spoke to her friend, "Tony, just how do you figure that the computer thing actually worked, and this might actually be them? Isn't that a little far out?"
"It's far out no matter how you look at it," Tony justified. "It's far out that four strangers would dress up to such extremes and brave the cold just for kicks."
She could see Trina weighing up the possibilities in her head.
"Ok," she finally said. She addressed the four, looking somewhat expectantly at Hermione. "Then answer me this – if you're who you say you are, you should know about this stuff: What is an Abatwa?"
Tony looked at her in surprise.
Hermione piped up almost immediately, sounding glad to be able to prove herself.
"They're the tiniest creatures in human form," she explained. "A peaceful race that live in the anthills of Southern Africa. They're very shy and only reveal themselves to children under four year old, or wizards, or pregnant women."
Trina relaxed. "Good enough for me, Hermione."
Hermione looked visibly relieved.
Trina stood. Tony approached her and mumbled, "You know what Abatwas are?"
"No idea," Trina responded with a smile.
"Then how do you-"
"It was in a fanfic you started to write a while ago, remember?" Trina prompted. I remember you researched it so you could use it in that story. Even though you never finished it. It'd be just like Hermione to know what you were going on about."
Tony smiled as she remembered. "Ah, gotcha."
"Now," Trina said seriously to the Hogwarts students, "considering what's happened here, it's hugely important that you don't just sit there."
"Because someone bad knows where we are?" The red-haired boy, Ron, asked fearfully.
"No," Trina responded. "Because I want the sleeping bag back."
And with a sudden vicious pull, she yanked it out from beneath them, sending them falling unceremoniously to the floor to land on their behinds.
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A/N: Remember to keep reviewing! As reviewing could greatly influence what happens in this story, that makes each reviewer a potential co-author…in an abstract kind of way :)