Hi everyone!
Okay, I have noticed that my author's notes are a little lengthy, so I'll stop that.
I meant for more stuff happen in this chapter – but it all got a little long, and I know how annoying huuuuge chapters that you can't read in one sitting are.
Oh, don't you just love chaptering? I haven't lost any reviews, so I love it.
Hey, since I hate my titles, I have come up with an idea.
It's called 'Name Sorceress's Story' competition. I am so bad at making up titles, I'm going to have to beg for other people's ideas. So either send them to me, or put them in the review box (accompanied by your review, of course!) I welcome all suggestions, and I'm currently thinking up a prize.
Once again, thanks to Allylupin for weeding out all my typing errors etc. You are an angel.
Disclaimer – All JK's stuff is hers. I could never presume to credit creating something that good to myself.
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The silence echoed in the kitchen.
Abruptly, Calypso stood up and aggressively addressed the others. "Oh, come on, I know Sirius hasn't killed anyone…yet…"she added thoughtfully.
"I'm sick of this whole pretending Sirius is a dog caper. It gets tiring after a while."
Calypso stared at Remus. "I'm not going to turn him in or anything."
There was a slight 'pop' from the chair opposite her, and sitting there was the infamous, dashing, cavalier, cheeky and 'Wizard Watch's #1 wanted criminal', Sirius Black.
"You owe me a Galleon, Remus. Told ya she wouldn't flip." He said lazily, leaning back on his chair.
At this calm statement, the others suddenly all started talking at once.
"What are we going to do now?" Remus said miserably to the others.
"How did you work it out?" Was the curious question from Maria
"Looks like she's more intelligent than you gave her credit for." Neil said, with a wry chuckle.
"What are we going to do now? " Calypso said slowly, head to the side and blinking. "Have dessert, I think."
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"It's MY half of the couch you have your toes on!"
"Oi! That's my half you have your arm over!"
"Don't you kick me!"
"Ow! That hurt!"
"Don't you dare…don't you dare…DON'T TICKLE MEHEHEHehehehehehe!
With an almighty crash the couch flipped over backwards and Sirius and Calypso were deposited ungracefully onto the floor in a large heap.
"Now look what you've done!"
"What I've done? What you did!"
Remus split the two of them up with a long-suffering expression. "Really, you two…" and with a swish of his wand, the couch tilted upright again, and a thick white line was painted right down the middle. "Right. That line is exactly half way along. No, don't argue, Sirius, It's EXACTLY halfway."
Pulling a face, Sirius leapt over the back of the couch and sat on his designated side, ignoring Calypso, who was ignoring him as well.
Peace finally, Remus thought. But within a few minutes…
CRACK!
"OW! What the hell was that for?"
"You had your knee over the line." replied Sirius smoothly.
"No I didn't, it was on the line!" protested Calypso furiously.
"Over!"
"On!"
"Over!"
"On!"
"Fine them, it was on."
Peace reigned for a few minutes longer, then…
CRACK!
"AAARUHG! Remus, Sirius is hitting me with his wand! Do something!" Calypso complained.
"You had your knee on the line again!" Sirius rebuked her.
"And what's the problem in that?" Calypso shot back.
"Remus, who's territory is the line?" Sirius asked.
"MINE!" sighed Remus. "For god's sake, I liked it better when you could only bark, Sirius!"
But Sirius was suddenly distracted by the TV.
"Oh, shut up everyone! Who's Line is it Anyway is on!" he exclaimed
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you had a television." Calypso grumbled under her breath, only to be hushed by a flap of Sirius' hand.
Remus shrugged. "Guess I just forgot. I never usually watch it, just Sirius does. I only got it installed for him."
"Yeah, when I came home from Hogwarts for the holidays I spent almost the whole time sitting in front of the box, making up for all the time I missed while at school" Sirius offered, eyes still glued to the screen as the theme music finished.
After a few moments, Calypso sighed, disappointed. "Re-runs. I've already seen this one, it's old."
Sirius was transfixed by the television. "SSSHHHHH!" He said angrily, waving a hand at Calypso. "You might have seen it, but remember, I've been in Azkaban for the last 10 years."
Abashed, Calypso turned around to Remus and Maria.
"So, where did Neil go?" she asked in an undertone.
"Home," replied Maria. "His daughter was out staying with some friends, and, well, I know how lonely it is to have dinner all by yourself."
"Daughter? What happened to his wife?" Calypso asked, rearranging herself so that she could keep one eye on the TV.
"She was a Phoenix." Remus said quietly.
Calypso grimaced. "You guys have a high mortality rate, don't you?"
"US guys, you mean." Remus said pointedly. "You are one, too."
"Oh crap." Calypso mouthed, suddenly realizing Remus was right. What had she got herself into?
Maria sat up a bit. "Oh, don't worry Calypso. It's not that bad." She said soothingly, correctly interpreting the stricken look on Calypso's face. "Professor McGonagall must be approaching eighty, and she's going strong. Dumbledore himself is ancient. My mama is old as the hills. Mundungus, Old Mad-Eye, the list goes on."
"Maybe don't use Mad-Eye as an example of an aurora, perhaps." Remus warned.
Maria smiled. "Yeah, maybe not. Calypso," she said, suddenly changing tack, "forgive me for prying, but how on earth did you work out who Snuffles really was?"
Calypso turned her whole attention onto the question. The half-truth is best, she thought.
"Well, it was obvious from the beginning that Snuffles was strange. For god's sake, he answered my questions, sat at the dinner table, laughed at jokes, and had a bigger bed than I did!"
Remus scratched an eyebrow nonchalantly. "I told him he should have taken the single bed…"
"Anyway, in the end, I had a little chat with Rorrim, the mirror in my bedroom." Calypso said heavily.
Maria snorted. "Well, that explains things. That gossiping piece of furniture …honestly…"
"Rorrim," Remus said carefully, "has woodchip instead of brains."
Calypso gave herself an imaginary pat on the back. Nicely handled, honey, she thought to herself.
"Used to all the enchanted furniture yet?" Maria asked. "I was kinda freaked when I first met them all, but I got used to it. Mind you, I was seventeen at the time, and enchanted furniture isn't that common."
"Yeah," Calypso replied, her attention now on the 'props' game on Who's Line. Even reruns are damm funny, she thought as Ryan Styles did something improper with a large polystyrene dome.
"Even at the flat, we didn't have enchanted furniture." As soon as she had said the words, she felt that slow sinking feeling in her stomach that told her she had let something slip. Frantic to cover it up, she kept talking.
"I like Fridge, Rorrim is bearable in small doses, but Pantry seems to hate me for some reason."
Remus, oblivious to her slip, nodded in agreement. "I noticed that Pantry has a grudge against you. That's probably because - "
Remus had missed her slip, but Maria hadn't. "Calypso," she cut in, puzzled, "what did you just say about having enchanted furniture at the flat?" Her green eyes were resting on Calypso, in a cat-like way.
Damm.
Damm, Calypso thought. What should I do? She was aware of sweat building up on her palms.
Tell the truth, said Virginia abruptly from the deep confines of her mind. What difference will it make to these people?
For some reason, Calypso agreed, and felt heartened, like a bit of the load had been lifted from her shoulders.
"Oh. Ummm……well, it's a long story." She started hesitantly.
"We've got all night." Offered Remus.
"Oh, okay. Well, you know I'm an orphan?"
Sirius turned around, looking amazed. "No." he said slowly.
Calypso shrugged. "Well, I am. Both our parents died when we were about seven. We were put with foster care people…"
"We? Who?" Maria asked, puzzled.
"Oh, I'm one of triplets. Didn't I mention that? I've got two sisters. Melody is blind, and Aria has Down's Syndrome. Anyway," she continued, unruffled, "'cause of their disabilities, the Fostering agency found it hard to get us homes." Calypso suddenly gave an evil smile. "Umm…how can I put this? When I was a kid, I was…"
"Troublesome?" Offered Remus
"Hard to handle?" Suggested Maria.
"Rambunctious?" asked Remus again.
"A little terror?" from Sirius
"Child of Satan' was how one couple described me, actually." Calypso said frankly. "They were religious nuts, but I think their description was closer to the truth than they actually realized."
"Wow, I'm impressed. Even I wasn't called that." Sirius said, looking at Calypso in a new light.
"So, anyway, the point of all this is that thanks to my appalling behavior, we were shifted around a hell of a lot. Between the ages of seven and fourteen, we lived in about forty-five different houses. One we only stayed in for three days before we moved on." Calypso chucked at the last memory.
"So we have lived in every territory in Australia, both islands in New Zealand, in Nuie and even out on the Chatam Islands. To cut a long story short, when we were living down in the South Island of New Zealand, when we were about eleven, there was this guy called Ian whose little brother went to the same primary school as us, out in the wop-wops. We knew we were different – you know, magical, and since birds of a feather flock together, we became friends with him pretty soon, even though we were eleven and he was sixteen. Ian was muggle-born," Calypso said, answering their unasked question. "and even when we were moved on, and he went back to Oasis Station Homestead Wizarding School during term, we still kept in touch."
A sudden expression of sadness flicked across Calypso's face. "He used to send us letters every week, and photos, telling us all about Oasis Station, and about what he and his friends were up to. I was always sooo insanely jealous."
Calypso fell silent for a moment, and she suddenly noticed that while the ads were over on the television, Sirius was still intently listening to her story.
"So, what does all that have to do with flatting?" asked Remus, still puzzled.
Calypso snapped out of her melancholy daydream. "Oh. Um…" she struggled to find the words. "By the time I was fifteen, I was off the rails in a big way. Real big. Not one of my better moments, but oh well." She said loftily.
"When we turned sixteen we were no longer wards of the state, so we had to look for a place to live. And lo and behold, Ian offered us a room in the house he was flatting in with some of his mates from school. Melody organized it all, and dragged me in very unwillingly and rather hung over. Living with a bunch of wizards and witches knocked some sense into me, and we've been there ever since." Calypso finished with a shrug.
Remus cleared his throat. "Hate to say this, Calypso, but that doesn't really match up with what you told us before." He said carefully. "You said that you weren't allowed contact with magical people…"
Calypso snorted. "Do I look like someone who obeys all the rules? That one was impossible to enforce – and besides, what they don't know don't hurt em."
Feeling that that particular discussion was over, Maria changed subjects. "What I really want to know is why you didn't freak when you knew about Sirius. I mean, he is a convicted mass murderer and Wizard Watch's Most Wanted Dangerous Criminal at the moment."
"Well, I was seriously pissed at first, and I was going to play it for all it was worth, but then Virginia told me to trust him." Calypso replied.
"Virginia? Who?" asked Sirius, curious.
Calypso blinked. "Oh right, sorry. Virginia is the name of the dead chick living in my head. Well, at least that's the name she gave me, it might not be right."
Sirius shook his head. "Crazy, just crazy." He said, and turned back to the television, the studio audience roaring with laughter.
Calypso noticed the inky shadows outside lengthening and stars starting to glow in the darkening sky from her comfy sofa seat.
"What's going on tomorrow?" she asked.
Maria answered her. "Well, we are all setting off to work, but I'll fly with you to Neil's house in London. His daughter wants to go into Diagon Alley as well, so she'll take you from there and Neil and I will just apparate to work. The meeting starts at eight thirty at night, so you just might have enough time to get around the whole of Diagon Alley," she said with a wink.
"Cool." Calypso replied, and settled down to watch more television.
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Calypso was dreaming.
Again.
She was standing on a rooftop two stories high, the chilly breeze draining any warmth out of her body and tossing about stray blonde hairs over her face. Shuddering, she looked around.
The twinkling lights from the Muggle streetlamps and the houses that spread out in vast quantities in every direction illuminated the scene quite clearly. Hunched over on the crazily sloping tiles standing next to her, were six other people. Four she did not recognise – two she did. A woman with a large jaw and thick eyebrows was Vanessa Hutchingson, and the handsome man with permanently bloodshot eyes and a Cheshire cat smile was Kerian Marshall. Calypso gulped. Whatever those two were up to, it wasn't good.
Carefully, she picked her way over to where they were standing, ignoring the hairs standing up on her arms and the dense looking men scratching themselves under dark, hooked cloaks.
Vanessa and Kerian were crouched to the ground, wands ready, listening to what sounded to be a rather raucous party from underneath.
Calypso turned to glance at the pair's faces – they were flushed with anticipation, hoods thrown carelessly back. Snippets of conversation came floating up on the wind.
"…can't be serious…"
"..it seriously for once, Fudge isn't that stupid to ignore…"
"..read somewhere that they were responsible for the…"
"…nothing we can't handle, really? I mean,…"
"…totally different. We need a different approach if we want to stay alive…"
Concentrating so hard on the fragmented discussion she was eavesdropping into, she almost didn't notice Vanessa and Kerian nod to each other and pull their hoods right over their heads, masking any sight of their faces. It was only when Vanessa made a complex gesture to the other four brawny robed figures that she suddenly looked around.
They were slowly creeping over the roof, spreading out in all directions with purpose.
Calypso had no doubt as to what that purpose was.
Wands at the ready, they crouched as a cat does before it leaps, sweating slightly, eyes glinting forebodingly in the half dark.
Kerian started silently mouthing the countdown.
Three.
Heart pounding, Calypso turned to look at where they were all intently staring.
Two.
One, Kerian mouthed and poised himself to leap.
Stomach muscles clenched, Calypso braced herself for the explosion that never came.
Instead of the sudden outburst of violence she expected, the rooftops instead started swirling in a big molten gloop colour, making her feel rather giddy and ill. And then, Calypso watched as the dizzying tornado she was standing in collapsed into…
That dammed beach again!
And sure enough, it was all the same. The thunderous cliffs, crashing waves, foreboding overcast sky, and one large grey horse looking mournfully at her through huge, deep brown eyes. The wind whipped up sand that stung the backs of her legs and Calypso stood there scowling, and sulked.
She wanted to know what happened in her previous dream, but she knew that once you had departed from a dream, you couldn't go back. Reluctantly, she concentrated on her reoccurring situation.
Do it differently, she thought. Perhaps…
The horse nickered impatiently, pawing at the sand and tossing its head about. It took a few eager steps ahead and started prancing on the spot.
Calypso's eyes opened wide, as new thoughts ran across her mind.
Everything was set up for her to ride, or run DOWN the beach. What if…
Calypso heaved herself up onto the horse's smooth back, and it eagerly started loping off down the beach. It received a sudden shock when Calypso dug one heel into it's flanks, pulled taught one rein and tried to make her mount turn around.
Protesting vigorously, skittering to the side and throwing its head up and down, Calypso managed to boot her unwilling horse back up the beach, while trying to spot the mist of misery that had chased her in every dream. Thundering down the echoing beach at a canter, Calypso could find no trace of it.
The horse saw it before Calypso did, and responded by rearing, nearly throwing Calypso right off. Instead, she clung on for dear life as she slipped around the horse's neck, dangling dangerously close to flailing hooves as the horse let rip a screaming whinny. Due to some stroke of luck, as the horse wheeled around to take flight Calypso was thrown straight back onto its broad, silky back and clung onto a waving bunch of mane.
Eyes bulging, chest heaving with fright, Calypso doggedly grabbed the loose reins and hauled back on them. Recovering what composure she could, she wrestled the terrified horse around and tried to force it forwards. It bucked, reared, crabwalked and ducked out at the sides until Calypso kicked, slapped and yelled it into a barely controlled canter back down the beach, heading straight for the foggy dark mess of despair hovering above the sand, and coming right for her.
When she was only twenty meters from it, Calypso felt her whole body freeze up with fright. Her lungs were paralyzed and she let her hands fall limply to her sides as her horse slowed down to a quivering walk.
With a shaking breath, Calypso tried to comprehend the situation. It was just a mist – but a mist that seemed to emanate horror, terror and fear, all rolled into one. Cruel laughter was whispered on the wind that struck to Calypso's very heart.
Calypso suddenly scowled, clenched her teeth and looked at the fog through narrowed eyes.
Bugger you, she thought defiantly.
She kicked her terrified horse, the whites of its eyes showing and nostrils flaring, urging it to walk straight towards the mist. Growling, she kicked it again…and again…until they were only a hand's width away from the very edge.
Aware that her whole body was trembling, her ears filled with mocking laughter, Calypso reached out and touched it…and her arm was filled with coldness. At the same time she booted her horse forward one more time.
Too mortified to scream, or even breathe, Calypso sat on her horse as the black fog swirled around her, cold, chilling her to the bone. She watched faces dance in front of her face, laughing, laughing, laughing… Lungs on fire, she breathed the black mist in…
And the world changed.
The black mist shredded into wisps, and with a final, dying, mocking laugh, disappeared. The sand melted into green pastures, the cliffs into trees, the sea into wildflowers, and the purple-tinged grey clouds into azure blue sky. The roar and crash of waves and the howling of wind died, and was replaced with harmonic birdsong, chirping cicadas and a gentle hum of honeybees.
Calypso looked around in amazement, eyes as big as saucers, her jaw on the ground. She felt herself turn to jelly and slither down off the horse's back to land in a large puddle of limbs on the soft, wavy emerald green grass.
"Finally." Declared a voice from in front of her.
Knowing perfectly well who it belonged to, Calypso slowly looked up, wiping beads of cold sweat off her forehead.
Ivory, button up boots.
Rawhide tassles.
A black cloak.
A rather severe expression.
All topped off with a pointed hat.
"Hello Virginia" she croaked.
"Took you long enough, didn't it? Even with all those hints I gave you." Without bothering to give Calypso a hand up, she marched around the girl lying in a heap on the ground, cloak swishing, to pat the horse's nose.
Jaw still trembling, Calypso found it hard to construct words. Eventually, she got her mouth working.
"Virginia, what the hell was all that about?" she said shakily.
Virginia flashed her an irritated look. "You still haven't worked it out?"
She sighed.
"Right. It was SUPPOSED to teach you a lesson, but I think I made it a little to complex for your IQ level."
"Stop with the sarcasm and just tell me what it meant!" Calypso hissed.
"This horse represented you. That mist thing was everything in your past. Get it now?" Virginia snapped in a plummy accent.
"Whatever." Calypso replied, not thinking. "Did you create that dream?"
"Yes, and this one too." Virginia said, a note of pride in her voice. "Look, as a sort of a prize for finally working it out, jump back onto your horse here and have a nice, happy little dream where you ride around in paradise, okay? I have to admit, you are an okay kid…"
"I am not a kid!" Calypso snarled. "I'm nineteen for god's sake!"
Virginia cocked her head to the side and blinked. "So you are. Funny that, at your age most of my friends from school were married and with their first child."
Calypso snorted and tried unsuccessfully to get up on wobbly legs. Virginia audibly sighed, rolled her eyes and reluctantly stretched out a hand to help Calypso up.
"Well, get on then." She commanded imperiously.
"I can't." Calypso replied. "I'm absolutely buggered."
Virginia gave her a sneering look of disbelief. "This is a dream. Remember? Things in dreams do what you want them to, if you have to willpower, strength of character and mental control."
"Well, I don't happen to have much willpower or strength of character, so it looks like you just might have to help me out here" Calypso snapped back.
Rolling her eyes again, Virginia muttered something nasty under her breath and then sighed.
"Fine."
Suddenly, Calypso realized that the piece of ground she was sitting on was a large rock, just the right height for her to struggle onto the horse's slippery back.
"Thanks," she said to Virginia as she gathered up the reins and adjusted her seat.
But Virginia had gone, 18th century boots and all.
Calypso looked at the spot where Virginia had last been standing, blinking. Then she shrugged, and clicked her tongue and set off slowly across the wavy hills, thinking about what Virginia had just said.
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Maria hauled back the curtains in Calypso's room and a few weak rays of light struggled in.
"C'mon Calypso. Wakie wakie." She said and shook her shoulder.
"Muuugggh?" said a bleary-eyed Calypso. "Gaaah…whazza time?"
"Oh, somewhere about six or so." Maria said back cheerily, and strolled out of the room, leaving Calypso to roll out of bed.
Maria was sitting on the windowseat in the kitchen when Calypso finally stumbled in, yawning and dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt that read, 'bitch'.
"Interesting top." Maria remarked dryly over the top of her teacup as Calypso staggered over to Fridge, opened it up and dragged out a piece of cold lasagna.
"What, this?" Calypso asked, tugging at a stray thread on her t-shirt. "I though it was nice to warn strangers before they came too close." She dragged a chair up to the table and started eating the lasagna, stone cold. Maria screwed up her face in disgust.
"How can you eat that?" she asked, repulsed.
"Quite easily." replied Calypso, with her mouth full, and took another fork full.
"I can see how you get on with Sirius." Maria mumbled under her breath.
"Whattya mean?" Calypso inquired.
"I think you are the only person that has challenged Sirius to a game of slaps since James did."
"And I won, too." Calypso replied. "I got the Lasagna because Pantry will savage me if I try and get any real breakfast cereals out of her."
"Too right!" Pantry spat across the kitchen.
"Oh dear." Maria said, forehead creasing with a worried expression. "Remus said…"
"Don't worry," Calypso replied, waving her fork around and accidentally splattering tomato paste and little bits of mince over the floor, "I'll make sure we come to a compromise. I have something planned." Calypso gave an evil smile.
Maria looked at her for a moment, and then decided to take the same approach with Calypso as she did Sirius.
Don't ask. Just try and stay out of it.
"We'll go as soon as you get your hair done." Maria said, changing topics. "Remus and Sirius are still sleeping – lazy sods. They'll just apparate into Diagon Alley at about nine."
"Well, I'm almost ready to go, I just got to grab that funny old granny's handbag that everything fits into." Calypso said, scraping the last of the cold pasta off her plate. "And, Maria, can I ask a favor?" she added hesitantly.
"Yeah, what?" Replied Maria, surprised.
"Uh…when I was at St. Mungo's, Dot, this nurse, did something cool with my hair so it sat all perfect and everything. Can you do that to mine?" she pleaded.
Maria laughed. "Easy." She stood up, pulled her wand out of her pocket and walked over to the back of Calypso's chair. All Calypso felt was a slight prickling sensation on her scalp, and then Maria stepped back, looking at her critically. "Not bad, if I may say so myself."
Calypso gingerly reached up and touched her hair. It was composed into an intricate mass of twists and curls that seemed to defy gravity.
"Wow. Hey, thanks Maria…" but Maria had gone. She was back in a few moments with something shiny in her hand, which she thrust at a bemused Calypso.
It was a necklace - a small platinum pentagram with some sort of crystal suspended the middle. Calypso held it up to the dusky morning light and watched the rays split into rainbows.
"This," Calypso said with awe, "is seriously cool."
"Then it's yours" Maria said suddenly, and Calypso let her jaw drop.
"Oh nononono…." Calypso began and tried to shovel the necklace back into Maria's closed hand.
"Oh yesyesyesyes!" Maria replied, and pushed the necklace back into Calypso's palm. "Look, I have a bit of Sight myself, Calypso."
Calypso let her jaw drop again.
"It's not much," Maria added hurriedly, "just enough to make me a very good doctor, especially with pregnant women. I sort of just know when they are going to deliver, and that's about all. But the whole point is that I just know that you should have this necklace. Why? I don't know."
Calypso gave Maria a suspicious look. "What's the catch?" she asked carefully.
Maria shrugged. "No catch. That necklace has some ancient magic interwoven into it. A pentagram is a witch's sign of protection. It's been passed down from mother to daughter and…"
"Then I can't possibly accept it!" Calypso cried
"…and cousin to daughter-in-law to neighbor to friend…see what I mean? I got this from my cousin's auntie in Italy." Before Calypso could protest any further, Maria got up and walked out of the room. Slightly slow on the uptake, Calypso eventually followed, still staring at the silver-white pendant in her palm, so engrossed in it she didn't even hear Fridge call out a friendly goodbye.
Outside the temperature was cool and fresh, the sun just above the hilltops and starting to bathe the hills in golden light. Jogging out the door, shopping bag slung over one shoulder and trying to do up the tricky catch on the necklace chain while moving, Calypso nearly tripped over the doorframe in her hurry.
Maria stood patiently on the road, holding both broomsticks in her hand. She tossed one to Calypso, who only just caught it. Composing herself, she tried to remember how to grip the broom correctly and roared off quite a lot faster than she had expected. Flashing past Maria with a stricken look, she slowed down and, red-faced, waited for Maria to catch up.
Maria was smiling. "In that much of a hurry to get to Diagon Alley?" she asked.
"I've never been there before!" Calypso called back over the woosh of the wind.
"You'll love it. There's plenty there to keep you occupied for a week, let alone a day!" Maria hollered. "Come on, let's go!"
Calypso leant forward close to her broomstick and watched the patchwork fields below turn into a blur of greens.
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They landed in a totally unremarkable street in London, where the houses reminded Calypso of Coronation Street, but dingier. The stone was charcoal colored, streaked with age and filth. The windows were tiny, the front doors right on the footpath. All the houses were narrow, flat-fronted and three stories high, squeezed together so they shared the same sloping, moss-covered roof. There was no vegetation, at all. Not even grass. Calypso had never seen a more depressing place to live.
Jumping off her broomstick, Calypso felt rather apprehensive as she followed Maria down the street, dodging rubbish sacks and passing glum-faced people who didn't look up as they brushed rudely past her on their way to work.
Maria stopped outside a door that had all the light green paint flaking off it in huge chunks, with a rusty '227' screwed in above the doorknocker. Maria used the knocker to thump an odd pattern on the door, winced at the shrill sound of metal screeching on metal, and waited. By now, Calypso was very apprehensive as she looked at the dead plant in a chipped pot sitting by the doorstep. "Erm, Maria…" she began uncertainly. But before she could voice any doubts, the door was thrown open and Neil stood in the doorframe, dwarfing it, with a warm smile on his face.
"Good morning!" he said happily. "Come on in." He beckoned to Maria and Calypso with a large brown hand and Maria followed him through the doorway, chatting away. Calypso hesitated, until Neil moved and she could see into his house.
Stepping forward slowly, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
It was huge.
She was standing in the lounge, one wall of which was made up of French doors, and a balcony that looked over a sun-splashed park. To the left was a modern kitchen with dazzling chrome fittings. Expensive furniture was placed carefully on the thick, white carpet, colour-coordinated to compliment the deep blue walls, which were covered with abstract art. Eyes as huge as a goldfish, she absently ran her hand over a table of glass and wrought iron.
"Not what you expected?" Asked Maria suddenly from behind her. Neil, too, had an amused look on his face.
Calypso tried to form words. "Uhhh…ohhh…no" she finally came up with.
"We have to blend in with the Muggles around us, so the exterior of the house is slightly shabby to match. That way, no-one gets suspicious." Neil explained. He looked to the stairwell as someone came thundering down it from upstairs.
He frowned. "Does she always have to make a grand entrance?" he grumbled good-naturedly as a tall, athletic girl appeared and smiled at him.
"Calypso, this is my daughter, Angelina. Angelina, this is Calypso." He introduced them.
Calypso stared at Angelina, who stared back.
Angelina was dressed exactly the same as Calypso, except her top was a intense yellow that contrasted brillinatly with her dark skin and read 'slut' instead of 'bitch'. Maria gave a snort of laughter, and Neil frowned. "I told you, I don't like that t-shirt on you. It's too tight, and that message for muggles implies that…"
"I knoww I knoww!" Angelina said in a thick voice, and rolled her eyes at her father.
"What's wrong with your voice?" he asked, concerned.
"No-hing!" Angelina said hurredly, and steered Calypso towards the door. "Thee ya!" she slurred.
"Have fun!" Maria called after them, and Calypso waved back.
-------------------
Outside, Angelina and Calypso strolled down the street side by side, an uncomfortable silence between them. Calypso glanced slyly at Angelina and suddenly poked her in the ribs with her elbow. Startled, Angelina looked Calypso straight in the eye and Calypso had a good hard look into them. She liked what she saw, and smiled.
"So, did you only get it done last night?" Calypso asked.
"What done?" Angelina asked defensively.
Calypso laughed. "Your tongue pierced, of course. Gimme a look?"
Angelina looked relieved, and stuck out her badly swollen tongue, with a silver barbell through it. "Dad'll kill me if he knew. It hurtsh like hell, and if Dad wathn't a doctor, I could go and just get it healed at Sht Mungo's, eazthy as pie. But then Dad would know, and he'd have my guths for garters." She said glumly.
"How far is St. Mungo's and Diagon Alley from here?" Calypso asked, once she had worked out what Angelina had actually said.
The black girl shrugged, making the multi-colored beads on her braids clink. "About ten minuthes walk to Sht. Mungo's, and about fiftheen to Diagon Alley."
Calypso thought for a few moments. "Can we stop by a telephone and a bank before we go to Diagon Alley? I have to ring my family again, and close a bank account so I can open one up at Gringotts."
Angelinas face lit up. "Oh yeah! I love going into Muggle town! Ith's cool!" She ushered Calypso down a side-street, and started chatting.
--------------------
Calypso slammed down the receiver with disgust. I will never own a bloody answering machine, she promised herself. Where were her sisters? Or anyone in the flat, for that matter? Fuming, she opened the door of the booth to see Angelina, waiting patiently outside.
"No-one at home." Calypso told her. "To the bank now?"
Angelina nodded, and pointed across the busy Muggle road to a large, mirrored building – Angelina's tongue had swollen up so much she could hardly talk.
Leaving Angelina in the plush foyer, Calypso saw the teller and was politely asked to see the manager. Angelina was perfectly happy waiting. As she had told Calypso, she loved living around Muggles, and she was top in her Muggle Studies class at Hogwarts. Observing Muggle bank tellers at work was fascinating for her. Watching one of them use a computer – something she told herself she would have to learn how to do this year – she didn't even notice when Calypso came back.
"Hoi, can you hold onto one of these for me, please?" Calypso asked, thrusting a black briefcase into Angelina's hands. Calypso then hurridly shoved all three suitcases into her bottomless shopping bag. Angelina though Calypso seemed rather nervous, as she was gripping her shopping bag tightly.
"To Diagon Alley now?" Calypso pleaded, eyes scanning the people around them.
Angelina nodded, and led a paranoid Calypso down the street further to a bookshop, and pointed across the road to a tiny, dingy little pub.
Upon entering the Leaky Cauldron, Angelina waved at a gnarled old barkeeper who was serving chilled pumpkin juice to an elderly witch behind a long, oak counter. Tom waved back and smiled, showing his few remaining teeth. Calypso clutched her shopping bag closer to her sides and hurried on along a well worn path to out the back of the pub.
Angelina turned around and grinned at her in the empty, walled courtyard.
"Wellcoum to Diagon Alley!" She said carefully around her swollen tongue.
Calypso looked around, lost.
"Where?" she asked, confused.
But Angelina had turned around, pulled her wand out of her bag, and tapped a brick with it.
To Calypso's immediate horror, the brick wiggled, and disappeared. Then the hole stretched, and suddenly there was a large stone archway in the formerly solid wall. She could hear a sudden cascade of noise, bustle and hustle, and the smell of good food. She gingerly took a step forward, and peered around the corner to see what was behind the wall.
Angelina laughed at the dazzled expression on Calypso's face. People were swarming like colorful bees along a narrow, twisting cobbled street. The Victorian-styled shops on either side were wonky and leaning over the path, shops below and apartments with generous balconies above. A riot of colour and noise washed over Calypso as she stood, frozen, looking at the street that seemed to belong to the past. An elaborate wrought iron sign on a candy-cane pole read, 'Diagon Alley'.
"Oh my god." Calypso finally said, gulping.
Angelina dragged her forward down the street as she stared, open-mouthed at everything. A huge bookstore, Flourish & Blotts, Strychnine Potion Wholesalers, (Your one stop apothecary shop!) Brimstone & Fire Hardware Ltd, Diagon Alley Draperies, Budd's Greengrocer's…the shops seemed endless, stacked to the roofs with goods, and often spilling out onto the road.
Calypso suddenly realized they were standing inside a huge marble building, away from the heat and noise from the street.
"Thith," Angelina said, "is Gringotts, the Wizarding Bank."
--------------------
An hour later, they were seated at an outdoor table under a striped sun-umbrella, eating ice creams. Angelina was sitting her huge raspberry and toffee cream on her tongue, trying to make the swelling go down.
"How is it?" Calypso asked between licks of her own cone, chocolate and sherbet.
"Better" Angelina replied. "Still not good, though."
Calypso looked around through her sunglasses, which she noticed had a splodge of chocolate icecream on the lenses. "Tell me, what's up with robe wearing over here? Is it just for formal occasions, or does everyone wear them apart from teenagers?"
Angelina considered the question for a few moments. "Everyone wears robes to work, and we have to wear them to school. Most adults wear them everywhere, but all us young people wear Muggle clothes."
"So you go to Hogwarts, do you?" Calypso asked, curious.
"Yeah, I'll be in seventh year at the start of term." Angelina said glumly. "Last year of Hogwarts – I can't believe it! Hey…are you going to be a transfer student this year?" she asked, perking up.
Calypso laughed. "I'm 19. I finished schooling for good, but I would love to go to Hogwarts."
"Oh, SORRY! I didn't mean to insult you or anything." Angelina tried to apologize.
"Ah, no, don't worry. It's the freckles that make me look so young. Apparently I'll be glad of them when I'm 40." Calypso replied, brushing off Angelina's apologies.
"So what's the name of the Wizarding School in Australia?" Angelina asked. "What's it like?"
"Oasis Station Homestead Wizarding School. Don't laugh…" She warned Angelina, who was sniggering. "It's long-winded, I know. Everyone just calls it Oasis, or the Station, or the Homestead."
"Why such a complex name?" Angelina asked.
Calypso sighed. "The school is in the middle of the outback somewhere, on a huge sheep and beef station. It's like an oasis in the middle of the desert, so the station is named Oasis Station. It's bloody huge, and the school is at the Homestead. It's not a castle or anything, it's this huge sprawling 1850's villa sorta house."
"Oh, well, that sort of makes sense." Angelina said.
"So, if you are in your last year at Hogwarts, what are you going to do when you leave?" Calypso asked.
Angelina sighed. "Well, what I really want to do is get into tourism, but Dad thinks it's a dead-end career. He wants me to be a lawyer or join the Ministry of Magic, but I don't want to. I want to lead adventure tours to see dragons in Albania, set up Portkeys, and stuff like that."
"Sounds cool. I got a Muggle College education and I'm a scientist. Now that's boring."
Angelina looked impressed. "You must be a really good witch if they asked you to join the Phoenixes all the way from Australia."
"Oh, not really. Come on, let's go shopping." Calypso said quickly.
"Are you a good scientist then?" Angelina inquired.
"Oh, nah. Just average. Come on, I need some robes. Where's the best shop for them?"
Angelina thought for a few seconds, and then pointed out a few. "Harlequinade is my favorite, but Sparks is really cool. The rest…Gemstones is really for eight to thirteen year olds, Diagon Alley Fashion is filled with old woman clothes. There's heaps of tailors and seamstresses to make fitted robes, but that's only really for dress robes, work robes and school robes."
"Harlequinade and Sparks then" Calypso agreed, taking the last bite of her icecream.
--------------------
"They are arriving sometime tonight, so they'll probably miss the meeting. In a way, that's can work to out advantage. It gives us time to re-sort the pairs and find out more about these visitors."
"When did Fudge tell you?" Sirius asked Dumbledore.
"Only a few hours ago, can you believe?" Dumbledore answered. "He thought he was doing good – not telling us so nothing can get leaked. What a fool he is." Dumbledore shook his head sadly, magnificent beard swaying.
"How many?" Remus asked.
"Six, apparently. They may send more if things don't go too well" Dumbledore replied.
"You mean if too many of us get killed." grumbled Sirius, propping his feet up on the back of another chair. "It's about time they sent some of their own people over. If we have the escaped Australian Death Eaters on out front lawn, they should send over all of their aurors – I know they have plenty to spare!"
"We only have Snape's word that they are here, remember. No-one, even us, trusts Snape completely." Remus pointed out.
"I trust Snape completely." said Dumbledore in dry tone.
"Well, you're the only one." Sirius mumbled under his breath.
"Staying at the Leaky Cauldron, are they?" Remus inquired.
Dumbledore nodded. "Thank goodness they are here, though. We really do need backup. Pity they are missing the meeting."
"Well, Portkeys are hard to reschedule, aren't they?" Sirius said.
Remus looked away from the others and down out the window onto the busy crowds in Diagon Alley flocking around the shoe shop, where ruby heeled slippers were 25% off.
"Australasia, huh? Perhaps Calypso will know a few of them."
--------------------
"Aarugh…..aaah! Haaah! Dat sthungs!" Angelina cried
"Nasty stuff, isn't it?" Dot said cheerfully.
"Promise you won't tell, Dot? Angelina's dad will kill her if he knew she got her tongue pierced." Calypso asked anxiously.
Dot screwed the lid back on the pot she had just lathered Angelina's tongue in, and flashed Calypso a brilliant smile. "Won't breathe a word. Don't worry, you can trust me. Now, dear," she said, turning to Angelina, whose eyes were watering, "It should be healed right over now, but I still want you to put this powder on it every night. You never know with these home-done jobs…"
Calypso gave the round nurse a hug. "Thanks a heap, Dot. Now I can actually talk to Angelina. Before, it was a rather one-sided conversation."
"I'm here to help." Dot said as the girls walked out the door. "But try not to come here with injuries too often, please!"
-----------------
Remus relaxed in the shade of the sun umbrella and sipped his latte. Snuffles hoed into a large piece of carrot cake at his feet, flicking icing all over his shoes. Remus nudged Snuffle's plate a little further away, and looked around Diagon Alley. He suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the crowd walking past.
"HEY! CALYPSO!" he called, and Calypso spotted him sitting at Crystal's Café. She and Angelina pushed their way through the flow of people and sat down in the spare chairs.
"So, what do you think of Diagon Alley?" asked Remus.
"This place….is just….." Calypso began, gesturing madly for a suitable word.
Angelina laughed. "We know what you mean. What are you doing here, Professor Lupin?" she asked.
Remus pointed to the second story of a huge, old building down by Gringotts. "Paperwork."
"Oh, my dad hates doing that." Angelina sympathized.
"So do I." Remus agreed. "So, where have you been?"
"Everywhere, apart from Knockturn Alley." Angelina said miserably. "I'm not allowed to go there unless I'm accompanied by someone who is allowed. Dad's orders."
Calypso suddenly gave Remus a cunning look. "Remus, can I go to Knockturn Alley?" she asked slyly.
Remus blinked. "There's no way I can stop you. You are your own person, you know Calypso."
"Right then. C'mon Angelina," she declared, getting up from the table.
"What?" Angelina gave her a puzzled look.
'We, my dear, are going to Knockturn Alley. Don't worry, I'll chaperone you, since I'm allowed. And if your dad kicks up any fuss, we can always blame Remus here."
Before Remus could react, both girls had vanished off down Diagon Alley. Snuffles was almost choking on his cake, snorting and blowing crumbs everywhere.
Remus was not amused. "I think it's time to get Snuffles a choke chain…."
Snuffles stopped laughing abruptly.
--------------------
It was eight fifteen when Angelina pointed out the forest green apartment with huge, potplant covered balcony above the coffee shop.
"That's Maria's house there. The door is just beside the watchmaker's display window, and the staircase is behind it." Angelina gave Calypso a wry look. "I wish I could come as well."
"And you know what, I wish you were coming too." Calypso said honestly. She was starting to feel the first flutterings of nervousness.
"Oh, Calypso, I gotta run. I have to be home by eight thirty or the shit will hit the fan."
"Right. Look, thanks a million for spending the day with boring little me, I really appreciated it."
Angelina gave her a broad grin. "Truly, the pleasure was all mine. I'll see ya around, aye?"
"Yeah. We'll have to do it again." Calypso called as Angelina loped away at a smooth run down Diagon Alley.
Damm, she though. She liked Angelina, she'd had a great day so far and now she had to attend this stupid bloody meeting thing. Meetings were never interesting.
Reluctantly, she grabbed her bag and walked over to the red door and pushed it open.
"Helloooo?" she called hesitantly up the staircase, which was a ghastly shade of orange.
"Who's that?" a familiar voice drifted back down the stairwell.
"Calypso."
"Hey, so you made it! Come on up!" Maria called.
Calypso climbed the uneven stairs, sweating slightly, and opened the door at the top.
So this was Maria's pad, she though, looking around. It was furnished totally with op-shop furniture – numerous mismatching sloppy couches, a large wooden coffee table covered with dents. Prints and photographs that moved lined the walls of the lounge. The kitchen was all of veenered wood, and sported a cream, orange and brown jug, at which Maria was making cups of tea in lopsided and chipped mugs.
"Well, what do you think?" Maria asked, gesturing to her lounge and kitchen, which had a splendid view of another person's lounge over the street.
Calypso tried to think of a neutral compliment, but Maria saved her.
"Now you see why I spend a lot of time at Remus' house?" she asked with a chuckle. "I just brought this place, and it needs a little bit of doing up. Tea?"
--------------------
Ben took a deep breath and steadied his nerves. International Portkey travel wasn't for the faint-hearted. He shifted around awkwardly, but the capsule was tiny and there wasn't much room for movement. He couldn't see much inside the capsule, but he knew where the trigger was. Reluctantly, he reached up and grabbed firmly onto the rubber bar.
The second he touched the bar, it felt like he was being blasted off the platform by NASA, not BPKP (British Port Key Pathways– always a pleasure, never a chore). He thought his chest was crushed into his pelvis, as the capsule climbed into the stratosphere, and the tinny taped message was piped into his helmet.
" Welcome and thank you for choosing to travel BPKP – always a pleasure, never a chore. Please ensure your body harness is done up tightly. Also, please note the single emergency exit to the left of you, and the oxygen mask to the right. At the speed and height at which you are traveling, any accident will probably be instantly fatal, and this exit and mask will be totally useless anyway.
There are no bathroom facilities on this capsule, so take the hint.
Your trip to Diagon Alley, London, England from Dreaming Rock, Sydney, Australia, will take nine minutes and eighteen seconds. We expect to be passing over Fiji in the next few seconds or so. We are currently approaching the stratosphere at Mach 7. Thank you for traveling with British Port Key Pathways. We hope you have a nice day."
The last two sentences were dripping with sarcasm, and Ben noticed it as he clenched his teeth as the ringing in his ears increased in pitch.
Damm economy class travel, he though, as the capsule started shuddering slightly.
--------------------
So, in this happy little box down here, suggest a title for my series! Come on, come on! You may think your ideas are stupid, but please, look at what I called this series!! THAT is truly awful!
Please please please!
And, advance warning, the next chapter is really difficult to write, and school is heating up, so I'm taking my time with it, okay? Otherwise it's going to end up being complete crap. So please don't spam me asking me to hurry up.
Luv you all.