Chapter 15- The party
Nathan was enjoying the only thing in the whole of Marcus's house that didn't require magic, the pool. Nathan was counting down the days until Carlie came back; Lyndsay was away at her Grandmothers for Christmas and was coming back the day after Carlie. Jess was unhappy about not being able to go to Carlie's because of the Weasey's coming. After a while Marcus showed up, his face clouded with some emotion Nathan couldn't put his finger on.
"Hey Marcus, wanna come in?"
Marcus shook his head "I hoped you were still here, I know that Jess isn't able to go to Carlie's party because of some of her friends"
"Yeah but why do you care?"
Marcus smiled smugly. "I have the answer for you, there is a spell for changing your appearance that doesn't require a wand or a potion, just an incantation and it can be removed whenever the person desires"
"So Jess can change his appearance and come to the party in a disguise" Nathan voice filled with hope.
Marcus nodded, "I thought you'd like the idea, when Jess isn't busy have him come over and I'll apply the spell"
"I'll call him now" Nathan said
/Hey Jess you busy/
/No family has gone/
/orb to the pool, I've got awesome news/
In a flare of blue particles Jess appeared and stood beside Marcus.
"So what's this 'awesome news' you wanted to tell me?" he asked
"You tell him Marcus"
Marcus looked at Jess "I can change your appearance; you can go to Carlie's party in disguise"
Jess looked suspiciously at him "what's the catch?"
Marcus laughed "no catch, as a guardian I have to keep my charges happy now don't I?"
"I hope the attack is soon, we need to know what we're up against" Nathan looked at Marcus and realized he was hearing his thoughts. It happened occasionally; he wished he could control it better though, he hated hearing thoughts he never wanted to know about.
"Here, I can put it on now if you want" Marcus was saying to Jess.
"Sure, I'll just owl my parents and tell them I'm staying with a friend" Jess seemed genuinely happy.
"Okay" Marcus put his hands out as if to catch something and mumbled something and soon Jess's hair had turned into brown dreadlocks and his eyes were almost black, he had a nose ring and was wearing baggy clothes.
"OH MY GOD YOU LOOK SO AWESOME!" Nathan gasped
Jess peered into the water and gasped. He looked really cool.
"Wow! Can I stay like this?" Jess asked
"For a while anyway, we need to come up with a name for you" Marcus said
"I've always like the name Kyle" Jess suggested
"Yes and how about a last name?"
"Brady?" Nathan asked, thinking about the Brady bunch.
"I like it Kyle Brady" Jess grinned.
"You can be a friend from a school in Scotland" Nathan said
"But I don't sound Scottish" Jess said.
"You can say you lived in England for a while then moved last year, that's how I met you" Nathan said.
"Well I can see when I'm not needed" Marcus said and walked off.
"Hey Jess"
"Better start calling me Kyle or we'll forget" Jess took off his shirt and jumped in the pool.
"Okay Kyle, don't you thing it's strange that Marcus wants us all together?"
"Yeah, I mean since when does it matter to him" Jess said
"I think he needs us together for something" Nathan said
"But what?"
"I don't know" Nathan whispered.
Carlie threw the last of her presents in her suitcase. She was looking forward to a carefree time hanging with all her buds.
"All except one" A voice argued
Carlie sighed as began to lug the suitcase downstairs. It wasn't her fault that Jess and Fred and George didn't get along.
"All packed dear?" Mrs. Weasly asked
Carlie nodded.
"How are we getting there?" Fred asked
"I got Carlie's fireplace hooked up to the floo network for a few hours" Mr. Weasly said.
"Floo network?" Carlie asked
"Oh dear it's quite simple, Arthur will show you" Mrs. Weasly smiled.
Mr. Weasly grabbed a handful of powder from a small bowl and yelled "The Green Leaf" and threw the powder down. He disappeared in a flare of green flames.
"George you next" Mrs. Weasley said, George did they exact same thing then Fred and then it was Carlie's turn. Standing with her suitcase in hand and in the other the powder, she yelled "The green leaf"
With a vivid flash Carlie passed many fireplaces until she came to her own.
Mr. Weasley was examining her television and Fred and George were looking wildly around the room.
"Mum?" Carlie called. She soon her footsteps and the door swung open to reveal Miranda.
"Hey mum how ya going?" Carlie said.
Mr. Weasley abandoned the television and walked over and put his hand out to Miranda. "Hello, I'm Arthur Weasley, I'm sure you've heard tones about my sons Fred and George from Carlie"
Miranda shook his hand and said "Yes but I hope she was exaggerating some of it"
Carlie laughed along with the twins.
"I got your fireplace connect to the floo network for a while, I hope you don't mind"
Miranda nodded.
"It's a nice place you've got here and everything is run off eckeltricity?" Mr. Weasley asked
Carlie smiled "It's Electricity Mr. Weasley"
Suddenly the phone rang and Mr. Weasley looked around to see what had made the noise.
"It'll be Lyndsay, she's rung twice already" Miranda said. Carlie walked over and picked up the phone
"Hereford Mortuary, you kill 'em we chill 'em"
Lyndsay's voice came down the other end "Oh real funny, Carls, I wanted to know if you'd heard from Jess or Nathan?"
"Nope, not all Holidays, kinda strange huh?"
"Why don't we ask them?" Lyndsay asked with a hint of mischievousness in her voice.
/EARTH TO NATHAN! EARTH TO NATHAN/ Lyndsay called silently
/HI EARTH/
/Hey Nathan what you doing/ Lyndsay asked
/Hanging out with Kyle, we'll come over to Carlie's place soon/
"Who's Kyle?" Carlie accidentally asked out loud.
/Kyle is Jess done up with a spell or something/ Nathan said.
/Hang on I said that out loud, you shouldn't have heard me/ Carlie gasped
/Duh Carlie, I have superior hearing, I can hear almost anything if I try/ Nathan said.
Carlie noticed that Miranda was giving her the 'look' that said get off the phone.
"Hey Lyndsay gotta run, mum's giving me the look" Carlie said.
"See you Carls"
Carlie hung up the phone and Mr. Weasley looked intrigued.
"Oh you have a fellyphone"
Carlie tried not to roll her eyes "it's a TELEPHONE and of course we have one."
After a bit of silence Mr. Weasley clapped his hands together and said "I better be off, have a nice time boys."
Mr. Weasley soon disappeared in a burst of green flames.
"Come on, you can chuck you stuff in the computer room" Carlie summoned them to follow her and they did.
"You were a bit short with Dad weren't you?" Fred asked as they placed their stuff on the ground.
"Sorry, I'm really short tempered" Carlie said and adding bitterly in an undertone "Must be from my father"
Fred and George missed the bitter comment and asked
"So what do we do for fun around this place?"
Carlie smiled "Oh, we can go downstairs to the Green Leaf and met Sara"
The twins shrugged "Okay"
The green leaf wasn't that busy and Sara was actually sitting down at a table with Mitchell when Carlie, Fred and George came down.
"Hey Sara!" Carlie said
"CARLIE! What did you do to your hair?" Sara exclaimed
Carlie had forgotten that her hair was bright with black streaks in it.
"Oh yeah, this new craze I'm into" Carlie said, running her fingers through it.
"And this must be Fred and George" She said smiling.
"Yeah, guys this is Sara and her boyfriend Mitchell" Carlie introduced.
"Nice to meet you boys, so are all the stories true or is Carlie pulling my leg?" Sara asked
"Well it depends which stories" Fred smiled
Sara and Mitchell laughed.
"So this is the famous Carlie" An unfamiliar voice said
Carlie turned to see a boy about fourteen with wild curly brown hair.
"More like infamous" Sara laughed "Carlie, this is Pete Surmon, my new waiter."
Carlie smiled, she felt embarrassed, obviously Miranda and Sara had been telling a few wild stories to him.
"Is it true that you jumped a car on a skateboard?" He asked.
"Oh that was a few years ago" Carlie said, blushing slightly.
"I heard that you got many stitches from that" Pete laughed.
"I was ten and I was kinda crazy" Carlie said.
"Kinda?" Sara remarked.
Fred and George were standing there awkwardly, they weren't sure what to say, it was a very muggle conversation.
"Anyway, I have to get back to work otherwise the boss will fire me" Pete laugh
"Ya damn right, I'm not paying you to chat up my niece" Sara said.
Pete smiled and turned around to wait on a table.
"Niece?" Mitchell asked
"Yeah Carlie's practically my niece since Miranda practically my sister" Sara said
Carlie noticed that Fred and George looked rather nervous so she took them outside where she met Jason, Lewis and Jax.
"Hey guys, this is Fred and George, Fred, George this is Jason, Lewis and Jax" Carlie introduced.
"Hi" "Hey" "How ya doing" Were the greetings from the boys.
"Hey Carlie, do you have any friends that are female?" Jason asked.
Carlie glared at him.
"Hey do you guys wanna see a movie?" Lewis asked.
"Yeah sure, hold up I'll ask mum" Carlie ran upstairs and was back with some money.
"Okay we can go, I can pay for you two" She said to Fred and George.
The six of them set off for the movies, Lewis talking to Carlie and Jax about something while Jason talked to the twins about their school.
Nathan had organized that 'Kyle' was to stay at his place for the rest of the holidays. Jess was enjoying every minute of it. Nathan's parents were never there half the time so it wasn't a big deal.
"Do you want to go shopping for some clothes for the party, I need some" Nathan said.
"Yeah and I go my wizard money turned into muggle money so you don't have to pay for me" Jess said.
"Great!" Nathan smiled
"People of the Congress, I warn to that we must be ready for on New Years Eve, we will met our adversary"
"Marcus, what is your plan of action?"
"The sorceresses have no idea of their full destiny, yet but I shall inform them soon" "Indeed they shall"
Carlie was staring at her bedroom wall, she didn't stare to hard otherwise she might set the whole house alight. She wanted to go for a walk but didn't want to wake anyone else up. Quietly getting out of bed, she used her powers to get dressed and orbed outside. The street was very duly lit and most people would have thought it very suspicious for a teenage girl to be walking at three o'clock in the morning. Carlie couldn't sleep though, something was coming, she could feel it. She wondered if the others could feel it too. She was about to ask them then she realized that no one in their right mind would be awake at this hour.
/Think again/ Nathan's voice sounded
/Nathan! What are you doing up/ Carlie asked
/the same reason you are, we can feel it coming/
/what do you mean we/ Carlie asked
/Hello, Kyle's here too/
/Hey Jess or is it Kyle/
/Call me Kyle so you can get used to it/ Jess answered
/I suppose Lyndsay's awake/ Carlie said.
/Yeah, I had a vision but it was very blurring and quick/ Lyndsay answered.
/What was it/
/I was in a crowd and everyone was pushing each other then I saw a flash, like fire and then it ended/ Lyndsay explained.
/I heard the sounds to it, I heard tones of screaming that's about all/ Nathan said.
/Well that helps/ Carlie said.
/So where are you/ Jess asked.
/walking, not sure where I am now/ Carlie answered.
/we should get some sleep, I know of a sleeping potion that we could make/ Lyndsay said.
/Yeah one problem, I don't exactly/ have potion ingredients in the house/ Carlie said.
/We can go to Marcus's place and make it/ Lyndsay said.
/Okay, see you there/ Carlie said.
"They can feel it Marcus, they can feel the power coming for them"
"I know, but Lyndsay is a smart girl, she'll give them the potion and they'll be okay"
"You best hope so."
"Okay, drop in the Beech" Lyndsay instructed.
Nathan dropped in a dried leaf into the Caldron.
"Right now all we need is a wisp of Eryngo and it should be done" Lyndsay said.
Jess opened a bottle of purple liquid and put a little in. Lyndsay stirred it and smelt it.
"Yep, that's right, here's a bottle each and take it when your near your bed" Lyndsay dipped a few bottle's into the light green potion and passed them to Carlie, Jess and Nathan.
"See you tomorrow" Carlie said.
"Technically you'll see us later on today because it's pasted midnight" Nathan said
Carlie laughed and orbed back to her bedroom.
Fred and George had slept on Carlie's foldout couch and they had been woken up by Carlie, the point of the potion was to get about an hours sleep but feel like you'd slept for hours on end, so after a shower and breakfast, Carlie woke them up at six o'clock.
Carlie had jumped on their bed and scared them.
"What time is it?" Fred asked
"Six am" Carlie said proudly
"Why are you waking us up this early?" George asked
"Because one week ago some annoying bastards woke me up really early by throwing water on me" Carlie laughed
"Aw come on Carlie, we have to stay up all night tonight" Fred complained
"Fine, I'm going for a walk" Carlie said, getting up.
"Okay have fun" George yawned.
Carlie felt the morning air on her face, it felt so good.
/You guys awake/ Carlie asked
/Yeah, wanna come over, no one else is home/ Nathan answered.
Carlie closed her eyes for a second then them she noticed she was on Jess.
"Oh sorry, I'm not good at this" Carlie apologized.
Jess pushed Carlie off him and mumbled something that Carlie couldn't make out.
"Are you looking forward to the party tonight?" Nathan asked.
"Hell yeah" Carlie laughed.
"I think Kyle might attract a few girls" Lyndsay smiled.
"I'd ask him out but I know what he looks like underneath" Carlie laughed.
"Marcus said I can stay like this for as long as I want so maybe I can quite Hogwarts and live with Nathan" Jess said.
"Then we can go out or something" Carlie said.
"On second thought I'll go back to being Jess" He laughed.
Carlie pretended to be upset "What! Aren't I pretty enough or something?"
"Yeah duh!" Nathan smirked.
"You can talk Nathan, you are UGLY!" Carlie remarked.
"HA! Sucked in Nath" Lyndsay laughed.
Nathan made a gesture with his hand that would have offended most people.
"NATHAN TUCKER! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY APPALLING!" Carlie yelled.
"OH MY GOD! It's Mrs. Anderson!" Lyndsay cried.
Nathan snickered and Jess looked confused.
"Personal joke" Nathan said.
Jess nodded and the conversation continued until they all realized they had been talking for well over an hour.
"Man, Fred and George probably thinking I walked to China" Carlie said, getting up from the crossed legged position she'd sat in for the past hour.
"My parents couldn't care less" Lyndsay said, stretching out.
"It's not my mum, she doesn't care it's the twins. I'll have to explain to them why I was so long" Carlie said
"Tell them the truth, you went to Nathan's place" Lyndsay said.
"Yeah, just don't tell them how you got there" Jess said.
Carlie rolled her eyes and orbed outside the Green Leaf. Walking up the stairs, Carlie opened the door to find Fred and George sitting on the breakfast bar eating toast.
"Hey where did you go, China?" Fred asked.
"Great minds think alike" Carlie thought.
"I went to Nathan's place."
Miranda walked into the room drying her hair with a towel and grinned at Carlie "Have a nice walk?"
"Splendid. Have a nice shower?" Carlie asked.
"Oh yes, very refreshing" Miranda laughed.
Fred and George seemed to be engaged in their own conversation about Hogwarts then they turned to Miranda and asked her
"You went to Hogwarts right Mrs. Mason?"
"Yes and its Miranda, I feel so old when someone calls me Mrs. Mason" Miranda answered
"So what house were you in?" Fred asked.
"Gryffindor" Miranda said as she rummaged around in the fridge.
"What about Carlie's dad?" George asked
Silence filled the air; the tension was so thick you could have sliced at it with a knife. After a while Carlie said, "He was a muggle, right mum?"
Miranda nodded but Fred and George seemed to know they were lying though for once common sense told them not to mention it again.
Sara and Mitchell had already started setting up for the party; the Green Leaf was closed for the New Year period so no one was there. When Carlie, Miranda, Fred and George had come downstairs there was a long table on one side of the room, chairs on the other and there was a pair of large speakers on the stage where the bands usually placed. Mitchell and Sara were kissing gently when they walked in.
"Get a room" Carlie remarked.
Sara and Mitchell went a little red and separated.
"So what needs doing?" Miranda asked.
"We need some balloons blown up, there is a big pile of them there" Sara pointed to a pile of deflated balloons on the table "and we need some punch made up."
"I'll do that" Miranda volunteered.
For the next half an hour, Carlie, Fred and George blew up balloons until Nathan and 'Kyle' came in.
"Hey Jess, who's your friend?" Sara asked as they came in.
"Oh, this is Kyle Brady, he lived near me but moved to Scotland last year" Nathan had obviously rehearsed it.
'Hello Kyle, you coming to the party tonight?" Sara asked.
"If it's okay" Jess answered.
"Of course" Sara smiled.
Nathan and Jess walked over to Carlie and the twins.
"Hey Nathan, hey Kyle, this is Fred and George" Carlie said
Carlie noticed that there was a hint of bitterness in the way Jess looked at the twins.
"Wanna help?" Carlie asked.
Jess and Nathan sat down and began to blow up balloons, Lyndsay soon followed.
"Crap! They're like clones" Lyndsay had exclaimed when she saw the twins. Neither Jess nor the twins understood the word clone but they had laughed anyway.
As they were now six of them blowing up balloons they soon accumulated a good number of them.
"Whoa there guys, I think we have enough" Mitchell had said when he'd noticed how many balloons there were.
They all spent the rest of the day hanging up decorations, Pete dropped by with his little sister Anita to help. Carlie couldn't help but stare a Pete; his wild curly brown hair gave him a mischievous appearance. Pete's sister, Anita was seven years old with shoulder length wavy hair.
As the afternoon began to move on Keisha and Tegan had come by early for the party and help prepare the food. Soon as all the guest started to arrive, Nathan heard someone speaking.
I have found them, they are together and we will show ourselves tonight, whether or not we get them all doesn't matter, we just need one.
Nathan shook his head and continued to greet the guests. Everyone was almost here and Carlie decided to change into her party outfit. She went into her room and change her clothes. As she was leaving she knocked off her desk her folder which contained a ton of photos. Carlie began to pick up the photo's that had come out of it. One of them was the one of her father holding her proudly.
"So much for being proud of me" She growled at it.
Carlie nodded and slipped the picture back in the folder. When she went back downstairs she saw Jess dancing like an idiot with Lyndsay, Jess was having too much of a good time to really care about it.
The party went late into the night and at twelve o'clock they all counted down
"7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR"
A cold wind suddenly blew through the whole room and the lights flicked. Then an ear piecing scream turned their attention to the stage where a group of figure wearing black robes stood. Their faces looked as if they had been severely burnt, their eyes were a flaming red and they had no hair. The music was still blaring from the stereo and one of the creatures waved their hand at the speaker blew into a thousand pieces. Everyone began to scream and rush around. The crowd surged and Lyndsay felt as if experiencing déjà vu.
"WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Jess screamed.
"DID YOU BRING YOUR WAND?" Carlie asked.
"NO! WHAT ABOUT YOURS?" Jess called.
Carlie suddenly realized that Nathan had been grabbed by one of the creatures and was being dragged back towards the stage.
Then everyone else stopped and there was no sound coming from the crowd. It was if they were frozen.
"Did you do that?" Jess asked Carlie. Carlie shook her head and Lyndsay pushed her way through the crowd.
"Put down the boy" A harsh voice said.
Carlie, Lyndsay and Jess turned towards the kitchen. A man with grey hair and white robes stood. Marcus stood behind him.
"Why should we?' one of the creatures growled
"Because I can do this" the man waved his hands and the creature exploded into a thousand particles.
The other creatures looked worried. "I demand you to drop Nathan this instant!" The man snapped and the creatures dropped Nathan and disappeared in a burst of flames.
Carlie, Nathan, Lyndsay and Jess looked shocked. The man walked over to them.
"I apologized, this wasn't exactly how we planned it but nothing ever turns out right with you lot"
Marcus had walked up beside him and said "This is Phantal, Head of the congress"
"Um...what just happened?" Lyndsay asked
"You were attacked by demons. Lower class ones to bed exact. The filth of the underworld" Phantal answered.
"Right and why exactly were we attacked by demons?" Lyndsay asked.
"Because someone is after you and we know now who it is" Phantal answered.
"And who is after us?" Carlie asked.
"From what we can see Minaru, leader of the underworld" Marcus said.
"So this Minaru guy sent demons after us?" Lyndsay asked. Jess and Nathan couldn't seem to find their voices.
"Yes and he won't stop until he gets you" Phantal said.
"Which is why after your holiday, I'll show you how to defeat the demons" Marcus explained.
"But until then, have a nice party" Phantal said and orbed.
A wave of air flowed over everyone and the music came back on and everyone was dancing again. Carlie, Lyndsay, Jess and Nathan were the only ones who remembered what had just happened.