Chapter Four: A Dream, a Wish, a Desire


After they had spotted the boy outside the window, the eight adults had a furious debate about who would go out and see what he was up to. Haya, fed up with all of their persisting, told them all quite forwardly that the other seven of them were all wanted either dead, captured, or tortured because they were a threat to the dark side or married to a threat. As Haya was the only one that wasn't a threat or married to a threat, she had finally been the one to talk the others into letting her go.

When the boy passed out, Haya had freaked and tried to revive him only to find out that he had only fainted. There was no reason why he should faint, they thought, unless he was really surprised about the house and the others suddenly appearing. From what they could tell, however, the boy already seemed to know quite a lot about magic and therefore shouldn't have gotten shocked by them suddenly appearing, unless of course it was the people that shocked him into fainting.

That then led them to why the boy looked exactly like James with green eyes and a lightening shaped scar on his forehead. Remus had reported that the only way to get a scar of that nature was to be hit by a very powerful curse, which curse, however, he did not know. The boy, they noticed, seemed to be very skinny for his age, but they could tell that he was a very powerful wizard. They didn't need to test him to know that.

The girl was another mystery entirely. The fever had only been an after effect of a curse that she had apparently been hit by an hour or so before that her body had repelled. The curse was a very dark one and for her body to repel it made her a very powerful witch. From just glancing at her, one would think that she was apart of the Weasley family with her red hair and freckles, but as the Weasleys only had sons; they knew that was impossible.

Both children, however, were badly beaten. On closer inspection, they saw that their robes were splattered with blood and spell residue. There was also white dust on their robes and in their hair that they later realized was crushed stone as if a building had began to collapse while they had been inside. There was no doubt about it; both kids had been in a furious battle only a few hours before when they had suddenly arrived in Cornwall.

As the adults helped the two unconscious children into sleepwear so that they were more comfortable, they decided to search their other clothes for any idea on how they had gotten there. In the girl's pockets, they found several joke products, a few potion vials, and her wand. All of the things, they saw, could be used to her advantage in a battle. In the boy's pockets, they found several potion vials, an old piece of parchment that they found on closer inspection was the Marauders' Map, his wand, and an odd black orb. They had no idea how the boy came across the Marauders' Map, but if the battle had been at Hogwarts, they knew that could have come in handy. The orb, however, was kind of out of place and Sirius took it upon himself to research it and see what it actually was.

Haya, because she had already spoken with the boy, took it upon herself to watch after him. Lily, however, said that she felt an odd connection with him and continually checked on him. It was almost as if this boy was her son and he was ill. More than once, one of the other adults found her dabbing his forehead with a damp cloth. They thought that the boy would wake soon as he had only fainted, but when Kyria inspected him more closely, she announced that he was suffering from exhaustion. He wasn't expected to wake till the next day at the least.

Rue, who had always had an affinity for children even when she was just a child herself, took it upon herself to watch after the girl. She was quite adapted to watch after the ill as her husband always fell ill once a month. Though she didn't seem to have the same connection with the girl as Lily did with the boy, she did care for her. After only two hours with the unconscious girl, she was able to report that the girl was obviously a prankster, a Gryffindor, right-handed, and an agile dueller. The men had grinned at the prankster part, already dreaming of corrupting the poor girl's mind.

Instead of having breakfast the next morning, they checked on the two guests. Lily, James, Peter, and Remus followed Rue to the girl's room. They stood watching her as she checked the usual vitals and such. Sirius suddenly busted into the room with a wide grin on his.

"You remember that weird little black orb thing?" he asked.

They nodded.

"Well, I found out what it is. It took loads of research, but I finally—"

A quiet moan cut him off. Rue whipped around and stared at the girl as her eyes shut tightly before squinting against the light. She glanced at Rue and a confused look danced across her face.

"Where am I?"

"Cornwall in the Black Manor Estate," said Rue promptly.

"Black…?" she muttered as if remembering something. She shook her head. "Where's Harry?"

"Harry?" asked James.

The girl glanced over at him and did a double take. Her eyes widened as she forced herself to sit up and stare at the five people standing behind Rue. Her mouth was hanging open in shock and her face, which had been returning to its original colour, suddenly went pale again. She began to mouth wordlessly at them as if trying to get some words out, but couldn't get her voice to work.

At last, she gasped out, "Impossible!"

"What's impossible?" asked Rue, confused as she shot her husband and surrogate family a confused look, which they returned.

Instead of answering, she threw the blanket over her head as if trying to hide. In a clear voice, she said, "I am going insane."

Rue blinked at the lump on the bed that was the girl and turned her gaze to the other five occupants in the room who were looking just as confused as she felt. Shrugging, she said, "Maybe you better go?"

Remus nodded. "We'll be in the kitchen."

"Okay," said Rue.

She watched as the five of them slowly left the room. She looked back at the girl. She reached over and pulled the blanket off of her head. The girl looked up at her, glanced around the room, and sighed.

"Why are you going insane?" asked Rue.

"Because it's impossible for those people to be here, in this room, at this very moment," said the girl promptly.

"Why is it impossible for them to be here?" said Rue slowly. "Do you know them?"

"If their names are Lily and James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, yes, I know them—or did, I don't know."

Rue was reminded of the boy's same innocent confusion that he had expressed. She was surprised that the girl knew all of their names. Not to mention the way she said them made her almost believe that the girl believed them to be dead or worse. "Are they supposed to be somewhere else?" she finally asked after a stretched out pause.

The girl looked up at Rue for a moment as if considering her answer. Then, without another word, she grabbed the blanket and threw it back over her head. Rue took that as a signal that the conversation was over. She stood slowly and hesitated before leaving the room.

At the doorway, she said, "If you get hungry, just tell me, okay?"

She saw the lump bob up and down, which she took as a nod and closed the door behind her. Shaking her head in confusion, she followed the corridor down the stairs and through the Dining Room until she got to the kitchen.

Rue found them huddled around the table, retelling what happened to Haya who looked as if she had come down for a cup of tea. She wore the same expression of confusion as the rest of them. When Rue entered the kitchen, they stopped talking and looked at her as if hoping she had an explanation. Rue just sighed and shrugged.

"What did she say when we left?" asked Lily.

"She knew all of your names," she said slowly, "and she said that it was impossible for you guys to be here."

"It's impossible for us to be here?" said James incredulously. "Sirius lives here!"

"I don't think she meant here as in—in this house," explained Rue, "I think she meant here as in—alive. I know it's crazy, but I just got the feeling that when she said your names she believed you all to be dead—or worse."

"That's impossible," squeaked Peter.

"No," said Sirius, shaking his head, "not impossible."

"What?" exclaimed Haya. "Do you mean to tell me that I'm dating a dead guy?"

Sirius chuckled. "Yes, babe, you're dating a dead guy."

She glared at him.

"As I was saying, do you remember me telling you that I figured out what that little black orb was? Well, it's a Desidero Sphaera," said Sirius.

Remus's eyes widened. "Desire Sphere?"

"Yes."

"So you believe that they are from a different reality where we are dead and they used this Desire Sphere to come here?"

"It's just a theory," said Sirius, "but yes, that's exactly what I think."

"Hello, for us simple minded folk here, what in the wizarding world is a Desire Sphere?" asked James.

"It's a cursed orb that grants anybody who is touching it their dreams—their wishes—their desires in the blink of an eye. They were said to be all but extinct. The only one known to exist in the past century was owned by Dumbledore and that has been destroyed," explained Remus.

"Why is it cursed?" asked Peter.

Remus opened his mouth to explain when they heard a bang from upstairs that made them all start. They looked upward where shouting was quickly followed.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" It was Kyria.

"Where's Ginny?" bellowed the boy's voice.

"Harry?" cried the girl.

"Where are you going—hey! Get back here, you're not well yet—"

SLAM!

By this time all seven adults had jumped to their feet and ran up to see what the commotion was about. They found Kyria banging on the girl's door shouting that they better let her in. Haya whipped out her wand and was about to unlock it with a simple spell, when Sirius held out his hand to stop her. He pulled out his wand and tapped the door. The voices from inside instantly magnified and they stayed quiet as the listened to the conversation from inside.