'Denominators'

Rated PG for violence

Chapter One

End of the Year

It was the last day of school at the Warthogs school for witchcraft and wizardry in Salem, Massachusetts. Brandon and Maria had just gotten off the train that took them back to the Muggle world. Brandon was a short fourteen year old wizard with brown hair. Maria was short and a twelve year old witch with brown hair so dark it looked like it was black. They (unfortunately) had Muggle parents so they never grew up like most of the kids at school. Their parents had just now gotten used to the fact that an owl flying in and out of the house was quite usual to the wizarding families.

Brandon and Maria enjoyed Warthogs, but were also happy to be home to tell their parents all they had learned during Maria's second and Brandon's fourth years there. Maria was extra happy this year because the Ministry of Magic had let them bring home the goodies they had bought at Wizard Ally.

After unpacking Maria immediately began playing with her electric guitar she longed for over the past year than jammed on her drum set. Maria was never one to play with make-up and jewelry like most girls her age. She liked to get muddy and jam in her band. She was currently the drummer in her band called the Lost Memento. After that she took out her bewitched dolls (yes dolls) and put a mini electric guitar in its arms and it immediately started playing. Careful not to break the strings she yanked it out and jumped in bed. She had had a hard long, long, long day.

"Ah!" She had awakened to find Brandon jumping on top of her. Pushing him off of her she yelled, "Get off me!"

"Okay!" retorted Brandon.

"Oh, knock it off both of you," came a sleepy voice from their parent's bedroom.

"Yes Dad," said Brandon and Maria in unison. "Anyway Maria, did you read the daily prophet this morning?" said Brandon.

"How could I if I was sleeping the whole time?" replied Maria.

Brandon answered, "Beets me. Here read this." He trusted the paper into her hands. "Look there," he grunted pointed towards an article titled Harry Potter and Friends Find the Chamber of Secrets and Discovered Lockhart to be a Fake.

Maria skimmed the article, smiled and said, "I knew that Lockhart was nothing but a fraud and a loser."

"Didn't you have a crush on him and wished he was at our school," said Brandon in a sweet little voice. Maria of course had never liked him, but she knew he was joking.

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through him," sighed Maria.

"I wish Professor Albus Dumbledore was headmaster at our school," Brandon said.

"Well we have the closest thing to him, his Uncle Antonio Flabbergaster," replied Maria. "What time is it anyway, Brandon?" she added.

"You slept in, 11:00 a.m.," Brandon said.

"Shoot!"yelledMaria. "I have to be at Tiara's house at 12. Good thing she's only 5 minutes away." Maria ran downstairs, showered, got dressed, than grabbed two waffles sticking out of the toaster and jumped on her bike. She had forgotten how hard it was to get around without her Cleansweep five she got at the Quality Quidditch store in Wizard Ally. She couldn't ride it out in public. Brandon however had a Nimbus Two Thousand because he was seeker for his school house Quidditch team.

When she got there they went up to Tiara's room and talked about stuff. Then Tiara asked, "How was Warthogs?"

"What?" screamed Maria. "Shut up! Your little sister will wonder what we're talking about! You know you're the only Muggle I know that knows wizards and witches exist besides my family."

"Sorry," said Tiara.

"It's okay how about we go up to our secret hang-out," Maria said.

"Sure, good idea," answered Tiara. Once there Maria pulled out her wand and showed it to Tiara. Underage witches and wizards were not allowed to do magic outside of school, but could only if necessary. "Do something with your wand now for me," begged Tiara.

"You know I can't do it outside of school. And besides if I did I might get expelled," Maria replied.

"I wish I was a witch. Then I could get back at that mean Jimmy McHenry," Tiara sighed.

"Well here I'll tell you about some stuff," Maria said trying to cheer up Tiara. Maria started telling Tiara about Dementors. She explained about the wizard prison Azkaban and what their guards were like. Then it was time to go home. They said their goodbyes and Maria invited her to sleepover on Saturday.

When Saturday finally came Maria started to put on her shoes so Tiara and she could go down to the fire pit near the woods to roast marshmallows. Tiara got hers on first so she went ahead to gather wood. As soon as Maria opened the deck door to join Tiara, she heard a bloodcurdling scream.

Maria grabbed her wand and sprinted down to Tiara. Then they ran back to the deck together. Stopping at the edge of the deck they caught their breaths. "What was it?" asked Maria.

"A Denominator, I mean a Dementor," wheezed Tiara through heavy gasps.