Chapter 4

"The first thing you need to know, is probably something you won't believe" begins Harry, and he sighs "Nika, we are wizards" I stare at him in disbelieve.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"We can do magic, Ron and I are wizards and Hermione and Ginny are witches." They are looking at me curious to see my reaction.

"Yeah, sure, and my mother is an alien!" Stupid joke! Why is he telling me this? I want an explanation for what is happening to me! And now he is joking!!!

"Did you really think I would believe that? I'm not a small child anymore!"

"Oh, Nika! I thought you would react like this!" sighed Hermione "But please! Although you don't believe it, just listen to what we are telling you, and I swear, it's not a joke and not a lie!"

"You can't be wizards! They only exist in fairy-tales for children! Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it is the truth! Oh, it was wrong to decide to tell you this, you're a muggle!" says Ron and he shakes his head.

"Oh! So I'm a muggle, eh? Why are you calling me names and telling me fairy-tales when I nearly got killed?!"

"We are not calling you names!" exclaims Ginny. "A muggle is someone who can't do magic, someone like you!"

"Well, if that means I'm not a nutter like you are, I'm proud of it!" I mutter.

"Nika, please, think! I didn't believe it either when I heard I was a wizard for the first time, but you have to think about what happened to you! I know you saw strange things you couldn't really explain. Just think!" Harry's voice sounds soft, but I can tell he is desperate. I look at him and I know my expression must be sarcastic, but I can't help to think back. What did happen to me tonight?

I saw that man. That terrible man. And... and he had pointed something at me... what could that have been? A wand or something? And then that red light which had hit the evil man... what was that? A spell? And the second one had had a wand too. He had opened the door with it!

I look back at Harry and then at the other three. "Prove it," I say shortly,

"W-what?"

"Prove it!" I repeat and I notice they are exchanging looks again.

"We... we can't..." says Hermione quietly. "We are not allowed to use magic in the holidays."

"Right," and mockingly I repeat her words "You're not allowed to use magic in the holidays. Where are you a wizard for then? If you can't use magic!"

"Wait! Fred and George can! Should I call them?" Ginny looks at the others.

"Well..." says Hermione slowly. "Do you think they would be nice..." But she can't finish her sentence as two loud CRACKS interrupt her.

And then I see two boys before my eyes. Identical twins with both red hair, like Ron and Ginny. Perplexed I look at them. How did they come in?

"Hi Nika, I'm Fred!"

"And I'm George, nice to meet you!" They both hold out their hands, but I barely notice that.

"How... how?!"

"They apparated, Nika," says Hermione "they used magic"

"Don't you know what apparating is?" They look surprised.

"She's a muggle, George! And you'd better be nice to her!" Ginny says threateningly.

"Blimey, you are?" They lower their hands now and grin at each other.

"Ginny said, you'd better be nice to her!"

"Or what?" they say sarcastically. "You put us in detention?"

"No," Hermione answers. "I'll tell your mum"

"She already knows about our shop! That's no excuse anymore!"

"Yeah, but I don't think she would be happy if you were testing on innocent muggles!" Their faces darken.

"What would they test on me?" I say curiously, though I'm still a bit scared of their sudden appearance.

"Well, I would advise you to accept nothing they offer you! It could be a stomach-hole-cake!" And Ron throws a nasty look at the twins.

"What, Ronnie? What's up?" Fred grins

"Bad experience, have you?" George winks at me. But I'm in shock

"A stomach-what?"

"A stomach-hole-cake!"

"When you eat them, they burn a hole through your stomach" Fred explains.

"And then you can look through it. It's very funny!" George says.

"We want to improve them a bit more, so you can use them for more than just for the fun."

"Yeah, we want to make sure that you can only see the hole from behind, and not from the front side."

"That could be useful when you are making a test at school, you can see through the back of the person who is sitting before you, without the teacher knowing that"

"It just looks like your staring at nothing at all, I mean, what's wrong to look at the back of the person before you? Thinking hard about the answers for your test?"

"The only problem is how to make the hole bigger, so you can see it better..."

"Without making it too big, it can't be hidden from the front side anymore, and without somebody else noticing that the person before you has a hole in his back..."

"And what about the pain?" says Ron with an expression on his face as though he was still feeling it.

"Oh, we fixed that already."

"Yeah, we just added a few drops of..." but I didn't hear the rest. With terror rising inside again I interrupt George.

"What kind of people are you? What kind of ideas do you have when you think that is funny?"

"Oh, but we have an antidote! And that is working fine!"

"Just eat the other side of the..."

"I don't want to know!" I scream. "I don't know if you really can do magic but... but..."

"Oh, Nika... isn't this not enough evidence? Did you think about what happened tonight? Do you see another explanation? You have to let go of the world you used to know, to understand this. Your reaction is exactly the reason why we are not telling all the muggles of the existence of the magic world! They won't understand! They won't believe it! They want to see proof for every little thing you are telling them!"

Hermione had caught my eyes and I can't turn them away. She holds my gaze and I can't break the contact. Finally she lets go and, relieved, I look at the ground. She is right. There is no other explanation. But to accept that I'm in the company of wizards and witches! My head swims. But I have to believe, there is no other option...

I sigh and look up. They are watching me again. I take a deep breath and then I nod. "Ok, I believe you, but only for you can tell me what happened tonight! If it sounds ridiculous you can forget it!" They smile, relieved.

"Thank you Nika," says Harry. "Please, sit down again, then we can go on." When he has said this I notice that I'm standing but I can't remember when I got up. Feeling a bit ashamed I sit down, and Fred and George, who are standing too, take place next to Harry and Ron on the bed opposite mine.