Final Curtain
Author: Mysterious Phantom Shyraz
Disclaimer: HP not mine. Plot and anything that is not recognizable is.
Act III scene i
Two Months Ago"Ah, it's so good being able to rest for a while." Harry spoke out loud to no one in particular. Though Hedwig is in her phoenix form, Harry didn't mind much. He did not expect any visitors or letters so it was fine for his familiar to spread her wings a bit.
"Stop being so lazy." Hedwig chastised her master. "People always say practice makes perfect but you're not practicing enough."
"Where do you think I can practice? Here? I don't think the neighbours would like to see a sudden hole appear in their ceiling or something." Harry enjoyed the afternoon sun streaming into the lounge from the balcony. There stereo system was playing soft music in the background and his computer was turned on. Harry did not like the TV that much to buy one, but he did find the computer useful. That is after needing it to do the several assignments he had for his course. Not long after he found the tutoring job, he had signed onto a university course for Bachelor of Arts. He easily 'made' the required certification for entering the course with the aid of several transfiguration spells and a whole lot of potions and ink.
"Why do I even bother?" Hedwig looked at her master once again to still see him lounging on the sofa with his eyes closed. "You sure are enjoying the weekends. By the way, what happened to the cloak that you wanted made?"
"Oops?" Harry looked jokingly at his familiar. The white fabric was bought around a week ago during his first visit into Diagon Alley, and subsequently 'retrieving' his ally. "Thanks for reminding me." And with that, he set to work with needle and thread.
"You could have just used magic." Hedwig flew to the bench top table that separated the kitchen and the lounge. The sewing kit was laid out neatly on the bench with Harry carefully threading the needle hole.
"You never know when the magic feels like wearing off and the whole cloak comes undone." Harry replied, then there was a knock on the door. Hedwig was quick to respond and turned back into an owl sitting quietly on the bench top. Harry wondered who it could be then with a wave of his hands the cloak and the sewing kit returned to their place in the closet.
"Coming." Harry called out. Double checking his disguise was in place, he opened the door to reveal his downstairs neighbour, "Mr Cesarini."
"Sorry to disturb you Pharo." Chris apologised in advance.
"No, it's ok. I wasn't doing much anyways. Is something wrong?" Harry looked at Mr Cesarini's face and noticed worry was written all over it.
"Ah, I was wondering, are you doing anything important now?"
"Not that I know of. Why?" There was not much else planned for now but he had intended to go help out in the restaurant later at night as it is a Saturday.
"Could you watch over Tortinita and Arietta for a couple of hours now because both me and my wife are urgently needed out of town. We should be back before dusk." Chris looked at his watch once again as if in a hurry.
"It's ok, I can look after them for a while. But I think I'm needed at the restaurant later tonight. There's going to be a lot of people there." Harry replied honestly. Although it wasn't exactly his shift, it still weighed hard on his conscience to let an old man take care of a large business with so many patrons.
"Oh, you mean the one down the street." Chris nodded, then added. "We'll be back quickly anyways. I called on you because you're the one nearest we can trust our daughters with. I'll tell the two of them to come up now if you don't mind."
Harry nodded the close the door slightly behind him.
"Hedwig," he looked at his owl. Hedwig eyed her master with a questioning gaze, "we're going to have some visitors for a while. So you behave ok?"
Hedwig nodded in reply and flew back to her perch were she played the part of being a good little bird.
It was not long after the two girls soon came and started petting the snowy white owl, saying over and over again how pretty it is. Hedwig played along with them whilst Harry stood by and watch the scene.
'Hedwig likes petting but I think she'd be sick of it by now.' Harry chuckle as he gaze out the window into the slightly crimson sky. It was then he noticed something flying straight at the apartment's direction. He strode towards the balcony window in several quick paces without the girls noticing as they were too preoccupied with Hedwig.
An inconspicuous brown barn owl flew at very fast speed towards Harry, who just managed to catch it in time. Once again, this was a wax sealed parchment with no return address but Harry knew who it was from.
'Great, just great. What a way to start my night.' Harry inwardly moaned as he returned back indoors. Shutting the balcony window, he was soon approached by the twin girls.
"Pharo," Tortinita said, "What is that?"
At first, Harry had thought they were indicating the parchment in his hands but then noticed both were pointing at the flag hung by the door.
"That was a gift from my friends." Harry placed the parchment on the bookcase, in one of the higher shelves in case the twins were too curious for their own good. "Very good friends."
"I recognized this. It's a griffin!" Arietta exclaimed as she pointed to the top right hand corner. It was done in red and the Gryffindor symbol was done in gold thread.
"And this is a basilisk." Tortinita pointed at the lower left corner. The green background contrasting with the silver threaded snake of Slytherin. Harry was taken aback by their knowledge in such creatures.
"How'd you know?" Harry questioned the twins with caution. He was hoping that his neighbours are not what he thinks they are.
"We read it in one of the books that father kept in his study. Both father and mother always say we shouldn't go in there…" Tortinita looked down at the floor, "do you know about those creature Pharo?" her gaze soon returned up to Harry's level. Both girls looked expectantly at him, as though wanting Harry to tell a story.
"I know a bit about them." Harry was seriously considering just putting a light sleeping spell on the girls just to leave this place. But Hedwig's sudden landing on his shoulder and her murderous look stopped Harry considering further. Hedwig looked as though to say 'if you try that, prepared to be burnt alive'. Harry sighed and settled down on the sofa to tell them, no more like recite to them the information, about the two magical creatures. It was a good thing that Harry paid attention to reading the textbooks.