Disclaimer- See first chapter
Calisia girl- Sorry about the lack of detail. In reality, I'm a detail freak. I wanted there to be sort of an air of suspense, so if I put in too many details, it might've given stuff away. Plus, even I didn't know who the guys in capes would be at that point. Thanks for your review and here's chapter three.
Hope you like this!
Mare stood up, and slowly walked over and placed an apprehensive hand on the doorknob. She couldn't describe what she was feeling right now. She wasn't scared exactly, but she could tell things weren't exactly right with the world. Rowan, who was still standing by the refrigerator, followed her to the door.
"How about I get it?" she asked, "you know, just in case it's someone dangerous?"
Mare nodded. She could fight if she needed to, but just now, she didn't feel quite up to it, seeing as they didn't exactly know who was outside. Jade and Kestrel came in from the living room with Mark trailing behind them.
"Who's that?" Jade asked. In her arms she now held a black kitten. Tiggy.
"That's the thing. We don't know who it is," Rowan told her. Kestrel just grinned. "Why are we acting so apprehensive? It's probably just Ash here to cheat on the deal, and pay us all a visit."
From her seat at the kitchen table, Mare shook her head.
"It's not Ash," she said tiredly. "I would know if it was him. Besides, he doesn't knock, remember? He just barges in like he owns the place."
"Oh, right," Kestrel agreed, remembering the first time she found out her brother and Mare were soulmates. They'd hated each other then, and when Ash had just barged in here uninvited, Mare had given him a piece of her mind. Kestrel laughed to herself. It had been kind of funny seeing the mighty Ash Redfern getting the crap beat out of him by a human girl. Or a witch.
The door sounded again, interrupting all of them from their thoughts. Rowan put her hand on the doorknob, and turned it.
On the other side were three people, all dressed in capes. Kestrel could tell they were magical from the way they dressed. The first one was a young woman a few years older then herself, sporting spiky pink hair, torn jeans, a shirt that said The Weird Sisters, and a silver chain necklace from what Kes could see under her robes. The second person was a really creepy looking old guy. He had long silver hair, and it looked as if he'd had a chunk taken out of his nose at one point in time. But what startled Kestrel as she looked at him, were his eyes. One was normal, but the other was a startling electric blue and it seemed to swivel back and forth as he surveyed the room. The last guy was in his late thirties or so, and had brown hair streaked with gray despite his young age. He looked wary and tired. (A/n-recent full moon). He also surveyed the kitchen, but his eyes were normal. Kestrel felt slightly uneasy about this guy. His robes were kind of tattered, and shabby, and patched in several places.
Kestrel looked over at Mare to see what she thought of the new visitors. She looked curious, but not shocked or scared. Well, she mused, I guess when you find out that your next door neighbors suck blood and that the guy you thought was your best friend and the kind of guy you wanted to date was really a crazy killer psycho werewolf, it's kind of hard to be shocked by anything else.
The old guy cleared his throat, and said in a scratchy, hoarse sounding voice that he was Alastor Moody, and the two people with him were Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin.
"Unity," Kestrel said. This was how all the witches in the Night World greeted each other.
The three people looked at her strangely, but didn't say anything. They took seats at the kitchen table.
Moody cleared his throat again, and began to explain why the three of them were in Briar Creek.
"We're looking for a girl named Mary-Lynette Carter. Does she live around here?"
Mare finally looked startled. "I'm Mary-Lynnette," she said nervously. "What do you need me for?"
The guy called Lupin spoke. "In our world, the world of witches and wizards," he said, speaking slowly and quietly, "There is a very dark wizard about. He is so feared among our people that most wizards fear to speak his name. He's killed many of us, except for one boy named Harry Potter who survived the killing curse and is destined to defeat him."
He paused after he told them about this powerful boy. The room was silent. Mare could hear the crickets outside the kitchen window. She wondered why he had stopped in his telling of the story. Also, if they had this Harry Potter kid, and he was so powerful, what the heck did they need her for? She was just a future astronomy major who lived in a hick town in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing special about her. Okay, so maybe her boyfriend and next door neighbors were vampires, but she was used to that now. It wasn't weird to her at all anymore.
Lupin was continuing. "Miss Carter, did you recently receive a letter from a place called Hogwarts?"
Mare nodded. "They seem to think that I'm a witch, but I promise you that's not true. You can ask them," she added, pointing to Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade.
"They're vampires. They can sense stuff like that, so don't you think they would know if I was a witch?"
Moody nodded. "Yes, they would be able to tell something like that. But you aren't an actual witch. You're a psychic. That coupled with your knowledge of the stars, and if I'm not mistaken, your ability to manipulate, would make you the perfect spy."
"What! Me, a spy? How would I do it?"
"Well, we'd have to plant you in Hogwarts and have you act as a student. That way, you could hear everything twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."
"But I don't know anything about magic!"
"That's already been arranged. If you would come with us, I would like to get you started as soon as possible."
Ash clutched tight at the steering wheel. He'd been sitting in this spot for the last three hours, watching the people in capes. Most of them were guys, he thought. When three of them were admitted into the house, it was all he could do not to break the steering wheel, the door, or make some sort of noise to give himself away. This whole operation the people had set up must be something shady, after all, why else would they be here at night. No one had come out yet, but just as he was about to give up, the three people that had gone in to the house came back out again. This time, they had another girl with them. It was Mare. He was about to pull out from his hiding place to follow the trio, but then his cell phone rang. Annoyed, he picked it up.
"Talk to me."
"Ash, its Thierry. When you get to Mary-Lynnette's house, if you see a bunch of men in capes, don't get too freaked out, it's just agents from the order of the phoenix. That was what was in the letter Albus wrote me. They aren't going to hurt her or anything. They're good people, and they'll make sure she doesn't get hurt either."
"Why do they need her?"
"Like I told you before Ash, Mare is a very instrumental tool in helping the light side defeat the Dark Lord. What the agents are doing now is taking her to England, so she can help Harry Potter.
"Um, how will she do that?"
"She's a psychic Ash. And, much like you, she is very good at manipulating people."
"Really? That's news to me. Wait a minute. Did you just say she's going to spend an entire year at Hogwarts?
"Yes."
"In England?"
"Yes."
"Without me?"
"Yes, without you."
"Why the hell did you agree to this?! "Ash hollered angrily into the phone.
"You didn't even consult with me! This could kill her Thierry. And unlike Hannah, Mare's not an old soul, so you just better hope she comes out of this final battle thing alive, or you'll be sorry!"
Ash was so mad he slammed down the phone hard enough to break it, and then sped up his car as much as it could go. He didn't know what he was going to do now; he just knew that he better get out of the Mansion quick. Maybe, just this once, he'd let himself fall back on his old bad habits. Maybe then, if she died, it wouldn't hurt at all because he wouldn't care about other people, only himself. With that in mind, he changed courses, and began the daylong drive to the Black Iris.
A/N- There's chapter three! Sorry if it's a tad bit psycho. It was the only way I could think of to get Mare to Hogwarts at age 17. Anyway, R&R!!
-Jocelyn
