Disclaimer: Blah blah blah blah blah, blah bloo blah bloo blah. I hate Rowling. grumble grumble..
A/N: Oh! A review! I forgot about that whole '24 hour' thing. Hahahaha! Ahem. Here's the third one!
Delayed Start: 3. Knowledge awaits!
Dumbledore leaned forward on the couch and clasped his hands together. "I have been speaking with the Ministry over the past few days about the education you have missed, and we went through many possible options. One of these options would be to simply send you in with the first years. You would be four years older than everyone else there, but you would learn at a slow and even pace, giving you the opportunity that everyone else has had."
Aileen groaned. "I knew something like that would have to happen."
Dumbledore ignored Aileen's comment and continued. "Another option would be to teach you all the basics to catch you up with your class when they have their normal classes. When they have a class that you could participate in, you would join them."
Aileen didn't look much happier with this option.
"Our final option," said Dumbledore with a smirk, "would be to allow you to use one of the most rare and expensive items known to the wizardry world, the knowledge pendant."
"Uh, the what?" Aileen looked at him like he lost it.
"The knowledge pendant. You would wear it, and the knowledge stored inside would be released into your mind at a quick, yet even rate. Within a week of constant wear, you would know everything."
Aileen smiled. "I like that one. A lot."
"Ah yes," said Dumbledore, "but it has it's own problems too. One of them is that although it releases knowledge of these things, it does not give out the wisdom to use them."
"Huh?" Aileen raised an eyebrow. "I think I missed something."
"What I mean is, even though you would know the information, you would not have the skill or ability to use it in your current state. That takes practice. However, you could still go to school with that, and we would teach you after your normal classes how to do everything correctly."
"Oh, okay! So, does that mean that the Ministry will allow me to use it?"
"Well, there is one more problem. It can never touch bare flesh."
"Why not?"
"Because all the knowledge would be released into whoever touched it at once, and the shock would kill them. The only way I could let you use it is if it was covered by both a material and a magic block, so it in no way could come in contact with a living being. The block is so strong and large for safety purposes, that the result is that it would look like a large tire hanging from your neck."
"Oh. That's all?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. I can get it for you, but remember, you would have to wear it constantly for about a week. You could not take it off at all or the process would slow down considerably."
"So," Aileen looked hopeful, "Does that mean I just coop myself up in the house for a week?"
"If you must."
"Okay! I'll do it!"
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Two days later
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"Why did I say that I'd do it?" moaned Aileen. The pendant with it's block was not only large, but extremely heavy. She had to use all of her strength to pick it up whenever she moved anywhere. She had limited herself to playing video games and sleeping, and would only leave her room to go to the bathroom or to get something to eat.
"So you could go to Hogwarts, remember?" Charlie replied, laying out on top of her T.V.
"But this is so heavy, Charlie!"
"Hey, either wear that thing for a week or spend seven years around kids who are four years younger than you."
"I guess when you put it that way...I just can't stand sitting still like this. It's like being chained to a boulder."
"Well, you better move that boulder over to your closet, I'm hungry."
"Yeah, yeah. mouse or what?"
"Hmm... Got any baby mice? They're the best."
"I might." Aileen dragged herself to her closet, and went into the mini-fridge/freezer that was filled with all of Charlie's food. There wasn't much in there that was thawed, everything else stayed frozen to keep good. "Yep, right here." she pulled out a thawed one with a pair of gloves and tossed it into the glass aquarium that was supposed to be where he stayed all of the time. He didn't, of course.
He slithered over to it and she watched as he devoured it whole. Then she pulled off her gloves and hauled herself (and the pendant-boulder) back onto the bed, where a Gamecube controller was happily awaiting her. She picked it up and began to play some good old fashioned Zelda, impatiently awaiting when she could finally take the annoying pendant off.
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Four Days Later
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"I can't believe it!" cried Aileen when she realized what day it was. "I can get this stupid thing off tomorrow! Charlie, are you listening?"
Charlie was snoozing in his aquarium. His tail moved a little, but other than that, he didn't budge.
"CHARLIE! Wake up!"
Charlie twitched and his head snapped up. "Wha- oh- huh?" he said groggily.
"I can get this off tomorrow!"
"You woke me up to tell me that?"
"Uhm... Yeah..." Aileen looked a little hurt.
"Ai, I'm tired. You should get some rest too. We were both up all last night."
"I couldn't sleep!"
"And you didn't let me sleep either!"
"I wanted someone to talk to!"
"Well, can you get some rest now?"
"No, I'm too exited!"
"You still have a day left. Speaking of which, do you notice that you know things that you didn't before?"
Aileen nodded. "Yeah! I know the names of all these spells, and how to pronounce them, and which way to flick a wand, and how to control a broom, and for some reason I know all these different properties of different ingredients for potions."
Charlie saw an opening. He knew her well enough to tell that if you talked to her long enough about something, she would inevitably fall asleep. The effect was common detentions at school. "Wow, that must be interesting. What do the spells do?" He knew he had her at that point.
"Oh," said Aileen quickly, "All kinds of stuff! There's a spell called lumos that will light the tip of your wand! If there's a locked door, saying Alohomora will open it. Accio will bring an item to you. Wingardium Leviosa will make something float in midair! Incendio will make a fire, -Oh! And there's three unforgivable curses! Imperious will put someone under your control, Crucius will cause them extreme pain, and the last one, Avada Kedavra, will kill someone."
Charlie noticed that she had abruptly stopped talking, and looked over to where she was on her bed, her head drooped down. "Sound asleep, she did all the work for me!" Charlie smiled, in only the way a snake can, and put his head back down to fall asleep.
A/N: Tada! Number three, there you go! I was going to give you number four Saturday, because it's basically written, but 1, It's longer, so I'll probably split it into two pieces, and 2, it's really choppy right now. There's a lot that goes on, and, to keep it simple, I'll be editing it for quite a while. So you should see part one next Wednesday.
No reviews for the second chappie? It was longer than the first chappie! Was it that bad? Well, I have someone on alert, so I KNOW that they are going to give me a review, RIGHT? --Stares at particular person who I will not name because you know who you are!-- right.
C U Wednesday, Kyogera