A/N: And here's the third chapter. Speeding things up a little. Leave a review if you think something's wrong with it, or Hell, leave a review when you like it as well!

Chapter three – Parson and Simone

Usually Simone wasn't into the whole 'meet your friends on internet'-thing. Kind of lame, if you asked her. But somehow, she did not even remember what had exactly happened, she met Parson. Eventually they added each other to MSN. Their favourite topic was, of course, Harry Potter. Simone's increasing obsession through the years and his as well gave them hours of talk about several theories. Some insane, some less insane. They never spoke of anything personal, besides the usual.

"How are you?

Fine, and you?

Fine. My mother's being a bitch again though

Yeah, mine too, so did you check out the new trailer?"

And than they'd return to their favourite subject again. Simone was more than surprised when Parson told her he had to tell her a secret that she could tell no one else. She had to swear. But hey, oaths on the internet didn't really count. So she swore.

Than he told about his brother, Leroy. How he was a crook that was involved in all kind of burglaries. Some large, some minor. Simone had brushed it off as a fib, but than the day afterwards he confided in her that he and his brother were planning to steal the seventh book. She had told him the truth: that she didn't believe him.

Of course he had gone all ways to prove himself and eventually told her the entire plan, which she had copied to a Word document. She'd done some research after the names he'd mentioned and they had all been convicted at least once of several petty crimes. Besides the brothers Escobar, but she had found some of their academic history, which matched the one he told her.

She was still not convinced, but somewhat alarmed. Especially as he kept repeating the days afterwards that he was going to steal the books and even told her the location where they were saved. He told them where he would hide them as they'd stolen them and so forth.

When she asked him what the Hell he was going to do with them, considering people were waiting for the books, including her, and that the police would go to lengths to locate them.

I'm going to sell them to the highest bidder, he wrote. Or at least, my brother is.

But she needn't worry, because he'd give her a copy before they'd sell. After all, who'd miss one stinking book.

After this, she decided to call upon Dumbledore. He had spoken more than once of the risks of this book. That if fallen in the wrong hands, it would change their future for the worse forever. If all the books were sold to the highest bidder, who knew who would take that over? Perhaps someone who had contact with the Other Realm as well and he'd send all the copies to Voldemort. If Voldemort ever got a hand at one of the books, at least she could give one to Dumbledore as well, so they knew what they were up against. But if Voldemort would get his hands on all the books.

It sounded silly, even as she thought it. Even though it'd been over four years since she had first met Dumbledore, she still sometimes had a hard time believing that in some realm they actually existed.

She tried talking Parson out of it, but of course the whole matter was not in his hands. He said he was just tagging along because his mother had been nagging on and on about how important this was to his brother. And how this could be a whole bonding-experience. He hadn't known his brother for most of his life, it turned out.

Again he made her promise not to tell anyone.

But, promises and oaths on the internet were as much worth as promising your mother not to smoke until you're eighteen.

She had contacted Dumbledore through this special strange device he'd given her. Well, it wasn't such a strange device. It was a mirror actually, but Dumbledore'd told her there was a lot of magic involved. These mirrors were – of course – used in their world, but to have a communication portal between two entirely different worlds was harder than it looked. Even more difficult than for him to travel down here.

She hardly ever used is, because she did not want to waste his time. Even though she'd been tempted many, many times to do so. She was, however, afraid that she would meddle too much and eventually screw everything up. After all, who knew how time worked in their world? What if she called upon him while something very important was going on? Or when the fake Alastor Moody was present?

Now that we have had our small introduction and brief summary of the events, we will skip to the part where she contacted our dear old friend.

'Dumbledore,' she said. No reply came, though he had assured her he would have it with him (knowing how much risk the books were, he needed to be contacted at any time at any place if something strange would occur). Than, slapping herself on the forehead she said, 'I'm sorry, professor Dumbledore.'

His face appeared. 'Ah! Simone. It has been too long.'

She hadn't seen him for over a year. He visited her a few times after the sixth book had been published. Not really social visits, though he always enquired after her and asked her of her daily business, how her family was and school, etcetera, etcetera. After the sixth book he'd been more on the look out for any strange happenings.

'Yes.' She said, smiling back at him. 'Ehm… I wanted to talk to you about something. The seventh book is being published in little over two months.'

'The final book?' he asked. 'How time flies!'

'Yeah,' she said, pausing slightly. The publishing of the seventh book was somewhat of a shock to her as well. She'd been reading them for such a long time now, and not being able to expect the next book after the seventh was just… strange.

'Ehm… I was wondering, what time are we in? Or you… or… well, whatever…'

'It is the summer of 1996, between Harry's fifth and sixth year.'

'Ah,' she said slowly. Suddenly realizing that this could be one of the last talks she could have with Dumbledore as well, and any contact with the Other Realm at that.

'Are you not feeling well?' he asked, his voice sounding concerned. She quickly shook those thoughts off and forced a smile. 'Yes, just worried. You see, I met this guy on the Internet.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'Internet it's a way… Oh forget it. It is much too long to explain and I don't know a whole lot about it, for that matter. Anyhow. His name's Parson. Parson Hydrich. A week ago he told me of this plan to steal the books.'

'Mmm,' Dumbledore replied. She had thought she would have to explain somewhat more about it, that would prove that he was truly stealing the books and not just someone making fun of her. But he took it for granted immediately. 'That is not good news.'

'Not good news at all. He and his brothers are going to sell all the books to the highest bidder.'

'All the books?'

'Yes. And I thought… well… that would mean we would have no books at all. Meaning that if Voldemort has his man in this realm… He's a smart man, I am pretty sure he has figured this out as well and has someone here… Anyhow. That would mean he would be one step ahead of you and change the future. There's risk enough with…'

'Yes, I understand,' he said, cutting her off gently. 'Do you know where Parson lives?'

She shook her head, 'Well, he's from England. But I don't know anymore. He has told me his entire plan… he's not very bright, I think.'

'It would seem so,' his eyes shone brightly.

'The group is led by his half-brother, Leroy,' she continued. 'And a group of his friends. I checked them all out and fit the profile. I am pretty sure that he's telling the truth.'

'There is no doubt in my mind that he is,' Dumbledore assured her. 'I'll contact you as soon as possible.'

His face disappeared. The man was always so abrupt in ending conversations! Just as she put the mirror away, her grandmother came striding in. 'Simone, dinner. Your mother's been calling you since forever! What is going on up here?'

When Simone didn't reply, grandmother put her hands in her side and said strictly: 'It better not be what I think it is. There is no reason for us to attract so much attention to ourselves by using it, I have told you a million times.'

'Of course grandmother,' Simone replied annoyed. 'There's nothing of the sort going on. I was just lost in thoughts, that's all.'

Bitch, she thought violently. One of these days!

No school meant no early awakenings. So it was not strange that at 10 o'clock the next morning, Simone was still in bed. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had not taken this in consideration.

When the group of wizards and two witches arrived, they all had a very good look at how Simone looked like when she first woke up in the morning. And it was not good…

She was awoken by the rather harsh landing of Harry, who's knees had buckled by the sudden arrival. Ron and Hermione had bumped into each other and were also sprawling over the floor. Only Rita and Dumbledore were still standing, staring at the three teenagers with mild amusement.

'Good morning,' Albus said after a while.
Simone was still drinking the sight in, unsure if she was still dreaming, or if this was really happening.

'I assumed you'd be dressed by now.'

The slight accusation in his tone made her realise that indeed this was truly happening. 'O,' she said slowly, trying to straighten her messed up hair a little. 'I didn't know you'd be visiting so early.'

She reached over for her bathrobe, 'Of course I should've guessed.'

A sudden thumping on the door startled them all. 'Simone? What's going on in there?'

'Fuck,' the young girl swore. She quickly pulled her bathrobe around her and signalled for the others to hide behind the closet. Forgetting that most of them didn't even need to hide to make themselves invisible, except for Harry, Ron and Hermione who seemed to have forgotten to bring the invisibility cloak. But Albus took care of that.

'Hey granny,' she said, switching to Dutch, rubbing her eyes.

'That's the second day something funny's going on. I heard voices in here!'

'I was on the internet,' she thanked God her grandmother had no clue as to how it worked, she hadn't even turned on her computer yet!

'Not watching that Harry Potter again are you? I warned you about that!'

'Yes, yes, I know,' Simone said, brushing it off. 'I'll be down in a minute, but is it OK if I get dressed first? Or is there some horror attached to that as well?'

Her grandmother made a disapproving noise, but said no more and turned around to leave. Simone sighed with relief. That was the worst thing she had to worry about, her grandmother with her stupid silly rules that she could care less about. If she had her way… well. That was not an option. Not here anyhow.

She turned around, 'everyone can come out now.'

The group appeared again.

'Did I just hear my name?' Harry Potter said surprised.

'Yeah, she doesn't like you much.' Simone smiled. When Harry's face fell slightly, she swiftly added, 'No, don't get me wrong! She just doesn't like the books. And not necessarily what it says in the book but just the fact that it attracts attention. She's very against attracting attention, as she so kindly reminds me every day.'

She'd kill me if she knew you were here, she thought, feeling slightly worried about how she was going to handle this. Her grandmother would be hounding her steps the entire day to make sure she didn't get in any trouble. Just one tiny mistake and that woman was treating her like she was still a two-year-old.

How was she supposed to get to England, with her in the room? Well, she'd better think of something! She was not staying behind.

'I'm gonna go take a shower,' she said. 'None of you go ANYWHERE. If my grandmother finds you here… I'm dead. And so are you.'

Ron, Harry and Hermione felt somewhat uncomfortable as they stayed behind in the room. Rita was taking notes again, and Dumbledore was whistling cheerfully as he inspected some of the Harry Potter books that lay in her closet. His eyes fell on the sixth novel: The Halfblood Prince. For a moment he let is hands rest on it, than he took them away as if he'd burnt himself on it. Than he thought again and with a flick of his wand the book disappeared.

'Are those the books?' Hermione asked, though Harry Potter's name was largely displayed on 'em.

Dumbledore nodded. Hermione gave her friends an excited look before she took the first one out of it.

'Look! It's called the Philosopher's Stone! It's about Nicolas Harry!'

Harry grunted in reply. He wasn't so sure if he was so excited that every personal detail of his life was published and for everyone to read.

'The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire and the Order of the Phoenix…' she grinned, 'Those are all our years at Hogwarts, Harry! Isn't that wonderful?'

She took out the Order of the Phoenix and opened it randomly. 'Look, here it's about Umbridge! About her interrupting the speech… it's exactly like I remembered it.'

As Hermione rattled on and on about the five books that were present, Rita seemed to wonder where the already published sixth book was.

She inspected the bookcase, but it was nowhere to be found. Had the girl thrown it away or hidden it somewhere? She looked at the desk, perhaps it was in one of the drawers. Just as she reached for one, Dumbledore's hand stopped her.

'No. I have the book. I decided it was best to have it out of sight, before curiosity took the better of us.'

Rita wrinkled her nose. 'Am I in that book?'

Dumbledore shrugged.

'I'm pretty sure I'm not. So why not just give me the book. Let me read it. She read it too, you know!'

'Time will tell us more than enough of the upcoming year,' Dumbledore said in a strict tone. 'We don't need the book for us to get through it.'

'Professor… it does mean that Harry will live through this year, at the very least, doesn't it?' Hermione asked. 'If there are seven books… what's the reason in continuing them if the main character's dead?'

'Maybe the final book is about the revenge of his very skilled and powerful best friends,' Ron said, staring off into the distance with big shining eyes.

'Hey,' Harry said offended. 'You do realize that would mean I'm dead right?'

'Oh, right,' Ron said, as if he'd forgotten about that part.

'Strange, though. That someone already knows what's to happen before we do,' Rita said frowning. 'How can she possibly know?'

'A portal, perhaps,' Hermione suggested. 'After all, aren't portals, as Dumbledore told me, linked to a person and not a time or a place? Maybe that portal was linked to this…' she closed the book '… JK Rowling and somebody told her the story.'

'But why would anyone do that?' Harry said. 'Why would anyone want to tell this story?'

'If my theory is right, it must be one of us,' Hermione said, looking at Ron and Harry. 'After all, it's about us isn't it? What we said and we thought. And considering it's written from your point of view, it must mean that you told her.'

'I would never do that,' Harry shot back. 'Why would I want another realm to know my name?'

'You're even more famous here than you are back home.' Simone said, walking in. Everyone jumped. 'Sorry, didn't mean to intrude or eavesdrop or whatever,' she said apologetically.

'However it happened and for whatever reason,' Dumbledore said after a moment of silence. 'The books have come to be. Perhaps someone thought it necessary, that others knew the tale. Perhaps to inspire people here, perhaps because that person needed to get it off his chest. Or perhaps Hermione's theory is incorrect and J.K. Rowling found out about the story on her own through some way of magic. I'm afraid we'll never know. And now is not the time to try and find out. We must leave for England at once.