Author's note: Long time no see :D. Have been rather busy, exams and all, but right now I'm secretly taking a break to revive my characters for a bit :-). I've got the idea my English is kinda rusty at the moment, so please help me to correct my mistakes. Of course, all comments are very welcome. In this chapter we will see how the story of the book will evolve. Hope you enjoy it!

- Chapter four -

After a while, Fred and George finished their dancing and singing and settled themselves at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee

"Great, a bit of caffeine to get them even more excited," Harry said under his breath, but Fred and George didn't hear him and laid the book in front of them.

"All right," George said. "Time to get those tights moving. Here we go…" he searched the page with his finger and stopped at a large O, decorated with red flowers.

"Once upon a time in a far land, a rich king of the House of Woldshire lived in his castle. Many years now, he had ruled his kingdom, with his queen at his side. She had given him two sons and a daughter."

George's voice had melted the frozen blood in the veins of the characters inside the book. The persons at the table had finally started eating the food which they had held at the tips of their forks for so long. The queen elegantly sipped her wine and the king tore a piece bread in two. Harry, Ron and Hermione enthusiastically moved closer to the table.

"Fred! George! It's working, they're moving!" Ron said.

"That was the general idea, little brother," Fred said en resumed reading. "A festive dinner was held to celebrate the coming of age the oldest son, Prince Leofwine", a snorting sound from outside the book interrupted the reading for a moment, and Harry and Ron cast each other worrying glances, "His birthday had been bound to his engagement to the lady Milburh and so the two fiancées sat side by side at the dinner table." Hermione and Ron shot backwards in their chairs simultaneously, as if afraid to touch each other all of the sudden, and both suddenly felt that the fire in the room was burning very hot… This time, sounds of muffled laughter could be heard, not only from the twins but from Harry as well. Hermione's cheeks were nearly as red as Ron's, which was quite a thing to accomplish. The embarrassing moment was over as the king cleared his throat. As if he was being dubbed, his deep voice sounded doubled by that of Fred, who was reading out what the king had to say:

"Now that we all have something to eat, I think this is the moment to properly welcome lady Milburh, who will soon be a part of this family." The king gave Hermione a welcoming smile and Hermione returned it. The queen was not looking quite as welcoming and peered over her glass of wine inquisitively. Then her thin lips pressed together in a small smile, which was not matched by her eyes and drank a sip of her wine.

"I am sure that you will make my eldest son Leofwine very happy and provide him with strong heirs. My wife Fallacia has done well to introduce you, her niece, to us" the king added warmly and looked at his wife happily. Harry mouthed "incest" at his plate. Fred and George seemed to have decided that extensively laughing at everything in the book slowed down the reading too much and only a small giggle interrupted the reading.

Then a strange thing happened to Hermione. She felt how her head bowed modestly en how her eyes were cast down, without her brains ordering it to do so. Instead, Fred had ordered them: "Lady Milburh bowed respectfully at this welcoming", he had said. It was unlike the Imperius Curse, which made you forget all about who you were and made everything as simple as just one voice which needed to be obeyed. Instead, Hermione was still very aware of who she was. There was no hand pushing her head down. It was more like a reflex: Fred was a doctor who had hit her on the knee and made her make movements she couldn't control. Hermione tried to resume her normal position but her muscles didn't seem to be bound to her own will anymore. She succeeded only when Fred continued to the next sentence. This one described how everyone resumed eating and so everyone did that and the persons around the table engaged in several conversations.

"Soon the time for you to wed will come too, little sister" Ron said to the girl with the long reddish hair, simultaneously with Fred, or rather, Prince Leofwine said it. Just as Hermione had experienced it, Ron felt his mouth open and his tongue working to form words he had not decided on himself. An indignant frown formed on his forehead as he spoke. However, before he could properly start making protesting noises after he had finished his sentence, the sister spoke.

"Yes, let us hope that Mother will find an eligible candidate for me too soon. Still, for now I am happy that there is girl of my age besides my maids. We can make embroideries together. Maybe you could learn me some new melodies on the harpsichord!" she added enthusiastically. Hermione tried not to snort but failed and pretended she was coughing.

"I am sure that you will be able to learn me a lot," she said truthfully. She was glad the book didn't describe the rest of their conversation but instead that of the queen and the king on finding a suitable partner for their daughter, so that Hermione was free to speak as she pleased.

The sister didn't seem to see Hermione's reaction for what it really was and happily started to sum up the songs she had lately learned to play and some special embroidery patterns she had made up herself. The sister reminded Hermione a lot of Lavender talking about the latest fashion in robe adornments. Hermione heaved a relieved sigh when she realised there were probably no Ruby Robe outlets inside this book in which she would have to hang around for endless afternoons saying that that particular pink brooch looked lovely with those lilac robes. Next to her, she heard Ron and Harry discuss the Imperius Curse-like effect the book had had on Ron under their breath.

"I would be able to resist it!" she heard Harry say. "The Imperius Curse has no effect on me!"

"No, you couldn't," Ron objected, whispering, "just wait till it happens to you!"

Hermione leaned in. "Ron is right, it is different than the Imperius Curse. It is not a matter of not obeying an order or something, you just do something, you can't-"

Out of the corner of the eye, Hermione saw the sister looking at her rather disappointed. She had stopped in the middle of a sentence when Hermione didn't seem to listen to the interesting aspects of the daring orange-red combination in her latest embroidery anymore. Hermione felt a bit guilty (was she feeling guilty for a fictional character now?) and was about to ask something about embroidering techniques to relieve that feeling when a guard in rattling chain mail approached the king and scraped his throat.

"My king, two strangers request entrance to the castle to speak with you. They will not give their names, nor their business with you" the guard said in a rasping voice. The King had a questioning look about his face and at this the guard added: "They do look to be of wealthy standard, sir". The dark eyes of the Queen were fixed upon her husband.

"Well, fine then…" the King said, looking at his wife rather hesitatingly. "Let them in."

All the people at the table looked at the door inquiringly. It scraped over the floor as the guard dragged it open and the rusty handle banged against the wood. Now there was no nothingness behind the door. A dark blue sky filled with stars and the dark outlines of a bridge (probably over the castle moat) could be seen. Behind it the shadows of a forest loomed. The sound of splashing water found their ears and rain wetted the stone tiles of the floor. The two strangers walked inside, one very tall and one shorter, with a bent back. Water dripped from their dark robes. The tallest of the two strangers cast his hood off. Dark hair framed a very light face down to the chin. The eyes in the face seemed to absorb light instead of reflecting it, two black holes in the middle of his face. The other one kept his face hidden. "I am Earpwald," the tall man said, not caring for any politeness. His voice was so low, that the furniture seemed to vibrate along with it. Unrecognisable golden signs on the robes gleamed in the firelight and for a moment, Harry saw a long, wooden shape flicker in the dark folds of the robes.

"He's got a wand!" Harry said and now Hermione and Ron saw it too, as Earpwald brought his wand out in the open in his right hand. Earpwald eyed Harry with interest and smiled in an unpleasant way.

"I do indeed," he said and he held his wand in front of him as if he were threatening them with a sword. "So you had better pay attention to what I say. Yes, you too! Especially you, Fallacia." he said to the Queen. She had been looking at her pale hands which lay shaking on the table, very intently not facing the men the door opening. Now she looked up at Earpwald, and though she kept sitting bolt upright, the pride was out of her pose and her dark eyes were large with fear.

"Though it is not for you that I have come. Your time has passed. I will not have you anymore," Earpwald said with disdain. The Queen was breathing heavily. She seemed to be anticipating something she dreaded, but did not act to prevent it.

"Your time for choosing is now long ago," Earpwald continued. "You could have been mine, with all that I had to offer you…" The King looked at his wife, in an alarmed and non-understanding way, but she did not face him. He was about to open his mouth, but Earpwald didn't allow him to and resumed speaking.

"And even more I have to offer now. Yet you left me, despite the loving years of our youth we shared in the lands where we were born. You left me for him. For him! His wealth, his title!" Earpwald spat out these words as though they were bitter poison on his tongue. The face of the King grew red, but his wife still didn't offer him a reassuring or apologizing look. She was shaking with tension and looked filled with shame.

"But you promised yourself to me. A promise to me" he said menacingly, "will not be broken." Now the king laid his large hand on the slender arm of his wife possessively. "You will not-" he growled, but was again prevented to speak.

"No, I will not take Fallacia. I said so. She is no longer pure," Earpwald said and both contempt and regret could be heard in his voice. The Queen looked as though she had been hit in the face.

"Fallacia will have to be compensated. If she will not fulfil her promise, I will do that as I see fit," Earpwald said and he raised his wand high in to the air, announcing that something was to come. Harry stood up and his hand shot into his pocket in a reflex, but of course it was no use, his wand was not inside the book. The Wizard spoke unrecognisable words as an incantation, his voice even deeper than it had been before, and with a large, purple flash from his wand, the whole room was filled with smoke as dense as though they were all under the surface of a lake filled with grey water. Harry coughed, but shove his chair away and ran in the direction of the door, stumbling over what felt as a heavy rug. Ron and Hermione went after him. When the three of them got to the door opening the thick smoke turned into wisps which mingled with the damp air outside and they saw Earpwald mount a very strange animal: it had a fur of orange with dark stripes as a tiger, yet it was mixed with what seemed like grey hairs. The body looked like that of a tiger too, with large paws, but it was slimmer, more like a horse's. The head was an elongated version of that of a feline with very large white teeth which shone menacingly in the darkness. Earpwald pulled a girl in front of him: the sister with long reddish hair.

"Ethel!", Harry yelled, finally experiencing the controlling enchantment of the book like the others, but he was too much concerned with the situation to care. The sister looked over at them in agony, but the wizard urged the creature forward and the beast sped away. The large deep red skirt of Ethel flapped on the sides of the beast and her pale face could be seen looking at them until the beast with its two riders and the bird that flew after them were hidden in the darkness of the night. Harry tried to run after them and his friends went after him, but they gave up after a few yards. It was hopeless; the creature was much faster than any of them. So all three of them stood panting on the middle of the drawbridge under the dark sky. For a moment, their silence was only disturbed by their sharp intakes of the cold night air.

"I believe this is going to be more exciting than we were expecting…" Hermione finally said, sounding concerned, and judging by their worried looks, the boys seemed to agree. From outside the book came more sounds of agreement.

"Yes indeed!" Fred exclaimed. "This is demanding more from my artistic and vocal abilities than I could ever have expected. How about some more coffee, George?"

"Sounds lovely, dear" George answered his brother in an effeminate voice and the two of them dropped the book, at which it fell shut, and walked off.

The royal family, which had just started coming outside, froze on the spot.

"Guess this is going to take some time," Ron said and he walked past the frozen King and Queen and the guard to the fireplace with Hermione. Harry cast one last look to the dark shapes of the trees and then followed the others.