----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE VISITORS
Nina stared at the book disbelievingly; her first thought was that her roommate was trying to psyche her out. But as she picked up the book and opened it, she realised that this couldn't be a prank. The book was immaculately bound and printed. It was definitely an original. She could recognise Rowling's distinctive style of writing anywhere. At this point, her logical mind kicked into action; a dozen explanations raced through her mind, each to be systematically analysed, found to be lacking and discarded. For the first time in her life she was at a total loss. She knew for a fact that this book had not come into existence yet; and yet she held it in her hands. She struggled to find a different line of reasoning but stopped when she realised that she was drifting into the realm of imagination, and that, was never her forte. She glanced at the clock on the wall and realised that she was getting late; her parents were waiting for her to pack and join them at the college gate. She hurried and finished with her packing, put the book in her duffel bag; looked around the room for one last time and then left.
Back at home; bursting full with the mouth-watering food her mom had lovingly cooked for her, Nina sat in her bed reading the mysterious book. She was a very fast reader and in a few hours she had completed the tome. She was horrified at the books' end; the protagonist was dead and the villain was still alive! " What kind of an end is this? And why did the story end with a prophecy?" she murmured to herself, " and anyway, how did I end up with this book in the first place?" Her head reeled with so many unanswered questions. As she turned to place the book on her bedside table, her eyes fell on a scrap of what looked like very old yellow canvas lying on the table. She picked it up………and stared. The 'canvas' could only be described as parchment; and there was something written on it with emerald green ink…….
All will be explained. Tomorrow.
Nina was flummoxed; was she seeing things, she wondered. If she was, she was heading straight for trouble; things like these weren't taken lightly in the Indian society. It would be considered to be either a case of insanity, or possession; and the word 'witchcraft' had only negative connotations here. Maybe she was just stressed out; but the parchment was real enough and so was the book. Caught in a whirl of questions, Nina didn't notice time fly by; before she knew it, the sun was up in the sky and she could hear her parents getting ready to go to their respective jobs. Dazed and thoroughly tired, she washed and went down to send her parents off. She then decided that she needed to take her mind off the weirdness that had happened to her yesterday, and so she went up to her room with a mind to change her clothes and go out somewhere. It was while she was brushing back her dark brown hair into a long pigtail that she heard it…a soft POP! Followed by two more, slightly louder 'Pops'. She froze with her hairbrush in her hand; this could NOT be good, now she was hearing stuff too. She turned around expecting to see nothing…….and dropped her brush.
Standing in the middle of her room, were three people; they were all foreigners, dressed in long flowing robes and were frighteningly familiar. So familiar in fact, that Nina felt sure she had had a psychotic episode. In the middle was a tall, very old man who could be none other than Albus Dumbledore. To his right stood a tall, sallow man with dark hair; to his left stood a young woman of about 25, her curly brown hair loose over shoulders- Severus Snape and Hermione Granger; Nina gasped.
" Please don't be afraid Nina, you have most certainly not suffered a psychotic episode", Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling, " We have been searching for you for the past 7 years".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------