Prologue- Meeting
The last day of school is usually a joyous time. Especially when you are a kid. However, when the bell went, not everyone was smiling.
The girl watched from the side lines. Pebbles hit the small boy, so thick they made their own cloud, causing him to drop his school books. Papers caught in the wind started to take flight, and were spread over the yard. Elizabeth tried to smile with her new friends, but cringed inwardly. She wanted to go and help him, but didn't. She watched, all the while feeling sick. On one side of the yard stood a group of children, at least twenty, maybe thirty in numbers, and on the other stood one lone kid, as scrawny and tiny as they come. The large boy passed her a rock.
"Hey! New kid, through it at him," He laughed. El looked at the rock in her hand. She couldn't throw it. What if she hurt him? "What are you waiting for? Throw it at the freak! Or … are you a chicken?"
El bristled at the insult. In the world of children, being a chicken was the biggest offence. "I'm no chicken!" She yelled. She took the largish pebble and threw it, hoping desperately it would miss its target. It didn't. The pebble knocked off his glasses, and sent them shattering to the ground. The small boy grabbed what remained of them and took off running.
"That was a great shot!" The girl with long black hair said grinning.
"Yeah! I didn't think you had it in you," the large boy said cheerfully, patting her on the back. El felt sick, why were they congratulating her? She had just hurt an innocent boy. "Oh man, look at the time! We better head back before our parents get really upset."
With that they started to leave. Happily skipping down the street, like nothing had happened, like they hadn't hurt some … boy, El realized she didn't even know the name. His papers were long gone, except one.
El walked over to the bush, where the paper had got caught in its branches. The paper was crumpled and written in messy handwriting. It was a letter, writing to no one. Her eyes skimmed over the contents. Slowly, she folded the paper, wiped the tears from her eyes and ran home. Tomorrow would be a big day. Tomorrow she would meet the skinny kid, Harry Potter.
El nervously ran to the house where the Harry lived. She ran her hands over her pants; it was a nervous gesture she had picked up from her father. Her straight brown hair put up into a ponytail and gray eyes full of hope. She hoped that he would forgive her.
She clutched the note to her chest. She felt tears run down her face. The letter she now clutched in her little hands, told of his life. She felt so much guilt in adding to his sorrow. By the sound of the letter, he had enough problems.
The door was right in front of her now. The doorbell seemed to memorize her. She breathed a deep breathe in and closed her eyes. Please forgive me Harry, she thought. She opened her eyes and boldly pressed the doorbell.
The door was opened by a frazzled looking lady. Her neck was long and, in the mind of the child, she looked like Cinderella's evil step-mom would have looked like. "Excuse me ma'am," El said politely. "My names Elizabeth Turner. My parents and I are new here, perhap's you know my grandparents? They live about six houses down? I was wondering if I might speak with your nephew, Harry Potter." She used her best manners, which were usually reserved for the dinner parties her mother held.
Mrs. Dursley pursed her lips. El crossed her fingers behind her back. "I'm sorry, but Harry Potter can't come out right now. He's grounded." She said shortly. El nodded, pretended to understand.
"Of course, may I ask when he will not be grounded?" El asked with a phony smile, the letter now crunched beyond recognition.
"Come back in a week." She briskly closed the door in El's face. Stunned at such rude behavior, El started to walk back. She spent the rest the day reading the letter, memorizing every line. In the letter he mentioned weird things happening to him.
The week went by too slowly for El. She didn't hang out with the neighborhood children. In stead, she would either sit on the park swings reading the letter, or stare at the immaculate lawn of number 4 Privet Drive. Harry Potter soon became her fascination. She would make up stories in her mind, which would explain his weird incidences.
Her favorite was the one in which he was a wizard. He was born in an alternate reality, where everyone was magic. But when riding on a unicorn, he fell off and into this dimension. On the fall he bumped his head and couldn't remember anything. El would daydream of his family and what they would be like.
Finally a week passed, and once again, El stood outside of the Dursley house. Her hands were clammy once again, and the letter scrunched. She marched up the front yard and rang the doorbell. She prepared herself for Mrs. Dursley and was shocked when none other then Harry Potter opened the door. "Hello?" He asked shyly.
"Er … are you Harry Potter?" El asked politely, her manners taken over once again.
"Yes … why?" He shifted uncomfortably and looked around suspiciously, as if expecting to see the other children in the bushes. El's eyes misted over, tears spilling forth.
"I was wondering … If you could ever forgive me." El looked pleadingly into his eyes. She had never seen any eyes so green. They seemed to have a light about them. He shuffled his feet.
"Of course I forgive you," he muttered after a minute of thinking. El smiled and wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank you," she whispered into his ear. "You'll never know how much that means to me." With that she broke away and smiled. "Let's go for a walk."
With that they took off to the park. They talked, they played, they had more fun then they ever had. By the end of their first week they were joined at the hip. If you were to see one, the other would be right there beside him or her.
"Harry."
"Mmmhmm?"
"Let's go on an adventure"
"Where?"
"I dunno …"
"What would we be doing?"
"I dunno …"
"We can't go on an adventure until we know where we are going."
"Why don't we head down this road."
"That's not much of an adventure."
"But maybe somewhere down this road there will be an adventure."
"Er … okay, but we need to get home before dark."
"Hurray! We are heading out into the unknown, ready to brave the dangers of-"
"In Little Whinging?"
Two children started walking down the road. Elizabeth Turner and Harry Potter, held hands as they started off down the road. The heat of the summer day was sweltering, but the sense of freedom and adventure kept their little feet moving. One step and another and another. They kept walking and walking and walking, they walked past the areas that were familiar, into the unknown. The houses became strangers, the trees seemed larger.
By the time Elizabeth's parents found them (the Dursleys had refused to look for Harry) they had wandered out of the village and had taken a break at a little river they had found. Night had fallen and rain started to fall. Both El and Harry got a severe talking to about how dangerous and risky it was. 'What if a stranger had picked you up?' 'What if you'ld been killed?' 'What were you thinking?'
Afterwards they piled into the car and headed home. The inside of the car was awkwardly silent, no one would look at eahother. The rain started to come down with even more force. Harry noted he couldn't see even an inch outside of the window. Everytime he caught El's eye he grimaced. He should have said no, it was his fault they had gone on the stupid adventure. Though ... it had been fun.
He caught El's eye and gave a slight smile.
Then time seemed to slow down. Mrs. Turner gave a shrill scream, there was a screech of tires, Harry just had enough time to look out th front windshield to see a blinding light, before he knew no more. Only one thought went through his mind. El ...