"How the ruddy-?!" Uncle Vernon's moth had widened into a perfect "O" of astonishment. His eyes bulged big at Nicolle like she was an alien species. Just as Nicolle began to smile and sa

"I don't know, Vernon."

Uncle Vernon let out the breath he had been holding and grabbed Harry's hand roughly after a moment's pause, jerking Harry and scuttling away from the three of us with a terrified look. Aunt Petunia scrambled behind, one hand raking through her hair and tangling it up like a beehive.

"Oh wow, what just happened?" Nicolle breathed, her mouth a perfect circle of amazement. Her lips twitched into a giggle. What? I stared at her in bewilderment. "I can't believe it! O-M-G! Isn't that so fantabulously fantabulous, guys?" Nicolle gazed up at the greyish white ceiling manifested with cobwebs in wonderment, and you'd have thought the ceiling had transformed into the night sky, all dotted with pretty stars. "I just found a new cousin!" She squealed again, her eyes dancing. I shook my head at Hermione, and we passed a silent telegram: Crazy indeed. Nicolle flipped her hair, ignoring our expressions and linked arms with us. "Come guys, let's celebrate!"

"Look here Nicolle. don't be crazy, you'll never see him again!" I muttered, my voice calm and low.

"No, I'm sure I will! At least one of you will then! You see, we have about a hundred years of life, and since there are three of us then we have three hundred years of life all together to go out and explore the world! So it means, we might see him anywhere again: The train, the bus, the streets, the restaurant…" Her eyes twinkled at the thought.

I knew she was getting really carried away, but I didn't want to spoil the fun, so I winked at Hermione and we fooled around for some time giggling and taking selfies with monkey faces. Mum even allowed me to go Nicolle's house for some giggly fun.

But after all the games, the hysterical laughter, the sass we shared...At the end of the day, I began to wonder how to get to Harry again for Nicolle's sake. Was he fine? Was he safe and happy back at his house -"Not home!", I quote- at his place in the cupboard under the stairs? Were spiders and cockroaches going to be his lifetime companion? Lifetime companion…

I really really hoped he was safe and happy. I looked at him as a real cool friend now, a special and interesting guy with a mind-blowing history. There was a newly formed, constant urge to keep in touch with this dude. I really had to, or else, it would be like a wonderful opportunity to meet someone who wasn't that human slipping away from my hands.

"Let's visit Privet Drive one day," I vowed determinedly to my friends.

They gaped at me, but its not the kind of Are-you-serious, eye bulging, gawking, kind of gaping. They gaped at me like I just said I won the international Spelling Bee contest, considering I get "them" spelt as "dem" fairly often. My smile stretched wider than my face at the thought.

"Definitely!" Nicolle yelled, punching the air eagerly. She jumped to her feet and did the kind of dance only clowns with baggy pants with red balloon noses would be interested to imitate. I snorted but Hermione's face didn't move a muscle. In fact, she was hardly smiling, but just a flicker of unease and worry reflected on her face. I inched closer to her.

"Look Hermione," I said, trying to speak sense. " It's okay to be a bit naughty in life, yeah? After all," I nudged her. "We're almost teens! We need to start living our life before it's gone!" I thought my speech was pretty impressive from the way Nicolle nodded vigorously and echoed "Teens" together with that silly made-up dance. But Hermione shook her head and opened her mouth to argue, but I beat her to it and made a pinky promise I would never be a bad girl and always comply with whatever she wanted after that.

She cast me a sceptical look and rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm so impressed, but you may want to reconsider being a robot for the rest of your teenage years as long as you know a Hermione Granger? First off, be prepared to read your textbooks at least ten times each. You see, the real problem is, the family will surely not let Nicolle see Harry again! I don't know why, but you saw their reaction just now! And as for you, Shelby, almost the whole of London saw you perform on stage! I'm sure they'll recognise you again!"

I'd never thought of that.

"Sorry buddy, I guess you can't come," I sighed, sticking out my bottom lip and pouted. "Don't worry, you can trust me to get his number! Hopefully he has a smartphone with Whatsapp so we can chat together!"

A troubled look continued to etch on Hermione's face. "Kind of dangerous if just the two of us go…"

"What, so you want to invite our entire sixth grade glass?" I said irritably.

"No, no, no! Remember, she's gonna say 'adult'!" Nicolle warned, eyes huge.

"Wow, you've become smarter!" Hermione said sarcastically, but she nodded grimly at me. I groaned. "I'm just scared, Shelby, what if they do something to us? We're really small and we can't fight back! Okay guys, I'm really sorry about this, but I've been hiding this from you two for a month, I couldn't help it. I've been experiencing some really queer situations of late, like I used to have to read my textbook ten times to memorise everything, but now I only need to read it once and everything's stuck in my brain for life."

Nicolle yawned. "Alright, congratulations on being the world's smartest kid!"

Hermione ignored her. "I was super mad at my cousin for eating all my potato chips and I was screaming at him and I suddenly found him sitting on a windowsill, almost toppling out of the window." She gulped. "It was scary. And now every time my friend at school tries to tickle me, which I've always hated her to do, this time, when she did, we were in the classroom. I found myself suddenly at the parade square, which is half a kilometre away from the classroom! My teacher gave me a heavy scolding when I tried to sneak in again." Her head fell into her palms. We stared at her incredibly. I couldn't think of a single thing to say. Just why, why, WHY did she hide from us for?! Did she think we'll call her a freak?

"You didn't have to hide from us, we won't avoid you or anything! Aren't we best friends?" I chided her, my face filled with disappointment.

Nicolle narrowed her eyes. She reached out of the window and plucked a leaf from the apple tree. "Show us, then, smarty magical pants. Make it turn purple! I want a squeaky noise when it does too." She ordered, then crossed her arms and waited.

Hermione's hand flew to her mouth. "What?! You can't expect me to do anything you want, I'm no magic creature, I'm human! Plus it happens randomly when I don't even know it's gonna happen!"

Nicolle waved a dismissive hand at Hermione, signalling "Oh, that baloney, I don't want to hear any of it."

Hermione stiffened. Suddenly I felt sorry for Hermione, that she had to go through all the tortures of being a weird kind of human just like Harry Potter. Would she suffer just like Harry Potter in their own houses? They couldn't control themselves, nor could they control the things that happened to them. Still, I didn't dare say anything. Firstly, I wanted to see some cool stuff again.

I smiled encouragingly. Hermione hesitantly picked up the leaf and clasped it in her clammy hands. For a second, I thought my suspicions were going to be confirmed together with Nicolle's: The leaf was really going to turn purple with a noise. I held my breath as Hermione opened her palms.

Nothing.

In her muddled state of anxiousness and worry, she tried all things. She blew it, she ran it through her hair, she sat on it, she squished it.

Still nothing.

"Well, well, look what we have here." Nicolle said in a snide voice, her lips curving into a nasty mocking smile. But I knew Hermione had been telling the truth; she never lied.

"I'm sorry I failed you," Hermione whimpered.

Nicolle shrugged carelessly, her eyebrows going higher and higher up her forehead. "The last thing I'll ever do to my friends is hide from them. I thought, we never hid anything from one another and were always honest. You can't even tell us this secret."

Hermione stared down guiltily at the floor, her eyes refusing to meet mine's or Nicolle's. The atmosphere had transformed so quickly from lively and cheerful to dull and gray. "I'm sorry," She repeated.

"Oh, you're sorry!" Nicolle said in such an unnaturally high-pitched voice that I jumped. "How do I even know you're not hiding something else from me now? I'll never be able to trust you! Ever again!" She slammed her fist on her thigh resolutely, and I knew...She did mean it. What was wrong with her?! She probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed today...No, I musn't speak up for her! The volcano of anger rose sharply in me, now at its peak.

"Nicolle! Calm down! Hermione must've been terrified when those weird things happened - Well, wouldn't you? C'mon, a tiny mistake-"

"A TINY MISTAKE!" Nicolle exploded, her face boiling purple with fury. "Oh, mistake, mistake, mistake, full of mistakes! Is asking for honesty too much? Honesty with your friends -your best friends - too much?" She saw my lips move to retort back. "Oh don't you speak up for her, she has to learn. This is for your own good! " She edged closer to Hermione."I'm a nice person-" Nicolle jabbed a finger on Hermione's chest as she cringed helplessly. "-and I don't want you to be abducted by aliens, because of all your weird alien qualities!" My nails dug deeper into my palms.

Nicolle continued to glare at Hermione and I felt the daggers piercing me to the bone. She was no friend anymore, simply a snappy crocodile ready to thrash a poor duckling any moment. Surreptitiously, I peeked at Hermione. She was frozen in a glassy stare of shock but her eyes, oh, they were misty with tears.

"So, I'm an alien to you," Her lips were barely moving, her voice barely audible, but it held pain, shock, hopelessness. Oh no. I tentatively draped an arm round her shoulders, earning a dirty look of disapproval from Nicolle. Hermione arranged her face into a smile that didn't fool anyone. "I'm fine." Her voice was still heavy, but a little louder. She sprang to her feet and so did I, eager to maintain a berth with this monster. Giving her a final scowl, I turned around and followed Hermione out the door of Nicolle's house. A fat tear rolled down Hermione's cheek. My stomach sloshed uneasily and I racked my brain of ways to comfort her, but none seemed good enough, so we just walked in silence with me occasionally whispering inspirational "Be strong" quotes… from the web page in my handphone. Hermione never said anything. Suddenly she grabbed my arm and stopped walking. We were on the roadside now, about a quarter of a mile away Nicolle's place. Her eyes were full of tears, filled with sadness and pain. I wished I didn't look at her in the eye. Tears bubbled up to the surface of my own eyes and threatened to spill.

A welcome distraction arrived in the nick of time. There was a scream, very distinctly like Nicolle's.

Blood drained from my face. I took a deep breath and dashed all the way back, Hermione at my side.