Part 2: Of Flight
Our house was in sight, the garden still the same, beautiful and fragrant, my mother's pride and joy. The house still all in one piece, not a chip in the light blue paint of the siding, the curtains in the windows only half-closed, as they often were. Everything was in its place, I don't know what I was expecting, maybe a blazing fire, or a gaping hole or something, but the truth was so much worse. We walked into the house, Hermes still on my arm, and I called questioningly, "Mum? Dad? Ummm..." I glanced down at the letter in my hand, "Mr. Dumbledore?"
"Hello Miss Marari Yanamari." a voice says from the shadows, and I turned to see an old man with a long white beard, wearing the weirdest clothes, but the strangest part was that he knew which of my sisters I was. "Miss Chandria Yanamari, Miss Shashi Yanamari." He continued, nodding to each of my sisters, correctly identifying each.
"How-" I started to ask, but he shook his head, "I will have to tell you later, for now there isn't much time."
Suddenly Shashi asks in a fearful voice, "Where are our parents." looking desperately around her.
"I'm afraid that that is part of my news..."
I whipped my gaze back to the old man, "What do you mean?" I looked at him with slit eyes. The man's blue eyes looked empty without the sparkle they had when he first greeted us.
"I'm afraid you will have to wait, it is not safe to talk here, and we must wait for you're younger sisters, I wish to tell you all at the same time." Chandria had her hand over her mouth, Shashi standing next to her, looking small and frail, my eyes flashed.
"If it isn't safe here then where are we going, and how are you planning on getting us there?" I again looked at his strange outfit, "You can't expect to walk around outside without getting noticed in that." I said pointing.
His eyes gained back some of their twinkle, "Sarcastic, like your mother." my cheeks glowed at what I took as one of the best compliments that can be given. "As for where I cannot speak its name aloud, as for how-" his eyes twinkled again, "Now that's a different story." From what seemed to be nowhere he produced six brooms, which I looked at incredulously.
"And with those you expect to do what exactly...?" I asked him.
"Why fly of course." he stated simply.
Then I started to laugh, tears in my eyes, but the laughter seemed hysterical, "Okay, mum, dad, you can come out now, the jig's up, haha you're all so funny. Where's the camera?" The old man sighed.
"I was afraid of this, your parents; they never told you, did they? I assumed when the letters were never returned, and I can understand why, of course, but it makes things much more difficult." The man takes a deep breath, "The three of you, and your younger twin sisters as well, are witches." I stared at him, eyes wide in total and utter lack of comprehension.
"What did you just say?" asked Shashi, staring at the man, while Chandria finally removes her hand from her mouth, and it was by then hanging open.
The man sighed again, "I suppose it would be easier if I showed you, but I do not know if it is safe."
"Screw safe, right about now I'm worried we've got a nut job in our house that thinks we're witches and that our parents are in some type of danger." I say.
"Right." the man said decidedly, and reached into his cloak and started to pull something out, and I flinched, expecting a weapon, but felt increasingly stupid as I saw it was only a thin, roughly 12inch long piece of smooth wood that tapered to one end. He flicked it and stars flew from the tip, chasing each other around the room, then he flicked it again, and dishes and other such small items in the room began to dance around as well.
The three of us stood there with our mouths hanging open as in the background the door flies open and a voice calls out getting closer, "CHANDRIA! MARARI! SHASHI! Mr. Dumb-" and the voice stopped as my two younger twin sisters hurried into the room a letter dangling from Tavia's hand, forgotten as they came upon the sight of the dancing dishes.
"Welcome young Misses Tavia and Teva Yanamari." the man said to them, flicking his wand a final time and everything floated back to its place, the sparks dissipating into the air. "Now that all are present, I believe it is time for us to move." said the old man, and he held out a broom toward us, another in his other hand, and we stared at him. After a long silent pause I nodded, and stepped forward, taking the smoothly sanded wooden broom from his hand as he smiled at me. Tavia looked at me and asked, "But what's-"
"Just do as he says." I said to my confused little sister, and she did, soon each of us was holding our own broom.
"Now we must do this quickly," said the man, as we walked through our house, to the door to the back yard. Everything was still exactly in its place, as if everyone had just stepped out for a moment and could be expected back any moment, though I knew that wasn't true. "When we get outside, you must straddle your broom, one leg on either side, then kick off the ground, hard. Make sure to hold on tight, we don't want you to fall and injure yourselves." I glanced at my sisters to see they were all nodding, serious, taking every word to heart, and I realized I was doing same. I realized how stupid it would look if this was all some joke, and someone looked over to see three sixteen year olds, two 11 year olds, and an old man in weird clothing hopping up and down on brooms. I pushed the thought away, no time for doubt. "Follow me once we take off, to steer the broom, shift your hands and weight in the direction you wish to turn, it is very hard to explain, it'll make much more sense once we are in the air and you can experience it." We walked out our back door, and we straddled the brooms. "Alright, 3...2...1...Push off!" the man called, and I pushed with my legs as hard as possible eyes closed. I slowly opened one eye, than the other to see the ground was melting away. My sisters and I plus one odd man were soaring through the sky on brooms, the clouds around us.
I found the steering of the broom actually extremely easy, it just came to me. I turned back and forth, then did a couple loop-de-loops, crying into the chill crisp air, "Whoooooooo!" while the old man laughed.
"You are all quite exceptional fliers; I wouldn't expect less from Quauhtli's daughters." Quauhtli, my father. "He was one of the best seekers Hogwarts has ever seen." the man said conversationally. We all just looked at him confused. "Ah yes, you wouldn't know. Quidditch, the sport in which your father played, is a game played on broomsticks. I'm afraid I really can't explain it at the moment, though I am sure a certain boy by the name of Ronald Wesley will be pleased too once he meets you."
I flew up closer to the man, "Actually Mr..."
"Please, just call me Professor Dumbledore." the professor said.
"Alright, professor. I was actually wondering about what Hogwarts is." I said to him. "Oh, but of course. That reminds me, I have your letters, as I assume you never got to read them. Even Tavia and Teva, as you are now of age to enter." I took the envelope the professor handed me, the envelope that was a twin to the other that was by then packed away in my pocket, and I pondered the address as he moved away to give my sisters their own letters.
Miss Marari Yanamari
Somewhere above Oconto Falls
Oconto Falls
Wisconsin, United States
How does he do that?! I wondered as I looked at the address again. Then I slipped open the seal, balancing on my broom with my knees as I began to read the letter itself.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Worlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Mugwump? I thought, looking up at the Dumbledore, who smiled at me, eyes twinkling, I grinned and continued reading the letter.
Dear Miss Yanamari,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
I looked up in confusion, "Professor." I called as I brought my broom up next to his, "It says term starts on September 1st, but it's already November."
He nodded; "I am aware of this Miss Yanamari." he answered and didn't say anything else, so I tried a new question, "So where are we headed?"
Dumbledore smiled and said, "London."
"LONDON?!" I shouted, almost falling off my broom, I quickly grabbed it tightly, holding on.
"Yes, Miss Yanamari, London."
"Like, London, England, London?" asked Shashi staring at Dumbledore.
He laughed, "Yes, England."
"And we're flying the whole way on these brooms?!" asked Tavia, the first words she said to Dumbledore himself since we met him.
"Actually, no." We looked at him curiously, "We are only flying to New York on broom, then we will land and use the floo powder network to get strait to where we're headed."
"Ummm, flu powder? It's not gonna make us sick or something will it?" asked Teva, and Dumbledore laughed, "No, no, your health is safe."
My sister's conversed among themselves, Dumbledore listening amusedly, while I took out the papers still in my envelope, reading with interest the lists there.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
You shall require:
Three sets of plain work robes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
One set of dress robes
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
COURSE BOOKS
You will be required to have a copy of each of the following:
Then my gaze was torn from the paper when my one of my sister's suddenly exclaimed, "What's that?!"
"That, Miss Yanamari is what is getting us to New York before nightfall, as it tends to get extremely cold and wet and particularly uncomfortable when the sun falls this time of year." answered Dumbledore. And then we flew into a swirling vertex, colours speeding past too fast to register and the next moment we found ourselves spit out over a brightly lit city reaching toward the horizons made of steel buildings. "Come now, follow me, it is not much further," Dumbledore said, turns to the east and flying on, all evidence of the vertex had disappeared. The sun was sinking in the sky, leaving us to fly through the beautiful violet velvet twilight.