Disclaimer: Don't own nothin.
A/N: Omg, this took me forever. If you don't review I will cry. Oh, and there's also a quote from Friends in here. I will give you a hint: it's from season 3, and Chandler says it. Shut UP brain! No one else is as insanely obsessed with Friends as you are!
Chapter 3: Strange Things
The bedroom door of Nichole's room banged open.
"NICHOLE! YOU KNOW MOM SAID YOU CAN'T TALK ON THE PHONE AFTER 11:00!"yelled a small girl of about nine years old. This girl was a small replica of her older sister Nichole, except for the fact that her curly hair was a medium brown, instead of blonde.
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" screamed Nichole. Her little sister was always barging into her room without knocking, and she would sometimes take things when Nichole was not around.
"You were talking to a boy, Harvey or something! You already have a boyfriend, I'm gonna tell Eric! Besides, mom said you can't talk on the phone after 11:00 anyway!" said her sister, in an annoyingly tattle-tale voice.
"Aaarrggh! First of all why are you up at this hour? Second, why are you eavesdropping on me? And third, I was not talking to anyone, the phone's not even in my room you little brat!" said Nichole.
"You said a bad word! I'm gonna tell mom! And if you weren't talking on the phone, then who were you talking to?" asked her sister.
"I was… talking to…myself," Nichole replied, not wanting to tell her little sister, who would probably tell her parents, who would think she was insane.
"You know only crazy people talk to themselves," said her sister, rolling her eyes.
"Alright, then I guess I'm just crazy. Now will you please leave me alone Gizzy!"(a/n: pronounce the g like a j as in juice) said an exasperated Nichole.
"You can't call me that anymore, I'm not a baby! You have to say my real name!" whined her sister.
"Oh yeah, says who?" countered Nichole.
"Says Mom, she said that you have to call me by what I want you to, and I want you to call me by my full name! Stop being so lazy!" complained her sister.
"I think mom was still delirious from the pain of giving birth to you when she named you, because she obviously thought she was in the 13th century rather that the 20th! Just leave already!" shouted Nichole.
"Say it," growled her sister.
"ALRIGHT, GISELLE, WILL YOU PLEASE LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" shouted Nichole.
"You swore! Mom's gonna ground you!" taunted Giselle.
"Not if you don't tell her," answered Nichole.
"Who says I won't there's nothing better than getting you into trouble!" said Giselle.
"Yeah, well maybe if you forget that it happened, I'll forget where I found your new glasses…in the trash can!" accused Nichole.
Giselle sighed, obviously defeated, and stalked out of the room.
Nichole sighed, and fell back on her bed. Harry was gone. She could feel that he was no longer here. She pulled up her covers, and went to sleep, thinking about what she would do if she met Harry in her dreams that night, as she visited him almost every night now. She supposed maybe she could try to communicate with him, write on a piece of paper telling him who she was, or maybe she should stay hidden, and use it to her advantage to learn more about him. He had some very interesting looking books in his trunk, and she thought that they might contain information about whatever was so awkward about him. Nichole had never seen books with such odd titles before. They seemed to be about something like…witchcraft? After all they were books of spells and such.
But magic didn't exist, or did it? In Nichole's opinion, magic was the only explanation as to how she could travel into someone else's life, and remain in her bed at the same time. Nevertheless, she resolved to read some of Harry's books, and perhaps take a closer look at the stick thingy he always had poking out of his pants. That was a curious object indeed. Perhaps it was a magic wand…
No, see now she was getting carried away, Nichole thought, as she finally drifted off into sleep.
She knew.
That was the one thought going through Harry Potter's mind as he woke up on a sunny Friday morning. How had she figured it out? How could she see him, or even know that he was there? He had woken up right after a crazed little girl had barged into the room shouting something about 'Nichole' talking on the phone past 11. A thousand questions filled Harry's head as her voice kept playing over and over in his mind, asking,
"Harry, is that you?"
And how she knew what his name was baffled him even more. Perhaps she had wonky dreams about him too? That could explain the odd feeling he had lately of someone watching him.
Harry quietly snuck downstairs to grab a snack before going back to bed. Six o'clock in the morning was much too early to be up and about, thought Harry as he yawned before settling back to sleep.
"Maybe she's here right now, watching me," he thought.
Nichole. Hmm, a pretty name for a pretty girl, he thought, as he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
Nichole was back in Harry's room. He was sound asleep in his bed when she appeared. Taking advantage of the fact that he would be oblivious to small noises for a good couple hours by the looks of it, she began to investigate Harry's strange possessions.
She began with his desk. His owl was inside its cage, and Nichole, eying it warily, started to shuffle through the many letters that littered the desk. The owl seemed to know she was there, however, she didn't seem too peeved that an invisible person was going through her owner's things. Instead, she cooed a nice, soft note at Nichole, as if to say, don't worry, I'm a nice, tame owl that will in no way harm you, so you can just keep your pants on! After Nichole had read through all the letters, she had discovered a few things:
He had a friend named Ron.
He had a seemingly annoying nag for a grandma, aunt, or something of the sort, named Hermione.
He had an over-protective godfather named Sirius (honestly, telling the kid not to do something rash in almost every letter, come on, live a little).
There was some kind of pet involved named Buckbeak.
Some dude named Cedric had died last year in some Triwizard contest thingy (Was Harry a wizard? That would be why he had all these spell-books and such).
You-know-who (who was that?) was back, and didn't seem very nice.
Some dude named Dumby-whatever, had Harry's best interests at heart (or said he did anyway). He sounded like he was the boss or something.
Harry was obviously in danger (from Death-Eaters, and You-Know-Who-who the hell were these freaks?).
Ron and Hermione were hiding things from him (we can't tell you now cause of you-know-who, and you-know-why-good, god what were these people from the CIA or something?)
These weirdoes sent their mail via owls. (So that's why he has one in his room!)
So, Harry was a wizard. Nichole didn't understand how that worked, because last time she checked, magic was only used in the circus, and fairytales. On the other hand, this proved that her dreams couldn't possibly be real (small awww in the back of her head), because magic did not exist in the real world, right? She should go get her bile levels checked or something. If she was lucky, maybe they would even leech her!
Not.
Nichole then started on his books. She found some older ones in the back of his closet, and began reading Understanding Magic. The book was different from the start. It had moving pictures on the cover and inside the book as well. It was like different scenes from movies on each page.
Magic is a genetic trait that is passed down through the blood-line. It is a dominant trait, so, even if one parent is muggle, usually, the offspring will inherit the ability, although sometimes the magic must be triggered. Thus why some people never exhibit magical abilities, hence why there is the possibility for muggle-born wizards and witches. When the trait is not triggered, or when it is for some reason absent in magical offspring, the resulting term is deemed 'squib'. Muggle-born witches and wizards can also result when the combination of two incompletely dominant alleles are present for the magical trait, resulting in the new trait of magic blood in muggles.
One of the strangest cases of magical genetics resulted from the well-known Rowena Ravenclaw's offspring. Although the famous witch, co-founder of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, married another wizard none of their offspring were ever reported to exhibit magical abilities. Eventually the Department of Magical History and Wizarding Ancestry stopped tracking the many muggle offspring, believing the trait would never appear in the Ravenclaw bloodline again. The cause for the loss of the magical trait is still unknown, and is still researched in the Department of Mysteries. If any further progress has been made since the 11th century, it would be unknown to the public as all projects in the Department of Mysteries are kept top-secret.
Magic is simply the ability to control, and concentrate one's emotions, and change them into different outputs of magical energy. The control and concentration being a) the wand, and b) the incantation. Non-verbal, and wand-less magic is much more difficult, as the concentration and control of magical energy must be done without words, wands, or perhaps both. Certain spells require the user to be concentrated on a particular emotion to make the spell effective. I.e. the Patronus charm requires the user to focus on emotions of happiness, and joy, why the Cruciatus curse, would need the user to focus on hate, and anger.
Muggle? Nichole wondered what that meant, but continued reading different books from Harry's closet. She read parts of Beginner's Transfiguration, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, and Unfogging the Future.
"Huh, so not all fortune tellers are phonies then," she muttered to herself. According to these books, magic was actually very complicated, not just mumbo-jumbo words, and wand-waving. Transfiguration, with all its complex diagrams, laws, and such, sounded a lot like physics to Nichole. The whole process sounded very tedious to Nichole, taking into consideration structure, form, physical, chemical, biological, as well as mental (in the case of living things) characteristics when performing the magic. Charms, on the other hand, sounded much more fun and simple. According to The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1: "A charm can alter, or affect certain properties of an object."
Just as Nichole was about to open Basic Defense: Simple Counter-Curses and Jinxes, Harry awoke, and left the room. Nichole stuck her head out the door, and watched as he headed into the bathroom. Wanting to avoid a situation like what had occurred in her previous visit, she settled down to investigate her next book, but not before a certain wooden object caught her eye.
Harry's wand was sitting on his bed-side table. Unattended. Calling her name (ok, maybe that was exaggerating a teenie bit).
It couldn't do any harm to just investigate it a little, could it? He wouldn't mind…
Nichole walked over to the small table, and gingerly picked up the small wand. It felt warm in Nichole's hand. Memories of her grade six school play three years ago flooded to the front of her mind. She had played the Good Fairy God Mother in Cinderella.
April 17th, 2002
Nichole stepped out from the curtain and took the stage as a dismal Cinderella sat weeping center stage. She was dressed in a puffy blue dress, with a white wig, and magic wand complete with a star on top.
"Dry those tears child. You can't go to the ball looking like that!"
Nichole pulled out her white magic wand, and waved it towards a pumpkin sitting stage left. In a puff of smoke, the pumpkin was replaced instantaneously with a white coach. Horses, a footman, and a coachman appeared in similar fashion where mice, a horse, and a dog had previously stood.
"Now what about you? Good heavens! You can't go in those rags!"
"Bibbidi Bobbidi
Bibbidi Bobbidi
Bibbidi Bobbidi
Boo!"
As Nichole sang the famous "magic spell" glitter fell from the ceiling with smoke effects, as Cinderella's double took her place in a fabulous ball gown decked out with the legendary "glass slippers" (plastic really, of course).
Nichole giggled at the embarrassing memory, and muttered the "magic" words that had been drilled into her head years before (Seriously, the gym teacher had been in charge of the dress rehearsal, as the drama teacher had a bad flu, and made them do 20 push-ups for each line they forgot on stage that day. And those had not been the easy girly-type either. The poor children were made to do full-out man push-ups.).
Giggling in reminisce, the words tumbled from her lips, "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!-AAAAAHHHH!"
The shriek at the end was of no relevance to the play of Cinderella, no Nichole had screamed bloody murder because the moment she finished the line, bright white sparks had shot out of the end of the thin piece of wood.
In her panic, Nichole had dropped the wand to the floor. It lay there innocently, as if trying to make Nichole think she imagined it all.
Oh you little bugger, she thought. Imagined it my ass.
Alright, breathe. In. Out. In. Out. The sparks didn't hurt anyone, just sparks. Sparks coming out of a twig is completely normal, and safe, and perfectly fine. Not.
Nichole decided to try a different tactic.
Find the happy place. Find the happy place. Yes. Meadow…with stars…stars that look like the freaky sparks that randomly shot out of a stick!
"Damn," she muttered. Unable to forget the incident, Nichole strode over to the pile of books at the foot of Harry's bed. She picked up the Standard Book of Spells Grade 1, and sat down on Harry's bed.
Perhaps wands let off sparks as an alarm bell when someone other than the owner touches them. Yes that's logical. Well I may as well put the damn twig back where it came from, wouldn't want Harry to get suspicious.
Nichole stood up, book in hand to pick up the wand off the floor, as she straightened up, wand in hand, the bedroom door creaked open.
Nichole immediately felt the room fading from sight.
Nichole woke up to a bright and sunny Friday morning. She remembered her dream last night very clearly. She had read about magic and whole other bunch of fairy tale crap.
How do I think up this kind of stuff She asked herself.
You don't think it up. When are you going to get it right, you tart!
"Ouch!" she yelped suddenly. She had been rolling over onto her back, when she felt a sharp something poke her. She sat up, and looked down.
Her jaw dropped. No.
Lemme jus' check, but usually you can't take things from dreams can you?
Nichole blinked, and willed the tiny object to just go away, but of course, that would be no fun. She opened her eyes to see a book, and a thin piece of wood sitting next to her, beside her.
Oh no. I took that poor boy's wand somehow!
But if she had taken them, then that would mean that for sure they had to be real.
Nichole pulled the covers off of her, and put her feet on the floor, where they met with another foreign object. The moving picture on the picture of The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 greeted her downward glance.
Oh bugger, as if this morning could not get worse. She had also stolen poor Harry's book!
"NICHOLE!" yelled Giselle. Nichole heard her footsteps padding along the hall towards her room.
Shit.
How would she explain this to her family?
"So um, yea I kind of have these wonky dreams about some boy I've never seen before, except I don't really think that they're dreams. I think they're probably real. Yes, I actually visit him while I'm sleeping is more like it…yea, I just somehow managed to take his magic wand and spell book home with me last night. Oh yea, and by the way he is apparently a wizard, and no I'm not crazy."
Now that she thought of it, her mother being a devout Catholic, would probably murder her, or at least shun her if she found such objects in her room. She quickly shoved the wand under her pillow, and kicked the book beneath the bed skirt before Gizzy barged into her room.
"Mom says you have to wake up, and to remind you that you have work today."
"Okay."
As Gizzy skipped away back to her room, Nichole shut her door, and pulled out the spell book. She glanced at her clock, 6:00 a.m. Why the hell did she have to get the early shift anyway? Nichole worked at the movie theatre downtown, and her shift started at 8:00. The movie theatre didn't actually open until 10:00, but her shift consisted of mainly cleaning up from the night before, and preparing the theatre for the day. She worked from 8:00-2:00 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that summer. Reluctantly, she slid the book back under her bed, and prepared for the day.
Harry Potter had been having a normal day at the Dursley's. In other words, he was completely and utterly miserable. Harry had awoken (again) around 10:30, and proceeded downstairs to breakfast, but not before taking a shower and doing all his "guy stuff" (which included things like standing in front of the mirror and trying to figure out which looks made him look sexiest). Here he had been given the usual unbearably long list of chores for the day. Today, he was expected to mow the lawn, trim the hedges, and weed the entire garden. After he finished his meager breakfast, Harry headed outside thinking that the sooner he started, the sooner he could finish.
About mid-afternoon, his fat pig of a cousin plonked himself down on a lawn chair to taunt Harry. Dudley sipped a cold, root-beer float as he watched Harry burn as he bent over the garden by the back fence. Harry decided to turn the tables and have some fun with Dudley if he was going to be such an oaf.
"You know Dud, while diligently weeding this garden I have observed some very interesting creatures, which have taken up residence within this here rosebush."
"Oh yea?" Like what, bumble bees? Yay, bugs that fly around stinging people and don't do any good for people. Did you hit your head falling off that…that thing of yours? Cause you'd definitely deserve it! Maybe deflate your head a bit, since you think you're so cool running around with that twig sticking out of your ass."
"You know it's called a wand Diddikins, you know the thing the big bad witch used to turn the prince into a frog. But you look more like a piggy, maybe scary Harry will pull his twig on you if you don't shut your fat mouth, or do you need me to do that for you too?" Harry said venomously, as he reached toward his back pocket to grab his wand.
"MOM!HE'S GONNA USE YOU-KNOW-WHAT!"
"Yeah, lucky for you, I left my wand in my room."
"You're such a moron! You think I'm afraid of you just cause of that thing don't you?"
"Yeah, actually I do," Harry muttered. This was conversation was not going the way he wanted it to, and Harry was rather disturbed that he did not have his wand. He always kept it in his pocket, and especially now, after Voldemort was back in full power. He decided his plan needed a little tweak.
"Hey, look at you hiding here. You know what, I won't hurt you if you promise to bite this oaf over there in the middle of the night," Harry whispered to a thorn, just loud enough for Dudley to hear.
"What's in there! Why are you talking to the bugs? You really have gone insane."
"No, no, no Dud, I'm talking to the evil gnomes which have taken up residence here. And if they're here in the garden, I'm sure they must have definitely snuck into the house, the little buggers. Yep yep, these little guys are vicious with their poisonous fangs, and long claws. They like to burrow into things, so they especially like to live inside mattresses, and closets."
"Yeah right, I don't see anything. You're lying!"
"Nope, it's just that poor muggles like you can't see these little guys. They're magical creatures. Oh, and they love sugar. These little guys with kill to get their sugar."
"I don't believe you! You're just pulling my leg!"
"Oh no, I'm not lying. I think there's a picture of them in The Big Book of Monsters. I can go get it for you if you want, although I don't think mommy would like it if she found out you were looking at nasty Harry's books-ouch! It bit me!" Harry said, as he quickly jabbed his finger into a thorn. "See, look at that! Nasty buggers. And that was just a baby, fangs aren't poisonous yet." At this Dudley looked warily from the cut on Harry's finger, to the rosebush, and back to his root beer float.
"So you say they like sugar huh?"
"Oh yeah, and I mean, they don't actually kill, but they hunt in gangs and-"
"Hunt!"
"Yeah, they hunt down sugar, and if they find people with it, they gang up on that person. They use their little puking spell to distract the owner of the sugar, and then they take their prey." Dudley gave a small yelp, and chucked the rest of his root beer float into the rose bush, and waddled back into the house.
Laughing, Harry followed suit, thinking that his cousin would be ridding his closet of his secret stash of junk food right about now, and that he probably wouldn't get mush sleep that night, thinking that fanged beasts living in his mattress might attack him at any second. Harry made his way up to his room with the plan to finish a Charms assignment.
But first, he realized, as he replayed the conversation in his head, he needed to find his wand.
"That'll be $36.93"
Nichole rummaged in her purse to find the correct change for the cashier at Safeway. She had made a trip to the grocery store for her mother, while she picked up Giselle from Girl Guides. As she left the store, in a trance, she still had only one thing on her mind, and that was the question as to why she had a magic wand, and a spell book sitting in her room at home.
Just as she stepped onto the bus with her purchased goods did she realize that she had given the cashier at Safeway her last dollars. Aggravated, she rummaged in her purse for more change.
She looked up to the bus driver to mutter an apology, but as she made eye-contact, she thought she heard a voice.
"Geez. Kids these days."
"I'm sorry," said Nichole, acidly. "What did you say?"
"Didn't say nothing."
Well fine then, if he was going to be an ass then let him, she thought. Just then, she felt something in her pocket. She stared at it, and realized that there was indeed something inside. She reached inside to find $1.50, the exact amount she needed for the bus trip home.
How ironic, she thought, as she boarded the bus home. She needed to hurry to get ready for Sarah's party.
Nichole dropped the groceries in the entry way as she bounded up the stairs to her room to get ready. She took down her ponytail, and washed her hair in the sink. She had an exact procedure to follow to make her wild hair manageable, and even slightly pretty. She then brushed out all the knots while it was still wet, and proceeded to rub Frizz Ease serum into her hair. A final coat of hairspray over still damp hair finished her look. She then applied her make-up. She put a small layer of powder on her face, especially on her cheeks, in an attempt to tone down the redness. She then applied some silver eye-shadow, which would go perfectly with her outfit she had picked out the day before. She slipped into her baby blue knit tank top, and knee length white peasant skirt. She rushed downstairs as her mother called her for supper.
"Nichole is there something up?" her mother asked, sounding concerned. All of Nichole's friends loved Mrs. Caligan. They said she was one of the nicest moms they ever knew, and they loved her light British accent. Nichole had a slight accent as well, but it was not nearly as noticeable as she had lived here in Canada since the age of four. Before, she had lived with both of her parents somewhere in London.
"No," she answered innocently, her voice cracking. Oh shit, she found the book. No! My life is over!
"Well, honestly dear, you've been distracted all day. You bought Iceberg lettuce instead of Romaine, Macintosh apples instead Granismith, and prune juice instead of apple. Is there a problem with Eric?"
Why was it that adults always assumed it was a problem with your boyfriend if you were ever a bit off? "Oh no, it just that…I'm a little…stressed out about…work. Yea. My boss has been bugging me all week about…tampons. Um… Yea, he's saying that we've been slacking off in keeping the bathrooms in shape and that…some girls were complaining about…'not having proper necessities.' He…kinda…um…yelled at us."
"Well alright, here's your mac n' cheese. Sorry, it's just that I didn't really have time to make a good dinner today."
"That's alright." Nichole replied as she sat down across from Giselle. "So, Gizzy, what did you do in Guides today?"
"We got to learn how to knit," she said, as she dug into her dinner. "EEEEWWW!"
SPLAT
"Gizzy! What the hell! You-"
"Young lady, what have I told you about swearing!"
"MUM! She spit her bloody food onto my shirt!"
"That is no excuse to-"
"MOMMY! This isn't the right kind of Kraft Dinner, it's the yucky kind!"
"You're such a spoiled brat, everything always has to be perfect for you! This was my shirt I was going to wear to Sarah's party tonight!"
"And if you keep talking like that, you won't be going at all!"
"Why are you yelling at me? She's the one acting like she's three years old!"
Nichole's mother dug the Kraft Dinner box out of the garbage, and looked at the label.
"Nichole, you bought Three Cheese instead of Original."
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU CAN'T READ!" Nichole screamed as she stomped up the stairs. God, why was everything always her fault anyway, mum should have read the label before opening it. And Gizzy, why was she always so picky? Well, now her shirt was ruined, what was she going to wear?
Nichole looked desperately around her room. She was supposed to be at Sarah's in 10 minutes. Suddenly a shirt in her closet caught her eye. Nichole walked over to her closet and pulled out a beaded pink tank top off a hanger. Looking at the label she saw that the top was her size, and Chanel.
I definitely didn't buy this! No way could I afford this. Oh well, who cares how it got here, I need something to wear.
Nichole slipped the shirt over her head, and marveled at how perfectly it fit. She glanced at her clock.
7 minutes.
Sarah was running around madly, putting the finishing touches on the decorations for her party. Her mother had encouraged her to have a party with her friends from her high school, so she could "get to know different types of people." Her mother was in the kitchen right now, preparing food for the party. Meghan had already arrived, and was in charge of decorations. Eric was in charge of buying muggle CDs for the occasion, so he was out at the store right now. Sarah, well she was in charge of de-wizardizing the house.
That's right. Sarah McEwen was a witch. As was her parents, and brother Eric, and Meghan and her family. Her mother had insisted that she have a muggle party because 1) an excuse for her to increase her daughter's popularity to be boosted, and 2) She used it as a "project" for Muggle Studies for Sarah, Meghan, and Eric, upon which they would be graded on. Sarah had attended muggle school all through her life. Her mother had insisted because she thought that muggles did teach very practical things in their schools. Sarah had found it interesting, and had made a few friends there as well. Sarah, Meghan, and Eric were taught magical studies by their different parents after school. They couldn't go to a proper magical school, because the entire wizarding community in North America had collapsed just before You-Know-Who met his downfall almost 14 years before. Very few people knew why, but the popular opinion was that You-Know-Who was planning to cross the pond, and take over North America as well as Europe. As a result, the entire of the North American Ministry of Magic Buildings had been destroyed. All types of magical records had disappeared. As far as the magical community in North America was concered, well, there was no magical community. Everyone had been afraid of everyone at that time. Everyone had thought everyone was a spy. Even now, magical families did not communicate with each other out of fear. The McEwens and the Williams were an exception. They had moved from London when Sarah was about four. Sarah and Meghan had met Nichole on their first day of kindergarten. She had been a small girl dressed in a blue lace dress, her curly hair pulled back into two blue bows. A group of girls had been making fun of her because 'she talked funny.' Meghan had come to her rescue. With a large dolly in hand, she had claimed that 'I talk funny too so if you want to make fun of her, you may as well make fun of me too! Does that sound like something you want to do?' She had then waved the dolly, which was made of very hard plastic in the girls' faces menacingly. From that day on, the three of them had been inseparable.
Sarah's parents were the some of the few people who knew the real reason why the ministry had shut down, but refused on countless occasions to tell her why. Sarah's parents were very close with Dumbledore, a very powerful wizard of England. Sarah's parents and Meghan's as well, had been part of an anti-You-Know-Who organization called the Order of the Phoenix. Most of Sarah's relatives were also in the Order of the Phoenix. Her cousin Ron Weasley was also best friends with The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. He and her kept good correspondence, as she also did with the twins, Fred and George, and Ginny, who was a year younger than her, but incredibly mature for her age. He had written her shortly after school let out, that You-Know-Who was back, and that Harry had apparently witnessed it.
At first, she hadn't believed him one bit, but when she had gone to question her parents about the matter, she had found them deep in discussion with Dumbledore. She hid herself around a corner so she could listen to the conversation:
"No Albus, he can't possibly be back"
"He is alive and strong, and our world is in grave danger. I assumed that you two would be willing to rejoin the Order?"
"Oh yes, of course, but about the other matter at hand."
"Yes, this should be a special year. She must be the one. I'm positive. Who else could it be? I am surprised that no suspicious events have yet occurred. But rest assured, I trust that Barbara will inform you immediately if any suspicious behavior is observed of her daughter. However, you must be on constant watch, we can only hope that the other side still has no idea of the family's whereabouts."
"Yes, of course. Sarah is a great help as well."
"Yes, well I will have other matters to discuss I think perhaps at a later date, but I must be leaving now."
"Yes of course, good luck Albus."
What other matter? And how was she such a help? Sarah had bombarded her parents with questions the minute Dumbledore had left, but they refused to answer anything. She had then gone to Eric, who was almost a year older, if he knew anything. He had replied that it was probably secret business for the Order, and that she shouldn't meddle.
Sarah was jerked back to reality when she heard a crash in the family room. Running into the room, Sarah saw crumpled paper chains, a smashed chair, and Meghan rubbing her knees.
"Oh sod it! Just this once," said Meghan aggregately as she rubbed her knee. She pulled out her wand, and jabbed it at the chair, which instead of repairing itself, set itself on fire.
"MEGHAN! Mom will kill you if she sees you doing magic! Just cause there's no government, doesn't mean that you can just do spells left right and centre! And now look what you've done!"
"Oh shut up pansy pants! That can easily be fixed. Aguamenti. Reparo. Wingardium Leviosa."
"MEGHAN!"
"Relax Sarah. Your mom's not here, and besides this way is much faster, and people are going to be here soon."
"EXACTLY! PUT THAT THING AWAY NOW!"
"Alright, Alright."
DING-DONG
Sarah jumped.
"Go put your wand away in my room. Under my mattress."
Sarah headed over to the door, and opened it up. Outside stood Nichole, wearing the most beautiful shirt she had ever seen.
"Oh my god! How come I haven't seen that shirt before!"
"Oh. Well…I just bought it today. Where's Eric?"
"Grrr. Is that all you think about? Making out with my brother? What the hell do you see in him anyway?"
"Relax, I just wanted to say hello."
"Alright, well come on in. I have to finish…cleaning up," she said, steering Nichole away from the door as she spotted her Nimbus 2000 sticking out of the closet. She kicked it inside as she walked past the door on her way upstairs with Nichole, sincerely hoping that Meghan had hid her wand by now.
Meghan Williams was having an awesome time at the party.
Until her boyfriend Chad decided to break up with her.
Meghan now sat in Sarah's bathroom with a box of tissues for company. She had come up here to hole up because she knew that Sarah didn't let people come upstairs during parties for…obvious reasons. She kept replaying the night in her head, wondering what she might have done wrong to deserve this.
She had greeted him with the usual kiss as soon as he arrived with his friends. They had chatted about movies, celebrities, and sports through pizza. They had danced afterwards, and then they had found a corner to…well, that's what Meghan thought they were going to do anyway. Instead she had faced the conversation every girl despises with passion.
"Meghan, I think we should talk."
Oh no. Nonononono!. What did I do? "Yes?"
"Well, I think that we should…umm…break up."
What the hell? We were fine like 5 minutes ago! Oh my god. He's cheating on me. Yes, that's it! I bet it's that slut, Kelsey. "Why?"
"Well, I just…I don't feel the same way about you…that I used to. And I don't think we're really going anywhere anyway, do you?
Oh you bastard! This is because of the other night when I said I wanted to wait! Oh. My. God. "Not going anywhere! Oh, please define."
"Well, I think you made it obvious the other night that you are not ready for a serious relationship and-"
"WHAT! NONONO! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT'S NOT READY FOR A RELATIONSHIP! YOU'RE JUST BREAKING UP WITH ME BECAUSE I WON'T SLEEP WITH YOU! YOU SICK BASTARD! YOU WERE JUST USING ME THE WHOLE TIME!
By this time people had started staring, but she didn't care. Let them figure out what a sick womanizing freak this guy is, she thought. She had wished she had her wand, because she would have hexed him into oblivion, hell, who was gonna stop her. Regardless of not having a wand, she had still done magic, even thought she hadn't meant too. Chad was trying to shush her in an attempt to save his reputation, but she had slapped him across the face, and shouted at him some more. Then, as she was about to walk away, but her emotions got the best of her. His nose started bleeding. Not just a normal nosebleed either. His nose was practically shooting blood. People had started screaming, and Sarah had let out a cry of frustration and put her face in her hands. She had taken Chad upstairs, set him right, and modified his memory, but not before sending Meghan a look that said "You will die for this later! How could you be so stupid!"
"Hey. Man, that guy is such an prat. How could he do that to you?"
Meghan turned her head toward the bathroom door as Nichole walked in and sat down beside her on the cool tile.
"I brought you ice cream, your favourite," she said, setting a container of Rainbow sherbet beside her.
"Thanks," she said, sniffling into her Kleenex.
"It's not your fault. You're actually lucky you found out what he's really like don't you think? Would you rather be still dating that prick?"
"No. But I just feel so…used. He was lying to me the whole time. Every time he said that I was special, or pretty, he was just lying!"
"I know."
"No! You don't know! You have the perfect boyfriend! Prince Charming! You guys are practically married!"
"Yeah, well I can imagine how you must feel, let's just say that then."
"Sorry. I'm just so…I want to hurt him. How could he do this to me? He deserves the Cruciatus-I mean…urgh, I just want to hurt him!"
"Cruciatus? What's that? Oh no wait, I've heard that somewhere…"she said as if trying to remember, then a look of horror crossed her face, before turning into a strained expression. "How did you…know…?"
"What? Oh, that's just…a word I made up…nothing important," she said hurriedly. How had Nichole heard about the Cruciatus curse was beyond her. She had never let on before that she had any knowledge of the magical world…though her mother on the other hand appeared to have slight knowledge of their world. Yes, Meghan distinctly remembered Nichole's mother, or Barb as they were supposed to call her, talking with her mother about the return of Voldemort, and Dumbledore, and also of Harry Potter come to think about it. Perhaps her mother was a squib, and Nichole had somehow come across a magical book at their home. She would have to ask her later.
"Anyway," said Nichole, "you shouldn't let that bastard ruin your night. People have started leaving, and I think Sarah will be booting the others out soon anyway."
"Yeah. Hey, I saw the movie Sarah rented. You're going to love it, and hate it at the same time."
"Okay, that's specific, what movie? I told her not to get a scary one, as she knows what a sissy I am."
"Yeah, well you should know by now not to tell Sarah anything, as she'll always do just the opposite." She said, digging into her ice cream.
"Okay, well I guess if she thought it would be funny to rent a scary movie, then I think it will be funny for her to watch me make out with her brother instead of watching the movie."
Meghan laughed. "Yeah, well she obviously thought of that, cause she made him go to a friend's house for the night."
"Awww. Damn her! She just loves to torture me doesn't she?"
"I expect so."
"So what movie did she get anyway?"
"The Ring 2."
"Oh my god. You remember when we saw the first one?"
"Yes. You watched the back of a pillow instead of the TV!"
"Yeah, well it's one of the three scary movies I've seen in my life!"
"Really, you've only seen three scary movies in your life!"
"Yes. The Ring with you guys. Cabin Fever, at your house. God, I had to sleep with a Nite Light in my room for two weeks after that. And then of course, there was my birthday this year, which I am reminding you, that I still expect a refund. Honest to God, ten bucks just to watch my coat, and almost shit my pants, wow deal."
"Ha! Yea, I remember that! You were scared of the previews!"
"Yeah, well PG my bum! And those mutilated doll heads were scary!"
"Alright, alright. Whatever you say."
"So then I slapped him, and told him that he was a perverted prick, and never to speak to me ever again. Then his nose started…you know…"
The girls were all sitting in Sarah's room on her bed, and Meghan was giving the girls a play-by-play of her break-up with Chad. There had been many sympathetic "Oh's and Aw's" as well as many insults thrown at Chad.
"Yeah, what was up with that anyway? His nose was like spurting blood. No way was that a normal nose bleed, one of his blood vessels like burst open or something," said Nichole.
"Yeah, well the bastard deserved it." Said Meghan lividly.
"So what's up with you anyway Nichole? You've been acting kinda weird. Is everything all right with Eric? I swear to god if my idiot brother hurts you, I will kick him in the area that god only meant to be treated nicely." Said Sarah, obviously trying to change the subject.
Again? Maybe she should just tell everyone to assume that things were always going to be fine with Eric (which they always would be, of course) until further notice! "No, nothing's wrong…Why?"
"Well, Sarah's right, you've been acting kinda distracted. Like earlier, you brought me Rainbow Sherbert ice cream, which you know I hate, instead of my favourite Rocky Road."
"And Eric told me that you were eating pepperoni pizza, and didn't even notice."
"Yeah…so…"
"You HATE pepperoni!"
"Come on, you know we'll get it out of you eventually, you may as well just tell us."
"Yeah, we won't tell if you don't want us to."
"You can trust us."
"Okay, well…no I can't, you'll think I've gone insane…"said Nichole, contemplating whether or not to confide in her friends.
"Oh, believe me, we won't think anything you can tell us is insane," snorted Meghan as she exchanged a quick glance with Sarah.
It was then that Nichole made her decision. These were her best friends in the whole world, if she couldn't trust them, then she didn't know who she could trust. If they were really as good friends as she thought they were, they would believe her, and support her, and not judge her. They didn't keep secrets from her, so she shouldn't keep secrets from them. And besides, she had proof in her overnight bag that she wasn't lying.
"Okay, well it's a long story…" Nichole then told her best friends all about the strange dreams she had been having. About the boy. About his family. About everything she had read. About the whacked-up twig. And lastly, about how she had woken up the next morning with a wand and spell book by her side.
Sarah and Meghan didn't interrupt her through her entire speech, which she found awkward indeed.
"…so, you see, I brought it with me. It's here in my backpack," she said as she pulled out the small piece of wood from her bag.
Sarah and Meghan simply gaped at her as if she had three heads.
"See, I knew you guys would think I was bonkers."
Silence. More staring.
"Alright, how about I just go home, I'll talk to you guys later, if I'm not shipped off to the insane asylum that is. Just…please don't tell anyone else."
"No wait! We believe you. We're just kind of confused."
"Yeah, we want to talk about it…although there's probably something you should know about us first…" said Sarah, with a nervous glance to Meghan.
"And that would be?"
"Well, you see the reason Sarah and I know you're not insane is because…well…um…you see…"
"Out with it already!"
"MeandSaraharewitches."
"Huh?"
Meghan took a deep breath and quietly whispered. "Me and Sarah are witches."
Now it was Nichole's turn to be silent and stare.
"You mean, like…like the stuff in this book?" Nichole said waving The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1, which she had read cover-cover that afternoon after work, in the air.
"Yeah," said Sarah, as she pulled out her and Meghan's wands from under the mattress, and showed them to Nichole as if to prove a point. "Exactly like that."
"How could you not tell me something like this!"
"We couldn't. Our parents made us promise, along with not doing magic that's not for school, and doing magic in the presence of muggles. Besides, you wouldn't have believed us even if we could tell you!"
"Alright I have heard that word enough. What the freakin hell is a 'muggle'?"
"Oh. Non-magic people."
"So I'm a muggle?"
"Yes. But, well, actually, according to your story, you're not."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you said that you made sparks come out of this guy's wand right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Only people with magical powers can make wands function."
"So, you're saying that I might be magic?"
"Here, give his wand another wave, just so we can be sure."
Nichole picked up the wand, and waved it in a long sweeping motion. This time, pink glitter glided out of the wand as she waved it.
"Yep. You're definitely magic. It's odd though, most people find out they're magic by the time they're 11."
"Why by then?"
"Well, see people can keep track of magic, but since the Magical Parliament collapsed in 1990, there hasn't really been anyone tracking people with magic. Although I know Dumbledore is trying to keep an eye on things over here. Usually people do magic accidentally, like when they have very strong emotions." said Sarah, with a pointed look at Meghan.
"Okay. Whoa. Slow down. Magical Parliament?"
"Yes, the government that runs the magical community, it shut down in 1990, and the wizarding community in North America kind of went underground."
"Very few people know why, but most people think it has something to do with You-Know-Who."
"Who?"
"An evil wizard. His name is…Voldemort." Meghan shuddered as she said his name.
"Oh! So that's what he was babbling about!"
"Who was babbling about what?"
"Oh nothing, just that I heard Harry talking about him to himself. Also some kid named Cedric."
"OH MY GOD!" shouted Sarah.
"What?"
"K, you said that you heard a guy named Harry talking about You-Know-Who right? And also about a guy named Cedric?"
"Yes."
"Yea well do you know his last name? Did you see a weird scar on his forehead?"
"Umm, yes he did have a funny scar on his head, and I think his last name was Potter."
"OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!" screamed Sarah and Meghan together.
"OW! What the hell!" said Nichole, clutching her ears.
"Do you have any idea what this means!"
"Umm…no."
"Okay, well 14 years ago, You-Know-Who killed Harry's parents, but when he tried to kill Harry, who was only 1 year old, he couldn't, and he like kinda went into limbo…"
"Limbo?"
"Lost all his powers. Harry Potter is like the most famous boy in the world! You-Know-Who gave him that scar!"
"Oh my god I just realized something else!" said Meghan, who looked like she would burst at any moment.
"What?"
"YOU SAW HARRY FREAKIN POTTER BUTT NAKED!"
"OH MY GOD!"
"I'm sooo jealous."
"Was he hot?"
"How were the goods?"
Unfortunately, the girls' little chat was interrupted by a vivid Mrs. McEwen, who barged into the room and shouted. "Alright girls, what the hell is going on in here, I thought I told you not to-" Mrs. McEwen was cut off in mid sentence as soon as she saw the three wands lying on the bed beside the girls. "What in the name of-Oh dear, god I suppose I'd better contact Albus. Dear, Nichole, please will you come down with me. You girls too." She whispered her voice cracking.
"Geez, it's really hard to make mom cry, I wonder what you did Nichole," Sarah said as the girls clamored off the bed, and headed down to the living room.
A/N: Please Read and Review!