OK, here's chapter 3! I made a small mistake before by mixing Charlie's and Bill's identities: Bill was supposed to be the one with the long hair. So I will just have to ignore Bill for the rest of the story.
Chapter 3:
When the two boys got downstairs again, they found Charlie sitting on the chair behind the counter, reading the muggles' magazine again.
He looked up as Terry and Josh walked in and smiled. 'So, are mum and dad finished talking?'
'Yes, actually.' Josh said. Terry gave him a "let-me-do-the-talking" look. He knew that Josh could mess things up quite easily. Josh just shrugged. He seemed to do that a lot lately.
'Listen, Charlie. I want to tell you something, but I want you to promise not to tell anyone, not even Stan.' Terry felt more confident now that he had an actual plan..
Charlie looked taken aback by Terry's serious tone. 'What is it?' He asked, looking at the two boys searchingly.
'You have to give me your word that you won't tell anyone first.'
'Well… OK.' Charlie said, looking curious.
Terry motioned for Josh to continue from there. 'Remember the two kids who came here two days ago asking for a job? That was us.' Josh said dryly.
'What? Why did you come looking for a job as little kids?' He was obviously slow, Terry noted to himself. He actually thought that they were adults who turned themselves into little kids.
'I think you don't understand.' Josh said. 'Here's a better way to put it: My name is Joshua White, not Vladimir Korsakov, and his real name is Terrence Locke.' He said, inclining his head towards Terry. 'Oh, and we are both nine year olds.'
Charlie choked on the tea he was drinking 'WHAT?!'
'Ha, ha, gotcha, this is just a joke. Not. I'm completely serious.' Josh said.
Charlie seemed to believe him. He could obviously put two and two together. Terry could read his thoughts like a book: He knew that the two men standing before him could not possibly know about the two boys who were there two days ago unless they were those kids.
'But, how, and what about your parents? Why did you do that?'
'Sit down and all will be clear!' Josh declared.
'He is already sitting down,' Terry said dryly.
'Oh, right' Josh said stupidly.
'I guess it's gonna be me who is going to explain, since I'm more rational,' Terry said, shooting Josh a dirty look. 'OK, so it all start one fine clear day when me and Josh were found on the doorstep of an orphanage when we were only babies. We grew up together, went to the same school, lived in the same room, but hardly ever talked to each other, which is why we only found out about each other a few days ago. You see, we both knew that we were found on the doorstep of the orphanage but none of us knew that there we were found together. We both thought that each was the only one found'
Josh yawned. 'Hurry up already and stop the poetry.' he remarked.
Terry ignored him. 'As I was saying, we had a real chat for the first time a few days ago. We both knew that we had some kind of power and Josh caught me turning on the light without touching it and knew that I must be like him. We decided to find out more about ourselves. We went out to look for people who looked like wizards and found a man who led us to Powell Place. We explored the place, entered lots of shops, including yours and you know the rest. We have no intention of going back to the orphanage. We think that we are quite capable of looking after ourselves, as we have demonstrated twice already. However, we need your help in finding education and we think you can help us get into Hogwarts.'
Josh raised his eyebrows at him, clearly saying "we?"
Charlie still looked as if he was digesting the information. At last he seemed to have recovered. 'Well, so much for growing up together and going to the same school. I must say you did a great job of naming yourselves.'
'Thank you.' Growled Josh. 'Are you going to help us?'
'Well, I must say, you are quite capable of taking care of yourselves… I don't blame you for not wanting to stay at the orphanage. I wouldn't want to either, if I were in your place. As to registering you to Hogwarts… that is going to be a bit difficult. Most people either register their children before they were born, or a letter is sent to people who never knew they were wizards. However, you will not be receiving that letter because you do not live in Britain. Of course I could always send a letter to the headmaster, but since you don't want to be found, I don't know what to tell him.' Charlie replied thoughtfully. 'But since you are only nine, we have got two whole years to think about a solution. People in the magical world start school at the age of eleven. We can contact each other by owls till then since I'm gonna leave this place soon.'
'There is no need.' Josh said. 'I already have a solution.' Terry and Charlie looked at him eagerly. 'Well, I don't know if it is a very good solution, but it is worth a try. What if you sent him a letter, telling him the whole truth except for the fact that we ran away from the orphanage and that we are currently working. Just tell him you met two wizard boys from a muggle orphanage in New York who are interested to attend his school. Tell him that you will take care of talking to our carers and there is no need to contact them. Just don't tell him which orphanage it is so that he would not be able to send them letters.'
Charlie thought it over in his mind. 'mmm, this could be a good idea if you were talking about any headmaster, but Dumbledore is not stupid. He knows absolutely everything about his students. As soon as your disappearance reaches the news he will check everything to see if the talk is about you.'
'What if our disappearance does not reach the news?' Terry asked slyly.
'Huh?' Two blank faces stared at him. Seriously, was he the only clever person in the universe?
'Well, we could just go to the orphanage and tell them that Josh and me found our family, that we are related after all, that you, Charlie, are our cousin. I know this is a lame story but we can always influence their minds with a bit of magic. What do you say?'
'Sounds good.' Josh said immediately. 'We can go back to the orphanage today, before they contact the newspaper.'
'Great!' Terry agreed.
Charlie did not seem convinced, but he agreed anyway.
'Err… there's just one problem.' Terry said. 'I just remembered, the effect of the potion does not wear off until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.'
'That's not a big problem.' Charlie said. He pulled out his wand, waved it once, and the boys immediately shrunk to their normal size and regained their original faces.
'What are you doing?' Josh shrieked in his normal voice, practically swimming in his enormous cloths, 'we are supposed to stay here till nine o'clock. What if Stan got back?'
'Stan is not back till eleven o'clock, and in case you haven't noticed, the time is already ten o'clock so your shift was over an hour ago' Charlie said exasperatedly. 'So we can be on our way now, come on.'
Terry and Josh quickly changed to their old clothes. As soon as they were finished, they led the now familiar way to the orphanage. When they reached they gray gates, they could see the caretaker coming towards them. 'Who are you?' He asked rudely.
'I found these two children on the other side of town. I figured they belong to you. Can I have a word with their carer?' Charlie asked politely.
'Who's their carer?'
Charlie looked at Terry for support. 'Mrs. Cole.' Terry said, trying to sound frightened.
The gates were opened and they were led inside. The caretaker produced a cell phone from the inside pocket of his coat and dialed a number. After several seconds, someone probably answered on the other side because he said 'Yes, it's me. The two missing children are near the gates. He waited for a second, then looked at the phone, astonished. Apparently, the person on the other side of the line slammed the phone.
A few minutes later, they could see Mrs. Cole running towards them. The sight was very amusing, as the fat woman ran no faster than the children walked, and she nearly fell down once. Terry however, did not have time to even open his mouth to snigger as he was being pulled into a tight hug along with Josh. They looked at each other over her arms, alarmed, as they both choked, fighting for breath. Terry feared the worst when the woman suddenly let go and her relieved expression turned to one of anger. uh oh. This was a dangerous situation. He was glad he was not going to stay there to receive whatever punishment she had in mind.
She opened her mouth to shout, obviously she was going to say "what in the name of Merlin…" Terry looked at Josh and they both gulped, ready for the blow.
'I'm sure there's no need to shout.' Charlie said quickly, correctly interpreting the mouth which hung open readily.
Mrs. Cole closed her mouth and looked at Charlie with narrowed eyes. 'And you would be…?'
'Charlie Weasley.' He answered, extending his hand. 'I'm these boys' cousin.'
Mrs. Cole's mouth dropped open again. 'For one thing, these two boys do not have any family, also, we performed a DNA test on them and they are not related in any way, so they can't have the same cousin.' Mrs. Cole said, looking disapprovingly at his long ponytail and fang shaped earring. Obviously, he looked like some kind of criminal. She turned towards the two boys and was going to usher them into the building when Charlie pulled out his wand and pointed it at her.
She suddenly stopped, her face blank. 'These two children are my cousins.' He said clearly. 'I have come here to inform you that they will be living with me from now on since they are my family. There is nothing wrong with that and you are not going to ask any questions.' he informed her.
'Of-course,' Mrs. Cole answered, face still blank, 'You can take the boys now, everything will be sorted out for you.'
'Thank you.' Charlie said politely and, motioning for the two kids to follow him, walked towards the gates.
'Hey, that was awesome!' Terry exclaimed as they walked back towards Powell Place.
'Yeah, it's so cool, seeing Mrs. Cole following orders.' Josh said.
'Totally!' Terry added.
Charlie looked at them and shook his head.
Fortunately, they arrived at "Quick Potion" before Stan did, so they had time to drink their potions and change their appearance back to the grown up mode.
The three friends sat at the table, seeping coffee and talking merrily. Stan arrived later than expected and joined them. He looked very tired but he seemed happy with something. He told them that they were doing a great job and gave them their money. Terry felt a bit sorry that Charlie was leaving tomorrow. He started liking the guy, but he knew that they were going to write to each other. Charlie said that he was going to send Dumbledore a letter tomorrow, and, for the first time in his life, Terry felt completely happy and free.
Months passed by very quickly after Charlie was gone. Terry and Josh earned enough money to be able to afford their own living, but Stan insisted that they stayed there. 'A man gets lonely, living alone all the time, I need some company, and, anyway, no thief has gotten near this place in ages, you have any idea how much money I have earned thanks to you two? I should give you a rise in salary,' he had said.
Terry and Josh refused politely, but did not argue about the accommodation. They have grown used to living with Stan and liked his company. They have spent one and a half years working for him and have used their time as usefully as possible. They both bought wands and their first year school books and have studied and practiced all of the spell they needed to know for their first year with and without a wand.
They also bought two brooms, which were a bit expensive so they had to save some money for that. It took them six months to be able to buy them, but at least they were good ones. Well, not as good as the Nimbus 2000, but close enough. They soon found out that they were both as good at flying as at playing basketball and they had a good time flying around on their broom on Sundays and Saturday. Sometimes Stan even joined them but he was not as good as they were. He did not believe them that they have never flown on a broom before, at first, and had told them they were naturals.
Although they did not know when they birthday was, they knew that they were nearing the age of eleven and they couldn't wait for their Hogwarts letters to arrive.
Charlie wrote to them very often from Romania and told them that Dumbledore was "informed of their existence", in his words, and that they were going to be sent a letter inviting them to Hogwarts when the time came. The time came a few days later.
They received a letter, addressing them by their real names, that they have been accepted to Hogwarts and telling them which books they were supposed to have. They bought all of those books two years ago because Charlie told them what the books they needed were.
Terry bought a large, beautiful owl and he named her Hedwig because he read that name in one of his schoolbooks and did not know what other names you could call an owl.
They only had one dilemma: They did not know what to tell Stan about why, or where they were going, and they could not just disappear without saying anything as they were planning on returning back in their holidays. The dilemma, however, was solved very quickly and efficiently. They told Stan that they have both been offered places as teachers in Hogwarts school, which was as close to the truth as possible. This way, Stan could also know where they were and send them letters. They told him they were going to return in the holidays.
Stan was a bit sad that they were leaving but he understood that they wanted to "revisit their old school."
A day before their departure, they went over how they were supposed to get to Kings Cross station in England, from which they were supposed to take the Hogwarts express. They already had the tickets, which were sent to them by owl from Charlie's family in England, who got the tickets for free because of their father's connections in the ministry of magic.
Stan was a big help. They decided to fly to the station on their brooms. Stan did the rest. He enchanted their brooms and trunks to be invisible and gave them a potion which would make them invisible themselves, so the muggles could see nothing. At last, he gave them both two compasses which he enchanted to point in the direction of Kings Cross station so they would not have trouble finding their way.
They were ready to leave at four o'clock in the morning because it was going to be a long journey to fly. Terry and Josh thanked Stan for the hundredth's time, said goodbye, and gulped down the potions which would make them invisible. Stan said that one tap on their head with the wand would remove the invisibility spell both from themselves and from their trunks and brooms.
They also thought about their appearances. They drunk their potions at five a.m. the day before so that by the time the effects of the potions wore off, they would be both invisible and very far away from Stan.
Everything was perfect. Except for the journey itself. It was very alarming, flying high over the ground without being able to see their brooms or each other. They kept flying close together and talking loudly to each other so that they would not lose each other. Although each could see the other's compass, it often disappeared and reappeared behind a cloud.
They arrived at Kings Cross at ten thirty. Good, they had some time to go to the public toilets to change their enormous clothes and to make themselves visible again.
As soon as he landed, Terry sensed that something was wrong by the looks of the people around him.
The compass. People could see the compass floating around in the air. Uh oh.Apparently, Terry's companion noticed it too because his compass suddenly went soaring towards the public toilet.
It took Terry a few seconds to realize that Josh was running and a few more seconds to follow. As soon as he entered the toilets, he quickly pointed his wand to his head and instantly reappeared. He saw Josh reappearing next to him. They quickly entered separate toilet rooms and changed their oversized clothes without saying a word.
They got out of the toilets looking like two normal boys, save the fact that they both had a broom in their trolley and that Terry had an owl in a cage. Terry tried to ignore the looks people shot his trolley and looked around for his platform.
He got the train ticket and read the big letters: Platform nine and three quarters, it read. Terry looked between platforms nine and ten, but could not see anything special. He decided to look for a witch or wizard and ask them.
He looked around for someone who might have looked out of the ordinary when, suddenly, he saw something that almost made his eyes bulge out of their sockets. Could it be…? No, what would he be doing in Britain? But still, he was almost sure that the man standing near the wall of platform ten was Lupine. That was perfect. Lupine will obviously know how to get onto the platform.
'Lupine?' Terry asked uncertainly. He saw Josh turning his head around, puzzled.
The man immediately turned his head.
'Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else.' Terry quickly apologized as he saw the man's face.
The man looked at him for a few seconds, confused. 'My name is Lupine.' He said.
It took Terry only a few seconds to understand what was going on. He looked at the man, amazed. 'Are you by any chance Remus Lupine?'
'Yes,' the man answered, 'do I know you?' he asked, looking as if he tried to remember something.
Josh, who was listening to the whole thing, suddenly split his face in a wide grin. 'No, you don't know us.' He answered. Remus looked at him in surprise, noticing Josh for the first time. 'We just had a little "run-in" with your brother back in New York, Jonathan, and he happened to mention you.' Josh explained.
Josh and Terry looked at each other, then, not being able to control themselves, burst out laughing at the memory of the man they had dressed in such a ridiculous way.
The man looked at them for a while longer. Then realization dawned on his face and he also started laughing. 'Yes.' He said, 'I think I know who you are. My brother back in New York mentioned you to me in his letters. I'm afraid the word fashion and his name do not go together in the same sentence.' He said, for which Josh and Terry laughed even harder.
When their laughter died down a bit, Terry noticed Remus looking down at them with a frown on his face. 'What?' Terry asked.
Remus's frown deepened 'Nothing.' He said- 'You two just remind me of someone'
'Really?' Josh asked, interested. 'who's that?'
'It's someone who died a long time ago. Ten years ago, in fact. His name was James Potter and he was one of my best friend when we both went to Hogwarts. Him and Sirius Black. It's strange. You both look like James. You have his face,' he addressed Terry. 'and you have his eyes,' this one was directed at Josh.
Terry's breath caught in his throat. 'Did your friend have a wife?' he asked.
He heard Josh gasp beside him. As usual, Josh has been able to guess what Terry was thinking.
'It's funny you should mention that.' Remus said. 'he did have a wife, Lilly Evens.' Then he stopped and looked at Terry. He gasped.
'What?' Terry asked again.
'No, this can't be possible…' The man mumbled and continued to look at Terry with wide eyes. Then his eyes traveled to the scar Terry had on his forehead. 'w… where did you get that scar?' He stuttered.
Terry looked at him warily. 'I always had it.' He answered. 'why?'
'Your eyes… they look a lot like Lilly's. She was James' wife.' Remus replied. Then his eyes traveled to Josh and he looked at them thoughtfully, then smiled nervously. 'Hey, stop looking at me in that way, I was only joking, it's not like I'm suggesting I know who your parents were. James only had one son anyway.'
Something about the way he said the last sentence arose Terry's suspicion. He seemed to have been unsure of himself. But why would he lie about how many sons his former best friend used to have? Terry decided the man was crazy.
Lupine was mumbling something to himself when Josh said, 'look, I'm really sorry to interrupt your conversation with… err… yourself, but could you please tell us how to get onto platform nine and three quarters?
Remus seemed to snap back to present instantly at Terry's question, 'Sure, see that wall over there? Well, just go through it.' He seemed pretty embarrassed at his behavior and tried to sound as normal as possible. He probably decided that it was just a coincidence.
Terry was not sure what the man meant by going through the wall but did not want to spend anymore time in the crazy man's company.
Terry and Josh started walking towards the wall and, as soon as they were out of Remus's earshot, Terry said 'What do you think? A complete nutcase, huh?'
'I don't know.' Josh answered. Josh seemed to have been affected by what the weirdo was saying
'Oh, snap out of it, brother,' Terry said, not noticing that he now used the term brother unconsciously, 'if you start believing every crazy man on the street who says that you are his friend's son, you are going to end up as crazy as them.' He said, examining the wall. 'What do you think we're supposed to do?' He asked Josh, feeling the wall with his hand. His fingers sunk into the wall as if there was nothing there. Cool.
'Well, now you know.' Josh replied coldly, stepping into the wall without hesitation.
'Hey, wait for me!' Terry stepped into the wall after him, dragging both his trunk and Josh's forgotten trunk behind him.
'Thanks.' Josh said without giving Terry some time to recover or to look around him. He just took his trunk and started climbing onto the train Terry did not even had a chance to see when he just got onto the platform.
Wow, this place is amazing! Terry looked around him; There were hundreds of witches and wizards around them, all wearing long robes and some even wearing pointed hats; the train itself was a steam engine. It was very old fashioned, painted in red, and it was huge. To his right, there was a sign: Platform nine and three quarters.
Terry quickly climbed onto the train and looked for the compartment Josh has taken. He found it instantly by the shouts which came from within it. Terry sighed. Trust Josh to get himself into a fight before they even reached the school.
He hurried to the compartment before any damage could be done. There, he saw, surprise, surprise, Josh wrestling a red headed kid about their age to the ground. He sighed. 'What's going on?' he had to shout these words for Josh and the red headed kid to lift their heads up and look at him.
'Oh, hello, brother,' Josh said. 'You are just in time to witness the first man… or kid, in the world being beheaded without a knife.' He said cheerfully.
The red headed boy groaned weakly. 'What do you want from me?' He asked.
Terry looked at Josh. 'What did the kid do to you?' He asked, interested.
Surprisingly, it was the boy who answered. He struggled against Josh, who had both of the poor kid's hands pinned tightly behind his back. Then he said: 'He didn't want to let me into the compartment. He said the seat was saved for someone so I told him that there was more than one seat and the compartment was not his anyway!' He said in a whiny voice, as if Terry was his mummy and was going to solve all of his problems for him. Terry noticed that the boy had the same tight, British accent as Charlie. I can be such an idiot sometimes. Terry scolded himself silently. He was in Britain. Everyone around here was supposed to have the same damn accent.
Terry looked at Josh and sighed. 'He's right, brother, let him go.' He didn't want to get into trouble before he even arrived at school.
'Why?' Josh asked, 'you know that we're not gonna get lots of chances now that we're not at Stan's place anymore.' he said, almost pouting, referring to the fights they got into when "dealing with shop lifters."
Terry gave him a warning glance.
Josh grimaced, looking disappointed, but let go of the boy's hands nonetheless. The boy sighed a sigh of relief and seated himself on the nearest chair, rubbing his hands. Terry raised his eyebrows at him. Did the kid have a death wish?
Reading his expression, the boy shrunk further into his chair. 'Everywhere else is full.' he whispered.
'Whatever' Terry said, bored.
The boy looked at him thankfully. 'My name's Ronald Weasley, by the way, Ron for short.' He said, extending his hand
Josh's eyes lit up. 'Hey, you're Charlie's brother, aren't you? your brother's cool, man, say hello to him from me. Well, actually, you don't have to, we write to each other all the time.' He said, ignoring Ron's outstretched hand.
Ron looked at Josh with surprise and confusion. 'You know my brother?' He asked incredulously.
'Sure,' this time it was Terry who answered. 'He's a nice guy. By the way, I'm Terrence Locke and this is Joshua White. Your brother probably mentioned us?' Terry didn't want to start bullying him, after all, he was Charlie's brother…
The same thoughts seemed to have crossed Josh's mind because he was now grinning at Ron. Terry looked at Ron carefully. If Josh hoped that Ron was like his brother then he was going to be highly disappointed. Ron looked like a complete wimp.
'Well, no, actually, he haven't.' Ron said, almost apologetically.
Josh looked genuinely surprised. 'No? but he was the one who asked your father to give us free tickets for the train.'
Ron shrugged, looking warily from Josh to Terry. 'How did you two meet him anyway? He is staying in Romania at the moment.'
'We met him two years ago in New York, that's where we're from.' Josh answered.
'How come you two are together? Are you brothers or something?'
'That's a question I do not want to attempt to answer, kid.' Terry said wearily.
Ron looked confused. 'kid?' He looked like he wanted to snigger but was too scared to do so. 'You're the same age as me.'
Josh exchanged a knowing glance with Terry. They were both used to being twenty six year old men, but of-course, they were not going to tell Ron that. If his brother didn't tell him, it was his problem. Instead, they just ignored him and started talking about other stuff like two grown ups making a conversation they thought little kids could not understand.
'Do you think Stan is alright now? I hope he found new workers.' Terry said.
'I don't know, Renaldo, but he's definitely going to have some trouble without us there to help him.'
Terry raised his eyebrows at the mention of his fake name. Did Josh do it on purpose or had he just gotten used to calling him by that name? 'Well, Vlady, I don't know, but I'm definitely gonna miss my job.' He said, 'It was sooo much fun.'
'Tell me about it.' Josh murmured.
Ron looked at them with interest, but before he could ask anything, the door to their compartment slid open and a slim girl with bushy brown hair stood at the doorway.
'Have any of you seen a toad?' She asked. She had a bossy voice and Terry decided instantly that he did not like her. 'A boy named Neville has lost one.'
Terry looked at Josh lazily. 'Have you seen any toad, brother?' He asked him.
'No.' Josh answered, bored. 'Have you seen any?' That was their key to driving people mad. They just loved doing that to people.
'I certainly didn't.' Terry answered with obvious fake concern.
The girl looked at them with narrowed eyes. 'If you took something that's not yours you'd better return it.' She said warningly.
Terry put on an innocent look. 'Vlady, did you see me taking any toad from anyone?'
'I didn't.' Josh answered in the same tone Terry used. 'I think whoever stole that toad did a very bad thing, don't you, Renaldo?'
'Definitely.' Terry answered, noding his head.
The girl looked at them with disgust and stormed out of the compartment.
'Such bad manners' Josh said, shaking his head sadly. Then they both burst out laughing.
Ron sensed that it was supposed to be a joke, but he wasn't certain whether to laugh or not. 'Did you two steal that toad?' He asked.
Terry stopped laughing. So did Josh. 'Do we look that bored to you?' Terry asked him with disgust.
'Yeah, we've got better things to do.' Josh added.
Ron looked taken aback and did not say another word for the rest of the ride, which highly amused both Terry and Josh. They continued to chat in the grown up tone they have gotten used to after two years, but it was mainly for the entertainment of watching Ron's bewildered expression.
Suddenly, the door to their compartment slid open again and the face of an old, smiling lady peered in. 'Anything off the trolley dears?' For some reason, Ron's ears went pink.
'Yeah, I'm starving.' Terry said. 'What have you got?'
The woman let them chose whatever they wanted from the trolley. Josh got some strange sweets which had all kinds of flavors, including earwax, pepper and vomit. Terry wrinkled his nose and got himself a chocolate frog, which was just a normal chocolate, only it was in the shape of a frog and was enchanted to be able to move. Each pack also contained a card for people to collect. Terry gave his card to Ron and paid from the money he earned during the two years he worked for Stan.
A few hours later, the train slowed down and Terry knew that they almost arrived at Hogwarts. He smiled with happiness: He has waited for this moment ever since he found out about the school. Terry, Josh and Ron all pulled on the uniform they had to wear while staying at the school, which was basically just normal, wizards' robes and cloaks, only it had the school's badge sewn upon it.
The train finally came to a halt and a magical voice sounded through the train telling the students to get out of the train and to leave their luggage inside. Terry took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. He got up and started walking along with the stream of other excited students. Hogwarts, here I come!
PLEASE review! I want to know what you think and if I should make any changes. Thanks for everyone who reviewed till now!