Chapter Three

At six that evening, Elizabeth and her grandmother went over to the Welsh house hold. The night was a good one, but Elizabeth was grateful for the soft bed in her room when she got home. She was terribly jetlagged. Besides, she started work at the Welsh's general store the next day, so a good night's sleep would do everyone some good.

Next morning, Elizabeth woke to a tapping on her window. She got up and found Amber waiting patiently outside on the window ledge, holding a few letters. Elizabeth opened the window and the owl swooped in onto her cage. She handed the letters to Elizabeth, then went inside her cage and was asleep with her head under her wing in the next instant. Elizabeth was opening her letters.

The first one was from her family, saying that they were glad that she had gotten safely to Grandmother Green's house and in all one piece, bags and all. They also said they missed her a lot and wished her a good start at working in the general store.

The second letter was from Maria, Elizabeth's best friend, wishing that Elizabeth was back home and going to the same school. Maria also stated that she had done some research and found out that Harry Potter was probably going to the same school for witches and wizards as Elizabeth was going to in the coming fall. Harry Potter was a celebrity back home within Elizabeth's friends. Maria had a whole club, dedicated to Harry Potter and his wonderful fans (Maria and others in the club). The letter went on and on about how cool it would be if Elizabeth actually met Harry Potter while at school and got an autograph from him for his biggest fan in the world Maria. Elizabeth chuckled at this.

The last letter was from Cedric, Elizabeth's other best friend, saying that life was dull without her and that he was keeping Maria from going all ballistic on him every time he said something about England or Elizabeth. It had been his idea to remind Maria that Elizabeth was in the same country as Harry Potter and told her to go find out more to keep her occupied for a time. Elizabeth silently thanked him while reading this.

She caught sight of the clock and, discovering that she would be late for work if she didn't hurry, got dressed at the speed of light and ran down the stairs.

"Elizabeth, why the running and the hurrying?" Grandmother Green asked as Elizabeth grabbed some toast and coffee from the table, chugging the hot coffee immediately.

"I'm late," she replied after swallowing the coffee.

"Oh, well, have a nice day!" Grandmother Green called after her as Elizabeth grabbed her coat from a hook in the hall and her backpack of a table near the door, munching on the toast. Elizabeth ran out the door with a quick and stifled "Goodbye!" to her grandmother.

Elizabeth reached the general store just in time. Mary Ann greeted her with a happy "Good Morning!" and handed her an apron. Elizabeth took off her backpack and coat and stuck them under the front counter of the store. She then took the apron and threw it over her head and took up post at the cash register. Mary Ann went off to put things on shelves, leaving Elizabeth to read at the register.

It was almost midday when the store finally had customers. Elizabeth was halfway through one of her romance novels, when three boys came in, all with fiery orange hair. They were probably brothers. The two older boys were identical down to the last freckle. The younger boy was ganglier and more freckled than his brothers. He was tall, taller that his brothers, and had a large nose and ears. He looked to be Elizabeth's age, while his brothers looked two years older. The older brothers wore new looking jeans and polo tee shirts and the younger one wore worn jeans and a faded graphic tee with a cool abstract design.

Apparently, these boys had been sent by their mother to get a few things, or at least the younger one did. He went and grabbed a few things, along with milk and juice from a fridge, while his brothers came directly to the counter, walking up like they were the coolest people ever. Elizabeth looked up from her book.

"Can I help you?" she asked. The twins snickered.

"Naw, we're just looking for an exceptionally beautiful girl who works here," one of them said, smiling indulgently.

"Who? Mary Ann?" asked Elizabeth. Either that or these guys were hitting on her.

"Yeah, I believe that was her name," said the other twin. "Is she here?"

"Yes, she just went into the back right before you came in," Elizabeth said. "Should I go get her?"

"Naw, we can wait," said the first twin. "Anyways, we've been rude. I'm Fred and this is my brother George."

"Pleased to meet you," said Elizabeth, shaking hands with both twins. "Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz."

"Pleasure to meet you," said George. "Ah, here she is!"

Mary Ann returned from the back of the store where she was getting some more cans. She looked up at George's words and smiled at the twins. "Oh, hello!" she said as she greeted them. Fred and George started talking with Mary Ann at the other end of the counter, with side-glances and the occasional wink or smile towards Liz. Meanwhile, their younger came up, finished with shopping.

"Hey," Liz said as he piled things onto the counter. He looked up at her and nodded. As she rang up his groceries, he looked at his older brothers, now freely flirting with Mary Ann.

"Cheeky prats," he muttered under his breath. Liz heard him, but didn't comment on it. He noticed that she heard him, so he said: "Don't mind them; they're always like that."

"Oh, I can see that," she said.

"It is amazing that we're related," he said, sighing.

"You're related? I never knew!" Liz said sarcastically, but when he smiled, she smiled back. "I have older twin brothers myself. They can be a pain in the butt sometimes."

"Or all the time," he said. They both laughed.

"I'm Ron," the boy said. "I saw that you've already meet my brothers, Fred and George."

"Yeah," said Liz. "I'm Elizabeth, by the way. You can call me Liz."

"Pleasure," Ron said.

"Same," said Liz.

It was around then when Liz's book, The Loved and the Loveless, started to float off of the counter of where Liz placed it when Fred, George and Ron came in. Fred, George and Mary Ann kept talking and didn't notice, but just as it was about six inches of the counter, Ron said: "So, what book are you reading?"

"Oh, it's one of these romance novels I found at a CVS--" Liz began, but just then she was following Ron's gaze and turned to find her book floating at about eight inches and climbing. She slammed it back on the counter. Fred, George and Mary Ann turned their way as Liz made the sound and she smiled weakly ad they stared at her, puzzled. They returned to their conversation as Liz turned back to Ron.

"Tell me you didn't just see that," she asked him, fingering her wand at her waistband. She hoped she would have to use it, but just it case….

"No, I didn't see a thing," said Ron, avoiding Liz's gaze, but smiling slightly, as if he had known what she had done. He looked at her again and smiled.

"You're a witch, aren't you?" he whispered, looking at the hand Liz had at her belt.

"You're a wizard, then?" she whispered back leaning slightly over the counter, towards Ron. He smiled and she smiled back.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" Liz asked. He looked her age, but with his height, he could be older.

"Yeah," said Ron. "my last year. Are you going?"

"Yes. On scholarship for my last year of school."

"Really? That's cool. Where you from? I haven't seen you before and your accent isn't British."

"Salem, Massachusetts. You know, in America."

"You're American?" asked Ron, wide-eyed. "Wow, never met an American girl before." Liz giggled.

"Hey, Ron!" said George. "Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, I'm coming!" said Ron to his brother. He turned back to Liz. "Sorry, but I got to go. Nice to meet you, though."

"Likewise," said Liz.

"Well, I'll see you later, I guess," said Ron.

"I'd like that," said Liz and Ron followed his brother's out of the store.

"They are so cute!" said Mary Ann. "The younger brother is not too bad, but I like the older ones better."

"Yeah, they're nice," said Liz, returning to her book. She couldn't wait to talk with Ron more. Finally, another person just like her, another magical person. Liz wondered if Ron would be friends with her, but she knew the answer already.