In the most unfortunate stroke of unluckiness, neither authors own Harry Potter. It's a shame, we know.
Finally, the dreaded day of the party came, quicker than it should have. The house was decorated with a horrifying display of color, with the words 'Back to school, Dudley!' written on a gigantic banner, which was so colorful it hurt to see, on top of the front doorway. Underneath the huge 'Dudley' was written in very small writing, 'and Hary'. It infuriated me to see that, first of all, they wrote Harry's name so small, secondly, they didn't even bother to spell it right, and lastly, their color scheme on the banner was very off. Barf green with neon orange. Joking aside, it really did infuriate me. So, being the vengeful person I am, I took out my wand, looked around for any Muggles that might have been watching. Thankfully, none in sight.
I pointed at the small 'Hary' and whispered, "Engorgio."
That was the stupidest mistake in my life. The banner itself started to enlarge, until it was so big it could wrap around the house three times. Panicking, I pointed my wand at the door and whispered, "Colloportus."
I racked my brain for a spell to reduce the size of the banner. Reduce… Reduce! I pointed my wand at the banner and said, "Reducio!" And slowly, the banner reduced to it's original size. I sighed a breath of relief, and turned around to see one of Mrs. Dursley's Muggle friend, drink in trembling hand, her eyes wide. Oh boy.
I pointed my wand at the Muggle. Her eyes grew wide and she ran, screaming and sloshing her drink onto the ground. I ran after her and yelled, "LANGLOCK!" Suddenly, her screaming stopped. My heart was in my throat. I didn't know what that spell did. I'd only heard it somewhere and it came to my head. What if a Death Eater used that curse to kill or torture someone? What have I done?
I ran to her and turned her around. She was okay, but couldn't talk. Her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. She was fighting, though, throwing punches and kicks that I didn't know were possible in a dress like hers. I rolled my eyes. Classic Muggles, having that aggressive and useless reaction in them. I guess I couldn't judge. I had glued her tongue to the roof of her mouth.
"Shush!" I hissed at her. "I'm sorry. I just need you to sit still!" I imagined that if she could talk, she would say, 'Unhand me at once, devilish creature!" Or maybe that was to medieval. Whatever she was thinking, her thrashing was making it very hard to concentrate on Obliviating her.
Then the worst part happened. Yes, I know, you're probably thinking, 'How could this get any worse?' Well that's what I was thinking until the rest of the party arrived. I could certainly imagine how this looked. Me, a young girl, brandishing a wooden stick at an older lady, who was fighting for her life, unable to speak.
All students had been taught a spell that would dispatch a team of Obliviators if you needed one. The woman had stopped thrashing, and was breathing heavily. The entire party was frozen in shock. I looked down at the banner. Stupid, stupid, stupid me. Could I handle this on my own? Nope, not at all. But was it worth the involvement of the Ministry? What would I say to McGonagall? If I didn't, I could risk the exposing of the wizarding world. It was very much not worth it to try on my own. So I thought of exactly what was happening, then flicked my wand and a little whisper escaped the tip, just like it was suppose to, off to the Ministry.
That seemed to do the trick. The small mob of people suddenly unfroze, and panic spread like wildfire. Just seconds later, I heard about ten faint pops! and ten wizards and witches in Ministry robes apparated onto the scene, in a circle around the chaos.
Simultaneously, they raised their wands, and a spell was performed, then suddenly the living room suddenly froze, me included. I couldn't move. It was like one Petrificus Totalis had been cast on the entire room. Ladies frozen, mid scream, Dudley's friends, stuck waving chubby fists in the air. It would have been comical if I hadn't been included in this game of super freeze tag. Luckily, Harry had been sent to the neighbors house, an old lady who was the very picture of a weird aunt, the kind you avoid at family gatherings.
The wizards and witches started moving around the room, looking for the person who had called. It didn't take too long, I had my wand raised, frozen above my head. They wrenched my hands down and pulled me out of the circle, where I slowly unfroze.
"Young lady, what have you done?" Asked a motherly witch, most likely sent to guilt people into spilling what crime they had committed.
"I tried to cast an Engorgio charm, but it went wrong." I swallowed. My mouth was dry as parchment, but the palms of my hands were as wet and warm as hot chocolate. "When I got it back to its normal size, I turned around and that lady had seen me." I pointed to the woman in question, stopped mid-punch, who would have been wailing like a banshee, had she not been frozen, and her tongue not glued to the roof of her mouth. "Then everybody else came. It was all I could do to call the Ministry." I hung my head in shame, and the the motherly witch looked at me sternly, just how I imagined a mother would glare down at a misbehaving child. Weirdly enough, I wished my real mother had given me that look. When I knew her, she was always happy. Then my father had been sent to Azkaban for killing 13 people, and I was sent to a muggle orphanage. But enough backstory, this lady was giving me a serious death-glare.
"Do you know who lives in this house?" She asked.
"Harry Potter, ma'am." I whispered. I raised my head. "He's at the neighbor's house right now."
"What are you doing in this house?" Asked a mean looking wizard. He must be Bad Cop, from Muggle telly.
"I'm his and his cousin's nanny."
"A witch? His nanny?"
"Yes, ma'am. I was appointed just about a month ago."
"What's your name, child?"
"Angel Custos." None of them had heard about my father. Well, they probably had, but so none of them knew I was related to him. Thank goodness. I would have been locked up in a cell right next to him.
"And you are on no exterior motives, for being appointed?" She raised an eyebrow.
"No, ma'am. I'm on orders from Professor McGonagall."
Bad Cop said solemnly, "We're going to take you in for further questioning." He barked some orders and magically tied my hands behind my back. It was a bit unnecessary, in my opinion, but what would I know? I had probably just risked the exposure of the magical community. Had I broken the International Statute of Secrecy? Today had not been a good day.
"I hope, erm, Ms. Cusstoss, the severity of your actions." I went as red as a beetroot as the Minister of Magic, Mr. Cornelius Fudge, addressed me.
"Custos." I said quietly.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Fudge adjusted his lime green bowler hat on his head. Honestly, was there any need to wear it indoors?
"My-my name. It's Coos-toes. Not Cuss-toss." I said. I didn't know the matter was so serious that I'd be having a talk the Minister himself. But then again, this was Harry Potter we were talking about, and it had only been a few years since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named vanished and the wizarding world was still cleaning up. No need for Muggles to pester us more.
"Yes, yes, Ms. Custos. This is your first and final warning. You are to be fined. I hope you can understand why."
"Yes, sir."
Mr. Bad Cop and Ms. Sweet Talk were standing behind me. One of them released the bonds that were still tying my hands behind my back. Now that my hands where free, I was seriously considering whipping out my wand and firing an Engorgio spell on the Minister's hat.
"Come on, sweetie." Ms. Sweet Talk ushered me out of the office, where a man with spectacles and alarmingly red hair was standing, with a pen and a pad of paper in his hand.
"Oh, my! You're the young lady who stayed at the Muggle residence aren't you?" he said, following me and the Ministry official.
"Y-yes."
"Could you be so kind to answer a few of my questions, dear?"
"Sure." Suddenly, a thought struck me. I stopped in my tracks, the official almost tripping over me. Suddenly, Ms. Sweet Talk seemed like Ms. Sour Talk.
"Who are you, sir?" I asked the man.
"Arthur Weasley. I work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department. Muggles are fascinating, wouldn't you agree?" He had a sparkle in his eyes that I couldn't help but smile at. This energetic red head seemed like a very good man.
"Hello, Mr. Weasley. Yes, Muggles are fascinating. I'd love to discuss them with you, if you want."
Mr. Weasley was practically bouncing with excitement. Ms. Sour Talk frowned and said, "I don't really think this is the place, Weasley."
I turned to the official, "Mr. Weasley, miss."
Mr. Weasley's face now matched the color of his hair as he stuttered something incoherent. Ms. Sour Talk gave me a look and grabbed me as we Apparated. The last thing I saw was Mr. Weasley rushing towards me, his mouth forming the word No.
I stood in front of Number Four Privet Drive, glaring at the horrifying banner as the muggle I had earlier "attacked" (according to Mr. Bad Cop) came, a look of disgust on her face as she saw me.
"You're that kid that Petunia hired, aren't you? That little servant kid."
I counted to ten. How dare she call me a servant.
"I'm a nanny. I look after kids. I don't do chores. I don't serve anyone. And neither should anyone else." I said.
"Yes, yes, good speech. Now, fetch me another glass of punch, girl."
The woman reached her glass out as if wanting me to take it. My hand shot to my pocket, where my wand was, but quickly stopped myself. I needed to control my anger and my pride. I gritted my teeth and forcefully took the glass, making sure that I scraped my nails on her hand. Judging by the sounds of discomfort behind me as I walked in the house to get the punch, I'd succeeded.
Most sincere apologies for not updating sooner. I checked and it appears to be as though I have not updated this story since October. That would be because somebody *glares at co-author* didn't write their part of the story when they needed to. Hopefully we can get this train back on the tracks. Thanks for reading, like and subscribe, leave a comment below, and tell us if you think of Einsteins theory about light being both a wave and a particles.