Alex Goldstein sat hunched over in the back of the car, wondering what he had gotten himself into. This was his first convention of any kind, much less a large one like SmileCon.

He hadn't really thought that his mom was serious when she had suggested it. But no, supposedly it would be good for Alex to meet new people in a terrifyingly unfamiliar environment. And here he was, sitting in the back of his mother's car while she cheerfully drove him there.

After what seemed like only a few moments, the car stopped in front of the convention and Alex stepped out hesitantly, dressed in full Harry Potter regalia. There are Harry Potter fans in conventions, right? He certainly hoped so.

He stood in front of the building, pondering his next move. He figured that his best bet would be to find some Harry Potter fans and tail them to some more hospitable place for a fellow HP fan. They could discuss The Books, possibly with a cup of tea and a fake British accent to boot. It would be nicely quiet and… "Mom? Mum? Where'd you go?" His mother had already pulled away, and he could just see her waving at him through the car window, probably calling out to him to have fun and talk to people.

Well. He was on his own.

Not that he really minded being alone, but it was rather unsettling to be dropped off in front of an unfamiliar building and be expected to socialize with a crowd of strangers.

The con building was enormous, and Alex proceeded to get lost the moment he entered. It was just so incredibly noisy and crowded, filled with people wearing everything from flowing robes to rather...skimpy costumes.

Cosplays, he reminded himself. At anime conventions, costumes were called cosplays. He darted around various groups of chattering teens, narrowly missing getting beheaded by a templar wielding a dramatic-looking sword. It may have been made of plastic, but still. Better safe than sorry. As Alex wove among the crowd, he thought back on his beloved fandom.

Harry Potter.

He still remembered that rainy day in the library when he had plucked the fateful Book off a nearby shelf. He had read through the entire afternoon, sitting hunched over at a library table. That night, Alex had astonished his parents by chattering about magic, Quidditch, and Nicholas Flamel all through dinner. The sheer detail of the world had blown his ten-year-old mind, and he had been hooked.

The characters in those books had been so much more interesting than his fifth-grade classmates, and he had loved the Weasley family right from the start. The Weasley twins in particular had fascinated him, and he had spent many happy hours imagining himself in their place.

Alex was cosplaying as Fred Weasley, the slightly more commanding twin. His outfit was neatly in place, Gryffindor robes, wand, and all. He even carried a box of Nosebleed Nougat, homemade from marshmallows and peppercorns, for extra authenticity. The one flaw in his cosplay was his hair. Having naturally light brown hair, Alex had tried to dye it orange, with mixed results. His hair was now brown with orange stripes.

However, it would have to be good enough, and perhaps add to the Weasley mischief vibes he was trying to give off.

He had long since memorized the passages involving the Weasley twins, and now, as a junior in high school, was thoroughly and happily obsessed. From buying the merchandise to re-reading the books for the 17th time, he was Dumbledore's man through and through (as he liked to say).

Lost in his happy memories of a particularly satisfying scene in Book 5, he jumped as he collided with someone. The tiny girl that he had bumped glared up at him. "Who are you?" she demanded, primly swishing her Ravenclaw robes.

Alex blinked, slightly taken aback. "Er…I'm Alex Gol-"

"Not your name! Who are you cosplaying as?" The girl looked at him expectantly.

"Oh! I'm Fred Weasley," Alex announced, trying for a playful smile.

The girl's pigtails swung as she shook her head. "Your hair is wrong."

Alex frowned. "But I have streaks of red in my hair. I'm a...streaky Weasley, geddit?"

The girl stared. "You're weird," she declared, before dashing away into the crowd.

Alex frowned as he continued walking. He had managed to put off the only Harry Potter fan in sight. It was true that his "streaky Weasley" comeback hadn't been a joke. Or a pun. It had been a rhyme. A weak one. Alex sighed. Hard as he tried, his attempts at humor always fell flat. And he was still lost.

As he looked around for any sign of a Harry Potter fan, his eyes fell upon an official-looking woman carrying a clipboard. Like Umbridge, he thought idly, that saccharine and controlling teacher at Hogwarts. He then noticed a pin on her lapel. From this distance it looked like a pink plate with a white kitten on it. Like Umbridge, the kitten-obsessed, pink-robed sadist! Alex dashed over, and skidding to a halt, blurted out, "I like your Umbridge cosplay! You've really got that vicious glint-" He stopped. The pin that had looked like a kitten plate was simply a white smile on a pink background: the convention logo.

This was an employee of the convention.

She was not wearing an Umbridge cosplay.

And he had just insulted her.

Alex quailed under the woman's steady gaze, feeling as if he were shriveling up in embarrassment. You couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you, he berated himself.

"Can I help you?" The woman inquired, interrupting Alex's frenzied thoughts. She seemed quite unfazed by his outburst.

"I - er - Could you direct me to the Harry Potter area?" Alex didn't even know if there was a Harry Potter area in this convention, but he had to say something.

"Oh yes!" The woman smiled at him, her pale eyes crinkling neatly at the edges. "Turn onto the first hallway to your right; it will be the door at the end of the hall."

"Thanks," Alex replied and dashed off, hoping to find his own kind at last.

Alex's footfalls were muffled by the thick carpet. He had long since stopped seeing people in the hallway, and was now entirely alone. He had found the hall easily enough, it was now a matter of getting to the end of it. It kept on turning at neat ninety-degree angles, making Alex feel as if he were hardly moving at all.

After a few minutes of silent walking, Alex began to feel desperate. Where was the end of this hallway? Perhaps there was no end - perhaps he was simply walking in circles and would continue to do so for the entire con. Just as he began to ponder turning back, he turned a final corner and saw the door, not ten feet away.

Alex paused to steady his ragged breathing. This was it. He was going to meet other devoted Harry Potter fans. They would discuss every possible recipe for butterbeer and quote obscure passages from The Books. Galloping gargoyles, he would be social. Alex drew himself up, adjusted his robes, and entered the room.

The first thing he noticed was that the area was more like a dining hall, with a peaked wooden ceiling.

The second thing he noticed was that it was completely empty.

Alex had barely a moment to register all of this before the world silently crumpled in on itself, and everything was gone.