"What are we going to do now?" Chris crouched beside the lake. The lake was beautiful. For all his brother's power he could not believe that they had entered the world of Harry Potter.
"Well… I think we should explore Hogwarts! Come on don't tell me you never wanted to see what Hogwarts really looks like?" Wyatt stated as he also crouched next to his younger brother. Wyatt looked fondly at the castle that stood majestically across the lake.
"Wyatt. For your information we can never know what Hogwarts really looks like cause it's fake. And I suggest we go some other place beside Hogwarts right now." The younger brother sighed as he slowly got up.
"What? Why! I always wanted to see the talking portraits and the moving stairs!"
Wyatt jumped up after Chris in desperation. He flung his arms around like a child throwing a tantrum.
"If the spell worked then that mean we are in the part of the book that we have yet to read. We have no idea what Hogwarts will be like after Voldemort was revived at the end of the fourth book. Who knows how many people would be guarding the place? So why not go to Hogsmeade?" Chris rolled his eyes as he saw his older brother jumping up and down with joy. Sometimes he wondered why Wyatt was the older brother.
"Yes! You're so right! Let's do that!. And I really wanted to try butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks! Lets go!" Wyatt stated as he pulled his brother by the arms.
Before Wyatt can drag him anywhere, Chris stood his ground.
"Wyatt do you know how to get there? The book never really tells the way to Hogsmeade. And no we can't orb there. We don't know where exactly it is so we might get lost." At Chris's statement Wyatt looked distraught once again and pouted.
"Dang Chris why are you always the party pooper. I suggest we mindlessly walk around and get there somehow! Wait. The book does tell us how to get to Hogsmeade!" Wyatt stated excitedly. "In the third book Harry goes through the Whomping willow to the Shrieking Shack!"
Chris stared at his brother in disbelief as sighed. Wyatt just grinned from ear to ear as he grabbed him and orbed both of them to the opposite side of the lake.
The two boys walked toward the campus ground where they still had to aimlessly walk around to find their way to the Whomping Willow. Soon they found what they wanted and stared in fright.
"The books never mentioned how big the tree was." Wyatt stated as he inched closer to his brother
"Nor did it mention where the hole to the passage way is. Look at the base of that. There seem to be at least 20 holes on the bottom. I told you this was a stupid idea." Chris stated as he also moved closer to Wyatt.
"First thing first. You never stated that this was a bad idea. You just looked at me weird. And hey how do you know if all the holes lead to the same passage way." Wyatt said as he willed himself to take a step forward. In that instant one of the gigantic branches slammed down in front of him and Wyatt had to orb to escape the death that would surely come with one blow. "Ok Chris, freeze the tree!" Wyatt pointed at the tree waiting for his brother to do what he just told him to do. When nothing happened Wyatt looked back and saw that Chris had crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at him. "Why are you glaring at me like that?"
" I refuse to use my powers for personal gain like you. We have our powers to help innocents. And freezing a killing tree just to go to Hogsmeade is so not helping innocents!" Chris yelled and turned his back to his brother.
"Fine then I'm going to do it myself!" Wyatt stated as he also turned his back on Chris.
"How are you going to do it? You don't have the power to freeze. What you're going to blow it up?" the sarcastic tone in Chris's voice wasn't missed in Wyatt's ear.
"No my dear baby brother I'm going to hold the branches down with telekinesis. While it made be more difficult the simply freezing it, it should still be effective." Wyatt held out his hand and the branches came to a halt. Wyatt slowly made his way to the trunk of the tree as he concentrated hard to hold down the hundred or so branches to slam down on his body. Chris stood where he was and watched his brother. When Wyatt reached his destination he couldn't stop himself from yelping in joy and yell out to Chris.
"See I made it! If you don't come now I'm leaving you behind!" But just then Wyatt let his concentration slip a little bit and one of the branches from the Whomping Willow came crashing down. Wyatt closed his eyes tightly just waiting for the pain. When a second passed without the expected pain he opened his eyes and was saw that the branched had stopped just in front of his nose.
"Wyatt you idiot!" Chris yelled as he ran toward him
"You call me an idiot? You hypocrite! I thought you weren't going to use magic cause of personal gain?" Wyatt yelled although in his heart he was very glad that his stubborn brother decided to break his own rule to save him
"Wyatt, while you may not be so innocent, I used my powers to save you and not for personal gain." Chris stated as he walked past Wyatt and down next to a hole. "And I suggest you come inside the hole quickly cause I'm unfreezing it in 5 seconds." With that he disappeared in to the hole.
"You always have to be all knowing don't you." Wyatt stated sarcastically even though he couldn't stop the smile that was forming on his face.
XXX
"Why is the passage way so long?" Wyatt whined. "We've been crawling for about 20 min and I see no exit anywhere!"
"Proper grammar please." Was Chris's simple reply.
"Why does everything that come out from your mouth want to make me hit you?" Wyatt growled as he roughly pushed Chris to the side so that he can lead.
"Ow. You didn't have to push me." Chris said as he gently touched his now sore shoulder. As he tool his hand off he felt something sticky and stared at his hand.
"Good job Wyatt, now I'm bleeding." Chris stated as he spotted the gash that was caused by a rock in the wall of the tunnel.
Wyatt quickly turned around and crawled as quickly as he could to his brother's side.
"Let me look at it." Wyatt's voice was filled with concern as he let his hand form a gold glow. The wound quickly disappeared and the sign that there was a wound was the rip in Chris's shirt.
"Thanks." Chris muttered as the pain disappeared.
"Why are you thanking me? You wouldn't have been hurt if I didn't push you." Wyatt stated with confusion and sorrow.
"Well yeah it's true it's all your fault I got hurt but sorry for irking you also. Anyway let's get our of here I don't want to be stuck here with you any longer. Who knows your stupidity might be contagious." With a smirk Chris looked at Wyatt.
Wyatt smiled at his brother confession and put his arm around Chris's shoulder.
"That's what we brothers are for! One gets in trouble and the other follows. But that's why we are so close! Come on baby brother lets get out of this stinking hole and get some butterbeer!"
XXX
By the time the duo made it out of the tunnel and into the shack, both were tired and dirty. Wyatt took one look at his brother and himself and laughed.
"We need to do something about ourselves!
Wyatt waived his hands and imagined a gentle wind that would wash away the dirt and dust. Soon the boys were refreshed and they knelt down to take some rest.
"Wyatt. I'm tired." Chris stated softly.
Wyatt stared at his brother. He couldn't help but think how small Chris looked. He often forgot that his brother was only 14. They did everything together ever since birth that Wyatt always felt that Chris was his twin more than anything. The bond between was so strong that they often felt and knew what each other were thinking. Of course neither of them were telepath so they couldn't speak with each other, but a simple gesture or an eye contact and they just knew.
"Well don't worry lil bro. We'll be out of here and go to The Tree Broomsticks and have some witch's food!" Wyatt stated as he smiled and got up from the ground. He had to be strong for Chris. After all it was his job to protect him no matter what.
"I just remembered something. We have no money. How are we going to buy the food?" Chris asked as he also stood up and followed his brother toward the door in the shack.
"Ah. I forgot. Dang. Well I guess we could see if we can… I have no idea how we can get the money. Well lets just get out of here and let it just roll!" Wyatt stated as he put on his goofy smile and confidently stepped through the door and into the magical community.
XXX
What the brothers witness as they stood at the street was far from what they had been expecting. Yes the streets and stores were exactly how JK Rowling had described, but it was not the busy street they had thought it would be. The streets were completely deserted.
"Um, Wyatt, did you think Hogsmeade would be this deserted?" Chris asked while his eyes never left the empty street before him.
"No."
"I thought not." The brothers stared at each other and hesitantly walked around the street. From the way the streets look it appeared that the small town was lacking in people for some time. When the boys saw The Three Broomstick there was wood that was nailed shut to the door.
"Ok. So no butterbeer for us." Wyatt stated as he made 360-degree circle and explored with his eyes.
"Wait don't you think something feels off?" Chris stated as he closed his eyes. "I feel magic all around me yet no one is here.
"Now that you mention it…" Wyatt also closed his eyes and tried to feel the soothing hum of magic.
"What are you boys doing here?" Both brother snapped open their eyes and turned toward an elderly man with a left eye that was strangely blue and rotating in a way no eye should ever rotate. The man was holding out his wand and was pointing directly at Wyatt's heart.
Wyatt's mind was racing as he processed who he was looking at. In the fourth book Mad-eye Moody was Crouch Jr. in disguise. But hiss soul was sucked out by a dementor so did that mean this was the real Mad-eye Moody?
"Um. Excuse me. Hi. My name is Chris Halliwell and this is my older brother Wyatt. We are visiting from America and wanted to visit the famous Hogsmeade but it seem to be closed." Chris answered timidly as he too knew that the person standing in front of them was the famous Auror who had single handily captured many dark wizards.
"America you say? Why would two American wizard boys want to visit a country that is at war?" Moody growled as he took a step closer to the Halliwells.
"…" Both the boys couldn't think of any answer and kept silent.
"Well no answer boys? Then…" As Moody made a motion to cast a spell someone called out
"Alastor! They're only boys!" A woman with bright red hair yelled as she quickly blocked the path between the brothers and the auror.
"You can never be too sure." Moody growled as he straightened up
"Your being paranoid. Look at them one looks barely older then Ronald."
The brothers made eye contact with each other and could not help but smile. Seeing this Moody became alert and quickly turned toward them once again.
"And what's so funny!" his growling voice turned dangerously low.
The boys gulped and Wyatt spoke
"Nothing sir it's just that this nice lady reminded so much of our mother that we couldn't help but smile…" Wyatt said
"See Alastor no reason to be worried. Boys I'm sorry to say but Hogsmeade is closed at the moment you see. There was an attack nearby and most of us left for safety. You two shouldn't be here. Now you should go back to your parents." The woman that the both boys knew as Molly Weasley stated as she turned toward them.
"…" The boys had nothing to say.
"See Molly. They're hiding something. What if they are death eaters in disguise?" Moody stated as he raised his wand.
"Oh I'm sure Alastor, that they are not Death Easters." When a new voice entered the conversation the boys turned and could not help but let their eyes widen in awe. Standing before them was the one and only Albus Dumbledore.
"Actually I don't believe they are a threat at all. Am I right boys?" the brothers stare at the twinkling blue eyes.
"Your Albus Dumbledore." Wyatt stated.
"I believe I am." He answered. Then suddenly Wyatt jumped and ran and grabbed the elder wizard's hand and shook it widely.
"I am your greatest fan will you give me an autograph?" Wyatt exclaimed.
"Why me?" Chris muttered as his face turned red from the embarrassment.