Chapter Two
James
“And there’s James Potter going in for the dive.” The announcer’s voice boomed through the huge stadium.
“All pressure is on him might I remind you. If he can get the snitch quickly then they win the game. But the odds are set against him. Considering that Frando is a much more experienced seeker and has had several quick catches that resulted in victories for France. It all comes down to whether James Potter can go against the odds and prove everyone wrong.” The other announcers, though loud, but very dull, voice droned on and on.
But James Potter couldn’t hear the two voices as he shot down to the ground. He was only concentrating on one thing. A glinting ball of quick moving gold that was buzzing and twisting just ahead. He had to get to it. He urged his broom forward trying to make it go faster. The other seeker, Frando, was hot on his trail and before James saw it coming he and Frando were neck and neck urging their brooms to out run the other.
James could see it. Blocking the other seeker from his mind he willed himself to concentrate on just that one thing.
The crowd was roaring loudly having finally realized the tension that was going on between the two seekers. This would determine the output of the game. Would it be Potter with a victory for England or Frando with the third victory for France in a row? The crowd waited anxiously screaming as loudly as they could.
There it was just before his eyes. He stretched out his arm. The world turned silent and into a slow projection. He urged himself to go faster his arm stretching out further and further from his socket.
“Wake up!” A shrill cry and high-pitched laughter followed with a sudden weight upon his chest and stomach brought him to opening his eyes.
Blearily he opened his eyes to see a foggy figure leaning down close to his face. A face leaned close to his. A grinning face and twinkling brown eyes met his eyes, as he became more awake with a series of blinking. That high pitched all-to-familiar giggle once again rang through the room.
“Awake yet?” The little voice inquired.
“Almost.” He moaned.
He sat up and the little girl thankfully jumped off his bed and exited the room. Thank god for that.
He rubbed his eyes still trying to get the sleep out of them. He reached over onto the table where his glasses normally resided. Blundering around he tried to find them since they weren’t in their usual spot; but then again it could be just because he was really tired.
Wearily he made his way out of bed hoping that after he woke up a little he would be able to find them. He wandered over to the bureau and pulled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that he hurriedly changed into. Still rubbing his eyes he walked out of the room and into the bathroom. He turned on the faucet and began to splash some water on his face attempting to wake himself up.
It was a shame Tiffany had woken him up. That dream had been so good. He was almost sure that he would’ve caught the snitch in the end if dratted Tiffany hadn’t woken him up. He could still hear the announcer’s voice in the back ground vaguely. He remembered the whooshing wind in his ears, the vague sound of the roaring crowd, his beating heart and of course the soft noise of his hand grasping the snitch triumphantly if the dream had continued just a second longer. But it hadn’t and so James was left to ponder on this and hope that he had the same dream again.
“Dratted Tiffany.” He mumbled.
He wiped his face with a towel and slowly brought his head up. He met the identical reflection of himself with a broadening grin. An identical set of brown twinkling mischievous eyes that came from his father’s family and of course his mother’s family’s messy untidy hair that was black like his father’s were all part of his appearance. He could see himself a few years down the road with messier hair and a taller figure and of course lots of muscles. Yes he could see it now. James Potter, the famous seeker that brought home the victory for England for the first time in twenty-five years. James Potter who stood against all odds that were against him and made a spectacular catch that wasn’t just luck. James Potter…
“James!” A voice came loudly from the kitchen.
“Coming!”
With a sigh James took a last glimpse in the mirror.
“You should stop being so conceited!” The mirror teased. For after all James had been staring at his reflection for quite some time now. James frowned at the mirror and headed downstairs for breakfast.
It was only then that he noticed he didn’t have his glasses. He tripped down a flight of stairs and fell to the ground in a heap.
“Impressive entrance.” Mrs. Potter mused wiping her hands off with the dishtowel smiling amusedly at her clumsy son.
James groaned in response and slowly sat up.
“James if you had your glasses on you wouldn’t have tripped down the steps.” Tiffany piped up from where she was hastily finishing her breakfast.
“Yeah but I can’t find them.” James stood up pushing his hair out of his eyes. He sat down in a chair beside Tiffany. Strangely enough his younger sister was now wolfing down her breakfast and was hiding her face from him behind the Wizened Flakes Box. His hair flopped back into his eyes as he pulled the box away from her face to pour himself a bowl of the cereal.
“Wait a second.” He said dropping the box back onto the table. He grinned, as it suddenly became all to clear.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where my glasses have gone? Would you?” James turned his face to his sister, who was now laughing so hard that she was shaking and food was spraying all over the place. The chair scraped across the floor as Tiffany got up still trying to swallow her cereal and ran for the door. Another chair scraping noise was followed and the door slammed behind the two siblings.
A wild goose chase began.
Tiffany was now giggling as she ran across the luxurious green lawn that was enchanted to remain beautiful by means of a charm. Black birds scattered after her retreating footsteps as she glanced back at him still grinning. James half blinded by the fact that he desperately needed his glasses and now half blinded by the ruffled black birds that were now flying at him blundered blindly after her trying to reach her. He stumbled but continued on after her following the high giggle that was never too far ahead of him.
“I’ll get you for this Tiffany!” James had stumbled for the second time and was now trying to regain his balance while still running with no falter in his speed.
“Catch me if you can.” She giggled.
James scrambled madly after her. They were now racing in some one else’s yard. James was unfamiliar to the ground and tripped and fell in a small hole in the not perfect landscape of the lawn. But Tiffany had fallen too and was just standing up now. James reached for her ankle trying to pull her down onto the ground but with no success. Tiffany just ran on ahead.
James stood up and glaring at her put on a new spurt of speed. He was quite a good runner and he was getting really aggravated with his younger sister who had all of the advantages. Like being able to see for one. For two she had had a head start. So with new determination James began to gain on her filling the large gap that had once been between the two siblings.
Tiffany let out a shriek seeing that her brother was getting closer to her. She tried running faster but she was almost out of breath. She couldn’t go on much further. There was a thicket over to the right. She could make a dive for it since she was smaller then James. That would probably let her catch her breath for a bit if he got snagged which was very likely. Tiffany was all for it and began racing top speed toward the little thicket.
“Give them to me!” James said between breaths right behind her.
“No.”
“Give them to me Tiffany!” The two of them were still running. James was nearly right beside her.
“Never.” Tiffany said very dramatically. She raced top speed toward the thicket just as James did. Tiffany grinned to herself seeing that her plan was working brilliantly. Just one last stride and I’ll have time on the other side to catch my breath, she told herself.
The two of them raced neck and neck toward the thicket. But what happened next was highly unexpected by both James and Tiffany.
Tiffany and James both ran right through the thicket! Through may not be the right word. For there was a shimmering array of light and then both James and Tiffany had found themselves flat on the ground on the other side of the thicket. They hadn’t even touched anything and yet here they found themselves on the other side as if the thicket hadn’t been there at all.
For several moments both of them just lay there their heads face down in the grass. Then slowly Tiffany raised her little head and spat out a piece of grass that had gotten into her mouth.
“Yuck!” She spluttered and spat out a few more tiny little bits of grass. James too sat up. He had wisely kept his mouth closed so to Tiffany’s dismay he had no grass in his mouth. But he did have something else.
“My glasses!” He picked them off the ground from where they had fallen from Tiffany’s hand. He cleaned the lenses briefly out of habit with his shirt and then put them on. He could now see clearly for the first time all morning. It was a relief to be able to see everything like he normally would. He was getting tired of squinting and seeing everything blurry and deformed.
“You got your glasses so now are you happy.” Tiffany said in a sing song voice.
“Very.” He said looking around having a new appreciation for the ability to see everything clearly and perfectly.
“Well I’m going back to breakfast. Now that I’ve been thoroughly woken up.” James said turning to his sister with a glare. He stood up and walked back over to the thicket.
Tiffany didn’t get up right away but began picking at the green grass of the lawn that they were now residing on. Strangely enough this grass felt different. Tiffany sniffed the grass and realized what was wrong. This grass wasn’t enchanted. In fact it seemed like there was no sign of enchantment anywhere. Tiffany looked up and saw that they were in the back yard of a medium sized house. It looked a little different from the houses she normally saw every day. It seemed to be lacking something though Tiffany couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Tiffany!” James came back to her enraged.
“What is it dear brother?” Tiffany said innocently grinning. Her twinkling brown eyes had the same mischievous sparkle as her brother’s usually had. She had also inherited the same untidy black hair except that hers hung down just below her shoulders and was slightly neater. That was with the exception of her bangs that were all over the place.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He said angrily.
“Huh?” The innocent look was gone from her face. She was bewildered. What was he talking about?
“The thicket.” James pressed on hoping that she would confess up fast. But Tiffany’s brown eyes just widened a little and took on their confused look. The grin was wiped from her face and he could see that she wasn’t acting. She didn’t know what he was talking about.
“I can’t get back through the thicket.” James continued, watching, as his sister became even more confused.
Tiffany’s pupils flicked back and forth and then suddenly she stood up and marched over to the thicket. James came up beside her.
“What do you mean you can’t get through.” Tiffany said bending down a little bit and starting to walk forward. But in a seconds time she knew what James was talking about. The thicket was like an illusion. It was a solid wall and neither her nor James could get through it.
“I’ll just go around it then there’s no big deal.” Tiffany said with a laugh. James rolled his eyes knowing that his sister would find what he had found.
“Ouch.” Tiffany was rubbing her head and was hitting her other hand upon what should have been just air but was really a solid invisible wall made to look the surroundings.
“It’s hopeless Tiff.” James collapsed onto the grass. He had already done what Tiffany was doing now. She was now examining the wall that would not let them back to their house.
“I wonder how high it is?” He heard Tiffany mumble.
“It looks like someone just put in a false wall blocking us from getting back to our house. But it’s so odd. I can see the house and everything I just can’t get through.” James said almost to himself.
“An enchantment no doubt.” Tiffany said. Suddenly she yelped drawing back her hand as if it had been burned. James turned around and saw the wall changing. It was no longer showing his house and the neighborhood and path that he and Tiffany had raced through. Now it was showing a different scene. A scene that seemed to go with this house that they were sitting in back of.
“James.” Tiffany whispered gulping. James nodded also. Tiffany successfully stepped over to where the wall it had once been. It was no longer there. The wall was simply gone. But so were their neighborhood and their house and their parents. James wasn’t sure which was worse. Being able to look at a wall that was enchanted to look like where you had just came from or no wall and being able to see that you were somewhere completely foreign.
“I think we’re lost.” Tiffany said.
“Yeah I think so.” James agreed. Both of them turned their eyes away from where the wall had been and onto the medium sized house in front of them.
Tiffany sat down upon the grass beside him drawing her knees up to her chest. She was quivering slightly with fear. Nothing like this had ever happened to them before. The house was lacking something and so was everything about their new surroundings. She felt that she and James were oddly out of place.
She turned her head and looked up at James waiting for him to tell her what they were going to do. He was the oldest. He was smarter, braver and more courageous then her. He would make everything okay, right?
He kept his eyes upon the house though he was aware of her sad face and eyes burning into him waiting for him to tell her all the answers. He was the big brother so he should know what to do. But the problem was…
“I don’t know what to do.”
Chapter Three