Hi, everyone! Thanks for everyone who reviewed. Sorry I didn't update in such a long time - I've been kinda busy (doing exams. And I really would prefer not to know the results!).
I'm planning on introducing several new characters in this chapter, some of whom will play a major part later on. Oh, and I only noticed now that I've never done any disclaimer, so, for anyone who did not figure it out already, I do not own Harry Potter.
And just one last bit which is intended to a single person only: this is what choco asked me to do. Hope K-T is happy now.
Chapter 9:
'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…' It was Saturday morning, and Hermione found herself outside of the castle, in the Hogwarts grounds, with Terry and Josh standing either side of her. It was a nice, sunny day, but Hermione did not notice the weather at all as all of her senses were focused on the broom she was clutching with her hands, screaming at her that doing what she was going to do now was the worst idea she has had so far, making it the first bad idea she has ever had.
'Oh stop being so over-dramatic,' Josh said, frowning, 'look, I'll show you how to do it. You see, put your hands on the broom like that…' he put her hands in the right position on the handle of the broom. 'Now, just kind of kick off from the ground. Terry, show her.'
The broom Hermione was sitting on was Josh's nimbus two thousand, so Terry was doing the demonstrations on his own broom. He made a slight movement with his legs so that he started soaring gently a few feet above the ground. 'See?' he said to Hermione, who was looking at him with wide-eyed fear, 'it's no big deal.'
Hermione was not as sure as Terry that it was not a big deal and she was wishing against all wishes that she did not agree with their deal. Not knowing what Terry and Josh had to tell her was not half as bad as having to fly a broom. She looked at the broom which was ruining her morning with hate, wondering weakly what she was supposed to do with it.
'Just don't think about it too much,' Terry advised, 'it's kind of like learning to swim for the first time; it's not as bad as it looks once you get used to it.'
'For your information, Terry, that doesn't make me feel any better,' Hermione informed him, looking up at his form which was hovering above her, shielding her eyes with her hand as the sun was blinding them, 'I tried to learn to swim when I was five and almost drowned. I've never been anywhere near a swimming pool ever since.' She shuddered at the memory, remembering the first and last time she was trying to swim in the private swimming pool of Shigamo's house.
'Oh,' Terry was looking sheepish.
'Don't listen to Terry,' Josh said with a slight smile, 'flying is nothing like swimming, it's much more difficult. You have to hold on really tightly to your broom to make sure you don't fall off - you don't even have a seatbelt and you die instantly if you do.'
Staring at him with wide eyes, Hermione felt her palms starting to sweat and she was holding the broom more tightly than ever.
Terry landed his own broom down, glaring at Josh, 'stop it, you idiot, you were the one who suggested to teach her. What kind of encouragement is that from a teacher?' turning to Hermione, he said reassuringly, 'don't worry, it's not that bad. I know that you won't fall down, but if you do than I'll catch you. I'm flying right below you.'
'Right,' she said, starting to get sick of having to listen to Terry and Josh's less than comforting conversation. She would just have to get it over with. She was a Gryffindor, after all, and Gryffindors were supposed to be brave. The worst thing that could happen was that she died…
She gripped the handle of the broom tightly and, taking a deep breath which was supposed to calm her down, kicked off from the ground as hard as she could. 'Whoa!' she shouted as her broom suddenly zoomed upwards rapidly. Apparently, she kicked off just a little bit too hard. It was the first time she was on a broom since she profusely refused to get anywhere near even the beginner brooms of Madame Hooch a few days ago. She felt the wind beating against her with alarming force and shut her eyes tightly. The broom suddenly slowed down as she was not giving it any further encouragement and she opened her eyes as she heard Terry's voice shouting from below her,
'Hey, that was great for a first time,' he shouted, giving her the thumbs-up sign just in case she did not hear him, 'try flying around a bit. Just sort of give your broom a nudge if you need it to turn somewhere- this broom is much more sensitive than the school brooms, so it's easier to use…'
He continued giving her instructions, making her fly around and do all kinds of things. About an hour later, she was starting to get the hang of it and even, to her great surprise, enjoying it. After two more hours, she could fly fluently and started zooming around aimlessly, enjoying the wind that was blowing against her face and completely forgetting about Terry's presence.
'Hey, wait up!' Terry shouted after her, flying towards her. They continued flying around, enjoying themselves. Terry was doing some tricks on his broom, making flips on it. They only stopped when it was about noon and landed their brooms, heading down to the great hall for lunch.
'Wow, that was something,' Hermione said, excited.
'Yeah,' Terry agreed, walking beside her. 'Hey!' he suddenly said, 'where's Josh? He was with us when we just came here.'
Hermione giggled, 'what? Did you expect him to just stay there and watch us fly while he did nothing? I definitely need to get my own broom- I can't use Josh's one all the time.'
'I thought brooms were not allowed for first years,' Terry said, grinning, 'which reminds me- you owe me two cents.'
Hermione looked at him in disbelief, then shook her head, 'you are unbelievable! I thought you were joking!'
'Maybe I was,' Terry said, 'then again, maybe I wasn't- I didn't have any muggle money for ages.'
Hermione shook her head again in disbelief, then smiled, 'hey, you're a great teacher. I don't think I could have learned that much in such a short time if I only relied on Hooch's lessons.'
'Gee, thanks,' Terry said, 'I don't usually get many compliments from Josh.'
As soon as they arrived at the great hall, Terry and Hermione spotted Josh with Ron and Neville, laughing loudly about something. Dean and Seamus were nowhere to be seen. 'Hey guys. What's up?' Terry asked as soon as they arrived and took a seat across from the three boys.
'So… you decided to dump us, huh?' Ron asked as a return to Terry's question.
'What?'
- 'Josh said that the training's off.'
'Oh, that,' Terry said, grinning, 'yeah. Actually, we didn't want to do it, anyway. You lot just forced it on us.'
Hermione looked at the boys, feeling out of place, but still curios, 'did you plan on … you've completely lost your minds!' she informed them.
Josh grinned at her, 'actually, no,' he said, 'what's wrong with that? Terry just gave you five hours of private tutoring in flying a few minutes ago.'
Ron and Neville looked curios. The idiots obviously thought that something was going on between them. 'Really?' Neville asked, looking at Terry, then at Hermione and then at Terry again.
Terry blushed, but Hermione just looked at Neville. 'So?' she asked coolly, 'I bet you anything that I could now enter the quiditch team easily, if I wanted to, thanks to Terry. Not that I want to, by the way, but I saw you in our last flying lesson and you were totally pathetic.'
Neville looked surprised at her response and blushed slightly, 'you didn't even go near a broom,' he informed her.
'Whatever,' Hermione said, pushing her plate away and wanting to get away from the more-than-boring conversation, 'I'm going to the library. Hey, guys,' she said, turning to Terry and Josh, 'D'you wanna come with me?'
'Sure,' Josh answered, getting up from his seat while Terry did the same, 'see you later, guys,' he added to Neville and Ron.
As soon as they were out of the great hall, Josh turned to Hermione. 'It's about time. I wondered when we were going to start.'
'Start what?' Terry asked, puzzled.
- 'Researching about telepathy, of course.'
'You're more observant than you look,' Hermione said, 'and I thought that you were a total idiot.'
'Talk about an idiot,' Josh muttered, 'I'm clever at everything. You are only clever when it comes to books. The rest of the time you're just as clever as my old PE teacher.'
'He's just exaggerating,' Terry told Hermione, 'she couldn't even read. You're not that stupid.'
'You two are just jealous of me,' Hermione said smartly, 'and, Josh, I thought you told me yesterday that I was fast.' Despite being constantly cool, Hermione felt annoyed that Josh was comparing her to a woman who could not read. If Terry was not joking.
'That was only to make you feel better,' Josh replied with a grin.
'Gee, thanks,' Hermione said dryly, 'I never would have guessed you could be so sensitive about other people's feelings.'
Josh and Hermione continued bickering for the rest of the way, until they reached the library, when Hermione pushed the door open as confidently as if it was her own house.
Terry looked around at the hundreds of bookshelves which were stacked with thousands of books, some of which were so dusty you could not read their title, 'OK, where do we start looking?'
'I think…' Hermione started, putting a hand to her lips thoughtfully, 'the history section.'
Two pairs of eyes stared at her blankly.
She walked over to the history section, scanning the books while explaining, 'I was thinking… you are able to do wandless magic,' she mused, 'which has something to do with history so I think that…' her voice caught in her throat abruptly as she suddenly spotted a pair of hazel eyes gazing at her steadily.
Terry and Josh looked around to see what Hermione was looking at. One corner of Dean's mouth twitched a little as he caught their eyes, but he looked blankly calm as he held Terry's gaze for a few more seconds, then he just lowered his head to look at the open book which was resting on his desk as if he has seen nothing.
Terry narrowed his eyes, but the look quickly disappeared to be replaced with a casual one. 'Weirdo,' he muttered, 'you were saying?' he said, turning to Hermione again.
'I think we should just take some books up to the dormitory,' Hermione suggested anxiously, taking some books from the shelf, then looking at the boys for some support, 'ahem, hello? Can I get some help around here? You don't expect me to carry all the books, do you?'
'Hey, I think I got something!' Terry suddenly shouted after a few hours of fruitless searching of books, receiving some looks from older fellow Gryffindors whose peace was disturbed at the shout while they were trying to study for their NEWTs.
Hermione and Josh, who were sitting at the table across from him, both looked up from their books, so he shoved it under their noses for them to read.
Telepathy
Telepathy was a rare skill which existed over four hundred years ago. It occurred mostly in witches and wizards and less commonly in vampires.
Telepathy is thought to have a genetic link to it. It occurred in about one person out of five hundred and seemed to pass on in families. The most famous telepath ever known was Godrick Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry which is currently ran by the headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Some of Gryffindor's descendants were also known to have telepathic abilities.
Although telepathy has completely died down by the twentieth century, many people noticed that telepaths were either witches and wizards with strong magical abilities or people who experienced some unusually strong contact with magic at some point in their lives.
The skill itself involves the generation of thoughts from a telepath to a different person, be he or she a muggle, witch, wizard or a fellow telepath, in which case mental communication could be achieved.
When Josh and Hermione finished reading, Josh pushed the book back towards Terry. 'Does that mean that we are some kind of descendants of Godrick Gryffindor?' he asked no one in particular.
'It is possible,' Hermione answered thoughtfully, 'especially because you were chosen to be in Gryffindor, but that does not necessarily have to be the case.'
Terry snorted. 'This definitely isn't the case,' he said, 'the sorting hat was going to put me in Slytherin. It only put me in Gryffindor because I threatened to tear it to pieces if it didn't do so,' he informed Hermione.
'Really?' Josh asked, looking genuinely surprised, 'this is exactly what happened with me, only the hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff not in Slytherin, and I threatened to burn it, not tear it to pieces. I just thought that it would be more satisfying.'
Hermione was looking at Terry and Josh as if they have lost their minds, so Terry warily decided to change the… disturbing… subject. 'You know what I think?' he asked, 'I think maybe it is also possible for us to generate thoughts to other people, like the book said. Like this. Can you hear me, Hermione?' Terry asked, trying to generate the last sentence to Hermione to see if she could hear him.
'Wow, this is amazing!' Hermione answered, 'yeah, I could hear you. It's like having these little listening devices you put in your ears, only they wouldn't have worked here because this is a magical area and electricity can't work here. Do you have any idea how useful this is?'
'Ah… yeah, it could be pretty useful, I guess…' Terry mumbled.
'I wonder how come you can do it,' Hermione mused, 'it's supposed to have died down, like the book said. And there is also this wandless magic thing. I think Shigamo mentioned it to me once, but I can't remember what he said… something about a few of his agents being able to do it…'
'Hey, now that you're talking about Shigamo… did you tell him that we agreed to stay at your place in Christmas? Because we haven't informed Stan yet,' Terry said.
'Yes, actually,' Hermione answered, 'and he was really happy about your decision, but what are you gonna tell Stan?'
'Don't worry about it,' Josh said, waving his hand dismissively, 'we can just tell him that teachers are supposed to stay here at Christmas.'
- 'What?'
'Oh, we didn't tell you, did we?' Terry said, 'we told Stan that we've been offered jobs as teachers at Hogwarts, but that we're gonna come back in the holidays. We became pretty close to him, actually. I wonder what he's gonna say if he found out that we're only eleven…'
- 'Probably "you're fired"'
'No way!' Josh exclaimed, 'he loves us! He would never do that! I think that if he found out about us than he's gonna adopt us.'
Hermione looked doubtful, but Terry knew that this was one of those rare occasions when Josh said something half jokingly which was actually true.
The rest of the term passed on very slowly for Terry, who was getting increasingly bored in the lessons he already knew. The only lessons he enjoyed were potions, in which he always competed with Josh about who could make Snape remove more points from Gryffindor, and flying, which was, obviously, his favorite lesson. He thought that his favorite teacher was probably Madame Hooch, who always let him and Josh do whatever they wanted during her lesson while she taught the rest of the morons.
Quiditch practice was also a very enjoyable experience for him. The other chaser apart from him and Josh was Angelina Johnson, who was surprisingly good for a girl. He was also starting to like the Weasley twins, who were the beaters, after he got used to their sense of humor. Wood was also OK, although he was a bit boring because he took quiditch too seriously and he always kept barking orders at the rest of the players. The last player was Alicia Spinet , who was originally supposed to be a chaser, but was forced to take the seeker position as Wood insisted that he could not replace either of the twins (the Potter ones) with her.
As they neared January, Hogwarts grounds were starting to get covered up in snow. Terry and Josh talked with Hermione, who told them, to their dismay, that Snape was the one who was supposed to take them to Japan via a portkey. When the time came, Snape was leading all three kids towards the now open gates of Hogwarts, their luggage floating behind them, following them.
'Where are we going?' Terry asked.
'Japan,' Snape answered shortly.
Terry tried not to get annoyed, 'then why don't we use the portkey right now? Do we have to go somewhere else before that?
'Of course we do,' Snape said impatiently, 'for two reasons: a portkey does not work inside Hogwarts grounds, so that people could not come in from the outside, and I don't want Dumbledore to see me taking you somewhere. Everyone is just going to think that we are heading towards the train, but we are going to Hogsmead.'
The walk to Hogsmead lasted about fifteen minutes. The place looked not very different from Powell Place, with lots of wizarding shops and businesses and people walking around aimlessly in different directions. Snape, however, did not stop there but continued walking up the long street, where the number of people was starting to dwindle. In the end, they arrived at a steep path uphill, which had a sign on it saying "danger: keep away!" Ignoring the sign, Snape led the children up the hill, which was covered in sharp rocks.
When they were well away from the eyes of people, Snape stopped, 'I think it is safe here. This is the portkey.' He took an empty potions bottle from his robes and held it out for the kids to hold.
Terry has never traveled by portkey before, but he knew what to expect from the text books; it was as if his finger was glued to the bottle, and he felt his feet lift off from the ground as he was spinning around in the air along with Snape, Josh and Hermione, who all had their own fingers glued to the portkey.
When they finally stopped, Terry found himself inside a huge, modern house, which had the most expensive looking furniture. The room he was in looked like the living room; there were three black leather sofas in the middle around a brown, wooden coffee-table and a huge silver flat screen TV in the corner. The walls were painted a very soft shade of brown and the floor was covered with a thick white carpet. Overall, the place looked very elegant.
As soon as they arrived, Hermione gave a huge sigh and collapsed onto one of the sofas. 'Home sweet home,' she muttered. She grinned at Terry and Josh, 'feel at home,' she said, 'you can sit wherever you like; sofa, floor, table, whatever,'
'Now, now, how many times have I told you that sitting on the table is forbidden?' Terry turned around to see the familiar face of Shigamo, which he has seen from Hermione's two way mirror. 'Please, ignore Hermione,' he told Terry and Josh with a friendly smile, extending a hand for each of them to shake, 'I am Shigamo, as you probably know. We have had the pleasure of meeting once, did we not?'
'Ah, oh, yes,' Terry said, looking around uncomfortably. He was not exactly used to being in a place like that and he had no idea how he was supposed to act.
'Hello, Severus,' Shigamo said, turning to Snape, 'how are you?'
'Never better,' Snape muttered coolly, as usual, but with obvious sarcasm. Terry wondered how long it took Shigamo to convince Snape to take them there.
'You know your way around this house, don't you?' Shigamo asked, pretending not to notice the sarcasm in his voice, 'could you please help the boys take their luggage up to their rooms while I have a private word with Hermione?'
'Of course,' Snape said, motioning for Terry and Josh to follow him while their luggage was still following them from behind.
They went up a modern looking set of white stone steps which led to a wide corridor with lots of doors lining it. 'Wow, this place is huge!' Josh exclaimed, unable to help himself. Why did he always have to be so blunt?
Terry expected Snape to scowl at him, but was surprised at what Snape said next, 'yes, I know. That's what I thought the first time I've been here. It's going to take some time getting used to.'
He showed each of them their rooms, which were facing each other. 'I'm not going to stay here,' he informed them, 'but Hermione's room is over there.' He pointed at a room at the far end of the corridor. He then left them on their own.
'Is he under the imperius curse, or what?' Josh asked, 'why is he being so nice?'
Terry shrugged, 'I have no idea, but who cares? This place's so cool!'
'Yeah, I know,' Josh answered, 'well, I guess I should unpack. See you in a bit.'
- 'Yeah, see you.'
Terry opened the door to his room and immediately let out a gasp of surprise: it was absolutely huge! The walls were painted a light brown, like the rest of the house, and he had an enormous king sized bed. He went over to the large window, and peeked out. Outside, he could see the back garden, which had a large swimming pool and some trees at the edges.
He walked over to a door to his right, opening it, and was delighted to see that he had his own bathroom with a shower and toilets. He grinned as he closed the door behind him and walked over to his bed, slumping down on it. He was definitely going to enjoy his stay here. This was, without question, much better than the orphanage, where you shared a room with five other people, slept on a bed which had springs sticking out at odd places, meaning that you hardly got any hours of sleep and, when you finally got up and away from the nightmarish mattress in the morning, you had to wait in a queue for at least half an hour in order to be able to use the bathroom (well, not always in Terry's case, due to some … certain reasons, but that was beside the point).
Dina got home exhausted when she returned from the tennis club she had to attend every Monday. She opened the large gates which led to the garden and waved at Mrs. Small, the cook, who waved back from the open window in the kitchen. When she arrived at the front doors she took out a key and opened it tiredly, walking inside. The door led straight to the living room and, shutting the door behind her, she walked straight towards one of the sofas and collapsed onto it.
She pulled her wand out of the back pocket of her jeans and summoned her favorite book, stretching out on the sofa and opening it. It was an astronomy book, her favorite subject. Her mother, who was famous for her flying skills and went to teach flying lessons at Hogwarts, always used to laugh at her for liking such a ridiculous subject, but Dina could not care less. One of the things she wanted most but never got a chance to do was looking at the stars through a muggle telescope… a dream which she doubted was shared by any other ten year old.
Then again, she was not a normal ten year old. She was different. But she was not proud of it. Far from it. She always felt like a freak. But she always had her father to blame for it. Sometimes she wondered if it was bad to blame a dead man. Her father died last year and, although she was shocked, she did not feel very sad about it. She hardly knew him, and she was glad about it. He was an evil, ruthless man, like the rest of them. Like me, she thought, but pushed the thought quickly out of her mind.
She looked up from her book as one of the doors to the living room opened (there were three doors, unless you also counted the two staircases as doors). 'Hi Shi…' she started, but stopped short when she realized that the person standing at the doorway was not Shigamo. She immediately got her wand out and pointed it at the man, jumping up from the sofa. The only people living in this house apart from her were Shigamo, Mrs. Small and her younger brother, Adad. Shigamo was very selective about the people he invited home and never forgot to tell her if there were any guests. Although she only knew him for three months, Shigamo always told her to be wary of strangers and made sure she knew everything about death eaters.
She knew that three kids from Hogwarts were supposed to arrive there, but Shigamo said nothing about adults, unless you counted Remus Lupine, who was supposed to arrive there tomorrow.
She looked the man up and down carefully. He looked Italian. He had black hair, black eyes and high cheekbones. The cloths he was wearing were normal muggle cloths; normal jeans and a short sleeved black T-shirt. It was hard to guess his age, but the narrowest range Dina could think of was between eighteen and forty. She looked at his face again. He was looking at her wand but, far from looking threatened, he seemed amused.
'I take it you are Diana,' the man said.
Dina eyed him suspiciously. 'I don't know who you are and I don't really care,' she said honestly, 'the owner of this house is going to be back here any minute, so I expect you to get out.'
'Actually, Shigamo's out on business and he will not be back till late this evening,' the stranger said, looking amused.
- 'Who are you?'
He seemed to think about the question, as if not sure about the answer. 'Well…' he started, 'I am known as Terrence Locke, Renaldo Orriero, or Harry Potter, but - most people - call me Terry.'
Like I care, Dina thought. She didn't give a damn what his name was, she only wanted to know if he was a death eater. 'Good to know,' she muttered. Or not. 'Now could you please get out?' She raised her wand to remind him that she was armed and he had to listen to what she said. Then she remembered that she was not allowed to do magic at the age of ten. Of course, Shigamo ignored the rules completely, but she didn't know about Terry, or whatever his name was.
'I'd love to,' Terry answered, looking at his watch impatiently, 'but I'm waiting for someone. My brother was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.' Damn it, he looked confident. He did not even glance at her wand, as if it was just a piece of wood.
'Oh, finally.' Dina turned to look, alarmed, as Terry said this and spotted another man she did not know going down the stairs, 'what took you so long?'
This one looked Russian. Blond hair, blue eyes, athletic build, normal muggle clothes, like his companion. Dina was starting to panic. If they were death eaters then what were they looking for? She wondered if there were any more of them in the house. She knew that, with the wand, she was supposed to be in charge, but she somehow had no idea what she was supposed to do. She hoped she did not have to change if things got out of hand - she liked to keep it hidden.
'I think I just got around the whole house in a circle,' the Russian guy frowned, looking confused. Then, spotting Dina, he said, 'shit, I thought you said no one was going to be here.'
'Hey, it's not my fault,' Terry answered, 'I didn't know when she was gonna be back and Hermione said that she was going to stay in her room.'
Hermione? Dina remembered Shigamo mentioning Hermione. She was the one who lived here, and she was supposed to stay here along with two other boys from Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays.
'Really? I can't remember saying that to you.' Dina almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a new voice from behind her. She turned around to see a brown haired girl, still wearing wizarding robes, who had her wand out and pointing at the two men. All of a sudden, she felt relief flooding through her. She did not think that she could handle these two people alone. At least, not without exposing herself. And it was nice to know that there was someone on her side. She did not have to ask to know that the girl was Hermione, who probably just entered from the door behind Dina's back.
'Uh oh, I think we screwed up,' Terry murmured.
'Definitely,' the Russian guy agreed, 'you do not want to mess with her.'
'Funny, that you got that right,' Hermione sneered.
'Aww, I thought you only talked like that to me,' the Russian man frowned, 'because you just talked to me in this way, which is a good sign, because you don't know what I know which is that I am me, which means that you don't only treat me like that, but also me, which you don't know is me.' He paused for a second, looking confused, as if he was trying to make sense of what he has just said. Then he just shrugged and continued talking as if he did not stop. 'Or maybe it's only Terry you're being nice to. Hey, I know, do you like him? Come on, admit it.'
'What are you talking about?' Hermione looked completely baffled.
'I'll give you three guesses, see if you are as clever as everyone always thinks you are,' the Russian man answered. Dina stared at him. Unlike the other one, this man seemed like a lunatic, a thought which was probably shared by his ally, judging by his reaction.
'Stop it Josh, if you think that you're so funny, then you're wrong,' he said.
Hermione gaped at them. 'You are not trying to tell me that you are them,' she gasped.
'Bravo!' Josh, if that was his name, cheered, 'you are clever.'
Dina had no idea what was going on. Hermione, however, put her wand back inside her robes and folded her arms across her chest. 'Give me proof.'
'Huh?'
'You heard.'
'Err, fine. Ask me something only I would know.'
'Which one are you? Terry or Josh?'
'Josh.'
'Who am I?'
'An irritating bitch.'
Hermione took an expensive looking vase which was standing on the table next to her and threw it at Josh. He ducked and it shuttered on the wall behind him.
'Hey! What was that for?' he asked, looking annoyed, as Terry repaired the vase with his wand and put it back in its respective place.
'Now that I know that you really are Josh, I'm not gonna feel any guilt killing you,' Hermione shrugged. 'So, is that what you looked like in "quick potion"?'
'What if it isn't me?' he snarled, 'how can you be so sure?'
Hermione smiled sweetly, 'Terry told me.'
'What? How could he … Oh!' Josh turned to look at Terry with a murderous expression, 'how dare you!' he snarled, 'you're my brother, you're supposed to be on my side.' It sounded like an accusation.
'Ah… could anybody tell me what's going on?' Dina was starting to feel left out. She had no idea who any of them were and Shigamo was not there to make it any easier. And how could Terry tell Hermione whatever it was he told her? She certainly couldn't hear him say anything.
'Yeah, look at the poor girl, I think you scared her,' Hermione said, 'apologize!' It wasn't a question - it was an order.
Terry and Josh both glared at her.
'And take them off. These appearances are too ridiculous - I have no idea how anyone could have fallen for it,' she said, 'why did you change your appearances, anyway?'
'Gee, relax, Hermione, there's no need to shout,' Terry scowled at her. 'No one was supposed to see us. We just planned to take a look around the neighborhood and … you know …'
'For one thing, Terry, I wasn't shouting,' Hermione replied, exasperated, 'for another, you don't have to change your appearance to be able to go outside - you could have just asked me to show you around.'
'Well, no, actually. We were planning to … well …'
'Yes?' Hermione's voice was dangerously low.
'Go to places where… we wouldn't have normally been allowed to go,' Terry answered, looking as if he was ready for a blow. The blow came, in the form of the remote control of the TV, which came flying at him. Terry caught it. 'Come on, Hermione, what c-'
'Oh, shut up,' Hermione cut him off, taking her wand out of her robes again and pointing it at him. Immediately, he was shrunk down to an eleven year old kid. Black hair, green eyes, sharp features (for a boy his age), and an average build. Now that he was smaller, the clothes he was wearing were much too big for him and he was struggling to keep his pants up. Dina noticed that he had a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.
'No,' Josh squealed as Hermione pointed her wand at him, putting his arms up to his face for protection, 'I'll do it myself, thanks. I'll just go to the bathroom to change my clothes.'
Hermione seemed to think about it. Then she shrugged, 'OK, but do it quick.'
'Thanks for giving me a choice,' Terry mumbled, 'I'll go as well.'
The boys went out of the room together. Terry kept treading on his oversized clothes. Dina stared at them.
'Boys really are morons,' Hermione said, catching Dina eyeing them and shaking her head. (A/N: that's a personal opinion of mine. Sorry for all the boys out there. This is just a result of having to suffer nine long years since the birth of my brother. He's a pain all the time except for when he's asleep. If not for my two step sisters, I would have lost my mind ages ago.)
'Tell me about it,' Dina murmured, 'you should see my little brother - he's a total freak.' She paused, remembering that she didn't introduce herself. 'I'm Diana, by the way, but I prefer to be called Dina. So, are you gonna stay here for the rest of the holiday? At this rate, I'm gonna wish for the holiday to be over, and that's saying something because I'm going to a muggle school and it's total torment. I can't even speak the language and, so far, I only met two people who can speak English.'
'Are you kidding me?' Hermione giggled, 'I have to suffer their presence all the time. I'm the only one who keeps them from turning Hogwarts upside-down and, trust me, it's a hard job.'
'You don't have to work so hard to convince me - they've done a good enough job,' Dina joined Hermione's giggles. 'What did they do?'
'Not much, thanks to me,' Hermione rolled her eyes, 'the only time I let them lose they almost killed a guy.'
'That's not true, it was only a few broken bones,' Terry said as he and Josh were back. Josh was back to his normal form and Terry was wearing smaller clothes again.
'Exactly,' Josh added, 'and you didn't mention what the bastard did to me.'
'Mmm … and, as far as I remember, you took a very active part in Dean's murder,' Terry put in. 'Too bad he didn't die in the end. I wonder what he told his father about his arm?' he flopped down on the sofa.
Josh sat down next to him, putting his legs up on the coffee table. He looked a lot like Terry. They had the same nose and the same black hair, but Josh had brown eyes and he was bigger and more athletic looking than Terry. There was a long scar running down his chin.
'How did you two come here so quickly?' Hermione demanded.
'Magic,' Josh whispered mysteriously. Hermione rolled her eyes.
Dina smiled. These people seemed easy enough to get along with. 'You know, I'm going to go to Hogwarts as well next year,' she said. 'You know Madame Hooch? That's my mother. She probably started teaching you flying.'
Terry and Josh stared at her. 'Your mother's Madame Hooch?' Terry asked unbelievingly. 'Shigamo told me that your mother's teaching at Hogwarts, but I didn't know that it was her.'
Erm … was that a bad thing? 'Huh? Why?' she asked.
Josh looked at her with a solemn expression. 'Your mum's the worst teacher in the school. Everyone hates her. She keeps giving detentions for nothing. And she can't even teach. There was one boy who broke his arm during her lesson when he fell off a broom, but he's been lucky, others could have died.'
'Huh?' Dina said again. She had no idea her mother could be like that. She was always nice to her and Adad and she also taught them how to fly a broom. Each of them could fly a broom fluently as soon as they learnt to walk and none of them ever fell off…
'Ha ha…' Josh laughed, 'you should see your face. Ha ha ha, that was so funny. You actually believed that!'
Dina stared at him. So she has been right when she thought that he was a lunatic. The guy seemed to have a screw lose in his brain.
'Just ignore him,' Terry advised her, looking at his brother in disgust, 'he likes to exaggerate. Actually, your mum's my favorite teacher. She got me and Josh into the quiditch team even though it was against the laws for first years and she managed to embarrass my evil potions teacher in front of the whole class.' Dina wondered if he was not saying that to make her feel more comfortable.
Hermione seemed to read her mind. 'Don't worry about it,' she said, 'they're both crazy. But Josh is an all-time crazy while Terry is only crazy at certain times of the day, so don't start getting the wrong impressions. Try to catch him at five o'clock in the afternoon and you'll know what I mean.'
'Hey, who gave you any right to discuss my level of craziness?' Terry grimaced.
'I did.'
Josh yawned. 'Change subject,' he said. 'It's my first day here and I already don't know what to do. What do you usually do around here?'
'Read!' Hermione answered immediately. Then her face fell. 'But I don't have anything left to read. I already finished all the books. Except for one, but it was too boring. I can give it to you, I think you'll like it.'
'Like a book you hate?' Josh said thoughtfully, 'that's logical …'
'There's also a swimming pool at the back,' Dina said. 'And I always go to a tennis club. My brother goes to a basketball club which is just a few blocks from here, but I never go there because there are hardly any girls in there.'
'And there's also a dojo. I went there when I was younger, but Shigamo made me stop when I got into a fight with this boy, Kogo, who was three years older than me,' Hermione said, 'I hate him sooo much. I swear, if I ever see him again, he's gonna regret the day he was born.'
'What's a dojo?' Josh asked, not bothering to hide another yawn.
'A school for training in various arts of self-defense,' Hermione answered.
'Was that a quotation?' Josh asked, removing his legs from the table and resting his elbows on his knees.
'Yes.'
'You know, Hermione, you keep talking about Terry and Josh, but you're a lot like them,' Dina said, frowning.
'Say that again and your fate won't be very different from Kogo's,' Hermione said, although she sounded a bit amused, as if it was a compliment for her but she didn't want to admit it.
'Gee, Hermione, anyone who heard you might think you hate us,' Terry smiled. 'And, Diana, don't worry about Hermione. As hard as it might be, I always keep her and Josh under control.'
Both Hermione and Dina suddenly burst out laughing. Terry looked alarmed. 'Huh? What did I say?' he asked.
'Exactly what Hermione said about you and Josh a few minutes ago,' Dina answered. Terry scowled. 'And it's Dina, not Diana. I hate that name,' Dina added.
'Why?'
Damn it, she hated it when this aspect was brought up. And she didn't like to share it with other people. 'I just don't like the sound of it,' she replied. 'Dina sounds better.'
'You know,' Hermione mused, 'you don't look a lot like your mother.'
'Yeah, she's a lot prettier,' Josh said. Hermione smacked him on the back of the head and he shut up.
'Well, I do look a bit like my father,' Dina said, grimacing. She hated mentioning him. But, nevertheless, it was true. She had a heart shaped face with a stubborn chin. Her hair was short and auburn and she had large, unnaturally green eyes. Her mother always told her that she was pretty, but Dina never really cared too much about how she looked. She cut her hair short because it irritated her when it got into her face. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe she will need to cut it again soon because it was too short for her to tuck behind her ear, but long enough to reach her eyes. Or maybe she could leave it like that and wait for it to grow…
Dina glanced up as the front door opened and her brother got inside with another Japanese boy and a girl. Her mouth dropped open. How the hell did he manage to make friends so quickly? 'Hi Adad,' she said.
'Hi,' he answered, not even looking at her and sparing a short glance at their three guests before heading for the stairs to his room with his friends.
'Where're you going?'
'He is going to show us his new computer,' the girl he was with said in a chirpy voice, flipping her long raven black hair behind her shoulder. Adad vanished up the stairs before the girl could finish the sentence and she came running after him. The clever git. He only befriended people who could already speak English. She sometimes found it frustrating trying to communicate with other people in English while they always answered in Japanese. It always ended up with both sides flapping their arms around in order to try to get a message along.
'So…' Dina grinned at her new friends, 'you have met the ultimate freak, Adad.'
'Adad?' Josh asked.
Dina nodded. 'My dad thought of that name,' she said. 'It's the name of some kind of a god.' Crap, crap, crap, crap … she hated mentioning her dad, or anything to do with him.
'Mmm … that's interesting,' Hermione mused. She looked at Dina carefully, as if to try and figure something out. Then she opened her mouth, as if to say something, but changed her mind abruptly and closed it again. She then changed her mind again, but she seemed to select her words carefully. 'Did your father also name you?' she asked.
Dina laughed humorlessly. 'Why?'
'Just asking,' Hermione answered.
Dina didn't like the question at all. She needed to change the subject. 'Hey, I've got an idea! Have you got a swimsuit? We could go swimming.'
If Hermione was surprised by the abrupt change of subject, she did not show it. 'That would have been a great idea if I was not terrified of water,' she said brightly.
'I wouldn't mind going to the swimming pool,' Terry said. 'You can fly my nimbus 2000 if you want to,' he added to Hermione, 'see if you remember anything.'
'Yeah, and I'll come as well,' Josh put in. Good. Now they were not going to ask any more questions.
Twenty minutes later, the four kids were in the back garden of Shigamo's house. There was a long, tall stylish wooden fence surrounding the place and two trees to block the view from the outside for privacy, so that they were far from the eyes of any muggles. Josh was flying in his broom while Hermione was using Terry's one. Terry and Dina were below them, in the swimming pool.
Terry felt a bit awkward, because he hardly knew Dina, so he just started swimming around aimlessly. Dina seemed OK. She was pretty, but she was also very quite. Maybe it was because she was not used to them. After he swum about twenty lengths, he got fed up and started swimming towards Dina, at the shallow end.
She was wearing a whole, plain red swimsuit and she sat at the edge of the pool, only putting her legs inside the water. Terry sat down next to her. 'Hey.'
'Hi.'
'Is everything OK?'
She looked at him. 'Yes.'
'Is that what you always do? Sit down and stare into space?'
She smiled. 'Only at night.'
OK. That was weird.
'I like astronomy,' she explained. Oh.
'It's not night now.'
'I know. I was just thinking.'
Terry didn't want to pry into her business. He had no right to ask her what she was thinking about, so he just stayed quite.
'You know a few hours ago…' she started.
'Yes?'
'You said something about Harry Potter.'
'That's me.'
'Oh.'
'That's not what you are supposed to say,' Terry smiled.
'I know,' she answered, 'but what do you expect me to say? "ohmigosh! I can't believe it, you can't be Harry Potter"' she put on a chirpy voice as she said it. 'you don't look like you're lying…'
Terry laughed.
'You have a brother.' It was a statement rather than a question.
'Yeah. Only a few people know about him,' Terry said. 'Even I only found out about him three years ago. Mind you, we didn't know that we were brothers for sure. There was even evidence against it. But we somehow knew. You know what I mean?'
'No,' she replied, 'but I can imagine what it's like.'
'So, how come you are staying here?' Terry asked her.
Dina looked at him, as if not sure of what to say. 'Do you know what Shigamo is working on?'
'He didn't tell me anything, but I think he wants to take revenge on Dumbledore.'
'Do you know why?'
'Yes.'
'My mum is working for him. That's the only reason she is working as a teacher at Hogwarts. She planned on retiring last year, but … she found out things after my father died last year.'
'I'm sorry,' Terry couldn't think of anything else to say.
Dina smiled grimly. 'It's OK. Back then I wasn't sure if my father's death was a chance to celebrate or mourn. Now I'm sure.'
Terry got a nasty feeling that what Dina was sure about was that her father's death should have been celebrated.
'Since I didn't have my father, and my mother was teaching at Hogwarts for a whole year, I had to stay here. Luckily for me, I'm going to go to Hogwarts next year, but my brother is gonna stay here.' She looked thoughtful. 'At least he is going to get the chance to learn a new language. He seems to be getting along fine with the people here.'
'What house do you want to be in next year?' Terry asked.
'Well,' Dina seemed to think about it, 'my mum was in Hufflepuff, so I wouldn't mind being there, too. What house are you in?'
'Gryffindor.'
'The house for the brave and noble,' she laughed, 'I wouldn't mind being there either, though I can't think how you, and especially Josh, got there.'
'Through blackmailing.'
'Huh?'
'Of the sorting hat.'
Dina burst out laughing. She looked as if she was not sure whether she believed him or not. But it was fine now. Now that they got used to each other, they also felt comfortable in each other's company, so they didn't have to say anything. Terry leant back and looked up at the sky, putting his hands behind his head.
'Hee-haw!' he suddenly heard Josh's voice in his mind. 'Hey there, bro, this is amaze-ing! I have no idea what you did to her, but she's actually good! How the hell did you manage to do that? She wouldn't even get near a broom before!'
It took Terry a few minutes to figure out what Josh was talking about. He grinned, even though he knew that Josh could not see it from where he was flying the broom. 'it's just skill, Vlady. Too bad you weren't there to watch and learn.'
'What skill?' Terry's head was filled with Josh's voice as he was shouting. 'Hermione doesn't have any skill. At least, not natural one.'
'Of course not,' Terry said tiredly, 'I was not talking about her skill, I was talking about mine! And keep it down, you're destroying my delicate brain cells.'
'Sorry to disappoint you,' Josh was still shouting, 'but you don't have any, so there's nothing to destroy.'
Terry laughed out loud. Yep, that was Josh. Impossible to win against in an oral fight. But Terry didn't mind in the slightest. He didn't have to answer Josh.
'What?' Dina asked.
Terry suddenly remembered that Dina was not deaf. 'I just remembered something funny,' he answered, still smiling to himself.
Dina seemed to not want to press the point either. Terry realized that she was a lot like him, in a way. 'It's boring, sitting here without doing anything. Do you want to make a race?' she asked. 'to the other side and back.'
'What? From this side? But it's shallow. We're supposed to start from the deep side, unless you want to cut your head open when you jump in.'
'Nah, it's fine. You just have to be careful. On the count of three?' Terry nodded. 'OK. One. Two. Three.'
Dina slid down smoothly and started swimming. Terry, however, slipped on his left foot and fell in, splashing water to all sides. By the time he managed to catch his balance, Dina was already on her way back, so he didn't even bother trying.
'Yaaay! I win!' Dina shouted.
'That was not winning, he slipped. I saw everything.' Terry looked up to see Adad watching them.
'Hi, Adad. Where are your friends?' Dina asked him.
'They were supposed to go home at seven. It's already half past,' he answered. 'Where are the rest of your friends? Why are you here alone with him? Is that your new boyfriend?' Adad had the same blue eyes as his mother and dirty brown hair which almost reached Dina's shade of auburn. The rest of his features were very similar to Dina's. He looked about eight years old.
'Uh-ah,' Dina said, putting her arm around Terry's shoulders, 'that's my first boyfriend.'
Adad's eyes flashed. 'I'm gonna tell mum.'
Dina shrugged. 'She wouldn't mind. She knows him. She entered him into the quiditch team even though he was only a first year.'
Adad opened his mouth to answer, but stopped short when Josh landed his broom next to him. 'Hey, buddy,' Josh said as he spotted him. You are Dina's brother, aren't you?'
But Adad looked as if he did not hear what Josh had just said. He only had eyes for his brom. 'Is that a nimbus 2000?' he asked.
'Oh, that,' Josh said. 'Yes. Would you like to have a go?'
'Yes, Yes!' he tried to reach up to take the broom from Josh's hand, but Josh held it high over his head, out of the kid's reach.
'So we'll make a deal. I'll let you fly my broom if you show me that basketball place your sister has been talking about.'
'OK, OK, I'm going there tomorrow. Can I have the broom now?' Adad asked excitedly.
'Sure,' Josh handed it over to him.
Adad immediately jumped onto the broom and started zooming upwards quickly, shouting delightedly.
Very suddenly, the skies started to darken. There was a noise of thunder and heavy rain started pouring down. 'Oh, great,' Dina muttered, 'come back down here, Adad, it's raining!'
'No it's not! Look, it's already stopped,' Adad shouted back without even slowing down. To Terry's surprise, Adad was right. Terry has never seen the rain come and stop so quickly. But he didn't think about it too much.
'Very clever, Josh,' Terry said, turning to his brother, 'what are you gonna do in that basketball place anyway? You don't know anybody.'
Josh shrugged. 'So? You don't need to know someone to be able to play basketball with them. I'll go get my stuff. Be back in a sec.'
Terry was starting to get cold from standing in the pool for so long without moving and he felt the fine hairs all over his body stand on end. He suddenly noticed that Dina's arm was still around his shoulder and he removed it gently.
Dina giggled. 'I totally love annoying my brother.' She was trying to laugh, but her teeth were chattering too hard. Apparently, she was just as cold as him. Luckily, Josh was back quickly.
'Hey, you two lovebirds. Why aren't you doing anything?' he called. He was wearing his swimming clothes: yellow shorts with little ducks on them. Jumping into the pool, he splashed them both with water.
Terry splashed him back. This soon turned into a friendly water fight. But after about five minutes they started getting bored and the water fight took a more aggressive form. Josh and Dina suddenly decided to team up against Terry and he found himself being splashed with tones of water, some of it getting into his mouth so he started coughing wildly. Josh and Dina noticed nothing through the huge noise they were making with the water, so Terry quickly held his breath, dived under the water and tried to swim as far away from them as possible. He then pulled his head out, taking a deep breath of air, only to be attacked again.
He tried to get out of the pool, but one of them grasped his leg and pulled him back inside. He was starting to panic, unable to get any breath, 'stop!' he shouted, 'hey, Josh, stop it!'
Neither Josh nor Dina seemed to hear him, but, fortunately, he somehow managed to get out of the pool, drenched in water and coughing wildly. He walked as far away from the pool as possible, stopping near the wall and putting both of his hands on his knees, panting loudly, a few strands of hair getting into his eyes.
When he finally caught his breath, he looked up warily, still with both hands on his knees and panting slightly, to see Josh and Dina continuing with their water fight as if nothing has happened. He sighed, slumping on one of the chairs nearby, removing some strands of hair from his eyes. He looked around and spotted the towel he brought with him a few meters away from him. After he used his powers to summon the towel wandlessly, he pressed it to his face and started drying off his hair.
Adad landed the broom he was flying next to Terry. 'You're Terry, right?' he asked.
Terry was surprised and looked at him questioningly.
'I just wanted to make sure everything's OK with my sister. I might be younger than her, but I still care about her.' Terry had no idea what the eight year old was talking about. But he found out soon enough. 'If my mum likes you, I don't have any problem with it, but I should warn you now that if you break her heart, I'll break your neck.'
Despite having almost drowned, Terry couldn't help laughing at the kid's daring. But he thought that it was sweet. 'It's supposed to be a leg, not a neck,' was all he managed to choke out through his laughter.
'I know,' Adad replied, looking annoyed, 'I just wanted to make sure you got the point.'
'Don't worry, buddy,' Terry said, ruffling his hair. 'Your sister was only joking.'
'What?' Adad was looking sheepish. 'I mean … oh. Sorry.'
'That's OK,' Terry smiled. 'My brother's much worse than that.'
'Really? I think that's impossible. What did he do?' Adad asked.
'You don't wanna know,' Terry answered.
'Oh, come on, tell me!' Adad begged.
Terry looked at him seriously, but couldn't help grinning a little. 'Maybe when you're older. It'll give you nightmares.'
'What happened to you?' Adad asked.
When Terry realized what the kid was talking about (he probably looked bad. Terry wouldn't have been surprised if he was green) his grin broadened. 'Ah, that's one of the less serious things my brother's capable of. He tried to drown me. And guess what?! Your sister took part in the plot!!!'
'I wouldn't put it past her,' Adad muttered. Terry noticed that, although the boy could crack jokes and make threats, he somehow always remained serious. So far, he didn't even smile once.
He decided to liven the boy up a bit. 'Do you want to see why your mum bent the rules to let me into the quiditch team?' he asked.
Adad was quick. He handed Terry the broom without even blinking. 'OK,' Terry said, 'watch this.' He jumped onto his broom expertly and started flying around a bit to warm up, enjoying the cool wind which was blowing across his wet face. He then pulled off the best stunts he could make, both to try to impress the eight year old and to dry himself off. When he finally landed his broom next to Adad, the boy was looking impressed.
'That was … pretty good,' he said. 'Where did you learn doing that?'
'Pure talent,' Terry answered, grinning.
Adad smiled for the first time. 'You are OK,' he told him. 'do you want me to show you something?' he asked.
'What? You mean now?' Terry asked.
Adad looked at the swimming pool, where Josh and Dina were still splashing about, although they looked like they were getting tired. Then up at Hermione, who was still flying in the air, but was now merely floating about dreamily, one hand resting on her chin, rather than zooming around like she did earlier.
'They're gonna go back inside any minute,' he said, 'I can show this to you quickly and they're gonna be at the kitchen by the time we get down.' Terry found himself impressed at the kid's sharp sense of interpretation. He could do nothing but follow him into the house, up the stairs and into a room which was two doors to the right of Hermione's one.
Terry had to stifle a gasp as he got the first glimpse of Adad's room. Apparently, he managed to rearrange the room during the short time he has been there to suit his personality. Unlike the rest of the house, which was painted a soft shade of brown, this room was painted sky blue. His bed was smaller than Terry's one, with dark blue mattresses. The walls were covered with pictures of mountains, rivers, open fields. Terry noticed that each picture showed a different weather.
Overall, the room was so messy it looked as if it has been broken into; Adad's clothes were strewn all over the floor. But the strangest bit, which caught Terry's attention as soon as he entered the room, were all the wires which lay all over the floor, tangled with each other. There was a computer on his desk which was connected by another wire to a laptop.
'Wow,' Terry finally said. 'What do you do with all this stuff?'
Adad flopped down on his bed. 'Well, at the beginning, Shigamo just gave me some computer games to play with,' he explained, 'that was the first time ever I've seen a computer, because I come from a pure wizarding family. To tell you the truth, I really have no idea how muggle people could get so excited about these games. I found the computer itself much more fascinating. I mean, it's as if it could think for itself.'
Terry thought that what Adad said was logical, even though, being used to this stuff, he never gave it a second thought.
'I like taking it apart,' Adad said.
'What?' Terry wondered if he heard correctly.
Adad grinned for the second time ever since Terry met him. 'And putting it back together again,' he completed his unfinished sentence. 'I can now do it with my eyes closed, so it's not as exciting. I'm much more interested in the internet. It started ever since I watched this show about tapping into computers. I've tried to do it ever since, but I've never managed to do it.'
'Oh?' Terry had no idea what else to say. This kid talked about computers as if they were holy things. He seemed like a genius and a lunatic mixed together. Sort of like a mad scientist. He had no idea if he believed that Adad only saw a computer for the first time three months ago.
Terry only realized that he has been in Adad's room for a few hours when he got downstairs and found that none of the others were there. They have probably all gone to bed.
Adad showed him the way to the kitchen. When they arrived there, Terry saw that Shigamo was already back and he was sitting at the table, eating some kind of rice and meat. There was also another woman in there, who was probably the cook. She looked English.
'Hello boys,' the woman said. 'I thought you went to sleep without eating dinner. And you must be Terry.' She smiled at him warmly and waved her wand once, making a hot something pour into two bowls out of a steaming pot.
Terry nodded. 'Yeah. Erm, sorry, Adad only showed me his room.' He sat down next to Adad on the table.
'He must really like you,' Shigamo noted. 'He never lets anyone in. And that,' he pointed at the cook, 'is Mrs. Small.'
Terry nodded at her as she waved her wand again and the two bowls landed next to him and Adad. It was the same thing Shigamo was eating.
He looked down at it suspiciously and tucked his spoon inside experimentally. Then he shrugged and started eating. To his surprise, the food was delicious. Even better than the food in Hogwarts, which was saying something.
'Terry, after we finish eating, I would like to have a word with you privately,' Shigamo suddenly said, 'there are some things you ought to know.'
Terry looked at him questioningly, but Shigamo just nodded his head towards Adad and Terry realized that he didn't want Adad to listen.
After they finished eating, Terry said goodnight to Mrs. Small and Adad and followed Shigamo, who was leading him to a part of the house he has never been in before. He opened a door and held it open for Terry to get in. Then he closed it and made sure that it was shut tightly.
'This is a sound proofed room,' Shigamo explained to Terry's bewildered expression. 'No one can hear us unless they are here in the room with us, which is impossible, even if they are wearing an invisibility cloak, because I placed heat sensors in this room.'
This raised Terry's interest. 'Why am I here?' he asked suspiciously.
Shigamo looked at him seriously. 'I think you'd better sit down.'
REVIEW!!!!
I'm not going to repeat that because I think you got the point.
Anyway, tell me what you think about this chapter - I tried to make it a bit different. Actually, it was supposed to be longer than that, originally, but I thought that this was the best place to end it.