Harry Potter and the Mime That Wouldn't be Quiet

Today was the 21st August and it was Lily Luna's birthday. Last year they had had a family outing to Disneyland and had really loved it, even if they spent more time in front of the attractions than actually doing them. However this year was her 8th birthday and she wanted something even more special, but since she didn't know what she wanted, she decided to let her parents decide and hopefully surprise her.

In an effort to make their children more aware of the Muggle world even though they were wizards, Harry and Ginny had chosen to celebrate their kids' birthdays in the non-magical world until their eleventh birthday, and then once every two year. Since Ginny still didn't know much about the world her husband had grown up in, the responsibility of choosing their daughter's birthday celebration's place had once again fallen onto Harry's shoulders. Having had a really bad experience with the zoo, he chose another well-appreciated activity: the circus.

The circus they were going to was a fairly recent one but it had everything necessary for them to spend a wonderful day.

They brought Lily, James and Albus blindfolded via a Portkey made especially for the occasion to a small inhabited area near the circus (Harry had of course checked before if anybody lived there, so as to know if they needed to rent a car or not). There was only a five minutes' walk before they really arrived though.

The kids were overexcited and their parents had to keep them from running into walls, cars or even into garbage, since they were still blindfolded. By the time they finally arrived to the circus' entrance, they had managed to avoid three cars accidents and nearly got lost twice even though they knew where they were going. And that was without counting all the times one or two or even the three demons had managed to wander off god knows where.

In the end, it took them more than half an hour to do what should have only taken five minutes. Oh, the joys of having kids!

Well, at least they had taken their Portkey early and so weren't late. No, instead they were just in time for the beginning.

The kids enjoyed themselves, watching the artists for the whole two hours the show lasted enraptured, while Harry was mentally congratulating himself for a job well done. Going to the circus had been something he hadn't been able to do when he was a child, even though the Dursleys took Dudley there several times.

His pig of cousin had apparently enjoyed his day there, and had then spent the next two months taunting Harry and the other children in the neighborhood, though Harry had it worse. He kept telling everyone he knew (and some people he didn't) how awesome his birthday at the circus had been. Of course, he took care to always do this in front or near Harry, who hadn't been allowed to go because of "his freakishness" and hadn't even had a birthday party.

At the time, Harry had tried not to show that it had hurt him to be left aside, but now that he had his own children he was determined to offer them the childhood he didn't have. And for all their faults, the Dursleys had known how to please a child, even if it was only one of the two in their care. The green-eyed wizard hadn't forgotten about how the only thing that kids seemed to talk after his cousin's birthday, and how they had tried and nearly every time succeeded to talk their parents into bringing them for a day to a nearby circus.

If Harry hadn't really understood at the time why going to the circus had been such a big deal at the time, he could now grasp why it was so popular amongst the kids and even amongst some adults.

When the two-hour show ended, the Potter family left the big top led by three very enthusiastic chatting kids. It seemed that this operation was another success to add to their birthday family memories, especially since the day had only just began and the not-so-young parents had decided to show their kids everything that could be done in the circus' world.

For now, though, Harry and Ginny wandered aimlessly after their children, holding hands and savoring the moment. Said kids were happily discussing about their favorites moments and why one was more right than the other in choosing one or the other people they had seen.

"It's obvious the best part was when that girl jumped on the horse and danced on it!" That was Lily. The girl had an unnatural obsession with horses, so of course this would have been her favorite part.

"Pff… You really are a girl, aren't you? Because the best part was actually that man who could spit fire. That was awesome!" And here came James. The boy was still in the phase where he thought all girls to be icky and always was counteracting his sister.

"What do you mean by 'You're really a girl'?" Lily asked, glaring hardly at her older brother.

Seeing the death glare his sister was sending him and the disapproving looks from his parents, James gulped and quickly mumbled out an apology and the discussion resumed.

"I think you're both idiots. The best parts were the clowns. They were so funny! Do you think Uncle George has cream tarts?" That was Albus, always thinking about pranks. He had, unfortunately for Harry and Ginny, inherited from his uncle and his grandfather.

Thinking back on it, James and Lily agreed that it had been pretty funny.

"But the horse's part was the best."

"Won't you just shut up with your horses? We understand that you like them, but you don't need to talk about it every damn minute!"

Of course that comment prompted a fight between the two siblings. It didn't last long because they were almost immediately separated by Ginny, who then comforted a distressed little girl and Harry got the privilege to scold a scowling little boy.

Busy as they were, they didn't notice the man with a white painted face with red lips and wearing white gloves coming toward them. The man stopped a few feet away from the family and proceeded to mime something with his hands.

By the time the Potters noticed what happened, several people had seen the Mime and came to look at what was happening, surrounding the little group and trapping him with the Mime in a large circle.

Their discussion having ended, both adults refocused on what was happening around them, and that was when they took notice of the tall and unnaturally white man doing strange gesture around them while a small crowd was laughing. Not knowing what was happening, they tried to rejoin the other visitors.

However, as Albus, who was the first in line, reached the man, he run into a wall. Except that there was no visible wall there.

As everyone laughed, thinking they were part of the improvised show, Harry slowly circled the whole wall, discovering that it fully surrounded them. He could blast it if he used his wand, but he didn't want to do so in front of so many Muggles.

The man, meanwhile, just kept on doing strange gestures. The answer as to what the man was doing and who he was came from James.

"Dad! Dad! He's a Mime! Remember we saw a documentary about them at Aunt Mione. And I'm sure I was a book about them too."

Harry and Ginny snorted. Trust Hermione to have a book about an underrated profession. But that still didn't explain the trick with that wall. And apparently the people outside couldn't hear them, because every time they called for help or asked the Mime to let them out, either nothing happened or people laughed.

It seemed that you didn't have to wear a special costume or make-up to pass as a Mime finally since the public appeared to think them part of the show.

Finally, the performance ended and they could pass through the wall, even if they still puzzled as to how the 'wall' had been keeping them inside. However, their questions were about to be answered.

The Mime that had trapped them motioned them to follow him. Guardedly, the redhead and her husband, keeping the kids close, followed him until they were in a small tent not too far away from the main one.

"Oh my God! Are you really, you know? Harry Potter?" He whispered the last part, like it was a secret.
"I hope I'm not wrong though cause that would so terribly embarrassing, but you have the scar and it's an honor to meet you…"

Apparently not speaking while he did his job left him with a deep need of talking to someone after the end of it, because it was impossible to get him to shut up.

"Yes, I am. But you see I'm here with my family, it's our little girl's birthday…"

Lily's "I'm not little" went ignored, like everything Harry said after the "Yes".

"And I need to thank you, really, because without you we would no doubt be all dead or slaves to that horrible You-Know-Who, and I was there you know. I mean I was there at the final battle, and I helped before too. Discreetly of course…"

A real fan then. At least that explained the invisible wall. One word: magic. Harry sighed and gave the "I'm so sorry" to his wife. He reserved that look for those occasions, when they were accosted by an ordinary person who absolutely wanted to be seen with a true hero. Not that Harry was really proud of that status.

She gave him an exasperated look and he shot her back an apologetic one. Of course, during this silent conversation, the Mime, who apparently was named Charles, was 32 years old and had grown up in America (who knows how he managed to insert this in his monologue) kept on talking.

After ten minutes and still no sign of a pause from the man, Ginny had had enough and the children were very annoyed. Harry, well Harry had zoned of like he always did when confronted to overzealous fans. Defense mechanism.

"Shut up. You're ruining my birthday!" Those six words, plus the death glare the little Lily got from her grandmother, managed to do what everyone had failed to do: shut the groupie up.

And that's how you deal with a Mime. In the end, Lily proved herself to be her father's daughter, showing success in front of impossible odds.