Disclaimer: All aspects of Harry Potter which you recognize belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.


15-year-old Jessica London did not know what to expect from the two boys who had been her best friends for the first nine years of her life. She had not talked to either one since Dennis had been accepted to the same school Colin had already been going to for two years. And now, with a week before they left for school again, Jessica had to face them both because her parents had invited their family to teatime. The Londons and the Creeveys had always been good friends, but did that mean that they had to bring her back to the memory of life before she lost her two best friends?

At least if they weren’t going to keep in touch, Jessica though applying a layer of mascara to her already long eyelashes, I can make them sorry. She had already changed her outfit five times and had settled on a blue dress that brought out her eyes, even though they were more of a gray color. Now, after the final application of make-up, which she only wore to special events, Jessica made her way down the steps and was ready to answer the door as soon as they arrived.

Jessica had always been shorter than Colin, and taller than Dennis. She had flat brown hair that usually had an inch of split ends except when she had just gotten it cut, like she had that morning. She was the kind of girl who would stress out about the littlest things in life, and pull her hair out over the big things. Jessica’s favorite word was revenge, and this was what this tea party was going to be about for her.

“You look nice,” Jessica heard an unfamiliar voice behind her and she screamed. She whipped around to see the unmistakable figure of Colin standing behind her.

“When did you get here?” she asked after recovering from the shock.

“About three minutes ago,” Colin replied, “your parents let me in. My brother and parents are still on their way, but I came early because I had nothing better to do.”

“So I’ve been reduced to something for when you have nothing better to do?” Jessica asked trying to mix her voice to sound like a mixture of accusation and sadness. The result was her normal tone.

“I just haven’t had any time lately,” Colin replied. “We get homework over the summer, and I’m constantly writing letters to my schoolmates. And of course, my parents are always hogging Dennis and my time because they don’t see us except for Christmas break.”

“Colin,” Jessica said, “I haven’t spoken with you since I was 10. I haven’t spoken with Dennis in three years either. You two used to be my best friends. What kind of school do you two go to that it is so important to completely abduct you from this world?”

Colin smiled and looked round the corner to make sure her parents were occupied. “Does your room still have a working lock?” he asked.

“You perverted little…” Jessica yelled hitting his arm several times.

“No,” Colin hushed her. “It’s a secret. I need to make sure your parents can’t overhear what I’m about to tell you. So…?”

“Yeah, but they will still be able to hear if they wanted to,” Jessica replied.

“I’ll be quiet about telling you,” Colin promised. “Just because I couldn’t speak in anything less than a yell when I was eleven doesn’t mean that I’m still that loud.”

Jessica hadn’t even noticed that she and Colin had been making their way to her room until she sat on her bed and he closed and locked the door. Colin grabbed the chair by her desk and pulled it as close to the bed as he could while still leaving room for his still stick-thin legs.

“Dennis and I go to a school for witches and wizards,” Colin said barely above a whisper.

Jessica smiled and Colin knew that she didn’t believe him. Before she knew it, she was rolling on her bed laughing and Colin was trying to get her to be quiet.

“You don’t seriously expect me to believe that, do you?” Jessica asked through a fit of giggles.

Colin smiled and asked, “Want me to prove it?”

“How?” Jessica asked. “Let me guess, you’re not allowed to perform magic during the summer holiday.”

“Well, no,” Colin admitted, “I‘m not allowed to, but I have other ways to prove it.”

“Like what?” Jessica asked.

“Moving pictures,” Colin said slowly, “loads of them.”

“Movies?” Jessica asked.

“No,” Colin said, “follow me.” Colin grabbed her wrist and pulled her out the room. They avoided the rest of the people in the house, which now included Colin’s parents and younger brother, and sneaked out the back door. Once safe from their families, Colin released Jessica’s wrist.

“What kind of animal did you have?” Jessica asked looking at a cage with animal bones and feathers, but no animal.

“I have an owl,” Colin said. “Houdini is taking a message to a friend at the moment, but should be back by tonight.”

“An owl?” Jessica asked, “you’ve got to be kidding me. What kind of person owns an owl?”

“They’re the most popular pet among witches and wizards.” Colin smiled as he said this. “Just because no Muggles have them doesn’t mean that no one owns any owls. My friend Harry Potter has this beautiful snowy owl that is just a genius. Houdini isn’t quite as smart, but he gets the job done. Speaking of Harry, here’s a picture of him from my first year.”

Jessica looked at the picture Colin had just handed her and could not believe what she was seeing. It wasn’t like a holographic card that changes between two different pictures, the boy in the picture was trying to escape from a handsome man. The arm of the boy was wobbling like it had no bones or something, and the boy was using his legs to kick and push the man away from him. The man, not seeming to notice the escape attempts of the boy kept smiling and waving with his free hand.

“How is it doing that?” Jessica asked.

“It’s a magic picture,” Colin replied. “Here’s Dennis and a few of his class mates.”

The picture Colin handed to Jessica now was of Dennis and three other boys. Dennis was the smallest among them, but seemed to have the biggest ego. The four boys were flexing their nonexistent muscles and punching each other playfully. After a moment, two girls walked through the background of the picture and didn’t seem to notice they could be seen.

“You really do go to a magic school,” Jessica half-asked and half-realized.

“Yes,” Colin said, “I do. I’m a wizard.”

“But, your parents aren’t,” Jessica stated.

“No,” Colin shook his head, “they are not. It’s not a trait that needs to be passed along from the parents to the kids. Some kids of magic people don’t possess magic; they’re called squibs. Other people without magic, like my parents, like you, are called Muggles. Dennis and I just happen to possess magic.”

“Can you perform a spell for me?” Jessica pleaded.

“No,” Colin said, “it’s against the rules to perform magic over the holidays and I don’t want to get expelled. Harry almost got expelled before his fifth year because he cast a spell, but it was to save his cousin and his lives. There was a whole trial and our headmaster lost a lot of respect, but I never doubted him, not for a minute.”

“You seem to really like this guy,” Jessica giggled, “is he like your boyfriend.”

“I thought you knew me better than that,” Colin was shocked.

“Maybe five years ago,” Jessica said, “but you never talked about your love, Gary, back then.”

“No,” Colin said, “I am not homosexual. And his name is Harry, not Gary. What about you, what have you been up to the last five years?”

“I’ve been living a normal, non-magic life,” Jessica said. She stuck her tongue out at her former best friend. She looked down at the picture of Dennis and his friends. He looked so happy, she felt like crying.
“Who are those with your brother?”

“The blonde boy is named Kevin Whitby,” Colin said, “the short, fat one is named Zarchary Dunhole, and that’s Phillip Penther. All three of them are Hufflepuffs, it makes me wonder why Dennis wasn’t put in Hufflepuff with them.”

“Hufflepuff?” Jessica asked.

“There are four houses at the school,” Colin explained. “Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. Dennis and I are both in Gryffindor, but Dennis’ friends are all Hufflepuffs. Hufflepuff is for the loyal, honorable, hard-working people.”

“And Gryffindor?”

“The brave, courageous ones.”

Jessica burst out laughing. There was no way that her friend, who used to scream when they thought that a mouse was in the house, could be considered brave. He couldn’t even defend her when they were six and seven and the eight-year-old boys from down the block made fun of her for being a girl.

“Hey,” Colin blushed, “for your information, I can be very brave when I need to be. I have countless times stood up for my fellow Gryffindors when Slytherins twice my size…”

“Which isn’t really saying anything about them,” Jessica laughed.

“When Slytherins twice my size have insulted us and I was petrified by a giant snake during my first year when I was out during the middle of the night when I wasn’t supposed to be.”

“Oh,” Jessica laughed, “so now you’re brave and a rule-breaker. You seemed more truthful when you had only showed me the pictures. I think I’m starting to get this. This is all some huge hoax that you and Dennis are trying to pull on me. Show me a few pictures that move, and tell me a few stories. I’m not sure how you made the pictures move, but it must be something really high tech, like those really flat TVs people are hanging on the walls like a picture. The rest of it was all just a story.”

“What I’m telling you is all truth,” Colin claimed.

“Right,” Jessica laughed, “and I’m the Queen. Maybe you’ll really get me next time, but for now, I’m not fooled.”

“If you’re not going to believe me, then we ought to get back to tea before our parents get mad.” Colin grabbed something out of the bottom of his trunk. “And you can have a chocolate frog for the heck of it.”

“A what?”

“It’s just chocolate.” Colin almost seemed disappointed that Jessica didn’t believe him.

After having tea and talking with the Creeveys for an hour, Jessica had finally escaped to her room. She didn’t know why she ever believed Colin for one moment. He had always been an impulsive liar to his parents, and now it seemed that it was everyone he now lied to. She looked at the box he had given her. She sure did want the chocolate. She pulled it open, and the next thing she knew, a chocolate-colored frog jumped into her hair.