Harry wiped drops of sweat off of his forehead. Although he was standing in the freezing snow, shoveling was still making him hot. Next to him, Ron was still pushing his shovel through the thickly packed snow, grunting.
‘I can’t take much more of this,’ said Ron, plopping down on the snow.
‘Me neither,’ replied Harry. ‘I didn’t think shoveling snow was this hard. I guess I’m out of practice. I haven’t shoveled the Dursleys front porch since before I got into Hogwarts.’
‘It never snows this much in the England of 1998,’ said Ron, rubbing snow on his face.
‘There’s more Global Warming in 1998.’ Hermione had joined the boys outside.
‘What are you doing out here already?’ asked Ron. ‘And who cares about global heating or whatever?’
‘We finished making the bread long ago. Naima was just showing me how to read tea leaves—’ Hermione looked amused ‘—as if I didn’t know how to already. Samantha says you should come in for lunch now. Actually, its called dinner but you know what I mean.’
Ron sprang up happily. ‘Lunch, dinner, who cares? It just means food!’
‘You can finish shoveling afterwards,’ added Hermione quickly.
Ron’s smile drooped considerably.
‘Okay,’ said Harry, gratefully. After so much work, he was very hungry.
Harry and Ron stowed the shovels in the stables and hurried into the house. The smell of fresh bread wafted through the kitchen door. Ron sniffed the air.
‘That doesn’t smell like normal bread,’ he said, as they entered the kitchen. ‘It smells more… spicy, somehow.’
Samantha smiled. ‘Yes, that is because it is rye bread. Rye gives more spice than wheat. Most families avoid rye bread but I quite like the taste.
She and Naima were standing at a counter cutting loaves of bread. Hermione was setting bowls onto the table.
Harry and Ron sat down and Hermione joined them. Naima set a bread platter full of fresh rye bread down on the table and sat down next to Hermione.
Samantha set a steaming china bowl down on the table. It was full of a yellow mash. The smell told Harry that it was some kind of corn mash. There were also some drumsticks from what Harry suspected to be a turkey. Harry was so hungry and he knew that Samantha was very kind to be providing food for them, that he didn’t think of complaining but he was missing the Hogwarts feasts more and more.
The corn mash was filling and had a wonderful taste and the turkey was a good side dish. Harry quickly ate and pushed back his chair.
‘That was wonderful Samantha,’ he said politely.
Samantha smiled and nodded to Naima who was gathering the dishes. ‘Naima prepared today’s meal after she stopped fooling around with false fortune-telling. You should thank her.’
‘Oh,’ said Harry. ‘Well, thanks a lot Naima.’
Naima blushed and hurried away to dump the dishes in the washing tub. Samantha got up and left the room, saying she’d be working on the sewing on the second floor.
Ron turned to Hermione a soon as they were alone. ‘So, have you figured out a way to get us back to 1998?’
Hermione shook her head dolefully. ‘I have no books or anything here. I have no idea how to get us back.’
‘So we’re really stuck here?’ asked Ron, looking hopeless.
Hermione nodded miserably. ‘I think so… yes.’
The three friends were silent for a moment overwhelmed by their predicament.
‘Everyone must be so worried back home,’ said Harry, voicing everyone’s thoughts.
‘I don’t understand how this could have happened,’ said Hermione. ‘Why are we stuck here? I thought that maybe something would automatically send us back after a while but it’s been three days almost.’
‘There must be a way out!’ said Harry. ‘No one could want to exchange 1998 for 1692 forever! Why did I ever stop to look at that stupid medal?’
Ron opened his mouth to say something but just then a loud scream echoed through the house.
Harry looked at the door and then back at Ron and Hermione. All three got up and ran into the living room.
Naima lay on the floor twitching and clawing at her skin. ‘Help me!’ she screamed. ‘It’s eating me!’
Samantha ran into the room. ‘Naima! What is it?’ she said, obviously frightened.
Naima didn’t answer but grabbed her throat. ‘I’m choking! Help me, I’m choking!’ she yelled.
Samantha looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione. ‘She’s having fits! Hurry, help me get her into bed.’
Ron ran forward and with his help, Samantha lifted Naima up and hurried her to a bedroom on the first floor and set her down, Harry and Hermione hurrying after them.
As soon as Naima was laid down she began to convulse horribly. Samantha ran out of the room and returned with a cloth soaked in a brown liquid. She pressed the cloth to Naima’s mouth. It didn’t seem to help but Samantha relaxed.
‘It is okay. She will be fine, I’m sure,’ said Samantha, ushering Harry, Ron and Hermione out of the room. She went back into the bedroom and shut the door.
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances.
‘This is bad,’ whispered Hermione.
‘That was what you meant by fits?’ asked Ron, looking terrified.
Hermione nodded. ‘I wonder what made her get them,’ she mused.
‘The bread,’ said Harry thoughtfully.
‘What?’ asked Ron.
‘The bread, it was rye bread. Rye is a grain, isn’t it? Remember what Hermione said about that fungus?’ replied Harry, excitedly.
‘That must be it!’ said Hermione. ‘The rye in Salem must be infested with ergot!’
‘But no one knows about ergot here,’ said Ron fearfully. ‘Who will they suspect for witchcraft now?’
‘They can’t be suspicious of us,’ replied Hermione, firmly. ‘As long as we act like reputable Puritan teenagers and don’t mention magic at all, no one can think we have anything to do with it us.’
Harry thought Hermione had a point but Ron still looked worried.
‘I don’t know Hermione,’ he started. ‘Even the local Magistrate didn’t seem to trust us. Harry started babbling about Divination in front of him. What if they manage to dig up something else against us?’
‘They won’t. I’m sure the magistrate just thought Harry was trying to be smart or something. Anyway, first someone has to accuse us and no one will do that,’ replied Hermione assuredly.
Another scream erupted from the bedroom. Harry looked at it nervously. Ron went up and put an ear to the door.
‘No, Ron!’ hissed Hermione, but Ron waved a hand signaling her to be quite. Suddenly Ron went horribly pale. He hurried back to Harry and Hermione.
‘You won’t believe this—’ but he was cut off by the bedroom door opening. Samantha came out, her pretty face hard and angry, her mouth a thin line. Harry didn’t like the look in her eye. She was reminding him of Professor McGonagall.
Samantha strode up to the three friends and looked at them with cold eyes. ‘Which one of you put a spell on my daughter?’
A/N: The fits that Naima experienced have the following symptoms: First a slight feeling of dizziness followed by skin irritation which Naima described as being eaten. In the actual cases of fits the girls described the skin irritation as being bitten by tons of tiny insects. The afflicted would also see a variety of colors but I couldn’t fit that into the story. The choking feeling follows.
Ergot did infest the rye in Salem due to their harvesting and marketing methods. Rye bread was rarely used by families as well-off as the Beckers but as it was the main grain infested by the ergot and I wanted to add it into the story. Samantha’s explanation that she enjoyed the taste seemed reasonable.
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