But Jordan wasn’t concerned with such things at the moment; he had more important things on his mind. He simply stated, “I was wrong about Apple.” Everyone stared”it wasn’t typical for Jordan to make mistakes, and even less so to admit them.
“You mean he’s not evil after all?” asked Tyrone. “We came out here for nothing?”
Jordan’s eyes were hard and serious. “Apple doesn’t want to hurt the Muggles. He wants to tell them that magic exists.”
This did not cause quite the dramatic effect he’d been hoping for. “I don’t get it,” said Haley. “Isn’t that good, uniting the wizards and Muggles?”
Jordan shook his head, his solemn eyes not faltering. But before he could give an explanation, Vladislav Poliakoff spoke.
“Even if the Muggles don’t get scared and start holding witch-burning parties on Guy Fawkes day, there are a lot more of them than there are of us. They’ll start seeking out wizards like we’re tourist attractions and trying to get us to solve their problems. And if we don’t they’ll turn on us. It’ll be like the Dark Ages all over again,” he told Haley. “It’s good to be kind to Muggles, and it’s one thing for Jordan to tell Giorgi about magic, but Apple’s trying to tell the whole world, and it’s going to make life insane for wizards if we can’t stop him.”
Jordan looked slightly annoyed at Vladislav for stealing his thunder, wanting to be the one to explain it to his sister in the most irritatingly condescending manner possible. But all he said was, “Vladislav is right. So, I have a new plan to stop him. Apple, that is. Not Vladislav.”
“What’s that?” asked Marina, hands on hips in her typical pose.
Jordan raised his eyebrows, no longer fake, orange, and fuzzy. “Run.”
Emma looked murderous. “You know, if running away like a bunch of chickens is the best plan that Jordan can come up with, I say someone else should be in charge of this mission.”
Oddly enough, however, Jordan looked amused, not insulted. “Thanks to your interruption, you didn’t let me finish describing my plan,” he told her. “The plan is not to run away. It’s to run toward the stage where Apple’s going to give his speech, distract him with Ted, Arden, and Ivy and make a scene about escaped zoo animals, and then set off the sprinkler system, forcing the audience to leave. Then we’ll go to the Ministry and report him.”
“How will we prove to them that Apple really does want to tell the Muggles about magic?” asked Ivy. “We didn’t record anything important.”
Jordan massaged his temples. “This is the part where I wish Telemency existed.”
“And how does Telemency work?” asked Giorgi.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t exist,” Jordan responded cryptically. He closed his eyes briefly. “I guess we’ll just let Apple begin his speech, so we’ll have enough information to prove him guilty, but the Muggles won’t have enough to suspect anything, except for Giorgi, of course.” He folded his arms. “I know it’s risky, but I think we can pull it off. We’re a team.”
Tyrone laughed.
“What’s funny?” asked Jordan.
“Nothing,” said Tyrone. “It’s just… you sound like you’re giving us a pep talk before a Quidditch match.”
The Quidditch captain himself was about to issue a barbed retort when Ted’s ears perked up, and he picked up the tape recorder in his mouth. The ten of them could hear, faintly but distinctly, the voice of Tancred Apple.
“…to be here today in beautiful Regent’s Park,” he spoke. “I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to be chosen as your newest Prime Minister, but I’m very glad that I was. I’m going to try my very hardest to make England the best it can be, and I already have plans that will change and strengthen it.”
“Run,” whispered Jordan. “Now.” The ten of them began to run, thundering through the underbrush. Giorgi, with her long legs and soccer skills was the fastest, but even she was having trouble moving quickly. The trees, so close together, were smothering, and the vines and branches that adorned them seemed to reach out and grab the runners. Thorny shrubs stabbed at their feet, and low bushes made it extremely easy to trip.
The entire situation was an accident waiting to happen, so naturally, one did. As they ran, Jordan sprawled head-over-heels over a sapling and landed face-first on a pointy stick. “That hurt,” he whispered. “A lot.” He clutched his eye as he staggered to his feet, and Haley gasped when she saw his face. A stream of sickeningly bright red blood trickled from a deep gash that cut through his eyebrow, and continued under his eye to his cheekbone. Mercifully, his eye itself was unscathed but for Jordan, ‘that hurt… a lot,’ was the equivalent of most people screaming in agony.
Speaking of screaming, Marina ran toward him to see if he was all right, but found herself unable to move. “AAAAAGH!” she screamed when she tried again. Her head jerked back sharply as she did so, and she then realized what was wrong. Her long strawberry-blonde hair had gotten hopelessly tangled and ensnared by a tree and had somehow managed to knot itself around the branches. “Just go on and leave me here,” panted Marina. “There’s no way you’ll have time to wait for me to untangle myself.”
“No,” said Emma firmly. “We’re not leaving you stuck like this.”
“The plan won’t work without you,” added Jordan rather more faintly than he’d intended, wiping rivulets of blood from his face with his shirt sleeve in a mildly repulsive manner.
“Emma, why do you care? You hate me,” Marina spat, struggling to get free and failing miserably.
Emma went quiet for a moment, then finally spoke. “I can be a complete prat sometimes,” she told her cousin. “We all know that I’m just too competitive. And now that the tournament’s over… I can see what I moron I’ve been.” She sighed. “I guess what I’m trying to say here is, I’m sorry. I mean, you’re my cousin. If I stay mad at you, family reunions are going to be pretty awkward.”
No one spoke for a moment, and then Tancred Apple’s voice resounded. “In fact, I hope to share more with you than any of my successors have. I feel like as Prime Minister, I should be open with you.”
“Oh, no,” whispered Ivy, biting her lip.
Marina’s sea-blue eyes grew determined. “Well, that’s it, then,” she said. She unsheathed her wand from her belt with every kind of casual coolness and performed a severing charm on her hair.
“Your hair!” gasped Haley, staring at the metre or so of abandoned tresses that were still hanging from the tree.
Marina laughed and tossed her head. Her hair was now short, shaggy, and asymmetrical. The style looked like an edgier version of a cross between the styles favoured by Giorgi and Ted, and somehow, it suited her. “Ahh, there we go!” she exclaimed happily, running fingers through her short coiffeur.
“I can’t believe you did that!” exclaimed Haley, with a mournful expression as though she was delivering an elegy to the shorn hair.
Marina smiled. “Pigtails are Emma’s combat hairdo,” she said nonchalantly. “I guess this is mine. I’ve been wanting to do this for years. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on, already!”
The others decided that this was sound advice and continued onward. They had just reached the edge of the forest when the small, dark wolf that was Arden stopped in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?” asked Tyrone, as though he was speaking to Lassie.
But even if Arden had been human at the time, she wouldn’t have been able to answer.
She felt naked. Somehow, without even noticing it, the clawlike branches of the forest had torn the ribbon she always wore from around her throat. The black ribbon with its round blue jewel had been her way of concealing her bite scar, and she couldn’t imagine life without it. She had to turn back to get it.
“Arden? What’s the matter?” Ted asked quietly in the language that only she could understand. Even as a wolf, his light blue eyes were expressive, and his concern was evident.
“My ribbon…” she replied. “I don’t know how I lost it. I’ve had it ever since I was bitten.”
“The ribbon was pretty,” said Ted. “But it can’t have been too expensive. Can’t you replace it?”
Arden faced him, her ears folding back. “It’s not just a necklace,” she stated in a fierce tone Ted had never heard her use. “If I don’t wear it, everyone will see where I was bitten, and they’ll all know that I’m a werewolf!”
“Arden, it’s not that bad!” Ted assured her. “Everyone knows I’m a werewolf. Once they get used to it, no one even thinks twice about it. Besides, even you have to admit that it’s kind of cool that you can talk to wolves. Most people would be really jealous. Haven’t you noticed that you’re more confident when you’re a wolf?”
Arden paused, then said softly, “Have you ever been embarrassed by…something about yourself before?”
Ted let out a barking laugh. “Oh, yeah,” he responded. “My voice, for one.”
“Your voice is fine,” Arden replied confused.
“You say that because you didn’t know me last year,” laughed Ted. “Oh Godric, I had the most embarrassing voice ever. I almost forgot. It took almost a year to change, and I never knew whether I’d sound like my mum or my dad! It was awful, especially since you don’t normally see six-foot blokes with high voices.”
He turned to look at Arden. “But… I mean, just ‘cos I had an embarrassing voice didn’t mean that I didn’t talk. I mean, if I was all insecure about how weird I sounded, people would make fun of me, so I figured I might as well accept that I sounded like I was yodeling when I was talking.”
“But your voice changed,” argued Arden. “I’ll always be a werewolf.”
“I know,” sighed Ted. “Arden… I don’t mean to be rude, and I don’t want to get you to do anything you don’t want to, but if you don’t get used to that fact, you’re going to be really miserable later on.”
“What’s the hold-up?” shouted Emma, ruining their deep conversation. “Why’d you just stop like that? We have a world to save here!”
Ted, who always seemed more like a boy in a wolf suit than anything when in werewolf form, raised a paw and gestured toward Arden’s throat as the smaller wolf’s tail drooped between her legs. “Oh! Your ribbon’s gone!” gasped Ivy, in human form at the moment.
“You can’t go back for it!” exclaimed Marina. She walked forward toward Arden. “And it’s not just because we won’t have time to stop Apple. Listen, Arden, I’ve gone to school with you for years, but I barely know anything about you, because you’re too afraid that people will find out about you. That stupid ribbon let you go all those years without talking to anyone about it. I always just thought you were a snob who thought she was too good to talk to anyone else… I had no idea it was the other way around. So… ditch the ribbon, okay? I dare you to walk into the Great Hall tomorrow without it.” She then added something else, spoken in rapid French.
“Really, if you’re embarrassed about the fact that you get furry and grow a tail every full moon, you happen to make an extremely pretty wolf,” added Vladislav.
All eyes were upon Arden. Slowly, she got to her feet and trotted over to Marina. Her tail wagged.
“Lead the way, Arden,” instructed Jordan, and she did so, everyone else following happily.
This mood was short-lived.
The second they reached the edge of the forest, they heard Tancred Apple say, “”Potter. The truth is that the magical world of Harry Potter is all real. I know it sounds insane, but trust me. I’m a wizard.”
And before anyone could stop him, he transfigured his podium into a penguin. He did a charm that made the complimentary pastries levitate, then used another charm to make them explode, raining the crowd in cream and jam fillings. Porta-Johns unlocked with loud bangs, revealing very embarrassed people with their trousers down, and streams of cherry cola spurted from the end of his Apple’s wand.
“This is not sleight of hand,” he announced. “It’s true, and it’s been kept from you for centuries. Harry Potter is a real man who works for me, and Lord Voldemort is long dead. This is the beginning of a new era”using magic, with wizards and everyone else united, we can be such a strong country. None of the other countries in the world know about magic, and that will be our advantage. We can link the two separate worlds in England to create one amazing country.”
Jordan’s jaw dropped to his chest, mirroring the expressions of Apple’s Muggle audience members. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Despite all his hard work to create a plan, Jordan had failed. Apple had succeeded. It couldn’t be”Jordan never miscalculated, never failed to meet his goals. But now, it seemed that he wasn’t quite as good as he thought he was. So many times this year, he had fallen short of his own expectations… He was good at school and sports and music and magic, but he was not a hero. Unlike his father, Jordan was not someone who could save the world. He was a man of words, not of action, and he was unfit to lead a rescue mission.
He suddenly realized how stupid and selfish he was. Who cared that he had failed to make himself look good? The entire world would be in turmoil because he hadn’t stopped Apple in time. The well-being of the world was a bit more important than the self-esteem of a sixteen-year-old boy.
“We’re too late,” he muttered in a flat, emotionless tone as pigs flew overhead, courtesy of Apple. “There’s nothing we can do.”
He looked over at his twin and was completely stunned to see that she was grinning. Her bright green eyes sparkled like her team name, and her step had its usual hyperactive bounce in it as she made her way toward Jordan. “Not the way I see it,” she said smoothly, then pulled out her wand and waved it around in a circle, as if marking the barriers of the Muggle audience.
“SAMANDAR MARIGAN!” Haley shouted, and a huge beam of fuchsia light shot forth from the end of her wand with a loud “WHOOSH!” It cocooned the entire audience in a giant magenta bubble, and then dissipated. But the audience sat completely still, as stationary as statues, their expressions frozen in place.
“Haley!” gasped Tyrone. “That was brilliant! What kind of a spell was that? Some mass Petrificus Totalis or something?”
Haley shrugged cheerily, setting her bouncy hair dancing around her shoulders. “Temporary time freeze,” she chirped. “Just for that area. I can lift it as soon as I say the counter-charm.”
Jordan blinked furiously as though one of his contact lenses was stuck in his eye. “I’ve never heard of that spell before,” he admitted. And he was supposedly the intelligent twin.
“Nor have I,” added Ivy.
“Which is saying something, seeing as she knows enough magic to be an Animagus,” added Emma. “And I didn’t know that spell existed.”
“Ditto,” stated Marina. “And Beauxbatons’s really big on charms, so that’s a surprise.”
“I’ve never heard about that spell anywhere,” Vladislav put in. “It’s not in any books.”
Giorgi smiled. “Well, you already know that I don’t know that particular spell, since I’m about as magical as Dudley Dursley. But from what I’ve heard, I wouldn’t put something like that Salamander Thingummy past Haley. Anyone who showed the whole school a film of Jordan in his underwear impersonating Mick Jagger has got to be brilliant.”
Haley giggled. “Thanks,” she said happily. “I guess I’ve been working a little harder lately, and it looks like it paid off.” She and Giorgi high-fived.
“Um, while I have no desire to spoil the ‘girl power’ moment, does it bother anyone else that Tancred Apple isn’t on the stage anymore?” Vladislav asked casually.
Ten heads snapped around toward the stage, which was indeed vacant (with the exception of a large and rather disoriented-looking penguin that had previously been a podium). Emma ground her teeth. “The git made a run for it!” she exclaimed. “We have to get him!”
Jordan held up his hands. “Wait a minute,” he said. “We have to organize this! Vladislav, you’re of age. You can Apparate, correct?”
Vladislav nodded.
“Then take Haley down to the Ministry of Magic with side-along Apparition. She knows her way around and where the Auror offices are, and Vladislav, if you want to be a journalist, you can probably summarize all of the chaos that’s gone on today and turn it into something that actually makes some sense. Ivy, turn back into a fox, and you and Ted and Arden can use your sense of smell to try and track down Apple. And Giorgi, when Vladislav and Haley return with the Aurors, get their attention so that they know where to find us. We’ll send up red sparks when we catch Apple”you’re good at getting attention, so you should manage.”
Giorgi sighed, “Wow, you remind me of Napoleon.” Jordan tried his hardest to suppress a satisfied smile, pleased to hear such high praise of his skills in strategic leadership, but his smirk soon died as Giorgi continued, “Short, grouchy bloke with an ego big enough to keep airplanes in.”
Jordan opened his mouth to protest, but Giorgi exclaimed, “What, you want me to just wait here while everyone else goes after Apple?”
“Yes,” said Jordan.
“No, you don’t,” said Giorgi. “You asked me to come here to help stop Apple, and that’s what I want to do. Getting attention isn’t a real duty”the Aurors will be able to see the wand sparks themselves. You’re just trying to get me out of the way.”
“I am trying to protect you,” spat Jordan, his eyes narrowing and his expression dark and angry. “Giorgi, you’re very brave, but there’s a line between bravery and stupidity. You can’t do magic, and””
“Neither could good old Napoleon! I know I can’t do magic,” insisted Giorgi. “Duh. But Muggles are capable of more than just standing around being abused by evil wizards, you know. And it’s possible to actually get some stuff done without using magic. I don’t need your protection.” She made air quotes around the word ‘protection.’
Jordan couldn’t help but smile slightly. Giorgi was crazy, but maybe a crazy person was exactly what they needed.
Everyone set out to carry out Jordan’s new plan. Haley and Vladislav Disapparated off to the Ministry, the canines sniffed out the scent of Apple’s musky cologne, and the others scanned the grounds for any sign of his wavy chestnut-brown hair or tailored pinstriped suit.
Suddenly, Ted began howling loudly.
“Ted, what is it?” asked Marina, kneeling down next to him. He pointed with a single paw deep into the forest, where he caught the strong scent of a trail Apple had followed, feeling very much like a cartoon Wonder Dog.
“Let’s go,” Jordan said in a low voice.
And they did, trampling through the undergrowth of the forest in their pack of eight. They searched in silence for quite awhile. Twice, they saw glimpses of what they thought were Apple, but they turned out to be nothing but oddly shaped trees. Every time a twig snapped or a leaf crackled, everyone froze, only to be disappointed by the sight of a small bird or a slight breeze.
An hour passed, still to no avail, and with nothing interesting spotted except for a mysterious wreck of a minivan with the words “WAYNE’S SAMWICH WAGON” written on it in puffy psychedelic letters.
When they had gone quite deep into the forest, they suddenly came face-to-face with none other than Apple himself. Both parties stood unmoving for a moment, still adjusting to the situation and realizing that they didn’t know what to do. Then, the frozen, dreamlike quality of the situation faded away, and they realized what exactly was going on.
“You!” exclaimed Emma, stepping forward.
“Me,” replied Apple, his expression politely bewildered.
“You’re trying to screw up the entire country, you twisted freak!” she fumed. “All you want is glory!”
“No, that’s not quite true,” Apple replied calmly. “I want peace. I don’t want to lead a double life anymore. There shouldn’t be any difference between the wizarding world and the Muggle world the way I see it.”
“The way I see it is that you’re a twisted freak!” spat Emma. “I can’t believe I thought you were so fit…” Tyrone and Jordan exchanged glances at this statement, as she quickly added, “…for the position of Minister of Magic!” She whipped out her wand and pointed it straight between the Minister’s eyes.
“I’d rather not die, thanks,” Apple said politely, then ducked into the woods and, with the remarkable speed and agility of a deer, disappeared soundlessly into the forest.
“After him!” Tyrone roared almost as dramatically as Emma, and the group thundered after the Minister. But it was no use. It was impossible to find him. Three times, they thought they saw snatches of him nearby, but each time, Apple was completely gone in the blink of an eye.
Finally, after almost an hour of searching, Emma sat down on a tree stump. Her pigtails were full of twigs and leaves, frizzy strands of her usually tidy hair hung around her face, and there was a scratch on the bridge of her nose from a tree branch. But most noticeably, she looked tired. Her chocolate-brown eyes were not blazing with their usual fierce, slightly insane energy, and her shoulders were slumped.
“I say we give up,” she said bitterly. “I haven’t won anything all year; why should this be any different? He’s cleverer than we are, and it doesn’t look as if we’re about to catch him anytime soon. The Aurors’ll find him eventually. The important thing is that Haley Samandar Marigan’ed the Muggles, so they’re frozen in time. We’d be better off not wasting our time on trying to catch Apple ourselves.”
“NO!” shouted a deep, powerful voice. Everyone turned around to see, to their surprise, Tyrone. Usually easy-going and lazy in his demeanor, his voice a silky purr, he was standing erect, his head high and his eyes aflame. In fact, he looked eerily as though he was channeling Emma’s usual spirit “Emma Weasley, I’m sad for you,” he announced. “You’re supposed to be the tough one here, and right now, you’re just being lame.”
“I am not!” exclaimed Emma.
“Yeah, you are,” responded Tyrone. “Seriously, what’s the matter with you? I always liked you for being all confident and fearless and completely bonkers. You WANT to stop Apple, right? So why don’t you go get him?”
Emma’s eyes widened to enormous proportions. She couldn’t believe that she was hearing this from Tyrone Thomas of all people. He was talking to her about character? Once upon a time, he’d hired eager flunkies and fan girls to do everything for him, and he had no ambition or drive whatsoever outside the Quidditch pitch. If anything required work, he’d forgo it. He was a swaggering fool who charmed everyone with shallow statements instead of actually speaking his mind. All that mattered to him was coming off as cool and attractive.
So who was this passionate young man who claimed to be disgusted with the fact that Emma had given up looking for Apple? She suddenly realized that maybe Tyrone, whether she’d wanted to admit it or not before, had done some growing up lately, especially after his mother’s death. He wasn’t just a flirtatious, conceited boy, and she should have realized it long ago, before she’d hurt his feelings beyond repair.
Emma got to her feet. “You know what?” she stated. “Not only will I keep going, Tyrone Jonathan Thomas”“
“My middle name is Vincent.”
“Yeah, whatever… but like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I…” she paused for dramatic effect, “will race you to getting him first!” And with a crazed cackle, she sped away, kicking up dead leaves in her wake.
Tyrone looked dumbfounded, then amused. “Well, if that’s the way you’re going to play…” he protested, then took off after her.
Jordan, Marina, Giorgi, and the canines looked at each other and decided to follow, although not quite as enthusiastically as the psycho pair now leading the story.
“I’m winning!” screamed Emma.
“You got a head start!” replied Tyrone.
“Yes, but your legs are longer!” said Emma. “The only reason why you’re so much slower is ‘cos you weigh more!” she screeched, plunging deeper into the forest.
“I’ll have you know,” stated Tyrone, “that I am one-hundred-and-seventy-seven pounds of solid muscle. And by the way, your zipper’s undone.”
“Nice try!” smirked Emma.
“Oh, flirtation pretending not to be flirtation, thy name is Emma,” Giorgi apostrophized under her breath.
It was then that they head a slight rustle in the distance and froze.
“Don’t move,” Jordan whispered. “If Apple doesn’t know where we are, he might run right toward us, and we can catch him then.”
The other members of the party obliged, and the rustling got louder and closer, and the eight teenagers concealed themselves predictably behind trees.
Without warning, however, Giorgi hurled herself out from behind her tree, flopped onto the ground, screamed ear-piercingly, and began writhing around on the ground. “No! The pain! AAAAAAGH!” she shrieked.
“Julie!” yelled Jordan, catching onto what she was doing and the using the voice that he’d used when pretending to be a dense and clueless kid earlier. “You’re having another epileptic seizure? This really puts a damper on our picnic!”
Arden looked up, confused, and Jordan whispered, “It’s just a ruse. We’re trying to get Apple to come here, and Giorgi’s the bait.”
The rustling grew louder, and Tyrone whispered, “In that case, we’re reeling in a big one.” Sure enough, Apple, unable to resist helping someone in need, stepped into the clearing and bent over the pale, motionless form of Giorgi.
While his back was turned, Emma leaped out from behind a tree and brandished her wand menacingly. “Surprise!” she sang in a dangerously sweet voice.
Apple whipped around. “You?!” he exclaimed.
“Me,” Emma affirmed, quoting Apple from their previous meeting that day. “Oh yeah, and by the way, Mr. Apple… STUPEFY! ”
Before Apple could duck, a jet of red light shot forth from Emma’s wand and hit the minister squarely in the chest. He collapsed to the ground.
“I did it!” breathed Emma, her eyes full of wonder. “I caught Apple!” She beamed as Jordan shot a stream of red sparks into the air so the Aurors could locate where the group was. “I DID IT!” Emma yelled, and impulsively ran toward Tyrone and threw her arms tightly around him. “And it’s thanks to you for being so annoying and pushing me,” she whispered in his ear.
Tyrone stood there, looking rather stunned at the events that had just unfolded, then returned the favour by hugging her back. Marina and Giorgi giggled.
“Aww! How sweet! I could just vomit!” came a voice from behind them. They all turned around to see a smiling Vladislav, accompanied by Haley (who was in hysterics) and twelve black-robed Aurors… including Emma’s father.
“This isn’t what it looks like!” Emma said immediately, releasing Tyrone like a hot potato and jumping a safe four feet away from him.
“Yeah,” Tyrone chipped in. “We’re, uh, rehearsing a play.”
Ron raised an eyebrow skeptically, earning a dirty look from Haley.
“We’re thinking of writing one about what just happened,” insisted Emma. “Tyrone was playing Tancred Apple, and I was playing his… er… grandma.”
Ron raised his other eyebrow with even more skepticism.
“Right then, anyway,” Harry Potter, head Auror, said loudly, clearing his throat. “Jensen, Proudfoot, can you bring Tancred Apple back to the Ministry? The Obliviators should arrive soon for the Muggle audience, so they should be fine.” He turned to the group of ten teenagers (not all of whom were human at the time) and said, “This Aurors-meet-kids-including-werewolf-and-unconcious-villain-in-dark-forest scene seems really familiar. What exactly did happen here?”
This was a tough question to answer. With ten people involved and so much confusion, the question seemed nearly impossible to give a succinct response to.
But Vladislav was the first to step forward. “It was Haley’s spell that saved the day,” he pronounced.
“Well, it was Jordan’s plans and Leglimency skills that got us here in the first place,” Haley said with a smile.
“If it wasn’t for Giorgi’s distractions, we might not have caught Apple,” Jordan added.
“It was Ted who got proof of Apple’s plan on tape,” Giorgi put in. “And he got me over my ‘fire is ouchy’ problem.”
Ted howled, and Ivy morphed to her human form to translate. “He said, ‘It was Ivy who got us into the exhibit and back out again,” she said, slightly shyly. “But really, it was Arden who was brave enough to get in in the first place, and she stopped the wolf from attacking me,” she said.
Arden let out a howl, and Ivy transformed into a fox and back again in a display that startled and awed many of the Aurors. “And she said, ‘It was Marina who kept me from ruining everything with my selfishness,” she panted, rather worn out from her constant transformations.
“Well, it was Emma who actually caught Apple,” Marina stated, flipping her short hair.
“It was Tyrone who kept me going,” Emma grinned.
Tyrone blushed, giving his dark skin a purplish hue. “Well, it was Vladislav who Apparated off to the Ministry and got the Aurors,” he finished off fairly. He looked up at Mr. Potter. “We all worked together.”
Harry smiled. “That’s impressive. Teamwork. I’d give a long and very dull speech about it, but I have to go and sort out this insane mess.”
Dad is so cool, thought Jordan.
Jordan and Giorgi sat on a bench in front of the stage where Apple’s doomed speech had been held. The Muggle audience had all been Obliviated and sent home, and seemed perfectly fine, except for the fact that they kept randomly breaking out singing Christmas carols in late May. The other eight teenagers had also been sent back to Hogwarts, but Giorgi was going to be taken home via Ministry escort (in a car, so that her parents wouldn’t get suspicious) and Jordan had kindly offered to wait with her.
Exhausted, they both sat without speaking for several minutes, until suddenly, Jordan said, “I’m sorry I wasn’t going to let you go into the forest after Apple. I honestly didn’t know you’d want to. It’s so strange for me, having a Muggle as a friend.”
“You think that’s weird? I just learned today that magic is real, that both my pen friend and our Prime Minister are wizards, and oh yeah, not to mention that your parents are famous fictional characters. That’s a little different, you have to admit,” She chortled and leaned back on the bench. “I just can’t get over the fact that you of all people can do magic. You’re the least-likely person ever to have anything to do with that kind of stuff. And I’m still really surprised that a wizard like you would want to hang out with a clueless Muggle like me.”
Jordan smiled tautly. “Well, I’ve always been surprised that someone as friendly and popular as you would have any interest whatsoever in talking to someone like myself. You have so many friends. Why do you even bother with me?”
Giorgi’s face grew strangely closed.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jordan.
The Muggle hesitated. “You know,” she said, “you told me your secret, so I figure it’s only fair that I tell you mine.” She laughed nervously. “I mean, it’s not like a really big secret… I’m not, like, a witch or a famous footballer or a mutant like you or anything. It’s just… I’ve been… making up some stuff in my emails.”
Jordan’s eyebrows furrowed. “So was I,” he prompted. “As you know. What kinds of things did you fabricate, exactly?”
“For a start,” said Giorgi in a high-pitched voice, biting her lip, “everything I ever said about my friends. I… I actually haven’t made any new friends at all. I try to be friendly and everything, but I guess cliques have already been formed. I told you about all of my friends and all of the things that we did… well, either I did them all by myself, or other kids did them with their friends. I guess I was trying to seem, I don’t know, cooler to you. You have lots of friends, you’re smart, you’re freakishly talented, you’re even kind of cute ”don’t get any ideas here”and I’m just the weird new girl, and nobody wants to make friends with the weird new girl.”
Jordan folded his arms across his chest sternly. “Well, quite frankly, I’m offended,” he told her.
“Huh?”
“I haven’t any friends at all? Nobody wants to be friends with the weird new girl? What am I, chopped mandrake?” he asked. “Giorgi, why on earth would you try to seem ‘cooler’ so that I’d be your friend? I’m as weird as they come. You said it yourself, I’m a freak of nature. And everyone else who was here tonight seemed to like you.”
Giorgi’s expression brightened. “Really?”
Jordan nodded. “Obviously”Haley seems to think you’re one of the coolest things to ever walk the earth, and Marina herself said she was jealous of you. I can tell Ted’s impressed by how brave you are and how fast you’re adjusting to magic, and I’m sure everyone else feels the same way. You’re always welcome to come over to my house; there’s usually at least two guests over at any given time anyway.”
Giorgi grinned. “So you don’t think I’m lame?” she asked.
“No, you definitely make things interesting,” said Jordan, smiling slightly.
Giorgi’s grin widened. “So do you,” she said. “Before I met you, the most interesting thing that ever happened to me was when I lived in New York, and there was this old weird guy named Bob who had about four teeth and worked at 7-11. And one day, he set the place on fire and ripped off his clothes and started dancing on the roof, giggling and screaming, ‘Yeehaw! I can shmell dem Shlurpees burnin’!’”
Jordan had absolutely nothing to say in response to this. Secretly, he couldn’t help but think that this was rather more interesting than anything that had ever happened to him.
Just then, Jordan’s father appeared behind them. “Jordan, can I have a word with you in private?” he asked.
“I can sit here and plug my ears and hum really loud?” volunteered Giorgi.
“That’s okay,” Harry laughed, and he pulled his son off toward the back of the stage. “Jordan,” he said seriously, “Your friend Giorgi, the Muggle… it’s time for the Obliviators to wipe her memory before we take her home.”
“What?” exclaimed Jordan. “No! You can’t wipe Giorgi’s memory! She’s been as helpful as anyone else, and she has the right to know what she did to help save the magical world!” He was getting worked up, his usually low and flat voice rising.
“But you’re doing what Apple was trying to. You’re telling Muggles about magic,” Harry argued.
Jordan’s face grew hard and determined, and he regained the strange confident expression he’d worn earlier, the expression that made him look so much older than sixteen. “Dad, do you even know me at all? Quite honestly, I’m astonished. Don’t you know that I do everything for a logical reason? Unlike you and Haley, I actually think before I act, and it wasn’t a mistake that I told Giorgi about magic. Even if someone overheard us talking about magic or Giorgi accidentally mentioned it, no one would believe her. She’s a teenager. They’d assume she was talking about some film or video game, or that she was just completely insane. I can’t just hide from her as long as I know her that I am magic. Magic is important to me, and I can’t keep that big a part of me from her.”
Harry considered this. “You know,” he said slowly, “You may be right.”
“I tend to be,” Jordan said seriously, and he wasn’t bragging.
Harry was silent for a moment and wiped a trickle of blood from Jordan’s eyebrow with his thumb, as though his son was an infant again and had drool running from his mouth. Then, the Head Auror stood. “I’ll go tell the Obliviators that we won’t be needing them, then.” He turned to go, then stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Jordan”what you and your friends did today… I’m very proud of you.”
Jordan understood. He felt proud, too.