How to Fall in Love with Life

I sat in the great hall after my last exam of the year slowly sipping a glass of water. I knew I should eat as much as I could given that I would soon find myself wishing for meals that would never come, but my stomach was a nauseous mess thinking about the summer. They say that magic is mostly intention and I had spent my entire year focusing every bit of it that I could spare on the summer dooming on the horizon. The end of the year had come despite how much I had tried to stop it. Damn. I really hated summers which for a kid my age I could tell was weird but in my defense my relatives sucked. My uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia had never been kind to me (quite awful more often than not) and I wasn’t expecting them to suddenly grow a conscience this summer.

Dumbledore stood up and started giving his farewell speech which I tuned out as I startled at the fact that I had spent the entire dinner lost in my thoughts and had forgotten to eat. I sighed and turned to look at him but a sudden puff of smoke in front of me drew my attention. The smoke disappeared revealing a note from professor Dumbledore. He often sent notes this way when he wanted to meet with me. Every time I meet with him I somehow end up worse than when I went in and the excited gleam in his eyes told me today would be no different. Double damn. I took a deep breath and exited the great hall along with everyone else. Hermione and Ron gave me knowing looks as we parted ways. I walked up to Dumbledore’s office but hesitated at the door. He somehow knew I was there anyway and yelled at me from inside to come in.

Beside Dumbledore was a kid who looked to be maybe 10 or 11. He was not much shorter than I was which wasn’t surprising considering I was incredibly short for my age. I guess not getting proper nutrition will do that to you. He had sandy blond hair and his pale skin was decorated with freckles. His light blue eyes seemed were filled with anxiety as he looked at me. I looked over at Dumbledore, the question clear on my face. Who is this kid and what does he have to do with me?

“Thank you for coming Miss Potter. I would like to introduce you to young Mr. Thompson. He is going to be a new student here at Hogwarts next semester and will be staying with you this summer to get accustomed to this new environment. He is a transfer student from the US and I felt there would be no one better to help him settle into the British Wizarding Society than you.” Dumbledore said, pushing the younger boy towards me. I couldn’t help the confused and outraged look that flashed on my face as he said this. I could tell this frightened the younger boy but I didn’t care. He couldn’t do this! I was stuck with my awful relatives because we were related and there was no where else for me to go. This kid, however, I am sure could go elsewhere. He didn’t need to be stuck with them for the summer.

“Absolutely not” I answered. Before Dumbledore could get a word in I cut him off, “Find somewhere else, anywhere else.”

“My girl” he responded making me grind my teeth, “He has no where else to stay and giving him a place to get settled is the right thing to do. You wouldn’t let him fend for himself until school started, would you?”

“My relatives don’t like magic, what makes you think they are going to want him too.” I felt my throat tightening, best leave it at that. “If you really want me to get him settled and take care of him then I’ll rent a spot in Diagon Alley and we can spend the summer there.” I continued. This was a game of chess and even if I didn’t win I still wanted to walk away with something.

“Amira, my girl, you know its much too dangerous for you to be away from your relatives for too long. The protections your mother put in place keep you safe. I am sure your relatives love you and you will see it once you get over this teenage angst. Besides, I can’t condone two children living alone unsupervised for months at a time.” He answered condescendingly.

“Fine, whatever. But I still don’t understand why he needs to come with me. I was raised as a muggle so I am still figuring stuff out about the wizarding world.” At this, the boy’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly. “He would be better off with another family who knows the wizarding world better than I do, like the Weasleys.” I responded.

“It is precisely because you were raised as a muggle that I would like for him to stay with you. He needs the perspective of someone who was raised outside of our
world to better show him what is important. Besides neither of you will be able to do magic outside of Hogwarts so it will not matter anyway.” He countered. I figured he wouldn’t allow me to leave my relatives for the summer nor would be let this kid go somewhere else. His mind was made up but asking for this “unreasonable” request makes the next one seem more reasonable. Here goes nothing.

“Fine, whatever” at this the boy seemed to resign himself to his fate while Dumbledore lit up with joy.

“But,” I added, “we are going to need to go to Diagon Alley to get things for him. I remember how much I struggled with things like learning to write with a quill and I am sure it would be beneficial for him to have some practice with some of those things before he starts the next school year.”

“Not to worry my girl, you will both have plenty of time to get supplies before the next school year when you get your lists. If you need anything else then you know you are always welcome to send me an letter with your owl and I will make sure you get it.” He said cheerfully.

“But -” I started before he abruptly cut me off.

“Now that all that is settled, let me get the floo powder and we will floo to Mrs. Figg’s house.” He lightly pushed us in the direction of the fireplace. The boy and I glanced at each other briefly before going in the fireplace and flooing to Mrs. Figg’s house. After we had arrived, Dumbledore dragged us both to my relatives house. As always, my uncle was most unhappy to see me but I assume he did appreciate that he didn’t have to drive all the way to the train station in the middle of London to pick up not one but two freaks. Dumbledore and my uncle exchanged words while I led the boy upstairs to my room. I set my stuff down and quickly took out my wand, cloak, and my bottomless bag. I always pack up early out of habit and I am thankful that I did so yesterday. I got a bottomless bag last year at Diagon Alley and it has been one of the best purchases that I have made so far. I figured out last year that I could stuff it with tons of non perishable food and a eternally refilling water bottle, not to mention various potions for injuries and illnesses. This would hold me out for the worst of the summer, but I had only packed it with one person in mind. Regardless, anything was better than nothing. I hid my things by lifting up a loose floorboard beneath my bed as quickly as I could. I turned to the boy and whispered to him desperately.

“Do not say a single thing about what i just took out and hid. I will explain later but please, please don’t say anything. I need you to trust me until I can explain or else we are both going to have a really bad summer.” The boy looked at me a bit confused but nodded slowly. As soon as he finished nodding, I heard my uncles’ heavy footsteps up the stairs. I took a deep breath and turned around to face the door, placing myself in front of the kid. I may only be 14 but I was older and this kid certainly didn’t deserve any of what was about to happen. I took one last look at the kid and made myself a promise that I would do whatever I could to keep him safe. I might not be able to do that for myself but I could do that for him. Besides, 1 person hurt is better than 2 and he shouldn’t have to deal with my family.
My uncle slammed the door open with an already angry face. He pointed at me and shouted,

“Listen to me hear girl. I am not going to tolerate any funny business this year. The old man promised me extra money to take care of the other one but one wrong move and I will send you both out to the streets and we’ll see how you fare.” I nodded quickly before he started again.

“Get your freaky things in the cupboard and then come back to your room. I don’t want to deal with you tonight girl but make no mistake I will if I have to.” He said sending a shiver down my spine. I grabbed my things and quickly put them in the cupboard which he then locked. I quickly and quietly made my way up the stairs back to where the boy was and closed the door to my room. The boy started to speak but I cut him off by putting my fingers to my lips and shushing him. I motioned toward the door which we then heard my uncle lock before walking away. I stared at the door for a little longer before turning to the boy who seemed to be brimming with questions. I sighed and tilted my head to my bed at the corner of the room. We both sat on my bed and the boy looked at me expectantly.

“Listen kid -”

“Milo” He cut me off.

“Listen Milo,” I corrected, “I know you must have a ton of questions and I swear I would answer then if I could but -”

“He spelled you too, didn’t he?” Milo asked cutting me off again. I looked at Milo cautiously and nodded.

“Yes he did. I can’t tell anyone about any of this unless they already know.” I answered.

“I can’t tell anyone anything I know about the place where I am from unless they already know it” He responded. We both nodded to each other in understanding.

“I can’t tell anyone but the spell never said anything about someone else guessing things. I bet you we could give each other hints and maybe we can figure out some of each other’s things?” He said. I thought about it for a minute. It should technically work but then again the intention of the spell was to prevent us from telling each other or anyone else about our lives. Then again, Dumbledore likely didn’t plan on us playing charades to figure things out so it ight work. We would just have to be patient and quiet. I nodded slowly.

“Ok ok, um, what are the first three letters in the word navigation?” He asked

“N, A, V” I answered confused.

“Ok um, what are the first three letters in the word arachnid?”

“A, R, A” I said, still confused.

“What’s the first letter in the word how?

“H” I responded.

“Ok so what does that spell?” He asked me expectantly.

“h-har-aravan?” I said incredibly confused. He looked at me like I was an idiot. I probably was.

“No.” he deadpanned “The other way around Amira”

“Nav-Nava-Navarah?” He nodded excitedly

“What the hell is a Navarah?” His face fell when I asked him.

“You don’t know about Navarah?” He asked

“No, sorry.” I responded seeing his face fall. He scrunched his nose in thought before making an open triangle with his hands and put it over his head.

“A house!” I said and he nodded excitedly. “Your house is named Navarah!” I whispered excitedly He looked at my funny and shook his head. Ok not his house?
Ohhhhh wait a minute, its not his house that’s named that its where his house is.

“Your house is in Navarah?” I tried and he nodded very excited. Ok good, now I just needed to figure out how to get him there. Dumbledore said he was from the states and I could have sworn there was a state that sounded like that. Nevarah? Navara? Navadah? Something like that.

“Ok I am guessing you would like to go back home?” I asked and he nodded once more excited. “I am not sure where in the US Navarah is but I bet you if we got you to the airport we could get you to the states. The magical community there might be able to help you from there?” I asked cautiously. Milo shook his head getting exasperated, I was wrong again. Suddenly, Milo lit up like he had an idea and looked at me expectantly.

“Do you have a paper and something to write with?” He asked.

“Yea give me a second.” I said crawling back under my bed. I pried up the loose floorboard and quietly took out some spare parchment paper and a never-ending quill I had gotten for Christmas last year. I handed them back to Milo before putting the floorboard back in place. I saw Milo ripping the paper in half. On one half he drew a map of the world with most of the continents (he was missing Australia but I didn’t say anything), on the other he drew odd shapes. It then occurred to me that he must be drawing his home. Perhaps there were continents that were spelled to be hidden from muggles but it seemed odd to me that I had never even heard of them despite being in the wizarding world for 4 years already. I frowned at the realization that even though I had made the best effort to learn about the magical community I was still honestly at a loss most of the time and it was incredibly disheartening. Milo looked up at me seemingly done with the drawing.

“This is Earth” he said pointing to the half with the map I recognized. He the motioned to the other half and said “and his is Navarah”.

“I am not sure I follow. Is Navarah on a continent hidden from muggles?” I asked. Milo shook his head while placing one page on top of the other.

“I don’t recognize any of the continents. Where on Earth is it?” As I was saying this I realized what Milo had been trying to tell me. Navarah wasn’t on Earth. But if it wasn’t on Earth how were we supposed to get there? I mean I had apparated once but it was accidental magic and I can’t recall ever being able to do it again.

“It’s not on Earth is it?” I asked already knowing the answer. Milo shook his head.

“Ok not on Earth. Great.” I said trying to keep the panic out of my voice. How I was supposed to get this kid back to his home not on Earth was still a mystery to me.

“Listen, I don’t want to shoot your hopes down but I am not sure I can get you somewhere that is not on Earth. I have never been to space nor do I know anyone-” Milo cut me off by poking a hole through both sheets of paper with the quill.

“The fastest space between two points isn’t a straight line. Its through both points.” He said motioning the quill going through the holes he made through the papers. This sounded familiar. I remember reading in one of the old books at my elementary school’s library about something called wormholes. Perhaps this is how he ended up here, and regardless of what they were called, the easiest way to get him back would be to let him go the way he came in the first place.

“Ok yea, I think that makes sense. How do we do that?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Milo answered. “Usually my necklace is charmed to take me back home when I press the center of it but it won’t work for some reason.”

“May I see your necklace” I asked. I gently held the charm at the base of the necklace in order to prevent me from accidentally choking Milo. It looked like a small dragon curled around a white gem. The gem seemed to have flashes of light blue in it reflected inside, it was beautiful. I noticed however, that there was something dark attached to it. It felt similar to the way many objects in Knockturn Alley. Bill might know what it was but I couldn't trust him. There were too many things that didn’t add up with the Weasleys and at the moment I didn’t know if it was coincidence or something else. If I couldn’t trust the Weasleys then I could bet I couldn’t trust Hermione. The thought stung but I couldn’t make the mistake of trusting someone and then this kid getting hurt because of it. I don’t think I could live with myself if I did.

“I am not sure what is wrong with your necklace, we would have to find someone who does. The problem is I am not sure who to trust. Do you know anyone here on Earth that we can trust?” I said not really expecting much of an answer.

“Yes! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before Thank you!” He said excitedly.

“Shhhhh quiet down. We can’t make too much noise.” I said. I winced as I heard footsteps coming in the direction of my door.

“Shit. Hide under the bed and do not come out until I tell you to. Do not open the door, do not go downstairs. Stay hidden until I tell you it’s fine to come out.” I hissed at Milo. He hesitated before darting under my bed. I pulled the sheets down on the side to help hide him better then I went to the door. Just as I arrived the door slammed open. My uncle stood on the other side fuming and a new shade of purple I had yet to see. He smelled of alcohol which was not a good sign. I took a deep breath and stepped outside closing the door behind me.

My uncle threw me back into the room locking all of the locks on the outside of the door.

“Don’t let me hear you again girl. Decent people are trying to sleep and they don’t need a racket from freaks like you.” My uncle yelled through the door before waddling off to bed I presume. I stayed on the ground listening to his footsteps retreat away, signaling I was safe. I did a quick check head to toe to see what was damaged. My face seemed relatively undamaged for once but I could tell my ribs were at best badly bruised. Both my arms and legs would be covered in purple come morning. Could be better, could be worse. I slowly sat up and whispered at Milo to come out. He came out slowly, very afraid and I could tell he had been crying.

“I’m sorry. I’m really really sorry. I didn’t mean to yell I was just excited and I didn’t realize and-”

“Milo slow down. Take a deep breath. You did nothing wrong, you are fine. I’m fine too.” I said extending my arms out for a hug. Milo crashed into me making me wince but he thankfully didn’t notice.

“But I heard loud noises downstairs and I thought-”

“Milo breathe. I am not sure what it sounded like to you but I am fine, don’t worry. Yes, my uncle is angry that we woke him up but he will get over it. We just need to be more quiet from now on, ok?” I asked and Milo nodded silently. Milo cried for a little longer while I hugged him.

“Feeling better?” I asked

“Yea” Milo said.

“Listen I wouldn’t normally ask because I assume it is waay past your bedtime and it’s been a long day, but I need to know. Before I left the room you said you might know someone here on Earth who we could trust and might be able to get you back home.”

“My mom made me memorize all of the nobles and the emissaries on all the realms. I thought it was stupid but now I am glad she did. The emissary family on Earth are the Malfoys.” Malfoy, I remembered him. He and I got along poorly during my first and second year but half way through my second year his parents decided to pull him out. I assume it was because of the petrifications being caused by the basilisk but most people said he was going to be taught by tutors since his family was so rich.

“Ok. Let me send them a letter via owl and we will see what they say, yes?” I said sighing. Milo nodded. “Why don’t we get you to bed while I do that. We will see what they say in the morning, yes?”

“Ok” Milo said standing up and walking over to my bed. “There is only one bed. Where are you going to sleep?” Milo whispered.

“Don’t worry about it. Go to sleep in the bed because I have to write some letters. Besides, I won’t be getting much sleep tonight anyway. I have a few other things to take care of.” I answered. Milo didn’t seem to quite believe me (which was, in all fairness, the right instinct). The truth was that I didn’t have much to take care of but I knew that he wouldn’t go to sleep on the bed unless I said that. Besides, I never have had much of a problem sleeping on the ground. I slept in the cupboard under the stairs for most of my life so it was nothing new to me. Milo curled up on the bed and quickly fell asleep. He was probably exhausted which was no surprise to me given the day he had just had. I quietly took out some more parchment from under the bed and began writing the letter.

Hello,

I am aware that the last time I saw you we did not leave on the best of terms and so you may be inclined to throw away my letter but I beg of you to read it to the end. Earlier today I met a young boy named Milo Thompson (although if I had to guess that is not his real name). He is currently staying with me under the request of headmaster Dumbledor. This request seemed odd to me and paired with Milo’s nervous nature I decided to ask him some questions. It has become clear to me that he is not supposed to be here and was taken from his family in Navarah. He said that his mother made him learn the names of all the Naveran royalty as well as all of the emissaries on other realms which led him to tell me your name. I have no way of getting him back to his family and I want him to return as quickly as possible as I am sure his family is beyond worried. If you would be so kind as to advise me on how to proceed, I would be in your debt. As it stands now, we are unable to leave to meet you anywhere, and would find it incredibly difficult to get to the nearest wizarding area to us. I understand that this may seem like a joke but I swear on my life that it is not. I am not sure who else to trust with this matter and I hope that Milo is right about you. If you are willing to help him, send the message back with Hedwig (she know how to get in and out without being seen which I assume would be best). I apologize in advance for disturbing your summer but I hope the train ride was uneventful.

Regards,
Amira Potter

I wrapped up the letter sealing it with a loose string I found and gave the letter to Hedwig. I looked at Hedwig and told her to take this to Draco Malfoy.

“If he is not around, take it to any member of the Malfoy family that is on Earth. In the case you don’t find anyone, just come back.” She gave my a soft trill and flew away into the night. I sighed watching her go wishing I could fly away with her. By the time I was done, Milo was fast asleep, I could tell from the change in his breathing. I smiled softly before prying up another loose floorboard near the back corner of the room. I took out my secret stash of bandages and began wrapping up my ribs slowly in the hopes of keeping them in place or at least protected while they healed. Once I was done I sat near the door so that I could hear my relatives if any of them woke up.