Chapter Two

Marie opened her eyes. She was still clasped in Jason’s embrace. She knew that much as she was all too aware of his chest heaving and his rapid heart beat. He had his head snuggled into her shoulder and was holding her so tightly she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. She could smell freshly laundered cotton and Lynx shower gel. Hang on, where was the smell of burning? She cautiously flexed her arms that were wrapped around him. No, no pain. Although she felt she could quite happily stay forever wrapped up in Jason’s wonderfully safe embrace she knew they had to find out what exactly had happened and if anyone else had been hurt. She’d heard of lightening hitting buildings before but it was usually earthed into the building itself and never had she heard of green lightening. Cautiously she pulled away from Jason causing him to open his eyes and move his head up a little to look at her.

“What the fuck just happened?” he growled into her bushy blond hair.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea.” Marie replied as he let her go, rubbing the skin on his arms, a puzzled look on his face as to why they weren’t all black and blistered.

The room was illuminated by a full moon outside allowing them to see each other and to make out shapes and objects.

“Hang on, let me see if my sewing machine light will work.” Marie muttered moving over to where her sewing desk was.

She swore as she bumped into something that shouldn’t be there.
She felt around the edges and discovered what felt like a school desk. The moon decided it was a perfect time to go and hide behind a cloud, plunging them back into darkness.

“Fuck!” Jason swore as he stubbed his toe on some immovable heavy object.

Marie could feel a slight panic building and forced herself to calm down. Ever since she was little she’d hated the dark and now was no exception. She could hear Jason hopping around trying to shake away the pain in his toe. She took a deep breath and made for where she knew the light switch was. Fortune was on her side as she didn’t bump into anything and the moon came out from behind it’s cloak of cloud, illuminating the very wall she was heading for. She stopped dead and stared in shock. There was no light switch. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the moonlight and she looked around the room in dread. All her costumes were gone, the desks she’d had brought in were also gone and in their place were rows of school desks; old fashioned school desks with inkwells.

She turned to look at Jason who was staring at a painting on the wall with a fascinated horror on his face.

“What?” she asked, trying desperately to keep the tremble out of her voice.

“That…that…that…that painting just moved! Tell me you saw it move! Oh god I think I’m going mad.” he clutched his head, reeling backwards until he rested against a desk.

A vague and indefinable pit of dread opened in Marie’s stomach as she peered in the gloom at the painting. It seemed to be of a man asleep in a chair. Nervously, feeling very much like a character in a horror movie, she moved closer to it, focused intently on the man in the chair.

“Stop staring! Don’t you know it’s rude to stare.” the man said, irritated.

Marie’s nerve broke and screaming she wrenched open the heavy door, letting in light from the corridor outside, only to stop dead in her tracks. Jason, already unnerved by the room had followed her at breakneck speed only to crash into the back of her.

Wordlessly she turned to look at him a look of complete and utter bewilderment across her face. Jason looked from her to what lay in the corridor. A man stood before them, dressed in robes of dazzling jewel like colours. He wore a long pointed hat and half moon glasses, over with he peered at them with dazzlingly blue eyes. He tugged habitually on his beard as he looked at them.

“Good evening my name is Albus Dumbledore. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

Marie gave a little moan and fainted dead away , causing Jason to stumble catching her.