Harry Potter and the Ones to Finish It

Chapter One

Overdue

'Emma, you still have seven overdue books! Do you have any idea where they are? EMMA!'

'Ha-ha...huh?' said Emma, looking up from the story Jess had just passed her.

'Library books,' muttered Jess under her breath, smuggling her buffer away.

'Oh, sure, yeah, sorry Miss, I'll get them as soon as I can,' Emma said earnestly.

'Smooth Mz,' whispered Lina.

BRRRRRRIIINNNNGGGG!

The three girls picked up their school bags and headed outside.

'Angel meerkats?' said Emma with raised eyebrows, waving the story under Jess's nose.

'Well, where do you think meerkats go when they die?' said Jess sincerely, grinning.

'Goddamn science was boring today, but you did a good job on my nails, Jess,' said Lina. 'Can we go to the supermark....ahhhhh!!!!!!'

Lina dived to the ground as a huge bird flew right at her face then disappeared again over the top of the nearest building.

'What the hell?' she groaned, standing up and frowning miserably at her wet uniform. It had been raining and there were puddles.

'It dropped something,' said Jess, bending down and picking up three, slightly soggy envelopes.

Emma raised her eyebrow.

'Owls are delivering letters these days?' she said, 'that's way too Harry Potterish for me...'

'Whoa freaky...' said Jess, reading the envelopes.

'You wanna maybe...I dunno, tell us what's happening!?' said Lina, after a minute of watching Jess stare open mouthed at the envelopes.

Jess handed them each an envelope.

'Miss Lina Chan, the Big Tree outside the Student Office, Wellington Girl's College, Wellington, New Zealand,' Read Lina aloud. 'Ok, that's creepy!'

Emma had already opened her envelope.

'Guys, this is just a stupid joke!' she said, 'I've got a Hogwarts welcome letter.'

'And a booklist...' said Jess, looking over Emma's shoulder,

'Who would go to all that trouble...I mean, the owl?!' said Emma looking down at her letter, 'HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY,' she read. 'Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore, order of Merlin first class...blah blah blah.'

'Get to the proper part!' said Jess impatiently, ripping open her own envelope

Emma read on.

'Dear Miss Clare, We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...Who would believe this?'

'Mine's the same,' said Jess, skimming her letter. 'Normally students are sent these letters at the age of 11, but your talent, and that of your two friends was recognised only recently after a certain event I am sure you will remember. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on the First of September. We await your owl by no later than the Thirty-First of July... HAHA yea OK!'

Lina stared at her letter, frowning.

'Come on, let's go, we'll miss the bus,' said Emma. They all stuffed the letters into their bags and hurried down to the bus stop.

Chapter Two

Finding out

Later that day Jess, Lina and Emma went for a walk to the dairy for lollies. It was the middle of July and a cold wind blew meaning the girls had to wear their warmest clothes.

'It's actually disgusting though,' said Jess. 'I didn't think it was possible for someone to have that many pimples!'

'What if they're real?' said Lina, who had been oddly quiet all afternoon.

'The pimples? I'm pretty sure they are...' said Emma through her balaclava. 'Not the pimples, dumbass, the letters.'

Jess and Emma stared at her.

'Well, I guess they COULD...' said Emma.

'They look so authentic,' interrupted Lina. 'They are exactly as they were described in the book.' She paused as she noticed the look on her friend's faces. 'Guys, I'm not suggesting we pack our suitcases and get on a plane for England, I just think we should maybe, treat this a little more seriously.'

They walked along in silence for a few minutes, and then finally Emma remembered something.

'In the letters...it said our "talent" was only discovered after an event we are supposed to remember. I can't think of an event.'

'Me neither,' said Jess.

'Isn't it obvious guys?' said Lina. Jess and Emma stared at her. 'You remember last weekend when we went shopping.'

'Yeah,' said Jess.

'That's the event.'

'What happened that day that exposed our "talent"?' said Emma

'Ok, firstly, stop doing the "" thing when you say talent. It was when that guy came over to us at the bus stop.'

'Eww, he was creepy,' said Jess, shuddering.

'Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had every intention of mugging us...or something worse, but then as he crept up...I dunno, I felt something, and suddenly I knew he was there.'

'Yeah, I knew as well, but that was because his shoe made a farty noise, Linz...' said Emma.

'That was MY shoe,' said Jess.

'The feeling stayed for a long time after we whipped his ass,' said Lina. 'I think that must have been it.'

The next day was Saturday. Netball was cancelled because of heavy rain, and so Emma and Jess went over to Lina's house to eat. They sat around the fire laughing, and unsurprisingly the subject of the letters came up.

'I believe you, Lina, I think they're real,' said Emma seriously. 'Last night, I went up to my room and my letter was sitting on my bed. No-one knew where I'd hidden it, and I didn't move it there...'

'Oh my god, the same thing happened to me!' said Jess, shoving a handful of M&Ms into her mouth.

'Me too,' said Lina.

'I thought Alan had done it...'

'I reckon it's because it's almost the thirty-first of July,' said Emma. 'The letters must be charmed to remind us to reply.'

Lina got up and went into her room, returning shortly afterwards holding her letter.

'So we're going to reply then?' asked Jess.

'What have we got to lose?' said Lina

'Well, if this is a joke we're going to look pretty stupid,' said Jess.

'If this isn't a joke, we're going to miss out on something pretty amazing,' replied Lina convincingly. She pulled out a pen and sheet of paper. 'What do we say?'

For the next hour the girls jointly wrote the letter. When it was finished Lina read out what they had written.

'To Ms McGonagall, if this is in fact a legitimate offer, we would be very happy to attend Hogwarts. However there are some details we are concerned about. The first problem is how we would get to the school. If we are correct, it is in England, which is a long way from here. The second problem is money. We have some, but after it is converted to pounds, it becomes substantially less and would not cover the costs of the books and equipment. Our other concern is that we are now fifteen and sixteen, and would find it difficult learning with eleven year olds.

Please write back,

Jessica, Lina and Emma.'

'Good,' said Emma. 'But, how are we going to send it?'

'I want it to say Jess, not Jessica,' Jess pointed out.

Lina bent down to change the name.

'What the hell?' she said. 'Where did it go?'

The girls looked down at a blank piece of paper. Suddenly words appeared in small linked green lettering.

Dear Jess, Lina and Emma,

This is indeed a legitimate offer, and I am glad to hear you want to attend Hogwarts. As for your concerns, resolves have been thoroughly planned by none other than the Headmaster himself, who is very excited about meeting you all.

A port key will be at Burbank Park on the twentieth of August at 6.30pm. This will transport you to the Leaky Cauldron in London, and someone from the school will be waiting for you at there. This should give you sufficient time to purchase all your books and equipment before the start of term and become more familiar with the magical community. Costs of accommodation will be taken care of, and each of you will receive 1500 galleons to last you through the next three years. You will start Hogwarts at Year five; do not worry about the details of that now.

Yours sincerely

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress.

'Ok, now I definitely believe it,' said Jess, staring wide-eyed at the paper as the green writing faded away.

'Wow, 1500 galleons,' said Lina. 'That's a lot!'

'Guys...' said Emma, 'do you realise this would mean saying goodbye to everyone here? What are we going to tell them? "Hey guess what? We're off to wizard school!"?'

'That's a good point,' said Lina.

'Let's just deal with that closer to the time.'

'Alright,'

There was silence for a few minutes as the girls sat pensively eating corn chips.

'Does this mean that everyone in the books actually exists?' wondered Jess finally.

'I guess so...' said Lina

'But they can't be the age they are in the books now,' reasoned Emma, 'I mean, the first book was released in 1997 or something, and last year Harry was still only fifteen. It all must have happened a long time ago.'

'How could Joanne Rowling get away with releasing them?' said Jess. 'Somehow I doubt the wizard community would let her,' said Lina.

'This is all so weird!' said Emma reaching for the iced animal biscuits. 'A few days ago this was all just a story.'

'I think we need to make a list of questions to ask whoever meets us at the Leaky Cauldron,' suggested Lina.

'Yeah, good idea,' screamed Jess.

So for the rest of the day the girls each came up with a list of questions. When they had all done their own they made a good copy, which was still one and a half pages long even without some questions being asked three times.

'Mz, do you really need to know if Snape is hot in person?' asked Lina.

'Well...no I guess not,' said Emma. Lina crossed it off the list. After cutting out all the not as important questions they were left with fifteen things they absolutely had to ask.

'So we're going?' said Jess quietly.

'I guess so,' said Lina.

Emma nodded.