Me and Harry Potter

I stepped off the train and a beautiful site met my eyes. I was in Lucca, Italy, and in front of me were old buildings and street-side markets. Way in the distance, beyond the city walls was the Mediterranean Sea. I sighed. "This is so beautiful," I said as got out my camera and snapped a picture of it.

"Hey, Mallory! What are you doing?" my mom called. She, my dad, my grandmother and my brothers were already halfway up the street.

"Sorry," I called as I ran to catch up. My dad was climbing into a taxi as I finally caught up. I hopped in the back next to my ten-year-old brother, Tommy and the taxi drove off.

It was about fifteen minutes to our rented house, right outside the wall of Lucca. It was large, with five bedrooms and off-white paint on the outside. There was another car parked out front, a turquoise Ford Anglia.

"Is that Hugo's car?" Mom asked Dad. Hugo was the man we had rented the house from.

"No, I don't think so," Dad answered as he paid the driver. We piled out of the taxi and grabbed our luggage from the trunk. Mom, Dad and Grandma Sue walked up to the front door, while Tommy, Joe (my fourteen-year-old brother) and I walked around the front yard. We could barely see the ocean in the distance, but we could smell it.

"Kids, come inside!" Dad called. "There seems to be some sort of problem that we need to discuss."

Tommy, Joe and I raced inside to see a group of about six people standing in the kitchen. My mom and dad were standing with their arms folded, glaring at a man I recognized as Hugo. He looked apologetically at my parents and grandmother, and the other couple in the room. The woman was slightly dumpy, the man tall and skinny, and both with red hair.

"There seems to be a problem here," Dad told me. "Apparently, Hugo's wife rented the house out to these people for the same time we're here. They also have four kids with them."

"That's not good," I said. I put my backpack down. "We're gonna get the house, though, right?"

"Well, we're not sure. Because this couple paid for it," Mom said.

I took a closer look at the red haired couple. They were slightly familiar. "I think I know them," I said quietly.

I left the room to explore the house further. I didn't get very far when my mom called me back in the room. This time, four more teenagers were in the room with us. One of the boys had messy black hair and glasses, the other boy had red hair. One of the girls had bushy brown hair and the other had red hair. I assumed the redheads were all related.

"We've decided that this house is big enough for all of us," Mom said. "So we're all going to stay here. You're going to share a room with these two here." She indicated the girl with bushy brown hair and the girl with red hair. "Is that OK?"

"Yeah, fine with me," I said. "As long as I get my own bed."

Mom smiled. "All right. Now go introduce yourself." She gave me a slight shove and I headed over to the two girls. "Hi," I said. "My name's Mallory, and I guess I'm your roommate for the next five days."

"Hi," said the girl with brown hair. She had a crisp British accent. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"And I'm Ginny Weasley," said the red-haired girl. "Let's go choose our room before Harry and Ron get the good one."

I stared open mouthed as we began climbing the stairs. How can it be? I asked myself. Harry Potter is just a book...