Two of a Kind

Chapter Five = The Letter

Natalie's PoV

Natalie McDonald was sitting in the middle of her backyard, singing quietly to herself. Dressed in a soft pink sweater and light blue jeans, she had aged quite bit in the last four years. She had grown six inches, her hair had grown to reach her shoulders, and she only had a little baby fat. Her face, however, had not lost its softness. Looking at Natalie's face was like looking at a marshmallow. It was calm and happy, young and pretty.

"Natalie!" a male voice called from inside her house. She stopped singing and paused to listen for more. "Can you come in here and put away your clothes?"

Grumbling, Natalie obediently stood up and walked inside the house, shutting the screen door behind her. Her mother and father were bellowing at each other in the center of the room, but she was used to it. She wove her way through the tiny kitchen and down the narrow hallway that led to her bedroom. A small pile of her clothes was on her bed and, sighing, she shoved them into her tiny blue dresser.

A few seconds later, her mum entered the room, gazing around. "Are you ready to to the Finnigan's?" she asked brightly, biting her lip nervously.

"Do I have to?" Natalie asked dully, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Yes," her mother responded testily, "yes, you do."

"Why?" said Natalie, crossing her arms and sticking out her bottom lip in the form of a pout. This face always worked on her father, but it hardly worked with her mother. This time was no different; her mother raised her eyebrows.

"Why not? Seamus Finnigan used to be your best friend. I do not understand what happened between the both of you, but today is the last day you're going to see him until Christmas. He's received his Hogwarts letter." She walked out of the room.

Natalie pouted a little more. It was unfair; why should that git of a boy be able to go to Hogwarts and she couldn't? "Because he's older," she said, rolling her eyes and looking at her uncanny expressions of him in the mirror. "'I'm older than you'," she mocked him, "'so you have to do what I say.' 'Hello, midget'. Seamus this, Seamus that!"

Natalie defiantly stuck her tongue out at the mirror and then clucked it against her teeth. She smiled mischieviously and ran to her closet, searching for her Secret Box. Her Secret Box was a small case of things she hid from her parents. Inside was a Zonko's catalog, all the Zonko's products she had ever bought, a small stash of sugar quills, and her nightlight. Once she found the box, she opened it eagerly and pulled out her Zonko's catalog that her uncle had given her the last time she had visited. Her parents disapproved of practical jokes, but Natalie lived for them.

And boy would she make Seamus' departure for Hogwarts a day to remember.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Seamus had his mouth open in disbelief. "Mum, you're not making her come are you?" he groaned.

Sara Finnigan looked at her son and tutted. "She used to be your best friend Seamus! Whatever happened to you two anyway?"

But she knew the answer. They had grown up.

Seamus threw his hands in the air and stalked out of the kitchen, his Hogwarts letter still clutched in his hands. He went to his bedroom and looked out the window, but this only angered him even more because he was facing her window. For some odd reason, about a year ago, the McDonalds had moved next door, a fact that strained Seamus, because they came over almost every day. The grown ups would make him watch Natalie, who had taken to pulling practical jokes on him.

Seamus narrowed his eyes as he stared outside, and saw that she was staring at herself in the mirror, scrunching up her face and trying to imitate someone. He opened his window slightly and could hear her yell, "Seamus this, Seamus that!" She stuck her tongue out at the mirror. Seamus slammed his window shut.

He walked back out of his room and into the living room and picked up the telephone. "May I speak to Jack please?" he asked when Jack's grandmother picked up the telephone.

"Of course, sweetie," she answered in her deep voice and Seamus could hear her screeching for Jack.

A few moments later, Jack spoke into the phone. "How ya' doin' mate?" he asked cheerily into the phone.

A knot formed in Seamus' throat. "Is Annie over there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so. We were doing that summer reading project, but she got really upset cause I told her she looked like Raggedy Ann. Hold on there. Annie! Are you still here!"

"I'm in the basement!" she yelled back.

"Yeah, she's here. Why?"

"I need to talk to both of you. Don't go anywhere. I'm coming over."

"We ain't goin' nowhere," said Jack.

As Seamus walked over to Jack's house, he wondered how his friends would take the news that he was a wizard. He had never told them, even though they had witnessed some odd things that had happened when Seamus was around. Normally when Annie heard something unexpected, she'd blow up at you and then think about her actions later. Jack would stare at you with a blank look on his face, laugh, and then tell you what he thought straightaway.

Jack and Annie were swinging Annie's little brother Zeke around on a tire swing when Seamus arrived. Seamus just stared at them for a bit, musing over how things had changed over the years. They were all a little older, but Seamus had began to feel separated from the two of them somehow. He had asked his mum about this once, and she had told him that it was because he was a wizard. Being a wizard set you apart from everybody else.

Annie's long red hair was still unbelievably frizzy and tangled, and she still wore the little corduroy overalls that she had when she was six. She was a skinny girl, with a large head and an even larger personality. Jack was still himself; he kept everything under lock and key, had about eight pets and ran around in pink shirts.

But Seamus was confused about himself. Was he still the same? He looked down at his brown shirt, faded jeans, and his worn trainers. He still dressed the same. He looked the same, with his sandy hair and dark brown eyes, but he was a lot taller, towering over both Annie and Jack, and was more quiet. He wasn't shy, not by a long shot, but rather kept things to himself.

He didn't want Natalie MacDonald to have any part of his life, believing her to be annoying and a pest. He had liked having her follow him around, had liked the fact that she looked up to him, but not anymore.

Seamus nodded firmly. Yes, he was different.

"Annie! Jack!" he called, walking up to them, clearing his throat.

Anniw turned and grinned, waving him over. Jack smiled as well. Seamus felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips and he grinned too. Even though he was different, he would always remember that they had been his first best friends. "Hey, there! We thought you had been avoiding us," said Annie. "What's up?"

They stared avidly at him.

"I'm leaving to go to boarding school," Seamus said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Boarding school?" said Annie, eyes wide. "My sister, Ellen, went to boarding school too. She said it was dreadful!"

"I feel sorry for you, mate," said Jack sympathetically, helping Zeke from the swing.

"But it's not an ordinary boarding school," Seamus continued, his throat like sawdust. He saw Annie and Jack exchange a look. "You see, I'm a--a-I'm a--"

"You're a what?" demanded Annie.

"I'm a-well, a-it's kind of crazy, see--I'm a--"

"You want some water, or somethin'?" asked Jack.

"I'm a wizard!" blurted Seamus. "I can do magic!"

There was complete silence while Jack and Annie stared at him blankly. Finally Annie said, "Magic? Magic's not real."

"Yeah, it is," insisted Seamus.

"Well, let's see then," she challenged, eyes focused on Seamus as though she was studying a particularly difficult puzzle.

"I need a wand," Seamus said helplessly.

"You don't have one? If you don't have a wand, how could you possibly do magic? And if you can't do magic, how do you know you're a wizard?" she said quickly, looking a little bewildered.

Jack was still staring at Seamus blankly.

"Do you remember when Jack's ball got stuck on the roof that one time and no one could get it down?" said Seamus, after racking his brain for an explanation. "Well, when you went inside, I sort of willed it to come down..."

Annie's eyes widened even more. A look of dawining comprehension etched across Jack's face and his mouth opened. "So that's how you got it down! Well, that explains a lot, don't it?"

Annie's lips pursed a bit and she closed her eyes for a moment and said, "I believe you, Seamus. So you can do magic. It's a bit far fetched, I'll admit. But it's sort of like believing in God, isn't it? You have to have faith." She had gone a little white and the color was slowly returning to her cheeks. "What does this have to do with you going to boarding school?"

Seamus was so shocked that they hadn't yelled at him that he just stood rooted to the spot for a moment. Then he answered with feverish excitement, "It's for my magical training! It's also the best school in Britian, and I'll be there for the whole year, but I'll be back for Christmas, of course."

Annie looked reproachful. "That's an awfully long time," she said.

"I know," said Seamus, "but it'll be worth it, I tell you." He stuck his chin slightly in the air and his tone was one that dared them to disagree with him.

Jack spoke for the first time. "Blimey, that's cool," he said, scratching the top of his head. Then he looked at Seamus with an odd look and said, "But you always seemed so normal..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

When Natalie MacDonald rang the doorbell to Seamus' house about an hour later, she rang it five times until someone answered. Her mother swatted her hand, but Natalie did not take her hand from the door. Eventually, a girl with curly red hair answered the door and stared down at Natalie curiously.

She didn't say anything, but opened the door, allowing Natalie and her parents to walk in. Natalie's dad, John, was holding a tray of crackers and cheese for snacks and her mum Cindy was holding a present for Seamus. Natalie, too held a present, but she knew Seamus wouldn't like it.

"Seamus, there are other guests!" the redheaded girl called, as Natalie trumped up the stairs. She walked right past Seamus and into his kitchen, saying hello to his mum and dad. She set his present on the dining room table, then headed to the living room, where Seamus was now talking with the redheaded girl and a boy who had freckles and was wearing a pink shirt.

"I wanna' play a game," said the freckled boy.

"Okay," said Seamus, "do you want to play a wizarding game?" The boy and the girl nodded timidly.

"I want to play Exploding Snap!" Natalie said excitedly from the couch. Seamus and his friends looked at her, not realizing she had come in.

"You--you're a wizard too?" said the redheaded girl.

"I'm a witch," Natalie corrected her. "Who are you?" She asked this question rather bluntly, but, as she was only seven, did not know the meaning of the word 'blunt'.

"Annie Elizabeth McAllister," she said.

"I'm Jack," said the freckled boy.

"That's nice," Natalie said. "Ready for Exploding Snap?" Natalie then turned and walked down the hallway to Seamus' bedroom, Annie and Jack trailing her, Seamus telling her she had no right to go in his room. She opened the door, and flipped up Seamus' bedcovers to reveal an assortment of toys under his bed. Natalie grabbed the pack of Exploding Snap cards there and began to shuffle with great difficulty because her hands were too small.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Mum, she's going to pull a prank on me, I know it," said Seamus grumpily to his mother, throwing a dark look in Natalie's direction. She was sitting crosslegged on the tan carpet, explaining the rules of Exploding Snap to Jack and Annie. When she saw him glaring at her, she looked up and gave him a toothy grin.

He scowled and turned back to his mother. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts."

Sara Finnagan laughed. "Seamus, honey, Natalie's a sweet little angel! She's not going to play a prank on you."

Seamus was about to reply when he remembered that his mother had indeed, not been present when Natalie had given him Cockroach Clusters, saying that they were chocolate covered ants, or when she had put some type of itching powder in his favorite pants.

When all of them sat down to dinner a half an hour later, Seamus sat between Jack and Annie and across from Natalie, who was seated between her parents. She kept smiling innocently at him throughout the meal, which made Seamus suspicious. Very suspicious.

After dinner, there was a cake and a few presents. "Seamus, open mine first!" said Natalie, smiling even broader. Seamus opened his mouth to say no, but raised eyebrows from his mother dictated otherwise, so he reached for a large gift wrapped in red paper. He unwrapped it slowly, his heart beating a little faster than usual, scared at what might be inside.

A loud 'POP' echoed throughout the house, and the effect was instantaneous. Annie and Jack gave small gasps (Jack actually ducked under the table), Sara clasped her hand over her heart, and Natalie could be heard giggling softly.

Seamus was now covered in feathers.

He tried to swipe a feather off of his face, narrowing his eyes at the little girl across from him, but it didn't come off, no matter how hard he tried to take it off. "What did you do?" he snapped at Natalie, as his father came to assist him.

"Permanent Sticking Putty," announced Natalie, bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Natalie, where did all those feathers come from?" her mother demanded, sending her daughter a look of death; Natalie quivered.

"Er...my pillow...."

Cindy stood up so fast her chair almost overturned, and she threw her napkin down on the table. "We're leaving," she said coldly.

"Cindy, don't get uptight--" John started, looking exasperated, but Cindy told him to shut up. She led Natalie out of the house by her ear; Natalie looked a little scared, but gave a tiny wave at Seamus' parents before the front door slammed.

"Oh, Seamus," his mother sighed, as she tried desperately to remove the feathers. "Dear, could you look up how to disarm Permanent Sticking Putty?" she added to her husband.

"Ow!" Seamus cried, as his mother gave a particularly hard yank on one of the feathers.

"I don't think I want to be a wizard," Jack muttered in an undertone to Annie.

"Me neither."