Where Your Dreams End

Chapter Two Chocolate Frogs

Sarah had always thought her father's house was strange but, then he lived alone and he wasn't from Iowa so she just assumed that's what had made it different. But now that she was really looking around, she began to notice even stranger things, like the fact that the pictures in the hallway were looking back at her. Â

"Good evening, Sarah" said one of her many relatives that hung from the wall, "it's nice to see you again." For a minute Sarah felt dizzy and thought that this had to be her limit when her dad entered the room. He looked at her face and then the pictures on the walls and decided that it was best to take Sarah into his quiet den.

"Come on we'll go into my den and talk," he said putting his arm around her. John Nettleton didn't let his daughter see him conjure up the tray with hot chocolate and cookies, that he now brought over and sat down beside her. After serving her some, he took a cup and sat back in the chair opposite her. "So did you get a lot of good things for your birthday?" he asked.

Sarah looked up at him, not quite knowing what to say. "I suppose," she started, "mom got me more expensive clothes that I have no place to wear, and she got me another pair of shoes." Sarah rolled her eyes, "she never has understood that I couldn't care less about designer labels."

John smiled, for a minute he had gotten her to think of something else. "Well you know looking good has always been very important to your mother, and she does, you know." He paused and then smiled, "you know you do have her looks, her hair, although yours has more spunk, and her eyes. She probably just wants you to be as lovely as she is."

Sarah looked up at her dad, "except I'm obviously more like you than mom, huh dad?"

Sarah's dad took a deep breath. "It's really not all that bad," he started, "actually you know there are kids all over the world right now who are very excited that they received their letter from school. Even children who come from families with two Muggle parents are receiving letters."

"I suppose that's true, but somehow I don't think those children are quite as confused and aggravated as I am right now."

"I could continue to apologize to you for the next ten years, Sarah but it wouldn't change anything. What I would rather be doing is answering questions and calming your fears."

"Fair enough," answered Sarah, "but we could be up all night."

"If we are we are. I'll have Matthew fix us some dinner and bring it in. What would you like?" he asked

"What do I always want?" she asked smiling.

John laughed. "Matthew," he called. Matthew entered the room and answered, "yes?"

"Miss Sarah would like pizza."

Matthew smiled. "Yes, Mr. Nettleton, I can do pizza."

"Alright, Sarah, the pizza is coming. Fire away." Sarah began to ask basic questions about when her dad met her mom and what he was doing at that time. Matthew had brought in steaming hot pizza shortly after the questioning began and they continued between bites.

"Well, Sarah, I don't know how much of the book you have read, but when I met your mother times were very different. It was a dark time for the wizarding world, the Dark Lord was very strong and his followers where everywhere."

Sarah interrupted. "You mean Voldemort?" she asked.

Her father gave Sarah an odd look surprised that she had said the name. "Yes, Voldemort, however his name is very hard for most of our world to say." He paused; he knew that she had no way of knowing that even the sound of his name still scared most of the Magical World. "His followers were referred to as Death Eaters and they were a big threat to everyone, not just the wizards and witches of the world, but Muggles too. All over the world, people were disappearing and dying. And then one day he went too far. He killed two people who were very special to our world James and Lilly Potter, but he couldn't kill the third, their son Harry." John took a breath and then a drink; Sarah hung on his every word. "For some reason, which no one understands, when he tried to kill the child it backfired on him. No one has heard from Voldemort since."

Sarah looked into his eyes. "Is Voldemort dead?" she asked.

"Everyone assumes so, however I'm not so sure. I'm not sure that kind of evil can be killed so easily." He stopped because he could tell he was scaring her. "Maybe we should stop for awhile"

"No dad, I would already know all of this if I had been in your world all along, right?" He nodded. "Then I want, no I need to know."

"All right, you're right." He paused again and took a drink. "But even though Voldemort had disappeared, his followers did not. Most of them were very angry, but he was gone so they were not as powerful and not so brave. Some of them were caught and went to a horrible place called Azkaban; other Death Eaters killed some of them. A lot of them claimed that they had been under his powerful spell and couldn't help themselves. Some of them fled to other countries. By this time your mother and I were already married and in the States. I had been in charge of Muggle protection here, but when we heard that some of them had come this way they decided that Zoe's dad and I should head up another division, that's when we started tracking them down, one at a time."

He paused; Sarah was on the edge of her seat. "You were just a baby, Sarah, there are some who say that our names became feared by the Death Eaters. I don't know if that's all true but I am sure that we weren't their best friends. That's when it first became hard to hide my life from your mother. Everyone's right you know, I should have told her from the start. I should have trusted that she would still love me, but I was stupid and I didn't. Sarah, you will find that in your life you will make lots of mistakes. Be careful that the ones that you make, don't ruin your life." John Nettleton had a tear in his eye, out of the air he pulled his pipe; he sniffled a little then turned to light it. Suddenly he stopped. "Oh I'm sorry, I promised your mother that I wouldn't smoke in front of you."

"It's all right dad, I kind of like it and she's not here."

"All right, but that's not a very good example for me to make."

"Well, being a good example is not one of your stronger suits?" she asked smiling.

"Well I'm going to try to do better in the future," he promised.

"Tell me some more," she said as settled in with another piece of pizza.

John took a deep breath, and then muttered something and white smoke began to rise from his pipe. He took a couple of puffs and then started again, "I'm not sure what made your mother the most upset, the lying, the fact that I was a wizard or that I had a very dangerous job." He paused again, "in true hind sight I kept too many secrets from everyone ." Sarah wanted to console her father but at this moment she was also feeling angry and wasn't sure if she could sound sincere.

"We decided to split because we couldn't work things out. I told Elizabeth that I would allow the Muggle courts to decide about the immediate concerns of our lives, but she would have to agree with whatever our court decided about your upbringing. And that's the way it's been until now." He looked at her with intuiting eyes. "And now you are eleven, Sarah, this is the age that young wizards and witches start their schooling in the magical arts. I need to know, before I go to your mother, what do you want? You can choose to continue in your world as it is now and nothing will change, I will not force you into anything that will make you unhappy. Or you can choose to move into the magical world, attend Dragon's Wood Academy, and seek out my heritage." Sarah started to open her mouth and her father raised his hand to stop her. "I want you to sleep on it. We can talk in the morning."

Sarah sat quietly for a moment; in the distance she could hear the sound of the grandfather clock chiming in the living room. It stopped at eleven and Sarah realized that she was very tired; after all it had been a long day. "All right dad," she said rising from her chair, "I will."

John Nettleton walked his daughter up to her bedroom. Sarah was still noticing things that she hadn't before. However she had the feeling that Matthew had talked to the people in the pictures, because they now only whispered to each other as they walked by instead of talking to her. When they reached her room, everything was, as she remembered it. "I'm glad some things never change," thought Sarah. Long ago Sarah had established a comfortable environment at each of her homes. In the past the only thing that had been wrong with her dads had been the lack of her cat, Max. But, this time there was a new visitor to keep her company. In the corner of her small bedroom a large cage had been placed. Sitting comfortably inside and looking content was the large tawny owl that had visited her house on her birthday.

John noticed that she was starring at Socrates. "It was his idea," he started, "hasn't left your room since he met you." He paused, "it's all right with ya' idn't it? If not I convince him to go back to my room."

Sarah looked at the large owl and he at her. For a moment she could almost hear him talking to her. She wasn't scared, in fact she felt safer than she ever had. "No dad, he can stay. He's awfully neat," she said softly. And before she could say another word, Socrates flew over to her side and cooed softly. Sarah reached over to touch him, but stopped.

"It's alright," her dad insisted, "I promise."

Sarah looked at her dad and then the bird. Slowly she reached out her hand to touch him. At that moment, she knew he wasn't a cat, but she could swear that he was purring. There was a moment that she was sure all was right with the world, then her father reminded them both that it was bed time. Socrates looked at John disapprovingly and flew off to his cage. Sarah, however was falling asleep and had no problem retiring to her bathroom to change into to pajamas and return to bed.

"See you in the morning" her father said giving her a kiss.

"Will you be here?" she asked sleepily.

"As far as I know," he answered, "now go to sleep."

"Good night," she replied. But it wasn't.

Sarah hadn't slept very well again; she had more dreams about owls, books and letters. But this time, Eric, was having an easier time getting their entire luggage in the back of his car. "Miss Sarah," Matthew was saying through the door to Sarah's room, "your father had to leave but he told me to make sure you got up early because he wouldn't be long and he wanted to take you some where." Sarah lay barely awake face up in her bed. She shook her head trying to get awake but it wasn't working, she was just too tired. She tried to form words with her mouth but couldn't as Matthew continued to knock on the door insisting that she get up.

Managing to open her eyes she looked toward Socrates cage but he wasn't there, looking around she noticed her open window. She suddenly became aware that it was still dark outside. "Why would daddy want me up before dawn?" she thought.

"He wouldn't," answered a voice from the bottom of the bed. Sarah looked down slowly, there was a tall figure standing in the shadow.

"Matthew?" she asked out loud. But the shadow didn't answer. Again she asked, "Matthew?" This time she received an answer in the form of Socrates screeching into the room. Landing on the headboard, he was staring intensely at the shadow in the room.

"Miss Sarah, you really must be getting up now, your father you know," came the voice again. And again Socrates screeched and the shadow moved.

Sarah's head began to spin and she started to feel sick to her stomach. It seemed as though voices and noises we're coming from every direction except from the bottom of her bed. The man was still standing there eerily quiet. Sarah had to force herself to sit up; it was as though something heavy was sitting on her chest. "Who are you?" she demanded, but she didn't give the shadow time to answer before she was asking again. "Who are you? I demand to know."

"Miss Sarah? Miss Sarah? Miss Sarah?" Sarah opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. "Are you okay Miss?" asked Matthews voice from the other side of the door. It was morning and Sarah lay in a puddle of cold sweat. She quickly looked over toward the cage to see Socrates sleeping with his head tucked under his wing. Next she looked around the room. Everything was well lit and normal, and there were no shadowy figures anywhere.

This time when Matthews concerned voice came through the door she responded, "I'm awake Matthew, I'm okay why do you ask?" she managed to squeeze out.

"You wouldn't answer Miss, I kept knocking and no reply. I just got concerned."

"I'm sorry, I must have been in a deep, deep sleep," she lied. After all, she wasn't sure at all why she hadn't awakened and responded. Then suddenly she remembered what had happened before she had seen daylight and a shiver went down her spine. "What was going on?" she thought, "Why do I keep having these strange dreams? Are they dreams?" And then out loud, "I'm fine," she repeated mostly trying to convince herself, "I'll get dressed and be downstairs in a minute."

"Okay Miss Sarah, I'll get you some breakfast ready. Your dad had to leave but he'll be back soon."

Sarah remembered how she had just heard these words, had it been a dream? "All right, I'll be right there," she said trembling slightly. In the shower, Sarah thought about all of the events of the past week. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about any of it. And then there were the nightmares, it wasn't like she'd never had them in her life but she couldn't remember them being so real or so vivid. She couldn't help but wonder whether or not the two events were related. But for now the scary dreams seemed decades ago and the morning sun streaming in through the open window was soothing. And when she came downstairs the smell of sausages and eggs filled the air. "Good morning, Matthew," she said sitting down to breakfast.

"Good morning, Miss," he replied. "Glad to see you up and awake. Your dad should be back by the time you finish breakfast," he said assuredly.

"Or sooner," came a voice from behind. Sarah turned around to see her father. John Nettleton stood in the open doorway clothed in a royal blue cloak and smiling broadly.

"Hi daddy," she greeted rising to give him a kiss. "Did you have to work?" she asked.

"I mostly just had to listen. But that's not important today because right now we have some shopping to do, but not the kind of shopping your mother does."

"Okay I love to shop no matter what we buy."

Sarah chose to talk about Zoe and their discussions on boys and Eric's new girlfriend on their way to the mall. Her father shook his head and laughed appropriately. As they drew closer to the mall lot Sarah became very aware that her father seemed to be unconcerned about his wardrobe. She couldn't decide whether to say anything to him about it. Surely he remembered how he was dressed and wouldn't want to look like that in public, but as they pulled into a parking space and he put his hand on the door to open it, he still had not done anything about his appearance. "Dad," Sarah said alarmingly, looking him up and down.

"Yes, pumpkin?" he replied, looking into his daughter's eyes. And then as though he sensed her alarm, he smiled. "Sarah, I have always dressed this way, you just have never paid attention, and believe me they won't either," he said referring to the people passing by.

Sarah didn't know if she was angry or embarrassed, but she got out of the car and began to walk toward the entrance. Amazingly enough, no one seemed to notice that her father was dressed inappropriately. They smiled and nodded at them or just completely ignored them. Every now and then someone dressed similar to her father would pass them and they would exchange knowing looks. And what was even funnier was that Sarah began to notice that there seemed to be a lot of folks dressed in various sorts of cloaks and other unusual garb. Sarah couldn't believe that all these years she hadn't noticed this other world that existed. "How could I be so dumb?" she thought. Once inside John seemed to know exactly where he was going. Pulling the blue parchment letter that he had shown to Sarah on her birthday, out of his pocket he stopped and read to himself.

"Well, perhaps we should go to the bookstore first," he said, putting the letter back in his pocket. Sarah gave him a strange look and nodded in agreement. As they rounded the second corner they came across the store that for a moment, Sarah had thought that she had seen just three days ago. This time she read the sign on the storefront and it didn't disappear. "Barnes and Noble II," said Sarah bewildered.

"This is where we will purchase your school books." He stopped and looked into her eyes. "Don't worry I still intend for you to decide on your own destiny. But I thought that we could get your stuff and maybe it would help you to decide."

"Okay," Sarah said numbly. They entered the store together; Sarah had never seen such a disorganized place. "How in the world could they run a business like this?" she thought. She'd been in Barnes and Noble outside the mall before and she didn't remember it looking anything like this store did. Looking around she noticed the other children with their parents looking at the stacks. In the corner an odd-looking older woman was obviously filling a booklist for a mother dressed in a dark brown cloak and her son. Sarah was too caught up in her surroundings to notice that a young African-American male was approaching them rapidly smiling knowingly at her dad. John Nettleton turned to greet him grabbing his hand a shaking it hard.

"Sam, Sam, Sam," he said repeatedly." I can't believe that it's been so long since I've seen you."

"Tell me about it," replied the man. "You used to be in here all time purchasing books, now I hardly ever see you." Sarah now noticed that the gentleman had a distinct Jamaican accent.

"Yeah, well now I've got a new mission," he said looking at Sarah.

"Well I'll be," started the gentleman. "Is this little Sarah?" he asked.

"Yeah, however, she's not so little anymore." Sarah looked embarrassed at all of the fuss that now suddenly came upon her.

"Rachel, you've got to come here," he said to the elderly woman who had been helping the mother and son. "John Nettleton and his daughter are here," he paused, "I bet its time for her to go to Dragon's Wood." Soon there were several people shaking her fathers hand and taking turns greeting and staring at her. Sarah suddenly felt like an animal at the zoo. Her father seemed to sense this and told his friends that they had a lot to do today, so they should really hurry and this seemed to put things back into perspective for the rest of the room. "Well then," her dad's friend started, "I suppose we'll be needing the standard list for sixth grade?" he asked.

"Yes," her dad replied. "Except I already bought her The History of Magic. Tryin' to give her a heads up you know."

"Sure, sure I can understand that," he stated walking around the room and grabbing books off of shelves. However, Sarah wouldn't have exactly called it grabbing, because each time he came upon a book that he needed, it would simply glide off the shelve and onto the nearby counter. When it looked as though he had finished, a small elf-like creature appeared behind the counter and totaled their purchases. Sarah's father pulled a small leather pouch out from under his robe, and proceeded to pull gold coins out of it and pay the creature. "Don't be so long in coming back to see us," scolded her father's friend. Sarah's dad promised that he wouldn't and they exited out the front door with a large stack of books in his arms.

They paused outside, her father looking at the books. "These will be too cumbersome. I'll put them in the car." Sarah nodded in agreement and started to walk toward the exit. "Where are you going?" asked her dad.

"Umm...to the car," Sarah replied looking at her dad like he was crazy. And then she noticed that her dad no longer had the books in his hands.

"I said I would put them in the car, I didn't say we had to take them there," he said with twinkling eyes.

Sarah was beginning to get used to the strange things that were happening but only slowly. She decided to ask, "where to next?"

"I think that we'll have you fitted for your robes. What do ya' think?" he asked.

"Sounds great." They set off down the west corridor until they reached the next area that had been marked by a "Coming Soon" sign before Sarah had realized that she was a witch. Madam Bradshaw, Seamstress, read the next sign. And again inside, were more people who hadn't seen her father in years, and that were so amazed at how Sarah had grown. The old woman, who Sarah assumed was Madam Bradshaw, fascinated and amazed her as she fussed around measuring and marking shiny material. When Sarah finally had the chance to try on the robes that she had been preparing, they gave her a strange, and magical feeling. She was feeling better, but she still wasn't sure.

After her dad had sent her robes to the car he decided that they should get her wand, "After all, you can't be a true witch without your wand."

"My wand?" she asked. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this," said Sarah reluctantly. John assured her that it would be all right so Sarah proceeded on. In the very back of the mall, at the left corner of the last corridor Sarah saw the sign. Goldsworth Wands, Salem, Mass. If Sarah had thought that the bookstore was cluttered, she was rethinking this when they entered this store. It was dark and there were many tall shelves with hundreds of small boxes lining them. Sarah could swear that even her father seemed intimidated by this store. They entered quietly as if it were a library. It wasn't very long before a small, nearly bald-headed man came walking into the room.

"Good day," he said softly and then he stared at Sarah for a moment, "I suppose you'll be going to Dragon's Wood this year, young lady?" He paused but not long enough for Sarah to respond. "Needing your wand, I suppose." Again he gave her no chance to answer. "Well let's get started then." At this moment a box seemed to float down onto the counter before her. "Open it," he insisted. Sarah looked at her father her gave her an encouraging look and then opened the box to discover the carved piece of wood that she assumed was a wand. "Pick it up," he said bluntly. Sarah was hesitant, however she leaned forward and pulled it out. "Try it" he said this time.

Sarah looked at her dad as though to ask for help. Again he only motioned for her to go on. So she did. Picking up the wand and waving it in the air nothing seemed to happen. "Perhaps I'm not a witch," she thought.

"'S'all right." The little man repeated, "'s'all right. Don't always get it on the first try." And then for what seemed like an hour boxes found their way to Sarah and time after time nothing seemed to be happening, except for the one time that Sarah sent the mans cat flying through the open back door. Sarah was beginning to think that maybe this was the sign, the sign that she shouldn't go to Dragon's Wood, and that she really wasn't magical. The elderly gentleman suddenly paused, and smiled deceptively and nodded.

"Yes, yes," he said to himself. "Perhaps it's necessary to look in other areas." He smiled again and then disappeared into the back room again, saying, "the wand chooses the wizard after all." Sarah wanted to grab her dads hand and run out of the store, she just wanted to go back to the way things were not so long ago, but it was as though her legs were frozen to the spot. She looked at her dad, her eyes pleaded with him to help her understand, but she didn't say a word and neither did he. It seemed like an eternity before the funny man returned and when he did he seemed to be keeping a secret as he approached her holding a rather large, purple box. "Now," he started, "let's see what we have here." He handed her the box.

Sarah looked at it, she was getting frustrated, she looked at her dad, he nodded for her to take it, and she did. She opened the box and pulled out the long thin stick. The moment she touched it, something felt strange, it was like her arm was on fire. She almost dropped it but something instinctively told her to hold on, and then suddenly the whole room seemed to light up around her, and she felt as though her breath was being taken away. She looked over at her father and he was smiling. "Fine wand there," said the little man, "should do fine things with it, little miss, just like your father." Then he paused again and looked very strange. "But then again if you are truly like your father you won't need it, will you?"

Sarah looked at her father, it was obvious that though there had not been any introductions or reunions, that this man knew him. And scary enough it seemed he knew who she was as well. Sarah wasn't quite sure she wanted to know what he meant by his remark and feeling quite intimidated at the moment looked at the floor and tried not to think about it. "All right now," said her dad completely ignoring the remark. He paid the gentleman for the wand and with no further comment they exited Goldsworths, "let's see. We have yer books, yer robes, and now yer wand, I'd say we can take a break before we head out to get the rest of yer stuff." He thought for a moment, "I know, we'll go to The Sweet Shop. It's time you got to see some of the fun wizarding things out there."

Sarah gave him a strange look and smiled, "Okay," replied Sarah. With that they headed down the mall corridors. This time Sarah was surprised that they had entered a store that she and Zoe had been in many times; it was actually one of their favorites. "But I've been here a hundred times dad, what's magical about this place?"

Again her father smiled, "remember Sarah, sometimes you have to look a little closer."

And to her surprise she began to notice things she hadn't before. First she noticed that the girl behind the counter, who had waited on her time after time before, was dressed rather oddly in emerald green and gold. And then as though it was all starting to jump out at her she started to notice shelves of candy she had never seen before. The girl behind the counter smiled widely at her and her dad as they entered. "Hi ya' Mr. Nettleton, I'm so glad that you could come with Sarah today. I was beginning to think that we'd lost her to the Muggles," she whispered.

"Nice to see you, Judy," John greeted. "How's yer' dad?"

"Oh, he's as frustrating as usual. He's always on me about my boyfriends and school. You know, all the usual stuff."

John laughed and shook his head. He turned to look at Sarah who was presently not listening to the conversation that her father and the teen were having. She was much too busy starring at all the sweets that she had never noticed before. As John and the young lady became aware of this they came over to explain.

"Chocolate Frogs," Judy said as she walked up behind Sarah.

"What?" asked Sarah, coming temporarily out of her daze.

"They're Chocolate Frogs," she repeated to her as she picked up the ornamental box to show her closer. "The Frogs are great, if you can catch them of course, but the cards are the best."

"Huh?" Sarah was now totally lost again.

Her father and the young lady both laughed, then John said, "give us ten, and at least a couple of everything else you think is grand."

"Right on, I love to shop with other people's money," Said the perky young lady as she ran off to fill a shopping bag for him.

John turned to Sarah, "Judy will be a senior at Dragon's Wood this year," he said, smiling at the young lady. Then he turned back to Sarah and continued. "After this we'll go to Binkman's, which is sort of like the wizards Wal-Mart and get the rest of the things you'll need and then we'll go home and look at everything we've bought."

Sarah was excited, anxious and suddenly felt all of this welling up inside of her. "Sarah!" John said alarmingly.

 "What?" said Sarah coming out of a daze?

 "You really should come down to earth," suggested her father.

 "I'm just excited dad," said Sarah sort of offended.

 "No, I mean you really should come down to earth," he said pointing at her feet. Sarah looked down to see that she was standing about two feet above the ground, literally. As soon as she looked down and realized what was going on she quickly made floor contact, and not without almost losing her balance. Her faced turned suddenly brilliant red and she looked around to see if anyone noticed.

John fought the urge to laugh out loud. "It's all right, no one is paying attention." He smiled ear to ear and they turned to exit the store, having paid and grabbing the large bag of candy that the young lady had stuffed. This time they carried their bounty out to the car. Her dad explained that Binkman's was not at the mall, and they would have to drive outside the city to get there. However this was not to happen.

"Sir," came a familiar voice as they approached the car. Matthew had suddenly appeared almost at her father's side. "I have to take Miss home, got an urgent owl." Matthew was now handing her father a piece of gold parchment, like the one Socrates had delivered at her birthday. After he read it, he turned to Sarah, speechless.

"Do you have to go dad?" she asked, whining slightly.

He nodded. "I won't be long I promise."

"It's okay, I guess. I'll just look at the stuff." Then she looked at him for approval. "If that's all right?"

"Yes, pumpkin, Matthew will get you a great dinner, you just tell him what you want. I'll be home as soon as possible." Then he kissed her on the head and disappeared before Sarah even knew it.

"I always wondered why he just seemed to go away," she said to herself quietly, and then she looked at Matthew and he smiled. "All right get us home quick, cause I just got have to look at all this stuff and you have to explain it all!"

Matthew laughed, and didn't seem to have a problem with anything the demanding preteen had said. "All right then," he replied as he opened her door to let her in.

Sarah sat in the middle of the living room floor; everything that she and her dad had purchased that day was spread around her. Matthew had made her a wonderful dinner of nachos and ice cream, and he had just reentered the room when her dad suddenly appeared.

Matthew looked up and smiled, "good evening sir, is everything okay at work?"

"Yes Matthew," and then he paused and looked at Sarah, seeing everything that was around her and told Matthew that he could handle it from here. Matthew smiled back, and excused himself from the room. John Nettleton looked lovingly at his almost grown daughter and then turned to pour himself a drink from his cabinet. After looking at himself in a nearby mirror, John joined Sarah on the floor. She seemed to sense that something was wrong, however decided that he would tell her when he was ready.

"Alright now," she started as he sat down on the floor next to her, "what am I looking at?"

"I know that you're dying to eat something first, so I suggest the chocolate frogs, but be careful because they might just get away." Sarah picked up the box that her dad was pointing at and started to open the box. It didn't take her long to figure out that she should have listened to the salesgirl. As she opened the box a small brown frog leaped out and jumped away as fast as it possibly could. Sarah shrieked and quickly jumped to her feet and began chasing after it. John laughed out loud as he watched her dart around the room trying to catch the tasty treat. Unfortunately Sarah hadn't noticed the open window that her treat managed to make its way out of. Sarah's dad continued to laugh heartily until he realized his daughter was genuinely upset at her loss.

"It's alright, pumpkin," he said rising to comfort her, "there are lot's more." He paused and then pointed at the seemingly empty box. "Besides the best part is still there."

Sarah looked puzzled as they returned to their spot on the floor. "What do you mean?"

John reached down and picked up the box. "The wizard card is still here."

"Wizard card?" Sarah repeated puzzled.

"Sure, there's a wizard card in every box," John said reaching into the box and pulling out a shiny, blue card. Sarah reached out and snatched it from his hand.

"What is it?" she asked as she began studying the oddly shaped object.

"They're sorta' like baseball cards except that they have the pictures of famous wizards and witches on them. In my world, kids your age collect and trade them." Then he added. "I believe that Zoe has an extensive collection."

Sarah was now studying the card with a terribly distressed look on her face. John waited for her to speak. "Dad?" she asked, "who is Albus Dumbledore?" She stumbled to get out the words.

"Well," he started, "he is a very famous for a lot of things, but what he is most famous for these days is being Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He paused again. "That's the school that I went to when I was your age."

Sarah stared at the card, her eyes were growing wider and she felt her heart pounding as she read the wizards biography. Then she looked up into his eyes. "Dad, I want to know everything that you can tell me in one night about when you were my age. I feel like I just found out that I was adopted. I mean I feel like I really don't know anything about you or your family or your whole life. I feel like everyone in the whole world decided that they should play this cruel joke on Sarah and now for some reason it's okay to tell her."

Sarah's dad didn't know exactly how to begin to respond to her. He knew someday that all of this was going to have to come to pass; however he had never contemplated how he was going to handle it. He sat there for what seemed like an eternity looking at Sarah and trying to figure out what to say next when she screeched and he jumped. "What?" he asked, startled.

"He's gone," she cried.

"Who's gone?" John asked puzzled.

"The wizard on the card, he was there one moment and now he's gone."

John held back the urge to laugh, "Sarah, pumpkin, haven't you noticed that things aren't quite the same when you're dealing with wizards. You have to admit that hanging around in a picture all day long would be boring."

Sarah had a look of puzzlement as though she was truly trying to figure out why a person would want to hang around in a picture when she suddenly looked at her dad and then laughed out loud. "Dad what a crazy thing to say." Then she thought about the pictures on her dad's walls talking to her and things started to make a little more sense. "I want to know more, now!" she added. "Tell me about your school."

"Okay," he said leaning back against the wall. Sarah leaned over and placed her head on his knee. These are the moments he was looking forward to when he had contemplated telling her. This was going to be okay, he thought. "Well first of all you arrive on a train, much like the one you will take to Dragon's Wood, it's called the Hogwarts Express. When you are a first year, like you are, you are sorted into your house or dormitory, by the Sorting Hat." Sarah looked up strangely. "The hat is bewitched to pick out where you are to go. Every year it sings a new song and then tells you where you belong. I was in Gryffindor house."

Sarah could no longer contain herself, "is that where all the really smart wizards go?" she asked.

John looked into his daughters admiring eyes, his heart swelled with a pride that he had never felt before. "Well I don't know about that but it's said that it's the place for the brave at heart."

"Oh, daddy that is definitely you," she gushed.

John paused and thought about all the horrible atrocities of both of their worlds and decided that Sarah could continue to think about him in that admiring way and patted her gently on the head. "Anyway, it was a wonderful learning experience for me. I learned all I needed to know to be a proper wizard and I learned about life." And then he added, "I got into my share of trouble, which I am sure that you will too, even though I planned along on you not doing it."

Sarah smiled, "Oh, daddy," she said so insincerely, "I would never do anything wrong at school. I promise."

John shook his head disapprovingly, yet smiled from ear to ear. "Well I suppose we'll find out." He paused again, and looked down into her eyes. "Or will we?" he asked.

Sarah starred back, her mind was again racing madly, not sure anymore who she was or exactly of her purpose. And the Shadow was there, standing over her, and it was laughing a loud taunting laugh. "Dad, what is going on?" Sarah cried out, starring into the Shadow. "Who are you and what do you want?" The Shadow continued to laugh. "Daddy, where are you? I can't see you." Sarah found herself screaming out loud. "Who are you? I don't understand."

"Sarah, Sarah, wake up."

Sarah jerked awake and opened her eyes slowly stretching her arms out to fight off the approaching danger. "Leave me alone," she screeched.

"Sarah, honey, it's okay, you've had a bad dream."

Sarah focused her eyes again and found her fathers worried gaze fixed on her face. Shaking her head, she began to bring herself back into the real world. "Dad?" she questioned.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She shook her head and seemed to be thinking of a good answer. "What happened?"

John wasn't sure how he was going to answer this question without creating even more unanswerable questions. He opted for a simpler approach. "We were talking and you seemed to fall asleep, but before I could move you stirred, were you having a bad dream?" John tried to sound as calm as he could muster.

Sarah composed herself and sat up. Her eyes tried to focus on the wall before her. "No," she started, taking a long pause, "I couldn't have fallen asleep. We were talking and then he came in and I couldn't see you anymore."

John listened carefully trying not to seem alarmed. "Who are you talking about Sarah?" he asked and then quickly added. "No one had been here except for you and I." Sarah was unable to talk; she was slipping back into a trance. Â "Sarah, Sarah honey," John repeated. "Tell me about the man."

She shook her head and then suddenly seemed totally unaware of what they had been talking about. "What man?" she asked perplexed. "What are you talking about Dad?"

John Nettleton stood up, he thought carefully about what he should say next. Staring at Sarah's calm and suddenly blank face, he decided to see what would happen if he dropped it. "I don't know, you just sort of mentioned someone you would like to know about and I didn't hear you."

Sarah laughed, "Dad I want to know about all of them,"

"I know, I know, but I think that maybe it's time for bed."

"Oh dad, it's totally unfair that I have to go to sleep before I know all of the secrets of my new world."

John smiled, taken off guard by her remarks, "Your new world?" he questioned. "I thought you weren't sure how you felt."

"I'm going to bed and I suppose I'll have to continue this conversation in the morning," she said sarcastically and then proceeded to go out the door and up the stairs making sure that her father was close behind. John followed her into her room, still worrying but not sure of what, and then waited patiently for her as she changed in her bathroom. He took this opportunity to open Socrates cage and speak to him.

"I know you want to fly tonight but I wish you would stay with Sarah, I'm worried," he added. The large fluffy owl looked knowingly into his eyes and then nibbled slightly on his outstretched hand, and then letting out a low screeching noise, settled back into his cage. "Thanks, old friend." And as these words left his mouth she reentered the room.

"Saying Goodnight to Socrates before he goes?" she asked coming back into the room.

"Well, saying goodnight, but I don't think Socrates is going out tonight, he looks a little tired. Right my man?" he asked the owl, which gave his reply as a screech and another peck.

"Cool," said Sarah. She asked her good night kiss and slid down under the covers.

"All right now," he started, "get lot's of sleep because we have lots more to learn about in the morning."

"Yes Dad."

"And, pumpkin, you know that I'm right next door if you need me."

"Sure dad, however, I haven't needed my daddy in the middle of the night for years," she said, insulted by her dads concern.

"I know, I know." John kissed her again and then turned the light out as he left her room, giving Socrates one last concerned look . John returned to his den and picked up a piece of parchment, a quill and then penned a letter. When he was finished, he spoke. "Matthew," he said as though Matthew was beside him, and then he was.

"Yes, sir?" he replied, having instantly appeared at John's side

"Send this to Mr. Turner, and don't use Socrates, use a post owl."

"Problem, Sir?"

"I pray not." He turned and looked out through the open window. "And Matthew--" he started.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Close the house up tight."

"Yes Sir."