Storybook Island

+ The Timeline of a Series

*Meghan*

Note- This chapter foreshadows the next one, which will be Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

"You want to go where?" 

Abby grinned sheepishly. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?" 

"No way. The last thing I need is to die in that book."  

My cousin frowned. "But Meghan, I really miss our friends. Don't you want to see yours?" 

She had a point there. I did miss my friends terribly. Plus, living without magic when you were used to having it was incredibly frustrating. But it was dangerous. 

"And what happens when I die?" I challenged, "Huh? What then?" 

An evil smirk crossed her face. "You can try out for the Quidditch team." 

Oh, she was good. What I missed most was playing the wizarding sport, Quidditch, on my team. Sure, playing basketball at school was fun, but I often would space out in boredom during practices, earning me five pushups. But could you blame me? Throwing a ball into a net and running across a gym is nothing compared to the whistle of the wind as I dove to catch the ball and hurled it through the rings in a magical sports game. 

"How would that even work?" I asked Abby, "The timeline is so screwy, I don't even want to think about it. We entered the fifth book first. What will happen if we try to enter the second?" 

She shrugged. "The portal always takes care of us. It will be okay." 

I looked at the leatherbound copy in her hands and sighed. "Alright. Yeah, go ahead. Put it in." 

"Yes!" Abby cheered as she raced from the chests toward our magical tree. 

I shut the chest that she left open (careless) and followed her over, taking careful steps across the stepping stones, streams, flowers, and glittering crystals of the cavern. Abby was the kind of girl that would look at this magical place, say, 'awesome,' and then go do something. Not me. The ancient force of our cavern always resonated with me. I could almost feel the magic that ran through the waters and spun through the air. It was an old, old place with more power than we knew. You could feel in when you breathed in, when you touched the rocks, and when you looked at the glowing orbs that illuminated our paths. 

There was music in the way that the waterfall hit the pond, the swish of the mystical fish in these glowing waters when the tips of their tails broke the surface and the breeze that blew through from seemingly nowhere that rustled the ivy leaves. 

"Meghan, hurry up!" Abby called. She had already put the book into the portal's slot, so there was a swirling, sparkling blue light inside the circle rims of the tree. 

I went over and glanced around at the cavern once more before stepping through beside her. Something new happened. We emerged in an endless room with four podiums. A scroll lay on each one. 

Abby and I glanced at each other. What was happening?

She went and took one of the scrolls. She furrowed her brow in concentration and confusion as she read aloud, "'Start fresh, other characters will have no memory of this later.'  What's that supposed to mean?" 

"I don't know." I went over and picked up the next one. "'Start fresh, other characters will have slightly modified memories of these events to match the timeline later.'"

Abby took the third one. "'Retain your past journey with slight modifications to other characters' memories to match the timeline. Other characters will have no memory of this later.'"

I read the last one. "'Retain your past journey with slight modifications to other characters' memories to match the timeline. Other characters will remember this later.'" 

"I think this is how the portal keeps the timeline of a series in order. We get to choose what will happen," Abby theorized. 

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." 

"I think we should do number four. Although, I don't know what exactly retaining your past journey means." 

"It probably means that our friends will know us, but they'll think we met differently than we really did." 

Abby hummed. "Yeah, that sounds smart." 

"So. What do we do with the scroll?" 

Just as I asked that, the scrolls lifted into the air and hovered before us. The podiums disappeared. 

Abby grabbed the one we wanted out of the air. The others vanished and the room began to swirl in blue light until it disappeared. 

The swirling stopped when we emerged into The Chamber of Secrets.