2 Kids Who Are Not Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

Family Matters

Curiously, it is often the most beautiful natural settings which become home to the most hideously undesirable sites of human activity. Such was the case for Cokeworth, a postage-stamp-sized wart of a factory town nestled among breathtaking, majestic mountains in the north of England. On this particular summer evening the sun was already low in the sky,

casting violets and oranges through a thin layer of clouds and bathing the mountains in golden, otherworldly light. Below the mountains, low, brick houses lined the crumbling street, windows dull and mostly shuttered. There was an air of grime and seediness about the neighborhood, which made the small cottage toward the end of the street look all the more out of place.

Warm light glowed from its windows, and the garden out front was tidy and beautifully tended. The brick facade was immaculate, as though whoever lived there spent a great deal of time looking after the place.

Abruptly, a red-haired girl of around seventeen rounded the corner, and it was toward this house that she hurried, casting frequent glances behind her.

"Lily, stop! Stop!" The reason for her backward glances was a young woman following her, far behind at first but quickly gaining. She caught up to Lily and roughly grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to stop.

"Petunia, go back!" snapped Lily, yanking herself free. "You shouldn't be here!"

"Nor should you!" screeched Petunia, launching herself once again at Lily. This time she missed, and Lily shot off down the street, quicker and more determined than before.

"I won't let you do this!" Desperation drove Petunia's voice up nearly an octave, and she stuck close behind Lily and caught her again just as she reached the tidy brick house.

"You don't understand!" This time it was Lily who sounded desperate, and tears sprang to her eyes as she fought against Petunia's grip. "It's got to be this way, it's got to! If I--" she broke off with a half-snarl, half-sob as she wrenched herself free.

"If you what, Lily?" screamed Petunia. "What is it you think will happen?"

"You know what." Lily's voice was scarcely more than a whisper now. There was a very heavy silence. A hard, almost hateful glint entered Petunia's eyes.

"They're my parents too," she hissed. "You can't do this to them. I won't let you." As Lily gazed at her sister, a look of profound sorrow came over her face. Very slowly, she reached into her pocket and drew out a magic wand.

"Tuney, I'm so sorry," she whispered. Petunia, however, was too quick. She tackled her sister to the pavement. Lily screamed, and both fell, hard, to the ground. Lily's wand flew from her grip and clattered onto the sidewalk, several feet away. Petunia scrambled to her feet and seized it. She held it aloft as if preparing to break it.

"No!" Lily jumped up at once.

"I'll do it!" screamed Petunia. "Say you're going to leave them alone, or I'll do it!" In answer, Lily shot forward. With a grunt of effort she wrenched her wand from her sister's hand. Petunia screamed, and Lily turned the wand toward her sister.

"I'm really, really sorry about this, Tuney," whispered Lily. "Petrificus Totalus." At once, Petunia went rigid. Very slowly, without a backward glance, Lily made her way up the garden path toward the front of the house. A small, tidy living room was visible through the front window. A middle-aged couple sat at a card table inside, talking and laughing and enjoying cups of tea. Lily raised her wand once more, this time pointed toward herself. She slipped into the house, but the couple did not appear to notice her as she crept into the living room. It was as though she had become invisible. Slowly, with shaking hands, Lily made her way to the mantle above the fireplace and collected every photograph displayed there. Every single one contained four smiling people: the couple, and two young girls. There they were beaming among the discarded wrappings of presents on Christmas morning; here they were laughing, sunburned and drenched at the water park. When she was satisfied she'd got them all, she pocketed them and turned her attention to her parents. She raised her wand one last time, and now her hand was steady, though tears streamed silently down her face and her voice trembled as she pronounced the incantation.