Nightmare (Harry Potter)

1.2

At first, the three of us just stood there in bemused silence for a few seconds, but then, probably knowing we'd ultimately turn to our elder for advice, Julia finally concluded, "It's probably just a dumb prank, guys.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Go have fun at the park."

So we shrugged, not having any better ideas, and did just that, completely and blissfully clueless about what would happen when we returned home that evening.

***

"Hello dears," Jo greeted as we came back in through the front door at around 5:15.  "Dinner's almost ready; spaghetti and meatballs," she announced.

"Ooh, awesome," Kris replied; my eyes lit up in silent agreement.  "We'll go wash up."

Wendy was home by now, so within ten minutes, all us had grabbed spaghetti and had sprawled ourselves across the living room to watch the news while we ate.  Aunt Jo usually served herself last, so we were waiting on her as Wendy turned on the television, but we never could have expected the entrance we got. We were all suddenly shocked and startled by the loud crash of a full dinner plate falling to the hardwood floor and breaking.  We whipped around to see Aunt Josephine looking down at the coffee table with the facial expression of a deer in headlights.  But before anyone could speak, she'd picked up the stupid prank letter from the table, completely disregarding the new mess on the floor, and demanded in a very serious, crackly voice, "What is this?"

"It's just some dumb prank letter Kristen and Bethany found in the mail earlier, it's okay, Mom," Julia tried in vain to soothe.

Something in my Uncle Alexander's eyes clicked, causing him to stand up suddenly, setting his plate down. He marched urgently over to my aunt, gently but firmly wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders and taking the letter from her. Then he started leading her out of the room.

"Finish your dinner, kids," was the only explanation he gave us over his shoulder as they disappeared up the stairs.

Meanwhile, my cousins and I shared a long and silent wary glance, the television our only background noise. Even Wendy had nothing snarky to comment. Eventually, we turned back to our food, but I had trouble eating and keeping it all down. I'd sufficiently lost my appetite.

***

Over the next four days, I couldn't shake the whole encounter, and I could tell Julia and Kris noticed.  They didn't say anything-they didn't seem to know what they would even say-but they always shared these awkward concerned glances whenever we were together.  At least Wendy ignored me as usual; it was the first time I could remember ever being weirdly grateful for her standoffish behavior towards me. 

The thing is, though, that I was actually usually pretty good at hiding my emotions, at least until my curse--as I'd come to think of it--made them known,  so the ongoing lack of appetite, being even quieter than usual, and having the same nightmare every night again despite my previous reassurances to Kristen was nothing compared to what was going on my head.

I tried unsuccessfully to convince myself I was being ridiculous, that I'd read too many fantasy novels and had finally lost it completely. I mean, this was real life, right?

But the truth was, that letter addressed to me had mentioned witches and wizards, and Aunt Josephine and Uncle Alex had looked way more concerned about the whole ordeal than I felt was normal for some stupid neighborhood prank.

I had to hold back tears as I lay sleeplessly in the dark, staring through the ceiling.  It was the honest truth that almost everything bad that had happened to this family was my fault, and now I was causing more problems without meaning to yet again. I never wanted that; I never wanted any of this. Aunt Jo and Uncle Alex didn't have to take me in when I was orphaned, but they did, and always treated me as one of their own, and this was all I could give them in return? No wonder Wendy hated me so much.

I was even closer to crying now; I wasn't sure how much longer I could choke the sobs back. Since the last thing I needed was to inadvertently wake Kristen up at four in the morning, I decided to leave the room as quietly as possible and make my way down to the basement, from where I knew no one would hear me.

Our basement had always been a mess, completely unfurnished and used only for storage. Usually none of us went down there. So you can imagine my surprise when I found that someone had forgotten to turn the lights off down there.

And that was not even to mention when I promptly stumbled into a small, dust-free cardboard box sitting haphazardly on the floor. Containing exactly five entirely identical, extremely familiar envelopes.