QUEST WITHOUT HARRY

Chapter 3 : Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Trousers

Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the terminal.

I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead (I mean, I am not nearly headless Nicholas), muttering, "Why does this always happen?" and, "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"

Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.

Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. "East One Hundred and Fourth and First Avenue," I told the driver.

A word about my mother, before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson AKA Sally Black, she is also a witch and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her mother died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her, and her father is dark wizard, whose mere name creates fear, till day, he is disappeared while trying my god-brother Harry Potter, but he is still alive but weak, we met him in our first year, previous year, we met his memories of sixteen years old, so as you see My Mum hated him, he doesn't care of her, so she has grew up with her uncle. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent Hogwarts working to save enough muggle money for a college with a good creative-writing programme. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit her idea to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family and no muggle diploma. For unknown reason, she is not yet ready to live in wizarding world, and also make me attend muggle schools.

According to her, The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.

I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures. But I got teased for not having Father, so personally I hate him.

See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.

Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.

She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her muggle high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colours as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like mouldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. Most of the time, Remus needs to come here, calm me down, Remus is my God-father, more like my Father, who loves me a lot. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along, he doesn't know of us being witches... well, when I came home is a good example.

I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television was blaring. Crisps and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.

Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."

"Where's my mom?"

"Working," he said. "You got any cash?" That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?

Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something. Trust me, Filch have more fashion sense and more handsome than him.