Upside Down

Chapter Two - The Dinner

CHAPTER TWO 

— The Dinner —

Astoria had surprisingly survived the half hour long drive.

She finally settled on the fact that her mind was tricking her, the necklace was never in fact glowing. Even though every other one of her instincts were telling her the opposite. She didn’t suspect her mum anymore though, because, after all, it did seem like something normal her mother would say. 

They walked into the Luxuries Hotel, where ‘The Dinner’ was supposedly going to take place in. 

It was a complete mess; food was splattered everywhere, chairs were broken, tables table flipped, portraits ripped, and the chandelier was shattered into a million tiny pieces. Drawers and cabinets were opened and files were scattered all over the floor. You could also smell the scent of something burning. 

No one was to be seen; the place was deserted. 

Astoria stared at the shocking view in front of her, unblinking. It looked similar to as if someone had broken in. But, Astoria knew that maybe that wasn’t the case. It looked as though demons or monsters were looking for something. Of course, that was ridiculous, but there wasn't any proof that it was not true, was there? 

Astoria stared at her parents, in such a way that they were communicating a message. Finally, after a few seconds, it seemed like they had received each others' messages and ran out of the hotel, quickly getting into the car. 

Astoria climbed into the back seat in a rush. “Dad! Drive!” She shouted.

Mr. Carter was already sweating, he put the key in and out, twisting and turning it. “The car isn’t turning on! The engines not running!” He said, panicking. They had no choice but to run. 

“Mum! How did you get invited anyways?’ Astoria asked, gasping for breath as she ran, “You never told us about it until today!”

“I got it this morning! It was very unexpected,” Mrs. Carter replied quickly.

“Don’t they usually give them out a month earlier or something?” Astoria questioned her mother, who nodded, embarrassed. 

“And you didn’t find it suspicious, at all, that it was given to you on the very same day as the event?” Mr. Carter inquired. 

“No.” Mrs. Carter shook her head, apologetically. 

All of a sudden, a women appeared in front of them. She was wearing a simple blouse, and a knee length skirt, both the colour of pink. You couldn’t see her face clearly, but she seemed like she was around her mid-fifties. 

“Ahem. Well, well, well. The Carters, isn’t it?” She asked in a way that would make people feel very uncomfortable. The Carters nodded nervously, unsure of what was going to happen. 

“We’ve been expecting you! Knew you’d never miss an event like this! Don’t leave,” She said, glancing at Mrs. Carter, making her feel ashamed and regretful of herself, then eyed Astoria suspiciously. 

Astoria, seeing her eye, gasped. 

She looked like an even uglier version of Dolores Umbridge. Her eyes were all wrinkly; looking into them can give you a sensation that she could ruin your life with the snap of her fingers; her crooked teeth formed an evil grin, as if she could read her mind. 

She stood there, right in front of them, for what seemed like forever. None of the Carters dared to move. Without notice, Mrs. Carter straightened her back, looked at the wicked old hag in front of them and demanded, “Who are you? And what do you want?” 

She let out a high pitched giggle. “I’m sure your daughter is fully aware of who I am. Aren’t you, Astoria? I’m Dolores Umbridge, well, what became of her. You see, I had a great life, great job working at the Ministry, and then I got sacked without warning. The rest of this story is none of your business, of course.” She paused, Mrs. Carter was just about to talk, but she cut her again. “No buts, you may think this has nothing to do with you, but this has EVERYTHING to do with you, your ancestors, and even your house. Ever wonder why no one could ever find it? How the fountain of yours got there? You don’t know. do you?” 

Mr. Carter nudged Astoria and whispered, “Isn’t Umbridge your least favourite Harry Potter character? You always said you wanted that old fraud dead, right?” 

Before Astoria could respond, Umbridge hearing him, said, “Oh, now I’m just offended,” in a sarcastic tone of voice. “You wanna know what's best about possessing a witch? You can use their powers too! But, I really hate how this meat suit makes me giggle so much, its rather annoying.” 

Mr. Carter decided that he had enough of this nonsense. He, of course, never believed in such things like demons, ghosts, monsters, witches, wizards and so on. Sometimes he would get sick of Astoria going on and on and on about them. They’re just imaginary creatures! There is no proof whatsoever that they exist!  He thought. Grabbing his wife and his daughters wrists, he began to run. 

Astoria heard a echoed laugh, followed by a voice, “I warned you that I had the powers, I’m much more powerful than a regular demon! You cant escape me!” 

The next moment, before they knew it, they were back in the hotel. But this time, it wasn’t messed up and destroyed. The hotel was back to how it always was, beautiful, neat. There was also a table set in the center with the same kind of carvings on as the fountain back at the mansion. On the table there were fancy dishes of all sorts: soups, spaghetti and meatballs, pasta, fruits, and red wine.  

Astoria couldn’t stand straight, her mind was spinning like a tornado, she could feel her body going unconscious and then suddenly, she fell to the ground and passed out. 

***

“Astoria! Wake up, sweetie!” The sound of her parents voices drummed into her ear. She could hear them, begging for her to wake up. Astoria could hear everything that was going on around her, but she couldn’t open her eyes, it felt like as if a hundred kilo brick was placed on top of her eye lids, preventing her to open them. Her body was still asleep. 

She tried to move, and only after a few attempts her hands trembled. She tried to reply ‘I’m okay’, but all that came out was a moan. 

After a few moments, Astoria finally took control of her body again. She opened her eyes; everyone was standing over her, including the prime minister! The past few minutes of her memories flooded back into her. 

“What happened?” Astoria finally asked, trying to stand up and stabilize herself. 

“Well, we just arrived, and then we were introducing ourselves to Mrs. Caraway, she’s a very sweet lady,” Mr Carter said gesturing towards a women who looked just like Umbridge but just the slightest bit prettier. Mrs. Caraway, or so she is called, smiled at Astoria. “and then you just passed out. I think it’s been around 10 minutes, not very long,” Mr Carter explained. 

“Oh…” Astoria said uncertainly. What happened? Did she just ‘dream’ or ‘imagine’ everything again? 

One by one, people got up from Astoria’s side and left. ‘Hope you feel better!’ they all said. 

“Mum?” Astoria questioned, “did we just get here? Wasn’t it like a wreck? And why were you talking to Umbridge?” 

“Oh honey, did you start imagining things again? You and your crazy little scenarios. Yes, we just go here, it was always like this, fine and perfect. And who’s Umbridge?” Mrs Carter said to Astoria in her most sympathetic voice. 

But, this time Astoria knew it wasn’t one of her crazy little scenarios where she imagines something bad happens, and she ends up saving the world. It felt REAL. It was REAL. The crazy old hag Umbridge must have erased her parents memories and sent them back to the hotel where, apparently, ‘nothing’ happened.