Our Nest

It was Many and Many a Year Ago in a Kingdom by the Sea

     Saturday...

Ashley and James were sitting across from each other at the coffee table.  "Okay," said Ashley, throwing her hands down, flat on the table, "you, James Potter, have practically never read a Muggle book.  And that, my friend is going to change.  Do you know where we are, we are in a room, surrounded by thousands of Muggle books.  We are going to read as many of these as we can and when we're done, you'll want to read Muggle books for the rest of your life."

James sat looking at her with an amused grin on his face.  "And what if none of them interest me, Miss Determined?"

"It's not that hard to find a good book, James," Ashley responded, lacing her fingers together and leaning towards him.

"Well okay then," James started.  He held his hands out and gestured all around him. "What do you suggest we start with?"

"I think it's best that we start with classic literature," said Ashley.  She got up and crossed the room to one of the shelves.  "Maybe Shakespeare, or Edgar Allen Poe."

"Edgar Allen what?" said James, coming to stand next to her.

"Edgar Allen Poe," she responded, "he's a famous Muggle poet."  Ashley looked up and down the shelves, her fingers doing a little dance across the spines of the books.  She took a few steps back and looked up at higher shelves.  The bookcases were as tall as the ceiling which seemed to be about two stories high.

Ashley took her wand out of the sleeve of her robe and pointed it at the shelves.  "Accio The Raven and Other Stories!" she said.  A thick, leather bound book came flying out of one of the upper shelves and into Ashley's hand. "Ah, here we go," she said, tucking her wand behind her left ear.

Ashley went over and sat down on a lime green bean-bag chair with yellow polka dots.  She reached out and pulled a large, red cushion over to where she was sitting.  She patted the cushion twice to tell James to sit.  He came over and sat down next to her.

Ashley opened the book to the table of contents, "I'm thinking we start with "Annabel Lee"."

"Why that one?" James asked, looking at Ashley.

"Because it's my favorite, and I said so." This made James smile and Ashley giggle.  She looked down at the table of contents, found 'Annabel Lee', and opened to the correct page.  She held the book between her and James so that both could read it clearly.

James looked at Ashley who was looking at the book, and asked, "Ashley?"

She looked up at him.  The two of them were sitting fairly close.  Their shoulders were almost touching. "Hmm?"

"Will you read it?" he said nervously.

"Why?" she smiled.

"I uh... I like your voice."  This wasn't a lie, like she probably thought it was.  He knew how to read perfectly well.  He just, really, really like hearing her talk.

Ashley's cheeks turned slightly red but she still smiled, "Umm, okay."   She looked back down at the book and began reading, "It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you many know by the name of Annabel Lee..."  As she read, James looked at her in a way that he had never, ever looked at anyone else. 

When Ashley read the line, "That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee," James cut her off,

"Wait, wait, wait! She died?  But why?"

Ashley looked up at him like he was having a hilarious breakdown, "Yeah.  Some of the most famous poems and stories in the world included death.  Have you ever heard of Romeo and Juliet!"

"Uh... no," James looked scared when he answered.

"What!  I can't believe you!" Ashley stood up, looking down on James with a shocked expression.

"I'm sorry!" James was pretending to cower in fear.

"You know what, we're done with this," Ashley tossed the book of poems on to her bean-bag chair and marched across the room.  She looked up and down the shelves and found what she was looking for.  She pulled out a tattered old book and came back to her seat.  James looked at the title, Romeo and Juliet. 

"We're seriously doing this?" James laughed.

"Uh, yeah!" Ashley responded, setting aside The Raven and plopping back down on her bean-bag chair, "Romeo and Juliet is the foundation for practically half of all Muggle books and movies- You know what a movie is, right?"

"Yes I know what a movie is," James scoffed, "There's an old Muggle TV in my grandfather's shed.  Sometimes my cousins and my siblings and me sneak out there with some old HSV tapes and use magic to make the TV work."

"HSV tapes?" Ashley raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that wrong?"

"I think you meant VHS tapes."

"Oh," the two of them started laughing.

Ashley opened the cover and turned to the first page.  She looked at James and said, "This is going to be a long night."  She began reading.