The Portkey

Chapter 1

At the edge of a humble village named Ottery St. Catchpole, a small house stood idly by the lake. It's exterior was worn and aged, but it gave a beauty to the house that no other in the village possessed. There were three bedrooms, two upstairs and one downstairs due to the lack of space and this downstairs room belonged to the eldest of the two children who lived here with their parents. It contained a simple desk (cluttered with last year's school books), a cosy bed and a small wardrobe. The lamp was not on and could not spill its light onto the furniture inside, but it didn't matter, because this room was used to being vacant. Everything in it sat happily undisturbed in the darkness. The only light coming from the house was that of the living room. A warm orange hue emanated from the window, behind which sat four people in front of a blazing fire. The eldest child, Jax, clad in his pyjamas, had claimed the large tartan armchair near the flames while his parents sat huddled together on the sofa and his sister curled up on the floor with a blanket. He watched her over his goblet of butterbeer as she read one of her new books in the firelight.
  "Which one's that, Robin?" he asked after shifting his chocolate brown hair out of his face.
  Her eyes flickered to the top of the page before she turned the book over and revealed the front cover, "It's called Hogwarts, a History." she replied in a dreamy voice.
  "Good read, that one." their Dad chirped over this evening's Daily Prophet, which he had read twice already.
  "I've never read it." Jax stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
  "Well of course you wouldn't have read it Jax, you're too busy ruining your education."
  He would've retorted to his little sister's comment, but it was her birthday after all (plus, the warning glare his Mum gave him told him he better not). Defeated, he simply shrugged and returned to his goblet, silently watching the flames as they tried to join in the conversation in Jax's place.
  An array of presents scattered the floor around Robin who was so lost in her book, that she didn't notice the corner of her blanket catching fire as she swung it up and over herself. Her Mum extinguished it with a flick of her wand however, which was sitting on the table beside her, patiently waiting to be picked up.
  Robin always got brilliant presents for her birthday. She was, to say the least, the family favourite. This year, she got a top-of-the-range brass telescope, bags upon bags of Honeydukes' finest confectionery and a rather boisterous fake wand. Her favourite present, however, was her new Nimbus 2001. Despite the fact that it didn't even begin to compare to her older brother's broom, it was still fast and agile, just as she liked it. But as Robin so often said, "I don't think I'd like a Firebolt, its way too fast for me and yours tried to chuck me off!"
  That was definitely one of the best birthday gifts Jax had ever received. His Firebolt came in close second, though.
  Despite her inability to stop talking, the two siblings usually got along just fine. Besides, it was a special day for Robin, Jax couldn't spoil it for her by being grumpy.
  According to the bewitched grandfather clock standing in the corner of the room, it was precisely twenty-five days, thirteen hours and fifty-three minutes, from that exact moment, until Robin would be off to start her third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
  To say she was excited is an understatement and a half, for this year, she was finally able to delve into the subjects she wanted to do. Her excitement, however, was honed in on one subject in particular, Care of Magical Creatures. Robin always had a huge interest in the creatures of the magical world, especially beings of the smaller variety, and couldn't wait to start learning all about them.
  This interest was probably one of the only things that both Robin and Jax shared. That, and the knowledge of every single passage in and out of Hogwarts.
  You see, Jax knew the castle better than any one of his friends; he enjoyed a prank or two, and the majority of them included having to sneak around a lot.
  He'd thought it funny to pass on the information to his sister, in hope that it would become a Wilde family tradition. He took pride in imagining Professor McGonagall's face when one of his descendants joined the school.
  What's worse, is that Ajax Wilde was one of the best Wizards Hogwarts had taught for years. In fact, ever since Hermione Granger herself had left the school. But he didn't quite apply his intelligence to the right things: while some would have used their extensive knowledge of Charms, Transfiguration and Potions to aid their studying, Jax had a more... mischievous purpose for them.
Like the time he did a two-foot-long essay for a friend in exchange for a couple of Galleons, just so he could buy a set of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs to set off in the common room in his second year.
  That went down a treat - the Fat Lady still hadn't fully recovered. Any sudden noises and she was into the next painting quicker than a Bludger.
  Since receiving a month's worth of detentions following the Whiz-bang incident, Jax finally decided to take a slightly different approach on his studies. He still enjoyed a minor prank or two here and there, but nothing worth getting into trouble for.
  It also meant that he had more time for friends. Especially Dominic Fleetwood.
  Dom was the same age as Jax and only lived five streets down from him, but up until the notorious, mischievous Ajax Wilde changed his devilish ways, Dom never really saw the two of them becoming close. Maybe it was because his family were never as laid back as the Wildes, or perhaps he simply felt that he wasn't careless enough to risk his place at Hogwarts every week. But that didn't matter anymore.
  Since Jax's change of heart, the two boys had almost become inseparable.
  Dom, who practically lived at Jax's house most of the holidays, had done the journey so many times that he could probably do it walking on his hands blindfolded.
  Jax had never known anyone as kind and genuine as Dom. Just like him, Dom was an excellent student, but rather unlike him, he rarely ever got into trouble. The exceptions being that of when he spoke up in class when it wasn't welcome. But who had ever heard of a Gryffindor not speaking up when they had an opinion? After all, it was the quality that got you sorted into that house in the first place: courage.
  Perhaps, though, he shouldn't have exercised this quality under the nose of Professor McGonagall...
  Jax laughed at the memory of Dom's face when McGonagall's lips pressed together so tightly that they disappeared from sight.
  "What time did the Fleetwoods say they'd meet us tomorrow, Jax?" Mrs Wilde asked him, seizing the newspaper from her husband and flicking to the timed crosswords.
  "Around ten o'clock."
  Mrs Wilde sighed when she saw that the crosswords had already been completed in Mr Wilde's messy handwriting, "Alright, we'll set off around eight then. That way we can avoid the late morning rush and get all your school things before we meet the others. Sound like a plan?"
  "Indeed it does." mumbled Mr Wilde.
  "Okay, well I think you ought to be off to bed then Robin, you too Jax." their Mum beamed at them.
  They murmured their agreement as Jax peeled himself from the chair, muttering a 'goodnight' before entering the kitchen and placing his empty goblet in the sink.
  He took out his wand from underneath his robes and gave it a flick.
  "Aguamenti," he whispered, and water shot out of the tip, filling the basin. His Dad would clean them all before he went to bed.
  A grunt sounded behind him which told him his sister had walked into the room.
  "I cannot wait until I can use magic outside of school," she groaned, "I have a wand for a reason, you know." she blew a few strands of her long auburn hair out of her eyes.
  Jax completely understood how Robin felt; everyone hated the underage law when it applied to them, it just seemed so pointless.
  "It's there so young witches and wizards like yourself don't end up killing themselves by accident." Mrs Wilde had once told Robin in a huff, having had to listen to her moaning about it all day.
  Jax just shrugged as his sister stormed upstairs, before he himself turned to the door and left the kitchen. He trudged off to his bedroom with a yawn and lit the candle by his bed with a match, slowly climbing under the covers.
  Tomorrow, he and his family would be going to Diagon Alley up in London to get him and Robin all their school supplies for the coming year. He'd made plans to meet up with his friends afterwards - something he'd been looking forward to for ages.
  Dom was on holiday in Wales and the twins had family over for the summer so there wasn't a great deal of opportunity to meet up.
  Just after he had settled into bed however, Jax was roused by a flapping of wings at his window, and as if that wasn't enough to get his attention, a sharp tap on the glass shortly followed. Jax's eyes darted towards the window where an ominous shadow shifted restlessly outside.
  But he wasn't worried. He just groaned as he swung his legs over the bed and trudged over to the window, opening it before leaning on the windowsill casually.
  Before him stood a magnificent, caramel-coloured barn owl, perched on the outside ledge of the window with a rolled up piece of parchment tucked away in the pouch tied to its leg.
  "Alright, Toff?" Jax chirped.
  Toff was Greg's owl. He was the fastest owl Jax had ever seen, plus he never failed to deliver anything, be it letters, parcels or even Weasley's Wildfire Whizbangs. Yes, there was a perfectly good reason as to why Toff despised Ajax Wilde.
  Grumpily turning the other way and sticking his leg out, Toff waited impatiently for Jax to take the letter. Once he had removed the parchment from the pouch, the bird flew off immediately towards the village again, not bothering to wait for a reply or for Jax to even open the damn thing.
  "Charming as always." Jax muttered in return.
  Greg and his twin sister, Isla, were other friends of Jax and Dom. Even though Isla was in Ravenclaw while the three boys shared a dorm in Gryffindor, they were all very close and spent most of their days at Hogwarts together.
  Confused as to why Greg would be sending him a letter at this time of night, Jax slowly unrolled the parchment. The ink was smudged and the writing was rushed. But out of what? He thought, excitement or fear?
  Jax read over the scribbled words with difficulty:

Hey Jax, meet at the old oak tree
Got something to show you
Greg

  Excitement, he concluded, he's definitely excited.
  Sneaking out was never a problem for Jax; having the downstairs bedroom with a window leading out onto the front lawn made for an incredibly easy escape. Although it was not always undetectable. One night, when Jax had intended to sneak out for a party on the other side of the village, his Dad spotted him out front while getting a drink from the kitchen. So, as a precaution, Jax's parents planted a couple of Giant Peruvian Fly Traps outside his window (they were supposedly frightening and fairly dangerous). Mr and Mrs Wilde thought that they'd stumped any plans to sneak out from then on, but Jax discovered that if you fed the plants enough peanut butter throughout the day, those puppies would be asleep by seven and not wake up until the same time the next morning.
  You'd think that after Jax reached the age where he could use magic whenever he liked, he would've gained more of his parents' trust, but then again, we're talking about Ajax Wilde here...
  As if the deadly plants, Mr and Mrs Wilde also cast a few enchantments on their house and its surrounding to stop their son apparating willy-nilly, a caution that most witches and wizards are now taking after previous catastrophic events.
  It's a good thing Jax preferred to walk everywhere in the summer really.
  Not bothering to get changed, he made for the open window, tucking the letter into his pocket as he passed the dormant fly traps (whom he'd nicknamed Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber) and being as quiet as possible.
  In a flash, he sprinted across the lawn, dived under the hole in the hedge and was out on the lake path, anticipation filling his head.
  Jax kicked a stone as he walked down the uneven path, wondering what exciting new thing Greg had to show him at this time of night.
  The sun sat low on the horizon, illuminating the water in it's reflection behind the hills in the distance. The day was at an end, but the story had only just begun.