Mary Smith and The Three-Headed Dog

5. Chili Cheese Fries

"I read somewhere once that a Cerberus would actually make a decent pet but only if you get them as puppies. Otherwise they're super lethal...what?...Yes I read for fun. Surprised?"

--- Dean Thomas

Chapter 5: Chili Cheese Fries

After we left my home, we went through a few more fireplaces. Unlike the ones in my house, the others looked more like fancy brick tubes. The landings were all crowded with people that were coming in or going. They even checked over my things. It was like the witch version of an airport.

Kingsley finally put me down when we were in public but held tightly to my hand so I wouldn't get lost. I looked up at him, pictured my father in his place. He was holding my hand at the zoo- no, the town fair. I always liked the town fair better. The zoo doesn't have chili cheese fries. He was holding my hand at the fair and smiling at me and we were having fun.

The memory was so vivid in my mind, I didn't know whether I had truly just made it up or if it had actually happened. I tended to do that a lot. My overactive imagination would confuse me into thinking certain things happened that didn't. Even if they couldn't happen in a million-billion years. "Watch where you're going, Mary." The deep voice snapped through my thoughts like a firecracker. My father's face was no longer present. Instead, concerned eyes stared back at me.

"Yes, sir," I mumbled, suddenly shy for reasons I didn't understand. I had been so eager to leave with them beforehand. Now here I was, and all I wanted was to go home.

I looked around at my strange surroundings. This place was a constant bustling of people with the sound of growing and dying flames flickering in the background at a pace as constant as silence itself. There were tall people with foot long crusting fingernails and short people with sagging wrinkles and beards. There was a man shorter than me with bulging muscles and short creatures with pointy ears and rags draped over their bodies.

There was luggage floating and paper planes flying. One read "MEMO: Watch for immigrating Fa-." That was as far as I'd gotten before it disappeared over the heads of people much taller than me. Lights whizzed and blinked all around for seemingly no reason at all. All I could do was stare and try to keep up with the two adult's long strides. There were a couple of moments where we had to wait in line until we finally reached a large, overbearing man. He had scruffy brown hair and hands the size of really big hammers. Really really big hammers. "Shacklebolt," he grunted with a nod in greeting. He grunted at Tonks much the same way. Then he turned his brown crowfeet eyes down at me. I might have flinched. I'm not sure. A man that big, even bigger than Kinglelesk...y...King. I know it started with King. That's what I'll call him now. What was I saying? "This her?"

I opened my mouth but quickly snapped it shut when I realized that, just because he was looking at me, doesn't mean he was talking to me. "Yeah. Looks just like Ellen, donn't she?" Tonks smirked.

He grunted again, this time with a hint of something dismal in his eyes. "Looks more like Yagar to me. Poor kid." Then he turned around and walked away. We followed him to a desk where there was a much smaller man seated. He didn't look up at us at all. Just kept scribbling away at some paper with his quill.

"What are we registering today?"

"Not a what," The large man corrected. "A who. We want to register a seer."

He looked up at Tonks and raised a brow. "When did you start seeing into the future?"

"Oh not me," Tonks said with a shake of her head. Then I was nudged ahead toward the man with his large glasses. He looked down at me with something like annoyance in his gaze. It was kind of scary.