When Worlds Collide

The young man watched as the fourth owl that night flew towards him, he hadn’t bothered to close the window after the first one had come, knowing that there would be plenty more. And he wasn’t wrong.

     The owl swooped in through the window and landed gracefully on his shoulder holding out his leg obediently.

    At least he was better behaved than the last one, the young man thought to himself as he unfolded the small piece of parchment with one hand, the other subconsciously reaching up to stroke the soft feathers of the tawny owl.

    A small furrow appeared between his brows as he read basically the same message on this parchment as the last three. The words prophecy, past and capture once again jumped out at him, and even though this parchment carried a similar message, it seemed to hold an undercurrent of evil that the previous ones hadn’t. He was stuck between feeling scared and feeling relieved. He couldn’t quite believe that after all these years there might finally be an answer to all their problems. But he was quite worried that the fate of their entire world might rest on the shoulders of two little girls, who, mind you, hadn’t been born yet. None of it was quite making sense, and that’s what scared him.  

***

He sat up in bed quickly, just managing to stop himself from screaming, as the words repeated themselves again and again inside his head. He tried to push it to the back of his mind as he stumbled towards his bathroom, tripping over his clothes from yesterday that were still there on his bedroom floor. He cursed as he stubbed his toe on his dresser and stumbled into the door, catching himself just before he fell flat on his face. He wasn’t usually this clumsy, he blamed it on his lack of sleep. He had tossed and turned all night, thinking about all the things that could go wrong, from this point out. He knew that his job in this whole affair could turn out to be vitally important, and if he made one wrong move it would be his head on the chopping board.

 He navigated the hallway with only a bit of difficulty and lurched into the bathroom unhurt. Slipping his clothes off as the room started to fill with steam he stepped carefully into the shower and leant heavily against the wall as the scalding water ran down his back.

He knew he had a long day ahead of him

***

He kept his head down as he navigated the now narrow streets of Woldinghan. It’s hard to believe that this crummy neighbourhood with its boarded up windows and graffiti ridden streets used to once upon a time be the second richest neighbourhood in England. All you see now are beggars on the street.

He ponder this thought as he walked swiftly down the sidewalk, realizing just how wide spread the effects of the war had spread. Millions had died already and there was no sign that it was going to be letting up anytime soon.

He turned down a small alleyway, checking both ways before disappearing from sight with a large pop.

He re-appeared with yet another loud pop in a similar looking alleyway he walk quickly and efficiently out of the alleyway and through streets that looked exactly the same as the ones in Woldinghan.

Hogsmeade has really gone to the dogs, he thought to himself in disgust as he climbed the hill to Hogwarts.

***

He stopped outside a big wooden door, steeling his nerves before reaching out his hand and knocking stiffly. He heard all conversation within stop abruptly and an uneasy silence seemed to sweep out through the doorway.

“Come in!” A voice from within called out.

He took one last rugged breath before pushing down the door handle firmly. He stopped on the fresh hold and watched as all faces turned towards him

“Sorry I’m late.” He muttered quietly as he moved further into the room but stopped abruptly as one of the men within called out in a harsh tone.

“What the hell is he doing here?”

“I invited him.” A stern lady sitting at the head of the table said calmly.

“Glad you could make it, come and take a seat.” She continued pointing out a set about halfway down the table between two men, one older looking man with ill-sitting spectacles and a slightly curious look on his dark face and an unsmiling dwarf, glaring at him. He sat down quickly and slouched low in his chair as the stern women stood up.

“Right.” The woman said briskly, “Now that we have all finally arrived it is time to address the reason as to why we are all gathered her today. As you all know, our worlds have inexplicably been brought together, family and friends ripped apart, people brought back from the dead senseless wars started, hundreds killed. It is all a bit of a disaster really. And today we have finally had a development. A prophecy has been made about the fate of our realms and the lives of everyone within.”

She took out a roll of parchment and cleared her throat.

“Five worlds have been combined by a twisted mind and two girls of mixed blood, from a world not yet come are the last Hope at peace and equality. By the end of summer, they will either have succeeded in saving us all, or failed and doomed five worlds to a dark future, full of misery and pain.”

Different reactions to this perplexing news took place around the room. The tall, muscly, dark-skinned man started shaking from what could have been anger or fear. The pale, handsome man reached out gracefully to place a hand on his shoulder and stood like this, impossibly still, deep in thought. The tiny man gave a little squeak of fear as the old man and the young, tanned man exchanged worried looks. The tall centaur stared into the flames, also deep in thought. The teenage boy however, smiled brilliantly and gave a small chuckle.

“What?” he exclaimed, “This is exciting! We’ve got it in the bag!”

No one else seemed to share his optimistic thoughts.

***

 He arrived back at his flat in Woldinghan after the meeting that had lasted for much longer then he had expected. It was almost dark now and he hand no choice but to switch on the light.

 He just about had a heart attack when he realised that he was not the only person in the room as he had originally thought.

“Father!” he exclaimed as he recognized the figure silhouetted in the window, “What are you doing here?”

“Hello Draco, it’s been a while, hasn’t it.” The blonde man said giving a truly evil smile.