Status: active

It's a Charmed Life

Trying To Act Normal

It was an average Hogsmeade weekend and Kairi was working at her Saturday job at The Three Broomsticks which was packed with students. A frustrated Kairi dashed around trying to find a empty table. The previous head chef had left to open his own place and Madam Rosmerta had put Kairi in charge while she went away for the weekend. Rayne had just visited Honeydukes and came to see how her sister was doing; it being a Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts meant it was busier than ever. Having spotted Kairi Rayne made her way through the busy pub to her.

“I am going to kill him” Kairi growled

Whoever she wanted to kill must’ve really pissed her off, thought Rayne as Kairi was never violent and always reasonable. She’d never bad mouth someone unless they’d done something really terrible so she must really be having a bad day.

“Who?” Rayne asked

“Chef Webber, king of fake accents. First he hires me then he quits opening his own place. Thanks dude. And to make it worse Madam Rosmerta just decides to go away on a small holiday on the Hogsmeade weekend and leave me in charge!” Kairi ranted

As part of her new cooking class she had to get a job at a pub or restaurant for work experience. If they didn’t they wouldn’t pass and Kairi wouldn’t be able to follow her dream and open her own restaurant.

“Can’t be that bad, I mean I for one do not see anyone complaining” Rayne reasoned

“Rayne, I have no idea what I’m doing! I’m a chef! Not a hostess!” Kairi argued “And are those my shoes?”

Just then Hannah Abbot a fourth year Hufflepuff came up to pay Kairi for the food and butterbeer. Rayne mentally thanked her for saving her from Kairi’s wrath.

“Hey Hannah” Rayne greeted cheerfully “I love that tattoo”

Hannah smiled and showed Kairi the little guardian angel on the back of her hand which she had had done over the summer.

“Thanks” Replied Hannah

“But I thought you weren’t allowed to get them on your hands because of the veins or something?” Rayne told her

“You can’t in this country or the states, I got it done in Tahiti” She explained as Kairi started to hand her change to her. “Keep the change Kairi, you deserve it. I better go”

“Okay then thanks. Say hi to Ernie” Kairi called as she walked away.

Rayne looked round the crowded pub as Kairi busied herself by taking orders and she saw a very handsome boy about a year or so older. She was puzzled as she didn’t know him and she knew the whole school. She could name every Hogwarts student in this room and what house they were in even what classes they took except him.

Maybe he doesn’t go to Hogwarts said the voice in her head. Rayne disagreed with it though as he looked too young to be just another customer coming in on the way to or way home from work to have a drink. He could be a squib, not everyone is magical you know! True thought Rayne, but did she make the first move, or should she wait for him? Her question was answered as she felt a jolt go through her and the sight of the counter in front of her vanish and in its place was the guy he was making his way over to her and then offered to buy her a butterbeer.

“Right now,” said Kairi interrupting her thoughts “Back to my shoes”

“See that guy left hand side of the room? Just glance, don’t be obvious” Rayne ordered

“Okay good looking guy, I approve. Who is he?”

“His name is Alec and he is about to come over. And then offer to buy me a butterbeer”

“How do you know?”

“Well let’s just say I have finally solved the age old problem of who approaches who first. I may or may not had a little premonition”

“You what? Rayne, you’re not supposed to use your powers! We agreed!”

“Actually, you and Nami agreed. I …..Not so much. Anyway I can’t exactly control it. They just pop in my head”

“That’s the point Rayne! None of us can control our powers yet and that is what scares me. I could panic and then freeze this whole place!”

“Kairi, calm down. Now sh here he comes”

“Hi” The guy said nervously

“Oh hello”

“I saw you from over there and was wondering whether I could offer to buy you a butterbeer?”

“Butterbeer eh? Imagine that. I would love one. It’s Alec right?”

“Yeah it is. How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess. Shall we grab a table?”

As she was about to walk off with Alec, Kairi grabbed her arm and pulled her back to face her so she could get the full effect of Kairi’s glare.

“Nams is gonna be so pissed off with you!” Kairi hissed

“It’ll be fine. And side note honey stop worrying or else you’ll get wrinkles before you’re twenty” Rayne told her.

Kairi slammed her pen down on the counter, closed her eyes and took a deep breathe to calm herself whilst her easy going little sister walked off to flirt with a handsome stranger.

*****

Next morning Kairi was the first up she even bet Hermione. She was lying awake reading a muggle book she had brought from the library on witches. More importantly witches who practised certain powers. According to the book they were believed to be servants of the devil which confused Kairi as Rayne had told her the Charmed ones fought evil such as demons and warlocks. She continued to read. The book said as these witches were evil and were against God He would not allow them to enter a church. The book claimed that any witch who tried was struck by lightning preventing them from entering.

Namine’s eyes flickered open and she sat up stretching and yawning. She then noticed Kairi sat up reading a book. As she looked by the cover it was obviously written by muggles about the religious views on witches.

“Morning” She called to Kairi startling her and causing her to drop the book on the floor and she quickly went to retrieve it. “What were you reading?”

“A book” Kairi answered “by muggles”

“About witches?”

“Maybe”

“What? Are you worried we’re going to be burnt at the stake?”

Kairi laughed nervously.

“N-No that’s stupid” She stuttered

That’s when Rayne woke up, stretching and yawning.

“What’s stupid?” She asked sleepily

“Nothing! So how was your day with Alec?” Kairi fired back.

“Wait, who’s Alec?” Namine asked

“A guy she flirted with at the three broomsticks”

“No I didn’t! He flirted with me actually” Rayne corrected “Remember the vision?”

Namine’s eyes widened and then turned to an ice cold glare which she directed at Rayne.

“Vision? Please tell you did not use your powers? We agreed that we wouldn’t use them” Namine told her then looked at Kairi for support.

“Please don’t put me in the middle. You know I hate it when you guys do that” Kairi pleaded

“Sorry but you were born in the middle. Back to the vision, Rayne we agreed”

“No you did. You made the rules. There’s a difference” Rayne argued

“These powers are not for us to play with! They could get us hurt or killed”

“That’s true” Kairi agreed “We don’t want any more Jeremy’s after us”

“It was just one teeny tiny premonition! No deaths! I can’t control my powers and neither can you” Rayne said

******

Since it was Sunday there were no classes and Rosmerta had assigned Kairi to deliver some food to the Hogsmeade church which after reading the muggle book on witches she was terrified of. So to see if this strike down evil beings (such as witches) with a bolt of lightning was true, she went down early by herself. She was standing across from it plucking up the courage to go in when she felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped. Upon seeing it was the priest she calmed down and smiled at him.

“Sorry to have scared you, but you’re early I thought you weren’t coming by till this afternoon” He explained.

“It’s alright Father Williams and I’m coming back later with everything” Kairi answered

“So why are you here now?”

“Just thinking I guess”

“About?”

“It’s just a stupid book I read written by a muggle. Hey, is it true that evil beings can’t enter a church without you know- “she made a lightning gesture “getting struck down”

Father Williams laughed and faced her with a friendly smile.

“Evil beings – like what vampires or something?” He asked

“Or something, like witches. I mean why does Hogsmeade have a church if witches are supposed to be evil and can’t enter it?” She wondered

“Well if I was evil like the death eaters or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named I wouldn’t risk it Kairi”

Giving Kairi one last smile he walked off. Leaving her thoughts slightly more clouded. So did that mean warlocks couldn’t enter a church? But Voldemort and his followers and warlocks they’re considered evil because they kill people right? But just the other day Kairi and her sisters killed a warlock. Doesn’t that count as murder? Sure it was self-defence and he was going to kill them first but couldn’t they have sent him to warlock jail or something instead?

In the end she decided to try and go in and walked across to the church. As soon as she put her hand on the handle she heard a clap of thunder above and immediately let go of the handle and ran for it.

******

Namine rushed across the corridors of Hogwarts. It was a big day for the wizard archaeology class as they had a new professor: Professor Daniel Snow and his assistant Miss Tia Lockwood and he wanted to see how well they would do in an interview for a job involving the class. Whoever did the best would receive fifty house points, however whoever did the worst would lose fifty house points. And right now Namine was worried she would be the worst as she was minutes away from being late to her interview. As she got to one of many moving stair cases of Hogwarts she saw it was in mid change going away from the direction she needed to go in.

“No” She breathed panicked

“What’s the problem Nami?” Asked Harry Potter as he came to stand next to her. “Oh are you doing that same interview thing as Hermione?”

She nodded as she erupted into an argument in her head. She shouldn’t use her powers, she had said so herself this morning it was dangerous! However she was going to be late if she didn’t so in the end she willed the staircase in the other direction using her powers and smiled as it turned back to Professor Snow’s office.

“That’s strange” commented Harry “Guess it’s your lucky day Nami”

“I guess. Suppose you could say I’m Charmed” She replied dashing up the stairs as fast as she could.

******

In The Three Broomsticks back at Hogsmeade, Rayne had offered to help out Kairi as the pub as usual was packed. She had just been sent to take the bill to a customer as Rayne handed him the little slip of paper that told how much he had to pay she recognised him to be a photographer for Witch Weekly. If she remembered correctly his name was Darren. Well time to put on her best flirty smile.

“Excuse me.” Rayne said “but aren’t you Darren?”

“Why yes. Yes I am, I’m sorry but do I know you?” He asked

“I highly doubt I’m just familiar with your work like everyone else in the Wizarding world”

“I don’t know about that but I wouldn’t turn down a compliment from a beautiful girl like you”

“Um I don’t think your girlfriend would like that”

He chuckled darkly and leaned towards Rayne.

“She’s not my girlfriend” He whispered

“Then why are you whispering?” She replied

Just then said girl with him heaved a sigh and stormed off towards the little girls room pushing past Rayne as she did so, who shrugged her shoulders and waved goodbye to Darren.

“Hold on! I’m in the village for a few days doing a firebolt shoot if you want then you should stop by” He told her, writing down the address of his studio on a napkin “I would love to take pictures of you. You do model right?”

“Only in my dreams” Rayne answered as she smiled and walked away only to be ambushed by Kairi.

“Rayne a delivery boy called in sick can you take his place and do a quick delivery please?” Kairi begged

“Yeah sure just hang on. Is that guy at the bar staring at me?”

“A lot of guys at the bar are staring at you Ray”

“The one at the end!”

“Sorry don’t think so”

And she rushed off. Rayne felt a bit sorry for Kairi if she was honest as she was run off her feet managing The Three Broomsticks – Hogsmeade most popular pub/restaurant and what she really wanted to do was cook. She was a chef that was what she was hired to be.

******

“So Namine, you ready?” Asked Tia Lockwood as she opened Professor Snow’s office door for Namine.

“I think so” she answered

“Here we go then. Professor Snow, Namine Halliwell she’s in your fourth year archaeology class”

“My pleasure Miss Halliwell, thank you Tia” said Professor Snow and gestured for Namine to take a seat. He looked over her CV and started asking her questions about it and the previous work she had done in the class. “It all seems very impressive Miss Halliwell”

“Well I am very persistent, I tend to get what I want” Namine answered

“I see. Though I heard you in our last lesson talking to a Miss Hermione Granger that you were all wrong for the job”

“That was a private conversation”

“At Hogwarts there’s no such thing as private”

“Well I still think it was rude to eavesdrop on a private conversation with a friend and then misjudge me based on one conversation”

“I’m sorry it was unfair of me but I couldn’t help it you were talking rather loudly. But I liked what you did with that project of yours that was set over the summer holidays. Although you must understand however the employer hires really wants that job and to work for that person and the employer can trust them.”

There was a knock at the door and Tia poked her head round it and smiled.

“Sorry to interrupt Daniel but your next student is waiting.” She told him “Do you want me to tell them to come back in five minutes?”

“No its fine send them in Tia” He replied

“Well, thank you for your time Professor” Namine said “But just so you know my area of expertise ranges from artefacts from over a hundred years ago to chocolate frog cards. You name and I can identify it. During class I may have not given the right impression but this is what I want to do and you know I’m right for it”

With that she left his office and stormed back to the Gryffindor common room hoping to find Hermione or Rayne there as Kairi had been called into work but was furious to find neither of them in there so she went up to her dorm and ranted to Rayne’s cat Kit instead.