Chapter - 3.2

 

"Brother," just as Alexander was about to open his letter, he heard his sister calling for him. When he turned around to look, he saw her running towards him. Though they were only minutes apart, the little girl was still respectful.

 

"What is it?" When she was close enough, Alexander asked.

 

"Look, I just got... got a letter delivered to me. You won't believe me... if... If I tell you who did that," Alexander's sister was panting as she tried to squeeze the words, "It was an owl... An oversized white owl." She spread her arms for Alexander to understand better.

 

"... For all these years, no one wrote a letter to us, but today..." She got emotional as her eyes turned watery, "Do you think we have relatives who were searching for us all this time and finally found us? Or maybe, it's our..." The possibilities scared her.

 

Meanwhile, when Alexander saw a similar letter in his sister's hand, he was lost. Shifting his eyes away from the letter in her hand, he stared at his sister with a complicated gaze.

 

"... You know... I was helping sister nancy when that owl took a dive in front of me and flew past my ear. It scared the hell out of me. Thank god..." Alexander's sister, on the other hand, was busy narrating the events that transpired. But when she saw her brother stare at her, lost in his own thoughts, she asked, "Why are you looking at me like that, brother? is there something on my face?" Concerned, she touched her face.

 

"Nothing," Alexander finally averted his eyes and took the letter from her hands. Indeed, it was from Hogwarts and addressed to his sister.

 

'How should I explain this to her?'Alexander thought.

 

"Nicole, why don't we go out today?" Alexander asked his sister, slipping both the letters inside his jacket.

 

"Huh.. why all of a sudden, brother? And I want to read that letter first?" Nicole, Alexander's sister, was confused by his sudden suggestion. It is to be noted that she had to beg him until her knees scraped so that he would take her to the city, and that also didn't guarantee that she would succeed.

 

"There is something I have something to tell you before we read this letter. We can read the letter later. Moreover, didn't you want to go to the city? It has been so long since we last went out together," Alexander wanted to explain some things to her first before she read the letter.

 

"It's fishy, no doubt about it. But if you promise that you will buy me anything I want, then I don't mind slipping it under the rag for the time being," Nicole said.

 

Alexander nodded, "Fine."

 

"Then let me go and inform Reverend mother first. I will meet you here," and with that, Nicole dashed inside the building.

 

Alexander also went to their room to grab some money. There was no doubt in his mind that Nicole was going to squeeze out every penny he had.

 

Soon the siblings got into a taxi and made their way to the city. The two of them walked around, and while Nicole bought dresses and shoes for herself, Alexander carried the bags, following her around. After spending hours of window shopping around the streets of London, she finally stopped, and they had something to eat.

 

Soon the sun began to set, and Alexander and Nicole made their way towards their favourite spot in the whole of London, the banks of the Thames. Nicole bought them popsicles as the siblings sat on the bank of the river, admiring the beauty of the Luminous city. For some unknown reason, there were fewer people than what was normally there, and Alexander was glad that it was so.

 

"So... What is it that you wanted to talk about, oh, brother of mine?" Finally, Nicole decided to break the ice and looked at her brother for some answers.

 

But Alexander didn't reply right away. He looked at his sister, trying to find the right words to explain the situation to her. Alexander did not know if words would be enough for him to explain it to her. It took some time, but he decided on something.

 

And so, Alexander looked away from Nicole's face, "Do you see that rock over there?" pointing towards a fist-sized rock, Alexander asked.

 

Nicole turned to look in the direction where Alexander was pointing and nodded, "Hmm..."

 

But as soon as Nicole replied, the rock came flying towards Nicole, catching her off guard. It was so sudden that instead of crying out in surprise and closing her in fear, Nicole could do nothing.

 

With fear crawling her heart, Nicole waited for the stone to hit her. But, when, even after some time had passed and nothing happened, she slowly and nervously opened her eyes. And what came next was a surprise to her. The rock was floating in the air, inches away from her face.

 

Shocked, confused and speechless, Nicole could not avert her eyes from the rock floating in front of her. Her mind was insisting for her to ask Alexander, 'What the devil's trick is this?' But not a word left her mouth.

 

And while her brain was busy trying to find logic and rationale behind what her eyes were seeing, what happened next left her even more speechless.

 

The rock in front of her slowly crumbled, turned to dust and swept away with the wind without as much as a crinkle.

 

"I know... You must be confused," Alexander said, bringing Nicole out of her stupor, "But believe me, everything you saw just now was real, not an illusion." Alexander knew that his sister would be confused and might not believe her eyes. So now it was his job to patiently explain it to her.

 

"I know it's nothing more than a trick. You must have planned for it earlier. Now tell me, how did you pull that rock towards us? And how did you... smash it into..." Nicole wanted to paint that whole incident as nothing but her brother trying to dupe her into some kind of prank. The flying rock? She was sure that there was some trick behind it. But how did it turn into dust? She had no explanation for that.

 

"You don't believe me, do you?" Alexander asked, smiling.

 

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