An African Wizarding World Story

Chapter 3 - A Friend

Short road was buzzing with excitement, hope, and magic just like I remembered it. I used to come here to buy my books and illegally sell potions and with that one thought, I was happy again.

Passing by all the weird and wonderful shops I finally ended up in front of Growls and Howls. The young man inside seemed to be arguing with someone when I walked in so I pretended to look at a cat. A small, scrawny calico with mischief in her eyes, I smiled at her and she seems to blink back.

The argument seemed to have turned into a nagging or begging so I turned to listen like a good witch that I was. Then seeing who he was conversing with got me into a giggle that got his attention.

He looked flustered, "I'm so sorry for the commotion. Getting my budgie to take his medicine is always a long-drawn-out process. How may I help you?" Trying to contain my laughter while trying not to look at the yellow budgie with green wings pouched on his stand clearly refusing to play along.

"Hi, I am Alicia and I need an owl." "Ah thank you for coming to my shop, I'm Jared Steyn, son of the great Arn Steyn." I think he was saying it to sound knowledgeable as if being his son magically transferred all Arn's knowledge to him but it came out as if he was confused about his role in life. I had no idea who Arn Steyn was but I guessed his son was trying to live up to the legend. There was an awkward pause so I thought I should help him. "So about the owl?" "Oh right, yes what kind do you want?" He said while pointing in the direction of the owls, it was only at that point I realized how big the shop really was and how many owls he had flying about the top of his shop three stories up.

All I could stupidly blurt out with amazement was, "It's bigger on the inside" I'm not sure how long I stared at it but when I came to and wanted to ask a question, he was smiling with satisfaction.

Instead, I just said, "I just need one that is reliable and adjusts into an unorganized life."

Before I knew it I was walking out of Growls and Howls with a striped owl named Storm and the blinking calico cat, pun intended. The reason the calico was small is that she was just a kitten but tried to eat the budgie twice thus I got a discount. I named her Jellybean.

Keeping her with me was a task and a half, as she wanted to pounce on anything that moved.

By the time we got home she looked a bit ruffled up, meowed and hiss at me as I put her down and she ran under the table and behind the curtain with what she thought was hiding. The problem was her tail and paws stuck out underneath but to her, as she could not see me, meant that I could not see her.

I opened tuna for her and put it down on the floor then took Storm the owl out from his cage and gave him corn, he looked at it turned around ruffled his feathers, and pooped on it. "I guess you don't like corn then." I sat back to think and in that instant Jellybean jumped on the table and dropped a mouse in front of me as if to say thanks for the tuna. Storm flapped his wings with excitement then came running as jellybean disappeared from sight grabbed and cobbled it down in one motion. All I could do was laugh.

Writing the letter ended up being easier than I thought, I was unsure about sending it as a feeling about all of this bothered me. I pushed the feeling aside and sent two letters off with Storm, another one addressed to Jared, the Growls and Howls owner on what this particular owl ate and the other to Rika.

As days went by and I apologize to Gert and did his work like usual and forcing Storm to eat healthily and not just mice, Rika and I were writing non-stop. By the looks of things we both just ignored what happened in the past and moved forward with a renewed friendship. She kept me busy and I had little time to think of Garth. It was a nice change from feeling the pain all the time. It even got to a point where I wanted to meet for coffee.

So I set it up. We were going to meet at a coffee shop away from my home as that was my space and I didn't feel safe about letting her in yet. Something was still bothering me in the back of my mind but I put it down to nerves and moved on.

Then on a Tuesday, I was sitting at a coffee shop gleefully and full of nerves watching anyone walking by. With the familiar pop sound around the corner in the alley, I knew she arrived. She came out brushing her red coat, looking left and right and then she saw me. She smiled warmly and walk my way. Rika looked just like the last time I saw her, she had a tan of note with long brown hair, her sunglasses on her head and very natural make-up. It was only when she got to me that I noticed the dark wrinkles under her eyes, I got up to greet her and she immediately hugged me. I was so happy to have her do that since I was worried she would still be angry. She pulled back and sized me up, "You look great. How are you?" I responded automatically "I'm good thanks and you?" "Oh you know, doing this and that keeping busy." And like that, we chatted for hours. We chatted about work, and that she was doing trauma therapy now, what her goals were and where she was heading in life. I tried really hard to skirt around the sensitive topic of our fallout by not mentioning it or anything around it but at the end of the day, we were both laughing and having fun.

After a while, she paused and got serious and I could see trouble was stirring in her eyes, "How are you coping, Alicia?" It caught me off guard and I could feel the pain in my chest again. All I could muster up was, "I'm ok." But Rika being Rika pushes for a proper answer. "I, off all people know what it's like to lose someone in death. How are you coping?"

For a moment all I could hear was Jonothan's scream for help and the tears were welling up. "I'm fine, I just need to keep busy. That's what I have been doing, it will get better with time but for now, I don't want to think about it." My throat was growing a knot so I went quiet.

"It's good to keep busy, it can be hard to be without them. Not having them around just to chat or make them coffee or watch a sunset. It's like a huge hole and it cannot be filled."

Tears were running down my face as I tried to hide them and she took my hand to comfort. But I was rigid, like always I deal with sadness by getting angry and tt this point, I was boiling. How could she bring him up? Why would she do it? If she knows it hurts then why talk about it? Why not help me forget?

"It can be very hard without them and the house must be extremely quiet now." She continued. My head was rushing with anger and my tears beyond control. "But what if you could bring them back?" She asked. With all emotions swirling inside me they all disappeared. "What do you mean, Rika?" "Just like I said, what if you could bring them back." The concept of bringing Garth back had not struck me as an option and all I could think of saying sarcastically, "with what exactly? A spell?" But she plainly responded with, "yes" Now seriously confused and taken aback, I was wiping my eyes while frowning at her. "Have you gone mad? There is no such spell." "I have heard of one." "From whom?" "You are missing the point. There is a spell out there that can bring your loved ones back from the dead." "Why would you do that, Rika?" But before I could explain my point any further she interrupted me, "Come on, Alicia. Tell me you would not want to bring Garth back?" Again she would not let me continue my thought and rush on, "I would do anything to have my father back and there is a spell that can do it in a book, an ancient book, written by powerful wizards long ago." "An ancient book? Then why have we not heard of this book before? If it was filled with powerful spells it definitely would have surfaced long ago and time would be shaped by its spells. But it's not and this is the first time I'm hearing about this book." "Because it's been hidden to protect the world." "Well, even if it does exist, which it doesn't. Then finding it would undo the whole 'protecting the world' thing, don't you think?" She sat backcrossed her arms and said, "You could bring Garth back." I was going to argue again on why you should not do that but she added, "And this book was last known to be in possession of your grandfather, the one you got your wand from." I paused to think and reached for my wand inside my jacket, brought it out, and stared at it.

My grandfather was a great man in my eyes but I knew he and my father, his son, could not get along. Not many people could get along with him but he loved me and always showered me with attention. Well, that's according to my mom as he died when I was three. And except for playing ball in the front garden of his house, I don't remember much of him.

My mom told me he was a quiet man with funny ways and a dry sense of humor which made only me, of all his 6 grandchildren, laugh. And she would go on and on about how weird it was for a three-year-old to be laughing at his jokes as if I understood them. It's apparently why his will stated that I should get his wand when I turned 13. A weird request for only 13 since witches and wizards got their wands at 11 but again according to my mother that was just like him.

Rika knew I got my wand from him as it was one of the more emotional issues I had of feeling unloved by my parents. But he loved me because he gave me his wand. Of all the grandkids I got his wand, it's probably why my dad resented me but I could never be sure.

"So except for his wand, did he ever mention a book?" She brought my train of thought back. Still staring at it and without thinking, I said, "No, just this and a watch." Only after I looked back up I realized that the look in her eyes was filled with malice and my guard went up immediately.

"A watch?" "Yeah, but my father tried every spell he could think on it and said there was nothing special about it."

I knew that wasn't true because my father took it from me and held onto it. It took a couple of months planning and scheming to steal it back from him without him noticing. He knew it was special and so did I. I called it a watch but, to be honest, it had more dials and gears any watch should have. Seeing the eager expression on Rika's face, I wasn't going to clarify that now.

My next words were chosen very carefully, "Rika, bringing someone back from the dead is a bad idea on many levels. I am very sorry about your father." "No, you are not. You never were, all you wanted at that time was a friend for yourself and you got exactly that when he died." She was right but I knew it wasn't all true so I ignored what she said and just kept talking, "He has been dead for 10 years to bring someone back from the dead that been gone that long would not be fair on them." "Oh so you are saying that cause Garth only died a couple of months back is better?" "No, not at all. Bringing him back would also be unfair. Binging anyone back to this world would be unfair no matter how long they have been dead." I tried to keep myself as calm as possible as I knew she wanted to hit on sore issues that might start a fight or a reaction and at this point, I did not want to give that to her. "Rika, you know very well how I would like to not be part of this world anymore and how I would like to be no more but with time I have realized that it would be cowardice. Taking the easy way out would not be fair or just on anyone around me or the person that is me." She was getting agitated and called for the bill so I left it there.

In the back of my mind, I have been waiting on why she contacted me and this was it. She wanted the book. Where did she hear from it though and who else wanted it. Rika is a clever person but not one to go research so someone else was behind this. Why am I so paranoid lately?

I walked her back to the alley, she was now upset and didn't want to talk but I need to be sure before I did something stupid. "Rika? Who told you of this book?"

The speed at which she turned around and the movement of her arms told me it was time to act. With a quick swish of my wand, I shouted: "stupefy". She dropped stiff onto her back and there she lay with her wand in her hand.

"What have I done?" I looked behind me to see if anyone noticed or if anyone else was coming as her back-up but there was no one. Just people walk up and down the main road. Amazing how much muggles didn't want to see.

"Rika, what have you gotten yourself into?" I asked while her eyes darted at me angrily. "Think, Alicia. Think." I tried to encourage myself while pacing up and down.

I crouched down at her side and said what I should have a long time ago, "Rika, I am so sorry about your dad and that I stole your last years with him. I can not express how sorry I am in words but I promise you this if you killed Garth for the sake of a book I will gladly t*****e and kill you myself." The expression of hatred and revenge caught me a bit off guard and I had to regather my thoughts again.

There is no way Rika could have snuck up behind them without them hearing so it had to be someone else. If I let her go now she will disappear and I will never get justice but if I keep her whoever is working with her will know something is up and I won't get everyone involved.

"So there is only one option," I say while preparing myself for the spell. "I hope I do this right." Raising my wand hoping for the best, "Obliviate". With a flash, I unjinxed her next and came running at her as if she fell. 

"Are you alright, Rika?" I ask as if I have no idea how she ended up on the floor. "Yes, I am fine." She responded still cross from what I was hoping is our conversation at the restaurant. She got up, dusting herself off, and looked at me slightly confused at how we ended up here. "I wanted to make sure we leave on the right foot, so I came running to tell you that I will look into the book. I will ask my dad and my gran if they know anything about it maybe he will finally give me the watch back." I lied with a straight face.

She looked at me relieved and smiled, "Thank you, I would appreciate that." "I will let you know what my dad says." "Ok, I will wait on your letter then." she almost skipping on the spot and apparated away.

I breathed with a sigh of relief and hoped one last time that the spell and miss information worked. Who are all involved and would Jono seriously be part of it? To kill his best friend. I could not believe this but I need to know for sure. I need the truth and a truth serum, but getting a strong one like veritaserum is nearly impossible and expensive.

But maybe, the lizard Garth's brother Graham had could work. I am not sure how it works but it was my best possible option.

I have never been a big fan of graham. Garth always said that he meant well but, to be honest he came across as a selfish asshat. Never really having any one's interest but his own at heart. But he was Garths older brother and if I knew one thing it was that families can be complicated. Mine was an excellent example of that.

However, I kept thinking that it’s his brother and if my sisters had been murdered I would want justice maybe even revenge.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted for Garth. Some days it was justice but on my worst days, it was definitely revenge.