Magic in my Spark

Let's start with how Gardenia ended up in another dimension. Her father had permission from his boss to bring his daughter to work. And no, it wasn't those bring your child to work days, that's on June 30. Today is July 1. The reason is that her father didn't want to leave her alone. The days her father wasn't available to look after her was when he asked his friend (who was also his neighbor) to take care of her until he came back. His friend was unavailable to look after Gardenia today so he decided to bring her to work instead of leaving her alone at home. He prefers not to go home with a faint smell of burnt food in the air and a newly repaired kitchen. He thinks that Gardenia is using too much fix it spells to be healthy.

At work, his daughter kept to herself. She nodded at people who went to talk with her father and even helped with getting non important paperwork for her father. It was on one of those gopher duties that she got lost and ended up in the Department of Mysteries where the veil was located. When she thinks back on it, she wonders why she didn't encounter any people on the way to getting lost.

She knew that she made a wrong turn somewhere. But now that she's here, she doesn't know how to exit and fiend people to point her the right way. Having her wand at the ready with lumos while she made her way through the Department of Mysteries, she heard faint whispers. Walking closer to where she thinks the whispers are coming from, she heard the word more clearly. "Come closer. Come."

Now, Gardenia knows this can't be good. She watched enough horror movies without her father knowing that going towards the whispers is a bad idea, especially when there's such a thing as magic and when "magic" is good enough for an explanation. There's also the "curiosity kills the cat" phrase and Gardenia didn't make it out of the war just to die later. Thus, when Gardenia caught a glimpse of a black curtain fluttering even though there was no wind, she stopped, turned around, and began to walk away.

The whispers grew more frantic and buzzed in her head, getting louder and louder. She grimaced in pain and continued walking away, her steps becoming more heavy. Thinking it was just her imagination, she continued walking but her walking pace slowed to a sluggish crawl and her body shivering with cold and dread even though she knows it's not supposed to be cold here.

"Come. I need you. They need you."

Yeah, no. Gardenia is not going to listen to that haunting whisper. It sounds like one of those spirits in horror movies spiriting children away. No way is she going to listen to that creepy voice.

Gardenia took one cumbersome step forward and tripped into the veil. Her file dropped from her hand, the papers sliding out and spilling onto the floor. Her last thoughts were "How did I get in front of this thing?" and "WAIT A SECOND!"

****

"Troublesome human you are, resisting my call."

"Yeah, well, I don't listen to creepy whispers from a creepy looking archway."

"Acknowledged. I will do better next time."

"There's a next time?"

"You are my chosen one. Help end the war. There are enough deaths."

"But I just came from a war!"

"..."

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

*

Gardenia groaned. Sunlight was glaring into her eyes and there was a heavy smell of blood and dust, sounds of gunfire, buildings collapsing, and metallic roars. It's like she's back in the war at Hogwarts, save for the gunfire.

"What?" She closed her eyes and blinked rapidly, her eyes slowly getting used to the sunlight. She felt that she was leaning on a dented car and her hand reached out beside her to feel her wand. A few moments later, her hand brushed against the familiar feel of her wand and she grasped it, pulling it toward her chest and sighing at the familiar weight of her wand. Her wand always felt tranquil to her and it has never failed to calm her down.