Gandolus Chapter One-When the Rain Falls 17 year old Gail Ambrose sat in the Gryffindor common room on the couch. Propped up on her lap was a Muggle magazine she’d brought with her. Her legs were crossed and her blue eyes skimmed over each article. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled over the left shoulder and she turned the page to the magazine unaware that her three best friends were entering the common room as well. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley sat down across from her. Harry broke into a grin when he saw the magazine in her lap. His emerald green eyes twinkled teasingly. “You know,” he said lightly. “You’re making Ron look smart when you read that.” “Hey,” Ron said frowning. His light auburn hair reflected the orange firelight that omitted from the fire that was crackling in the fireplace. His blue eyes moved onto Gail next. “Bloody hell,” he said. “Sam sent you another magazine?” Gail raised her eyes finally acknowledging them. “Yep,” she sighed. “It’s like he’s still trying to force me to ‘abandon’ my magical life style.” She closed the magazine and tossed it into the fire. The flames sizzled and popped as she watched the fire engulf the magazine in a burning ball. “Wow,” Ron breathed wide eyed. “You do realize that that was dangerous right?” Hermione asked frowning reprovingly. “You’re lucky an ember didn’t spark the rug.” Gail rolled her eyes. “Hermione, at this point, whatever is here that Sam sent me is about to get ‘sparked’. I want nothing that reminds me of what he’s trying to do around me. That includes magazines.” Hermione just continued to frown but said nothing more. Ron just looked at Gail with sympathy. The three of them had remembered when Sam had sent Gail a birthday ‘gift’. It was pretty bad, so bad that they never spoke of it again. Luckily, Professor Dumbledore had banned any packages coming from Sam’s address and it took several weeks before Gail would be able to sleep correctly after that. Don’t get Ron wrong, he had nothing against Muggles, but Sam made Ron really angry and he knew Fred and George would want to really hex the snot out of Sam. Frankly, they even told Gail they would all she had to do was say the word. But Gail figured he’d be dealt with in his own terms. Karma would eventually come back and bite him on the ass. Ron had changed slightly over the summer. He grew several inches and now was about the same height as his older brother, Percy, who was still not talking to his parents. Ron was still in shock that Percy turned against them and Harry like that. It was like a complete 180 degree transformation. Harry knew all to well that some Muggles weren’t all nice. An example was his Aunt and Uncle. They hated him the minute he landed in their house hold. Things were slightly different being in their 6th year, but Harry didn’t hold his breath for anything. Harry’s appearance was now sharper and well etched. People often say that now Harry looked exactly like his father James when he was in his last year. His hair was still untidy as usual. Hermione was still the scholar and her hair was now a lot calmer and straighter, falling around her shoulders in gentle waves now. They met Gail on the train back to the castle last two years ago. They became good friends and hung out a lot. Gail was the rational one like Hermione, but yet she had the open mindedness of Ron and Harry. She would believe something until proof was shown to her. It’s why Harry liked her right away. She was a breath of fresh air. Then, Gail told them about Sam. It took her a while to trust them, but they were glad that she did trust them enough to tell them. They helped her through that awful ‘gift’ Sam sent her for her birthday and were always there when she needed help. Sam didn’t like the magical community and was trying to ‘convert’ Gail out of that by sending her Muggle magazines, telling her that living the Muggle life is much more easier than the magical life and she wouldn’t have to worry about evil wizards coming after her trying to kill her. “I think the best thing to do is just ignore Sam,” Hermione said slowly. “I’m sure once he sees that you’re not accepting his magazines or anything like that he’ll get the hint.” Gail snorted again. “If I ignore his stuff,” she said. “He’ll only send more and more making sure I DO get them. The best thing to do is burn everything.” Ron’s lip twitched. “I can’t believe he’s still acting like that,” he said shaking his head sadly. “Yeah well,” Gail said sighing. “It’s like that unfortunately even in the magical community. There are those that want to convert Muggles over and I seriously think it won’t work out well. How many Muggles would they want to turn over? I mean the Muggles don’t know we exist. By doing that they’ll certainly know we do!” Hermione nodded. Gail had a point but that was something that four teenagers would not be able to handle themselves. It was a much harder problem, global really. “I know,” Harry said softly. “If things get out of control again we’ll tell the Headmaster.” Gail nodded, seeing that he was right. They heard the buzzer ring, signaling it was time for class to begin. But Gail had wanted to head to the library to get a book on Potions. “Blast,” Gail frowned. “I had wanted to go to the library to get that book on Potions. Harry? You wanna come with me?” “We’ve got class now,” Hermione said surprised. “Were you thinking of skiving off?” Gail shook her head and smirked at Hermione. “No, Hermione,” she said. “I was thinking more along the lines of being a little bit late.” Hermione still frowned but she didn’t offer anymore. Harry shrugged. “Sure why not? I don’t mind being late to Divination,” he said. “It gives Professor Trelawney more suspicion that I was snuffed anyway.” The three of them burst out laughing except for Hermione. Naturally she believed that Divination was a waste of time. “Okay I’ll see you in class then,” Ron said to Gail and Harry as they left the common room. Harry and Gail left too, heading toward the library. They stepped into the library. It was eerily quiet and bright. The weather outside was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. But for some reason, the library was the opposite. Something that Gail realized was a bit strange. Shrugging it off as nothing more than lack of sleep, Gail and Harry Proceeded into the library. Harry leaned against one of the tables while Gail searched the bookshelves for the right book. She stood in front of one of the shelves and ran her finger along the spines as she read the lettering stamped on them, trying to find the right one. Suddenly, her hazel eyes landed on a strange looking spine. It was much thinner than the others with a white ribbon poking out from the pages. On the spine of the book read: Dana’s Diary It was almost hidden among the books, almost invisible. For a moment before Gail reached for it, something in her gut was telling her that something was wrong, that she shouldn’t take it…but the curiosity got the better of her and she reached for it. As soon as her hand closed around the spine of the book, a chill ran down her spine and she felt an ice cold gust of wind ruffle the back of her hair. She quickly turned around to see if there was an opened window, but the library’s windows were closed. Shrugging it off, she headed back to Harry. “Hey Harry,” Gail said as she stood next to him. “Check this out…someone’s diary.” Harry took one look at it and then backed away from it with his hands raised in a defensive position. “Oh no,” he said shaking his head. “I’ve had enough of diaries…Get that thing away from me.” He remembered the second year with Ginny and the diary. He learned to stay away from things like that and took up the motto “not to trust anything if you can’t see its brain” something Ron’s parents had said. He had to admit, they were right. Gail just hugged the diary close to her. “Oh please,” she scoffed rolling her eyes. “That was one diary that was governed by a nutcase wizard. Diary’s don’t hurt people…people hurt people.” Harry just eyed it warily and then raised his wrist to check his watch. “We’d best get going,” he said. “As much as I hate Divination we still need to be in class.” Gail nodded and slipped the diary into her bag and they left the library. Later on after Divination, they were sitting in Charms class. Gail looked outside at the weather, which was still sunny and bright. She could even hear the birds chirping in the distance. Her mind was on the diary in her bag. She wondered who Dana was and how the diary ended up in the library. People’s personal belongings never end up in a public place like the library…so how did this one end up there? She glanced down at her bag which was sitting on the floor. She suddenly saw this black ooze streaking out from underneath her bag. Curious and intrigued, Gail reached down and moved her bag slightly. The ooze continued to streak out. She looked around, wondering if anyone else saw it. Everyone seemed to be completely oblivious. She returned her eyes back to the ooze or whatever it was. Now, as she watched in horror, the ooze changed directions and began streaking toward her. She sat completely transfixed as the black stuff reached her shoe and began completely covering it. It engulfed her entire foot and tried to engulf her ankle now, and it was continuing up her whole leg. Gail reached down and tried to wipe it off, but it only stretched out and then snapped back into place. It continued to go up her leg. Gail frantically began trying to get if off but it wasn’t budging. Gail finally screamed. Everyone looked up at Gail screaming. She felt a hand on her shoulder and soon Hermione’s face appeared there. “Gail? What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly. “Why are you screaming?” “There’s black stuff on my leg!” Gail cried frantically. “What black stuff?” Hermione asked. “This!” Gail looked down at her leg. There was nothing there. Gail was a bit shaken and confused about what she saw. It was so real and she was sure it happened. They were now sitting in History of Magic. Gail looked outside again. Dark clouds began rolling in and she could see the trees whipping and bending in the wind. They all heard the loud boom of thunder and lightning that streaked across the sky. About 3 minutes later, the rain began belting down in sheets. One of the windows that were opened in class began causing the rain to come in. One of the Slytherin students quickly reached up and closed the window, his hand touching a large puddle. He suddenly cried out. “Ow my hand!” he cried cradling it against his chest. Professor Binns floated over to him as the Slytherin boys hand came into view to Hermione. It was read and blistering. Hermione gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God,” she breathed wide eyed. “That’s not ordinary rain…it’s acid rain!” Harry, Ron and Gail all looked at her.