“You know, I worked hard for what I got and I earned it. That’s my tip for you, work hard,” said Gary.
“I wasn’t asking for a tip,” I said, I then side stepped him and kept walking down the street. He tried to turn and say something else to me, but I heard him groan in pain and he grabbed his knee.
“Are you okay, sir?” said the driver.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Gary. “Just a recurring injury from when I got struck by lightning a few years back.”
I stopped for a moment and turned to look at him. Did he just say struck by lightning?
“Nah,” I said out loud and decided to ignore him and kept walking.
This was all just coincidences. I thought to myself. Seeing Lilly and then Gary, I mean how bizarre is that. Anyway, I am satisfied with my life, the last thing I want to do is go back down that rabbit hole again.
It was then that I turned a corner and saw a shop that I had never seen before, curiously named ‘Dumbledore’s Army: A Shop of Exquisite Harry Potter Memoribilia’.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I said. This was almost too coincidental. I wanted to run away, but I also wanted to prove to myself that this was all just total rubbish and that I was creating something in my head.
Should I call my parents? Or perhaps even Doctor Brown? He hadn’t heard from me for a few years now, but I’m sure he’d take my call. No, I didn’t need a Doctor, I needed to face my paranoia head on. Also, I had been completely avoiding anything Harry Potter for a few years now and had taken to reading more crime thrillers.
“Oh what the hell,” I said and walked across the street to the store.
When I pushed the door open the normal store chiming of a bell was replaced by the chime of the Harry Potter movie theme. The lighting was dimmed almost perfectly in the store that it felt like the person who had put this store together had studied the lighting from the Harry Potter movies. Of course, only a complete Potterhead like me could really be attuned to that.
The store was literally jam-packed full of all things Harry Potter. There were toys, books, costumes, special collectables from the movies, signed copies of the books by JK Rowling, t-shirts, hoodies, and much, much more. I ran my fingers across the shelves as a smile grew upon my face, as if I had taken a quick side step into a dream I once had when I was younger. In fact, this had been my dream once to own my very own store that sold Harry Potter stuff.
Everything about the store seemed perfect, just the way I had imagined it might be. There was a shelve of wands, a cosplay type area where you could try on costumes and the ceiling was decorated as if looking up into the night sky. Just like the dining hall had been described as in Hogwarts.
In the centre of the shop was a locked glass casing, my mouth opened when I saw what was inside.
“The Tales of Beedle The Bard,” said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see a flashing red haired man come from the back of his shop. “It’s a beauty isn’t it, completely hand written.”
“Jasper?” I said.
“Sean Morris?” said Jasper smiling. We walked up to one another and embraced in a hug. We both seemed to hold on for some time as if some old bond that we had once had had been desperately trying to reconnect.
“Wow, that was a long hug,” said Jasper.
“Oh yes, sorry. I don’t know why, I mean I know it’s been years, but it’s good to see you,” I said.
“Likewise,” said Jasper, smiling.
“Wow, is this your shop, Jasper?” I said.
“It is,” said Jasper.
“It’s incredible, you did it,” I said.
“Oh thank you, it’s really a passion project. But I do get some serious fans coming in and the shop is actually starting to turn a profit now,” said Jasper.
“That’s fantastic Jasper, well done,” I said. “I mean a handwritten copy of ‘The Tales of Beedle The Bard’, you did this yourself, right? I mean you’ve handwritten this.”
“Handwritten it? No, I’m not that crazy, Sean. This actually is one of the original seven copies written by JK Rowling’s hand.”
My heart kind of sank a little when he said he had not written it himself. I hadn’t realized that there was still a part of me that hoped my elaborate fantasy was real. Then my head came butting in, telling me that everything I thought I had experienced in the magical world was completely all made up in my head. That included that night after the signing when I thought I had gone back to Jasper’s flash apartment in Soho and seen a handwritten copy of ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ that Jasper had claimed he had handwritten himself. Complete nonsense though, incredible how detailed and elaborate I had made my fantasy.
“You’re joking? That would mean this could be worth close to two million pounds then?” I said.
“Yes,” said Jasper walking over to the valuable piece of Harry Potter memorabilia. “This is worth a lot of money. I actually do have a buyer as well. He’s sent in a healthy bid well into the millions.”
“That’s incredible Jasper. So are you going to take it?” I said.
“I don’t know, he wants an expert to come in and authenticate it,” said Jasper.
“But I thought you said it was real?” I said. Jasper pulled out his asthma inhaler from his pocket I instinctively stepped backwards, was he about to cast a spell on me using his magical object? Then he popped it in his mouth and took a deep breath inwards.
“Who knows, I hope so. But an expert can be quite expensive and I don’t want to pay it and it turn out to be a fake,” said Jasper.
“A fake? Well, get the buyer to pay for it,” I said. Jasper walked to the back of the cashier and placed his asthma inhaler on the counter top. I couldn’t help but stare at the inhaler. Memories flooded my mind of my psychotic delusion episode as I remembered Jasper’s asthma inhaler had been his magical object.
“They won’t. They’re asking me to stand by my product and produce an authenticity certificate. What do you think, Sean?” said Jasper. I shook my head, I had lost my train of thought.
“I beg your pardon?” I said.
“The book, Sean, do you think it’s real or not?” said Jasper.
“I-I don’t know,” I said.
“Come on, you’re a real Potterhead. You know your stuff, just like me. Looking at the handwriting what do you think?” said Jasper.
“Look, reading over the few words here, it looks and sounds right. The writing looks almost perfectly like everything else I had ever seen that JK Rowling had written,” I said.
“So what does your heart tell you Sean?” said Jasper.
My heart told me it was a fake, but I couldn’t say that out loud because the reason my heart told me it was a fake is because I still believed in my delusion. The delusion that included going back to Jasper’s apartment after we saw JK Rowling cast a spell.
“My heart? Well I know what my head tells me and my head says it looks pretty darn real, but get an expert to confirm it and you’ll be rich,” I said.
“I didn’t ask what your head told you, what does your heart tell you Sean?” said Jasper, getting a little aggressive and making me feel unnerved.
“What happened that night, Jasper? That night we saw each other at the Robert Galbraith signing,” I said. I saw a slight smile flash over Jasper’s face, he then quickly hid it away.
“Oh yes, we did see each other that one time. I was dressed as Hagrid, that’s right,” said Jasper. “I went running after JK Rowling to see her, but then we lost each other.”
“We lost each other?” I said.
“Yeah, we did. I actually really wanted to see you again and I came back looking for you, but by the time I got back you were gone,” said Jasper, walking closer to me.
“Gone?”
“Yes. Now what does your heart tell you about this book. Is it a fake or is it real?” said Jasper. I couldn’t hold it in any longer, otherwise I would burst. I had spent years trying to forget it, trying to tell myself that everything had bee
n make-believe and that I had gone mad.
“You know what my heart tells me? My heart tells me that this is a fake. You copied it after seeing an actual real copy by JK Rowling and now you’re trying to pass this off as genuine. I have seen this before, the night after the signing. I was in your apartment in Soho and I saw this handwritten manuscript there,” I said.
“My apartment in Soho?” said Jasper taking a step back. “You actually think that I’ve written this?”
“Look, I don’t know,” I said. “You know what I’ve spent years trying to tell myself, that I’m not mad. But maybe I am. I don’t know if you heard but I ended up in a mental hospital, apparently, I tried to commit suicide. I woke up believing I had been in some magical Harry Potter world with spells and magical objects. You were there and so was Beryl. I suffered a real psychotic episode, Jasper. Sadly, you were a part of my delusion. I spent ages trying to recover, it all started that night when I saw you at the signing. That was what I thought was my first encounter with real actual wizards. Still inside some things tell me that what I experienced wasn’t a dream, but was real and happened. It wasn’t though, I ended up in hospital, really mentally ill.”
“Wow,” said Jasper. “I can’t believe they did that to you.”
“What? Who? I mean, no one did anything to me I did it to myself. I was psychotic,” I said. Gently, Jasper grabbed his asthma inhaler.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” said Jasper. Slowly and gently the handwritten copy in the glass casing began to float upwards. My mouth dropped open wide. I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it!
“No! No! No!” I said. I could feel my heart beginning to pump wildly, my mouth was drying up and the air felt like it was being sucked right out of the room.
“Yes, Sean, yes. It was all real,” said Jasper. I turned to Jasper who was grinning wildly.
“No, it can’t be, how is this possible?” I said.
“I came to see you at the hospital, but I had to be careful so that they wouldn’t spot me. It was too dangerous. They were all in on it, Sean,” said Jasper.
“All in on it? Who, Jasper? Who was in on what?” I said.
“Your parents were in on it too, or some spell was cast on all those people around you,” said Jasper. “They were really crafty with their magic. Made you feel like you had gone completely mad, but you hadn’t Sean. You survived their spell all thanks to Beryl,” said Jasper.
“Beryl?” I said.
“Yes, poor girl, she must have really loved and believed in you. She sent that spell to you,” said Jasper.
“Finite Incantatem?” I said.
“Yes, and she took the memory loss herself. Dreadful really what they did to her, ended up marrying some bloody muggle,” said Jasper.
“This, this isn’t real, I’m just suffering a relapse,” I said.
“You’re not suffering any relapse Sean. Rowling, Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson got to you, Sean, they got to you real bad,” said Jasper.
“No, no, I am just suffering a relapse, ha!” I said laughing out loud, something just came to me. “No, no, no, this is not real. This store is not real. Merlin’s Beard, do I need to go and see my Doctor.”
“Sean, this is all real,” said Jasper.
“No, it is not and you know why, because if it was real I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you. You died, Jasper, you died on that building,” I said.
“Yeah, that chimney came down on me and it bloody well hurt, but it did not kill me,” said Jasper.
“I don’t believe you, I don’t believe any of this,” I said.
“Look, Sean, I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve been watching you for years, waiting for the right time. This store here isn’t even here on the street, I set it up so you would come in. I set up you being on the same train as Lilly and I set up you bumping into that Gary prick,” said Jasper.
“What? You’re sick, why are you messing with me?” I said.
“Calm down, Sean, I know what you’re thinking. Look, this store is actually a dry-cleaning store, but I magically made it look like a Harry Potter store so I could get you off the street and talk to you. In case anyone is watching they just think you walked into a dry cleaners,” said Jasper.
“This is too much, I am undoubtedly relapsing. I need to call my school principal and get some sick leave, because I cannot take this,” I said, I turned around to go and walk out of the store.
“Wait! Sean, please, I need you,” said Jasper.
“You need me?” I said turning around.
“Yes, I need you in the fight against Rowling,” said Jasper. “She’s grown even more powerful. We thought that there were no bad wizards or witches, well turns out there are four of them and I can’t do this alone.”
“But we were enemies, Jasper. You said that I was going to become that dark wizard. How can enemies combine together,” I said.
“Like Dumbledore said, ‘it’s our choices that show who we are, far more than our abilities’,” said Jasper. “Make the choice now, Sean, make the choice to help me fight them. What they have planned is going to be terrible.”
“I just can’t, Jasper. This can’t be real, I am having a relapse,” I said.
“Look, I know you’ve been through a lot and that’s okay, I respect that. But you are not having a relapse and I can prove it to you. I have your umbrella,” said Jasper.
“My umbrella?” I said.
“Yes, it’s just out the back here. Let me get it for you, hold it and then tell me you’re relapsing,” said Jasper. I stood for a moment contemplating what Jasper was saying. There were two things that were going on here, I was relapsing or the past few years had been a total lie. I was anxious and jittery.
“Okay, get the umbrella,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Yes, I think I want to see it,” I said.
“Okay, give me a moment,” said Jasper. He ran out the back of the shop.
I could hear rummaging and movement, things clanging together. He was taking his time. My heart rate was up, I could feel it. I felt over heated and began sweating with every passing second. Where was he? Am I mental? Should I be getting out of here?
Then I lost all courage. The sweat pouring down my forehead was too much, it felt like the walls were closing in on me, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I turned around threw open the door and ran. I ran like I had never run before, far away.
I hoped on buses, trains and caught taxis. It took me all day, but eventually I arrived back in Hampsteadshire at my parent’s house. Bedraggled and tired from escaping something that I had conjured up in the depths of my mind I knocked on the door. Breathing heavily and panicking.
***
“Sean?” said my mum and dad who both answered the door. “Are you okay?”
“Can I come in?” I said.
“Of course,” they said. We sat down on the couch and they made me some tea and cut me a large slice of lemon meringue.
“I had a relapse,” I said.
“Oh dear, no. Are you okay?” said Mum.
“I don’t know, I think so,” I said.
“What happened?” said Dad.
“I saw Jasper,” I said.
“Oh no, not Jasper again,” said Dad.
“What do you mean?” I said.
“Well you know,” said Dad.
“No, I don’t,” I said.
“Well, you know, he’s made up,” said Dad.
“What? Made up? No, Jasper’s not made up, at least he wasn’t. I went to school with him, I graduated with him and he slept over here all the time back in high school,” I said.
“Yes, well that’s kind of our fault,” said Mum. “We shouldn’t have encouraged it. We used to make a bed for him and pretend he was sleeping there.”
“That’s not true, he was real,” I said. I stood up and went to the bookshelf in my parent’s loungeroom where a copy of my school yearbook was and I flicked through
the pages. Clearly, I was there, but absolutely no Jasper. “What about Beryl?”
“Yes, Beryl too, dear,” said Mum.
“But that’s not possible, this is not possible!” I said.
“Calm down, Sean, it’s all right,” said Dad.
“Why have you never mentioned this before?” I said.
“We have Sean, but you’ve kind of ignored it and we thought you had come to the same conclusion yourself,” said Dad.
“But I spoke with Beryl, up in Scotland. She was real, a Professor of Celtic Studies,” I said.
“No, Sean, people saw you talking to yourself,” said Dad. I let out a huge sigh and then plonked myself on the couch.
“I am absolutely totally mad,” I said.
“What happened?” said Mum.
“I saw Lilly when of my ex-roommates and then I saw that Gary guy who stole my finance tip that seems to have made him rich and the next thing I know I was walking into a Harry Potter store,” I said.
“All these things triggered you son,” said Dad. “Look, I’ll make your bed and we’ll call Doctor Brown in the morning.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said.
“Maybe you should think about coming back here to Hampsteadshire. London was maybe too big of a step,” said Mum.
“Maybe, Mum, maybe you’re right,” I said. “Look I think I need a moment.”
I stood up and walked outside to my parent’s backyard. It was night time now and I clenched myself together trying to stay warm. I couldn’t believe it. My whole life was psychotic delusion. My friends, my school life, everything.
“Why me?” I said. At that point, I noticed a white owl sitting perched on the fence. “Hedwig?”
The owl spread out his wings and began flapping, he swooped towards me. I ducked in panic as it almost hit me head on and I had to cover my face as something hit me. I heard the loud flaps of the owl flying away. I looked around and saw a folded piece of paper on the floor. I picked it up and unfolded it.
Magic is real and I am real.
They saw us and have begun making the lie greater.
JK Rowling Is A Wizard Page 18