000 | ❝Don't forget your boat.❞

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Jessica and Sammy Denbrough were home alone in their little Hogsmeade cottage. Their parents were working as usual — Bill Denbrough, a respected Auror, was often gone day and night, while Marcy Denbrough, a Healer at St. Mungo's, usually made it home just before dinner. Jessica, the eldest, kept the house running while they were away. She couldn't use magic outside of school, so she did breakfast the Muggle way or took her sister to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer foam and warm scones.

After breakfast, Jessica would let Sammy play while she did chores. Sammy often imagined herself as a dragon handler — today she wore a toy Welsh Green tail from Zonko's, dragging it behind her as she stomped around. By evening, the house would be spotless and dinner bubbling on the stove, ready for when their mother came home.

The day Sammy disappeared began like any other — except the rain never stopped. It poured in great silver sheets, the kind that blurred the outlines of shopfronts and made the cobblestones gleam black. Magical lampposts hissed as raindrops hit their warm glass globes.

"Please, Jessie! Please!" Sammy clung to her sister's arm as Jessica rinsed the breakfast dishes. "Can I go outside and play in the rain?"

Jessica glanced out the window. Even the few Hogwarts students still in Hogsmeade for the holidays were nowhere to be seen — though she thought she'd spotted James Potter and Sirius Black racing each other down the lane earlier, both soaked to the bone. "I don't know, Sammy..." she murmured, drying her hands.

"Please? I won't go far, I promise." Sammy's brown eyes went wide, her hands clasped in mock-prayer.

Jessica sighed but smiled. "Fine — but if you get sick, Mum will kill me. Dress warmly." She took Sammy's hand and led her to her bedroom. "What do you even want to do out there?"

While Jessica rummaged through the wardrobe, Sammy was already sorting through a pile of letters from their American cousin, Nancy. The two girls were the same age and wrote to each other constantly.

"I want to sail this paper boat Nancy sent me," Sammy said.

"Why not just do it in the bath?" Jessica asked, holding up a yellow raincoat and black boots. She eyed the boat — enchanted to look like a real vessel with tiny moving passengers — and shook her head.

"I'll have more room outside," Sammy said, slipping on the rain gear. "I'll just go to Honeydukes and back."

"If I finish early, I'll come find you. Don't stray too far." Jessica kissed her sister's forehead and handed over the boat. At the door, she watched Sammy set the vessel in the rushing gutter water before chasing after it, laughing.

Somewhere down the lane, Zonko's shop sign swung on its chain, creaking in the wind. Jessica turned back inside.

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The current carried the boat fast, its miniature crew leaning into the wind. Sammy splashed through the flooded street, her boots sending up sprays of water. Above, enchanted storm clouds seemed to swallow sound, muffling her laughter.

Near Honeydukes, the current dragged the boat toward a sewer grate. Sammy lunged, but it slipped away and vanished into the darkness.

"No!" she cried, kneeling on the slick cobblestones. She peered into the grate — too dark to see much. No witches or wizards were nearby; the street was empty, save for the distant chime of the Honeydukes door as a tall boy with sandy hair slipped inside.

She was about to turn away when she gasped. A pale face stared back from the shadows — a clown's face. White paint, red streaks trailing from eyes to lips, a round red nose, and wide blue eyes that almost seemed to glow.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully.

Sammy didn't like clowns, but something about this one pulled her in. "Hi. What are you doing down there?"

"I've been stuck for a very long time," the clown said with a sigh. "A storm like this one blew us all away."

"Blew who away?"

"Why, the whole circus, of course! Want to come see? We've got shows, sugar quill lollipops, pepper imps, chocolate cauldrons..."

Sammy hesitated. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers or take things from them."

"Well then," the clown grinned, "I'm Pennywise. See? We're not strangers anymore." He held up the enchanted boat. "SS Sammy — that's yours, right? You can have it back. And we'll eat Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans while I show you my act. I'm a dancing clown, you see."

Sammy's eyes lit up. "You have Bertie Bott's?"

"Of course!" Pennywise's voice was bright and eager. "Come on, just reach down."

Sammy took a step back. "I think I should go home. My sister will be looking for me."

"Suit yourself," Pennywise said with a shrug — then suddenly gasped. "Wait! Don't forget your boat."

Her stomach knotted. Still, she edged closer. The clown's smile widened. "Go on, take it."

She reached out — and in a flash, Pennywise's mouth gaped impossibly wide. Teeth clamped down on her arm.

Sammy screamed. "Jessie! Jessie, help!"

No one was there to hear.

No one saw the clown drag her into the darkness beneath Hogsmeade.