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“What are you doing?”

Nick Carter looked up from the book he had been engrossed in before he was so rudely interrupted. “Shitting. What does it look like?” He rolled his eyes and concentrated on the novel in his hands again.

“No seriously Nick. You and reading?”

“I’m not illiterate you know. Now stop bugging me.” Okay, so he was reading. What’s the big deal? It’s not like they haven’t seen him with a book before. And yes, comics do count as books.

“Yo Nick!”

Nick let out a sigh, he was never going to get some peace and quiet to read his book. He placed his new bookmark in between the pages where he left off and gloomily put his book down next to him.

“Wait, why are you looking so down?” Brian Littrell had just entered the tour bus with a basketball under his left arm.

“Mister grumpy-pants over here was reading a book.” AJ Mclean said, thumbing at a glaring Nick.

“Really? You’re kidding.” Brian said. He could not mentally picture Nick reading a book. “Oh, you mean he has a new comic book?”

Nick groaned. “Why is it so hard for you guys to believe that I actually read?” New hobby, sheesh. “And no, AJ was not taking the mickey out of you.”

Brian gave Nick an odd look.

“Because Nicky,” AJ said pinching Nick’s cheeks, “You are just a cute face.”

“Shut up.” Nick grumbled, swatting his band mate’s hand away.

Brian laughed, “So, what were you reading Nick?” He sat down in a booth, but not before shoving the dirty pile of clothes away.

“It’s a Harry Potter book actually.”

Brian and AJ laughed, “Harry Potter? That sounds so … weird.” AJ barked. “What kind of name is Harry Potter?”

Nick huffed, “Fine, whatever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go to the back of the bus to read my book in peaceful silence.” He grabbed his book and stalked to the back of the bus.

“It’s not that bad he’s reading a book, is it?” Brian commented.

“Yeah,” AJ laughed, “Did you see the size of it? Around 200 pages I’d say. That’s gotta hurt his brain.”

Brian rolled his eyes, but his lips curled anyway. “Our Nicky’s growing up,” he wiped a fake tear away.

“’bout darn time. The guy’s already 20.”

_______________________________


Nick could still remember the day he got wind of the book. They were in Great-Britain to promote their latest album. He was wandering around in London when he came across a relatively small bookshop. The display caught his eye. The window-shop was colourfully decorated with one subject: Harry Potter. Of course Nick was interested. Because, well it looked … interesting.

So he went in.

The shop was practically empty. There were two people browsing the shelves and there was a salesclerk behind the counter reading one of the books he saw in the display.

“Um hi,” He said, trying to catch her attention.

The young girl behind the counter jumped up, “Shit zeg! Ik krijg zowat een hartaanval!”* Her hand flew to her chest.

Nick just stared at her full of confusion. He was in London right? Right? His eyes grew huge, “Holy crap, I just walked through some freaky portal didn’t I?” He looked around frantically. But then again, he did understood the shit part.

“I apologize sir, I tend to get lost in the books.”

He just nodded. “Uhm, what’s the book about?”

“Are you interested?” She smiled.

There was a freaky glint in her eyes that Nick couldn’t decipher. He heard her mutter something but couldn’t catch more than ‘victim’. He slowly backed away.

“Hey! I didn’t get to tell you about the book!” She said, holding the book in her hand. “You wanna hear about it or what?”

Definitely not shy. She was short, not taller than 5”3, had straight black hair that was swept into a ponytail and a pair of glasses perched up her nose. “Sure,” He took a step forward again. Don’t be scared of the girl, Nick scolded himself. She had to be around 16.

“So, these were written by a woman called Joanne Rowling, better known as J.K. Rowling. Brilliant lady.”

Nick saw her pull out three different books. All three of them had the name Harry Potter on it and their titles.

“The series is going to be 7 novels long. So far, these three are published.”

“They’re pretty thick, aren’t they.” Nick gulped.

“Ehh, you’ll breeze through them,” she waved it away. “It’s about wizards and witches. A whole new world to explore. It’s amazing.”

“Sounds like a children’s book.”

“Then they’ll be perfect for you.”

“Hey!” He said affronted.

“Sorry.”

Nick gave her the evil eye, she didn’t seem to notice. “You don’t mean it. And that’s all? Witches and wizards? You’re not going to tell me more?”

“The protagonist is Harry Potter.”

“Figures.”

“You want them or not?”

“Are you sure they’re good books?”

“They are good books. The first one’s being filmed into a movie right now. Sounds promising, right? And hey, if the movie’s a hit, people might give the books a chance too. You can tell your friends that you’ve read the books before seeing the movie. Watcha think, doesn’t that sound impressing?”

Nick agreed, that did sound impressing. Let’s show Kevin and AJ. “Alright, I’ll take all three.”

The girl smiled, “Awesome! You won’t regret it. I promise.” She put the books on the counter away and grabbed three new ones. “You want them gift wrapped?” She asked.

He shook his head, “No thanks.”

The girl just shrugged and put the books in a plastic bag. “That’s fifty pounds.”

Nick’s eyes grew huge. “Those books are expensive.”

“They’re definitely worth it.”

“Did you buy them too?”

She scoffed, “Are you kidding me? Why do you think I work here? Working in a bookshop has its perks.” She winked.

“So you just read them during work? Is that even legal?”

The Asian girl gave him an odd look, “No, did you think that? I get the books for a good price, that’s what I meant.”

“Oh.” He handed her the money.

“Thank you, here’s your change.”

Nick had just put his wallet away when a person entered the shop.

“Potterfreak, you almost off?”

The girl smiled brightly, “Yup, last customer over here. Shana‘s going to cover the next shift.”

Nick grabbed his bag and turned to leave.

“Wait, sir!”

He turned around.

“If you want, give me your e-mail and I’ll keep you updated on the happenings around the books.”

“Erm…” he hesitated. Giving a stranger his e-mail? She was freaky. But then again, he was curious. “Sure, but only if you promise not to spread it around.”

The girl just gave him an odd look, “Okay…” She handed him a pen and a small piece of paper.

He wrote down his e-mail and slid the paper and pen back to her.

She smiled, “Thank you for purchasing something from our shop, sir!”

“It’s Nick.” Being addressed as ‘sir’ was just weird.

She nodded, “Rose. Oh, hang on! Here, promotion right?” She gave handed him something.

It looked like a piece of carton with some weird art on it with the shop’s name. He shot her a questioning look.

“It’s a bookmark.”

“Oh, right. Thanks.” Nick then turned and walked to the door.

“New victim?” The guy who had entered chuckled.

“Yup, I think I just pulled another one to the dark side.”

Nick left the shop more confused than ever. With three new books in his bag he walked back to his hotel. It was there that he realized that the salesgirl from before had spoken in some weird language when he first entered the shop, and that she sounded more American English than British English. “Weird chick.”

_______________________________


Nick got his first mail from the girl he met in Britain in 2001, a year after he had bought the books. He managed to read all three of them. She was right, he admitted. Once you get into it, you’re practically breezing through them.

From: Autumn_Rose
To: […]
Subject: HARRY POTTER

Mick right? (I forgot)

I promised to keep you up to date, so I’ll do just that.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has been made into a movie and will premier this year! Aren’t you excited? You’ll get to see it in theatres soon, be sure to bring all your friends and family with you!

I assume that you’ve read all three books? If you haven’t, I’ll owe my boyfriend ten pounds. Normally no big deal, but I’m broke right now. Not kidding.

More good news, if you have finished reading those books and are pining for more.. BOOK 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is going to be in stores soon too! Heaven, right?

Rose.

_______________________


And he did just that, he brought everyone he could to the movie. Nick couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks. It drove his band mates nuts. AJ even complained on how he wished that Nick didn’t read. Kevin endured it all by telling himself that it was good for Nick. Reading Nick was a good Nick.

Of course Nick didn’t forget to write her back. He had to thank the girl for introducing the books to him.

From: […]
To: Autumn_Roses
Subject: Thank You

Thank you for your mail! I was very pleased and must thank you for introducing me. I’m looking forward to fourth one. *wink*

I love Harry.

Nick.

---

From: Autumn_Roses
To: […]
Subject: WTF?

Who the f*** are you? Freak! leave me alone you fag.

---

Nick frowned when he read the mail. Why would she send that? Was it some kind of joke? He checked the address again. To his stupidity, he noticed that he had written Rose in plural. No wonder.

Sighing, he began to write a new mail.

From: […]
To: Autumn_Rose
Subject: Thank You

I’m very glad I received your mail. I’m looking forward to both the book and the movie. You can rest assured, I’ve read the three books, you won’t loose your money =)

Nick. (not Mick)

_________________________


And that was the last thing he’d heard of Rose. It wasn’t until the summer of ‘05 that he received yet another mail from her.

_________________________

* I'm about to have a heart attack!