Magical Fire
by M. F. Luder
Part two
25. fence
Ryan watches the trees fly by, the waves hitting the shore, as he gazes out of the window. He doesn't know how long Mr. Cohen drives. It doesn't matter really. It'll be just for tonight. Another day, at the most. Then, he'll find out if he's still allowed to go to that school and ask if he can go sooner.
He doesn't want to think about how he'll actually get to England. He doesn't want to think about how he'll find the money to get the supplies and the ticket. He only wants to tell himself that he will be able to go and won't need to impose on the man.
Ryan turns around to see them pausing for a moment at a security checkpoint at the front of a gated community. The security guard nods at Mr. Cohen, who nods back, before they drive down the street.
When they pull into the driveway of a house, Ryan can't help but stare at it out of the window. He's certain he's never seen a house this big in his life.
Sandy pauses, the key still ignition, and turns around to look at Ryan. "Why don't you give me a minute? It'll be better if I talk to the wife first."
Ryan nods mutely and watches Sandy walk out of the car and toward he house. Ryan sighs, folding his arms over his chest. Maybe not calling the man would have been better.
"Sandy, what were you thinking?"
Sandy sighs. "He's only eleven, Kirsten. Are you really gonna ask me to tell him to leave?"
Kirsten takes a deep breath before letting it through barely parted lips. "I'm not saying that."
Sandy nods, fully aware that Kirsten's anger on the subject will not last. It never really does. "He called me, saying... his mother kicked him out. Can you believe that? He's eleven and his mother kicked him out."
How could someone do that? She asks herself. She turns around, looking toward the living room that leads to the staircase. Seth's sleeping upstairs. They had take-out for dinner, Chinese that he loves so much. He still has trouble with the chopsticks. Kirsten had to charm them to work as forks for him to be able to use them.
The kid is eleven, just like her son. And very much like her son, he'll be going to Hogwarts in only a month.
"He can sleep in the pool house." She says after a moment. She turns around looking at her husband with soft eyes. "It'll give him some privacy, more than the guest room will."
Sandy leans forward and gives her a long kiss, biting down on her lower lip. "I love you," he whispers against her mouth. "I love you so much."
"I know," she says, smiling as she places her arms around his neck. "Now go get the boy. I'm sure he's tired."
Sandy nods, giving her a small kiss before pulling away from her and walking out of the kitchen.
She sighs as she watches him leave. Poor boy, she can't help but think. Poor boy.
Mr. Cohen pushes the door of the pool house open and Ryan walks inside. There's a woman standing there already, with long blonde hair and blue eyes that seem to ask a question Ryan doesn't know the answer to.
"This is the wife, the Queen of the Manor."
"Sandy," she says, though she's smiling at him.
Ryan gives her a small smile. "Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm--"
"You're not imposing." She nods, looking around the place. "This is the pool house. There's the bathroom with fresh towels. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me."
Ryan nods almost nervously. He watches the way Mr. Cohen takes his wife's hand in his.
"Well, I think that's it." Sandy gives Ryan one final smile before turning to walk toward the door. "Good night."
"Good night, Ryan."
Ryan looks up at Mrs. Cohen, nodding. "Good night."
The door closes after the two of them and Ryan stands there, looking at the room with its glass doors. He sighs.
He throws his bag onto the bed, sitting down as he does so. He gets out the letter, going through the wording once again.
"We are pleased to inform you that you've been accepted to Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft."
He sighs, staring down at the letter and the Headmaster's name. "I hope you know what you're doing."
With something very similar to fear, Ryan pushes the doors of the pool house open, early morning sun pouring inside. He places one hand over his eyes and after a moment he looks outside.
There's a pool not even ten feet from where he's standing and Ryan remembers seeing it last night, but he hadn't noticed it was this beautiful. The house is on the other side of it and he takes a tentative step in that direction.
Hand on the knob, Ryan takes a deep breath before opening it. He blinks, hand gripping the knob tighter as a pair of brown eyes meet his. The boy sitting on the floor in front of a big TV, dressed in pajama bottoms with moving brooms and a dark blue shirt, blinks, very much as confused and Ryan himself.
Ryan swallows past the tightness in his throat. The boy bites down on his lower lip. Ryan notices his grip on the controller in his hand tightens, if only slightly."Hey," the boy says to him.
Ryan blinks, and can only say, "Hey."
"Do you want to play?"
Ryan pauses for a moment, hearing the words in his mind once again before nodding, almost numbly.
The boy nods back, scooting over to the side. He places the controller on the floor for a moment before leaning forward, reaching for the second controller on top of the Nintendo console.
Ryan sits down next to the boy and takes the controller when it's handed to him.
They don't say anything as the game is setup and a minute later, when it loads, Ryan only gives him a quick glance from the corner of his eyes. He bites down on his lower lip as he notices the boy's smiling. His attention is pulled back to the TV when his character grimaces in pain.
Ryan doesn't question the smile that falls onto his lips a moment later.
"Do you want breakfast?"
Ryan blinks, looking up from the controller in his lap. He had lost. Big time. Three times to this scrawny kid by his side, and to Ryan's own surprise, he had enjoyed every moment of it.
"Huh?"
Seth chuckles, scooting closer to Ryan. "Breakfast. Do you want some? You didn't have any yet, did you?"
Ryan shakes his head. "No, I didn't."
"Cool. Cereal?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Silky!"
In the blink of an eye, a small creature appears in front of the two of them.
Ryan frowns, head tilted to the side as he stares at it, not being able to help himself. The thing has large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of his fist.
It bows at both boys, so long his nose touches the floor. Ryan blinks once again, more confused than before. It blinks at them, almost smiling and bouncing and it kinda reminds Ryan of Seth. "Yes, Master Seth, did you call Master, Sir?"
Ryan's gaze shifts to what the thing is wearing. It's a pink pillowcase that looks very much like silk, only with red and white embroidery, with rips for arm- and leg-holes. It looks expensive and well cared for even if it looks very old.
Seth smiles at the green thing looking back at him. "Can you bring us two bowls of cereal, please, Silky?"
The thing nods, its large ears bouncing up and down. "Yes, yes, cereal young masters. Two bowls coming. Silky will do."
And with another pop as the one only a minute ago, she disappears into thin air.
Ryan gasps, turning around, looking for her. It takes him a moment to realize that she's standing in the kitchen and that a box of cereal is floating out of the cupboard and standing in the air as milk flies out of the fridge. Two bowls appear in between and both the milk and the box of cereal pour themselves into the bowls, then moving past one another to pour the second part of the breakfast.
Ryan tilts his head to the side, trying to process what happened as both items make their way back to where they flew out of.
Silky appears a second later in front of them and hands them their bowls. "Here you are, young Sirs. Here, here, Silky made breakfast."
Seth nods, looking so very pleased with himself but Ryan says nothing. "Thank you, Silky."
"No thank yous needed, young sir. No thank you. Silky is happy to serve. Silky has served this family for years, young sir, since my beautiful mistress was only a baby."
Seth rolls his eyes and Ryan can assume this isn't the first time Silky has said the same thing. "Yes, yes, I know the story Silky. Now, thanks. You can go. We wanna play."
"Oh, of course!" Silky almost bounces on her heels, her eyes moving with her head. "Of course! Silky will be upstairs, young master, if you need anything, just call."
"I know."
And with a pop, she's gone once again.
"Not to be rude," Ryan says, slowly, "but what was that?"
Seth frowns before chuckling. "Oh, right, sorry. Mom told me you were muggle born."
Ryan raises an eyebrow. "Hmm, what?"
Seth grimaces. "Sorry again. Hmm, muggles are non magical people."
"Ok."
"We are magical people."
Ryan nods slowly, processing everything. "Okay." He pauses, putting two and two together. "So my parents are muggles, so is my brother."
Seth grins. "Yes."
"And we are..."
"Wizards." Seth frowns, tilting his head. "Well, my parents are. We're more like very young wizards. Untrained wizards. Though that's what Hogwarts is for."
"The school thing?"
"Yep. That's Hogwarts."
"Oh."
"And that," Seth says after a moment, pointing toward the staircase, "that was Silky. She's a house elf."
"A what?"
Seth chuckles, shaking his head. He takes a spoon filled with cereal swimming in milk before starting a very long explanation about house elves, flying brooms which leads to Quidditch and Seth's favorite team, the Churning Cannons. Then the subject seems to shift to work, his mom and dad's, his grandfather who's from a very old pure bloodline, how his father is a muggle born, just like Ryan, the underlying hatred between his grandpa and his dad. Ryan blinks as Seth starts talking about fireplaces and floo power, about apparating and how he isn't allowed to fly a broom.
About three hours later, Ryan's left eyebrow has taken a permanent residence in his hairline and he nods.
"Okay."
"Too much?"
Ryan shakes his head at Seth's confused tone. "No, no. I think... I think I just need to get used to it."
Seth nods, bouncing almost as much as Silky did.
"Why Silky?" Ryan asks after a moment.
"Oh, I know that one." He grins. "She was given as a present to my grandma, my mom's mom, and mom says that her mom liked silk so very much, that she named her Silky, from Silk."
Ryan chuckles, taking the last spoonful of his milk. "Well, yeah."
"So," Seth says, pushing the bowl away from him. He stands up and takes Ryan's bowl from his hands. "We have to put these in the sink. Dad says it's not good to let Silky do everything."
"I can wash them," Ryan says carefully as they make their way to the kitchen. "I know how."
Seth shakes his head. "No, don't worry about it. She can do that. Dad just says not to leave things everywhere."
"Oh."
"So, what do you want to do?"
Ryan shrugs. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"
Seth grins, bouncing once again and Ryan chuckles as the boy takes Ryan's hands in his and Ryan lets himself be dragged upstairs and toward the boy's bedroom.
Kirsten apparates into the house around midmorning, telling herself she's not worried about the boys and that she's not checking up on them. She also tells herself that she wouldn't have stayed home if her dad didn't need her to close a job today.
Still, no matter what she tells herself or how she puts it, she's at the house and walking out of the kitchen toward the den.
The boys are not there. She frowns and whispers under her breath, "Silky?"
The house elf appears with a soft pop, standing before her. Silky bows before her, her nose flattening on the floor. "My dear mistress, my beautiful mistress. Silky is here to serve you. Yes, yes, yes. Silky lives to serve the noble house of Cohen."
Kirsten smiles, patting the head of Silky. She remembers her mother doing the same since Kirsten was a kid, patting Silky and Silky doing very much like she's doing right now, leaning against the touch.
"My mistress is too nice to small Silky. She's too perfect, too beautiful..."
She chuckles. Her mom used to love the praises as well. "Thank you, Silky. Have you seen the boys?"
Silky nods, her ears bobbing up and down. "Yes, yes, yes. Silky has kept an eye on both young masters, as you instructed, my mistress. They had breakfast and then went up to young master Seth's bedroom." Silky turns around, pointing upward toward Seth's bedroom. "They've been there every since, my mistress. Ever since. Silky has kept an eye on them all this time, yes, yes, Silky has done that. She's made sure the boys are safe and in the noble house of Cohen."
Kirsten smiles. "Good, Silky. I knew I could trust you."
Silky nods again and Kirsten makes her way up the stairs toward the second floor as Silky recites how she came to the hands of her now late Mistress, Kirsten's mom, Ellanora. Kirsten pays no notice to her, having heard the story about a million times now.
Instead, she puts a silencing charm on her shoes, for the boys not to notice her looking over their shoulders, almost.
The door to Seth's bedroom is ajar, and that's more than enough for Kristen to be able to look inside.
Both boys are sitting down on the bed, legs crossed, one in front of the other. She can see comics scattered around the bed, one of Seth's favorite muggle hobbies. Seth's talking animatedly, hands moving left and right as Ryan has his head tilted to the side, listening carefully.
She smiles, her heart softening. She thinks this is the first time Seth has looked so comfortable with a kid his age. He's usually very quite when meeting new people.
And as she looks at the intense face of concentration on Ryan's child features, Kirsten knows this is also the first time Seth has found an attentive audience. Someone that doesn't mind letting Seth do the talking, apparently, because so far Kirsten hasn't seen Ryan open his mouth at all.
Knowing the boys are fine and fast friends in the lapse of a couple of hours, Kirsten makes her way downstairs once again. Silky is waiting for her at the end of the staircase.
"I'll try to be home as early as possible. And tell the boys that we'll be having dinner, the four of us, together."
Silky nods. "Yes, yes, Silky will do. Silky will tell the young masters."
Kirsten thinks about it for a moment. "No, better yet, tell them that I told you this morning. Don't tell them I came to check up on them, ok?"
"Of course. Of course, Silky will do as my mistress says."
Kirsten smiles. "Good." And with a pop, she's gone.
Ryan picks at his food, his gaze not leaving his plate.
"Ryan?"
He looks up as he hears Mrs. Cohen's voice. "Hmm, yeah. Sorry."
She smiles, shaking her head slightly. "No, it's okay. Is something wrong? Don't you like roast chicken?"
"Oh, oh." Seth bounces on his seat as Ryan turns around to look at him. "There are treacle tarts for desert. Silky makes great tarts."
Ryan bites down on his lower lip. "No, no, the food is fine. Thanks."
"Hey, nothing to thank us for." Sandy says, taking a large bite of the chicken with mashed potatoes. "But really, dude, what's wrong with you?"
Ryan can't help but grin as he hears Mr. Cohen say dude. Seth says it as well. "Nothing, I was just... worried."
Kirsten frowns. "About what, exactly?"
Ryan's left hand goes to his pocket, clutching it slightly before relaxing his grip. "In the letter, it said that I had to mail them an owl by July 31st." Ryan doesn't need to check the calendar to know it's already 30th. "I don't know how to mail an owl."
Kirsten gives him a small smile while Sandy chuckles into his fist, almost choking on the potatoes. "Oh, man, that's rich."
Ryan squints, half glaring. It's not funny. His fucking education depends on mailing an owl and he still doesn't know how one can kill an owl to be able to mail it.
"Sorry, sorry," Sandy says, coughing a couple of times into his hand. "I hadn't thought... well, I think I forgot about that."
"I think we both forgot." Kirsten shakes her head. Reaching out, she takes Ryan's smaller hand in hers and she notices he stiffens at her touch. She only grips his hand harder. "I'm sorry Ryan, really. We should have told you about this a while ago."
"I forgot too."
Ryan looks over his shoulder at Seth who's nodding before turning around to look at Mrs. Cohen once again. "What? What did you forget?"
"Well, the letter says something like they await your owl before the end of the month, right?" Kirsten smiles as he nods, letting go of his hand. "Well, it doesn't mean you have to mail an owl. You send an owl with your letter."
"I think what my beautiful wife is trying to say," Sandy says with a grin, "is that wizards don't really use the post office." He chuckles. "Well, except Kirsten, but she works with muggles half the time, so you can't owl a muggle. We use owls as the post office service."
Ryan frowns. "I don't understand."
"Well, you buy an owl and when you want to send a letter to a wizard, you attach a letter to the owl's leg and it flies to the address given." Sandy nods. "They are very smart creatures. They know where the person is, even if they've moved out. I never quite knew how that worked."
"Oh." Ryan sighs. Well, no wonder. And here he was planning to kill an owl. "How do I do that?"
"Don't worry about that, honey," Kirsten says, patting his hand once again. "We'll send an owl for you, confirming your assistance."
Ryan swallows thickly, looking down at his plate once again. He's not hungry anymore. "I don't know if I'll go, actually. My mom..."
Kirsten looks up, giving her husband a quick glance. He nods.
"We'll go see her tomorrow morning," Sandy says, nodding as he does so. "Talk with her. I'm sure between the two of us, we can come to an agreement." He grins. "I'll show her that being a muggle born wizard is nothing out of the ordinary."
"Your parents weren't--?"
Sandy shakes his head at Ryan's question. "Nope. Had no idea there was magic out there besides getting a coin out of a person's ear until I got my letter. My mother flipped, let me tell you." He shrugs. "Dad was gone, left when I was eight. So it was just my mom, my brother and sister. I'm the only wizard in the family. And see how well I turned out?"
Seth chuckles. Ryan looks at him out of the corner of his eye, and he smiles.
Kirsten lets out a soft sigh of relief as she sees Ryan relaxing into the conversation when Seth starts talking about comics and how he wishes he could turn muggle comics into wizard comics. Wizard comics, Seth had explained earlier today, don't have good stories as muggles'. Apparently.
"Wouldn't it be cool to see Batman moving around as he kicks Joker's butt?” Seth asks and Ryan chuckles.
The corners of her lips curl upward as she watches them, happy that her son has found a friend who understands him. A hand is placed on her shoulder, and she turns around to kiss her husband.
Ryan takes off his sweatshirt and folds it neatly on top of the armchair in the corner of the pool house, next to his backpack. Making his way back to the futon, he sits down. Even though the lights are turned off, there's still the shadow of moonlight pouring inside through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
He pulls back the covers, the soft sheet in the still warm summer, and as he's lying down on the bed there's a slight knock on the door before it's pushed open.
Ryan turns around and Seth's standing there, hand still on the doorknob, looking nervous.
"You ok?" Ryan asks as he sits down, worrying that maybe something has happened to the boy, or to his parents. "Are you parents--?"
"No, no, dude. I'm fine. We're fine." Seth shifts from one foot to the other. He shrugs. "I don't know. I just... well, you're leaving in the morning, aren't you?"
Ryan nods.
"Do you have to?"
The way Seth asks him, his voice low, his head lowered and looking up at him through long dark eyelashes, it makes Ryan take a deep breath and want to stay.
"Yes," he says after a moment. "Yeah, I have to."
I'm sorry, he wants to say, and Ryan doesn't know why exactly. I'm sorry.
"Oh."
Seth stands there as Ryan looks down at the sheets and picks at the corner of the top one. He doesn't know what to say, if anything at all. Instead, he scoots to the side, pulling the blanket as he does so.
Looking up, Ryan sees Seth looking back him, confusion on his features. Ryan gives the boy a small smile and Seth smiles back. Not saying anything still, Seth closes the space between the door and the bed, elbowing the door closed as he does so.
Seth sits down on the edge of the bed, big brown eyes staring unblinking at Ryan. Ryan nods, and he lies down on the bed, facing Seth's side. Seth takes the hint and lies down as well, facing Ryan.
The silence is comfortable, and it almost seems to whisper to them as Ryan closes his eyes and relaxes on the bed. It's not long before he falls asleep, hand clasping Seth's without him noticing, Seth's holding back just as tight.
"You'll be back, right?"
Ryan turns around as he zips his backpack. Seth's standing by the pool house door, very much like he was last night. Ryan takes a deep breath, somehow knowing saying goodbye will not be easy.
After waking up this morning, they had gone to the kitchen for breakfast. Neither Sandy nor Kirsten had asked why Seth came from the pool house and not his own bedroom. Ryan had the idea that they knew Seth had spent the night with Ryan.
Under the bright sun of Saturday morning, Ryan picks up his backpack, sliding one arm into the sling.
"I don't know," Ryan says, because he knows he can't lie to Seth, not about this.
Seth nods, his face in a grimace and Ryan wants to do something, anything really, to take the pain away from Seth's features. Ryan notices the way Seth's hand grips the doorknob tighter.
"But we'll see each other," Ryan says after a moment. "I mean, we're going to school together, right?"
The question seems to cheer up Seth, if only slightly. "Yes, yes," Seth says, nodding. "You're going right?"
Ryan could very easily say yes, pretend there isn't the cloud of doubt in his mind, but he can't. His lips won't budge as he wants to answer. "I'll do my best," he says lamely.
Looking over Seth's shoulder, Ryan can see Sandy standing by the door to the kitchen, waiting for Seth. "I should go."
Seth bites down on his lower lip before nodding. Silently, both boys walk out of the pool house and toward the house. Kirsten stands in the middle of the kitchen, arms around herself.
"Well, we'll see you on the platform." She says before taking a step forward and hugging Ryan tight. "Take care."
When she pulls away, Ryan nods and turns around to give Seth a quick glance. Seth stands against the counter, looking down at the floor.
"Well, hmm, bye." Ryan gives one final glance at Seth before turning around and taking a step forward.
Out of nowhere, there are arms around his chest and something pressing hard against his back. Ryan closes his eyes, biting the inside of his cheek and tells himself his eyes don't hurt. It takes him a moment to be able to turn around in the embrace, Seth's hold on him is so tight. When he does, Ryan returns the hug tenfold, arms gripping Seth as tight as he's gripping Ryan.
They hug a moment longer before both boys pull away. Ryan looks down at the floor, rather embarrassed, but when he looks up, Seth's looking right back at him, a trembling smile on his lips.
Ryan wants to say that he'll miss Seth, but the words die on his lips.
Instead, he nods as Seth nods back, slightly and rapidly, and he turns around, not daring to look back, making his way toward the door with Sandy by his side.
Behind him, Seth stands with his arms around himself until his mom places both hands on his shoulders and Seth turns around, burying his face in her stomach. She hugs her son as she lets him cry.
Backpack over one shoulder, Ryan walks up to the front door. He retrieves his key from his pocket, holding it in his hand for a moment. When he looks up over his shoulder, he sees Sandy standing a couple of feet behind.
"Thanks," he says, head ducked. "For everything."
Sandy nods. "I'm gonna make sure everything works out, Ryan. Don't worry."
"I know." Looking back at the front door, he says, "I can take it from here."
Taking in a deep breath, Ryan slides the key into the lock, turning the doorknob. Walking into the house, he stops short, his breath tight in his throat. There's no furniture in the house, there's nothing.
He shakes his head, letting his backpack fall down to the floor as he trots to his bedroom, empty, and then to his mother's, empty as well. Ryan closes his eyes, walking slowly to the kitchen. He sees a note on top of the counter.
Biting down on his lower lip, Ryan leans his head against the edge of the cupboard, unfolding the note. After a moment, he closes his eyes shut, clutching the letter tightly in one hand.
A hand on his shoulder makes Ryan look up. Sandy stands there, his lips pressed into a line. He squeezes Ryan's shoulder.
"Come on. Let's go."
Ryan looks back a Sandy and it takes him a moment to understand what Sandy means. He bites harder on his lower lip before nodding.
Sandy slightly pushes Ryan toward the door, picking up the backpack on the way out. Sandy closes the door after himself.
Part one
Part three
Magical Fire