A Web Of Magic

The entrance to the bas.e.m.e.nt lied between the living room and the kitchen. He looked around the house and for a moment could see his mother moving about in the kitchen and his father working on his paintings in the open study opposite to the kitchen. He shook his head and the phantoms disappeared. He controlled his emotions for a moment and then took a walk throughout the house. The house smelled a bit stale and some dust settled in so he set about cleaning it.

'Should learn some household charms next,' Magnus decided even if he couldn't use magic here, they'd always be useful now that he was living alone. The whole ordeal took him two hours to complete by the end of which he sat panting in the living room sofa. 'Bloody hell, that was hard. How did mum used to do it?' he thought out of breath. He never saw her use magic to clean, so she was either very secretive in usage or superhuman.

After he caught his breath, he felt hungry. The food in the fridge went bad. Their trip to Egypt wasn't meant to be long, so they never bothered to think of its contents. He cleaned the fridge and set about buying some groceries. He was planning to live here too. While the house in Devon was good and he could perform magic freely, this was the house he grew up in and had too many memories to just discard. He took some pounds from his saved stash and locked the house behind him.

He looked around his surroundings and took a deep breath. The air seemed different from Devon, but he didn't know how. 'Strange, I never noticed it before. Oh, the lawn needs mowing,' he thought absentmindedly. The area they lived in looked the same as always. Two-storied houses with clean lawns were divided into two rows by a road. The grocery store was a ten-minute walk from his place. The walk through the muggle area gave him a disjointed experience. It felt like so long ago since he had been here, yet it was barely three months.

The grocery shopping went without a hitch. He almost thought that something would happen after all that his aunt said. He even brought his aunt's wand along for insurance. 'Figures, they wouldn't just be waiting for me around the corner in muggle places,' he realized. On the way back he stopped near the park that he used to visit occasionally. He could see some kids playing on the other side of the park, but the side he was on was quiet with benches for resting.

It was on one such bench he saw an acquaintance of his from school sitting with her back towards him. A small smile crept on his face as he slowly moved towards her. He stopped when he heard a familiar sobbing. He could see her side profile and as expected there was an opened book in her l.a.p. "Is the book making you sad Missy?" he asked suddenly.

His sudden interruption gave her a start and she jumped up with a "Eep!"

"Magnus, you git! You scared me!" she scolded him even before turning towards him.

"How did you know it was me without looking?" Magnus asked curiously.

"Only you call me like that. I still don't understand why you do," Missy replied exasperated.

"And you only let me call you that because I lend you my books," Magnus retorted without responding to the latter part.

Missy gave a small blush at that and decided to change the topic. "Where were you for the last two months Magnus? Everyone was worried about you at school," she asked worriedly.

"Oh, it was a family emergency. Took more time than expected," Magnus replied in a neutral tone. While Missy was a friend, they weren't very close. The only time they spent together was while reading in the library and participating in school academic competitions. They mostly exchanged books that they borrowed from the library. This saved each other time and got around the book limit the library imposed. He wasn't quite ready to share his plight with anyone right now. Not to mention, she is a muggle and they may not even meet anymore once he was off to school.

"I hope everything is alright. I can lend you my notes if you want to," she offered worriedly.

"It's alright Missy. I probably won't be needing it. What's with you crying anyway?" Magnus shifted the topic.

"Well you know the usual. Jenny was making fun of me again," Missy replied sullenly.

"It's alright Missy, ignore her. She's just jealous that you get more marks than her," he consoled her.

Missy nodded her head, but he doubted how much of his words got to her. "I have the new African Encyclopedia if you want?" Magnus offered as he knew it would cheer her up and he was right.

Missy's eyes lit up and her tears disappeared as if they were never there." Really? I tried getting my dad to buy it for me but they aren't available yet. Thank you, Magnus," she cheerfully replied.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow if you want. Same time?" he offered while thinking, 'You are always so easy Missy. The book is better off with you than with me anyway. I don't want any reminder of Africa.'

"Sure. We'll meet here at the same time," she said. Summer vacation was starting the next day and she was free.

They spoke about this and that for the next few minutes. Missy told him about all of the happenings at school while he was away. Magnus felt relaxed as he sat there. The familiar life relaxed his tense shoulders. While they weren't the best of friends, Magnus too didn't have many friends. He only got together occasionally with the senior boys to play games. He didn't have too much in common with his classmates, even more so now. Thus, as he might no longer meet with them anymore, he decided to indulge Missy before going off to Hogwarts.

They said their goodbyes for the day and as Magnus was about to walk away, "Magnus?" Missy's voice sounded.

He turned back to look at her and immediately a bad premonition came to him. He was about to move out of the way when a form barreled into him hitting him in an unspeakable place. "Thank you, Magnus," he heard. He crouched as he gasped and said half in pain and other in exasperation," Bloody hell Missy! I thought I told you not to do that. Don't lift your knee up when you want to hug. A bloke can die due to that."

Missy looked down sheepishly and kept repeating sorry. "Take care of it next time please. I'll even give you an extra book," he said in exasperation and went away limping towards his house. Missy too went back towards her house. He never saw the small smile at the corner of her lips as she went away.