Author's Note

Hi, this is my first story ever on here so try to be nice (haha). This is only the first chapter, but I have a second in the works. I do hope you enjoy what I have written so far and yes I already know there are possibly a few if not many grammar mistakes in this. I try my best to command the English language, but at times I do not do as well as other may. Thanks for taking your time to read and hope to hear your comments soon.

P.S. Be honest, but not brutally honest : )

Chapter One

The Animagus

It was late July and it couldn't have been any hotter. The skies were relentless giving only small clouds here and there for shade and even worse, they had not given a single drop of rain in over a month. The grass crunched under the feet of anyone who walked on it and had turned pale yellow, but despite the heat, Maes, a young boy, was outside walking through the woods on his parent's land. His parents always brought him down to Tennessee during the summer, which he didn't mind. Maes always enjoyed his time roaming the woods during the day, and sometimes at night which his parents had specifically told him to never do. Maes was as normal as any other teenager, except for maybe the fact that he was a wizard. His parents, Jenny and Edward, were both normal, or as the wizarding community called them, muggles. As a young child his parents had a hard time hiding the fact that he was a wizard and on many occasions Maes found himself grounded or scolded for using his powers. His parents didn't come to grip with the reality of their son's powers until Maes was around the age of eleven.

On Maes' eleventh birthday, after a wonderful party ended up turning into disaster, Maes'accidentally used his powers when he became so excited about all his presents that he somehow opened them all at once and had them all flying in the air, some even dancing. This of course disturbed everyone who had come to the party and left his parents having to come up with some out of this world excuse as to how it all happened. Everyone left after seeing such an unbelievable event and Maes watched from his bedroom window as families left with his friends he was certain he would not see anymore. Maes spent the rest of the night playing with his new toys alone and his parents, who now acted as if nothing had happened and refused to talk about the events that had occurred, whispered to one another in the kitchen about what to do with "you know what".

The night lingered on and soon Maes fell tired and began to get ready for bed. He went to his bathroom to brush his teeth when suddenly he heard what sounded to him like an eagle's caw. He turned the faucet off in effort to try and hear better and to his surprise he heard a sudden thump on the roof. The sound of footsteps on the roof led him to the front door where he met his parents, who had apparently heard the same sounds. They looked at each other in confusion and his father, Edward, slowly opened the door to look outside. Edward lunged back nearly giving Jenny a heart attack as she shrieked out in surprise. There at the door stood a bald eagle turning its head side to side and eventually setting its gaze on Maes. The eagle bore a necklace made of thin rope and had feathers and beads in all sorts of colors dangling off the necklace. As if the eagle at their front door had not been surprise enough, the eagle spread its wings and began to transform causing Edward and Jenny to yell out in fear. Now before them stood a man around 6'2 wearing a shirt made of animal hide with beautiful beads threaded into the clothing and all sorts of feathers hanging around the neck and waste line. In his right hand he held a long staff made of oak, and at the top an eagle's claw held a orb of some sort. The man himself was of Native American heritage and had long silver hair that reached his lower back. His eyes were as dark as the night and they seemed as if you could walk straight into them. Although the man had suddenly appeared out of no where, Maes strangely felt close to him and almost wanted to walk up and hug him, but he stood still gazing at him. The man smiled at Maes and spoke with a deep, yet calming voice, "Hello there little one, my name is Paco and you must be Maes?". Maes not knowing what to say just nodded. Paco nodded back and then turned to Maes' parents who were now stark white and frozen in place. Closing the door behind him, Paco said only three words to them, "Where are they?". Maes looked at his parents then back to Paco and asked in a puzzled tone, "Wh...Where are what?" which Paco replied, "The letters" "Letters for what? Could you tell me why you are here?" said Maes. "Maes have you ever found yourself doing things you didn't mean to do; things that others can't do?". Reluctantly remembering the events from earlier, Maes replied, "Yes, I accidentally used my powers tonight at my birthday party. My parents have told me to not use my powers, but I can't help it...I'm..I'm sorry"

"Maes you are very special, you should not be ashamed or sorry for what you have done and your parents should EMBRACE your gift rather than HIDE from it." replied Paco ending his last words with an annoyed tone towards Jenny and Edward, who he was now staring at with a very serious look in his eyes.

"You had no right hiding such a gift from your son. You have made him believe all this time that he has done something horrible all because you don't want anyone to think of your family as odd or what you would call 'not normal'!" Paco said in a very angry voice. He shook his head and before Edward of Jenny could respond he began again, "He even has family like him, but yet you decide that because you two were the real freaks of your families, not being wizard or witch and all, that you are just going to hide all the truth from him? You should be ashamed!" He ended shaking his head in disappointment. Maes looked up at Paco and had one thing ringing in his ears "He even has family like him".

"Paco, who in my family have powers like me?" said Maes. Paco turned toward Maes and happily responded, "Your grandfather and aunts and uncles all are. All will be explained later little child"

Both Edward and Jenny looked at each other and then back to Paco. "Paco sir," said Edward "We just wanted our boy to grow up to be something really good and normal like a scientist or a doctor or..." "NORMAL?!" interrupted Paco, "See there you go again with your 'normal' as if your son isn't normal! He is just the same as any other boy in this world except he has wizard blood and if that makes him different in your book, then you don't deserve to even be his father." Edward, now furious, stood up tall and walked straight up to Paco staring him in the face. "Now you listen here, I will not have you enter my house and speak to my family in such a manner. You can leave now or I am calling the cops." Paco laughed and replied, "What good that will do you. I will be long gone before they make it here and your son is coming with me too." The two of them continued to argue and Maes, now so confused yelled out,

"STOP! Please both of you stop this. Paco, sir, tell me where you plan on taking me and why I have to leave?"

"I am sorry little one, you must forgive me for not fully explaining my sudden appearance here. I have come to take you to a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry. These schools are all around the world and soon you will be attending the United State's school called Cathowls School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You have been receiving letters, but your parents have decided to hide them from you." replied Paco as he leaned down on one knee to speak with Maes. Paco paused for a moment and the placed his hand on Maes' shoulder and said in a calm and gentle voice,

"Go now, get your things and meet me back here in ten minutes. We really must be going because we have a long trip ahead of us. Have you ever been to Massachusetts?" Having never been there, Maes replied honestly,

"No, but I know from school that it really far from here." Paco nodded and sent Maes on his way. Soon Maes had packed all his belongings and clothing and was ready to leave. He walked out of his room back to where Paco stood and laid his suitcase down. He looked up at his parents, who seemed to have now both come to accept the fact they could no longer let their son live a lie. His mother cried as she gave her son a warm hug and could not stop saying sorry the whole time and his father did the same. Maes looked up at both of them smiled and said, "I knew one day you would come to understand me. I love you but, I really want to go to this school so I can learn more about my powers." with that, Paco and Maes walked out into the backyard of the house and finally with all tears wiped away, Paco and Maes were leaving.

The night sky twinkled with bright stars as Maes looked up. Suddenly remembering how Paco had gotten to his house, Maes looked over to him and asked, "How am I supposed to get to the school without a car? I have a lot of stuff" Paco let out a small chuckle and replied,

"You are in the wizarding world now boy. We travel by other means and as for your luggage, I've put a flying charm on it so it will be following us on our way. As for me? I am what you call an Animagus. I am able to transform myself into my animal, which as you saw, is an eagle."

"Can I be an Animagesh too...or whatever you called it?" asked Maes

"Only a few of us wizards have mastered Transfiguration well enough to do so, but you will learn more about this at school. For now, I have a present for you, seeing how it's your birthday and all" Paco finished and said aloud the words, "Accio Broom!" stomping his staff on the ground after saying it. Suddenly a broom came flying from the forest in front of them. The broom came to a sudden stop right in front of Paco and he handed it over to Maes.

"Now, I want you to put that broom between your legs and when you are ready slowly push up off the ground and say the word 'up'." instructed Paco. Maes took his new broom and did as instructed and as soon as he had uttered the word "up" the broom shot him 50 feet up into the air kicking and screaming. Paco yelled up to him "Pull back!" Maes quickly pulled back on the broom handle and felt himself slow down. He now was suspended in the air and spent the next few minutes flying around and getting his barrings for the long ride ahead. Paco watched as Maes flew around and when he felt confident enough in his new found flying skills he transformed into the eagle and flew up to Maes. Letting out a call to signal Maes to follow, Paco began flying north east. Soon Maes would enter a world hidden from muggles and thriving with all sorts of magic.