Noon was quickly approaching as the sun was rising high into a clear summer sky. The rays of light filtered down through the big, bushy trees that lined Inverness Lane, creating a beautiful array of shadows that danced across the street as wind blew threw the trees, rustling a few leaves from their branches.

It might be hard for some to believe, but at the modestly sized suburban home of two college professors there lived a wizard. Neatly tucked between a fraternity house and a delightful cottage is where the wizard made his home, well at least for a few months out of the year because most of the time he was still in school. This wizard was in fact only thirteen years old, and his name was William Fraser.

As the sun continued to creep ever higher into the sky on that hot July day, William was just stepping out of the Fraser home and locking the door behind him. His sister was already at work for the day, and his parents as usual had become roped into teaching various summer courses and sponsoring undergraduate research projects, so they had been at the local college for hours now. Once the lock clicked into place, William rearranged his shorts and felt his wand bat safely against his leg before moving to grab his bicycle from where it was chained in the backyard.

After only two years at the Salem Institute for Magical Study, William had begun to feel very uncomfortable in the muggle world. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt instead of a nice set of robes felt strangely constrictive and the material made him somewhat itchy. He found the thwacking sound of sandals on packed concrete to be somewhat disconcerting as opposed to the soft click of shoes on brick that he had become used to at Salem. Worst of all, as his wand continued to bat against the inside of his shorts and his leg, William felt extremely uncomfortable.

He was unsure if it was the regular bullying he received from a pair of students at Salem, his time in the school's Dueling Club, or his experience with a dark wizard in the sixth grade, but not having his wand within easy reach made William feel unsafe. William knew that he wasn't able to use magic in a muggle community anyway, but it still felt strange being unable to see his wand ready to be yanked from its sheath at a moments notice. For a brief moment, William hooked his thumb over the waistline of his shorts and thumbed the well worn handle of his black oak wand for just a brief moment. Though he never anticipated any emergencies, William was happy to know that it was there and if he were ever truly in mortal danger, he was free to use his wand.

Finally, William unchained his bike and brought it out into the front yard. While last year William had spent a lot of his time at his old computer trying to figure out what he had missed in the muggle world, this year William found himself completely disinterested. Even though it had only been a few weeks, William was already starting to wonder what he had missed in the wizarding world, and he found that the question occupied much more of his time then what minor changes in muggle pop culture he had missed. That was why, as he had fairly regularly this summer, William now hopped onto his bike and began to lazily ride through town.

Passing through the wide, shady, suburban lanes, William's mind drifted to his friends. With the help of his gray owl Asimov, William had managed to exchange letters with his friends from school, and together they were able to share their summer boredom with each other. This summer, William found himself most concerned with his friend Nick, who over a year ago had been afflicted with lycanthropy. The past year had been very hard for him, and for a long time William was certain he'd lose his best friend but luckily they had been able to patch things up after William and his roommate Chris spent a night contending with the Beast in the caverns below Salem. William shuddered as he remembered the pained howls of his best friend while he chewed his own flesh because he was unable to reach beyond William and Chris's barrier of flames. Nick claimed that things were good, though like William, he had written of a distance from his muggle friends, finding it terribly hard to relate to them at all.

William shook his head as the suburban streets gave way to the tighter avenues and roads around the college campus in the center of town. Despite the hustle and bustle that normally accompanied the downtown region, in the summer time with the student population being gone it often seemed like no one was here. There were fewer cars parked on the street, the shops looked rather empty, and William only encountered one college student who passed him by on a strangely modified bicycle. As William watched the bike pass by him and realized it looked like someone had put one frame and fused it atop another, he was inevitably reminded of the whacky nature of the wizarding world.

William wound his way through the streets, and cut across the college campus a few times, its ivy-covered brick structures reminding him of Salem's centuries old campus. When his stomach grumbled, William sighed and began driving through the down town streets of the college town, looking for some place that wouldn't be a denizen for locals. Remembering his one time venture to the local high school and middle school hang out, William had decided at the beginning of this summer that he didn't want to get involved in any more embarrassing brawls with his elementary school bully Eric Grossman.

He knew from letters he had exchanged with his only real muggle friend, Megan O'Rourke, that Eric had only gotten more brash and unbearable over the past two years. That, William realized, and when he had gone to that old diner, he had felt extremely out of place. The social structure there was beginning to seem as alien as his magical school did some days, and what people had been talking about had gone in one ear and out the other. So, William knew that he just didn't want to see anyone from his old life and therefore whenever he used the muggle money he had gained from his birthday on food, he made sure to go to places that were closer to the college and more likely to have no local kids.

After several minutes of debate, William finally racked his bike next to a few thin looking bicycles that he was certain belonged to college students next to a cafe that he remembered his parents mentioning once or twice. Taking a deep breath, William stepped through the light screen door, and made his way to a table. Walking through the cafe, William could feel the eyes of the few college students locking on to him. It was not as if there was animosity between the college and the town, but there was a sort of unspoken invisible divider stronger than most magical barriers that William had encountered, and crossing it was considered strange by nearly everyone. William took a seat at a shaded back table, and set his leather bag down on to it with a light thud.

William carefully unlatched his bag and took out one of his textbooks from last year, and a new science fiction novel he had picked up at the start of the summer, unsure of which would be a more interesting read. Before he could decide though, the shady back corner got slightly darker as a large form blocked out the minimal light from the dimmed lamps and lightly shaded windows. William's head turned to take in the hulking young man who stood next to him, from his square jaw and dark hair to his t-shirt and the apron that covered his legs. The waiter's head cocked slowly as a look of recognition passed over his face, "Aren't you Professor Fraser's kid?"

Surprise was evident as William blinked very quickly, and looked up at the older man, "Yeah, I am."

"Oh, cool, I live next door in the Kappa Tau house," The frat brother then extended his hand to William, and William carefully took the hand trying to return as strong of a handshake as the college student provided but was afraid he might have failed. William's neighbor smiled, and then asked, "I figure you're here for lunch not coffee, right?"

William nodded before finding his voice, "Yes."

The waiter nodded with a broad smile, "You want anything to drink? I think we have a couple of organic juices or something besides water."
Catching himself before asking if there was any pumpkin juice, William just replied, "No, water's fine."

"Alright," he said, setting a menu down next to William before wandering off to get the water.

Things ran smoothly after that, the college students who had been eaves dropping and watching William carefully became disinterested when they realized he was related to a professor. That mild connection to the university was all William needed to become an acceptable presence at the cafe. As William waited for his sandwich, and thumbed through his Transfiguration textbook, his eyes continued to drift toward a set of college students in the opposite corner by the window. William couldn't help but smile at their eclectic sense of fashion, and how the strangely colored scarves reminded him of Salem once again. His eyes also wandered over the plunging necklines of one of the girl's vibrantly colored dresses, and William then shook his head, feeling oddly strange but also surprisingly good about where his eyes had been wandering.

The food was good and filling, and tasted surprisingly fresh. The freshness was something that he had found hard to find in the muggle world. He wasn't sure if it was the House Elves that cooked the food at Salem or the very nature of magical cooking, but food in school always seemed to taste slightly better and he wasn't sure why. As he continued to flip through his old text, William's eyes were drawn to the door when it opened and his eyes widened when he recognized the person walking in.

She was a girl his age, with red hair that was, William realized, not as frizzy as it usually was despite the heat. The red haired girl was wearing a light sleeveless dress that was a blue and white checker pattern and a pair of sky blue flip flops that made a distinctive thwip-thwap sound as she walked up toward the counter at the back of the cafe. After a few moments of talking to the seemingly lone employee, she was provided with a bag and she exchanged a fistful of bills. As she turned around, William couldn't prevent their eyes from locking as he instantly recognized his best friend from elementary school: Megan O'Rourke.
Megan instantly realized who he was as well. Not that William had changed much, his thick mop of sandy colored hair had gotten somewhat longer, slowly turning to what his mother was calling "a mane", but he was still a shorter-than-average slight boy with blue eyes hidden behind a pair of wire frame glasses. Fighting back a squeal of delight at running into him, Megan rushed up, and said with a wide smile, "William? I figured you would be back for the summer!"

"Hey, Megan," William said somewhat uncomfortably, quickly snapping his magical tome shut and shoving it into his bag, which he latched with a light click.

"How have you been?" Megan asked in a genuine tone, "Why didn't you email me when you got back?"

"I've been...alright," William said, surprised at the hesitation he found in talking to the girl he had once considered his best friend, "I guess I've just been busy."

"Oh, alright," Megan said somewhat uneasily. After a moment she spoke again, "Hey, I'm walking back toward the college, my Dad said there was an empty conference room my D&D group could use, and then he and I decided to have a late lunch." Megan then lifted up the bag in explanation, "But if you're not busy right now, maybe we could walk and talk?"

Megan's eyes rested on William with a look of such yearning for their old sense of friendship, that William smiled and replied, "Yeah, sure."

Long before Megan had arrived, William had received his check but the older waiter had made it quite clear that there was no real rush in settling the tab since during the summer there were obviously not many customers. William quickly fumbled about with the muggle bills, amazed at how strange they felt in his hands in comparison to the coins he had become used to, and then grabbed his bag and joined Megan outside. As they left, William could feel the eyes of the college students that were still lounging in the sunny corner by the window, and when the door closed behind him and Megan, William swore that he heard a few of the older girls giggle amongst themselves.
The sun was only slightly past its apex as William stepped out of the cafe behind Megan, despite the fact that it was nearly four o'clock. They walked in silence for a few minutes, no sounds beside the light shuffling of the plastic bag Megan carried, and the soft click of William's bicycle chain. After what seemed like an eternity, Megan finally asked, "So how was the rest of your school year?"
William frowned as he thought about everything that had happened in the previous semester at Salem, but then he thought of how it had ended and smiled, "I guess everything turned out alright."

"Oh," Megan said before smiling awkwardly, "Any more problems with those bullies?"

After pausing to think about it, William said, "Sometimes I barely remember I go to the same school with them, other times it can seem like it's never ending." William then turned to look at Megan who seemed to look a tad crestfallen by his explanation, William then asked, "Have things gotten any better with Eric Grossman?"

Megan bit her lower lip as they made their way down one of the shaded paths that cut through the heart of the college's campus. As they passed back into the sun's rays, she finally spoke, "It wouldn't be so bad if anyone ever could do anything about it, but the teachers all turn a blind eye, and none of us can really...stand up to him."

William frowned as Megan turned to him with admiration in her eyes, and she then added, "Like you did."

William shook his head. The first few times he had stood up to Eric had been accidental uses of magic, and the second time he actually had gotten beaten up for trying to defend himself. That second time, William had wanted to pull his wand out so badly but there was no way he was going to violate the Statute of Secrecy for a petty fight with his old elementary school bully. At that moment, realization also crossed his face as it hit him that the only reason the bullies at Salem were bearable was because magic leveled out the playing field between them. He sighed as he turned to Megan, and like he did that winter, all he wanted was to pour out all the truths of the wizarding world.

His thumb unconsciously ran across the handle of his black oak wand, and even from that one touch he could feel the hum of magic reverberating through the dragon heart string. It would be so easy to just pull out his wand, and call out a few spells, and let Megan know what was really going on in his life. As his thumb hooked into the waistband of his shorts, gripping the wand as if to pull it out, William quickly bit down on his own tongue slightly to concentrate. Letting his hand drift away, William explained, "I don't think I'd have stood up to Eric if I hadn't been part of the d...the boxing club." William couldn't believe that he had to catch himself from saying Dueling Club despite the fact he had been using the same lie for over a year.

Megan nodded glumly as they stopped in front of a squat brick building, "Oh, yeah, I guess." The pair of them stood awkwardly staring at each other for a moment before Megan moved forward and hugged him, "It was really good to see you William. Try not to be a stranger, ok?"

"Sure," William said as he watched Megan walk through the thick wooden doors into the math building where her father worked.

After a moment, William got back on his bicycle, and rode directly home. His parents were still out though his sister was home, not that it mattered as she was still tired from work. When William opened the door to his room, he was somewhat surprised to see another owl perched atop his dusty computer monitor. Asimov was seated on top of the bookshelf looking down at the other, smaller owl and gave a light hoot of indignation.

William walked up to the bird, and carefully took the letter from its beak. William's eyes lit up though, it wasn't a school owl, it was from his friend Sarah and it was the invitation to the professional Quidditch game that she had been talking about toward the end of last year. All of their friends had been talking about the best time for it, and finally, they had decided on a date that worked. William couldn't help as his mouth turned into a broad grin. A few hours back in the wizarding world was all he needed to prevent himself from going crazy while at home for the summer.
As William wrote a return letter and sent it back with the owl, the sad look on Megan O'Rourke's face drifted in to the fogs of memory, replaced by the thrill of seeing all of his friends from school again. More importantly though, the thoughts of his muggle hometown completely disappeared as he pulled out his wand and imagined being able to wear it some place where he could grab a hold of it easily. Yes, William thought, summer was finally looking up.