AUGUST, 1991

"Are you sure there's not…? Not even-"

"Ma?"

"Not now, Noah, I'm on the phone."

"Ma," Puck whined softly and plopped down into one of the kitchen chairs with a great sigh.

"It's just…" Ruth lowered her voice as she spoke into the receiver, shielding it with her hand, but Puck heard her anyway. "Money's a bit tight this month, just one shift would be enough."

She leaned back against the refrigerator and closed her eyes for a moment, her shoulders sagging.

"It's okay, I… I understand. If there's nothing, there's nothing. It's alright, we'll manage. Thank you."

She put the phone down and pulled her hands over her face, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers. Puck noticed that she had that wrinkle between her eyebrows that meant that she was worried about something.

"Ma?" Puck said again and she looked a little startled, as if she had forgotten that he was there.

"What is it, Noah?"

"Uhm, it's just that school starts soon and we haven't gotten my… stuff yet."

"Stuff?" She questioned, looking confused. "Do you need a new bag? I thought the one you had last term looked fine-"

"Yeah, it's fine, it's not stuff like that, I have the list here," Puck interrupted, pulling the neatly folded parchment from his back pocket to put on the table between them.

Ruth took one look at it and seemed to sag even further, her thin body suddenly too heavy for her to carry. She sat down opposite him and clasped her hands together tightly.

"Noah," she began and Puck knew instantly what she was going to say.

"I'll be good, ma," he blurted out quickly. "If you let me go, I'll be so good, I swear!"

His heart was beating fast, thumping hard in his chest, forceful enough to hurt. He felt as if he was losing something he had barely grasped the concept of, but it meant more to him than anything else had ever done.

"It's not about whether you'd behave or not-"

"Then what is it? I'll do whatever you want-"

"We can't afford this, Noah, we-"

"Flitwick mentioned scholarships, didn't he, I could get one of those and-"

"Dammit, Noah!" Ruth slammed her hands onto the table, causing Puck to jump and promptly shut his mouth. "I can't deal with this, with this nonsense-"

"It's not nonsense, ma!" He exclaimed, horrified and angered.

"Don't interrupt me!" She replied, raising her voice.

"Then stop talking bloody bullshit!"

"Noah! Language!"

Puck stood then, snatching the school supply list and shoving it down his pocket again.

"I'm going," he said firmly, clenching his jaw as he marched out of the kitchen, ignoring his mother's calls for him while pushing his feet into his shoes and finally slamming the front door shut behind him.

He stormed down the gravel path and nearly tripped over his untied shoe laces in his haste. The bus stop was just down the road. Surely there would be a bus to London that could take him to the right shops. How difficult could it be? He would show his ma. He would come back with magic books and magic wands and magic clothes and magic cauldrons and perhaps even a magic toad just to gross her out.

Puck slumped down on a bench by the bus stop, his knee jumping restlessly and his trembling hands formed into tight fists. How could she say something like that? It was not nonsense, it could not be nonsense. Flitwick had been there, in their kitchen, he had made their kettle fly! Of course it was not nonsense. His ma was just being stupid.

"Noah?"

Puck blinked. In his fury he had not even noticed the old car that had rolled up next to the bus stop. The front seat window was down and Mrs Hudson, Finn's mum, peaked her head out.

"What are you doing here, dear?" She asked, smiling kindly.

"Going to London," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Is that so? Does Ruth know you're here?"

"She knows."

"Alright then. Do you want a ride? Finn and I are heading there as well."

Puck's eyes drifted to the back seat, where he now saw Finn, grinning wildly with his nose pressed against the window. Puck had to bite his lip not to burst into laughter.

"I guess," he shrugged and got up from the bench.

Finn opened the car door for him.

"Move over, weirdo," Puck said as he gave Finn's shoulder a gentle push and hopped into the car.

"Fine," Finn replied, rolling his eyes. "Turd face."

Puck cracked a smile and Finn smiled back, digging his Game Boy out of his backpack.

"Wanna play Dr. Mario?"

Kurt often enjoyed the days his father brought him to Hummel's Broomstick Repair. Burt always taught him something new about his work and Kurt truly relished the moments he was able to display his recently acquired knowledge for various customers. He nearly always assisted Burt by handing him the right equipment and entertained himself by giving the brooms various oil treatments for a particularly glossy finish. However, this day he had other things on his mind and absolutely no interest in how to mend a broom with some stupid broken twigs. Today was the day he was going to get a wand.

"Aren't we done yet?" he asked with a heavy sigh, slumping against the counter.

Burt chuckled and looked up from the broom he had been working on. It was currently in five pieces.

"Does it look like I'm done?" he replied, which only made Kurt release a frustrated huff.

"We've been here forever and I want to go to Ollivanders!"

"I know that, but this would go a lot quicker if you could be a little less whiny and a lot more helpful," Burt pointed out. "Ollivanders isn't going anywhere anytime soon and I've got a deadline on this broom."

"Fine," Kurt got up dramatically to join Burt by his work station. "Is there anything I can do?"

Burt smiled and gave one of the five pieces of broom to him, the very end of it.

"See if you can replace those broken twigs, yeah? And I'll try to patch up the rest in record time, alright?"

"Okay, dad."

"So, Noah…" Mrs Hudson spoke from the driver's seat. "What brings you to London?"

"Can't tell you," Puck replied, eyes not wavering from the game boy in his hands. "Top secret."

Finn's eyes widened.

"Really? Is it like… are you an agent? Is it like James Bond top secret?" he asked in what he obviously thought was a hushed whisper.

Puck rolled his eyes.

"Dude, I'm like eleven, pretty sure MI6 doesn't hire eleven year olds."

Finn sunk back in his seat with sagging shoulders, sighing in disappointment.

"That's true. Would've been cool, though," he answered and perked up again immediately afterwards. "Hey mum, we're on a top secret mission too, right?"

"That's right, Finn."

Puck raised his eyebrows sceptically. Sure they were. He was pretty sure they were not going to London to get magic stuff so they could go to magic school to learn magic because they actually were wizards. Or a wizard and a witch. Whatever.

"Bet it's not as top secret as mine," he said, smirking at the glimpse of Finn's put off face.

"It is too, you can't know that!" Finn objected fiercely.

"Yeah, and you can't know it either."

"Muuuum! Tell him!"

Mrs Hudson sighed heavily and glanced at them in the rear-view mirror.

"I'm sure our missions are equally top secret, boys. Either way, it's nothing to fight about."

The subject was dropped after that and both boys returned to arguing over the game instead during the remainder of the ride. Their quiet little neighbourhood was not located very far away from the city and travelling to London by car did not take more than thirty minutes. When the houses of the big city started to flicker past the windows, Puck's attention transferred from the game.

Puck's family very rarely went to the city, despite the closeness. He knew that his ma worked there from time to time, but he had not been there himself for years. Last time was with his dad. He shook the memory from his head as the car came to a stop and Mrs Hudson turned off the engine. She took off her seatbelt and turned around to look at them sternly.

"You two stay put while I make a phone call, alright?"

"Okay," they replied in unison.

"Good. I'll be right back."

She pushed the door open and hurried across the road to a phone booth.

"I think she's calling your mum," Finn said.

"Yeah."

"Does your mum really know that you're here?"

"Not really," Puck shrugged.

"She might be worried, you know."

"Whatever."

"Did you like, have a fight or something?"

"Or something."

"Does this have to do with your top secret mission?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

They sat in silence while Mrs Hudson was on the phone, Puck slumped down in his seat, feeling very not guilty about possibly making his ma worried. She kind of deserved it anyway. He had to get his magic stuff, not his problem that she was going to be all stupid about it.

Maybe he should apologise when he got home. With his magic stuff.

The door to his seat opened suddenly and Mrs Hudson looked inside with a warm, wide smile.

"You know what, Noah, I think we share the very same top secret mission."

Finn let out an excited squeak and grabbed a hold of Puck's arm, tight enough to hurt.

It had taken the better part of twenty minutes to make Finn calm down enough to leave the car without risking spreading the details of their top secret mission to everyone within a five mile radius. However, he was pretty much skipping as Mrs Hudson guided them through the streets and was not doing a very good job of keeping low profile.

"I have so much to tell you," he kept saying, over and over. "But not right now, because it's secret and maybe a Muggle will hear-"

That word. He had heard it before. Flitwick had used it after Puck's ma had fainted that day.

"What does Muggle mean?" he interjected and Finn's eyes widened with the prospect of having something to explain to him. "I mean, Flitwick said it too, but he didn't explain-"

"A Muggle is what we call normal people," Finn said. "You know, non-magical people. Like your mum and the guys at school."

"What about you, Mrs Hudson?" Puck asked, turning towards her. "Are you a Muggle, like my ma?"

Mrs Hudson shook her head and Puck looked her over; the worn denim of her jeans and vest and that mum-hair. She looked very normal to him. He must have voiced his thoughts aloud, because Mrs Hudson laughed.

"I guess that professor Flitwick wore his finest when he visited you?" she said with a knowing grin.

"It was a rainbow poncho," he replied with wide eyes for emphasis and that set Finn off in a fit of giggles. "I didn't even know that clothes like that existed!"

"Most wizards and witches who aren't living in a Muggle community sometimes have a hard time keeping up with the current fashion trends," Mrs Hudson explained, seemingly very amused.

"But what do they normally wear? Flitwick's not wearing rainbow ponchos all the time right?"

"Robes," Finn piped up. "Almost likes capes. It's a little ridiculous, but also really cool!"

"You'll see soon, Noah, we're almost there," Mrs Hudson interjected.

"Where is there exactly?"

"Diagon Alley!"

Puck opened his mouth to throw out yet another question, but was effectively silenced by Finn grabbing him by the wrist to pull him through a door. He had been too wrapped up in his thoughts to even realise that they had approached a dodgy looking bar. He managed a quick glance upward, registering the words The Leaky Cauldron on a sign before his eyes had to struggle with adjusting to the dim lighting within the building.

He was not sure of what he had been expecting, but the crowd within was not it. For such a shabby place, it sure was packed. The actual bar was straight ahead and a wild assortment of people occupied the high barstools. Quite a few tables were scattered across the room, they too surrounded by what Puck assumed must be wizards and witches judging by the odd choices in clothing. The volume was loud and filled with laughter and despite the grim appearance, The Leaky Cauldron felt warm andwelcoming.

Puck felt something pleasant settle in his body which brought a smile to his lips. A sense of belonging.

"We must have hit rush hour," Mrs Hudson sighed, her hands landing on Puck's and Finn's shoulders. "Come on, boys, this way."

Mrs Hudson led them through the bar, too fast for Puck's liking. He would have preferred to stick around for just a little while and his eyes danced all over the bar before he was brought through yet another door. They ended up in a courtyard with brick walls reaching towards the sky all around. Puck frowned. There was nothing there but weeds and a dustbin.

"Now what?" he said, looking unimpressed.

Mrs Hudson reached into her denim vest and pulled out a stick similar to the one Flitwick had. A wand. The unhappy lines on Puck's face immediately evened out and left place for poorly hidden excitement and awe.

Mrs Hudson brought the tip of her wand to the brick wall ahead of them and tapped it three times. The brick the wand had touched suddenly moved. Puck instinctively took a step backwards, nearly stepping onto Finn's foot as a tiny little hole appeared within the brick wall. The hole grew and grew, Puck blinked once and then they stood before a large archway.

Finn stepped through the archway onto the long cobbled street that now stretched out in front of them, zigzagging out of sight between crooked buildings and shops.

"Diagon Alley!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms out.