William clambered up the long steps into the New York City station. Returning students had been broken up into intervals so that muggles wouldn't see a horde of people seeming to pop out of nowhere. The train ride back had been quiet, everyone was still tired from the end of midterm examinations and the end of semester revelry that had joined it. William knew that his last few midterms had been very mixed.
The morning after the dueling club he had taken his herbology exam. It had been a dry run of multiple choice, and essays, with no practical. William hadn't been very surprised by this, but he knew that he could do more with the plants he had learned about this semester than he could write about them not that Mr. Thornten seemed to care though. Astronomy had been that night, and William hadn't realized till later that the star chart section of his exam had been slightly off, just enough to be noticeable which meant just enough to hurt his grade. On Friday he had his transfiguration midterm which he knew that he had passed through with ease; William knew every equation, every incantation, and his practical had been astounding according to Mr. C. After the weekend, William had to sit through the DADA midterm, where he found himself surprisingly capable. His responses had been straightforward and direct but definitely correct, and he knew his practical had been a strong showing of his skill with defensive magic which Tall Elk had not seemed very surprised by at all. William had been going over these thoughts as he mounted the steps and came out into cold train station.
William had switched into muggle clothing on his way back. It felt strange to be wearing jeans and a sweater again after months of thick robes, around his neck he wore his school scarf, and he was wearing his thick dragonhide gloves from potions for their warmth. William already knew that his parents wouldn't be hovering by the platform entrance, it was another precaution to prevent muggles from noticing the arrival of students. All family reunions happened closer to other platforms. He smiled broadly when he caught sight of his mother, William had already known his father had been unable to come down and his sister still had school for another week or so. As he approached, he resisted the urge to rush forward and give her a hug just in case any other students were watching him. However his mother had very different plans as she rushed forward and closed the gap in a few strides. She wrapped him up in a big, chest crushing hug, and murmuring how much she had missed him, she kissed his forehead and somehow though William knew he should feel embarrassed, but he didn't blush or pull away. It was good to see his mother again.
The ride out of the city and into Connecticut was peaceful, his mother asking him about his classes, and all the things he had wrote about in his letter. William noticed how nervous she was when he brought up the Dueling Club and the fact that he and Nick had dueled two other sixth graders a few days before he had come home. Still though his mother didn't seem to say anything about it, good or bad, she had just given a nervous smile and had said, "That's great, dear."
When he had gotten home, William carried his trunk right up stairs to his room and looked around. It was strange now to look around it. His computer still sat on his desk, and he just stared back at it, it had a small layer of dust around it and William was debating whether or not to clean it as he turned to look at other things. There were still a lot of his old muggle toys laying about on shelves with some of his favorite books, which seemed more clean than his computer. Finally his eyes settled on his bed, untouched since the day he had left for school, neatly made like he had done before he had left that morning.
Slowly he opened his trunk and pulled out his robes, setting them in an empty drawer of his dresser amazed that he wouldn't need them for several weeks. Next came his books that he began to tuck away on a shelf that he had cleared away during the summer, happy now that none of them had the titles on the spine, he had quickly learned to differentiate them by differences in the binding. Finally he began to pull out other things from his first semester, his quodpot horn, a quidditch pin that Sarah had given to him when she dragged him to another match that semester, a few of the chocolate frog cards he had manged to collect, and finally a few pictures. A few days after the duel, he had learned that one of the older students had been taking pictures that night, and had given him a few that he had been in. Plus, several students had offered to take pictures of other people in the last few days of the semester sometimes for free, and William and his friends had jumped at the chance. William set them down on his desk, smiling at the group picture with Nick, Chris, Sarah, and finally Alex who hung off a little from the group. Finally, he sat down at the edge of his bed, having unpacked William was starting to feel a little more at home, still even now things were strange like something he couldn't put his finger on.
The days passed slowly, the semester at the college was still finishing up and finals were looming on the muggle students. His parents were kept busy answering students' questions, and reading through papers. Once or twice there were actually teaching assistants or students in the house pouring through papers and examinations in the kitchen or living room with his mom or dad. They knew that he went to some private middle school somewhere but ultimately they seemed to ignore him for some reason or another. Meanwhile his sister was going through her first midterms in high school and was more on edge than she had ever been, often seeming to ignore him or become very annoyed with him very quickly. William found himself trying to reintegrate with the muggle world with his computer but in the end, it didn't seem to interest him, he began to wonder what was going on in the wizarding world with each long day that passed.
The only thing that he had to look forward to at the end of the week was seeing Megan again. She had been very excited that he had returned, and had dropped by his house the day after he got back to say hi but she had had to go quickly to do her homework and finish up several end of the semester projects. Several days later though they had agreed to meet up again, and William was looking for to the break in his seemingly endless time at home. As it seemed common these days his parents were out, and his sister was at her school library studying with friends, when Megan arrived and rang the doorbell.
He opened it and was immediately greeted by a strong hug. Megan immediately said, "William, I'm so happy your back!"
He laughed and said, "I'm happy to see you again too!"
They went inside and sat down, starting to talk about the past few months without the other. William once again tried to relate things in the vaguest details possible mentioning that his classes were different and harder than he had expected but he still doing well. He used the excuse that his school was strict about outside contact through the internet as to why he hadn't heard about a lot of the things that had happened in the past few months beginning to wonder how long that excuse would hold. William glossed over the dueling society unsure if there was any type of muggle equivalent, and merely explained that he had started meeting people and that he met some of them through a club at the school. Megan didn't seem to mind how vague he was, making William wonder if she had noticed how general he was being. She had gone on to further explain the injustices of middle school, "So Eric Grossman has suddenly started to become like, popular!"
"Really?" William said, slightly surprised. No one had ever stood up to Eric, but they had never truly liked him either.
"Well, he joined the football team, I don't think they let him play yet but he's there and people like him now," She sighed, "It sucks."
William nodded, "Yeah, there's a bully at school but no one...likes him."
Megan looked surprised, "You never mentioned a bully."
William shrugged, "I don't know, I don't like thinking about it."
"Oh," Megan said, her tone low and still surprised. There was an awkward pause, and she suddenly jumped up when she saw the clock, "Uh, I got to go meet up with some of the other mathletes." She paused and then asked, "Do you, uh, want to come?"
William shook his head, "No, thanks though. I think I'm supposed to stay at home," He lied. William wasn't sure why but the concept of hanging out with the mathletes didn't intrigue him the way it might have a few months ago. She smiled and he walked her to the door. Megan promised they would hang out again soon but they didn't see each other for several weeks.
Christmas snuck up on the Fraser clan rather quickly that year. It seemed that there was only a few days of breathing room between the end of everyone's semester and the day when relatives would begin arriving for the Christmas celebration. The house was especially hectic as this year both sides of the family would be here in full, and it was quickly becoming a pressing matter to find space for eight extra people within the house.
This put a lot of pressure on William as he would be sharing his room with his two cousins for several days which meant the pushing of everything magical into the depths of his closet. He sighed even having to put away his magical photographs which though they normally stayed still around muggles (or the muggles didn't notice) he couldn't risk the possibility of movement over the holidays. The few magical trinkets he did have were hidden carefully behind boxes of old clothes and books in his closet, neatly tucked away where someone would only go if they were digging around.
Meanwhile outside of his room the house was becoming even crazier, as futons were unfurled, extra bedding was found, and his mother slowly seemed to be losing her mind. His father was attempting to enter into the Christmas spirit despite the stress of the holiday. Procuring and securing the tree in the family living room had been a major event involving a lot of grunting and cursing from William's father as he had dragged it in and gone through the process of steadying it in its stand. William's mother was slowly cleaning every inch of the house to an extent it hadn't been in years, always seeming to mutter under her breath about someone or something that William never quite caught. As the arrival date of their various relatives loomed over them, the flurry of activity reached a fever pitch before grinding to a swift halt.
The first to arrive had been Uncle George, the younger brother of William's father. William liked his Uncle George, he was younger than his dad by more than a couple of years and he was fond of pranks and practical jokes. He had roared in from New York City in a sports car, wearing one of his many suits. George looked like his older brother but his hair was still a solid dark color, and he seemed to carry more vitality with him in every step. His arrival resulted in a tour of tight hugs and hair ruffling, several quick jokes and a round of laughs before the Brothers Fraser stepped into the backyard to discuss the upcoming holiday.
After that, William and his mother had gone to the airport to pick up Grandma Corcoran (his mother's mother). They had waited like they always did by the baggage claim as his Grandmother came out from the gate. She was an older woman, shorter than William's mother but of similar build, with long wavy gray hair pulled into a tight bun. She immediately pulled William into a tight hug saying how much he had grown, and how he looked so much like his grandfather. Grandma Corcoran then embraced her daughter, and as they waited for her bags the pair began to talk about adult things so William slowly zoned out, only coming back to help his grandmother with her bags. The drive back home was quiet with his grandmother tired from the flight in.
When they arrived back at the Fraser house, William immediately noticed the old station wagon that signaled the arrival of his other grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma Fraser. In fact as they pulled up he immediately saw the wispy blue haze of his Grandpa's pipe coming up from the porch, and it was as they came out he waved and shouted, "Hello there!"
Pleasantries were exchanged, and he tromped out across the lawn, hugging Mrs. Corcoran first and then his daughter-in-law. Finally he held his big weathered palm to William, and he took it with pride as his grandfather proceeded to give a big manly hand shake, "How ya doin' m'boy?"
"I'm great Grandpa!" William said enthusiastically as his grandfather mussed his hair Then both William and his grandfather helped Grandma Corcoran with her bags as they all made their way in, his pipe now out and forgotten.
The night passed quickly into a large family dinner with his grandfather going on about the grand Fraser fighting spirit, and telling one of his famous war stories over dessert. Outside of this were the standard catch-up conversations. Uncle George had seemed to mention that something important was brewing at the large corporation he worked at but as always when he discussed his job everything was in very vague terms. His sister and Grandma Fraser were discussing things that William couldn't follow, but they seemed to be laughing about something that William definitely didn't understand.
After dinner, William had gone up to his room to look at his photos from school. He knew that it was the last time he'd be able to look at them as his cousins would be coming in the next few days. There was a knock at his somewhat ajar door, and he looked up and saw his grandfather smiling at him. The old man was tall like William's father and uncle, his hair had faded to a silvery gray in his old age and he still kept a fine goatee in his advanced age. As usual he was wearing a simple pair of slacks and a flannel shirt in the clan print. "You were quiet tonight William," He said as he sat down next to his grandson.
William nodded, "Sorry," He said quietly.
His grandfather laughed and shook his head, "Nothing to be sorry about m'boy. I was just wondering if everything was alright."
William shrugged, and then explained, "I guess I'm just missing my friends from school."
The older man nodded with a small expression of, "Ah," he then patted the boy on the shoulder, "I understand ye." He then peered over his grandson's shoulder and asked, "Oh is that some of 'em?"
William gulped, he had just been staring at one of the photos from the night of the duel. In it he and Nick were standing, looking ragged but pleased, he hadn't noticed before now but Clark stood in the background with a look of approval on her face. He then nodded, "Yeah, that's my friend Nick."
His grandfather smiled looking at the picture, "You boys look like you had just been in a fight."
William blushed slightly, unsure of how to explain, "Well we kind of were but it was in this uh, after school club."
Grandpa Fraser's face lit up and his smile grew wide, "Your father hadn't told me that you had joined any sort of boxing club."
William shrugged and tried to keep his face from becoming too flushed. He wasn't sure what to say, he squirmed a little and said, "Well...I guess..." He then shrugged.
"Well yes, your father was never been fond of fighting," His grandfather smiled as he seemed to look off somewhere in the distance, "I should show you some pointers sometime, I had quite the right hook when I was a young man." He laughed holding up his old weathered fists for a second before setting them down and saying, "We Frasers have a long history of fighting, it's in our blood." He patted his grandson on the shoulder, "You should be proud of your heritage William."
William nodded, "I am Grandpa."
"Good," He smiled at his grandson and said, "Well I'll leave you to it, William. Good night."
William nodded, "Good night, Grandpa." He wasn't sure why but he felt better as his grandfather left his room and closed the door. That night he fell asleep to dreams of men in tartans marching through wide verdant fields.
The next day had been fairly relaxed, everyone sleeping in, and breakfast being a long affair with Grandma Corcoran cooking a large meal for everyone. Conversations were up and down between people eating, reading newspapers or stepping out to answer phone calls. William found the relaxed pace of the day to be perfect until the tense run up to his cousins and uncle's arrival.
William's parents had never gotten along with his uncle and aunt. He was his mother's older brother, and he had never approved of her marriage to William's dad, nor did he seem to care for her position as a professor either. Brian Corcoran was a big man, tall and thick with wiry muscle, he had been bald for as long as William could remember, and he always wore impeccable suits or business clothing. William knew he was some kind of accountant for big corporations, and his Aunt Jennifer was some sort of corporate lawyer who was also tall and sharp like her husband. Finally there were William's cousins both older than him, one his sister's age and the other only a year older. They were miniature versions of their father, big, gaining in muscle, and very business-oriented. William had never gotten along well nor necessarily poorly with them but he hadn't seen them in a year or two so he was beginning to wonder what they were like now.
They arrived shortly before dinner, his uncle blasted his horn as his giant SUV crunched up in the light snow that had been falling throughout the day. William came out to stand on the porch along with his father, looking out in the quickly fading light as their relatives stormed out of their vehicle. His uncle came huffing around the side dressed in a thick and smart looking overcoat, bald head shining in the light of the street lamp, while William's aunt slid out gracefully from the passenger side and began to casually walk up the driveway towards the door a smile lighting her face. From either side poured a set of whoops that were William's cousins, both of whom were big, though the larger of the two (his cousin Brian he believed) had made a mad dash for the back of the SUV and was already heaving what seemed to be as many bags as possible onto his shoulders. When it seemed like he had the whole load Uncle Brian shouted, "Go!" The older boy rushed forward across the snow covered lawn in a pulverizing step with over exaggerated breathing coming to a swift halt before the porch where he stood stepping in place. "Good job boy, relax!" The older boy immediately stopped moving in place but continued to hold the massive amount of bags.
Aunt Jennifer had stopped short of coming onto the porch to marvel at her son. After only a few brief moments Uncle Brian and William's other cousin Stephen finally came up to the house. Uncle Brian offered as way of explanation, "Junior made the football team this year, quite impressive for a freshman!" He thumped the boy proudly on the back and Brian seemed to barely move under the pressure of his father's backslap and the many bags.
"Very good," Mr. Fraser said with a hint of amusement, "Well the boys are staying up with William in his room, and you and Jennifer have our guest bedroom at the top of the stairs."
"You heard him boy!" Uncle Brian called out, and without a moment's notice Junior slipped past William and his father and clambered up the stairs in a rush. After this display of athleticism the true round of pleasantries began as everyone moved into the house, and everyone came out from the other rooms to greet each other.
Before William had realized it the family was already sitting down to dinner. They had dragged in an extra table creating a very cramped space within the kitchen as the whole family crammed in to eat. William was sitting between his sister and cousin Stephen and across from Brian Junior. Conversation was constant amongst the relatives but he only could catch snippits of it;
"Well I was just wondering..." Grandma Fraser stated.
"...I've said before, haven't met the right girl Ma..." Uncle George said.
"Lay off the boy." Grandpa Fraser butted in.
"Hardly a boy," William's father mumbled half-heartedly.
"Well you know the hectic speed of office life," his Aunt Jennifer was saying.
Both Grandma Corcoran and William's mother nodded slightly as his Aunt continued.
It was as he was trying to pay attention to what his Aunt was saying that he felt a rough kick from his sister, and heard Brian ask him again, "So you going out for any sports at that private school of yours?"
"Ehrm," William stated stalling for time, "Uh, not really."
His cousins both seemed to groan, and Stephen said, "Not even baseball or something?"
William shook his head, "Nope."
Brian scoffed, and muttered something under his breath that William couldn't catch. Stephen continued, "Don't you do anything there?"
William gulped trying to think of something. That's when the conclusion his grandfather had jumped to last evening came back to him, "Well, I joined the uh, Boxing club. But we don't really do much yet."
"Boxing?!" Brian half-shouted. Stephen looked at his small frame with a hint of awe and respect.
Despite the near shout of his cousin, conversation at the table continued on in its usual fashion. His sister's eyebrow was cocked in surprise, and she bit her lip to prevent from laughing.
"Y-yeah," William said trying to inject confidence to his voice, "They don't let us younger kids like spar or anything but we learn the technique and stuff."
"Awesome," Stephen said, giving him a manly thump on the back.
Luckily the realization that their cousin wasn't a total nerd made them gloss over any continual talk of sports and lead into more general conversation that William was able to ignore for a time adding in when his limited knowledge of the muggle world would let him. While dinner on the younger side of the table passed with relative ease, the adults seemed to be getting very tense by the time Grandma Corcoran asked rather loudly, "Why don't we all have some pie now? Hmm?" She stood and said, "No reason to eat it in here either, the night's not too bad and there's plenty of space in the living room." All of the adults tersely nodded, with Uncle George and Grandpa Fraser both heading outside with a cigar and pipe respectively.
William helped his grandmothers clear the plates away largely so he could avoid any probing questions by his cousins about his boxing experiences. He ate his pie quickly before heading up to his room and hoping that the next few days would pass quickly and painlessly.
The day of Christmas Eve had been full of mounting tension amongst the adults that William didn't quite grasp. He had tried to ask his Uncle George about it, but he had just ruffled William's hair and told him not to worry about it. Grandpa Fraser was equally tight lipped, instead giving him a quick lesson on his "patented" right hook. Everyone went to sleep uneasily that night, when Grandmother Corcoran had encouraged everyone to get to bed early or "Santa would pass them over". Not that anyone in the house truly believed in Santa Claus anymore but it was something that she said every year and William doubted she was going to stop soon.
Christmas morning was the traditional round of gift giving. With the excitement of the morning the tensions of the previous day had seemed to dissipate. William was surprised by several of his gifts. Uncle George had insisted he open his gift first, and it was revealed to be a kit for pulling pranks filled with a variety of things like itching powder and stink bombs while most of the adults chided this gift William couldn't help but notice that his Grandfather complimented his son for the brilliant present. Uncle Brian had gotten him a baseball glove, apologizing later that it was "for the wrong sport" and promised to make it up to him in the next year which made William blush and feel a little strange. Grandma Fraser had made him a wool sweater that was a little big (so that he could grow into it) that he knew given the cold of the previous semester he'd need at school. His parents had given him several books and various pieces of clothing along with a note tucked in with several pairs of socks that there was something else after the relatives had gone. Grandma Corcoran had presented him and his cousin Brian with pocket watches, a traditional Corcoran gift when young boys "started to become young men", apparently they were both receiving them a little earlier than usual but no one seemed to comment on it. Finally though had been the big gift from Grandpa Fraser. His grandfather had presented the very plainly wrapped gift with a tad more pomp than his usual gift giving, and he wore a huge smile on his face as William removed the twine around the gift. William's jaw dropped when he saw what lay inside, it bore the print that he had grown accustomed to seeing on his grandfather's shirts over the years, and the one or two rare occasions when his grandfather had worn his kilt. Inside was a bundle of thick wool with the Clan Fraser tartan, and as he pulled it out the room realized it was a kilt, and William was unsure how to react.
His grandfather was brimming with pride as he said, "You headed away to school a little earlier than I had been expecting but I won't argue when it's time for a boy to become a man."
William looked at Uncle George and his father for a moment, but before he could say anything his Uncle George broke the silence of the rest of the room, "Try it on William! I'll go get mine!" He stood up without a moments notice and was out of the room.
His father then stood up, and said, "Come on William I'll help you get it on." He then lead his son up the stairs while the gift giving continued.
Up stairs in his father's room, William's father opened up his own closet and begin tearing through several pieces of clothing towards the back of the closet. As he did, he answered, "It is a tradition for boys in our family to get our kilts eventually, Grandpa gave me mine when I went to college, and George when he started his senior year of high school." Slowly he pulled out his own kilt and shook his head at the piece of clothing.
William nodded, then asked awkwardly, "Uh, when will I wear it?"
"Apparently today," His father said. The older man asked William to step out while he got into his, and then assisted William with the strange and foreign piece of clothing before they headed downstairs.
By this point all the wrapping had been cleared away, and presents stacked neatly to be taken away or already placed inside luggage. Standing by the tree was his Uncle George and Grandpa Fraser who had both changed into their kilts. Before William knew what was going on there was a rapid set of photos being taken of the three generations of Fraser men all decked out in their kilts standing with pride and an awkward air in front of the Christmas tree. William wasn't sure why but for some reason as he stood there with his father, uncle, and grandfather the strangeness of the gift that had hit him when he had opened up the wrapping was replaced with a sense of happiness, as if he had finally been let in on some sort of secret club or family secret that he wasn't aware was even there. After this, the holiday passed with an air of fun and revelry appropriate for the season.
The days following saw everyone slowly leaving. First his cousins, and uncle had left the morning right after Christmas, with Grandma Corcoran catching her flight back to Ohio that afternoon. Uncle George had left that night after receiving some phone call from work that was pulling him back there earlier than expected. Finally Grandma and Grandpa Fraser had left the morning after, William once more trading a proper hand shake with his Grandfather when they had left.
In the days after Christmas William had quickly forgotten that his parents had mentioned another gift. It was as he was reading one of his new books that his father knocked on his door, "William?"
"Yes Dad?" He turned as the door swung open and his father stepped in holding a large cage.
William stared in awe as he looked at the large owl inside of it. The creature was easily two feet tall and it sat with a quiet majesty within the cage. Its feathers were a deep gray, its eyes a brilliant yellow, and rising above the eyes were horn-like feathers. The large owl let out a low call as it turned its head about the room. "Wow," was all William managed to get out as his father set the bird down in a corner of the room.
"Yeah," His father answered, "He's pretty amazing." He smiled as he turned, "Your mother and I figured that since you write us so much there was no reason to waste the money on postage when you could have your own owl."
William nodded, and then stood up still mesmerized by the large bird. His father smiled, "Well, I'll leave you to get acquainted with him." He smiled as he left the room, closing the door slightly as he did.
William slowly opened the door and extended his arm, the owl hopped onto it first clenching its talons down before settling with a much lighter gentle grip as William pulled back from the cage. The owl looked around then hooted again. William stared at the bird and muttered aloud, "What should I call you..." Just then the bird took flight, circling the room before settling onto William's bookshelf, on one of the new books his parents had gotten him for Christmas, as William looked over the spine he whispered to himself, "Asimov!"
The last few days of the year saw William unsure of how to pass the time. He had sent Asimov off with letters to Chris and Nick telling them about his vacation and they had responded but still he found himself with little to do during the day. The small amount of work he had to do over the break was easy for him so it only occupied him for a day or two after Christmas and so William found himself now practicing wand movements. Sixth graders weren't allowed to cast spells outside of school, and muggle students in general had to be really careful, so William could only practice the movements and pronunciations separately. He often found himself sitting at his desk swishing and flicking or making the swift swing and hard stop of a protection spell. Hours passed with him going through the hexes he knew and occasionally pouring over his textbooks looking for new ones.
On the last day of the year, William's parents reminded him that that evening was the traditional university New Year's Eve party. Ever since William could remember, his family had gone to the university's big party. It was held in one of the major buildings at the school, William could never remember what it was called but he knew exactly what it looked like. More importantly though, starting middle school meant that William no longer had to stay in the "kid room" which had always been watched over by someone and a little lame. He remembered last year, he and Megan had passed the time playing a game of Uno with one of his father's grad students who had somehow been roped into watching over the children. This year though, no kid room, he'd be allowed to move about the party without supervision, William smiled at the thought.
A few hours later he was grimacing as he put on his old suit. Everyone had to dress semi-formally, even the younger people. William hadn't realized that he'd grown a little in the past year, the coat felt a little awkward on him, and the pants were a little tight. He wished that he could cast a spell, not that he knew any that would make his clothes fit right but William knew that there had to be one. Slowly he came out of his room and down the stairs. His father was straightening a tie in front of a mirror, and running his fingers through his recently trimmed beard. From the kitchen his mother came out wearing a formal evening gown and quickly tugging on her winter overcoat, she sighed stepped up to her husband and quickly fiddled with his tie giving it a sleek and straightened look. Finally his sister came down the stairs wearing a dress similar to his mother's but shorter, William could only roll his eyes as she quickly tugged on her coat before their parents noticed.
"Alright!" His dad said looking at everyone, "Let's go." They all marched outside to the family car and as they began driving down the roads to the campus, their parents continued going over the ground rules of the party, where they would meet after midnight, and so on. William barely listened, he knew how the party went and instead found his hand trailing to the pocket on the inside of his coat where he had slid his wand. He knew he wasn't supposed to bring it some where there'd be so many muggles but William didn't want to get out of the habit of carrying it and for some reason he couldn't bring himself to leave it at home after what had happened on Halloween.
They all piled out of the car and made their way to the large brick building, as William walked slightly behind his family he suddenly found himself realizing for the first time how much like his school the university campus was like. Old brick buildings seemed to be everywhere, with ivy crawling up their sides or now bare trees flanking them. Up the old worn white steps they went, stepping through the old wooden doors, and quickly through the well lit corridors where the party was already in full swing.
William stood by his parents for the first half hour or so while his family went through the standard yearly introductions. Several of his parents' friends and colleagues commented on how he'd grown, and one or two even congratulated him on his 'scholarship' to 'that private school', he nodded along remembering the lie his family used to explain his absence. Eventually though William's parents finally relinquished him and he was able to mingle about.
The first thing he did was wiggle out of the main hall where all of the old professors were chit chatting about any number of things that he didn't understand. William made his way about the rooms in a way he never had been able to before, he breezed by the kid room smiling at the fact he was no longer exiled to it, still he wasn't sure what to do. As he passed through several of the other rooms, William suddenly became supremely aware of how much he missed his school. Passing by he saw people dancing to music, he saw several older kids talking about how they wanted to get out of the town, and even saw some kids his own age too old for the kids room but not old enough to dance or talk with the older kids and wasn't even sure what to say to them. He found himself a floor above the actual party just calmly walking around through dimly lit hallways, once or twice he had nearly stumbled into people (young and old) up to things he never wanted to see. William shook his head, staring out a slightly frosted window that overlooked the campus. All he could think was that he couldn't wait to get on the train in a few days and get back up to school.
William found his hand once again inside his jacket, fingers fumbling about his wand and having to really try not to take it out. It was as he stood there that he heard a familiar voice say, "William!"
He turned around, Megan was standing there, she smiled immediately and rushed up to him, "I was wondering if you were even here!"
William laughed, hand slipping from his jacket he nodded and said, "Yeah I'm here."
She stood next to him, and they both fell quiet for a few minutes. She was wearing a dress, and William couldn't help but notice it was a lot different than the simple one she had worn last year, it was more like his sister's but not quite. She then frowned and said, "Hey, I'm uh sorry we haven't hung out..."
William shrugged, "It's cool."
She nodded slowly, before asking, "How was Christmas?"
"Good, except for sharing my room with my cousins," He answered, it had been pretty cramped in his room for those few days, "How about you?"
"My dad and I went up to my grandparents in Boston," She smiled, "It was really cool, we went ice skating at one point."
They paused again, unsure of what to say to the other, William suddenly found himself blurting out, "I sort of miss being at school." Megan nodded, not quite commenting on anything just listening as William continued, "I mean I miss you, like it's weird not having a best friend anymore." She blushed slightly but nodded, "But I miss being there a lot too, like I've made a few friends and I do stuff, and even the classes are pretty cool." He wanted to say how much he missed casting spells but caught himself.
Megan frowned slightly as she stood there, and then opened her mouth as if to speak before closing it again. Finally she asked, "Is it that different?"
William nearly burst out laughing. He bit his lip, he really wanted to tell her that yes it was, because he was a wizard and he learned spells and made potions but he didn't. After a minute he said, "I guess it is, I didn't realize that it was going to be but it is."
She nodded, her face showing how unsure she was of what to say.
William swallowed hard, he needed to tell his best friend, he really wanted to tell her. But just as he got ready to say "I'm a wizard!" at the top of his lungs, the large bell that sat on campus rang out the first note of the New Year. Even a floor below he could hear the slightly drunken bellow of the adults singing Auld Lang Syne off key. He sort of shook his head, catching his declaration before it formed, and then just turned to Megan and said as loudly as he could, "Happy New Year!"
She laughed for some reason and said, "Happy New Year!" For some reason, they quickly hugged, the awkwardness of the past few minutes quickly forgotten. After that they hung out like they did the year before, remembering that they had been talking to their best friend, and even though in a few days William would go back to a school for wizards she couldn't know about, and she'd go back to a school where she learned math that William would never know, they were still the same kids they had been just a few months ago.