Chapter 1: Memories, Meanings and Mugs…
Sometimes, the smallest things in this life, are often the most important things. The tiny imprint of a small foot can leave a mark deeper than any crater or chasm. The flicker of a moth's wings can weald more power then that of a hurricane. The words from a small mouth can create stronger waves than those of the sea. And the dreams of one so small can ripple out beyond eternity, and touch reality by the fingertips. Sometimes, it only takes something small…
**
The sound of delighted laughter danced along the green, open hillside and the spirited voices of two very young children could be heard echoing throughout the surrounding woodland. Two tiny figures bounded out from the edge of the trees, hand in hand, giggling and chattering together. Half way up the hill, they plonked themselves down together on the green fresh grass, puffing heavily while incessantly grinning at each other.
To look upon the two children, it was instantly noticeable that they were very closely related, despite being girl and boy. It was therefore no surprise that they were twins. Both had dark brown hair and beautifully clear blue eyes. The boy's hair was short and always seemed to have a life of its own. His grin that he was so fond of wearing, lit up his face with a cheeky sparkle. His sister had longer hair that reached down to her waist and gave her a slightly wild look, as it too seemed to almost behave like an untamed live creature.
As they caught their breath, Nymph (as was the girl's name), reached into one of her pockets. "Mylo?" she asked in a slightly solemn tone.
Mylo looked up at her quizzically. "Yes?"
"I need to show you something". She pulled out a small black leather book no bigger than her own hand and held it out face-up so Mylo could read the title. "I found this in our attic."
With a furrowed brow, he read out the golden letters on the cover; " "Grumbly's book of Twist and Twoddle, an oracle of an immortal life", what's that mean? Who's Grumbly? Have you read it yet?" even though Mylo knew his sister too well to guess she already had. He eyed the peeling, old cover very suspiciously. "I don't like the look of it"
"Well you wouldn't would you?" said Nymph scathingly, "You're such a wimp sometimes you know. You take one look at strange or unusual things and say "I don't like the look of it, it looks scary" or something. When are you ever going to take risks?"
Mylo took up his defence almost immediately; "I'm not a wimp! Who put a flying wizzbee under old Mr. Corby's toupé while he was asleep? Me! And who stuffed-up that muggle drain pipe with Eddy's Magical Enlarging worms so that giant worms exploded all over the street the next day? Me! I only don't like getting involved with…bad things…"
"And what makes you think this book is "Bad"?" she replied slyly, opening the small book to its first aged, yellow page and lying it down flat on the grass. "Look!" she exclaimed pointing at a small piece of handwriting in the top corner of the inside of the cover, "I hadn't seen this bit before. It must have been a present to someone…"
They both leaned in over the book to try and decipher the two lines of very loopy and slanted handwriting.
Mylo read it out slowly; " "To my dear little Moe, I know you'll use it wisely. Don't forget…" " he paused at the last part. "What does that say? Is it English?"
"Of course not! Symbols of some kind…like another language…" Nymph replied, eyeing over the strange last words (that actually looked like " " )
"Looks ancient to me, and who's Moe? Are you sure you found it in our attic?" Mylo asked suspiciously.
"Are you saying I stole it?" she spat defensively. " It was in that battered old chest we keep in the far corner…the one mum and dad told us not to go in". She flicked through a few pages and stopped round about the middle page. Picking up the book in one hand, she took out her small twig- like wand in the other (it was made of silver-birch wood from a large tree outside their family house) and pointed it directly at her brother (much to his astonishment). She began to read off an incantation.
"What you doing now?" asked Mylo, beginning to sound a little panicky. But Nymph carried on regardless.
Her voice was deep and mysterious as she chanted, "Tyan lumos! Tyan lumos! Draco tyran true-colourum!"
A small cloud of what at first seemed like smoke appeared from out of the end her wand and began to surround Mylo. Yet soon it became obvious that it wasn't smoke, but a cloud of tiny blue sprite-like creatures, with gnarled teeth and claws and long twisted noses. They swarmed around the now petrified Mylo who had frozen to the spot, watching the eerie creatures press up close to his face. Nymph simply sat and watched in wonder.
The sinister little sprites made no noise at first, but soon a gradual whisper began to emanate steadily from them. It sounded like thousands of tiny gasps of breath, and it grew in volume until Mylo could feel their icy cold breaths on his skin. He hadn't moved an inch, but just watched with baited breath as they continuously circled him, never taking their beady little blue eyes from him. He wasn't even sure if he could move even if he tried.
Then suddenly Mylo yelped, causing Nymph to jump with shock. His eyes were stinging with an incredibly intense pain and he tried to bring his hands up to them to cover them, but they wouldn't move. He couldn't move anything at all. He couldn't see anything at all. And the pain in his eyes was growing as he struggled to keep conscious. Something was pushing its way into his head, into his mind. He felt cold and weak and their eerie whispers were everywhere now, not just around him, but inside his head.
Nymph watched in horror as she gradually worked out what was going on. It was the most bizarre sight she had ever seen! The small little spectres seemed to be pushing their way into her brother's eyes! He was sitting still, with a look of pure agony on his face as they vanished into his eyes, one-by-one at an incredible speed.
"What have you done to me!" Mylo managed to cry out, "What are they doing?! My eyes…"
Nymph scrambled back to her book that she had dropped in her shock, to read what the spell was. "The title's in that funny symbolic-language again! I don't know what it is…"
She sat helplessly watching him, unsure that any of the few pathetic little spells she already knew could help in anyway, and yet not daring to go near him either.
As the last blue sprite vanished, Mylo slowly managed to bring his hands up to his face to cover his eyes, as though it would stop the pain he could still feel in them. The whispers were curling round his mind, he couldn't think straight at all. Odd colours and images began to flash before him. He couldn't handle it much longer…he felt himself slipping…
"Nymph…stop them whispering…they're in my head…they're showing me things, awful things…make them stop!" the small boy cried out weakly, still covering his eyes and rocking back and forth slightly.
"I can't hear any whispering anymore Mylo! I don't know what to do!" Nymph screamed desperately as she scrambled over beside him.
Just as she did so, Mylo took his hands away from his face, and even though he couldn't see her, he looked up at her pleadingly before falling unconscious onto her lap.
**
In the middle of an English open moorland almost right next to the Scottish border, in a lopsided, quaint little house, Mylo Higgorty shot up to a sitting position with a huge gasping breath. He was covered in hot, sticky sweat and was trembling violently. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut – they still resonated with a dull ache. Then as if suddenly remembering it was only a dream, he relaxed slightly in his bed, wiping his arm across his moist face. He let out a small slightly-hysterical laugh. "Only a dream, only a dream…" he muttered to himself.
With a sigh, he glanced over at his windup alarm clock. 7:00am precisely.
Goddamn it! She had done it again. Mylo began to wonder whether throwing a Furnunculus hex at his twin sister under the table after dinner last night had been a good idea. This was her favourite way of revenge or even just as a general prank; controlling his dreams - or nightmares as they often turned out to be. She must have been feeling particularly vengeful if she had decided to conjure back that particular memory from their childhood. She'd only ever used that memory once before in a nightmare, and that was when Mylo (accidentally of course) ruined Nymph's prom dress moments before she was due to leave for her prom, by spilling an unremovable-stain potion all down the front! She still hadn't forgiven him for that one.
He grinned at his own paranoia as he tried to slide out of bed sideways without lifting his comfy duvet, but instead fell out of it
with a noisy thud. After lying still on the floor for a few seconds, he stumbled up and went through the usual ritual of washing
(splashing his face with a handful of freezing cold water), grooming his hair (fluffing it up with one hand) and donning his stylish
combination of clothing (throwing on an old pair of jeans and odd pair of socks, but not being able to find a clean top). He stopped briefly to stare at himself in the mirror. He certainly wasn't the small, cute urchin that he was in his dream anymore, all those 9 years ago. He was in fact 15 years old now, and despite growing considerably in every-which-way and area, he still possessed that certain bright twinkle that lit up his face and clear blue eyes with a cheeky sparkle.
He was just about to career out of the room when he remembered he was still topless! Taking out his misshapen twig-like wand (the exact copy of Nymph's), Mylo lazily muttered "accio" while pointing its end at a white crumpled bundle at the end of his bed, that was apparently a shirt. He preferred to wear muggle clothes at home despite being in a pureblood wizarding family. They were much more comfy than robes.
Pulling on his shirt while clattering his way down the stairs to the kitchen proved a harder task than anticipated as he tripped down the last few steps to collide straight into the door at the bottom! Yet, managing to skilfully use the door as a brake (and when you're as accident prone as Mylo, you learn to become skilled in finding things to grab onto!), he staggered into the kitchen as if in a drunken-like state.
To his shock, he found himself being watched by the rest of his large family. They were already gathered round the old wooden kitchen table (which was already set for breakfast). Along one side of the long rectangular table sat his three older brothers, and perched on the other side were his two older sisters, one of his younger sisters and his father, who was peering at him over his newspaper (The Gargoyle's Gazette). His mother was standing up at the head of the table by the stove.
Apart from Mylo and his twin (Nymph), the other Higgorty children sat at the table looked like an assortment of random kids instead of all being related, as they hardly looked similar to each other at all. Some had their mother's beautifully wild deep-red hair (at various lengths) while others had their father's scruffy brown hair. Some had their mother's silver misty eyes, others had their father's clear blue ones. It undoubtedly looked as though fate had created them like a pick-and-mix assortment of their parent genes!
They all had a huge grin on their face and were staring at Mylo expectantly. It was a very scary experience for Mylo.
"What the hell are you all doing down here? It's only 7:00am! It's still the summer holiday!" he cried, with a slightly groggy rasp in his voice.
No one said anything. They all just simply stared at him. Honi-Bea (pronounced "Honeybee"), the youngest of his sisters sat at the table, snorted with the effort to stifle a giggle.
"What?" He said, staring down at himself incase he'd forgotten to do up his flies up or something. He was starting to feel increasingly paranoid. "WHAT?"
The smiles began to fade slowly from each face. His mother walked briskly over to the kitchen window and looked upwards out of it. Her face held a slight expression of bemused concern.
"Mum? What's going on…"
"Did you not see it?" his father asked him, putting down his paper. He was also wearing a similar worried look. "You know…in the window? Helena, we did check didn't we?" he said, looking quizzically at his wife.
"What the hell are you going on about!?" Mylo cried, starting to feel a little impatient.
His mother (who had been peering in every direction out of the window) turned back to the family with a fearful look in her eye. "Urm…it's gone…"
The whole family instantly stood up from the table and cried in almost perfect unison, "WHAT?!"
They all seemed to rush in a panic stricken state over to the window to confirm that what ever it was, was gone. Mylo, fed up with being kept in the dark, casually sauntered over to the side counter and made himself some tea.
He had noticed that Nymph wasn't there. She had probably already left for school seeing as she was to be a prefect this year at "Slyton's Select School of Magic" (basically, a small magic school who only select students who have a thirst for powerful magic and who are incredibly ambitious and talented) and she had to go do some special training or something. She went to a different secondary school to Mylo, much to his relief. But then that would mean it was the 25th of August, which then meant…
"Oh Mylo! I wanted it all to be perfect for your birthday! Especially it being your first ever birthday when you and Nymph aren't together!" cried his mother from the window.
"Oh the sorrow –" Mylo muttered as he spooned his 4th sugar into his tea, not even attempting to conceal the sarcasm. He had almost forgotten it was his and Nymph's birthday. He calmly sat down at the table while his family still flustered around him in a bewilderment of panic.
Ignoring his comment, his mother calmly asked her husband "Ruffus darling, will you go outside and see where Mylo's birthday present has got to?" and then announced "The rest of you - SIT DOWN! Unfortunately, this breakfast won't eat itself up, that kind of spell takes too much effort at this time of the morning." She said, ushering them all reluctantly back into their seats.
Mylo couldn't be bothered to investigate into this mysterious present, and so grabbed the dormant newspaper from his father's place. Birthdays weren't all that special as far as he was concerned. With such a large family and so many birthdays, they had lost their significance for him.
A faint gurgle emanated from a small wooden cot beside the kitchen table. A few curious small bubbles were floating up in the air from the depths of the cot. Mrs. Higgorty quickly rushed over and picked out of it a round, tubby baby who was busy blowing bubbles from its mouth, like those blown from muggle bubble-blowing rings.
"Who gave the baby a Blinky's Bubble-Blowing sweet? Who gave it to my dear little Flux?" Flux was the Higgorty's youngest family member. Mr. and Mrs. Higgorty had a very strange sense of humour when naming kids…
The whole table of children went silent, each staring down as blankly as possible into their breakfast bowl or mug. Otto's face (the third oldest of the brothers) began to slowly crease into a smirk despite much resistance, which was stifled by a quick kick under the table by Dougle, the second oldest brother.
Mrs. Higgorty wasn't to be deceived, but her face softened into a small smile as she watched her youngest child continue to happily blow small round bubbles directly from its mouth. "Oh well, at least it's kept her quiet!" she laughed as the rest of the children eased up and laughed along with her.
"I've got him!" Called Mr. Higgorty's voice from outside in the garden. The whole family jumped up and crowded excitedly round the kitchen window once more, apart from Mylo, who continued to stare at (but not bothering to actually read) his newspaper.
"WELL?" asked his mother as she suddenly appeared beside him, snatching the paper from his hands.
"Well what?" Mylo asked back, playing ignorant to the fact that he was supposed to also be excited about what ever it was outside.
"Get your god-damn arse over there and look! It was meant to be surprise, although it mysteriously managed to escape from its tethered position outside your bedroom window." She explained as Mylo calmly rose from the table, tea-mug in hand, and (aware that the whole family was watching him in suspense) walked very slowly over to the window and looked out.
CRASH!
His mug hit the floor spilling tea all over everyone's feet. He stared at what his grinning father was standing next to outside in the garden.
"Wha…tha…for me?" he managed to splutter in his complete shock.
"Yep!" his mother exclaimed brightly.
Standing at about waist height beside Mr. Higgorty, was a small white dragon. It appeared to be biting madly at its leash that he had tied around its neck, but then it suddenly looked up directly at Mylo with its piercing bright green eyes as though it had sensed Mylo's gaze upon it.
"I can't believe it." Mylo eventually exclaimed. "He's great!" he said, throwing himself into a hug with his equally delighted mum.
He was certainly going to enjoy school this year! This was because Mylo (not being an entirely ordinary boy, but infact a wizard like the rest of his family who were part of the whole magical community) did not attend a normal muggle school. It might therefore be assumed that he attended Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, the largest and best magic school in England. But he didn't. He infact attended Cranberrys School for the Care of Magical Creatures, a unique school that only accepted children uniquely talented in the area of magical and mythical beasts. Having a dragon would now be a great help in achieving his O.W.L.s seeing as his specialist area was Dragons.
He knew it would be perfectly legal to have a dragon at school, as Cranberrys had special permission from the Ministry of Magic to keep them on site (permitting they were only orphaned or captivity bred and weren't illegally taken from the wild). Most students either owned or were able to have ample contact with their specialist creatures, whom were called their "Animal Guides". Mylo's Animal Guide was the Dragon, and so now he could finally strengthen his magical link to them with one of his own.
Ohhh yes, it was going to an interesting year all right! Yes indeedy…
**
Sometimes, the smallest things in this life, are often the most important things. The tiny imprint of a small foot can leave a mark deeper than any crater or chasm. The flicker of a moth's wings can weald more power then that of a hurricane. The words from a small mouth can create stronger waves than those of the sea. And the dreams of one so small can ripple out beyond eternity, and touch reality by the fingertips. Sometimes, it only takes something small…
**
The sound of delighted laughter danced along the green, open hillside and the spirited voices of two very young children could be heard echoing throughout the surrounding woodland. Two tiny figures bounded out from the edge of the trees, hand in hand, giggling and chattering together. Half way up the hill, they plonked themselves down together on the green fresh grass, puffing heavily while incessantly grinning at each other.
To look upon the two children, it was instantly noticeable that they were very closely related, despite being girl and boy. It was therefore no surprise that they were twins. Both had dark brown hair and beautifully clear blue eyes. The boy's hair was short and always seemed to have a life of its own. His grin that he was so fond of wearing, lit up his face with a cheeky sparkle. His sister had longer hair that reached down to her waist and gave her a slightly wild look, as it too seemed to almost behave like an untamed live creature.
As they caught their breath, Nymph (as was the girl's name), reached into one of her pockets. "Mylo?" she asked in a slightly solemn tone.
Mylo looked up at her quizzically. "Yes?"
"I need to show you something". She pulled out a small black leather book no bigger than her own hand and held it out face-up so Mylo could read the title. "I found this in our attic."
With a furrowed brow, he read out the golden letters on the cover; " "Grumbly's book of Twist and Twoddle, an oracle of an immortal life", what's that mean? Who's Grumbly? Have you read it yet?" even though Mylo knew his sister too well to guess she already had. He eyed the peeling, old cover very suspiciously. "I don't like the look of it"
"Well you wouldn't would you?" said Nymph scathingly, "You're such a wimp sometimes you know. You take one look at strange or unusual things and say "I don't like the look of it, it looks scary" or something. When are you ever going to take risks?"
Mylo took up his defence almost immediately; "I'm not a wimp! Who put a flying wizzbee under old Mr. Corby's toupé while he was asleep? Me! And who stuffed-up that muggle drain pipe with Eddy's Magical Enlarging worms so that giant worms exploded all over the street the next day? Me! I only don't like getting involved with…bad things…"
"And what makes you think this book is "Bad"?" she replied slyly, opening the small book to its first aged, yellow page and lying it down flat on the grass. "Look!" she exclaimed pointing at a small piece of handwriting in the top corner of the inside of the cover, "I hadn't seen this bit before. It must have been a present to someone…"
They both leaned in over the book to try and decipher the two lines of very loopy and slanted handwriting.
Mylo read it out slowly; " "To my dear little Moe, I know you'll use it wisely. Don't forget…" " he paused at the last part. "What does that say? Is it English?"
"Of course not! Symbols of some kind…like another language…" Nymph replied, eyeing over the strange last words (that actually looked like " " )
"Looks ancient to me, and who's Moe? Are you sure you found it in our attic?" Mylo asked suspiciously.
"Are you saying I stole it?" she spat defensively. " It was in that battered old chest we keep in the far corner…the one mum and dad told us not to go in". She flicked through a few pages and stopped round about the middle page. Picking up the book in one hand, she took out her small twig- like wand in the other (it was made of silver-birch wood from a large tree outside their family house) and pointed it directly at her brother (much to his astonishment). She began to read off an incantation.
"What you doing now?" asked Mylo, beginning to sound a little panicky. But Nymph carried on regardless.
Her voice was deep and mysterious as she chanted, "Tyan lumos! Tyan lumos! Draco tyran true-colourum!"
A small cloud of what at first seemed like smoke appeared from out of the end her wand and began to surround Mylo. Yet soon it became obvious that it wasn't smoke, but a cloud of tiny blue sprite-like creatures, with gnarled teeth and claws and long twisted noses. They swarmed around the now petrified Mylo who had frozen to the spot, watching the eerie creatures press up close to his face. Nymph simply sat and watched in wonder.
The sinister little sprites made no noise at first, but soon a gradual whisper began to emanate steadily from them. It sounded like thousands of tiny gasps of breath, and it grew in volume until Mylo could feel their icy cold breaths on his skin. He hadn't moved an inch, but just watched with baited breath as they continuously circled him, never taking their beady little blue eyes from him. He wasn't even sure if he could move even if he tried.
Then suddenly Mylo yelped, causing Nymph to jump with shock. His eyes were stinging with an incredibly intense pain and he tried to bring his hands up to them to cover them, but they wouldn't move. He couldn't move anything at all. He couldn't see anything at all. And the pain in his eyes was growing as he struggled to keep conscious. Something was pushing its way into his head, into his mind. He felt cold and weak and their eerie whispers were everywhere now, not just around him, but inside his head.
Nymph watched in horror as she gradually worked out what was going on. It was the most bizarre sight she had ever seen! The small little spectres seemed to be pushing their way into her brother's eyes! He was sitting still, with a look of pure agony on his face as they vanished into his eyes, one-by-one at an incredible speed.
"What have you done to me!" Mylo managed to cry out, "What are they doing?! My eyes…"
Nymph scrambled back to her book that she had dropped in her shock, to read what the spell was. "The title's in that funny symbolic-language again! I don't know what it is…"
She sat helplessly watching him, unsure that any of the few pathetic little spells she already knew could help in anyway, and yet not daring to go near him either.
As the last blue sprite vanished, Mylo slowly managed to bring his hands up to his face to cover his eyes, as though it would stop the pain he could still feel in them. The whispers were curling round his mind, he couldn't think straight at all. Odd colours and images began to flash before him. He couldn't handle it much longer…he felt himself slipping…
"Nymph…stop them whispering…they're in my head…they're showing me things, awful things…make them stop!" the small boy cried out weakly, still covering his eyes and rocking back and forth slightly.
"I can't hear any whispering anymore Mylo! I don't know what to do!" Nymph screamed desperately as she scrambled over beside him.
Just as she did so, Mylo took his hands away from his face, and even though he couldn't see her, he looked up at her pleadingly before falling unconscious onto her lap.
**
In the middle of an English open moorland almost right next to the Scottish border, in a lopsided, quaint little house, Mylo Higgorty shot up to a sitting position with a huge gasping breath. He was covered in hot, sticky sweat and was trembling violently. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut – they still resonated with a dull ache. Then as if suddenly remembering it was only a dream, he relaxed slightly in his bed, wiping his arm across his moist face. He let out a small slightly-hysterical laugh. "Only a dream, only a dream…" he muttered to himself.
With a sigh, he glanced over at his windup alarm clock. 7:00am precisely.
Goddamn it! She had done it again. Mylo began to wonder whether throwing a Furnunculus hex at his twin sister under the table after dinner last night had been a good idea. This was her favourite way of revenge or even just as a general prank; controlling his dreams - or nightmares as they often turned out to be. She must have been feeling particularly vengeful if she had decided to conjure back that particular memory from their childhood. She'd only ever used that memory once before in a nightmare, and that was when Mylo (accidentally of course) ruined Nymph's prom dress moments before she was due to leave for her prom, by spilling an unremovable-stain potion all down the front! She still hadn't forgiven him for that one.
He grinned at his own paranoia as he tried to slide out of bed sideways without lifting his comfy duvet, but instead fell out of it
with a noisy thud. After lying still on the floor for a few seconds, he stumbled up and went through the usual ritual of washing
(splashing his face with a handful of freezing cold water), grooming his hair (fluffing it up with one hand) and donning his stylish
combination of clothing (throwing on an old pair of jeans and odd pair of socks, but not being able to find a clean top). He stopped briefly to stare at himself in the mirror. He certainly wasn't the small, cute urchin that he was in his dream anymore, all those 9 years ago. He was in fact 15 years old now, and despite growing considerably in every-which-way and area, he still possessed that certain bright twinkle that lit up his face and clear blue eyes with a cheeky sparkle.
He was just about to career out of the room when he remembered he was still topless! Taking out his misshapen twig-like wand (the exact copy of Nymph's), Mylo lazily muttered "accio" while pointing its end at a white crumpled bundle at the end of his bed, that was apparently a shirt. He preferred to wear muggle clothes at home despite being in a pureblood wizarding family. They were much more comfy than robes.
Pulling on his shirt while clattering his way down the stairs to the kitchen proved a harder task than anticipated as he tripped down the last few steps to collide straight into the door at the bottom! Yet, managing to skilfully use the door as a brake (and when you're as accident prone as Mylo, you learn to become skilled in finding things to grab onto!), he staggered into the kitchen as if in a drunken-like state.
To his shock, he found himself being watched by the rest of his large family. They were already gathered round the old wooden kitchen table (which was already set for breakfast). Along one side of the long rectangular table sat his three older brothers, and perched on the other side were his two older sisters, one of his younger sisters and his father, who was peering at him over his newspaper (The Gargoyle's Gazette). His mother was standing up at the head of the table by the stove.
Apart from Mylo and his twin (Nymph), the other Higgorty children sat at the table looked like an assortment of random kids instead of all being related, as they hardly looked similar to each other at all. Some had their mother's beautifully wild deep-red hair (at various lengths) while others had their father's scruffy brown hair. Some had their mother's silver misty eyes, others had their father's clear blue ones. It undoubtedly looked as though fate had created them like a pick-and-mix assortment of their parent genes!
They all had a huge grin on their face and were staring at Mylo expectantly. It was a very scary experience for Mylo.
"What the hell are you all doing down here? It's only 7:00am! It's still the summer holiday!" he cried, with a slightly groggy rasp in his voice.
No one said anything. They all just simply stared at him. Honi-Bea (pronounced "Honeybee"), the youngest of his sisters sat at the table, snorted with the effort to stifle a giggle.
"What?" He said, staring down at himself incase he'd forgotten to do up his flies up or something. He was starting to feel increasingly paranoid. "WHAT?"
The smiles began to fade slowly from each face. His mother walked briskly over to the kitchen window and looked upwards out of it. Her face held a slight expression of bemused concern.
"Mum? What's going on…"
"Did you not see it?" his father asked him, putting down his paper. He was also wearing a similar worried look. "You know…in the window? Helena, we did check didn't we?" he said, looking quizzically at his wife.
"What the hell are you going on about!?" Mylo cried, starting to feel a little impatient.
His mother (who had been peering in every direction out of the window) turned back to the family with a fearful look in her eye. "Urm…it's gone…"
The whole family instantly stood up from the table and cried in almost perfect unison, "WHAT?!"
They all seemed to rush in a panic stricken state over to the window to confirm that what ever it was, was gone. Mylo, fed up with being kept in the dark, casually sauntered over to the side counter and made himself some tea.
He had noticed that Nymph wasn't there. She had probably already left for school seeing as she was to be a prefect this year at "Slyton's Select School of Magic" (basically, a small magic school who only select students who have a thirst for powerful magic and who are incredibly ambitious and talented) and she had to go do some special training or something. She went to a different secondary school to Mylo, much to his relief. But then that would mean it was the 25th of August, which then meant…
"Oh Mylo! I wanted it all to be perfect for your birthday! Especially it being your first ever birthday when you and Nymph aren't together!" cried his mother from the window.
"Oh the sorrow –" Mylo muttered as he spooned his 4th sugar into his tea, not even attempting to conceal the sarcasm. He had almost forgotten it was his and Nymph's birthday. He calmly sat down at the table while his family still flustered around him in a bewilderment of panic.
Ignoring his comment, his mother calmly asked her husband "Ruffus darling, will you go outside and see where Mylo's birthday present has got to?" and then announced "The rest of you - SIT DOWN! Unfortunately, this breakfast won't eat itself up, that kind of spell takes too much effort at this time of the morning." She said, ushering them all reluctantly back into their seats.
Mylo couldn't be bothered to investigate into this mysterious present, and so grabbed the dormant newspaper from his father's place. Birthdays weren't all that special as far as he was concerned. With such a large family and so many birthdays, they had lost their significance for him.
A faint gurgle emanated from a small wooden cot beside the kitchen table. A few curious small bubbles were floating up in the air from the depths of the cot. Mrs. Higgorty quickly rushed over and picked out of it a round, tubby baby who was busy blowing bubbles from its mouth, like those blown from muggle bubble-blowing rings.
"Who gave the baby a Blinky's Bubble-Blowing sweet? Who gave it to my dear little Flux?" Flux was the Higgorty's youngest family member. Mr. and Mrs. Higgorty had a very strange sense of humour when naming kids…
The whole table of children went silent, each staring down as blankly as possible into their breakfast bowl or mug. Otto's face (the third oldest of the brothers) began to slowly crease into a smirk despite much resistance, which was stifled by a quick kick under the table by Dougle, the second oldest brother.
Mrs. Higgorty wasn't to be deceived, but her face softened into a small smile as she watched her youngest child continue to happily blow small round bubbles directly from its mouth. "Oh well, at least it's kept her quiet!" she laughed as the rest of the children eased up and laughed along with her.
"I've got him!" Called Mr. Higgorty's voice from outside in the garden. The whole family jumped up and crowded excitedly round the kitchen window once more, apart from Mylo, who continued to stare at (but not bothering to actually read) his newspaper.
"WELL?" asked his mother as she suddenly appeared beside him, snatching the paper from his hands.
"Well what?" Mylo asked back, playing ignorant to the fact that he was supposed to also be excited about what ever it was outside.
"Get your god-damn arse over there and look! It was meant to be surprise, although it mysteriously managed to escape from its tethered position outside your bedroom window." She explained as Mylo calmly rose from the table, tea-mug in hand, and (aware that the whole family was watching him in suspense) walked very slowly over to the window and looked out.
CRASH!
His mug hit the floor spilling tea all over everyone's feet. He stared at what his grinning father was standing next to outside in the garden.
"Wha…tha…for me?" he managed to splutter in his complete shock.
"Yep!" his mother exclaimed brightly.
Standing at about waist height beside Mr. Higgorty, was a small white dragon. It appeared to be biting madly at its leash that he had tied around its neck, but then it suddenly looked up directly at Mylo with its piercing bright green eyes as though it had sensed Mylo's gaze upon it.
"I can't believe it." Mylo eventually exclaimed. "He's great!" he said, throwing himself into a hug with his equally delighted mum.
He was certainly going to enjoy school this year! This was because Mylo (not being an entirely ordinary boy, but infact a wizard like the rest of his family who were part of the whole magical community) did not attend a normal muggle school. It might therefore be assumed that he attended Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, the largest and best magic school in England. But he didn't. He infact attended Cranberrys School for the Care of Magical Creatures, a unique school that only accepted children uniquely talented in the area of magical and mythical beasts. Having a dragon would now be a great help in achieving his O.W.L.s seeing as his specialist area was Dragons.
He knew it would be perfectly legal to have a dragon at school, as Cranberrys had special permission from the Ministry of Magic to keep them on site (permitting they were only orphaned or captivity bred and weren't illegally taken from the wild). Most students either owned or were able to have ample contact with their specialist creatures, whom were called their "Animal Guides". Mylo's Animal Guide was the Dragon, and so now he could finally strengthen his magical link to them with one of his own.
Ohhh yes, it was going to an interesting year all right! Yes indeedy…
**