Squeak. Thump. Squeak. Thump. That was the sound Troy's sneakers were making as he bounced impatiently on the ceramic tile of the entryway, and it was driving Lee insane.
"Troy, QUIT IT!" Lee snapped.
"Sorry, Lee," Troy grinned apologetically. "I'm just excited. After all, it's not every day you get your first magic wand."
Lee agreed with this, but he wasn't about to say so. "You still don't have bounce. You're not four years old, after all."
Troy did not respond, but rather, looked at his watch for the hundredth time. "Why isn't he here yet?"
"Because right now, he's somewhere else," Lee replied in a mock-philosophical manner. Then he rolled his eyes. Troy has issues, he thought.
Troy glanced out the window. "Hey, he is here!" he squealed
Lee also looked out, and, sure enough, their uncle's trashed SUV was pulling onto the black tar driveway. Trying not to appear too eager, he opened the door and strolled outside.
"Hello, Jonah," he said calmly
Troy, however, had no problem with dashing right to his uncle, still bouncing like a hyper four-year-old.
"What took you so long?" he demanded. 'We've been waiting forever!"
Lee snorted. His brother was usually considered the 'mature one' of the pair, but something had gotten into him today. He hoped it would wear off soon, whatever it was.
"Sorry," Jonah laughed, "I got stuck in traffic. Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah!" Troy practically shouted. "Sorry, didn't mean to yell," he said in a quieter voice. "I'll run in and tell Mom we're leaving."
He dashed back to the door, opened it, and called inside
"MomJonah'sherewe'releavingloveyabye!" He slammed it shut again and ran back to them.
"Okay, let's get going!"
"Now, hon, remember, if this dude tries any funny stuff. . ."
"Dad!" Ro was a little shocked. She had long since discarded any idea that Jonah was a child molester. Her dad, apparently, had not.
"Dad, he's fine! You're just paranoid!"
"Ro, it's perfectly normal for a dad to be concerned about his daughter. . ."
Ro tuned out as her father began the lecture he gave her every time he saw she was on an Internet chat room. He could go on forever. . . .
Just as her eyes were about to glaze over, she spied something out the window.
"Hey, do you think that's him?" she asked, pointing towards a junky-looking Jeep Cherokee that was parking outside.
Keith Eagams stopped in mid-word and looked where Ro was pointing.
"Probably," he said. "How much money do you think you'll need?" he questioned, pulling out his billfold.
Ro shrugged "No clue. Ask him."
Mr. Eagams nodded, and opened the door for Jonah to come in.
"Hello," Jonah said, flashing his customary grin, 'Are you ready, Ro?"
Her dad was the one to reply.
"Just about. Do you know how much cash she'll need?" he asked.
Jonah rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, doing a mental calculation.
"I'd say, at least three hundred dollars. She needs to get a wand, cauldron, and robes, plus potions ingredients and other smaller things. Not to mention she's going to want a little wizard money left over for candy and such throughout the school year. Most wizarding places won't take Muggle money."
"Alright." he said, passing the bills to Ro. "Be careful!" he ordered
As she headed out the door, Ro shot over her shoulder a look of the kind that is only given to overprotective parents.
An hour later, they finally pulled into the vast Mall of America parking. It had not been a fun ride, largely due to the fact that Jonah was even worse at taking care of the inside of his car than the outside.
The floor had been lost in mounds of old fast food wrappers and newspapers, which Jonah had been forced to clean out so everyone could sit. Still, the doors were sticky with who-knows-what, the seats were stained and ripped, and the whole place stunk terribly. It was also infested with strange and slightly frightining bugs that were called 'chizpurfles'. Troy informed Ro that the large size of the chizpurfles meant they had been gorging themselves silly on magic, and that if Jonah didn't get them exterminated soon, they would begin eating at the car's engine.
The hopped out and practically ran into the mall entrance. Ro almost gasped out loud once they were inside the mall. She hadn't been there for a few years, and had forgotten how big it was.
Jonah grinned at her "This place is nothing compared to how amazing the Ley is."
He jerked his head towards a store to their left. "C'mon," he said "It's in here."
They followed him into a Payless Shoes store. He led them around the small corner into the restroom area. Besides the doors to the ladies and gentleman's rooms, there was one marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. Nothing was too unusual about it. But Jonah turned to them, pointing at it.
"This is the door to the Ley. Most Muggles don't even see this door, and if they do they usually won't come in. All the employees in this shoe store are wizards, so now you know what will happen to you if you flunk out or get expelled. Okay, so we still got everyone? Good."
He stepped inside. They exchanged glances and then followed him.
Matthias looked around, taking another sip of his pop. He was busy people watching, which was one of his favorite things to do, although he did occasionally get told off for staring.
It was fun to look at people and figure out things about them, like what they did for a living and how they knew the other people in their group. Mall of America was a great place for it, especially in the Ley. Sometimes he would take notes or sketch. Today, however, he was just observing.
He heard a sound from the wall of the Ley that other parties had poetically described as "an ostrich puking up a coupl'a live frogs", which was the signal that someone had entered.
He looked over in time to see a group of four people entering. One man who he had seen before, and three kids about his own age. He leaned over to get a better look. He had seen the man before; he came to the Ley frequently. He worked in Muggle relations and his name was. . .Joe? Nah, it was more unusual than that. . . One the boys looked very much like Joe, with the same sturdy build, permanent grin, and very black hair.
His brother? Cousin? Son, even? Nah, the kid's too old for that, he's my age, Matthias mused. He looked at the next boy. He was taller and skinnier than the first, with sharper facial features, but did bear a vague resemblance to Joe. He debated to himself whether or not he was related to them, looking for the telltale black hair, but no, the boy's was cut too short to really tell.
Putting that question on hold he looked at the girl. He discarded that she was of any relation to the others immediately. She looked nothing like them, exepting that she, like them, had only one head and two eyes. Plus, the way she stared agape at everything around her testified the fact that she was Muggleborn.
He smiled vaguely. He supposed that the place would appear strange to someone who had never seen it before. Up here, there was just the entrance and, off to the right, the nearly Muggle-looking café where he was sitting. But then you looked down the two stories of gigantic stairs that lead away, and you saw the Ley.
The walking space stretched from left to right, as long as several dozen football fields and about as wide as one. In it milled an enormous crowd of people, a few of whom were obviously hags or vampires, and others who were normal witches and wizards dressed in very bizarre combinations of Muggle clothing.
Then there were the stores. They, to start with, had unusual signs advertising them. Some flashed different colors, or had script that moved, which a Muggleborn might not find too unusual, as Muggles could nowadays make similar things. The signs that talked, however, were uniquely wizard. Some simply shouted slogans, others (which Matthias knew were much more expensive) had shop mascots painted on them who could see and hear, and spoke to passersby. They were clever enough to carry on an intelligent conversation, Matthias knew, because he had done it once. His father had pulled him aside afterwards, scolding him with the age-old maxim 'Never trust something that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain.' Needless to say, Mr. Argon refused to consider getting one for his own shop.
Some stores were right on the ground, but more were stacked on top of them, three stories deep. There were no stairs leading to their entrances. People would Apparate there, or would Floo in using the large fireplaces that were set periodically along the walls. A few zoomed along from store to store on broomstick, but not many, as it was more trouble than it was worth to try getting brooms into the Ley without the Muggles noticing.
This all saying nothing of the wares these stores sold. A Muggleborn would never have seen any of them before, not even the kinds of things that most of magickind would take for granted. And in a place as diverse as the Ley, a grown pureblooded wizard could still find things that surprised him.
Yes, all in all, the Ley was an amazing place. The only places he knew of that could even begin to compare were Diagon Alley in Britin and the Mercado Magia in Mexico. Sure, there were small shops scattered everywhere that there were wizards, but none were quite like this.
He halted his rambling thoughts and looked up from his Sierra Mist, but the group was long gone.
Hello, everyone! Kala here. Many thanks to Miss Piratess, MyOwnLittleWorld, Briana Rose, Spasdomic dust bunny, Sarah29, and LNLisa for their constructive reviews. You have motivated me to write faster and helped me to do better. Thank you!
A few people commented on my theory. Well, Squibs would be people concieved without the ability to absorb magic. It's a little iffy wiith either theory, obviously. As for Petunia, I suspect, based on interviews I've found with J.K.Rowling, that she actually has magic ability, but chose not to go to Hogwarts and become a 'freak'
Well, according to my crappy pocket-translater, Mercado Magia is Spanish for 'magical market'. If anyone speaks more than a dozen words in Spanish and would like to correct me, please do.
I'm starting high school after Labor Day, and I expect updates to become much less regular. . . I'm going to be BUSY! And I had to end on a chapter that does nothing siigniificant for the plot, too. . . Next chapter 'the Epsilon thingy' should be explaned, they will get thier wands, and be on their way to school.
PLEASE REVIEW!!!