"Tan!" Harry exclaimed, noticing he'd entered the room. In the boy's hands was the ceramic cat that had previously been on the mantlepiece. Summoned by the boy no doubt. Fortunately, it had been charmed to be unbreakable when the Potters had babyproofed the house.

Magic was amazingly versatile, and its utilization was a skill he unfortunately did not possess, though not for a lack of trying. In the time since he'd learned about it, he'd adapted to it amazingly well despite the fact that it went against just about everything the science he'd been learning since he'd first learned how to read had said should be possible. Now, he could almost be mistaken for a magic user so long as he stayed away from certain creatures and locations.

His first knowing experience with magic interestingly enough had been with a Jarvey...

He'd been with the Potters for two weeks and, while he knew that something was up, he still hadn't figured out Potter or his friends. It was almost as if they belonged to some sort of secret society, but there seemed to be more to it than some school fraternity. The fact that he'd walked in on a number of quickly hushed conversations about a war had only added to the mystery since the Brush wars in Asia had ended a few years earlier and, aside from a few civil wars here and there, there weren't really any real wars for them to be concerned with.

Godric's Hollow was a mystery in itself. On the surface, it seemed to be a normal rural English village, but there seemed to be something that lay underneath. Twice, he'd decided to explore property belonging to one of Black's neighbors, and twice he'd found himself doing something else entirely. Once, he'd found himself in the library, and once in the pub where the laughing publican had asked if he'd tried to sneak onto the old Dumbledore property.

Deciding to take a walk since it would help clear his head and give him time to think and getting out of the house meant that Lily wouldn't rope him into doing chores or helping her with the cooking, or Black wouldn't rope him in his ongoing prank war with Remus who seemed to be happy about something recently he headed out the door.

After walking down the road a ways, he'd decided to cut through a field that was located next to the Bagshot property which he hadn't had much opportunity to explore since he had ended up in the library when he had tried.

"Fucking carpet munchers!" he heard someone with a high squeaky voice exclaim as he walked through the tall grass.

This was rather strange, because he could see nobody that would've been near enough for him to have heard the exclamation as clearly as he had. He wasn't prone to auditory hallucinations, but it would be just his luck for them to start now. There was no telling what sort of problems arose from being the result of being created by inferior beings who'd had little to no idea of exactly what they were doing due to the fact that much of what they'd done had been done with technology that had been either bought or stolen from someone else.

"Bloody fucking shit!" the voice which was to his right and somewhere in the vicinity of his feet said.

Following this exclamation, there was a small high-pitched shriek which was suddenly cut off. Looking in that direction, he found an over-sized ferret chewing on a tiny man who'd had a lumpy misshapen head which resembled a potato. He'd heard rumors of the existence of faeries and the like, but every encounter he'd heard of had been debunked as a hoax. He was reasonably certain that this wasn't a hoax however, as he didn't know anyone who would create such a thing complete with blood and tiny entrails in the hopes that someone would come along.

"What're you looking at cocksucker?" the faerie murdering ferret exclaimed upon spotting him after it had finished its meal.

He didn't get a chance to answer before the ferret turned and ran from him with a yell of "Bloody Paki!". It was fast. He was faster. The creature tried to struggle and had attempted to claw and bite him, but he'd had some experience with catching snakes during his early childhood, and had grabbed the animal in a way that made it nearly impossible for it to do so. Soon, the creature was wrapped in the light jacket he'd tied around his waist since the English summers were rather cool, and the weather rather fickle.

A number of muffled curses and rude comments of all sorts came from the jacket which contained the struggling creature as he carried it home for further study, curious as to how the animal had gained the ability of speech when it should be impossible.

Perhaps it was its diet?

But that was ridiculous. Faeries didn't exist and, if by some means an undiscovered species of faerielike creature did exist, there was no way that it would actually be magical. What he'd seen was more than likely a new species of rodent which bore an unfortunate and uncanny resemblance to humans. Something like that would explain the whole faerie myth quite nicely and put all the old tales to rest once proper scientists got a chance to examine the creatures.

Once he'd reached the Marauders' property, he'd found Potter and Black waiting for him with worried frowns on their faces.

"You'd better get inside." Potter said, not noticing his bundle until it let out a particularly nasty swear.

"Where the hell did he get a Jarvey?!" Black exclaimed, staring at his coat with a slightly incredulous expression.

"Is that what it's called?" he asked, figuring that a local would be more familiar with the local wildlife than anyone else.

"Yes, and I'd like it if you'd forget you'd found it. The Ministry would have our heads if they found out we'd let some muggle kid run around with a Jarvey in his jacket." Potter said, holding his hand out for the creature.

"The Ministry?" he asked, curious about which ministry would hide the existence of talking animals.

James Potter promptly got an "Oh crap, I've said too much!" expression on his face which further deepened the mystery which had come to include several things he'd thought impossible only hours before.

"We really don't have time for this right now. Just hand over the Jarvey and head inside." Black said impatiently.

His second encounter with magic had led to a discussion he'd never forget. A discussion which had briefly turned his world upside-down until he'd slotted magic and the possibility that any number of legends were actually the truth into his world-view. It had been after he'd gone to bed that evening that an unsettling realization had hit.

It was quite possible that it had been magic that had killed his parents.

He didn't fear or hate magic because of this. Magic was simply a tool which could easily be misused in the wrong hands. The who and the why were far far more important than the how.

"Tan!" Harry yelled, trying to get his attention.

"Hey Harry," he said as he picked up the baby who was clutching the ceramic cat tightly, the baby who was starting to speak at about the same age as he and the others had.

"Let's put that back before your mother finds out you have it." he said as he very gently pulled the knick-knack from the eight month-old baby's grasp.

Edited 1-2-16.