A bit of a short chapter today so I'll try and get the next one up as soon as possible. Thanks again to everyone who's been reading.

Chapter 4 The Last Day Of Summer

It was the 31st of August and Damian was sat on top of the hill that looked over Hawkesbury Upton, enjoying the view of his village. He ignored the wet bum the moist grass had given him and watched the last rays of the afternoon sun beat down on the village.

It had always been Damian's favourite spot, not only did he enjoy the view but it was a place to relax for him. Relaxing though was the one thing Damian was unable to do right now. He was going to Hogwarts tomorrow so he should have been excited, but he wasn't, he was worried, just as he'd been worried these last few weeks. Damian had always been a worrier. He was aware it wasn't an attractive quality but it was just who he was. Some people would float through life like a butterfly caught in the wind. Others would concern themselves with every aspect of life convinced something somewhere was going to go wrong for them. Damian was definitely a member of the latter group. And the events of Diagon Alley had certainly worried him, he just couldn't get the vision the old witch had shown him out of his mind. Whatever else Damian tried to focus on, his thoughts kept returning to the dead man. Those stone cold eyes staring up blanking at him. It was all he could think about. It panicked him during the day and it kept him awake at night.

Upon his return from Diagon Alley Damian had done his best to dismiss the incident, to pretend it hadn't happened. Deep down though he knew it meant something. What that something was he couldn't say. The old witch had said it was his future, but could his future really involve meeting a dead man. Damian shuddered at the thought. He just had to hope it wasn't real, that was all he could do right now.

His parents had noticed something was wrong with him as soon as he had come home but despite a few arguments he had refused to say what had been bothering him. They'd assumed he'd just been overwhelmed by his first trip into the magical world. Considering his mother had found one of his new school books that had compared the merits of werewolves and fire breathing dragons, Damian was unsurprised they had taken this view. In truth he was happy to let them think this as he had no desire to discuss what had really happened. He hadn't even told his Uncle the full truth of what happened. Once the Potter's had taken him back to the pub he had kept to his story of just having fainted.

He didn't know why he'd decided to withhold this information but he just didn't feel like sharing such a shocking possible future with people he'd only just properly met the day before. It was almost that sharing it would make it seem real and that was the one thing he wanted to avoid doing. He wasn't sure his Uncle had really believed him but after making sure Damian was alright he hadn't questioned him further and had allowed him to stay quiet the whole journey back.

Damian tried once again to put the whole thing out of his mind and concentrate on happier thoughts. Soon he was going to be at Hogwarts learning how to be a wizard and more than that it was a chance to start afresh. He'd get to try new things and hopefully make some friends.

Glancing at his watch, Damian realised with a jolt that he was soon going to be late for tea. Hoping to avoid getting on the wrong side of his mother on his last day at home, he quickly stood to his feet and staggered down the hill as fast as he could, doing his best to keep his balance on the rough ground. Out of breath and sweating profusely he made it to the bottom of the hill in record time. Not stopping to recover, Damian pushed his way through a rusty old gate that led to the road home.

He'd only made it a few steps when he saw something that made his heart drop.

"Well, well, what have we got here lads."

Damian turned to see John Costello standing in front of him. He was everything Damian was not; tall, slim, attractive with short black hair and a strong jaw line. Every part of him despised Costello who had made the last seven years at school absolute hell for Damian. He had never really understood why Costello appeared to hate him so much. They should have been friends really, the only two young boys in a small village but Costello had mercilessly teased Damian from the first moment they met. He took every opportunity to encourage his gang to beat him up and his nasty habit of being able to weasel his way out of trouble only increased Damian's dislike of him.

It was strange really, Costello wasn't a natural bully. Most people who met him came away with the impression they'd just met a charming young man. He was a popular boy and a top student, consequently teachers and parents had always tended to turn a blind eye to the occasional beatings he used to give out.

Damian felt his arms tense up but there was nothing he could do as two of Costello's gang pinned him back against the gate.

"Look just what the hell is your problem, I'm going to a new school tomorrow so I'll be out of your way for good," said Damian as he struggled against his two captors, not Costello of course he was never one to get his hands dirty.

"Well, we'll just have to give you a leaving present then won't we," said Costello with a very smug look. "Something to remember me by."

Damian knew it was hopeless to resist, the boys pinning him back were even bigger than he was, with arms like tree trunks. He just couldn't believe he was in this situation only a day before he was due to leave for Hogwarts. If only his father could have taught him to box, but of course his mother had disallowed that, saying she couldn't imagine any situation where punching someone was a good outcome. Damian felt now was most likely one of those situations.

If only they knew he was a wizard they wouldn't dare do this. One swipe of his wand and he could have got rid of them all. Damian wished he was home, he couldn't believe he'd let himself walk into this, frustration washed over him. As he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable blows that would come, he thought of his house and wondered what his parents were doing at the moment. He wished intently he could be in the house with them. He opened his eyes and to his surprise found himself lying on the floor of his house feeling rather queasy.

Looking back his only regret was that he hadn't been able to see the look of astonishment and outrage that he was sure must have been placed on John Costello's face. Damian had no idea how he'd done it. He'd actually managed to move his body from one place to another. From Damian's limited reading of his school text books he was fairly sure that wasn't a normal thing to do. He assumed it had been the accidental magic his Uncle had been talking about. In truth though he didn't much care how it had happened, it had got him away from Costello, that was all that mattered. Maybe this magic thing would be okay after all thought Damian. Certainly anything that could give him a quick escape route from Costello couldn't be all bad.

The afternoon's events had put Damian in an upbeat mood which came as a relief to his parents. This meant that he was able to avoid the 'You don't have to go to Hogwarts if you don't want to speech,' that he was sure had been coming his way. In fact he was suddenly very much looking forward to Hogwarts. His accidental use of magic had helped to ease some of his doubts about how he was going to cope when he got to Hogwarts.

Despite his Uncle's reassurances Damian had still not been totally convinced at how easy muggles would find learning magic. But after his escape from Costello, Damian was filled with confidence, he'd even forgotten about the witch's vision.

Damian spent the rest of the afternoon sitting at the dining room table trying to repeat his earlier feat. His subsequent attempts, however, proved much less fruitful. Concentrating with all his will, he found himself unable to move as much as an inch. In fact the only thing he had been able to achieve was to give himself a bad headache and scare his mother. Regardless of this failure he was still feeling much more confident about tomorrow's adventure than he had been previously.

Walking into his room at the end of the day he noticed a new owl in his room holding a letter for him. Tearing it open he saw it was a short note from his second cousin.

Damian, how's it going? Excited about tomorrow, I can't wait. Dad says he'll meet you at the station and walk you through to the platform. See you tomorrow

Love Lily

Damian smiled. It was actually happening, he was really going to Hogwarts. After packing the last of his bags for the next day, he scribbled a quick reply to Lily and climbed into his bed. He was fully aware he wasn't going to get much sleep but for once it would be due to excitement not fear.