Author's note: Here's a nice long chapter for any peeps that are following this story. Enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or Harry Potter.
Chapter 4: What's a Muggle?
The flight across the Atlantic seemed to take forever. 10 hours of listening to his mother talk across the aisle to a couple, about her age, whom he had never met before. Martha introduced them to him as Jim and Johanna Beckett.
'Ah,' Rick thought to himself, 'so this girl with the attitude is their daughter, Kate. We're going to Hogwarts together? Hmm…who would have thought? Well it's good to know our relationship has started off well. Psh…yeah right she probably hates me now. Oh, well, It's not like we're gonna be spending that much time together.'
Rick was pulled out of his pondering by the flight attendants giving out landing procedures and instructions. As they prepared to land, Rick noticed Mrs. Beckett reach across the aisle to her daughter to wake her up, as she had been asleep for most of the flight.
When they were all shuffling off the plane and into the airport Rick found himself standing behind Kate, who appeared to be ignoring him and didn't seem to care too much that he was even there. He had to admit that there was something about her that bothered him. She seemed to be more or less a kid just like him but somehow more mature and confident in herself in a way that Rick never truly was. However they had just met not 10 hours ago and had not said too much to each other since then. He didn't want to jump to conclusions about her just yet. For all he knew the two of them could actually end up being friends…eventually.
Once they made it through customs and stepped out of the airport with their entire luggage Mrs. Beckett was the first to speak.
"So, everyone, there is a shuttle that stops close to The Leaky Cauldron. We can take that, grab a quick meal and head to bed. I don't think anyone would argue that this has been a long day for us all."
"The Leaky Cauldron? That's an odd name for a Hotel." said Rick out loud without even really thinking.
"Well actually, Rick, it's a wizarding inn and pub. The 'Leaky Cauldron' part is mostly just a tip off to the fact that it's a bar."
"Sounds good," replied Martha with a look of mixed relief and interest on her face. "You know it's funny, I used to hear about that place but have never actually been there."
"Well I suppose you wouldn't have been considering you are a muggle," said Mrs. Beckett.
"Muggle?" Rick asked, confused, "what's a Muggle?"
It was Kate's turn to chime in. "A Muggle is a non-magical person. There's nothing bad about the word, it's just what most witches and wizards use when talking about folks outside the wizarding world."
Rick nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, Dad here is a muggle just like your mom."
"I'm still trying to get used to the idea that I have magical powers. It's like something out of a comic book."
Kate couldn't help but giggle a bit at this and just smiled shaking her head.
'Great, my first time meeting a couple of witches and I come off as an incompetent idiot.' Rick thought to himself as they boarded theshuttle to The Leaky Cauldron, as it was apparently called. Rick could tell this girl was going to be a thorn in his side. How was he supposed to survive in the wizarding world when he didn't even know what a muggle was?
There was so much to look at as they rode through the crowded streets of London. The hustle and bustle of the streets seemed like such a chaotic mess that it was a relief to have all the glorious timeless sites of London to look up at. Living in New York City gave Rick a good feel for the big city but N.Y.C. was in its infancy compared to London in all its historical brilliance. He thought back to the book he had packed away in his trunk, The Hound of the Baskervilles and suddenly felt a strange urge to want to try finding 221 b. Baker St.
"Wow, this is amazing!" exclaimed Kate from the seat behind him as she gazed out her window, much the way he had been.
"Well, at least you and I agree on something." Rick replied, though her comment hadn't really been directed toward him. He turned in his seat and cocked an eyebrow up at her with the slightest of cocky smirks making its way across his face.
When she just shook her head and turned to her dad, who had been rather quiet up to this point. Perhaps he just wasn't a talkative guy. Though, Kate had mentioned that he was a muggle so maybe a lot of this was going over his head too, though Rick had the unfortunate feeling that Jim Beckett knew more about the wizarding community than Rick. He wouldn't be surprised at this considering he had just learned about all of this a little less than a month ago and now he was off to a school to learn about magic, this was going to be so cool. At first when his mom told him that Hogwarts was in England that idea sort side swiped him but he slowly warmed up to the notion of being away from his mother for a while. He was getting close to that age where he thought maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. His mom was a good provider and never failed to be there when he needed her but he was a growing boy who didn't want his mother hanging over his shoulder all the time.
The shuttle pulled up to the curb on a side street to let its passengers off and quickly took off again. The five of them gathered their possessions and Mrs. Beckett led the way to the Leaky Cauldron. Rick was beginning to think the place couldn't be found but then he noticed a small, dirty, weathered sign suspended above him. The sign held a picture of an old witch stirring a rather large cauldron that, if one looked closely enough, did in fact have a small crack in the bottom. 'Well what do you know?' Rick just smiled and figured he should probably just go with it. He also looked over at Kate at that moment and saw the she had small quizzical look of excitement on her face. Perhaps it was at the prospect of seeing a place she'd heard of before but had never been to for the first time or at the thought of getting go to bed soon. Either way Rick was definitely tired despite the fact that it was only about 8 'o clock at night. Unlike his female counterpart he hadn't slept through the whole plane ride and was beginning to experience that dreaded feeling of jet lag.
"Mom please tell me we're going to bed soon"
Martha looked down at her son slightly bewildered. "Wait, you actually want to go to bed? Well this is a first." She joked and the small dose of humor did not go unnoticed by Mr. Beckett who couldn't help but chuckle.
"I suppose you're right, son" the older man agreed "It has been quite a long day, right Katie?"
Kate just nodded not really caring enough about their mundane conversation to really pay attention.
As they entered to pub Rick tried to take in as much of it as he possibly could. He had never been anywhere before that was actually a legitimate part of the wizarding world and he was anxious to see what it was like. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few glasses on top of the bar that appeared to be cleaning themselves everything seemed relatively normal and could pass off as a typical bar, not that Rick had actually been in too many of those.
Before Rick knew it he looked up and saw Mrs. Beckett standing there holding three keys in her hand. She had been to talk to the strange looking man standing behind the bar, Rick hadn't caught his name. Kate, it turns out had been thinking the same thing he had because instantly asked:
"Mom, why are you holding three keys?"
"Well you see, Martha is going to have her own room. Your father and I will share another and you and Rick will be sharing the last room."
"Why?" Rick and Kate responded at the same time, each one looking at the other in shock.
'Really?' Rick thought to himself, 'I have to share a room with this, this, this… girl?'
Kate had taken the key from her mother and they dragged their trunks toward the stairs. Suddenly Rick bumped into the girl walking ahead of him to see that she had stopped and was looking back and forth between the stairs and her trunk quizzically.
Rick had been wondering how on earth he was going to lug his heavy trunk up the stairs. But it would appear that Kate couldn't figure it out either. Rick, seeing this, couldn't resist the urge to laugh at her lack of creativity. So he did release a tiny chuckle at Little Miss Know-It-All.
"What exactly are you laughing at," said Kate, who had turned around to glare at him. "You think you know how to get up the stairs?" Rick wiped to the smug look of his face and looked on in awe when Mrs. Beckett flicked her wand muttering some words Rick couldn't understand and the trunks began to float up the stairs.
When they got up to the room with the number 10 embroidered on the bronze face plate of the door Kate stuck the key in the key hole and slowly pushed the door open with a soft creek.
Rick barely looked around the room before setting his trunk on the floor by the foot of his twin bed. He simply pulled the covers down on the bed and crawled in. This left Kate to deal with having to fall asleep to sound of his snoring which he would undoubtedly deny in the morning. The last thing that Rick could remember before finally falling asleep was the sound of Kate coming back into the room and flopping onto the matching twin bed across the room.
Author's Note: sorry it took so long to post this chapter. Hope you enjoy. Reviews are welcome…good or bad.