Chapter 5: The Last Day
It was August 31. The next day, Alice and Jeff would embark on a journey to a place they had never been. Alice, who had heard of Hogwarts her entire life, was merely excited, but Jeff was very nervous. He and Alice had tried out a few of the simplist spells in Standard Book of Spells Grade 1, and Jeff had managed to produce sparks out of the end of his wand, but still he was afraid that his magical skills would be deplorable compared with the rest of his class.
But they could think about all that tomorrow. Today was the last day in Grayson. They would not return until Christmas, so Alice and Jeff intended to spend the day enjoying their childhood home that they were sure to miss in the next few weeks.
Alice grabbed a stick from near the creek and started to lunge at Jeff with it, but Jeff was quick. He grabbed a large stick and parried her blow. She tried to hit him again, but he blocked it, and began his own counter-attack. The next few minutes was a fast and furious swordfight that Alice was quickly losing. It ended up with her lying on the ground, winded, having tripped over her own feet. Jeff was standing over her with his stick to her neck.
"All right," panted Alice. "I surrender."
Jeff chuckled in victory. "As always." He lay down on the ground next to her. They lay there for a moment, watching the sun starting to sink closer to the horizon. Jeff smirked and said, "I'll beat you in all the Hogwarts classes too; just you wait."
Alice just smiled back. "We'll see about that," she said.
But as she lay there, Alice wondered if Jeff was right. What was she really good at? Nothing really. She loved to play Jeff's games, but she wasn't really very good at any of them. Every now and then, Alice tried to be a little lady for her mother's benefit, but she wasn't good at that either. The only thing Alice thought she might be good at was reading, but could that really be considered a skill? Anyone could read.
After dinner, Alice and Jeff climbed the tall tree near the creek, just like they always did. It was too dark to read, so Jeff took up his drumsticks and pounded on the tree bark.
"You're going to miss playing, aren't you?" asked Alice. "There aren't a lot of bands in the wizarding world."
Jeff didn't answer for a few moments. He just kept pounding out his rhythm, and then finally turned to Alice, asking, "Do you really think I'll fit in all right at Hogwarts?"
"I don't know," said Alice. "Honestly, I'm worried that I won't fit in."
"But you can do magic."
"I know, but...I don't make friends very easily," admitted Alice sheepishly.
Jeff rolled his eyes. "Sure you do," he said. "You and I made friends about the first day we met each other." He continued his rhythm, more quickly and passionately this time, doubling the tempo.
"Yeah, well that was different," said Alice, almost to herself. Even now, she really wasn't sure how she and Jeff had become friends. It had just kind of happened. But Alice wasn't naive enough to believe that she could have similar experiences at Hogwarts. Perhaps, though, if she and Jeff were in the same house it wouldn't even matter.
When Alice and Jeff saw how dark it was getting, they carefully climbed down the tree, and made their way to their respective houses. They knew that the day was over. Part of Alice was excited, ready to begin the next chapter of her life, but another part of her was sad to let her happy childhood at the creek go. Sure, there would be more days, during breaks and the summer, in which she and Jeff could have nostalgic moments at the creek, but somehow Alice knew that it wouldn't be the same.
She was letting this go, but somehow, she knew, or at least she hoped, that the new life she would start tomorrow would be even better.