Ari quickly settled into a summer routine back at home. He was worried that his muggle friends wouldn't have much to do with him anymore as he's been gone for most of three years, and was relieved to find that was not the case. He learned with his friend Mordechai every morning, and wondered what Michael and Terry would think of gemara learning. Afternoons were reserved for sports. Ari continued his love of all muggle sports and always knew he could find someone to play with at the park.
Ari received an inclination for where his fears came from one day while walking with his father. It started pouring rain, and Tatti refused to cross the street to go home because there was a small dog sniffing a tree while its owner stood nearby, oblivious to the rain. Ari ran home, ignoring the dog, so he won't get soaked. Tatti arrived ten minutes later, drenched and complaining about the huge monster that wasn't letting him pass.
Ari did his school shopping earlier this year. He was a bit surprised to find out he was supposed to have dress robes, but decided to ignore it and just bought his books.
Ari received letters from Michael and Terry about the quidditch world cup. Terry and Michael were both going with their families and tried to convince Ari to join them.
"My mother is a muggle, and my father has no connection to the wizarding world since graduating Hogwarts," Ari wrote back. "Neither of my parents have any interest in quidditch and they wouldn't want me to waste any of my bar mitzvah money on tickets."
"My mother had nothing to do with the wizarding world until she got her Hogwarts letter when she was eleven," Terry wrote back. "Even though her parents are muggles, she still thinks it's worth it to go to the world cup. It hasn't been held in Britain in thirty years."
Michael and Terry both wrote about camping there overnight and invited Ari to join them. Ari wrote back that it's not worth the hassle of bringing his own food and trying to keep it fresh. Besides, his father was very against him socializing with Hogwarts students outside of school. Instead, he offered to take him to a football or rugby game once the season started again in August.
Michael and Terry didn't take no for an answer. They showed up at the Goldstein house on August 24th, trying to convince the Goldsteins to let Ari go. Mr. Goldstein explained that they were going to Liverpool for shabbos and would spend the last few days of the summer with Ari's muggle grandparents. Mr. Boot argued that Ari would easily be home in time for Shabbos, but Tatti explained that they have to go by car since they were going to muggle house where nobody knows that magic is real. Ari told his friends that he's going to a Liverpool football game on Sunday and asked if they're interested.
"Why would I be interested in football when there's quidditch?" Michael asked.
"Why would I be interested in quidditch when there's football?" Ari countered.
"Do you really mind not going?" Mrs. Corner asked.
"I never even saw a quidditch game," Ari said. "I never watched a Hogwarts quidditch match. I wouldn't know what's flying at a professional one. Besides, knowing Michael and Terry, I'm going to here every detail on the Hogwarts Express whether I like it or not."
The Corners and Boots left not long after that. Ari wondered what stories Michael and Terry told their parents to make them think it was necessary to barge in and try to get Ari.
Ari didn't mind missing the match. He enjoyed the Liverpool football game and had fun playing football in Bubby's yard with his cousin Tehilla until Tanta Chani interfered.
"Don't you think the two of you are getting too old to play with each other?" Tanta Chani asked.
"It's just football," Ari said. "It's not like I'm tackling her. There's nobody else to play with here, and besides, we're cousins."
"In a few years, Tehilla will be old enough to get married," Tanta Chani told him. "It's not appropriate that she's still playing football with a boy."
"Nobody has to know," Ari said. "It's not like we're going to the park to play with an audience. Besides, we're cousins. It's not a typical boy-girl relationship."
Tanta Chani went inside to get Mommy's opinion. Luckily, Mommy took Ari's side.
"He has nobody else to play with here," Mommy insisted. "Besides, I still played basketball with Moshe at that age."
Tanta Chani agreed to let it go, but insisted that an adult needed to supervise them and they can't be left alone in Bubby's yard. Ari agreed to that compromise, especially when Tatti offered to be the adult and instead joined the game. They decided to play Tehilla and Ari against Tatti, but Tatti creamed them.
"I know, let's play basketball!" Ari suggested, knowing his own father's weaknesses.
Tehilla watched as Ari beat his father in basketball 15-1.
"I was the star of the basketball team when I was a kid," Tatti bragged to Tehilla.
"That's not what Oma says," Ari replied innocently. "She told me that the only time you got off the bench was when Opa yelled at the coaches to give you a chance."
"All right," Tatti conceded. "I wasn't as good as the good players, but I was better or at least as good as the rest."
Since Tanta Chani didn't trust her daughter with Ari unsupervised, Chaim and Shifra joined them the next afternoon. They decided to do boys against girls, and once Tehilla realized that Shifra wasn't much of a help, she asked her to be goalie. Ari followed her example and had Chaim be goalie. Afterwards, Ari and Chaim played some rugby while Tehilla and Shifra did whatever it is that girls do when they don't play sports.
Ari and Chaim spent some time hanging out in the park with Chaim's friends. As long as Ari knew his sports, he was able to join the club of boys anywhere. When one of the other boys mentioned Liverpool's game this past Sunday, Ari mentioned that he went. He also said that a friend in yeshiva was a West Hams fan and he was looking forward to when the two teams faced each other in September so he could gloat. That led to a discussion on how individual West Ham players compare to individual Liverpool players. Overall, Ari was sorry he had to leave Liverpool to get to the Hogwarts express.