By the time Silver came down for breakfast the rest of the household was sitting around the table. Menniker looked sulky and Silver could tell why when he sat down. In front of Menniker was not his usual sugary cereal but instead was a plate with quarter of an unsweetened grapefruit. This was due to his end of year report he brought back from school. Usually with these reports Menthor and Cynthai easily came up with excuses. When he got bad marks "Those teachers just don't understand what a gifted boy he is" "Never wanted some swotty little nancy boy for a son anyway". When he got reports of bullying "He's just boisterous. Wouldn't hurt a fly" "Probably provoked him". However there was a new problem on this report, something neither of his parents could excuse. It seemed Menniker was having a lot of ill days this year and the nurse concluded that it was caused by his diet which mainly consisted of sugar. If they didn't do something Menniker's health would be at great risk. So after many tantrums, tears and the rare sight of Menthor actually yelling at his son the new regime was established. The fridge was emptied of most of Menniker's favourite things fizzy drinks and cakes, chocolate bars and burgers. It was now full of fruits and vegetables, a sight which disgusted Menniker and Menthor. To make her son feel better Cynthia insisted that the whole family follow the diet and unfortunately this was one of the few times she acknowledged Silver as part of the family. Cynthia placed a piece of grapefruit on Silver's plate. Silver noticed that his was a bit smaller than Menniker's.

She thought that Menniker's morale would improve if he was at least getting more than Silver. Cynthia however didn't know about the loose floorboard in Silver's room. The moment Silver thought he would have to live off grapefruits and carrots he sent Lily to ask his friends for help. She returned from Coral's with a box of sugar free snacks (Coral's parents were dentists). She returned from Big's with a bag of rock cakes, Silver didn't touch these. Mari-An had sent Piopio with assorted meat pies. Poor Piopio took five days to recover from the journey before he was able to leave. Then on Silver's birthday (Which his Aunt and Uncle ignored) the O'Hedges, Big, Coral and Elias had all sent him cakes. He still had two left hidden upstairs so he ate his grapefruit without complaint. Menniker was so hungry that when doorbell rang and Menthor went to answer it Menniker ate his piece of grapefruit as well. Silver doubted Menthor would complain, he hated this diet as much as he did. Silver heard laughing coming from the front door and then the door closed. Silver got back to his grapefruit when "You!". He turned around, Menthor was staring at him looking absolutely livid "In the living room, now!". Wondering what he could have possibly done he followed Menthor into the living room. Menthor closed the door behind him "So" he had his arms crossed. Silver was tempted to say back "So what?" but he didn't feel like testing Menthor's temper so early in the morning especially during the diet. He instead looked politely puzzled. Menthor held out a letter "This just arrived! For you!". Silver's confusion increased, who would be writing to Uncle Menthor about him. Menthor then read the letter out loud.

Dear Mr Menthor and Mrs Cynthia

We have never been introduced, but I am sure you have heard a great deal from Silver about my son Razor. As Silver might have told you, the final of the Sky Chase World Cup takes place this Monday night, and my husband, Robert, has just managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sports. I do hope you will allow us to take Silver to the match, as this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Mercia hasn't hosted the cup for thirty years, and tickets are extremely hard to come by. We would of course be glad to have Silver stay for the remainder of the summer holidays, and to see him safely onto the train back to school.

It would be best for Silver to send us your answer as quickly as possible in the normal way, because the Muggle postman has never delivered to our house, and I am not sure he even knows where it is. Hoping to see Silver soon,

Yours sincerely,

Mari-An

P.S. I do hope we've put enough stamps on

Menthor then held out the envelope for the letter. Silver had to hold in a laugh, every bit of it was covered in stamps except for a square inch on the front, into which Mari-An had squeezed the address in minute writing "She put enough stamps on, then?". Menthor's eyes flashed "The postman noticed. Very interested to know where this letter came from, he was. That's why he rang the doorbell. Seemed to think it was funny". There was a long silence where Silver waited to find out why this was his fault but nothing happened. Eventually he broke the silence "Can I go then?". A slight spasm crossed Menthor's face. Silver could tell a conflict was going on in Menthor's head. Allowing Silver to go would make Silver happy which Menthor hated. But letting him go would also mean he's out of the house two weeks early. To give himself time to think he looked back down at the letter "Who is this woman?" "You've seen her. She's my friend Razor's mother. She said hello to you when you picked me up from the end of my first year at Sol… From school". Menthor strained to remember "Oh, yes. Unhygienic looking woman". Silver thought that was a bit rich considering Mari-An probably took better care of herself and her children than Menthor did. Menthor scanned the letter again "Sky Chase? Sky Chase? What is this rubbish" "It's a sport. Played on an Extr-" "Alright. Alright. And what does she mean the normal way?". Silver casually shrugged "You know, normal for us. By Flicky or Chao That's how wizards do it" he said it before he could stop himself. Menthor looked like Silver had just said a disgusting swear word "How many times do I have to tell you not to mention that unnaturalness under my roof? We give you our food, we give you a room to sleep-" "After years of sleeping in a cupboard" Silver said coldly.

Menthor was now trembling with rage "I will not be spoken to like that". But Silver wasn't going to stand for this. Gone were the days when he had been forced to take every single one of Menthor's stupid rules. He wasn't following Menniker's diet, and he wasn't going to let Uncle Menthor stop him from going to the Sky World Cup, not if he could help it. Silver took a deep, steadying breath and then said, "Okay, I can't see the World Cup. Can I go now, then? Only I've got a letter to Elias I want to finish". He said the magic words, Menthor's fear was obvious "You're-You're writing to him?" "Well, yeah, if I don't he'll think something's wrong. Silver could see the cogs turning in Menthor's head. At this point he had only one option "Well, all right then. You can go to this ruddy… this stupid… this Sky Chase Cup thing. You write and tell these… These O'Hedges they're to pick you up, mind. I haven't got time to go dropping you off all over the country. And you can spend the rest of the summer there. And you can tell your- your godfather and tell him you're going". Silver gave a respectful nod "Okay. Thank you" he walked out trying not to jump and whoop. He met Menniker in the hall who was clearly hoping to hear Silver being told off. He was surprised to see Silver grinning "Excellent breakfast, wasn't it?" he patted Menniker's back and strode upstairs. The first thing he saw when he entered his room was that Lily had returned. She looked annoyed by something. That something then hit Silver over the head. It was a flying black Chao, Silver recognised it as the one Elias gave Razor at the start of summer. He was now whizzing around the room before finally dropping a letter on the bed. Silver opened it and saw that it was hastily written.

Silver, DAD GOT THE TICKETS. Starfall Islands versus Sunset Hill, Monday night. Mum's writing to the Muggles to ask you to stay. They might already have the letter, I don't know how fast Muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Crusher anyway. We're coming for you whether the Muggles like it or not, you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Crusher back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Crusher back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway. Coral's arriving this afternoon. Hamlin's started work at the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you.

See you soon

Razor

Silver assumed Crusher was the Chao whizzing around his room. Silver tried to grab him "Come here! I need you to take my answer back". The Chao landed on the top of Lily's cage. She glared at the Chao as if daring it to come closer. Silver quickly wrote on a piece of parchment that Menthor had given him permission and then gave it to Crusher. He immediately swooped out of the window laughing. Silver then looked to Lily "Ready for a long journey". She hooted in a dignified manner "I need you to take a letter to Elias". He wrote a quick letter telling Elias that he was staying at the O'Hedges in case he wanted to contact him. He tied the letter to Lily's leg, she was unusually still as though determined to show Silver how a real delivery pet should behave "I'll be at Razor's when you come back". She nibbled his finger affectionately before leaving. Silver watched her out of sight, then crawled under his bed, wrenched up the loose floorboard and pulled out a large chunk of birthday cake. He sat there on the floor eating it, savouring the happiness that was flooding through him. He had cake, and Menniker had nothing but grapefruit; it was a bright summer's day, he would be leaving Penders Drive tomorrow, his head felt perfectly normal again, and he was going to watch the Sky Chase World Cup. It was hard, just now, to feel worried about anything, even Lord Finitevus.