Idaho Becky

If you've come here from www.idahobecky.blogspot.com to tell me she needs a new camera and some photography lessons, leave a comment in the comments box.

Thanks,

Arizona matt

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 3: Platform 9-3/4: Part 4

Jackson and Vanessa found an empty compartment and sat down across from each other.

"So, you're parents are muggles," she said, smiling. "What's that like?"

Jackson shrugged. "I don't know what you mean. It's... normal."

Vanessa laughed. "Yeah, I guess if that's how you grew up it would seem normal. What do your parents do for work?"

"My dad's a programmer," he replied.

Vanessa frowned. "What does that mean?"

"A computer programmer," Jackson said. "He can make computers do whatever he wants."

"Computers?" Vanessa said. "Is that a muggle machine?"

Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but he had no idea how to respond. Finally, he said. "Um, yeah. Computers are really kind of cool. They can do all kinds of things."

"Like what?"

"Well, people write things on them," he replied. "Then they can print whatever they wrote, or they can send messages to each other. And music, and videos, and video games, and GPS, and-"

"GPS? Video games?" she asked. "What are those?"

Jackson started to think of how to describe them, but decided not to bother. "You know what, it doesn't matter. It is interesting stuff, and I'm proud of my parents, but that's another world. What do your parents do?"

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 3: Platform 9-3/4: Part 3

The next morning breakfast was delicious, but strangely quiet as no one could talk about the reason Jackson was leaving. It seemed to go on forever, so he felt relieved when his dad finally said it was time to go. He gave his mom a goodbye hug, then rode to the station.

As Jackson and his dad pushed his luggage through the station, he looked through the letter again to find the directions onto platform nine and three quarters.

"So, what now?" his dad asked as they stood looking at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"It says we just need to walk right into the barrier," Jackson replied. "I need to go first because it doesn't work for non-magical people. I can push the cart in front of me. For you to get on you need to keep hold of me while I pass through."

"Okay," his dad said, looking nervous but a little excited.

Jackson grabbed the handles of the cart, and his dad took hold of his shoulder. He began pushing the cart toward the barrier, telling himself that it would let him through. He just had to keep going. Just had to keep going.

Suddenly he was through. There was a beautiful red, black and gold train to his right. There were also hundreds of kids and parents, many of them in robes like what he'd seen in Diagon Alley.

"Wow," his dad whispered behind him. Jackson looked back at him and smiled, glad that at least one of his parents was excited about his magic. He began pushing the cart to the train.

"Jack!" Jackson heard a voice behind him. He turned to see a girl with brown hair he didn't recognize stepping out of the barrier. He frowned and started to ask who she was, but then her brown hair turned green and her skin melted into the face he knew from the bookstore.

"Vanessa?" Jackson asked.

She nodded as she walked up to him. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," he replied.

"Jackson, who is this?" his dad said, his voice curious.

"Oh, sorry. Dad, this is Vanessa. We met when I was looking for my books," Jackson explained. "Vanessa, this is my dad."

"Nice to meet you," Vanessa said, her hair turning blonde as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too," his dad said, staring at her hair.

Just then the conductor began calling for everyone to get on board. Jackson hurried to load his chest then helped Vanessa with hers. He gave his dad a quick hug before climbing back on the train. He waved goodbye as the train started moving.

The USSA

For those of you who don't know, the socialist machine in Washington declared the internet to be a public utility today, thereby giving themselves the authority to regulate (aka control) it. In layman's terms this means that it's not going to be long before freedom of speech no longer applies to the most powerful means of communication we have. It won't be long before the government can take down any website they want (probably starting with http://www.glennbeck.com/). That's what already happens in China.

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 3: Platform 9-3/4: Part 2

"Jackson," his mom opened the door, making him look up.

"Yeah, mom?" he asked, carefully placing the book out of her view. He didn't want her to realize he was reading a magic book. She was still very uncomfortable with the idea of him being a wizard.

"I wanted to know what you want for breakfast in the morning," she said, smiling at him. "It's going to be my last chance to cook for you for a while."

Jackson smiled at her and said, "I love your blueberry waffles."

"Blueberry waffles it is," she said. "I'll get everything ready now so I can have them cooked and ready to eat when you wake up."

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome," she said and closed the door again.

Jackson looked back at the charms book, but decided he'd better finish packing and get to bed. As he put it in his cauldron with the other books he noticed it seemed thicker than before, as though the book had grown. That's odd, he thought.

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 3: Platform 9-3/4: Part 1

Jackson spent most of the last two weeks of summer in his room, reading his books and trying to cast the spells he read about. None of them worked, but a few times when he would wave his wand random things would happen. Mostly it was things flying around the room, but one time his light bulb turned to ice.

The night before he was supposed to meet the train at King's Cross he went to his room to pack. He started with his clothes, packing first his robes, and the rest of the clothes that had arrived from Madam Maulkin's a few days earlier. Then he put in a couple pairs of pajamas, some blue jeans, t-shirts, socks, underwear, and an extra pair of shoes.

Then he crammed his cauldron in and began collecting his books, placing them in the cauldron as well. Herbology, he thought. Potions... Transfiguration... Defense Against the Dark Arts... Magical History... Astronomy. He spotted a tiny book he didn't remember under his astronomy book. He tossed the Astronomy book in the cauldron with the others and picked up the little book. It was dark blue leather. The front was blank, but on the spine silver lettering read 'Theory of Charms'.

"I don't remember buying this, but it seems familiar," he said to himself. He thought back to the bookstore, and remembered. "You were on that top shelf. I must have grabbed you when I fell, and got you mixed up with my other books. Strange. I could have sworn you were a lot bigger when you were on the shelf."

Jackson opened the little book and flipped through to the last page. The page number said it was page 10. Ten pages. I could read you tonight before I go to bed.

He grabbed his bag of potions supplies and carefully placed it in the cauldron with the books, then climbed onto his bed with the Theory of Charms book.

The first page was an introduction. It was written in first person, talking about the author's experiments and years of research. Jackson got the feeling the author was very intelligent, despite how small the book was. He wanted to know who the author was, but he couldn't find anywhere that had a name.

The next five pages talked about the three parts of every charm: Power, Incantation, and Structure. When he reached the end of that section he felt like his mind was numb, so he took a break for some ice cream. As he went back to his room with the bowl, savoring the cold chocolate on his tongue, he thought back to what he'd read, trying to picture the ideas in his mind.

Power is pretty simple. Wizardkind are born with the power. Normal people, muggles, aren't. Some people have special properties to their power that give them different abilities, like Vanessa at the bookstore, but most wizards and witches the only question is how much power they have. Part of what determines your power is just how much you're born with, but it also tends to grow with use. I don't see why the author took a whole page for that.

Incantation is just using the words for the spell. The incantation has to be pronounced right, but other than that it's just memorization.

The hard part is the structure. Thoughts, feelings, movements, concentrating to draw on your power and put it into the incantation. That's hard. That takes study and practice. Magic isn't just about knowing how to do it with your head. It's about knowing how to do it with your hands, your heart. It's knowing it so well you don't have to think about it as you're doing it.

Jackson climbed back onto his bed and turned the book to the next page.

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 7

Jackson smiled as he entered the crowded book store. There were dozens of kids, his age and older, all scurrying through the store, looking for books. He was glad to see that wizard kids weren't terribly different from the kids he grew up with. Except of course for that girl with the pink hair.

He tried to get help from an employee, but they all were busy helping other people. Finally he just took out his list of books and began looking. He soon realized that the store was organized by topic, with signs over rows like he saw in regular book stores, except of course that some of the signs kept erasing themselves and the words would reappear in different handwriting. Unfortunately he had no clue what many of the topics meant. Apparition, Quidditch, Animagi? Finally he spotted one labeled 'Potions'. He searched through the books until he found the right book. Taking it from the shelf he went back to searching the topics. Next he found 'Transfiguration' and then 'Defense against the Dark Arts'.

After that he found the Charms section and began looking for his Charms book. After he'd searched all the lower racks, he decided it must be on the top shelf, where he was having trouble reading all the titles. Carefully, he tried to pull himself up a little to see onto the shelf. He still couldn't see, so he propped his right arm up on the shelf and pulled up so his eyes were level with the books. Advanced Projective Charms, Theory of Charms, Advanced Movement Charms, Advanced-

His foot slipped and he felt himself start to fall. He reached for whatever he could, but all he could find were books. He grabbed one, but it slipped out from the others and Jackson found himself landing hard on the ground. Lots of people came to help him up. The first one to reach him was a girl his age with long blue hair and purple eyes and a beautiful face despite her look of worry. Jackson blushed with embarrassment as he started picking up his books.

"Are you all right?" the girl asked as Jackson stood up.

"Yeah," he replied, "I'm fine. I didn't fall that far, I just couldn't find my book."

The girl nodded. "An Introduction to Charms. Yeah, I couldn't find it either. They said they ran out of it yesterday. Should have some more next week."

"Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to come back before school."

"Me neither," she said, her blue hair suddenly turning green as she talked. "They said they can deliver it to Hogwarts. You'll get it before your first lesson."

"Thanks," Jackson said, staring at her hair. He started to open his mouth to ask, but he didn't know what to say.

She laughed, reaching a hand up to finger her hair, its color changing back to blue in a wave that started where her hand touched it. "I'm a Metamorphmagus," she laughed. "It's a special gift I was born with."

He smiled and said, "Cool."

"I'm Vanessa by the way," she said, holding her hand out to him. "Vanessa Thomas."

He shook her hand and said, "Jackson Smith."

"Nice to meet you, Jack," she said, smiling at him again.

"Nice to meet you too," he replied.

A woman came up behind Vanessa, gently grabbed her shoulder and said, "Vanessa, it's time to go."

"Yes, mum," Vanessa said, glancing at her. Turning back to Jackson she said, "I'll see you at school."

"Yeah, see you," Jackson replied, smiling as he watched her go. He was still picturing her smile and her amazing hair as he found the last of his books and bought them. He almost forgot to tell the clerk he needed the charms book sent to him, but he was soon on his way out of the store with a bag full of books.

He met his parents at another bench, and his mom led the way out, clearly in a hurry to get back to her normal life.

Normal? Jackson thought to himself, still picturing Vanessa's hair. Who needs normal?

HACKED!!!

The Wife Here.

I've hacked Matt's blog because I think it's time for a GIVEAWAY!

Yes, that's right. Free stuff! Here's the deal, when we reach 25 followers,

I will use a computer-generated randomizer and the lucky person picked will get a $25 gift card for Barnes and Noble.

When we get 50 followers, I will randomly pick a person to receive a $50 gift card.

YAY FREE STUFF!

So go. Invite your friends to follow us, and I hope you win!

Sorry, Been Busy

Hi!

I just wanted to apologize for the break between parts 5 and 6 of chapter 2. I was busy finishing my book, doing some cleanup, and writing a query letter. I've submitted it to one agent so far. I guess I've been waiting to get my first rejection letter before sending it to any other agents, but I haven't heard

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 6

Jackson found his parents sitting on a bench near the store. His mom had her eyes closed, and his dad was talking to her, trying to get her to relax. I think I'm going to come by myself next year.

Once he'd retrieved them they went to the robe shop, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. It was essentially a clothes store, so his mom was okay while they were there. Then Jackson had to leave his parents on a bench again while he bought his cauldron and went to the Apothecary for potion supplies. After that they bought parchment, ink, and quills. Jackson felt odd looking at the quill pens he bought. He'd never used one before.

Finally, all that was left on his list of supplies were the books. Jackson asked someone on the street and was directed to Flourish and Blotts.

As they approached the bookstore his mother was talking about how she thought she could handle going into the bookstore. "After all," she said, "they're just books."

The front window was filled with books on display. Janus stopped to look at the books and noticed a newspaper on display next to them. The front page read, "Pond Potions prepares to unveil newest product." Underneath the headline was a picture of a man in a red robe, wearing a smug smile as he gestured to something hidden under a red cloth. As Jackson watched the man turned to look out at Jackson, and waved before gesturing to whatever was under the cloth again.

"Um, mom," Jackson said, reaching out and grabbing his mother's arm before she could enter the store. "Maybe it would be better if you stayed out here." He moved to block her sight of the newspaper. "I know they're just books, but it looks busy in there, and people will be talking, and who knows what they'll be talking about."

Jackson's mom looked into the store, grimaced a moment, and finally she said, "Perhaps you're right." She turned away from the store and started toward another bench, Jackson's dad following her.

Jackson breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the newspaper again, shook his head, and entered the store.

Jack Smith

Hey everyone. I'm just thinking about what I've been doing with the names of my posts. I was originally thinking I would give each chapter its own name, but then the chapters were too long to be acceptable blog posts so I did Parts 1, 2, etc to separate them. Now I'm thinking this will be confusing to the readers because when you see the latest post is "Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms Part 4" then you think you've only missed parts 1, 2, and 3, but in actuality you missed Jack Smith and the Tawny Owl as well. So, I'm going to be renaming them all to include a chapter number. I hope this makes it easier to follow.

M

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 5

"As I was saying, the wand chooses the wizard, and it will let us know when you hold it for the first time."


Jackson stood there, briefly holding wand after wand as Ollivander pulled them from boxes and gave them to him. "So," Jackson said, trying to get his attention between wands, "there's only one wand for each wizard?"


"Oh, no, of course not," Ollivander replied, yanking a long whitish wand from Jackson's hand and replacing it with a short black one. "No, then what would you do if your wand broke? Oh, no, no. More than one wand can choose the same witch or wizard, and the reverse is also true. A wand can pass from one owner to another, and it may accept the new owner. However, if you are ever forced to use a wand that doesn't recognize you as its master it will not perform nearly as well as your own wand."


"So, does it really matter what wand I get, other than that it chooses me?"


"Yes, and no," Lucy said. "Different wands can be better at different spells, but I've never heard of a wand that could do anything unique, or that couldn't do what others could."


"You'd be surprised," Ollivander said, putting a thick dark brown wand into Jackson's hand. "Among wandmakers, that kind of thing is well known. I prefer to make more standard wands however. Making specialized wands takes a lot of time, most witches and wizards prefer to have a good wand they can use for anything they need over a wand that is very good for a special set of spells and less trustworthy for others." He looked at Lucy, "Don't expect to be learning that kind of thing from me next summer."


Lucy nodded, and Ollivander went back to giving Jackson wands and yanking them away again.


"So," Jackson looked at Lucy, "what is your wand?"


Lucy reached into her coat and pulled out a good sized blueish wand. "Eight inches, blue spruce with a phoenix feather," she said grinning. "Uncle says it's a good wand for a wandmaker. His first wand was blue spruce as well."


Jackson smiled at her. Then he suddenly felt a cold rush as Ollivander placed another wand in his hand. Jackson looked at it and saw a blue glow surrounding the wand. The glow spread around Jackson and he felt invigorated as he clutched the wand tightly.


After a few seconds the glow faded and Jackson could see the pure black of the long skinny wand. Ollivander took the wand back and placed it in the box it had come from before handing the box to Jackson. "Ten inches, ebony, with a heartstring from the oldest dragon I've ever come across."


"Dragon heartstring?" Jackson asked.


"Uncle makes wands with three different types of cores," Lucy explained. "Phoenix feathers like mine, unicorn hairs, and dragon heartstrings."


Ollivander nodded. "Yes, and of the three, only one requires the death of the animal that it comes from." He shook his head sadly. "I only take heartstrings from dragons who have died from... natural means."


"What do you mean natural means?"


"Dragons are immune to all but the worst magical diseases," he said. "And they can live for over a thousand years, but most of them don't live for more than twenty." He frowned as he said, "This is partially because of dragon hunters, but it's mostly due to fighting with their own kind." He shook his head sadly. "Usually all I need to do when I need more heartstrings is go to a sanctuary. They always have one or two that have recently been killed by the others." He ran his hand lovingly along the box containing Jackson's wand. "This dragon however wasn't in a sanctuary. If the word tame could ever be applied to dragon's it wouldn't apply to the ones in the Arctic. Their heartstrings are always particularly potent, so I went up to a den I knew of. I found dozens of dragons, their bodies torn to shreds. There were only three survivors that weren't at least wounded, and they looked young enough that they probably stayed out of the worst of the fight. Some of the dead were so bad there weren't any heartstrings I could use."


"What happened?" Jackson asked.


"The same thing that always happens," Ollivander replied. "Just on a larger scale. One of the younger dragons challenged the leader. Probably some of the other young ones tried to help the challenger, and there were also some who tried to defend the leader. Probably happened the day before I got there. In the end the leader won, but he was wounded so badly that he died minutes after I found him. He was ancient. His black scales had turned almost completely grey." He shook his head at the memory. "The look in his eyes though. He was still alert. And clever! Oh that was the smartest dragon I've ever heard of. That's how he lived so long. How he managed to survive all the challenges he must have faced over the centuries."


"When did that happen, uncle?" Lucy asked. "I don't remember dad telling me about you going to the arctic."


"This was years before you were born," he replied. "In fact, I think your dad was about your age."


Jackson was having trouble wrapping his head around the age difference between Mr. Ollivander and Lucy's dad. Mr. Ollivander saw this and said, "Lucy calls me Uncle, but actually I'm her father's uncle. Her grandfather was my brother.


"As I was saying," Mr. Ollivander went on, "This wand is the first wand I've ever given out with a heartstring from that dragon. The fact that it chose you likely means it recognizes similarities between you and the dragon it came from."


Jackson couldn't help but smile at being compared to an ancient, clever dragon. Lucy smiled too. Jackson then paid for the wand and went out to find his parents.

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 4

When they left Gringotts, Jackson immediately pointed himself toward the wand shop he'd seen earlier, Ollivander's. He smiled excitedly as they approached the shop. I'm going to get a wand, he thought. I'm going to get a wand.


"I... I think I'll wait out here," Jackson's mom said when they reached the door. "You go on without me. I'm going to stay here."


"Are you sure?" his dad asked.


"Yeah, I'm sure."


Jackson looked at his mother, her eyes pressed tightly closed and her hands shaking. He could tell his dad was doing great, but his mom couldn't handle it. "Dad, how about you stay here with mom. I'll be fine."


"Uh, okay," his dad said. "You've got that money bag from the goblin." Jackson's mom cringed at the word.


"Yeah, I can pay for it, I'll be fine."


"Okay, we'll be here when you finish."


"Kay," Jackson gave a reassuring smile before entering the shop.


Inside he had a moment to look around at the stacks and stacks of boxes, each box about two inches wide, but varying in length. He smiled as he realized his wand was waiting for him in one of the boxes.


"Good afternoon," said a soft cheerful voice. Quickly a girl his age came out from behind one of the piles, her brown hair grey with dust and bits of cobweb. She smiled at him and said, "From the look of you, I'm guessing you're not here for maintenance. You need a wand."


Jackson nodded.


"I'll get my uncle," she said before heading to the back of the shop. A moment later she returned with a white haired old man.


"Welcome young man," he said, "Here for I wand, of course. Well, let's find you one then."


The old man went to the piles and began grabbing boxes, seemingly at random. The girl walked over to Jackson and smiled at him.


"How old is your uncle?" Jackson whispered to her.


She tilted her head to the side and scratched her head. "I'm not sure," she said. "But he is one of the oldest wizards in the world. That's actually why he took me as his apprentice. I'm Lucy by the way."


"Jackson," he replied, shaking hands with her. "Apprentice? You mean you make wands?"


"Not yet," she replied. "So far all I've been allowed to do is clean the shop and learn about proper wand care, but Uncle said that when I get back from Hogwarts next summer he'll begin teaching me how to make them."


"That's IF you get high marks in school, and you take good care of your wand," Ollivander said, returning with a stack of boxes. He placed them all on the table and said, "Now let's see if any of these wands like you." He opened the first box, and pulled out a short reddish wand. "Five inch, cherry, dragon heart string." He handed it to Jackson.


Jackson carefully took the little wand. "Like me?"


Ollivander immediately took the wand away and put it back in the box. "Yes, you see, it's the wand that chooses the wizard, Mr.... I just realized I forgot to ask your name."


"Smith," Jackson said as Ollivander handed him another wand, this one long thin and black. "Jackson Smith."


"Jackson Smith," Ollivander said, pulling the black wand away and quickly handing him another one.

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 3

"Name please," the goblin said in a bored voice when Jackson finally got his parents to the counter.

"Thomas Smith," Jackson's dad said.

"And your son?"

"Jackson."

"Will Jackson be opening an account with us, or will this just be an exchange?"

"Um, just an exchange, I guess."

"Very well," the goblin shifted his weight in his seat before saying, "Cash or check?"

Jackson looked at his dad, who already had his debit card in his hand. "Plastic?" his dad asked, holding up the card.

The goblin rolled his eyes before saying, "Credit and debit cards won't work in areas with so much magical energy. Magic tends to make any complicated muggle technology, particularly electronics and related things, stop working. We can only take cash or a written check. In fact, next time it might be a good idea for you to leave your cards, cell phones, and anything like them at home."

"I never carry checks," Jackson's dad said, looking uncertainly at his wife. "Dear, do you have your checkbook?"

Jackson's mom was staring at the goblin like she wanted to turn around and run.

"Mom... Mom... MOM!" Jackson shook her arm.

"What? What is it?" she asked, shaking herself and looking down at Jackson.

"Do you have your checkbook?"

"Oh, um, yes," she said, sounding relieved to have such a boring task as finding her checkbook. She opened her purse and rummaged through it until she found it. Handing it to her husband, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Jackson waited impatiently while his dad wrote the check. The goblin inspected the check then placed it in a teller. Then he began counting out gold, silver, and copper coins, placing them on a wooden board. Jackson felt his jaw drop as he watched the pile grow. When the goblin finished he pulled out a black cloth bag that shouldn't have been big enough to hold such a pile, but the goblin just dumped them into the bag, cinched it shut and handed it to Jackson.

"That's one hundred ninety three galleons, eight sickles, and twenty three knuts," the goblin said. Without any other explanation he looked at the family Jackson hadn't noticed get in line behind them and said, "Next."

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 2

Jackson thought Diagon Alley actually looked a lot like any other downtown shopping district. Of course the clothes on many of the people wouldn't fit in anywhere else. And then there was the storefront full of broomsticks that were clearly made for riding. And the posters with moving pictures, and the bookstore displaying books like "Magical Mayhem: The Life of Fred Weasley, by George Weasley".

And of course there was the storefront that drew his eye more than any other. The front window was empty but for a bright purple cushion that held a wand. Over the door there was beautiful, sparkling gold lettering that read "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C." Jackson felt himself drawn toward the wand store as he remembered the bartender from the Leaky Cauldron tapping the brick wall and turning it into an archway. A wand... awesome, Jackson thought, excited at the prospect of getting his own wand by the end of the day.

"Excuse me," Jackson heard his dad's voice behind him. Turning around, he found his dad talking to a short man with a long white beard and wearing a green robe. "Can you direct us to Gringotts?"

The bearded man smiled and said, "Of course." He turned and pointed down the alley toward the largest building. It was a snowy white color with brass doors. "Watch out for the goblins. They can be a bit..." he searched for the right word before deciding on, "unsettling to muggles." He smiled at them before continuing on his way.

Oh yes, Jackson thought, We need to start at Gringotts to get some wizarding money.

A few moments later they reached the brass doors and saw their first goblin. He was shorter than Jackson and his eyes looked very clever on his ugly face. He gave them a not so friendly grin as they walked as far from him as they could to get into the door.

Once they were inside Jackson was amazed by the beauty of the marble hall. There were at least a hundred goblins sitting behind a long counter along one wall, and there were countless doors leading out of the hall with goblins leading people in and out of them. Luckily, there was a sign over the closest goblin at the counter that read "Muggle Currency Exchange". Jackson led his parents to the line behind that goblin.

The goblin was currently helping one family, and behind them was an older teenage boy with short reddish hair and blue eyes. When Jackson stepped up behind the boy he turned and looked at Jackson and his parents.

Seeing the expressions of wonder and fear on his parents' faces he smiled at Jackson and said, "First year, huh?" Jackson nodded, and the boy said, "Yeah, my parents stopped coming with me after my third year. I'm about to start my fifth year now. By the way, I'm Michael Rogers." He held his hand out to Jackson.

"Jackson Smith," he said as he shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Jackson," he said, moving up in line as the family in front of him moved up to talk to the goblin.

"Nice to meet you too," Jackson said. "So, you're parents never got used to magic?"

Michael shook his head, "No. Most of the time they just pretend I go to a regular school and that magic doesn't exist. They don't like me to talk about it with them."

"So, what do you talk about?"

"Well, I can talk about my friends, my teachers, any girls I go out with. I just have to be careful what I say with regards to what we do," Michael shrugged. "Like I can talk about us going to Hogsmeade, the town right next to school, but I can't talk about getting butterbeer there, or going to see the Shrieking Shack."

"Next," the goblin said in a deep, gravelly voice. Michael smiled encouragingly at Jackson before turning and walking up to the counter.

Jackson turned and looked at his parents. His dad was staring at the goblins, a curious smile on his face, but his mom looked terrified, clutching to Dad's arm like it was the only thing keeping her from being swept down a river.

"Mom, are you okay?"

She looked at him, and he saw her forcing her body to relax. Her eyes were still terrified, and Jackson could tell she was trying not to be afraid of him.

"Next," the goblin's deep voice behind him momentarily pulled Jackson's attention away from his mom. Jackson nodded to the goblin then reached back and grabbed his mom's hand to pull her to the counter. He didn't realize he was going to have to drag her though.

"Good luck," Michael said as he walked away. "See you at school."

"See you," Jackson replied, tugging harder on his mom's hand.

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 2: Diagon Alley: Part 1

That Saturday Jackson's parents reluctantly took him downtown. They'd looked up the Leaky Cauldron online, but they couldn't find it on any website. His mom hadn't seen the owl and was suspicious that the two of them were playing a joke on her. Luckily she had some errands she wanted to do near where the instructions said to find the Leaky Cauldron, so she didn't take too much persuading.

So it was that Jackson found himself walking down the street with his parents looking for a pub for wizards. The instructions put it between two shops, and his mom had been to both of them. The whole way there she swore there was nothing between them.

"You see," she said as they rounded the corner to see the two shops. "There's Bailey's Books, and there's Johnson's Records," she said pointing to each in turn. "And there's nothing between them."

As Jackson looked however, he did see the front of a pub with a wooden sign hanging over it that looked like an old cauldron. Jackson smiled as he took his mom's hand as the letter had instructed and began walking toward it. "Just trust me, mom." He could hear her sigh behind him as she followed. "Dad, hold mom's hand."

"I'm holding it, Jackson."

When they reached the door, Jackson pushed it open and stepped inside, and stifled a laugh as he heard both his parents gasp, the pub suddenly appearing to their eyes as the letter had said it would.

The pub was old and in serious need of refurbishing, but Jackson was more interested in the people inside. Most of them, including the men, were wearing dress like things. They were usually in dark colors, and it looked similar to the kind of thing people wore to graduations. Robes, Jackson thought. So different from outside the pub.

The instructions in the letter said to show his letter to the bartender, and he would help them through the back entrance. Jackson walked over to the bar with the letter in his hand, but the bartender held up his hand toward him and said, "Muggleborn?" Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but the bartender, looking at Jackson's parents, smiled and said, "Of course you are. You're the fifth one today. Come on." He turned to his left and walked along the bar, waving them to follow. They soon reached a back door which led to a walled courtyard, empty except for a trash can and weeds growing through the cobblestones. The bartender pulled a ten inch stick from his jacket pocket and said, "Once you get your own wand you'll be able to do this on your own, but if you can't find the right brick you can come and ask me. But it's this one, right here." He pointed with the wand. "It's three above the top of the trash can, and two to the right. Then you just tap it three times with your wand." He did so, and the brick began to move, pushing into the wall. The bricks around it began moving as well, and an opening quickly formed, resolving itself into a massive archway. "There ya go. Welcome to Diagon Alley. You should be able to find everything you need inside, but you'll be wanting to start at Gringotts to exchange for some wizarding money."

Jackson thanked the bartender and dragged his parents behind him, both of whom were still gaping at the archway that had been a wall only moments before.