Darcy Smith and the Headless Horseman

Darcy Smith and the Headless Horseman ~ Chapter 1

April showers bring May flowers, thought Darcy to herself, yes, that's how it goes. She carefully pulled out her wand so no one would notice and quickly muttered something under her breath. The New York crowds were too rushed and busy to give any attention to an eleven year old girl, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't notice anything abnormal or strange about her. But Darcy Smith was no ordinary eleven year old; she was a witch, and a very talented one at that.

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Ever since her birth, Darcy had been able to make the most peculiar things happen, things that concerned her Muggle parents very much. When the little girl was only two, she lost her grip on the monkey bars and should have fallen, but, instead, hovered inches away from the ground. Darcy's mother, Anne Smith, remembered the scene very well. Not a single person on the playground missed the sight of a little toddler in midair; all eyes were riveted on Darcy. As they left the playground that day, parents raced to see the little girl who defied gravity and informed Anne that her daughter had inspired them to believe in God again.

Things like that happened to Darcy all through elementary school, to the dismay of her teachers. None of them knew how to handle the girl who had a mysterious talent for making things appear out of nowhere and writing things on the chalkboard while standing at the back of the room, so they just ignored her as much as anyone can possibly ignore supernatural things.

Of course, when Darcy got her letter from the Salem Academy of Witchcraft, everything made sense. Darcy was a witch! Her father, Rupert Smith, was giddy with laughter and joy when he first read the letter. You can't imagine how happy he was to hear that his daughter's awkward behavior actually had a reasonable explanation. Both Anne and Rupert Smith were unbelievably relieved to find out that they no longer had to worry about therapy for their daughter's oddities.

Darcy was the happiest of all. It must be very difficult for a small child to go through school being laughed at and mocked for being different, and that's just what happened to poor Darcy. Ever since her first day of kindergarten, the poor girl found herself alone and miserable, eating at her own table at lunchtime and without a partner for all school projects and activities. She spent the beginning of her life feeling stupid and weird, but the letter from Salem gave her something to feel special about. This wasn't the first time Darcy felt different from all the other kids, but it certainly was the first time she felt good about it.

The next few weeks before the start of school on the 1^st of September, Darcy and her parents went racing around all the wizard stores in search of wands, goblets, robes, and cauldrons in preparation for her first year. Finally, the frantic Muggles and their small daughter found themselves hugging each other desperately at New York's Grand Central Station, exchanging their last goodbyes. They could only hope that good things would happen in the years to come.

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