Leo Perry and the Scrolls of the Druid

- CHAPTER THREE -

Scratches at the Window

School finally ended. For the past month Leo had been harassed by students and teachers alike. The worst part was he couldn't say anything back. His father had told him to respect the principal's wishes and not talk to anyone until the end of the year.

There had been some good results to Leo's mysterious attack on Chris though. Chris did not come back to school for almost two weeks and when he did return, he would go nowhere near Leo, let alone insult him. It seemed that Chris was afraid of Leo. Leo was almost able to enjoy the peace and quiet of his solitude and the last month of school had been 'strange incident' free.

It was now the second week of July. There was no more school and Leo spent his time at home, watching television, reading and drawing. He spent the evenings with his dad and they had even gone camping one weekend.

Leo had not yet talked to his father about the strange incident from his birthday. He hadn't enquired about the strange conversation that he had heard either. He knew that his father wouldn't talk about it much anyway, so he didn't ask.

He woke up late one Saturday morning and went downstairs. He found his father sitting with Aunt Julia at the kitchen table. He hadn't seen her since his birthday. That was almost two months ago.

'Good morning Leo,' she said kindly to her nephew. She was smiling at him as usual.

'Hello,' Leo said smiling back as he looked at his aunt. She was wearing the same violet blouse and navy skirt that she had worn on his birthday. Did she always wear that outfit?

'Your Aunt has come to spend the day with us,' said Dad. He was also smiling at Leo.

'Great!' said Leo, looking at his smiling aunt. He got a bowl of cereal out and turned back to the table. Both, Dad and Aunt Julia were still looking at him smiling. They looked as if they were about to burst into laughter.

'What's so funny?' Leo asked.

'Oh nothing,' said Dad as Leo sat down at the table.

'I've brought you a present to replace the other one that I couldn't give you,' said Aunt Julia. As she said the last few words, her smile faltered a bit and she looked at Dad.

'Oh, where is it?' Leo asked, ' . . . I mean, Thank you. Could I please have it now?'

'All right,' said Aunt Julia with a chuckle, 'You'll have to find it yourself though. I think you'll find that its right in front of your nose, or should I say behind.'

It took Leo a moment to figure at that his aunt had just given him a hint. His aunt winked at the look of realization on his face. He turned around.

There lying on the floor where the sun's warm rays were shining like a golden puddle was a cat. It was an orange cat. He was sprawled out in the heat of the sun. Leo bent over the cat and stroked his back. The cat looked up at him with large green eyes. His pupils were slits in the sunlight. He was content and looked happy to Leo.

'He's mine?'

'All yours,' Aunt Julia said.

'What will you call him?' Dad asked.

'Uh . . . I don't know yet,' Leo said.

'Well you can think it over,'said Aunt Julia.

For the rest of the day Leo played with the cat. It was barely out of kitten-hood. It loved to play. He would play with strings, chains, paper and bags. He seemed most interested in Leo's hand though. He liked to pounce on Leo's fingers. By the end of the day Leo had several cat scratches on his arm.

As he played with the orange cat, he noticed it had somewhat of a striped design in his fur. The cat followed him up and down the stairs every time Leo went to get something. He liked to chase Leo's socks as well.

Leo went up the stairs to grab a picture of himself that he wanted Aunt Julia to see. As he came down the stairs (with his cat right behind him) he heard voices near the front of the house. He stopped on the landing halfway down.

'Thanks again Julia', he heard his father say, 'You're sure that cat doesn't do anything weird right?'

'Oh Jake,' Aunt Julia said laughing 'It's only a cat what harm can it do?'

'All right, Julia. Bye,'

'Bye. Oh and Jake, call me as soon as his letter arrives. It'll be here any day now and I'll come straight away. And don't try to keep it from him, because if you do it'll just get worse. One family of muggles kept it from their nephew and before they knew it their house was full of letters! You don't want that to happen, do you? So call me straight away!'

Leo rushed down the stairs and around the corner. There sat his father in the living room.

'Where's Aunt Julia?' he asked.

'Eh? Oh, uh, she left,' his father seemed to be deep in thought. Leo ran to the front of the house. He looked out the window. It was dark outside and he could barely see the road. He rushed out the front door. There were no cars on the road that he could see, or people for that matter. She had just been there. He had heard her. How could she have disappeared so quickly? As if she vanished into thin air.

Leo walked back into the house. He was about to ask his father about Aunt Julia's sudden disappearance. Dad had disappeared as well. Leo heard a noise from the floor above him. His father must've gone to bed.

'Leo! I've gone to bed! You should too!' Dad called down the stairs as if to confirm Leo's thoughts.

'Yeah Dad! I'm going!' as he called to his father, his cat had run up to him. He meowed and looked sideways at Leo and he started towards the stairs. The cat knew that it was time for bed too.

'You're a smart one, aren't you?' Leo asked him. The cat just kept walking up the stairs, ignoring Leo. 'Guess not. But I think I've come up with a name for you,' he said as the cat sat down on the stairs and looked at him. 'I'm going to call you Casper.'

For the next week or so Leo always woke up with Casper curled into a ball, laying beside him. On the twenty-fifth of July, he woke up and found that Casper was not laying anywhere in the bed with him. Instead the cat was sitting beneath the window staring out into the sky. A shadow fell over the room. Then the shadow passed. It had happened so quickly that Leo didn't know what it was. Then it happened again and he saw.

A large bird kept flying past his window. When it saw Leo standing there, it came towards the window and started scraping his talons on it. It was a large barn owl with something tied to its leg. Leo wasn't sure what to do, but if he didn't open the window and let the bird in it would surely break the window into a thousand pieces.

'Hold on a sec,' he said through the window. He picked up Casper and took him out into the hallway. He set the cat down. 'Sorry, buddy, but I don't want you to attack him.'

He hurried back into his room and closed the door. There was a loud meow from behind it. Leo rushed to the window and opened it. The owl flew through the open space so quickly that Leo jumped back, onto his bed to avoid a collision. The owl landed on the back of Leo's desk chair and held out its right leg. There was an envelope made of thick parchment tied to it. Leo quickly untied it. The owl flew back through the window and out of sight. Leo left the window open a little bit to let in the fresh summer morning air. He walked through his door leaving it open. Casper ran back through it and went to the window as if to guard it from any other potential attackers.

Leo searched for his father all over the house. He looked in the driveway and saw no vehicles. He glanced at the clock. It was past eleven. His father had gone hours ago. Leo had slept very long.

Leo looked down at the envelope, examining it for the first time. In a very neat hand, written with violet ink the envelope read:

Mr. L. Perry

Little Sand-Coloured House

154 Hilton Rd.

Hilton

Ontario

That wasn't a proper address. Then again it hadn't exactly been properly delivered. Was Leo going crazy? Owls delivering letters?

Suddenly he remembered his Aunt Julia. Was this the letter she was talking about? If it was how did she now he would receive it? He decided he would call her.

He searched in the drawer of the table where the telephone sat in the living room. There it was, his father's address book. He flipped to the J section but then realized that she would be listed under her last name. Now what was it? Leo remembered, he flipped to the S section. He looked under Sybill and he found it. Her phone number was not local. He did not even recognize the area code. He called anyway.

'Aunt Julia? ... Hi, it's me, Leo . . . I found it in Dad's address book . . . Anyway, I got my letter, I think. An owl gave it to me through my window.' Aunt Julia began to laugh and said that she would be there as soon as she could.

Leo hung up the phone and sat down on the couch. He wondered how long it would take Aunt Julia to get there. She obviously didn't live locally. Casper jumped up into Leo's lap. Leo had sat there no longer than five minutes petting Casper, when he heard a faint popping sound and his aunt appeared in front of him. She was still laughing.

'I knew you would get your letter!' she cried happily, 'Your mother would be so proud!'

'Can you tell me what's going on?'

'Oh, yes. You're a wizard.'

'A-A wizard?' Leo asked in disbelief.

' Yes, Leo you're a wizard. Your mother and I are witches. And our mom and dad were witches and wizards too. You come from a long line of them.

'There's a whole society of us. We're all over the world. We have shops, schools, sports and everything else that muggles have.'

'What's a muggle?' Leo asked.

'Oh, that's just what we call the non-magic folk. Your dad's a muggle. One of the nicer ones I might add.'

'Magic?' Leo was overwhelmed. His head was spinning with questions, 'What do you mean "non-magic"? You mean magic, magic?'

'Yes Leo. We use wands and potions. But we're not like those witches and wizards in those stories or on your television. We're not all evil and we don't just know everything about magic. That's why we have to go to school. That's what your letter is all about.'

'Wait. You don't have television?' it was the only question Leo could ask. He had so many more but that's what came out.

'No, television's a muggle invention.'

'Is this that thing that Dad didn't want me to know about?' Leo asked.

'You are a smart boy. Yes it is.'

'And so the present you gave me, was that wizard candy?'

'Yes.'

'But Dad said that this is what killed my mom. Did magic kill my mom?' Leo asked before Aunt Julia could say anything else.

'I think you should talk to your father about that one. But remember that magic is not always bad, and if you make the right choices it can't hurt you,' her smile had disappeared.

'But what if dad won't let me, you know, be magic?' Leo asked.

'Oh don't worry about that. He can't really do anything about it, I'm sorry to say,' she smiled, 'You're different. You must have noticed it before. You can't possibly live as a muggle. You've already shown your first signs of magic. Your father told me about your incident at school,' she added as she saw his questioning look.

'Oh, all right then,' he said.

'OK, well let's open your letter,' she said, smiling again, 'Unless you want to wait until your father gets home.'

Leo smiled back. He couldn't wait any longer. He was so excited now. He ripped the envelope open with eager fingers. There was only one piece of parchment inside. There was only a small message on it. The rest, including the back was blank. Leo read it.

EGGSWAX NOTORIOUS SCHOOL OF SORCERY

Headmaster: Samuel Olorin

Dear Mr. Perry,

This is an invitation to attend your first year of magical education at Eggswax Notorious School of Sorcery. You will find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Please note that first years have no choice in their courses. They must take the following courses, Magic History, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense against Dark Forces, Charms, Potions and Astrology.

Term begins on the 3 September. We await your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Ronald Wigelstrom

Deputy Headmaster

Leo looked back down at the envelope and saw that a second sheet of parchment had appeared. It was the list of his school things.

'Well, you'll have to write your reply, Leo. I'll take it and owl it to the school.'

'So do you wizards . . . I mean, do we always use owls for the mail?' Leo asked. Aunt Julia nodded and handed him a quill and some ink from her handbag. She also gave him a piece of parchment. Leo wrote his reply as best he could.

Dear Mr. Wigelstrom,

I can't wait to come to Eggswax. I'll be there as soon as term starts.

Sincerely,

Leo Perry

Aunt Julia put the letter into her hand bag. The two magical people sat there talking about their world for the rest of the afternoon. Leo learned so much about his new world and school.

Soon Leo's father was arriving home. He was surprised to see Aunt Julia there.

'Julia, what're you doing here?'

'Dad! I got my letter!' Leo cried before Aunt Julia could say anything.

'What letter is that?' his dad asked him.

'My letter for wizards school! An owl delivered it after clawing my window for about a half hour.'

'Oh that. You're not going.'

'What?' Leo asked in shock.

'I don't want you wrapped up in that magic stuff,' his father said in finalized tone.

'Aunt Julia said you couldn't stop me,' Leo said. It had sounded so rude, but he didn't mean for it to.

'Oh did she?' he said flashing her a dirty look, ' Well I'm your father and I say no!'

'Let's just sit down and talk about this calmly,' Julia said.

'What's there to talk about? Magic is dangerous! He isn't going to be involved!'

'He comes from a family full of wizards! He has magic flowing through his blood. He has already shown his first signs of magic, and you can't stop him from going to school,' Aunt Julia said this in a very strong voice. It sounded strange coming from such a small woman.

'I am here in the room!' Leo yelled at the two adults who seemed to have forgotten he was there.

'Why'd you call her, anyway?' asked Leo's father, 'Why wouldn't you have called me if an owl attacked you?'

There was a silence. Should Leo tell him that he had heard their conversations? Aunt Julia seemed as if she wanted to know too.

'I heard you guys talking the other night. I heard Aunt Julia say that when I got my letter she would come and help. I knew you wouldn't have called her, so I did.'

'How do you know I wouldn't have called her?' his father asked him.

'I heard you guys talking at my birthday too. You know when you took my present way from me. I heard you say that you wanted to keep me from it, which I now know is magic.'

'First of all, the present went bad-'

'Dad, I already know that its wizard candy and that's why you made Aunt Julia take it back.'Leo's father continued talking as if he hadn't heard his son.

'And second, you shouldn't be listening in on our conversations.'

'If you didn't go off and talk about me all the time I wouldn't have to listen to your conversations. And if you had just told me the truth, we wouldn't be having this discussion!' Leo yelled. His father paused and then continued.

'You also went into my drawer and looked through my address book!' he yelled, more furious than Leo had ever seen him.

'I didn't know that I wasn't allowed!' Leo protested.

'I didn't know that you would use it to call her! Witches!'he cried, 'I'm telling you Leo you aren't going to that school!'

'How can you say that!' cried Aunt Julia 'Your own wife was a witch! She went to school to become one and you loved her very much!'

'Yes and now she's dead because of it!' he yelled, 'Leo is not going to that school with those freaks!'

'Yes I am!' Leo yelled.

'NO YOU ARE NOT!' his father bellowed. Leo sat down on the couch in disbelief. He had been so happy just a few hours ago.

'Freaks! Freaks!' Aunt Julia cried in disbelief, 'That's what we are to you?'

'Do-do you think I'm a freak?' Leo asked his father, 'That's what they said at school. The kids, the teachers, even the principal! So you think so too?'

'Leo I never said that. Of course I-' Leo had heard enough. He left the room. He headed for the stairs, Casper at his heels. As he ran up the stairs he heard his father turn on Aunt Julia.

'You! This is your fault!'

'Jake, I was only trying to help. Trust me if you kept it from him, he would've found out eventually. Kora would've wanted him to go to school.'

'Kora's dead!' he said bitterly.

'If that's the attitude you want to take, then fine! She loved you though, she loved both of you! She knew you hated our world but she found the good in you. I don't think there's any good left. After the way you treated your son tonight, you should be ashamed! Leo is going to school and there's nothing you can say that will prevent it from happening. You can either take him, or I will. Term starts on September third,' she sounded every bit as formal as the letter that Leo had received earlier that day. Leo heard another faint popping noise. Aunt Julia had left.

Leo went straight to bed. He hadn't even eaten any dinner. He heard his father check in on him sometime that evening, but he just pretended to be asleep.

Leo was awake long in to the night. He sat in his bed thinking. Was he really a wizard? Could it be true? Maybe it was a dream. How could his father have acted so horribly? He had been so confused when the owl had started clawing his window that morning. He had been so happy when he found out that he was a wizard, just like his mom. He had been so excited when he read his Eggswax letter. He had been so upset with his father for being so rude!

How could he react like that? He wouldn't even allow Leo a say in the matter. How could he have kept these things from Leo for so long. At first Leo had been willing to ignore the fact that his father had kept the secret that he was a wizard from him for so long. Now, however his father would still not tell him anything. How could he expect Leo to accept that he doesn't want him to be a wizard if he wouldn't even give him a good reason. How could he be so brutal to Leo and Aunt Julia, in his refusal? Leo was so angry with him. He couldn't even stand him. Leo came to a conclusion. He would run away. That very night.