Leo Perry and the Scrolls of the Druid

- CHAPTER SIX -

Eggswax Airways

Leo stepped out of the car. He walked toward the back to the open trunk. With the help of his father, he lifted his School trunk out of the car. Aunt Julia was paying the driver of the taxi cab with the money Leo's father had given her.

She walked toward Leo and his father who were standing on the sidewalk outside the doors to the airport terminal. Leo had a carrier in his hand and inside was a slightly disgruntled Casper. He didn't like being confined.

'Well, here we are! Are you excited, Leo?' asked Aunt Julia.

'Um . . . you could say that. More like nervous,' said Leo, feeling just that.

'That's normal, Leo. But don't worry, there's nothing to be nervous about. I don't want to give anything away though,' she winked, 'It's a wonderful experience that you'll remember for the rest of your life, your first day.'

'Do you remember your first day Aunt Julia?'

'That was a long time ago, Leo. Your aunt may not be able to recall the finer details,' said Dad trying to hurry them along.

'Don't be so silly, Jake. I can remember it like it was . . . well quite a few years ago, but I can remember all the same. I can't tell you though, Leo. I don't want to spoil the surprise.' Even so, Leo spent a lot of his morning before heading off to school, listening to stories from the 'old days' when Aunt Julia and even his mother had been in school.

'We better get inside,' said Dad. Leo followed him through the doors.

'Where do we go now?' Leo asked looking around the long terminal.

'Look for Enchanted Airways,' said Aunt Julia. Leo scanned the room. He could see line ups full of non-magic folk, computers, large screens hanging from the ceiling, separate counters all along the very long room. There were doors past these counters. Leo spotted, right at the end of the room, a counter that was a different colour than all the rest. It was violet and above it hung a sign 'Enchanted Airlines'.

'There it is!' pointed Leo. Aunt Julia's eyes followed his finger.

'Oh, so it is!'she said. Dad turned to look.

'Where? I don't see it.' He was looking to the exact spot where Leo was pointing.

'It's right there, Dad. The purple one,' said Leo. He and Aunt Julia headed toward the counter. Dad followed blindly. As they reached the counter Leo saw that a very short witch stood behind it. Her head barely reached the counter top.

'Oh there it is!' said Dad, 'For some reason I completely missed it. Surprising, with this colour though.' Leo looked at his aunt who gave him an almost nonexistent wink.

'Eggswax, dear?' asked the witch. Leo looked at his aunt again.

'Y-yes,' said Leo turning back to the witch.

'Ah, first year?' she asked.

'Y-yes,' said Leo again.

'Well, there's nothing to worry about. Here's your ticket,' she handed Leo the small piece of paper, 'Have fun, eh?'

'Y-yes' said Leo.

'This way, Leo,' said Aunt Julia and he followed her through a door just past the counter. Dad followed dragging Leo's trunk which fortunately had wheels.

On the other side of the door was a whole new terminal. This one however was filled with wizards. Leo spotted their long robes and their pointed hats. Most were heading toward a counter at the other end of the terminal. He noticed that the counters weren't all the same colour, like in the first terminal. There were purple and green ones, as well as yellow red and blue. On the wall opposite to the counters was a very large fireplace, just like the one at the Canice Fors Centre. Every now and then someone would arrive through here carrying with them a large traveling trunk.

'See that one at the end, Leo?' said Aunt Julia, 'That's where we're going.' Leo took a closer look as he headed toward the end of the terminal. Most of the people headed toward that counter were children accompanied by older witches and wizards.

'It hasn't changed a bit,' said Aunt Julia. Dad was looking around wide-eyed, at some of the people and things in the terminal. Leo watched as a witch bent over and fixed a pair of classes that had been shattered and bent. She used her wand and then handed them to the boy. Dad looked at Leo in awe.

Leo read some of the signs above the counters. There were things wrote on them, like 'Carpet Airways: We fly as smoothly as your old magic carpets', 'Enchanted Airways: We'll fly you around the world and back!', and 'Old Mcgratey's Airline: If you fly with old Mcgratey, we'll pay you!'.

As they neared the counter, above which the sign read 'Eggswax Airways' Leo spotted another very short witch behind the counter. There was a long line up and Leo with his Aunt Julia and Dad waited.

'I wish I could go back,' said Aunt Julia, 'I remember one time, when the girls from my clan and I snuck out at night. We went to meet some boys out in the yard. When we got there the boys had been caught by a teacher and were all getting detentions. Old Professor Byrne saw us out of the corner of his eye. We managed to get away after a long and I must say scary race around the castle. Fortunately he never found out who it was, but the boys all missed the Halloween feast.'

'Oh, so were a trouble maker then?' asked Dad.

'Oh, well . . . n-no,' said Aunt Julia. She seemed to be coming out of a trance, 'No, no I wasn't. It was just that one time.'

'Yeah right,' said Leo, smiling.

'It was. No, Leo, don't go sneaking about at night. You could get in big trouble. It's OK to have fun though,' she winked as they reached the counter.

Leo looked down at the short witch. She was identical to the one he had met in the first terminal. They must have been twins. There was no possible way that she could be in two places at once. Then again, he thought, maybe there was.

'Ticket?' she asked. Leo showed her the piece of paper, 'Have fun at Eggswax, dear.'

'This way,' said Aunt Julia passing through a door. Casper gave a small meow as Leo followed his aunt through the door, Dad right behind him.

Leo now entered a room with rows upon rows of chairs. Most of the chairs were filled with witches, wizards and their children. There was a large window at the other side of the room, through which Leo could see a large blue plane.

'So, now what?' Leo asked.

'Now, we wait,' said Aunt Julia, 'When everyone's here and the plane is ready to go they'll call you.'

'That's it?' asked Dad, 'No papers? No customs?'

'Oh, dear, no,' said Aunt Julia, 'We don't worry about all that in between nonsense like muggles do!'

'The things muggles use aren't that bad,' said Leo, 'We are using muggle technology to get to school, right?'

'Well, yes,' said Aunt Julia, 'But how else would you get all these students to Eggswax? Besides our planes don't have engines and they don't need fuel. Magic is used to fly them.'

'That would explain a lot,' said Dad.

Leo looked around the room at the other students heading to Eggswax. Some of the older students were reuniting with friends. Some of the younger students, probably other first years, were sitting with family members who would reassure them, that they would be all right. He could see some girls young and old crying and even a few of the boys.

'How many students are there?' asked Leo surveying the full room as even more children arrived.

'Every child with magical abilities from Manitoba, Ontario and the eastern territories go to school at Eggswax,' said Aunt Julia.

'What about the other provinces?' asked Leo.

'Well, there's other schools in Canada that they go to. It think there are four. Eggswax, one in Quebec, one in the maritimes and one way out west. I think the one out west is in the Rocky Mountains but I'm not sure. I've never been there.'

'Cool,' said Leo. There were wizards all across Canada and he never knew about them. There's a whole hidden society that he was now a part of. He loved keeping secrets.

'You're going to have so much fun tonight, Leo,' said Aunt Julia.

'What'll be happening?'

'Well, you'll have your plane ride, where you'll probably make all sorts of new friends. When you arrive at school you'll have your sorting and the feast. I remember it so well. Ah, you'll love it! At my sorting, I was so embarrassed, but of course no one ever knew, did they?'

'I guess,' said Leo.

'Oh, I was so happy to be sorted into Godrocerf. Of course so was Kora, she got to join her big sister!'

'What are you talking about?' asked Leo.

'What?' asked Aunt Julia once again seeming to come out of a trance.

'What?' Leo said confused.

'What?' Aunt Julia repeated.

'What are you two doing?' Dad asked.

'Eggswax Airways passengers please start boarding,' a voice called.

'Well, you better be off,' said Aunt Julia, starting a conversation that was taking place all around the room.

'Yeah,' said Leo.

'We'll miss you,' she said.

'I know,' said Leo.

'Don't get into too much trouble,' said Dad.

'I'll try,' said Leo.

'Don't forget to write us all the time. I'll keep an eye out for those birds,' Dad laughed.

'OK,' said Leo, 'Bye!'

'Goodbye!' they called as he walked toward the plane entrance, 'See you at Christmas!'

Leo entered the line behind many other students. Some of them were still hugging and saying goodbye to their parents. The line began to move and a wizard in an Eggswax Airways uniform began taking tickets. He put his trunk on the moving conveyor belt and it was taken away to the plane. Leo handed the wizard the peace of paper that the first short witch had given him. He looked back toward Aunt Julia and Dad. They waved. Leo felt even more nervous leaving them behind. He would have to face this alone and he had always had someone there to help him.

He walked down the hallway and went through the plane door. The plane was very long. With three rows of three seats, the plane stretched out for what seemed like miles. It was definitely longer on the inside than the outside. This was the only way to fit this many students onto one plane apparently.

Leo headed down the first aisle headed toward the back of the plane. There hadn't been a seat number on his ticket so he assumed he could sit anywhere. He decided he would look for Josh, the only person he knew. He walked a few steps and there, sitting in the outside seat of the middle row, was Josh.

'Hey, Josh!' called Leo. Josh turned away from his friend who he had been talking to.

'Hey,' he turned back to his friend to continue talking. Leo decided he didn't want to sit with Josh, besides there were no seats available anywhere near him. Leo continued walking.

'Hey you!' a voice called. Leo looked to his right. The boy that had called him was waving him over to the outside row of seats, 'First year?' he asked.

'Yeah,' answered Leo.

'Well you can sit with us. We don't know anyone either.' Leo sat down beside the boy, in the outside seat.

'I'm Henry, Henry Walsh,' said the boy. He had light blonde hair, and wasn't much larger than Leo.

'Leo Perry,' said Leo. He shook Henry's hand.

'I'm Chris,' said the boy next to Henry.

'Chris?' said Leo. He didn't care for that name much.

'Yes, Chris Haveroth. Is there a problem?' he asked. He had light brown hair and wore a smirk on his face that might've intimidated Leo if he hadn't already met a Chris he didn't like.

'No,' said Leo, 'I just know a Chris that I really don't like.'This Chris seemed to take this statement as a personal insult.

'Well,' said Chris, 'He couldn't be that bad.'

'Oh, he is!' said Leo, which seemed to make Chris sure that he didn't like Leo.

'What do you know?' he said and he turned to look out the window.

'Don't mind him,' said Henry, 'I think he's a bit nervous.' Just then two heads appeared over the top of the seats in front of them. It was two girls.

'Guys! Don't,' Leo heard a voice from the remaining seat.

'So you're first years too?' asked one of the girls. This one had straight, long, red hair. She had some freckles on her nose.

'What?' asked Henry.

'Were you listening to our conversation?' asked Chris.

'Well kinda,' said the other girl who had short brown hair.

'We just wanted to meet some other first years,' said the red-haired girl, 'I'm Jessica.'

'And I'm Jamie,' said the other girl.

'I'm Henry and that's Chris,' he pointed at Chris who had turned to look out the window again.

'Leo,' said Leo as the girls looked at him.

'Leave them alone,' said the voice in front of them.

'Oh, get up here Deirdre,' said Jessica. Another head popped up from the seat in front of Leo. She was very pretty, with brown and green eyes. She seemed very shy and nervous.

'Guys this is Deirdre,'said Jamie, 'Deirdre, this is Leo, Henry and that's Chris, he's too good for us apparently.' Chris looked up.

'Well if you hadn't been so rude in the first place!' he said.

'See I told you not to eavesdrop!' said Deirdre.

'It's not a problem,' said Leo.

'Yeah,' Henry chimed, 'We don't mind. Don't listen to him, he took to many nasty pills today!'

'Welcome to Eggswax Airways,' said a voice, 'Will all passengers please fasten their seat belts. The plane will be taking off in just a moment. Thank you.' Leo, Henry and Chris followed instructions as the girls sat down in their seats and fastened their seat belts.

Leo looked out the window as the plane began to move. It rolled out onto the runway and began to gather speed.

'Here we go!' said Henry. It just occurred to Leo that he had never been on a plane before. Now there was something else to worry about. As he tried not to think about what could happen he watched out the window as the plane lifted off the ground.

'You all right?' Henry asked turning to Leo.

'I think so,' he said.

'That makes one of us,' said Henry holding his breath.

Five minutes later they were above the clouds, soaring through the air. Henry, almost blue, took a breath.

'You may now unfasten your seat belts,' said the voice that had told them all to fasten them.

'Glad that's over,' said Leo.

'No kidding,' Henry sighed. The three girls popped above the seats again. Jessica and Jamie smiled at Henry.

'Having a rough time there?' asked Jessica, still smiling.

'Shut up,' said Henry.

'You know,' Jamie laughed, 'They have barf bags!'

'You enjoy the misery of other people don't you?' Henry said, sounding normal again.

'I find it quite entertaining,' Chris added.

'That's not nice, you guys,' said Deirdre, 'Some people don't like airplanes.'

'You're just saying that because you almost threw up when we took off,' said Jessica.

'Who cares,' Leo spoke up, 'What does it matter?' Everyone was quiet for a moment and then Jessica and Jamie started talking with Chris.

'So, you guys looking forward to this?' Henry started up a new conversation.

'I can't wait to get there!' said Deirdre, 'My mom and dad have told me so many stories about Eggswax. I want to see what it's like. I can't wait to take lessons.'

'Lessons are the last thing I'm looking forward to,' said Henry.

'So your mom and dad are both wizards?' Leo asked Deirdre.

'Yeah,' she said, 'Yours aren't?'

'No, well, my mom was and my Aunt Julia's a witch,' he said.

'So your dad's a muggle, then?'

'Y-yeah.'

'My parents both come from magical families,' said Henry.

'So do you guys already know some magic?' Leo asked.

'Yeah, that's why were about to spend the next seven years in school with you!' Henry said sarcastically.

'We don't know any more than you do,' Deirdre said almost apologetically for Henry's sarcasm.

'Good. I thought maybe you guys already knew a whole bunch of magic and I'd be way behind. I just found out that I'm a wizard,'said Leo.

'Nope.'

'I thought you said your mom's a witch,' said Henry, 'So how come you didn't know you were a wizard before?'

'My mom died when I was born,' said Leo, 'My Dad didn't want to tell me about being a wizard until now.'

'Why?' asked Henry.

'That's kind of personal,' said Deirdre.

'I don't know why,' Leo lied. He just met these kids. He didn't know anything about them and they could tell anyone his life's story if he told them. He didn't want everyone at school to know that he had a father that didn't like wizards.

'Does anyone know exactly where the school is?' asked Henry.

'Don't ask me,' said Leo, 'I didn't even know it existed until a month ago.'

'I don't know either,' said Deirdre.

'Well, I know,' Chris said as he Jessica and Jamie turned to them.

'We were just talking about it,' said Jamie.

'Yeah. Chris says its way up north,' added Jessica.

'If it were up north, wouldn't it be really cold?' asked Leo.

'Yeah, except for the fact that we're wizards,' said Chris rather rudely, 'They've bewitched the school grounds. They have basically normal, more southern weather. They have all the seasons. The winter isn't as cold as it normally would be, though.'

'How do you know this?' asked Henry.

'I heard,' said Chris.

'So it's like there's a dome in the middle of the arctic that gets southern weather? So it'll still have trees and water and everything even though it's surrounded by winter?' asked Deirdre.

'Yeah,' said Chris, 'They've even done something, I don't know what, so that the school gets sunshine during the day at the time when the rest of the arctic doesn't get any.'

'Oh yeah,' said Henry, 'Because sometimes the sun doesn't shine on parts of the arctic for months at a time.'

'Really?' said Deirdre.

'Yeah, it's because of the tilt of Earth or something,' said Henry.

'Who cares?' said Jessica.

'Good point,' said Henry, 'I read it in some muggle book.' Leo looked down the aisle. A stewardess in red robes was walking down the aisle with a cart full of snacks.

'Would you like anything?' she asked the children. Leo handed her a few sickles which he had in his pocket. He bought a couple chocolate frogs and a box of every flavored beans. He shared the beans with the other children. He looked down at his chocolate fogs and read the package.

Chocolate Frogs

The same British snack you've loved forever, now made in Canada with Canadian wizard cards!

Leo opened one. As he ate the wonderful chocolate that he remembered from his birthday, he took out the wizard card.

Cornelius Kreighoff

The first wizard to paint pictures for both muggles and wizards. He also uncovered many forgotten and ancient magics through his studies.

Leo spent the next hour talking with Henry, Deirdre, Chris, Jessica and Jamie. They talked about school, what they would learn. They also talked about home. It seemed that everyone was on the same page about that. They all missed their families and were already a little homesick.

Leo even let Casper out of his carrier, which had been sitting beside his seat out of the way. It seemed that Casper had been able to keep himself occupied with some of the toys Leo had put in there with him. The girls all loved him and he enjoyed all the attention he got being petted. He didn't seem to like Chris. Every time that Chris tried to pet him, Casper would give him a nasty look and walk over to Leo.

'I have an owl,' said Henry, 'I got her for my birthday. Her name's Holly. My parents are going to send her in the morning with mail.'

'Will all passengers please fasten your seat belts. The plane will be landing in a few moments,' said the voice from the beginning of the flight. As the plane came down, they all leaned to see out the window. After they had descended through the clouds, Leo could see nothing but snow, white snow. Then, suddenly there was rain outside the windows and Leo could see short whit mountains in the distance. He could now the green lawn and the next moment all of the first years looked in awe at a massive castle, surrounded by green lawns, small forests and gardens and even a thin stream running through the yard.

The castle was very tall with too many towers and turrets to count. There were bridges and balconies on the higher parts and there were very large stained glass windows on the larger parts of the buildings.

Leo stared at his new home and school with amazement as the airplane landed on a short runway on the yard.