Leo Perry and the Scrolls of the Druid

- CHAPTER NINE -

Magic and Broom Games

The next two weeks passed without event. Leo began the 'real' work in his classes.

In Transfiguration he had just met the deadline to which he had to turn his pin into a match. Henry had gotten it after only three days and helped Leo when he had troubles. Leo was not the only one who had just managed though. Henry was in the minority.

His Defense Against Dark Forces teacher began teaching them curses and counter curses. They had even had a class where they got to curse each other and try to use the counter curses. Leo cursed James easily and managed to fend off James' curse pretty well. Most of the students left class and headed straight to the hospital where they got their new limbs removed, their itchy rashes and their newly coloured skin healed. There was even a boy who had to stay over night in the hospital. His partner, which happened to be Chris Haveroth, had made him so disorientated with a spell that he was caught in the crossfire of three other students.

Magic history turned out to be a lot of note taking. Professor Morzen tried his best to make it fun. The students acted out skits, made large posters and when they were studying certain spells that were used, they got to try them out.

Professor Beech had taught Leo many new and interesting things. He learned that there was a wizarding government that ruled democratically over the Canadian wizarding world. He also began to learn about magical animals and plants. There were so many that he had never known about.

Leo woke up on Friday morning. He got dressed and headed out to the living room where he found Henry.

'We get to go flying!' Henry said excitedly.

'We do?' Leo's still sleepy eyes widened.

'Yeah,' Henry continued, 'Tomorrow, after breakfast. We have to go outside to the playing field.'

'Where's that?' Leo asked. Since his arrival at school he had only been outside a few times. He had been really busy with homework and there was a huge castle to explore already. Any spare time that Leo had was spent inside. On the first weekend at school the weather had been bad anyway.

'It's that huge field in the middle of the yard.' said Henry, 'They call it the playing field because that's where everyone goes to hang around. They play small games of Quidditch and stuff.'

'What is Quidditch?' Leo asked curiously.

'It's a broom game,' said Henry, 'It's kind o hard to explain. There are seven players on each team. The chasers, there's three, use the quaffle to score in the goal posts. Each goal is ten points. The keeper tries to block their attempts at scoring. Then there's the beaters. There's two of them. They hit the bludgers with clubs. The bludgers are these balls that fly around and try to knock players off their broomsticks. Last is the Seeker. He tries to catch the golden snitch. If he does, he wins his team one-hundred-and-fifty points and the game ends. Get it?'

'It's kind of complicated,' said Leo, 'But it's easy enough to understand. Those bludgers sound violent.'

'They can be,' said Henry, 'So d'you have a broom?'

'Yeah,' said Leo, 'I bought it before I came. I flew on it once at home.'

'Really?' Henry asked.

'Yeah, I crashed though,' Leo said somewhat hesitantly.

'I've never had a broom before, I've never even flown on one,' said Henry, 'I'll have to use a school broom tomorrow. Maybe next year I'll be on the Loberon quidditch team and then I can get a broom of my own.'

'So how d'you get on the quidditch team?' Leo asked.

'Well, we can't,' said Henry, 'First years aren't allowed. There's a tryout tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to go watch?'

'Sure,' said Leo, 'It sucks that we can't try out, though.'

'Yeah, but then there's Nittlemac.'

'What's that?' Leo asked hearing about this for the first time.

'It's another broom game.' said Henry, 'Nittlemac is our school sport. Quidditch is played in all sorts of places around the world. Nittlemac is just played here. I think it started as just a game between students out on the playing field and then they made it the school sport. They let first years try out for it.'

'Did you learn all this out of that book?' Leo asked, wondering how Henry could possibly know so much.

'Yeah, Deirdre let me borrow it again,' Henry added, 'My dad also told me about it before I came.'

'Oh,' said Leo. The he and Henry headed down to the dining hall for breakfast. On the second floor, they noticed that the portrait of the woman who had yelled at them about Raserpen the day before, had been replaced. Instead there was a portrait of a man who was wearing a ruff around his neck and he had a goatee. He nodded at the boys as they passed.

After breakfast Leo headed to Transfiguration with Henry. Today they began trying to turn a piece of yarn into a worm. By the end of class Leo's piece of yarn had moved a little bit at the tip, while Henry had a bright pink worm crawling across his desk.

After that he went to Defense Against Dark Forces with Deirdre and Lizz. They practiced new curses.

'Etaches!' Leo cried pointing his wand at James. Most students had to get large spots removed from their faces before they left the class.

After a lunch of ham sandwiches, Leo headed to Magic History. He arrived after everyone else because he had to run back to the dormitory to grab his Magic History books.

'What did you forget?' asked Henry.

'Oh, just my textbook,' said Leo.

'Well you just made it back just in time,' said Leo.

'Yeah you're lucky you weren't late,' said Ashley, turning to Leo. Over the past few weeks he had gotten to know Ashley a lot better.

'Well, let's get started,' said Professor Morzen, turning to the class, 'We are going to learn some history about our school today. It's just a quick unit. We'll be done in a week. I'm sorry but this one's going to be a lot of notes, writing and reading.'The class moaned.

'Great,' Leo heard Henry mutter.

'So get out your quills and a piece of parchment and start writing.' With that Professor Morzen turned to the black board and started writing with chalk.

Eggswax Notorious School of Sorcery

A study of our school

Muggles did not settle in Canada until the 1500-1600s, and they believe that they were the first. However, there have been settlements of wizards in Canada since centuries before then.

These settlements were made up mostly of magical people seeking refuge from places where witchcraft was thought to be evil. Other wizards and witches came here to get away from the muggles that surrounded them. Others yet, were already here. They served as Shaman's, a sort of priest, for native tribes.

After muggles from the east found out about the 'New World' and started settling here, the magical population grew even more.

Eggswax, the first Canadian wizard school, was founded by a great Shaman wizard. After the 'white man' began to take over the land, he decided that he would build a school for native children with magical powers. This way the traditions that were slowly being forgotten with the coming of the 'white man' could last forever with his people. His name was Homagi. He was Eggswax' first headmaster. The first eight headmasters are held in high esteem because they are the only headmasters to never attend the school as students.

Homagi realized that many of the children of the settlers also had magical potential. He began recruiting them for his school. He felt that they should be able to learn the ways of magic as well. He also hoped to have some of them accept his beliefs, just as the 'white man' was trying to convince the natives of their beliefs. It was his subtle revenge.

The teachers, fellow Shamans, taught the native magic that their ancestors had brought to the 'New World' from Asia. As other teachers and headmasters taught different magics were introduced to the school. Today, students learn a variety of magics.

'So does anyone have any questions?' Professor Morzen asked the class after they had all copied it down. Henry's hand came up.

'Homagi was the one to originally name the clans right?' Henry asked.

'Right,' said Professor Morzen, 'But those weren't the names we have today. The eighth headmaster, Albert Lapshire, renamed the clans using a combination of the languages of all the previous headmasters. Each clan name stands for an animal. Very good, Henry.'

'You sure have read a lot of that book,' Leo whispered to Henry.

'Yeah,' Henry whispered back, 'I've almost got the whole thing memorized. This is my third time reading it. It's really interesting.' Leo was jabbed in the side by Ashley and he looked up to see Professor Morzen as well as the rest of the class looking at Henry and him.

'Just because you two don't need to pay attention,' said the Professor, 'Doesn't mean you shouldn't.' Leo looked back at his teacher.

'Sorry,' he murmured quietly. Henry said nothing, he seemed to take Professor Morzen's comment as a compliment. Leo thought about and discovered that it was true. In a funny way it was a compliment.

'As I was saying,' Professor Morzen continued, 'Not much is known about Homagi except for what we've already discussed. To tell you the truth, I don't think he did much more than name the clans. He got someone else to build the school, he hired teachers to teach the students and I think he pretty much just sat around barking out orders. Some say that he became very arrogant because he was seen as one of Canada's most powerful wizards. Besides that he lived a very boring life. He was born, he lived, then he died'. Many students laughed at their teacher's bluntness.

'The second Headmaster was one of the youngest headmasters Eggswax has ever seen. He was in his thirties but most Headmasters are about fifty when they take over the school. That reminds me,' he began to chuckle, 'The other day Professor Olorin was telling me a joke. An old guy walks into a pub. He says to the guy next to him "Hit by a bludger?" The guy turns to him and says "No, why?" The old guy says "Oh, it's just that you face is all . . . oh sorry." He decides to change the subject, "So what do you do?" The other man says "I'm a politician." The old man shudders and the other guy gives him a look. "Oh, sorry," says the old man. The other guy leaves and after a while so does the old man. He goes outside and he finds his wife standing there. He was not supposed to be out drinking. The old man reaches into his pocket and finds a piece of paper. Written on the paper are two words, "Oh, sorry."' The class didn't laugh.

'You didn't get it?' Professor Morzen asked.

'Yeah we got it,' said Henry, 'It just wasn't that funny.'

'Yeah,' said Leo, 'You need some new jokes.'Everyone in the class agreed that Professor Morzen was their favorite teacher, but his jokes, which he interrupted the class regularly to tell, were just simply bad.

'Alright,' he chuckled, 'Where was I?'

'You were talking about how young the second headmaster was,' said Henry.

'Oh yeah,' said the teacher, 'So anyway, he was originally from Ireland. His ancestors had been druids. Druids were kind of like Shamans, but served a variety of purposes. They knew some very powerful magics and when the second headmaster, Eoghan Egan came here he taught variations of it.'

'Wow,' said Henry, 'I have Irish ancestors. I wonder if I might have druid ancestors!'

'You could,' said Professor Morzen, 'How far back does the line of wizards in your family go?'

'Forever,' said Henry, 'I don't think anyone really knows.'

'Well then, you could, very possibly, be right,' the professor smiled. He was obviously happy that one of his students had made a connection.

'Eoghan Egan is famous for loving animals. He once had a sort of zoo in the yard. Students would take their Care of Magical Creatures classes out there, I guess. Many pet owners, pet stores, vets and reservations owe a lot to him and hold him in high praise. He was very strong, and when choosing students for his school, he valued bravery and intelligence.' The bell rang and the students began filing out of the class.

Henry said that he wanted to stay behind. He said he wanted to know more about the druids. So Leo headed to his next class, Introduction to magic.

'Alright,' said Professor Beech, 'Today we'll begin learning about how we perform magic. We use our wands mostly. Some magic can be done without using wands. Has anyone, probably before coming to school, done magic without a wand?' Nobody put up their hands. 'What about you Leo?' he asked randomly.

'Well,' started Leo. He remembered his old, non-magic school, 'I once pointed at a boy and a thunderstorm attacked him.'

'Was this a friend of yours?' asked the teacher.

'No,' said Leo somewhat sheepishly, 'He was a bully at my old school. He was picking on me and the teacher wouldn't listen to me.'

'That's pretty common,' said Professor Beech, 'Often when potentially magical children clash with other children, anger can come out in the form of magic. Your frustration with this particular teacher probably added to the situation as well. I bet that was some storm you conjured up.' He smiled at Leo. Leo smiled back and nodded.

'In the old days, the very old days, some wizards used large staffs as wands to do their magic. They doubled as walking sticks because many wizards acted as traveling seers and whatnot. These staffs were often intricately carved and some were designed to look like gnarled old branches. As modern technology progressed and people found alternatives to walking, a more compact and convenient model was used to perform the most powerful magics. As long as a wizard has a wand he can learn to do almost anything as long as it applies to the laws of time and space, but we don't get into that here.'

'Ah,' Leo heard a boy behind him sigh, 'He finally gets to something interesting and he stops talking about it.' Leo chuckled to himself. For the rest of the class Leo learned the history and theory of the wand. The bell finally rang after what seemed like an eternity and Leo practically ran for his living room.

'So how was it today?' Henry asked when Leo arrived in the blue room.

'We learned what a wand was,' Leo said.

'Oh, that bad eh?' Henry said, 'Well you know how it goes back and forth. Tomorrow he'll have you testing your wands and you'll get to really have fun.' Leo smiled.

'What're you reading now?' Leo asked him, looking at the huge volume in his lap.

'I found it on one of the bookshelves on the balcony,' said Henry, 'It's called How Magic Happens. It's about how magic develops in people. Did you know that some people don't develop their magical abilities until they're middle-aged?'

'No,' said Leo, 'I don't know, and I really don't care. So did you find anything out about the druids?'

'Not really. Professor Morzen recommended a book. I think I'll go to the library and see if they have it a bit later. We don't have it. I can tell you that. I looked all fourth period.'

Leo had a fairly uneventful night. After dinner he and Henry visited the library. Leo wasn't much help there. Every book that he saw looked interesting. Of course, the titles made absolutely no sense to him.

When Henry finally found his book, Magic Beginnings, they headed back to the Loberon living room. Leo spent the rest of his Friday night with the other first years. They talked, they told jokes and just had a fun time.

At around eleven he began to get tired. He noticed that Ashley had sat down next to Henry and asked him about his book and they were now in deep conversation. Leo told them he was tired and he headed to bed. As he walked toward the door, he bumped into someone.

'Sorry, Leo,' she said. It was Deirdre.

'That's alright,' he said.

'Excited about flying tomorrow?' she asked.

'Yeah,' said Leo.

'Well, goodnight,' she said.

'Goodnight,' he replied. As he exited the room he notice for the first time a large painting of a wolf on the far wall.

The next morning, after breakfast, Leo grabbed his Whistler One-hundred and headed out to the playing field. Upon arriving he saw that all of the other Loberon first years had arrived. There was a man standing in front of them. Leo hoped that it wasn't Professor Wigelstrom. He saw that it wasn't as he joined the other group.

'Alright,' said the man, he was short and he didn't have much hair, though he wasn't old, 'I'm Professor Murray. Glad to see you've all worn appropriate clothing. I want to get this over with, because I have to teach the Aguilors this afternoon. If you don't have a broomstick come and grab one of the school ones.' Beside Professor Murray was a pile of broomsticks. They were extremely old. Most had bent twigs and bumpy handles. The few brooms that were owned by students looked out of place.

'Now,' continued the professor, 'Lay your brooms on the ground beside you, put your hand over it and say "up!".'

There were shouts of 'Up!' from all directions. Leo placed his hand over his broom, where it lay beside him.

'Up!' he cried. His broom jumped into his hand instantly. It took many other students many tries. Leo noticed that they all had school brooms.

'Now mount your brooms!' called the instructor. Leo followed what everyone else did. He put the broom between his legs.

'Now, when I count to three, just the boys, take off. You'll have thirty seconds and then the girls will have a turn. One . . . Two . . . Three!' Called Professor Murray.

Leo pushed off the ground with his feet. He shot straight into the air, leveled out his broomstick and he hovered twenty feet in the air. He looked down to see that a few boys had not taken off. One boy, his name was Jason, had a broom that would not take off and he had to switch it for another. Ryan had fallen off his broom before he lifted off the ground and the broom was flying across the yard now. Professor Murray had mounted his own broom and taken off after the stray one.

Once all the boys had gotten into the air Leo started to have some fun. He took off at almost top speed. He heard people awe at his broomstick. He did a loop and then a spin upside down. He made a sharp turn and headed back toward the group.

'Wow Leo!' said Henry, whose broom was shaking very slightly. Leo smiled at his friend. He was about to challenge Henry to a race, when Professor Murray called them back down.

When the girls had all taken off, Professor Murray turned to Leo. 'That was very impressive, Perry.'

'Thank you,' Leo said. Leo spent the rest of his morning playing broom tag with his classmates. When they had finished, he headed back towards the school with Henry.

'Nice moves, Leo,' said a voice. Leo turned to see who it was. It was Chris Haveroth. He had apparently been watching the lesson.

'Thanks,' said Leo, 'Your lesson is this afternoon isn't it?'

'Yeah,' said Chris, 'It sucks, because I can't watch the quidditch tryouts. Oh well.'

'Yeah. Well we'll see you later,' said Leo.

'Yeah, see you around.'

After a quick lunch, Henry lead Leo to the Quidditch pitch. It was at the other end of the playing field. He saw students dressed in red on the playing field. The Aguilors were starting their flying lesson.

Leo and Henry sat in the middle section of the stands at the Quidditch Pitch. Most of the school had come out to watch. They were all there to support their friends or, as in Leo's case, to find out what quidditch was all about. Leo saw that there were three fifty-foot high, gold, goal posts at each end of the pitch.

There were tryouts for each clan. He watched as different players did different things and the audience cheered them on. He saw some go up against others at the goal posts. One was trying to score with a large red ball and the other was trying to block. This was a chaser and a keeper. He watched as others hit large black balls, the bludgers, toward moving targets. They were the beaters. There was even one boy who chased a very small, fast ball around the stadium. This was the seeker.

The Loberon tryouts began. There were two spots to be filled and four candidates. Leo saw Tom among them and waved. Tom and another boy worked together, throwing the red ball back and forth and trying to score. They wowed the audience with spectacular maneuvers. They did this twice against two potential keepers. Leo and Henry decided to leave just as the last clan began their tryouts.

As they passed the playing field, Leo realized that he had left his Whistler One-hundred with the school brooms. He went over to get it out of the pile. He hoped that no one had used it during the Aguilor lesson.

'I was wondering if you realized you forgot that,' said Professor Murray, 'Don't worry, I didn't let anyone use it. Although a few of them tried.'

'Thanks,' said Leo.

'You were pretty good this afternoon,' said the flying instructor, 'That's a real nice broom. We have quite some talent in that class. We would've seen more of it too, if we didn't have to use these old sticks, eh Henry?' He pointed at the school brooms and smiled at Henry.

'Why don't you take it for another go, Leo,' said Henry, 'See if you can do that one that Tom did. The three-sixty with the shallow dive. We were just watching quidditch tryouts,' Leo explained to Professor Murray.

Leo took off on his broom. Henry joined him after Professor Murray offered him a school broom to ride on. They tried to mimic Tom and managed to make themselves very dizzy. Leo had almost accomplished it when Henry swooped down to the ground, grabbed a handful of dirt, came back up and threw it at Leo.

Leo took after him like lightning. They chased each other around the yard. It was a bit easier for Leo. Leo threw in the odd loop or spin or dive and finally knocked into Henry. Henry fell, with his broom, to the ground, which fortunately wasn't that far away. Leo landed beside him. They laughed and walked back toward their instructor. Professor Murray had a gathering of students around him. Most were quidditch players who had just come from tryouts and were telling him what had happened. Leo noticed Tom standing to the left.

'You were really good at tryouts,' said Leo.

'Yeah it was great,' Henry agreed.

'Thanks guys,' he said, 'Looks like you're pretty good too. Leo you've got some killer moves. I thought you said you were raised as a muggle.'

'I was,' said Leo.

'Hmm. I guess you're just a natural then. And Henry, you say you've never flown?' Tom turned back to Leo. 'You should try out for Nittlemac. You should too, Henry. I played for the last three years. I wanted to move on to Quidditch though.'

'Maybe I will,' Leo smiled. Henry thanked Professor Murray for allowing him to use the broom and the two friends headed back to the castle.