Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 4: Old Friends

Hesitant was an understatement. What Briallen first felt when her grandfather told her about floo travel was enough to make her almost pass out from fear and anxiety. It had taken nearly a week for her to calm down enough, to pluck up enough courage, and to ready herself for floo travel. And that was only to Boston, a few hours away from Dustum.

What her grandfather was asking of her now, though, was too much.

"Let's just get the rest of my stuff here!" squeaked Briallen, refusing to go any nearer to the roaring fireplace in O'Doyle's. "We don't really need to go all the way to London!"

"I promise you, Briallen, it's safe. From your home to Habory Lane, it took less than a minute, correct?" asked Cal, who held his pouch of floo powder open and ready for use.

"A few states away! Tiny states! This is across an ocean and one of the basic principles of fire is that water puts it out," said Briallen in her best attempt at being reasonable.

"It will take no longer than five minutes, I swear to you. Business to business is the quickest, clearest connection. It's like - like a game of hopscotch."

Briallen clearly remembered from her math class the year before that the quickest way between two points is a straight line and, in this case, that line took them over the Atlantic ocean. Briallen had acquired a sudden fear of being stranded, alone, in the middle of the ocean, where she could very possibly drown or by eaten.

"I-don't-want-to-be-eaten-by-sharks!" said Briallen in one breath.

"She's not too familiar with floo travel, is she, Calhoun?" asked a tall, old wizard with a wrinkled half-smile of condescension.

He wore the most expensive-looking robes Briallen had seen yet: onyx black with pinstripes of gold thread, buttons of shiny gold orbs inlaid with sapphires of such a dark blue that Briallen thought they were black at first look. On almost all of his fingers he wore rings, big and small, and all covered in various precious jewels. His dark gray hair was shorn very short, as was his well-trimmed beard. He glowed with wealth and superiority and stood out in O'Doyle's like a Emperor in a Neanderthal's cave.

Next to him stood an young boy a few inches taller than Briallen with thick, neatly combed black hair and sallow, sunken cheeks. His eyes were on the floor and his hands were behind his back. His clothes were not as conspicuously wealthy as the elder wizard's next to him but he still managed to look well-off with shiny, black leather shoes and an opal-buttoned formal shirt. He also had a basic black Bergamot cloak made of a rich material draped around his shoulders and Briallen briefly wondered if she could get one as nice for herself.

If the two looked happier, or just more amiable, Briallen would have thought they were on their way to church.

"Carey and Lucan Stone, how are you both today?" asked Cal in a polite and dignified manner. Carey nodded and Cal continued. "This is my granddaughter, Briallen... We visited Cecilia Penny not too long ago, to have Briallen fitted for her Bergamot robes, and Cecilia mentioned that she had fitted Lucan much earlier in the day - I would have thought you had returned home by now."

Briallen remembered what Mrs. Penny had said about Carey Stone and his grandson, Lucan. They were dark wizards according to Mrs. Penny, and they were rich and rude. Mrs. Penny had even said that Lucan wouldn't acknowledge her. Briallen believed it because, with his eyes on the floor, he wasn't acknowledging her and her grandfather either. She decided immediately that she disliked the both of them very much.

"Lucan and I decided we should visit London this afternoon and meet some old friends for supper tonight. Lucan, remember your manners," Carey demanded as he squeezed the young boy's shoulder with one of his large, overly-accessorized hands.

Only then did Lucan look up at Cal and Briallen. He nodded curtly at and held out his hand.

"Dean Bevin, hello," he said apathetically as he shook Cal's hand. Then he turned to Briallen, his hand still held out expectantly. Briallen unhappily put her hand in his but he didn't shake it. She looked at him, confused, and saw that he was staring at her. "You're Dean Bevin's... granddaughter?"

Carey Stone gave his grandson a smile of approval that changed to contempt when it was then focused on Cal.

"My mom and her side of the family are Choctaw - that's a Native American tribe, if you don't know," Briallen told him impatiently, as if he were stupid, since it was obvious he was surprised by how different she looked from her grandfather.

Lucan nodded and glanced at the floor and then quickly at his grandfather, who seemed to be engaged in a glaring match with Cal Bevin. Briallen tried then, discreetly, to remove her hand from Lucan's but he held her hand tightly and wouldn't let go.

"That's really very interesting," said Lucan before he abruptly bent to kiss her hand, as a knight would a princess. Except that he was no knight and Briallen certainly didn't consider herself a princess. If anything, she believed he was more a princess and she was more a knight, though she was entirely unwilling to let her lips touch any part of his hand, or any other part of his body for that matter. "I'll see you at school this year? You're going to Bergamot?"

Briallen viciously yanked her hand away and wiped it hard on her jeans as she glared at Lucan. She didn't take her eyes from him for even a second so to make sure he wouldn't be able to kiss her again if he tried. She had never been so disgusted by a boy as she had been just then. Though if Lucan was offended by her harsh reaction, he didn't show it. He did watch her intently as she did her best to clean her hand though, and his eyes stuck to her hand for longer than what was considered normal.

"Yes, I'm going to Bergamot. I'll probably be in Almerick, though, and you'll definitely be in Platt."

"Most likely. What a smart young lady you are," said Carey, actually sounding sincere, as he pulled Lucan away from Briallen so hard he nearly picked Lucan up off of the ground. "I think I need to speak to your silly mother about those Muggle films she lets you watch, Lucan. They've obviously had a negative influence."

Briallen just wanted to get away from the Stones. They made her uncomfortable; Carey because of his cruel look and Lucan just because he was weird. And both Carey and Lucan had eyes so black that Briallen couldn't even see their pupils, until Lucan had stepped closer to her, and that frightened her as well. They reminded her of demons she had seen in an old scary movie earlier that summer. She adjusted the bag she carried over her shoulder and stepped back.

Quite suddenly, and in desperation, she took a handful of floo power. While her grandfather and Carey continued to politely insult one another, Briallen stepped next to the fireplace. Lucan watched her but didn't say anything to either of the elderly wizards.

Briallen seriously considered letting Lucan know just how creepy he was behaving but she had to focus all of her will-power on what she was about to do.

"Diagon Alley!" said Briallen forcefully as she threw the floo powder in the hearth and stepped into the flames.

The trip wasn't as rough or dizzying as it had been before and her grandfather was right about it not taking very long. Briallen kept her eyes open in order to make sure she didn't accidentally fall out and into the ocean. But she never once saw the ocean, or any other body of water for that matter. Like before, as she swirled past dozens of fireplaces, she saw other witches and wizards, going about their business as usual. In one pub that she passed, Briallen saw a few black and gray wolves lounging in front of the fireplace, watching her as she passed by, and in another, everything from the floor to the ceiling to the drinks were green. Where the fireplaces she passed were actually located, Briallen had no idea, but she was positive she had gone north and then south, since the people she saw through the fireplaces wore progressively more clothing, and then less again.

And then she landed

She fell out of the fireplace and coughed a few times before she began to wipe the soot off of her clothes and shoulder bag. Once she felt she was clean enough, she examined the place she had landed in. It was a dusty, dimly lit pub that was not so big as O'Doyle's but was large enough to hold a decent amount of people. It was just as crowded as O'Doyle's, though, but with a different sort of clientele.

There were people in the pub that, to Briallen, were normal and that she would feel safe to be around, however, there were many pub patrons that were undesirable to even look at. On her right was a table full of older women whom she could only describe as hags, dressed in wooden clogs, quilted dresses and balaclavas rolled up far enough so that they could eat. They reminded Briallen of the Baba Yaga from the tales told to her by her grandpa Ben, her mother's father, before he died. Then, to her left, Briallen saw a man that reminded her of the hunchback of Notre Dame. He stood behind the bar, taking orders and chatting happily with the guests at the bar, one of whom was a giant of a man.

Briallen began to wish she had waited for her grandfather to go first. Which is why, when she heard the sound of someone landing in the fireplace behind her, she turned to greet them with a big smile. She thought it would be her grandfather, but it wasn't.

"This isn't the best place to visit by yourself sometimes. Though I'm sure you've already realized that," said Lucan. His black hair was peppered gray with ash and mussed from the trip. Briallen was happy to see that Lucan's shiny leather shoes had been scuffed as well.

Then he did something that surprised her. He pulled his wand from the front pocket of his shirt, pointed it at himself and said, "Scourgify!" He then did the same to her.

Briallen punched Lucan sharply in his arm. "I don't want you casting spells on me," she said sharply as she examined herself. She was as clean as if she had just taken a shower, just like when Professor Montignac had cleaned her up after landing in O'Doyle's. She was unhappy to realize that there were kids her age who knew how to cast spells. She had originally thought they would all be at the same level when they started and know nothing; obviously this wasn't the case and, again, she felt that nervous knot in her stomach grow.

Lucan stared at the ground again, holding the spot on his arm where Briallen had hit him. "I'm sorry. I just thought you might like to be clean."

"I can clean myself, thank you. I'll be twelve in two months; I'm a big girl," she replied sarcastically.

"Mrs. Penny really influenced your opinion of me with whatever she said, didn't she?" Lucan wore a look of indifference but the tone of his voice gave away the fact that he wasn't happy with Mrs. Penny.

"She was honest," said Briallen, crossing her arms in defiance.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about. That 'honest' opinion she gives about people is based off of the five minutes she spends with them whenever they're in the store plus whatever gossip she's heard from Norah Briar. She doesn't really know anything about anybody," said Lucan bitterly.

"I'm sure she knows more than you."

"I seriously doubt it."

"No wonder my family hates your family," growled Briallen just as both of their grandfathers appeared, one after the other. Lucan's eyes flashed towards Briallen and he was almost gawking at her, surprised by her audacity.

"Briallen! You can't just leave like that! Merlin, if your parents found out you went off to London by yourself - "

"I've only been alone a few minutes," argued Briallen. She was in a bad mood after her short chat with Lucan, who was being pulled away to a doorway in the back by his grandfather.

"That's not the point, Briallen. You want to be treated as an adult then you need to act like an adult. You don't just run off. Not only was it rude, but anything could have happened to you! The floo network from Boston to London goes through Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and then England. What if you had somehow been stranded in Nuuk or Reykjavik or Belfast? How would I even know where to begin looking for you?"

"I'm sorry, grandpa. I just wanted to get away from them. They make me - they make me uncomfortable," said Briallen, upset, as she motioned toward the door that Carey and Lucan Stone had left through.

"Well I can understand how Carey Stone would make you nervous but Lucan is, like I've said before, harmless. He's been raised by his mother for the most part, and she's a good woman. Lucan is just shy - you shouldn't be so rude to him. He's had a conflicted childhood."

Just then the giant at the bar shouted a greeting at Cal and saved Briallen from further scolding. She was relieved as she and her grandfather made their way to the giant man. Briallen wasn't as affected by the scolding and lecturing her parents often gave her, if only because it was so often, but her grandfather was almost never angry with her. She could count on one hand the number of times she'd been reprimanded by Cal, and each time she had thought she would cry. She vowed to herself to never let that number grow higher than the number of fingers she has.

"Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again!" said Cal Bevin happily as he took one of the giant's hands in both of his own. "And what brings you to Diagon Alley today?"

"Harry Potter, sir. Just startin' his first year at Hogwarts! He's off gettin' fitted fer his robes just now, though... shame, I'd like yeh ter meet him."

Briallen noticed that Hagrid seemed quite proud of the fact that this boy, Harry Potter, was about to start at Hogwarts. She wondered if this Hagrid and the boy were related and if the boy was anywhere near as large as the he was. She also recognized the name of the school as the one her grandfather attended.

"Ah, I'd like to meet him too. Briallen - my granddaughter - and I were just on our way to Madam Malkin's, as a matter of fact. Perhaps we'll run into him."

"If yeh do, would yeh mind tellin' him I'll be there in a moment?"

"Not at all, Hagrid. It was a pleasure to see you again," said Cal as he shook the giant's hand once more. Hagrid raised his mug to Cal as he and Briallen walked away to same back room that Carey and Lucan Stone had disappeared to earlier.

"Did you go to school with that man, Grandpa?" asked Briallen as they stepped into a small courtyard surrounded by brick walls.

Her grandfather began tapping various bricks with his wand. "I did, a very long time ago. Carey Stone was at Hogwarts with us as well. Along with a few other characters."

Briallen only barely caught her grandfather's last sentence as she stunned by the fact that the bricks in the wall her grandfather had been tapping suddenly began to move until there was a large archway. On the other side of the archway was a street, very much like Habory Lane only it looked, to Briallen, even more magical. While in Habory Lane there were many people dressed in Muggle clothing, in Diagon Alley there were almost none. Everything looked slightly dirty or run-down and old fashioned. Briallen felt as if she had stepped onto the set of a movie, it was so unlike anything she had ever seen before.

"Madam Malkin's is just down the street but I'd like for you to hold my hand - it's exceptionally crowded here today and I don't want you getting lost and wandering someplace you ought not to be," said Cal as he took hold of Briallen's hand before she could even begin to argue.

"Like where? This place looks a lot like Habory Lane - look, a cauldron shop, a pet shop... and what's that store?"

"Which one?"

"With the brooms and uniforms in the window. The one all the kids are at," mentioned Briallen. She was unable to make out what any of the kids were saying due to the fact they were all talking at once, but she understood that something exciting must be going on and she desperately wanted to know what it was.

"Quidditch supplies... Quidditch is a wizarding sport. The new Nimbus 2000 racing broom has just been released; it's supposed to be a great broom for Quidditch. Quodpot is more popular in America, though. We passed a Quodpot store in Habory Lane - it was the one with all the explosions."

Any excitement Briallen initially had for wizarding sports diminished almost entirely when her grandfather mentioned the store with the explosions was a sports store. Any sport that had the possibility of blowing up didn't sound like much fun to Briallen. She decided she would definitely not be joining any sports while she was at Bergamot.

"Here we are - Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. In you go," said Cal as he ushered Briallen inside.

Cal immediately headed towards a section of the store with a large sign that read 'Winter Cloaks and Robes' but it was a smaller section nearer the back that caught Briallen's attention: 'Formal Robes.' She wasn't sure if magic schools held school dances but she still wanted to have a look at what witches and wizards considered to be formal wear.

Just next to the rack holding female formal robes were two boys up on stools, being fitted by two witches. Briallen remembered the giant from the pub mention that the boy he came to Diagon Alley with would be in this store getting fitted for his robes but neither of the two boys she saw looked like they were related to a giant. One had a thin face and white-blonde hair and the other had dark messy hair and a large pair of round glasses - both were very thin.

Briallen sighed. She had almost been looking forward to meeting an adolescent giant and possibly meeting someone who could be a pen-pal. She had an Australian pen-pal in the third grade and remembered, fondly, receiving a letter from her in the mail once a month for that whole year. Unfortunately Briallen had lost touch with her former pen-pal but she always wanted another.

The blonde boy noticed she was staring at them and smiled just slightly at her. Embarrassed, she smiled back and then turned her full attention to the formal robes, most of which she found ugly.

"Briallen? I've found you a pair of dragon-hide gloves as well as a winter cloak and a rain cloak. Try them on," suggested Cal as he handed one of the cloaks in his arms to Briallen.

"You know, I kind of liked the cloak Marisol mentioned - with diricawl feathers. Are they out of those?" joked Briallen as she pulled a heavy, fur-lined, winter cloak over her shoulders. The cloak was so long it almost touched the floor but Cal seemed to think this was a good thing as he nodded and didn't ask her to try on the rain cloak.

As they went to the register so that Cal could pay for the cloaks and gloves, the young boy with dark hair and glasses rushed out of the store and a witch dressed all in mauve appeared behind the counter.

"Cal Bevin! How nice to see you - did you notice Harry Potter? I just fitted him for his robes and he was such a pleasant young man," mentioned the witch Briallen assumed must be Madam Malkin.

"Is he the boy with the glasses who just left?" asked Briallen, looking towards the door just as a man who looked like an older version of the thin-faced blonde boy entered.

"Yes - oh, what a perfect choice for a winter cloak, my dear. Fur is always in style."

"He doesn't really look like he could be related to a giant, though," said Briallen, confused.

"Well, of course not! Who told you Harry Potter has giant blood in him?" asked Madam Malkin with a chuckle. "As tiny as he is, I'd sooner assume he's part house-elf! Though much more attractive. Looks just like his dad, just as handsome."

"That was Harry Potter, really?" asked the blonde boy who had appeared in line behind Cal and Briallen with the man Briallen had just seen enter the store.

"Apparently. Why is everybody talking about him like he's a..." Briallen paused to search for an appropriate word.

"God?" suggested the tall blonde man. "I've always wondered the same thing. He's no more of a God than I am."

Cal turned to look at the man and frowned immediately. Before saying anything to the man, however, Cal gave Madam Malkin a handful of gold coins that Briallen knew to be wizard money and then he turned fully and faced the man.

"Lucius Malfoy," announced her grandfather, more as a statement rather than greeting. Outwardly, Cal seemed to have even more dislike for this man than he did for Carey Stone.

"Calhoun Bevin," said Lucius, bowing his head as a greeting. "I just saw your niece, Matilda, outside. She mentioned she was looking for you."

"Thank you for letting me know. Have a good day," said Cal as he began to lead Briallen out of the store. "Let's go, Briallen, your cousins are waiting."

Briallen tried to turn and wave good-bye to the father and son she'd just met, which would have been the polite thing to do, but her grandfather kept her facing forward until they had left the robes shop. She wanted to know why her grandfather seemed to hate this Lucius Malfoy so much but her father's cousin, Matilda, appeared in front of them, delaying her questions.

"Uncle Cal, I've been looking all over for you! Atticus and the children are in Flourish & Blott's getting Arpad's books," said Matilda before suddenly noticing Briallen. "Briallen, right? Do you have all of your school books?"

Briallen nodded and stepped closer to her grandfather. Matilda was tall and very well-dressed with not a hair out of place, but she had a hectic manner of speaking and the unfortunate habit of leaning as close as possible to a person when she spoke to them which completely contradicted her appearance. Otherwise, Briallen would have mistaken her for Lucius Malfoy's sister, from her blonde hair to her narrow face and rich clothes. She made Briallen nervous.

"Mum! Astrophel is calling me names again!" cried a little girl from the book shop's doorway. Matilda sighed and shook her head before gesturing for Cal and Briallen to follow her into Flourish & Blott's.

"Astrophel Mercurius Radnor! What did I tell you about misbehaving? I'll have your ears if you keep it up!" whispered Matilda quickly to a young boy trying to hide behind a display of books about a man who lived with vampires. Matilda Radnor turned back to Cal and Briallen after eyeing the store's other customers to make sure nobody had seen her scolding young Astrophel. "I'm so sorry Uncle Cal. The children are just so excitable today."

"Quite normal behavior for young children," said Cal with a wink. Matilda forced a smile and nodded, though it was obvious she disagreed.

"Briallen - Arpad is near the back looking for his Potions book, if you'd like to join him. He's your age and about to start school as well. I'm sure you two will have much to talk about," suggested Matilda. Briallen shrugged but didn't budge from her grandfather's side. She didn't like the Radnor family very much and didn't feel like actually holding a conversation with any of them.

"Go on, Briallen," urged Cal. "This may be the last time you see your cousins for a while."

It was apparent to Briallen that the adults wanted to speak alone and so, annoyed, she started off to the back of the store where Matilda had said Arpad was. She had no clue what he looked like but that didn't matter - she figured she would just browse the bookshelves until her grandfather was ready to leave. She stopped in a section marked 'Bargain Books' which was far enough from Cal and Matilda that they didn't notice her but near enough so that she could still see them.

A book titled Advanced Transfiguration and Its Applications by an Oscar Longshanks grabbed Briallen's attention and she pulled it off the shelf to look at it. A sticker on the cover said it was a book for N.E.W.T. level students, not that Briallen understood what that meant. She did understand the blurb on the back of the book that mentioned several of the chapters inside where dedicated to the discussion and application of the animagus transformation. She had her grandfather tell her all about animagi after he mentioned them at dinner one night and she had been fascinated ever since. And it was on sale. She decided to keep it and ask her grandfather if he would buy it for her.

"Hello," said a boy, tapping her shoulder. Briallen turned around to look at him and knew right away it was Arpad Radnor because he looked just like his siblings. She groaned inwardly. "You're Briallen Bevin, correct?"

Briallen nodded and turned her attention back to the bargain books. Non-Difficult Non-Verbal Spells and Charms stood out immediately and Briallen secretly wished she had memorized such a seemingly useful book. She added it the growing pile in her arms.

"Non-verbal charms? Bit advanced for a first-year - non-verbal charms aren't taught until fifth year," said Arpad smugly. He had realized quickly that he knew more than Briallen.

"I'm a quick-learner," said Briallen. "Anyway, we're going to different schools. How do you know Bergamot doesn't teach non-verbal charms sooner?"

"Because I've read Bergamot, A History. It really does discuss everything about the school. I've also studied Hogwarts, A History. Haven't you read up about your school?" he asked haughtily.

"I have more important things to do with my time."

"Like reading books that won't be useful to you for several years?"

"It is possible to learn something before officially being taught it at school, you know."

Arpad frowned and looked down his upturned chin at Briallen. "Not for Muggle-borns. I doubt you can even cast a simple Lumos spell."

"I can and I have," said Briallen matter-of-factly. In truth, she hadn't cast any spells aside from her failed attempt to make a salt-shaker float. Her grandfather had mentioned that student's weren't really supposed to use magic outside of school and her parents, especially her father, enforced that rule by locking her wand in a filing cabinet in their closet. "Prove it," challenged Arpad, who had removed his wand. "I'll go first: Lumos!" The end of his wand lit up like a flashlight, much like Briallen's had when she had first held it. Briallen looked grudgingly from the lit wand to Arpad's smiling face. "Nox." The light went out and he looked at Briallen expectantly.

"I don't have my wand on me," mumbled Briallen, looking at the books again. She wished she hadn't said anything to Arpad about spells. She was humiliated, unable to prove her magic to her self-righteous cousin.

"You don't have it with you?" asked Arpad in disbelief. "You might as well stay a Muggle because you don't seem to be a very good witch."

Briallen could feel her anger boiling inside of her like water in a kettle that's been left on the stove too long. Cal had explained to Briallen that some witches and wizards looked down on those born to Muggle families and that she might experience some prejudice because she wasn't raised in a wizarding family. But she didn't expect any of her own family to pick on her for it. Suddenly Arpad cried out in pain; his hands were covered in nasty burn blisters, some of which had broken and were oozing on his cleanly pressed robes.

Within seconds, Cal, Matilda, Atticus and Agape and Astrophel had appeared next to her and Arpad. Agape and Astrophel were giggling about what had happened to Arpad while Matilda and Atticus were questioning their son about what had happened.

"She did it!" cried Arpad, raising an arm towards Briallen since he was unable to point.

"What?" asked Matilda, incensed and shaking. "Why would you burn him, are you crazy? He's your cousin!"

"Second cousin," corrected Briallen. "And I didn't do anything to him! I don't even have my wand!"

"Then who was it?" asked Atticus, not sound at all convinced of Briallen's innocence.

"I don't know - Lucan Stone probably," Briallen suggested. She looked around the store, hoping to spot Lucan.

"Who? Carey Stone's grandson? Why would he attack Arpad when they've never even met?!" cried Matilda.

"Because Arpad was being mean to me and - and Lucan has a crush on me! He's here today too, with his grandfather and he has his wand and he knows a bunch of spells and everything."

Cal shook his head. "It wasn't Lucan. He and Carey are dining with family at a restaurant down the street. No - calm down, Matilda, please - I'm sure that however it happened, it was an accident. Probably some teenagers joking around. It's just a misfired spell."

"It was her," Arpad whined. "She was raised by Muggles and she can't control her magic!"

"That's not - " began Briallen before Cal interrupted her.

"I think, Matilda, that Arpad should be taken to St. Mungo's," suggested Cal. "They'll have him set right sooner than if we tried."

"I agree," said Atticus, speaking for the first time. "We can purchase the rest of school supplies tomorrow. Let's go."

Atticus led the Radnor family out of Flourish & Blott's as discretely as possible. The only one to wave good-bye was little Agape.

"Briallen," began Cal.

"It was an accident! He was being really mean - he said I made for a horrible witch and that I should just stick to being a Muggle and that because I was raised without magic that I won't be as good at it. He was a jerk," Briallen said with emphasis, hoping her grandfather would agree with her that Arpad deserved what happened to him.

"Really? Well, his views of Muggle-born witches and wizards aside, that was an unfortunate first impression to give Matilda Radnor and her family. Vindictiveness is an awful trait and it will eat at you until you are no longer the person you once were."

"You're sticking up for him?" asked Briallen, incredulous.

"No. The things he said to you were cruel and narrow-minded. I'm saying that you shouldn't have lowered yourself to his level."

Briallen sighed. Her eyes were watery with fresh tears but she held them back. "I didn't mean to hurt him. I don't even have my wand."

"Magic doesn't come from a wand, remember? It's inside of us," explained Cal. He spoke slowly and in hushed tones so as to sooth his granddaughter. "That doesn't mean you need to hold back your emotions - on the contrary, our ability to feel is what makes magic so powerful. You just need to learn to control your magic and not let it control you. That is what schools like Bergamot and Hogwarts are for."

"So... so Arpad could've done the same thing?" asked Briallen.

"If so provoked, yes. All young witches and wizards produce magic without the use of wands at some point or another."

Briallen wiped her eyes with the edge of shirt sleeves and cleared her throat. She was glad they were in another country because she felt the situation would have been ten-times worse if any future classmates had witnessed it.

"Come on," said Cal, putting his arm around Briallen's shoulder. "Let's get the rest of your things and head home... are those N.E.W.T. level books in your hands?"