by Nissa Gordon
"Do you think all my books are down this aisle somewhere?" Will asked as he looked up trying to see some of the titles to begin his search.
The bookcases was a lot taller than he was and the books were stacked right up to the very top shelf, which he had no idea how anyone was supposed to be able to see all the way up there or even get to any of them, with them only being students they weren't actually allowed to use their magic outside of school, and he couldn't see any ladders anywhere nor anyone who actually looked as though they worked here.
Will walked down the aisle careful not to bump into anyone as he squeezed through and strained his eyes to see the titles of the books, then he saw something that caught his eye so he reached out and pulled one of the blue leather bound books off the shelves; he turned it over and on the front read in silver letters ‘Level One Charms’. Will was actually quite pleased with himself for actually finding one of his books, just another seven more to find and then he's got them all; not hard at all.
He carried on down the aisle keeping hold of his book while looking for the others, then he saw a large stack of books on the floor which were all the same and everyone seemed to be picking up a copy so he moved along to find out what it was; lucky for him it was another book on his list ‘The Magical Language’.
As he bent down to pick up a copy he was knocked from behind and lost his footing, with being leant over so far, but as he fell someone grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him back up straight; he could already feel his face burning of embarrassment before he had even saw who had caught him.
He slowly looked up into the face of the guy who had caught him, through his long dark brown bangs, he could have died; it was the lad from the bank that he had been staring at. He was probably only a year or two older than him; he smiled at him as if realizing how horrified he was helping him stand up again before he let him go.
"You should be careful you know, it gets quite busy in here this time of year," the lad told him.
He bent down and picked up the book he had been reaching for and then handed it to him, surprising Will somewhat at how nice he seemed to be considering the comments that the others he had been with earlier had come out with, he appeared to be alright so far.
"So you're a first year then hay?" he asked him.
"Yeah," Will near enough whispered holding onto his book tightly wondering what to do, knowing that he shouldn't make himself look like an idiot especially if they were going to the same school.
"What school are you going to?" he asked him.
Will looked around unsure if he wanted to tell him in front of so many people considering what happened in the other shop, not that he was embarrassed about getting in there it was just how everyone reacted, as though only a couple of people managed it every year, when in truth well over a hundred always made it in. The lad though smiled at him and lent in closer to him which startled him making him step back slightly.
"I take it that we're going to the same school and that you're from a none magical family, right?" he asked him.
He just stared at him, completely bewildered how he had fingered that out, well except apart the fact that he was actually from a magical family.
"People always react dead weird when they hear of a none magic going to Burnaby Advanced," he told him quietly. "And you're buying the same books that we're on my list last year and also you were in the exchange queue in the bank,"
Will didn't say anything, he couldn't, he just stood there staring at him even though he wished that he could look anywhere else except at him; and of course tell him that he had gotten it all wrong about him, well some of it anyway.
"Travis...and you are?" he asked him.
"What? Oh...um...Will," Will answered.
Travis smiled at him again thoughtfully and took his list off of him before he could do anything to stop him, he held out his own list so that he now had two.
"I'll help you," Travis announced.
"What?" Will said taken aback, as he hadn't been expecting such a reaction. "But...no...it's fine...I can do it by myself..."
"I've got some time before I have to meet up with my mates, so I might as well help you," Travis told him as he walked off back up the aisle where he had just come from scanning the book shelves as he walked past them.
Will didn't know what to do, he didn't know who he was or if he really was going to help him; what if he lost his list then he wouldn't know what he needed, and of course he'd end up in trouble with his aunt and even worse with his dad when he got home. The other problem was that he didn't know how to tell him no and get back his list, without telling his aunt what had happened and looking stupid in front of an older student and a guy no less.
"Right, this ones mine and this one...I think it’s yours," Travis said as he pulled the two books down off of the shelves and passed them over to Will.
He read the titles of both books and neither of them were on his list, ‘Level Two Charms’ and ‘A History of Burnaby’, he looked at him confused to why he had given him the second book which he seemed to guess.
"Trust me, it'll come in handy," Travis told him. "The rest of the books are actually in their sections, just to make you look around and spend more money of course. I'm not really one for books, but my mate Reed is; he's got his own personal library."
"Okay," Will said still unsure, but it looked as though it was going to be the only way to get his books at the moment, was to just go along with him.
Travis turned around closely followed by Will, they made their way to the front of the shop but Will couldn't see his aunt even though he knew that she had to be somewhere in the shop and just hoped that he would be able to find her after he had found all of his books. They walked along to the third aisle and then went down it, this one only had a couple of people which Will was quite pleased about, as he finally had some room to actually breath.
"They say that this book should see you through the whole seven years," Travis told him.
"Really?" Will asked wondering which one he was talking about. "So I won't need to buy books for every subject every year then?"
"No," Travis said. "Just the main subjects as you get more advanced,"
"That makes sense," Will said following him.
He wondered if he had lied to him before when he said that he wasn't into books, because he seemed to know where the books were which he needed and a basic idea to where his own books were. Travis ran his finger along the books until he found what he was looking for and pulled another book off and gave it to Will.
"Right next aisle, we both need one off this aisle," Travis told him.
He walked down to the end and around the corner with Will still following behind him, there were a few more people looking for books and there was someone that Will recognized; it was the girl from the bank which meant that she was Travis' sister. She turned around her nose in a book, but she seemed to know that Travis was there and looked up seeing them both; Travis tried to walk around her before she said anything but she stopped Will instead.
"You found a little groupie then to help you out," She said smirking at Will.
Will didn't like her, nor did he think of herself as a groupie; he pulled his arm free annoyed with himself for not able to think of anything to say back to her, but he didn't need to because the book that she was holding suddenly burst into flames. She dropped it stepping back as Travis pulled Will out of the way, just as a man rushed round with his wand held out in front of him and waved it without saying a wand; water shot out of the end of his wand at the book putting the fire out.
"Really, starting a fire...in a book shop!" the man shouted at her. "Come with me, while I find your parents,"
The man marched her away against her will, while everyone else just carried on as though nothing had happened.
"Well...she'll be in a bad mood now until we get back to school," Travis said sounding somewhat depressed, as though someone had burst his bubble.
"Sorry," Will whispered, as h
e had a horrible feeling that he might have done that, not that he was completely sure how.
Travis stopped suddenly making Will walk into him, he quickly stepped back blushing once again, as he just seemed to keep embarrassing himself in front of this guy.
"You, you did that?" Travis whispered excitedly.
"I think so, probably; yeah...I do it sometimes when I get upset or angry," Will told him even though he wasn't sure that he should be, or even how to explain it. "Don't tell anyone though...god, my dad would probably have a thing or two to say about that when he got back home later,"
"Oh no...of course not," Travis said smiling as though wild ideas were springing to mind.
Will though didn't have any plans to use his powers for anyone else, nor did he want to make a big deal out of it; which was when he saw his book and took it off of the shelf. He was kind of a little worried now wondering if he shouldn't have told him what he could do; he didn't even seem to be paying attention to what he was doing because he hadn't picked up his own book which he said that he needed.
"What year are you in?" Will asked him.
"Oh...second," Travis answered just before he walked off down the next aisle.
Will frown as he watched him walk off, he really was doing it, just following him around like a groupie even though he had only known him for a couple of minutes; he grabbed his book off the end of the shelf or rather what he thought was his book and quickly followed after him. The only problem was he wasn't down the next aisle; he looked up and saw that it read ‘Charms’, well he had his book but he didn't have one for that subject; so he quickly went down the aisle looking for a book which had level two on it. He couldn't believe that he was doing this, these books weighed so much and he was actually looking for his still, even though he had disappeared on him; then he realized that he still had his list.
"Damn it." Will said loud enough for those stood around to hear, and look over at him.
A book flew off the shelf to his left and landed on top of his pile of books, he looked around wondering who had done it but couldn't see anyone with a wand out so lowered the pile to see what it was; he just stared at it not sure how but it was the book he had been looking for; that was kind of cool, he'd have to tell his dad about that when he got home since he had never been able to do that before and especially without a wand.
Okay he was excited at how he had gotten that book down, but he had to find Travis and get his list back for now, and find the rest of his books, then find his aunt and then he could leave the store and get away from Travis and his sister to get the rest of his things; simple he could do that.
Will carried on down the aisle and turned onto the next aisle, if he wasn't so annoyed he wouldn't have minded looking at some of the books because this aisle was titled Particle Magic for Everyday Use; now a couple of books like that would come in handy, as the books that they had at home were kind of dated. He spotted him then, near the end of the aisle so he hurried up to catch him, he saw a large book stuck out of the edge and picked it up as he walked past.
He wasn't stood alone, but there were two more lads stood with him not that he cared, in fact it would make it only a little easier; he gave the nearest lad to him Travis' books, he was almost the same height as Travis and had gelled spiked hair. The lad only just about caught them because he had been taken by surprise even more so when Will shifted his own books to his free arm and whacked Travis over the head with the book he had just picked up, he was almost knocked off his feet and the smile wiped off of his face; he grabbed his letter back off of him as he stormed past down the last aisle. He knew it wasn't a very good idea to pick a fight with an older lad but he didn't care as he had annoyed him by just walking off like that and making him carry all of the books by himself; well now that he thought about it, hitting him with the book was probably a little much, but he couldn't really do anything about it now except perhaps run away.
"I think you upset her," the other lad said as he lifted his head out of a book, revealing piecing blue eyes under his sandy hair which he pushed back with his free hand.
"She almost killed you," His friend said astonished, still holding his books.
Travis lent back holding his head staring at his friends seemingly speechless by her reaction, he didn't think that he had done anything wrong only tried to help her and this was how she repaid him, he might as well not have bothered. He wasn’t completely sure what he was going to do about it, but it wasn’t like he would never get to see her again as she was going to the same school as he was, which meant that he had a little time to figure something out.
Chapter Three
Twenty minutes later Will was laded down with books on the top balcony, he had somehow found all of his books without running into that Travis guy and his friends again; in fact he was sure that they had already left so all he needed to do was find his aunt somehow, even though that she seemed to have just disappeared on him.
He started looking through the crowd of people below and was sure that he finally spotted her looking around for him as she wasn't carrying any books of her own. He quickly made his way down the stairs that were just next to him, not wanting to lose her again; he was careful not to drop anything or trip down the narrow stairs because he couldn't hold the hand rail or see the steps because of all the books that he was carrying. He finally came out at the end of the fifth aisle and walked up the next aisles just in time to see his aunt who turned around just then looking relieved to see him also.
"I've been looking for you for ages," Anne told him.
"Sorry, but I found all my books," Will told her smiling brightly and as innocently as he could, hoping that she hadn't heard about what had happened with the fire or with him hitting someone; which it wasn't as though he did that sort of thing all the time, actually never.
"Well...I guess that's alright then," Anne said as they walked over to the counter which was actually surprisingly free of customers, considering the rest of the shop.
Another twenty minutes later they were walking down Archer Alley after finishing buying the books and also Will's first year potion supplies, along with another book and a cauldron which Anne was carrying because it was too heavy for him and all of the books.
"I can't believe that I have to take that thing with me to school," Will said frowning slightly, wondering why they haven’t invented something a little more modern.
"Yes, I know; you would think that they would supple something like this wouldn't you?" Anne said scowling at the cauldron. "But I guess it's so that you all take responsibility for all of your own things. Though I think you do get to store them in the actual classroom, you don't have to carry them around everywhere with you; which of course is a plus,"
"Oh well," Will said distractedly as he saw a cafe just before the alley split into two, he was getting a bit hungry considering that he didn't have anything to eat before he came out, and they had been walking around now for a while and with all this stuff that he had to carry, he really could do with something.
The cafe's umbrellas were patterned like festive mushrooms, though that didn't seem to bother anyone, in fact there was quite a large crowd sat outside with a few spare tables.
"Aunty Anne..." Will started.
"Perhaps we should get something to eat considering that we haven't had anything all day," Anne suggested, having the same idea.
They walked over to an empty table careful not to knock into anyone with their shopping, but they weren't the only ones there who were layered down with shopping, as they soon realized trying to get through all of the tables. Will sat down first when they finally reached an empty table and put his books on the empty chair next to him and his bags on the floor, Anne put all of her shopping on the floor underneath the table and then picked up the menu.
Will didn't listen to a thing that his aunt ordered for them because he was too busy watching everyone walk pass wondering where they all came from and where they would all go back to after they had finishe
d shopping because there weren't any apartments around here, well not what he had seen so that must mean, that this place was just for the shopping.
He also kind of wondered how many of those he had seen his own age would actually be going to his school, or one of the many others in their world.
That actually made him remember Travis and his friends and he wasn't looking forward to seeing them again nor what they could tell anyone else about what he had done to him, not really how he wanted to be known before he had even started; well he didn't actually want to be well known among everyone just have a nice group of friends like he has now, it was going to be hard enough considering that his father was a Dark Wizard Tracker.
They both ate their dinners talking about what they had done so far and what they had seen, as it had been kind of a nice change for the two of them to go out shopping like this, especially for all of his school things, it was kind of like going out with a mum; he had often thought that if his mum had still been alive she would probably be like his aunt and he probably would have gone with her. But he was alright with how thing's were at the moment, as it was alright living with his dad, because he got to see his friends whenever he wanted and it had kind of already gotten him used to how it would be at school not seeing him that often. Well that thought didn’t really make it any less scary that he would be living somewhere else, but at least he would have his friends and he could still contact his dad whenever he wanted, though it might take a little longer to get a reply.
