Making magical memories

[Jacob King]

"Yes, Sam, that would coulnt. If it was an interior door, anyway. They do not lock like that," Jacob confirmed. He stared at the Daily Prophet in his hands. There was no way to go back now no matter what Sam and his father thought of magic. Even if he had Sam's memories obliviated there was still Hunter. He would violate his child's mind like that unless it was absolutely necessary but it would also be unreasonable to ask him to ignore the fact that his friend has been a wizard all along. He wasn't so eager to have anyone's mind magically touched like that but especially not his own child's. Besides, Sam would re-learn these things in a couple of years anyway. Granted, staff of Hogwarts would likely be much better prepared to introduce magic to muggle-borns or those otherwise unaware of it...But stiill, he'd just have to do his best here. The man took a deep breath and let it out loudly.

"Okay, Sam. If magic was real, what do you imagine it would be like?" he turned his attention down at the boy next door again, chatting away as if they were just in some normal illusionist show whilst he figured the boy may still suspect this was somehow one of Hunter's pranks. Even if that wasn't very realistic reasoning. Hunter was good, but at age nine he wouldn't be able to pull off something like moving pictures in a newspaper. Jacob felt best to approach this with leading questions, in hopes to help the little boy's mind organize and come to some calm and hopefully positive state about the current situation.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam was thinking for a moment, trying to remember the details of what really happened. After a moment he spoke again 
"I was running and slammed the door behind me. And then it couldn't be opened. They had to get keys to open it but I thought it was the slamming." he shrugged it off then and even now it didn't sound that weird to him. 
Answering the next question was a bit more complicated. If Hunter asked the question he might recall something he saw on He-man with the sorceress or a bit more silly with Orko. And of course Skeletor but that was more like dark magic? His freckled face looked a bit puffed as he was trying to come up with a better point of reference, but he didn't succeed. 
"Uh, I guess it would require a lot of studying? If it was just about waving your hands around everyone could do it. I heard it can levitate things... the kid in the park told me but I thought he was just pulling my leg. It is still a bit to take on... but you wouldn't take part in Hunter's pranks... would you? That would be mean..." he asked him directly enough to surprise even himself while shooting Hunter a look that suggested he was not going to fall for his pranks, even if both of them knew that wasn't so.

[Stephen Hunter King]

[Remember, Sam wasn't just told, he saw. Phoenix levitated the treats for his niffler using his wand. I think Sam literally asked him to in order to prove that magic is real.]


Well...Jacob thought, as he would take part in the sense that he'd allowed Hunter to use things for a prank if he asked which the boy had learned to do in the last few years in certain cases. But that likely wasn't Sam's point and Jacob felt it better to not cimplicate it.
"No, I wouldn't," he confirmed as he stared at the Daily Prohpet's front page considering his next step. Then he registered what photograph he was looking at, remembered something.
"Hunter, you want to show Sam the biggest thing I bought you this weekend?" he suggested, confident that it was the least mind-boggleing for the young boy at this time, being a natural progress from the photo on the front page.

"Ooh! Really??" Hunter perked up from the pile of magical toys and sweets on his bed.
"Yes, at this point I think it's actually a very goo idea," Jacob assured. Before he'd even finished saying that Hunter had alreay ran into the hallway and the walk-in closet by the staircase and quickly returned with a broomstick in his hands. It wasn't the one from the Daily Prophet front page photo, but of similar basic design as both were racing brooms.
"Levitate like this?" Hunter asked as he put the broomstick down on the floor next to himself. Hovering his right hand above it he focused all of his attention on the broomstick, staring at it intensely and with clear intent the boy said only one word.
"Up!"
The broomstick shot directly up to meet his palm. Hunter wrapped his hand around the shaft for a a couple of seconds, then let go. The broom stick didn't fall back on the floor or even lower at all, it kept floating in the air on the level he'd held his hand. It was at the perfect height for him to mount it if he wanted to but he opted not to just yet.
"It's a Comet 260, a racing broom," he introduced it proudly for a moment forgetting that Sam was not one of his wizard friends who knew all about brooms. This wasn't the newest and greatest of racing brooms but had been on the market for a few years now and the very best ones were naturally meant for professional Quidditch players and other experienced flyers, but this was still one of the best models available targettting the general public. And, as Jacob had been told, the best model for beginners.
"My previous broomstick was a toy, it didn't go very high or fast. This is a real one."
"It may look strange and uncomfortable," Jacob added, "but sitting on one of those feels similar to a bycycle seat, only softer. And blanaced even when it's not moving. Of course it takes a lot of practice before one learns how to control those as that is nothing like a bike."
"It probably looks strange and unsafe to you," Jacob added, "But sitting on one of those feels similar to sitting on a bycycle, only softer, and blanaced even when it's not moving "

[Samuel Connor Rees]

As soon as Mr. King confirmed he wouldn't help Hunter with his pranks his mind once again took control of the situation. Maybe it was because Sam was a bit sheltered in his life but he was raised to believe that adults were telling the truth. At least the "respectable" ones as his father would put it. And since Mr. King said magic is real, it was. There was no going around it now.
Waiting for what will come next he was a bit surprised when Hunter returned with a broom. It looked a bit old and with some weird handles but otherwise, it didn't look all that magical. This idea changed quite abruptly when Hunter showed what he could do with it. Sam nodded blankly to his friend's explanation of all of this and tried to move his hands around it just to be sure there were no strings attached to it. He probably looked a bit funny doing it but at this point, he didn't care. He just wanted to be sure.
"Well... uh... I guess I can't argue with this... magic is real," at this point he started to be a bit jealous. His dad didn't allow him to ride a bike on his own, there was precisely zero chance in hell he would ever let him fly on a broom even if it really was safe which Sam wasn't entirely sure of. 
"I am not sure what surprises me more... that my best friend is a ... magic person or that he managed to keep it secret from me this entire time..." it really was hard to imagine. Hunter was the type who couldn't wait to show him anything new he got, it had to be killing him to always have a box filled with new toys and doodads and just have to keep it to himself.
"So... uh... I don't want to be selfish and make this all about me but... what about me? What does... this mean for me..." hopefully he wouldn't end up in some magic prison for discovering the secret?

[Jacob King]

"Well, it depends on your dad," Jacob stated, relieved that the boy didn't seem quite as distressed now. "If he allows it, we can introduce you to the magical side of this world more. There are places we coould show you that muggl--...Non-magical people can't see or access. And you're right, being able to use magic properly does require studying. In a couple of years you will get an invitation letter to Hogwarts, a school of witchcraft and wizardry. If your dad lets you, you will attend that school instead of normal secondary school. It's a boarding school all the way in Scotland so I'm not sure how your dad will feel about it, but even if you don't get to go there it is possible to hire a tutor to teach you magic at home."
"I will go to Hogwarts," Hunter dclaired cheerfully as he mounted the broom but did not make it move. He simply sat there with his feet hanging on the sides well off the floor. He didn't tug them behind the foot handles as it was quite uncomfortable without shoes on. "I'll help you talk your dad into letting you go too. It'd be great fun to be classmates there too!"

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam had to think for a moment. "Uh... could you speak with him? He would never in a million years believe me if I told him. I think he would just tag it all as my "overdeveloped imagination" or something around those lines." Of this Sam was entirely sure - his dad was way too down to earth to even entertain the existence of magic.
"I am not really sure he would allow me to go all the way to Scotland... he didn't want to take to Norfolk when he travelled there. He did in the end and it was great. We took a miniature train ride from Walsingham..." he fell silent after that since he was getting a bit off-topic. It was a nice memory though.
He had to chuckle when he saw his friend just sitting on the broom. "I'd appreciate that but I am unconvinced it would help. I suppose step one would be to convince him magic exists... well, at this point I feel like I am about to wake up finding that all of this was just a really strange dream." he was just joking at this end. There was no way all of this was a prank - especially the moving newspapers, that was wild.

[Jacob King]

Jacob smiled at Sam's trip down to memory lane. He appreciated little children getting sidetracked like that, with fond memories.
"Yes, Sam, I'll certainly talk to him about all of this very soon," Jacob promised. After all, there's no way he would take Sam anywhere without his father's permission., and no way a 9-year old could explain something of this magnitude in a way that would convince an adult that it was real and relatively harmless. Not even his own 9-year old. In fact, Hunter might make it worse by talking a million miles an hour about werewolves and other fantastic beasts that could unsettle a muggle because even most of wizardkind gave them hard time. At least the boy wasn't yet aware of Death Eaters and the man they followed, so those wouldn't come up too quickly. Still, it was absolutely his job to bring this up and discuss with another parent. The little boys could chat among themselves, and Jacob could only hope that his boy remembered the rule about their personal situation. His drastically different form on a full moon night was to be revealed only in need-to-know basis and it would be Dad who decided who needed to know and when.
"And I wouldn't worry too much about the school. It'll be another two years before either of you can attend. Your dad may have changed his mind by then."

"And Hunter," he said in a meaningful tone as he turned his attention to his own son as he noticed the lad having mounted the broom, "You better remember you're not flying on that without adult supervision," he reminded. Whilst he trusted the boy handled a broom well by now, he did not trust the scamp could resist the temptation to fly way too fast and far too high and do fancy and risky stunts. This broom went from zero to sixty miles an hour in fifteen seconds and reached great heights without decreasing controllability.
"Yes yes," Hunter replied semi-dismissively, looking over his shoulder but not at the man but down at the broom's tail. Nontheless sincerely, as he truly intended to do his best to resist the temptation, not looking to lose this fun ride much less that and getting a very sore bum. A few moments of daredevil fun wasn't worth that risk. At lest most of the time.

"Can we go ride this now?" Hunter asked eagerly, finally looking up at his father with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Yes, if Sam wants to. Although I won't have him mount that. Far too dangerous. I can go find the toy broom you had before which would be quite safe for a first-time rider."
"...Well, Sam, it's not literally a toy," he now turned to look at the neighbor's boy again, "It's simply a very old model that has lost speed and height as its aged. It rises only slightly higher than your bike seat. You'll probably be able to ride your bike faster than that broom goes these days, when it comes to full speed. Of course I would hold on to it until you don't want me to," the man explained, wanting Sam to make an informed decision.

"It's easy!" Hunter jovially chimed in, "Just as easy as learning to ride a bike. Except there's no training wheels," he claimed.
"Hunter, it might have been for you. You were on a broom the first time at age two," Jacbo corrected this claim. "But Sam, Hunter's not completely wrong. You are a wizard, albeit very very young. A very old broom should respond to the budding and completely untrained power inside you reasonably well. Still, don't feel preassured into anything. It's perfectly fine if you don't feel like doing this."
The man's fatherly gaze remained on Sam, so he didn't catch the annoyed pout on his son's little face. Hunter made a full 360 turn on his broom on the spot.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam smiled and nodded at Hunter's father. "Thank you, Mr King. I think he just might believe you," he wasn't entirely sure but in the end, there was way too much evidence for him to resist the truth. "I think the moving newspaper might do the trick" it indeed did for him.
He shrugged a bit when hearing about the school again "Dad always wanted me to go to a good school. I doubt wizard school crossed his mind," he joked a bit. This surely would change everything, in ways his young mind couldn't entirely imagine at that moment. A wizard school all the way in Scotland sounded like quite the adventure though.

He was growing a little more jealous with every word spoken about flying the broom. Sure, it took him some time before he was ready to ride his bike without training wheels but since then he grew fairly confident and even managed to convince his dad he can be trusted to ride around the neighbourhood. But flying? That was something else entirely! Sam dreamt a few times about flying and he could remember these dreams quite vividly where other dreams faded from memories a long time ago. He had no problem imagining Hunter hurling above the streets with a crazy smile on his face while Mr King tried to chase him down. He had to chuckle a little at the absurdity of it. His stream of thought was interrupted by Hunter.

"You mean...I could try it?" he asked not entirely sure he heard currently. He had absolutely no problem with trying the old and slow toy broom if that meant he could get some flying experience.
"Are you entirely sure?" he asked. Not because of the thought that his father would be against it, but just to make sure they meant the offer.
"I thought I will have to beg you to let me try," he grinned with excitement.
"Sure I want to try! What is the worst that could happen? It won't work? I'll live... I might fall a bit? I'll live. And Hunter will be too busy enjoying his new broom to laugh if I do," he suggested. Sam fell from his bike a few times but fortunately he healed fast and a few scratches and bruises could never tamper his enthusiasm.

[Jacob King]

"OK, then, boys. Go put your shoes on and get a bicycle helmet from the bike storage. I'll go find the broom from the basement," Jacob smiled and dropped the Daily Prophet on Hunter's nightstand. Hunter hopped off his broom and wrapped his hand around it again. After a simple command "Down", the broom slowly descended and landed softly on the floor. The boy wizard picked it up and carried it with him as if it was a normal sweeping broom as he headed into the hallway.
"No running inside," Jacob reminded gently as he crossed the hallway into his own bedroom to ge his wand, making Hunter's beginning runnin steps slow down into a fast walk.
"You've got to come shopping with us, there's an alley full of magical shops here in London...!" Hunter chatted excitedly as he descended the stairs as fast as possible without running.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Hunter made it look easy but he apparently had a lot of experience with... flying. Yeah, it still felt weird even thinking about it but soon he would find what it felt like soon enough, even if it was on a wizard version of a tricycle. As usual, the real trouble was keeping up with Hunter who was already on his way to get ready. Fortunately, he was quickly slowed down.
"How are you more excited about all this than me?" he had to chuckle. "I am sure there are a lot of cool things you want to show me and believe me, I am just as excited to see them as you are to show me but one step at a time, ok?" he tried to calm his friend down a little.
They finally got all the way down and put on their shoes. "I ran here today so I will need to borrow a helmet," it wasn't the first time that happened. Once or twice in the past Sam was a bit too excited and left the house without the helmet, finding out only when he arrived and had to borrow one so he could return home without having to lead the bike the entire way back.
"So.. how do you think I'll do?" he asked with poorly hidden excitement in his voice.