"Well, you have your wand. Congrats kid, you have your first step to unlimited cosmic power." I said as we exited the store.

"Finally. You took forever to actually give him the money." Lee complained.

"Hey! That was a lot of money! My instincts were screaming at me to not let go of the bag and to make sure I paid him the right amount." I held up my hands as I walked out of the store and over to the clear fountain in the center of Dragon's Breath Hall

"You didn't need to count through the money six times though."

"That was all my cash, Little Mogwai. You got enough money to pay for all our bills?"

Lee rolled his eyes dramatically and leaned over to gaze into the pool below, the reflection showing what the dragon skeletons above us looked liked in their prime.

"Aunt Sepi, I know that wasn't all your money. You're way too stingy to spend all of your money on that."

"It was too all my money." That I had liquid outside of a bank right now.

"And all the money in your savings?"

"Well, yes, I do still have that."

"And in your IRA's?"

"The hell do you know about IRA's?"

"And in the stock market."

"Alright, don't beat a dead horse now. That stuffs all hard to access though."

Fine. I might have been what some people call filthy rich, but that's what happens when you know the major economic trends for several decades in advance. Plus when you are one of the foremost experts in magical shields and wards. Plus when your squib dad was a major player in telecommunications.

That didn't mean one should be irresponsible with money.

"Uh huh." Lee said, unconvinced.

"Yes huh." I maturely responded. "But if you are going to be like that after I just bought a wand valued somewhere in the neighborhood of a sports car, I'm not going to talk to you."

I made a show of giving a humph and turning my head away from him to look into the pool of water.

"Oh come on Aunt Sepi. Don't be like that." Lee consoled as he giggled. Lee always had fun with me faking overly indignant response, so I made a show of finding something else to look at.

My eyes catch the gaze of one of dragon reflections. It's eyes burned with intensity and I felt a chill go down my spine. Dragons were the apex predators of the world. Humans just learned to gang up. Dragons were beautiful and dangerous and the reflection in the water managed to capture that so completely that it surpassed reality. I'd faced dragons without balking.

The eyes of these ones always gave me a shiver.

"I think Bobert could be an okay name." Lee stated, ripping me from my train of thought.

"Really? You're keeping Bobert as the name? Why?" I asked with curiosity.

"Cause it sucks when someone changes your name." Lee said simply, and without an ounce of sadness. It still sent a tiny stab of ice into my heart. Lee continued unimpeded. "It just needs an impressive title to make up for the name is all."

"A title huh? Bobert: Slayer of the Wicked and Conjuror of Icecream?" I asked, barely suppressing a grin.

"You can't make food with magic." Lee said with indignance.

"But you can make things that make food from ingredients. Basically the same thing." I teased.

Lee rolled his eyes.

Damn. He was about to be a teenager, wasn't he?

There was a brief lull as it become Lee's turn to gaze into the water.

"Why do you think they are so angry?" I asked. Lee looked up at me with questioning eyes. "The reflections of the dragons. Why do you think they're angry?"

"They aren't angry." Lee lectured in the way that only children could. "They're waiting."

Oh because that was way less creepy. Thanks.

"Come on brat. Let's show Anabelle your shiny new wand."

"Woo! She's gonna think it's so cool!" Lee yelled and ran off ahead of me towards the floo. If only I could bottle that energy somehow.

-----

Packing was a greatly simplified process for most witches and wizard. We had self sorting boxes. We had trunks that where expanded to carry an entire room's worth of knickknacks. We also had spells to have heavy furniture walk itself into one of those aforementioned bags. What wasn't so easy to breakdown and transport was my laboratory. The various ingredients, notes, and volatile substances required great care in order to make sure they were moved without being destroying my other furniture; or worse, ruining my research.

"Sepi!" Annabelle called from the other room.

"What?" I called back as I carefully removed the vial of quetzal venom from it's location to carefully place it in a transport box. I did so with all the care of a bomb technician. Which was good because if the liquid was disturbed too much it would begin to melt both the cork and even the bottle itself. Then I'd die from the fumes burning tiny holes in my lungs.

"Come here!" Anabelle called out, sounding indignant.

"No, you come here!" I growled through clinched teeth.

I hear Annabelle stomping into the room behind me and then clear her throat loudly. I was positive her hand was on her hip.

"Listen, I'm trying to not die here. So can you wait for me to finish this before you get all pissy?"

There was a gasp behind her before Annabelle walked closer and slowly brought up the containment box to make the concoction's time out of containment shorter. After it was safely placed down I turned to demand what had Annabelle in such a prickly mood and stopped short as I caught sight of her.

Half her face was painted blue as a white painted eagle sored on her face, occasionally being covered with painted yellow energy.

"Oh shit. What time is it?" I asked, my annoyance forgotten, while Annabelle's rolled in like a storm cloud.

"Three, Sepi. We're supposed to leave in ten minutes and you ain't gonna have time to get all painted up."

I winced. Lee had his heart set on the Quafiliump game. It would be the last one we'd be able to go to for the next year. The sport existed over in Great Britain, but it was not a particularly popular one. It was, however, the biggest sporting event in most of Wizarding America, a few places Quadpot dominated the sports scene, but there was just something about the combative nature of Quafiliump that captivated the American people.

I wasn't a huge fan of most sports, but Lee loved Quafiliump and with his passion I gained a bit of an appreciation for the sport myself. An appreciation that I played up to match Lee's fanaticism.

Anabelle did not have to fake any enthusiasm for the sport.

"You're gonna let that little boy down! He wanted to have the dueling eagles!" Annabelle yelled.

I refrained from pointing out that she was the one that hyped him up for the body paint and even still his eagerness for it did not quite match hers.

"Okay. We'll go now. I'll do the paint on the way. It'll be such a long wait in line to get into the stadium that I'll manage the spellwork before we get in. Let me spray some Smell Gone on myself and run a brush through my hair." I said, trying to satisfy her.

"Fine. But if you aren't out in five minutes, I'm gonna come here and kick your fanny out that door myself." Annabelle turned and stomped out of the room.

I was HER boss damnit! I was just rushing to do what she said because...of Lee, yeah, that was it.

A few hurried moments of rushing eventually saw me matching Annabelle's outfit, sans the paint. It was a white crop-top and a pair of jean shorts. Lee wore a pair of jean pants and nothing else. Well other than the blue paint over his entire torso, where a white painted boar quaked in place. We piled into my Oldsmobile, Annabelle driving, Lee in the back, and me riding shotgun as I slathered the blue paint on my right side, the opposite of Annabelle who had done so on her left.

Lee was practically vibrating in the back seat.

"The Thunder Birds totally have this in the bag! They always choke when someone gets their backlines and Pascal is the best Diver in the league!"

It took forever for me to know what Lee meant whenever he said stuff like that.

"I'm sure we are in for quite a game." I respond. Which was true. For a all that the sport was a combination of capture the flag and football it also required a lot of advanced forethought and planning. Many wizards called it Team Dueling. While this match wasn't the championship the two teams were the finalists for the championship from LAST year. It would make for a good last game for us to go to before we left the country.

"Nah, it's gonna be a shut out! My Thunder Birds are gonna tan their hides like a red-headed stepchild!" Cheered the embodiment of southern twang.

I stop myself from staring at Anabelle and instead shook my head. I guessed that making light of ones past was a way to deal with stuff like that.

"You did get the tickets right?" I asked the redhead.

"Of course Sepi. I'm not the one that forgets things." She said before sticking her tongue out at me.

"Moving is hard." I grumble as I smear another handful of blue paint on.

Most of the ride was spent with the two super fans hyping each other up and me trying to stay somewhere close to their enthusiasm. It was getting easier to do that as I understood the sport more, but part of me rebelled at doing so when I had long complained about sports being stupid. Even when I was on a sports team before.

After twenty minutes of driving we came to our exit. A small turn-off on the highway that led down to a river, the turn off had no markers and anyone who passed would find the dirt road utterly unremarkable. Following the path down we saw a man that looked as though he walked straight out of a John Wayne film. He wore a ten gallon hat and everything. He placed one hand on his wand holster and waved us over.

"You have your tickets?" He asked in a bored voice.

"Sure thing Sheriff." Anabelle joked before producing three slips of paper.

The man looked at them, removed a wand from a holster on his side, and muttered a spell to verify their validity.

"Alright. You're good. Coast is clear, pull in whenever you're ready."

We thanked the man and promptly drove our car into the river.

Rather than flood with water, our car was covered by a bubble that suspended us in a pocket of air as we drifted further away from the surface. Then we kept going. And going. And going. To the point that the afternoon sun began to dim, putting us deeper than this river had any right to be.

"Oh look! Kelpie!" I stated suddenly. The horse neighed as I spoke, echoing through the water. It's equine form ran through the water as though it was solid ground, the light above playing off its white and blue fishscales that covered it's body, gleaming like a jewel. It tossed it's mane as it trotted past us. "I wonder if someone brought it or if it's wild?"

"I sure hope not." Anabelle said. "That won't be good for any non-magicals for something as dangerous as a kelpie to be around."

"We'll make sure to tell someone tomorrow." I promised, which satisfied my assistant. We went silent afterwards, but I did note that we weren't in much of a dive anymore; most of our motion was taking us forward rather than down.

"Wow. That is a long line." Lee commented sadly.

I refrained form pointing out that the line is always long and instead looked to where I was supposed to go. Not that we had any control at this point. The bubble was taking us where we needed to go.

Car, trucks, vans, canoes, and longboats all sat in bubbles that slowly gathered from countless directions into one long line leading to our destination. The unoriginally named Neo Colosseum Maxima looked to haves stepped straight from antient Rome. The solid marble was an exact replica of the Coliseum in Italy, but as it was just after being built. At least as far as outward appearance was concerned. Plumbing, lights, and few other functional changes were made. The structure was also covered in a giant bubble dome, keeping the inside of it dry and available to host events.

"How much longer?" Lee asked peering over my shoulder.

"Oh hell no. You aren't starting that!" I demand. "You are not going to spend every two minutes asking how much longer or if we are there yet. It takes however long it takes, and no, I don't know how long that is."

There was silence in the car for a few moments.

"Okay, but if you had to estimate-" Lee started.

"God dammit Lee!" I yelled.

Annabelle hit my arm.

Ah. Family car rides.

-----

After a small eternity in the car and then a larger eternity standing in a line outside of the car, we finally got to our seats. Center field and just below the VIP box. I could have gotten us into the VIP box but the people in said box were not likely to appreciate our state of dress.

I didn't want to be around most of the occupants of the box seats most of the time anyways. What kind of person came to a sports game and tried to separate themselves from the "rabble"?

I gazed out to the field in curiosity. Quafiliump was a sport that took place on what was basically an obstacle course, with walls, dips, nets, pathways, and pillars. The layout was always different too. The players nor the fans knew what they'd be walking into when the game starts. There was even many people that became prized Quafiliump arena stagers, because of the quality job they do making a fair and interesting match for both sides.

I used to set up the Quafiliump course back in Ambrose Academy and was told I was pretty good at it. Nothing on a professional, but enough to give me an eye for the art to have insight into the layout I was looking at.

"Flanking behind will be hard on the Thunderbirds this match, but the Boars don't have any good forward positions for their aggressive charges. The architect decided to ruin the greatest strength of both teams." I said. That made for an interesting game, it'll make both teams see how good they are at improvising.

"What!? Boo! Let the Thunderbirds soar!" Lee yelled.

"Yeah! Boo!" Annabelle agreed.

I suppressed a sigh and took my seat. Time to get swept up in the crowd and-

"Hello Miss Wicket. Fancy meeting you here." A cultured voice stated beside me.

Fuck. I knew that voice.

"Headmaster Magecraft." I greeted as calmly as I could before turning to see the man. He was tall, like really tall. I didn't know his exact height, but it was probably closer to seven foot tall than it was to six. He was pale, but not unnaturally so. He had an thick and immaculately kept mustache that curled into a spiral that drew attention to his button nose. His hair was a dignified salt and pepper that he kept about two inches in length. He had an open and honest face.

The most dangerous kind of face.

With him was Gordon, who managed to look surprisingly calm considering he had just ratted the Headmaster out to me a few weeks ago. If the Midas Order found that out I'm positive that I wouldn't see the man again. He had a mean poker face though. So there he stood beside the Headmaster, the two of them dressed like they were going to a high class Gala and not asking to sit right next to a guy wearing a beer hat.

"On your way to your box seats?" I asked, though in a tone that told them the answer that could be no, so long as it took them the hell away from me.

"Oh no, our tickets have us staying here today." Gordon said in a tone that was just polite enough that someone couldn't call him out on being snooty.

I barely restrained from calling bullshit. Magecraft was a known Quafiliump enthusiast. There was no way he didn't have a box seat.

"Right here? Next to me." I said dryly. "What are the odds?"

"Yes! Wonderful happenstance." He stated, ignoring my tone.

"Well, I am going to be doing quite a bit of yelling and having food with LOTS of sauerkraut. Not to mention drinking copious amounts of terrible beer. All of which I am quite certain that you would rather not be a part of. So out of consideration of your position, I'm happy to pay your way into the box seats."

Well, Gordon would actually love all that shit, but he would never allow it to look that way in front of his fancy friends.

"That is quite alright Miss Wicket. I think I'd like to sit here for now. After all, I can't convince you to join my staff all the way in the box seats."

Ah. That was his game. He was trying to pull me into his web. I'd never much liked Magecraft even before I found out he was part of the Midas Order. The man had been the dueling instructor at Ambrose Academy before he became the Headmaster. As a dueling instructor he was...fine; he never put much effort into someone's training unless they showed promise, then he'd lavish them with attention.

"For what reason have I suddenly caught your attention, Edward?" I asked, calling the man by his first name. Such a thing didn't likely happen to him often. He was very insistent on politeness from those around him.

"Well I had long expected we would be receiving Lee at the school when his time came, and I've heard that your merry little band was running off to Hogwarts for the fall term!" The man tried to say with grandfatherly concern.

He did a damn good job of it too.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked harshly, but then scolded myself. Judging by the slight twitch of Edward's mouth, I probably just confirmed a suspicion by acting so indignant. The only people besides Dumbledore and Abernathy that even knew I was leaving the country were Wavestrum and Gordon; even then both of them didn't know where it was I planned to go. Gordon probably tipped them off in order to help cover his tracks as the leak. They might have gotten information about my plane ticket or just knew Dumbledore had visited me recently. Then I just confirmed their suspicions.

"Oh, just talk floating around. Rumors. That sort of thing. When one of our most distinguished alumni chooses to not send their child to us word really spreads. I figured you left because of a job offer, so I thought I might do the same to get you to stay." Magecraft stated, still in his standing position.

He probably didn't want to dirty his clothes with whatever was in the seats.

Which...that was fair.

"I would love to not have to move my whole lab but-"

"We'll match whatever offer Hogwarts is giving. Plus bankroll all your research during the next year." The Headmaster interrupted.

I raised an eyebrow. That would ordinarily be a deal I'd jump on. I had lots of research ideas that required ludicrous amounts of money with little chance of success. Were I on the schools dime I would feel absolutely no shame in burning through their resources.

But I had Lee to think of.

"I've already signed a contract with Hogwarts. I'm afraid that my position cannot be changed."

"Well what if we-"

"Perhaps I was unclear, Eddie." The man recoiled as if struck. Likely no one had called him Eddie in his life. It's the only thing I'd call him going forward.

I relished the moment.

I hadn't done well at dueling during my time at Ambrose, despite my best attempts. When I asked for help he always gave some sort of excuse on why he had better things to do. I had long fantasized about being able to throw his words back at him, and the opportunity finally arrived.

I was not too good of a person to let the opportunity pass.

"I believe I will give you the same advice you once gave me." I showed shark teeth. "It would be better for you to spend your energy on things you can actually hope to accomplish."

A dark look flashed over good old Eddie's face. Oh ho. He did NOT like that. How satisfying.

"Come on sir." Gordon suddenly spoke up, placing a hand on his superior's shoulder. "No sense talking to someone who has more bullheaded stubbornness than good sense."

The affable grandfather came back and the giant of man heaved a sigh.

"Yes, I suppose some people don't care for the greatness Ambrose can offer." The man shook his head. "You do this now, Miss Wicket, but don't worry. I'll be sure to remember you later as well."

Wow. That threat was covered so poorly it could get a job on a striper pole.

"As I too will remember all that you taught me at Ambrose."

A gong sounded and lights flared around the stadium. With the beating of drums the Boars entered their side of the field, arms thudding against the padding on their chest and feet stomping in time with the drums.

I turned away from the two men.

"Lets go Thunderbirds!" I yelled and stood to my feet.

I had a day to enjoy with my family.

---