A Simple Family Dinner

On the afternoon before Christmas, London finally welcomed some long-awaited sunshine. Even the run-down French Quarter on the far outskirts seemed to show signs of renewed life. The capitalists were busy enjoying family reunions, and the smokestacks that usually belched thick smoke across the city had fallen quiet, leaving the air much fresher. Nelson's window stood wide open, its off-white curtains drifting outside in the breeze. Nelson knelt before his wardrobe, putting away his summer clothes. In weather this fine, even the wardrobe held a warm, lazy scent.

"Nal, this looks expensive."

Tom sat on Nelson's bed, holding an open little box with a label bearing his name. He toyed with a black gemstone in his hand, squinting one eye as he pinched it between his thumb and forefinger and held it up to the sun. Under the sunlight, the black gemstone revealed a translucent vermilion glow. Looking closely, it even seemed as though rose-red liquid flowed slowly within it, casting a dreamlike layer of color across the room through the refraction of the sunlight.

"That's Amber, a type of amber." Jonas's voice came from the doorway. He leaned against Nelson's doorframe, sunlight falling across his face and making his sharply defined features appear even deeper. With his long gray hair and thick handlebar mustache, the German man looked like a black-and-white photograph in the stark light and shadow. "Amber is a specialty of Poland. This kind is relatively precious, but in times like these, it isn't worth much. It's just unusual."

"Tom, consider it your birthday present." Jonas grinned. "You can make it into a Ring or some little piece of jewelry. I think that color suits you."

"Th-thank you, Uncle Jonas." Tom's cheeks turned red. It was impossible to tell whether it was from the sun or from embarrassment.

"Come on, boys. Let's go downstairs and eat." Jonas entered the room and vigorously ruffled Nelson's head, turning his smooth, half-long pale blond hair into a complete mess. "Mm, that looks much better."

Nelson turned to look at the mirror atop the wardrobe. His hairstyle now looked exactly like David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust—a messy-haired blond boy's head covered in an orange-red sheen by the sunlight, matching the small amber pendant of the same color hanging around his neck. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and a helpless smile rested on his lips. He pushed himself up from the floor, brushed imaginary dust from his backside, then slung an arm around Tom's shoulders as they headed downstairs.

"After I applied to the newspaper for a permanent posting in London, I met the requirements to adopt you," Jonas said as he ladled mushroom soup into small bowls at the dinner table. Steam rose from the creamy white soup. He placed the first full bowl before Bella, then picked up a second. "Honestly, I think policies should be relaxed a little during special times. When I went to the market for groceries today, the streets were full of young lads like you stealing things."

"Jonas!" Bella shot him a reproachful glare.

"Adopt us?" Tom accepted the bowl of soup Jonas handed him and spoke in a dry, seemingly emotionless voice. Yet Nelson could see that behind his pale face, the tips of his ears had already reddened all the way down to his neck. Given a little more time, his entire back might turn red.

"Yes. We'd planned it since you were little, but those idiots at City Hall kept holding things up with their idiotic forms... Oh, sorry, Bella." Jonas placed another bowl of soup before Nelson and pulled back the hand Bella had just smacked with her spoon. "They're already big boys. When I was their age, I knew Wilhelm II was a useless old bastard."

"Pfft—" Seeing that the back of Tom's neck had turned bright red, Nelson could not help laughing and buried his face in his bowl.

"But if you want to study literature or philosophy, or become journalists, I can still help tutor you," Jonas said, serving himself some soup and stirring it with his spoon. He shrugged at Nelson and Tom. "But since you've become Wizards, all I can do is read some fantasy novels and try to imagine it for you."

"Many myths and legends were adapted from Wizard history," Nelson explained as he wiped his face with a napkin. "For example, the great Wizard Merlin from United Kingdom legends really existed. The medal of the Wizards' Council's Wizengamot was named after him."

"Oh? Really?" Jonas raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I've traveled all over these past years, and I've heard quite a few magical legends. Those stories could all be true. That's incredible!" He thought for a moment longer. "No, after hearing that you'd been admitted to a magic school, I should have realized sooner. Still, this magic school sounds as though its educational standards are quite good. I always thought Wizards, once they had magic, didn't care much about the humanities."

"Nal excels at History of Magic. Even Professor Dumbledore praised him for his broad knowledge," Tom said proudly, as though he were the one who had done well in History of Magic.

"Not bad at all." Jonas reached over and ruffled Nelson's freshly smoothed hair again. "Mm, now it looks much better!"

"But it's true that they don't emphasize the humanities." Nelson rose and followed Bella into the kitchen with the now-empty soup plates, then helped her bring out the final two dishes. "We only have two History of Magic classes each week, and Professor Binns is an elderly old ghost... if a ghost can even be called elderly."

"Most people sleep through class." He set a large bowl of stew and a platter of steak on the table. "Besides that, there are no subjects about language, society, or anything like that. They don't even teach subjects like arithmetic or geography."

He and Bella took their seats, and the four of them each served themselves food and bread. "I heard the upper years have Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, but I get the feeling they're still purely magical subjects."

"Enjoy your meal." Bella raised her knife and fork, and the small family dinner officially began.

"Divination? Do you use tarot cards?" Bella asked curiously as she cut into her steak. Women seemed to be more interested in things like divination and tests.

"Anyway, our first-year Divination class was just spouting nonsense at a cup of tea leaves or a crystal ball sitting on a moldy pillow, predicting the way we'd die the following week," Nelson mumbled indistinctly as he chewed a piece of broccoli.

"Some prophecies are quite accurate, especially for people gifted in that area," Tom argued in Divination's defense. Although he was mediocre at it himself, he believed in such things deeply.

"Some great seers in history predicted the course of major events, but I think we should only use those things as references rather than blindly believe in them. For Wizards, what can truly be relied on isn't fate, but a Wand." Nelson swallowed a piece of bread. "Still, if I ever met some great seer, I'd be willing to have my fortune told."

"You're right to think that way," Jonas declared grandly. "In my hometown of Trier, there was a—"

"Enough, enough. Eat your food." Bella smacked the back of Jonas's hand with her spoon again.

"Fine, fine. Those things really aren't suitable for telling them, but—" Jonas abruptly changed the subject. Leaning sideways, he stretched his arm beneath the sofa cushions and pulled out a notebook with a leather cover. "I bought this from a rather famous witch in Poland while I was there on assignment."

"A witch? Not a female Wizard?" Nelson took the notebook curiously, spread it open on the table, and flipped through it. It was filled with designs so abstruse that they seemed deliberately mysterious. Tom leaned over for one look, then immediately pulled his head back.

"You were probably scammed." Tom looked somewhat angry. "Wizards have the International Statute of Secrecy. They try their best to hide their existence. Anyone who goes around claiming to be a Wizard is usually a con artist. Besides, she called herself a witch, not a female Wizard."

Nelson flipped rapidly through the booklet. It seemed to describe a complete magical technique. Though he could not understand what that technique was, his quick perusal made him feel that the contents were at least coherent and internally consistent. If a fraud had written it at random, it was far too detailed.

"I think this may really be a magical notebook, but it seems quite different from Hogwarts magic." Nelson frowned, realizing that things might not be so simple. "Can I have this notebook?"

"I only bought it because I thought it was interesting, and because I heard someone there had magic." Jonas rested his fork against his plate, leaned back, and lifted the front legs of his chair as he rocked back and forth, beginning to recall his trip to Poland.

"I met that witch in Kraków. Her name was Lorian Konalo. She looked only a little older than you two, a blond-haired, brown-eyed girl..."

"Why were you looking so closely?" Bella smacked the back of Jonas's hand again.

"Occupational habit, occupational habit. I am a journalist, after all..." He recoiled in pain, sat properly again, and set the chair legs back down. "Her accent was strange, and she had a little dog with her... Ha ha, she actually said it was a Dragon."

"Ha ha ha!" Tom seemed to find that particularly hilarious.

"That witch was most famous for her Potions. I heard her Potions were very popular locally. The local church supposedly went looking for her too. I remember that in the Middle Ages, churches were especially fond of hanging ignorant young girls over fires, weren't they? Yet here was a real witch, and they were persuaded by her instead..."

"They always bully the weak and fear the strong." Nelson picked through the remaining vegetable leaves on his plate in agreement.

"She said she had fallen from the sky and had been searching for people with magic, hoping to find a way home."