Love Potion

A Trip to Town Sounds Nice

The hall was ecstatic. At first I didn't really know what was going on, then Persephone leaned over and jittered: "You know Greamelts is on top of a massive stone dragon, right? Well, we call it Rocky, and it's nearly arrived at a magist town! This means when Rocky lands, we'll go over there, and visit it! Cosmo, you know what this means, right? It's a magist town: they'll have a wand shop! You can finally get a proper wand!"

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Oh, that is exciting! But - I don't have any money."

"Ah," she said. "Hmm. Well, I'm sure Headmaster Hwelpum would be happy to give you some for a wand - and we'll all lend you a bit of our pocket money for other things, won't we, guys?"

Morgaine nodded happily, but Mollis and Pip behind her were pulling their collars and suddenly very interested in the ceiling. Gilbert and Gray were happy enough to lend me some too: and Kaspar, after a hard jab in the ribs from Gray.

I told them it was fine, I didn't need any. Really, I was thinking hard, realising a few things. I had no money, in this new and magical world. I had no magical parents to get pocket money from, I had no idea how to earn it. And what on earth was I going to do once I left Greamelts? There was only a year and half left of it! Would I even pass the seventh-year exams?  Would I have to stay back year after year? And once I left Greamelts, where would I go next? Would I be experienced enough to get a job? Where would I live?

I admitted Persephone my worries as we walked to Botany.

"Hm," was what she said on the matter. "I never really thought about it. Your circumstances are strange, aren't they?" They certainly were! "I think you won't take seventh-year exams, given you'll only have been here one and a half years. You might have to stay back a few years... master the basics... and when you pass, stay with a friend, maybe? I'm sure my parents would be happy to have you... we live in a wonderful little village, and Gilbert and Morgaine live there too! You could live with us, work for our dragon breeder... see where the wind blows you. Life is just a long adventure, Cosmo. You shouldn't have to plan it two years ahead. I'm more than sure the world has a purpose for you." She gave me a promising smile. "Or... you could always just marry a rich man!"

"No!" I laughed, elbowing her. "I'd have to love him, at least..." 

As I plucked stinking wortmoss with Persephone in botany (one of the only lessons I have without Viper), I felt considerably better, and rather excited for going to the magist town. Hwelpum said Rocky will have landed by sundown, and in the morning, we would take carriages down there. I was fluttering through the day's lessons, hardly waiting for the morning, and in the afternoon, rather than my usual studying in the library, I skippered with Persephone, Morgaine and Tamsin down to the grounds to laze under a tree by the moat.

It was a lovely day, with the sun purring against our faces, the pink moat twinkling like it was scattered with diamonds (the water stirring now and then when a mysterious tentacle broke against it), and creatures nucketing in the trees. Though Tamsin was Viper's friend - and secret admirer - she had been Persephone and Morgaine's friend for longer, and she was nice enough to me so I respected her, besides her terrible taste in men.

We greatly enjoyed ourselves playing cards and exploding marbles in the grass, and snacked on a large bowl of 'dragon eggs', which were actually just candies from which a crawling caramel dragon would flop once you crunched through the egg-shaped shell. We stayed out there until the sun went down. If we climbed the trees, we could actually see the ground land in the far horizon.

Rocky, the dragon on which we rode, had whole forests and fields and waterfalls upon its back, with creatures and an ecosystem, like a small floating island, and only flew to ground when ordered by Amadeus, who was the dragon's keeper (as well as a teacher of magical creatures). I suppose the huge stone dragon needs feeding once in a while, though I have no idea what.