Beautiful Lily

7 months later

In Storybrooke...

"Cogsworth, take me to Mr. Gold's Pawnshop," called Henry to his pocket-watch while standing in a school bathroom stall. He tapped the watch three times and then turned the minute hand a quarter-turn to the left. In an instant, Henry was engulfed in rosy-pink smoke and disappeared. When he reappeared he was standing outside of his grandfather's pawnshop. He walked up to the shop and reached for the door only to discover that it was locked. Henry peered inside the vacant shop and discovered a key on a pillow that rested in front of a sign that read in Gold's handwriting:

Use the spell we worked on

to get the key to

open this door.

Henry grumbled a little as he tried to remember the feeling he had the first time he was able to make things disappear and reappear. He recalled some of the lessons his grandfather had been trying to tell him these past year. "Not all spells require incantations, the better spells are the ones that require intuition and feeling."

Henry always liked the magic spells that required words. In Henry's opinion, he felt that spells with words were more tangible. However, no one in his family used incantations to perform magic, and Henry admitted that it was much easier to remember feelings than random gibberish words. "You're thinking!" Henry could hear his grandfather's voice in his head. "Don't think! Feel!"

I want to come inside. Give me that damn key! Henry shouted in his head with authority. Henry held out his hand with confidence and suddenly red smoke appeared. When the smoke disappeared the key that was once inside was now resting in the palm of his hand.

"Yes!" shouted Henry gleefully to himself. He went to put the key into the lock and unlock the door, but hesitated for a moment to think. There was a reason why his grandfather strategically placed the key and the visible sign inside the shop. Mr. Gold anticipated Henry's arrival and he wanted Henry to utilize his magic to get into the shop. It was a brilliant exercise, but Henry wanted to take the lesson a step further. He wanted to show his grandfather how much he had learned and was determined to do that by sneaking his way into the shop undetected. To Henry, Mr. Gold always seemed to know things, always had plans, always anticipated and was never surprised. Could Henry do it? Could today be the day he surprised, maybe even startle his own grandfather? Henry saw it as a challenge and smiled mischievously over the thought.

From outside the shop, Henry looked up inside the door's window and noticed the bell. He needed to bypass the door entirely to eliminate the bell's jingle and thus blowing the whole scheme. So Henry thought of the Vanishing Spell he was taught. Like a breath, you are the wind. In a blink you are gone, Henry thought and felt. When he closed his eyes, he disappeared but when he open them he was inside the shop. He waited in silence as he strained to hear the location of his grandfather. Subtle soft squeaks and rattled wood could be heard coming from the back room, which only meant that Gold was spinning at his spinning wheel.

Henry glimpsed at the entranceway to the back office and noticed the beaded curtain; another alarm that could blow his cover. So Henry thought of the Freezing Spell he learned only a couple of months ago and threw up his hands at the beaded curtain, freezing it in place. Henry took a step forward into the store and upon the shift of weight the wooden floorboards creaked beneath his feet. Henry froze in place at the sound and listened for any movement his disturbance may have cause in the backroom. Nothing. The squeaking from the spinning wheel continued.

Henry exhaled silently. He needed to be lighter... smaller. A rabbit! A Transformation Spell. It was the first spell he mastered. Filigree apogee pedigree perigee, Henry chanted inside his mind and in a silent poof! He turned into a small white rabbit. Henry hugged along the store's wall with his now soft padded feet and hopped quietly to the beaded entranceway. From the ground, Henry looked up and saw the extension of the beaded curtain and through it, his grandfather spinning at the wheel. The bead's length extended from the door's frame and dangled five inches above the ground. With Henry's current size, it was the perfect gap for him to sneak through. Henry stealthily tried, as only a small rabbit could, to sneak underneath the curtain when-