Knight of the Black Rose

by Nissa Gordon

  "Why don't you stop back off at Will's house to get his letter before you go around to Troy's house?" Laura suggested changing the subject.

  "Great," Alex said excitedly as he turned around and opened the front door.

  "Oh Will, are you coming back for tea?" Laura asked him before they could run off.

  "No, sorry...I'm going around to Aunt Anne's," Will told her. "I'll say hi for you...see you later,"

  Will followed Alex out and back up the path as Laura closed the door behind them, they turned left and headed back to Will's house.

  "Do you think that your dad would really try and stop you?" Will asked him.

  "I don't know," Alex answered honestly. "I bet Troy's mum will be thrilled if he gets in, and she's not a witch,"

  "Everyone’s different," Will said, but he didn't fully understand why his dad wouldn't be pleased for him. "You would have thought that he would have gotten over the whole thing by now, he's known for what ten years?"

  "Yeah, mum had to tell him after she had me...you know in case I turned out to be like her," Alex said smirking. "God I would have loved to have seen the look on his face."

  Will pretended to make shocked, stunned and confused faces as they walked around to his house; forgetting to watch out for Mr Orrick. They walked up his path, his front garden extremely bare compared to that of Alex's; and then unlocked his door, and sure enough there waiting on the floor was just but one letter. Will bent down and picked it up slowly turning it over, but Alex grabbed it out of his hand getting impatience with him taking too long.

  "Yeah...it's for you..." Alex said excitedly running into the house into the main living away from Will who was trying to get the letter back. "It's just like mine!"

  "Hay! Give me that!" Will shouted as he chased after him, jumping over the sofa and almost tripping up as he landed, but Alex turned around and headed back. "Hay! That's cheating!" Will threw the cushions at him hitting him as he tried to get out of the room, he jumped over the sofa and tripped over the cushions that he had only just thrown, but caught the hem of Alex's top and pulled him down to ground with him.

  "Wow...easy there!" Alex shouted still trying to hold the letter out of his reach, but Will wasn't going to let that stop him as he crawled along him pulling at his arm until he finally reached it, and Alex finally handed it over. "Would that be classed as a little work out?"

  "As long as you help me tidy up," Will said as he sat up and opened his letter.

  Dear Mr William Ryker,

  I'm pleased to inform you that your place at Burnaby Advance School of Magical Arts has been accepted into our first years.

  Accommodations will be provided in our dorms, as it is a live in school which we hope will soon become like a second home to you while you stay; students are of course allowed to return home for Christmas and Easter Holidays or remain at the school if one wishes too.

  School begins on Monday 7th September; all students should have arrived on Sunday 6th, in the afternoon on the ship Fatum (your ticket is enclosed along with details on how to find the dock).

  Your reply confirming your acceptation should be return by the 6th August and no later, we look forward to seeing you on the 6th of September.

  Yours sincerely

  Deputy Head, Professor Eldamar

  P.S

  Please find enclosed a list of school books and equipment required by all students.

  "Burnaby Advanced, dad's going to be so chuffed," Will said as he picked up the cushion on the floor next to him and threw it over at Alex next to the sofa. "Well that's two of us,"

  "Troy's in for sure, then all we have to do is make sure that we all end up in the same estate," Alex said.

  "Cadell," Will said smiling; it was the only estate that he wanted to get into.

  "Yeap, the best estate at the best school; that's us," Alex said.

  Will got up off the floor picking up the last cushion and handing it over before they both headed to the door again, as they still had one more stop to do.

  "I'm surprised that he hasn't tried ringing you," Alex said as Will locked the front door again.

  "No, that's you," Will said. "He'll jump us when we get around there and demand to know where we got in,"

  "Yeah, that sounds about right," Alex agreed smiling.

  Ten minutes later they were walking up the garden path of Troy's house; his whole garden was covered with flowers pots everywhere with every type of flower that you could possibly think of. They were only half way towards the house when the front door was flung open and Troy stood there, his dark brown bangs even longer almost covering his eyes; he too was dressed in vests and shorts, purple and blue.

  "Hay what took you so long? Why didn't you call me? Well, did you get in as well? When are we going for our things? Dad's already gone to work, but he said that he'll have a look to see when he can have the time off? So, come on; answer my question," Troy said.

  They both just stared at him and then bust out laughing as they walked the rest of the way up to the house, but he didn't step aside for them.

  "Hay!" Troy shouted at the two of them agitated that they hadn’t answered him.

  "I told you so," Will said smirking.

  "Do you think that he even breathed once saying all that stuff?" Alex asked.

  "Hay!" Troy shouted angrily.

  "Alex got his first, then we went back to mine, as the post hadn't arrived before I left," Will told him still smirking as he explained.

  "Yes we got in, if you mean Burnaby Advanced,” Alex answered. "Though I don't think that he would be this hyper if it was for anywhere else,"

  "Actually if it was for anywhere else, he probably would be," Will said. "As he'd get his dad to ring around to find out what was going on and demanded to be retested to get in,"

  "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Troy demanded. "I thought that we were friends?"

  "We are," Will answered.

  "And we don't know either when we're getting our things," Alex told him.

  "Nelson just went out, and didn't really seem to be in the mood to begin to talk about that sort of thing; and my dad just went out," Will told him.

  "He was going to see Lucy's dad, probably to find out why you upset her," Alex teased.

  "You upset Lucy?" Julia asked from the stairs, she was his eldest sister; she had dark brown hair like her brother but hers was tied back in a pony and not even half the length of Will's.

  "Well I didn't think you were that type, bullying little girls," Emma said shacking her head disappointedly; she was his other older sister; her hair was a lighter shade of brown like her mums and curling up to her shoulders.

  "Hay, what's this, gang up on Troy day?" Troy asked angrily. "And I don't bully anyone...she...it doesn't matter...come on let’s go out,"

  Troy marched past Alex and Will out of the front door, which they followed waving goodbye to his sisters.

  "She'll be fine, and you can apologies when we get to school," Will told him.

  "Yeah, she'll end up at the same place," Alex said.

  "She's like you, her dad wants to make sure that she's well prepared," Troy said still annoyed that they were bringing up the Lucy thing.

  "Were you waiting at the door for us?" Alex asked him smirking.

  "What? No. I just saw you as I was walking past it," Troy said blushing deeply.

  "He was waiting at the door!" Alex shouted.

  "Whatever...I can do whatever I want," Troy said dismissively.

  "So, what sort of spells do you think that we should learn first?" Alex asked them excitedly.

  "I want to know how to shut my sisters up," Troy said.

  "I want to know how to transport somewhere," Will said thoughtfully, thinking that being able to teleport from one place to another would be a cool ability to have.

  "Yeah, that's not until like the sixth or seventh year," Troy told them. "Julia said that they might be doing it this year, and she's in the sixth year,"

  They walked ar
ound for a while talking about what they wanted to find out to be able to do, what they would do when they got to the school; though a lot of this did depend upon them getting into the same estate, but they were all quite sure that they could manage it. They also promised each other, even if they didn’t get into the same estate, that they would still be friends, as it wouldn’t be like they would never see each other again.

  Will pushed open the front door as it wasn't locked, which meant only one thing; his dad must already bee home.

  "Dad, I'm home!" Will shouted as he came inside, and closed the door behind him.

  "I'm through here!" Glen shouted from the back of the house.

  Will went left through the smaller living room and into the kitchen where his dad was stood at the far end making himself something to eat, Will walked over to the island in the middle and pulled out his letter from his pocket and handed it over without saying a word. Glen took the letter off of him and read through it, he looked over at him and then walked around the island; he stopped just in front of him and then pulled him into a hug.

  "This is great Will, I knew you could do it," Glen said proudly.

  "Alex and Troy got in as well," Will told him smiling into his chest.

  "Just what the three of you wanted," Glen said as he stepped back so that they could talk properly. "How did Nelson take the news?"

  "I don't know, he left before the letters arrived," Will admitted, and he was kind of nervous as well.

  "If there are any problems, just let me know...he's been a bit off lately," Glen said holding out his hand expectedly.

  "What?" Will said a little confused.

  Glen changed the subject, or rather got it back on track. "They normally send a list of stuff,"

  "Oh right, yeah..." Will said and dug his hand back inside his pocket and pulled out the second part of the letter. "I left the ticket in the living room, you know...not wanting to lose it,"

  "Well you should have left the list as well," Glen said as he straighten the letter with the list on it out as he walked back around to the oven, he turned the knob which turned it off and then he pulled the pan off of the top and poured the contents into a bowl which he had already pulled out on the side; all the while still reading. "This is pretty standard stuff...but..."

  "But what?" Will asked a little confused, hoping that there was nothing wrong.

  Glen picked up his bowl of soup and walked over to the breakfast table in the corner of the room, with Will following him; they both sat down and Glen placed the letters on the table.

  "It's just I don't know when I'll be getting some time off," Glen said looking annoyed. "I would have liked to have done this with you to be honest,"

  "That's alright, I understand...thing's have picked up since the rest of the world found out about us right," Will said; he did understand why his dad was always busy, always being called away; he protected them all.

  "I'll try and make the time," Glen told him. "This is important, your first wand...starting school. I want to be there for that,"

  "I know dad, me too," Will said leaning back. "We've got plenty of time, no rush,"

  Chapter Two

  Will had gotten up extra early, mainly because he couldn't sleep because he was so excited; he had been waiting weeks for this day. His dad had finally gotten a day off, beside from his birthday the week before which this year had landed on a Saturday, he had been so worried that his dad would be called away but he hadn't been, in fact he had stayed the whole day. He was hoping for the same thing today, Fridays he knew was also busy, but he was sure that there was someone else who could cover for at least one day, while he spent some important time with his dad, other dads got time off which meant that his dad should get time off.

  Will had gotten his clothes ready the night before, so that he wouldn't be rushing around; he changed into his smart jeans and his casual checked shirt. Once he was dressed he just stood there in front of his bedroom door and listened for any noise, because he was sure that he had heard the front door before he went into the bathroom, but he couldn't hear anything at the moment, so maybe he had just imagined it because he was nervous and excited.

  He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair before he opened his door and went across the landing and downstairs; he couldn't help but smile as he thought about meeting up with Alex and Troy tomorrow and telling them about everything that he had done with his dad, all the shops they had visited just like they had told him about everything that had happened when the two of them went together with their parents. Will of course had wanted to go with them, but his dad hadn't been able to get the time off for that day, and no matter how much fun he would have had with his friends, he still wanted his dad to be there with him.

  As Will reached the bottom he could see and hear that he wasn't alone with his dad after all, in the far corner of the room he was stood with his uncle Infidus; who was the same height as him and dressed much smarter in an elegant suit, which Will had never understood why he dressed like that considering that they hunted down rogue wizards, wouldn't he stand out dressed like that. His aunt Anne was sat on the sofa with her back to him, her chestnut hair up and braided as normal and he could see that she was dressed to go out in their world, she wore had a caramel petty coat and matching hoop skirt. His older cousin Stuart was also there, sat at the other end of the sofa as though he owned the place; he had short dark hair like his father and was also dressed smartly, making him look a lot older than he actually was, he was only three years older than Will but with how he was dressed he looked as though he could have already left school.

  Stuart saw Will at the door. "Here's Will,"

  Glen turned around and looked over at the stairs where he was still stood; Will knew that with them all here that it meant that he wasn't going to get to go with his dad, he knew his dad's job was important but so was he wasn't he? He turned back around to go back to his room to change if he wasn't going out; they would just have to figure out another day to do all of this on, and hopefully soon because the summer holidays were almost over.

  "Hay, wait!" Glen shouted as he came over to him.

  "I'm going to get changed, seeing that we're not going out now," Will told him as calmly as he could even though he was angry and upset with him, that all he really wanted to do was shout at his dad and demand to know why that he was being left behind again.

  "You're right, we're not going out; I just got a report...I've got to take this," Glen told him.

  "I know, it's important...more important than spending time with me...your own son," Will said and started up the stairs, but Glen stopped him.

  "You know that's not true...it's just...at the moment thing's are...you'll understand one day," Glen told him; but he had wanted to say so much more but knew he shouldn't as it wasn't really safe even to tell his own son, and it was the last thing that he wanted to do, by putting his son in anymore danger. "Aunt Anne is going to take you,"

  "Witchchester Square, just off Manchester," Infidus told him as he stepped forward. "Best wand shop in the country, though I don’t see why it has to be located there,"

  Will turned around to face his dad, he could see that he was disappointed as well, but that still didn't let him off the hook for letting him down like this. He then looked over at Stuart who looked really smug as though he knew something important while Will was being left out in the dark like normal; he so didn't want to spend the day with him, especially not this day.

  Anne stood up and walked over to him, she smiled kindle up at him beside his dad. "We'll have a great day, just the two of us. Your dad has even given me some extra money so that you can treat yourself, considering that it was your birthday last week,"

  "Perhaps not enough for a broom though, but maybe next year when you're allowed one," Glen told him encouragingly.

  "I'm still travelling with you though, but I'm meeting up with my friends on the other side," Stuart told him smugly.

  Will didn't bother to answer him, as h
e nodded. "Fine...but you'll still have to make this up to me,"

  "Of course, I'll take you next time," Glen assured him.

  "I won't let you forget that," Will told him as he walked back down the rest of the stairs and stood beside his dad. "You’ll be home when I get back right?"

  "I'm hoping so, so that you can show me everything that you've brought," Glen told him smiling.

  "Don't worry, I'll have him home for you," Infidus assured him.

  Anne put her arm around Will's shoulder and led him out of the room and into the other, in the direction of the cupboard with the doors inside; Stuart slowly got up and followed them through with his father.