“I’ll get it!” he heard a young girl say when he rang the doorbell.
“No, Serena,” a grown woman’s voice responded. “I get the door.”
Moments later, the door was opened by a young woman in her thirties with curly-brown hair. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes,” answered the man. “Is this the Corbin residence?”
“It is,” she answered. “And who might you be?”
“I am Dr. Rudolph Fletcher,” said the man, pulling a business card out from inside his blazer and handing it to her. “I am here from the Board of Education to discuss Simon’s education next year. You have a very talented son, and his talents must be nourished.”
She took a glance inside at her husband, a man with dark curly hair and grey metal glasses. He gave his wife a smiling nod - and she turned back toward the visitor. “Come in,” she said.
“Thank you,” said Dr. Fletcher. As he stepped in, he removed his hat. He looked around for a hat rack - and when he didn’t see one, he smiled. He took his out his wooden stick - the same one he had used earlier to secure his bicycle. He tapped it on his hat and placed the hat on the wall. There it hung as though it were supported by an invisible hook.
He turned to the woman, who was looking at him with a confused look. “Do you mind?” she asked, reaching toward the hat.
“Go right ahead,” said Dr. Fletcher.
Mrs. Corbin took the hat and removed it from where it hung on the wall. Dr. Fletcher watched as she felt around the brim, her look of confusion intensifying as she apparently found nothing out of the ordinary. Then, he watched her confusion grow even stronger as she felt around on the wall looking for an invisible hook, once again finding nothing.
Finally, she placed the hat on the wall where she had taken it, but did not let go. Instead, she just moved the hat around slightly until eventually she let go and the hat got back to hanging on its place on the wall.
“This makes no sense,” she said.
“Don’t worry,” said Dr. Fletcher. “It soon will make tons of sense. Anyway - shall we discuss Simon’s education?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Let’s go to the living room.”
Minutes later, Dr. Fletcher was seated at a table in the living room, sipping some decaffeinated coffee. Across from him he could see Simon’s parents, each of which were sipping from their own cup.
“So,” he began. “I presume you are Miriam and Naphtali Corbin.”
“Yes,” answered Naphtali Corbin.
“I would like to discuss Simon’s schooling for next year,” said Dr. Fletcher.
“That’s fine,” said Miriam Corbin, “but can I ask - how were you able to get your hat to hang on the wall like that?”
“It’s magic,” explained Dr. Fletcher.
“I see,” she said in resignation. “You can’t tell me.”
“I get it,” said Dr. Fletcher with a smile. “You don’t believe that magic is real.”
“Well,” she answered, “unusual things happen all the time. Especially around my kids, it seems. But magic?”
“Need more proof that it’s real?” he asked. “Take a look at the business card I gave you.”
Mrs. Corbin looked at the business card, which was sitting on the table in front of her.
“Do you see the stars?” asked Dr. Fletcher.
To Miriam’s surprise, she noticed that there were stars near the edges of the card that were - twinkling. That is, instead of remaining unchanging on the card as printed, they were constantly changing size from two millimeters in length to five millimeters - some of them going through their cycle as frequently as once every second, while others would take as much as six seconds for each round.
“That must be some trick,” she said.
“How about this?” he asked. He took out the wooden stick from inside his blazer, and waved it at a framed picture of a woman who was staring at a bunch of crows in the sky. At once, the crows flew out of the picture, assumed a realistic form, and began flying in circles around the living room, wowing both Miriam and Naphtali Corbin for a few minutes before they returned to their drawn from and to their places in the picture, leaving it as it had been before they had been summoned out of it in the first place.
“That’s amazing,” said Miriam.
“But we are getting off topic,” said Naphtali. “You came to discuss Simon’s education.”
“Actually,” said Dr. Fletcher, “that’s exactly what I was working up to. Take a look at the card again. This time the words themselves. I promise they won’t dance or do anything.”
This time, the Corbins looked together at the card, and at the very top they saw the words: “United States Board of Magical Education”.
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“You want to teach our son magic?” asked Naphtali.
“Yes,” answered Dr. Fletcher. “Your son has magic talent - and it will not go well if he is not trained to properly direct it.”
“So what are you suggesting?” asked Miriam.
Dr. Fletcher picked up his briefcase, which had been sitting beside him, and placed it on the table. He then opened it up and took out a pamphlet which he handed to her. She picked it up and saw the image of a building that looked like a large wooden fortress, with walls, towers, and everything. But it didn’t look stark or repressive as some might fear of a fortress. Rather, it looked more like a majestic castle - only one made out of wood rather than stone. It sat on top of a gentle mountain, surrounded by forestry - with gently-rolling well-forested mountains as far as the eyes could see. At the top of the picture, in shimmering italic calligraphy, were the words: “Misty Peaks Academy of the Magical Arts”.
“This is Misty Peaks,” he explained, “a really good school - located in the Smokies. Students come from all over the Southeastern United States to learn magic there.”
“This is a bit far to drive a kid every day,” said Miriam.
“It is,” agreed Dr. Fletcher. “It’s a boarding school.”
“What?” asked Naphtali in shock.
“You want our son to go to a boarding school?” asked Miriam.
“It is a very qualified school,” said Dr. Fletcher, “fully certified by the United States Board of Magical Education.”
“Which we never heard about before you came into this house,” pointed out Naphtali.
Dr. Fletcher wasn’t taken by even the least bit of surprise by the objections that the Corbins were raising. Those same objections had been raised countless times before by other non-magical folk that had found themselves parents of magical children - and he, himself, had had to respond to such concerns his share of times before.
“That is true,” he agreed. “The fact that magic is real is something that we can’t allow to become common knowledge - and that does, unfortunately, mean that our institutions have to keep a low profile that generally prevents people from outside the magical world from knowing about us. But we are fully prepared to do whatever we can to address your concerns.”
“So,” asked Naphtali, “how can we investigate an institution that is not on any public record?”
“A number of ways,” explained Dr. Fletcher. “For one thing, this is far from the first time that a magical child was born to a non-magical family. It happens plenty. And a number of the non-magical parents of magical children have volunteered to be ambassadors to parents in your situation. Even some magical parents have done so. I would be happy to put you in contact with some of them if you like.”
“But then we will only be speaking to people whom you refer us to,” complained Miriam.
“That’s not all,” continued Dr. Fletcher. “We are also prepared to give you magical sight. That would allow you to move with relative freedom in parts of the magical world that are generally invisible or unfindable to people who do not themselves have magic.”
The Corbins glanced at each other. “That will help,” agreed Miriam.
“Also,” said Dr. Fletcher, “if you decide to send Simon to Misty Peaks, you will probably want to stay in contact with him while he is away there at school.”
“That goes without saying,” agreed Miriam.
“Well,” said Dr. Fletcher, “if this were a magical household, you probably would already have a kind of magic mirror called a ‘correspondence mirror’ to communicate with others. A regular correspondence mirror, of course, won’t do you any good, because you have to have magic yourself to use it. However, a correspondence mirror can be equipped with special enchantments to allow specific people without magic to use it to respond to calls, as well as to make calls to specific other correspondence mirrors. These correspondence mirrors come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, and don’t cost too much more than regular mirrors of the same size and shape. Once you’re set up with one of those, Simon will be able to contact you from one of the shared correspondence mirrors that students use for calling home.”
“That’s good,” said Miriam.
“That’s not all,” continued Dr. Fletcher. “I will also be able to equip you with what you need to magically send him letters while he is at school, as well as to any member of the faculty specifically responsible for his education.”
“But what if he or his teachers try to write back to us?” asked Naphtali.
“No special arrangement will be needed for that,” responded Dr. Fletcher. “Magical mail only requires the use of magic by the sender - not the recipient.”
“That’s good to know,” said Miriam. “But we have one more question.”
“Ask away,” invited Dr. Fletcher.
“Simon is not our only child,” she said. “We have our daughter, Serena.”
“A grade below Simon, right?” asked Dr. Fletcher.
“Yes,” she answered. “What is her level of talent with magic?”
“Well,” answered Dr. Fletcher, “I don’t really know. I came here specifically for Simon.” He took a moment to look through the file in is briefcase. “It seems that she will be of the right age next year, so if she does have magic you should expect a visit on her behalf then.”
“Okay then,” said Miriam.
“At any rate,” continued Dr. Fletcher, “I have a letter with me that is specifically for Simon. Might I give it to him?”
“Simon?” called Naphtali.
“Coming,” replied a voice from the upper floor.
A few minutes later, Simon came into the living room, slowly and cautiously.
“Come here, sweetheart,” said his mother, gesturing him over. He walked around the table and sat on the seat next to her, pulling himself into her with his arm.
“He can be a bit shy at times,” she said, embracing him.
Dr. Fletcher nodded in acknowledgement.
“Simon,” Miriam said to her son, “I would like you to meet Dr. Fletcher. He has come here to see you.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” said Dr. Fletcher, extending his hand across the table.
Reluctantly, yet obediently, Simon extended his hand in return. But as soon as the two had shaken hands, he quickly retracted his and pulled back in to his mother.
“Now Simon,” said Dr. Fletcher, “what I am about to tell you may sound strange - but it just might make perfect sense. And that is, well, magic is real.”
“Magic?” asked Simon.
“Yes, magic,” affirmed Dr. Fletcher. “Don’t things sometimes happen around you that are strange, unexplained - maybe even seem to violate the laws of physics sometimes?”
“Yes,” answered Simon, “but it’s not my fault.”
“Nobody here’s blaming you,” assured Dr. Fletcher, “but you have a gift - and if you learn to control it, whole worlds can open for you. But doing so is a skill - and someone’s going to need to teach you.”
He could see Simon’s eyes were lighting up with interest, and his grip on his mother was starting to loosen. He could also see that she noticed this as well.
“Is there someone who can teach me?” asked Simon.
“Yes there is,” answered Dr. Fletcher. “There’s a really good school where you can learn this stuff. Your parents would like to send you there next year instead of Roberstville - but they just need to first make sure that it’s the best fit for you. And we would like you all to come and learn some more about it.”
He took an envelope out of his briefcase and handed it to Simon. On it were the words: “Mr. Simon Corbin”
“You can open it,” assured Dr. Fletcher.
Simon opened the envelope - and the first thing he saw was a letter that read:
To Mr. Simon Corbin,
We are pleased to inform you that you are eligible to begin attending Misty Peaks Academy of the Magical Arts beginning with the upcoming 2002-2003 school year. Enclosed is your registration form. Fill it out and follow the instructions for returning it before August 7. We look forward to seeing you at the start of the school year!
Also, enclosed you will find a list of supplies needed for your first year of school - as well as a calendar of important dates.
Sincerely
Robert Parker, Headmaster
Dora Brown, Deputy Headmistress
“Can I go?” Simon excitedly asked his mother after finishing to read the letter.
“Well,” she answered, “I don’t see any harm in learning more about this school. Let’s see what your father has to say.”
After finishing to read the letter himself, Naphtali nodded in assent. “So, how can we go about learning more?” he asked.
Dr. Fletcher grinned, pulled another card the size of a business card out of his blazer, and placed it on the table in front of the couple.