Joe's Memories

It was hot in their secret little greenhouse out back. When Jonathan wiped some strands of curly hair out of his eyes, they stuck to the sweat on his forehead. He squinted against the light shining through the panels overhead and, just in time, got one of his dirty hands to his face before he sneezed.

"Bless you, Joey!"

He turned around to where his mother's voice had sounded. He could not see her, however -- his view on her blocked by an especially big pot on the work bench.

"Thank you, Mummy!" he called back.

The door to the greenhouse opened. Joe's father returned with a smile and carrying a small stool, which he set down between the work bench and the young boy.

"Here you go, Joe" The man moved his arms towards Jonathan, ready to pick him up, but stopped mid-motion to let his son climb the stool himself.

From his elevated standpoint, Jonathan could finally see his mother rummaging around in the thorny vine-plants on the other side of the work bench. He watched her with big, round eyes.

"Come on Joe." He turned to see his father winking at him. "Let mum handle the dangerous stuff and we'll repot these... Garga...dolphil...sis together."

A snort coming from his mother told Jonathan that this was not in fact the correct name of the plants, and he giggled at the mistake -- not that he had any reliable memory of what his mother had called them either.

He then started to scoop out little holes for the Gargadifs in the big pot in front of him, then watched his father carefully free the Gargolfs from their current little pots and pick them up with his bare hands. Once he had placed them with equal care into the big pot, Jonathan reached to shovel some earth onto their roots and pat it down gently.

He put his hands on the work bench as he leaned over the pot, and watched his father conjure magic water for the Gardill plants.

"When will I get my wand?", Jonathan asked.

"When you start Hogwarts, like everyone else."

"But what if I'm not magic? None of my friends at school are."

"They aren't magic because they are muggles, you know this. And you are magic, remember when poor Ramses suddenly had feathers on his tail instead of fur? That was your doing."

"Well, you always say he has a feathery tail anyways!"

Jonathan giggled when his father ruffled his hair but squealed and quickly jumped down from the stool to get away when her remembered just how dirty his father's hands were.

"Noo, I don't wanna shower today!"

"No, you're gonna. It's wash day."

Jonathan pretended to pout, but his crossed arms were soon uncrossed when his father started tickling him.

"Noo, dad, stop!" he squealed.

"No playing in the greenhouse," Jonathan's mother sounded from behind the work bench.

His father stopped immediately, looking caught despite his big grin.

"Sorry, Ava." Turning to his son again, he said with an even wider grin: "so, who wants ice cream?"

"Me!" Jonathan laughed excitedly, running to keep up with his father's long strides and beat him to the freezer inside.

Birthdays are a milestone and regarded a big deal in a child's life. It appeared to be the same for muggle and wizard kind alike.

To be invited to a birthday party was a big deal as well as one had to pick out a lovely present and make sure the invitee had their day special and about them.

To not be invited to a birthday party was an even bigger deal. At best it would entail an awkward shrug and an avoided gaze, at worst it would entail the end of a promising friendship.

And so it was a big deal to young Jonathan King as well. He was a school boy in an ordinary little town in Great Britain. His peers would have parties with cake and games and entertainment.

Yet he himself was not such an ordinary boy. He would have been if raised in another setting. However, he was a wizard child in a school of non magical children, the magical part of his life was to remain a secret from his peers or he would get in all kinds of trouble.

And so his birthday was not always thought of with only joyous excitement but also with dread.
How would such an eccentric witch as his mother Ava King make an ordinary muggle-safe birthday party happen?

In the past he had been happy to just have a small gathering with his family.

He would play a toned down version of Quidditch with his cousins Zephyr and Elara in the yard that was protected from muggles' sight with vegetation and spells alike, have cake and open some presents.
Some of his fondest memories of his cousins were when they raced on their parents' brooms.

Yet getting older and being in school changed things.

This year he had made a friend. A real good friend in school who had introduced him to a small group and suddenly he had had been invited to four birthday parties this year.
For some reason an invitation seemed to come with the obligation to invite that person to his own birthday.

"When's your birthday, Joe?" and "What are you doing on your birthday, Joe?" and "I have never been to your house before. Are you having your birthday there?", he had been asked.

Yet he had no idea how to answer. He could not just tell them what he usually did. For the first time, he did not feel special for this secret world of his.

He felt angry he had to keep it from his friends.

Jonathan had asked his parents if he could invite his new friends over for his birthday. As expected his father Aleus furrowed his brows and pointed at the magical items in their home. Children were nosy and touchy and letting a bunch of them in would surely lead to at least one of them discovering something they should not.

His mother, Ava, was more understanding.

They could not host a party at their house but they could have it somewhere else!

So, for the first time on his ninth birthday, he had a birthday party with friends from school.

They were out on the football pitch, having cake and playing fun ball games. Pretty standard, yet for the first time Jonathan felt normal and belonging with the town's children.

Jonathan had had a blast and as the evening called for the party to end his uncle and aunt joined them with his cousins. Which was unfortunate was that his friends had not been picked up yet and as Elara (11) approached the pit she waved at them from a distance before running and excitedly shouting:
"Aunt Ava! Uncle Aleus! I've got my letter! Letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, School for Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Jonathan could feel his heart sink as his friends started to laugh in bewilderment and upon meeting Elara's eyes he could see she realized her mistake.

-"School for Wizardry?"
-"What's that supposed to be, Joe?"
-"Is your cousin a magician?"
-"Are you from a circus?"

"Yeah", he lied. "She's going to learn how to be a magician over the summer."

-"You got a talent too, Joe?"

"Juggling.", he said.

-"Oh! Can you show us?"

"No..."

Jonathan, albeit glad they had believed the lie of his cousin becoming a stage magician, could not show his friends his juggling as he in fact did not know how to juggle.

Eventually they let it go as their parents came to pick them up, however they made Jonathan promise to perform in the school's next talent show.

Jonathan would have almost no choice but to learn how to juggle by next October.

The evening following this nearly incident was lovely and he and his family went back to their yard to fly around with his cousins as usual, celebrating both his birthday and Elara's acceptance to Hogwarts.

All in all Jonathan had had a lovely birthday.