Open How Did I Get Here?

[Doyle Mooney]

Doyle sat alone on a bench waiting for his dad to stop chatting with some shopkeeper about how business was doing. It wasn't like his dad knew anymore about what was going on than he did, but he did always seem to know how to act in any situation. Maybe it was just a dad thing. All he knew was that one day he was a normal kid with normal friends and then the next he got some letter telling him he was a wizard. He thought it was fake at first and tried to hid it from his dad. But then another one came, and then another. Then some stranger came and explained it all in person. Doyle was in fact a wizard and no, he couldn't tell anyone about it. Which took some of the fun out of it for sure. Now he was about to go off to some school, alone, and he needed all these supplies and everyone seemed to be walking around knowing what to do and he was totally lost. He hadn't been this lost since he had to ride the bus by himself for the first time and got on one going the wrong direction. At least then he could call his dad to help him figure it out. Now he had no one. But he did have a radio. He got it from one of the shops they'd been in earlier. If he couldn't bring his music with him he at least wanted this.

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Peregrine loved her brother, really, she did, but she was a bit tired of him sulking about how it wasn't fair that he couldn't go to Hogwarts as well, and his bombardment of her with more questions about his theories. It was as though with her being away for so long he was getting in as much talking to cover the months until Christmas. Her mum had told her 'be patient with Percy, he's just sad because he's going to miss you' but had finally relented and given her an opportunity for some time to herself by taking him off for some of his own shopping.

It meant it was suddenly very quiet, and Peregrine felt a little bit at a loss of what to do next, however. She had a new book on dragons to look at and thought of going for icecream, but she hated the idea of getting icecream all over her brand new book. She instead just decided to go take a seat on a bench to look at some of the pictures and decide what to do next, when she spotted a boy about her age who looked a bit at a loss. "Um, hello," she said, sitting on the other end of the bench so as not to intrude too much. "Er, cool radio," she added, figuring she ought to say something friendly (though at least she wasn't about to start asking too many questions about his thoughts on space travel, like Percy would), and opened her book.

 

[Doyle Mooney]

Doyle had been so busy trying to send telepathic messages to his dad that he didn't notice when a girl his age sat next to him. As she greeted him, he whipped his head around so fast he almost gave himself a neck injury. He looked down when she complimented the radio he still carried quite delicately in his lap. "Oh thanks." he said slowly, not sure if that was the right thing to say. "I'm not sure if it works." he admitted. He also had a million questions on his mind. Did it work like a regular radio? Were magic radio stations different? Could he also pick up the regular stations he was used to? What kind of music do wizards even make? But he didn't share those. Not yet at least. He wasn't sure if she even knew and he wasn't eager to show just how out of place he was quite yet. He noticed her book then and saw the pictures of dragons. "That's a cool book." he said with a nod in its direction. "Does it have like legends about them to?" he asked, remembering a similar book he had had as a kid. One about dragons and one about mythology too.

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Peregrine wondered what the boy meant by the radio not working. It looked pretty new from the glance she'd taken, not that she wanted to stare too much as that would've made her look quite rude indeed. Nor did she blurt out the obvious thoughts to ask why it wouldn't, unless he'd just bought a cheap and dodgy one. She assumed that the boy might be one of her classmates, unless he was already at Hogwarts, and without Percy sticking to her she had to make friends. "I guess it kind of does," she agreed, not fully convinced. "I mean, it's got some stories about dragons that aren't around anymore, and what they probably looked like. They can only go off of reports and stuff." She pointed to a picture, tilting the book over so the boy could see it. "This one's from India, but nobody's seen one for two hundred years. Something about all the smog driving it away." She realised she was getting a bit carried away, and reddened, worrying she sounded a bit mad. "Sorry. I'm Peregrine. What's your name?"

 

[Doyle Mooney]

Doyle nodded along to her answer until the reality of her words really sunk in. He was probably staring at her like she had three heads but he couldn't help it. She seemed nice and there was no way she could have known he was new to all this, unless he was far more obvious than he thought. "Doyle..." he said slowly. "That's my name." He was almost tempted to ignore the dragon talk but he couldn't let it go. "W-what do you mean dragons that aren't around anymore?" he asked slowly and he considered how ignorant he wanted to appear. But the possibility of dragons being real was too much, and he quickly lost all pretense. Doyle turned so he was facing her head on. "That would mean some dragons are around?" he asked, he was being a little intense but he had to know.

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Peregrine realised she was being full on, exactly what she always complained about Percy doing, and was about to awkwardly make her exit, pretend she could hear her mum calling or something, but there was something about the response that confused her. "Well of course they're real, they're as real as unicorns and phoenixes," she said, matter of factly, as though that would alleviate any confusion. Peregrine had momentarily forgotten, of course, that some of her classmates wouldn't have magical families. It took her a minute for it to click, but when it did she gasped in a combination of surprise and embarrassment. "Oh! I hope this isn't rude, but are you...er, new to magic?" She wondered if he knew much about dinosaurs, but she was at least sensible enough not to press the matter right away.

 

[Doyle Mooney]

"As what?!" Doyle asked seriously when she mentioned unicorns and phoenixes. Any attempt at appearing like anything other than a fish out of water when quickly out the window. But how could he help it? He knew he was a wizard which was already the stuff of fantasy but adding the creatures that went along with it seemed too far fetched for him to process in the middle of the afternoon. Dragons....unicorns.....what else was out there? Mermaids? Doyle felt his cheeks flush when she gasped, probably realizing he was a total idiot. "I don't know, is it rude to ask? I have no idea!" he blurted out. Personally he wasn't offended, if anything he was relieved to have someone in on his secret that really wasn't a secret. "Sorry that came out wrong." he sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Yes, and it's all so confusing." he grumbled.

 

[Peregrine Piper]

Truthfully, Peregrine wasn't sure either whether or not it was rude to ask, but it felt like one of those things that you shouldn't pry too much into because people's families were their own business, and her uncle always said 'that makes it none of mine'. Her mum, on the other hand, was all in on 'push yourself to get to know people'...when she wasn't telling her to look after her brother, that was. All in all, a confusing state to be in. "Oh! Sorry, I was rambling on about dragons and probably not helping at all," she admitted, carefully closing her book and clutching it to her chest. She shifted slightly to face Doyle properly, hoping to help at least a little bit. "I can't even imagine, it must be really weird," she said, gently. "Um, it'll be okay though, I'm sure, I can help..." she trailed off, not actually sure how she could but it seemed like the right thing to do, and she was sure she could work something out. Though she couldn't help but add a little bit of a selfish wish. "Could you tell me about non-magical stuff sometime too? I don't know a lot about the muggle world."

 

[Doyle Mooney]

"No, it's ok." Doyle said quickly. He didn't mind her rambling, if anything he wanted to know more. "It is weird." he agreed before smiling weakly when she offered to help. He wasn't sure if she could, it felt like there was too much to learn. A whole life he missed out on by being born wrong. Well not wrong exactly. He loved his dad and grandfather and the thought of growing up with anyone else made him almost as freaked out as the whole magic thing. He laughed a little when Peregrine suggested he could tell her about muggle things. "What do you want to know?" he asked.