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They met Melissa just as she was coming out of Flourish and Blott’s. She handed Stiles’ dad a tall stack of leather bound books, looking quite pleased with herself. Stiles took two of the largest books One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions and tucked them under his arm. He couldn’t wait to sit down with some of them, eager to get a sneak preview at the school year. He couldn’t remember a time when he had been more excited to learn.
“I managed to get a bargain on their HM books; it seems they’re coming out with a new edition later this year; the rest are second hand.”
Stiles’ dad pursed his lips as he scanned the slightly faded titles. “What about math and English? Science?” He eyed Stiles warily. “Am I going to have to get you a tutor over the summer?”
Stiles looked at him aghast, “Dad!”
Melissa hummed. “Well, there’s Artithmancy. That’s about numbers. But it’s an elective. I suppose Potions is similar to chemistry, Herbology could be viewed as specialist biology and the boys will have plenty of time to perfect their grammar when they’re writing essays. I remember the essays,” she grimaced. “I was more a hands-on kind of learner myself.”
Stile’s dad didn’t look convinced. “Now hold on just a minute. I thought you said there were tests.”
“Oh, the O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts? They take those in the final two years. Other assessments are internal, but Hogwarts has an excellent reputation for assessing the students to a high academic standard.”
“Owls and newts?” He mouthed incredulously. His eyebrows were starting to furrow and if Stiles didn’t think of something to derail that train of thought...
“Hey Dad! Look,” Stiles pointed. He tugged on his dad’s free arm. “Why don’t you buy a pair of self-warming slippers, huh?" He dragged his dad over to a bric-a-brac stall and started chattering about all of the different colours and sizes.
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Melissa could tell that it was going to take some time for John to get used to the wizarding world, but she was confident that even if he never understood it completely, he would always try for Stiles’ sake. She looked down and saw that Scott was watching the two with a wistful expression. “Hey pumpkin,” she crooned, stoking the top of Scott’s head. “You okay?”
Scott blinked. “Yeah mom,” he said, smiling up at her. She was glad that Stiles and Scott would be going to Hogwarts together. The two were inseparable and she had been a little worried when Stiles suddenly stopped coming over to visit them. She knew Scott had been worried about keeping Stiles as a friend.
“Why don’t you show Stiles around for a bit? I think I’ll take John back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch and we’ll put the books in the car. We’ll meet up with you guys outside Ollivanders, okay?”
“Okay,”
Melissa smacked a kiss on Scott’s forehead before he could duck away from her.