The rest of his first year flew by uneventfully—well, as uneventfully as things can be at Hogwarts. He managed to pass all of his classes with flying colors, except Herbology and Transfiguration, which he still managed to scrape by in. Taylor grew closer to his friends, especially Louis and Rose Weasley who always seemed to be around. Scorpius and Lily were both around a lot, too, but they enjoyed being off on their own, also.

  It didn’t bother Louis. “Look,” Louis told Taylor and Rose, “I like Scorpius; I really do. And I’m fine with him and Lily dating, honestly, but I’m not sure how it’ll settle with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny if their daughter marries into the Malfoy family. You know I’m right, Rose. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione would be even more upset! Mum and dad might not be so against it, but dad and Draco were never at school together.”

  Taylor just learned to tune Louis out after a while. He was Taylor’s best friend, but he was a borderline hypocrite. Louis complained about Slytherins’ blood prejudice against those who weren’t pureblood, yet Louis had no problem lumping all Slytherin members in together. Taylor’s mother had been a Slytherin. Taylor’s aunts had both been in Slytherin. Taylor’s cousin was in Slytherin.

  Rose wasn’t as judgmental as her cousin. She got along well enough with a few Snakes. The only one that she seemed to have any genuine disdain for was his cousin, and Sarah brought it on herself, in all honesty. Rose also seemed more interested in Taylor’s family than Louis was; she was a thirteen year-old girl, and had a more broad emotional range than her eleven year-old brother. 

  When June came and term ended, saying goodbye to all of his friends was hard for Taylor. He knew he would be back in three months, but still—there was a small part of him that clung to the fear that this had all just been some marvelous dream.

  His home life improved a great deal over the summer. Taylor wasn’t as bitter, and he had a grand time telling Susan all of the stories about his first year at Hogwarts. He even got on better with his father, Christopher. Not being able to use magic for ninety days was beyond taxing for Taylor, but somehow he managed. He read books on magic and wizarding history, and he filled his time with theory instead of actual practice.

  On a windy day in the middle of July, an owl dropped off a letter from the Weasleys, inviting Taylor to stay with Louis the week before September 1^st, 2020. Taylor was excited, and Christopher agreed it would be fine, if he could get word back to Bill and Fleur by some means.

  This was when it happened. Taylor grumbled about Muggle post and claimed he needed an owl for all of about two minutes when an ungodly squawking and banging came from his bedroom. Taylor frowned, and darted back towards his bedroom. Had Louis’ owl returned again?

The sight that greeted him was a strange one, and it made Taylor more than a little fearful. The dragon-scale box had fallen off of his desk, and was moving along the floor in sporadic bursts, as if something was thrashing about inside of it. It was the box that was squawking… Taylor, mustering up his courage, set the box upright, and he propped the lid before diving back a couple feet.

  Out of the box, there flew a dusky barn owl. It perched on the headboard of Taylor’s bed, and hooted, glad to be free of the boxed confinement. Taylor stared at the owl, confused, and glanced down into the box. There was nothing in there, except for several of the Christmas gifts he had received seven months earlier. There was the portable swamp, still compact and very un-swamp-like. There were the trick wands, one of which turned into a rubber duck when someone attempted a spell with it, while the other turned into a bicycle horn. There was the Shield Necklace that had not been used yet, and there was also the ring that Harry Potter himself had given Taylor. Taylor had been wearing it every day, but his father had forbade him from wearing it at home. He didn’t want random magical things happening, and he wouldn’t reason, even though Taylor promised nothing magical had happened with the ring yet. He just wanted to see if it could actually do anything or help him do anything. But Christopher wouldn’t listen.

  And the last thing in the enchanted box was the coin purse that Draco Malfoy had given him. The bag seemed to be illuminated, as if it was casting off a light of its own, and there were three pitch-black feathers trailing from the bag’s miniscule opening. Impossible!

  Taylor didn’t understand. How could that bird—that owl—have come out of that bag? Why was the bag glowing? It must have been enchanted. Only then did Draco’s words come back to Taylor Paxton: If you ever need anything, be not afraid to ask.

He had just asked his father for an owl and been refused, when, all of a sudden, an owl had come out of his bag. His glowing bag that wasn’t big enough to hold an owl... Coincidence? Impossible. Magic.

  Taylor examined the owl, “Are… Are you mine?”

  The owl hooted in reply, and Taylor took that as a yes.

 If you ever need anything, be not afraid to ask…

  Draco Malfoy’s present just became much more interesting. Would it give him anything he wanted? Or only something that he truly needed? Or truly believed he needed? He didn’t need an owl, but he wanted one, and mere seconds ago he might have honestly believed he needed it… It was making Taylor’s head spin.

  He closed the dragon-scale box with a smile, “Hey, dad, come here!”