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Siarl had had a wonderful night of sleep. He got up out of bed and looked around his bedroom. He looked at the table across the room where he had laid his phone to charge. A glaring reminder that he wasn’t home. He didn’t have time to dwell too long on this point. He had school in an hour, and he was not gonna be late for his first day, even if he wasn’t supposed to be in this world. He put on the same set of clothing he wore yesterday. If his mom was here, she would have chided him for not wearing something new, but she wasn’t, and this was the only outfit he had. Luckily his new guardian, a woman by the name of Marlo, was going to at least be buying some new clothes for him and the other two teens that were now living in this flat.
Having finished brushing his teeth and getting dressed, the boy walked into the common area of the flat. At the kitchen counter, Cinderella was humming the tune of Frère Jacques and cooking breakfast.
“Bonjour Siarl! How did you sleep?” She asked with a smile as she began plating the food she made.
“It was ok, I guess,” he took a fork and knife and began eating. “You really got the hang of that stove pretty fast,” he teased a little thinking back to dinner.
Cinderella blushed. “Look, I didn’t realize how to lower the temperature the first time. You guys still ate everything anyway,” she remarked defensively. Last night she had accidentally burned their dinner. The burn wasn’t major, but she still felt rather sheepish and ended up apologizing profusely.
Siarl chuckled. “Relax, I’m only playing. Mom said she had a hard time when she…” Siarl’s cheerful demeanor fell as he started feeling homesick again. He put down his utensils and went to knock on Flint’s door. “Flint get up! It’s time for breakfast.”
Flint sighed as he walked out the door. “Why do we have to go to school exactly? I haven’t gone since I was 9,” he complained as he walked along.
“Because it’s illegal for me not to send you,” Marlo said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
“Then why doesn’t she need to go?” Flint asked, pointing to Cinderella.
“Because I’m too old,” the girl said as she handed him his breakfast. “Instead Marlo is gonna be helping me find a job.”
“Oh that’s just great.” He sat down with his arms crossed.
“Why haven’t you gone to school in so long?” Siarl asked, confused.
“Cause, that’s when I became a Pokémon trainer. I was in the middle of training a fire type team when the portal opened up.”
“If you need a tutor to help you, I can be of assistance.” Marlo reassured him.
“Probably, what even is Algebra?” Flint said before beginning to eat.
“It’s a math course, it shouldn’t be too much since you were placed into it.” Marlo said as she finished her own breakfast. “Hurry up Flint, we have to leave in 6 minutes.”
“Okay!” He said, muffled by his food.
Siarl grabbed his backpack and got ready to go to school. He put on his sneakers and slipped his wand inside just in case. He ran down to the car and waited excitedly for Marlo and Flint to walk over. “It’s been a bit of time since my last class in a muggle school, but I can’t wait.”
“I don’t think you ever explained what a muggle is.” Flint said a little annoyed as he walked into the car.
“Sorry, it’s a way to say someone who doesn’t have magic in my universe.” Siarl blushed sheepishly.
“I see.” He shrugged and sat down, buckling up.
“Don’t worry Flint, I’m sure you’ll enjoy school.” Marlo said as she began driving off.
“Right.” He grumbled a bit more through the ride.
They finally arrived at the school and walked off to their first classes. Siarl smiled as he found it quite easy to pick up muggle school. Perhaps 9th grade was an okay jumping off point before the material got too advanced for him to handle. Flint, on the other hand, was not ready for what 11th grade had in store for him.
Cinderella smiled as she read the comments on her latest post. It felt nice to hear people tell her she was beautiful after how many years of abuse by her step sisters and her awful stepmother. She was so preoccupied she almost didn’t see Marlo come back in.
“Ready for your interview? With your skillset, you would have a good job as a cook in a French bistro nearby.” Marlo said with a smile as she led Cinderella to the car.
“Thank you again for doing this for me.” Cinderella said.
“Of course, you need to find a job, and I need to ensure you adjust to this town properly.” marlo said as she pushed up her sunglasses and led her to the car.
As Siarl continued through his high school classes, he discovered that it was no harder than life at Hogwarts. However, just like at Hogwarts, there was also a bit of a problem with bullies. One of the meanest was a senior kid in his phys Ed class named Jarvis.
Jarvis had pushed Siarl to the ground with a laugh. “Stay out of the way, newbie!” Siarl’s backpack had been opened and his belongings clattered to the ground.
“Oww!” Siarl said in complaint as he began collecting his scattered pencils and binders. As he looked around on the floor and in his backpack he noticed that his wand had rolled over to Jarvis’s feet.
Jarvis noticed it too and picked it up with a laugh. “What’s with this stick? Wait, are you such a nerd that you brought a magic wand with you to class? This isn’t a magic school dipshit.”
Siarl cringed a bit. He was so used to life at Hogwarts that he brought his wand with him on reflex. “Give it back.” He said simply.
“Why don’t you make me?” He pushed him again with a smirk. Jarvis was about a head taller than him and was much beefier. Siarl was at every disadvantage in this confrontation, especially since he was wandless. Still, he wasn’t gonna just let him bully him like that. Siarl raised up a fist and threw a punch at him. Jarvis caught the punch like it was nothing and responded with a punch of his own which winded the poor wizard. “Hah, just as I thought, just a weakling nerd.”
Siarl struggled to his feet and tried to grab for the wand, but he got pinned to a locker instead. “St-stop this!” He groaned
“Hehe or what? Huh? You’re just a wimp.” Jarvis laughed before suddenly feeling a hot sensation on his leg. He looked back and discovered that his pant leg had mysteriously caught fire. He panicked and ran off, tossing Siarl’s wand in the process.
Siarl stared in shock as he saw a black dog jump up and grab the wand in its mouth and run over to Siarl who picked it up. “Thanks Flint.” He said looking up and seeing the redhead walk over.
“No thanks necessary, I wasn’t gonna let him beat you up. Besides, I’ve been looking for something to be good at here. And saving people from bullies sounds like a good way for Houndour to get some exercise.” He chuckled a bit as he pet his Pokémon’s back.
“Yeah, you should probably put him away before you get in trouble for bringing a pet inside.” Siarl said after giving Houndour some pets as well.
“Yeah, okay.” Flint said with a sigh before taking out his pokeball and recalling Houndour.
“School’s over now…. Right?” Siarl asked, looking at a clock in the hallway.
“Yeah, Marlo said she was gonna pick us up at 3:00, and it’s 2:55, let’s get to the entrance then?”
“Yeah, the entrance.” He said, nodding a bit as he got up to walk over with him. He sounded like he was holding something back, but Flint didn’t pick up on it. They got in the car, Flint in the front seat and Siarl sitting in the back. Siarl sighed as he stared out the window. In the distance he saw the farmland. He missed his parents, he missed his brother, he missed Hogwarts. In the front mirror, Marlo noticed his sad demeanor, and made a note to herself to ask him when they got home.
When they arrived, they were greeted at the door by a very happy Cinderella. She was holding up a chef’s uniform and grinning. “I got the job! My first shift is tomorrow from 11 to 4!”
“Awesome!” Flint said with a thumbs up. Siarl gave her a weak smile and nod before walking past her and towards his room.
“Give me a second, I’ll be back.” Marlo said to the other two as she walked over to Siarl’s room as well.
Siarl was crying as he let his homesickness get the better of him.
“You wanna talk about what’s wrong?” Siarl looked up and saw Marlo leaning against the door frame. She had a sweet smile on her face. Siarl tried to hide the fact that he was crying, but he did a pretty bad job of it. “Siarl, I wanna help you, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
“You sound like my mom!” He complained trying to turn away from her.
“Oh….” She pieced it together. “I should have expected you to become homesick, I just didn’t expect it to be this fast.”
“How long are we gonna be here?” Siarl asked tearfully.
Marlo sighed. She didn’t want Siarl to be upset, but she wasn’t allowed to take him home until the President would meet with them. “Listen, I can’t take you home but….” She handed him a communicator device. “Type in the name of whoever you are trying to call.”
Marlene Madison hadn’t smiled much in the time since Siarl’s disappearance. She was holding a photo of her son and trying her best to stay strong. He’s not dead! He just lost track of time, or he decided to stay over at a friend’s house without telling me…. A tear ran down her cheek as she clutched the photo against her chest as if she could actually embrace her son. Siarl, where are you?
Suddenly a voice rang out behind her, one she had now feared she would never hear again. She turned around and held a hand against her chest. “Siarl!”
“Mom!” Siarl’s smile lit up the room as his mother saw his floating head.
“What happened honey? Where did you disappear to?”
“That’s, ummm complicated….” He turned his head to the side. “What exactly happened to me Marlo?”
“Who’s Marlo?” Marlene asked as she looked at her son.
“Oh, she’s the woman who found me and the others and is taking care of me for now.”
“May I speak to her?” Marlene asked.
“Of course!” Siarl’s face changed and suddenly Marlene was staring at a face not too different to her own.
“Greetings Mrs. Madison. As you heard, your son is perfectly safe. He was accidentally sent into a wormhole and into my world. He will not be able to return until the President of our world observes him. I understand this is probably hard to hear, but….”
“Take care of Siarl for me, please…,”
“As if he were my own.” Marlo nodded.