Quincy sat at the kitchen table, patiently watching the cottage stable-like door, and not so patiently drumming her fingertips on the pine table top. The kitchen was clean and tidy - a rarity in the Pratt household - and only the gentle hissing of a juicy joint of meat cooking in the oven could be heard alongside the witch's finger-drumming.

Eddie was coming over tonight for a family meal. Their eldest child, Noah, was off to start his Hogwarts education the next morning, and both parents thought it would be nice for him to spend time with his family. As a family. True, Quincy and Eddie were divorced, and true they bickered more than flobberworms flobbered, but deep down they both knew there would always be an affection for one another. They were tied to each other by their four children, and a bond like that is not one which is broken easily, no matter the history.

Eddie wasn't due for a couple of hours yet, but Quincy had given Noah strict instructions to be back by no later than four-thirty. He still had packing to do, and she didn't want him having a late night. His excitement at going to school already meant that for the last eight days he had been taking progressively longer to get to sleep, and - just like his father - Noah was a grumpy so-and-so if he didn't get enough sleep.

Quincy cast her eyes up to the clock. The big hand had just ticked over to thirty-one minutes past four.

“FIVE…FOUR…THREE…TWO…CRUD!!” The broom handle was flung to the wet ground and the eleven year old boy launched himself off the giant rock, skidding on the wet mud and landing hard on his rear. Recovering as stealthily as an unbalanced squid could, Noah leapt to his feet and started to ‘leg it’ to the lane at the end of the field. “Crud crud crud crud crud…” He continually repeated, slipping on the mud until he jumped the gate and sprinted down the lane back home.

It was a few minutes after the deadline that the young wizard threw himself through the backdoor and he definitely appeared to have seen better days. His clothes could have leapt off his body and walked themselves!

What Noah Pratt had been up to in the field, Merlin knew. Or rather, it was probably best that Merlin didn’t ask. Or Mum. She was safer not knowing.

“Mam!” Visibly out of breath, the boy was leaning forward, hands resting on his knees as he tried to recover from the exertion of energy. “The cow wouldn’t let me out of the field. Kept groanin’ at me and cows are bloomin’ scary when they groan!” He managed to say through heavy breaths.

Quincy's eyes flitted up to the clock again. Four thirty-four. She would try not to be hard on the youngster. After all, it was his last day at home before school started. He was entitled to have fun. She felt her tense shoulders start to loosen up. Yes, he was a boy - it was only right and natural that he was out- getting muddied up to the eyeballs?!

The witch couldn't help but let her jaw drop slightly as she saw the state her son had returned home in.

“The cow wouldn’t let me out of the field. Kept groanin’ at me and cows are bloomin’ scary when they groan!”

It took a few seconds for Quincy to even be able to think about what she might say to her son. In those seconds her mouth closed and opened repeatedly, unsure of whether to laugh at the situation or ground him for the next three sets of school holidays.

"Noah!" She finally barked at him, standing up from her chair, hands out with her palms facing up as though inviting him to explain himself. "What on earth have you been up to?! You realise your dad is coming round in a couple of hours? You still have packing to do, and Grandma and Grandpa are coming after dinner!" What Quincy's mother, Jocelyn would say about the state of her grandson, she didn't even want to consider.

Pointing down the hallway with one stern hand, she pursed her lips. "Go upstairs, change your clothes and for goodness sake, have a wash! We can't have you smelling of-" her nostrils flared as a very pungent smell filtered through them. Her nose wrinkled as she looked down at his once-red shoes. "-cow dung?! Oh Noah, really? Take them off! Take them off now! I have only just washed this floor!"