Lucky Encounter(Tara Callinan) Once upon a time, in the 1700’s, there lived a wizard called Rell. He was the most infamous wizard of the century. The reason for his unpopularity was that he had been born into one of the Highest wizarding families of his time and yet he had inherited absolutely no wizarding talent at all. He could barely perform the easiest of spells. When Rell finished school, he graduated on one condition: that he become a Lower wizard. That was a big shame to Rells fine family name. His parents banished him from the family home in their disappointment and self-pity. Rell was officially an underdog. But most readers are probably wondering why poor unfortunate Rell was so ridiculously bad at wizardry. To those who are wondering, I will hope to give you a satisfactory answer. Wizardry is a particularly strong and powerful source of magic and so, it must be handled carefully and in responsible hands. The art of wizardry also involves demanding, determination and fierceness, plus a good bit of shouting and giving out to keep it from setting your hair on fire. It is a lot like training a lion cub. It will quite willingly try to bite your arm off. Rell just wasn’t that type of person. His characteristics were quite useless tools when it came to wizardry. Rell was very shy and hated to be bossy. His voice was hard to hear and annoyingly squeaky. It reminded you of a tiny, scared and harmless mouse. Rell was also a bit of a chicken in bravery. He was as unferocious as it gets. It should be very clear to you by now why Rell failed at wizardry.

The next few years of Rell's life were spent being a complete loser and weren’t very interesting. For the sake of the readers patience, I will skip a few years ahead. By the time Rell was 35, times were hard for wizards. More and more wizards were being eaten by the Dark Magic Disease, an uncommon virus that went round every hundred years or so. Adults rarely caught the virus but wizard children were in high risk of catching it. The practice of wizardry had a chance of dying out, for the children were the only future. This was tragic news for wizards, so in order to prevent the end of wizardry, the Highest wizards [wizards who ran the government] had taken to high precautions. Every wizard must marry the daughter of a wizard and the couple were to have children. If the wizard failed to have children, he would be thrown out of the entire wizarding society and would be jinxed so that he couldn’t perform wizardry. Rell couldn’t count how many times he had got down on one knee and proposed - from the prettiest to the ugliest of women, from the wittiest and most charming to the unmannerly and dim-witted, from the sensible and practical to the utterly featherheaded, from the most honourable families to the ones with the most average family trees - All of them refused. They knew very well that Rell was the most undesirable person to marry. Rell was 99.999% sure that he was going to be kicked out of the world of wizardry any day now. The 0.001% glimmer of hope had long been forgotten. It didn’t matter anymore. He was absolutely miserable.

One day, Rell was having a walk in the woods for his own pleasure. He had let go of the idea that in time he might become a mediocre wizard and was almost cheerfully wondering about his future. After a while, Rell came to a clearing in woods where there was a magnificent manor. It had large rectangular windows that shone so much it hurt to look. The curtains were a dark shade of magenta. They were the kind of curtains you would expect to see in a manor like this one. The door was bright scarlet. On the left of the manor was an orchard with big green apples. Rell gazed. This was the type of spectacular house he owned in his dreams. Rell noticed a girl that was staggering and was being kicked and scolded by a person with a cruel female voice. The girl had bruises all over her legs and looked much too thin. She stumbled towards Rell, teardrops falling onto her ripped black dress. Her ragged auburn hair was coming loose from her bun and her big round eyes were red. ‘Well you look in a right state, what’s the matter?’ Rell said as kindly and softly as he could. ‘I b-broke the b-best plates and I’m b-banished from the house for a week,’ stammered the girl tearfully. She let out a high-pitched sob. ‘Oh dear. I do that all the time. They made a big deal out of it, didn’t they?’ ‘Yes,’ the girl said resentfully. ‘Well don’t worry, I’ll help you,’ Rell said consolingly. ‘I’m going to take you in to my cottage for a week. It will be a bit cramped with two people but it won’t be that bad’. ‘But why are you helping me? I’m not a charity case, you know,’ said the girl. 'I’m helping you because where I come from, I’m infamous. You’ll keep me company,’ Rell said earnestly. ‘She looks half starved!’ Rell thought. ‘Ok, I suppose I’ve nowhere else to go’, the girl said hesitantly. ‘I forgot to ask you, what’s your name?’ the girl asked. ‘Rell’. ‘Yours?’ ‘Marianne.’

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ Marianne moaned irritably. ‘For the last time, no!’ cried Rell tiredly. ‘You have asked that question over 200 times!’ It was dark, damp and cold. Rell and Marianne were worn-out and hungry. They were riding on an ancient, battered flying carpet. It was one of the only objects Rell had been given when he left his family home. It was the only magical transport Rell was trusted to use by the Highest wizards. The carpet was slow enough with one person. It could barely manage to carry two people. Funnily enough, Rell cherished this old piece of material. Despite them banishing him from the house, Rell loved his family very much and couldn’t bear to throw the only remaining piece he had of them away. Also, Rell could only just about afford food on the table and a roof over his head though he wasn’t exactly living in poverty. He tried to save every cent. A new flying carpet was more than Rell could afford. ‘If you’re a wizard like you said, why can’t you just fiddle your wand around and, I dunno, transport us to this cottage?’ Marianne complained. ‘I told you, I can’t do anything, I’m useless!’ Rell said through gritted teeth. ‘But surely you can do something, at least magic a… say a blanket out of somewhere?’ Rell cringed. ‘No, there is nothing I can do that will help,’ he said, his teeth clenched. ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ Marianne asked 5 minutes later. ‘I’ll tell you when we’re nearly there yet, alright?!’ Rell shouted, finally completely losing it. Marianne silenced.

‘We’re nearly there. 5 more minutes to go,’ Rell confirmed half an hour later. ‘Yes!’ Marianne said. A few minutes passed and they landed. They were in a dodgy part of town. There was just enough light to see a couple of cracked windows, some broken. The cottages were badly built and were in need of a fresh coat of paint. There was a faint smell of tobacco in the air. Marianne shivered. ‘This place is freaky,’ she thought. Rell could see the unhidden dislike fixed on Marianne’s face. ‘I know it’s a bit eery,’ he said. ‘But it’s all I have.’ Marianne looked guilty. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘It’s fine,’ Rell said kindly. ‘Now, my house is number 13.’ Rell walked past a few cottages [with Marianne following] and opened the door of the second last cottage, number 13. It was next to a seemingly deserted cottage with broken windows and no door. Rell stepped inside and lit a candle on a shelf. There was a small room painted an ugly yellowy peach. It was cramped with a coat hanger and a shelf of candles. The door led to a narrow hallway painted the same ugly yellowy peach. There were 4 doors, 2 on either side of the hallway. Rell opened the first door. ‘This is the living room, where you’ll be sleeping, ’ he said. It was a small room that was also painted the ugly peach. At the side of the room was a faded pink armchair and a lengthy bookshelf. On the other side of the room was a window with black curtains. ‘It’s the best room so far,’ Marianne reflected. ‘Nice,’ she said. Rell beamed and asked ‘Do you want something to eat?’ Marianne nodded. They went back to the hallway. ‘The third door is the way to the backyard which has 2 big buckets for your call of nature,’ Rell said before opening the second door.

After Marianne and Rell ate one buttered piece of bread each, they both went to bed. Well, Marianne was expected to sleep on an armchair. Despite its ugliness and its shabby whereabouts, Marianne liked the cottage. ‘At least Rell doesn’t slap or hit me. And I expected him to be bossier. Maybe he even likes me,’ Marianne thought drowsily as she curled up into a ball and fell asleep.

Marianne woke up. She had been here for two days now. She had really gotten to know Rell and he knew a lot about her too. Rell had let down his famous family by becoming a Lower wizard. He was banished from his family home which Marianne thought was quite cruel. He had lived in the cottage for 15 years. He didn’t exactly enjoy life but dreams of becoming a mediocre wizard had kept him going and working hard until recently. Marianne had let go of her shame and told Rell about how her parents had died in a carriage accident and because she had no known living relatives and her parents had been on the poorer side, Marianne soon ran out of her parents money and was forced to accept a job as a maid in return for half a piece of bread a day and bed. She had been a maid since she was nine. That was all Marianne told Rell. He thought the deal was unfair and that Marianne deserved at least two buttered pieces of bread a day, a glass of water and bed. Marianne secretly agreed. She opened her eyes, brushed off the sand in them, stretched and walked out of the sitting room. As she entered the kitchen, Marianne met a bleary eyed Rell. ‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘Breakfast is on the table. Already had mine. Same old buttered bread.’ ‘You made breakfast?’ asked Marianne. She had made breakfast so far. ‘I did. I figured it’s my turn to get up a bit earlier,’ said Rell.

Clang, clang! It was the doorbell and at the door was the paperboy. He came round every morning. Rell went to get the door. When he came back, he was reading the front page of the newspaper with concern and panic. ‘The guards will start patrolling the houses for single wizards at exactly half past 6. That’s in 45 minutes!’ he murmured worriedly. ‘What’s the matter?’ Marianne questioned. ‘Wizard guards are going to be checking for single wizards in 45 minutes! ‘Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear!’ ‘Ok, we are in a bad situation here but if we calm down and think, we might come up with a temporary solution,’ said Marianne. ‘But how are we going to find a woman who will pretend to be my wife in only 45 minutes!?’ Rell fretted. ‘Um, well, maybe I could pretend to be your wife,’ suggested Marianne. ‘Listen, I’ll make a deal with you. If you pretend to be my wife for the wizard guards, you can stay here as long as you want, no catch and you can have a bit of food for breakfast and dinner,’ squeaked Rell. Marianne couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. ‘Well, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll agree to the deal if you teach me some wizarding tricks.’ ‘Deal!’ said Rell.

The police walked menacingly to the door. They looked quite powerful and scary. ‘So Rell, you managed to get a wife who was poor enough to respect you,’ one of the guards sneered. ‘As a matter of fact, I did’ Rell retorted. Marianne glared at the guards. ‘I bet she couldn’t even bring in a bad dowry, she’s so poor,’ another guard taunted. ‘You seem very young to be marrying a 30-year-old,’ the guard said. ‘Girls much younger than me marry,’ said Marianne defiantly. ‘And they marry older men.’ ‘Whatever,’ said the guard. ‘Come on guys, let’s get out of here. We’re just wasting our time. There are so many more houses to go to. Come on.’ As soon as Rell closed the front door, his shoulders sagged and he sighed in relief. Marianne relaxed too and she laughed in relief. ‘Thank god that’s over,’ she said. At that moment the same thought crossed their minds: ‘This could be fun after all!’

The End.

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