19.Wand

Cale was in a rush, and of course the day he needed to go in for his job interview at Floo-Pow, he couldn’t find his wand. He moved the cushions on the couch, checked under the table, even in the fridge – nothing.

That’s when he saw a glowing drawing of a hippogriff on the wall, with a young boy riding it yelling “I’m king of the world!” As he watched, the magical drawing changed colors.

In front of it, on the floor…was Cale’s wand, discarded evidence at the scene of the crime. Great. Just what he needed.

“CALEB ALEXANDER NEWELL!”

26. Quill

Caleb bit on the tip of his feather quill, staring at a blank piece of parchment. Why was this assignment so HARD? It was not fair, getting homework over Christmas break…where was the Christmas spirit in that?

“Dad!”

“What?”

“DAD I NEED HELP!”

“WHAT?”

Cale came down the stairs, hurrying up to his son and reading his Arithmancy homework over his shoulder.

“Well, do you know what I do? Do you remember this from school?” the boy asked his father. Cale stared at the parchment, biting his lip.

He stared.

And stared.

And stared some more.

“Go ask your mother.”

64. Nap

Caleb had heard from…well, ok, from some of Mum’s friends…that his dad’s signature curly hair wasn’t real. Was it true? Was his life a total lie? Caleb had to find out.

The little seven year old carefully crept up on his napping father, who was snoring loudly on the sofa as he slept. The newspaper was lying on his chest, which meant he’d been there since this morning when it was delivered. Now was his chance!

Caleb crept up, grabbed a handful of hair, and pulled.

Cale yelled and jumped up in shock.

It was real! Now time to RUN!

7. Care of Magical Creatures

Cale was soooo embarrassed that he didn’t remember ANYTHING about gnomes from his Care of Magical Creatures class. It wasn’t his fault he’d been distracted by his pretty co-prefect the whole time! Still, he couldn’t believe he was really about to write to his son who was a first year for advice. But Anna was out and he was desperate – who else could he really ask?

Dear Caleb,

Do you know how to treat a gnome bite if it’s red, swollen and quite possibly infected? All the anti-bacterial creams in our house don’t do anything. Please reply ASAP.

Love, Dad

“Dad, boggarts are those things that turn into the thing you fear most, right?” five year old Caleb asked his dad over breakfast. Cale nodded over his eggs.

“Yup, don’t worry son, we don’t have any around here,” he assured the boy. Caleb smiled, looking relieved, before asking his dad a question.

“What is your boggart?” he asked.

Cale paused and set down his fork. “Well, my boggart is simply being alone. Without my family. You, mum, Sophie – none of you exist and I’m alone. That’s my boggart,” he explained.

Without a word, Caleb stood up and hugged his father.

Caleb Newell felt a sense of pride and accomplishment as he ran down the hall with his father’s wand. Success! He’d snatched it off his distracted father while he cooked and now the fun part began – experimenting and seeing what he could actually do with it! Probably not a lot, but hey, a six year old could dream right?

But then he looked closer at the wand and realized…

He’d been fooled! It wasn’t a real wand, it was a licorice wand!

At that moment, Cale jumped out from the other room. “Got you!” he exclaimed with a cheeky grin.

"So are we part muggle or NOT, Dad?” Caleb asked his father as he ate his eggs on Sunday morning.

“Does it really matter? Both of your grandparents on my side were muggleborn, so I’d say technically, yes…but really, it’s all cancelled out at this point, isn’t it?” Cale suggested. He was annoyed that he kept getting interrupted over this…Caleb wouldn’t care about this if he weren’t a Slytherin.

“So are we like…three-quarter bloods?” Caleb suggested, taking another bite of eggs.

Cale shrugged. “Whatever you want, son. No one cares anymore,” he assured him before going back to the Prophet.

“There were a lot more house elves this term. Like a LOT,” Caleb was explained to his father over dinner. Other than that term had been pretty normal. So far at least.

“Oh those house elves,” his father chuckled. “I remember them…wonder if they’re the same ones from when I was in school.”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Caleb said suddenly. “A house elf named Beezley told me to say hi to you. What is THAT about?” he asked with a grin.

Cale blushed and jumped from the table with his empty plate. “Nothing, it’s just…an elf friend. Clean up dinner!”

“Sorry I’m just….a bit confused,” Caleb said to his dad. They were talking about girls, and how they could be totally crazy, and his father had decided to share the story of how he got in a HUGE fight with his mum during sixth year.

“Looking back on it…I am too. It was really stupid, wasn’t it?” Cale chuckled. His son just raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

“Stupid? That’s an understatement…you got in a fight over whether or not a guy was in Gryffindor!” he exclaimed. They let THAT get in between them? Lame!

“Like I said…really stupid.”