“He exhausted himself flying so far,” Merrythought said gently after Marissa told her how Asuoby had soared off after the other hyacinth macaws. “His old heart just gave out.”
“What about the baby bird?” Marissa asked. She cradled the featherless macaw in the crook of her left arm as she sat on wet ground beside the lifeless blue body of Asuoby. She told herself again to be strong and not show she was hurt by only an old bird dying.
Asuoby was beyond her help now, but the little baby she should try to save.
“It fell from up there,” she told Professor Merrythought, and looked to the forest canopy. “I think maybe Asuoby scared it out of a nest.”
“I know a foundling charm,” Tatiane Timbira offered. The professor nodded approval, and Tatiane bent down beside Marissa to speak the spell words as she waved her wand. Sounds of the baby macaw chirping spread through the nearby trees.
“This will call its mother here so we can return it to its nest,” the professor told Marissa.
But after a quarter hour, though some birds flew back to branches overhead, no macaw came to claim the baby.
“Can't we just find a nest to put him in?” Marissa asked.
“Only its own mother can take it. Any other macaws would push it back out of the nest.”
Marissa showed a troubled look. Everything that had happened from her taking Asuoby outside was bad. The old macaw was dead and now the baby had lost its home and mother.
“Don’t worry, Marissa,” Tatiane said, trying to console the younger girl. “We can take it to Professor Domador and he’ll have the Care of Magical Creatures students raise it.”
“No! It’s my fault he’s a orphan now,” Marissa replied, “so I have to be who helps him.”
“Are you sure, Marissa?” the professor asked. “You don’t know how to feed a baby bird.”
“I’ll learn,” she said determinedly. “Maybe Tiquinho can teach me.”
“Bring it and follow Tatiane back then. I’ll carry Asuoby.”
“I should take Asuoby,” Marissa said more quietly, “’cuz he only likes me to hold him.” She handed the baby to Merrythought, who wrapped in in Marissa’s robe she had found.
They returned to the rainforest path and shortly reached the staircase of Witness Stone. Tesimal had flown ahead with a message for Professor Katupya, who met them there. The two professors talked privately for a few moments before Professor Katupya came over to stand above Marissa. She could not see any anger in his stern face, but thought he would sanctions her for letting Asuoby die. That was the punishment she deserved.
“You know Asuoby was very, very old,” Professor Katupya stated.
“Yes,” Marissa replied. “I’m… I’m sorry I made him…”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he interrupted. “You did a good thing for Asuoby.
You helped him fly free with his own kind one last time. That is what he wished to do, and I believe he was happier to pass away in the rainforest than within a stone building.”
Professor Merrythought smiled and nodded her head in agreement with Professor Katupya. Seeing that no one blamed her for Asuoby’s death, Marissa put away her hidden feeling.
At dinner in the Great Hall she found Tiquinho, who agreed to show her how to feed and care for the baby bird. She told Tiquinho and Potira how Asuoby had flown away and died. That made Potira sad and she offered to come with Marissa to his burial the next day.
“He’s about four weeks old,” Tiquinho decided as he held the small macaw in his hands and inspected its soft bluish-white down. “See, he has little pin feathers just growing.”
“You name he?” Potira asked Marissa.
“Um… not yet,” she replied.
“In Tupi, Asuoby ‘big blue’,” Potira said. “I say he Mirioby, ‘little blue’.”
“Mirioby,” Marissa repeated.
“That’s a good name,” Tiquinho agreed.
“No silly like ‘Flap-Flap’,” Potira giggled at Tiquinho.
“Mirioby,” Marissa confirmed. “That’s your name now,” she told the baby bird as she took him back and wrapped him in her robe. He chirped loudly and bobbed his head.
“Let’s go find him something to eat,” Tiquinho said. “He’s hungry!”
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Marissa woke early the next morning from a strange dream of being curled up in a nest. As Tiquinho had said, little Mirioby was hungry again. She slowly fed him the warm baby bird formula through a hollow reed until he was full. When he fell back asleep, she tucked him into her pink backpack, which she had found would be perfect to carry him in.
After breakfast, a small group followed Professor Katupya past the Herbology greenhouse. Above the farming terraces on the hills, ancient tombs were carved into the granite ridge. Each of the hundred or more caves was sealed by a stone carved with a person’s image, and Marissa was directed to lay Asuoby by the figure of his late master, Professor Amaral.
Professor Katupya wore the feathered robe she had first seen at the Welcoming Banquet, the one she had thought that he killed so many birds to make. But at the village she had learned from Gran Arating that single feathers found in the forest were collected for many, many years to create the beautiful capes, and that the wizarding tribes never killed birds. The most amazing robe of all belonged to the old chief Ubirajara. It had gleaming white feathers taller than her, from a bird that was extinct. No more like it were alive anymore.
“What is he saying now?” Marissa asked quietly as Professor Katupya spoke in the native language while she, Tiquinho, and Potira watched with their Transfiguration professor. Professors Galaxia and Domador, friends of Asuoby’s late master, stood with them also.
“He asked Asuoby’s spirit if he will give a few feathers to be used in a Cape of the Skies,”
Professor Merrythought replied. “Now he must wait for a sign Asuoby agrees.”
“Um… he says yes,” Marissa plainly told Katupya. His stern face revealed a slight smile. The Potions master was still very strict, but maybe not as mean as she had once believed. After some tailfeathers were saved, Katupya waved his wand and Asuoby’s body vanished into the tomb as his image appeared in stone, perched upon the figure of Professor Amaral. Marissa smiled. Now Asuoby was safe with someone who cared for him.
As they returned, she overheard Galaxia and Katupya talking about Constanca Estrelafala, who had fainted again in Divination class.
“It’s unclear, Ubiritan. One cannot tell if her vision is of a decade from now, or a century.”
“Yet it seems to foresee a further decline,” Professor Katupya replied.
“Yes,” Professor Galaxia agreed in a serious tone, “it foresees something that terrified her.”
Marissa and her friends parted from the professors when they reached the ancient pyramid. Potira held Tiquinho’s hand as they walked, and held the ever-napping Ker about her waist. Flap-Flap was away delivering letters, as Tiquinho had explained not only owls could do.
“Are you coming swimming?” he asked as Marissa checked on the baby macaw nestled in her backpack. The three swallows were upset that she wouldn’t let them into the pack too.
“No swim!” Potira told him firmly. “We see Quidditch.”
“Ugh,” Tiquinho responded, which was Marissa’s thought, too. The brawny Anaconda players flew about the practice field on weekends like they owned that part of the plaza. And watching everyone fly on brooms only reminded her that she still wasn’t able to.
“No Conda, Woolly,” Potira explained. “Sakura and Anna try reserves.”
Sakura had apologized at breakfast that the two must miss Asuoby’s burial because she needed to take Anna somewhere for Woolly House. Maybe that was what this was.
“What’s reserves?” Marissa asked.
“It’s where you join the Quidditch team and maybe get to play in four or five years.”
“Come see,” Potira coaxed Marissa. “Anna much good on broom.”
Tiquinho reluctantly agreed, and they walked to the clearing at the base of the Astronomy tower where a dozen Woolly first-years and second-years practiced sprint flights across the open field. The three of them sat on the steps and watched as Baltazar Varnhagen and the team captain assessed the would-be Quidditch players.
“Okay! Now you six with me for Quaffle passing, and you six with Baltazar over here,” commanded the captain. Marissa knew his name was Valentim Magalhães, because Sakura had told her before when explaining how everyone really just called him Monkey. With his fuzzy brown hair and gangly long arms, he simply looked like one.
Sakura and Anna followed the group with Baltazar. Anna was her normal quiet, shy self, while Marissa could see Sakura continuing to prompt and encourage her to take part. Baltazar had each first year do something to demonstrate their control skill, and when it was Anna’s turn she stepped up onto a broomstick handle as it hovered inches above the ground. Using the wood as a balance beam, she positioned her feet as the broom rose higher. She jumped up, did a full twist, and landed back on the stick, soft as a feather.
“Anna father Libertade, but mother born Japan,” Potira said. “Broom 'gym-nas-tics' much old art. Mother teach Anna start four years old.”
“Not bad,” Baltazar said. “What can you do when you’re moving?”
“Show him, Anna. Show him,” Sakura urged. “I know your father would want you to.” Anna’s face rose to meet Sakura’s, and a look of determination came to her eyes.
Anna started slowly flying forward. Marissa and the others watched in amazement as she performed graceful handstands, layouts, and walkovers as the broom flew to the other end of the field. Monkey Magalhães and the other first-years had all turned to look, too. Just as Potira had said, Anna was very good.
She turned her broom to come back. As it gained speed, Anna turned to face the rear of the broom and squatted down. At just the right moment she leaped up, her body arching back. Circling above her broom as is moved forward, she completed her backflip with a perfect balanced landing upon the handle, then glided to a halt above Monkey.
“Wow!” the captain said in awe. “I don't know how we would use that in a Quidditch game, but you're in.”
By the end of the practice, both Anna and Sakura had been added to the reserve squad. While Anna quietly smiled, Sakura rushed over to the steps and jumped up and down with Potira to celebrate their acceptance. Marissa was glad she had come to watch. She was too strong to let herself act silly like Sakura, but it was nice to see her so happy.
“Oh, he’s so adorable,” Sakura said as she and Anna held little Mirioby while they all walked back to the school. “We should let him meet Anna’s owl so they’ll be friends.”
“I bet Rosaria will be on the Anaconda team,” Marissa remarked. “She flys good, too.”
“Condas only have boys play Quidditch,” Tiquinho responded. “The other Houses take boys or girls with good skills, but Condas think strength and force mean everything.”
“Monkey says they’re all brawn and no brain,” said Sakura. “The ‘team of density’.”
“What’s density?” Marissa asked as Tiquinho laughed.
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“Huh!” Marissa awoke suddenly in darkness and felt herself tumble down to the mattress. She shook from her head the funny feeling that she had fallen from a very high tree.
“MyRissa fall asleep on floor,” whispered a small figure. “Dozza put her back in soft bed.”
“Oh,” she yawned as Mirioby was carefully laid down beside her. “Thank you, Dozza.”
She had shut her eyes a moment as she sat by the window with the swallows at bedtime, but now Marissa found it was the very late hour when the little one came to clean.
“What’s that?” she asked. A very large ceramic jar sat atop her freshly washed uniforms.
“MyRissa’s baby bigbeak will be hungry in morning, so Dozza brings mushy food.”
Marissa did not understand how Dozza had known she had used up the small amount of formula from Tiquinho, but she was glad the house-elf had brought more. A lot more.
“When baby learns to fly, Dozza will brings crunchy palm nuts like old Asuoby loves.”
“Um… Dozza,” she paused, reluctant to tell the little one, “Asuoby died.”
“Dozza knows,” she replied. “Dozza is sad for that, but happy baby bird has MyRissa.”
Hours later at breakfast, one brightly colored form contrasted sharply with the earth tone shades of the many owls gliding down to deliver mail. The scarlet macaw Flap-Flap dropped a small envelope at a Jaguar table, then fluttered over to bring one to Marissa. She smiled as she looked across the hall to Potira, who nodded to confirm it was what they had been waiting for.
Marissa gathered her backpack and book bag to leave before the others finished eating. Professor Merrythought had said she could keep Mirioby in her classroom so she could feed him at lunchtimes without rushing back to Macaw House. She had to drop him off there before Charms, but also had one other thing she needed to do. Or try to do.
“I think I might not need you today, Leandro,” she told the little red-eyed tree frog as she tucked him in her robe pocket. Marissa chose the fourth doorway and began following the narrow, tunnellike hallway that led to different places on different days. Today, she soon confirmed, it led to the chamber outside Transfiguration.
“I did it!” she called as the stone wall slid open. “I found my way without a guide frog.”
“Excellent, Marissa!” Professor Merrythought commended. “How did you figure it out?”
“Eleven,” Marissa replied. “There’s eleven different ways, then it all starts over again.” She had watched the hallmaze for weeks to see how it worked. Once she considered the days she didn’t have class as part of the order, the pattern had all made sense.
“Marissa, I have third-years who still can't find classes themselves. You should be proud.”
She beamed with satisfaction as she set the backpack holding Mirioby down on the desk. Maybe she couldn’t do spells yet, but she could still show the professor she was smart.
“And look what I got from Gran Arating!” She unfolded the envelope that Flap-Flap had delivered, addressed not ‘Marissa’, but ‘Wildflower’. The tiny, shining object within was the carved macaw she had first received in Mercado Tracado, changed to a silver charm like the dozens that sparkled in Professor Merrythought’s braided hair.
“Your reward for discovering the family tree,” Merrythought smiled. She took the charm and pinned it at the center of Marissa’s hair ribbon. “I think it will look nice here.”
“Yes,” Marissa said. “Thank you.” She had never had jewelry to wear.
They moved little Mirioby behind the tall bookcase where the empty bronze perch stood. Seeing the tall post and hoop, Marissa’s mood changed.
“It doesn’t feel right that Asuoby's not here anymore,” she said quietly.
“No, it doesn’t,” Merrythought sympathized.
“Maybe Mirioby can say all the spells one day. He can learn them with me.”
“I think that’s a perfect idea,” her professor agreed. “Now, hurry off to Charms class, and don’t teach anyone else the hallmaze. They all need to learn it by themselves.”
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She laid the vibrant blue plume of a hyacinth macaw upon her desk. It seemed strange that her first lesson after Asuoby’s death would be with his feather she had won her first day.
“Now, remember the proper movement,” Professor Galhos instructed. “Swish and flick.”
“Wingardium Leviosa,” Marissa pronounced carefully as she moved her wand. “Wingar…”
“Wingardium hocus pocus,” came a distracting taunt from an Anaconda boy two rows over. Purposely, she made no response, but tried to think only of making the blue feather float. She was sure a magic with bird things would be one she was able to do.
“Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Leviosa,” she told her wand again, and heard the spell being echoed like a chant by all the other voices around the room. Her feather didn’t move. No one else seemed to be having any success either, except one student.
“Splendid, Miss Bella de Barros,” Professor Galhos exclaimed, as Celestia confidently charmed not one, not two, but three feathers high into the air. But they were much smaller than the long blue tailfeather, and Marissa wondered if she should try a lighter one first.
Only three other first-years floated their feathers by the end of class. Professor Galhos directed everyone to practice that night so they could work on the spell again tomorrow. Marissa chased a leaping tree frog to Potions with Jaci and Mario, not telling yet that she really didn’t need a guide anymore.
Marissa enjoyed Potions class. Not only was it the only place she could freely talk with Rosaria Castilhos, but it was also one of the classes, like History of Magic, Herbology, and Astronomy, where she could prove she was smart just by learning all that she could. There were no spells to show that everyone else could do magic while she still couldn’t. And the Anacondas could hardly tease her here, because, together with Rosaria and Eva, she was in the best potion brewing group in class. Professor Katupya had even directed other first-years to watch her and Rosaria prepare their ingredients, so they could learn the difference between dicing and ‘hacking’.
“See, that doesn’t scare you,” Marissa stated to Rosaria before class.
“Well, it does a little, but…”
Rosaria, who was a very good artist, had been showing them the beautifully sketched plants in her Herbology book, when Eva pointed out that she had drawn a ladybug on a leaf, and that was an insect! After explaining that she had only drawn it because it was there, and that she hadn’t screamed because ladybugs are pretty, Rosaria had followed Marissa’s request to draw an ant. Then, hesitantly and shaking, she was coaxed into drawing a very simple spider (which she refused to give the detail of her other sketches).
“Now scribble it out,” Marissa directed, and Rosaria happily scrawled her quill over the spider drawing until it was gone. “See, it can't hurt you. You’re stronger than a spider.”
“And you’re not scared of real bugs if they’re far away,” Eva Paranhos stated.
“Yes I am!” Rosaria disagreed. It was true that she shuddered even just looking at the shelves of live potion ingredients across the room, but the girls were trying to convince Rosaria that she was braver than she thought.
“Shhh!” Eva warned as Professor Katupya began his lecture. It wasn’t until half an hour later, when he had finished, that it was safe to talk again.
“Marissa, do you think I’m fat?” Rosaria asked uneasily.
“Huh?” she replied to the funny question.
“Celestia says I need to go on a diet,” Rosaria said, “because a proper Anaconda girl should be slender to get the best husband.”
“You’re not fat!” Eva broke in. “Celestia is an idiot.”
“But, I’m… plumper than other girls.”
“That’s what makes you the perfect Rosaria shape,” Marissa declared. “That’s what I like.”
Rosaria smiled at her words.
“Besides, why would we want someone shaped like Celly Belly de Barros sitting with us?” Eva said to her. “That’s scarier than a hundred squermites loose on the table!”
The girls giggled so loudly that Professor Katupya had to quiet them with a stern glare.
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In History of Magic, Professor Esquecido, dressed with strange long fingers and a silly pointed beard, asked for volunteers to play bodies in the Goblin Rebellion reenactment that the fifth-years would perform in April. Jaci and Mario enthusiastically agreed to be covered in blood, then they all listened to a long lecture on wizards of ancient Thebes.
In Transfigurations, Marissa checked that Mirioby was still asleep before taking her seat. Professor Merrythought let her practice the teacup spell with all the others, even though she was supposed to perform the match into a needle transfiguration before advancing. The professor did that to lessen the Anaconda taunts, but they would only tease her later. Marissa knew how to hide any sign that mean words affected her, but wished she didn’t have to be always guarding herself against them.
After class she showed Professor Merrythought how she had learned to hand feed Mirioby, then tucked him back in her backpack before going outside to play with the swallows for a while so they wouldn’t feel ignored. The professor let Tesimal come out to fly with them.
“Um… do you have real money I could trade wizardings money for?” Marissa asked her professor, and showed her the the two silver Sickles she had been saving.
“I believe I may,” Merrythought replied. “Where did you get those?”
“Professor Katupya made Cristiano give me one…”
“Oh, yes. I heard about that,” she smiled.
“…and a Conda boy paid me one to push his wheelbarrow on the field trip.”
“Why do you want Muggle money instead?”
“To send to the boys with my letter to Mr. Palito. People give lots of change at Carnival, but after that it’s harder to beg or find food.”
Marissa thought each wizarding coin was worth a quarter, or maybe two quarters, but the professor took the coins from her and from a small purse handed Marissa a five Reais bill.
“That’s too much,” Marissa said.
“What?” said Professor Merrythought, pretending to take offense. “Now you know more about Galleon exchange rates than your teacher?”
“Um… no,” she smiled as they walked back inside.
“Tell Sports Club da Luz I send my regards,” the professor smiled in return.
“That means you say hello. I will.”
In Herbology, Professor Parreira taught them about magical plants that grew in marshes, then directly after, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Guerra taught the hex to repel marsh-dwelling Dugbogs. When the creature bit Marissa’s ankle as she stood in the practice marsh, she simply kicked the sharp-toothed branch away and out of the water. Professor Guerra praised her quick reaction, but said she should practice magic, not soccer.
In Astronomy class they learned about orbits, and how the alignment of the planets could predict important events. That of course made Cristiano talk all about the ‘team of destiny’. Professor Galaxia instructed that Quidditch was “not the axis of all things in the universe.”
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“Wingardium Leviosa.”
Marissa sat alone by the glass near the swallow’s nest and continued to practice her spells, using some smaller feathers she had found at the Owlery Tree when she sent off her letter. Mirioby was fed and sleeping, and the other girls had all gone to the common room.
She had begun with Charms, and then the Transfiguration spell, and then the Defense hex. None of them had done anything, so she started again with the floating a feather charm. She had even tried dropping a feather from over her head and charming it as it drifted to the floor, thinking maybe that would give her a head start. That didn’t work either.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” she persisted. “Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Levi… ooh!” Frustrated, she shook the wand vigorously, then tried once again. It made no difference. With a dejected sigh, she let it fall from her hand and roll across the floor.
She looked at the black varnished wand, the one all the Anacondas teased her about, as it stopped at the glass. Maybe it really wasn’t as good as other wands. Was there something wrong with it, or something wrong with her?
A fluttering outside the window caught her eye, and Marissa saw a winged figure land.
“I don’t think the swallows want to come out and play, Tesimal,” she told the little owl. Fides, Spero, and Amor wouldn’t fly at night, but the professor said owls were nocturnal. Last week he had landed on her shoulder at midnight as the first-years went to Astronomy. Tesimal hoo-hooed at the swallows once, then glided silently away.
Marissa picked up her wand, saw the little stamped word MageMart©, and wondered what that was. She put the discouraging stick away and began reading her Potions chapter.
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"Real witches ride brooms, girl! Are you Muggle-born, or just plain Muggle?"
Mr. Cavaleiros bellowed the words loudly. Marissa had weeks ago given up the idea that she could ever learn broom flying from the mean, pot-bellied Anaconda coach who thought embarrassing kids made them learn. She wished he and the teasing boys would just leave her alone to practice.
Cavaleiros had begun class by congratulating Cristiano and Fer, who had officially joined the Anaconda Quidditch reserves. Both wore the snake green cap of new team members. Jaci and Mario were both disappointed that they had not made the Macaw House reserves, but had been told they could try out again next year.
“Hah!” Cristiano Ferreira sat upon his broom and jeered. “We’ll win the World Cup before you two ever make a Quidditch team.”
“Maybe you should start an Exploding Snaps team with the girls,” Fer Ribeiro added.
“Shut up, jerks! It’s not like you…”
FWOMP! An errant broom rider skidded sidelong into Cristiano and Fer, knocking them ten yards across the sky.
“Oh, sorry,” Rosaria apologized as she clumsily regained control of her broom.
“Castilhos!” Mr. Cavaleiros yelled. “How does your steering get worse every week?”
“I’m just a girl,” she shrugged and floated off. Marissa didn’t think her steering was worse. Rosaria had expertly taken out not one, but both of the taunting Anaconda boys with a single pass.
From another unfulfilling Brooms class, Marissa moved to unsuccessful spells in Defense.
“Ow!” she had cried out once, before deciding she would not show Dugbog bites hurt her. She wasn’t allowed to kick them away, but she just couldn’t make the hex work at all.
“Well?” said Professor Guerra as he stood by the marsh waiting for some result.
“I think my wand doesn’t work,” Marissa said as the creatures nipped at her legs.
Guerra took the wand from her. “Aguamenti,” he called, and water sprayed from its tip, splashing around her as he pulled her from the practice marsh.
“This is a perfectly acceptable wand. A number of other needy students use these also. If it chose you, then…”
“But, I don’t think it…”
Guerra glared at her fiercely. Interrupting him was not allowed.
“Back to the end of the line. You may try again after the others have their turns.”
Rosaria screamed at the Dugbogs, but then performed the spell to chase them away. Hexes must be easier than Charms, because half of the first-years did it on the first try. But Marissa only had a second and then third turn of silently letting her ankles be eaten.
Astronomy was a welcome relief from her disappointing spell performance.
“Excellent, Marissa,” stated Professor Galaxia. Marissa had just correctly recited the orbit times of all nine planets.
“How does a stupid gutter girl know all that?” Cristiano muttered.
“Mr. Ferreira, to the hall. You were warned.”
Cristiano slumped from the room as Galaxia asked if anyone else would like to join him. When class ended, Marissa was the first to pass him as she rushed off to collect Mirioby.
“Hey! She’s not even using a guide frog!” she heard as she ran down the hall.
Back in the bedroom, she took care of Mirioby before she had to return to the Great Hall. It happened again as Marissa fed the hungry macaw his formula through the hollow reed. That morning she had shaken the image from her head, but now she closed her eyes and let it come over her. She could still see, but she wasn’t looking down upon the baby bird. She was looking up at her own face from where Mirioby lay in her arm.
The image faded instantly when she heard the other girls talking as they entered the room. Marissa puzzled over what had just happened. She’d had funny dreams of Mirioby before, but now she was awake. Had she really just seen herself from the baby bird’s eyes?
“It better not be pooping all over our room!” Serafina said as the girls changed for dinner.
“Oh, stop it, Serafina,” said Eva Paranhos. “Alika said he could stay here.”
“And he’s cute,” Leila added. “Jaci said we should make him our class mascot.”
“I think you want to make Jaci your mascot,” Serafina replied.
“Well, maybe Celestia will give you Cristiano. She likes older boys.”
“She doesn’t own him.”
“Acts like she does. She even bosses him how to tease Marissa.”
“Be quiet and change,” Eva told the two. “Alika is tired of us always being ready last.”
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As the week continued, Marissa fell into a routine of feeding Mirioby at dawn, at lunch hour, and before her own dinner in the Great Hall. She was troubled that classes also fell into a routine. In Charms, Ttransfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, while other children mastered spells and moved on to new ones, Marissa continued to practice doggedly but could perform no magic. No feather would move, no match would change, no Dugbog would flee.
She began watching intently as other performed their spells, to see what they did different. What were they doing right that she was doing wrong? What had they learned that she hadn’t? She was sure she was as smart as any of them, but that didn’t seem to matter. It was even more frustrating that something so difficult for her took almost no effort at all for a few others. Professor Merrythought said Celestia Bella de Barros was so good at every magic because she had matured earlier and was naturally gifted. Marissa wondered if maybe she was just not tall enough yet to be a witch, or if maybe she was not gifted at all. The professor had promised her again that her magic would come in time, but that didn’t help her now.
In Mr. Cavaleiros’ class, she fought a growing certainty that she may just be doomed to watching others fly while she polished broom handles forever. But she always fed Mirioby just before Brooms, so at least came to class feeling she had accomplished something.
The first day of April would be the first Quidditch game of the year, and throughout the school the excitement was building for the match between the Anacondas and Jaguars. At every meal the Great Hall was continuously filled with chants of ‘Conda! Conda!’ and ‘Team of destiny’. The confidence of the Anaconda Quidditch team was overwhelming. The Jaguars supported their team also, but Marissa thought they had shown more spirit for the bat guano contest.
Marissa was glad when her last class ended on Friday and she had reached the weekend, so she could spend time with the friends she only met for short whiles during the week. She also wanted to visit Mr. Argiletum to find a book about what she needed to know.
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The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall mirrored the dreary weather outside Witness Stone. The rain clouds that usually cleared by late afternoon continued to drizzle into Friday night.
“I was hoping she had achieved some results in Charms or Defense,” Grace Merrythought remarked to the others at the professors table.
“No,” Professor Galhos replied. “Her wand movement and enunciation seem correct, but she hasn’t shown any success with basic charms.”
“Though she has courage to face a Boggart,” added Guerra, “I see no signs of magic yet.”
“And she hides it, sir,” Merrythought stated to Professor Katupya, “but Marissa is very disappointed that she cannot fly a broom yet.”
“She is doing very well in Astronomy and Potions,” Katupya found positive words to say.
“That proves little, Ubiritan,” the Defense professor replied. “Your tribes teach even Squibs to prepare potion ingredients.”
“It is not our custom to expel them from our society, as wizards of European descent do.”
“Claudio Cabral will adjust to the Muggle world. It’s the best thing for him.”
“It’s heartless, is what it is!” Professor Galhos responded to Guerras’s statement. “What will become of all these others? Will the city families banish them year by year, then act as if their own children never existed?”
“Let us focus on Marissa for now,” said Katupya, turning the discussion back to its subject.
“Maybe it is her small size, Ubiritan. Except for the Quill’s record, no one would believe she is eleven. Maybe her body is not mature enough yet to begin displaying magic.”
“That may be true, Varinha,” he replied to the Charms professor. “Certainly she has been undernourished by years of growing up in the Muggle slums.”
“I don’t think that’s it, sir,” Merrythought said. “Something else is holding her back, but I can't tell what. And she resists extra tutoring because she thinks it is weak to need help.”
“I say let her struggle through it herself,” Professor Guerra declared. “She is not the only first-year slow in developing her skills. Look at the Libertade girl.”
“That is not the same, Tarcisio,” Galhos said. “Anna experienced a traumatic event.”
“Maybe Marissa has, too! We have no idea what horrors happened to her in Sao Paulo.”
“Merrythought,” Tarcisio Guerra said abruptly, “she is stronger than you think! If she is brave enough to throw the Ferreira boy to the ground, she is brave enough to stand some failures before success. Don’t feel that because you brought her here, you need to coddle the girl. That is not what she needs. If she desires to prove herself, somehow she will!”
Grace Merrythought was silenced a moment by his harsh words.
“I believe that, for now,” Professor Katupya announced to them, “I agree with Tarcisio.” “Let us allow Marissa some time to discover her magic, before we try to find it for her.”
“I am sorry for my bluntness, Grace,” Guerra said to the younger professor, “but I do know a fighter when I see one. I knew you.”
She smiled to show she accepted his apology. “I suppose you may be right.”
“Arturo!” Professor Katupya exclaimed as a burst of flame subsided and Principal Absencia stepped from the Floo to his wide chair. “So unlike you to be late for dinner.”
“Ubiritan, they’ve called me to appear before the Congress of Magic! Not at a pleasant Congressional dinner party, mind you, but before Congress. They’re all concerned about these three Squibs and want Quills explained.”
Katupya simply nodded acknowledgement.
“Not Quill, Ubiritan, Quills. How many of the silly things are there?”
“Six,” Professor Katupya stated.
“So each of South America’s wizarding schools has one.”
“No. There are six in the world,” Katupya clarified. “Many mistakenly believe our Quill shows only Witness Stone children, but in truth it records all magical births in the entire continent. We forward the area records to other South American schools each year.”
“Review these Quills with me,” an agitated Absencia said. “I’m going to be questioned.”
“The Quill is an artifact that has resided at Witness Stone since the tribe’s earliest times. Wizarding societies learned from each other that on each continent there is a sole Quill, passed down through ages of scholars to find its way to the largest wizarding school. Through ancient enchantments, these six Quills sense and record all magical births, within our wizarding world and in the Muggle world.”
“And all this furor is because these Quills wrote down less Muggle-borns last year?”
“They have recorded fewer Muggle-born and fewer wizard-born in ten successive years.”
“I hardly see it as cause for panic that some young couples choose to have less children.”
“They are having as many children, Arturo. They are simply not having magic children. Our Department of Records reported one hundred and thirty-one births last year. The Quill only recorded seventy-five names for Witness Stone. What must the others be?”
“Why, Squibs, I suppose. But…” his mind figured the number, “that can't be possible!”
“Claudio Cabral was the first to receive no acceptance letter. There will be many more. Every Quill on every continent shows magical births declining year by year. We fear that a year may come when they write no names at all.”
“Why, the wizarding world would cease to exist! What are we to do?”
“Find the cause,” Ubiritan Katupya said soberly.
Principal Absencia took a deep breath, seeming to finally realize the scope of the matter. “So all this talk of a full meeting of the International Confederation is not a mere rumor.”
“It may be the most important meeting wizards ever convene.”
Absencia chose to ruminate upon these concerns while partaking in an extended dinner. The professors had departed the hall by the time he began the first of his three desserts.
“Principal Absencia,” Cecelia Bella de Barros said sweetly as she stepped up to his table.
“Yes, my dear?” the large, rotund wizard replied between bites.
“Sir, I just wanted to ask if you could please order the school little ones to stay out of Anaconda House.”
“Stay out?” Absencia questioned. “Why is that?”
“They keep interfering with our redecorating. And they tell Professor Guerra everything. The girls so want to keep our plans a surprise, then show the professors when we’re done.”
“Who would do the housework? Surely, proper girls can't be expected to…”
“Of course not, sir” Celestia firmly agreed. “Father can send our personal house-elves from home. They’re so much more obedient. Oh, could you please help Anaconda, sir?”
“Yes, yes, my dear,” Absencia conceded to the beautiful blonde’s pleading smile. “I’ll visit the little ones kitchen myself and order them out.”
Cecelia leaned over and kissed his plump cheek before gliding away in her lovely dress. She gave a disdainful glance to two young girls she passed as she left the Great Hall.
“Are the Condas still teasing you about spells?” Sakura asked Marissa as they waited on the stairs for Anna and Potira to return from the restroom.
“They can't hurt me,” she answered. In fact, they had taunted her even more this week. As new members of the Quidditch team, Cristiano Ferreira and Fer Ribeiro felt it was now their job to prove how bold and mean they could be. Their favorite new trick was running off with her pink hair ribbon, then dropping it somewhere down the hallways. They teased that she had stolen her silver charm, or was too poor to afford real jewelry. That was added to Celestia’s new rumor that Marissa wasn’t really a witch at all.
“You can practice with Anna and I sometimes, if you want,” the Japanese girl offered.
“I don’t need help,” Marissa replied curtly. “I’ll just do it myself till my spells work.” She didn’t want the other girls to watch her failing and think she was weak.
“Anna has trouble with her spells, too,” Sakura stated.
“She does?”
“Yes. You know, because she doesn’t talk.”
“Oh,” Marissa responded. After a moment she asked, “Sakura, why doesn’t Anna talk?”
“Something really bad happened. She used to talk lots. Like a chatterbox, her mom said. Sometimes her dad would shout ‘Be quiet, Anna! I’m working.’ when we talked too loud. I think, maybe… it was the last thing he said to her.”
“If it hurt her feelings,” Marissa said, “he should tell Anna he’s sorry.”
“He can’t now. He died.”
Sakura said nothing more. Maybe it was something Anna didn’t want people to know.
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“You can come in if you like,” Araci Uirapuru said as Marissa sat outside of Jaguar House.
“Um… okay,” Marissa replied. She hadn’t known if she was allowed in other Houses, but Araci was very welcoming, just as all the natives had been when she visited the village.
Marissa had wanted to see if the morning fog that lay upon the forest covered the plaza too, so she had decided to surprise Tiquinho and Potira by meeting them here before breakfast. Witness Stone has risen like a grey giant above the eerie mists, and from the stairway near the stone wizards all she had seen were the tops of buildings and stelae circled in white.
She passed through a long hall lined with figures displaying the fanciful native costumes. The Jaguar common room was like Macaw’s its in size, but walled by stone and not glass, and instead of circling an immense tree trunk, this room centered around giant stone pillars. After a short wait, she saw her friends come down a stairway, with Potira of course holding Tiquinho’s hand. Flap-Flap quickly flew to Marissa’s shoulder, which made Potira frown because he would never sit on hers.
After joining Sakura and Anna for breakfast, they played cards until the day warmed up. Later they had races across the lily pond. Marissa could beat everyone and tie Tiquinho, but only Anna, with Sakura’s urging, could cartwheel across all of the lily pads and back.
At lunch they all took turns feeding Mirioby, then watched the Jaguar Quidditch team.
“This is their first practice?” Sakura asked in disbelief as the players chose positions.
“They haven’t had time with Duelling practice, too,” Tiquinho replied.
“Well, gee, their first Quidditch match is next week! What’s more important?”
“Duelling,” Tiquinho stated quite absolutely. That was clearly not Sakura’s thought, but he insisted on showing them how Expelliarmus was far more useful than a Beater’s bat. Marissa agreed to let him disarm her with the spell he had mastered, even though she thought there was hardly a reason to if she couldn’t make her wand do anything anyway.
By the end of their active day, she found she would have to go to the library on Sunday.
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“Mr. Argiletum,” Marissa asked the librarian as she returned 'Birds of the Amazon’, which she had checked out a second time, “are there magic birds?”
“Yes. The Phoenix, the Augurey, and of course the Golden Snidget, to name just a few.” She had seen the tiny golden birds, because Tiquinho’s village was inside their sanctuary. The swallows had found a pair of the rare, lightning fast flyers to play with during her visit. But none of the birds Mr. Argiletum had named were what she was really looking for.
“Are there magic macaws?”
“No. Macaws are a common bird. They can be taught to deliver mail, and even Muggles can train one to talk, but that is the extent of a macaw’s abilities.”
“Oh,” she accepted. “Um… is there magic that makes you see what someone else sees?”
“My, you are inquisitive today,” Mr. Argiletum declared. “Is all this to find a new book?”
“Yes,” Marissa confirmed.
“There is a magic called Legilimency that allows one to see the thoughts and memories of another,” the librarian explained. “Now, why are you curious about such a difficult spell?”
“I had a dream about Mirioby,” she told him. Mr. Argiletum had allowed her to bring the baby macaw inside the library if he stayed in her packpack.
“Children sometimes dream of pets,” he smiled. “What has that to do with Legilimency?”
“I had a dream I saw by his eyes. Then when I was awake… I think he Legillancied me.”
Argiletum tossed back his head and laughed loudly. Marissa didn’t let her face show that she was displeased by his response, but she did not see what was so funny.
“First of all, child,” he said when he had finished laughing, “birds do not perform spells. Perhaps you had a vivid thought that seemed real, but it was only your imagination.”
“But, I saw me looking at him and…”
“Wizards can perform Legilimency only on other Beings. The mind of a bird is different. There are spells, curses which you should never use, that could control a bird’s motions, but Legilimency cannot see the thoughts and memories of animals.”
Maybe Mr. Argiletum was right. Maybe it wasn’t real, but just something she imagined.
“Legilimency is magic for seventh-years, and only the most well-studied of those. Why don’t we find something easier for you to read? Perhaps a book on Amazon mammals.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “Do you have a book about the pigs with writing?”
“Ah, the hierotapirs,” Argiletum replied. “A mystery I have studied myself for years.” He pointed his wand to one of the immense library trees, and a book floated down to her.
“The symbol writing growing within the fur of the hierotapirs has never been deciphered. Some believe the writing tells the locations of the lost cities, but the tribes tell us it holds a message in a forgotten language of wizarding kings from ages before Jaguating. Hierotapir herds are a puzzle whose missing pieces roam somewhere in Amazonia.”
“I like to learn puzzles,” Marissa declared, and soon left for Macaw House with the book about the animals with secret writing.
The last week of March passed the same as those before. Though others did spells wrong, Marissa was the only first-year who could not do spells at all. As she became even more desperate to make her wand work, the excitement of her first weeks was slowly overcome by clouds of doubt. What if her professor was wrong? What if she just couldn't do magic?
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Marissa followed the cheering crowds that left from the Great Hall on Saturday afternoon. The line of children flowed out of the school and across the plaza, through the ancient gate, into the rainforest and onto Chaser’s Courtyard, where an ocean of people met them.
The twenty vine-laced stone Floos that surrounded the stone-paved clearing whooshed with flames again and again as excited spectators arrived for the season’s first Quidditch game. Loud annoucements echoed above the din, and Marissa recognized some names called out. Sakura and Anna were to meet their parents at Floo twelve, and Jaci his grandfather at Floo seven. Marissa felt awkward and out of place among all the emotional hugs and greetings of the families gathering. Slowly, she pushed her way alone through the flowing crowds.
Marissa was eager to watch her first real game and learn just how Quidditch was played. She expected to see a large clearing ahead, but instead the rainforest grew dark and denser. She followed a pathway marked by a Macaw House symbol, and her eyes widened as she arrived beneath a pair of towering lupuna trees where hundreds of people were ascending to an elaborate tiered seating structure that stretched between the gigantic trunks far above. Scores of moving platforms along an array of vine cables brought passengers up one tree and dropped them off along the seats before lowering back down the opposite tree like a circling Carnival ferris wheel. Marissa waited her turn to board.
“Are you lost, little girl?” questioned a grey-haired man who saw her standing alone.
“No. I’m…”
“Grandpa, this is Marissa!” said Jaci Erasmi appearing beside him.
“This little sprite is the one the Boggart couldn’t scare?” the old man asked with surprise. “Well, I am impressed!”
Jaci’s grandfather invited her to join them, and they boarded a quickly ascending platform. As she rose to the seating area, Marissa felt like a bird who had flown up to the highest tree to view all the surrounding forest, and soon saw why she had discovered no clearing below. The Quidditch field of Witness Stone lay not on the rainforest floor, but here on its roof! Set within the billowy foliage of treetops, fifty feet above the ground, was a magically smoothed playing surface not of grass, but of deep green leaves. High above its sidelines loomed more pairs of crowd-filled lupunas, and at each end of the field rose three golden posts with hoops.
“The goals look like Asuoby’s perch!” Marissa said.
“Welcome students and staff, welcome family and friends,” annouced Principal Absencia from his center seat in the Anaconda stands, “to our first Quidditch match of the year!” As the teams met at the middle of the field, he went on to announce the Anaonda players. Their fans erupted in cheers as Sol Braganza, Stenio Cabral, and five others were named. The Jaguar players, four boys and three girls, were introduced to less frenzied applause.
“Their only chance is if Uirapuru can catch the Snitch quickly,” said Jaci’s grandfather. “These brawny Conda boys outsize them by half, and will push them all over the sky.”
The teams rose from the field and the game began as the bright red Quaffle was released. Jaci Juruna captured it first, but lost it immediately as Stenio Cabral slammed into him to knock it away. Another Anaconda Chaser recovered it and passed it to a third. The hefty Condas raced away, knocking aside the lighter Jaguar defenders to easily reach the goals.
“Ten points Anaconda!” called an announcer, and the Anaconda stands roared in support.
The pace of the game was rapid, with the Quaffle most always in control of the Condas, who with brute force could simply jar it away from the two girl Chasers of Jaguar House. Besides their bright new uniforms that stood in contrast to the faded older Jaguar jerseys, the Condas all had racing brooms while the natives used the slow school training brooms.
“Ten points Anaconda!”
“Ten points Anaconda!”
“Ten points Anaconda!”
Jaci and his grandfather explained Chasers, Beaters, and Seekers as the game went on. By the time the score was ninety to ten (the Jaguars had scored a penalty goal on a foul), Marissa saw why Jaguar could only win if Araci got the hundred and fifty point Snitch. But the Condas constantly aimed the dangerous iron Bludgers at her, or flew into her path whenever the Jaguar Seeker tried to follow after the tiny golden ball.
“Ten points Anaconda!” the annoucer repeated again, and the spreading lupuna branches shook from celebration in the Anaconda stands. “Conda! Conda! Conda!” they roared. Giant banners spread across their seating area. One showed a long coiling snake wrapped around the words ‘WE WILL DEVOUR YOU’, and others displayed the far too familiar phrase ‘Team Of Destiny!’.
Jaci said crashing, grabbing other players brooms, or hitting their handles with bats were all fouls, but the Condas did all of that constantly whenever the referee wasn’t looking. Sol Braganza attacked players who didn’t even have the Quaffle just to intimidate them, while Stenio and Achilles battled the Jaguars Chasers as if purposely trying to hurt them. They reminded Marissa of the violent gangs in Santa Efigenia.
With sheer determination, Jaci Jaruna had twice gotten by the brutal Conda defenders to give Jaguar two more goals, but his battered and bruised team was tired of playing prey. The Anacondas were bigger, faster, and willing to do anything to win by a large margin.
“Conda scores again! One hundred and ninety to thirty!”
WHAM! Gasps arose from the crowds as a Bludger slammed into a player’s stomach. One Anaconda Beater had batted it toward Araci Uirapuru, and from behind her Sol Braganza had pushed her directly into its path. The Condas cheered as the Seeker was knocked from her broom. Luckily Jaci caught her and brought Araci safely to the field.
The Jaguar players gathered to see that she was okay. Returning to the air after Araci was taken away by the school Healer, Jaci Jaruna directed his team to put up no defense as the Anaconda Seeker hunted the Snitch to end the game. When the large clumsy boy finally captured it almost by accident, the Conda fans exploded in celebration.
“Anaconda wins! Three hundred and forty to thirty!”
“That was a massacre,” Jaci’s grandfather stated as they left from the Macaw seating area. “If they abuse the other Houses like that, the Condas may win every game.”
“Do you think they really are the team of destiny, Grandpa?”
“If destiny means using every dirty foul Ramo Cavaleiros has taught them, they may be,” the old man replied, “but I hope the Olinda Oracle envisioned a more honorable team.”
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Tiquinho was reluctantly led on Sunday to see another Woolly House Quidditch practice. Marissa could see the older players off in the sky passing Quaffles and hitting Bludgers. Sakura was standing on the steps throwing rocks into the air, and she wondered why until she came around the Astronomy tower to see Anna flying to catch them one after another.
“Monkey says Anna might make a good Seeker,” Sakura explained, “so I’m helping her practice, kind of. But rocks don’t fly as fast as a Golden Snitch.”
“Here, let me try.” Tiquinho hurled a stone into the sky twice as far as Sakura’s throws. Anna zoomed after it and caught the rock as it began to fall.
“Great, you throw awhile. My arm’s tired.”
Sakura came and sat with Marissa while Tiquinho and Potira held hands and threw rocks.
“He’s getting a lot more feathers,” she said looking in on Mirioby in the pink backpack.
“Yes,” Marissa agreed. “And getting bigger!”
Fides, Spero, and Amor swooped down to join them as they watched Anna capture rocks.
“I wish we had training Snitches like the Condas,” said Sakura.
“Um… why don’t you?” Marissa asked.
“The Anaconda parents bought them, and Cavaleiros won’t let anyone else use them.”
Marissa recalled the speeding ball that the Seeker had caught to end the Quidditch game. Knowing Anna could get real good if she had one to train with, an idea came into her head.
“Um… I think I can help Anna practice Seekering.”
“Are you going to call a Golden Snidget out of the rainforest?” Sakura asked half jokingly, unsure if Marissa possibly could do such a thing.
“No,” Marissa smiled. “But what about… a blue Snidget?”
In a short while Anna zoomed past again, twisting and turning to follow her elusive target. She curved about to intercept its path, and tagged the nimble little swallow upon its tail.
“Your turn, Spero!” Marissa said as Fides glided down to rest on her backpack. Half of the Woolly Quidditch team had floated over to watch Anna chase the speeding birds. After a few more rounds, an exhausted Anna glided down to rest.
“Does Potira always hold your hand?” Marissa asked Tiquinho when the other girls left for the Astronomy tower to use its restroom. She had never said anything before, but thought the native girl was a little old to be led around wherever she went.
“Since we were four. She thinks I’m her boyfriend.”
“Oh,” she replied. “Um… do you think you’re her boyfriend?”
“I’ll marry her someday,” Tiquinho said plainly, “after I become an Auror.”
“Aurors fight bad wizards, right? Like all the chiefs who fighted the dark pajés.”
“Yes, like that,” he confirmed. “But the tribes didn’t call them Aurors in those times.”
“How do you get to be a Auror?”
“First you learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, and become a good dueller.”
“When we watched the Duelling teams practice, the Jaguars were best of all.”
“All Jaguars learn to fight well, to protect our people if the dark pajés ever return.”
“But I thought Jaguating vanished them all.”
“Do you remember the Grand Chief’s story?” Tiquinho asked. Marissa nodded her head. “Every Seer foretold that the dark pajés would enslave the seven cities and rule them for a thousand years. Great Jaguating could not stop the prophecy, but he tricked the evil ones. He emptied his people from the cities, and imprisoned the attacking armies within them using the blood magic of all the wizard tribes.”
“Now the tribes life in villages,” Marissa said, “because he made the cities disappear.”
“Yes. But the lost cities still exist, they just cannot be seen or reached now. If they ever reappear, the descendents of the pajés may still be there. So our Aurors must always be ready to fight their evil again one day.”
Marissa turned to see that the three girls had returned and overheard the last things she and Tiquinho had said. Potira frowned that Flap-Flap was on Marissa’s shoulder again.
“Is that really true?” Sakura asked. “Or just like… a legend.”
“It is true,” Tiquinho said. “We study it in History of Magic next year.”
“So that’s why almost every Jaguar joins Duelling team instead of playing Quidditch?”
“Because dark pajés cannot be battled with a game of flying brooms,” he smiled.
“Well, I don’t care if Jaguars don’t like Quidditch,” Sakura stated firmly. “You still better come watch us if we ever get to… Marissa, is something wrong?”
Marissa was frozen in surprise, because her eyes had stopped seeing Sakura and Tiquinho. What she perceived was beyond her own view, yet so clear that it could not be imagination. Behind her, Potira and Anna were looking into her backpack at the baby macaw who had grown so much these last few weeks. The girl’s faces filled her vision as Marissa viewed them, without any doubt, through Mirioby’s eyes.
Marissa and the Wizards by JCCollier
Chapter Notes: The months pass at Witness Stone, yet she cannot cast a single spell. Marissa still hasn't discovered any magic within herself... or has she?