Cuff looked up from his hands as the final notes slowly died. Lifting his hands he let out a deep breath, it'd been some time since he'd played like that. He stretched his hands up to the ceiling, the tendons and ligaments tight after being worked. He really liked reflets dans l'eau, the ending was so fitting, the slow dying ripples of music acting like the dying ripples of water from a splash. So fitting, he mused in his head. Now if only I could play it less sloppy. His thoughts were interrupted by light knocking at the door. Confused, he walked over to open it, wondering if the headmaster had finished whatever it was he had needed to do. Surprise was apparent on Cuff's face when he opened the door. A beautiful red-headed girl looked up at him curiously, she was slim and yet still the tiniest bit chubby. There was the shortest moment of silence before Cuff came to.

"Uhm, hello! How can I help you?" Cuff awkwardly asked, hands half raised, unsure. His heart couldn't help but jump a little when he looked at her again; her eyes seem to tear at him inside and pull him in.

"Was that you playing the piano?" She ignored his greeting, peeking past his shoulder into the room.

"Well, it wouldn't be anyone else would it!" He chuckled, scratching his head and fidgeting.

"Interesting," she put her hand to her chin, "so you're the new groundsman," she narrowed her eyes. And then completely changed, jumping a tad, and almost shouting, "I'm Lilith, you're good at piano so I think I like you. You're in my good books for now anyway," she winked.

"Now come on, the headmaster realised you wouldn't know your way around and told me to show you around," she turned around and started skipping a little. It made for a truly curious sight, such a bubbly personality, yet such dark clothing and demeanour. If she never spoke it wouldn't be hard to mistake her for a demon.

"Anyway," she broke Cuff's thoughts, "down this hall leads to the main hall. So it's pretty easy to get to your room and the headmasters. The rest of the school can be tricky, but I'll show you the stairs, the rest you can figure out. I'm sure you'll be fine," she smiled at him and chuckled a little.

"I see," Cuff said absentminded.

"Oi," she frowned and pouted, "say thanks properly, I'm doing so much for you, you know."

"Well, thanks. But honestly, you sound like a child right now," Cuff snorted.

"Well, maybe I am," she raised her eyebrows, cocking her head, then turned with a huff and continued stomping down to the main hall in silence.

Cuff ignored her, looking at the art on the walls. It almost felt like a huge story, in some parts it looked like there was a war, other parts had what looked like a teacher teaching a classroom, and it went on and on. It reminded Cuff of the caveman drawings that were occasionally found.

Eventually the hall came to an end, as did the silence.

"We're here," Lilith turned to Cuff, waving her hands.

"Never would've guessed," Cuff replied drily.

"Pfft, listen punk," her face scrunching up in anger, "you better start being nicer to me, or else," she said, waving her hands in an incredibly unthreatening looking manner.

Cuff burst out laughing, "it's hard to take you serious when you just look cute when you're angry," Cuff said, resisting the urge to poke her cheek.

"Cute? I am not cute! I'm incredibly dangerous!" She shouted, lifting her hands and trying to roar like a lion.

One look almost had Cuff rolling on the floor with laughter.

"I honestly can't take it, stop, stop please," he giggled at the "scary lion."

"Huff," she said, huffing. "I'm getting food, go talk to the old donkey," she said, looking truly annoyed. Space wrapped around her, and in a bang she disappeared.

"When do I get to learn that," Cuff muttered under his breath. Shrugging, he turned around to face the headmaster's study. Taking a deep breath he knocked. There was no reply. Frowning, he knocked harder. He glanced around as he waited, but still nothing. Maybe the old guy is hard of hearing he thought? Although that couldn't be right, he had been talking to him fine earlier.

He decided to knock once more, even harder, the knocks ringing out and echoing loudly in the hall.

"Hey, what's with all the racket, yeah?" A bald man emerged from one of the doors into the main hall, walking towards Cuff. "You, what's the racket, yeah?" He shouted at Cuff.

"Sorry, I was just knocking for the headmaster," Cuff stammered, "I'm new. I'm sorry," he half bowed.

"Yeah, well. Keep the racket down, yeah? You can go into the study if he's not there, yeah. He should've said this to you, yeah?" The bald man huffed and turned and left. Cuff stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Right, the headmaster did mention he could go in, didn't he? Shrugging he turned around a tentatively opened the door and stepped in.

Inside, the room was a glow with deep blue candlelight. Cuff chuckled to himself at the changing candle flames, although he supposed if he could do that he would too. He walked towards the dark desk looking at the green imprint, which he now realised was his contract. He realised it looked somewhat like an owl with its wings raised, as if it were about to take flight. Odd how there seem to suddenly be owls everywhere, although he supposed it had kind of always been like that with him. He always liked Owls, quite a lot in fact; and they always seemed to appear everywhere he went. He never really thought anything of it before, but now it seemed somewhat suspicious. Although everything did seem a bit suspicious, or ridiculous, or amazing. I guess it depends which way you view it. He was now supposedly a magical person; a wizard. He'd always wished magic had been real, and now here he was. Some twenty odd years old and it turned out magic truly was real. And yet, nothing felt like anything.

Cuff slunk into the chair, staring at the green mark. A magical contract of employment, or chaining him to this place. Again a matter of perspective he supposed. But it was hard to look at it in either view, because none of it simply felt real. It felt so dead and fake. He felt so dead, so empty inside. And he knew it wasn't an effect of the pixie dust anymore, the coffee had fixed that and he felt lively and awake; but so grim inside. What was he even doing with his life. A mediocre composer, eking out a living doing pitiful freelance piano work, wherever he could get it. Applying for any which job, painfully holding onto them for months at a time and then desperately writing music, which completely flopped. He had essentially completely alienated himself from his friends and family. He was only living in the building he was living in because the landlord was an old lady who takes great pity on him.

It was the gentle plop of a tear that woke Cuff from his depressive thoughts. He was crying. One tear drop dripping at a time, splashing onto the wooden floor, turning one small spot at a time slightly darker. It reminded Cuff of his life darkening one step at a time. Only tiny little bits at a time, but they add up, at least they did for cuff.

The sharp screech of an owl tore through the air. Cuff, startled, whipped his head up at the window, to find the owl that had plastered itself into the window before sitting just outside the opening window. It screeched once more, a terrifying rending sound slicing into his ears, and then turned as it flapped its wings and took off into the grey sky. It was only now he realised how little light had been pouring into the room from the window. The skies were a deep grey, warning of rains to come. He took a deep breath and wiped the rest of the tears from his face. He might not know what he was going to do with his life, but he wasn't going to give up at it yet. Feeling a little better he stood up, curious about the tomes that lined the walls of the room.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

There was a huge variety among them. Some being records of the school, that supposedly stretched back to the 18th century, others being tomes of magic. There were books on elementary magic, advanced magics, the history of wands, how to use a wand, the basics of magic, and so much more. Some were published from even before the earliest records of the school, and others were much more recent. It was incredibly fascinating. He was incredibly tempted to take one and glance through it, but restrained himself. He couldn't help, however, stroking the spines of the tomes; they were so incredibly satisfying to touch, a feeling of mystery emanating from each and every single ones.

"I think," a voice sagely voice sounded from behind Cuff, "a healthy appreciation for knowledge, and books in general, is a quality most admirable in the young," the voice continued. Cuff turned around, toward the voice. The headmaster, Nathaniel, stood there, his pipe in his hand, tapping off his lip. "Knowledge is power, as they say. Although I have more than a few issues with that statement, but that's best left for another time," he added, striding to his desk.

"Sorry I didn't hear you open the door," Cuff said to him.

"Not a worry," Nathaniel answered, smiling, "I didn't come through the door you see, "he said with a wink.  "Now, I'm sure you have questions, and I have some things to explain and give you and I'm still in a bit of a hurry, so please take a seat," he said, as he tapped his pipe off his lip and wandered to the window. Cuff sat, staring at him intently. Nathaniel simply stood there, staring at the window, puffing on his pipe occasionally. After an exceptionally large puff of smoke he took a deep breath, and to Cuff's surprise, began humming. He hummed and puff, and puffed and hummed, until eventually the fidgeting Cuff cleared his throat, "Headmaster?"

"Ah yes, yes, apologies. The mind wanders," he chuckled, tapping his pipe against his cheek. He took a deep breath and let it out, and in that instant it felt like the air got a bit heavier, and it got a bit harder to breathe. There was complete silence, and it seemed as though even the clock couldn't be heard, ticking as it always could. And yet, slowly, the pitter patter of rain began on the old windows, tapping away.

"Cuff, a magical contract is a bit different to a non-magical, as you might expect," Nathaniel began, a grave touch to his voice. "Nobody can invalidate the contract, unless the two original signers come to an explicit agreement to do so, and you can be guaranteed Nathaniel won't be willing. Not me of course, I mean the other fool," Nathaniel shook his head. The grave and scholarly air he gave off was at last fitting for the title of headmaster, Cuff thought as he listened closely.

"A magical contract is binding, and there is no other way out until the conditions have been completed; as such people would ordinarily not sign one unless it had very loose specifications, and ones that were achievable, of course. Otherwise one might be signing themselves into a lifetime of slavery, for which I'm sorry," Nathaniel stared Cuff hard in the eyes. With a wave of hand the burning green contract appeared, the owl dragging off the table and sitting at the head.

"It states here, that you must fulfil your duties as the groundsman, until the contract is void, or otherwise destroyed. This refers to you and Nathaniel agreeing to void the contract, however in the next section it is stated that neither original party may come to a mutual agreement to void the contract. So this is not a possibility, ever." Nathaniel paused, allowing Cuff to digest the implications.

"So.. I'm a slave for life?" Cuff asked, not sure what to feel.

"No, no. Fortunately a magical contract must always contain a method to render the contract obsolete, they can not be enacted otherwise, which is quite fortunate," Nathaniel said as he fiddled with a drawer in his desk. "And for you, this method is to become powerful enough, magically, to destroy the contract yourself, with no help whatsoever," Nathaniel paused with his fiddling for a moment, staring Cuff in the eye with his eyebrows slightly raised.

"And I'm guessing that won't be easy," Cuff said, feeling the emptiness inside him grow.

"Well, no, and for that I'm very sorry. I'm at least partially to blame for this, so I'll do my best to assist you however I can." Nathaniel said, feeling somewhat guilty. He began fiddling again with the drawer. Cuff looked around, unsure what to do. Even more unsure than before. It looks like there wouldn't be any life planning today, or for the foreseeable future.

"Blasted drawer," Nathaniel growled, heaving until finally the drawer flew open, the headmaster almost tumbling to the ground after it.

"Now, with the explaining done I have some good news. There's something here I have to give you, but first; Cuff, I understand how you feel. What you need is a goal right now, even more than you ever have before," the headmaster stood, lifting a box as he did. "Magic can be a fickle thing. It's important it doesn't consume you. I know a bit of your life from before, you didn't think your furniture from your apartment appeared here by magic, did you?" The headmaster walked to a pedastal and pulled out his wand from seemingly nowhere. As always, Cuff was intrigued. The headmaster waved his wand lightly, and a gentle light floated toward the box. Just before it hit the wood it exploded in a shower of light, over an almost transparent sphere surrounding the box. As the light died down Cuff saw the headmaster nod in satisfaction, a smile on his face.

"This is an opportunity Cuff, to change your life. There is far more to the world than you realise. The question is, will you take this step willingly, or unwillingly. And so, my final gift to you," he lifted the box and placed it on the desk, the opening clasp facing Cuff.

Cuff stared at the clasp, and the little owl that acted as the clasp stared back, green gems for eyes. It reminded Cuff of the key, which he felt compelled to take out.

Nathaniel merely stood, watching, saying nothing.

Cuff looked at the key, and then at the clasp. He felt torn, but at the same time he didn't have much of a choice did he? He had risen to every challenge in life before, why couldn't he rise to this. He thought about magic, about real magic. He could almost imagine the power flowing through his veins, about the hidden world out there. With a deep breath he reached forward with his right hand, flicking open the clasp; his left hand clenched tightly around the owl key. Inside the box was a wand, not too unlike Nathaniel's one. The main difference being the colour. For this wand was a deep deep brown, maybe even black. But Cuff had never heard of a tree with black branches. Cuff lifted the wand out of the box carefully, tilting it and examining it closely. He gasped as he saw the handle.

"Indeed, I think there's more to this," Nathaniel muttered over his shoulder.

"The Owl Wand to match the Owl Key." He walked over to the window. The rain hammered it violently, creating a constant din in the study. After a moment he turned back to Cuff, who had put the key away and was getting a feel for the wand.

"There'll be a note in your room when you return, I've said everything I had meant to, and given you what I think you deserve. I hope you can put some thought into what I've told you, and this chance you have. At any rate, the time is getting on and I still have things to do," he smirked.

"Ah right, you'll need to get familiar with the library and the librarians. They'll help you get the books you need. And Cuff," he said, looking straight into his eyes, "magic is not a toy, it's not a trivial thing to fool around with. Under no circumstances should you 'borrow' books from the library other than what the librarians give you, at least for the time being. Do you understand?" He asked, with raised eyebrows.

"I understand," Cuff nodded solemnly.

"Well, goodbye." Nathaniel smiled, disappearing in a smatter of dust, the candles dimming and beginning to go out as he did.