"Awww, that's so sweet, little Ollie wanted to be skilled at magic as his parents are. I can just imagine how cute you looked practicing spells and everything," Annie giggled.
"I would not call myself cute, I was very serious, and I still am very serious," Ollie replied with a smile.
"Yeah, right, you are serious alright, blondie," Maddie scoffed.
"I mean, I have to hand it to you, you have dedication. When I was five, I was well... begging my parents to buy me the newest toys," Matt laughed.
"As well as taking care of Evie, because I am sure when you were five, she came along," Maddie reminded.
"That too, but mostly, I was more obsessed with toys and playing," Matt laughed. It was true that Evie was born around then, but he did not have to take care of her until she was a bit older. He would have to admit that he had a very normal childhood from four to nine years old.
"There's nothing wrong with living your childhood. Hey, I doubt that anyone wants to feel uncompleted in something that they should have done when they were younger," Ollie said.
"Well, when you are that age, you jump up and down and get hurt all the time. Which was why when I was five, I did not go anywhere, I made sure to sit tight and just play with dolls," Maddie said.
"Well, that is true, but because I grew up surrounded by magic, whenever I got hurt, a spell was casted to heal it, so I never had any scars, never had any wounds," Ollie said. He sounded a bit sad as he spoke.
"How lucky, I still have scars from when I fell from my bike and scraped my knee when I was eight, or when I fell during soccer and hurt my hand," Annie chuckled. She shook her head remembering
"It might sound so nice not to have scars, but the thing is that scars are a part of life, somehow, whenever you see them, they have a memory attached to them, and those memories are important, they remind you of choices you made and whether good or bad, how you got through them," Ollie said.
"For example, right now, if I was to tell you that I once had my arm cut in two, you wouldn't believe me, because there is no scar, no stitches to show it," he said.
"Wait a minute, blondie, your arm was cut in two?" Maddie asked making sure she heard correctly the first time.
"Yes, my right arm.".
"Wait, wait, elaborate, how did that happen?" she asked. Annie nodded, she also had the same question on her mind.
"Oh, well, the thing is, when I was ten, I followed my father to one of the council meetings. Well things got messy and there was an uproar and fight among the members of the council. They began to use magic on one another, well there I was, my first time witnessing a fight like that when a stray spell hit me and severed my right hand from my elbow down," Ollie chuckled.
"My goodness," Annie said her eyes wide.
"Dude..." Matt said not knowing what else to say.
"Oh wow," Maddie giggled. It seemed that this was the best story she had heard in years.
"Yes, I know, it's as graphic as it sounds. Well, that happened. I screamed because well, that was my first time seeing my hand get cut off. My scream put a stop to all the nonsense fighting that was happening.".
"My father stood from his throne, I had never seen him as angry or as furious as he was that day. He did not even say a word, he simply walked to where I had been standing on the right. He asked if I was alright, and at that point, I was a sobbing mess, it hurt so much, I was bleeding very profusely.".
Annie's face contorted as she watched him narrate the story. She could only try to imagine what it felt like. Matt also had the same expression on his face, it was only Maddie who seemed to be hearing one of the best stories she had ever heard. She chuckled happily.
"I couldn't even reply to him since I was in so much pain. He simply walked to where half of my hand had flown to, he picked it up and attached it back right there and then. I had never seen such a powerful spell, I will admit it, I was scared, for a moment, it felt like I would never use my hand again.".
"As soon as my hand was joined together, he turned to the council and with a mere stare, all of them were frozen and the person responsible for the spell that landed on me, well, his hand got cut off and my father stepped on his hand and it shriveled up and withered away.".
"My goodness, that sounds so cool," Maddie chuckled. There were stars in her eyes. Ollie could see them clearly.
"In the moment it was not cool at all. I was scared, that was my first time seeing something as violent as that happen. From that day on, no fights like that one ever broke out in the High Council, and till this day, that Professor does not have an arm," Ollie said.
"Couldn't he just regrow his hand or something?" Matt asked.
"Normally, he would be able to, the problem was my father placed a lock on his arm. It restricted magic from being able to work. Only when the lock had expired would he be able to do so," Ollie said.
"Your father is really scary when he's angry, it was just an accident, even though it was a very serious one," Annie said.
"I agree, but it was more than me getting hurt. They disrespected his presence by fighting like animals in front of him. In the first place they were supposed to act civilized, they did not, it served as a warning to them," Ollie replied.
"The more I hear about this story, the more I wish I was there. Was there a lot of blood?" Maddie asked.
"Part of my arm was cut off, what do you think, Maddie?".
"My goodness, you must have been so scared," she laughed.
"I was, when my mother heard, she was so furious. She almost did not allow me go to the High Council again," he said.
"I don't blame her, what happened was not a joke at all. In fact, you were lucky that magic exists, or else, you might have lost your arm, or it would have never been the same again," Annie said.
"I agree," Ollie laughed.
"Well, it's funny how that happened to you. How interesting, and what about the Professor whose arm was cut off? Where is he now?" Maddie asked.
"Well, he was dismissed from the High Council," Ollie said.
"I expected that, I mean, he might not have meant for things like that to happen, but they did happen," Annie said.
"Yes, well... I have to admit that the council used to be very hard to control, at least now it is better. Everyone is more respectful and careful with their words, and they never, and I repeat never started a fight in the council again," Ollie said.
"To be honest, most of those adults act more childish than actual children," Maddie scoffed.
She hated it when adults acted as if they were better than them. Especially when adults made them feel like they did not know what they were doing. It irked her so much. Just because she was young did not mean that she was stupid.
"That is true," Annie had to admit.
"I agree, we seem to be more mature than them sometimes. They could not even solve a simple problem without arguing amongst themselves," Maddie scoffed.
"You can't blame them, Maddie. They are adults, they just want to find the best way to solve the problems. They just want to keep them safe. We can't judge them, when we are their age, we will know how it feels to be in their shoes," Matt said.
"Whatever, well, we are not their age now, not at all," Maddie replied. "It's funny to know that your arm was once cut off," she looked at Ollie.
"I know," he laughed.
"Maddie, why do you like violence so much?" Matt asked. This had been a question plaguing his mind for a while, and this moment was perfect for him to ask.
"I don't know what that means," she said.
"You know what I mean, you like blood, gore and violence like it's the next best thing," Matt said.
"Hey, I don't know what you are talking about.".
"No, Matt, is right, he is very right," Annie said.
"You guys are saying nonsense, I don't know what you mean," she said.