Jan

Jan Espedal from Norway.

Jan lives with his parents in a big house at the outer outskirts of Oslo, his father is a vet and his mother an accountant, mostly helping dad getting money from his clients, but now and then helping out with taxing and billing for private persons and companies alike. It is the big secret of the household that mom is the best paid of the two.
  The basement and huge gardens are filled up with pens for healing animals large and small. And little Jan followed his father around the house and garden as a small one. Dressed like dad in overalls and wellies, he held the dogs when they needed care, steadied the horses and in general just loved being around animals. His best days were the ones where dad took him along when doing the rounds.  Jan wanted to grow up to be a vet just like dad.
   His first years at school were peaceful, although he found that school and homework took far too much of his time - time better spend helping dad and learning to be a vet. But once Jan realized that reading, writing, chemistry and even languages would help him be a better vet, he became an efficient scholar.
   In the start of his sixth schoolyear a disaster befell his father. He did not discover the symptoms of a serious cattle disease quickly enough, and was the reason many small holders were ruined. He swore never to work as a vet any more, took up banking instead and paid the smallholders back with the revenue from the sales of the big family home. They moved into a spacious flat in a decrepit part of Oslo, still loving one another, backing up the father in his quest to pay the cattle holders' debts.
  Jan was deeply touched by the gratitude of the cattle holders, and secretly kept on treating sickly cats and dogs for people who came asking for help. His father found him out, and threatened to send him off to a boarding school, but before anything came of this, a new neighbour accosted him on his way home from school the last day before the Easter holidays. At first Jan was a bit afraid of the man, he was tall, dressed in red and black clothes, and his skin was the darkest hue, Jan had ever seen in a living person. But he asked him insistently to come and see to his dog. Jan followed him to a flat, where a lady knelt by a sickly looking Border collie.
  Jan knelt as well, and the woman said: "I am Martine and this is Jack. He does not want to eat. Can you help?"
  Jan put his hand on the dog, but then Jon (this is of course who our dark skinned stranger was) knelt as well, put his hand on Jan's shoulder and said: "Jan, you are a wizard. Come with us to the school of magic and witchcraft!"
Jan looked up at him, totally at a loss for words.
Jon let go of his shoulder, sat back and asked: "Do you think it is totally normal to be able to tell what ails a dog or a cat just by touching it?"
Martine added: "And is it normal to be able to make the crude instruments, you are forced to use, suit the job like you do?"
"My dad does ... did ... the same!" Jan said vehemently. "I have done nothing wrong. I am only trying to help where I can! Magic .. magic has nothing to do with this."
"Of course," Jon said in a calming voice, "it is not wrong. Only it is not normal, now, is it?"
"No," Jan admitted, lowering his head. "At least I do not think it is normal. But for me and dad it is ..." he stopped and swallowed hard.
"Yes, I think your father is a wizard as well. But he is too old to visit our school." Jan had a fleeting vision of his long father curled up in one of the school desks, and smiled at the picture.
Jon continued: "But for you it's not too late. Come to our school, please."
"But I already go to school," Jan said, still fighting.
"Not during the holidays, you don't," Martine said. "If you hand this to your parents, they'll remember signing you up for a 4H course in care and teaching of working dogs during the Easter holidays."
She extended a flyer, which Jan reluctantly grasped. He read it, and said "I feel strange inside reading this," shaking his head.
"It is written on something we call suggestive paper, it is like a spell. But we've better show you, I think."  Jon pulled a long, slender branch from inside his shirt and swished it over Jack, murmuring some words. Jack sat up and shook his head, as he did waves of colour ran through the fur, and he ended up being bright blue with gold and silver stars. Then Martine swished her wand, and Jack slowly rose from the floor, making swimming motions, and stopped, floating, level with Jan's nose.
"This is magic! How do you do it?" Jan asked.
"As I said," Jon answered, his white teeth showing in a big smile. "We are witches and wizards, and yes, it is magic, the real stuff. Now will you come?"
"Yes I will." Jan said. "where do we meet?"
"Come here tomorrow morning," Martine answered.

Next morning Jan rang the bell at Martine's apartment.
"Good morning, Jan," Martine said. "You're the last. Please come inside."
Jan entered the room, Inside stood two girls he knew from his old school, and two boys, one older and one younger.

Martine asked them to form a circle all grasping the hands of the one they stood next to. When they had done this, Martine spoke a few words in a language Jan did not know, and everything went black.
   His vision returned, and he found himself outside, between two big bales of hay. He felt sick, and the others looked as bad as he felt. Jon appeared in front of them, looking for all the world just like a pirate, and bringing three girls and a boy. They also looked more or less greenish and Jon hurriedly told them all that they would feel better soon, and that it would get better when they got used to the trip.

Later in the day Jan was happy and surprised that he was not made a part of the green nature team, but of the transformation and divination team instead.

Jan is already as a young one rotund, easygoing, mature and jocular in his ways. He is 13 when first we meet him at Unicorn Farm. His wand is made from Irish oak, and his sparks are dark green.