July 5th, 1889 — Museum of Magical Miscellany

Being a working man was suiting Ignatius very well. He enjoyed his job and had ambitions of moving up the career ladder within the museum. It was a little odd to see old schoolmates around the museum and not really speak to them but he supposed that was the way things were going to be from now on. Ignatius tried not to let it bother him too much. It wasn't like he had spoken to many of them during school anyway. He was taking a quick lunch break, though, and had settled onto a bench and was unwrapping the sandwich he had managed to get for lunch.

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Loose on summer holiday, Clue prowled the wizarding museum he'd discovered last week, spending far too much time gazing at the smaller, niche exhibits and not enough time admiring the centrepieces. When the little sprite passed a glass case with a glowing granite vase within, he paused and looked at the top of the case. A tiny key lay there, abandoned. Clue picked it up at once, and turned to a young man on a bench nearby. "Can I take this?" he uttered, holding the key aloft between two fingers.

  

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Ignatius turned towards the voice that had spoken to him, his eyes latching onto the key that was being held by the boy. "I doubt it. Where did you find it?" Ignatius asked, putting his food away as he stood up. "I don't recognize it but it could be a key to one of the cases lain forgotten." Not everyone on staff was super reliable and people could make honest mistakes.

  

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Now that he had his answer, Clue curled his slender fingers over the key. Not possessively exactly, for he knew it was not his; but he would not simply give it up. Not when there were curiosities to pursue.

And did he have a companion on this adventure? Perhaps.

"I found it right here", Clue replied, turning back towards the case with the glowing granite vase within. Before he could be stopped, he used the key to open the case — but it did not work. "Then it doesn't belong to this case. I suppose I'll try all of them..." Clue looked round dreamily.

  

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Ignatius followed the boys gaze as he told Iggy where he had gound the key. Before he could stop him, the boy was trying to open the case. "I would prefer not to lose my job because you're curious. Do you promise not to bother whatever is within the case it opens if I accompany you?" He was poor, and his family was not... reliable - relying instead on him - the youngest son - for their survival. He needed his job and it was his dream to move up within the museum. But he also liked to encourage curiosity in others when the chance arose hence the offer.

  

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A kook, a rebel and a lost boy, yes, but Clue could still feel empathy for a fellow who needed to keep his job. Clue had never conceived of having a real job before, so he could not relate but he could certainly understand the reasoning behind those words.

And so he nodded.

  

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As the boy agreed, Ignatius looked around the room, mentally taking note o which cases had a lock that looked like it would match the key. "Which one do you want to try next?"

  

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Mildly surprised but wordlessly grateful that he was allowed to proceed in his quest, Clue moved dreamily into the next room and found himself facing a long glass case. Inside was a skull, grimacing and unmistakably human. Clue pressed his fingertips gently to the glass and gazed up into the empty eye sockets.

"I wonder what he died for."

  

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Ignatius followed the younger boy as he moved into the next room and peered at one of the skulls. "It says on the plaque," Ignatius stated, pointing it out. "This was a woman who was burned at the stake. Didn't know non-verbal magic so couldn't save herself with a wand."

  

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Clue stared into the skull’s empty eye sockets even as his “tour guide” read out the plaque for him. ”Humans are monsters”, he remarked blandly as the woman’s murder was explained.

  

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"They can be but they can also be wonderful. Come look at this," Ignatius said, leading the boy to another case that displayed parchment with prophetic words written. "A seer from centuries past prevented a disaster by sharing this vision."

  

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While Clue was old enough to not see the world in black and white, he’d had so much experience with the black it never surprised him to see evil in humanity. But the museum assistant was right — there were wonders to be found.

But Clue was a strange boy, and when he looked at the ancient parchment he could only utter — ”what if the disaster was supposed to happen?”

  

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"Then she would not have had the vision in the first place, I suppose," Ignatius said. Honestly, he had no clue how seers worked, he just knew they existed.

  

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Impassive, Clue returned his eyes to the parchment. "Sometimes I wonder who decides what's supposed to happen and what is not."

  

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"I think that's entirely up to us," Ignatius said. "Prophecies are just one truth, maybe there are other worlds where something else entirely happened instead."

  

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Ever since discovering his wizardry, Clue had possessed a widespread fondness for magic and its uses — and what it could do for him once he'd stepped into the freedom of adulthood. And so when professors and other grown witches and wizards spoke of magic, he listened. But this concept was one he'd never heard of...

For a moment forgetting his mission entirely, Clue looked surprisedly up into the man's blue eyes and asked "other worlds...?"

  

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