Chapter 11: Practice makes Perfect

Jenna, to her credit, didnt pull a book out on the walk back to the pub. She was itching to test out some spells, but she was also very curious about learning more about this world. She had thought they couldnt impact the world at all, or as little as possible while they were there. Was this not a butterfly effect type of thing?

"You can make investments? Like, stocks and bonds?" Jenna inquired, dogging Denver's steps as they walked out of the book store and along towards the pub once more. "You mean to tell me you have an actual growing monetary income here? As in, money you could technically convert back to muggle money and take elsewhere?"

Denver signed, a small smile on his lips. He seemed to be a bit reluctant to answer her. "Technically, yes. Though moving it from one realm to the other would prove more difficult. Money from here would technically match money from our worlds, the issue is that the printed money from here would have a twin in our worlds. It would be the same as making a counterfeit, in that there wouldnt be actual worth backing it. If we were to bring money from one world to another, we would be risking an economic collapse eventually, because we would be spending money the government isnt accounting for."

Jenna frowned, mulling that over. "But...this is just a book. How is that even possible? Jumping into a world with magic is one thing, but taking things to and from doesnt make sense. If you can jump to collect things, how is money any different? And how does you making money here not cause issues with the books progression? How would the money here match any from the real world?"

Denver shook his head. "Those are questions that youd have learned about before being allowed to jump. I'm not allowed to just tell anyone-"

"Denver." Jenna reached out, grabbing his hand to stop him and make him face her. "I'm not a trained..whatever you are. I'm not a student wherever you came from. I'm not even sure if we are from the same world, or if you're from a different book, or even a whole different realm or dimensional plane entirely. What harm can telling me really have?"

Shaking his head, Denver replied, "Jenna...just be patient. Once we get your book, we will get all of this straightened out and then you can ask all the questions you like, okay?"

Jenna mentally scoffed. The tone she got from Denver reminded her so much of her parents. 'When you're older, you'll understand.' She thought to herself, letting Denver's hand go. She was pretty nearly an adult, and yet she was still being looked down on as if she just would not understand. "Yea, okay."

She avoided asking Denver any other questions on their walk, and though he tried to initiate conversation a few times, Jenna just wasnt in the mood. She was grateful for him helping her out, even if it was because of his 'duty' or 'responsibility', and especially for him buying her the books, but she couldn't help but feel offended that she was, in a sense, just a kid in his eyes.

Jenna looked up at Denver as they walked, examining his orange-red hair, with its little waves and small curls by his neck. Her gaze traveled to his face, noting his expression of sadness and reservation. His brows were knotted in thought, and his golden eyes had darkened to a more goldenrod hue. She hadnt really studied his face before, but now that she did, she noticed faint and gentle freckles here and there.

If not for his eyes, he could have passed for a Weasley, or so she figured. He didnt seem that much older then her. Perhaps 19 or 20at oldest? How much more could he really know then her? She bit her lip, looking away. Well, if his world really was different from her own...then potentially a lot. After all, she had never even thought of story jumping being a real thing, and yet, here she was. Magic was make believe in her world, and yet for him, it seemed common place.

He may not be that much older then her physically, but mentally? That felt like a whole other matter entirely.

When they returned to the Leaky Cauldron, Jenna excused herself as politely as she could to her room. Once inside, she immediately set about practicing the spells from the first year book. She spent hours reading the pronunciation of the spells and proper wand movements, trying her best to get them correct as she practiced with her own wand. She started off feeling rather awkward, especially for the first hour when she wasnt getting any results from her wand at all. Even an indication of magic would have helped her feel less like a child pretending to be a witch while waving around a stick they had found outside. Still, she pushed past her own embarrassment, and finally gave a cry of excitement and glee when the tip of her want lit up with a white light from the Wand-Lighting spell.

Jenna remembered how her phone had been able to turn its flashlight feature on and off using 'Lumos' and 'Nox', but this gave a whole different meaning to fangirling. She felt like her soul was so light and happy, it would just float out of her and away to heaven.

She grinned, extremely pleased with herself as she said, "Nox." She watched the white light vanish from the tip of her wand, feeling immense pride that while she had worked so hard to get the wand lit, the Nox spell had worked first try. Jenna eagerly bounced back onto her bed, grabbing the year one book and flipping to the next chapter to begin again. She was going to master every spell in these books if it killed her.