Grace trembled as she held the letter in her hands. It was like nothing she had received before- A thick yellowed paper with dark green ink forming the cursive letters. Not to mention the fact that it had been delivered via a large snowy owl swooping through the bedroom window.

She had been sitting at her desk with a pink highlighting pen dangling from her teeth, one hand in her dark hair, staring at the journal article in front of her. This was the most important assignment of her course but it was hard to focus on the use of art in philosophy for children when it was such a lovely day outside. The bedroom window was open, a warm breeze drawing in the shouts of children in the neighbouring park. Grace scratched her scalp and gazed at the trees in front of her. A swift movement caught her attention and before she could jump off her chair, the white owl had glided right through the open window and landed elegantly on her bed.

It glared impatiently at her as she stared in bewilderment. The owl hooted indignantly and used its beak to nudge an envelope which Grace now noticed lying on the bed at the owl's feet. She edged cautiously towards the creature and timidly reached out for the envelope. With this movement, the owl seemed satisfied. It ruffled its feathers before taking flight once more. Grace tried to watch it fly away but it seemed that it disappeared as soon as it left the window.

Turning her attention back to the envelope, she noticed it was addressed to her. A jolt of recognition flooded her. It couldn't be. It must be her best friend Lena playing a prank. She opened the envelope and discovered the letter that was so familiar and yet so alien. She had never truly expected to receive one of these. For eleven years, she had been praying for this. Yet now that it had happened, she was wary. It must be a joke.

With that, her phone began ringing loudly, interrupting her thoughts. Glancing at the screen, Grace saw that it was Lena. No doubt calling to see how her joke had gone down.

"Grace? That was brilliant! I can't believe you actually hired an owl. You gave me the fright of my life- I thought I was going to have a heart attack when it tapped on my window!"

Grace was silent for a few moments, trying to understand what her friend was saying.

"What are you on about? I haven't done anything. You're the one who sent me a blooming Hogwarts letter!"

"Stop kidding. I know it was you and you know I haven't sent you anything. It was lovely though. Thank you. Fancy sending me a letter by owl!"

Grace was more confused now. Had Lena had the same experience? She sounded so grateful. She was yet to burst into giggles despite her usual inability to keep a straight face for very long.

"Lena. I'm serious. I'm sitting here with a letter in my hand. A bloody great owl flew right onto my bed and dropped off an envelope. I haven't sent you anything".

"Well", Lena paused, "What does your letter say?"

Grace read aloud:

"Dear Miss Parker,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts College of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to an error at the Ministry of Magic between 1987 and 1988, births of muggle-born witches and wizards were not fully recorded and many children were omitted from the register. You should have received a letter at the age of 11 to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To amend these errors, we have formed a college for the children who were not registered at birth. All will be explained in due course.

Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl no later than 31st July.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

Then there's a whole list of books and things" Grace concluded.

"That's exactly what mine says. I don't understand. Are you sure you didn't send this?" Lena responded.

"Of course I didn't. Would I sound this confused if I had?" Grace was starting to believe that this was not a prank after all. At least, not a prank orchestrated by Lena.

The next day, Grace arrived at Lena's flat. They had arranged to meet up and try to work out what was going on. Their love of the wizarding world was not a secret. Anyone could have sent them the letters. The only question was who would go to this much hassle? Neither girl could think of anyone who would spend the time and money on such an elaborate prank. Yet the only alternative- that Hogwarts was real, that the world they had spent hours discussing and dreaming they were a part of was real- was too unthinkable to be true.

As they re-read their letters for what felt like the hundredth time, a loud knock at the door made them both jump. They stared at the door and then at each other wide-eyed, before laughing. They were so on edge that just a knock at the door was a threat.

"Probably an election campaigner" said Lena, getting on to her feet.

"If it's Conservative, tell them to GTFO" joked Grace, poking fun at her friend's political preferences as Lena left the room.

Grace listened to the muffled voices from the hall. They carried on for longer than she expected, having assumed it was just a cold caller. She frowned as she strained to listen but could hear nothing clearly until soft footsteps approached the living room.

As the door was pushed open, Grace saw Lena's pale face as she stood in the doorframe. Behind her was a middle-aged man who, despite the wrinkles on his face, had bright red, albeit thinning, hair. He was wearing a blue and white shell suit that looked fresh out of the early nineties. Despite his strangely old fashioned appearance, he had kind eyes and smiled warmly at Grace.

"You must be Grace Parker", he said as he extended a hand, "So nice to meet you. I was just chatting to Lena. I've come from the Ministry of Magic. No doubt your letters surprised you, as I gather they surprised Lena, but nothing to worry about, I'm here to explain it all to you".

Grace glanced at Lena, who shrugged her shoulders in dazed reply. They both looked at the strange man who was suddenly very interested by Lena's phone charger.

"Excuse me, Mr..." Lena began, before realising the man had not introduced himself. He was crouching down to the wall socket, flexing the cable and muttering to himself. "I'm sorry sir but-"

The man now turned and chuckled. "I'm sorry, girls. I get distracted sometimes, you see. The things muggles think up these days! I used to work in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department at the Ministry. Always fascinated me, muggles. I do apologise. Dumbledore was a bit wary of sending me over, for this very reason, but unfortunately nobody else was available at such short notice so I'm afraid you're left with me. Arthur Weasley."

"So, erm, Mr Weasley. Why are you here?" Grace's voice was shaking. This new turn of events was doing nothing to reassure her. She was even more confused than she had been and, judging by the look on Lena's face, her friend was equally as stunned.

"Of course, of course! Well, as your letters should have stated, all wizards and witches have to be registered at birth. The Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on this and they can detect all magic folk, so even muggle-borns are registered, although they don't know about this until they get their letters at 11, of course. Now, in 1988 a glitch was reported in the registration system. This glitch meant that muggle-borns weren't being registered. We suspect it was a curse left over from the First Wizarding War, part of the anti-muggle movements that were taking place to stop muggle-borns entering our world. This curse probably lay dormant for years before activating itself. It was fixed as soon as it was noticed but nobody had the hindsight to check the extent of the damage. The Ministry back then was- well, let's just say it wasn't quite as efficient as today. Anyway, it's only this year that someone from the registration department has discovered that a lot of muggle-borns have passed through life completely unaware of their powers. Seems they noticed a massive decrease in the muggle-borns attending Hogwarts in the late 90s and investigated. So Albus Dumbledore, the great wizard that he is, has decided to open Hogwarts to those who missed out on their letter at 11 and offer them the education they deserve. A few years late but nonetheless, it's better than never. Of course you won't be stuck with the little ones! There'll be a whole load of you in the same position so you'll learn together".

"Mr Weasley-" Lena began

"Please, call me Arthur"

"Arthur, then. We know a bit about the wizarding world here but it's widely regarded as fiction. So excuse us if we seem a bit taken aback. We've always believed Hogwarts to be purely fictional so this is a lot to take in".

"Ah! That's perfectly understandable. I was prepared for this but it seems to have slipped my mind". With these words, he pulled a wand out from the pocket of the shell suit jacket. He chuckled as the girls' eyes grew rounder with awe. "Never seen a real wand I suppose?"

Arthur pointed the wand at a cushion on the sofa. "Accio cushion!" he exclaimed. The cushion whizzed across the room towards him and he caught it surprisingly gracefully.

Grace and Lena both dropped their mouths open in shock. Grace turned her head towards Lena and saw that she was equally as surprised.

"So, girls, do you believe me now? I know it's a big surprise but we really have got to get a move on. There is not much of the summer left and you will still have a lot to prepare. As soon as you have replied to your offers, I can take you over to Diagon Alley so you can get your school things. No great rush, don't let me panic you. You don't need to decide now. Dumbledore does need a reply within the week though so the sooner the better". When the girls didn't reply, he continued. "I'm sorry to leave so soon girls but I have a few more people to visit yet. I'll be back at 10am on Tuesday. If you could have a decision by then, that would be perfect. It was lovely to meet you both".

Grace and Lena muttered barely audible farewells, still baffled by the visit. With that, there was a loud crack and Arthur Weasley disappeared.

Lena was the first to speak. "Well. That wasn't what I was expecting".