Chapter. 1- The letter

Harry Potter received a letter.

That would be an ordinary happening for most people, but not for Harry Potter: he was just ten years old, and he couldn't think of a single person or institution that would send him a letter. His school communications were delivered to his Aunt and he didn't know anybody outside his neighborhood.

He found out that mysterious correspondence when checking his relatives' mailbox since his uncle told him to take the mail while all of them were having breakfast.

"Why are you taking so much time? Just bring the mail!" he could hear his uncle shouting from the kitchen.

"I'll be there on a second!" Harry answered while tucking his letter inside a large pocket of his sweatpants.

While completely alone in the cupboard under the stairs he used as a bedroom, Harry read his letter many times. It was written on parchment instead of regular paper and was inside an envelope also made of parchment; the excessively precise information about his location on the receiver field and the piece of red wax with a coat of arms sealing it were really weird, but weren't enough to prepare him for the contents of the actual message: it was an admission letter to a "School of Wizardry and Witchcraft", it even listed the materials he'd need for his school year and where he could buy them.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" he thought to himself.

But, Harry was still a child, after all. And he had still space in his young heart to believe in magic and miracles, even if it was with a healthy pint of suspicion. He decided he would answer "the wizards" on his own account, without the Dursleys acknowledging anything about it. The Post Office was near his school, and he had a few Pounds he got from mowing the neighbor's lawn recently.

Dear Wizards and Witches from the Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.

Is this real or just a joke? If it is a joke, I must say that was a very elaborate joke, the most elaborate joke I've ever seen.

The main reason why I'm answering you is because sometimes strange things happen when I'm around: last time, it seemed like I made a glass disappear, setting a snake free in a Zoo; there was also that time when I apparently made my own hair grow instantly after my aunt shaved it completely; and there was that time I puzzlingly ended up on the top of my school's roof when I was running from some bullies, etc. I could write two letters like this one just telling you strange incidents like those listed above, but I think you already got the point. If magic was real, all those things could finally make sense.

But I have another reason to write: my uncle and aunt wouldn't buy any of this; they wouldn't let me go to a Magic Boarding School. Actually, they don't even want me to go to a regular Boarding School since they say they'd spend too much money with me if I went to one. Even if the course in Hogwarts is free like you say, I don't think I'm able to convince them to let me go: they hate everything that's unusual and strange, they'd just give me a big "no".

I mean, if you really want me to enrol there as a student, help me, I can't do this alone.

If you're legit, of course. If all of this is just a joke, then just drop this act, because it's not funny.

Best regards,

Harry James Potter.

Minerva McGonnagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, couldn't bring herself to release this letter just after she finished reading it. She kept staring at it, astonished. Harry's letter revealed too much, much more than his mere words intended to inform. This small single paper text had a dozen pages of subtext.

"The poor child, the poor child! His relatives didn't tell him about his origins, they didn't tell him anything about our world, and it seems like they're mistreating him! I told Dumbledore it was a mistake to leave him with those people!" she thought while finally dropping that paper on her desk.

"Well, I need to do something about it". she stated as she recomposed herself.

A/N- I'm looking for a beta to check out the grammar. Thank you for your attention. :)